HIS PLAN - By Kevin Fernow

By all accounts I have lived a blessed life.  I was raised in a strong, loving family.  I was rarely denied an opportunity I wished to pursue due to health, money or similar challenges that often become roadblocks in life.  While life certainly has not been perfect, I’ve been blessed with far more ups than downs and I thank God for his guiding hand in this.

God always seems to balance the good with the bad for me.  As a young adult, my home life was a bit in turmoil as my dad battled severe alcoholism, ultimately passing from his inability to put down the bottle for good.  This was the same time that my relationship matured from a young high school love to the dependence and unity of “us”, a partnership my wife Brandy and I still enjoy today.  Distance, both physically and emotionally, from our families while away at college left a void that God filled for us through each other.

Following college, Brandy and I began professional careers in Chicago and we went about planning our “happily ever after”.  We were the first in our circle of friends to marry at the age of 23.  Next on our life-list was home ownership.  Check.  Five years later we planned for the next phase of our story - finding more family-friendly jobs and moving to the suburbs as we prepared for parenthood.

And this is where our perfect plan, our carefully plotted roadmap, somehow got re-routed.  This was when we learned that our plans took a back seat to HIS plan; where the most basic of God given rights, procreation, was denied to us - even though the very first book of the Bible literally states we were created to multiply.

Did this somehow not apply to us?

Initially we viewed infertility as an inconvenience – a major and EXPENSIVE one – that we assumed we would conquer through prayer, patience, and medical assistance.  For a guy who isn’t particularly fond of even the most routine doctor visits, the fertility experience was a real treat!  As time went on and success eluded us, it became a deeply personal, quiet struggle that left me questioning many things.  If Psalm 127:3 states Children are a gift from the Lord, offspring a reward from him.  “What did I do to not earn this reward” I thought?  However, reading further the book of Proverbs says “the heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps…Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.”

After a few years writing way too many checks with way too many zeros, we set out on a new journey with a revised path to parenthood through adoption.  We refocused our prayers and accepted that getting pregnant was not truly our goal, nor God’s plan.  Rather, having children was what we desired.

Admittedly this initially felt like a consolation prize as I moved through the grieving and acceptance process.  As we learned more about adoption however, any reluctance turned to genuine excitement and optimism.  While we did not know how long it would take, parenthood most certainly awaited us, though so did an entirely new set of challenges along the way.  After we discerned this was our path, we dutifully completed our new checklist.

The adoption qualification process was invasive in an entirely different way than fertility treatments with fingerprints, background checks, financial and health assessments, letters of recommendation, interviews and home visits with social workers, required training and assortment of other requirements (do you have a fire escape ladder for your house?).  I couldn’t help but think all parents should have to apply to God through a similar process before he qualifies anyone and rewards them with offspring…can you imagine?  Then there was the adoption profile we created, a marketing brochure of sorts full of pictures and stories selling our best qualities to prospective birth mothers on the virtues of choosing us as parents for their child.  No pressure there.

With our paperwork complete we were officially licensed to parent.  We were excited to be “live” with our profile and officially “on the market” so to speak.  The hard work had been done, it was time to wait and turn it over to God’s will.  Of course this was much easier said than done.

About a month went by when we got a call.  A mother with an adoption plan had given birth to a baby boy.  Her initial adoption plan had fallen through and she selected us as potential parents for an in-person meeting, the ultimate blind date!  After our meeting we were informed she indeed wanted to move forward.  We joyfully called our families to share our news, at last we were on the cusp of our dream.  We hurried to the store and bought formula and infant diapers as we had made a conscious decision not to fill our house with newborn items unsure how long we would wait.  The following day we set out for the hour drive with an empty car seat and full hearts, ready to meet our son.  About 30 minutes in the phone rang, stop driving we were told, she had not shown up and was unreachable.  We pulled into a parking lot and waited and cried…this was not our son after all.

This was a particularly hard setback to take.  We felt empty and alone.  I felt betrayed and was angry, not at the birth mother, but at the situation and the outcome.  I even found a way to be disappointed in myself, that we had let our guard down and had been so optimistic, that we allowed ourselves to emotionally invest, if only for a day.

We picked ourselves up and moved forward, a bit more educated and more guarded emotionally, but still hopeful for what awaited.

I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope.

Psalm 130:5

 

Another month or so later we were again selected by a young woman and the father of her baby for an in-person meeting.  This time at a different restaurant located in a different suburb.  We were chosen to be the parents should they move forward with an adoption plan.  A few days later another baby boy was born.  After being discharged from the hospital the baby was placed in foster care overnight as the mother finalized her decision.  The next day we were informed she would indeed parent, more heart break, again this was not our son.  

More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character,

and character produces hope.

Romans 5:3

A few months passed and we were contacted by a birthmother named Laurie living in Maryland who was seven months pregnant with a baby boy.  After several weeks getting to know each other thru email we planned a trip to D.C. to meet in person.  By this time, we had perfected our mode of operation, protecting our psyche from the very real possibility of another letdown.  Every bit of excitement such as sharing of the ultrasound was tempered with a self-reminder that this baby was not ours, at least not yet.

I felt robbed that we could not indulge in the traditional celebrations of expecting parents.  We only confided our news with close friends who happened to be at the same point of the adoption process at the same time.  During our visit Laurie asked us what we would like to name the baby, while this furthered our optimism, it was against our emotional-defense strategy.  We waited a few more weeks and as the due date approached finally shared a name with Laurie, it had Scottish origins and included a subtle nod to her local baseball team.  The due date passed and Laurie was scheduled for inducement.

As we packed the car for a much longer road trip, we finally shared the news with family, we were once again headed to meet our son.  On April 29th a healthy, big boy was born.  Again there were tears, this time they were tears of joy, his name was Camden and we finally rejoiced as God had delivered our son.

This the day the LORD has made;

we will rejoice and be glad in it.

Psalm 118:24

NICOLAS - By James Lotz

Screenshot taken from "Vampire's Kiss"

The book of Revelation is an interesting piece of literature.  Most people know it’s located at the end of the Christian Bible and that it contains a lot of odd things pertaining to the end of the world.  Some Christian groups have even used it to try and "do the math” about when the world will end, to decipher the concept of “666,” and even how many people will go to Heaven.  Like I said – it’s a weird book.  Since it is so weird even many Christians tend to dismiss it.

But the problem is if we study Revelation more in depth we realize something: we ignore it to our own detriment.  Revelation contains some very important things that mattered when it was written almost 2,000 years ago, and given the state of the church today, they matter now more than ever.

Written in the first century, chapters two and three of Revelation contain some sobering words from Jesus written to seven churches in seven different areas of the Roman Empire (Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea).  Two of those churches addressed were familiar with a group of people that Jesus wasn't too happy with – the Nicolaitans.  Who these people were is a bit murky.  Some people think that they were started by a Christian named Nicolas, who at one time was a faithful worker in the church.  While that cannot be confirmed what can be confirmed is that the Nicolaitans were making Jesus very, very upset.  For instance, to the church in Ephesus, after warning them to get back to the basics of their faith, Jesus says,

“… you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.”

Revelation 2:6

Those are strong words.  His words to the church in Pergamum aren’t much better.  They had members that encouraged sinful behavior pertaining to idolatry and sexual immorality.  Jesus added this to His charge against them:

“Likewise, you also have those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans.  Repent…Otherwise, I will soon come to you and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.”

Revelation 2:15-16

That’s some heavy stuff.  
Hate?  Swords?

We always hear that Jesus is loving and nice - and He is - but what’s this all about?  Believe it or not He says harsher stuff than that in the Gospels – but I digress.  What in the world did the Nicolaitans do to make Jesus so mad?

In addition to the "weird stuff" in Revelation, the parts about the Nicolaitans is historically confirmed outside of the Bible.  For instance, there was a guy named Irenaeus who lived shortly after Revelation was written.  He seemingly writes about this same group of people called the Nicolaitans as well.  He reports that they identified as Christians – but in name only.  Their reputation was being a people of “unrestrained indulgence.”  Basically they were taking God’s free Grace and using it as a license to sin – apparently preaching “Grace!” but not preaching Grace’s impact on a person’s life.

And that’s basically all there is.  Other stuff written about the Nicolaitans is written hundreds of years later – too late to be fully reliable.  But if we gather the reliable evidence here is what we know:

1. Jesus hated the practices and teachings of the Nicolaitans

2. He will judge them with His words for their rebellion

3. Irenaeus confirms that they were a Christian sect who condoned sin

It suddenly should dawn on us why they drove Jesus nuts: Jesus died for our sins.  Any teachings that condone sin in our lives or the lives of others is a slap in His face – and an abuse of His Grace (no rhyming intended).  If sin separates us from God, why would any church teach that sin is cool?  According to Revelation, no church that is truly of Christ should or will.

Fast forward two thousand years or so and we see this happening today.  Churches, like the Nicolaitans, have abandoned the teachings of Jesus to obey God’s Word and instead encourage participation in the very things Jesus died for.  This is being done by conservative and liberal churches alike, for many sins – and it’s killing people - spiritually and literally.

For giggles, let’s pretend the guy I mentioned earlier (Nicolas) is actually the founder of the Nicolaitans.

How does he go from being a faithful follower of Jesus to suddenly being an enemy of Jesus?  

Being warned by Jesus?  

Being judged by Jesus?

I’m not quite sure how to put it into words - but I do know it happens every day.  It happens to me, it happens to you, it happens to all of us.  With Revelation being the last book of the Bible we now turn to the first book – Genesis.  In Genesis 3 we see a story of human brokenness; two people, loved and protected by the LORD, fall victim to the silky smooth voice of the fork-tongued enemy.  That slippery character called God’s Word into question – and the people fell for it hook, line, and sinker.

Folks, that’s our daily struggle.  People argue constantly about whether or not the “Adam and Eve Story” is historical.  The bottom line is that story is true in that it happens every single day.  People get destroyed by sin.  People get enamored with ideas and teachings that meet them in the “feels” versus being fed in the soul.

The Nicolaitans and those that followed them were no different.  They got judged. And if we don’t take seriously God’s calling for us to take seriously His Word – we too will be no different.

God’s words of warning concerning the practices of the Nicolaitans are clear.

God’s words calling the Nicolaitans away from their sins are clear.

God’s words inviting us into His Love are also clear.

A phrase repeated seven times to the churches in Revelation speaks to us loudly today:

Whoever has ears let them hear what the Spirit
says to the churches.

The Nicolaitans heard God loud and clear.  

He offered them Grace out of His abundant Love.

We have no idea if they listened.

The question remains – will we?

More from James Lotz

Zeus Burgers
Uzzah

SPIRITUAL WARFARE - By Melinda Bossenga

Like most people, I’ve had my share of ups and downs in life.  And like most, I presume, I try, not always successfully, to make the best of all situations.  There has been death, job loss, alcoholism, mental illness, and depression, to name a handful.   If it wasn’t me dealing with these situations directly, it was someone close to me.  For most of these, I relied on my faith to help me trudge on.  Like I said, I tried to make the best of it.  One circumstance that I often found myself in was spiritual warfare.

Wait; I still deal with it.

It started around when I was 13 years old or so.  We did the Ouija board, and thought nothing of it.  I have heard people talk about it as a toy.  I have heard, conversely, people speak of it as the gateway to Satan’s schemes.  Whatever it is, it is something that I will never touch again unless to throw in the trash.  There could be no truth to it being the “gateway” to all things evil, but I don’t care.  I’m not taking my chances.  I believe this is what opened my eyes to spiritual warfare.

Let me give you an example.  There was one night, out of nowhere, I started feeling weird, paralyzing dread and oppression.  I was in my top bunk, (I shared a room with my younger sister,) and I was lying facing away from the closet.  I woke up with an oppressive weight on me.  I know we all feel something akin to this.  There is pressure to do well and excel at work or school.  There may be the stress of being a single parent and just figuring out how to make it through the day.  Talk about stress and feeling like you are carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders!

This was different.
This was truly paralyzing.
I. Could. Not. Move.

I was around 14 years old at this time and normally if I woke up scared, I’d get out of bed, turn on the light and go to the bathroom or something.  I tried that this time, but I couldn’t, as I was petrified.  So I did the only thing I could think of: I prayed and prayed and prayed.  I let go of myself and the situation and without any physical effort on my part, I got up and - boom! - I went and turned on my light.  Call me weird, or wacky, but that was my introduction to spiritual warfare fight which brought me closer to Christ.  The key was, as I learned,

"Submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." 

James 4:7 

It was pretty much at this moment that I realized I was fighting something that was harmful and evil  - and that I cannot do alone.  I need the Lord’s help out of that trap; out of that trench.  Similarly to warfare on earth, you don’t let whomever is at your right hand down. I try my best not to do that to God.  He sticks by my side at my worst - including there - and I’m going to stick by him.  In this case the enemy, Satan, was attacking me and trying to pull me down.  It felt like the playground bully was trying to make me feel so awful that I didn’t want to keep going.  This was legitimate spiritual warfare where evil spirits intervene and try to mess with our business.  I have had family members who have felt something similar to this and they can attest that there are no warm fuzzies being tossed about the room when this happens.

Subsequent years saw my faith wax and wane; I wouldn’t think much of it at times, while at other times, it was a large part of my life (I'm sure others can relate).  I think that generally it steadily became stronger.  I went to a school where Christians were relatively scarce.  College can be a hard time for a person in their faith walk, whatever their faith may be.  I kept mostly to my own faith and made it through.

At one point post college, I was taking a nice bike ride through the woods on the trail and I heard weird voices - I know! Just hear me out! I promise I was not suffering from a mental illness at the time! - they were words I had never heard before.  I looked around for someone, but saw no one.   I rounded the corner on my bike and I saw two figures disappear into the earth, right underneath a set of train tracks.  The rocks that buttressed the train tracks were where they vanished.  I couldn’t believe it, so I got off my bike and inspected the site, but saw nothing awry or amiss.  They just disappeared.  One had a bright blue bottom, and the other had bright red.  This “unveiling” that I witnessed weirded me out, to say the least.

As an older adult, I have had problems as well.  I had always thought mythical creatures were interesting and thought the faerie fad was cute.  I had heard a suggestion that faeries like ginger, so you can leave some outside for them.  I embarrassingly and naively did.  I just couldn’t leave well enough alone.  Not that what followed was a causation or correlation, for that matter.  Perhaps it was just a coincidence.  Within days of that stupidity (what was I thinking?) I was sitting in a chair on my porch; my husband was 20 feet in front of me, weeding the garden.   I was taking dried seed pods from one of my flowers in order to save them for replanting, when something hit me in my back.  I looked behind me and saw no one.  My yard is small and fenced in so no one could have done it and ran off.  My husband was in front of me.  I didn’t know what it was that hit my back until I stood up from my chair.  There, on the seat, was a red lily flower head that was the same exact kind that grew three feet next to me.

The dénoument came a year or two later.  I was not going to put up with this crazy garbage anymore of feeling attacked and bullied by the darkness.  I was having a horrible time at a job with a boss who kind of just hated me - I therefore, kind of hated my job and fell into a mild depression.  I had a bad feeling about this situation; my boss, my job, my well-being, my integrity.  Again, I woke up in the middle of the night feeling scared (who said this stuff goes away after childhood anyway?).  I saw, in my ‘just waking up stage’, across my room, a large, let’s say, gargantuan, black spider doing a sort of clicking with its long creepy legs.  I felt as though I was under attack, like this was my job and my boss, who I don’t think was a kind person to me at all and used me detestably, was the spider.   I prayed, "Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.  Resist him, standing firm in the faith."  What happened next will always be with me, so vividly.  I saw to left of me, as bright as the light of lightning, a horse with a tall human-shaped figure on it with a sword drawn, dash to the other side of my room where the spider was and slash it.  It was over. God won.  How could I not join him to fight?  How can I not want him to be my Lord, my Savior?  I feel as though he sent an angel to fight on my behalf because he really loves me that much.  Wow.

I still struggle at times, as I still see “things,” if you will.  I do not want to see them.  I never willed for this to be my situation. I pray to make them go away and for the Lord to protect us.  My husband joins my fight as well.  I still feel like this is a curse.  However, maybe it’s God’s way of telling me that he wants to use me as a soldier.  I know that I need to always put on the armor of God.  I feel embarrassed writing this, as I don’t really tell too many people about this struggle, for reasons that I am sure many of you will consider.  I am made fun of, considered weird, crazy, you know, it’s typical, I guess.  I remember someone making fun of me for what I have witnessed, yet this person could fully embrace learning of a person having a two-week long “high” off of a spiritual leader’s hug.  I did not discriminate against this person for their spirituality, yet they discriminated against mine.  It was hurtful.  It was especially so as I struggle with spiritual warfare.

The big idea I want to illustrate is that without the Lord, my fight against spiritual warfare and many other areas of my life for that matter, is futile without God’s help.  I mentioned only a handful of the big, bad, and ugly things I have seen.  There have been other events.  Yet, there is good that I have seen and heard as well, which is more proof to me that the Lord is truly amazing and SO powerful. Yet, that’s a story for another time.

So I’ll leave you with words from Ephesians 6:10-12 - our "battle cry" in spiritual warfare:

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his great power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can fight against the devil’s evil tricks. Our fight is not against people on earth but against the rulers and authorities and the powers of this world’s darkness, against the spiritual powers of evil in the heavenly world.” 

FOR ALL THE SAINTS - By Nathan Metzger

I was raised a Lutheran on the Plains of south central South Dakota. Our piety was a mixture that few people seem familiar with anymore. We knelt for Confession and at the rail for Holy Communion, but we only received the Sacrament once a month (“To make sure we have enough sins built up to make it worth Jesus’ while to be there,” my grandfather would say). We kept the very basics of what the church calls the liturgical calendar. The colors that adorned the church throughout the year indicated which church “season” we were in (Christmas, Holy Week, Easter, Pentecost…we observed the major holidays). But unless a feast day or other commemoration landed on a Sunday, we seldom did anything with it. As I study more, though, I find myself drawn to the church calendar more and more. And the question I get about it most often is: “Why?”

The answer I give is this: “Because it helps me.”

An example: As I sit down to write this, the liturgical calendar tells me that the feast of St. Barnabas is today. Although he is mentioned periodically in the New Testament, most of what we know about Barnabas comes from the Book of Acts. He is first introduced as a Levite from Cyprus named Joseph, but the the early church leaders decided to call him “Barnabas,” (literally, “son of encouragement”).

Names and nicknames often carry meaning, and Barnabas’ name is no exception. His faith in what the apostles’ preached was apparently enough that he sold a field that he owned and laid the proceeds of that sale at the apostles’ feet. An act like that has a tendency to both encourage and humble the recipients.

The next time Barnabas pops up is in Acts 9, when his path crossed with that of another saint - a man named Saul of Tarsus, who had made it his life’s work to rid the world of people who follow “The Way”.  In other words, he was out to destroy the Church.  But while traveling to Damascus with the intention of arresting those he found, Saul of Tarsus encountered the risen Christ and was changed forever.   From there Saul went to synagogues in Damascus, proclaiming Christ until he learned of a plot to kill him.  Saul escaped, and the way Acts tells it, he went to the only place there was to go: to Jerusalem, to meet with the apostles there.

By this point, Saul’s previous personal mission to hunt down Christians was well known, so when he tried to join the Church in Jerusalem, the disciples there were afraid, suspicious that this was a ruse to trap them.

Only one person was willing to hear Saul out: Barnabas.

The “son of encouragement” listened to Saul, believed him, and took him before the apostles, vouching for him.  Barnabas took a big risk, essentially exposing the apostles to persecution.  But that risk made it possible for Saul of Tarsus to connect with the larger church.  This connection helped Saul of Tarsus put away his own past and sent him on a new mission as Paul of Tarsus, or as he's better known as, Saint Paul, telling others what God had done in Christ.  Paul and Barnabas shared that mission, traveling together and no doubt encouraging each other until disagreement sent them in different directions.  Even then, I suspect that the encouragement Paul received from Barnabas stayed with him the rest of his life, seeing him through arrests, imprisonments, death threats, and more.

This story of Saint Barnabas has been a huge help to me as I’ve watched friends come and go (even as I come and go!).  It’s helped me recognize how things don’t go the way God would like them to go either, but that God still carries blessings through in spite of the circumstances we cause.  There may be risk involved, but there are risks in this world worth taking.  These are just some of the lessons gleaned from the calendar of saints.

In his letter to the Philippians, Paul gave thanks for the gifts that had been sent to him, rejoicing in them.  Throughout the letter Paul encouraged the Philippians to be of one mind, standing firmly in the Gospel that they received, following the example of Christ.  In chapter 4, Paul gave final instructions:

“Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” 

Philippians 4:8 (NRSV)

There is really One who is truly worthy of praise, and that is the Triune God.

Christ’s earthly ministry is one to behold. It EXCITES me…and it terrifies me. 

His acts of power to help people are acts I want to do as well until I meet the teachings that lead to power — self-giving love — and I see where it got Him — a tortured death on a cross... 

...and suddenly it doesn’t excite me anymore.

The thing is, I’m not the first one to struggle this way.  That’s how the church calendar helps me.  St. Barnabas’ story is just one of many that remind me that there have been people like me throughout all of history that have also been EXCITED and TERRIFIED by Christ. 

Throughout all of history there have been people who want to follow, but are afraid to follow, yet who are loved by God and redeemed BY GOD.  For all their struggles, God still causes good through them as He remakes them through Christ and teaches them Christ’s way.  A lifetime lived in this struggle, striving for excellence out of thankfulness for the gift God has given in Christ is also a life that is commendable.

The calendar points me to kindred spirits.  It shows me that I’m part of something much bigger than myself that God has been helping along for millennia.  It shows me that I’m not alone.  It also helps me clues by which to look for God among my own, contemporary neighbors, people who are saints because of what God has joined them to in His Grace.

FIVE QUESTIONS - Chris Townsend

ZEUS BURGERS PRESENTS:

5 Questions: with Chris Townsend

Chris Townsend is an author, speaker, professor, and former non-believer. He runs Redeemed Royalty, a ministry that seeks to equip Christians to boldly stand for Christ in a hostile culture.

He carved some time out of his busy schedule to chat with Zeus Burgers about his former life apart from Christ, his work, and how to live as a disciple of Jesus in this ever increasing irreligious culture.

ZB: Thanks for your time, Chris. Please describe your atheism – were you raised in an atheist home or like a lot of atheists were you exposed to Christianity growing up?

CT: Truthfully I was more of an agnostic – but I lived as if there was no “god.” I was raised in a progressive Christian environment where people didn’t really talk about their faith. Whenever I had questions I was given poor answers and I naturally didn’t buy any of it. So when I heard about this thing called “agnosticism” I embraced it. Shortly after, it actually became a point of pride for me!

ZB: Famous atheist Antony (Tony) Flew became a theist later in his life after perceiving “design” in the universe (he laid it out in his book, “There is a God” claiming that he “followed the argument where it led.”

What was your journey out of agnosticism like?

CT: Believe it or not my journey to faith in Jesus was not, at first, an intellectual journey but instead based on personal encounters with people who lived the Christian life with authenticity – in other words their character was contagious.

It was only after recognizing something special about them that I was motivated to look into God, study the Bible, and consider the potential truth of Christianity.

At one point I heard a sermon about sex before marriage. It was the first time I considered the non physical consequences (emotional/ spiritual) of premarital sex. The story gets complicated from there. In short, I had been sleeping with a married woman who got pregnant. Facing this situation from my new found closeness to God, I became utterly convinced of my sin. I accepted forgiveness for my sins and Jesus as my Lord and I never looked back!

ZB: Why do you think atheism is seemingly having a resurgence these days and what can Christians do to effectively witness to today’s community of skeptics?

CT: Probably because we now live in a culture that has intermingled on many levels – churches without disciples assimilate pop culture ideologies. This has produced mass quantities of secular humanists who have their own discipleship process. They do this through many mediums including the education system, the media, and of course, entertainment. And while the church has done a terrible job of staying stuck on Sunday mornings only - relativism has crept in and we now have what we have.

As far as what Christians can do to witness, we need to realize that we have a different audience as a result of this culture of secular humanism. The culture of the New Testament was “god-oriented” or “god-leaning” – polytheistic, for the most part (belief in many gods). But we have a new “monster” today – people who believe in NO God or gods and reject anything beyond the natural.

Therefore, our best weapon will be living as if we believe Jesus is LORD, being authentic. This was what convinced me in my agnosticism. People don’t care how much we know until they know how much we care. We need to be educated about our culture, meet them where they are, be compassionate and relationship oriented, but not be absorbed by it. We saw this in the New Testament all over the place.

At one point it was “cool” to be a Christian – that is no longer the norm.

Christian parents also need to teach their kids to be critical analysts. We can’t just shelter them – we need to tell them about what’s out there before what’s out there absorbs them. We need to teach them to engage their culture – but in light of their discipleship to Jesus.

ZB: How do you stay “fresh” as a disciple in your everyday living?  In other words - what are your spiritual disciplines?

CT: I don’t really have a devotional life but I do make sure that God is everything to me and as a result He manifests Himself in everything I do. I wouldn’t mind a ritual in this area – but I wouldn’t want it to become ritualistic. So mainly, again, I try and use a biblical lens for everything I do. In this respect I try and be aware of everything that comes out of me – my speaking, my writing, my emotions, my studying – the end is that I glorify God in all I do. I guess you could say that I do have a devotional life, but it focuses more on production than absorption. Where most people schedule their intake of God, I schedule my output.

ZB: Which of your books do you recommend to someone exploring either the Christian faith or how to share the Christian faith with others?

CT: Based on our conversation I’d probably recommend “Prove It”. It discusses how contemporary culture operates and offers communication techniques for Christians to use to dialogue with this culture.

Stay connected with Chris via social media and his blog!

You can also purchase his other books at his store.

ALLAH AT A PRAYER SERVICE - By Chuck Meyer

Recently an article was posted on Facebook which described an interfaith remembrance of the Orlando nightclub shooting massacre.  This interfaith prayer time took place during the general assembly of a Christian denomination in the United States.  During this prayer an imam addressed God as Allah and spoke of the prophets: Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad.  The issue caused quite a frenzy in a particular Facebook group to which I belong.  As someone who saw the original article, the ensuing frenzies, and other reactions, I found a few things interesting: the use of Allah when speaking to God; the frenzies; and the differences between Christianity and Islam.

As you may or may not know, the Arabic word for God is “Allah.”  Islam, which started in the Middle East, uses this word when speaking about God.  You will find many people in the Arabic speaking world will use the word “Allah” the same way many English speaking people will use the word “God” - even though they might not belong to Islam, Judaism, or Christianity.

The imam prayed to Allah during his time, giving a prayer which included this petition: “The creator of the universe, the most merciful, the most compassionate, and the Lord of the universe, who has created us and made us into nations and tribes, from male and females that we may know each other, not that we might despise each other, or may despise each other."  This petition could have been included in Christian prayers and I doubt we’d bat an eye at it!
But my question is, who was it prayed to?

I’m going to skip ahead to the frenzies and come back to that question.  The frenzies started when some people said they didn’t approve of an imam giving a prayer at a Christian gathering.  People came in with many passionate rebukes, crying out that Allah is the name of God for Arabic peoples.  If that causes a bit of cognitive dissonance for you, it should: the objection was to having an imam praying at a Christian gathering, not that he used the word Allah for God.  Despite a few attempts to explain the confusion, commenter after commenter continued to lambaste “the idiots” who don’t know what Allah means.   Some created intelligent, bold blog posts, correctly (IMHO) saying that God’s name doesn’t belong to any one people, but to all who call on Him.

This led to posts wherein people tried to clarify their position.  Some objected, but this time to the original complaint.  The new objections said that it didn’t matter if it was an imam, as he was praying to the same God as Christians do.

Now back to my earlier question: who was the prayer prayed to?

The argument goes, as far as I can tell, that because Muslims are an “Abrahamic faith,” claiming Abraham as our common ancestor, then we share the same God.

Is this true?

Christianity makes some claims about God that neither Judaism nor Islam heed.  Take for example the doctrine of the Trinity.  Although hints of the Trinity can be found in the Old Testament, Judaism doesn’t hold that God is Three-in-One, but that God is just one.  This is stated in the Shema, “Hear, O Israel: the LORD our God, the LORD is one.”  This was important for Israel in the beginning to counter the views of surrounding religions which had a number of gods.  The Islamic view of the Trinity can be summed up with this verse from Quran 4:171, 

“People of the Book, do not go to excess in your religion, and do not say anything about God except the truth: the Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary, was nothing more than a messenger of God, His word, directed to Mary, a spirit from Him.  So believe in God and His messengers and do not speak of a ‘Trinity'—stop, that is better for you—God is only one God, He is far above having a son, everything in the heavens and earth belongs to Him and He is the best one to trust.” 

Islam views the idea that God can have a partner or a son as sinful.

Let’s pretend I’m me for a second: about 5’10”, a (shrinking) 240lbs, blonde hair, and work as the lone town mailman.   People have come to know me and believe certain things about me, such as my height, weight, hair color, and profession, are what I say they are.  Heck, I’ve even spoken to them and told them about me!  But then imagine someone - let’s call them Pat - were to say that they know the town mailman and spoke to him but describe the town mailman as 6’4”, 180lbs, and a redhead.  How could that be?  Either Pat doesn’t know me or is thinking of someone else, because the attributes don’t match up.  Would we say the person Pat is describing and I are the same just because we’re supposedly the lone town mailman?

How do we view these three different religions, with different rituals and beliefs?  Is the object of worship the same for each of the three religions?  We cannot deny many of the attributes are similar: loving; powerful; merciful.  But how important are the differences?

This is where I have a problem as the main difference - the view of God, and especially Jesus - is a big one.  Christians believe in a God whose nature is triune, and Jesus Christ is one person in that Trinity.  To Christians, Jesus being God is one of, if not solely, the most important things we believe!  We don’t think Jesus was just a man, or a teacher, or a prophet - He was and is God in the flesh!  With such an emphasis on Christ, how can we say that religions that deny Christ’s divinity worship the same God as we do?  The very essence of God is not the same!  Aren’t we denying that Christ is God if we say Muslims and Judaism worship exactly the same God we do?

One of the objections to saying Islam and Christianity worship different Gods is that it is unloving or intolerant to make such a claim, and that this idea is the source of bigotry and hatred.  

I disagree.  Is it more loving to ignore differences, or to continue to live with people whose differences you recognize?  Is it more tolerant to believe that everyone has the same God, or to love and respect people when they worship a different deity?  

If we listen to Jesus, we’ll share the Gospel with those who differ from us, yes, but that won’t be the end of the discussion.  We’ll live with them, care for them, walk with them.  It doesn’t matter if they’re the same as us or not.  God says care for your neighbor, so that’s what we as Christians must do, even if our neighbor worships a different God than we do.

The Islamic Allah has many names: Al-Rahman, the All-beneficent (the Compassionate); Al-Rahim, the Most Merciful; Al-Aziz, the Almighty (the Victorious); Al-Hakam, the Judge.  These are beautiful monikers that could easily be applied to the God of Christianity.  But when it comes down to it, the significant attributes just don’t match up.

That’s why I’m unable to say we worship the same God as Muslims do.

Despite the similarities and the legacy we have in common, if you cannot say that your God includes Jesus Christ, then we don’t share that connection.  But I still believe that we’re still both human, both loved by God, and both called to care for our neighbor, whether we’re in the same religion or not.

By the way, I still love you too.

Chuck Meyer does not claim to be an Islamic scholar and welcomes further discourse on his understanding of the Islamic faith as described above!  You can do that by sending an email to ZeusBurgers@gmail.com