What's great is that God has already allowed us to set the year off right.  This past week Michelle Vaque and Jared Brady were baptized in the singles/college ministry. We are so happy to be able to welcome both of them into the family.  

Here are some pics... 

Thanks for taking the time,

Curtis

The disciples in El Salvador have nowhere near the financial resources we have, and yet their faith and joy levels are through the roof!

El Salvador is a small country with a big heart, and El Salvadorans are a people who have a reputation for being hard working and resourceful. A people who understand the true value of service and dedication. Who know how to take a little and make it work.  In a country of 6 million people, 2 million live in the United States. Thats what I call heart!  That's amazing!  The church definitely followed suit.

 It is an honor to be able to spend time with men and women of God who honestly give me hope above all others.  A small church with a big heart for God. So big that even though my Spanish still isn't very good I could understand  that perfectly.  

I believe one of the reasons why God continues to send us to ES is for them to help us. Help us? Yes, because they represent a principle that I believe every disciple of Jesus needs to understand.  How God takes something small and does big things with it!

 My prayer is that the church in El Salvador never assumes that just because we come from a place with more resources, that they have nothing to give us. Spiritually, they gave us exactly what we needed.  Throughout the entire Bible, we see God working through the few to impact the many. Through the weak to impact the strong. Through the small to accomplish what is great. David, Gideon, the prophets, the Apostles...

Even the very nature of God's Kingdom is this way.  In Mathew 13:31-32 Jesus says:

He told them another parable: The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches." Matthew 13:31-32 (NIV)

Spending time with the church in El Salvador, we couldn't help but have our hearts open to the possibilities! What God can do in a small church, with a big heart for him.

 I can say that confidently because 9 years ago the Church in El Salvador changed my life. Back then, as a single man, I had the opportunity to visit El Salvador for the first time.  Jonathan and Carla Perkins were putting together a small mission trip to go encourage the brothers and sisters out there.  At that point in my life, I just lost my job in the ministry, had been single disciple for about 8 years, was spiritually struggling and seriously thinking about leaving God.  But after the prompting of a good friend, I decided to go. Through that trip, God used faith, hope and love in the church in El Salvador, to ignite the small spark in my heart and save my spiritual life.  Since then, I have watched God orchestrate and send amazing people there (Ortega's, Perkin's and Valverde's) as He has continued put El Salvador on the hearts of many back in the US.  There's no question to me, God is going to continue to do BIG THINGS in El Salvador.  Stay tuned...

 Thanks for taking the time,

Curtis

"When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the LORD your God for the good land he has given you. Be careful that you do not forget the LORD your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery."  

Deut. 8:10-14 (NIV)

As I look over my life and the many ways God has taken care of me and the "blessings" he has given me (my marriage, my son, my ministry, my friends, my health), it saddens me to admit how easy it is to lose my sense desperation for God.  Blessings can become distractions, no doubt.  Recently, inspite of good circumstances, I've also been getting in touch with some gaping holes in my life and character.  As hard as it has been to admit my weaknesses, I'm grateful to once again have my eyes opened to my need for God; to be driven back to my knees in prayer and dependence on Him.  I need God like oxygen.  I am truly nothing without Him.  No matter how good I may feel about my life or try to make myself look, I am in desperate need.  I think spiritual maturity has a lot to do with how we handle "blessings." 

It's foolish to build on any foundation other than God, and it's foolish to think I can approach God in any way other than total desperation, even when life seems like it's going well.

"But respond favorably to your servant's prayer and his request for help, O Lord my God.  Answer the desperate prayer your servant is presenting to you."  

2 Chronicles 6:19 (NET)

 Luke 22:24-27 (MSG)

"Jesus called them together and said, 'You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.'”

Mathew 20:25-28 (NIV)

Wow. As often as I think about wanting to have influence in the lives of others, I have to wonder, have I really embraced this principle? A slave? There's nothing glamorous in that.  Junior? No spotlight for that guy.

It's gritty, lonely, humbling and thankless.  But in the end, it's glorious.

Father, help us to love our place in obscurity...

Thanks for taking the time,

Curtis

Introduction

C.S. Lewis used the term 'a great cataract of nonsense' to describe how people use a modern idea to construe Bible theology. One such example, perhaps the best example, is a conversion method called the Sinner's Prayer. It is more popularly known as the Four Spiritual Laws.

Lewis used this term to describe what happens when someone looks backward at the Bible based only on what he or she has known. Instead, an evangelical should first discern conversion practices from Scriptures and then consider the topic in light of two thousand years of other thinkers. As it is, a novel technique popularized through recent revivals has replaced the biblically sound practice. 

Today, hundreds of millions hold to a belief system and salvation practice that no one had ever held until relatively recently. The notion that one can pray Jesus into his or her heart and that baptism is merely an outward sign are actually late developments. The prayer itself dates to the Billy Sunday era; however, the basis for talking in prayer for salvation goes back a few hundred years.

Consider the following appeal:

'Just accept Christ into your heart through prayer and he'll receive you. It doesn't matter what church you belong to or if you ever do good works. You'll be born again at the moment you receive Christ. He's at the door knocking. You don't even have to change bad habits, just trust Christ as Savior. God loves you and forgives you unconditionally. Anyone out there can be saved if they ... Accept Christ, now! Let us pray for Christ to now come into your heart.'

Sound familiar? This method of conversion has had far-reaching effects worldwide as many have claimed this as the basis for their salvation. Yet, what is the historical significance of this conversion? How did the process of rebirth, which Jesus spoke of in John 3, evolve into praying him into one's heart? I believe it was an error germinating shortly after the Reformation, which eventually caused great ruin and dismay in Christendom. By supplying a brief documentation of its short, historical development, I hope to show how this error has served as 'a great cataract of nonsense'.

The Reformation

Although things weren't ideal after the Reformation, for the first time in over a thousand years the general populace was reading the Scriptures. By the early 1600s, one hundred years after the Reformation was initiated, there were various branches of European Christendom that followed national lines. For instance, Germans followed Martin Luther. There were also Calvinists (Presbyterian), the Church of England (Episcopalian), various branches of Anabaptists and, of course, the Roman church (Catholics). Most of these groups were trying to revive the waning faith of their already traditionalized denominations. However, a consensus had not been reached on issues like rebirth, baptism or salvation--even between Protestants.

The majority still held to the validity of infant baptism even though they disagreed on its significance. Preachers tended to minimize baptism because people hid their lack of commitment behind sayings like 'I am a baptized Lutheran and that's that.' The influence of the preachers eventually led to the popular notion that one was forgiven at infant baptism but not yet reborn. Most Protestants were confused or ambivalent about the connection between rebirth and forgiveness.

The Great Awakening

The Great Awakening was the result of fantastic preaching occurring in Europe and the eastern colonies during the early to mid 1700s. Though ambivalent on the practice of baptism, Great Awakening preachers created an environment that made man aware of his need for an adult confession experience. The experiences that people sought were varied. Jonathan Edwards, George Whitfield and John Wesley furthered ideas of radical repentance and revival. Although there is much to be learned from their messages, they did not solve the problems of the practices associated with baptism and conversion.

Eventually, the following biblical passage written to and inspired for lukewarm Christians became a popular tool for the conversion of non-Christians:

"To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God's creation. ....Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.' (Revelation 3:14-20)

This passage was written explicitly for lukewarm Christians. Now consider how a lecturer named John Webb misused this passage in the mid 1700s as a basis of evangelizing non-Christians: 

'Here is a promise of Union to Christ: in these words, I will come in to him. i.e. If any Sinner will but hear my Voice and open the Door, and receive me by Faith, I will come into his Soul, and unite him to me, and make him a living member of that my mystical body of which I am the Head.' (Christ's Suit to the Sinner, 14)

Preachers heavily relied on Revelation 3:20. By using the first-person tense while looking into the sinner's eyes, preachers began to speak for Jesus as they exhorted, 'If you would just let me come in and dine with you, I would accept you.' Even heathens who had never been baptized responded with the same or even greater sorrow than churchgoers. As a result, more and more preachers of Christendom concluded that baptism was merely an external matter--only an outward sign of an inward grace. In fact, Huldreich Zwingli put this idea forth for the very first time. Nowhere in church history was such a belief recorded. It only appears in Scripture when one begins with a great cataract of nonsense. In other words, it only appears in the New Testament through the imagination of readers influenced by this phenomenon.

Mourner's Seat

A method originated during the 1730s or '40s, which was practically forgotten for about a hundred years. It is documented that in 1741 a minister named Eleazar Wheelock had utilized a technique called the Mourner's Seat. As far as one can tell, he would target sinners by having them sit in the front bench (pew). During the course of his sermon 'salvation was looming over their heads.' Afterwards, the sinners were typically quite open to counsel and exhortation. In fact, as it turns out they were susceptible to whatever prescription the preaching doctor gave to them. According to eyewitnesses, false conversions were multiplied. Charles Wesley had some experience with this practice, but it took nearly a hundred years for this tactic to take hold. 

Cane Ridge

In 1801 there was a sensational revival in Cane Ridge, Kentucky that lasted for weeks. Allegedly, people barked, rolled over in the aisles and became delirious because there were long periods without food in the intense heat. It resulted in the extreme use and abuse of emotions as thousands left Kentucky with wild notions about rebirth. Today it is generally viewed as a mockery to Christianity. 

The excesses in Cane Ridge produced expectations for preachers and those seeking religious experience. A Second Great Awakening, inferior to the first, was beginning in America. Preachers were enamored with the idea that they could cause (manipulate) people into conversion. One who witnessed such nineteenth century hysteria was J. V. Coombs who complained of the technique:

'The appeals, songs, prayers and the suggestion from the preacher drive many into the trance state. I can remember in my boyhood days seeing ten or twenty people lying unconscious upon the floor in the old country church. People called that conversion. Science knows it is mesmeric influence, self-hypnotism ' It is sad that Christianity is compelled to bear the folly of such movements.' (J.V. Coombs, Religious Delusions, 92ff).

The Cane Ridge Meeting became the paradigm for revivalists for decades. A lawyer named Charles Finney came along a generation later to systemize the Cane Ridge experience through the use of Wheelock's Mourner's Seat and Scripture.

Charles Finney

It wasn't until about 1835 that Charles Grannison Finney (1792-1875) emerged to champion the system utilized by Eleazar Wheelock. Shortly after his own conversion he left his law practice and would become a minister, a lecturer, a professor, and a traveling revivalist. He took the Mourner's Seat practice, which he called the Anxious Seat, and developed a theological system around it. Finney was straightforward about his purpose for this technique and wrote the following comment near the end of his life:

'The church has always felt it necessary to have something of this kind to answer this very purpose. In the days of the apostles, baptism answered this purpose. The gospel was preached to the people, and then all those who were willing to be on the side of Christ, were called out to be baptized. It held the place that the anxious seat does now as a public manifestation of their determination to be Christians'

Finney made many enemies because of this innovation. The Anxious Seat practice was considered to be a psychological technique that manipulated people to make a premature profession of faith. It was considered to be an emotional conversion influenced by some of the preachers' animal magnetism. Certainly it was a precursor to the techniques used by many twentieth century televangelists.

In opposition to Finney's movement, John Nevin, a Protestant minister, wrote a book called The Anxious Bench. He intended to protect the denominations from this novel deviation. He called Finney's New Measures 'heresy', a 'Babel of extravagance', 'fanaticism', and 'quackery'. He also said, 'With a whirlwind in full view, we may be exhorted reasonably to consider and stand back from its destructive path.' It turns out that Nevin was somewhat prophetic. The system that Finney admitted had replaced biblical baptism, is the vertebrae for the popular plan of salvation that was made normative in the twentieth century by the three Bills --- Billy Sunday, Billy Graham and Bill Bright.

Dwight Moody and R. A. Torrey

However, it wasn't until the end of Finney's life that it became evident to everyone and himself that the Anxious Bench approach led to a high fallout rate. By the 1860s Dwight Moody (1837-1899) was the new apostle in American evangelicalism. He took Finney's system and modified it. Instead of calling for a public decision, which tended to be a response under pressure, he asked people to join him and his trained counselors in a room called the Inquiry Room. Though Moody's approach avoided some of the errors encountered in Finneyism, it was still a derivative or stepchild of the Anxious Bench system.

In the Inquiry Room the counselors asked the possible convert some questions, taught him from Scripture and then prayed with him. The idea that prayer was at the end of the process had been loosely associated with conversion in the 1700s. By the late 1800s it was standard technique for 'receiving Christ' as Moody's influence spread across both the United States and the United Kingdom. This was where a systematic Sinner's Prayer began, but was not called as such until the time of Billy Sunday.

R. A. Torrey succeeded Moody's Chicago-based ministry after his death in 1899. He modified Moody's approach to include 'on the spot' street conversions. Torrey popularized the idea of instant salvation with no strings attached, even though he never intended as much. Nonetheless, 'Receive Christ, now, right here' became part of the norm. From that time on it became more common to think of salvation outside of church or a life of Lordship.

Billy Sunday and the Pacific Garden Mission

Meanwhile in Chicago, Billy Sunday, a well-known baseball player from Iowa, had been converted in the Pacific Garden Mission. The Mission was Chicago's most successful implementation of Moody's scheme. Eventually, Sunday left baseball to preach. He had great public charm and was one of the first to mix ideas of entertainment with ministry. By the early 1900s he had become a great well-known crusade leader. In his crusades he popularized the Finney-Moody method and included a bit of a circus touch. After fire and brimstone sermons, heavy moralistic messages with political overtones, and humorous if not outlandish behavior, salvation was offered. Often it was associated with a prayer, and at other times a person was told they were saved because they simply walked down his tabernacle's "sawdust trail" to the front where he was standing. In time people were told they were saved because they publicly shook Sunday's hand, acknowledging that they would follow Christ. 

Billy Sunday died in 1935, leaving behind hundreds of his imitators. More than anything else, Billy Sunday helped crusades become acceptable to all denominations, which eventually led to a change in their theology. Large religious bodies sold out on their reservations toward these new conversion practices to reap the benefits of potential converts from the crusades because of the allure of success. 

Both Dwight Moody and Billy Sunday admitted they were somewhat ignorant of church history by the time they had already latched on to their perspectives. This is highly significant because the Anxious Seat phenomenon and offshoot practices were not rooted in Scripture nor in the early church.

Billy Graham, Bill Bright

Billy Graham and his crusades were the next step in the evolution of things. Billy Graham was converted in 1936 at a Sunday-styled crusade. By the late 1940s it was evident to many that Graham would be the champion of evangelicalism. His crusades summed up everything that had been done from the times of Charles Finney through Billy Sunday except that he added respectability that some of the others lacked. In the 1950s Graham's crusade counselors were using a prayer that had been sporadically used for some time. It began with a prayer from his Four Steps to Peace with God. The original four-step formula came during Billy Sunday's era called in a tract called Four Things God Wants you to Know. The altar call system of Graham had been refined by a precise protocol of music, trained counselors and a speaking technique all geared to help people 'accept Christ as Savior.'

In the late 1950s Bill Bright came up with the exact form of the currently popular Four Spiritual Laws so that the average believer could take the crusade experience into the living room of their neighbor. Of course, this method ended with the Sinner's Prayer. Those who responded to crusades and sermons could have the crusade experience at home when they prayed,

"Lord Jesus, I need You. Thank You for dying on the cross for my sins. I open the door of my life and receive You as my Savior and Lord. Thank You for forgiving my sins and giving me eternal life. Take control of the throne of my life. Make me the kind of person You want me to be."

Later, in 1977 Billy Graham published a now famous work entitled, How to Be Born Again. For all the Scripture he used, he never once uses the hallmark rebirth event in the second chapter of the book of Acts. The cataract (blind spot) kept him away from the most powerful conversion event in all Scripture. It is my guess that it's emphasis on baptism and repentance for the forgiveness of sins was incompatible with his approach.

The Living Bible and Beyond

By the late 1960s it seemed that nearly every evangelical was printing some form of the Four Spiritual Laws in the last chapter of their books. Even a Bible was printed with this theology inserted into God's Word. Thus, in the 1960s, the Living Bible's translation became the translation of choice for the crusades as follows:

Even in his own land and among his own people, the Jews, he was not accepted. Only a few welcomed and received him. But to all who received him, he gave the right to become children of God. All they needed to do was to trust him to save them. All those who believe this are reborn! --not a physical rebirth resulting from human passion or plan -- but from the will of God. (John 1:11-13, Living Bible)

The (underlined) words have no support at all in the original Greek. They are a blatant insertion placed by presuppositions of the translator, Kenneth Taylor. I'm not sure that even the Jehovah's Witnesses have authored such a barefaced insertion in their corrupt Scriptures. In defense of Taylor's original motives, the Living Bible was created primarily with children in mind. However, the publishers should have corrected the misleading verse in the 1960s. They somewhat cleared it up in the newer LB in the 1990s, only after the damage has been done. For decades mainstream evangelicals were using the LB and circular reasoning to justify such a strong 'trusting moment' as salvation, never knowing their Bible was corrupted. 

A whole international enterprise of publishers, universities and evangelistic associations were captivated by this method. The phrases, 'Receive Christ,' and 'Trust Jesus as your personal savior,' filled airwaves, sermons, and books. James Kennedy's Evangelism Explosion counselor-training program helped make this concept of conversion an international success. Missionaries everywhere were trained with Sinner's Prayer theology. Evangelicalism had the numbers, the money, the television personas of Graham and Kennedy and any attempt to purport a different plan of salvation would be decried as cultic and 'heresy.'

Most evangelicals are ignorant of where their practice came from or how Christians from other periods viewed biblical conversion. C.S. Lewis regarded it as chronological snobbery when we don't review our beliefs against the conclusions of others:

'Most of all, perhaps, we need intimate knowledge of the past. Not that the past has any magic about it, but because we cannot study the future, and yet need something to set against the present, to remind us that the basic assumptions have been quite different in different periods and that much which seems certain to the uneducated is merely temporary fashion. A man who has lived in many places is not likely to be deceived by the local errors of his native village; the scholar has lived in many times and is therefore in some degree immune from the great cataract of nonsense that pours from the press and the microphone of his own age.' (Learning in Wartime, 1939)

While most do this unknowingly, evangelicals are skewing church auditoriums all over the world from a clear picture of conversion with a nonsensical practice.

-- Stephen Francis Staten

*This article is an overview of Steve's up and coming book being written on the origins of the Sinner's Prayer.*

Thanks for Taking the time,

Curtis

As I read passages like Mark 12:30, it's pretty clear that God is interested in connecting with the whole person rather than simply compartmentalizing or settling for the parts of us that we only feel comfortable engaging.  So our theology is not limited to our head knowledge, but is complete when knowledge, emotions, passions and actions are all lined up with God's will.  Obviously, that's a life-long process, and as daunting as it may seem, anyone who desires to truly walk with God must engage Him with everything.  I'm realizing that when my theology is off, in other words, when I decide to ignore, minimize or reject major parts of the Bible, it's usually an indicator of a much deeper heart issue (unresolved hurt, over-sentimentality, broken trust, arrogance etc.) and most likely represents the area where I need God the most.  

When you really think about it, we're all theologians...

Check this out:

"Has not my hand made all these things, 
   and so they came into being?” 
            declares the LORD.

   “These are the ones I look on with favor: 
   those who are humble and contrite in spirit, 
   and who tremble at my word."

Isaiah 66:2

Thanks for taking the time,

Curtis

ORIGINS OF EASTER

Bunnies Do Lay Eggs! 

So I reasoned as a five-year-old. After all, the legendary rabbit had visited our home that night, depositing a pile of brightly colored eggs. Why he hid them, I did not know. Why some were plain, like ordinary chicken eggs, while others were delicious chocolate, was a mystery. And as to how all this tied in to Easter church services, I was clueless. But those eggs--where else could they have come from if the Easter Bunny hadn't laid them? I was totally confused! And today's religious world is in a most confused state, particularly the part professing to be Christian.

What about Easter -- with its colored eggs, sunrise services, pageants and parades, hot cross buns and invisible rabbits? Is this high holy day of Christianity Bible-based, or just a bit of fun on the level of Halloween? If Jesus Christ was crucified on a Friday, as most scholars maintain, and rose on a Sunday (Easter Sunday), is there anything wrong with commemorating his resurrection from the dead? If you are like me, you have been confused over the true origins of Easter. Now, you may not have drawn the conclusion that bunnies lay eggs, but still you may have accepted on faith a number of things that are biblically groundless (1 Corinthians 4:6). 

Christian Commemoration?

The Christian church appears not to have regularly celebrated Easter until the second century, according to the witness of early tradition and church history. In fact, there is no biblical command to observe Easter. Acts 12:4 in the King James Version uses the word "Easter," but this clear mistranslation is corrected to Passover in every modern translation, including the New King James Version.

Like Christmas, Easter is a blend of pagan superstitions and Christian concepts. Historically, the major problem with observing Easter has been the double standard in commitment that it reinforces. If some days are holy, or special, then others are not. And if observing one day as holy means we are giving God less than our best on the other days, we are violating Jesus' command for every true disciple to take up his cross daily (Luke 9:23). 

Paul too warned of the dangers of occasional commitment. Galatians 4:8-11 confronts the kind of thinking that reasons, "If I attend the special service, even though I often miss 'regular' Sundays, I will be acceptable to Go--'since one Easter or Christmas is worth at least 25 regular Sundays!" This double standard leads to lukewarmness and hypocrisy. This is not to say it is a sin to treat some days as more special than others (Romans 14:5-6), yet we must beware of the pitfall of double-standard commitment so prevalent in our religious world today. 

Pagan playground 

 It has been posited that Easter (Eostre) is the English spelling of the ancient Assyrian goddess Ishtar, the fertility goddess and consort of Baal, who repeatedly led ancient Israel into idolatry and immorality! In Babylon her worshippers observed a 40-day "Lent" before Easter, and numerous other pagan religions observed a similar "Lenten" period. Lent, in other words, is a pagan practice absorbed into Christianity. For example, dyed eggs were sacred Easter offerings in ancient Egyptian temples. Naturally, the egg is a symbol of birth, and ties in closely with sun worship, a practice condemned by the prophet Ezekiel (Ezekiel 8:15-18). Worshipers met the rising sun god at daybreak. And in the ancient Mediterranean world, the pagan cult of Cybele commemorated the death and resurrection of their god annually -- at Easter, of course. In short, the special features of the Easter season are nearly all borrowed from idolatrous religion. 

Burn the Bunny?

Should we burn the Easter Bunny, smash the colored eggs (disappointing our children by abandoning the Easter egg hunt), and pray for the parades to be rained into the ground? Some would say so. My position is that these practices are not necessarily harmful, and today do no more honor to the old pagan gods or religions than using pagan names for days of the week honors the sun, moon, Woden, Saturn, or Thor. Once again, the snare of the Easter mentality is the license for lukewarmness; for hundreds of millions of nominal Christians, Easter and other "special" days become the focus and excuse for worldly living the rest of the year. In short, they have been "taken captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of the world rather than on Christ" (Colossians 2:8). 

He is Risen, Anyway! 

As long as we are not taken captive by the worldly principles behind Easter so that we compromise our commitment, there is no harm in observing Easter. In fact, Easter can and should be a time of great celebration. Christ the Lord is risen indeed! Make the most of the holiday, honor the Lord, avoid the pitfalls. 

Welcome, happy morning! 

Thanks for taking the time,

Curtis

I'm so proud of the singles who have been spiritually stuck in their addictive pasts (and even some in current addictions), yet have been coming clean and turning themselves in.  Some have even put relationships on hold in order to really focus in on their recovery.   As a result, the CR ministry for the singles is at capacity, with several others waiting to get in.  I couldn't be happier!

In a weird way, I think people who struggle with addiction to drugs and/or alcohol are more fortunate than others.  The Bible says we're all spiritually sick to some degree, but because chemical addiction is so outwardly destructive to society and the lives of others, there is a collective sense of urgency to treat it. However, I believe the very nature of sin is addictive.  Gone undealt with, things like co-dependency, narcissism, gluttony and workaholism are every bit as destructive to the souls of Christians as chemical addiction.  Unfortunately, we're conditioned as a society (and possibly even within the church?) to overlook these addictions, making them even more insidious.

I pray that we will all be able to "smash our idols" and deal with whatever is keeping us from truly connecting with God's love and mercy.

Thanks for taking the time,

Curtis 

2. Ignoring the Problem  - One way to keep from finding answers  to a problem is to pretend the problem doesn't exist.  Ignoring symptoms can postpone the trauma of facing facts.  We can go to great lengths to ignore the problem.  Someone who is co-dependent, for instance, will help a person by entering into his fantasy world and pretending  with him or by keeping  him from facing the negative  consequences. 

3. Minimization – This is when we deny the severity of the issue.  We use euphemisms and understatements to keep from recognizing the acuteness of the problem. “Pleasingly plump” instead of fat, “bad habit” instead of addiction, “shy” rather than cowardly, and “expressive” instead of admitting we have anger issues are a few popular minimizations.

4. Rationalization - When minimization crumbles, rationalization is quick to replace it. This means justifying actions.  "lt’s OK because..." Self-pity is the stem on which  the fig leaf of rationalization grow.  We can develop elaborate cases for maintaining our behavior by blaming people, circumstances and negative past experiences.

5. Procrastination - Rooted in laziness, knowing the good we should do, and failing to do it. Someone once said, 'The road to hell is paved with good intentions." The fig leaf of procrastination sometimes remains when all the others have slipped; it can stall recovery for years.

6. Humor - Making light of the problem joking  about impending disaster, is an unusually effective form of denial.  It is the companion of minimization and rationalization.  Laughing about the problem breaks the tension and fends off conviction.  Unfortunately, without conviction, there can be no healing or long term change.

7. Misapplying  Scriptures - We Christians are great at this one! In order to barricade ourselves against the-nudging of the Holy Spirit, we simply  reapply  a few Scriptures to cover the naked  truth: Forgetting  what ties behind ..., there is no condemnation  for those  who are in Christ Jesus  ... or If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation: the old things have  passed away; behold,  new things  have come.  We don't try on this Scripture:  He who conceals his sins will not prosper (Proverbs  28:13).  We forget, Satan tried taking scriptures out of context in tempting Jesus Christ.

8.  False Positive Thinking and Confession - The soul attempting  to reassure itself that everything is fine is an elaborate fig leaf.  Grabbing  at religious phrases  and mis-applying them to oneself to escape  the truth is the soul's attempting  to recover  from the Fall by itself.  Positivism without spiritual change profits nothing. Trying to convince ourselves that  negative facts do not exist  because we are Christian is a form  of denial masquerading  as a Christian doctrine. True faith does not deny reality  but walks through (2 Corinthians  l2:9-10). Today's Christian usually says, 'What weakness?  I have the power to rule and reign!"

9. Lack of Discernment - The inability to recognize the difference  between the work of the Spirit and the works of the flesh  reinforces denial.  Destructive behavior can be disguised behind "spiritual boldness" or "faith" or "dedication." This is especially true of people who seem to be “spiritual” when in fact they are filled with anger and depression.  Another manifestation of this fig leaf is the inability to discern the origin of guilt.  Is it coming from the devil or from the conviction of the Holy Spirit? Often when the Spirit of God helps us see truth, we condemn Him as being the voice of the devil.

10. False Guilt - this person tends to use the hopeless feeling of having sinned against God and others to fling himself farther away from  recovery and deeper into the problem.  Hopeless guilt comes from the devil who assures us we are guilty of a terrible crime; there is no hope.  Many people deny that help exists and is available to them.  This belief is reinforced whenever the person attempts to reassert his willpower to deal with the problem and fails miserably,  going back to his destructive behavior and perpetuating guilt.

 Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.                                                                                                                                                                                   Ephesians 4:15-16 (NLT)

Thanks for taking the time,

Curtis