This is a great piece by the superb writer Chris Kratzer, who I consider speaks truth to power. He’s not afraid to call out hypocrisy, judgmentalism and unfairness, especially in Christian circles. In this piece, Chris lays out the conflicting ideas fed to him as a youngster, and as a young Christian, and shows why these ideas are incompatible with the idea of their being ‘No fear in Love’ (1Jn4:18)[1]
Chris’s words in this posting have been set up as a series of screenshots from his original post on Facebook. This is because Chris has recently had one of his posts pirated by some Christian thugs, who edited it so that it said the exact opposite from what he wanted it to say, then republished it while still claiming his authorship. My posting his work as a series of screenshots makes it much harder for vandals to do this; rather than simply copying and pasting text which can be modified, they’d have to do a whole lot more work on it – something such people are usually too lazy to do. This is also why he puts in that request at the end that any reposts be unchanged.
I haven’t posted much recently, and this is because – as my regular readers will know – I ‘do what I see my Father doing’. And just lately He hasn’t been ‘doing’ me posting on my blog.
Lately, I have become more and more concerned about the way in which Christianity has been twisted by a combination of political and religious powers, to the point where many Christians no longer feel comfortable identifying as ‘Christian’ because of the harshness and nastiness that that ‘label’ now – quite rightly – brings to mind in the thoughts of someone not associated with the Faith. People are not wanting to be called Christians any more because of the bad behaviour of right-wing Evangelical nasties. But, personally, I won’t let the pirates and interlopers steal my own birthright: the right to carry the Name of the One Who loves me. Come what may, and even given all the negative connotations that the name carries, it’s still my birthright. Tarnished and sullied by the unclean it may be, but it still means the world to me[1]. It was mine to begin with, before the bad guys stole it and made it unclean to be seen wearing.
I’ve also decided that, at my age[2], it’s my turn to gripe and moan about the ills of society, bureaucracy, officialdom and the lack of any kind of sense of humour in many people. I’ve lived long enough to have seen the unchanging nature of human civilization, its pettiness, its frustrations, its curse of repeating history and not learning past lessons[3] to have hoped from childhood that things must surely get better; they can’t persist in those methods for long, surely? Only to find out that indeed they don’t get better, and they do persist[4].
This isn’t from a point of view of hopelessness. This is from a point of view of someone who is an upbeat, happy and positive person who nevertheless wants to point out the things wrong with society, so that even if nothing ever changes, at least others can see that they are not alone in their frustrations. I have a firm belief in God and in His plans for bringing ordinary people into the blessings of His presence. Maybe that will gradually help to change society in the process; who knows. But this is not the sort of thing you will read about or hear about in the news, because modern news only concentrates a) on the bad news, and b) on the things that politicians are saying – which usually comes under category (a) in its own right 😉 God seems to work more in the quiet, small unassuming things of life, like someone holding open a door for the person following them, or letting a hassled young mum, with an armful of tired toddlers, go first in the queue. The little things of life.
Some of this stuff may appear political. I don’t get involved in party politics; while I do exercise my hard-won right to vote and thereby participate in democracy – which “…is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time…”[5], I don’t openly profess allegiance to any political party. The idea of this series is to address and call out official bullshit no matter its source. I also won’t be addressing every issue on the table; just the ones I feel called to address. My silence on an issue does not indicate any opinion on it in any way.
And I am not necessarily going to propose any solutions, except maybe occasionally to show that there is a better way, and that better way usually involves something that looks like treating others fairly and treating them well. That said, there are a lot of nasty people out there and I’m afraid I do believe that anything bad that happens to those people is simply them getting their own just desserts. I’m not into treating bad people all nicey-nicey. This does not clash with my beliefs on Grace: the undeserved and unearned favour of God Who loves all people. No, this is simply people getting their just desserts so that, hopefully, they can learn from their mistakes and become better people for it.
I’m not claiming to be any better than anyone else. And even if I am, it isn’t anyone else’s place to judge me for that or for anything else. I’m not forcing anyone to read my drivel, but if you find it helpful – which I sincerely hope you will – then that’s great. But, being a Yorkshireman, I like to say it how it is and, if that means I lose others’ favour along the way, then so be it. I’m not in this game to please others anyway 🙂
So, I’ll get on and write some pieces for the series now. I hope you will find them helpful! 😀
Header picture is a beautiful shot of the buildings housing the seat of British Government: the Houses of Parliament, and I use it here to symbolise ‘power’. While much of the current hijacking of Christianity is taking place in the United States, there is also a slow and insidious infiltration of the same types of problems into British Christianity. So, while I am a UK citizen, I could equally have placed a picture of the US Capitol Building as my header picture, and it would have meant the same thing.
It is worth me emphasising at this point that this is not meant to be a doomsday kind of statement, nor is it any claim that ‘things were better back in the day’ because, despite what the naysayers might try to tell you, the average standard of living worldwide is now far better than it has ever been before.
Winston Churchill, quoting an ‘unsourced aphorism’ – someone else invented the phrase, but Churchill quoted it without naming the source – which he likely didn’t know anyway). My source for this information is here
Another collection of bite-sized chunks of wisdom, humour and downright inanity for my readers’ delectation.
Enjoy!
“If you find that your heart has grown bigger than your doctrine, know that it is the doctrine that needs to go, not the heart that needs to be restricted.”
– Jeff Turner
—
“It is far easier to lie convincingly to someone than to convince someone they were lied to”.
– Elim Garak, Star Trek – Deep Space Nine
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“Alexa, why do I have relationship issues with women?”
“This is Siri…”
– Anon
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“It’s amazing that people in the Bible heard directly from God but people today need a Bible to hear from Him”.
– Jamen
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“…trying to hug reality with words”
– Wendy Francisco
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“If you’re going to err, err on the side of love and acceptance and inclusion and trust God with the rest. And the real question here is, ‘Do you trust God enough to do that?’ Are you willing to just love and let go and let God handle everything else, or do you feel like you need to intervene? Do you trust God enough to let go?”
– Rob Cottrell
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“In any legitimate and honest search for truth about a matter, one must first consider at least the possibility that one’s current belief might not be true. Otherwise, why even bother looking? Honest doubts are the fuel that propels any legitimate search for truth”.
– Richard Goyette
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“But failure is not a sign of weakness. It is a sign that you are alive and growing”
– Col. ‘Buzz’ Aldrin, United States Air Force
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“I personally think, after being a church guy my entire life, that religion’s greatest fear is that the manifesting sons and daughters will discover just how powerful they really are, which will result in a total loss of religion’s manipulation and control that came through generations of convincing people of the lie that they are separated from God; worthless sinners headed for eternal torture if they don’t toe the line”.
– Dr. Don Keathley
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“Don’t waste your time debating with people who are committed to misunderstanding you…especially those who just don’t believe there’s any chance they could be wrong”.
– Robert Cottrell
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” ‘….if I could imagine what it would be like to experience judgment…’
Well, we do. Every day. For some people, their sole purpose in life is to judge others; we are surrounded by judgmentalism. But God’s not like that. If there is such a thing as a final judgment (which I doubt), all we will get is ‘this is my child, with whom I am well pleased’. I know that’s how He feels about me now; why should that ever change?”
– Me
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“Only an aircraft is tied to nothing. There is a complete sense of detachment and isolation in the sky”.
– Capt. Laura Savino, Jet Boss: A Female Pilot on Taking Risks and Flying High
—-
“If God created you to be you, but you being you isn’t good enough, then why did God create you in the first place?”
– Chris Kratzer
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“Religion tries to get you TO a place of victory while grace has you living FROM a place of victory.”
– Don Keathley
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“Both the 7th day at creation and Jesus’s “it is finished” from the cross refer to man’s inability or necessity to add to what God had done. We can neither add to, nor take away from, a completed work. Nothing is needed.
“Our response to what is finished does not make it finished. Our response makes us subjectively experience what is finished.
“Our lack of response does not make it unfinished. Our lack of response prevents us from being aware of what is finished.
“Today, rest in your completeness”.
– Dale O’Neal
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“I love you more than anything you could ever do wrong”
– Maarva Andor, Star Wars: Andor, S1 Ep.12
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“Most evangelical churches are built on opposing doctrines. Come just as you are and be saved by grace, now that grace saved you let me tell you the laws you must keep to stay saved…. It’s the old bait and switch. Bait with grace then switch to law once grace hooks them”.
– Don Keathley
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“If leaving religion causes you to give up on God…then…you had a relationship with religion, not a relationship with God!”
– Glenn Regular
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“Don’t limit the way that the Spirit of truth can bring you revelation, truth and the solution. He is much larger than the 66 books that comprise your Bible. He will come down any road to deliver what you need.”
– Don Keathley
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“God doesn’t do guilt, period.
“So: if anyone ever, ever, EVER tries to guilt you into anything, it isn’t God.”
– Rob Grayson
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“Having the Mind of Christ is not a big mystery. It is a mind that thinks in sync with the mind of the Father and expresses itself by saying and doing what the Father says and does…”
– Don Keathley
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“The bit in Hebrews 12, about the ‘sin that so easily entangles’, is precisely about the obsession with sin. Sin (whatever it is) has nothing to do with the redeemed any more; we are dead to it. It’s obsolete”.
– Me
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The narrow way is Jesus plus nothing. You will never fit through the gate carrying all your religious “I must do to be accepted by God” baggage…
– Don Keathley
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“The idea that ‘it’s always darkest just before the dawn’ was clearly invented by someone who was still in bed at the time. And the bloke who said ‘Slow and steady wins the race’ always came last”.
– Me
Within Evangelicalism, there often seems to be a ‘rubber-stamp’ approach to the ‘accepted way’ to ‘become a Christian’ (whatever that means). For many, and especially for pushy evangelists, not only is there only one way to Heaven (Jesus) but there is also only one way to ‘become saved’ by Jesus, and that’s to pray the ‘sinner’s prayer’, or a similar method that is deemed acceptable to the one preaching – never mind what God thinks. And of course it has to be prayed out loud, so that the predator evangelist can hear you and make sure you’re jumping through all – all! – the correct hoops. In fact, to these people, it’s not even acceptable for you to be ‘born-in’, that is, being a Christian from birth because of the church your parents go to, because we are told that ‘God has no grandchildren’ and ‘each of us has to make their own decision for Christ'[1]. In the past, I have mentioned that I know people who are in the Kingdom, and yet never came in by human-approved methods or pathways; instead, God did it. There was no decision, no evangelism, no ‘action’ on the part of the new believer; this is likely part of what evangelists don’t like, because God did it without their help and all their formulae were irrelevant 😀 There is no ‘decision for Christ’ involved, and, well, we can’t have that, now can we? 😉
In reality, of course, every believer’s journey is different, and there is no such thing as a ‘conventional’ ‘conversion'[2]. Here, then, I present an excellent piece by Kenn Burroughs (and used with his permission) where he describes how he ‘unconventionally’ became a Christian with no human intervention; no ‘credit’ to himself or to anyone else. It’s really illuminating; have a read:
I became a Christian thru an unusual way at 2 in the morning on December 7th 1974 in an empty Navy 4 bed barracks room.[3]
Going to church didn’t have anything to do with it.
I didn’t own a bible so that wasn’t involved in this dynamic life changing experience either.
I didn’t know I was supposed to “repent of my sins”, nor was I aware that I “needed a Savior”.
No one “witnessed” to me, whatever that meant; which, when I found out, I referred to it as “christian mugging.”
The current move of the Holy Spirit is “deconstruction”, but because I wasn’t brought up in any real life meaning religious environment, I was into deconstructing from the get go.
I NEVER believed in fiery torture for eternity.
I wasn’t any kind of womanizer so didn’t have sex until I got married, but never understood the “purity culture” mentality.
I always loved the example Jesus showed when it came to treating women instead of Paul’s thing about submission which I thought was beyond unreasonable.
I have NEVER talked about salvation to anyone, so I am not making it up when I say that my faith has been questioned at least once a week for over the 47 years I’ve loved Jesus.
And don’t get me started with denominations, because I don’t understand the reason, the importance, the silliness and even as harsh as it comes across, the stupidity of them. I just don’t get it and in almost half a century it still boggles my mind.
I am not much of a fan of Sunday services because I will never believe that an audience is supposed to sit in rapt attention to one guy spouting out stuff he got by preparing a sermon. I can’t believe the God I believe in works that way.
I have always believed the Holy Spirit was a “she” if pronouns are permissible.
I also believe Jesus loves us, likes us, comforts us, respects us, encourages us, cares for us, and accepts us EXACTLY the way we are regardless of anything.
I’m not much of a supporter of so called “christian” music as I personally got more from God thru “No More Drama” by Mary J. Blige, “Smash Into You” by Beyonce and “1,000 Cranes” by jazz band Hiroshima, which I listen to at least once a week than anything played on christian radio.
So if you are a religious Trump Republican conservative red white and blue pro life church going every time the door opens bible memorizing women should be silent men only as pastors Amazing Grace singer come up front for an altar call repeat after me ask Jesus in your heart to be saved homophobic full of Islamaphobia going to hell if Jesus isn’t Lord believer, [then] I must be the shittiest example of christianity – but that’s okay.
Honestly, because I am loved and accepted by MY God whether you do or not.
– Kenn Burroughs
I think that’s simply excellent, don’t you?
The header picture is of a Blohm & Voss Bv-141, a highly unconventional German reconnaisance aircraft of the World War II era. You can read more about this fascinating aircraft in its Wikipedia article here.
Please allow me to apologise for all the ‘air quotes’ (there I go again!) in that passage. It’s because I am using terminology used by those who do pushy evangelism. I don’t use those phrases (nor do I believe in the concepts) myself.
The December 7th date is interesting. Kenn mentions his being in the Navy, and Dec 7th 1941 was the date the US Navy was attacked at Pearl Harbor, bringing Japan and the USA into the Second World War – Ed
The favourite catch phrase of the street evangelist is the phrase, “If you died tonight, do you know where you would go?”, often followed up by its partner, “Are you secure in your eternal fate?”
And actually, this ‘evangelist’s mantra’ is hollow. And the reason is this: the evangelists themselves don’t really believe it.
According to most of the people who spout this tripe, you cannot actually be sure of your eternal destination because you might make a right pig’s ear of it in the moment before you die.
‘Once saved, always saved‘ is the only way you can ‘know’ where you will go; every other belief apart from ‘once saved, always saved’ is an insecure salvation because you can lose it at the drop of a single ‘sin’. These people aren’t as ‘assured’ as they like to think.
And so, the correct answer to the question, “If you died tonight, do you know where you would go?” (in addition to ‘mind your own business’, of course!) is this:
The idea of the ‘Unforgivable Sin’ is so widespread in Christendom, and so misused by ‘nasty’ Christians, that I felt it important that I reblog this piece from nearly five years ago, which has brought release and blessing to many.
Here you go:
It always amazes me how people who say they believe in the Love of God have this idea that there’s one ‘Special Sin’ that God just can’t find it in Himself to forgive.
Like if someone insults your mother, y’know, that sort of thing.
It just doesn’t make any sense, and the passages in Mark 3:28-30 and Matthew 12:31-32 must mean something different from what people usually think, because Jesus did not deal in harshness; He dealt in love, compassion and gentleness.
But, we are told, there is such a ‘sin’, and it’s called the ‘Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit’.
All you need to do is to Google ‘Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit’ and you will come up with a huge swath of hits, not only of people waving this idea around condemnatorially, but equally of people worried (sometimes literally) to death that they are destined to burn forever in Hell because of a few careless words.
We must remember that the ‘angry God’ model of the Scripture always defaults to the harsh, threatening interpretation, whereas the Jesus model takes us to the better, more gentle and loving interpretation. However, today’s Pharisees, just like those of old, love to find condemning Scriptures that they can use to bash people’s heads in, and because of this they will always default to the harsher interpretation.
Naturally, they seem to revel in the idea that there’s an ‘unpardonable sin’, which seems to be tailor-made for them to wield against the latest set of hapless believers to whom they have taken a dislike: maybe those who believe in Grace; maybe the inclusionists; maybe those who don’t believe that the Bible is infallible and inerrant; certainly anyone who does not agree with them on all small points. (Which is just about everybody, when you think about it!).
The idea is that they gleefully swing this horrific weapon and leave bleeding and despairing people in their wake, feeling that they have passed forever beyond all hope of forgiveness. In truth, there are fewer Scriptures that have brought more misery than this one. Think about it. As a Pharisee, using this most beloved of all your Scriptures, you can verbally condemn someone to believing that oh they’ve really gone and done it now; they will never, ever be forgiven. What better weapon could a Pharisee want?
But this is not the way of Jesus. Of course God forgives all sin. But because this verse is wielded as such a powerful weapon, joyfully weaponized by those who are almost the Enemy’s servants in order to bring all that untold misery and despair to people, it needs to be addressed.
So, what did Jesus mean when He mentioned the ‘unpardonable sin’?
Well, here’s a beautifully simple exegesis of the Matthew passage by my friend Nathan Jennings, where he puts it really clearly. This explanation of the text closely dovetails with my own opinion on the matter. Over to Nathan:
“BLASPHEMY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
Thoughts on Matthew 12:31-32
“Often, I am asked what to do with these verses in light of what we know of the grace and mercy of God through Christ. There are probably a few good ways to look at this. First we have to remember that Jesus, being the full revelation and character of God, forgave his enemies on the cross and throughout his time pre-resurrection. Also if you look at the verses leading up to this we see the Pharisees denying Jesus having the spirit of God as being the means of his healing people and said that it was the spirit of the devil. Immediately following the next set of verses, which begin with a “therefore” indicating the message about to be given is a response/result of the previous text, it states:
“Therefore, I tell you that people will be forgiven for every sin and insult to God. But insulting the Holy Spirit won’t be forgiven. And whoever speaks a word against the Human One will be forgiven. But whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit won’t be forgiven, not in this age or in the age that is coming” –Matthew 12:31-32
Immediately we can see and deduce that insulting /blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is unbelief in the work of the Spirit due to the passage in the text right before this.
Also the word ‘forgiveness’ is better translated as ‘freedom’ or “freedom from something” so, to me, what is basically being said here is:
“Therefore, I tell you that people will be freed from the power of every sin and insult to God. But unbelief in the power and work of the Holy Spirit and the freedom it offers you will result in enslavement, because you’re not believing the truth. And whoever speaks a word against Jesus can still see freedom because the spirit can still be seen. But whoever doesn’t believe in the work of the spirit won’t experience the freedom of their true identity, in this age or the next.
Matthew 12:31-32″
I think that’s brilliant. And, if you feel that you have blasphemed the Spirit, be reassured: youre not. Because the ‘blasphemy against the Holy Spirit’ means essentially a refusal to recognise that it’s the Spirit at work, if you are conscious of the Spirit’s work then you can’t be ‘blaspheming’ Her.
And, in any case, all sin was dealt with at the Cross, once and for all, forever. All sin, including this one. Don’t concentrate on sin, concentrate on Jesus. Christians today are far too preoccupied with sin; they need to leave it in the grave where it belongs!
Some people will judge you for changing. Others will celebrate you for growing. Choose your circle carefully.
– Anon
Let your work and your thinking be driven by a sense of amazement at how brilliant things actually are, not by the need to be vindicated.
– Me
As I like to say, when I’m not exactly sure what I want to say, “I’m going to give the wrong answer first.”
– Josh
Me [to someone vocally judging another person]: ‘Quit bloody judging people and go look in a mirror!’
Judgmental person: ‘Ooooh! You just cussed! That’s a sin in the eyes of the LORD, that is; just you wait ’til I tell Him…’
Me: <thinking> Distraction successful. Job done (how piss-easy was that?) </thinking>
– Me
We shouldn’t conclude that someone doesn’t care about a problem just because they don’t agree with our ideas about how to resolve it.
– Diana
When Jesus said ‘Do not worry’, He was talking about daily needs like food and clothing. If He’d been at all concerned that we were not worrying enough about our ‘eternal destiny’, He would have preached a whole lot more on hellfire and damnation, rather than about us simply not worrying about where our next meal was going to come from.
– Me
You will not heal by going back to what broke you.
– Anon
Yesterday morning, I was so bored with the currently-playing dream that I actually smiled when my alarm went off.
– Me
Unforgiveness is like drinking a poison and expecting someone else to die from it.
– Anon
What a pathetic god they believe in. Unable to get his way, he flings his image bearers into a fire forever rather than spend any of his infinite love or power trying to restore them. What a dick.
– Dave
If you have a problem with me, call me. If you don’t have my number, you don’t know me well enough to have a problem with me.
– Derrick Day
I didn’t want to bring people to my old church precisely because I didn’t want them to hear about the loving God I personally know, in such terrible terms [as one who would send people to burn forever in hell]. I see that now. I wasn’t sure back then why I was so reluctant, but this is why.
– Me
If you make someone’s suffering a bit more bearable today, and their burden a little less heavy, you will have manifested more of God than most religions and ideologies ever get around to doing in their entire life-cycle.
– Jeff Turner
[On people not wanting to be called Christians any more because of the bad behaviour of right-wing Evangelical nasties]:
I won’t let the pirates and interlopers steal my own birthright: the right to carry the Name of the One Who loves me. Come what may, and given all the negative connotations that the name carries, it’s still my birthright. Tarnished and sullied by the unclean it may be, but it still means the world to me.
– Me
These things just never look quite the way you pictured them when praying for them, because if they were exactly what you wanted, they wouldn’t be what you needed.
– Jeff Turner
No Christian should ever cause anyone to doubt that God loves them.
– Keith Giles
Judgmentalism is the root of all sin, imo.
– Me
Faith is not something we do to persuade God; faith is what happens to us when we realize how persuaded God is about us.
– Francois Du Toit
Enjoy what you know; look forward with anticipation to knowing more than you know now; and, most important, enjoy the journey of discovery! 🙂
– Me
One of my favourite pieces, over the last few years, is one from 2017 called ‘Life’s Big Questions‘. I thought that, given these times of fear and uncertainty, it would be a good idea to reblog it for my readers’ edification. So, here we are:
Why doesn’t God answer Life’s Big Questions?
So often, especially when we are distressed, we cry out to God, ‘Why is this happening?’ So often we ask the big questions: why does suffering happen; why is there pain if God is so good; why did my wife die so young?
And the silence is deafening. You listen for the Voice to explain things, like He does so often, and yet on these questions, when it seems so really important, He doesn’t say anything. You can almost feel Him looking at you with His huge compassion…
And I think that the reason is that the answer is so deep, so embedded in God’s purposes, so much unable to be put into words, that there’s no way He’d do it justice with a short answer. Such an answer wouldn’t, in fact, answer the question, because the answer is too immense. In some ways it’s almost as if the answer is ‘Wait and see!’ (although there’s a little more to it than that, as we shall see).
Because, only now, after my entire adult lifetime of following Him and learning to hear His voice; learning to hear His heartbeat; learning to feel the gentle breeze of His Spirit’s guidance; living through the very worst thing that could happen to me (Job 3:25); do I begin to get the slightest inkling of understanding, what it’s all about; the answer to ‘Why?’; the reason for the silence that denies me the quick, easy answer.
And I still can’t tell you ‘why’.
But I am beginning to discern the slightest shadow of an inkling of an answer – but I can’t put it into words. This kind of answer is only discerned, not learned, and even then only by actually living through the answer itself. I can’t teach this. But I do trust Him. And that in itself is part of the answer; learning to trust Him and hearing the answers are both part of the same plan.
The answer does not, cannot, come straight away, nor in one minute or ten. It doesn’t come in a week or even a year. No, these answers take a lifetime for us to even begin to understand, to do more than simply scratch the surface. When, eventually, we have trusted God so much, so often, and for so long, that trust does indeed form part of the answers. And each experience we have with God, the joy, the suffering, the standing with others in need, the worship; each of these events generates for us another tiny sliver of understanding; another tiny piece of the big picture of both our elusive answer and God’s purpose.
In a very real sense, God is honouring us by not simply fobbing us off with a short, trite answer to our questions, because there simply isn’t such an answer that would carry any meaning. Therefore, we have to be patient and learn through life itself; this is the only way in which the answers would carry any meaning, because we would have learned them through actual experience and lived the answers for ourselves.
Big questions deserve big answers, and these take a lifetime to hear and to learn. So when you ask the Big Questions, just imagine Jesus holding out His hand to you, silently saying. “Walk with me. I’ll show you as we go”. And He will.
“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to His purpose” – Rom 8:28
I have touched on the idea of seeing God’s plans worked out in their fulness in a previous post – Leaning and Laughing – about two years ago. The key passage in that post, which dovetails nicely with today’s ideas, is this:
Revelation 15:3 has this picture of Heaven where the people are singing:
“And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are your works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are your ways, O King of the Saints”.
Although in some ways (because Heaven is not bound by time), this song is being sung right now; as far as we perceive it, it is being sung in the future when all the outworkings of God’s plans for our earthly lives will have come to their conclusion.
And those saints (that is, believers) have a Heavenly perspective. They can look at the whole sweep of time and history in its entirety, and when they see that, they sing that song. And notice how they *still* say that God’s ways are just – they are full of justice – and true – they are full of truth. Those people can see that actually despite what they thought during their earthly lives, God was actually in charge all along and was working His purpose out. Through good things and bad; through happiness and also through suffering. They can see the whole story; they have read the ending and it is a happy one, and they praise God for being the ultra-clever dude who has worked it all out for them.
I think that complements todays post nicely.
[Edit] – This post was also published on the Unfundamentalist Christians blog on the Patheos website. Click here to see it on that site.
A couple of years ago, I shared one of the most simple and yet profound songs I know, one of those songs that instantly transports me into the Throne Room of God, so to speak.
Because the truths expressed in that song, and in the article that I wrote on it, are so important and uplifting, I thought that now was a good time to share it once again. So, without further ado, let’s continue:
Your Name’s Above All Names
There are a few songs that, without fail, transport me straight into the Throne Room of God. My spirit is lifted and my heart sings, my hands raise up and I am filled with gratitude for all that God has done for me. Usually there’s tears as well, so full is my heart with love for my King.
And there are likely a few more that would have this effect on me, should I listen to them. I have so many worship songs in my repertoire that I don’t remember all of them, and one of Jesus’s favourite tricks is to drop songs on me at random and completely out of the Blue that remind me of things He’s done in my life. This song that I present to you today, ‘Your Name’s Above All Names’, is one of those songs, and He dropped it on me a couple of weeks ago. For some reason, this song melts my heart and causes the spirit of worship to bubble up from deep inside. I’ll make some more comments later, but first, here’s the song:
Your Name’s above all names
Your power is above all powers
And Your glory, Your glory fills this place
Your Name’s above all names
Your power is above all powers
And Your glory, Your glory fills this place
And that’s it. Nice and simple, but for some reason utterly, utterly profound. And it’s gorgeous.
It may be that this song’s effect on me has a lot to do with the idea of Jesus[1] having the ‘Name that is above all names’ (Phil 2:9). In a similar way to how the knowledge that Jesus defeated death removes all fear from life, so too the knowledge that He is the highest authority in the Universe (and that’s what it means when people say things about His Name being above all other names) removes all the fear that things will not work out right in the end, both in the here-and-now and in the hereafter. And this song reminds me of that belief.
I have written on the idea of the Heavenly Perspective before (here and here) and this concept of Him being the ‘highest authority’ goes along with that idea. I have many friends who believe that God is not in control of things on this Earth. I have many friends who believe the opposite, that He is indeed in complete control of every minute detail. I understand about theodicy; the Big Question about why God, if He is all-powerful and all-loving, does not prevent evil. I’m aware of the phenomenal amount of good things that happen, unheralded and unannounced, on a daily basis, between ordinary people in all walks of life, and just from nature in general too. Sunsets, nice food, cool air, single malt whisky, mountains.
I am also aware that life’s Big Questions deserve Big Answers, and that these answers are usually discerned over a lifetime of walking with God and hearing Him explain things to us. Like all of the really Big God Questions, the truth is somewhere in between the two extremes. God is in control, but not necessarily in the ways that we think He should be. The way we frame our questions almost predicates a particular kind of answer, and that answer is not available in any form which would make sense. Instead, the answers to the Big Questions are based more upon a form of trust: trust in the goodness of God and trust in Jesus (Jn 14:1 (NLT) ) and that that trust is something that is learned as we go along. Every time you see God work something amazing in your life; every time you are thankful for something (whether you think He’s been directly responsible for it or not), you lay another little brick in your building of trust.
Over time, it’s not so much that Life’s Big Questions are answered, more that the questions themselves morph and change into a mode that incorporates the known goodness of God that you have seen and felt and experienced in your life. Increasingly, then, the concept of the Name of Jesus being above all other names and being Lord over your circumstances and those of others, becomes a fluid, trusting reality that incorporates your experience, your worship, your life and your very existence into the life of God. And that Life of God is also present within you too, by His Spirit. All in all, then, it’s a win-win for the believer as we learn to live in this mode of awareness of God’s Presence and yet the freedom to influence events in our own lives ourselves too. You can come to no lasting harm, because underneath are the everlasting arms (Dt 33:27), He will never let go of you (Jn 10:28-29), and nothing can separate you from His Love (Rom 8:38-39).
Maybe that sounds like a huge stretch from the idea of Jesus being the Name above all names. But it’s not, not when you think about it anyway. Because if that Name of Jesus is indeed above everything else, and if indeed He’s ‘exalted to the right hand of the Father’ (Acts 2:33), then His Presence in your life simply has to be the greatest thing you can imagine. No wonder St. Paul waxed so lyrical and enthused so thoroughly and comprehensively, in his letters, about the Love of Christ, and the Grace of God that that Love revealed to us. Salvation is more than just a ‘ticket to heaven’. Amazing though Heaven is going to be, the concept of it all being relevant only after we die is cheapening and reducing the Gospel to just effectively life-insurance. As a great preacher friend of mine once said, your salvation is “…not ‘pie in the sky when we die’. It’s meat on a plate while you wait!” It’s here and now – and yes, of course it’s after death as well.
Maybe, then, that’s why the song has the effect on me that it has. Maybe it’s because it brings home to me how huge, how wide-ranging, how magnificent, how permanent[2] and how complete is the salvation that Jesus has provided for us. As we are ‘in Christ’, everything that is His is ours too (1Jn 4:17). Grasping that marvellous truth is nothing short of life-changing, and indeed we will spend the rest of our earthly lives increasing in our appreciation of just what Jesus has done for us.
Plus, as I said earlier, the song is just gorgeous. From a worship point of view, it doesn’t actually need any theological discussion!
Is it any wonder, then, that this song causes the spirit of worship to rise up within me?
Indeed His name is above all names, and the ramifications of that are huge. Thank You Jesus! Can I encourage you to listen to the song, maybe join in the singing if you like and while you do so, use the song to meditate on the amazing truth of the Name of Jesus being the Name that is above every other name, circumstance, happening, idea and situation, no matter how huge and/or important that thing might be. This is your birthright, it is for you, and it’s for today. Grab it and run with it!
The song is from the Harvestime tape ‘Celebrate’, recorded at Christ for the Nations Institute, Dallas, Texas in 1987. There are mp3 files of all the songs from that album, including this one, on my website VintageWorshipTapes.com.
Of course, Jesus is simply the Anglicised version of the original name that we also call ‘Joshua’, meaning simply ‘God is my Saviour’ or ‘God saves’ (Mt 1:21). The name can also be rendered as things as exotic-sounding as ‘Yahuwah’, ‘Yeshua’ (to which, of course, the only correct response is ‘Bless you!’) or even ‘Yehoshua’ or ‘Yehushua’ for goodness’ sake. I’m sure some people use these names to make themselves sound more ‘spiritual’, like those people who miss out the ‘o’ in the middle of ‘God’ (so, ‘G_d’). Who cares how it’s spelled when the main thing is the Person that the Name is referring to? It’s really pretentious, if you ask me. Would you believe there are even churches where they insist that people not use the word ‘Jesus’. Call me critical if you like but how bloody silly is that….
Permanent, in that I firmly believe in ‘once saved, always saved’ because ‘once in Christ, always in Christ’. If you died ‘in Christ’ (Rom 6:8, 2Tim 2:11), then you cannot be ‘un-died’ back ‘into the flesh’ again. Death is a one-way deal. There are those people (mainly legalists, of course) who believe that you can lose your salvation by things you can do. If you are ‘saved’ from drowning by a lifeboat, then that lifeboat sinks, then you have not been ‘saved’. The ‘once saved, NOT always saved’ brigade believe that Jesus is merely a lifeboat, and that we can sink it. Baloney. He’s the Rock, and He doesn’t sink. In any case, as we have seen, salvation is not just about a ‘ticket to Heaven’; it’s far more wide-reaching than that. Praise God, this is good stuff!
