Easter is Coming Early!

“Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen!” Luke 24:5-6

Wow! Have you noticed? Easter is coming very early this year, March 23rd. I don't know what the weather will be like by then, but the mounds of snow in the church parking lot are just now starting to melt down a little.

It has been a cold, but very productive winter for Baker City and the whole Baker Valley. We have prayed often for rain because of the drought conditions we have been dealing with for several years. Nobody really likes having to deal with snow storms and icy road conditions, and yet, God has answered our prayers. We have one of the best snow packs here in the valley and up in the mountains in years. Remember to thank the Lord and give Him the glory for much needed moisture throughout our region.

But cold and wet weather doesn't seem like the right kind of weather for Easter. Easter conjures up visions of flowers breaking up through the soil, blossoms in the trees, new born calves and lambs, and just warmer weather in general. Like I said, we don't know what another three weeks will bring in the way of weather, but it sure seems cold, snowy, and wet right now.

Hopefully, thoughts about Easter bring to mind more than fair weather and all the new life that spring brings into being, or Easter bunnies and colored eggs.

I would hope for those of us who are believers in Jesus Christ, the first thoughts of Easter are images of the risen Lord, Jesus Christ! Resurrected from the grave, standing before us in glorious splendor.

We live in an age and culture that has been trying to push images of Jesus out of Easter. The culture would rather just celebrate Easter Bunnies and have Easter Egg hunts in the park, and “Spring Holiday” programs at school. There is nothing wrong with these things, mind you, that is as long as Jesus is exalted to his rightful place.

What is that "rightful place?" He is the exalted Lord; the King of Kings and Lord of Lords; Name above all names; the Root and the Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star. As we say at Christmas time, “He is the reason for the season.”

People can say what they want about Easter, that it is really a holiday derived from pagan roots, or that the name Easter is derived from a pagan god. It doesn’t really matter what people say, because, it is without question a date on the calendar that has been claimed for the celebration and remembrance of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ dating back to the early church.

Stand up and be counted this Easter Season. Share your faith with those around you, and be sure to invite your friends and family to church to celebrate this wondrous and most glorious day, remembering the Resurrection of Jesus Christ!

A Course in Miracles??

Recently I came across a very interesting article written by Mike Loos, a member of Christ's Church of the Valley in Peoria, Arizona. It is about a new direction Oprah Winfrey is taking in the area of spirituality. I hope you take the time to read the whole article, it is well researched and very eye opening.

A New Age Christ
By Mike Loos

Starting in January 2008, listeners to Oprah Winfrey's "Oprah and Friends" XM radio station will get a year-long opportunity to hear a daily lesson from A Course in Miracles, a program that many have called the "New Age Bible". This daily instruction will be provided in an hour-long show, hosted by Marianne Williamson, a popular New Age author that Oprah first launched to stardom in 1992. And not surprisingly, this New Age Bible has a little different message than the Christian one. In fact, A Course in Miracles directly explains how it intends to be a course in "mind training" and "thought reversal", specifically in how it upends and twists a great deal of what Jesus taught in the real Bible. This makes the Course more than just a daily fix of feel-good New Age nonsense; it's dangerous perversion of Biblical truths that Christians need to be wary of.

The Course
Like most “new” religions, the theology behind A Course in Miracles came through a set of supposed revelations that were captured in written form by a normal person who was responding to an “inner voice.” Not unlike the beginnings of Mormonism or the roots of Scientology, the Course came into existence as a solution to the “troubled times” that humanity was going through. In this case, the voice of Jesus supposedly spoke to a Professor of Medical Psychology at Columbia University by the name of Helen Schucman. As Schucman explained later, "The voice made no sound, but seemed to be giving me a kind of rapid inner diction which I took down in a shorthand notebook."

Schucman spent seven years transcribing the revelations she was receiving and the Course was quietly published in 1975. It then languished in obscurity until 1992 when Marianne Williamson wrote a book entitled A Return To Love, based on the teachings of the Course. The book became an Oprah favorite, which rocketed it and Williamson to super-stardom. And now Oprah and Marianne are now taking the message to the next level.

So what is the message that will be beaming to millions of XM radio listeners? Here’s some examples from the Course in Miracles:

There is No Sin
In Lesson 101, the Course teaches that “God's Will for you is perfect happiness because there is no sin and suffering is causeless. Joy is just, and pain is but the sign you have misunderstood yourself. Fear not the Will of God. But turn to it in confidence that it will set you free from all the consequences sin has wrought in feverish imagination.”

The Bible, of course, teaches a far different message. One of my favorite passage is Genesis 4:7 which says: “If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.” Sin is not just an inconvenience or something to pretend does not exist. As Romans 6:23 explains, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

In contrast, Chapter 13 of the Course teaches that “The Atonement is the final lesson [man] need learn, for it teaches him that, never having sinned, he has no need of salvation.”

Believe that, and you’re making a mistake that could ultimately cost you eternity.

Christ Has No Meaning
In Chapter 20, the Course advise us to “not spend [the Holy Week] brooding on the crucifixion of God's Son, but happily in the celebration of his release. For Easter is the sign of peace, not pain. A slain Christ has no meaning. But a risen Christ becomes the symbol of the Son of God's forgiveness on himself; the sign he looks upon himself as healed and whole.”

This is slippery passage, because it’s full of half-truths. Yes, the risen Christ is a symbol of God’s forgiveness, but not of himself. Why would God have to forgive himself? And Christ’s death of the cross was hardly “useless.” It was necessary to purchase our salvation, yours and mine.

In Chapter 4, the Course also advises: “The journey to the cross should be the last useless journey" and “Do not make the pathetic error of "clinging to the old rugged cross."

These are more direct attacks on Christian beliefs. Rather than being a “useless journey,” Jesus’s death on the cross was a victory that was prophesized through the Old Testament and celebrated throughout the New Testament. The meaning could not be more clear.

Christ Is Just a Symbol
In its “Manual for Teachers”, the Course explains that “The name of Jesus Christ as such is but a symbol. But it stands for love that is not of this world. It is a symbol that is safely used as a replacement for the many names of all the gods to which you pray.”

And what does the Bible say about this? We can start in Exodus where we know we’ll find God warning that “You shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:3) and to “Be careful to do everything I have said to you. Do not invoke the names of other gods; do not let them be heard on your lips” (Exodus 23:13). Christ might stand for love, but He was no mere symbol. He was, is, and shall always be, the savior of the world.

There are many more examples like this in the Course, but you likely get the idea.

The Deception
So why is this a big deal? Why should Christians worry about a bunch of New Age nonsense like this? Yeah, it’s clearly a bit screwed up, but it’s harmless, right? Why should we care?

For one, because God has asked us to care. In Jude 3, the Bible teaches that we should “contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints.” In Revelation 2:2, Jesus commends the church in Ephesus by saying that “I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false.” In other words, it’s important to call out false apostles and expose them for what they really are. Jesus spoke of this earlier in Matthew 24 when he warned about false teachers who would pretend to be Him.

And in 2008 if you were a false messiah, and you wanted to get your message in front of as many people as possible, how would you do it? Here’s an idea: How about a radio show that’s beamed every day over satellite to the fanatic fans of the most-popular talk show host in the world? Would that work? Yeah, that might just do it.

And I bet Satan would agree.

References
"Oprah and Friends" To Teach Course on New Age Christ, Warren Smith, Herescope (Nov 09, 2007)

A Return To Love, Marianne Williamson, Harper Collins (1992)

A Course in Miracles: Text, Workbook for Students, Manual for Teachers, online, Foundation for Inner Peace (www.acim.org)

About the Author- Mike Loos and his family have been Christ's Church of the Valley members since 2000. Mike works as an executive in an enterprise software company and spends his spare time as a writer, triathlete and avid sports fan.

5 Kinds of Christians

Today I have been meditating on the cross and the resurrection. As I prepare for the Easter season my mind enters into the Passion of Jesus Christ. Not the movie, but the actual struggle that Jesus experienced as he approached the cross. Picturing not only his struggle, but his unswerving commitment to us (by "us" I mean all of us who were lost in our sin).

As I contemplated this fact, I was doing some reading and came across an interesting article about five kinds of Christians that are found in the world today.

As believers we all live a different sort of commitment to the One who sacrificed his own life for us. Jesus loves us so much he was willing to suffer the most gruesome death ever for our sake. I have often heard it said that "If Jesus was willing to die for us, the least we can do is live for him."

Well, those of us who believe do live for him, but in several different ways. Let me share with you these five kinds of Christians.

Knowledge Networks research has identified these 5 distinctive segments among the U.S. Christian population. Here is how they compare:

Active Christians-19%. Believe salvation comes through Christ. Committed churchgoers. Bible readers. Accept leadership positions. Invest in personal faith development through the church. Feel obligated to share faith; 79% do so.

Professing Christians-20%. Believe salvation comes through Christ. Focus on personal relationship with God and Jesus. Similar beliefs to Active Christians, different actions. Less involved in attending and serving in church. Less committed to Bible reading or sharing faith.

Liturgical Christians-16%. Mostly Catholic and Lutheran. Regular churchgoers. High level of spiritual activity, mostly by serving in church and/or community. Recognize authority of the church.

Private Christians-24%. Largest and youngest segment. Believe in God and doing good. Own a Bible, but don't read it. Spiritual interest, but not within church context. Only 1 in 3 attend church at all. Not church leaders.

Cultural Christians-21%. Little outward religious behavior or attitudes. God- aware, but little personal involvement with God. Jesus not viewed as essential to salvation. Affirm many ways to God. Favor universality theology. Leadershipjournal.net Fall '07

Jesus said in Luke 9:23-24, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it."

Admittedly it would appear that Jesus is calling us to a deeper commitment than some are willing to live. The Apostle Paul encourages us in 2 Corinthians 13:5, "Check up on yourselves. Are you really Christians? Do you pass the test? Do you feel Christ's presence and power more and more within you? Or are you just pretending to be Christians when actually you aren't at all?" (this translation is taken from The Living Bible).

No, it is not for us to judge our brother or sister as to what kind of Christian they are, but it is up to each and everyone of us to evaluate ourselves, to examine ourselves to see if we pass the test as true believers in Christ. The Bible warns us over and over again, "do not deceive yourselves" (James 1:22-23).

May God bless you today with a sure faith in Christ.

God is Good All the Time!

A phrase we often hear in the Bible is "Give thanks to the Lord for He is good; His love endures forever" (Psalm 106:1; Ps. 107:1; Ps. 118:1; and all through Ps. 136).

I find this phrase to be a very profound thought. The reality of life is...things are not always good. Often times really BAD things happen to us, or to those we love. So how is it that God is good all the time, and yet He allows bad things to happen to us.

For me, in the trials of life, I really cling to a verse found in Romans Chapter 8. There we read, "And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose" (Romans 8:28). First of all we need to understand what this verse is NOT saying. It is NOT saying that God CAUSES all things. No! There is sin in the world, and God does not cause people to sin, that is a choice. There is evil in the world, and God does not cause people to be evil, or to do evil things. Again, that is a choice.

What God does cause is this: He causes everything that happens in the world, good or bad, to work together for our good. It's kind of like making a cake from scratch. There are several ingredients that make up a lovely, tasty cake: I'm no cook, but I know that most every cake has, flour, eggs, sugar, oil, baking powder and/or baking soda in it. Now think about it...when you bite into that cake it tastes delicious, but what if you had to eat all those ingredients one at a time.

I think most of us would gag if we tried to eat the flour by itself. Some people can eat a raw egg, but I find it quite disgusting. What about the baking powder, have you ever dared to put even a little dab 0f baking powder to your tongue. These things don't taste good alone, in fact they can be disgusting or bitter. THE POINT: Things in our lives come at us one at a time. Some things are fun and good, like sugar or honey. Other things in life are difficult, sad, or bitter, causing us disappointment and grief.

But God is good, and He has given us a promise. He will take all these ingredients of our life and He will mix them together, stirring them up, so that they will come out good for us, making us better people, good people. Making us into the kind of people that can give Him the glory for all the good in our lives.

We also need to remember that if we didn't put the baking powder into the mix our cake would not turn out right. It took a very bitter ingredient to make the cake good. The point is that God knows us better than we do, and He knows that he must allow (not cause) some bad things to happen in our lives for us to turn out good.

The final point is this. Does God cause all things to work together for the good of everyone? The answer to that is, "NO!" The promise is made to those who love Him, for those who have been called according to His purpose. The question we must ask ourselves when going through the trials of life is this...Do I love God? Do I show my love for Him by living a life that is pleasing in His sight? Do I live for and according to His purposes in the world, or do I just live my life for myself and my own purposes of life? Bottom line: Do I fit the category of those who have been promise all things to work together for good?

That is something to consider, and something to live for, because the reality is... God is Good All the Time. But for those who live their lives apart from God, He never promise He would make things work out for their good. God is Good, but the Bible also says, "The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness..." If people choose to live apart from God they will certainly not experience His goodness.

I pray that you are experiencing the goodness of God as you love Him and seek His purpose for your life.

BACK HOME

We finally made it back home from Mexico. And what a great trip it was.
While there we worked hard on our project, we did some sight seeing, and experienced the local food and culture. What a great time! And God used us for His glory as we got to touch the lives of so many young children who have had a very tough life, but now are beginning to see the light of God in their lives.
We built two playground sets that the kids were so excited to see come together. You can see how much they need these small little things in their lives. The smiles, the hugs, the joy they expressed was very rewarding.

We got to go to the Teotihuacán Pyramids just outside of Mexico City. They are quite a sight, but also causes you to ponder the dangers of pagan sun worship.

The street between the Pyramid of the Sun and the Pyramid of the Moon is called the Avenue of Death, which causes you to picture the probability of human sacrifices that were made at the top of these pyramids and other places throughout the area.

We also got to go to Mexico City downtown.

At a plaza in the center of the city is the Presidential Palace and a Catholic Cathedral, both built in 14^th or 15^th Century. It is absolutely amazing to look at the incredible structures that people were able to make so many years before having all the technology we have today.

In the end we all agreed that the most amazing thing we experienced while in Mexico was our new found and renewed relationships we made with the staff and children at Niños de México. The kids are so great, so loving, and accepting. To see the smiles and feel their love and appreciation makes all sacrifices worth it.

We experienced some sickness and a few difficulties, but all in all, the trip was an incredible adventure and mission. God is so good. He causes all things to work together for good (Romans 8:28). As long as you keep your eyes on God, serve others for the glory of God, and go in the power of Jesus, you will always be rewarded far more than you were ever able to give. As the Great Commandment says, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:30-31).

May the Lord bless you this week as you go in the Name of Jesus and serve Him wherever you are.