Guitar Jim

Q3. (3:13-16) In what ways are "bitter envy" and "selfish ambition" (3:14) direct opposites of "humility" (3:13)? A truly humble person puts the needs and wants of others ahead of his own agenda. To be consumed by selfish ambition and bitter envy a person places himself on a whole higher level and regards everyone else as tools and cannon fodder for his own agenda. If someone has the things we desire and we let that get to us in an unhealthy way we embrace bitter envy. If we walk all over people and treat them badly to further our own purposes we embrace selfish ambition. Both traits are definitely not what Christians ought to have in their lives. I worked with a man whose entire being was possessed by bitter envy and selfishness and he was the most unpleasant person I ever knew. How does denial of "bitter envy" and "selfish ambition" prevent healing? God can't sanctify us while we're in denial. We have to confront envy and selfishness and bring them under the rule of God. Take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. How does boasting about these prevent healing? While we're comfortable with how we interact with people and boast about how we've used them and brought them low to lift ourselves up we're of no use to God at all. We must confront the unpleasant aspects of our personalities and deal with them under the lordship of Jesus.

Q2. (3:7-8) Read Matthew 12:34 and 15:18. In light of these verses, why is the tongue untamable? Because it's just too easy to just let a careless word slip out. We give voice to our thoughts . . . speaking out loud what we think in our hearts. We criticize people thinking we're doing it for their benefit, when in reality we're condemning them with our words. We lie freely and we boast ceaselessy. Even if we don't realize it at the time, our words often do more harm than good. What has to happen before it can be tamed? We have to live surrendered lives. I wish I had a foolproof answer to this but all we can do is think before we speak. "Is what I'm about to say going to benefit whoever hears it?" . . . "Is what I'm about to say going to hurt someone?" . . . We need to be constantly on guard and be in prayer at all times seeking God's guidance and restraint before speaking. No wonder some of the extreme orders of monks took vows of silence!

Q1. (3:1-2) Why does James discourage people from aspiring to be teachers of the Word? I don't think discouraging is the right word. James is cautioning people against wanting to be teachers when they themselves still have much to learn about self-control. Then, if you pride yourself on your self-control you become self-righteous and that's not a desirable trait in a teacher either. It's a difficult line to walk, humble and in control of your tongue while confident you can guide others without having a superiority complex. Why is greater strictness appropriate? A teacher should lead by example. If your, or my for that matter, life is chaotic and disordered we have no business telling other people how to live their lives. If we're no more mature than the people we lead we shouldn't be leaders or teachers. Should you set higher standards for your pastor than you do for yourself? In some ways, yes. We have to remember though that pastors are human too. There are some areas where we should expect pastors to have higher standards. Keeping confidences, impartiality, willingness to help people with no reward or appreciation are things that pastors have to do to have credibility. It's a lonely road to walk sometimes. That's why some pastors' best friends are other pastors. If you become too friendly with someone in your congregation the others will resent that.

Q4. (2:20-26) How does James' point about the necessity of works jive with Paul's emphasis on salvation by grace without works (Ephesians 2:8-10)? James doesn't say that works are required for salvation. He simply says that having faith in God and in Jesus as your Savior is not sufficient. Faith must be demonstrated by us doing good works. Paul's argument that we are saved by faith and not by works is followed in that same passage by an exhortation to do good works! In fact Paul writes that these good works have been prepared in advance by God for us to do them. So really the two authors agree that good works are the way to go as far as living out our faith in the world. James' approach is different, that's all. Paul had an extensive education prior to his becoming a Christian and wrote very eloquently. We have evidence if this in Acts where the governor tells Paul that his great learning has driven him mad. James probably grew up with just a basic education and worked with his father Joseph in carpentry prior to assuming leadership of the Church in Jerusalem. His meat and potatoes style of writing would indicate that to be the case. There is nothing fancy in James' epistle. Just down to earth good teacing and advice. His brother Jude was more eloquent. Perhaps he pursued more study than James. Both brothers became Christians not long before Jesus died, it would appear from reading between the lines in the Gospels and Acts. Their scriptural knowledge would have been gained when Jesus opened the minds of the believers to fully understand the scriptures after His resurrection.

Q3. (2:18-19) What is the difference between the "belief" of a demon and the "belief" of a practicing Christian? The "belief" of a non-practicing Christian? The demons believe God exists. Demons are fallen angels. Loyal to Lucifer, they were cast out of Heaven along with him and really have no choice but to continue be loyal. Their fate is sealed. They have no hope of redemption. They, along with Satan, Lucifer, the devil, call him what you will, are going to be cast into the lake of fire following Christ's second coming. I'm not 100% sure about this, but I don't think demons have free will. They are unwaveringly loyal to Satan. They've been made that way. In the same way, I think regular angels are unwaveringly loyal to God. I think the angels are under the authority of the archangels, like armies under commanders only more so. If the archangels are loyal to God then their subordinates are also loyal. So when Satan fell, so did his army of angels, thereby becoming "anti-God" as well. There are so many diverse writings about angels and demons that it's hard to know for sure what the Bible actually teaches about their belief systems because that is not the purpose of the Bible. Suffice to say here that the demons DO believe God exists because they were made that way. They are spiritual beings, not flesh and blood, and inhabit the spirit realm. They are the powers and principalilties referred to by the Apostle Paul against whom we battle, using the armor of God. They also are fully aware of the fate in store for them in the end times, a fate from which there is absolutely no escape! No wonder they tremble with fear, as some translations render this passage! So, the demons believe there is one God and tremble with fear at the very mention if His name!! Practicing Christians believe IN God. We believe that God exists and that His Holy Spirit inhabits our lives and is sanctifying us in preparation for an eternity of being with Him. There is the whole Apostle's Creed that lays out better than I can explain here what Christians believe about God and Jesus, but it's certainly daimetrically opposite to what the demons believe. Our belief in God gives us hope when ordinarily there would be no hope. Our belief gives us joy. We certainly don't tremble with fear at the mention of God and Jesus. We rejoice in the fact that we're part of God's Kingdom! The belief of non-practicing Christians? They believe that everything will turn out OK in the end. That God will somehow not judge then too harshly, pat them on the head and let them into Heaven along with the practicing Christians.

Q2. (2:15-16) To what degree are we responsible for the poor and needy in the church community? According to this passage, we should provide them the necessities of life if they don't have them. I've been involved in a couple of churches where this was actually done, including being the person who went to the bakery every Monday evening when it closed to pick up the bread and other baked goods they didn't sell that day and couldn't by law keep until the next trading day. I was also involved, although not directly affected, at one church where a couple who were church members needed money. They were crying poor and their home fellowship group kicked in with a couple of grand to bail them out of an urgent debt that the couple claimed would cost them their home if not paid quickly. Upon further investigation later it came to light that they weren't poor at all but had spent a substantial amount on a huge share portfolio. They conned the church! Got what they wanted and bolted. How about our responsibility for those outside the church, in the community at large? I've found that churches that get involved in a para-welfare ministry are a blessing to the community, for example the Salvation Army. Even the hardest anti-God thinking people still think well of the Salvation Army. God has blessed that ministry so much because of their total dedication to helping poor and needy people. That's practical Christianity at work if ever I saw it. Then there's Lifeline, a ministry of the Methodist Church, Anglicare, run by the Anglican Church . . Even the Catholics have their St. Vincent de Paul ministry. The community depends on these Christian ministries to help them live, especially when the government cuts back on welfare. Who else is there to take up the slack? In my country the government is always looking for ways to get people off welfare to make themselves look good on paper and it's up to the church based charities to pick up the shortfall. Thank God there are Christian people who in times of hardship give more to these ministries!

Q1. (2:14-18) In what sense is faith dead if it is unaccompanied by action? Faith is bound to actions. If we live for Christ and for His kingdom we need faith in God to get anything worthwhile done. It's our faith in God that enables us to tell people about our beliefs. It is faith in God that enables us to give to His work when we otherwise couldn't afford to do that. It is faith in God that enables us to pray for our children and for others, that they might become believers also. It is faith in God that enables us to not allow ourselves to become polluted by the world's values system and to live morally right lives. It is faith in God that enables us to love our fellow believers and or fellow human beings as well. If we don't do any of these things who's to know we even have faith? If our deeds and actions don't appear any different to anyone else's we aren't demonstrating to anyone that we're Christians. So our faith is dead in the water. In what sense might (if that were possible) it be alive? Well, where there's life there's hope. If we continue to believe in God and in Jesus's sacrifice on our behalf, hopefully we may be able to get our lives sorted out and start living Godly lives.

Q3. (2:9-11) Why does James refer to the Great Commandment as the “Royal Law”? Because Jesus Himself quoted it as the most important law, and because it covers everything. Doing things and living your life out of a spirit of love will ensure you don't break the law. How is it more “royal” than the Mosaic Law? The Mosaic Law took up many books to cover every contingency. People who lived according to the Law of Moses were legalistic and very often self-righteous if they considered themselves good in their own eyes for doing so. Jesus gave us a new commandment to love one another. That was a radical move during His time on earth when the Pharisees were the keepers and instructors of the way to live righteously. How does showing favoritism toward a rich person break the “Royal Law” towards that rich person? By doing that we see the rich person through worldly eyes and not from God's viewpoint. We give them favorable treatment often at the expense of people God values just as highly but who in our world-influenced view don't warrant it. How does it break the “Royal Law” in regard to a poor person? We become guilty of treating as second class someone Jesus died for.

Q2. (2:4) In what way does favoritism make one a judge? By paying more attention to a particular group of people in the church and letting other groups of people slide we are judging the favored ones more deserving of our time and energy . . . and our love . . . than the ones we just give lip service to. We think they're more important to our agenda and try to get God to think the same way sometimes. How does favoritism make one a judge with evil thoughts? By showing favoritism we deny them access to God's love to an extent. God has chosen to work through the church and if we stifle His grace and mercy by favoring some over others we're hurting the body of Christ. Such thinking . . . that some should be favored over others . . . is contrary to God's purpose and therefore evil in His eyes.

Q1. (2:1-3) What kind of person or what kind of sinner do you tend to discriminate against? Me personally? None that I can think of. I've only been involved in typical suburban churches where the typical suburban type of people attended. I've never had any issues with the "wrong crowd" coming into any church I've attended. That is, in the last 30 or so years. Back in the early 1970s I was involved in the surf culture and used to atttend a church run by the founder of the Christian Boardriders, who was the pastor. The whole church was made to be as attractive to the surf enthusiast as possible, while in no way diluting the Gospel. The pastor's mentor was a retired old-school evangelist and he'd get the old gentleman in once a month on a Sunday night to preach the Gospel. There was no discrimination anywhere in sight. The pastor opened his home, the manse next door to the old church, to anyone who needed shelter . . runaways, people trying to kick drugs, teenagers who'd been kicked out of home, etc. Once they had 15 people living there! God provided everything they needed and even with a shoe-string budget no one went hungry. When Pastor Alan came to that church it was in the verge of being closed down. It was what at the time was classed as a Home Mission church, where there was insufficient funding from the members and so it had to be funded by other more financial churches. There were seven little old ladies left in the congregation and you know, they never missed a service. All the surfers who made the church their place of worship loved those ladies and the feeling was mutual. It was very much of its time of course but I always regarded that church as being true to the principles of the first century churches, as I understood them. What kind of people are you (or your church) trying to make a good impression on? I can't really answer that. At the moment I can't get to church because I'm mostly on tour every weekend.

Q4. (1:26-27) Why does James make taming the tongue and caring for the poor the prime tests of pure religion? Why not the quality of our quiet time or worship? Because the world at large doesn't see our quiet time or the quality of our worship. It sees how we live out our lives. We need to be quick to listen and slow to speak. We need to care for the needy. Those outward signs of the Father's Love in our hearts are what separate us from the greed and corruption in the world. These things we should do without neglecting our time spent with God. And if that seems like a full time job . . . it's only because it is!

Q3. What is this "perfect law" that James mentions? How would you define it? The "perfect law" is to "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and love your neighbor as you love yourself." Jesus rightly taught that all the Mosaic laws and the further instructions for living given through the writings of the Old Testament prophets can be summed up in those two perfect laws. If you love the Lord your God with all your heart mind and strength, you will not sin against Him, at least not intentionally. If we do sin we can confess our sin and God will forgive us. If we love our neighbors as we love ourselves, we will not intentionally sin against man either. Therefore love is the central focus of the perfect law. Love inspired by the Holy Spirit indwelling us enables us to live lives that please God. Now that's the perfect ideal. In reality we continue to struggle with human values and human frailties. The human heart is wicked above all else, the Scripture teaches, so we need to continually surrender our will to God's will in order for the law of love to be effective in controlling our thoughts and actions. The Pharisees in Jesus' time on earth had obeying the Jewish law down to a fine art. They were meticulous in their obedience of it down to every little detail and they actively persecuted anyone who wasn't up to their rigid standard of righteousness. But the fault Jesus found in them and for which he roundly condemned them was that they didn't obey God's laws out of love but out of fear. They didn't enforce God's laws on the people they taught out of love but out of a sense of self-righteousness. How does it relate to the "royal law" (2:8)? Jesus quoted an actual writing in the Mosaic law in Leviticus when he taught that we must love the Lord our God and love our neighbor. It's the same law that's been there all the time! Unfortunately it got glossed over by everyone who set about the nit-picking process of obeying every single rule down to offering God a tenth of even the herbs that grew in their gardens at the expense of loving their fellow man! Jesus taught his disciples a new commandment, which even He admitted wasn't that new . . . Love one another. In what sense does it bring liberty? If our actions are motivated by love for God and love for others we have liberty because we live with clear consciences. Love covers over a multitude of sins. If someone wrongs us and we love them, we forgive them. If we do wrong in God's eyes, He will forgive us if we confess our sins to Him. That is a life lived in liberty.

Q2. (1:22) Why are we so easily fooled into thinking that listening to Bible teaching means that we are living out righteous lives? It's hearing without doing. We mentally agree with the sermon or Bible study passage we receive, but don't put into practical application what the teaching says we should or shouldn't do. No wonder outsiders always say the church is full of hypocrites. That is a convenient parroted phrase to excuse themselves from not participating and they maybe don't even know what a hypocrite really is, but nonetheless it's become a catch cry for unbelievers. We need to be frequently questioning our motives for doing even the everyday things in our lives to see if we're really living out righteous lives. We can only really be righteous by God's Grace and forgiveness but we have our part to play. We need to always submit to the Word of God. What is the nature of the self-deception? We hear or read the Word and don't let it sink deep into us. James covered this in the passage about the person who looks into the mirror then walks away and immediately forgets what he looks like. We receive teaching gladly and have the best intentions of putting it into practice, then the worries and busy-ness of life makes us forget all about it. Like the parable of the sower and the seed.

Q1. (1:18) In what sense are we given spiritual birth by the "word of truth"? Faith comes by hearing and hearing the Word of Truth is the way to new spiritual birth. We hear . . . or read in the Bible . . . that God loved us so much that He gave His Son to die for us so that if we believe in Him we have eternal life. So therefore we hear or read the Word of Truth and apply that truth to our lives and we are born again spiritually. What does spiritual life have to do with the Word? To understand what James wrote here all we need to do is look at John's writings. The opening verse of John's Gospel states that: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. In Revelation the triumphant Jesus is also called "The Word of God". In His earthly life we're told Jesus is the Word become flesh. God spoke the world into being. Created it out of nothing just by saying: Let it be!! Nothing that was made was made without The Word, i.e. Jesus. What I'm trying to explain here is that Jesus IS the Word. So hearing the Word (and of course accepting and believing the Word) is what gives us spiritual life. Peter told Jesus straight out: You have the words of eternal life. He was so exactly right, even before his mind had been opened to fully understand Scripture! Jesus praised Peter for that incredible insight.

Q2. (1:13-15) Why do people blame God for evil? It's all too easy to blame God for everything. People blame God for the ills of the world to give themselves an excuse for not being Christians. "I can't believe in a god who will allow children to die" . . . that sort of thing. Does God tempt us with evil? Satan does the tempting. He does this within God's Sovereign will. God will not allow us to be tempted beyond what he can endure, but will provide us an escape. It's up to us to take it though. When we give in to temptation we are, in effect, rejecting God's escape route for whatever reason. We most probably enjoy the particular sin we're being tempted to commit and therefore reject God's way out of it which of course is to say no. That may be oversimplifying it, but in the end that's how it is. Does he tempt sinful people with evil? No, but He allows Satan to lead them astray. Satan has temporary sway in the world until his time is up and then he will then face eternal torment in the lake of fire. Until then, he will continue to try and spoil God's creation as he's been doing since the fall of humankind. Why does he allow people to sin? God created us with a free will. We have to chose how we behave. There's always a choice. The right way is very often the hard way though. Jesus said to do our best to go through the narrow gate because the road to hell is wide and paved with good intentions. That means our righteousness isn't God's righteousness. God's way is for us to live our lives in surrender to Him, not to pursue our own agenda independent of God's plan for us. Why does he allow evil to exist at all? That's a difficult question. God knew before He created the Heavens and the Earth that sin would happen, that Satan would rebel. He knew that and yet He still went ahead and created him! It all comes down to God being a holy being. No one can really understand true holiness. The absolute purity of God is such that He cannot look upon sin. Although the world has existed for what seems like forever, in God's view it's still relatively new. Forever is another concept we can't grasp. A thousand years is like a single day in God's timetable. He has a long range plan to banish sin and imperfection forever, but to do it right . . . according to His holiness . . . he is taking His time and letting Satan and evil in general run their course. God desires worship. In the long run the whole Universe will worship Him as creator and God. Therefore He is in the process of conquering sin and every enemy that has risen against Him so that none will remain and His sovereignty will be unchallenged. For reasons we'll never understand fully, God has chosen to do it the way He's doing it instead of wiping everything out and beginning again.

Q1. (1:2-4) What value have trials had in your life? I hesitate to answer this because I'm still having the trials. It's never over.Since becoming a Christian 31 years ago, I've had chronic agorphobia, which God used initially to bring me back to Him in the first place in search of healing that didn't come. I didn't abandon my faith, even when I got worse and worse. Turns out I had a tumor growing on my pituitary gland which eventually consumed it completely. I'm lucky to be even as healthy as I am, living on medication all the time. As I struggled with health issues my marriage went from bad to worse and eventually we split up in 2007, by which time we were both looking elsewhere for companionship. She found hers at work and I met a lady on line. Through hard work and sacrifice we had built up assets, including the family home which we owned outright, of nearly a million dollars. Today I have a few guitars, my clothes, and half the money I initially had invested in my retirement plan since the global financial crisis took the other half. I live in a rented room in my brother's house. Despite being one of the best musicians in my genre I am under-employed due to the bad economic circumstances these days and, to complicate matters further, the people who control the music industry are bound and determined to put me out of the industry because they can't handle the competition I give their second rate acts. I've been badmouthed out of places where I have been popular with the audiences and now have to travel to out of the way places where I'm not known in order to keep working. When the ememies I have find out where I'm playing they bad mouth me there as well. So, to answer the above question . . . No value at all, I'm afraid. It's very hard to have faith that God is helping me overcome when I keep getting beaten down. Have you let Satan destroy you with those trials? Or allowed God to refine you? I can't say I've LET Satan destroy me. It's just happened despite my earnest and sincere faith that God is on my side. I'd love to think that God is refining me through my living through these very tough times with no end in sight. One thing that has happened which was extremely beneficial for me occured a couple of years ago when I was in so much pain that I couldn't raise either arm for the excruciating pain in both shoulders. I had a feeling it wasn't physically based because all the deep tissue massage, accupuncture and cortisone in the world could made it any better. I sought out Godly Spiritual healing and they got an untold number of demons out of me that had inhabited me since birth due to my grandfather's heavy involvement in freemasonry. During a marathon five-hour healing session I experienced relief and release such as I'd never known before in any counselling or prayer ministry before. During that session the Holy Spirit revealed to the people ministering to me that I had been cursed, not only ancestrally but in this present time, and the name of the town and suburb where the curse had come from was revealed to me. It's where the two most vicious opponents I have in the music industry are located! I really struggle with forgiveness knowing they're still actively and aggresively opposing me. How have you changed? I have become more humble than I've ever been.

Q4. (3 John 9-10) What character flaws does Diotrephes exhibit? Diotrephes is a domineering control freak. He is terribly insecure in his leadership. He is also a slanderer. Can a person be a strong pastoral leader without developing these traits? Of course. The mature pastoral leader would encourage gifted people in his/her congregation to further develop their gifts and guide them, not stifle and supress them. I reckon any leader or pastor should pray that God will keep them aware of any tendancy to pride, insecurity and domineering traits that may develop if not otherwise nipped in the bud. If you have tendencies in yourself towards pride and a controlling spirit, how can you fight against them? I used to have a little card with the gifts of the Spirit written on them stuck to the fridge with a magnet. Seeing that many times a day would remind me to strive to exhibit those qualities. It's also beneficial to keep in mind that whoever would be a leader must be the servant of the rest. Jesus said that to humble James and John. It obviously worked. Despite his position as the beloved disciple John certainly appears to have a very humble and serving heart in his writings. When I was home group leader years ago I kept that saying of Jesus in my head like a mantra. Whoever would be a leader must be the servant of the rest. During my years in the workforce I realized I had leadership ability but I was never comfortable in that role. I preferred to be the 2IC, second in charge. I preferred to defer to someone with greater leadership ability.

Q3. (3 John 5-8) What are the reasons given in these verses for supporting Christian workers in their ministry? Christian workers are working for God and Jesus. As fellow Christians we have a God given command to support them. John considers those who support the ones who go out in to the world as co-workers. 8 "We ought therefore to show hospitality to such men so that we may work together for the truth." What reward comes with becoming a "co-worker," by assisting Christian workers? The reward is in the next life when God rewards faithful servants. Whatever we do for the missionaries we do for Jesus Himself, as He stated plainly in His own words. The welcome we get when we're admitted into God's presence will be beyond our understanding in this life. How effective can Christian workers be without those who support them? Without funds to continue their work Christian workers will not be very effective. And it's not only monetary support that's necessary. We should pray earnestly to God for all Christian workers. We should also keep in contact with them and encourage them. I reckon it'd be a lonely life without letters from home, encouragement and the knowledge that the folks back home are thinking of you.

Q2. (2 John 10-11) Why does the Apostle John tell his readers to refuse hospitality to the false teachers? John is very blunt in what he says here. He knows that if you let false teaching gain a foothold you could very easily succumb to it. The best way to prevent that is to not welcome false teachers into the Church that meets in your home and to not welcome any false teacher seeking hospitality into your home. That's pretty harsh but necessary. At that time the Church was in real danger of being corrupted by the various erroneous teachings that had sprung up. Satan was going all out to prevent God's Church from becoming established on sound Scriptural and Apostolic teaching. What would refusing hospitality mean for a congregation (as opposed to an individual)? Don't let 'em in the door! When you meet to worship don't allow the false teachers to participitate. And certainly don't let them speak or prophesy! What is the border between tolerance and stupidity, when it comes to false teachers? We should tolerate the presence of false teachers when we encounter them and maybe not be rude to them, but at the same time we should early in the encounter establish that we aren't interested in their teaching or philosophy. To slam the door in a Jehovah's Wittness's or a Mormon's face is just plain rude. Do the divisions of denominationalism find justification in this verse? Why or why not? No. There are different denominations . . . . and there are different religions that on the surface appear Christian but aren't. The mainstream Protestant denominations don't differ all that much in their fundamental doctrines. They all believe in Jesus as the Son of God who died for their sins and rose from death to give them eternal life. They also all believe that a personal relationship with Jesus and the indwelling Holy Spirit are necessary to be a true Christian. Their differences lie in some of the things they permit and prohibit in terms of living the Christian life. I personally don't see any harm in those differences because they're minor at best. Even the differing views on predestination and election, gifts of the Spirit etc, don't affect the facts about Jesus' godhood. There are, however, religions that have re-translated the Bible to make it agree with what they believe. They don't believe in Jesus as God. They say God created Jesus first and then, with Jesus' help, created the Heavens and the Earth. Then there is a religion that has added other books to the canon of Scripture and places equal importance on them as they do to the Bible. They also recognize people as Divinely appointed prophets whose writings are elevated to Scriptural importance. Then there are some religions that don't fully recognize the completeness and totality of Jesus's sacrifical death and insist on obeying the Jewish laws as well as kinda sorta accepting Christ as well. Then there is the grand-daddy of all false religions . . . the one that encourages their members to pray to pious people who have died and then been elevated to a position of importance and are worthy of worship. They point to Jesus's earthly mother as the mother of God Himself. They impose man-made rules that supercede the Bible itself in their importance to a member's life in the church. They have in their secret vaults enough evidence to prove a hundred times over that they are a false religion and guard that evidence with unbelievably tight security, while all the time proclaiming themselves to be the protectors and keepers of the faith. Good luck in trying to not show them hospitality! In the eyes of the world THEY are the true Christian church while the ones that teach Biblical truths are pretenders to that position.

Q1. (2 John 9) What is the danger of "running ahead" of Christ's teachings to "deeper truths"? If we do that we're in real danger of adopting an erroneous doctrine instead of the truth laid out in the Bible. Want an everyday example? "God helps those who help themselves" isn't found in the Bible . . . anywhere. I know that's trite but it's a perfect example of a phony religious saying that is man-made. Ironically it's quoted by non-Christians all the time! What is the danger of "running ahead" of Christ's guidance for our lives? We have to stay in step with Jesus. Haven't spoken in tongues yet? Don't sit there saying "banana" backwards until it comes to you. Let the Holy Spirit have His way in His own good time. The devil is crouching at our door just waiting for us to give him an opening to allow the spirit of error into our thinking. If we try to force ourselves to grow spiritually at a rate faster than God knows we're capable of, we WILL come unstuck! What does it mean to "abide" or "continue" in Christ and his teachings? Test the spirits. Read the Bible. Pray for God's guidance. Don't let some fast talker lead you down the garden path into error. Above all, love the Christian brothers and sisters. Why is this so important? There is just so much erroneous teaching around these days that we could find pretty easily anything we want to see hear or read that will make us happy and deceive us into following it to our spiritual detriment. We must weigh every teaching against the Word of God to see if it lines up. If it doesn't, discard it.

Q4. (1 John 5:21) Why does John exhort his "children" to "keep yourselves from idols"? While we may believe in Jesus as God's Son and in His Godhhood and Divinity, we can still stray from our devotion to Him by letting worldly matters occupy pride of place in our everyday thinking. We don't have to bow down and worship something for God to consider it an idol in as far as our spiritual walk is concerned. What seems like an afterthought in John's closing remark is actually a formula for Godly living! What idols distract us from the true God? Money, position, power, worldly glory, the attention of the opposite sex . . . or God forbid, the same sex . . . anything that we set out hearts on at the expense of setting our hearts firmly on God. What idols compete with God for attention in your life? I'm ashamed to say: my career, which I have to promote by myself since I am an independent touring act. I find myself thinking about it more often than I do God sometimes.

Q3. (1 John 5:14-15) What are the two conditions to answered prayer in 1 John? (See also 3:22) We must keep His commands and do what pleases Him. We must also pray in line with God's will. No good asking God for a million dollars. How do we determine God's will so that we can pray boldly, confidently? Bible study. Read it and find out what God likes and hates. Pray according to what we know He desires for us and not for things we know God is against. How often will our prayers be answered when our main motive is to achieve our will? Good luck getting an answer to any prayer sometimes. From my experience God seems to answer some people's prayers far more readily than he does for others. I know a lady who just blunders through life, doing drugs, getting drunk, sleeping with men, using people, yet when she needs something she prays to God and doors just open for her in a way that could only be described as miraculous. Everything gets provided. I was in a Christian band with another blunderer whom God was always cleaning up after. He'd make horrendous mistakes in the choices he'd make and God would have to go into miracle mode to fix it, very often at the expense of his bandmates. I coulnd't count the number of times I drove to work in my truck, begging God to heal my wife who was sick at home with a migraine. It broke my heart to leave her alone in that condition with our pre-school aged daughter but I had to do my job as the sole money earner. Would it have been contrary to His will for God to take away that intense suffering? Never once did He even lessen the pain or reduce the length of her migraines. I gotta say that was almost a deal breaker between me and God. Where was His love when it was so desperately needed? Would it have killed Him to be "The God who heals you"? Now I know people will say that all things work together for good for those who love God. Maybe He was using her suffering to steer her towards a path of closer ties with Him, a more submitted life. If that was the case He certainly picked a pretty brutal way of doing that. I also couldn't count the number of times I begged God to help strengthen my marriage . . . yet here I sit, divorced. God hates divorce, yet He allowed things to deteriorate until there was no reconcilliation possible. There as as many divorced Christians as there are divorced non-Christians. How many of them prayed to God for help? I know a couple who prayed over their children as they grew up, only to see their eldest boy wind up in jail for car theft and drug offenses and their daughter have a kid out of wedlock. They don't go to church any more. Wonder why? God says: I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. At least that scripture is true. I apologize for this extremely negative post, but some of you who seem to always have God's face shine upon you need to realize that in many cases He doesn't seem to care. We all do our best to stand on the promises of God, but many of us have the rug pulled from under us.

Q2. (1 John 5:11-12) What is the difference between saying "this life is in the Christian Church" and "this life is in his Son"? Quite simply, we can't be saved and have eternal life by just undergoing rituals and sacrements. Belonging to the club doesn't get us to Heaven. It's the personal relationship we must have with Jesus Christ, the indwelling of His Holy Spirit, the life lived by faith in Him, that secures us a seat at the table. What should we be doing differently so that we teach a faith relationship rather than a religion? Christian teachers need to be more overt in teaching about the personal relationship we must have with Jesus. The emphasis needs to be on the Holy Spirit's indwelling our hearts rather than toeing the line as far as denominational demands go. I attended a counselling course in conjunction with an outreach crusade years ago and one of the things they warned us against was proseletysing. Don't try to get the inquirer to change churches and come to yours rather than keep going to theirs. I asked the inevitble question: What if they're Catholics? Should I send them back to a church where the personal relationship with Jesus might not be taught? The Catholic Church was helping fund the evangelic outreach because they'd lost many to protestant denominations over the years since Billy Graham's crusades in the 1960s. On Christian radio (which they also funded and made sure any teaching done there was watered down) the Bishop of Brisbane assured his listeners that any Catholic backslider who accepted Christ as their personal Savior would be more than welcome to come to the Catholilc Church and be reuited with it. They gave lip service to the personal relationship with Jesus but didn't truly accept it as necessary. I could hear in his voice the difficulty the guy had in acknowledging that Franklin Graham was gifted by God as an evangelist. What is the difference between "faith" and "faith in Jesus"? Being of the Christian faith means only that we have a general belief that God exists and that Christmas and Easter are about Jesus' birth and death. Faith in Jesus means a life lived in obedience to and in submission to God through a personal relationship with His Son and a heart inhabited by the Holy Spirit.

Q1. (1 John 5:4-5) How does a defeatist mentality differ from a belief that in Christ we have overcome the world? If we believe we're in a no win struggle then we can't possibly win. If we believe we're more than conquerers in Christ then we CAN win the battle against the world forces that oppose the Christian life. What part does faith have in this overcoming? Trying to ovecome in our own strength will see us fail. If we put our faith in Christ and ground ourselves in His teaching and in the Word of God, we will overcome temptation and grow spiritually. What part does unbelief have in a defeatist mentality? If we don't believe God will and wants to help us we're already defeated.

Q4. (1 John 4:11-18) What kind of fear should we have towards God? Even in the New Testament we're told: It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the Living God. We're still human beings and He's still God of the Universe. We need to keep that in mind before we take for granted our ability to stand boldly before the Throne of Grace. We needn't necessarily fear God's judgement but we still need to respect Him and act accordingly, even when praying in intimate private moments. God is the perfect Father. Even if we have a wonderful earthly father, which sadly many of us including me never had, we still respect and fear his punishment for when we do wrong. So should it be in our relationship with our Heavenly Father. What kind of fear is extinguished by his love perfected in us? The fear of judgement and damnation. What kind of attitude should we have towards future judgment? We should actually look forward to it and to hopefully hear the words: Well done thou good and faithful servant.