Archive for June, 2010
Viva Las Vegas
Last week we were privileged to be a part of the mission conference at Liberty Baptist Church in Las Vegas, NV. Throughout the week we felt genuinely loved as missionaries by the staff and we were overwhelmed by the generosity of the congregation. There are several things that stand out in my mind that made the week special – I would like to share one of them with you that involved my son…
We had the opportunity to pass out gospel tracts door-to-door on two separate occasions. As Isaiah took his place beside me after ringing the door bell at one particular house a middle-aged woman opened the door. I greeted her with, “Good morning, we’re from Liberty Baptist Church and we’re out meeting folks in the neighborhood.” She replied in an angry tone, “I don’t peddle religion at your door so don’t peddle your religion at mine.” I said, “Ma’am I’m not peddling religion, I just want to introduce people to Jesus Christ. If people don’t hear the gospel of Jesus Christ they’ll die and go to hell.” Her voice grew louder as she said, “There is no hell and there is no God. You’re messing up that little boy with what you’re doing.” Then she looked at Isaiah and said, “Young man, your father is brainwashing you and telling you lies. There is no hell and there is no God.” I said, “My son knows the Lord and he knows he is going to heaven. Have a good day.” I tried to keep my testimony but inwardly I was seething over what she had said to my son.
As we walked down the street towards the next house I told Isaiah I probably should have quoted a verse of scripture because there is power in the word of God. After a moment he broke the silence and said, “If we ever see that lady again I know what verse I’ll say. The Lord just put it on my heart.” I smiled at him and said, “We’ll I doubt you’ll get that opportunity today.” Little did I know what lay ahead.
About 15 minutes after our encounter with the woman a car pulled quickly up to the curb beside us. The driver asked us what church we were from so I told him. He then jumped out of the car and stood directly in front of me. He heatedly said, “Did you tell my wife she’s going to hell?” I said, “No. That’s not what I said nor is it how I would have said it.” He then called me a liar and said I had a lot of nerve to go around the neighborhood spewing my hate and telling people garbage they didn’t want to hear. Then in his furious diatribe he began using the foulest language imaginable. I told him not to use that language in front of my son but by this time he seemed like a man possessed and incapable of reason. My heart was racing, not out of fear, but more so out of the shock of the encounter. He then looked down at my seven year old son and said, “Your Dad is a liar. There is no #@!% God! There is no #@!% hell! You’re brain washed boy! Someday you’ll see he is lying to you and manipulating you!” At this point I looked down at Isaiah who would occasionally look up at the man and then back down at his own feet. Even though the man was still irate and loud he no longer had my attention. I reached out and touched my son’s shoulder. I wondered what he was thinking and I wanted to let him know everything was going to be okay. Isaiah then opened his mouth and quoted the following scripture to the devilish man that stood before us, “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.” The man continued to yell and Isaiah would stop quoting the verse and then restart due to the intensity of the situation but he eventually quoted the entire verse. The man then got in his car. I quoted Hebrews 9:27 and the man yelled out one more time, “There is no God and there is no hell!”
I was proud of my son. I was proud of my wife for having him memorize so many verses. I am thankful that from a child he has known the scriptures which are able to make him wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus (2 Tim. 3:15). As we walked on down the sidewalk I thought of our Saviour in the wilderness as the Devil stood before him, He simply quoted scripture. There is power in the words of that Book!
“I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth” - 3 John 1:4
Spaghetti Western
We needed a place to stay the second week we were in Colorado. Through a number of phone calls I was connected with Silver State Baptist Youth Camp. Thankfully the camp Director graciously allowed us to lodge in a cabin. He also introduced me to an Italian man from his church named Davide.
Davide drove out to the camp in Sedalia to meet with me two days before we left for Colorado Springs. I listened intently as he shared his testimony as well as his thoughts on ministering in Italy. I would like to share his story and thoughts on Italy with you…
Davide is from Padova, Italy, about 50 km west of Venice. His parents raised him to have a good work ethic and through an acquaintance he was extended an offer to come to America for a job. He was a bartender in Italy and he moved to New Jersey to work in a restaurant. He started as a busboy and worked his way up, eventually moving to Denver to manage a restaurant. His idea of the U.S. was shaped by images of New York City – it was a place that never sleeps. Living in a land where you could get anything and do whatever you wanted appealed to him. He lived with no restraints and reveled in alcohol and drugs. It was in these circumstances that he met his future wife.
His loose living did not affect his adeptness of managing a restaurant but it did begin to cause a strain on his marriage. They decided to look at church as a solution to their marital strife. Davide was raised Catholic and knew he was a sinner from “Day 1” but there was never any solution presented to him to “dump his sin,” as he put it. They visited an evangelical church but the messages brought no conviction and he never heard the gospel. Things at home went from bad to worse and began to spiral out of control. As he drove home one evening in despair he cried out, “God where are you? I know my life is a result of my choices. I know you are there. I need you!” A few weeks later his sister-in-law told him about a Baptist church in the area. Davide and his wife visited and for the first time in his life he heard the gospel. At the invitation there was no hesitation on his part, he went forward and told the altar worker, “I want what you have!” That day he received Jesus Christ as his personal Saviour.
The Bible was the first book that he read in English. Right away the Lord began to convict him about his life. One morning as he read his Bible he began to brush the ashes off the page that had fallen from the cigarette he was smoking. Something in him said, “This is not right.” He quit smoking. Other things began to go as well. Before someone taught him about alcohol he realized it was wrong to drink. No more alcohol and drugs. He would soon quit the restaurant he managed because he was convicted about selling people wine. As Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” Davide’s life is a testimony of the power of the word of God and the Lord’s willingness to give people light who are seeking light.
Many Italians are in spiritual darkness with no knowledge of how to “dump their sin.” Here are a few of the notes I jotted down during my conversation with Davide about Italians and ministering in Italy…
- Most Italians believe that their physical presence in a church is enough to “tip the balance” in their favor in regards to eternal life. Davide told me that in his home town of Padova that people visit the Basilica of Saint Anthony and walk the perimeter inside quietly talking about everyday life and then reach out and touch St. Anthony’s tomb as they pass as a silent gesture of devotion and to help estabish a relationship with God.
- Most Italians know their “faith” (Catholicism) does not work but they don’t have anything else.
- The Catholic religion is based on works which appeals to the flesh.
- Many Italians think of God as a kind of Santa Claus and that they are not bad enough to be turned into hell.
- Most Italians do not read the Bible nor are they taught the Bible so their impressions on religion is affected by what they have seen in the artwork throughout Italy.
- The regions of Italy are very different, not only in food and dialect but the way they think. Therefore, effective outreach with the gospel in one area may differ from that of another area in Italy. In the North, Italians are culturally more independent, less religious, and less influenced by their families.
- Davide stressed dependence upon the Holy Spirit’s leading but made a few suggestions in regards to approaching Italians about their soul… they know nothing about the word of God, they need to get through their mind that God is able to see their thoughts, get them to think about what happens when they die, be personal and relate to them, shake their thoughts about creation, the flood, etc. by going beyond the “fairy tale” with specific facts as to why God did what He did.
- There will be challenges in door-to-door witnessing. Italians are hesitant to talk with strangers at the door because there are a lot of door-to-door salesmen and Jehovah’s Witnesses that frequently visit homes.
- There are good opportunities for public witnessing in piazzas; witnessing at bus and metro stops may be less productive because people will be in more of a hurry and less likely to talk to strangers.
- Building relationships with people will be essential. Once one Italian is saved then they can try to reach their family as well and hopefully the effort will multiply.
- Italians are curious about the negative (hell, Satan, etc.) because it is never presented to them. It may be more effective to ask, “Are you 100% sure you will not go to hell?” rather than the typical “Are you 100% sure you will go to heaven?”
- Generally they are not interested in spiritual things until it is “served in a different plate.” When visiting Italy Davide would say, “Come over this evening and let me tell you what happened to me in America.” Then he could transition from the physical to the spiritual.
I told Davide that I hoped to find Italians that were searching for truth and a desire to know God. He replied, “We know someone in Italy is seeking because you were led of the Lord to go there.” Amen.
“Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.” – John 16:13
The Holiness of God
We were about 100 miles outside of Denver when we first spotted the Rocky Mountains. At first they seemed to be clouds on the horizon but as our eyes adjusted their bluish form stood apart from land and sky. What is it about mountains that fascinate human beings the world over and “calls” many to try to scale their heights? I would submit to you that mountains are a type of God’s holiness and they call to mankind about life with God in eternity (Rom. 1:20). This emotional “implant” is fixed and permanent in all human beings.
“Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of his holiness.” – Psalm 48:1
“Exalt the LORD our God, and worship at his holy hill; for the LORD our God is holy” – Psalm 99:9
“But upon mount Zion… there shall be holiness” – Obadiah 1:17
None of the attributes of God are sounded out so loftily, with such solemnity, and so frequently by angelic beings that stand before His throne as that of the holiness of the Most High. The author A.W. Tozer wrote in his book The Knowledge of the Holy, “We cannot grasp the true meaning of the divine holiness by thinking of someone or something very pure and then raising the concept to the highest degree we are capable of. God’s holiness is not simply the best we know infinitely bettered. We know nothing like the divine holiness. It stands apart, unique, unapproachable, incomprehensible, and unattainable. The natural man is blind to it. He may fear God’s power and admire His wisdom but His holiness he cannot even imagine.”
“Who is like unto thee, O LORD, among the gods? Who is like thee, glorious in holiness” – Exodus 15:11a
“There is none holy as the LORD” – 1 Samuel 2:2a
God alone is absolute holiness. Holy is the way God is. He is absolutely holy with an infinite, incomprehensible fullness of purity. The holiness of God is a perfect and unpolluted freedom from all evil. As we call gold pure that is not tainted by any dross and that garment clean that is free from any spot, so the nature of God is estranged from all shadow of evil. He loves all truth and goodness; He hates all falsity and evil.
Tozer relates the holiness of God to moral health. He writes, “God is holy and He has made holiness the moral condition necessary to the health of His universe. Sin’s temporary presence in the world only accents this. Whatever is holy is healthy; evil is a moral sickness that must end ultimately in death. Since God’s first concern for His universe is its moral health, that is, its holiness, whatever is contrary to this is necessarily under His eternal displeasure. To preserve His creation God must destroy whatever would destroy it. Every wrathful judgment in the history of the world has been a holy act of preservation. The holiness of God, the wrath of God, and the health of the creation are inseparably united. God’s wrath is His utter intolerance of whatever degrades and destroys. He hates iniquity as a mother hates the disease that takes the life of her child.”
God is so holy that He cannot possibly approve of any evil done by another but rather He perfectly abhors it. He abhors it so that his hatred redounds upon the person that commits it. The sweet psalmist of Israel wrote…
“For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness: neither shall evil dwell with thee… thou hatest all workers of iniquity.” – Psalm 5:4,5b
The nature of God is so holy that he cannot but hate sin. The vehemency of this hatred is expressed throughout scripture. He loathes sin so that the very sight of it affects Him with detestation. The prophets wrote…
“Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity” – Habakkuk 1:13a
“And let none of you imagine evil in your hearts against his neighbour; and love no false oath: for all these are things that I hate, saith the LORD” – Zechariah 8:17
Holiness is the substance of God but a quality in a creature. God is holy from Himself, creatures are holy by imputation from Him. Tozer expounds upon this thought as he writes, “God is holy with an absolute holiness that knows no degrees, and this He cannot impart to His creatures. But there is a relative and contingent holiness which He shares with angels and seraphim in heaven and with redeemed men on earth as their preparation for heaven. This holiness God can and does impart to His children. He shares it with them by imputation, and because He made it available to them through the blood of the Lamb, He requires it of them. To Israel first and later to His Church God spoke saying, ‘Be ye holy; for I am holy.’ He did not say, ‘Be ye as holy as I am holy,’ for that would be to demand of us absolute holiness, something that belongs to God alone. Before the uncreated fires of God’s holiness angels veil their
faces. The heavens are not clean and the stars are not pure in His sight. We Christians must like Moses cover ourselves with faith and humility while we steal a quick look at the God whom no man can see and live. The broken and the contrite heart He will not despise. We must hide our unholiness in the wounds of Christ as Moses hid himself in the cleft of the rock while the glory of God passed by.”
We have been in awe of the mountains we have seen while in Colorado. They remind me how frail of a creature I am and how brief the span of my life is on this earth. When we consider the lofty heights of God’s holiness we cannot help but bow our hearts in humble adoration. Sadly the neo-evangelicalism that seems to be the norm in this Laodicean Age (Rev. 3:14-21) in church history has made a mountain into a molehill, debasing the holiness of God while rationalizing the carnality of man.
“…I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up… Above it stood the seraphims… And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory… Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.” – Isaiah 6:1-3,5