So What Is Wrong With The Book and Movie The Shack?

The book The Shack and the movie are really not just sweet little stories of anger management from a Christian perspective. It is much worse than that! Even though the author professes to be a theologian he is not a theologian, instead he chose worldly philosophy in his book. He proposes new, postmodern theology to solve the world's problems, ie, gender identity, anger, world views on religion, etc., ad nausem! Postmodern theology follows this pattern: 1) gather thoughts and experiences from life; 2) review other thoughts and experiences that have been formed into theological constructions in the past (i.e., the Bible); 3) deconstruct these past theologies and retain what resonates with current thoughts and experiences; 4) develop an emerging theology; 5) test it with “the community”; 6) repeat the process. In short, let modern thought and ideas replace old theological constructs so that we are more in harmony with the way the gospel should work to our way of thinking.

So, if you are going to see The Shack as a truly Christian movie...DON'T! The book is a mess theologically and the movie will be worse. Is theology important...Jesus said in His Word it is everything! Remember the discourse with the woman at the well?  How about Paul's warning to Christians of the time of the dangers of wolves in sheeps clothing masquerading as teachers of Christianity? How about the discourse of those having itching ears calling on ministers of the gospel to tell them what they want to hear as opposed to the truth of the human condition? Most Christians today are more into the touchy-feely rather than the theology that is vital to not being led into error. Basically if Oprah Winfrey were making a movie on Christianity The Shack would be it!

The theology of The Shack is not minor to the story; it drives the narrative. Here are a few of the problems as I see them… these are only a few of my concerns. Please use this information to speak truth in love to others who might view the film or read the book and to make a careful decision as to whether you will engage. Danger ahead! Here are some general concerns:

The author presents a false view of God and one that may well be described as heretical.He downplays the importance and uniqueness of the Bible, suppressing it or making it equal to other forms of subjective revelation.

He misrepresents redemption and salvation, opening the door to the possibility of salvation outside of the completed work of Jesus Christ on the cross. We are left with an unbiblical understanding of the persons and nature of God and of His work in this world.

The author confuses the concepts of forgiveness and free will. He introduces teaching that is entirely foreign to the Bible, often stating with certainty what is merely speculative.

He oversteps the bounds of Scripture while downplaying the Bible's importance.

He relies too little on Scripture and too much on his own theological imaginations.

The book's subversive undertones seek to dismantle many aspects of the faith and these are subsequently replaced with doctrinal error.

Note: Please exercise care in reading this book or viewing the movie.
The Shack may be engaging but it contains far too much error. EXERCISE utmost care and concern, critically evaluating the book against the unchanging standard of Scripture.

Here are some actual dialog issues to help illustrate the errors within: One of the most disturbing aspects of The Shack is the behavior of Mack when he is in the presence of God. In the Bible, people are completely over-whelmed when they come into contact with the living God… not so in The Shack. For instance,
- In Isaiah 6 the prophet is allowed to see "the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up" (Isaiah 6:1). Isaiah reacts by crying out "Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts" (Isaiah 6:5)!

- When Moses encountered God in the burning bush, he hid his face for he was afraid to look at God's glory (Exodus 3:6). In Exodus 33 Moses is given just a glimpse of God's glory, but God will show only His back saying "you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live" (Genesis 33:20).

- HOWEVER… in The Shack we find a man who stands in the very presence of God and uses foul language on multiple occasions and expresses anger to God (which in turns makes God cry… really?) (p.92), and who snaps at God in his anger (p.96). This is not a man who is in the presence of One who is far superior to Him, but a man who is in the presence of a peer.

- This portrayal of the relationship of man to God and God to man is a far cry from the Bible's portrayal. And indeed, it must be because the God of The Shack is only a vague resemblance to the God of the Bible. There is no sense of awe as we, through Mack, come into the presence of God.
Young chooses to portray God the Father in ways that Scripture does not. This goes for Young’s presentation of Jesus and The Holy Spirit as well.

At one point in the book, quoting Buckminster Fuller, a Unitarian-Universalist, who wrote a book entitled, I Am a Verb, Young has Papa say, "I am a verb. I am that I am. I will be who I will be. I am a verb! I am alive, dynamic, ever active, and moving. I am verb" (p.204). Papa explains further saying, "If the universe is only a mass of nouns, it is dead. Unless 'I am,' there are no verbs, and verbs are what makes the universe alive" (p.204).

By implication this would seem to indicate that God is not a person or a being, but a force. In reality, verbs are not what make the universe alive; rather, verbs describe the actions of beings that are already alive and active. It is God who makes the universe what it is by being who He is. Though we affirm that God is alive and active in the world, He is no verb. Such a teaching casts doubt on the personhood of God. We can only relate to God as a person, as a noun, and not as a verb.

- In the book, “Papa” tells Mack of the time when the three persons of the Trinity “spoke ourself into human existence as the Son of God.” Nowhere in the Bible is the Father or the HJoly Spirit described as taking on human existence.

- The Christology (presentation of Jesus Christ) of the book is likewise confused. “Papa” tells Mack that, though Jesus is fully God, “he has never drawn upon his nature as God to do anything. He has only lived out of his relationship with me, living in the very same manner that I desire to be in relationship with every human being.” When Jesus healed the blind, “He did so only as a dependent, limited human being trusting in my life and power to be at work within him and through him. Jesus, as a human being, had no power within himself to heal anyone.” This seems to ignore the diety of Christ, looking only at His humanity. The Hypostatic Union of Christ clearly teaches that Jesus was the God-Man… He possessed all of the attributes of God Himself. He did not merely borrow it from the Father during His earthly ministry.

- Also in the book, Jesus tells Mack that he is “the best way any human can relate to Papa or Sarayu.” Not the only way, but merely the best way. - In another chapter, “Papa” corrects Mack’s theology by asserting, “I don’t need to punish people for sin. Sin is its own punishment, devouring you from the inside. It’s not my purpose to punish it; it’s my joy to cure it.” (Note: Without doubt, God’s joy is in the atonement accomplished by the Son. Nevertheless, the Bible consistently reveals God to be the holy and righteous Judge, who will indeed punish sinners. The idea that sin is merely “its own punishment” fits the Eastern concept of karma, but not the Christian Gospel.)

- Further, the relationship of the Father to the Son, in John 17:1-5 is not represented correctly. Scripture teaches that authority and submission are inherent to the Godhead and have existed from the beginning. Jesus was sent by the Father (John 6:57), and Jesus says it is his intention to obey the Father's will (Luke 22:42). The Holy Spirit obeys both the Father and the Son (John 14:26, John 15:26). These are not the result of sin; they are the very nature of the Godhead in which all three persons are equal in essence but exist within a hierarchy of authority and submission.

- This is rejected in favor of an absolute equality of authority among the persons of the Trinity. “Papa” explains that “we have no concept of final authority among us, only unity.” In one of the most bizarre paragraphs of the book, Jesus tells Mack: “Papa is as much submitted to me as I am to him, or Sarayu to me, or Papa to her. Submission is not about authority and it is not obedience; it is all about relationships of love and respect. In fact, we are submitted to you in the same way.”

- The Shack also teaches a form of patripassionism, another ancient heresy that teaches that God the Father suffered on the cross along with God the Son. At one point, Mack notices "scars in [Papa's] wrists, like those he now assumed Jesus also had on his," and later Papa says, "When we three spoke ourself into human existence as the Son of God, we became fully human. We also chose to embrace all the limitations that this entailed. Even though we have always been present in this created universe, we now became flesh and blood." Again, not supported at all in scripture. Jesus Christ alone was the sacrificial lamb of God. He alone died on the cross, was buried, and rose again on the third day, to secure redemption for all who believe.

- There also seems to be several attempts to help God become more relatable. We often anthropomorphize God (attribute human qualities to Him). We do so for our own comfort but also at our own peril. God is spirit (John 4:24), and when He refers to Himself in anthropomorphic terms, it is always as a father. This is important because any attempt to make God a female inevitably leads to goddess religion and God’s becoming some sort of fertility figure, a worship of the creation instead of the Creator (Romans 1:25). And for some reason Papa changes form later in the book to become a gray-haired, pony-tailed male. God does not change Himself to accommodate our flawed understanding of Him. He changes us so we can see Him as He truly is (1 Corinthians 13:12).

- Probably the most dangerous aspects of The Shack‘s message have revolved around questions of universalism, universal redemption, and ultimate reconciliation. Jesus tells Mack: “Those who love me come from every system that exists. They were Buddhists or Mormons, Baptists or Muslims, Democrats, Republicans and many who don’t vote or are not part of any Sunday morning or religious institutions.” In the book, the Jesus character adds, “I have no desire to make them Christian, but I do want to join them in their transformation into sons and daughters of my Papa, into my brothers and sisters, my Beloved.” Mack then asks the obvious question — do all roads lead to Christ? Jesus responds, “Most roads don’t lead anywhere. What it does mean is that I will travel any road to find you.” This may sound pleasing to the ear, but it ignores the narrow way of salvation through Jesus Christ alone. “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6

The obvious question by one theologian is this, “How is it that so many evangelical Christians seem to be drawn not only to this story, but to the theology presented in the narrative — a theology at so many points in conflict with evangelical convictions?

Evangelical observers have not been alone in asking this question. Some have argued that the popularity of The Shack suggests that evangelicals might be shifting their theology in exchange for “nonbiblical metaphorical models of God”, as well as its “nonhierarchical” model of the Trinity and, most importantly, “the theology of universal salvation.” The Shack has introduced and popularized these liberal concepts even among mainstream evangelicals.

As many conservative theologians have suggested; When it comes to The Shack, the really troubling fact is that so many readers are drawn to the theological message of the book, and fail to see how it conflicts with the Bible at so many crucial points. All this reveals a disastrous failure of evangelical discernment. One person has said, “It is hard not to conclude that theological discernment is now a lost art among American evangelicals — and this loss can only lead to theological catastrophe.”

So what’s the answer? The answer is not to ban The Shack or yank it out of the hands of readers, as some have suggested... We need not fear books or movies — we must be ready to answer them… 1 Peter 3:15 but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect…”
We desperately need a theological recovery that can only come from practicing biblical discernment. This will require us to identify the doctrinal dangers of The Shack, and to engage the culture with truth! But our real task, as one theologian has suggested is to, “reacquaint evangelicals with the Bible’s teachings on these very questions and to foster a doctrinal rearmament of Christian believers.” AMEN!

Another Gospel

Paul Young says...

"What is the Gospel? The Good News is not that Jesus has opened up the possibility of salvation and you have been invited to receive Jesus into your life. The Gospel is that Jesus has already included you into His life, into His relationship with God the Father, and into His anointing in the Holy Spirit. The Good News is that Jesus did this without your vote, and whether you believe it or not won’t make it any less or more true." (pp. 117-118).

So, Mr. Young defines the gospel by saying "that Jesus has already included you into His life, into His relationship with God the Father, and into His anointing in the Holy Spirit."  His definition is unclear and is reminiscent of New Age philosophy - as I've mentioned above.  I sought to understand more clearly what he defined the gospel to be.  So, I did a search through his book. The word "gospel" occurs five times, (pp. 34, 117, 165, 167) and the word "gospels" occurs once (p. 4). In none of those occurrences is the gospel defined biblically.

The Bible says...

1 Corinthians 15:1–4, "Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, 2 by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures."

So, we can see that according to the Bible, the gospel is the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus.  It is the sacrifice of Christ on the cross for our sins. This fundamentally basic understanding of the gospel isn't found within Paul Young's words. This made me curious. So, I did some searches in my Kindle edition for different phrases that are related to the gospel.  What I found was not good.

Avoiding the sacrifice of Christ

• "Christ died" occurs zero times.
• Jesus being crucified is found on pages 4, 6, 9, and 11.  But, they are not found in the words of Paul Young. They are found in the words of C. Baxter Kruger who wrote the Foreword.  Furthermore, none of those references mention that Jesus died for our sins.
• On a good note, the phrase "forgiveness of sin" does occur, but only once, again in the forward (p. 4), which is not written by Young.
• The word "atoning" occurs only once on page 248 in a list of scriptures.  The words "atoned" and "atonement" do not occur at all.
• "Propitiation" does not occur at all.
• The word "blood" occurs 4 times (pp. 75, 231, 232, 245).  The only reference to the sacrifice of Christ is found in a list of Scriptures at the end of his book. He does not discuss how the blood of Christ cleanses us of our sins.
• "Sacrifice occurs 17 times on pages 150, 165, 166, 167, 169, 170, 171, and 248.  But, there is a problem.  In regards to the sacrifice of Christ, Young spins the issue negatively by associating it with a "bloodthirsty need for justice" (p. 150), modern day child sacrifice both real and metaphorical (p. 165, 169, 171), the sacrifice he [Paul Young] made as a child so people could hear about Jesus (p. 166), and peoples' living sacrifice in the context of embarrassment (p. 167).  He says perhaps mockingly, that if God affirms child sacrifice shouldn't we, too (p. 169).  He says "God hates child sacrifice" (p. 170) and that "God does not require child sacrifice" (p. 171).  Young mentions the almost-sacrifice of Isaac (p. 170) and the sacrifice required by pagan gods (p. 171).  In one place, he associates sacrifice with magic (p. 171).  He implies that we require a sacrifice, not God (pp. 171-172), and there is a single reference to sacrifice in 1 John 2:2 (p. 248).

This is really disturbing. Why does Paul Young shy away from the sacrifice of Christ as the place where our sins are forgiven by his shed blood?  Let me quote what he says so you can understand what he is saying.

• "God hates child sacrifice and is opposed to it in any form." (p. 170).
• "And how would we religious people interpret this sacrifice? We would declare that it was God who killed Jesus, slaughtering Him as a necessary appeasement for His bloodthirsty need for justice." (pp. 150-151).
•  "One of the narratives about God is that because of sin, God required child sacrifice to appease a sense of righteous indignation and the fury of holiness—Jesus being the ultimate child sacrifice. Well, if God is like that, then doesn’t it make sense that we would follow in God’s footsteps?" (p. 169).
• "Nothing, not even the salvation of the entire cosmos, could ever justify a horrific torture device called a “cross.” (p.  39).

So, Paul Young equates the sacrifice of Jesus with child sacrifice and says that God hates it (p. 170).  He also speaks negatively about the cross of Christ as something that cannot be justified (p. 39).  This is incredibly disturbing.  He is very confused.

Yet, the Bible says...

• Leviticus 17:11, "For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement."
• Acts 20:28, "Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood."
• Galatians 6:14, "But may it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world."
• Ephesians 2:13, "But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ."
• Colossians 1:20, "and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven."
• 1 John 1:7, "but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin."

Why does Paul Young appear to avoid the true nature of the gospel that is Christ's blood atonement for the forgiveness of our sins? I don't know. But I do know that what he says the gospel is, is not biblical. It is another gospel.

Galatians 1:8–9, "But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! 9 As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!"

The gospel is vitally important and should never be redefined or ridiculed. God has declared what it is and he has declared a warning to those who would preach a different one.

Paul says that God submits to us

Paul Young says...

• "What if there is no “plan” for your life but rather a relationship in which God constantly invites us to co-create, respectfully submitting to the choices we bring to the table?" (p. 39).
• "As our children’s choices affect our relationship with them, so too do our choices affect our relationship with God. God submits rather than controls and joins us in the resulting mess of relationship, to participate in co-creating the possibility of life, even in the face of death." (pp. 42-44).
•  What about the cross, in which God submits to our anger, rage, and wrath? (p. 48).
• "But God did not start religion. Rather, religion is among a whole host of things that God did not originate but submits to because we human beings have brought them to the table." (p. 109).
• "This is Jesus. God submitting to our torture machine and transforming it into an icon and monument of grace, so precious to us that we wear it on our rings or around our necks." (pp. 152-154).
• "God submits to Abraham’s choices and creatively works to build something good out of the rubble." (p. 170).
•  "I think evil exists because of our turning from face-to-face-to-face relationship with God, and because we chose to say no to God, to Life and Light and Truth and Good. God, with utmost respect and reverence, submits to our choice even while utterly opposing it." (p. 186).

A low view of God results in a high view of ourselves. In Paul Young's words, God submits to us... to us.  Really?  Not once in my entire life has God ever submitted to me. In fact, in all my experience and all my encounters with Christians, not once has any of them said God has submitted to them. It just doesn't happen. Why? Because it's not biblical, that's why. Nothing in Scripture says God submits to us. But, Paul Young offers his New Age, humanist philosophy in a pleasant, flowing prose in order to say that God submits to us.  The truth is that the Bible says the opposite.

The Bible says...

• James 4:7, "Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you."
• Philippians 3:21, "who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself."
• 1 Peter 5:6, "Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time."

We submit to God because he is sovereign, omniscient, omnipotent and the one we ought to submit to. He is God.  I can only surmise that the scope of Paul Young's theological error is due in part to his oppressive father who required submission, who was terrifying (p. 31), a "righteous man who was never wrong, and he was a strict disciplinarian" (p. 31). Young's reflection of God, I suspect, is a reflection of his apparent resentment towards his father.  Perhaps that is why Paul Young says...

"...the God I grew up with was of little comfort. In fact, that God was considered the originator of evil, a distant deity who had a plan that included the torture of a child. One can’t run to God if God is the perpetrator." (p. 238).

Various Quotes with Comments

By now I assume you've gotten a good understanding of some of the many errors taught by Paul Young in his book The Lies We Believe About God. But there is more. I have provided an outline list of other quotes from the book worth examining. Following each one, I offer a small comment. If, however, you want to see the full list of quotes that I developed in my research of his book for this article, please go here.

1. "I am fundamentally good because I am created “in Christ” as an expression of God, an image bearer, imago dei (see Ephesians 2:10)." (p. 35).
   • Paul Young fails to understand the nature of the fall. It is true that we are made in the image of God (Genesis 1:26). But it is also equally true that we are fallen. In other words, we are sinners and are by nature children of wrath (Ephesians 2:3). Furthermore, if we were fundamentally good, then why does the Bible say that it is man who is deceitful (Jer. 17:9), full of evil (Mark 7:21-23), loves darkness rather than light (John 3:19), cannot come to God on his own (John 6:44), does not seek for God (Rom. 3:10-12), is helpless and ungodly (Rom. 5:6), is a slave of sin (Rom. 6:20; John 8:34), cannot receive spiritual things (1 Cor. 2:14), is dead in his sins (Eph. 2:1), is by nature a child of wrath (Eph. 2:3), and is at enmity with God (Eph. 2:15).
   • I'm not trying to say we are worthless pieces of dung. Not at all.  God values us. But, the fact is that we are fallen and sinful. We are not fundamentally good. We are touched by sin in all that we are and only by God's grace and love can we be saved from the consequences of our sin through the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.
2. "agape, a Greek word that means other-centered, self-giving, committed love." (p. 95).
   • This is a common mistake made by a lot of people. Agape does not always mean "other centered, self giving, committed love."  We find the opposite use of the word as described by Jesus in Luke 11:43. "Woe to you Pharisees! For you love [agape] the chief seats in the synagogues and the respectful greetings in the market places."  Now, this is not that big of a deal. But you would think that someone who wants to make such a blanket statement about agape would do a little bit more research.
3. "Jesus is not the founder of any religion. He did not come to start a new religion to compete with the myriad of other religions that already existed. Rather, Jesus indwelt an inclusive family of faith—in which we are learning to celebrate the presence of God (contemplation and action) and the presence of each other (community)." (pp. 110-111).
   1. Whether Mr. Young likes it or not, Christianity is most definitely a religion. And, Jesus founded Christianity.  It's called "Christ"-ianity.  Now I suspect that why Young says Jesus is not the founder of any religion is because he equates religion with something bad.  He mentions conflicts between faith and religion (p. 52) the dangers of patriotism and religion (p. 100), religion is people based (p. 110), religion is formed by people due to their fears (p. 110), religion is used to control people (p. 111), related to external activities (p. 111), that "we sacrifice our children on the altars of religion" (p. 169), etc.
   2. Now I understand that "religion" can be a bad thing when it is a dominant tradition that imposes rules and separates us from God.  But, the fact is that Mr. Young does not properly represent what the word religion means in the context of Christianity's founder.
4. "To understand who God really is, you can begin by looking at yourself, since you are made in God’s image. All the things you long to be true about who you are—authenticity, kindness, patience, integration, goodness, purity of heart—these are qualities of the God in whose image you were created." (p. 178).
   1. Unfortunately, Paul Young is offering his humanist philosophy once again.  Humanism is the teaching that man is the start and standard of what is morally good and true.  It is a man-centered philosophy that says "to understand who God really is, you begin by looking at yourself." That is blatantly wrong and unbiblical.
   2. The truth is, to understand who God really is, we need to look to Jesus. Jesus is God in flesh (John 1:1, 14). He is the exact presentation of the nature of God, (Hebrews 1:3).  While it is true that we are made in the image of God (Genesis 1:26), it is also true that we have a fallen nature which manifests itself in our sinful intention and actions (Romans 5:12, 18; Ephesians 2:1,3).  However, Jesus is not fallen. He never sinned (1 Peter 2:22).  We should look to him to understand God, not ourselves. Paul Young is perpetrating a lie.
5. "Turns out Matt [an atheist] not only believes in Love, but in Life and in Truth. Not bad for an unbeliever. But does that make him a child of God? No, it doesn’t. He already was a child of God." (pp. 204-205).
   1. Paul Young fails to clarify the biblical meaning of what it means to be "children of God.  There is a sense in which the terms applied only to believers. John 1:12, "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name."  There are more verses that say the same thing: Romans 8:16-17; 9:8; Philippians 2:15; 1 John 3:1-2.
   2. But, there is another sense in which it is used.  When Paul the Apostle was witnessing to the unbelievers at Mars Hill, he said, "for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His children.’ 29 “Being then the children of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man," (Acts 17:28–29).  The latter usage of the term is in reference to a pagan philosopher.  Paul was using the term because it was familiar to them and he was seeking to reach them with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
   3. So, was Matt the atheist a child of God? In the pagan sense, yes.  In the biblical sense, no.  Paul Young should know the difference.
6. "Expecting perfection is a denial of our humanity," (p. 226).
   • In the context of what Paul Young was talking about in this quote, he was speaking of our inability to be perfect. It is human nature to fail.  We are imperfect. That's why he said expecting perfection is a denial of our humanity.  But, he is mistaken. God is the standard of perfection. He is a standard of holiness.  In fact, he says be holy because he is holy (1 Peter 1:16).  Paul Young fails to understand the difference between God's holy requirement based on his perfect nature, and the obligation that we as people have to do what is right before God. God does not lower his standard for us and give us a pass. He says be holy for I am holy. God elevates himself as the standard not us. That is why Jesus says in Matthew 5:48 that we are to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect.
   • But, of course, we cannot attain such perfection. This is why we need Jesus. He, being God in flesh (John 1:1, 14; Colossians 2:9), was able to keep the law perfectly and never sin (1 Peter 2:22).  Jesus did what we could not. Therefore, God's expecting perfection of us is not a denial of our humanity. It is the proper standard based on God's character.  This is all the more reason why we need to trust in Christ who provides the "perfection" we cannot attain. We need to trust in what Jesus has done in his perfect life and his loving sacrifice.
7. "Do we really think that Jesus never made a mistake on His homework, or never forgot someone’s name, or as a carpenter always made accurate measurements? Jesus didn’t have a reputation for being the “best carpenter” in Nazareth, making perfect doors and always-level tables." (p. 226).
   1. 1 Cor. 4:6 says that we are not to exceed what is written in Scripture. Nothing in Scripture says that Jesus ever made a mistake. But, on the other hand, nothing in Scripture says he did didn't, either.  Nevertheless, are we to argue from what the Bible does not say?  Nope.  We are told not to exceed what is written.  To do so is dangerous.  Let me say it again, we should not "fill in the blanks" where God does not speak, especially when it comes to the person and work of Jesus.
8. "Pride is a sin because it is a denial of being human. Humility is always a celebration of being human." (p. 227).
   • This is more humanistic philosophy that is not rooted in Scripture.  Nowhere in the Bible does it say anything like the idea that pride is a sin because it's a denial of being human.  Where did he get this, from the book of 2 Hesitations?  It's not there. Paul Young is offering humanist philosophy and using Scripture to justify it.

Conclusion

On page 126, Paul Young says he is a theologian.  Perhaps he was, but, he is not a biblical theologian. He is quite bad at it.  He's more like a humanist philosopher weaving man centered ideology into biblical themes.  He's a good enough writer who happened upon a good enough story in his original work, The Shack, that has resulted in millions of people voting with their cash in support of his teachings. Undoubtedly, the publishers wanted to capitalize on his popularity, so he has produced his second book, Eve, as well as this third offering under examination.

In my opinion, the name of his third book should be changed.  Instead of The Lies We Believe About God, by Paul Young, it should be The Lies I Teach About God, by Paul Young.  Avoid this book.

2 Peter 2:2–3, "Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned; 3 and in their greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep."

The Shack is a wake-up call for evangelical Christianity. It is indeed a tragedy that evangelicals have lost the art of biblical discernment… and that must be traced to a disastrous loss of biblical teaching and preaching. Discernment cannot survive without proper doctrine and proper doctrine will not be found apart from God’s Word.

In the end, I too believe the author truly wants to show us the God of love as found in Scripture (1 John 4:8), but in so doing, he ignores God as the holy and pure One (Isaiah 6:1-5) and, ultimately, as the final Judge (Revelation 20:11-15). Any presentation of God that shows only one side of His nature is incomplete and dangerous. Someone has written, “In an effort to counter a false view of God as only the judging avenger of wrath, we must not go the opposite direction and present Him only as a loving, indulgent parent who never judges sin. Both extremes are false in that they present an incomplete picture of God as He shows Himself to us in Scripture.” Such complete dismissal of scripture cannot be received by Christ disciples as acceptable. Be careful! Go back to the study of the bible and see for yourself how badly the misrepresentation of scripture and God The Shack really is...It matters!

Kudos to CARM for letting me borrow some of their talking points!

See you next blog,
Ted

I DARE YOU TO READ THIS

Daniel 6 click on it  https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Daniel+6&version=ESV

I dare you to open the Bible above to Daniel 6. Daniel, chapter 6 is a story about a faithful man, also about a man who became steadfast. I want to talk to you about that today, Daniel 6. Let's pray before I get to the meat of this word:

Pray/read this with me-
Lord, as I write this it staggers me to realize that you know every single thing about every single one of those who read this-AND ME. You know our deepest hurts, you know our greatest joys, you are aware of the things that bother us, things that concern us. You know every sin we have ever committed. You know the good, the bad, and the dark, deep, ugly that we hide.

Father, some of us go to a service and we focus and we think on really the wrong things, superficial things, things we may like or not like, when really a worship service is all about you, the One we're worshiping. So now help everyone direct their thoughts, Lord, toward you right now. And perhaps this is the greatest act of worship, listening so we might actually learn of YOU, because it speaks of our willingness to submit to your authority over us, to get realigned, and readjusted. So, Father, I simply invite you to break through to every single heart, some of which are soft and pliable, some of which are more hard and more difficult. Nothing is too hard for you, Lord, in Jesus' name, Amen.


When Christopher Columbus announced his desire to explore new worlds and to discover a quicker route to the West Indies, all the experts of Spain said it was impossible. But because of Columbus' steadfast persistence, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella sided with Columbus, not the experts, and that's a good thing for us.

Henry Ford believed in the automobile. He pursued that dream, but he had a good friend named Thomas Edison who said it wasn't a very good idea. In fact, offered Henry Ford a job to come work for him, to get a real life. But Ford was steadfast, persistent in his dream, and it's a good thing he was.

The Wright brothers Wilbur and Orville believed that man could actually fly in the sky. But they had friends, they knew journalists, and they had a father—their own dad said it was a costly and insane waste of money. But they pursued their vision and their dream because they were steadfast.

Steadfastness is a level above faithfulness. Daniel was a faithful man; we saw that last week, even in chapter 6. But steadfastness is when you are faithful in extreme times. The idea of being steadfast evokes thoughts of strength, intensity. To be steadfast is to grab a hold of, in fact, to even clutch the promises of God.

One author that I've read a lot, William Barclay, writes these words: "So often we have a kind of vague, wistful longing that the promises of Jesus should be true. The only way to enter into them is to believe in them with the clutching intensity of a drowning man." Keep those words in mind as we read chapter 6, because we see Daniel facing his possible death, believing, trusting, grabbing a hold of God's promises like this: "the clutching intensity of a drowning man."

Now, if you are a steadfast believer, you can count on four things that we see in the rest of this chapter. Before we get into those four things, can I just say that life is not fair. That bothers some of us, bothers some people, especially kids. Kids grow up and they say, "That's not fair!" And you say, "Life isn't fair."

But some people never grow out of this idea that life should be fair; that if you do good things, then good things will happen; that if you do bad things that you always have consequences—sort of this cosmic karma that should happen. But that's not real life; life isn't fair. Now, God will eventually bring the fairness and equity; not immediately, but eventually.

I heard about two men, they were in a waiting room, both of them were expectant fathers and their wives were in there having babies. And the nurse came out and said to one of them, "Congratulations! You have a brand-new baby daughter." The other guy stood up and he said, "That ain't fair; I was here first." Yeah, but this man's wife delivered first! NOT FAIR! RIGHT? But there are simply things over which we have no control...life happens at the speed we live it.

What happens to Daniel isn't fair. In fact, he doesn't get delivered from the experience of the lions' den, he has to go through the experience of the lions' den and he's helped while he's in it. Remember what David wrote, "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death"? We don't like that. We don't want the valley of the shadow of death, we want to be airlifted from mountain peak to mountain peak and forget the valleys. But the Christian life as you go through it, even when you're steadfast, and I would say especially if you're steadfast.

Now, if you are a steadfast believer, I mentioned there are four things that you can count on: persecution is inevitable, trust is essential, deliverance is possible, and influence is unmistakable. Those are the four divisions of the rest of the chapter that we will look at in this text above. So what I'd like you to do even though we left off at verse 15, and 16 really picks up the rest of the story, I want to draw your attention back a few verses and get the whole thing framed nicely as we move into it.

Number one: persecution is inevitable. Look at verse 5 of Daniel 6. "Then these men," those would be his envious colleagues, if you remember, "said, 'We shall not find any charge against this Daniel unless we find it against him concerning the law of his God.' "And so they went with that thought to the king to get a decree signed that nobody could worship any god or anything for thirty days, except the king.

Verse 10, "So, when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went home. And in his upper room, with his windows opened toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees three times that day, and he prayed and he gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days. Then these men assembled and found Daniel praying and making supplication before his God."

Now, it would seem that this story took place in one day. That in the morning they brought the decree for the king to sign it, at noon they were already at Daniel's house watching him pray because that was the time that he did it, and then by afternoon they had his death sentence signed again, and that he was put in the lions' den by evening.

It was a Persian custom that a death or an execution should be carried out before nightfall. So this probably all happened in the course of a single day. They knew that Daniel was devoted to God, and they knew that his love for God would always be paramount, and so they exploited that situation in order to get Daniel killed.

Persecution is inevitable. You and I are not going to get through this life without some battle scars. There's going to be some wounds, there's going to be some persecution, and here's why: you're a part of the kingdom of light. Out there is the kingdom of darkness of which you used to be a part of. When the kingdom of light and the kingdom of darkness come into contact, there is a kingdom clash, there are fireworks.

And Paul put it this way, "Anyone who desires to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution." Because if you're steadfast, then others are going to know that you're a Christian, and if others know that you're a Christian, not everybody's going to like the fact that you're a Christian. In fact, they'll talk behind your back, they'll marginalize you, you might not make it up the scale in the corporation, or worse.

Over the many years I have been a Christian, a pastor, a counselor, I have gotten a couple death threats. I wrote a blog about Jesus being the only way to the Father and got some recently by blog-mail "We're going to come, we're going to kill you." Christian if you live your life God and live in a godly way somebody is going to take offense! But there is a misconception that following Jesus Christ is going to make life easier. Really? Ever read the New Testament? The early church had it anything except easy.

We love the promises of Jesus. In fact, some people make whole cottage industries of little promises that Jesus said, and they hold onto that promise for the day but there are some promises that they just sort of leave out. Let me give you a promise that Jesus made to his disciples.

Matthew 10 verse 16. Jesus said to his followers, "Behold, I send you out like sheep in the midst of wolves." Whoa! Whoa! Stop right there. That's not an easy gig—little sheep getting sent to a pack of wolves. "Therefore," Jesus said, "be wise as serpents and harmless as doves."

Every now and then somebody will say, "Wouldn't it be great to live in the time of the apostles?" I say, Eh, sort of. Parts of it would be cool; a whole lot of other parts would not be so cool, this being one of them: "Behold, I send you out like sheep in the midst of the wolves." So Jesus in this section announces this to them, and then he tells them they can expect persecution from three sources.

Number one: the religious establishment; the religious establishment. Jesus said, "Beware of men, for they will deliver you up to councils and scourge you in their synagogues." Did you know that organized religion has been one of the chief antagonists against the gospel? Always has been, still is today.

We send our missionaries out to different parts of the world, they will tell us it's not the common people, it's not the townsfolk, it's not the country folks that give us the opposition, its religious organizations that are opposed to our evangelistic work. Who were Jesus' enemies? Let's see . . . scribes, Pharisee, Sadducees, religious people. Even Daniel's antagonists in this chapter had a religious bent forbidding the worship of any god.

So you'll be persecuted by the religious establishment. Let me take this a step further. You're even going to be persecuted by carnal Christians in your own Bible study groups and churches. Carnal Christians who see your newfound devotion for Jesus, they're seeing that you have a desire to take the dare, to step up, to be steadfast, to pray more, to carry your Bible. And they might say something to you like, "Ooh, look who got so spiritual all of a sudden."

You know why they say that? Because they're convicted by your commitment. And they might say, "Well, I'm a Christian too; I'm just not a fanatic." Somebody once said, "A fanatic is just somebody who loves Jesus more than you do."

Number two, Jesus continued: you'll be persecuted by the secular world. He continues, "You will be brought before governors and kings and the Gentiles." You see, a steadfast believer is sort of like a 500-watt light bulb in a pitch-black room; and though it dispels the darkness, it also irritates people. And it irritated the Roman government when the apostles were those bright lights.

And just like Jesus predicted, you know what happened to them? They were flung to the lions. They were burned at the stake. They were sewn into the skins of animals so that beasts could tear them apart. Molten lead was poured over the tenderest parts of their bodies. Caesar Nero even wrapped them up in pitch and put them on poles so that they could be torches in his gardens at night.

But then Jesus takes it a step further in his catalog of promises to them. He said you'll be persecuted by your own family. Jesus said these words, "For brother will deliver up brother to death, and a father his own child; and children will rise against their parents to kill them."

Did you know that there are still some cultures today where if a person converts to Christianity, a funeral is held for that family member? And they say, "He's dead to us. He's dead. He's following Jesus now; don't even mention his name." Other cultures are more radical and they believe in honor killings: "This person converted to Jesus, we need to honor our god by killing him."

Now you haven't had those kinds of things probably, but you have had the persecution, many of you by your own family members. Have you discovered that to witness to your own family members is like—that's harder than witnessing to anybody else? They look at you and go, "Who are you trying to kid, dude? We grew up with you. We know you. You're on to some little kick now, but whatever." These are the promises of Jesus—persecution is inevitable.

Back to Daniel, chapter 6. Persecution is inevitable; therefore, trust is essential. Now watch this, Daniel 6, verse 16, "So the king gave the command, and they brought Daniel and cast him into the den of lions." Just sort of a simple, straight-forward statement: "So they brought Daniel and threw him into the lions' den."

It was actually a pit. In Babylon (Iraq) there is a square hole in a pavilion where people stand and look, and underneath is a large cavern. In those days it would have been divided into two where the lions were on one side, a lot of them, and then the hors d'oeuvre, Daniel in this case, would be on the other side. The lions would then be let loose.

"So the king gave the command, and they brought Daniel and cast him into the den of lions. But the king spoke, saying to Daniel," now listen to the pagan king speak. "'Your God, whom you serve continually, he will deliver you.' "What? Why did this king say that? Well, this king has been on the throne of Babylon now for a year at least, perhaps even two years by now.

Daniel is old, as we know he's not afraid of anybody, and he's in the king's counsel. He's on the cabinet of the king. So this king has heard message after message after message about what happened to Daniel by Daniel. He heard what happened with Nebuchadnezzar, what happened with Belshazzar. It was well recorded in their own history books by that time, and Daniel has been steadfast before this king.

"'Your God whom you serve continually, he will deliver you.' Then a stone was brought and laid on the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet ring and with the signets of his lords, that the purpose concerning Daniel might not be changed. Now the king went to his palace and spent the night fasting; and no musicians were brought before him. And also his sleep went from him."

In this whole episode do you once read of Daniel saying, "This isn't fair! God, I've served you seventy years." No, in fact, we don't have record that Daniel said anything at all, at all. Daniel opens the windows, he prays, that was his custom. He definitely knew that the thing had been signed. He definitely knew that death could happen. He definitely knew what a den of lions was. But he opened up the windows and he prayed, because he always prayed.

And then the death sentence is passed, Daniel is taken and placed in the lions' den; he says nothing. Now he may have said something, but the text is silent. It's like Jesus, he opened not his mouth, but he was silent before his antagonists, and he is lowered into the den of lions.

Daniel's story reminds me of another story that some of you may have heard about a guy by the name of Polycarp who in AD 156—he was a Christian leader in Smyrna, a Christian bishop. Polycarp was brought to be burned at the stake. They brought him to the stake, they tied him up, they lit the fire. And then the executioner said, "Listen, Polycarp, you can get out of this real easy. Just deny Jesus very quickly, we'll let you go, you'll have your freedom."

Not yelling, not screaming, "I hate flames." Polycarp said, "I have served Jesus Christ for eighty-six years," he was eighty six years old like Daniel. "I've served Jesus Christ for eighty-six years, never once has he denied me. He's never done me any wrong. How can I deny him now?" And Polycarp looked down at those flames as the will of God for his life.

And I believe Daniel saw the lions' den and he didn't squawk, he didn't say, "I hate teeth, and lions, and no!" Though he wouldn't have loved it, but he knew his God well enough. And he was steadfast enough to know and believe: "Okay, this is it. I've lived eighty-six years, now it's the lions' den. I had to go one way or the other," and they lowered him into the pit.

Now, it's easy to talk about this, but this is where steadfastness has got to kick in. This is where the clutching intensity of a drowning man has to kick in. This is where your faith needs to move from faithfulness to steadfastness.

Here's a good prayer to remember. Psalm 51, David prayed, "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me." The Hebrew word means to be fixed or fastened, immovable. "Steadfast spirit within me." Psalm 112 speaks of a good man, a godly man, and in describing him it says, "He will not be afraid of evil tidings; his heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord."

I have a question for you: What will it take to move you? What will it take to move you? What would it take—what could possibly happen in your life to have you stop trusting Jesus Christ? Death of a child? Lingering disease? Loss of employment? Is there something that you have said? "I trust the Lord, but as long as this, this, and that happen. If something else happens, I can't, I can't follow a God like that. I can't trust a God like that." Really?

I remember having a conversation with a young lady some years ago. It actually took me by surprise because she said, "Well, you know, I, I believed in Jesus," past tense. "I followed Jesus. I trusted Jesus." But then she said, "But then my grandmother died, and that was it."

And I said, "Well, with all due respect, I'm very sorry for your loss. That is very painful, but did you really think she was never going to die? Because that's never happened before in history. So that was it? It was your grandmother's death that just sort of—you lost it at that point: 'I'm not following Jesus anymore.' Really?

Job lost his estate, all ten of his children, and his health, and he said, "The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away; blessed be the name of the Lord." And then as the book goes on and his situation gets worse, he says, "Though he slay me, I will trust him." He can kill me, I'm not going to be moved—that's steadfastness.

I want you to listen to a slogan of an African-American church in Kansas City. I love it so much. It's their slogan; it's on their letterhead, and they have to probably print small to fit it all in because it's a long one. But listen to this, here's their slogan: "Wake up, sing up, pray up, and pay up, but never give up, or let up, or back up, or shut up, until the kingdom of Christ is built up in this world."

"Wake up, sing up, pray up, pay up, but never give up, let up, back up, or shut up, til the kingdom of Christ is built up in this world."

So there's Daniel and they just sort of take him and they lower him in the pit. And then something frustrating happens in the story, that's verse 17, but look at verse 18. "Now the king went to his palace and spent the night fasting and no musicians were brought before him and his sleep went from him." Now I'm reading that going, so what? I don't care about the king and his palace. What's going on in the lions' den?

You know, if this were a movie and the camera shows a guy getting let down, the lions roaring, and all of a sudden the camera pans to the king's palace. He goes, "I can't sleep." I'm going, I don't care about you can't sleeping; take me back to the lions' den. But this is the Holy Spirit showing you and I what the king is going through mentally in this entire episode.

Persecution is inevitable; trust is essential. Here's Daniel just seeing this as the will of God: "I'm going to trust in God." You know what Daniel sort of reminds me of? His three friends a few chapters back who said, "Our God is able to deliver us, but if not, we're not going to bow." Daniel knew that—God can deliver him; but if not, here goes. Oh well. Hi, lion.

Now, let's go on in the story and you see that deliverance is possible; it happens for him. "Then the king arose very early in the morning," the text suggests at the dawn of the day, "and went in haste to the den of lions. And when he came to the den, he cried out with a lamenting voice to Daniel." Interesting; voice of anguish.

"The king spoke, saying to Daniel, 'Daniel, servant of the living God.' "Why did he call him that? Where did he get that from? He got that from Daniel. Daniel has been steadfast before the king, so that even this king knows that Daniel believes that all the gods of Babylon, all the gods of Medo-Persia are fake. They're just a bunch of statues without life, but he serves the living God, and so the king calls him that.

"'Daniel, servant of the living God,' " now notice the question, " 'has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions?' "Now, frankly, it's a little late for that question; should have asked that the day before. But in that lamenting anguish he asked, "Has your God been able to deliver you?" Silence. Let's see what happens now. Can God do it?

Verse 21, "Then Daniel said to the king, 'O king, live forever!' "I guess the king got his answer, didn't he?" 'My God sent his angel and shut the lions' mouths, so that they have not hurt me, because I was found innocent before him; and also, O king, I have done no wrong before you.' And the king was exceedingly glad for him, and commanded that they should take up Daniel out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den and no injury whatever was on found on him, because he believed in his God." Notice that, mark that: "Because he believed in his God" By the way, Daniel held no ill will toward the king who put him in that pit. I don't what he felt about those who told the king to put Daniel in that pit...

"And the king gave the command, and they brought those men who had accused Daniel, and they cast them into the den of lions—them, their children, and their wives; and the lions overpowered them, and broke all their bones in pieces before they ever came to the bottom of the den."

Okay, so I'm reading through this story, and it just sort of sounds like, well, the king has insomnia, can't sleep in his palace. That Daniel has a good night's sleep in the lions' den. He gets up in the morning [yawn], "O king, live forever. How's it going up there?" The king can't sleep, gets up early in the morning, laments. Daniel very politely, very thoroughly explains to him the theology behind: "I was stood before God, and God did this for me."

You know, I say that, but it reminds me of a story in the New Testament where Peter the apostle was arrested along with James. Herod had James killed and was going to kill Peter the very next day. So Peter is in prison, the Bible tells us chained between two Roman guards, and he falls asleep. And the angel comes to spring him out of jail, and the angel has to wake Peter up; that's how deep a sleep he was in. And I'm thinking, "Are you nuts? You're going to get killed the next day and you're asleep?" That's trust. Friend, that is trust!

It's like the guy who was in a boat, the boat got into a storm bouncing around on the lake, on, on the sea, on the ocean. And he remembered that psalm that says, "The God of Israel never slumbers or sleeps." And so he looked to heaven and he said, "Since you never get any rest, there's no sense in both of us losing sleep; good night," and he went to sleep. He believed that he would awake secure! Guess what? He was because even if he died he would awake before the Lord he trusted. We can't lose if we believe...

So God delivered Daniel, and we go, wow! Every kid knows this story. Every Sunday school tells this story. He was delivered from the lions' mouths. It doesn't always happen this way, but when it does; it's pretty marvelous, isn't it?

Let me tell you a true story. Paul Harvey told this story; this is where I got it from. I miss Paul Harvey's stories still today...He used to tell the most wonderful stories in such a great way, by the way. He said there's a church in Beatrice, Nebraska, the West Side Baptist Church. The West Side Baptist Church every Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. had choir practice, 7:30 sharp every Wednesday.

But one Wednesday—and most people, he said, came to the church before 7:30 so that they could start the practice on time. So they were there on or before 7:30 without fail. But on one particular Wednesday night every choir member had an excuse why they were late.

The piano player took an afternoon nap, she slept too long, she was late. One of the choir members, a student, had homework problems, so he came late. Another couple who sang in the choir, their car wouldn't start, they came late. All eighteen members did not show up, were not at the church at 7:30.

And it's a good thing because on that particular day there was a gas leak in the basement. And at precisely 7:30 p.m. the gas leak ignited the furnace at the middle level and the church blew up. By the way, the furnace room was directly underneath the choir loft. It absolutely decimated and would have killed everybody in that choir loft. Nobody was there—that is deliverance, and that is marvelous.

And I love stories like that, and they happen, but they don't always happen. Even if you love and you believe in your God like Daniel did, they don't always happen. Did Isaiah believe in his God? Isaiah was sawn in two, cut in two. Did Peter the apostle believe in his God? You betcha! He was crucified upside down.

Did Paul the apostle believe in his God? Yup. He got delivered sometimes, but then there was a day when he didn't get delivered. A Roman ax severed his head from his body in one fell swoop on a Roman road.

So here's Daniel, I can just picture him just from what I know of his integrity. He's getting led into that lions' den, he goes, "This could be either a wonderful deliverance out of it, or I'll see you in a few, Lord." Right? Either way would it have been a deliverance? Absolutely! Absolutely! He would of, he would of if he died, been looking into the face of God instead of the face of Darius, saying, "O king, live forever!" That's not a bad thing. So deliverance is possible, and he was delivered.

Look at the last few verses. Here's the fourth truth, and that is that influence is unmistakable. "Then king Darius wrote: To all peoples, nations, languages that dwell in all the earth: Peace be multiplied to you. I make a decree." Now he just made a decree, right? That anybody who prays to any god for one month besides me will be killed, that was his decree. You know, they all voted him in. Isn't that interesting? You've heard of "queen for a day?" He was god for a month. They voted him in as god: "You can't worship any god but you." He signed it.

But now listen to this decree, "I make a decree that in every dominion of my kingdom men must tremble and fear before the God of Daniel. For he is the living God, and steadfast forever; his kingdom is the one which will never be destroyed, and his dominion shall endure to the end. He delivers and rescues and he work signs and wonders in heaven and on earth," sounds like a psalmist, "who has delivered Daniel from the power of the lions. So this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian."

This is Daniel, this is just one guy; one man literally affects two empires. He affects Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, and the Babylonian Empire, and now Darius the Mede in the Medo-Persian Empire.

And I've always believed that his influence extended beyond those kingdoms. I believe the whole reason the Magi showed up at the birth of Jesus Christ—incidentally, the word "Magi" is a Babylonian word. If you looked it up in the Old Testament, the word for wise men in Daniel is Magi. What are Magi from Babylon doing showing up at the birth of Christ looking for the King of the Jews? I think Daniel tipped them off, and they took the tip, and they showed up.

One man influenced two kingdoms. See, it doesn't take a lot of people; it just takes the right ones. One or a few steadfast in their God can influence a nation, can influence a family. Never under estimate the power of a godly life.

One of my favorite guys in the New Testament is John the Baptist. What a fireball!  Didn't care what anybody thought of him. "I didn't like that sermon, John." "I don't care. Have you repented?" Right? He was just this fiery guy. Well, Herod has him arrested and put in prison. But listen to what the Bible says, "Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous man." Something about being around a righteous, godly man or woman that can be unnerving and also very, very influential.

Is that what you want? Do you want to stand up for God? Do you want to influence people? Is that in your heart to do so? Then these words are for you, 1 Corinthians 15 verse 58, "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord."

I'm coming to the end, in case you are getting antsy, with one of my favorite stories of all times written by and spoken by a previous chaplain to the United States Senate, Peter Marshall. Which is interesting because Peter Marshall was from Scotland, came to America, got involved in church work and political work here, became the chaplain to the Senate. He told a story called the "Keeper of the Spring," and here's how the story goes, roughly.

He said there was an Austrian village that had a beautiful stream that ran through it. The village was surrounded by the Alps, by the mountains around it. And they hired this guy called the Keeper of the Spring to patrol the hills and to collect debris from the pools that would feed that stream that ran through the town.

He had to pick up leaves and branches, and anything that would pollute or contaminate that stream in the village. And because he did such a faithful job with quiet regularity patrolling those hills, the stream that ran through that village was beautiful, clear, pristine. Swans came, and tourist came, and businesses built their shops there, and farmlands were irrigated, etcetera.

Until one day when the city council had a meeting and they were looking at the budget. And one of the council members said, "What is this line item for a salary we're paying some guy called the Keeper of the Spring?" He scratched his head and he goes, "I've never seen this person, have you?" None of them had ever seen him before.

But they said, "Yeah, but people hear he's up there, and he's working, and you can't see him, but that's why everything is so nice here in town." The guy says, "I think it's a scam." And so they all took a vote and they fired the Keeper of the Spring.

Nothing changed at all in town; everything was exactly the same for a few weeks. But after a few weeks when summer turn to fall, and the leaves started dropping, and the twigs on the trees started breaking off, and the debris started mounting up and clogging up the stream, one day one of the villagers noticed that the stream wasn't so clear anymore. It had a yellow tint to it, and a few days later it was brownish, and several days later it had a stench that came from it, and the swans left, and the tourists did too.

And the water wheels that diverted the water from the stream into the fields to be irrigated slowed down and eventually stopped. And the village elders realized their error, and they said, "Go get that guy and hire him back." And so they found the Keeper of the Spring and they gave him his job back, and within weeks it was restored to pristine beauty.

And what Peter Marshall's point was is that what the Keeper of the Spring was to that Austrian village, the steadfast believer is to the world, and even to the church. One life well lived can impact a family, a neighbored, a city, a country, two nations like Daniel. It doesn't take a lot of people; it just takes the right ones.

Jesus had twelve disciples, and he said go, and within one generation the known world heard the gospel—that's steadfastness. You can't be steadfast and you can't be powerfully used by God unless you know God to begin with.

Can I just say to you as I come to the close of this DARE,  I'm so happy you're here and reading it, but I wonder if you know Jesus Christ personally. I'm glad you've come to read this, but my goal has never been to have a lot of people come, but to have a lot of people know Jesus Christ. Are you sure that you know him?

I'm not asking if you're not a nice person, you might be a wonderful person. I'm not asking if you have a high intellect or an advanced education, you might. People might like you, you might be very, very influential in a lot of different areas of life, you might be very religious, but religion is not what Jesus is all about. The most religious man/woman on earth can still go to hell, but here is the real question do you know Jesus Christ personally? You can you know...

You can't be a keeper of the spring until you've tasted and drank from the stream yourself of living water. Do you know Christ? That's where you begin. And when you begin there, then you let his life give you real life, real purpose, real meaning. You want a cause to live for? There's nothing greater than the cause of Christ, but you must begin with Christ. Let's pray.

My prayer for you my friend,
Father, we are again impressed with a man who lived without much support, if any at all, in a foreign country surrounded by a different worldview and a different belief system, in fact, in many cases antagonists and scoundrels who were out to get him. And he was not only faithful, but he was steadfast. That got him persecuted. That made him trust more. He was miraculously delivered; some aren't.

But whether we are or not, the biggest issue is whom are we influencing? How are others impacted by our drawing breath and breathing it out again, and living and eating and moving in our community? Lord, that's what we long for. That's the kind of deep purpose we want.

Lord, I pray for those who have read this today who after an honest appraisal of their lives they realize they believe you exist, but there has never been a commitment to you, a personal commitment, a surrender, of a life being serious about God and godly things.

We know, Lord, that Jesus said he came into this world not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many. It's my prayer, along with the prayers of many who have invited friends today, and love ones, family members, that more commitments, real commitments would be made to you personally. So reveal yourself, and rescue, and draw, and save some we ask.

With your heart now bowed before your Creator, as you are thinking about who you are honestly before God, if as you do so you realize: "I've never really committed my life to Christ. It's never been real and personal. I've known about God, I've believed in God, I agree there was a Jesus who lived historically, but I don't walk with him. I don't love him yet, and I want to change that. I'm ready now to turn from the past and turn my life over to Jesus Christ."

I hope you sense that in your heart. Or for some of you to come back to Jesus after wandering away for some time. If that describes you and you want to come to Jesus and have your sins forgiven, and receive his life and purpose. Say it right now as you read this. Lord Jesus, I have come to you many times under false pretenses. I want to get right with you as I pray and read this. I am sinner and I realize that your great grace is my only hope of heaven. I choose YOU because YOU first loved me even while I was deep in my sins.


Father, for those who have affirmed this prayer. Meet with them now and grant them the mercy that is all inclusive in the cross you died on. Meet them with the mercy and grace that your position in heaven as a living Savior can provide. And I pray, Father, that what they are about to do would become so real to them, so overwhelming to them that they would never turn back. But I pray that they would discover your embrace and your love, and what it means to have their sins forgiven and washed, and to have purpose of life and a purposeful future. I pray for that redemption in Jesus' name, amen.

Dear reader, if you've been dancing around this thing for too long, you've been playing with it too long, you've been waiting another week too long, another hour too long, you've been sitting back with your arms folded too long—get in the game. God loves you. It's true. What Jesus said is true, there's heaven and there's hell, there's choices, there's eternity. Where do you want to spend that eternity? What are you going to choose right this minute my friend?

(Thanks to Skip Heitzip Calvary Church in Albuquerque, NM for letting me borrow from him-tell Pastor Chuck I miss him) 



See you next blog,
Ted