God Provides Escape Routes

In late June I discovered what turned out to be a large mass in my abdomen. I was referred and scheduled immediately for a meeting with a surgeon at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance—and I hoped for a quick fix operation. But CT scans and a biopsy revealed follicular lymphoma—a slow-growing cancer that cannot be removed through surgery, but must be treated by chemotherapy.

This was hard news that I never expected I would receive—especially at a time when I’ve been in the best physical shape in years. Suddenly our future seemed up in the air. Our immediate plans for 2018-19 include Certificates in Transformational Ministry at the Margins (CTMM) trainings in Bristol, Glasgow, Paris, Vancouver, Tanzania, Rabat (Morocco), Stockholm and New Zealand (www.peoplesseminary.org).

We are entering a particularly fruitful season internationally and locally for which we’ve been preparing for years-- offering needed support to front-line workers. Rounds of chemotherapy beginning in August would make it nearly impossible to move forward with our trainings, or continue with our normal schedule at home.

All this upheaval drove us to prayer, and many people have been blessing us by interceding and showing levels of tender care that we had never experienced. An African pastor friend from Tanzania sent me a message saying that as he prayed for me he kept getting 1 Corinthians 10:13.

At first glance this verse didn’t seem to resonate with my situation. “No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man…” I wasn’t experiencing what I would call a temptation—unless it was to fear.

I decided to look up the underlying Greek word and learned that peirasmos not only means temptation, but commonly includes meanings like adversity, affliction, trouble, and trial.  Suddenly the verse was highly relevant.

“No temptation (trouble, adversity, affliction) has overtaken you but such as is common to people; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted (troubled, afflicted) beyond what you are able, but with the temptation (trouble, adversity) will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.”

During the months of July and August I took regular trips to Seattle Cancer Care Alliance where I sat in waiting rooms filled with cancer patients I would have normally thought of as the “them” over and against healthy me. What I am now experiencing is common to so many people around the world.
It has been a deeply moving experience to find myself amongst others facing adversity, and I have been also remembering James 1:2-4.

“Consider it all joy, my brothers and sisters, when you encounter various trials (adversities, troubles, temptations), knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”

I have found myself clinging though to the hope extended in 1 Corinthians 10:13-- that God who is faithful, will not allow me to be afflicted beyond what I am able to endure, but with the affliction will provide the way of escape also, that you will be able to endure it.”

God’s siding with the afflicted, the troubled, the escapee is at the heart of the news that we continually rediscover with people at the margins—in our Tierra Nueva church, in jail and prison and around the world. God is not alligned with the perpetrator—in this case cancer, which is not God’s will or part of his plan, as James 1:13 also states:

“Let no one say when he is tempted (troubled, afflicted), “I am being tempted (afflicted, troubled) by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and he himself does not tempt (afflict, trouble) anyone.”
That is good news! But 1 Corinthians 10:13 goes even further still, offering a prophetic promise—an escape route so that we can endure.  I have been in special need of hearing this for myself. Would God help me escape this chemotherapy and its effects—and the cancer itself?

The Seattle Cancer Care Alliance surgeon referred me to a lymphoma specialist-- but the appointment was set several weeks away. So very difficult to wait! Finally the appointment date came and the doctor outlined the normal chemotherapy process, telling me about what to expect, side effects and risks. He said that for especially active people like me, chemo usually feels like a major blow, which would make it unlikely that I’d be able to offer our planned trainings. No way of escape was yet visible.

Then he surprised me by inviting me to consider participating in a clinical trial of a drug that has been effective with follicular lymphoma over the two years the trial has been running.  This trial would involve me taking a weekly pill with minimal side affects, monthly check ups and lots of monitoring. Further tests would be necessary to determine whether I indeed qualified.

So during the month of August I underwent a bone marrow biopsy, extensive blood tests, PET scans and more CT scans, all before my August 29 appointment. Tests showed no cancer anywhere but in the tumor, confirming the original diagnosis. I was admitted into the clinical trial and began the medication that day.

September 2 we flew to London, and Gracie and I have completed chaplaincy and teaching responsibilities with Westminster Theological Centre, and two CTMMs in Bristol and Glasgow through Tierra Nueva Europe. We are now in Paris where we will offer our first French CTMM beginning this Wednesday.

I have now been taking the trial medication for three weeks and I’m feeling no side affects.  I continue to pray that the tumor and all traces of cancer disappear. With new eyes to see and a renewed hope, I am helping others whom I accompany to face adversity, with an expectation of discerning ways of escape. May you too look for and expect the Holy Spirit to reveal to you escape routes that give you breakthroughs in the midst of your troubles, trials and temptations.

The Invitation to the Cross

Last Sunday while preaching at Tierra Nueva Jesus’ words about rejection struck me as highly relevant for us today.

“The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.”

Jesus is talking about himself here. But his followers are also included in this trajectory that looks suicidal.

Right before Jesus says these words Peter had confessed Jesus to be the Christ— and Jesus had warned his disciples they mustn’t tell anyone. Now Jesus informs his disciples that he will not succeed in winning over religious leaders, assuming power, expelling the Romans and making Israel great again. He will achieve victory over death itself. But not without himself passing through death on a cross, the only way to be raised to new life by the Father.

Peter thought Jesus’ words and path were lame. He rebukes Jesus for his way of talking about being the Christ.  I imagine Peter insisting that Jesus be strong and successful, with growing acceptance until he achieves earthly power.

Peter represents those who want Jesus and themselves to be associated with social acceptance and material and political success-- not suffering, failure, rejection and death. Peter wants to make Israel great again—like some today (even Christians) want to make America, or any prized party, tribe, nation, ministry or agenda great again.

Earlier last Sunday at Washington State Reformatory I met with a group of prisoners I read the Bible and pray with every two weeks. I know from many conversations that they feel despised by the State and mainstream society—and assume churchgoers look down upon them unless proven otherwise. And yet their association with Jesus in the prison system also marks them for rejection.

The men share how when they walk along their cell blocks with their Bibles to our gatherings, people mock them—saying church is for sex-offenders, hypocrites, and people who can’t face the consequences of their crimes or life without a crutch.

Jesus turns around and seeing his disciples, he rebukes Peter for trying to take him away from rejection—the direction he’s going. He rebukes Peter publically in the strongest terms:  “Get behind me, Satan; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.”

Here Jesus is literally telling Satan and anyone associated with that agenda to get behind him in the direction he is going in his downward descent to save humanity through his suffering and death. Is Jesus calling Peter’s pressure to move upward towards social acceptance, earthly success and power ‘satanic’? It seems so.

Jesus is not about achieving acceptance, power and being number one, but about emptying himself, taking on “the form of a slave, humbling himself and becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Phil 2:7-8).

“You are not setting your mind on God’s interests—but on people’s,” he says.

Jesus is 100 percent committed to God’s interests for the world—which go in the opposite direction of normal human priorities. God’s sacred movement involves bringing rulers down from their thrones, and Jesus leads the way as God’s Son. Jesus’ priorities are about exalting the humble and filling the hungry with good things (Lk 1:52-53), not allying with the powers to dominate and control.

“And for whom might this be good news?,” I ask people at Tierra Nueva church on Sunday. A man in the front row, just released from a three-year prison sentence looks up and nods—“people like me,” he says. A woman struggling to kick her heroin addiction so she can get custody of her toddler is listening intently— her wide eyes are searching for hope.

Jesus invites the crowd and his disciples to make a radical choice to follow him on this same hard path: “If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me.”

Here Jesus calls us to move in the opposite direction of our culture—which prizes self and personal success and security as sacred.

“Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are overrated,” I say. “Satisfying your every desire and giving yourself what you want is pursuing the American Dream, not the Kingdom of God.”

If you are drawn to Jesus and want to follow behind him, then he invites you to three practices: “Deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me,” (8:34). Denying our self is a necessary prerequisite for taking up our cross, and then following Jesus.

But how do we come to this point of being willing to deny our self?

We are more likely to be ready to deny our self if we have lost confidence that we know best how to run our lives. If choosing my own destiny has led to anxiety, serious troubles, addiction, relationship breakdown, and incarceration, then I’m ready to dethrone self and even take aggressive measures—what Paul calls “crucifying the flesh.”

But we must hear this call to deny ourselves and take up the cross positively, as a personal invitation from Jesus to join him in a new life together with him.

 “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself up for me” (Gal 2:20).

Jesus gives himself up for me ahead of my giving myself to him. I join Jesus on the cross as the instrument of his and my symbolic death—my crucifixion with Christ equals total surrender so I can go in a new direction, wholly given over to following Jesus in a life of joyful adventure behind God’s interests.

The cross also represents death to sin that enslaves me. “Our old self was crucified with him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin” (Rom 6:6). “Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (Gal 5:24).

For Jesus the cross was the means the powerful used to execute him. “Taking up your cross” signifies following Jesus even in the face of disapproval and rejection from the important people deemed competent to determine your value or legitimacy. Back then these were elders, chief priests, and scribes. Who would be their equivalents today for you?

There are pressures on us today to conform to other agendas, rather than choose the path behind Jesus and give up personal control to him. But the alternative according to Jesus is the forfeiture of our soul.

If we continue to believe we ourselves know how to save ourselves and be the masters of our own lives, Jesus has strong words of warning for us.

“Whoever wishes to save their life,” (going with Satan in the direction of being popular, well-received, successful, secure, and being on top), “will lose their life.”

In contrast, “whoever loses their life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it” (8:35).

Today Jesus might say something like this:  “What does it profit a person to make self/ministry/America great again and forfeit their soul?

He then asks his listeners: “For what will a person give in exchange for his soul?” In other words—what payment can you receive from the world that could possibly lead you to sell your soul?

Jesus calls his followers to turn away from the shame they might feel about him and his path, calling them to total allegiance to him and his teaching: “For whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

Jesus invites us to surrender to his love which saves us, rather than exchanging our soul for a false security.

“For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf.” (2 Cor. 5:14-15)

Ransoming hostages and posting bail get God’s attention

I have been closely following the European refugee crisis due in part to my regular teaching of mission courses in the UK and around the world. Two years ago I visited the refugee camps in Calais, France, where I met refugees from Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia, Sudan, Iraq, Iran and many other countries (see update) who were seeking entry into the UK.

Months before visiting Calais I had run into Ismahan, a friend from Ethiopia living in Paris. She had visited us at Tierra Nueva back in 2009 before moving to France. It was then that I connected her to a church in Paris where we have close ties. When I saw her I told her about my plans to visit Calais and asked if she had any contact with East African refugees in France.

Ismahan became distressed and told me that her 15-year-old brother was being held captive in Libya and was in grave danger of being killed. She shared how her brother had paid a trafficker to bring him from Ethiopia to Europe. In Libya he’d been captured by pirates, who were demanding $12,000 ransom. She asked if I would accompany her to a part of Paris where there were lots of refugees. She hoped to find someone who might know how to effectively get ransom money to the traffickers to secure her brother’s release.

That afternoon we headed to a metro stop where East African refugees are known to congregate. Almost immediately we met an Ethiopian man who introduced us to Eritreans who’d arrived that day from having just crossed over by boat from Libya to Italy. He guided us to an abandoned school where over 500 refugees from many countries were squatting in crowded, miserable conditions. We ended up praying for a number of people there, and the reality of the European refugee crisis suddenly became all too real for me (see past update). We raised some funds to help pay the ransom to free Ismahan’s brother, and she was able to arrange her brother’s release.

On our recent trip to Paris this Fall, Ismahan introduced us to her brother Aydarusse, now 17, who has finally made it to France (photo above). He told us how his captors held him in a shipping container full of other mostly young migrants in the desert for three months (read more here). His captors regularly tortured him and the other prisoners, some to the point of death. They would hang him and other hostages by their wrists and whip them on a daily basis—calling their family members threatening to sell them as slaves, or sell their organs if they didn’t send money immediately. When his captors finally received their ransom Aydarusse was released, put on a boat full of migrants.

“There was nobody to guide the boat full of refugees,” he said. “They just gave us the GPS coordinates for Italy and sent us across the Mediterranean.”

The boat behind them capsized and hundreds of people drowned, including one of his close friends. He made it across to Italy and spent a year in a refugee resettlement camp before Ismahan was able to arrange his passage to Paris. Since his confinement in Libya, he has been suffering from anxiety and seizures. Though he considers himself a Muslim he asked us to pray for him. What a privilege to have this opportunity to hear his story and minister the love of Jesus to him!

On November 5 during a layover in Paris from Ethiopia I preached at a special international service with French, Japanese and Egyptian congregations gathered at Eglise Protestante Unie du Marais (watch here in English and French). I had been asked to preach on Isaiah 58, the biblical text at the heart of my pastoral call.

I shared how I’ve been struck afresh by God’s word to the prophet: “Cry loudly, do not hold back; raise your voice like a trumpet, and declare to my people their transgression and to the house of Jacob their sins” (vs. 1).

Why is the prophet to speak so strongly about the people’s sins?

The people considered themselves in active pursuit of God through spiritual practices, but they were frustrated: “Why have we fasted and you do not see? Why have we humbled ourselves and you do not notice?”

God, too, notices his people’s spiritual quests. “They seek me day by day and delight to know my ways.” They ask me for just decisions, they delight in the nearness of God” (58:2). However God is not impressed, seeing and exposing social sins blocking their relationship with him and with each other.

“Behold, on the day of your fast you find your desire, and drive hard all your workers. Behold, you fast for contention and strife and to strike with a wicked fist.”

Isaiah exposes and denounces spirituality devoid of social compassion and equity. Here God dismisses religion practiced by people who’ve hardened their hearts to the plight of the poor. Isaiah’s message seems highly relevant to our times.

I wonder what the equivalents of this would be today. I know how easy it is for me to justify consumerism, and hostility around politics. Today’s growing lack of civility sadly includes many Christians, and tough attitudes towards immigrants, certain kinds of transgressors and national enemies are certainly on the rise.

Through the prophet God calls the people to a spirituality that involves them becoming agents of freedom to people who are oppressed. 

“Is this not the fast which I choose, to loosen the bonds of wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free and break every yoke? Is it not to divide your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into the house; when you see the naked, to cover him; and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?”

            According to Isaiah 58, abundant life, recovery and deep spiritual connection with God will happen when we take action against injustice and engage concretely with people in need around us.

“Then your light will break out like the dawn, and your recovery will speedily spring forth; and your righteousness will go before you; the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard. Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry, and he will say, ‘Here I am.”

Hearing God’s voice and being guided spiritually are intimately linked towards acting compassionately to hurting people around us.

“And the Lord will continually guide you, and satisfy your desire in scorched places, and give strength to your bones; and you will be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water whose waters do not fail.”

            As I shared these thoughts and the story of Aydarusse, Ismahan suddenly noticed that her brother was standing at the back of the church with a big smile on his face. The whole congregation broke out in cheers. Many had contributed so he could be released.

            Currently I am in contact with a Salvadoran pastor named Giovanni who had to flee El Salvador due to his prison ministry to gang members. He himself is a former gang member and was being targeted and persecuted by law enforcement. Upon entering the United States this past August he was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, and is being held in detention. Giovanni continues to share his faith with fellow detainees and is making a big impact. However he has just been given the opportunity to bail out to pursue his claim for political asylum, but needs $5000 for bail. Consider helping him bail out so he can rejoin his wife and son, now in Washington State (see our Gofundme campain here).

May you open your heart afresh to the living God and to vulnerable people around you during this season, as you celebrate the birth of Jesus, the world’s Savior.

Blessed are the leakers

Followers of Jesus have a spiritual obligation to bring into the light offenses or injustices otherwise hidden from sight. While discernment is certainly needed in knowing how and when to speak, prohibiting leaks is like silencing the prophets, who in Scripture carried out a function in Israel similar yet far beyond that of WikiLeaks or the best investigative journalism.

Jesus himself taught: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled,” affirming all who long for truth and justice. This hunger and thirst will lead us to walk in the light ourselves through personal confession and repentance, and also to expose injustices that affect the vulnerable.

Think of confession of sin as the exposure of our own hidden secret attitudes and actions that the Holy Spirit brings up. The Spirit sounds our hearts, “leaking” our sins into our conscious awareness, bringing conviction and inviting confession, renunciation and new, life-giving choices.

The writers of Scripture exposed or “leaked” classified, seemingly uncensored information about Israel’s patriarchs and matriarchs, political and religious leaders and the people as a whole. Incest, adultery, deception, murder, massacres, corruption, idolatry, power-grabbing schemes, rape, treason and every imaginable injustice and sin was brought into the light vocally and in written form for all the world– past, present and future to see.

The prophet’s role in Scripture included exposing injustices and confronting perpetrators. The prophet Nathan brought a message from God to King David, exposing his adulterous affair with Bathsheba and his murder of her husband Uriah. Isaiah, Jeremiah and every other prophet exposed both known and hidden sins and injustices of kings, and announced God’s judgment as consequences.

Leaking has always been a high value for prophets, who bring the final judgment into the present, demanding that things change now in alignment with heaven. Keeping evils hidden in the interests of national security brings no security at all, from a divine perspective. The prophet brings the high demands for truth in the innermost places as a precondition for real security—which is eternal.

There are justifiable reasons for keeping some information confidential. But oppressive policies, lies, actions bringing harm and other injustices should and will come into the light, as Jesus says:

“There is nothing covered up that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known. “Accordingly, whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in the inner rooms will be proclaimed upon the housetops” (Lk 12:2-3).

Prophetic exposure of injustice continues in the New Testament. John the Baptist was a prophet and a leaker. He exposed and denounced Herod’s affair with his brother’s wife—which cost him his head. Jesus too knew people’s thoughts and often revealed them, and exposed in graphic detail the hypocrisy of Scribes, Pharisees, Sadducees, priests and the High Priest and secular leaders. These leaders were exposed as opposing and calling for the crucifixion of God’s promised Messiah Jesus, the Son of God himself. Jesus described people’s rejection of himself, the Light of the World, as the ultimate exposure of evil:

“This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil” (John 3:9)

One sure sign of Scripture’s inspiration is the radical honesty and vulnerability of Biblical writers to tell what looks like a lot of embarrassing truth—which most certainly exposed the Jewish people to anti-Semitic assaults (too often even from Christians!) throughout history.

The Bible’s WikiLeak-like exposé of the sins of God’s people must be read as an invitation to transparency for us today. We mustn’t scapegoat Jews, Christians or anyone, “for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” Let us allow Scripture’s public prophetic judgment to expose our personal, racial and national sin.

The good news is that evil actions do not disqualify perpetrators from God’s call and longsuffering pursuit. Jesus was and still is a friend of sinners, and God’s forgiveness and mercy for the undeserving is available and is far superior to human justice.

So there’s no reason to hide, and followers of Jesus must be the first to acknowledge and renounce personal, collective and national sin. We must be like transparent participants in a twelve-step group, presenting ourselves in humility with full disclosure. “Confess your sins one to another” (James 5:16).

“If you continue in my word, then you are truly disciples of mine,” taught Jesus. “And you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” (Jn 8:31-32).

The Apostle Paul writes: “Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them.” This is certainly what Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and many other watch groups do and must continue to do. Other famous leakers like Edward Snowden, Chelsea Manning, Julian Assange and even former FBI director James Comey have exposed dark deeds of corporations, officials and governments to the news media through WikiLeaks, calling for public accountability and the redress of wrongs.

So we must welcome quality journalistic reporting that exposes today’s evils—like recent journalistic exposés showing how US and UK weapons manufacturers make cluster bombs used to kill children in Yemen, and how the US military refuels Saudi Arabian planes used to drop these bombs. Holding perpetrators of injustices accountable can lead to life-saving policy changes.

Because we know that Jesus died on the cross to save sinners, we can confidently approach the judgment seat, knowing that “if we confess our sins, he [Jesus] is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 Jn 1:9).

Rather than participate in cover-ups, remaining silent, denying difficult truths as “fake news” or calling on authorities to punish today’s leakers, let us re-examine our own prophetic heritage in Scripture and hunger and thirst for righteousness. Rather than seeking personal and national security, may we be willing to be persecuted for the sake of righteousness. Jesus promises that those that so act will be filled and theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Submission as Resistance: Romans 13 in the light of Psalm 2

The prophetic witness of Christians before the State has too often been muted by a surface reading of the Apostle Paul’s words in Romans 13:1-7, with its infamous “Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God” (Rom. 13:1).

Added to this are Peter’s words: ”Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority, or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right” (1 Pet. 2:13-14).

It is critical that we read these verses about submission in their larger contexts and in the light of Jesus’ and the Apostles’ missionary activity and teaching. When you also deliberately engage with other Scriptures about governing authorities, like Psalm 2 and Revelation 13, a uniquely revolutionary form of resistance emerges that can inform our action in these challenging times.

What is often missed is that Paul and Peter called followers of Jesus to submit to the pagan and brutal Roman Empire. That submission included respecting the rule of law as long as it didn’t counter the higher allegiance to Christ, honoring those in authority, and humbly accepting the consequences if disobedience was required. Jesus, Peter and Paul were all arrested, beaten, and imprisoned for their missional activities, and Paul wrote at least four of his Epistles from prison.

Yet Paul still viewed all categories of rulers and authorities governing the world as part of the originally good creation, made by Christ:

“For by him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities — all things have been created through him and for him” (Col. 1:16).

These non-human entities were viewed as subsequently fallen and rebellious, as the beast which Revelation 13 graphically portrays-- but still in operational until the end.

So Paul and Peter are calling for Christians to be in a kind of subjection to whatever government or political party is in power in these times towards the end of history—whether that be a democracy, a caliphate, a fascist dictatorship, a monarchy or maybe even a mafia or gang network that rules a failed state. 

Paul and Peter were recommending a course of action so that fragile new faith communities could survive and advance in hostile terrain, while simultaneously bearing witness to Jesus. "If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all people" (Rom. 12:18). Their counsel is in part like advice given to prisoners serving a prison sentence, or to people on probation or engaged in drug court who must obey the rules to avoid further trouble.

Their call must not be read as a religious leaders' endorsement, a statement suggesting State actions reflect God's will or as suggesting a cozy alliance between religious and secular leaders.

Jesus, Paul, and Peter called for allegiance to God as highest power: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself” (Lk 10:27).

Nor do these texts mean that Christians must obey laws that go against conscience, be silent about injustice or hold back from their highest callings as Jesus’ disciples.

Jesus resisted authorities when he healed on the Sabbath, cleansed the Temple, and strongly critiqued religious leaders. Peter and Paul went right on preaching when told not to, and willingly suffered the consequences. The first Christians refused military service and worship of Caesar as Lord and suffered torture, imprisonment, and execution.

Paul appears to have often considered governing authorities his enemies, writing strong words regarding enemy love right before Romans 13: “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse” and end with “do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” (Rom. 12:14, 21).

Jesus' revolutionary submission

Jesus models a quiet authority and confidence before the Roman governor of Judea Pontius Pilate, after he informed him he had authority to release him or crucify him with: “You would have no authority over me, unless it had been given you from above” (Jn. 19:11)—ultimately from himself!

The Apostles saw Jesus’ subjecting himself in self-giving love on the cross as the deathblow to the ruler of this world-- the beginning of the end of the reign of the rulers and authorities, which will be judged and finally destroyed (1 Cor. 15:24-27).

Romans 13 and 1 Peter 2 must be read in the light of Psalm 2, which begins by asking a question that Christians in America and in many other nations should be asking:  “Why are the nations in an uproar and the peoples imaging a vain thing?”

"Why do we as Christians get so caught up in endorsing political candidates and parties, mirroring the hate-filled political divisions around us?" 

My sense it that many Christians are not adequately informed about the final destiny of the powers and our own unique prophetic vocation.

The Psalmist reminds us of the macro divine perspective: “The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed” (Ps 2:2). 

Jesus experienced hostility from rulers and authorities, and prophesied his followers would experience the same (Mk. 13:9; Lk. 12:11)-- which they did (Acts 4:5). Martyrdom was normative then and is on the rise now.

Christians are called to be subject to governing authorities not because they are good or represent God's agenda. Our citizenship is in heaven. Peter urged believers to see themselves as “aliens and foreigners” right before his words about being subject to authorities, who he sought to evangelize:

“Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation” (1 Pet. 2:11-12).

Christian submission to rulers and authorities must be done from a perspective of open-eyed realism about both the rebellious, hostile orientation of the powers against the reign of God and Jesus' greater sovereignty and victory.  

“He who sits in the heavens laughs, the Lord scoffs at them. Then he will speak to them in his anger and terrify them in his fury, saying, “But as for me, I have installed my King upon Zion, my holy mountain” (Ps. 2:4-6).

Jesus is that King, the Son of the Father, come to open the way for us to receive our authority and receive our inheritance as daughters and sons.

“I will surely tell of the decree of the Lord: He said to me, ‘You are my Son, today I have begotten you. ‘Ask of me, and I will surely give the nations as your inheritance, and the very ends of the earth as your possession” (Ps. 2:4-8).

Jesus was installed “King of the Jews” there on the cross. Jesus’ submission to rulers and authorities to the point of death on the cross was God’s secret weapon against Satan and the rebellious powers. God “disarmed the rulers and authorities, he made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through him [Jesus]” (Col 2:15).

The Psalmist's prophetic warning is still in force, putting all Christian submission and resistance into the larger context of Christ's victory and destruction of the non-human powers.

‘You shall break them with a rod of iron, you shall shatter them like earthenware.’” Now therefore, O kings, show discernment; Take warning, O judges of the earth. Worship the Lord with reverence and rejoice with trembling. Do homage to the Son, that he not become angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath may soon be kindled. How blessed are all who take refuge in Him!

Psalm 2 brings hope to Christians subjecting themselves to unjust rulers as we know Jesus’ submission wins as all authorities will themselves finally submit to Jesus Christ as King. May we learn from the suffering Christ to step into longsuffering prophetic witness now.

Informed from above

For a number of years my daily prayer and study time includes reading online national and international news articles, preceded and followed by readings from the Psalms, Gospels and Epistles, and often from the Torah and Prophets as well. Reading the news, however, can become an addiction, especially in times of turmoil.

The narrower path of seeking wisdom from above involves listening prayer, faith, intercession, and continual discernment-- activities that require time and sometimes can’t compete with carefully crafted and entertaining media propaganda.

Even the best news coverage of current events is always incomplete, leading me to read deeper to seek understanding. Since the news media rarely focuses on good news and never on testimonies from the front lines of ministries committed to advancing the Kingdom of God, deeper analysis can lead to negativity: anxiety, fear, despair, anger and cynicism.

For years I have sought to practice what Swiss theologian and resister to Nazism Karl Barth reputedly advised young theologians. ‘Take your Bible and take your newspaper, and read both. But interpret newspapers from your Bible.' More than ever these days I am seeing the need to deliberately and prayerfully interpret current events from Scripture.

The first Psalm calls “blessed” the person who “does not walk according to counsel of the ungodly, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers.”

As I witness the USA (and other nations) severely divided, with people of opposing viewpoints citing their trusted sources and debunking others as under the sway of ‘fake news’ or propaganda, I’ve become convinced that Psalm 1 is highly relevant to our current national scene.

“What does it mean to walk according to the counsel of the ungodly?” I’ve been asking myself. The “ungodly,” sometimes translated “wicked,” is from the term rasha in Hebrew. Its opposites are “the righteous” and those who pursue justice and righteousness. The ungodly are not just obvious thugs, but designate people not following the ways of God, the proud and arrogant (Isa 13:11), rulers (Isa 14:5) and the rich (Isa 53:9).

The “counsel (boule in OT Greek) of the ungodly” refers to advice that is not coming from the righteous, or most importantly from God. The Greek Version of Isaiah 55:8-9 reads: “For my counsels (boule) are not as your counsels, nor are my ways as your ways, says the Lord. But as the heaven is distant from the earth, so is my way distant from your ways, and your thoughts from my mind.”

Jesus spoke often about contrasting sources of intelligence. “He who comes from above is above all, he who is of the earth is from the earth and speaks of the earth” (Jn. 3:31). “You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world” (Jn. 8:23).

“Standing in the path of sinners” refers to agreeing and participating in policies and lifestyles informed by unrighteous counsel, which is “from the earth” and “speaks of the earth.”

“Sitting in the seat of scoffers” is a popular pastime in America these days. In our highly polarized nation, the media and ordinary people daily pour contempt on opposing leaders and their followers. There is something almost irresistible about sitting in the seat of scoffers as hate and superiority can be intoxicating. Mocking or judging can give you a feeling of power and control, and the illusion that you are doing something rather than being stuck in paralysis, doing nothing.

But there is something positive and life-giving to be done! The Psalmist continues: “But their delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law they meditate day and night.” Don’t worry! “Law” here is not referring to laws or rules but comes from the Hebrew word Torah, referring to divine teaching- designating even the first five books of the Old Testament.

Pursue delight day and night- the Psalmist is saying, which in times of negative media bombardment can help us “not be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good” (Rom 12:21).

Delight in God’s teaching can be pursued through prayer, study, contemplative reading of Scripture and worship. Once we have tasted delight we will desire more. This can lead us into a continual, day and night pursuit of divine counsel leading to a blessed life.

The one who mediates day and night will be “like a tree, planted by the streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season. And its leaf does not wither. And in whatever that one does they prosper” (Ps. 1:3). In contrast is the bleak prognosis for the wicked, who “are like the chaff that the wind drives away… The way of the wicked will perish” (Ps. 1:4-6).

So how do we step deeper into a lifestyle of preparation? How do we meditate on the word day and night?

Interestingly the word for meditate in Hebrew is haga, meaning “moan, groan, murmur, utter.” Haga suggests deep engagement. Meditating is less an intellectual activity and more a deep vocal or silent ruminating, which seems more possible as a continuous activity.

Adding to this, the Apostle Paul writes: “Pray in the Spirit at all times.” In Romans 8:23 the Apostle suggests a link to Psalm 1. He says that “we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons.” The term “groan” (stenazo in Greek) means “to sigh, murmur, pray inaudibly: — with grief, groan, grudge, sigh,” which is quite similar to the definition of the Hebrew verb haga. Later in Romans 8:26-27 Paul speaks about this even more explicitly:

In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.

Praying in the Spirit then can be associated with a kind of internal groaning that overlaps with meditation. We can engage in a kind of ceaseless prayer and meditation “in the Spirit,” even when we are sleeping or working with our minds, as meditation and prayer can be done with our spirits apart from our minds.

I encourage you to try this out, deliberately seeking the wisdom that comes from above leading to abundant life, over the earthly wisdom and human counsel. See if this helps you tune into messages of hope leading to fruitful resistance to the encroaching darkness of these dangerous times.

Receiving the life-changing seed

Sunday afternoon I led two back-to-back Bible studies in Skagit County Jail on the Parable of the Sower in Matthew 13. After introductions and an opening prayer, a volunteer reads the first nine verses. As I listen a strategy unfolds for the mere twenty minutes that remain.

I ask the fifteen or so men where Jesus was, who else was there and what they were doing in the story. Since nobody seems to remember, we read the first two verses again. Then people piece together the details.

Jesus had left his house and was sitting by the sea. Large crowds came around him so he got in a boat and sat down. The whole crowd was standing on the beach listening.

“Ok, let’s pretend I’m Jesus and here’s my boat,” I say, jumping up on a table pushed up against a disheveled bookshelf in the jail’s multipurpose room. How about if you guys all stand, pretending you’re on the beach listening.” All the men stand up, and I pretend I’m teaching.

“So what happens in this story that Jesus tells?” I ask the men.

Together we talk about what a sower is, and how in the parable the sower throws seeds out on four kinds of ground. Seeds fall beside the road, which end up getting eaten by birds. Seeds fall in rocky soil, which spring up but then dry up fast in the hot sun. Seeds fall in the sticker bushes, which get choked to death. Finally seeds fall on good soil, which is fruitful.

“Who do you think the sower and the seed might represent?” I ask the men. Standing there looking at me sitting on the table (in the imaginary boat) the answer seems obvious. Jesus is the sower and they’re the soil. The seeds are Jesus’ words. I invite the men to take a seat and continue.

“So seeds go into ground, but we’re not ground, are we? How do invisible words enter into us?” I ask.

“We hear them,” someone says, and I remind them that Jesus ends his parable saying “He who has ears, let him hear.”

“So who has ears?” I ask, and everyone looks around and someone says, “we all do.”

So the sower scatters seed in all these places, which represent all kinds of people in different states of openness. If Jesus reveals God, what’s God like according to this story?”

“God doesn’t discriminate, he scatters his seed to everyone,” someone says.

“He’s generous and doesn’t judge. He teaches everyone,” someone adds.

“So he doesn’t say—‘no, I’m not giving that guy anything, he’s a sex-offender. Not that guy either, he’s addicted to porn. Not him either, he never goes to church and is a felon,’” I say, and then suddenly realize I’m speaking to inmates from the sex-offender pod. Nobody seems offended though. It feels like I’ve got their full attention.

We talk about how Jesus believes in the people, including us. He tells anyone who has ears, “hear.” There’s still a little time left so I invite someone to read the next verses.

“And the disciples came and said to him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” Jesus answered them, “To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted.”

“So the disciples want to know why Jesus speaks through these not-so-easy to understand stories,” I say. “Does his answer sound kind of harsh, even discriminatory?”

The men look down at their Bibles silently, some of them probably thinking that the good news they’ve barely heard is about to be snatched from their trampled path souls by the birds.

I ask if anyone knows what a disciple is and nobody answers. I ask a man in front of me what’s his profession, and he answers: “I’m a chronic alcoholic.”

I acknowledge his confession but probe deeper, learning that he’s a mechanic. I tell him that if I came to him and asked if I could shadow him because I wanted to learn how to work on cars like he does and he agreed, I’d be his disciple.

“That’s like an apprentice,” a guy who says he’s a metal worker chimes in—and people get it.

“So the disciples come to Jesus with their questions and concerns, and he helps them understand,” I summarize.

“When we don’t understand something, we can come to Jesus and ask him. Of course we can’t see him. But we can tell him and ask him for wisdom and understanding. That’s called prayer. Jesus tells them in other places: ‘Ask and you will receive.’ ‘Seek and you will find.’ ‘Knock and the door will be opened,’ I say.

“Any of us can speak to Jesus or the Holy Spirit by faith. If you do this God will give you clarity, like Jesus says: “To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven.”

“What if Jesus is just saying that if you don’t understand something and don’t ask, you won’t get the clarity?” I ask.

The men seem to like this answer, so I dare to have them read the next verse and ask them what they think it means. Someone reads:

“For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him.”

A heavily tatted-up guy probably in his late twenties humbly offers an answer.

“When we have faith and ask, God will give us more and our faith will grow. If we refuse to trust we end up with nothing.”

The guards pop the doors announcing time’s up, and we haven’t even prayed. I nod to the guard and ask if we can have one more minute to close with prayer.

“Any of us can be Jesus’ disciple if we want to learn from him.” I say. “You can be that good soil that receives the seeds of his word. He wants to tell you the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. While you’re in this jail you can be hearing and receiving his words, taking in these seeds. You can ask Jesus by faith and he will give you in abundance,” I say.

I invite the men to tell Jesus right then and there if they’d like to be his disciple to learn from him. Many of the guys are nodding that they want this. I bless the seeds of God’s words that have gone in, and prohibit the enemy from snatching them away. I bless whatever faith they have and then notice the guard peaking in through the door. Time’s definitely up and men file out. I feel God’s gentle presence and wait for the next group, wondering what’s going to happen.

Only three men come in for the second Bible study. A guy in his mid forties gets all choked up begins to cry when we talk about how Jesus doesn’t discriminate, but speaks to everyone in whatever state we’re in, calling us to listen, to receive the word so it can be fruitful.

He says that his mother-in-law, who he lives with, is a really religious person who goes to church every Sunday, and reads the Bible and prays every day.

“All the time she hugs me and tells me she wants me to live a long life. But I’ve been completely closed, feeling nothing. All I think about is where I’m going to get that day’s supply of heroin,” he says, sobbing.

“She doesn’t know, or I guess she probably does know that something’s wrong,” he reflects.

I’m deeply moved, and so are the other two guys. The man who’s crying suddenly realizes that these hugs are like seeds that are still there, waiting for the soil to be ready. Suddenly his heart is open, and the seeds of love are penetrating into the softened soil of his heart.

I ask if I can pray for him and the others, and people nod yes. I bless each of the men, asking the Holy Spirit to fill them, to cover over the seeds, make them germinate and grow, and become fruitful. I leave feeling like I can feel seeds germinating and growing, bursting out of my heart.  Let whoever has ears to hear, hear.