Mythbusters: Carnal Christian Edition

‎"For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their mind on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God." Romans 8:5-8

     "The flesh" and "The Spirit" are not two options for Christian living, but instead they are two realms; two dominions.  We were in the flesh, (Rom. 7:5) under the power of sin, imprisoned there by the law, (Gal. 3:22-24) unable to please God and hostile to God, but now we have been transferred from this dominion of sin and death to the kingdom of righteousness and life and grace, (Col. 1:13-14) not to walk in sin any longer.

     We may sin, because we are still in this world and influenced by the things around us, but we will not walk in sin.  Or as John puts it, "practice sin" (1 John 3:4-10)  If you are walking in sin you are not a "Carnal Christian"; you are not any kind of Christian.  You are simply still in "the flesh".  You have never been transferred.  You are still locked up in sin and the law (your prison guard) (Gal. 3:24) is still on duty.  You cannot please God because you are still an enemy of God, (Rom. 5:10) and by your constant disobedience you reveal that you are still under His wrath. (John 3:36)

     If this is you, good news!  There's repentance!  Don't be deceived any longer, repent!  Stop quoting Romans 7 to yourself to get back to sleep.  That person that Paul is describing cannot be a Christian.  He describes himself as, "sold under sin" (7:14), "captive to the law of sin" (7:23), and totally defeated. (7:24)  This goes against everything that Paul has been teaching for the last three chapters.  So either Paul is off his nut or we are.  The answer for this man is found in 8:2-4.  Instead, Christians have been: "set free from sin" (6:8), "free from the law of sin and death" (8:2), and "more than conquerors" (8:37) through Christ Jesus.

     If you are consistently walking in sin, unable to break free, unrepentant, hard-hearted to your sins; then you are only deceiving yourself and others by naming yourself as Christian.  God is not fooled and He is the one to judge.  So please don't take offense, take alarm.  Confess your sins, and repent of your sins, and put your faith in Christ and His sacrifice on the cross.  Then you will be transferred into the Realm of Grace; set free from the sin's prison, no more under the guard of the law.  Free to serve and please God.

   Myth busted: there is no such thing as a carnal Christian.  No back slidden saints.  Only those that have been justified and redeemed by faith in Christ and those that remain in the Dominion of Sin and Death, held captive to the passions of their master, unable to please God.  So repent and believe and be transferred.
     

Mero chora pani mero bhai ho!

Namaste Everyone!

     Jaimasi!  Jaimasi!  Jaimasi!  (Jaimasi is the Christian greeting here in Nepal.  It is a combination of two words: Jai (praise) and Mashiha (Messiah), so together they are "Praise the Messiah")  And I have plenty reason to be doing so!  Yesterday morning I came downstairs from class to check on Daniel (doing school in the office) and he told me that he had been praying, and he had prayed to God and repented of his sins and put his faith in Christ.  I was completely blown away!  I have been praying for both him and his sister since before they were born, and I share the Gospel with them every time I can, but Daniel and I had not talked about that since before we came to Nepal.  God is faithful!  There is another personal matter that I have been pleading with God about in prayer, and I took this as, not only an answer to my prayer for the last 12 years, but also as a confirmation from God concerning my current prayer.  God does answer prayer, and He is faithful.  So, thank you to all who have prayed with me, concerning Daniel, over the last few years.  Oh, by the way, "Mero chora pani mero bhai ho" means, "My son is also my brother"  :)  

     Sorry that I have not sent out an update in so long.  We have been very busy, and I am about to get much busier!  Right now, Vic is teaching through John in the mornings and then I am teaching through Romans.  I have been giving Vic more time to teach than me because his time is short.  He flies out next Tuesday, and then I will be teaching twice as much!  I will have to study about four hours every afternoon to be prepared to teach the next day.  I love it to death, but it really does hurt your brain sometimes. :)

     Our class is much smaller this year.  We have about half of the students of previous years, and it is all local students.  This is due mainly to the size of our budget.  Fund raising was very difficult this year, but we are pouring in to this local church and it's leaders and future leaders, and that is good!  This year has also been very good for me.  I always feel stretched when I come here to teach.  This is an education for me as well as for my students.  I am so thankful for the opportunity to come here and to be used to serve the church here in Nepal and to be part of God's glory being spread to this nation.  My part is small, but my God is big!  

     Keep praying for us: for health, for finances, for our classes, and for wisdom and grace in everything that we do.  Thank you all many times over for your prayers and support!  May God be with you and continually bless you!

Dhanyabad Yesu!

Steve Wingo

Namaste From Nepal!

My good friend Damodar Shresthra and his daughter Isabella

     Namaste everyone!  

     We finally made it here Thursday last week.  The trip was good but very long!  We are starting to adjust slowly and hope to start school on Tuesday.  We will have a much smaller class size this year due to finances, but we are excited about getting to work with a smaller group and hopefully be able to go deeper with them this year because of their size.  Jesus only chose 12 disciples, and I think we will do well not to try to out do Him.  

     Vic and I are planning an extensive trip in a couple weeks to go out to the villages in the rural areas to visit some of our former students and survey the work going on with the new facilities in Gorkha in the village of Tanti Pokari.  It will be a long, tiresome, and sometimes dangerous journey, so please continue to pray for us as we go.  

     I will try to update the blog soon with pictures and videos and will hopefully be able to upload picures and news as we travel around Nepal.  

     Thank you for your prayers and support!

Dhanyabad Esu!

Steve, Vic, and Daniel

   

They Loved Not Their Own Lives (An open letter of confession to God)

And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.

(Revelation 12:11 ESV)

     I have been studying and reading through the book of Revelation recently trying to establish my view on eschatology (end times theology) by seeing what the Bible itself says concerning these things.  And while I still am very much undecided where I stand concerning the end of the world and Christ's return; I am finding myself very much challenged and convicted by the contents of this book.  This is not just a book about scary end-time events and antichrists and 666.  It is a book of worship.  It is soaked in the Gospel.

     Here is an excerpt from Sam Storm's website commenting on this particular verse in chapter 12:

"Here [John] means the willingness to give up good things for the sake of better things; the willingness to sacrifice all in life, even life itself, because life isn’t the most valuable thing to us; they would rather die than yield one inch of their hearts to the world or Satan; no earthly pleasure was worth denying Jesus. No promise of peace or power was deemed of greater value than the value of remaining steadfast. Perseverance. Hebrews 10:34 ('For you . . . accepted joyfully the seizure of your property, knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and an abiding one'). They had refused to let anything in life get a grip on their hearts in such a way that it might diminish their devotion to Jesus. 'Jesus is more valuable to us than anything life can offer. Jesus is greater treasure than life itself. We will gladly die before we renounce him!'"

     This "not loving our lives" is not some "death-wish lifestyle" or a legalistic aestheticism or a silly game of experimental self-denial, but a heart condition: a Jesus loving, cross carrying, God glorifying lifestyle!  Loving and following after God with your whole heart!  Enjoying God more than anything this world has to offer, more than even the blessings of God.

     This is where I want to be. 

     

     I confess that I am far from this, but this is the heart for which I am praying.  I can quote the Westminster Confession, but do I really enjoy God?  Am I glorifying Him by my lifestyle and the things upon which I choose to place my affection?  Is Jesus "greater treasure than life itself"?  When I sing songs of praise to God am I merely reciting words or could I really "sing of His love forever"?  Do I understand and know His love personally?  Have I tasted of the Lord and seen that He is good?  

     I know that I have.  But...

     These are questions that I have personally grilled myself about for years.  Not in a doubting way (I hope), but in a way of self-examining to see if I am truly in the faith kind of way. (2 Corinthians 13:5)  But too often I come to myself and find that I am far from "setting my affections on things above". (Colossians 3:2)  I am wrapped up in my own affairs.  Even good things; things given to me by God.  My family, my ministry, all of the wonderful things such as shelter, food, etc. that God has blessed me with, these become the center of an idolatrous relationship instead of an impetus to give thanks and glory and praise to God. (James 4:2-4)  Things meant to increase my affection for God have instead become the objects of my affection.  

     Too often, when I am most offended or embittered by something someone has said or done, it is because they have upset one of my idols.  They have dared to go into my shrine and desecrate my gods.  I have stopped "loving God with all of my heart and my neighbor as myself" (Matthew 22:37-40) and have instead enthroned myself.  Made me and my happiness the chief good.

     God please draw my heart to you!  Strip away everything that replaces you in my affection.  Thank you for all of your blessings: for my wife, for my children, for my church, for the ministry that you have given me, and for all of the wonderful things that you have seen fit to place in my life, but please, please do not let me love them more than you!  Remove from my mind, my heart, my affections, and from my hands everything and anything that is not glorifying to you and sanctifying for me.  

Amen

Self-Sufficiency: Vice or Virtue

     "Pull yourself up by your bootstraps!" 

      "Make something of yourself!" 

     What could be more American?  And indeed, there is much in the Bible concerning laziness and those who only want to leech off of society.  But is the modern American conservative capitalistic ideal of self-sufficiency one that should be shared by Christians?

     How much of our world-view concerning our finances and how we help (or don't help) others should be informed by the culture around us?  How much of our current view, that is popular among conservative Christians, is more a reaction against liberal socialism rather than a Godly response educated by Biblical values?

      Just recently Governor John Kasich of Ohio turned down millions in federal aid for his state saying, "I think we can handle this."  Now our first response would most likely be "Great!  We need more leaders like this one, not always gouging out every dollar they can from the government's (our) money."  And probably that is the right response.

     However, nearly 2,000 years ago there was another city devastated by an earthquake, in complete ruin, that turned down the federal aid of Rome saying that they too were able to "handle it."  They were rich, affluent, and needed no one's help to rebuild and repair.

     This city was the now infamous Laodicea.  Known to us today mainly through a letter received by them from Christ, penned by the Apostle John in his book of Revelation.  This was the only church for which Christ had nothing but rebuke.  No commendation.  No, "I like this, but..."  Just rebuke and warning.

     Listen to Jesus' words to them: 
     
     "For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see."
(Revelation 3:17-18 ESV)

     You see?  They had been educated by their culture.  They had learned a Laodicean pride.  They were living the Laodicean Dream.  They were rich, prosperous, and didn't need anything from anyone.

     Now, I am not advocating that we should go to the opposite extreme, as we are often wont to do when we see something unpleasant in ourselves, but instead my aim is to encourage us, as Christians, to receive our ideals from Christ and not Benjamin Franklin.

    A friend recently posted a quote from our illustrious founding father:

“I am for doing good to the poor, but...I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. I observed...that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer.” 
     
     Sounds pretty good doesn't it?  Very American.  But compare this to what Paul says in 2 Corinthians when he is speaking to them about helping the poor:

"For I do not mean that others should be eased and you burdened, but that as a matter of fairness your abundance at the present time should supply their need, so that their abundance may supply your need, that there may be fairness."
(2 Corinthians 8:13-14 ESV)

     Indeed, throughout the Bible, Old and New Testament, we see that God is concerned with the poor and that He has commanded over and over again that we with much should help those with little or none.  This is a biblical worldview, not an conservative American view, not a liberal socialist view but a biblically informed world view.

     James tells us that this is the essence of pure undefiled religion, "to visit the orphans and widows in their affliction." (James 1:27)  Jesus, as well, tells us in Matthew 25 that when we clothe, feed, and shelter those in need that we are in truth doing these things to him.  True, he is speaking primarily of doing these things for other followers of Christ, but that is only where it starts, not where it ends.


"So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith."
(Galatians 6:10 ESV)

     See?  It starts in the household of God, but it isn't contained there.  No, true love, unfeigned charity must spill out of the boundaries of the church and have it's effect on those outside of our fellowship.  We should not be conformed by the culture around us, but they (it) should be informed by us to the goodness of God.  This is the very purpose of our love and our good deeds.  To expose to the world the glory of the One we follow.  To show them, "This is what He is like!"  Jesus tells us in Matthew 5:16 to, "let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven."


     So if our message to the lost world around us is an echo of our political party's ideals, what are we telling them about the God we serve?  The Bible tells that those dead in sin are already enemies of God, (Romans 5:10) but we only add to their blasphemies when we give a distorted picture of His love to a lost, suffering, and dying world.

     But back to the original question, "Self-sufficiency: vice or virtue?"

     The point of Jesus' words to the Laodiceans was not that it is bad to take care of yourself and to provide for your own, but if we know and believe that everything, every breath, comes from God, the Giver of life.  And if self-sufficiency is an attribute that God does not communicate to us, but if instead He wants us to rely on Him, depend on Him for every day, every meal, everything; then the attitude of, "I can take care of myself." is a rebellious attitude that goes against our Creator.  He doesn't want us dependent on the government or the rich but wholly dependent upon Him.  As we are recipients of His love and grace and mercy, we turn and show those same qualities to the world around us and thereby reflect to the creation around us what our God is like.


And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.
(Daniel 12:3 ESV)

Amit and Gurash's Engagement Day!

Amit and Gurash

These are some pictures from the day of Amit's Engagement Party.  It was Monday December 12th, 2011.  Like all of our out of town trips, this one started at about 5 am over long bumpy roads.  After about 4 1/2 hours we arrived in Chitwan.  Not sure of the name of the town.  Chitwan is the name of the State. 

Pictured left to right: Navraj, Pastor Bijay, John (Amit's brother), and Silas

(The smiles on our faces are from the sheer joy of no longer being crowded in a Land Rover with about 11 other people.)

Prajowl and Pramita

This is the house of the bride to be's brother.  This is where the engagement took place.

Forgive for not knowing all of the names.  The little girls in Nepal really like frilly dresses.

This is one of Amit's sisters, Anita.  He has another sister, Sunita, but she

isn't one for long road trips so she stayed home.

Left to Right: Pastor Bijay, Silas, Pastor Tika, Amit, Me, Prajowl, and Pramita

See!  More frilly dresses!

Here's where they are cooking our lunch.  I don't know about the other houses here, but the one where we met didn't have an indoor kitchen, as you will see later.  Notice the coating of mud on the outside of the pot?  That is to make it easier to clean off the black from the fire.  Pretty smart.

More kitchen scenes.  The meal was fairly routine: chicken curry, vegetable, lentils, pickle, and rice.  It was tasty, but wasn't really all that hungry because I had that feeling you get sometimes from traveling.  Plus, as you will see, we get another full meal about hour from this one.

This whole village was made up almost entirely of mud and brick houses with grass roofs. 

It was like stepping back in time.  Way back in time!

This house here is a fine example.  This picture isn't just some aspect ratio thing.

That house is really that small!  Check out these other pictures below.

This is the house where the engagement took place.

This is the Bride-to-Be's mother

So, me and Prajowl got kind of bored waiting for the party to start, and

we decided to take a walk and check out the rest of the village. 

The first thing we saw were ducks!

Beautiful scenery!

Cool village trails!

And then... 

A Jungle!!

Well, of course, we had to check that out!

This guy was our self-appointed jungle tour guide

He kept showing us improvements they had made and a nursery where they were growing

more trees to replenish the forest.  (I suspect he thought we were with the government,

we just went with it)

We saw a cool frog and some tadpoles!

Some local flora...

On the way out of the jungle, the guy showed us where they had put up a volleyball net, again. 

I don't know if he thought we were with the government and might be impressed with that improvement

or if he just wanted to play.  I took a picture just to make him happy.  It seemed to work.

Ok, so back to the engagement.

Amit and his brother John

It was very crowded in the little house. 

Gurash looking contemplative

Pastor Bijay and Uncle Silas :)

It was full up inside and we had a crowd outside trying to get a view
of the ceremonies through the window.  It was a beautiful day, I don't know
why they didn't just have it outside.

That's Mom and Dad in the doorway.

This Gurash's pastor standing with her.
He officiated the engagement ceremony.



The engagement is a lot more serious event in Nepal.
They exchanged vows in the witness of friends and family.
Here the pastor is laying on hands and praying for them.

This is a video of Amit and Gurash's engagement vows.  I

don't know exactly what was said.  Maybe one of my Nepali

friends would be so kind as to leave a comment with a transcript

of what is being said. 

 

I know this picture is not the best clarity wise, but
I loved the way it looked.  The looks on their faces
and their pose makes it seem like
they're getting engaged in 1811 instead of 2011.



Believable?  Right?

Here is the kitchen.  Pretty cool, huh?

The happy future Mr. and Mrs. Amit Thapa
Can't wait to see them in a year.  Amit is a sweet, dear brother
and Gurash seemed to have the same disposition.  They should
be a great team together.

After the engagement, we stopped by Gopal's house

a few miles down the road.  Gopal was one of my students

this semester.  It was my great joy to get to know him, and

it was a privilege to have the opportunity to come and

visit him and his family and the small fellowship that he leads

there in Chitwan.

Here is a short video of some of the singing.  This is

a good example of one of the popular Nepali hymns.

This is a little cook pit (I don't know what else to call it) that
Gopal's wife Soba has just recently built.  It is made of clay
and straw.  The three bumps come up to hold the karai (wok)
steady.  You build a fire to cook underneath.  Pretty cool.  I
want to try to make one to use here.  Mayber later.

Me and Pramita on Gopal's roof

Gopal had a bee hive that the bees built under his cabinet in the kitchen
on the roof.  Pretty cool.  The bees were buzzing everywhere, but they
didn't sting us.

See, the bee just sat there.

Like me, Gopal has an eleven year old son named Daniel.

We met together on the roof with Gopal and his family
and fellowship and ate a great meal and sang and prayed
together and then I gave a small word.  Would have loved to
hang out longer, but we had to get back on the road for
the long drive home.  About 4 1/2 hours over really bad
bumpy roads.