In the Old Testament book of Leviticus, chapter 10, something frightening happened.
The sons of Aaron took fire and attempted to burn an offering to God, instead of letting God Himself burn the offering.
God burned Aaron's sons. Completely.
God's response:
"Among those who approach me I will be proved holy."
As someone who wants to glorify God in everything (and who is painfully aware of the dark spots in one's person) I must continually ask myself if my thoughts, motives, beliefs, actions, life itself is right to God.
Lately I've seen many references to apostasy in the church. Discernment ministries usually come off sounding harsh and judgmental, and each different organization, denominational or missions oriented, has differences of opinion about what is right, what is false, what is true.
In my last post I wrote about truth and how we can filter it out by having a Biblical worldview. I couldn't be more convinced of this.
I have been a believer for 50+ years. I have had this question of discernment in my head since I knew what the word was.
I have an opinion. I think that God works in mysterious ways to draw all men unto Himself. I think that there are levels of knowledge and discernment. I believe God directly speaks to some people about sin in their lives! Conviction is a wonderful thing. It's also terrible.
I think that God is merciful, but there are absolute standards regarding faith.
Holiness is perfection, and we should all be obeying the command of Christ, "Be perfect." I loved Bill Gothard's explanation of that command---It had to do with being a mature and ripened believer. The image in the "Commands of Christ" book was a "perfect" apple hanging on a tree.
We cannot be perfect, because of our sin nature, but we can be ripe and mature believers, understanding what holiness is and making that our goal.
That said, back to strange fire.
In this age many self-identified Christians believe that you can take practices from other religions and use them to honor and glorify God.
I like to think of Sadhu Sundar Singh, one of my favorite people of all time. (No, I'm not a fan of Todd Bentley, who also loves Singh!)
Here is a person who met God and became completely devoted to Jesus in his own culture. It's an example to me of a pursuit of holiness within a non-western climate.
We must be aware that we are influenced by western things, like Catholicism, Paganism, Deism, patriotism, nationalism. These ideas creep into our faith.
So does the New Age, Hinduism, Buddhism, Zen.
I do like Japanese gardens. They are so tranquil. Did you know that each element of the garden has symbolic meaning?
Is this "strange fire?"
Would this garden be pleasing to God? It's worth asking. It's worth getting to the core of being holy and and understanding what truly pleases God.
And if I'm not sure, would I simply follow my desire to enjoy a Japanese garden despite the ramifications?
I'm using the garden as a metaphor for many, many other things that really could be deemed "strange fire."
Our whole lives should be lived in a pursuit of holiness. AW Tozer wrote a book about that, and I think he is one of my favorite theologians. He writes so clearly about the believer's walk. So much of what he wrote resonates in my spirit.
He wasn't perfect. His wife "accused" him of loving Jesus more than he loved her....
Some of us would say that that was right and good! Others would say that it wasn't showing Christ's love.
And that is what it boils down to, really. We know that the mountain top of holiness is our pursuit, but we may get dirty with serving others in Christ's love down here below at the same time. That's life as a follower of Christ.
But offering strange fire, once you understand it, is unacceptable. God is holy. He doesn't need you to practice yoga (a spiritual discipline). He doesn't need you to become involved in energy healing or Reiki. He doesn't want you to become a Gnostic, or pursue wealth like the Prosperity Gospel folk. He wants you to test the spirits and not be sucked into things like the New Apostolic Reformation. Watch out when a person or preacher holds the reins on everything in a follower's life!
Only God should be doing that.
All week I've been thinking of that horrible illustration about the pan of brownies. You know it. I almost hate to bring it up, but it's so true, so helpful in understanding strange fire and discernment.
Here goes; You make a pan of fresh brownies (chocolate cookie bars.) All the ingredients are perfectly fresh----the flour, the eggs, the chocolate---but you put a teaspoon of cat feces in the mix.
WOULD YOU EAT THE BROWNIES?
You can't see the feces. You can't even smell it. The brownies smell wonderful.
I couldn't eat them.
That is what a tiny fraction of strange fire does to your holiness. It pollutes the entire thing.
God understands us better than we understand ourselves. He is asking us to pursue HOLINESS.
He knows that we struggle with sin in our hearts and minds. He understands! He works in all sorts of ways to draw each and every person on this earth to Himself. Some come through extremes, some through deception, some through a direct (but narrow) path. He's working on people!
We can't be condemning judges, but we MUST be discerning! Don't get upset with discernment ministries when the spotlight comes too close to something you have okay-ed. Take it as a word from the LORD GOD that you need to discern yourself if this is STRANGE FIRE that you are offering to God.
Perhaps you are entirely okay with meat offered to idols. Paul says give it up so that others won't stumble.
You can give it up, can't you? Must you have your way?
Why keep something in your life that is only a hindrance? It may be "legal," it may be harmless, but do you need it to glorify God?
Give it up.
Please, give it up.
Holiness is something we all need to pursue, and God requires it.
Here comes the spotlight!
The sons of Aaron took fire and attempted to burn an offering to God, instead of letting God Himself burn the offering.
God burned Aaron's sons. Completely.
God's response:
"Among those who approach me I will be proved holy."
As someone who wants to glorify God in everything (and who is painfully aware of the dark spots in one's person) I must continually ask myself if my thoughts, motives, beliefs, actions, life itself is right to God.
Lately I've seen many references to apostasy in the church. Discernment ministries usually come off sounding harsh and judgmental, and each different organization, denominational or missions oriented, has differences of opinion about what is right, what is false, what is true.
In my last post I wrote about truth and how we can filter it out by having a Biblical worldview. I couldn't be more convinced of this.
I have been a believer for 50+ years. I have had this question of discernment in my head since I knew what the word was.
I have an opinion. I think that God works in mysterious ways to draw all men unto Himself. I think that there are levels of knowledge and discernment. I believe God directly speaks to some people about sin in their lives! Conviction is a wonderful thing. It's also terrible.
I think that God is merciful, but there are absolute standards regarding faith.
Holiness is perfection, and we should all be obeying the command of Christ, "Be perfect." I loved Bill Gothard's explanation of that command---It had to do with being a mature and ripened believer. The image in the "Commands of Christ" book was a "perfect" apple hanging on a tree.
We cannot be perfect, because of our sin nature, but we can be ripe and mature believers, understanding what holiness is and making that our goal.
That said, back to strange fire.
In this age many self-identified Christians believe that you can take practices from other religions and use them to honor and glorify God.
I like to think of Sadhu Sundar Singh, one of my favorite people of all time. (No, I'm not a fan of Todd Bentley, who also loves Singh!)
Here is a person who met God and became completely devoted to Jesus in his own culture. It's an example to me of a pursuit of holiness within a non-western climate.
We must be aware that we are influenced by western things, like Catholicism, Paganism, Deism, patriotism, nationalism. These ideas creep into our faith.
So does the New Age, Hinduism, Buddhism, Zen.
I do like Japanese gardens. They are so tranquil. Did you know that each element of the garden has symbolic meaning?
Is this "strange fire?"
Would this garden be pleasing to God? It's worth asking. It's worth getting to the core of being holy and and understanding what truly pleases God.
And if I'm not sure, would I simply follow my desire to enjoy a Japanese garden despite the ramifications?
I'm using the garden as a metaphor for many, many other things that really could be deemed "strange fire."
Our whole lives should be lived in a pursuit of holiness. AW Tozer wrote a book about that, and I think he is one of my favorite theologians. He writes so clearly about the believer's walk. So much of what he wrote resonates in my spirit.
He wasn't perfect. His wife "accused" him of loving Jesus more than he loved her....
Some of us would say that that was right and good! Others would say that it wasn't showing Christ's love.
And that is what it boils down to, really. We know that the mountain top of holiness is our pursuit, but we may get dirty with serving others in Christ's love down here below at the same time. That's life as a follower of Christ.
But offering strange fire, once you understand it, is unacceptable. God is holy. He doesn't need you to practice yoga (a spiritual discipline). He doesn't need you to become involved in energy healing or Reiki. He doesn't want you to become a Gnostic, or pursue wealth like the Prosperity Gospel folk. He wants you to test the spirits and not be sucked into things like the New Apostolic Reformation. Watch out when a person or preacher holds the reins on everything in a follower's life!
Only God should be doing that.
All week I've been thinking of that horrible illustration about the pan of brownies. You know it. I almost hate to bring it up, but it's so true, so helpful in understanding strange fire and discernment.
Here goes; You make a pan of fresh brownies (chocolate cookie bars.) All the ingredients are perfectly fresh----the flour, the eggs, the chocolate---but you put a teaspoon of cat feces in the mix.
WOULD YOU EAT THE BROWNIES?
You can't see the feces. You can't even smell it. The brownies smell wonderful.
I couldn't eat them.
That is what a tiny fraction of strange fire does to your holiness. It pollutes the entire thing.
God understands us better than we understand ourselves. He is asking us to pursue HOLINESS.
He knows that we struggle with sin in our hearts and minds. He understands! He works in all sorts of ways to draw each and every person on this earth to Himself. Some come through extremes, some through deception, some through a direct (but narrow) path. He's working on people!
We can't be condemning judges, but we MUST be discerning! Don't get upset with discernment ministries when the spotlight comes too close to something you have okay-ed. Take it as a word from the LORD GOD that you need to discern yourself if this is STRANGE FIRE that you are offering to God.
Perhaps you are entirely okay with meat offered to idols. Paul says give it up so that others won't stumble.
You can give it up, can't you? Must you have your way?
Why keep something in your life that is only a hindrance? It may be "legal," it may be harmless, but do you need it to glorify God?
Give it up.
Please, give it up.
Holiness is something we all need to pursue, and God requires it.
Here comes the spotlight!
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