Assurance of Faith: Its Importance, Hindrances and How to Increase it

By Reverend Mark Hunnemann

Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test! (2 Cor 13) Here and elsewhere the Lord urges us to test ourselves to make sure that our faith is real and sincere. The stakes are too high to make a mistake about this as the consequences are eternal. It breaks my heart to say this, but millions will die thinking they are saved but will wake up to their unspeakable horror in hell.

We must find a middle ground between being too shallowly self-assured on the one hand, and engaging in morbid introspection on the other—what the Puritans called having ‘an ingrown eyeball.’ Periodic self-examination is not only healthy, but it is commanded in scripture. However, I wonder how many professing Christians take the time to reexamine their faith to make sure it is genuine? On the other hand, there are many sincere believers who are tormented with lack of assurance, but it is rarely discussed in much detail these days.

Many sincere believers will die with a lack of salvation and this is sad. Having assurance of salvation is not necessary to be saved as some believe; but assurance is necessary to enjoy ones salvation and be most productive. By the way, John Calvin did not teach that assurance was of the essence of saving faith as some have asserted for centuries. There has been an extended dispute that he differed from the Westminster Confession on this matter but he didn’t. He defines faith, but then spends the rest of the chapter saying that nobody has this kind of faith! In fact, they are dealing with 2 different issues: Calvin was defining saving faith, and chapter 18 of WCF is about assurance of salvation. I only mention this because academics debate this and say: see they cannot even agree on this central issue. I am amazed at how many godly men I admire who misunderstand Calvin at this vital point. Whether assurance is of the essence of saving faith or is simply to be strongly preferred is of immense practical import.

Nor does assurance lead to presumption as others believe because all of our hope and confidence is based in Christ and the gospel as we shall see. How can those clinging to Christ be either proud or lax in their obedience? It is unthinkable.

What is the assurance of faith? It is the belief that I believe; faith that I have faith. It is a robust, deep and joyful conviction that I truly am united to Christ by faith. It has rightly been said that a deep sense of assurance leads to a sense of heaven on earth, amidst our frailties and attacks. It is the joy unspeakable of which the NT speaks. Do you enjoy this assurance or is it intermittent or even lacking then I pray you attain this precious pearl.

Some folks know all the cognitive facts of the gospel, and have truly rested in Him, but cant seem to get assurance that they have faith in their hearts. And this torments them.

Just as we should avoid the marriage guru who says that “if you only follow the 5-steps that my wife and I follow then you can have a wonderful marriage”, so too, we need to not be an ‘assurance guru’ because there is no cookie-cutter approach that equally works for everyone. We are individuals.

The gospel comes to every person the same way but it finds different hurdles or obstacles in every person. I think that we underestimate how deep people are psychologically and how that factors in their quest for assurance of salvation. Some have been so psychologically abused that they hardly have the emotional framework to fathom that God really loves them and that they really love Him. These issues have to be factored in and sometimes need counseling to process the pain. Otherwise, there will remain some blockage which will prevent the full flow of salvations joy. Some of you have experienced horrendous pain and that needs to be addressed as well.

It is an individual quest. John Doe’s assurance is fine for him but it won’t help me—I need assurance for me. And the same is true for YOU.

Have you ever heard of ‘referred pain’ in medicine? It is where one feels pain in one area of the body but the source of the pain is elsewhere. The complicated network of muscles and nerves cause the pain to ‘show up’ far from its true origin. Similarly, I have found that problems with assurance rarely have to do assurance itself but with something else. That is, the problem with assurance is ‘referred pain’—symptoms of an ailment whose origin lies elsewhere, and a good physician of the soul will enable them to isolate the true source. In the meantime, the problems with assurance are very real and terribly painful.

Let us briefly look at a few hindrances to assurance of salvation and how to deepen it; they are connected.

1. Let me first mention those who have false assurance and how that can be unmasked. Many think that if they made a ‘decision’ early in life but then live and believe any way they want for 50 years, will not inherit salvation, as only those who pursue after holiness and persevere to the end will be saved. Likewise, a lack of the Fruit of the Spirit is an indicator that one’s profession is empty. We are not talking about perfection but there must be some reality of the Spirit moving and changing a persons life for them to be truly saved. As Luther said: we are saved by faith alone but not by a faith that is alone. Only a lively trust in Christ is saving faith. Easy believism leads to easy assurancism, which is deadly.

2. The first hindrance to a robust salvation is setting the bar too high. Some think that unless they have some extraordinary revelation from God, some constantly intense feeling—then they cannot be saved. Surely a saved person will ‘feel like it.’ I am not downplaying the significance of feelings but our feelings can ebb and flow with our blood sugar or amount of sleep we get. One area that is often overlooked is ‘orthopathos’—right feelings that should flow from our reading of God’s Word and our love for Him. But the foundation for our salvation are God’s promises and not our feelings. True salvation will include: orthodoxy (right belief), orthopraxis (right behavior) and orthopathos (right feelings). To acquire and grow in assurance then we need to tend to all three.

If your feelings are lacking ask yourself this question: how consistent am I in reading God’s Word and prayer? There is no time when I feel more assured of my salvation than when I am immersed in God’s Word. The key to deep assurance is not extraordinary experiences but normal means of grace which would include the Lord’s Supper. But we need to take them seriously on a daily basis; bible study and prayer. These do not increase our salvation but they do increase the assurance of our salvation.

3. Perhaps the most common source of lack of assurance is fuzziness regarding justification. Justification is what theologians call an eschatological reality brought into the present. That is, the moment a person professes faith in Christ, the verdict of the Last Judgment is declared upon them—immediately and irreversibly. No amount of sanctification of 50 years of righteous living can add one iota or diminish one iota the perfect righteousness of Christ imputed to me. When justified, two things occurred (a double exchange); my sins were imputed to Christ and His perfect righteousness is imputed to me.(2 Cor.5:21) Why didn’t Jesus just descend on Good Friday and die for our sins? Why the Incarnation and all the moment by moment perfect obedience to the Father and to the Law for 33 years?

Christ lived a life of perfect obedience to the Law for a reason. Most Christians think that salvation includes only the forgiveness of sins, but that is only half the blessing—half the gospel! Being forgiven would place us back in the garden but it would not give us a positive righteousness. Jesus was born and lived 33 years of perfect obedience to the Law so that He would then transfer that robe of righteousness to us the moment we believe. It cannot be augmented or diminished, nor can it be lost. We must not think that our sanctification will add anything to Christs righteousness because if we confuse our sanctification with our justification, then we will commit the same error as Rome. Justification will then become a process of growth or diminishment—that is terrible news. Justification is not a process but a declaration; the sentence of the last Day rendered in the present, which is so good that it is beyond words to describe how lovely that is! Looking at Christ as our righteousness is the only proper basis for assurance. We can sing for joy that we have assurance because of all Christ has done for us!

As Luther said, we are simul Justus et peccator—'at the same time righteous and sinful’. In ourselves we will have the remains of indwelling sin until we die and are glorified. But ‘in Christ’ the Father sees the perfection of His Son. He sees us as holy and righteous as Jesus is! For a Roman Catholic this is almost blasphemous but it is only the perfect righteousness of Christ that will stand up under the scrutiny of the thrice holy God on Judgment Day.

If you focus on yourself and forget about the imputation of Christs perfect righteousness then you are setting yourself (and sinfulness)up for problems with assurance of salvation. Satan will come along and accuse you that a true Christian would not still have so much sin remaining in them. Our assurance is based primarily on the gospel; the gospel of the dual imputation, which has largely been lost today by most pastors and preachers. In ourselves we are still sinful but we cling white-knuckled to the cross of Christ and His finished work…and HIS righteousness. Without that knowledge of double imputation the devil can make mince meat of your conscience; with it, we can be the more than conquerors that we are!

4.  If the beatitudes or the Fruit of the Spirit are being formed in you (not perfectly but some reality) then one can be assured that they have true faith. Or in 1 John, the apostle asks this very question: what are the marks of one who is truly saved, and he mentions several?  But my point here is simple: if you can see God slowly but surely changing your character then that should encourage you.

5. Then lastly, the Bible says that the Holy Spirit Himself bears witness with our inner self (Rom8) that we are God’s children. Some of you have forgotten what you felt like when you are unsaved, but on your lowest day of assurance as a believer, you have more assurance then a non-believer does on their best days. How can I say that? Because He changes our hearts—there is radical heart transplant in which He puts desires which were never there before. Notice how naturally we cry out “Father” when the unbeliever usually says ‘God.’

Service to God is influenced by assurance.

If a child is not assured that his parents love him then the motive for his obedience will be effected. ‘I must obey and then possibly they will love me… if I do this, do that, get an A on my report card, excel in sports, etc. Those who lack assurance will live in constant insecurity due to not knowing if they are well, secure. They may work very hard but it won't be with a smile..not with song in their heart. If a person is not assured that they are truly a child of God or may lose their salvation, then it cannot but help but have an psychological affect over a long period of time.

I wonder how many people on Facebook and elsewhere who have effective ministries are truly assured of their faith? One who is not assured will put too much of their self-worth and significance in their ministries. Since they are deep down insecure, then it may also rob them of energy for service. Many people are so inwardly bent and tormented about the status of their own soul that they hardly have any energy left to care for others around them. All their energy is consumed with self-worry about the state of their own souls, and sadly they may not even be aware of the fact that they are so self-absorbed—it has become so much a part of their psyches. Like a nervous hypochondriac they will waste all their time on self analysis, with little energy for God’s work.

But with a heart at rest in Christ, then one can be: 58 Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. (1 Cor 15)

The bottom line, is that for a robust life of productivity for the Lord we need to have this heaven in our hearts of knowing that we know; believing that we believe; having faith that we have faith. The assurance of our salvation and that we have this saving faith! The Puritan Thomas Brooks (1608-1680) wrote perhaps the best book on assurance entitled: Heaven on Earth.

May the Lord give us this heaven on earth increasingly, for His glory and our comfort and joy.

Part two: https://eyeontheparanormal.blogspot.com/2019/01/why-dont-i-feel-like-i-am-saved-if-i-am.html

Mark Hunnemann is the author of Seeing Ghosts Through God's Eyes: A Worldview Analysis of Earthbound Spirits. It's also available in eBook forma

Salvation in Roman Catholicism and Bible: Short Summary

By Reverend Mark Hunnemann

I love my Roman Catholic (RC) friends, and I was raised RC, and it is because of my love that I earnestly desire to share this information. Teaching on this subject has not changed since Vatican 2—and it cannot change because it was made an irreformable, de fide dogma at Council of Trent in 1500’s.

Let met state clearly that many Roman Catholics have saving faith, but it is in spite of the teaching of their church and not because of it. The true gospel was ‘anthatamized’ at the Council of Trent. And so I would urge all Catholics to consider leaving their church and to attend a loving, bible believing church. I also have a segment on Mary and the Rosary. Please see video list.

This will be a very brief summary of Roman Catholic teaching on salvation (justification) versus what God says—(I did a more in-depth study earlier). I am using justification and salvation as synonyms, but biblically, justification is more precise term. I have a video of this if you prefer to listen while driving, etc.           
                                                                                                                               
In RC, salvation is mediated through the sacraments of the church—particularly Baptism and Penance.

Baptism begins the justification/salvation process. They believe in baptismal regeneration in which baptism erases Original sin and infuses the grace of justification in the person’s soul. The baptized person is immediately infused with the righteousness of Christ, or justifying grace, and God sees that person as being inherently or personally righteous inside themselves. Thus, they are justified/saved in His sight. To maintain this justification/salvation is a lifelong process. (in bible, justification is instantaneous, irreversible and is a legal declaration outside of us…where ungodly are DECLARED righteous—see Romans 4). 5 And to the one who does not work but believes ina him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, (Rom. 4:5)

As the child grows older they will go through the sacrament of Confirmation, which is like a spiritual booster shot. It confirms and strengthens the grace of justification (salvation) in the soul.

Throughout life, two things are absolutely needed to be remain justified/saved: they have to continue to have faith in Christ and live a holy life in submission to Mother Church. The latter (holy life) consists of two things: regular involvement in sacraments of church, especially Mass/Confession; and adherence to Ten Commandments. So, you can see that though faith is a necessary condition for salvation, it is not a sufficient condition for salvation—they have to add their good works. This is the error so severely condemned in Galatians 1:6ff. For RC   faith + good works = salvation/justification—bible teaches: faith alone in Christ = salvation/justification  (good works flow naturally from a genuine faith as expression of love and gratitude).

In RC there are two kinds of sin: venial and mortal sin. Venial sin is ‘regular sin’ but mortal sin, as the name suggests, kills the grace of justification in the soul. It un-saves the person, and if they died in this state they would go to hell. Things like adultery, murder, missing Mass, Ten Commandments, etc., are examples of this kind of mortal sin, but the list is vague.

How is justification/salvation restored? Through the sacrament of Penance (RC has 7 sacraments instead of 2). RC states that: “Penance is the second plank of justification for those who have made shipwreck of their souls.” (Council of Trent) After confessing ones mortal sin, and going trough prescribed steps, the ‘shipwrecked’ believer then has saving grace re-infused back into their soul. Thus going to Confession is a vital part of a pious Roman Catholic believers lifestyle.

This is the RC system of salvation/justification. Assurance of salvation is actually deemed a sin or frowned upon—I was told it led to presumption. So, we see that salvation in RC a lifelong mediating of God’s grace through the church, and the sacrament of Penance. The vast majority of believers will die with the stain of sin on their souls, and will need to spend some time in Purgatory having their sins purged until they are ready to enter holy heaven.

To sum up summary, in RC the grace of justification is INFUSED into the soul where the person actually IS righteous enough in themselves for God to deem them as justified/saved. God deems righteous what actually IS righteous. But all that can be lost in an instant, over and over again.

In reality, whoever gets to that point of personal righteousness? Certainly not me—all I can see is the massive amount of indwelling left residing inside of me. So, this ‘gospel’ is horrible news for someone like me who is keenly aware of my sinfulness.

Thank God, the bible says that saving/justifying grace is IMPUTED to us; It is a legal declaration which happens outside of us. It is the only aspect of salvation which occurs totally outside of us. Many Protestants have never heard this from the pulpit. If you were in a courtroom and judge declared you ‘not guilty,’ it would change your legal status but would it change your character? No, not at all. Justification is God as Judge declaring people who are personally ungodly, to be ‘not guilty and righteous’ in His holy eyes—but it does not affect us internally. Sanctification instantaneously follows justification, which does begin the inside/out change of our character by the indwelling Holy Spirit. But we MUST distinguish (not separate) justification from sanctification or we will slip into error of RC. Justification in RC is inside…… but the bible sees justification as outside of us.

Hence, Romans 4 says that ‘God justifies the ungodly.’ RC confuses justification with sanctification. In biblical justification there is a double transfer: our sins are transferred to Christ, and His perfect righteousness is imputed to us. (2 Cor. 5:21) Jesus garments of His holiness cover us, so that the Father sees Jesus’ righteousness and not our sinfulness. We are simultaneously saved and sinful—THAT is good news! The BEST news!

Hence, we are simultaneously justified and sinful. ‘Simul Justus et peccator’ as Luther said. By experience, we know that to be true, and if I have to wait until I am inherently righteous enough for God to declare me righteous, then I will NEVER be righteous enough to be declared justified—too much indwelling sin remains in us. Praise God for CHRIST'S righteousness, which is in heaven—and our union with Christ unites us with all He is and has done! He sees us as perfect, in Christ!

1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, wea have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 5:1; 8:1)

Though outside of us, justification brings deep internal healing and peace of mind. Praise God!

Mark Hunnemann is the author of Seeing Ghosts Through God's Eyes: A Worldview Analysis of Earthbound Spirits. It's also available in eBook format.

Introduction to Systematic Theology: Why Knowing God & Solid Biblical Content is Especially Important in a Pagan Culture

By Reverend Mark Hunnemann

Theology is applying the whole of the bible to the whole of life. For example, when we study God’s omnipotence, we will ask what does the entire bible say about it, and try to apply it.

My name is Mark Hunnemann and in 1973 I became a Christian, and it was quite a change. I immediately was introduced to JI Packer, John Stott, C.S. Lewis, Francis Schaeffer, RC Sproul and other wonderful writers who had profound influence upon me…their theology and love for the Lord. Kept me from slipping back into old lifestyle.

I went to seminary and was a pastor for many years and had the honor of preaching the whole counsel of God. I am sitting because this is not church, and I am teaching—not preaching.. I invite you to fact check everything I say. I’ve written a book entitled Seeing Ghosts Through God's Eyes and working on a second one. I have been deeply involved in helping folks who are struggling with demonic oppression—passion of mine.

 We live a pagan culture in which mind-less experience is the key to spiritualty, but it leads to delusion and oppression. We and our children need as much biblical content as possible, and the most loving thing you can do as a parent and grandparent is to grow in your knowledge and love of God.
In a sense, every Christian is a theologian—for better or for worse—and the ‘for worse’  aspect is no small matter. The epistles and Jesus warn us that heresies are destructive attacks by wolves against God’s sheep; and wolves are not very kind to sheep. Therein lies my passion for this series. Gallop recently did a poll and it left me speechless—the amount of biblical theological ignorance amongst professing Christians is astonishingly high. Breaks my heart. And my passion is to take profound truth and make it understandable and catch on fire! So, I invite you on a journey of discovery together—to delve deeply into the meat of God’s Word. I believe there are many Christians hungering for solid meat and I want to do my humble part to help in that regard.

The bible says that as a man thinks in his heart, so is he. The ideas that don’t just flit around our brains momentarily, but the ones that penetrate the heart, are the ideas that shape our lives. And ideas have legs. We are what we think. Sound theology is required for a godly life because we have to first know the truth before we can do the truth. So, no Christian can avoid theology. Some may strenuously deny it, but every Christian has a theology.  The issue is do we have a sound theology? Do we embrace true or false doctrine? You may be surprised to hear this but every wrong belief I embrace is sin due to not loving God with all of my mind.

Before giving a more concrete basis for studying theology let me address several common misconceptions or concerns—with brief replies.

1. First, does not Jesus teaching about embracing the Kingdom with child-like faith (Mark 10:15) imply a simple faith? Yes, but there is world of difference between child-like faith and child-ish faith. The latter is obstinate and refuses to bow before authority and settles for a diet of spiritual milk. The implicit trust of a child is something we never grow out of but we are to grow to into maturity—solid meat. 11 About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. 12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, 13 for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. 14 But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

2. Many Christians have developed an aversion to theology because of their distrust of theologians. I understand…and have experience first hand of the devastating effects of higher-critical methods of ‘scholarship’ which is just a mask for unbelief and often shoddy scholarship. Most seriously, they have vandalized God’s holy Word, and caused serious damage to people. Academia is filled with wolves who are unregenerate pagans who are intellectually arrogant. But please remember that we must not throw out the baby with the bath water; to reject theology is to commit spiritual suicide.

3. The false pietism of our day denigrates the mind. But the pattern in scripture is deep doctrine and then application. EG But we are told in Romans 12:1-2 to be transformed through the renewing of our minds. some emphasize a direct experience with the Holy Spirit, which bypasses the mind,

4. Theology breeds arguments and controversy. Yes, it does because truth implies error, and error must be confronted or we accommodate it by our silence. What kind of world do you want our grandkids to live in? Jesus’s life was a storm cloud of controversy, as was Paul's because truth matters. It is godless controversy we are to avoid, not godly controversy, which is needed. To avoid controversy is to avoid Christ. We are not to argue about non-important issues, and the THE mark of a Christian is love.

5. We have unconsciously been influenced by the relativization and subjectivism of the truth. The concept of truth has changed and this has belittled the importance of the content of truth and the intellect. One of the glories of our faith is that it is a system of coherent, rational truth. It is much more than a system of truth, but not less. We should rejoice in this in light of the content-less spirituality of pagan, New Age. One hand clapping may sound profound but it means nothing rational.  I recently did a video on the  “Cosmic Christ” and I chose this title carefully because I wanted to catch the attention of New Agers and I wanted to accent the cosmic dimension of the atonement-Christus victor. But it was mainly to show the CONTENT of the true Christ vs the myth of the pagan conception of Christ. I next want to do one entitled the Cosmic Christ and His alien, extra-terrestrial righteousness! Hehe  Actually, I am not kidding because the term ‘alien righteousness’ is a theological term for the righteousness of Christ which is extra-terrestrial—outside the earth, and reserved in heaven. See if I can work ET in the title too! His righteousness is imputed to us in justification.

Suppose someone says: why theology? All I need is to love to Jesus. First, which Jesus? (New Age, Jehovas Witness, etc.) Who is He and what did He do? What happened on the cross?  Second, ‘love’ can be defined and expressed in a thousand different ways. And Jesus Himself said: “teaching them ALL that I commanded you.”

Positive role of theology: just as we get to know a person better as we know more about them, so our knowledge of and love for God should grow as we study about His Person and work---in creation and redemption. For our soul to be inflamed with a passion for God then it first has to pass through our minds.  (CS Lewis quote)

I am at a point in life at age 62 where I wish to record the truths of God’s Word. Knowledge without devotion is cold, dead orthodoxy. But devotion without knowledge is irrational instability; one is left vulnerable to being undiscerning to the wiles of the devil…and I see people falling left and right. How can people believe in earthbound spirits? Recently a friend went back to being a witch. 11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherdsc and teachers,d 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood,e to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.
Avoid syncretism which is blending of non-Christian thought with bible. Solid theology helps avoid that..become discerning. Like eg of bank teller and counterfeit.

Growing in the knowledge of God is a great joy and honor. It is a delight to the soul. Takes effort and discipline, but this is a matter of life and death—even eternal life and death. And this series is designed, by God’s grace, to enable us to love Him more and be more effective in your witness to a lost and broken world. Dig in!

Mark Hunnemann is the author of Seeing Ghosts Through God's Eyes: A Worldview Analysis of Earthbound Spirits. It's also available in eBook format.

Dalai Lama: Establishing Harmony within Religious Diversity

By The 14th Dalai Lama


The Dangers of Changing Religions

There are many different religions and cultures in the world and each has developed to suit its own people. Because of that, I always recommend that it’s best to keep the religion you were born into. In the West, most people are Christians, although there are also some Jews and some Muslims. For them, or for anyone, to change religions is not easy and sometimes it just creates confusion.

There’s one example that I always mention. In the early 1960’s, we Tibetans faced great difficulties. At that time, many Christian organizations came to help us. There was one Tibetan lady who had several small children and she faced a very difficult situation. Then a Christian missionary came and accepted her children to go to a Christian missionary school. One day she came to me and told me that in this life she’s going to be a Christian, but in her next life she’s going to be a Buddhist. This clearly indicates that she had some confusion about religion.

Also there was one old Polish lady, I knew her from 1956. From 1959 onwards, she took serious interest in education and gave scholarships to several Tibetan students. She became interested in Buddhism, but before that she was a Theosophist in Madras. So already she had some nonsectarian type of point of view, but she accepted Buddhism as her personal religion. At the end of her life, the concept of God seemed to be closer to her mind and this also indicates a sign of confusion. Therefore, it’s best to keep your own religion.

Among millions of people, however, some will instinctively have an interest in Eastern religions, especially Buddhism. These people need to think carefully. If they find Buddhism more suitable to their own dispositions, then okay, it’s alright. Like among Tibetans, 99% of us are Buddhists. But over the last four centuries, there have been some Ladakhi Muslims living in Tibet, who have married Tibetans and their children have become Muslim. Also there have been some Christians in the Amdo area. So, okay, with both of them, no problem.

Also, I must mention that when someone takes a new religion, they must avoid a negative view toward their original tradition, which often comes up as part of human nature. Even if you find your old tradition not very helpful to you, it doesn’t imply in general that it’s not very helpful. All religions offer help to humanity. Especially when facing difficult situations, all religions offer hope. Therefore, we must respect all religions.

Learning from Each Other’s Religions

Also, today’s reality is a little bit different from the past reality. In the past, people from different traditions remained more or less isolated. The Buddhists stayed in Asia; the Muslims in the Middle East and some in Asia; and in the West there were mostly Christians. So there was very little contact. But now the times are different. There are many new waves of immigration taking place; there’s economic globalization and also the growing tourist industry. So much information is now available, including information about Buddhism. Because of these various factors, our world community has become like one entity: a multi-cultural, multi-religious singular entity.

So here there are two possibilities of what can happen. The first one is that because of close contact between different traditions, sometimes there’s a little sense of insecurity about our own tradition. The other tradition comes into more contact with us, so we feel a little bit uncomfortable. That’s a negative possibility. The second possibility is that because of this reality of more communication, the opportunities to develop genuine harmony between traditions have grown. This is a more positive possibility and so now we must make effort to establish true harmony. If we leave aside the religions that do not have any philosophical basis, but just faith in worshipping the sun or moon or these type of things, if we leave those aside but look at the major world religions – Christianity, Judaism, Islam, different Hindu and Buddhist traditions, Jainism, Daoism, Confucianism, and so on – each of these has its own specialty. Therefore, through close contact, we can learn new things from each other; we can enrich our own traditions.

We Tibetan Buddhists, for example, we remained isolated behind the Himalayan mountains; we had no idea what was taking place in the outside world. But now the situation has completely changed. Now, for almost 50 years as homeless refugees, we’ve found new homes and many opportunities to learn from other traditions in other countries. This has been extremely useful. In the past, we have established exchange programs here in India: Christian brothers and sisters came to India to learn from us and some of our Tibetan monks and nuns went to the West and had experience in Christianity, mostly in Catholic monasteries. So, with close contact in that way, if we don’t remain closed-minded but open up, then we can learn something from each other. That way, we can develop mutual understanding and respect. And anyway, a new reality is there. Therefore, I think that the development of mutual harmony among different religions is very important. This is one of my commitments until my death, to promote religious harmony. This is very helpful.

So, when I give lectures on Buddhism to audiences in the West who are mostly followers of other religions, then, the aim is to help these people to develop some understanding of Buddhism. That can be helpful for the development of tolerance. Then, perhaps like the present Pope stresses, the emphasis needs to be on both faith and reason together. That’s very important. Without reason, sometimes faith remains a little irrelevant. But with reason, faith can become a part of life that is extremely relevant. Faith in God, for example, can be extremely helpful, like when a person is going through difficult periods it gives that person great hope. And if we think in terms of anger, hatred, jealousy, the wish to cheat and bully others, then if we have faith, faith protects us against such negative emotions and actions. When we realize this, then faith becomes very important in daily life. In the Buddhist tradition, we place emphasis equally on faith and reason. So, some Buddhist explanations, particularly those based on reason, might be useful to practitioners of other traditions.

Sharing Knowledge with Science

In the variety of religious traditions present in today’s world, there are two categories: those that are theistic and those that are non-theistic. Buddhism is one of the non-theistic ones. According to non-theistic religions, the emphasis is on the law of causality. So naturally, there’s a great deal of explanation of the law of cause and effect in Buddhism, and this is something which is very useful to know. It is useful in that it helps us to know more about ourselves and about our minds.

We need to realize, for example, that destructive emotions and attitudes are the sources of our suffering and pain. To eliminate suffering and pain, we need to focus not just on their physical and verbal levels, but also on the mental. The counterforces for them are also mostly mental.

In the Buddhist tradition, the explanation of the mind is very detailed. Also, we find the same in some ancient Indian traditions. Therefore now, today, modern science is investigating deeper and deeper in this area. For instance, medical science is beginning to carry out research on emotions, since they are very important in relation to our health. A healthy body is related to emotions. So it is especially important for neurologists investigating how the brain works to look more at emotions. In other academic fields as well, there is also a big interest in the mind and emotions. Therefore, information about the mind and emotions from Buddhism and from ancient Indian religions is very useful for their research.

Usually I distinguish three parts of Buddhism: Buddhist science, Buddhist philosophy and Buddhist religion. Look at the example of Buddha himself. Buddha originally was an ordinary sentient being, a limited being. He taught how to transform our ordinary emotions and minds step by step and, by following that path himself, he finally became enlightened, and that’s a Buddha. Therefore, the Buddhist approach is to start on this level, the level of ordinary people, and then proceed on that level all the way up to Buddhahood.

Because of that, then firstly, we have to know today’s reality: that entails Buddhist science. Then, on that basis, we see the possibility of change, of transformation. We see that change is possible and that’s the Buddhist philosophy. When that becomes clear to us and we have confidence in the process of inner transformation, then we can start the practice of Buddhist religion.

So if we look back at Buddhist science, there are two areas that it deals with: internally, the mind, and externally with atoms, the universe and so on. Western science has much to offer on the external level: it seems to be extremely advanced in that area. We Buddhists can learn much from it about particles, how they function, about genetics, about the universe – these are very useful for us as Buddhists. At least, in terms of this planet, it’s quite clear that there is no Mount Meru. So, some of our classical descriptions must also be changed. Therefore, the scientific findings in the fields of cosmology, particle physics, quantum physics, and so on, are very essential for us Buddhists to learn.

Some findings of modern science and Buddhism, however, are the same. For example, originally, people believed that there was some sort of self-sufficient, independent substance on the side of objects. But now, according to the findings of quantum physics, we see that there is no such thing. We Buddhists have had this understanding for thousands of years. Buddhism teaches that nothing is self-sufficiently arising or self-sufficiently existing, but rather everything dependently arises.

Now, in terms of inner knowledge, modern science is starting to conduct some investigations, so there can be mutual benefit. Buddhists can learn about external phenomena from science and science can learn how to deal with negative emotions and such internal phenomena from the Buddhists. So, when we speak with the scientists, it’s not about future lives or nirvana. We don’t speak about religious aspects, but rather we speak about the mind and emotions. This is because we have the same method: we investigate things in order to find out about reality.

So those of you Westerners who are interested in Buddhism, it’s helpful to carry out your own scientific research. So, on that basis of offering the opportunity to investigate the Buddhist teachings with a scientific attitude, it seems alright for me to give lectures on Buddhism to non-Buddhist audiences. Because of that, then please look at my talks somewhat like academic lectures. Except for some chanting at the start, there are no rituals, no religious aspects in my talks. I just give scientific lectures. What do you think?

His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama
courtesy of studybuddhism.com
Original link with photos https://www.dalailama.com/messages/religious-harmony-1/establishing-harmony-within-religious-diversity

Dalai Lama: A Biased Mind Cannot Grasp Reality

By The Dalai Lama
I am extremely delighted to attend this inter faith seminar on the Preservation of Religious Harmony, Co­existence and Universal Peace organised by the International Association for Religious Freedom (IARF), Ladakh group. Thank you very much for the detailed explanation of the association's history, activities, objectives and their relevance in the present century. I have nothing to add on what the speakers said earlier. But I would like to say a few things.

We are now in the twenty ­first century. The quality of research on both the inner and physical world has reached quite high levels, thanks to the tremendous stride in technological advancement and human intelligence. However, as some of the speakers said before, the world is also facing a lot of new problems, most of which are man­-made. The root cause of these man­-made problems is the inability of human beings to control their agitated minds. How to control such a state of mind is taught by the various religions of this world.

I am a religious practitioner, who follows Buddhism. More than a thousand years have passed since the great religions of the world flourished, including Buddhism. During those years, the world had witnessed a lot of conflicts, in which followers of different religions were also involved. As a religious practitioner, I acknowledge the fact that different religions of the world have provided many solutions about how to control an agitated mind. In spite of this, I still feel we have not been able to realise our full potential.

I always say that every person on this earth has the freedom to practice or not practice religion. It is all right to do either. But once you accept religion, it is extremely important to be able to focus your mind on it and sincerely practice the teachings in your daily life. All of us can see that we tend to indulge in religious favouritism by saying, "I belong to this or that religion", rather than making effort to control our agitated minds. This misuse of religion, due to our disturbed minds, also sometimes creates problems.

I know a physicist from Chile who told me that it is not appropriate for a scientist to be biased towards science because of his love and passion for it. I am a Buddhist practitioner and have a lot of faith and respect in the teachings of the Buddha. However, if I mix up my love for and attachment to Buddhism, then my mind shall be biased towards it. A biased mind, which never sees the complete picture, cannot grasp the reality. And any action that results from such a state of mind will not be in tune with reality. As such it causes a lot of problems.

According to Buddhist philosophy, happiness is the result of an enlightened mind whereas suffering is caused by a distorted mind. This is very important. A distorted mind, in contrast to an enlightened mind, is one that is not in tune with reality.

Any issue, including political, economic and religious activities human beings pursue in this world, should be fully understood before we pass our judgement. Therefore, it is very important to know the causes. Whatever the issue, we should be able to see the complete picture. This will enable us to comprehend the whole story. The teachings offered in Buddhism are based on rationality, and I think are very fruitful.

Today, a lot of people from different religious backgrounds are present here. In every religion, there are transcendent things that are beyond the grasp of our mind and speech. For example, the concept of God in Christianity and Islam and that of wisdom truth body in Buddhism are metaphysical, which is not possible for an ordinary person like us to realise. This is a common difficulty faced by every religion. It is taught in every ­religion, including Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam, that the ultimate truth is driven by faith.

I want to emphasise that it is extremely important for practitioners to sincerely believe in their respective religions. Usually, I say that it is very important to distinguish between "belief in one religion" and "belief in many religions". The former directly contradicts the latter. Therefore, we should resolutely resolve these contradictions. This is possible only by thinking in contextual terms. A contradiction in one context might not be the same in the other. In the context of one person, a single truth is closely associated with a single source of refuge. This is of extreme necessity. However, in the context of society or more than one person it is necessary to have different sources of refuge, religions and truths.

In the past it was not a major problem because nations remained aloof from each other with their own distinct religion. However, in today's close and inter-connected world there are so many differences amongst various religions. We must obviously resolve these problems. For example, there have been a lot of religions in India for the past thousand years. Some of them were imported from outside whereas some have grown in India itself. Despite this, the fact is that these religions have been able to coexist with each other, and the principle of Ahimsa has really flourished in this country. Even today, this principle has a strong bearing on every religion. This is very precious and India should really take pride in it.

Ladakh has been a predominantly Buddhist area 'for so many centuries. But other religions such as Islam, Christianity, Hinduism and Sikhism have also flourished here. Although it is natural for the people of Ladakh to have attachment to and love for their own religions, yet this place has a very peaceful environment with no major problems of religious intolerance. During my maiden visit to Ladakh, I heard elderly Muslims using the phrase "community of sangha" in their speeches. Although such phrases are not found in Islam, yet a reference of this kind invokes a lot of trust amongst the Buddhists. Therefore, people from different religious background in Ladakh are very close to each other and live in harmony.

As far as the Muslims are concerned it is appropriate for them to have complete devotion to Allah while praying in the mosques. This is also the same with Buddhists who are completely devoted to the Buddha when they pray in Buddhist temples. A society, which has many religions should also have many prophets and sources of refuge. In such a society it is very important to have harmony and respect amongst the different religions and their practitioners. We must distinguish between belief and respect. Belief refers to total faith, which you must have in your own religion. At the same time you should have respect for all other religions. This tradition of believing in one's own religion and having respect for others is in existence in Ladakh since your forefathers. Therefore you do not have to invent it. The most important thing at the moment is to preserve and promote this tradition. I would like to thank all of you for working hard regarding this and request you to continue to do so in the future.

If a harmonious relationship is established amongst societies and religious beliefs in today's multi-ethnic, multi-religious and multi-cultural world, then it will surely set a very good example for others. However, if all the sides become careless, then there is a danger of imminent problems. In a multi­ethnic  society  the biggest problem is that of between the majority and the minority. For instance, in the capital Leh, Buddhists constitute the majority of the population whereas Muslims belong to the minority community. The majority must consider the minority as their invited guests. The minority, on the other hand, should be able to sensitise with the majority. In other words, both sides should live in harmony. In order to sustain this harmony, both sides should not take lightly the sensitive issues between themselves. Indeed, the majority should pay attention to and appreciate the views and opinion of the minority. Both sides should discuss and clearly express what they think about the other's view and opinion. The minority, on the other hand, should be careful about where the sensitive issues of the majority lies and express whatever doubts they have in their minds. If problems are resolved in such a friendly manner; then both sides will gain. Suspicion of each other will only harm both communities. Therefore, it is very important to live in harmony and analyse where the opinion of the other lies. The best way to do this is to engage in dialogue, dialogue and dialogue.

Excerpts from His Holiness the Dalai Lama's address to the inter-faith seminar organised by the International Association for Religious Freedom, Ladakh Group, in Leh on 25 August.

original link with photos: https://www.dalailama.com/messages/religious-harmony-1/religious-harmony

Dalai Lama: Interaction with Youth

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, 22 November 2016 – At the Culture House in downtown Ulaanbaatar this morning, His Holiness gave two brief interviews to local television channels.

In a message to young Mongolians, His Holiness said,

“Tibet and Mongolia have had friendly relations for more than 1000 years, especially since we embraced Buddhism. Despite the material development we see in the world, people still lack peace of mind. These days we also see conflict in the name of religion. At such a time, it is important to work to ensure international peace.

“I have visited many western countries and even in these highly developed societies people are unhappy. This is why, these days, there is such interest in what Buddhism has to say about the workings of the mind.

“Mongolia has historically been a Buddhist country. Under communist rule, despite great difficulties, you were still able to preserve your religious faith. Now that you are free once more, there is growing interest in your Buddhist heritage, especially the Nalanda tradition. You need to build on this interest.

“Even those without much interest in religion as such can benefit from what the Nalanda tradition has to teach. However, most of you have a fervent faith, so I appeal to you to make an effort to study the Nalanda tradition. In the monasteries, younger monks should not only learn how to perform rituals and prayers, they should also study hard.”

Asked what changes he has noticed in Mongolia since his last visit in 2011, His Holiness replied:

“Of course, I can see that externally there has been a great deal of development, many more houses have been built. However, whether the inhabitants of these houses have a deeper sense of peace of mind is another matter. It is quite clear that material development alone is not sufficient to bring us inner peace. This is why today in America, Europe, Japan and China, many people, including scientists, are showing increasing interest in the workings of the mind.

“Mongolia has historically been a Buddhist country, upholding the Nalanda tradition for more than 1000 years. You should not just take this for granted, but should make an effort to study yourselves. I believe Mongolia has great opportunities ahead. You are witnessing great material development, but your ancestors have also bequeathed you this great Buddhist tradition. Buddhist Psychology is very advanced and it is something that already belongs to you. Today, you have an opportunity to be the bridge between the Buddhist traditions of Nalanda and modern education.”

Speaking publicly about ‘Universal Values and Buddhism in the 21st Century’ His Holiness outlined his three commitments. The first involves the promotion of human happiness and peace in the world, the key to which is inner peace. He stressed that peace of mind is important if we are to be physically healthy. If we want to create a happier more peaceful world, we need to take inner peace seriously. We do not necessarily have to cultivate religious practice, we can rely on our common experience common sense supported by scientific findings.

“Cultivating compassion and inner peace is not the preserve of any particular religious tradition; it is rooted in universal values,” His Holiness advised. “Time is always moving forward so we cannot change the past. However, we can shape the future. During the 20th century more than 200 million people died violently. If that violence had ultimately left the world a better place, we could perhaps justify it, but that is not the case. The reality today is that we are so interdependent that war and the use of force is thoroughly out of date.

“We must act according to the new reality in which we find ourselves. The idea of complete victory for one side and the complete defeat of the other is entirely unrealistic. Taking an unrealistic approach yields no positive results. We have to remember that each and every one of us belong to the 7 billion human beings alive today. Considering the welfare of the whole humanity ultimately ensures our own benefit. Narrow selfish concern is unrealistic. Real happiness involves concern for others. Where the 20th century was fraught with bloodshed and conflict those of you who belong to the 21st century should cultivate a sense of the oneness of humanity and work to ensure this century becomes an era of compassion. If you can do that you’ll experience a happier world.”

After lunch where he was staying, His Holiness met members of the Tibetan community in Mongolia as well as the many Mongolians who came to see him.

original link & photos http://dalailama.com/news/post/1495-interaction-with-youth

The Nature of God and the Greatest Question of All

By Mark Hunnemann

"For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God." (2 Cor. 5:21)

I have been accenting the paramount importance of the doctrine of God in our worldviews...how it effects everything. How we view Ultimate Reality has a domino effect on the other six worldview issues. There are several worldviews in our culture, but the one gaining ascendancy is New Age or Neo-gnostic/occult, which we will look at perhaps next time. Obviously, the concept of Ultimate Reality in this pagan goddess spirituality differs significantly from biblical Christianity.

Let me briefly show how the primacy of what God is like effects the other issues, and then I want too camp on what is the most important issue of all--how can I be saved?

1. Ultimate Reality in the bible is the infinite personal God who is really there, and who has spoken to us Person to person in the bible. God is good--meaning He is holy and loving.
2. Since God is both infinite and Personal He took great delight in creating the heavens and the earth, the visible and invisible. (Gen. 1:1; Col. 1:16)
3. Since God is personal, He loves us and desires to be our primary love...He does not leave it to guesswork as to what our purpose in life is--it is stated in His communication to us.
4. The text above speaks of Jesus' sinlessness. Since God is really THERE, and spoken truth to us, we have an adequate basis for ethics. "Be holy because I am holy". (1 Peter 1:16)
5. God is infinite and personal and He made us finite and personal--that is, IN HIS IMAGE. Again, no guesswork as to what humans ARE, because of who God IS! (Gen.1:26ff)
6. We spoke of the three Lordship attributes of God last time (control, authority, and presence) This assures us that the flow of history (and our own personal history) is moving in a meaningful, linear fashion to it's culmination in the Second Coming/restoration. History is the stage upon which God is driving the drama of redemption.
7. The afterlife is, yet again, not a matter of speculation because God/heaven is really THERE. "For we must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ...",   "...it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgement." The moment we die we appear before the Lord's throne, and are sent to heaven or hell for all eternity. (2 Cor. 5:!0; Heb. 9:27) The greatest argument against the notion of trapped spirits is the nature of God (and His perfect atonement). His nature will also reveal in technicolor how we MUST be saved and enter His perfectly holy heaven.

Do you see how the existence and nature of God effects EVERYTHING? If we had the time, I would like to show how Ultimate Reality as energy/matter would "answer" these worldview questions. We would see that it, and all non-biblical worldviews, are utterly bankrupt to provide adequate answers to our deepest questions.

But what of the greatest question of all: how can I know I am going to heaven after death? Though it is not listed as a worldview component, it underlies and is implied in all of seven components--especially the nature of God. Once again, when we ponder our eternal destiny, the nature of what Ultimate Reality is will guide our thinking. For example, in the history of humanity there are three basic answers to that question. Though details may vary in a multitude of ways, we can accurately summarize three basic views of salvation--which (not surprisingly!) flow from one's view of Ultimate Reality. Let's look at these now.

1. Auto-soterism or self-salvation...otherwise known as Pelagianism (named after the heresiarch, Pelagius). Whether New Age, humanism, atheism, deism or theological liberalism (and scores of others), we either save ourselves by being good or we essentially "save ourselves" by denying that we even need salvation. The details vary from one belief to the next in auto-soterism (e.g. annihilation vs continued conscious existence), but the defining feature is that we don't need a Savior....we will earn or merit our way to our next incarnation or heaven. Perhaps the most common view of salvation is, "Justification by death alone." All we have to do is die, and we fly off to paradise.

The only way one can subscribe to Pelagianism is by having a seriously defective or deficient view of God's nature. Theological liberalism often states that the essence of Christianity is" living the Sermon on the Mount". Hmmm.....I wonder if they have ever carefully read this lofty sermon by Jesus? There is a spiritual logic to the beatitudes, which are the heart of the Sermon on the Mount, and the first is, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." (Matt. 5:3) That is, blessed (well being in one's relationship with God) are those who recognize they are desperately in need of divine grace and mercy, for they are spiritually bankrupt in themselves. A deficient view of God's holiness will lead to a deficient view of our true spiritual condition. In other words, self-salvation is the noxious fruit of having a distorted view of Ultimate Reality in our worldviews.

2. Semi-pelagianism or Arminianism (named after Jacob Arminius) is a half-way house between self-salvation and salvation by grace alone. Stated another way--we are saved by faith in Christ plus.... (fill in the blank). My intent is not to offend anyone, but to state things accurately and urge us to think (Berean style). I was raised in a devout Christian home, but the gospel was, "We are saved by faith in Jesus, plus doing certain things...but if you do other certain sins, that will kill the grace of God in your soul. You will lose your state of salvation until you do x, y, and z." I am intentionally being vague. However, regarding the view itself--we are saved by faith in Christ AND good work/s-I will NOT be vague. As Paul said to the "Arminians" of his day, "As we have said before, so now I say again:If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ." (Gal. 1:9-10) The heresy Paul was eternally condemning to hell was the notion that we are saved by faith in Christ plus being circumcised. That was the Galatian heresy which so agitated Paul and the Lord.

There always has been, and always will be, differences amongst Christians this side of heaven. However, the essence of the gospel must be protected, regardless of what people say. The folks in Galatia were not pelagianists, or believers in self-salvation. However, they did add to the finished work of Christ on the cross by saying,"In order to be saved, you must believe in Christ and be circumcised." Today, that same sort of belief is alive and well in America, and globally. Only the Lord knows the true state of a person's soul and many folks raised in these traditions are truly born again, but it must be due to some happy inconsistency. Only the Lord knows when the line is crossed in practice--all I can do is state the biblical principle, for which I do not care what man thinks. What I plead for you to consider is that many professing Christians--either because they hold to a "easy-believism" or a version of faith plus works heresy--are not really saved and will spend eternit y in hell. That grieves me...and it certainly grieves the Lord.

The issue again is the nature of God. If we have depth view of God's holiness, then we will have a depth view of our sinfullness. With a deep awareness of our radical corruption comes a vision of the glorious beauty of grace. A deep appreciation of God's utter, burning holiness will reveal the utter futility and madness of adding anything to the finished work of Christ on the cross. A person on this faith and works treadmill can never enjoy (if they are consistent) an abiding joyful assurance of salvation. There will always be the insecurity of, "Did I do enough, or did I do TOO much sin today..did I get kicked out of God's family?" Listen, I lived this way  growing up and it was horrible, even as a child.

The third way of salvation is the biblical way...the true way of salvation. GRACE. We are saved by faith alone in the finished work of Christ on the cross. (Romans 3 & 4;Eph. 2:8-10...Gen--Rev) "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it s the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." I included v. 10 because it is often left out when these verses are quoted and it addresses a significant issue--what is the role of works, if we are saved by grace alone? Concern regarding "cheap grace" or easy believism is valid, but is no reason to throw the "grace baby" out with the dirty water. Luther re-discovered the pure gospel in 1517 after it had languished under severe legalism for 1, 000 years or more. He put it this way, "We are saved by faith alone, but not by a faith that is alone." The book of James is about the evidence of true faith. Good works have no meritorious value but they have immense evidential value. As the text in Ephesians states, we were saved in order to be pleasing to the Lord.

This is not a systematic theology, so I need to wrap up. We come finally, again, to Ultimate Reality--the nature of the biblical God--which reveals the sovereign grace of God Almighty. All this talk of worldviews is foolish and empty if we ourselves are not reconciled with our Creator. 2 Cor 5:21 is one of the most important verses in all of Scripture  for understanding the meaning of the atonement and justification. The sinless Son of God became a substitute for us...substitutionary atonement. We are justified by faith alone. To say that are saved by faith or grace alone is to say we are saved by Christ alone (and His finished work on the cross) Justification involves a double transfer. Christ became sin "for us"--and was punished "for us"--but His 33 years of righteous living (the righteousness of God) is imputed or counted to us as well. It pleased the Father to transfer our sins to Jesus, and to transfer Jesus' perfect life to us. We are declared eternally "Not Guilt y!" and the Father sees us "IN HIM".

The only way we can stand before the holy Father is due the robe of righteousness wrapped around us. Though it may not make sense to the world, we must be saved by grace alone because of how absolutely just, holy and righteous God is. Every sin is an act of cosmic treason against a thrice holy God and deserves eternal punishment. However, since we are in union with Jesus' life, death, resurrection, and ascension..God not only accepts us, He absolutely delights in us! (Isaiah 62:3-5) He delights and rejoices over us...may we relish this, and dance for joy because salvation is of the Lord....from beginning to end. For all eternity we will sing the praises of the King of Grace!
Amen.

Mark Hunnemann is the author of Seeing Ghosts Through God's Eyes: A Worldview Analysis of Earthbound Spirits. It's also available in eBook format.

The Biblical Truth of Depression -- It Will Shock You!

This morning I was led to post this. It stemmed from a discussion I had with a man who is struggling with Depression. Here is something that I came across about this very touchy subject which I know will cause a stir so to speak.

There are numerous biblical references to depression, one of the human race's most common and distressing afflictions. It is likely that the first humans to experience depression were Adam and Eve, after they sinned against God.  Examples of people in the Bible who suffered bouts of depression are:

Abraham (Genesis 15)
Jonah (Jonah 4)
Job (Book of Job)
Elijah (1 Kings 19)
King Saul (I Samuel 16:14-23, etc.)
Jeremiah (Book of Jeremiah)
King David (Psalms 6, 13, 18, 23, 25, 27, 31, 32, 34, 37-40, 42-43, 46, 51, 55, 62-63, 69, 71, 73, 77, 84, 86, 90-91, 94-95, 103-104, 107, 110, 116, 118, 121, 123-124, 130, 138, 139, 141-143, 146-147)

The Bible Teaches That Sorrow Is A Natural Cure For Depression!

That's right, you read that correctly! We learn in Ecclesiastes 7:3 that being sad is a natural part of human life, which makes the “HEART BETTER.” A “countenance” is a person's face. Grieving is a natural part of the human healing process. When you are sad and down emotionally, it is ok and don't ever allow anyone to convince you that something is wrong with you.  Ecclesiastes 7:3, “Sorrow is better than laughter: for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better”.

The Bible Commands Every Believer To Be Depressed!

That's right you read that correctly! In fact, God commands every believer in the Bible to “Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up” (James 4:9-10). The Bible teaches us HUMBLE YOURSELF IN THE SIGHT OF THE LORD through humility, mourning and afflicting yourself (realize one's misery), and then He lifts you up.

Whereas God commands us as Christian believers to weep, afflict ourselves and have a heavy heart; the wicked world tells us the exact opposite. The world tells us that we're supposed to be happy, confident and cheerful all the time or else there's something wrong with us. The world is insane and wrong!

The Bible plainly teaches that if you're not depressed, you're not right with God! The word “afflicted” in James 4:9 is the Greek word talaipōreō and means “to be wretched, that is, realize one’s own misery.” The dictionary defines “wretched” as “very unhappy, full of misery!” There is a huge difference between Godly depression verses unhealthy depression.

Unhealthy depression is when we condemn ourselves over past sins which have already been confessed and forsaken (Hebrews 10:22). Satan tries to discourage believers by continually accusing them day-and-night the Bible says before the throne of God (Revelation 12:10). The Devil's crowd behave just like their father the Devil. We must realize as King David that God is the ONLY one that we have to answer to see Psalms 51:4

Any believer can have peace and complete joy in the Lord Jesus Christ, if we realize the scriptural truth that God is the only one that we will ever have to give account to in eternity. It doesn't matter what anyone else has to say. The Bible strictly warns all mankind against condemning anyone else, because WE ARE ALL SINNERS (Romans 2:1, James 5:9).  So we are Biblically commanded to realize our own wretchedness, which is what the song AMAZING GRACE is all about.

Godly depression is continually realizing that I am a sinner by birth and nature, and saying along with the Apostle Paul, “O wretched man that I am… (see Romans 7:24-25). Godly affliction is thinking about the awful sinful condition of our society, and praying about it, for God to deliver me from evil (Luke 11:4), and praying for my brethren in the Lord (2nd Corinthians 13:7).

Notice that Christ Jesus didn't say “deliver us from sin” in His example of how to pray; but rather, “deliver us from EVIL.” Evil is planned sin. No Christian can live above committing sin, but Christians can all abstain from committing evil (premeditated sin). We are commanded to ask God to deliver us from evil, that is, deliberate sinning.  2nd Thes. 3:1, “Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified, even as it is with you.”

I'm not making this stuff up, the Bible teaches that God wants us depressed, that is, (as defined in the dictionary), “to lower someone's spirits; make downhearted.”  Why in the world would God want us to be depressed? Once again go read Ecc. 7:3.

We grow from pain in our soul, if we trust upon the Lord God Almighty and don't commit suicide or turn to sin to cope which becomes demonic. It is often stated that adversity makes men, but prosperity destroys them. UNSHAKABLE FAITH COMES FROM HAVING YOUR FAITH SHAKEN!!!

This doesn't mean that Christians should walk around looking miserable. It simply means that we should continually HAVE THE MIND OF CHRIST IN US, which Philippians 2:4-5 instructs and teaches, thinking upon the needs, burdens and things of others instead of ourselves.

Every Christian ought to be sorrowful concerning the gross wickedness of this evil generation. I am saddened daily over abortion, same-sex marriage, public nudity, “sin cities” Las Vegas and New Orleans, drug abuse, blatant government crimes, counterfeit Bibles, lukewarm Christians who support evil, etc., etc., etc.

God have mercy on this spiritually sick generation of fun-seekers! God have pity on this shallow, spineless, TV generation. Unless something is “FUN,” people won't get involved and have no interest, and this especially includes spiritual areas. This is today's lukewarm church scene (U.S.A.) —using Rock 'N' Roll, worldliness, things that are “FUN” to sell a product that supposedly will reignite a dead church and draw everyone to God! Yeah, right! God never intended for church to be “FUN” or entertaining. If your entertainment is God, then God must become entertaining to be worshiped.

Psalms:126:5- 6: “They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.”

John:11:35: Jesus wept.

Lastly people - There Is No Such Thing As A “Chemical Imbalance”

This is one of the biggest frauds in our country and society. Doctors commonly diagnose patients with a Chemical Imbalance. There is NO SUCH THING. It is not a scientific diagnosis. There is no test to determine chemical imbalance. There is no way to test or know for certain if someone has a chemical imbalance in their brain. This is why doctors call it a syndrome or disorder. There is a global view that moves from one generation to the next. Each new school of thought is replaced with the next popular trend.  Go LEARN IT!

Therefore, when this period of depression goes longer than it should, we need to then understand it has now become a demonic problem which must be addressed properly with God.

Rev. Bradley Luoma

An Appeal to Christian Paranormal Investigators

By Reverend Mark Hunnemann

Part 1 can be read here: Musings On How Superman Defeated the KKK (really!), and Discerning if your Call Really is from God

I have perhaps never felt such a heavy heart while writing a blog, as I feel now.

As of 12/29/15 there are 3,638 paranormal investigation groups in the USA (listed on “Paranormal Societies.com”, which is the most comprehensive listing of groups in the USA., owned and operated by Bill Wilkens. I have an article included on the identity of shadow figures).

Of these groups, a sizable number claim to be Christian groups. The question that I wish to explore is this: what does it mean to be a CHRISTIAN Paranormal Investigator? Or a CHRISTIAN Paranormal Investigation Team?  (for ease, I will use CPI for short).This is a massive topic, as there are so many issues that one could pursue. For example, should Christians even be involved in PI? However, I think it is safe to reduce the issues to three. That is, in order to say with integrity that one is a Christian paranormal investigator they must--

1. They must be a professing Christian/s—giving a credible profession of faith, believing with all their being in the essentials laid out in the Apostles/Nicene Creed. If, for example, one disavows the bodily resurrection of Christ or the deity of Christ, then one cannot with integrity claim to be a Christian.

The Nicene Creed is the most widely accepted summary of our Faith….

We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty,

maker of heaven and earth, of all that is seen and unseen.

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,

the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father,

God from God, light from light, true God from true God,

begotten, not made, one in Being with the Father.

For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven,

By the power of the Holy Spirit he was born of the Virgin Mary and became man.

For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;

He suffered, died and was buried.

On the third day he rose again in fulfillment of the Scriptures;

He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.

He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,

and his kingdom will have no end.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,

who proceeds from the Father (and the Son)

Who with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified.

Who has spoken through the prophets.

We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.

We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.

We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. 

Amen.

Do you believe this?

You are a Christian first and foremost, and paranormal investigators somewhere after that. When I was a pastor/preacher, I had to constantly remind myself of the same truth. It is so easy for pastors to get their identity wrapped up in ministry and not in Christ. The same temptation is faced by all Christians….to put the cart before the horse, especially when dealing with something as singularly alluring as the spirit realm. But God makes it abundantly clear that He is a jealous God, and the most important commandment is to love God with all of our being.

2. Praying before/after an investigation for protection in the name of Jesus, and Jesus alone.

3. And attempting to live all their lives, including all their beliefs and practices regarding the paranormal, to the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31), in conformity with the Word of God….under the Lordship of Christ over the full spectrum of life.

That would entail that they would humbly seek to be teachable by the Word of God regarding beliefs/practices that are possibly taken for granted by the consensus of the paranormal community. Honestly, I have seen little substantive self-reflection by CPI’s—rigorously analyzing all the chief tenets of the paranormal community to see if they are biblical.

Your first communal allegiance is to your local church and not your group.

It is understood that nobody will attain perfection this side of heaven, and we all stumble every day. Thank God for His forgiving grace! However, after over 40 years of intensive study of the bible, I have found the following statement to be true--If the bible is stepping on your/my toes, then your feet are in the wrong place. This has happened to me more times than I can count, and the proper response is to align our beliefs/practices with the Word of God. Repentance is a lifestyle, and not a one-time event, though it must start there.

But many love their sin and will often go to any lengths to rationalize or defend it, and this corrupts the conscience until it becomes entirely mute regarding the sin in question. The bible, and not our conscience, is the final criterion for determining what is right and wrong belief/actions. The subjectivity of truth has seeped into the church, but we must reaffirm that the bible is the objective Word of God which informs our consciences…otherwise the conscience will be lead us astray.

In this blog I will NOT discuss whether ghosts exist—I’ve done that in dozens of other blogs as well as in my book Seeing Ghosts through God’s Eyes—for a comprehensive list of my blogs please see my Facebook page by same name. Neither will I discuss other significant issues that are believed by most in the paranormal community….again, which I have written about many times.

What I do want to address are the implications of #3 above. Please let me quote from a text in Deuteronomy which includes a prediction of the coming Messiah as The Prophet, while addressing “paranormal issues.” (I’ll return to this)

And remember that when Jesus was tempted by Satan in the wilderness, all three times He quoted from this same book of Deuteronomy to repel His infernal attacker….Satan. So, if ever there were an inspired Word of God directly relevant to the issues concerning the paranormal, Deuteronomy is high on the list! Jesus had a special love for this book. The Incarnate Word fed on the Inscripturated Word. I mention this because some simply dismiss this text because it is Old Testament. But 2 Timothy 3:16-17 is primarily referring to the Old Testament, as the New Testament was just coming together. And our Lord had very harsh words for any who would jettison the Old Testament. One last preliminary word—this text is part of the moral law (not civil or ceremonial) which has transgenerational and transcultural authority over all Christians today.

The text below is from Deuteronomy 18:9-22. I have my Hebrew bible open to this text and it is clear that this is one, unified section—dealing with same issue, divided into two parts….but NOT two watertight compartments. The Holy Spirit’s intention in Verses 9-22 is to explain how to attain knowledge regarding the supernatural/paranormal/God. Vvs. 9-14 tell us how NOT to attain it, and vvs 15-22 tell us how we ARE to attain knowledge about the supernatural/God. Hence, it is one logical unit, with 2 sub-divisions….strongly linked together. Linked all the more stronger with a Messianic prophecy woven into this seamless discussion.

“When you come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations. 10 There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer 11 or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, 12 for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord. And because of these abominations the Lord your God is driving them out before you. 13 You shall be blameless before the Lord your God, 14 for these nations, which you are about to dispossess, listen to fortune-tellers and to diviners. But as for you, the Lord your God has not allowed you to do this.

15  “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen—16 just as you desired of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God or see this great fire any more, lest I die.’ 17 And the Lord said to me, ‘They are right in what they have spoken. 18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. 19 And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him. 20 But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.’ 21 And if you say in your heart, ‘How may we know the word that the Lord has not spoken?’—22 when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him.

I have a friend who is in communication with a Christian author of fiction. The author is of the opinion that the bible allows for ghosts as an admissible category, but this text (and parallel ones in Leviticus, 19, 20) have persuaded him that we must not attempt communication with them. Good point….very good point! Indeed, an unassailable point.
In order to not get things bogged down, I said I did not want to address the issue of ghost’s existence. I realize that the vast majority of  CPI’s do believe in some form of trapped spirits….whether by free will or some other agency.

I love you…I respect you…and so I am trying to not build a straw man or worse, commit the ad-hominem fallacy—attacking the person/motive. But this brother did raise a point I’ve been trying to make repeatedly over the years. Namely, as Christians we MUST NOT ATTEMPT COMMUNICATION WITH THE DEAD. PERIOD. That is crystal clear in vvs 9-14. The Hebrew is just as clear, or more so, than your English bible on this matter.

However, a salient part of almost all paranormal investigations (Christian or non-Christian) is some form of attempted communication with the dead. Whether it’s via a professing Christian psychic/medium (also condemned as an abominable practice in God’s eyes), a ghost box, getting flashlights to blink, ect… somewhere along the line, a paranormal investigator is verbally asking if a spirit is present, and if so, would it communicate….make itself known, ect. There are many ways of doing this—all allegedly in the name of science—but they ALL fall under the prohibition of attempting communication with the dead.

God calls these practices abominations in HIS eyes, and He is going to destroy the then current inhabitants of the land because their means of communicating with the spirit realm included, among other things, mediums, necromancers, and those who inquire of the dead. When they practiced speaking to the dead it defiled the land….spiritually polluted it, and made it a haunt of demons.

How can you do something to God’s glory if that practice is condemned by God?

Christians are to have our emotions aligned with God’s emotions. We aren’t just to simply accept what is right and avoid what is wrong, we are to heartily embrace what God sees as good and to passionately hate that which He hates….without hating the person sinning.

I have heard so many Christians say that, since these deceased spirits are trapped, it would be un-Christian to not help them in some way. Jesus is the Lord of Christians and HE is the One who tells us what pleases Him and what doesn’t…not our intuition, our fallible moral sensibilities, or our feelings. God will not call you to a ministry of abomination.

In vvs 15-19 God promises a line of prophets who will speak to His people on His behalf. Pagan nations look to occultic means of communication with the spirit realm, but God’s holy people must listen to His prophets….those who have stood in council with the Lord. False prophets were the bane of God’s people back then, and not much has changed.

Not only is Moses called as a prophet but a whole line of prophets will communicate God’s will for His people. “A prophet like you…v 15, 18” A prediction is made of a special Messianic Prophet who will be the culmination of all prophetic activity in the Old Testament. In the first century A.D. Jews expected a final Prophet, whom the New Testament writers identify as Jesus (Acts 3:22-24; 7:37…these verses refer back to the prediction in Deuteronomy 18) see also Hebrews 1:1-3.

“And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers. 18 But what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled. 19 Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, 20 that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, 21 whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago. 22 Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you. 23 And it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people.’ 24 And all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those who came after him, also proclaimed these days. (Acts 3:17-24, emphasis added)

37 This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers.’ (Acts 7:37)….again, referring to Jesus.
Jesus—Prophet, Priest, and King.

And as we saw, Jesus had a special affection for the book of Deuteronomy. To be consistent, those who throw out the verses which condemn illicit means of paranormal communication, they would also have to jettison the prophesy of Jesus as The Prophet, the Divine Messiah.

The bible is not a salad bar which we can pick and choose whatever verses suit our likes and prior beliefs. Rather, if the bible is stepping on your toes, then your feet are in the wrong place. It grieves me to say this but most of the Christians who need to read this, won’t read it. Or if they do, they will commit some logical fallacy in their futile attempts to avoid its implications. Will you fear God and be teachable? Or will you bring up irrelevant issues to distract from simple obedience?

I know many who say that they are utterly convinced that God has called them to be CPI’s. It is not my place to question that, but are you willing to stop doing things God has clearly prohibited? Yes or no?

I have observed that many CPI’s feel so strongly that they have received a sanction from above, that their ‘calling’ takes on more authority than the Word of God. That is how they ‘get around’ this clear prohibition. But there is no getting around it because the texts are so clear, and God does not speak out of both sides of His holy mouth—saying one thing in Scripture and allegedly something contrary to you.

This is the great tragedy and disaster of the CPI movement of the last 3 decades or so. Sincere, but sincerely wrong, unwittingly being the agents by which the floodgates of hell are being opened. I feel sick in saying that, but like Jeremiah, it is ‘fire in my bones.’

Here I bear my heart. Jeremiah was called the “weeping prophet”, and I weep for those whom I now challenge. I am not a prophet, nor the son of a prophet, but God forbade the ancient Jews from communicating with the dead because He knew it was in their best interest. Likewise, I have personally listened to many professing Christian PI’s whose homes have paranormal activity, and they have grown accustomed to it…some even enjoy it—but others are being destroyed even as I write, and it breaks my heart.

I think that most CPI’s have paranormal issues (demonic issues)—and that does not count the many who have a demonic presence that is quiet—like spiritual radiation—that is causing long term damage.

At this point I don’t care if you believe in ghosts (yes I do), but will you STOP all attempts at communicating with them? According to the Word of God, these sins are opening the door even wider to demonic activity—both in your life and in your clients --giving them legal rights due to disobeying God’s clear commands. If you truly wish to help your clients, then you need to stop this….NOW. It is just as spiritually polluting today to attempt communication with the dead as it was when the OT text above was written…probably more so because of how great a salvation is being corrupted…and because demonic activity is exploding due to end times.

Did you know that when you communicate with the spirit realm you are jumping into Satan’s sandbox? Is not the spirit realm the place that God has sovereignly placed Satan and his minions temporarily until He returns?

If you desire to obey and glorify God, then you must stop NOW.

I plead with you to stop, because I know it is bringing harm to you.

Other than historical research and employing the spiritual gift of discernment (which has nothing to do with ghosts), I do not see what else a Christian should be doing, according to the bible. But that is for another day. Deliverance of people and places from demonic activity--in a biblical manner--is what is most needed.

Mark Hunnemann is the author of Seeing Ghosts Through God's Eyes: A Worldview Analysis of Earthbound Spirits. It's also available in eBook format.