Johnny Poppin' 13; He who has the Son has life

¹Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. ²This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. ³This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, ⁴for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. ⁵Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.
 ⁶This is the one who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. ⁷For there are three that testify: ⁸the Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement. ⁹We accept man's testimony, but God's testimony is greater because it is the testimony of God, which he has given about his Son. ¹⁰Anyone who believes in the Son of God has this testimony in his heart. Anyone who does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because he has not believed the testimony God has given about his Son. ¹¹And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. ¹²He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. ~1 John 5: 1-12

His commands are not burdensome; believe and love. Is that so hard?
Jesus came to give us life. Don't take my word for it. Who is Jesus? Just another teacher? A social revolutionary?  God tells us Himself when He told Peter James and John (our author) on the mountain at Jesus transfiguration in Matthew 17:1-13, in verse 5-

"While he was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!"

If we believe this, He gives us new life. He shed His blood for us. The water of baptism seals us as His own. If we believe He is who His own Father says He is, we receive the Holy Spirit too. They all constantly confirm each other.

What makes us think we know better than God the Father? At the time that John was writing this book, there were already people claiming that Jesus was merely the most self-actualized person ever, the most god-like, having come closet to God or please God- but not the actual only begotten son of God. There were people teaching that Jesus didn't really die or that if He did, that He wasn't resurrected- so that He didn't save us and can't offer us eternal life let alone a relationship with God, just an example for us to follow.

John, a first hand witness to the transfiguration, wanted to reassure his readers that Jesus is who He says He is. John makes it clear to us that if we don't believe it, if we deny it, we're making God out to be a liar.

When antisemites deny that the NAZI Holocaust really happened, they're basically saying that all of those survivors like Elie Wiesel and Victor Frankl and all the Allied veterans and General Eisenhower and his camera crews are lying about it.

There are plenty of preachers and pastors that I don't always trust, but if God Himself says that Jesus is not just a role model or a prophet, but His own son- I'm gonna believe Him. Eventually church councils were called and after debate, discussion and prayer, they established the Nicene, Apostle's and Athenasian Creeds to make clear once and for all that Jesus wasn't merely some kind of new age guru or just some prophet between Moses and Mohamed, or a great social visionary. He didn't just pretend to die so he could run off and get married and have kids with Mary Madelene.

He is God's only Son, our Lord. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended into hell. On the third day he rose again. He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again to judge the living and the dead.

Mind you, I think sometimes too many Christians limit Him to being their Savior and don't also seek Him as their Lord. I also think that way too often we Christians put Jesus in a box and don't let Him be the spiritual and philosophical example that He is and don't appreciate him as the innovative social revolutionary that He was either. But that's the subject for a different post.

Believe and obey. Here's the thing, if we believe, He makes it possible for us to obey. And if you've been reading any of the rest of these posts on First John, you know that to obey His commands means to love others. If you REALLY believe He is who He is, you'll want to do what He does and what He asks us to do- which is to love others, even those who don't love you back.

We Shall Overcome

 This Gospel hymn was used as a protest song that became a key anthem of the US civil rights movement. It became a favorite of 50's and 60's folk singers Pete Seeger and Joan Baez.Lyrics derived from Charles Tindley's gospel song "I'll Overcome Some Day" (1900), and opening and closing melody from the 19th-century spiritual "No More Auction Block for Me" (a song that dates to before the Civil War).

I tend to believe that it was originally inspired by 1 John 13: 5, "Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God."

We shall overcome
We shall overcome
We shall overcome some day

CHORUS:
   
Oh, deep in my heart
I do believe
We shall overcome some day

We'll walk hand in hand
We'll walk hand in hand
We'll walk hand in hand some day

CHORUS

We shall all be free
We shall all be free
We shall all be free some day

CHORUS

We are not afraid
We are not afraid
We are not afraid some day

CHORUS

We are not alone
We are not alone
We are not alone some day

CHORUS

The whole wide world around
The whole wide world around
The whole wide world around some day

CHORUS

We shall overcome
We shall overcome
We shall overcome some day 

Johnny Poppin' 12; NO FEAR

 God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. ¹⁷In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. ¹⁸There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
 ¹⁹We love because he first loved us. ²⁰If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. ²¹And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother." ~1 John 4:16-21

People are always talking about "angst" these days, teen-aged angst, middle-aged angst, middle-class angst, etc. But do we really know the meaning of the word angst? Webster's calls it anxiety.  Famous psychologist and author Viktor Frankl talked about it being a combination of anxiety and anger or frustration due to anxiety.

Anxiety mixed with anger, sounds sort of like two words that "Gonzo journalist" Hunter S. Thompson liked to use, fear and loathing- as in two of his books "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" and "Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Train in 1972."

Seventeenth Century British Philosopher Thomas Hobbes believed that mankind was constantly in a state of conflict and war because of two primal drives, self-preservation (survival) and competition for resources (and interests and power). Left to our selfish human natures, Hobbes explained that life would be ""solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short."

Seems like Sigmund Freud weighed in on anxiety and anger too when he talked about how our two survival instincts are "fight or flight."

Fear and loathing, ignorance and hate.  How many of us, when we sincerely reflect upon it allow these feelings to determine much of our decisions in our daily lives. "What will he/she think if they find out such-and-such?" "What if I don't do that they way they like?" "What if they get their way?"

Life is full of what-ifs. But John tells us in 1 John 4: 18  that if we let God's love in, there won't be room for fear and loathing and the what-ifs will be quieted with the calm and confidence of His reassuring presence.

Why do people lie, cheat, and steal? Fear. We are so afraid that we won't get our fair share that we barge in and take more than we need just to make sure we get ours. We're so afraid of what people will think of us or do to us if we're not everything we wish we were, that we misrepresent who we are or what we've done or failed to do. We over eat because we're afraid we won't get enough to eat. We sleep with a partner before getting married because we're afraid of being alone, of not being able to attract another partner, or of losing that partner if we don't give in to desire. We're afraid to speak up about something because we're afraid of being made fun of. We're afraid to try something new because we're afraid we might fail. We're afraid to talk to someone because we're afraid of being rejected.

Most of the ten commandments are often broken out of angst rather than careful, rationalized premeditation. That doesn't excuse wrong doing, but it proves how broken our relationships are, with God and with each other.

I've already written in this series about how fear can lead also to anger, resentment, hatred, prejudice and bigotry. Whether its a fear of having to relinquish or share status or power or a fear that the lifestyle we're accustomed to and comfortable with will change, racism, sexism, religious bigotry and homophobia are all often (usually) driven by fear.

"What's happening to our community?" "They have their own way of doing things." "One or two of them alone are okay, but if you get a bunch of them together in a group, you're just asking for trouble." "But what will happen to our way of life if they take over?"

John makes it clear in no uncertain terms, God is love, whoever lives in love has God living in them. If you still harbor hate for others, you're still listening to fear instead of trusting God.

Angst is a fact of life, but anyone who's life and behavior is still determined by either aspect of angst, the anxiety or the anger needs to review 1 John 4 and 1 Corinthians 13. Believe me, I'm plagued by angst every single day myself. In verses like Joshua 1:9, Hebrews 13:5, and Matthew 28:20 God promises to be with us. In 2 Timothy 1:7 He says that he didn't give us a spirit of fear, but one of power and love.

When my blood pressure gets high and I'm feeling indignant and irritated or nervous and leery, I meditate on and beg God for the fruit of His Spirit found in Galatians 5:22-23. Some people recite Philippians 4:13 to remind them that they can do all things through Christ's strength.

It isn't easy to escape fear and it certainly isn't always easy to love people the way God asks us to. I highly recommend a book by Martin Luther King called 'Strength to Love,' to anyone who wants to.

Dear Lord,

We live too much of our lives in fear and base too many of our relationships on fear.

We commit too much of our time and energy toward anger and hatred and it has prevented or destroyed relationships and real living.

Help us God, to not be overcome by fear and hate, but overcome angst with love.
Fill us with Your love, Your life, Your presence, Your Spirit, and Your good fruit, so that all fear is driven out, so that there is no room for fear or hate in our hearts, our minds, or our lives.

In Jesus' Name,

Amen

Johnny Poppin' 11; God is love

 7Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

 13We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 14And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. 16And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. ~1 John 4:7-16

Someone, either Martin Luther or Ben Franklin once said that "beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy." When I look at my wife and children, I see proof that God must love me. Let's face it, the best proof is that He sent His only begotten Son as a sacrifice so that we could have a relationship with Him.  Is 1 John 4:7-16 harder to understand than John 3:16? He doesn't want any of us to go to Hell and He doesn't want any of us do die alone. What comfort? What a blessing? It's like a hug on paper.

Verses 13-16 remind me of John 17 at the last supper when Jesus prays for Himself, for his original disciples, and for all of us in the body-of-Christ. In that chapter, Jesus talks a lot about unity, if God is in us, we are in Him. It also reminds me of John 15:1-17 when Jesus calls Himself the vine and calls us the branches.

I'm not sure which is really the opposite of love, hate or indifference, but when I think about hate, I think about anger and violence and insecurity. When I think about love, I think about peace and confidence and altruism. Anger and hate are jealous and suspicious. Altruism has concern and compassion for others, even enemies.

I'm reminded of this whenever I think about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Other civil rights leaders like Macom X and Elijah Muhammad cared about the African American community, but it seems to me that part of what made MLK great is that he cared about America, all Americans, and about all Christians, indeed, about all peoples- no doubt because besides Henry David Thoreau and Mohandas Gandhi, his greatest hero was Jesus. Violence is eye-for-an-eye, but nonviolence attacks the conscience, not the body. His goal was not only to secure rights for his people promised in our Constitution legally, but to secure respect for all people intellectually and emotionally. Rocks and Molotov cocktails are impotent weapons for hearts and minds, love is the only weapon strong enough to conquer thoughts and prejudices.

A pastor or teacher once told me that it's important to understand that John isn't literally saying that God is love, but more like God's love is the standard by which all other love should be measured by. After all, God isn't just a feeling. He's a real person, a spiritual being. Granted. But I think it's just as important to remember that love is not just some feeling. If you think that love is an emotion, then you won't have many successful relationships that will last very long. Family therapist Gary Smalley once wrote a book called "Love is a Decision," in which he suggests that strong marriages require constant commitment, honoring and respecting one another and forgiving one another, among other things.

A great exercise is to read 1 Corinthians 13 and substitute the word "Love" for "God," or "Jesus." If you do that, you'll get a great idea of who God is and what John meant when he said that "God IS love." Likewise, if you try reading it substituting your own name for the word "Love," your conscience will probably make you feel pretty embarrassed or even ashamed because of how unlike God and unloving you can be. I know mine did.

Our pastor recently gave a sermon on speaking the truth in love. I have to admit that it was pretty convicting. I get really bent out of shape when I sense that people are using religious issues to score political points. Words like "truth" and concepts like right-and-wrong can sometimes be used to bludgeon us over the head until we give in and accept that someone's opinion or agenda are right and if we don't whole-heartedly agree with them and pursue their agenda as zealously as they do, we aren't good enough Christians.

There are Christians who believe that they have an absolute monopoly on absolute truth and they become so passionate about it that they're willing to use "any means necessary" to be heard. What they don't realize is that people won't listen if they're banged on the head or have something shoved down their throat.

I realized that I don't always speak the truth in love either. Speaking in love means speaking with patience and kindness, not boasting or gloating, it means being polite and not being jealous or self-seeking or insecure or angry. It means letting the truth itself do most of the talking. It means that it's not even the truth that is your primary concern, but rather, the well being of the listener.

Lord,

Help us to love one another as You have loved us.

You put us before yourself. Teach us to put others before ourselves,

even when we are most convinced that they are wrong and we are right.

In Jesus name we pray,

Amen

"All You Need is Love"

by Lennon & McCartney from 'The Blue Album'

Love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love.
There's nothing you can do that can't be done.
Nothing you can sing that can't be sung.
Nothing you can say but you can learn how to play the game
It's easy.

There's nothing you can make that can't be made.
No one you can save that can't be saved.
Nothing you can do but you can learn how to be you
in time - It's easy.

Ted's paraphrase (in the spirit of 1 John 4:7-16)

All you need is God, God, God is all you need. 
There's nothing you can know that isn't known. 
Nothing you can see that isn't shown. 
Nowhere you can be that isn't where you're meant to be. 
It's easy. All you need is God, all you need is God

Johnny Poppin' 10; Question Everything

Test the Spirits

"1Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.

4You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. 5They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. 6We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood." 1 John 4:1-6

"In religion and politics people's beliefs and convictions are in almost every case gotten at second-hand, and without examination, from authorities who have not themselves examined the questions at issue but have taken them at second-hand from other”~Mark Twain

In other words, as one of my professors at Concordia Teacher's College in Seward Nebraska used to say, "don't take MY word for it- look it up!"

As I told you last time, there are people who are skeptical that I can be a follower of Jesus and subscribe to progressive political views as well. Well, there are also those who think it seems incongruent to be rational, skeptical, intellectually curious and religious or spiritual  at the same time. On the contrary, God invites us to question what we believe. He wants us to think through, understand and know what we believe and why we believe it.

If you read  back over my earlier posts on 1 John, you will remember that one of the reasons John was writing this letter to the early church is because there were a number of false prophets cropping up and he wanted Christian believers to have the critical thinking skills it took to filter out the hubris and hogwash from God's pure Word.

So, how do you know if a new teacher, a preacher, a TV evangelist, a Web site, a pundit, a book, a doctrine, a discovery, a sect, a movement, a cult, congregation or denomination is genuinely Christian?
Do they "acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God?"

If they put their focus on themselves or yourself or some gimmick or trick or ancient "hidden" teaching that they say that Christian leaders have suppressed for thousands of years... Bottom line, if they don't agree that only Jesus is the Christ, the anointed one, the promised messiah, the only begotten Son of God who died and rose again to save us from our sins- then they aren't Christian no matter how much they claim to be.

In Mark 8:27-29 Jesus asks His disciples who people thought He was- a prophet, a teacher, a social revolutionary, a political leader, Elijah, John the Baptist... And He asked them who they thought He was and Peter answered, "the Christ, the Son of God." That confession is what Christianity is built on.

We should be skeptical and not just swallow every baited hook thrown our way. We should ask questions. And we should be ready to answer when people question us.

Our savior is not ourselves, He is outside us. It's not our "divine inner-selves", nor is it any group of goals we must accomplish or a level of being we must aspire to, it is one person, Jesus. Anything or anyone that points away from Him as the Christ, that thing or person is an "antichrist."

Johnny Poppin' 9; This is how we know what love is

1 John 3:11-24 (New International Version)
Love one another
 11This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. 12Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother's were righteous. 13Do not be surprised, my brothers, if the world hates you. 14We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death. 15Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him.

 16This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. 17If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? 18Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. 19This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence 20whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.

 21Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God 22and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him. 23And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. 24Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.

I feel a little like I'm repeating myself with each of these posts, it's all about love, love your brother, love your neighbor, love your enemies. But maybe I'm writing the same things because John was writing the same things. Why? Probably because he wanted to drive home the point. Repetition is a valuable tool for teachers. Why else? Probably because Jesus kept repeating it to John and the other original disciples during His time on Earth, and remember that John was one of Jesus' inner circle, he was "the disciple whom Jesus loved." He was there to hear Jesus teach this:

36"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" 37Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'38This is the first and greatest commandment. 39And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'40All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." ~Matthew 22:36-40

 No wonder John says that "this is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another"  And the very convicting indictment - "Anyone who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him."

Not only is murder murder, mere hatred is tantamount to murder. I don't know about you, but if this is true, then I myself have to beg for God's forgiveness because I am no better than Adolph Hitler or Jeffery Dahmer! And often I've hated people in God's name. "Damn terrorists, damn politicians, damn perverts, stupid racists, freaking cult leaders!" I may try to rationalize myself, tell myself that it's okay to be prejudiced against prejudice people, but the fact remains that I've failed to love others as God's precious creations regardless of their shortcomings.

It confounded me when I attended church once in Topeka Kansas. There was a different church on three of the four corners of the intersection. We were going to the Lutheran one, but across the street there was a picket line in front of the (I think it was Episcopal) other church. People calling themselves "Christian" were protesting another Christian congregation with signs that said things like "God Hates Fags." My understanding of Scripture was that God loves all men and wants them to receive salvation in His son. Something was wrong.

So how do we love? "This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers." Philippians 2 tells us that Jesus' example was humility, servanthood, and even sacrifice for the sake of others. On the one hand, it's so simple, there aren't 9 pillars of 8 steps or 256 laws or even 10 commandments- just two things; believe Jesus and love one another. On the other hand it is SO difficult! loving others means abdicating the throne of our life, giving up our ambitions, our agendas, even what we imagine are our rights. True love puts others before yourself.

   Ever since I was a kid people have questioned my faith. "How can you be a Christian and support Democratic candidates? How can you be so religious and so liberal at the same time?" I'm sure some have even questioned my salvation. One of the reasons why I tend to be more progressive politically even while being so orthodox theologically is because of what Saint John wrote next;

"If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?"

As far as I can see, this blows away the "ownership society" sense of entitlement and the whole argument for eliminating inheritance taxes and especially supply-side "trickle-down" economics. We are our brother's keepers and we all ought to help however we can, even if those we help don't seem worth helping.

Jesus doesn't demand that we make pilgrimages or ritual sacrifices. He doesn't expect us to pray five times a day facing East, and He certainly doesn't ask us to destroy the infidels with suicide bombing missions. But what He does ask is a tall order. Millions of us who like to call ourselves "Christian" fail to keep these two simple commands several times a day, every day:

"And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us."

Dear Jesus,

Grant us Your Spirit so that we won't become jealous of our brothers or greedy with our resources like Cain did when he resented and killed Able.

Grant us Your Spirit so that we will be able to love and care for all of Your children, even those that disagree with us, even those who don't acknowledge or believe in You, even those whom we perceive as offensive to You.

Grant us Your Spirit so that we will have pity on those who don't have the same material advantages that we do.

Please Lord Jesus, Grant us Your Spirit so that we can truly believe in You and genuinely love one another as You have commanded us to.

In your holy name,

Amen

Johnny Poppin' 8; Children of God

1 John 3:1-3
1How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. 3Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.

This has to be one of the most beautiful and reassuring passages in Scripture. How can I write anything to do it justice? How great is the love the Father has lavished upon us? That He calls us His children? Not in the mythological, legendary sense like our nation is a super race. Not in the false-doctrine, start-your-own-religion sense like we're the descendants of aliens or advanced beings who can transcend this material realm if we just tap into our inner powers. God is perfect and we are not He needs us to be capable of love and selflessness. We weren't before Jesus, our adoptive brother died for us on the cross, showing us how loving and selfless God is. He sacrificed His only Son so that we could become His children too.

1 John 3:4-10
4Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. 5But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. 6No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.

7Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. He who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. 8He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work. 9No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God. 10This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother.

Gotta admit, verses 6-9 there really gives me fits. Like Paul in Romans 7:14-25, I can't seem to escape sinning no matter how much I love and seek Jesus. It seems hopelessly complicated and hopelessly difficult, but (besides Romans 8:1-4) the part that clears it up for me because John reminds us of Jesus' great commandment, love. We aren't acting like God's children when we fail to love our brother. Who's your brother? Who's your neighbor? Jesus tells us in Luke 10:25-37.

What love God has lavished on us, to give us opportunities everyday to reflect His likeness by showing love toward others, no matter how different they are from us. Let's act like His children and bring honor to the family name. Let's make our Pappa proud!

Johnny Poppin' 7; The Antichrist(s)

1 John 2: 18-29
Warning Against Antichrists

¹⁸Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour. ¹⁹They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.
²⁰But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth. ²¹I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it and because no lie comes from the truth. ²²Who is the liar? It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a man is the antichrist—he denies the Father and the Son. ²³No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also.
²⁴See that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father. ²⁵And this is what he promised us—even eternal life.
²⁶I am writing these things to you about those who are trying to lead you astray. ²⁷As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in him.

Children of God

²⁸And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming.
²⁹If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him.

A lot of people like to use the concept of an antichrist to make people afraid.

Movie makers of 'the Omen' concocted a story about Satan's baby switched at birth with the stillborn child of a British diplomat who kills his nannies and priests who try to stop him.

Those who subscribe to mistaken doctrines of the millenialism and dispensationalism have tried to interpret the Revelation of John , chapter 13 to warn of an antichrist who will lead some kind of one-world government under Satanic control to try to thwart the coming 1,000 year earthly reign of Christ before the final judgment day. In fact, the term antichrist only appears in Johns letters, not in the book of Revelation. This kind of thing was declared heresy by the mainstream church by the 4th century. Still, whether because people like to think that they know or can predict how the end times will play out or because they want to scare people into becoming Christian, these false teachings persist. The irony is that John was writing against these very kinds of false teachings when he wrote 1 John.

Incidentally,  millenialsim may have it's roots in pre-Christian religions like Zoroastrianism, not to mention an unhealthy fascination with Nostradamus. Hitler offered a "Reich" or 1,000 year reign ushering in peace and good and a defeat of all evil (presumably Jews).

Most recently, political opponents of candidate Barrack Obama tried to spread rumors, mostly by viral emails, that he was the antichrist. They claimed that the according to Revelation, the antichrist would be in his mid forties, Muslim, and have huge popular appeal . Islam wasn't founded until 400 years after John wrote Revelation, and Obama repeatedly and openly proclaimed his belief in Jesus Christ.

Some of the types of teaching that John was warning his original readers about might have included those of Marcion of Sinope, a Greek Bible teacher who believed in two separate gods, Yaweh was the god of the old testament- which Marcion pretty much through out, and "God the Father," of the new testament.

Notice John explains that antichrists went out from us in verse 19? How many false teachers and false prophets operate under the guise of being "Christian?" 

"Who is the liar? It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a man is the antichrist—he denies the Father and the Son." Who is an antichrist? Anyone who denies that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.

At John's time there was a movement called Gnosticism, or the "secret knowledge," a belief that we're all offspring of an imperfect god and can transcend the material world and become more god-like. Gnostics didn't believe that Jesus was the only begotten son of God, some thought He was an embodiment of the supreme being who came to Earth to bring this secret knowledge, others thought He was just an example of someone who managed to perceive the higher reality.

This false teaching is still showing up today, whether in things like 'the Da Vinci Code,' or various sects and cults like Scientology, that claim that salvation comes from the light within.

But John comforts us by reminding us to hold onto what we were originally taught and that our anointing being set aside for God's purpose in baptism still holds. We don't need some new secret, mystic knowledge, all we need is Jesus.

We don't have to be afraid of an antichrist or antichrists, all we have to do is to remember who the real Christ is and to trust in Him.

---

A final word, I should've included this in the original post-
"Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says "Let Jesus be cursed!" and no one can say "Jesus is Lord" except by the Holy Spirit." 1 Corinthians 12:3

That verse is one of the ways I "tested" to be sure that President Obama is NOT an antichrist!

Johnny Poppin' 6; Do Not Love the World

¹²I write to you, dear children,
because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name.
¹³I write to you, fathers,
because you have known him who is from the beginning.
I write to you, young men,
because you have overcome the evil one.
I write to you, dear children,
because you have known the Father.
¹⁴I write to you, fathers,
because you have known him who is from the beginning.
I write to you, young men,
because you are strong,
and the word of God lives in you,
and you have overcome the evil one.
-1 John 2:12-14

This poem-like greeting is even cooler when you old Saint Johnny when he wrote it. When he first became a disciple, he was one of Jesus' youngest followers, a small town fisherman on the "Sea" of Gallilee. When he wrote this letter to the church, he was an old man on some island in the Aegean, far from his roots, toward the end of his travels through Greece and Turkey spreading the word of God across the world. He may have been in his 80's or 90's. So it was very tender and sweet to call us "dear children." He's not being condescending or patronizing, he's full of affection. Try to remember that this isn't some archaic historical document or stuffy, academic theological treatise. This is a letter. The whole Bible is God's love letter to His children, but try thinking about first, second, and third John as letters from your grandpa or a great uncle. It really makes it personal and meaningful.

¹⁵Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. ¹⁶For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world. ¹⁷The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.
-1 John 2:15-17

This morning on my drive in to work, I happened upon Chuck Swindoll's radio broadcast, "Insight for Living" and he happened to be teaching on this same passage. Click here if you'd like to hear what he had to say about it.

It got me to thinking, what is "the world" anyway?

Often Christian teachers mention three enemies to the human soul, the world, the flesh, and the Devil. The Devil is obvious, a specific individual- intimidating but finite and already defeated by Christ. The flesh, well that's our own sinful human nature, our cravings, drives, and lusts (Romans 7:14-25). Sigmund Freud may have been wrong about a lot of things, but he was right that deep down human beings can be motivated by pleasure and pain.

But what exactly IS this thing they talk about when they say "the world?" Is it the planet Earth? The environment? Soil? Dirt? I don't think so.

In the 1976 movie, "Network," Arthur Jensen, chairman of the company which owns a television network, explains his "corporate cosmology" to a mentally unstable network news anchor;

"There is only one holistic system of systems; one vast interwoven, interacting, multivariate multinational dominion of dollars. Petrodollars, electrodollars, reichmarks, rubles, rin, pounds and shekels. It is the international system of currency that determines the totality of life on this planet. That is the natural order of things today. That is the atomic, subatomic and galactic structure of things today..."

No, I'm sure that a lot of you who know my political leanings are assuming that I'm accusing "the world" of being the financial world or maybe materialism or consumerism, but it's more than that. It is society, human culture, the holistic system of systems or selfish, short sighted, sinful humans- it is all of us together, collectively.

Call it peer pressure if you want to, but it's not a sentient, conscious, deliberate being like either our own selves or Satan. But it does have a gravity to it., a climate, and current, a sway. It includes all our lusts, all our sinful ambitions, including but not limited to money and consumerism too. Sex, power, prestige, attention, food, entertainment- sex, drugs and rock and roll- sex, politics, and religion- all of this constitutes "the world," and all of us together.

Is "the world" money and consumerism? You bet. I think it's also prejudice and discrimination and racism, sexism, and bigotry of all kinds including homophobia and religious bigotry. It's hate. It's what Thomas Hobbes might have called being in a cruel, rough state of constant competition. Martin Luther King Jr. would have said that it included poverty, racism, and militarism.

It is "the way we've always done things," the way things are, societal and institutional pressures. It is the force that says that it's not okay to be a 40 year old virgin and the force that says that you have to be skinny and tall and tan and have big boobs or big genitalia and ripped abs. "The world" is the "they" that always seem to have something to say. It is the voyeuristic need to know who's doing who and who's on what and the urge to be famous on your own "reality" show.

1 John 2:15-17 warns against three traps of the world;- lust of the flesh, lust of the eye, and boastful pride; Hedonism, materialism, and egotism.

But we are called to be in the world but not of it. To love the sinners but hat the sin.

In John's Gospel, toward the end of his ministry, before his suffering and death, Jesus tells us that we aren't at home in this world.

John 15:19 "If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you."

In John 17, Jesus prays for His disciples and for us too- John 17:15 "My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one."

He reminds God the Father that we are aliens in this system of sinful systems.
John 17:16 "They are not of the world, even as I am not of it."

Johnny Poppin 5: Living in the Light

7Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard. 8Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining. -1 John 2:7-8

in the Gospel of John 13:34-35, Jesus told His disciples (John being one of them) "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

THAT is the whole point which I was trying to make in my past post on 1 John. They will know we are Christians by our love. All the law and the prophets is summed up in these, love the Lord your God with all your heart... and love you neighbor as ourselves. These three remain, faith, hope and love, and the greatest of these is love. That's not from the Beatles of from some tree-hugging, granola chewing, pot smoking hippie- that's from God.

Before you start thinking that this is light-weight, touchy-feely, girlie, panzy stuff- John gets pretty serious and hard core in the next few verses.

9Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness. 10Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble. 11But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him. -1 John 2:9-11

What causes hate? Why did Cain's familial love for his brother get overridden by enough hate to kill him? Ignorance? Fear? Anger? Jealousy? Pride? Being offended somehow? Insecurity? Competition for resources, for interests, for attention, position, control? Prejudice? All these things. Tuck away the word fear into a file cabinet in your brain, because we'll address it again later on in 1 John. For now, know that if hate is the opposite of love, fear is the opposite of faith. (you probably thought that it was the opposite of courage or confidence, but trust me on this one. And remember, that fear and love are enemies. Love crowds out fear and hate. I've always tried to explain "sin" to people as anything we think, feel, or do which damages our relationships with God or with others.

Mirriam Webster says that hate is an intense hostility and aversion usually deriving from fear, anger, or sense of injury. When we hate, we dislike and what's more we wish ill for someone. I want to remind you that in Matthew 5:21-22 Jesus says that hate is pretty much equivalent to murder.

It's like the old joke; "I'm a pacifist. I believe in peace, and I believe in it so strongly that I'm willing to fight for that belief!" Note the irony.

But how often do we see it played out in real life? Animal rights activists so enraged by cruelty to animals that they resort to violence against humans. Or someone who is so "Pro-life" that they bomb a health clinic where they are performed, or that they assassinate a doctor who performs late term abortions while he serves as an usher at church.

I'm not trying to pick on the pro life movement or condone abortion- what I'm trying to point out is that ALL of us (myself included) tend to get complacent and assume that we're "good" Christians and don't sin, when every day we allow hate to influence our motivations and cloud our judgments, taint our reactions, and before long, it permeates every aspect of our unconscious without our even realizing it.

Lord Jesus,
this Advent season, come into our lives and open our eyes to Your light and may we live and walk in the light of Your love, no more to stumble around in the darkness of our petty, selfish hate- whether it be a burning, consuming hatred or a gradually corrosive yet hardly noticeable mundane and banal, everyday sneaky or subconscious hate. Instead, help us to abide by Your commandment to love one another, to love You above all else and to love our neighbors as ourselves.
Amen

Johnny Poppin 4B; Do we know Him? How do other's know if we know Him?

³We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. ⁴The man who says, "I know him," but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. ⁵But if anyone obeys his word, God's love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: ⁶Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.

-1 John 2:3-6

I wanted to say some more about this passage because it dawned on me that I may have only been seeing it from one angle. There's another angle that I think is simpler and more profound.

I was asking, "how do I know Him?" The verse says that if we obey His word, then God's love is made complete. If I say one thing and do another, I'm a liar when I say that I know Him. So, I had asked, "how do I obey His commands." I stand by my last post, that God's ultimate command is love.

But what about from the outside? How can others tell if we know Jesus?

Same answer; LOVE.

Last night Campbell Brown was mediating between two Catholic priests who were arguing and seemed totally contemptuous of each other. Evidently an American Bishop had told a member of the Kennedy family that he could not receive Holy Communion because of his political stance on abortion. One priest felt that this was completely appropriate and consistent with church law. The other pointed out that Pope John Paul II had administered the sacrament himself directly to Italian lawmakers whom he knew full well favored pro-choice legislation.

The battle was heated and unpleasant, so say the least. Neither of these supposed men of God appeared to have much love for each other, let alone for anyone who disagreed with each one's point of view. Oh, I know that the anti-abortion argument is that"Thou shalt not kill" is one of God's commands, but "But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, 'Raca,' is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell." (Matthew 5:22)

If looking at a woman lustfully is tantamount to committing adultery, isn't holding such disdain, anger, and hatred for your philosophical or political opponents tantamount to murder?

This incident on CNN reminded me that following the Protestant Reformation, Europe was plunged into a period of almost continuous religious conflict and civil wars. Christian hating Christian, Christian maligning Christian, torturing Christian, slaughtering Christian, all in the name of Christ and defending right doctrine.

Evangelicals like to make a big deal of the Pilgrims coming to America seeking religious freedom- but they never seem to recall that they weren't being persecuted by atheists or Muslims or Jews, the Puritan Separatists were escaping King James I (as in the King James Bible!).

Just this week a 400 lb car bomb partially exploded outside the Policing Board headquarters in Belfast, Ireland- even though they've had peace agreements between Christians and Catholics there for ten years now. Someone thinks it's more important to be right and destroy those who are wrong, than to be patient, kind, protective, hopeful, or trusting (1 Cor 13:4-7). They may think that they know God, but are they REALLY following His commands?

Yesterday I posted my comments on a verse in the Christmas carol, Oh, Come, Oh, Come Emmanuel;

Oh, come, Desire of nations, bind
In one the hearts of all mankind;
Oh, bid our sad divisions cease,
And be yourself our King of Peace.

A friend of mine commented on that post on facebook with the lyrics of Irish band U2-

"And the battle's just begun
There's many lost, but tell me who has won
The trench is dug within our hearts
And mothers, sisters, brothers, sisters
Torn apart

The real battle's just begun
To claim the victory Jesus's won
On...

Sunday, bloody Sunday.."

What I learned the other day about hauling grain at harvest is that if the tractor driver wants to just do his own thing, it can be disastrous. If I moved away from the combine to feel safer or more in control, the farmer couldn't empty his corn tank into my wagon. If I sped up to get done faster, grain falls short of the wagon and money is wasted. If I get too close to the combine, we could have a potentially fatal accident with our huge machines. I have to match speed and hold a constant, and appropriate for the grain drop to hit the wagon just right.

Sometimes we take our eyes off of Jesus and the love and forgiveness of the Gospel because we're busy examining and scrutinizing the moves and motives of everybody else. How well do they measure up? How well do they cut the mustard? It becomes so important to us that everyone follow each letter of the law perfectly, that we forget what the spirit of the law really is. It's a forest/trees thing.

Don't get me wrong, I do it to. We're so zealous to defend and enforce the truth, that we forget that the truth has set us free. Swedish theologian Bo Giertz does an eloquent and touching job of illustrating this with the main character, in his book "The Hammer of God," the young pastor stirred people up to follow God's rules and live pure and chaste lives- but he fails to really show them how much God loves them or to lead them to either love God or love one another.

I realize that this devotion has gotten a little long, so just let me wrap it up and bring it back to our original question. How can others tell if we know Jesus?

To answer- more song lyrics:

We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord
We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord
And we pray that all unity may one day be restored
And they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love
They will know we are Christians by our love

We will work with each other, we will work side by side
We will work with each other, we will work side by side
And we'll guard each one's dignity and save each one's pride
And they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love
They will know we are Christians by our love

By our love, by our love

And they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love
They will know we are Christians by our love

We will walk with each other, we will walk hand in hand
We will walk with each other, we will walk hand in hand
And together we'll spread the news that God is in our land
And they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love
They will know we are Christians by our love

By our love, by our love

And they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love
They will know we are Christians by our love

JohnnyPoppin' 4; You think you know Him?

³We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. ⁴The man who says, "I know him," but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. ⁵But if anyone obeys his word, God's love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: ⁶Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.

-1 John 2:3-6

It might be that it took me a long time to write on this passage because it had to incubate. What are His commands? The 10 Commandments? The 613 laws (same # as seeds in a pomegranate) that the Pharisees prescribed for their followers?

It might have took me a long time because I struggle so much with my own walk. I feel inadequate to write with any authority on these verses because I am such a miserable sinner myself.

Bottom line, God doesn't demand nearly that much. I don't think He really demands perfection either. But He does want to complete you. What kind of obedience is He looking for?

Matthew 22:37-39
37Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' 38This is the first and greatest commandment. 39And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'

John 13:34
"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.

Micah 6:8
He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

And what does it mean to walk as Jesus did?

Luke 9:23-24
23Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it.

I recently learned a skill that made walking with Jesus and "as Jesus did" mean a lot more to me. My brother-in-law taught me how to haul corn. Having to drive a tractor up beside a combine and keep pace with it so that it can empty it's tank into the wagon you're pulling isn't very easy at all. Walking with, or how and where Jesus walks isn't always easy either. You have to keep up, but not move ahead. You can't be too close, or too far- other wise you could crash or you could lose corn. You have to be in sync with the driver of the combine. You have to know where he;s going and what his intentions are.

Sound too hard? Not really. The real keys to following along side a combine with a tractor and wagon is practice and experience. Hills, curves and bumps all make it more challenging. The real key to walking with and like Jesus, is to stay in touch with Him. Reading your Bible regularly, rather than leaving it on the shelf helps you stay in tune (like the graphic I used at the top of this post, the Bible is our user's manual, after all). Speaking and listening to Him in prayer helps keep you in tune. Exposing yourself to Bible study, devotions, or good teaching is a good way. Being involved in Christian fellowship is yet another way.

Above all, it's all about love, love for God and love for others. THAT's what Jesus did, what He does, and what He would do. Next time you see of hear about "WWJD." Remember, He loved, He loves, and He'd love. Let God complete His love in you, obey His commands- love Him and love others.

Also, sometimes if you're in park and can't seem to get it back into gear, it helps to pop the clutch.

JohnnyPoppin' 3; I write this so that you will not sin

Read all of 1 John 2:1-14 all at once

¹My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. ²He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.

Why did John write this letter? "So you will not sin."
There were some controversies in the church already, and some false teachings going around. Being not just one of the original 12 disciples, but close to Jesus personally, John wanted to inoculate or vaccinate early believers from being misled. There are always people out there with wrong or misleading information.

It could be that they're simply mistaken or that they're motivated by profit, power, or fame, or for whatever reason, they may actually want to corrupt or destroy God's message of forgiveness. John wrote these letters to protect his readers from lies and/or mistakes that could cause them to sin. Ah, but he also assured them (and assures us) that if/when we mess up, we have an advocate, a defense attorney, someone who has the ear of God the Father- Jesus Himself. No matter how badly we've messed up in our lives, He has paid for us.

Wouldn't it be great to have Warren Buffett or Bill Gates show up and pay off all your credit cards and loans and mortgage and offer to pay your bills from here on out? To be totally debt-free through no doing of your own? That's exactly what we have from a spiritual (though not financial) point of view. Jesus is the once and for all sacrifice that makes us right with God.

And not just us. He died for everyone for all time. Granted, if anyone rejects His forgiveness, He isn't going to force it on anyone. Skeptics complain that if there really is a loving God, why doesn't He just save everyone? Well, hate to burst your bubble, but He did! Unfortunately, people don't believe it, don't accept it, deny it and refuse it- even ridicule and belittle it.

That's my explanation in a nutshell of a sad aspect of society's reaction to the Gospel- Here in these verse though John isn't talking to all people, he's talking to fellow believers and he's reminding them that Jesus- not anyone else, and especially not ourselves is the atoning sacrifice. THAT is the core of the Gospel, the basis of Christianity.

Some of the heresies, the false teachings John wanted to warn his readers about claimed that Jesus was just another human and not God's only begotten Son, and some of them taught that anyone could become "godlike" if they just got in touch with their inner light. But only Jesus is the light, and any light we receive is from Him. We can become "Christ-like" only through Him.

But again, in the book of 1 John, John wants to help his readers avoid these errors, but in verses one and two, he's also assuring them that if they fall prey to these false teachings but realize their mistake, God who is faithful and just will forgive them because of what Jesus did on the cross.

JohnnyPoppin' 2; Let's be honest ...

"⁵This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. ⁶If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. ⁷But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

⁸If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. ⁹If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. ¹⁰If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives." -1 John 1:5-10

I think one of my favorite things about the liturgy in the Lutheran church is when we admit that if we claim to be without sin, we're deceiving ourselves... and that if we confess our sins, God, who is faithful and just will forgive us and cleanse us.

Here John lays it on the line, "Hey," he kind of says, "if you think you're perfect and that you don't need Jesus, you're fooling yourself."

Martin Luther knew he found a profound truth when he discovered Romans 3:23, where Paul tells us that ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. ALL. No matter how smart, how old, how wealthy, how important or powerful. Everyone gets selfish and short-sighted sometime. No matter how young and seemingly innocent, no matter how gentle or well intentioned- every single human being on Earth has thought, said, or did something that damages their relationships with God and with others. We all try to be our own gods.

Once we admit that and get it out in the open, we can move on without pretense and pretending. We're all equal at the foot of the cross, we share our vulnerability and guilt. It's like the way addicts humbly approach their brothers and sisters at an Alcoholic's Anonymous (AA) meeting- "Hi, I'm John, and I'm an alcoholic..." then they can share their story, questions, concerns, ideas, or opinions.

John is saying that once we own up to our responsibilities- "Hi, I'm Ted, and I'm a sinner..." we are able to move on and learn and grow and share together.

Notice what else John said? I emphasized parts of the verse above by making them bold.

In the Gospel of John, John 1:1-14 John first refers to Jesus as the light. Jesus calls Himself the light of the world in John 8:12 and 9:5. When a converted believer says "I have SEEN the LIGHT!" That doesn't just mean that they see the errors of their ways or are enlightened, it means that they have encountered the God that loves them in a real and personal way.

John tells us that if we come into the light- if we stop hiding and burying our heads in the sand but come and walk and talk with Jesus, He will accept us, in fact, He will forgive us and clean us from the wrong we've done and the mistakes we've been carrying around.

We don't have to be like vile cockroaches or disease-ridden vermin that scatter when someone turns on the light. We can be safe and comfortable with Him and He will help us to become safe and comfortable with each other.

We can be in meaningful community with God and each other. Like recovering alcoholics who feel most comfortable and least judged, most able to be sincere and vulnerable with their sponsor and their fellow AA members- we can have deep and powerful relationships with God and with other believers.

And guess what? It's a lot easier to see things as they really are- and to walk around while avoiding obstacles and injuries when you're in the light.

So open up God's Word, set a side some prayer time to spend with Him, and for cryin' out loud, go to that youth group meeting, that Bible study, that fellowship or that church service and see what it's like to connect in a meaningful way with other sinners.

Know what? The more time you spend with "the Light" (Jesus) the more you'll start to reflect His personality, the more like Him your character will become. It's called reflecting His glory. Remember what the band Smashmouth says, "You'll never shine if you don't glow!"

Me ka pule,
Ted

Johnny Poppin!

Reflections* on the epistles of the disciple whom Jesus loved.

"We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us," (1 John 1:3a) Click here to read 1 John 1:1-4

I would like to begin taking a look at three of my favorite books of the Bible, John's letters.

They're not sure who specifically John was writing to. Most of Paul's letters are named for the cities where the churches the letter is addressed to was at; Romans, Corinthians, Galations, etc. Most scholars do think he may have been living in Ephasus and he wanted to address some controveries brewing in the early church and warn readers about some false teachings that were going around.

All 3 "Johannin" letters are written in a fairly personal mannor. I think that 1 John 1, verses 1-4 really demonstrate this. Keep in mind who this is, the Apostle John. This is the same guy who wrote the Gospel of John and the book of Revelation. He was one of the original 12 Disciples, the one whom Jesus felt close enough to that He asked him to take care of His mother Mary when He was on the cross (John 19:25-27).

There's even some speculation that this John was a younger first cousin (not to be confused with John the Baptist) or even a half or step-brother. James & John were called the sons of Zebadee and the "Sons of Thunder." James went on to become an elder of the early church in Jeruselum.

In the opening 4 verses of this letter, John is making it absolutely clear that he's not just another preacher or evangelist. He's not telling us this stuff to hear himself talk- or to make money or get famous. He knew Jesus personally. He saw and heard and experienced this stuff. He wasn't just on of the 12, he was part of the inner circle of Peter, James and John- arguably one of Jesus best friends here on Earth.

This was personal. And his credentials are unimpeachable.

And why did he write First, Second and Third John? Why am I writing this?

"So that you also may have fellowship with us" and "to make my joy complete."

John wanted other people to know Jesus, to know the Word, to know THE Life (Jesus calls Himself the "life" in John 14:6. To be in fellowship is to be a companion, sharing an experience. It's a deep and meaningful form of friendship or association.

Our church's youth group is called Lutheran Youth FELLOWSHIP (LYF). Think about J.R.R. Tolkien's epic "the Fellowship of the Ring." They were a band of brothers, pledged to the same mission and virtues, and pleadged to each other.

John wanted to expand the family of God. And he wanted to offer a more fulfilling life in the here-and-now, but more importantly eternal life in fellowship with God.

I can't seem to get kids to attend high school Bible Study on Sunday mornings and I have too many of my own family and professional obligations to be able to give them the time needed to be the adult leader of their LYF. That puts two big obstacles in the way to our being in fellowship together in God's Word. But I still have this burning in my heart Jeremiah 20:9 to share God's love and my reactions to what I read in the Bible. So here I am. Sharing with whoever you are, reading this on my blog or on facebook.

I'm not making money on this. I'll never get famous doing it. I wasn't one of Jesus' best friends in Galilee 2,000 years ago, but I can tell you what I believe He's done on my own life and how I believe He reveals Himself to us today. That's personal. Unlike John, my credentials may be relatively impeachable, but I hope you can see that my motives are honest and genuine.

If you're interested, keep reading. It may be sporadic (I won't say- look for something every Thursday) it could end up being every other day or every other week, but I am going to make an effort to write about all 3 books. Sometimes it will end up being about this long- hopefully it will usually be a lot shorter.

Bookmark http://malloryprayer.blogspot.com/search/label/JohnnyPopper and that way you'll be able to read all of these reflections whenever they are posted and whenever you have time.

Me ka pule**,
Ted

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*Reflections: I don't hold a ThD or a Master's in Religion, Doctrine or Theology or anything like that. I'm just a layman in whom God's Word burns (Jeremiah 20:9) so don't think of this as an expert, deep-academic Bible Study per se, think of these as informal devotions or personal responses to John's letters meant to share and hopefully encourage you to read God's Word for yourself and nurture a personal relationship with Jesus.

**"Me ka pule" is Hawaiian for "in prayer." I figure it kind of fits with the whole pirate theme of this blog.