The New Bereans

For the last three or four months I have had a singular obsession as I study the Word…the resurrection of Jesus Christ.   My (spiritual) curiosity had been peaked because over the years I have noticed that among a great deal of the Easter sermons I have attended, I have noticed very little discussion about the meaning of the empty tomb.   All too often I have heard sermons preached out of the end of one of the gospels, and we are reminded often about how the women beat the disciples to the tomb, that it was early in the morning…no-one was waiting there.  All the details are often commented on, but I have often been left feeling as empty as the tomb Christ vacated when the sermon is over.

The purpose of this blog series is not to debate the technical validity of celebrating the resurrection on Easter.  If eating meat sacrificed to Idols bothers you, then don’t celebrate it on Ishtar, my emphasis is rather on the fact that on the day we do commemorate the resurrection, so often the point of it is missed.  Our Christian life is un-arguably to be one of resurrection power and the tendency to celebrate this concept only once a year is a very distilling tradition.  I find it to be a bitter irony that many Americanized religious folk only go to church twice a year and one of those days is Ishtar.

All the while I was studying this I was completely oblivious to the fact that Easter was once again coming about on the calendar, so I thought it would be fitting to share some of the insights I feel the Lord has shown me in His word that may help to take you deeper in your walk with Christ.   This is going to take numerous entries because the nature of the study does not lend itself to a blog post very well as it has been a long, prayer-filled meditation on this powerful truth from the word.  Please be patient as I will build up the thesis to a crescendo over an estimated 10 – 12 blog posts.  This may take me a month or more to complete.

It is my hope that my blogging silence over the last few months will be noted as I have given very little time to the usual little nuggets I proffer.   My silence has been due primarily to this obsession.

For the purpose of maintaining only the things I think are important to us as believers during the following blogs, I will take the remainder of this post to state that if you have been bit by the Zeitgeist Tom-Foolery and think that somehow the resurrection of Christ is not a unique concept to Christianity, I would ask that you consider watching this documentary.  While the concept of a god being resurrected may not have been entirely unique in a technical sense…I would propose that the meaning of the empty tomb, to Christians, is hands down, the singularity around which the entire galaxy of Christian sanctification doctrine gravitates.  And I would propose that all the “meaning” around the technical god-resurrections of mythos-gone-by does not hold an inkling of meaning by means of comparison.  For example, if you think that Osiris being reconstructed by Isis for the purpose of demi-god near necrophilia has much meaning to compare to the Krakatoa of purpose behind Yeshua Hamashiach rising

and conquering the power of death, then certainly the meaning of Christs death-resurrection-and ascension has not been articulated well enough (not as the fault of scripture, but ours to portray it.)

The tendency to view it alone as an historical event has probably invited and begged mythological criticism.   I suspect that all this mythos has been a result of such a lack of the display of Christ’s resurrection in us.  We ought to take note of the winds of criticism…even the murmurings of dark hearts can be an exhortation for us to seek deeper meaning, and to discover our own failures.   If you do not know what Zeitgeist is all about…don’t waste your time.  I am only saying this for the benefit of those who have had their flesh exposed to the poison Zeitgeist’s fangs excrete.   Please stay tuned or read the next post; I think it will be of great value to many.

-Your brother in Christ (if you are born of the Spirit)…Jeremiah Dusenberry.

I have come to the conclusion that no matter what denomination you find yourself in, the way you study God (theology) falls into one of two camps Equation Theology or Revelation Theology.

Equation Theology is a theology which attempts to flatten the revealed Word of God into a mathematical formula which can be proven true, all conflicting scriptures are usually explained away, contextualized away, or ignored. Let me emphasize that Equation Theology is not one particular branch of theology; rather, it is an approach to understanding the scriptures.

Revelation Theology is a theology which strictly adheres to all clear teaching of scripture without attempting to resolve every nuanced tension.  A theological structure which fights to the death for orthodox doctrine, but doesn’t quarrel over matters where the scripture is unclear.

I have spent time in both camps but I am joining the latter camp for good.

As I’ve considered these distinctions one thing has really struck me.  Men seem to fall the most easily into equation oriented thinking, yet if we were asked to create mathematical equation or algorithm which perfectly explains our wives, which would anticipate every action, and fully define them in every way; we would never attempt to undertake so foolish an endeavor.   Who are we, who cannot fully understand women, to think we can fully understand God?

“The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law. Deuteronomy 29:29

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. Galatians 1:10

“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other . . . Matthew 6:24

Few things bring more chaos and confusion into spiritual life, than attempting to gain mans approval. Paul makes the point abundantly clear, “If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.” He is not saying that no one will ever approve of you if you are serving Christ, rather, if you are seeking mans approval you will not be serving Christ.

The word translated servant here δοῦλος , literally means slave; it is not the Greek word for servant, it is not one of the six Greek words for servant. Why is this important? When Christ taught that no slave can serve two masters, his audience instantly understood. A slave is not an employee; you cannot have a part time master on the side. A slave is completely subjugated to his master, as a Christian is to Christ.

Where is this leading? I am leading to the opposing truth of my first point, just as pleasing man adds confusion, the pleasing only of Christ removes confusion. It makes decision making radically simple. When you aren’t trying to posture yourself in a position where everyone likes and agrees with you, but simply seeking Gods leading, and obeying his word, confusion will be virtually eliminated.

“Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near of which you will say, ‘I have no pleasure in them’; before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars are darkened and the clouds return after the rain.”  -Ecclesiastes 12:1-2

I am not fully sure I understand why we are this way, but we are none-the-less.  The way we are is always transient as it pertains to the satisfaction with what we do in life.  It is within our nature, it would seem, to always look to gain satisfaction in life with what we are doing.  The moment our situation sours slightly, we look for the next thing, wandering aimlessly we move physically from thing to thing, place to place, but nothing has truly moved at all.   When we stop to measure our progress, it is often only measured with things.

This is a wile of the devil.  For the un-regenerate, he uses it as a snare, one that keeps him/her from contemplation and introspection.  For the regenerate, he does the same exact thing, only he makes it seem “spiritual.”   It is with great repetition and commonality that I hear (and have so spoke myself) people talk about their station, or soon to be station in life, as If all the smiles of God are upon their every whim.  Small talk amongst believers is often structured on this strange phenomenon.

In the first letter Paul wrote Timothy, he told him to, “Take hold of eternal life.”₁ The way that Timothy was to do this was by fleeing from the pursuit of riches, by which many…many…many…have pierced themselves through with sorrows.  The antithesis to money’s pursuit was rather to be a pursuit of, “Righteousness, gentleness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, and gentleness.”  This was the fight to fight, and this was how to, “lay hold,” as it were.   These are the currencies of the economy of heaven.  The transactions of which have eternal consequences.

To state it positively, it is rare, when asked what is going on in our lives, that we respond by saying we are developing a care more for who we are in God, than what we are doing with our fluttering attempts to live lives of meaning.  So often the “meaning,” by which we evaluate our status is like sand on the ground, comparing itself to sand in a storm.  Eventually the wind-swept sand will fall back down to earth, and not much will look any different than before it was swept up in grandeur.   For what we perceive to be grandeur is really only the passing of time, and the shifting of positions.

However, there is a real way to move. There is a change of position that moves beyond the prison of time.  And this is a change that does not require the burning of a single calorie.  It is a change that is imperceptible to the human eye, not one commonly relished or praised.  This movement, while imperceptible often here, is interstellar within the realm of no-time.  It is a growth in grace, II Peter 3:18, whereby we are able to lay hold of eternity, by transacting with heaven’s money.   We ought not so speak and qualify our actions in the name of God by acting as if his approval is on what we are doing; rather we should have far greater concern about who we are.

1. All Timothy quotes from 1Timothy 6.  Extra “many’s” were my addition.

And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. Matthew 24:12

“She needs to die.”  With a slack jaw I sat in stunned silence unable to fathom what I was hearing.  I work in a nursing home and our staff had just learned how a patient was, once again, in critical condition and had been hospitalized.  As a patient in our nursing home for years, she had spent the time bedridden and needing dialysis twice a week.  She enjoyed her routine however, talking to the staff and regularly watching the Beverly Hillbillies.  “She has no quality of life,” my co-worker continued, “She needs to die!” I then retorted, “No she enjoys her routine, drinking her cranberry juice, and…”  “No,” she interrupted, “She has no quality of life and she needs to die!”

I know on a theological level how wicked and lost our world is, but hearing a statement like this is deeply unsettling.  To say someone who enjoys their life, and has learned contentment in the midst of seemingly unbearable circumstances, is somehow unfit to live, truly appalls me.  Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!1 This is what the Prophet Isaiah speaks to his own wicked generation.  To say we know who should live, and who should die is essentially to say, “I am wiser than God, “I could do better than that fool in the sky!”  Jesus declared, “What comes out of a man, that defiles a man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts…“2  We have rejected God, and rejected His law,  every man doing what is right in his own eyes, is the inevitable outcome of this and it is a bleak picture indeed.  Although I dislike rampant speculation and careless proof-texting about the Last Days, seeing the increasingly evil hearts of my fellow man, gives me hope that the Lords return will be soon.

1. Isaiah 5:20

2. Mark 7:21-22

Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; Hebrews 5:8

Even for Christ, suffering was necessary to learn obedience.  He was obviously not disobedient, so there must be something more to learning obedience, than merely correction of rebellion.  How do we learn obedience?  We are told Jesus learned by suffering.  In my limited experience this learning is a process always stressful, and often painful.  I am reminded of the gold furniture in the tabernacle, the gold for the lamp-stand had to be beaten into shape, the olive oil that fueled it had to be beaten, and even the cherubs atop the Ark of the Covenant were made of beaten gold.  The gold was not to be cast; it had to be beaten into the right shape.  Why?  God was clearly illustrating that breaking down and reshaping raw materials, into objects fit for use in the worship of God, is a long and difficult process.

As Christians we are predestined to be conformed to the image of Christ. ₁ The word conform is summorphos in the Greek, it speaks of changing the shape or form of the object until it is the same shape as the model.  The Greek word for image is eikōn, of the 23 times it is used in the Bible, it usually describes a three-dimensional image.  It is used to describe relief of Caesar on a denarius.  In this example of the coin, a piece of metal was conformed to the desired image by taking a die, which is a big heavy piece of hard metal with the reverse image of the coin on the bottom.  The die is then placed over a little round piece of soft metal, and then struck with a heavy hammer this would violently force the metal up into the image void; the image on the coin would then be conformed to the image on the die.

I believe this is why we are told not to despise the chastening of the Lord₂ because, Afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.₃ Suffering, chastening, discipline, prepares us for use by God.  We often view discipline wrongly, assuming it is always punitive.  But the Bible clearly states that the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.₄ We are of no use to God when we are full of ourselves, reeking with pride and ego.  Once we have been conformed to his image, we are able to let God use us without getting in the way or contaminating his message.

1. Romans 8:29

2. Hebrews 12:5

3. Hebrews 12:11

4. Hebrews 12:6

So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts to wisdom.

-Psalm 90:12

Psalm ninety is likely to bring out the dispensationalist in most of us, and how can it not with statements like, “For all our days are passed away in thy wrath: we spend our years as a tale that is told…”₁ This psalm is arguably unique in that it was written by Moses.  It asks open ended questions like, “Who knows the power of thine anger?”  Moses states in verse ten “The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.”  The first eleven verses are somewhat gritty to the grace-oriented mind.  Yet without them, the conclusion of the Psalm makes no sense.

In learning to number our days, we must first be told our years, as Moses does.  For emphasis on establishing a need for numbered days he articulates the importance of the meaning of life, contingent upon the wrathful aspect of Gods divine nature. Arthur W. Pink in his book on the Attributes of God says, “It is sad indeed that many professing Christians who appear to regard the wrath of God as something for which they need to make an apology, or who at least wish there were no such thing.”  (Page 82)  We cannot disconnect this important concept of numbering our days from a healthy fear of God, a fear for which I am learning more and more to embrace.   Without a firm solid understanding of the wrath of God, there can be no thorough understanding of His grace.

Chuck Missler made a comment on this concept of numbering days, which compelled me to write out an excel spreadsheet to help me in a very practical way.  I am thirty-one years of age so these numbers apply to me were I to live to the age Moses describes, eighty.  I have 2,557 weekends left.  I have 5,114 days on weekends left.  If I live for God three days out of each week I have 7,670 days left.  If I serve Him four out of seven days each week I have 10,227 days left.  If I serve Him every day during the work-week only I have 12,784 days remaining.  If I dedicate myself to the penultimate and give every day of my remainder to this God I serve I have 17,897 days remaining.  Now in your mind place a dollar sign in front of each of those numbers and think about how quickly you could spend that money if someone just gave it to you contingent upon you spending it all.

“Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men: but we are made manifest unto God; and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences.”₂ The wrath of God was something that motivated Paul heavily in his evangelism.  May a combination of knowing His wrath and a numbering of our days persuade us to evaluate our lives this day.   Just remember, Gods attributes are not bound by dispensations, he is the same yesterday today and forever…wait I think that was a biblical statement!

We need to simply recognize the brevity of life.  We get only one shot.  We are only one bullet leaving the chamber of the womb.  Our vector is unrelentingly directed toward death.  A healthy recognition of this fact may help us consider how then we ought to live.

1. Psalm 90:11

2. II Corinthians 5:11

Days Well Numbered

The above link is the Excel Spreadsheet I used to calculate the remainder of my days.  To use just input your age into the appropriate cell and you will quickly learn how much time you have left to serve the Lord.

Brad’s physical disability had typically kept him from attending church.  Born with Spina Bifida, his paralyzed legs had kept him wheelchair bound and made him a routinely solitary individual. Until one day he noticed a church which was quite different; its beautiful entrance had no stairs; just one big, beautiful, non skid, granite ramp.  He was further intrigued when he noticed that every parking space had a handicapped sign.  After weeks of internal debate he decided to attend one Sunday.

Nothing could have prepared him for what he experienced…when he arrived he found that everyone there was in a wheelchair.  He fit right in!  The pastor, the choir, everyone was disabled!  After attending for a few months he felt he was ready to commit to this; so he wheeled down the aisle, made a profession of faith, and was welcomed as a convert.  For years he attended and enjoyed himself, and became very involved with the meals on wheels ministry.  But reading his bible one day, he began noticing verses that troubled him.  He scheduled an appointment with the pastor right away.  Four o’clock Friday afternoon.  He was there at three-forty-five.

Entering Pastor Steve’s office he was reassured, spiritual sounding books lined the mahogany shelves, spiritual artwork graced the walls, the decorum somehow even made the houseplants look spiritual.  Steve would have the answers that would be able to set him strait.

“Pastor Steve,” Brad began, “I’ve been reading in my bible and found some things that are troubling me deeply.”

After a long pause, “Go on.” He replied.

“Well the bible talks about Jesus healing people, crippled people, so that they could walk . . . but none of us are walking…is there something wrong with that?  Steve smiled, a reassuringly father-like smile, then softly chuckled, “I remember when I was your age, asking my pastor this same question.  But you need to understand we are healed, we are walking.”

“What do you mean?” Brad wondered.

The Pastor continued, “We are healed positionally, we are walking positionally.”

“Positionally?”

“Yes positionally son.  Take a look at this cookie.” Steve pulled an Oreo out of a bag in the drawer, “What do you see?” Steve asked with a sympathetic glimmer in his eyes.

“An Oreo cookie!” Brad stated the obvious.

Steve shoved the cookie in his mouth and made short work of it.  “Now son, where is that cookie? Do you see it?” Steve questioned.

“No it’s in you.”

“Exactly” Steve said with a big grin, “The bible says that if any man be IN Christ he is a new creation, isn’t that right?  Well…just like that cookie is in me, we are positioned in Christ, so when he walks, we walk.  His health is our health.  So don’t worry about trying to walk physically, because you already are walking in Christ.”  Steve trailed off.

Rather confused, Brad looked down at his lap and nervously toggled the break on his chair repeatedly.  Suddenly Pastor Steve’s iPhone rang, blaring out I can only imagine, “Hang on son, hello…oops I forgot, I’ll be right there!”    I gotta run, I was supposed to meet someone at Starbucks half an hour ago.”  Pastor Steve accompanied Brad to the door, sped through the sanctuary and left Brad brooding in a thick fog.

Positionally healthy?  Positionally walking?  He was more confused than before, the scriptures ware calling him to walk, while his pastor assured him it was unnecessary.  Late that night, sitting in his wheelchair, reading the Bible he read where Peter told the beggar, “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.”  He could not shake the feeling the words were speaking to him; he set the brakes, grabbed the arm rests and began to push himself up, he instantly felt dormant vitality flowing into his legs, and suddenly he was on his feet, his spine had even straitened.  Standing for the first time in his life!  Hot tears streamed down his face, he stood triumphantly erect!  Never would he forget this night! He gingerly took his first steps, walking around the room, then jumping, all this for the first time in his life.  Falling to his knees in prayer, he profusely praised God for His mighty grace.  He couldn’t wait for Sunday; he would tell everyone it was true, you can walk, not just positionally, not just metaphorically, but really.

Instead of driving his lift van he decided to walk to church.  He excitedly pushed his wheelchair to with him (without non-handicapped seating, he had to sit somewhere.)  He was completely unprepared for his reception. As he approached the parking lot he noticed no expressions of joy those who saw him walking; some looked confused, others gaped at him with a smoldering anger.  Eugene, the head Deacon, hesitantly wheeled up to him…”Hey what’s going on with you?” Eugene asked with an untrusting tone in his voice.

“Jesus healed me last night, I can walk now.” Brad jubilantly exclaimed.

“We’re all positionally healed.  Either that or you have been a fraud all along!” Eugene snarled, with a noticeable change in his tone.

“But I really was healed; Jesus is still at work today and…”  The old deacon didn’t wait for Brad to finish; he was wheeling toward Pastor Steve’s office as fast as he could, shaking his head and grumbling.  Brad was completely blindsided, he had come to share great news but no one wanted to hear it,  with butterflies in his stomach and a knot in his throat he had no idea what to do.

He began to feel out of place standing, as hostile eyes watched his every move, he decided not to stumble a weaker brother, and so he slowly, and with great hesitancy, walked in front of his wheelchair and sat down.  Then he wheeled himself to his normal spot in the sanctuary.  When the time came for Pastor Steve to speak, he seemed stressed, and unusually disorganized; almost as if he had discarded his original sermon, and hastily thrown together a new one.  The first words he said were “we believe in grace,” and it went downhill from there.  As he spoke he kept talking about walkalism, and divisive people being walkalists.  He attempted to build a case that those who try to walk on their own are insulting Christ.  After all, “Didn’t He walk well enough?”  Pastor Steve kept asking questions like. . . “Do you think you can walk better than Jesus walked? Why would you even want to walk?  Most Believers don’t even try to walk and those who do walk only end up falling eventually.”

After the service Brad was too emotional to talk to anyone.  As he slowly wheeled out, he noticed his friends and acquaintances muttering “walkalist,” and “once walking always walking” under their breath.  After putting a few blocks between him and the church he stopped and began to think. . . “I have two choices, I can walk and be misunderstood, or I can live like a cripple.  He sat there for a long time, if he chose to walk there would be no going back.  The midday sun was beginning to cross set, and still he had not moved.  Then slowly and deliberately, he set the brakes, leaned forward and stood.  As it happened he had stopped half a block from a large dumpster.  He pushed the chair to the dumpster, carefully folded the chair, opened the dumpster’s lid, threw it in and walked away, never to look back.  All the while a verse was echoing in his head, “Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.”

. . . In vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men . . . Full well you reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition. . ..making the word of God of none effect through your tradition. -Mark 7:7-13

One great roadblock to Revival, and Biblical Christianity, is tradition. We have traditions that make behaviors not identified as sin, sinful. Yet we rarely preach against socially acceptable sins. I can’t remember the last time I heard a sermon decrying covetousness. Fierce nationalism is preached, but the Bible tells us we are pilgrims and strangers on this earth. Wearing hats is sinful, but gossip is fine. Tattoos are sinful, but divorce and remarriage is fine. Drinking alcohol in moderation is sinful, but covetousness . . . that’s not only fine, it’s the American way. We haven’t thrown out the baby, but we haven’t thrown out the bathwater either, instead we preach and extol the virtues of the bathwater, and minimize the baby. I’ve heard it taught that “we shouldn’t try to be like Jesus, we just need to like Jesus”; but Jesus said, I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you. *

You may protest; if we don’t look to ecclesiastical tradition as our model, how will we know what the church should look like? How do we know what an authentic Christian looks like? The answer is radically simple. The scriptures! The Sermon on the Mount is a good start; Jesus clearly tells us how to act, how to think, how to pray, and how to treat our fellow man. A study through the Gospels and the rest of the New Testament will fill in the rest of what true Christianity is, and how it works. Don’t go rooting around the Old Testament to find church practice; because much of the practice of the Jews was concerned with fulfilling ceremonial law’s which as Christians we are no longer bound by.  Examples of these would be sacrificing an animal when we sin, not lighting a fire on the Sabbath, and circumcision. We need to study our Bibles, to ensure that every doctrine we hold is scriptural, not merely cultural.

Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.  -II Timothy 2:15

* John 13:15

Wait?  What Did You Say Sodom’s Sin Was?

To willingly place ones head on the proverbial chopping block is not really what I intend to do with this post.  However, knowing human nature, some will instantaneously misinterpret what I am about to say.  He who has ears to hear, will hear Gods heart from His Word, and not words according to men’s fallacious thinking.

What exactly was Sodom and Gomorrah punished for?  The reactionary with an incorrectly divided viewpoint, will bring out the boiler plate and hide the china by stating, “Sodom was punished for the sexual abominations committed therein.”  Granted, I understand why we jump to this conclusion so quickly, the activity of the men in the city was so obstinately rapacious towards the very angels of God, strange flesh indeed ₁!  And while there is truth to this general observation, it is not the whole truth. This is a passage of scripture in dire need of commentary from God himself.  Chapters eighteen and nineteen of Genesis do not offer it in spite of great want.

The word of the Lord came to that fascinating prophet Ezekiel, we read in chapter 16:49-50 the commentary from God on the scenario at Sodom.  “Behold this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.  And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me: therefore I took them away as I saw good.”  It is strikingly clear from this passage that God had a view of Sodom we do not so quickly gather from the passages in Genesis.  As is so often the case with scripture, we really need to rightly divide God’s word, and not jump to the first conclusion we draw.  Here we see that our first impressions are only interlaced with partial truth.  The whole truth is far worse!  Pride…hedonism, and lack of compassion upon the unfortunate preceded abomination.  The abomination was only the tip of the iceberg.  All over the media, the internet, and from pulpits Christians are decrying homosexuality as the great sin of Sodom.  In no way am I saying it was not a great sin; however, I am saying that we need to pull the tree out of our own eye and realize that we have been attacking the tip of the iceberg with a machete, using the grace, precision, and tact of blind zoo-monkeys.  All the while, below the placid surface dwells this lurking monstrosity of iniquity.  Upon which many ships are being wrecked ₂. They litter the ocean floor in a jagged watery mausoleum.

Christians, pastors, activists, radio show hosts, bloggers, and anyone who cares about this issue, I plead with you.  I beg that you would hear Gods heart.  We need to repent; we need to take the log out of our own eye.  Judgment begins in the house of God, not outside of it.  Are we hedonistic in all of our pursuits?  Are we filling endless hours consuming idle mediocrity? Have we forgotten to give to the cause and plight of the poor?  Do we stand in the gap through prayer as much as we attempt to legislate our morality?  Is legislating our morality even what we are called to do for that matter?  Daniel is a man of whom the Bible mentions no sin or iniquity yet what was his prayer filled with?  Repentance! Daniel pleaded Gods forgiveness for the iniquity of his people, he begged God to turn His anger away from His children, and away from Jerusalem.  He was an intercessor, a man who stood in the gap, a man whom we all could learn a lot from. And certainly he was not a man pointing fingers outside himself but rather, upon his knees he took upon himself the sins of his people.  This is the attitude most like our Lord, who was silent before his accusers, cognizant of the fact there was no excuse for the sin he was about to take upon himself for the sake of all those who would call upon his name.

_{1. Jude 7}

_{2. 1 Timothy 1:19}