Randy Alcorn's Blog, page 108

Christopher Yuan’s New Book “Holy Sexuality and the Gospel,” and How It Can Help Our Discussions of LGBT issues

I read a lot of books, and Christopher Yuan’s Holy Sexuality and the Gospel: Sex, Desire, and Relationships Shaped by God’s Grand Story is on the shortlist of most important books I’ve read in the last decade.

This extraordinary book (available from both Amazon and Christianbook.com) is written by a uniquely qualified brother in Christ. The foreword by Rosaria Butterfield is itself a masterpiece, and from beginning to end this is simply a great book.

I’ve shared more about Christopher’s testimony in this past blog, but here’s a brief synopsis: Christopher once lived as an openly gay young man. But after being sentenced for drug dealing and finding he had HIV, he had a powerful conversion experience through reading the Bible in prison. He was not transformed into someone with heterosexual desires, but after growing as a Christian and searching God’s Word, he concluded that he could not follow Christ while submitting his thoughts and actions to same-sex desires. 

A serious and careful student of God’s Word, Christopher is now a Bible professor at Moody Bible Institute. He writes, “Unfortunately, many Christians have envisioned an incorrect goal and a faulty process for those of us with same-sex attractions. I’ve explained in this book how everyone’s goal in regard to sexuality should be holy sexuality—chastity in singleness or faithfulness in marriage.”

Both book and author are Jesus-centered and Gospel-centered, full of grace and truth. When it comes to these heart-wrenching issues of personal identity, this is what we all should long for.

Too many discussions of LGBT issues, both outside and inside the church, and from people on different sides, assume matters to be true that have not been proven or even carefully examined. This has created lines of thinking and beliefs that are rigid and unyielding, more slogan-based than truth-based. One of these false and unbiblical beliefs is that our sexual desires are at the core of our personal identities—that they define who we really are.

In many circles, from college campuses to coffee shops to work places to churches, there are new rules of discourse, spoken and unspoken, about homosexuality. These rules demand certain questions not be raised, and certain observations not be made, and certain things be said that are neither accurate nor helpful.

On the one hand, some Christians display a profound lack of love, compassion, and understanding toward those struggling with LGBT issues. I don’t deny this—I have seen it firsthand.  

On the other hand, in the name of love, many sincere people, including some Christians, now consider it their calling to enable confused young people and friends to embrace false and faddish ideas—including that what you desire sexually is who you are and what you should act in accordance with. These believers, offering either indifference or tolerance while withholding God’s offer of redeeming grace, end up effectively encouraging people to live in a way that will inevitably, according to God’s Word, bring them great personal harm.

In contrast to both of these approaches, Yuan’s is a knowledgeable, wise, and measured voice, with a rare breadth and depth of understanding. He is one of a relatively small number of voices who has seen up close and lived with daily homosexual desires, while opening the Bible and studying earnestly to find anything justifying his right to act on those desires, only to come to a place of admitting there are no such passages. Hence, he has chosen to live a life of celibacy, abstaining from sexual acts. This brother is not a casual Christian. He has earned the right to be listened to. He will never be the loudest voice, but rarely are the loudest voices the wisest.

Today’s pervasive ground rules in discussions of sexuality, which demand you dare not say certain things and must say others, often make true dialogue, and therefore true understanding, impossible. Either that, or so exhausting and frustrating that people of all persuasions stop talking to each other and head off to wave their torches on social media where they can get a lot of likes without having to go through the torture of actual face-to-face interaction.  

Consequently, our “dialogue” is not only disrespectful, but also selective, superficial, and scattershot, and often alarmingly ignorant. Sometimes our conversations end up as dialogues of the deaf (using two different sign languages, no less). They are characterized more by well-intentioned cluelessness and robotic repetition of catch-phrases than informed reasoning.  

Even educated people, sometimes especially educated people, now lack a basic understanding about what it is—and is not—that makes us human. In this book, Christopher Yuan breaks through the confusing smokescreen of the current terminology and understanding of sexual identity.

What determines our true identities? Is sexuality primary or is it secondary? What role has the Fall and Curse played in matters of gender? Is our understanding of sexual orientation something that needs more critical analysis? All these questions are skillfully addressed in Holy Sexuality.

Having read this book in prepublication form, I’ve been eagerly waiting for it to come out.  Among other things, it will help some genuine believers to advocate abstinence without denying their true identity, but affirming it. Christopher also challenges brothers and sisters in Christ to stop using the sometimes well-meaning but misguided label “gay Christian.”

I pray and anticipate that God will use this book far and wide, and through it touch countless lives for eternity.

In my next blog, I’ll share an excerpt from Christopher’s book. Then, in the subsequent blog, I’ll talk about a second book that recently came out, Jackie Hill Perry’s Gay Girl, Good God.

Christopher’s and Jackie’s books are very different in form and style, but they speak in concert about God’s power to change lives. Both of them know firsthand what it is to have strong homosexual desires, and to live a life of submission to God and His Word in the power of the Holy Spirit, saying yes to Jesus and no to sin. Neither advocates denying homosexual orientations and temptations, but both encourage us to see our creation in God’s image and Christ’s redemptive work as the source of our true identities—not our sexual desires.

I encourage you to watch Christopher’s story, as told by him and his parents. I had listened to it before and recommended it in a previous blog, but I really enjoyed hearing his story again. It will help you to get to know him before the next blog, or before you plunge right into his book.

Is It Blasphemous for Us to Study, Discuss, and Try to Envision Heaven?

Some of you may be familiar with my book Picturing Heaven, which is an adult coloring book with devotional reflections about our eternal home. The illustrator, Lizzie Preston, and the team at Tyndale House did a great job with it. (Here’s an excerpt. This sample picture was colored beautifully by reader Sherry Maxwell, who won a coloring contest our ministry put on last year.)

When we shared about Picturing Heaven on Facebook, someone commented that it is blasphemous because it attempts to picture God’s dwelling place. I respectfully disagree.

It’s true it is possible to blaspheme Heaven. In Revelation 13:6, we’re told that the satanic beast “opened his mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven.” Our enemy slanders three things: God’s person, God’s people, and God’s place—namely, Heaven. Because Satan hates us, he’s determined to rob us of the joy we’d have if we believed what God tells us about the magnificent world to come. He’s the one who doesn’t want us to envision how beautiful and wonderful Heaven will be.

But is it appropriate for us to discuss and even try to picture what Heaven will be like, based on what Scripture tells us? Yes, because what we otherwise could not have known about Heaven, since we’re unable to see it, God says He has revealed to us through His Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:10). This means that God has explained to us what Heaven is like. Not exhaustively, but accurately. God tells us about Heaven in His Word, not so we can shrug our shoulders and remain ignorant, but because He wants us to understand and anticipate what awaits us.

The Secret Things Are Ours

We should accept that many things about Heaven are secret and that God has countless surprises in store for us. But as for the things God has revealed to us about Heaven, these things belong to us and to our children (Deuteronomy 29:29). It’s critically important that we study and understand them. That is precisely why God revealed them to us!

Second Corinthians 12:2-4 is sometimes used as a “silencer” to discussions about Heaven. Paul says that fourteen years earlier he was “caught up to paradise,” where he “heard inexpressible things, things that man is not permitted to tell.” Some people use this verse to say we should not discuss what Heaven will be like. But all it says is that God didn’t permit Paul to talk about his visit to Heaven. In contrast, God commanded the apostle John to talk about his prolonged visit to Heaven, which he did in detail in the book of Revelation. Likewise, Isaiah and Ezekiel wrote about what they saw in Heaven.

Although it’s inappropriate for us to speculate on what Paul might have seen in Heaven, it’s certainly appropriate to discuss what John saw, because God chose to reveal it to us. If He didn’t intend for us to understand it, why would He bother telling us about it? (When was the last time you wrote someone a letter using words you didn’t expect them to comprehend?) So, we should study, teach, and discuss God’s revelation about Heaven given to us in His Word.

Certainly, not everything the Bible says about Heaven is easily envisioned. Consider Ezekiel’s description of the living creatures and their wheels, and the manifestation of God’s glory that leaves the prophet groping for words (Ezekiel 1:4-28). Still, many other passages concerning Heaven are much easier to grasp.

God-Given Glimpses

We cannot anticipate or desire what we cannot imagine. That’s why, I believe, God has given us glimpses of Heaven in the Bible—to fire up our imagination and kindle a desire for Heaven in our hearts. And that’s why Satan will always discourage our imagination—or misdirect it to ethereal notions that violate Scripture. As long as the resurrected universe remains either undesirable or unimaginable, Satan succeeds in sabotaging our love for Heaven.

After reading my novels that portray Heaven, people often tell me, “These pictures of Heaven are exciting. But are they based on Scripture?” The answer, to the best of my understanding, is yes. Scripture provides us with a substantial amount of information, direct and indirect, about the world to come, with enough detail to help us envision it, but not so much as to make us think we can completely wrap our minds around it. I believe that God expects us to use our imagination, even as we recognize its limitations and flaws. If God didn’t want us to imagine what Heaven will be like, He wouldn’t have told us as much about it as He has. (Certainly whatever God has for us in Heaven will be far better, never worse, than what we can imagine!)

Rather than ignore our imagination, I believe we should fuel it with Scripture, allowing it to step through the doors that Scripture opens. I did not come to the Bible with the same view of Heaven that I came away with. On the contrary, as a young Christian, and even as a young pastor, I viewed Heaven in the same stereotypical ways I now reject. It was only through years of scriptural study, meditation, and research on the subject that I came to the view of Heaven I now embrace.

Pieces of a Beautiful Picture

Scripture gives us images full of hints and implications about Heaven. Put them together, and these jigsaw pieces form a beautiful picture. For example, we’re told that Heaven is a city (Hebrews 11:10; 13:14). When we hear the word city, we shouldn’t scratch our heads and think, “I wonder what that means?” We understand cities. Cities have buildings, culture, art, music, athletics, goods and services, events of all kinds. And, of course, cities have people engaged in activities, gatherings, conversations, and work.

Heaven is also described as a country (Hebrews11:16). We know about countries. They have territories, rulers, national interests, pride in their identity, and citizens who are both diverse and unified.

If we can’t imagine our present Earth without rivers, mountains, trees, and flowers, then why would we try to imagine the New Earth without these features? We wouldn’t expect a non-Earth to have mountains and rivers. But God doesn’t promise us a non-Earth. He promises us a New Earth. If the word Earth in this phrase means anything, it means that we can expect to find earthly things there—including atmosphere, mountains, water, trees, people, houses—even cities, buildings, and streets. (These familiar features are specifically mentioned in Revelation 21–22.)

We’re told we’ll have resurrection bodies (1 Corinthians 15:40-44). When God speaks of us having these bodies, do we shrug our shoulders and say, “I can’t imagine what a new body would be like”? No, of course we can imagine it. We know what a body is—we’ve had one all our lives! (And we can remember when ours looked better, can’t we?) So we can imagine a new body.

In Heaven, we’ll rest (Revelation 14:13). We know what it means to rest. And to want to rest (Hebrews4:10-11).

We’re told we will serve Christ on the New Earth, working for His glory (Revelation 22:3). We know what it means to work. And to want to work.

Scripture speaks of a New Jerusalem made of precious stones. Some of the jewels listed in Revelation 21:19-21 are among the hardest substances known. They indicate the material solidity of the New Earth.

The problem is not that the Bible doesn’t tell us much about Heaven. It’s that we don’t pay attention to what it tells us.

Some of the best portrayals I’ve seen of the eternal Heaven are in children’s books. Why? Because they depict earthly scenes, with animals and people playing, and joyful activities. The books for adults, on the other hand, often try to be philosophical, profound, ethereal, and otherworldly. But that kind of Heaven is precisely what the Bible doesn’t portray as the place where we’ll live forever.

John Eldredge says, “We can only hope for what we desire.”To this I would add a corollary: We can only desire what we can imagine. If you think you can’t imagine Heaven—or if you imagine it as something drab and unappealing—you can’t get excited about it. You can’t come with the childlike eagerness that God so highly values (Mark10:15).

(A similar question to the one addressed in this blog is whether it’s appropriate for artists to make pictures of Jesus, as is done in Picturing Heaven and also in my graphic novels Eternity and The Apostle. Here’s an answer from Got Questions, and here are John Piper’s thoughts.)

Note from EPM

Right now, you can purchase Randy Alcorn’s Picturing Heaven: 40 Hope-Filled Devotions with Coloring Pages for just $8 (47% off $14.99 retail). This book makes a beautiful Christmas gift!

Plus you can receive FREE USPS media mail shipping on every item in our online store when you enter the code GRATEFUL18 at checkout.

Free shipping offer is valid for U.S. continental orders only and expires Thursday, December 13 at 12 P.M. PT. Picturing Heaven offer ends Tuesday, November 27 at 12 P.M. PT. 

Photo by Tim Peterson on Unsplash

A Q&A with C. S. Lewis

Note from Randy: Tomorrow, November 22, 2018, is the 55th anniversary of the death not only of John F. Kennedy, but also of C. S. Lewis. If someone asked me which historical figures I’d like to hear answer questions, one of them would be C. S. Lewis. Providentially, he had such a session on April 18, 1944 and it was transcribed by shorthand and corrected and added to by Lewis before going to print. Though the questions were asked nearly 75 years ago during World War II, I think they carry over very well to the modern world. The original gathering where he fielded the questions was the Head Office of Electric and Musical Industries Ltd., Hayes, Middlesex, England. 

Many people present were believers, many others unbelievers. I’m struck with how many things Lewis said “in passing” in this Q&A that are notable or amusing. In the middle of one of his answers not included in this blog he said, “As you perhaps know, I haven’t always been a Christian. I didn’t go to religion to make me happy. I always knew a bottle of Port would do that. If you want a religion to make you feel really comfortable, I certainly don’t recommend Christianity.”

I have picked out six of the seventeen questions and answers as recorded originally in an article called “ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS ON CHRISTIANITY” and reprinted in God in the Dock (available on Christianbook.com and Amazon).

God in the Dock contains many of Lewis’s essays on a wide variety of interesting subjects. Depending on the individual, some of the essays will resonate more and some less. But I highly recommend it for anyone who wants to hear from C. S. Lewis.

Question 3. Will you please say how you would define a practicing Christian? Are there any other varieties?

Lewis: Certainly there are a great many other varieties. It depends, of course, on what you mean by ‘practicing Christian’. If you mean one who has practiced Christianity in every respect at every moment of his life, then there is only One on record—Christ Himself. In that sense there are no practicing Christians, but only Christians who, in varying degrees, try to practice it and fail in varying degrees and then start again.

A perfect practice of Christianity would, of course, consist in a perfect imitation of the life of Christ—I mean, in so far as it was applicable in one’s own particular circumstances. Not in an idiotic sense—it doesn’t mean that every Christian should grow a beard, or be a bachelor, or become a travelling preacher. It means that every single act and feeling, every experience, whether pleasant or unpleasant, must be referred to God. It means looking at everything as something that comes from Him, and always looking to Him and asking His will first, and saying: ‘How would He wish me to deal with this?’

A kind of picture or pattern (in a very remote way) of the relation between the perfect Christian and his God, would be the relation of the good dog to its master. This is only a very imperfect picture, though, because the dog hasn’t reason like its master: whereas we do share in God’s reason, even if in an imperfect and interrupted way (‘interrupted’ because we don’t think rationally for very long at a time—it’s too tiring—and we haven’t information to understand things fully, and our intelligence itself has certain limitations). In that way we are more like God than the dog is like us, though, of course, there are other ways in which the dog is more like us than we are like God. It is only an illustration. [1]

Question 5. Many people feel resentful or unhappy because they think they are the target of unjust fate. These feelings are stimulated by bereavement, illness, deranged domestic or working conditions, or the observation of suffering in others. What is the Christian view of this problem?

Lewis: The Christian view is that men were created to be in a certain relationship to God (if we are in that relation to Him, the right relation to one another will follow inevitably). Christ said it was difficult for ‘the rich’ to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, referring, no doubt, to ‘riches’ in the ordinary sense. But I think it really covers riches in every sense—good fortune, health, popularity, and all the things one wants to have. All these things tend—just as money tends—to make you feel independent of God, because if you have them you are happy already and contented in this life. You don’t want to turn away to anything more, and so you try to rest in a shadowy happiness as if it could last forever. But God wants to give you a real and eternal happiness. Consequently He may have to take all these ‘riches’ away from you: if He doesn’t, you will go on relying on them.

It sounds cruel, doesn’t it? But I am beginning to find out that what people call the cruel doctrines are really the kindest ones in the long run. …If you think of this world as a place intended simply for our happiness, you find it quite intolerable: think of it as a place of training and correction and it’s not so bad.

Imagine a set of people all living in the same building. Half of them think it is a hotel, the other half think it is a prison. Those who think it a hotel might regard it as quite intolerable, and those who thought it was a prison might decide that it was really surprisingly comfortable. So that what seems the ugly doctrine is one that comforts and strengthens you in the end. The people who try to hold an optimistic view of this world would become pessimists: the people who hold a pretty stern view of it become optimistic.

Question 6. Materialists and some astronomers suggest that the solar planetary system and life as we know it was brought about by an accidental stellar collision. What is the Christian view of this theory?

Lewis: If the solar system was brought about by an accidental collision, then the appearance of organic life on this planet was also an accident, and the whole evolution of Man was an accident too. If so, then all our present thoughts are mere accidents—the accidental by-product of the movement of atoms. And this holds for the thoughts of the materialists and astronomers as well as for anyone else’s. But if their thoughts—i.e., of Materialism and Astronomy—are merely accidental by-products, why should we believe them to be true? I see no reason for believing that one accident should be able to give me a correct account of all the other accidents. It’s like expecting that the accidental shape taken by the splash when you upset a milk-jug should give you a correct account of how the jug was made and why it was upset. [2]

Question 9. Would the application of Christian standards bring to an end or greatly reduce scientific and material progress? In other words, is it wrong for a Christian to be ambitious and strive for personal success?

Lewis: It is easiest to think of a simplified example. How would the application of Christianity affect anyone on a desert island? Would he be less likely to build a comfortable hut? The answer is ‘No.’ There might come a particular moment, of course, when Christianity would tell him to bother less about the hut, i.e., if he were in danger of coming to think that the hut was the most important thing in the universe. But there is no evidence that Christianity would prevent him from building it.

Ambition! We must be careful what we mean by it. If it means the desire to get ahead of other people—which is what I think it does mean—then it is bad. If it means simply wanting to do a thing well, then it is good. It isn’t wrong for an actor to want to act his part as well as it can possibly be acted, but the wish to have his name in bigger type than the other actors is a bad one. [3]

Question 15. In the past the Church used various kinds of compulsion in attempts to force a particular brand of Christianity on the community. Given sufficient power, is there not a danger of this sort of thing happening again?

Lewis: …Persecution is a temptation to which all men are exposed. I had a postcard signed ‘M.D.’ saying that anyone who expressed and published his belief in the Virgin Birth should be stripped and flogged. That shows you how easily persecution of Christians by the non-Christians might come back. Of course, they wouldn’t call it Persecution: they’d call it ‘Compulsory re-education of the ideologically unfit’, or something like that. But, of course, I have to admit that Christians themselves have been persecutors in the past. It was worse of them, because they ought to have known better: they weren’t worse in any other way. I detest every kind of religious compulsion: only the other day I was writing an angry letter to The Spectator about Church Parades in the Home Guard!

Question 16. Is attendance at a place of worship or membership with a Christian community necessary to a Christian way of life?

Lewis: …My own experience is that when I first became a Christian, about fourteen years ago, I thought that I could do it on my own, by retiring to my rooms and reading theology, and I wouldn’t go to the churches and Gospel Halls; and then later I found that it was the only way of flying your flag; and, of course, I found that this meant being a target.

It is extraordinary how inconvenient to your family it becomes for you to get up early to go to Church. It doesn’t matter so much if you get up early for anything else, but if you get up early to go to Church it’s very selfish of you and you upset the house.

…I disliked very much their hymns, which I considered to be fifth-rate poems set to sixth-rate music. But as I went on I saw the great merit of it. I came up against different people of quite different outlooks and different education, and then gradually my conceit just began peeling off. I realized that the hymns (which were just sixth-rate music) were, nevertheless, being sung with devotion and benefit by an old saint in elastic-side boots in the opposite pew, and then you realize that you aren’t fit to clean those boots. It gets you out of your solitary conceit.

It is not for me to lay down laws, as I am only a layman, and I don’t know much. [4]

Note from Randy: I deliberately ended with that question and Lewis’s answer because I thought not only what he said about church and humility, but also the final line was particularly great. I thank God for how much I and millions of people have learned from this brother who said he was “only a layman” and “I don’t know much.” :)

If you'd like to read more by and about Lewis, here are 30-some of my blog posts related to him, including part 1 and part 2 about his influence on my life and writing. 

See also The Romantic Rationalist: God, Life, and Imagination in the Work of C. S. Lewis, which includes a chapter by Randy titled, “C. S. Lewis on Heaven and the New Earth: God’s Eternal Remedy to the Problem of Evil and Suffering,” as well as an appendix by Randy on “C. S. Lewis and the Doctrine of Hell.”

[1] Lewis, C. S. (1994). God in the Dock. (W. Hooper, Ed.) (pp. 38–39). HarperOne.

[2] Lewis, C. S. (1994). God in the Dock. (W. Hooper, Ed.) (pp. 39–42). HarperOne.

[3] Lewis, C. S. (1994). God in the Dock. (W. Hooper, Ed.) (pp. 44–45). HarperOne.

[4] Lewis, C. S. (1994). God in the Dock. (W. Hooper, Ed.) (pp. 51–52). HarperOne.

Positive News We All Need to Hear about What God Is Doing Around the World

These days, it’s easy to become obsessed with everything that’s wrong with the world. We’re continually bombarded by “news” (which is sometimes more sensational than informative) that dwells on the sufferings and tragedies of life. This unceasing avalanche of bad news, as well as rampant political tribalism, suspicion, and critical opinions, can quickly bury what Scripture calls “the good news of happiness” (Isaiah 52:7) and “good news of great joy” (Luke 2:10). Sadly, what many people of differing worldviews in our culture have in common is extreme negativity!

In her article “A Big Bright Side,” Janie B. Cheaney writes:

Bad news is wide-screen. It manifests itself in trends, factions, wars, rising rates of … (drug abuse, dropouts, STDs, etc.). It wears big clumsy boots that stomp all over reasonable argument and heartfelt protest. The effects of bad news are immediate and obvious, even if we disagree about causes. …Good news is personal, small scale, and easy to overlook. The effects are slow and cumulative. …Good news may be lurking under our very noses while the smell of the bad overpowers us.

I don’t favor living in a cave, blissfully ignorant of the world’s woes and the suffering and difficulties around us. But Scripture tells us in Philippians 4:8, “Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” Each of these qualities is true of Jesus. To purposely look for things that fit these qualifications, and think about them, is to recognize the Source of them and to be determined to give Jesus first place in our lives.

Along those same lines, I think this is a powerful letter from my friend Jim Green and his wife Nan. Jim is former executive director of the Jesus Film Project (I traveled with him in China while researching my novel Safely Home). This is an example of one of countless ministries that are doing great things for God worldwide—but that believers will not hear about if we just keep watching the news and don’t purposefully go to other and better sources.

Incredible things that God is doing!

By Jim and Nan Green

Today many American believers are at risk of being Fox News/CNN Christians. We tend to only hear bad news and have the impression that God is not doing anything.

But God is at work around the world building His Kingdom in incredible ways!

“The whole earth will acknowledge the LORD and return to him. All the families of the nations will bow down before him. For royal power belongs to the LORD. He rules all the nations” (Psalms 22:27-28, NLT).

“After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb” (Revelation 7:9-10, NIV).

 “What I have said, that I will bring about; what I have planned, that I will do” (Isaiah 46:11, NIV).

Here are just a few things that God is doing—which doesn’t begin to cover all that He is doing through the body of Christ around the world.

The Jesus Film has just been translated into the 1,700th language! At least 1,500+ missions and denominations use the film in ministry. There have been more than:

7.7 billion viewings of the film (many have seen it multiple times)
530 million indicated decisions
225 countries where the film has been shown
An estimated 1.5 to 2 million churches planted through the Jesus Film

107 million were exposed to Jesus via digital in 2017. Already in the first half of this year, there were 80 million digital exposures, not including Facebook or YouTube. 293,000 people per day in 230 countries are watching the Jesus Film library of films.

In 2017 there were 374,667,806 viewings of all Jesus Film tools, 42,118,303 indicated decisions for Christ, and 432,076 multiplying churches or groups started.

The Jesus Film is Partnering with 72 entities in the Global Alliance for Church Multiplication (GACX). The Goal: plant 5 million multiplying churches by 2020, 1 church for every 1,000 people in the world.

To date, 1,600,000+ churches have been planted through the 72 GACX partners.

Muslims are coming to Christ as never before:

5,000 Sheiks and Imams have come to Christ in one country
10 churches have seen 60,000 come to Christ
225 refugees watched Magdalena and all came to Christ
Many are having dreams and visions of Jesus
Radicals have come to Christ, are sharing Jesus, and planting churches
One area: 129 million online watching the Jesus Film

The number of unengaged people groups is rapidly diminishing as the body of Christ is taking seriously Jesus’ command to go everywhere. Never before in modern history has the body of Christ actually mobilized and planned to reach the last unengaged people groups of the world.

In Africa, workers are showing the Jesus Film one night and then showing one of the 5 segments of Walking With Jesus Africa the next 5 nights, and the seventh night planting a church. In one country, over 250+ churches have been planted.

Today we are seeing the prophecy in Isaiah come true: “In that day you will say: ‘Give praise to the Lord, proclaim his name; make known among the nations what he has done, and proclaim that his name is exalted. Sing to the Lord, for he has done glorious things; let this be known to all the world’” (Isaiah 12:4-5).

But there is still much to do! There are 5 billion people who yet need to hear about Jesus and how to know Him, and 964 people groups yet to be engaged and reached for Christ.

“He told them, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field’” (Luke 10:2).

Need more ideas of places to look for positive news and stories? I recommend starting with Ann Voskamp’s weekly feature on her blog called “Only the Good Stuff: Multivitamins for Your Weekend.” (Check out this recent one, which includes a touching video of a young girl receiving the news she’s been adopted.)

I also suggest connecting with some Christ-centered ministries and following their updates. (Our ministry recommends some excellent ones here.) To get you started, check out these encouraging stories from Prison Fellowship, a ministry working to bring hope and restoration to prisoners and their families. Or see these stories from Mercy Ships, a group that provides free lifesaving surgeries. I also encourage you to consider supporting and following your local pregnancy resource center. For example, here’s some stories and updates from First Image Portland, our local PRC. (You can find one in your area here.)

Let’s be encouraged about what God is doing in us and in the lives of our loved ones and friends, and around the world! And let’s share these positive things we hear about with others.

“A cheerful look brings joy to the heart, and good news gives health to the bones” (Proverbs 15:30, NIV).

Photo by TambiraPhotography on Pixabay

Husbands, We’re Called to Help Our Wives Grow in Christ

Today’s blog will have applications for everyone, but I’ve written it specifically for guys who are husbands (and also fathers).

Men, one of the best possible things we can do for our wives and children (and ourselves!) is to share with them great resources to help them grow in Christ.

There’s a lot of stuff out there that isn’t going to draw you or your wife’s mind and heart toward God. Part of loving and leading her is pointing her toward things that will. The payoff is huge for her, you, your kids, and everyone her life touches.

Where I’m writing this in our living room, I see a stack of books by my wife’s chair, each of which she has recently read and has had a profound impact on her. The books include Knowing God, Trusting God, and The Joy of Fearing God. I gave or recommended each of these to Nanci (I’ve read them all, and that helps too). These books are arguably some the best gifts I’ve ever given her, and I also get to enter into the joy of her spiritual growth and her ever-growing excitement about her Lord.

Speaking of Nanci, and I will tie this into the subject of this post, thank you to everyone who has been praying for her as she has gone through cancer treatments. (She had her last round of chemotherapy a couple of weeks ago and now we’re awaiting test results; see her CaringBridge page for the latest updates.) Chemo’s not for sissies, and Nanci isn’t one, but she has needed me more than ever and it’s been my privilege to serve her.

Nanci and I had a great time in Psalm 16 recently, concerning verse 8, which says “I have set the LORD always before me” (ESV) or “I keep my eyes always on the Lord” (NIV). That’s followed by “With Him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.” We dialogued for forty minutes about the implications of our responsibility to set the Lord in front of our eyes by seeing Him in His Word, His creation, and people we connect with during the day. Only then will we experience the blessings and comfort and assurance of His loving presence.

So here I am writing about Bible study and our wives, and I saw God, in a powerful way, calm and strengthen and infuse my wife with joy from His Word in the midst of tough times. And I had the honor of speaking God’s Word into her life.  I believe this is what we see in Ephesians 5:25-26: “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word…”

So we husbands are to not stand back and wish our wives were more godly. Rather, we are to assume responsibility to step forward and lead our wives by sharing God’s Word with them. (Similarly, we don't bemoan that a houseplant has shriveled leaves and consider it a failure; instead, we regularly water the plant and expose it to the right light to help it thrive.)

What follows in Ephesians 5:27-28 is that we are to do as Jesus does, and “to present her [his bride] to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies.”

Guys, this is what we are made for. I didn’t stand at an altar and vow to my publishers or my church “till death do us part.” And you didn’t make your vows to your boss or your buddies, but to your wife. So let’s follow the command in Ephesians 5 to love and care for our wives, including by getting good resources into their hands.

Here are some good places to check for Christ-honoring things to share with your wife:

- Revive Our Hearts

- She Reads Truth

- Desiring God

- The Gospel Coalition

- FamilyLife

- Focus on the Family

- And here’s a list I put together of recommended books, blogs, websites, and software, with ideas for both men and women.

See also Randy's novel Courageous and the book The Resolution for Men. 

Photo by Cassidy Rowell on Unsplash

What Are the “High Places” in the Old Testament, and How Does That Apply to Us Today?

Recently someone asked me, “I’m intrigued by a phrase that’s repeated word for word in 2 Kings four times in 12:3, 14:4, 15:4, and 15:35 related to Uzziah and his father, grandfather, and son: ‘The high places, however, were not removed.’ What is this referring to?”

The “high places” is a shorthand term for places of pagan worship, usually (though not always) on hills or mountains to bring them closer to their false gods. They were centers of idolatry. The greatest time of compromise for God’s people in the Old Testament, the Israelites, was when in addition to worshiping Yahweh, the only true God, they worshipped false gods too.

To answer the question more fully I’m going to quote from three excellent sources. Bible Study Magazine has a great article by Adam Couturier about the high places. Here are four paragraphs from it:  

A high place was a localized or regional worship center dedicated to a god. Worship at these local shrines often included making sacrifices, burning incense and holding feasts or festivals (1 Kgs 3:2–3; 12:32). Some of these high places contained altars, graven images and shrines (1 Kgs 13:1–5; 14:23; 2 Kgs 17:29; 18:4; 23:13–14). The Canaanites, Israel’s enemy who worshiped Baal as their chief deity, also used them.

Until a temple to Yahweh was built, the Israelites primarily worshiped Yahweh at a local center of worship—a practice that was not condemned. The prophet Samuel blessed sacrifices that were offered at high places, and Solomon sacrificed 1,000 burnt offerings on the altars in Gibeon (1 Sam 9:12–25; 1 Kgs 3:4). In 1 Kings 3:2, we find these high places were intended to serve Israel’s worshiping needs for a season “because no house had yet been built for the name of the Lord.”

…The temple, built in Jerusalem by Solomon, ushered in a new period of Israelite worship, bringing the 12 tribes together as one people to worship God in one place. Yahweh took up residency in His temple and the need for other centers of worship became obsolete (1 Kgs 9:3). But despite this new temple, God’s people were still found worshiping at high places.

Ironically, we find one of the first references to high places in the narrative of Solomon, the very king who built the temple. He taints the new era of collective worship by building high places for Chemosh, Molech and all of his wives’ foreign gods (1 Kgs 11:8). 

In her book The Son of David: Seeing Jesus in the Historical Books, Nancy Guthrie—one of my favorite writers—also cites 1 Kings 11:5-8, which says Solomon “went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. …Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites…” Nancy then gives us a picture of the horrible practices involved with worship at these high places:

Perhaps this doesn’t shock us because we don’t really understand what it meant for [Solomon] to “go after” these gods. We don’t have any mental pictures. Ashtoreth was the Canaanite goddess of sensual love and fertility. To go after this god meant that Solomon likely went to the high places to have sexual relations out in the open with temple prostitutes. Milcom, the god of the Ammonites, was worshipped through child sacrifice, so we have to assume that perhaps Solomon lowered himself to throwing one of his children into the fire to appease this false god out of desperation to please some Ammonite wife.

Adam Couturier explains this about the kings after Solomon:

Recognizing that high places are not the way Yahweh desired to be worshiped, some kings, like Hezekiah and Josiah, tear them down (2 Kgs 23:8–9). Others, though they are called righteous, never tear them down, like Jehoshaphat (1 Kgs 22:43), Jehoash (2 Kgs 12:3), Azariah (1 Kgs 15:3–4) and Jothan (2 Kgs 15:34–35). Sometimes this was due to ignorance, as was the case with Josiah (23:3–25:27), but in most cases it was flagrant disobedience.

Related specifically to Uzziah and his son Jotham, The New American Commentary, which I recommend, says this:

Like Amaziah and Joash before him, Uzziah does “right in the eyes of the Lord.” He does not remove the high places, however, so he is not an ideal ruler.

…Jotham’s spiritual commitments are similar to those of Uzziah, Amaziah, and Joash. During his sixteen years, ten of which probably are spent as coregent with Uzziah (ca. 750–740), the leprous king (cf. 2 Kgs 15:5), he worships the Lord yet does not use his position of authority to remove the high places. Once more a king does not understand the nature of true worship. Nothing less can save Judah and guarantee the people a reasonably secure future.

So what does this have to do with us today? Deuteronomy 12:1-7 explicitly commands God’s people not just to avoid idolatry but also to demolish, break down, smash, burn, hew down, and blot out the names of those idols. For us, the word idol conjures up images of primitive people offering sacrifices to crude carved images. But an idol is anything we praise, celebrate, fixate on, and look to for help that’s not the true God.

Jesus says we cannot serve both God and money (Matthew 6:24). We’re told that greed is idolatry (Colossians 3:5), like lust is adultery. The New Testament recognizes a figurative sort of high places, where Christ’s people worship false gods instead of the one true God. Like Israel’s kings, we have the responsibility to topple all the idols in our own lives in order to give Jesus full Lordship. The fact that they didn’t use their power and authority to remove the high places and worship God alone should be a sobering reminder to us.

When the apostle John wrote to Christ-followers near the end of the first century, most had nothing to do with carved idols. Still, his final words to them in the letter of 1 John were, “Little children, keep yourselves from idols” (5:21). The New Living Translation captures the meaning this way: “Keep away from anything that might take God’s place in your hearts.”

May God give us His grace to recognize the idols in our lives, and, by turning to Christ alone and exalting Him, throw them to the ground where they belong.

Photo by Josh Appel on Unsplash

Delighting in God and Trusting in Him through Cancer: An Interview with Randy Alcorn

In January 2018, Nanci Alcorn was diagnosed with colon cancer, and has since undergone several months of treatment. In this interview, Randy shares what the Lord has been doing in their lives during this challenging season.

Were the two of you surprised or even bitter when Nanci was diagnosed?

We were definitely not bitter or resentful in any way. Why would we be? We never ask why God would allow this to happen to us. He often allows hard things to happen to His people, so why not us? Job was the most righteous person on the planet, and look what he went through. Both of my parents had cancer, as did my best friend from childhood, Jerry Hardin, and we’ve known many others who've had it.

Were we surprised by the cancer diagnosis? Yes, in the sense that, like most people, we didn’t see it coming—though Nanci had a lot of pain over an eighteen-month period, due to an undiagnosed hiatal hernia, and there were times when she wondered whether she had cancer or something else since there was clearly something wrong with her body. It turned out that the pain had nothing to do with the colon cancer, though cancer was discovered while trying to figure out the cause.

We have never bought into the prosperity theology mentality that says, “Why’s this happening to us? We go to church. We give regularly, and we serve the Lord. Shouldn’t we be exempt from trials like these?” I think of 1 Peter 4:12, which says, “Dear friends, don’t be surprised at the fiery ordeal you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you.”

So trials are a normal part of life, but when something as serious as this comes on, all of a sudden your life doesn’t seem normal anymore. I appreciate how J. B. Phillips translates James 1:2-4: “When all kinds of trials and temptations crowd into your lives, my brothers, don’t resent them as intruders, but welcome them as friends! Realize that they come to test your faith and to produce in you the quality of endurance. But let the process go on until that endurance is fully developed.” It’s not easy to welcome difficulties instead of resenting them, but Nanci and I are trusting that God tells the truth when He says they can increase our endurance, expand our ministry, and prepare us for eternal joy.

What lessons has the Lord been teaching you both over the last several months?

Even in the midst of doctor visits and rounds of chemo, Nanci and I have been delighting in God through delighting in His Word, and have been discussing His faithfulness and aspects of His character. This has been an anchor for us. Jesus is the object of our faith and the source of our eternal perspective and present comfort.

One of the books Nanci has been reading is The Joy of Fearing God, by Jerry Bridges. Jerry writes, “We cannot separate trust in God from the fear of God. We will trust Him only to the extent that we genuinely stand in awe of Him.”

Nanci has also loved reading Knowing God by J. I. Packer and Trusting God by Jerry Bridges, along with A. W. Tozer’s The Knowledge of the Holy. Both of us highly recommend these books, because they center us on the person of God which is where we all need to set our minds, whether we’re facing cancer or anything else. Our hearts have been lifted in praise as we contemplate His holiness, grace, justice, mercy, and every facet of His being revealed to us in Scripture.

As much as we appreciate the physicians and the advances of medical science, we are reminded that our ultimate hope is not in them but in God. Trust in our sovereign and gracious and happy God, who alone is sufficient to bear the weight of our trust, allows Nanci and me to laugh and talk and pray together each night with an underlying foundation of happiness.

We are secure in God's love and fully trust Him to do what He determines is best for His glory and for Nanci’s good. Scripture tells us, “Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases” (Psalm 115:3).

Nanci has said the Lord has been teaching her about waiting on Him. Can you share more about that?

Just gleaning from what Nanci has written, here are some great perspectives she’s come to:

We all find ourselves in situations at times where we desperately want to do something to fix, change, or even escape our circumstances. We are in fact willing to do anything that God leads us to do, but He seems to be placing us in holding patterns. We want Him to work, but He appears to be waiting to do so.

“Waiting” is an enormous tool that God uses in our hearts and to accomplish His purposes. In the “waiting,” He is working.

Andrew Murray, in Waiting on God, writes:

When you first begin waiting on God, it is with frequent intermission and failure. But, do believe God is watching over you in love and secretly strengthening you in it. There are times when waiting appears like just losing time, but it is not so. Waiting, even in darkness, is unconscious advance, because it is God you have to do with, and He is working in you. ….I hope that you and I might learn one thing: God must, God will work continually. (Read more.)

How has cancer impacted your marriage relationship?

Nanci and I are treasuring our relationship more than ever. We are taking it one day at a time, and though it has affected our routines, we are seeking not to let the cancer define our lives. It is a new season and a new calling with new opportunities and new people to minister to. We are loving God and each other and our family and friends. I’ve had the privilege of being her caregiver for the first extended period in our lives. She’s always been there for me and served me, and I’ve sought to serve her too, but I’ve never had more opportunity than in these last ten months. It’s been a privilege. 

What verses from Scripture have been especially meaningful to you during this time?

One of many verses that has meant a lot to Nanci is Psalm 18:30, “This God—his way is perfect; the word of the Lord proves true; He is a shield for all those who take refuge in him.”

One of the first passages I memorized over forty years ago as a young Christian is more real and more encouraging to me in this trial than it has ever been:

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:6-7).

I have also been finding great joy and comfort in the Psalms: “The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold” (Psalm 18:2). “Those who know your name trust in you, for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you” (Psalm 9:10). “Praise the LORD! Oh give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; For His lovingkindness is everlasting” (Psalm 106:1).

Nanci and I have always loved Romans 8, the whole chapter, and continue to. Romans 8:38-39 is rooted in God’s love and beautifully reassuring:

I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord (NLT).

In The Joy of Fearing God Jerry Bridges also writes, “We’ve done nothing to earn His love and can do nothing to forfeit it. His love in Christ is eternal and unconditional. Nothing can separate us from His love, as the apostle Paul put it so eloquently. Do we really believe what Paul says to us here?” 

We do! 

What has been the most difficult part of this journey?

It’s been sad for me to see Nanci have a rough time with fatigue and neuropathy and pain after her treatments. Like her, I find myself clinging to and rejoicing in God’s goodness: “Taste and see how good the LORD is! The one who takes refuge in him is truly happy!” (Psalm 34:8, CEB). Not every day is easy for her, but I’m very proud of her for keeping her focus on our Lord and maintaining a sweet, cheerful, and trusting spirit. She is a great example to me, and we are in this together.

Nanci is my beloved soulmate and closest friend, so naturally this is hard for me. Not because I don’t trust God, but because I know that His plans are not always ours (which of course is good, but doesn’t always feel that way).

And while we still pray fervently for Nanci’s healing, we can’t just “claim healing” and get exactly what we want, the way we want it, in the time we want it. Of course we still ask Him freely for all that, and will delight in every answer we see. In fact, God may have healed Nanci last spring when we gathered with our pastors and former pastors and wives and they prayed over her and anointed her with oil. (We were told that tests couldn’t prove anything at that point.) We trust Him and His purposes, and ask Him for strength to honor Him in a spirit of trust and joy. 

What has been the greatest blessing?

We’ve seen God at work in us, helping us to grow closer to Him and each other. Our daughters Angela and Karina have been very involved and helpful with their mom. We have witnessed friends from our church and several others rise up in prayer and service. It’s been my privilege to serve her. For all this we’re deeply thankful.

We talk a lot about the Lord and our family and great memories, and we watch football (therapy for Nanci) and enjoy Maggie, our therapy dog (an unofficial title). We seek to thank God for every blessing, of which there are many.

How has having an eternal perspective helped?

Over the years, Nanci and I have talked a lot about our mortality—not in any morbid way, but just simply recognizing that at some point we’re going to die. Some families don’t even mention that or bring it up, but it’s true whether or not we acknowledge it.

We’re very aware of the fact that we only have so much time in this world, so I think having an eternal perspective really has helped us as we talk about wanting to finish well. We both have a very well developed doctrine of Heaven, the resurrection, and life on the New Earth. On our toughest days, it helps to remember that we have not passed our peaks physically or mentally—the resurrection and eternal health of body and mind awaits us!

Any final thoughts?

Nanci and I want to express again our heartfelt thanks for your prayers. We wish we could personally thank every person for every kind word or action or prayer, but that isn’t possible. The words “thank you” are on our lips more than ever, both to God and to the people through whom He touches us.

We are well aware that many of you reading this are facing difficult challenges, some considerably more difficult than ours. This humbles us, and we thank Him often for your friendship and prayers and hope you too can sense His nearness to you. “For the eyes of the LORD move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His” (2 Chronicles 16:9). Our Lord is always present and will never abandon His children: “God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5, NIV).

Follow Randy’s updates on CaringBridge for the latest on Nanci's health.

Photo by Dave Surber on Unsplash

Four Things That Remain Solidly True No Matter the Mid-Term Election Results

By now you’ve probably read and heard all sorts of commentaries analyzing this week’s midterm election results. Whatever your political leanings, you’ve likely been encouraged by some results and discouraged by others. For example, here in Oregon, Measure 106, which I shared about on my blog and which would have stopped tax dollars from funding elective and late-term abortions, was rejected by over 60% of voters. But in more positive prolife news, in Alabama voters approved an amendment to their constitution that says unborn babies do have a right to life. And in West Virginia, voters said “yes” to a constitutional amendment that says there’s no “right to abortion.”

But no matter the results, here’s a perspective we should always remember: America may or may not unravel in coming decades, but God’s kingdom certainly won’t! Neither the judicial, legislative, nor executive branch of our government is the ultimate solution to America’s problems. Isaiah 33:22 tells us the solution: “For the LORD is our judge (judicial), the LORD is our lawgiver (legislative), the LORD is our king (executive), it is he who will save us” (NIV).

That means we can always have great hope, because our hope is in Someone who is certain, unlike any country and its political leaders: “Do not trust in nobles, in a son of man, who cannot save. …Happy is the one whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God, the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea and everything in them. He remains faithful forever” (Psalm 146:3-6, CSB).

Let’s realize what Philippians 3:20 says: our citizenship is not on Earth. Our citizenship is in Heaven. We are citizens of another country, “and we eagerly wait for a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ” (CSB). In 2 Corinthians 5:20, we are called ambassadors for Christ. Our job is to represent Him. Jesus–and His kingdom–is our reference point. (Here are some more reflections I wrote after a previous election.)

In this BreakPoint commentary, written just before the election results were in, John Stonestreet reminds us of four things that remain solidly True no matter our feelings about the election, and whatever personal difficulties we may be going through:

…even without knowing the [election] results, I can say four things with a great amount of certainty: Christ is risen, Christ is Lord, Christ will restore all things, and Christ has called us to this cultural moment. Those are four things I say a lot, whenever I speak to groups. Often, I just repeat them to myself.  They are four things every Christian should know, “inwardly digest,” and remember. Otherwise, we will be unable to make any real sense of our current cultural and political moment.

Those four things—again, that Christ is risen, Christ is Lord, Christ will restore all things, and that we are called to this time and place—are True. What I mean by that is that they are true with a capital “T.” They aren’t true for me and not for you. They aren’t true only for those who believe them to be true. They are just True—in the sense that they adequately describe the world in which we live.

Not only are they true in our American context—with all of its political divisions and illusions—they are true in every context. They are even true for our brothers and sisters around the world, who face a cultural moment of persecution, oppression, and even death.

Read the rest of the commentary.

For more on truth and its eternal nature, see Randy’s devotional Truth: A Bigger View of God's Word. For more on Christ’s eternal kingdom, see his Heaven book.

Photo by Denys Nevozhai on Unsplash

8 Reminders Before You Comment on Social Media

In today’s social media driven world, there can be immense pressure for all of us to share our opinions publicly on an endless number of topics and current events. Thomas Kidd recently shared these “8 rules of social media wisdom” from Alan Jacobs on The Gospel Coalition’s Evangelical History blog. May we all take them to heart and be “quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger” (James 1:19). —Randy Alcorn

Going off half-cocked is now widely perceived as a virtue, and the disinclination to do so as a vice. Moreover, that poorly informed and probably inflammatory statement of Your Incontrovertibly Correct Position must be on the internet . . . or it doesn’t count towards your treasury of merit.

I want to suggest some alternative ways of thinking about these matters, and related ones:

I don’t have to say something just because everyone around me is.
I don’t have to speak about things I know little or nothing about.
I don’t have to speak about issues that will be totally forgotten in a few weeks or months by the people who at this moment are most strenuously demanding a response.
I don’t have to spend my time in environments that press me to speak without knowledge.
If I can bring to an issue heat, but no light, it is probably best that I remain silent.
Private communication can be more valuable than public.
Delayed communication, made when people have had time to think and to calm their emotions, is almost always more valuable than immediate reaction.
Some conversations are  more meaningful and effective in living rooms, or at dinner tables, than in the middle of Main Street.

In short, peer pressure is always terrible, and social media are a megaphone for peer pressure. And when you use that megaphone all the time you tend to forget that it’s possible to speak at a normal volume: thus [the common and] genuinely held view that if you’re not talking to peers on Twitter you can’t possibly be talking to peers at all. —Alan Jacobs

Originally posted on The Gospel Coalition by Thomas Kidd, and used by permission.

Photo by Chad Madden on Unsplash

What Role Can Satan and Demons Have in the Life of a Believer?

Someone asked me, I am confused about what role Satan and demons can have in the life of a believer. Can they influence us? If so, how much? Can they oppress us? Can they possess us?

These are important questions to consider. Theologian G. C. Berkouwer said, “There can be no sound theology without a sound demonology.” Some deny the existence of demons, regarding them as mere symbols of man’s inhumanity to man. But even those who believe the Bible tend to develop sloppy demonology. Often our understanding of fallen angels is based more on superstition, tradition, and assumptions than on the Scriptures. (For that reason, when I wrote my book Lord Foulgrin’s Letters, I tried to carefully study what Scripture teaches—and doesn’t teach—about Satan and his angels.)

Masters at Deceit, Waging War Against Us

Demons are fallen angels, a high order of God’s creation. They are spirits, and therefore not subject to the sensory limitations of human bodies. They are stronger and far more intel­ligent than we are. While we live in the fog and darkness of the Shadowlands, they live in the spiritual world where there’s a certain clarity of thought even among the fallen.

Though Scripture doesn’t suggest they can read our minds or know the future, demons are certainly aware of much truth that we aren’t. Scripture puts it this way: “You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder” (James 2:19). Their modus operandi is to twist, deceive, and mislead, but they are intimately familiar with the truth they twist. In fact, they may even quote Scripture in their attempts to mislead us, as Satan did in his temptation of Christ.

Our adversary is the ultimate con artist. Satan is a liar, and demons are masters at deceit. Jesus called him a “liar, and the father of lies.” He said, “He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language” (John 8:44).

I imagine, though, when demons pri­vately discuss the lies they tell us, they openly recognize many of them as just that—lies. Do I mean literally that demons communicate with each other? Of course. They are intelligent beings portrayed in Scripture as rational and communicative. They operate within a hierarchy dependent on issuing, receiving, and carrying out orders. They wage war against God, righteous angels, and us: “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this world's darkness, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 6:12). Intelligence gathering, strategy, deploying troops, communicating battle orders, and reporting on the results of engagement are all basic aspects of warfare.

This is reality, not myth—we are actually being watched, hovered over, and whispered to, not only by God and righteous angels, but also by fallen angels, demons. These beings are likely present in this room as I write, and wherever you are as you read. If God were to open our eyes, we would see angels, both fallen and unfallen, as clearly as you see these words on a screen.

But what about the question of whether a Christian can be possessed? First John 5:18 says, “We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the One who was born of God keeps them safe, and the evil one cannot harm them.” This would seem to imply Christians are safe from absolute control or possession, but not safe from significant influence. So no, a believer cannot be possessed, but he can certainly be oppressed and heavily influenced by a demon (particularly as he opens up aspects of his life to outside control and addictions).

Paul took a particular course of action “that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes” (2 Corinthians 2:11). The degree to which Satan outwits us will correspond directly to how informed—or ignorant—we are of his schemes against us.

Big to Us, Small to God

Augustine called Satan “the ape of God.” Martin Luther believed the devil to be so real that he threw his inkwell at him. But Luther also reminded us “the devil is God’s devil.” He encouraged us to jeer and flout the devil because “he cannot bear scorn.”

We shouldn’t take the devil lightly. But we should also realize this roaring lion is on a leash held by an omnipotent and loving God. We must neither underestimate nor overestimate his power. Speaking of demons, God tells us, “You, 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” (1 John 4:4).

Nothing must be more infuriating to demons than for us to realize that if we’ve repented of our sins and trusted Christ as our Savior, then the same Lord who evicted them from Heaven dwells within us. He’s infinitely more powerful than they. Through Him we can overcome them.

The devil may be big to us, but he is small to God. The greater our God, the smaller our devil.

More Resources

Here are some further resources on the subject of Satan and demons in the life of believers:

Does a Believer Have Authority over Satan?

Tim Keller’s message on spiritual warfare

Tony Evans Speaks on Having Victory in Spiritual Warfare (check out the two-minute video with Tony sharing)

John MacArthur on the degree to which demons can and cannot occupy or influence believers: Can Christians Be Demon-Possessed?

Here is a question I answered several years ago: Can Satan and Demons Read Our Minds?

John Piper on casting out demons in different ways: Do You Believe We Should Cast Out Demons Today?

Here is a great video reminder from John Piper that the main problem is not Satan, but us. He does not minimize Satan and demons, rather he says we must wage war against not only Satan, but first and foremost the desires of our flesh. I think it’s an important balancing statement.

Finally, a message by John Piper many years ago, dealing with resisting Satan as believers: Resist the Devil

For more on the subject of demons and their role in the life of a believer, see Randy's books Lord Foulgrin's Letters and The Ishbane Conspiracy. 

Photo by Eric Ward on Unsplash