Praying Mantis thoughts for Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Jeremiah 9:23-24

23Thus says the LORD:

"Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom,
let not the mighty man boast in his might,
let not the rich man boast in his riches,

24but let him who boasts boast in this,
that he understands and knows me,
that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth.

For in these things I delight, declares the LORD."

--------
God knows us - this is our joy
we do not fight by our own wisdom, might and riches
but He who holds justice, love and righteousness
upholds our brief life...
It is the Lord who saves.


Because I know these truths: I can let go of my need to impress people with my acumen

And

I can focus my work on what matters most…

And

Thus, I can make decisions with a kind of perspicuous clarity








==============================
Philippians 3:4-11 (English Standard Version)

4 though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. 7But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— 10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

praying mantis - Friend - John 15:15 - Call me Amadeo

Praying Mantis thoughts for Sunday, April 27, 2008

We had people praying for other people to be healed and two people reported experiencing some level of healing - so that was great - though many more people were prayed for - so we will continue to be faithful praying for healing - and trusting in the Lord with our presentation of the gospel - and praying that he would extend his hand to heal as they prayed in Acts 4.

As a church, I think we will be trying to get money together to help buy a person in the church a car who needs one. You can pray that God's will be done as we help people in need. I find it is much easier to preach generosity than it is to practice the fine art of getting people's needs met - like a car.

Paul has always been so good at this - and at evangelism - frankly he has always been on the cutting edge of stretching me in areas such as evangelism and care for the poor. Thanks Paul. And also, remember we have money for "C" as the needs arise.
Do we still need to do the phone?

The Gathering was a blessing as they lead worship for us today - Dough & Tim and a couple others - really played their hearts out to the Lord.

praying mantis - Friend - John 15:15 - Call me Amadeo

Praying Mantis thoughts for Friday, April 25, 2008

"Why, When, and For What Whould We Draw New Boundaries."

by Wayne Grudem from the book "Beyond the Bounds."

1. False Teaching Harms the Church

The very existence of the epistles in the New Testament testifies to the importance that the apostles placed on sound doctrine! In, the epistles, sound doctrine is taught again and again, and error is implicitly or explicitly corrected.

2. If False Teaching Is Not Stopped, It Spreads and Does More and More Damage

Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leveans the whole lump. 1 Corinthians 5:6

their talks spread like ganrgene... 2 Tim 2:17-18

I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among yourselves will aris men speaking trwisted things, to draw disciples after them. Acts 20:29-30

Even the apostle Peter was deceived at one point, and Paul had to correct him publicly. Gal 2:11-14

3. If False Teaching is Not Stopped, We Will Waste time and Energy in Endless Controversies Rather Than Doing Valuable Kingdom Work.

But avoid foolish, ignorant controversies you know they breed quarrels. 2 Tim 2:23

4. Jesus and the New Testament Authors Hold Church Leaders Repsonsible for Silencing False Teaching Within the Church

For there are many who are insubordinate, empty talkers and deceivers....they must be silences, since they are upsetting whole families by teaching shameful gain what they ought not to teach Titues 1:10-11

But I have this against you that you tolerate that woman Jezebel. Rev 2:14


"I believe the Evangelical Theological Society is a good example of an organization that will soon need to add new written boundaries to its doctrinal statement. The orginal doctrinal statement of the ETS in 1949 was very simple: 'The Bible alone, and the Bible in its entirety is the word of God written, and therefore inerrant in the authorgraphs.' Then at a later point, because of a growing influence from some non-Trinitarian people who had joined the ETS, and additional sentence was added: "God is a Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, each an uncreated person, one in essence, equal in power and glory."

"I am convinced that other Christian organizations and denominations will soon need to add new boundaries to protect against these new forms of false teaching, and if they don't, as explained in the first section above, these new false teachings will harm the church."



======== my additions

Drawing boundaries may be a lost art in the church. Sometimes churches are so desperate for workers that they compromise right teaching or right character. Nobody would disagree that pedophiles need a boundary that keeps them from teaching kids - but more churches should fear leaders who have false teaching, or moral or character issues that are not in repentance and restoration. I have been learning that I should not utilize as much time on individuals who are unrepentant and unresponsive to elders and leaders. Because the word instructs us:

Do not throw pearls before swines.
Like a dog returns to his vomit so a fool to his folly
Do not rebuke a fool

Still, over the areas of influence we do have, where people are willing to listen, we should protect and care for the souls that God has entrusted us with - by bringing right teaching, the gospel, and when necessary appropriate boundaries that the pastors and elders are in unity about.

praying mantis - Friend - John 15:15 - Call me Amadeo

Praying Mantis thoughts for Thursday, April 24, 2008

PRAYER, FAITH AND HEALING


Presuming the acceptance of
God's will, the sick person's desire for healing is both
good and deeply human, especially when it takes
the form of a trusting prayer addressed to God.

—Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger
Instructions on Prayers for Healing
September 14, 2000

As Pope Benedict XVI (then Cardinal Ratzinger) indicated, the desire for healing is good, especially when it takes the form of prayer. Prayer is not merely the repetition of certain words, but a sincere communication uttered on the basis of faith; it is what Ratzinger termed "trusting prayer" and what has been described as "crying out to the Lord" (see Psalm 107). A prayer is more than a simple request for help, it is an acknowledgment of the need for God's assistance and an expression of desire to conform to and accept His will. Prayer does not necessarily result in a specific outcome that might have been envisioned when the prayer was uttered; the effect is that which God only knows and understands as the right response to the prayerful request. The desire for healing is one of the fundamental characteristics of human experience, and prayer is one of the responses to that desire.

THE SOURCE OF HEALING
According to the prophets, God is ultimately responsible for healing. It is said by God, through the prophet Moses in Deuteronomy (32:39):

See now that I, I am he,
and beside me there is no other god.
It is I who deal death and life,
when I have struck, it is I who heal
no one can rescue anyone from me.

And similarly in the Book of Job (5:18), also attributed to Moses, it is said about God:

For he who wounds is he soothes the sore, and the hand that hurts is the hand that heals.

As expressed beautifully in Psalms 103 and 107 (attributed to King David), the Lord may heal all diseases:

Praise the Lord, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits

Who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases

-Psalm 103

Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
and he saved them from their distress.

He sent forth his word and healed them;
he rescued them from the grave.

-Psalm 107

The forgiveness of sins—an action linked in meaning to healing of diseases in Psalm 103—comes about as a result of turning towards God. As described in Psalm 107, the saving, healing, and rescue are all a response to prayer (crying out to the Lord).

HEALING AS A MESSAGE
Jesus healed many; his ministry of healing is a common thread of all the gospel accounts. Healing was an important means of conveying his message, along with parables, sermons, and other means. It was possibly the primary reason that most people came to see him: either to be healed or drawn in awe by his reputation for healing. Thus, for example, John noted that (6:2): "a large crowd followed him, impressed by the signs he had done in curing the sick."

Several times, Jesus healed many suffering people at once; in addition, he healed individuals he encountered or who sought him out along his journeys. As described by Luke (4:40): "At sunset all those who had friends suffering from diseases of one kind or another brought them to him, and laying his hands on each he cured them." And later, Luke (7:21) points to an instance where: "At that very time Jesus cured many who had diseases, sicknesses and evil spirits, and gave sight to many who were blind." Relaying Jesus' arrival at Gennesaret, Mark notes that (6:54-55): "people at once recognized him, and started hurrying all through the countryside and brought the sick on stretchers to wherever they heard he was." In fact, early in the Gospel account, Mark observed that Jesus was confronted by huge crowds seeking healing (3:9-10): "And he asked his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, to keep him from being crushed. For he had cured so many that all who were afflicted in any way were crowding forward to touch him."

Matthew, who gave the largest number of accounts of healing by Jesus, described the extent of healing work in his Gospel just prior to setting down the beatitudes (54:23-24):

He went round the whole of Galilee teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing all kinds of disease and illnesses among the people. His fame spread throughout Syria, and those who were suffering from diseases and painful complaints of one kind or another, the possessed, epileptics, the paralyzed, they were all brought to him, and he cured them.

On one occasion, Matthew (7:16-17) put Jesus' healing action in context of salvation history:

That evening they brought him many who were possessed by devils. He drove out the spirits with a command and cured all who were sick. This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: 'He himself bore our sicknesses away and carried our diseases.'

The healing of diseases served as a display of love, compassion, and divine power; it was the physical manifestation of his spiritual role in healing the rift between man and God. After giving some details of individuals so healed in body and spirit, Matthew repeated his earlier statement, this time referring to his further travels that extended beyond Galilee (9:35): "Jesus made a tour through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing all kinds of disease and all kinds of illness."

THE FORM OF PRAYER FOR HEALING AS TAUGHT IN THE GOSPELS
Though it is evident that many hundreds, probably several thousands, of instances of healing occurred during Jesus' short time on earth, a small number of incidents are specifically described in the Gospels (about half a dozen each in Matthew, Mark, and Luke), some of them being emphasized by having the story repeated among the synoptic gospels. In the Gospel of John, less emphasis is placed on this aspect of the work of the Son of God; still, three healings are described by John.

Jesus taught that faith was essential to receiving the grace of being healed; this message dominates all others. Through the telling of specific healing events by the Gospel writers, the other essential aspects of prayer for healing are also disclosed. In the same manner in which the seven sacraments recognized by the Church were laid out indirectly-by statements made in the Gospels and through actions carried out by the apostles pointing to them-the basic forms that healing prayer may take are revealed indirectly via these accounts. In these accounts, the people speak to Jesus as he stands as a man before them; today, people pray to him as he is present among us in a different manner.

This story in the Gospel of Matthew (8:5-13), which was also told in the other three Gospels, is one of the most complete depictions of what is involved in praying for healing and it relays, among other things, that faith is the central requisite:

When he [Jesus] went into Capernaum, a centurion came up and pleaded with him. 'Sir,' he said, 'my servant is lying at home paralyzed and in great pain.' Jesus said to him, 'I will come myself and cure him.' The centurion replied, 'Sir, I am not worthy to have you under my roof; just give the word and my servant will be cured. For I am under authority myself and have soldiers under me; and I say to one man "Go," and he goes; to another, "Come here," and he comes; to my servant, "Do this," and he does it.' When Jesus heard this, he was astonished and said to those following him, 'In truth I tell you, in no one in Israel have I found faith as great as this. And I tell you that many will come from east and west and sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob at the feast in the kingdom of Heaven; but the children of the kingdom will be thrown out into the darkness outside, where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth.' And to the centurion Jesus said, 'Go back, then; let this be done for you, as your faith demands.' And the servant was cured at that moment.

The centurion begins with the acknowledgement that help is needed: in saying that his servant is ill (paralyzed) and is suffering (great pain), he is also indicating that he does not possess the solution to this problem, but needs divine assistance and believes that Jesus is the source of that assistance. Jesus is prepared at that point to answer the request. However, the story is elaborated to reveal more about what constitutes prayer for healing.

The centurion goes a step further by saying, as is done now in the liturgy of the Eucharist because of this story: "I am not worthy but just say the word…" He expresses what God requires, which is the contrite and humble heart (Psalm 51:17; Isaiah 57:15) and the faith that the favorable outcome is in the hands of God, if He will only have the will to say the word. The centurion elaborates his faith explicitly, demonstrating his understanding of the power that God has over healing. He does this by pointing out that just as he can command others to do his will, he knows that Jesus can produce a response by his command as well, all that is required is that he will it; the centurion has no doubt that Jesus is the ultimate commander. By using a meaningful analogy, he elicited from Jesus' high praise. The command then comes: "this will be done."

A story of similar nature is told later in the Gospel of Matthew (15:22-28) about a woman's request for healing of her sick daughter, in which another aspect of prayer is addressed:

And suddenly, out came a Canaanite woman from that district and started shouting 'Lord, Son of David, take pity on me! My daughter is tormented by a devil.' But he said not a word in answer to her. And his disciples went and pleaded with him, saying, 'Give her what she wants, because she keeps shouting after us.' He said in reply, 'I was sent only to the lost sheep of the House of Israel.' But the woman had come up and was bowing low before him. 'Lord,' she said, 'help me.' He replied, 'It is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to little dogs. She retorted, 'Ah yes, Lord; but even little dogs eat the scraps that fall from their master's table.' Then Jesus answered her, 'Woman, you have great faith. Let your desire be granted.' And from that moment her daughter was well again.'

The woman (described as a gentile in Mark's rendition 7:24) has acknowledged the need for help in describing the suffering of her daughter, which is clearly beyond her ability to remedy; she specifically asks: "Lord help me." She expresses the contrite heart in asking the Lord to have pity on her (translated alternatively as 'have mercy upon me').

The disciples complain about her repetitive demands. This situation is reminiscent of the story of the woman beseeching the judge (Luke 18:1-8), which is the account more often selected in explaining out this aspect of prayer. The judge wants to get rid of the sticky problem, as the woman's continuing requests are bothersome. In both cases, this is a story about persistence in prayer (Luke 18 begins with the statement that this is a "parable about the need to pray continuously and never lose heart."); it is also about the proper response of those whose help is sought. Jesus chides his disciples for their impatience and unwillingness to help her; he suggests another excuse that they might as well fall back on: this woman, being a gentile, would seem to be outside of the realm of the salvation of the Jews, and, therefore, not to be bothered about. Earlier (Matthew 10:6), he had sent the disciples out to perform healing (even raising the dead) but restricted them from going out to the Gentiles and the Samaritans, limiting their work at this point to the "lost sheep of Israel." However, Jesus shows his disciples that, in fact, his own actions are not bounded this way (just as they are not bounded by the Sabbath or other barriers); rather, the only true obstacle is lack of faith and lack of compassion as they have displayed in this instance.

Jesus also challenges the woman, asking her why she expects him to respond: should I take the bread needed by the children to feed the dogs? The Canaanite woman provides the correct answer; she could have argued, instead, that she does not deserve to be classified with the dogs or that she is just as needy as the children; responses typical of those who feel automatically entitled. To the contrary, she expressed her humility, conceding the lowly place that was described (as befits all people) and indicating that she is willing to accept merely scraps because she knows these are from God and are truly efficacious (the willingness to accept only table scraps was also mentioned in the story of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31)). The woman demonstrates that she understands the boundless compassion and capability of God, as had the centurion, and thus her prayer is answered favorably. The disciples have been rebuked and the woman has been rewarded.

The importance of faith was emphasized again in another incident told by Matthew, one which is more elaborately described by Mark (9: 14-29) in which again the weakness of the disciples is pointed out. It is a story about the healing of a boy possessed by demon which is causing epileptic symptoms:

As they were rejoining the disciples they saw a large crowd round them and some scribes arguing with them. At once, when they saw him, the whole crowd were struck with amazement and ran to greet him. And he asked them, 'What are you arguing about with them?' A man answered him from the crowd, 'Master, I have brought my son to you; there is a spirit of dumbness in him, and when it takes hold of him it throws him to the ground, and he foams at the mouth and grinds his teeth and goes rigid. And I asked your disciples to drive it out and they were unable to.'

In reply he said to them, 'Faithless generation, how much longer must I be among you? How much longer must I put up with you? Bring him to me.' They brought the boy to him, and at once the spirit of dumbness threw the boy into convulsions, and he fell to the ground and lay writhing there, foaming at the mouth. Jesus asked the father, 'How long has this been happening to him?' 'From childhood,' he said, 'and it has often thrown him into fire and into water, in order to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have pity on us and help us.'

'If you can?' retorted Jesus. 'Everything is possible for one who has faith.' At once the father of the boy cried out, 'I have faith. Help my lack of faith!' And when Jesus saw that a crowd was gathering, he rebuked the unclean spirit. 'Deaf and dumb spirit,' he said, 'I command you: come out of him and never enter him again.' Then it threw the boy into violent convulsions and came out shouting, and the boy lay there so like a corpse that most of them said, 'He is dead.' But Jesus took him by the hand and helped him up, and he was able to stand. When he had gone indoors, his disciples asked him when they were by themselves, 'Why were we unable to drive it out?' He answered, 'This is the kind that can be driven out only by prayer.'

The man had followed the right course of action; he evidently had placed his faith and confidence in the disciples of Jesus, who had gained a good reputation for healing. But, since they failed, he had to go over their heads, to the master, and seek help. He is now uncertain, wondering whether or not Jesus can do anything in this case; perhaps the boy's condition is hopeless. In responding to this uncertainty Jesus does not simply declare that he can do anything; instead, he says-more generally-that everything is possible for one who has faith. The man recognizes what he must do and begs for help with his lack of faith. The child is cured.

The final exchange in this story is telling. The boy can only be cured by prayer, Jesus explains to the disciples. Certainly, the disciples had tried prayer and understand that prayer is the essential healing act they can offer. The implication is that the prayer required here must be a true prayer (trusting prayer), elicited by the greatest of faith, a quality which he bemoaned as lacking in them the moment he heard of their failure. In other words, the disciples may have taken their earlier successes for granted and fallen into a pattern of rote repetition. This is the same type of problem Jesus frequently pointed to in the behavior of the Jewish spiritual leaders who focused on the details of the law (for carrying out animal sacrifices; for avoiding activity on the Sabbath) and had thus missed the point of the law, which was to guide people in carrying out heart-felt thanksgiving.

There are several additional details in this story of healing; what is the purpose in relaying the severity of the disorder and describing how long it has been present? One thing this accomplishes is to erase any doubt that the result is truly miraculous. What the man is asking for is not something minor, but a great thing. Jesus often teaches about prayer accomplishing tremendous results, using analogies such as turning a mountain upside down (see Mark 11:23).

In each of these three exemplary stories relayed above, the person making the prayer for healing was not the one who was sick, and this also gives us some insight into the plan for healing, namely, the importance of praying for and helping each other (a subject discussed in another article). But, there are other stories in the gospel accounts where Jesus directly rewards the faith of the one who is suffering the illness. Three in particular will be noted here. As relayed in the Gospel of Matthew (9:20-22):

Then suddenly from behind him came a woman, who had been suffering from a hemorrhage for twelve years, and she touched the fringe of his cloak, for she was saying to herself, "If only I can touch the cloak I shall be saved." Jesus turned around and saw her, and he said to her, "Courage, my daughter, your faith has saved you." And from that moment, the woman was saved."

In this story, the woman's great faith is clear in that she believes even touching his cloak will be sufficient to gain healing (that even touching Jesus or his cloak would heal was an impression many had; see Mark 3:10). More importantly to the understanding of this particular story is the fact that Jesus does not actually approve of this approach of trying to gain the result surreptitiously; instead, he turns and addresses her. The encounter reflects the importance of direct communication in prayer. The story was of sufficient importance that it was relayed in three gospels, each with additional details. As relayed by Luke (8:43-48), it is further noted that Jesus becomes aware of the women touching him-and thereby receiving healing (the bleeding has stopped)-as he feels power flowing outward from him. It is almost as if she is stealing from him. The woman "came forward trembling, and falling at his feet explained in front of all the people why she had touched him…" Jesus then confirms to her face to face that her faith has made her well.

Mark gave the longest description of this incident (5:24-34) and included mention of her prior experience: that "after long and painful treatment under various doctors, she had spent all she had without being any the better, in fact, she was getting worse." This is a way of showing what can come from turning to faith only as a last resort rather than at the beginning, namely that one will risk enduring much and spending all one has. This depiction of medical failures is not a slap against physicians, even though it does acknowledge the limits of their abilities. Rather, it is a call to turn to prayer once it is evident that human methods are insufficient. Although Jesus is present to her so as to provide the miracle healing at that moment (and not before), the people in this area had already learned from the prophets (as recorded in the Old Testament) that prayer was important to healing. So, the suggestion is that she had waited too long.

The attitude of relying on the will of God as part of the prayer and having an understanding of what the result of such prayer might be is relayed in a story in Matthew (8:1-3):

After he had come down from the mountain large crowds followed him. Suddenly a man with a virulent skin diseases came up and bowed low in front of him, saying, 'Lord, if you are willing, you can cleanse me.' Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him saying, 'I am willing. Be cleansed.' And the skin-disease was cleansed at once.

The man with leprosy (as the disorder is usually described) had approached Jesus in the proper way, indicating his desire to act in conformity with the will of God, which, in this case, was in favor of his being cured. He was ready to accept the possibility that continued suffering would be his lot in life.

The story of the two blind men asking for sight completes the descriptions of individual healings in the Gospel of Matthew (20:29-34) and reveals another aspect of healing prayer:

As they left Jericho a large crowd followed him. And now there were two blind men sitting at the side of the road. When they heard that it was Jesus who was passing by, they shouted, 'Lord! Have pity on us, son of David.' And the crowd scolded them and told them to keep quiet, but they only shouted the louder, 'Lord! Have pity on us, son of David.' Jesus stopped, called them over and said, 'What do you want me to do for you?' They said to him, 'Lord, let us have our sight back.' Jesus felt pity for them and touched their eyes, and at once their sight returned and they followed him.

In this story, we see again the persistence of prayer, as these two were scolded by the crowds to cease their repeated pleadings. The additional detail included here is Jesus' question: "what do you want?" In other passages, it is made clear that Jesus is able to know the minds of others (see Matthew 9:4), so why include this exchange? Because it reveals important clues about how one might go about asking for healing; that is, it is helpful to clearly specify what is being sought. The reason for this is not so that Jesus would know what to do, but rather so that the person praying will express what is in the heart. The petitioner is not to demur and simply pray: "whatever help you can give me, I will take that." It is noted in the story that Jesus felt pity for them; they could have asked for something different, perhaps unveiling instead an unworthy desire, which might then not have been answered favorably.

In the gospel accounts, all requests for healing that are made to Jesus are granted. In making the requests, there may be various challenges raised, but, in the end, there is the positive response. Thus, the gospels display the correct way to pray. Though Jesus does not now walk among us in his earthly human body, he remains accessible through prayer and especially through participation in the Eucharist. He has guided us in prayer for healing.

ESSENTIAL ASPECTS OF PRAYER FOR HEALING
The essential requirements for prayer and the appropriate form of prayer become evident from these stories. The revealed aspects might be enumerated as they are here without intending to imply any rigid form that any particular prayer might take:

Faith that is strong;
Expressing contrition and the need for God's mercy;
Acknowledging weakness and inability to solve the problem;
Indicating the need for God's help in healing and recognizing God as the source of healing;
Showing through the words chosen that the nature of God's power to heal is understood;
A willingness to confront the Lord directly, perhaps facing rebuke;
A willingness to repeat the prayer as often as necessary;
Specifying exactly what is desired, in order to reveal one's true heart;
Willingness to accept God's response to the request, even if it includes continued suffering.
Accepting and relying upon the intercession of others who convey the prayers.
In this analysis and enumeration, it is seen that healing prayer is more involved than a simple request for a result; it incorporates several layers of revealing one's faith and disposition. By laying out essential components of prayer for healing as done here, this does not mean that we now have full knowledge of how to pray. Further, one must be careful not to substitute form and details for the central element, described in Psalm 107 as crying out to the Lord, a plea from the depths of the soul based on true faith. We lack complete knowledge and understanding in prayer. Recognizing our weakness and relying upon the help of the Holy Spirit (especially to strengthen our faith, as reflected in the story of the man who brought his son for healing but had lost some of his faith after an initial failure) we can with courage and confidence present the prayer. St. Paul described the situation we face this way in his letter to the Romans (8:26-28), a passage that is often quoted as the example of this uncertainty:

….the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church expresses the nature of prayer that encompasses our uncertainty about it and draws attention to the need for humility in light of this:

"Prayer is the raising of one's mind and heart to God or the requesting of good things from God." But when we pray, do we speak from the height of our pride and will, or "out of the depths" of a humble and contrite heart? He who humbles himself will be exalted; humility is the foundation of prayer. Only when we humbly acknowledge that "we do not know how to pray as we ought," are we ready to receive freely the gift of prayer. "Man is a beggar before God." [CCC, 2559]

Where does prayer come from? Whether prayer is expressed in words or gestures, it is the whole man who prays. But in naming the source of prayer, Scripture speaks sometimes of the soul or the spirit, but most often of the heart (more than a thousand times). According to Scripture, it is the heart that prays. If our heart is far from God, the words of prayer are in vain. [CCC, 2562]

The form of prayer depicted above reflects that taught by Jesus in the "Our Father." That one prayer has generated numerous books detailing its implications, but suffice it to say here that it incorporates the desire to accept God's will ("thy will be done"), the inclusion of a specific request for help ("give us our daily bread and forgive our trespasses"), and acknowledging our weakness ("lead us not into temptation" or, as in more literature translations, "put us not to the test"). Faith is displayed by addressing God as "our Father," and we understand the importance of making this prayer frequently. Thus, it can be seen that the form of prayer for healing as revealed in the gospels reflects the form of prayer that Jesus taught in response to the request "Lord, teach us to pray: (Luke 11:1)" One prayer was given so that we might be guided in all prayer.

RESPONSE WHEN HEALING OCCURS
The gospel accounts provide some indications about how one might respond to healing. Three examples will suffice. In the first, Jesus requests the person to keep the results to himself; this is a story of two blind men (Matthew 9:27-31), a different incident than relayed above:

As Jesus went on his way two blind men followed him shouting, 'Take pity on us, son of David.' And when Jesus reached the house the blind men came up to him and he said to them, 'Do you believe I can do this?' They said, 'Lord, we do.' Then he touched their eyes saying, 'According to your faith, let it be done to you.' And their sight returned. Then Jesus sternly warned them, 'Take care that no one learns about this.' But, when they had gone away, they talked about him all over the countryside.

One may wonder why Jesus had so cautioned them. Obviously, the miracle could draw big crowds, and he was already surrounded by large pressing crowds (as was relayed in the story of the woman with hemorrhage). But, the request doesn't seem to be directed at this issue, since immediately preceding the story of these two blind men, is the story (Matthew 9:23-25) of Jesus raising the official's daughter back to life, with the concluding statement (Matthew 9:26): "And the news of this spread all round the countryside."

Rather, this appeal for not spreading around the news of healing may be consistent with Jesus' teaching (Matthew 6:1-18) about almsgiving in secret, prayer in secret, and fasting in secret. These things are done in secret not to hide them from others, but because one is not to become caught up in showing off to others. Since God knows what you are doing and what has happened to you; that is sufficient. In receiving a miraculous healing, it is better to thank and praise God than to go about talking about one's good fortune.

Another example of response to healing is given in association with the story of the man cleansed of a skin disease, which was relayed above; the story continues (Matthew 8:4):

Then Jesus said to him, "Mind you tell no one, but go and show yourself to the priest and make the offering prescribed by Moses, as evidence to them.

The offering prescribed by Moses (in Leviticus 4:1-32) involves going to a priest and pursuing a lengthy series of actions. The purpose of recommending this, we might conclude, is consistent with Jesus' statements in support of the law (Matthew 5:17-18) as had been passed down by Moses. The actions include animal sacrifices, which later, after Jesus' death on the cross, are no longer deemed necessary and are now replaced by the Eucharist, the final and always renewing sacrifice. Thus, the command by Jesus in this gospel passage would be replaced today by the command to go to a priest and participate in the Eucharist as a response to healing.

In Mark's account of this same healing event (Mark 1:40-45), Jesus also tells the man not to tell others (aside from the priest). But, the man went away and "started freely proclaiming and telling the story everywhere." So, it appears that people Jesus healed may have had difficulty following this caution. Upon reading this failure to follow his words, we may have a sense of being ashamed of such behavior. What he asked was small; it was very small compared to what he gave.

The third example is the story about the 10 men with leprosy who Jesus cured as he was traveling in the border area of Samaria and Galilee, as told by Luke (17:12-19)

As he entered one of the villages, ten men suffering from a virulent skin-disease came to meet him. They stood some way off and called to him, Jesus! Master! Take pity on us! When he saw them he said, 'Go and show yourselves to the priests.' Now, as they were going away they were cleansed. Finding himself cured, one of them turned back praising God at the top of his voice and threw himself prostrate at the feet of Jesus and thanked him. The man was a Samaritan. This led Jesus to say, 'Were not all ten made clean? The other nine, where are they? It seems that no one has come back to give praise to God except this foreigner.' And he said to the man, 'Stand up and go on your way. Your faith has saved you.'

The instruction to "Go and show yourselves to the priests'" is the same one described in the previous story, namely, this is to follow the original Mosaic law. Giving praise to God, who has healed them, rather than spreading the word around to others, is the right thing to do; but only one in ten has done this. Again, we may feel ashamed of the behavior as displayed by the other nine.

In sum, the response to healing is to give thanks (both through prayer and Eucharist) and to keep it as one's personal experience rather than telling others. Under some circumstances, reporting miraculous healings through appropriate means (e.g., telling the story in a context that leads people to greater faith and understanding) may be worthy. As stated in Instructions on Prayer for Healings, article 9 (this relates to group healing sessions, but would also indicate the proper response for personal healing prayers):

Those who direct healing services, whether liturgical or non-liturgical, are to strive to maintain a climate of peaceful devotion in the assembly and to exercise the necessary prudence if healings should take place among those present; when the celebration is over, any testimony can be collected with honesty and accuracy, and submitted to the proper ecclesiastical authority.

The church authorities may make use of such information in evaluating the possibility of intercession by saints and provide recommendations about any further actions to take or to avoid in response to the claimed healing.

INTERCESSORY PRAYERS AND HEALING
When the Church undertakes its procedures to determine whether or not a holy person should be formally classified as a saint, it seeks to evaluate miracles that have been reported to result from people who have been praying for the intercession of that person. These miracles are most often based on healing of a disease that was thought to be incurable, where the change in the disease condition is unexplainable by medical science; prayer made for the intercession of the holy person is the action to which the healing is ascribed. That is, intercessory prayer was the method utilized in gaining God's grace in performing a miracle. According to the current rules outlined in Divinus Perfectionis Magister (Servant of the Servants of God) there is to be a board of medical experts in the Sacred Congregation whose responsibility is to examine reports of healings which are proposed as miracles.

Along these lines, when intercessory prayers are invited from parishioners during Mass, as frequently is the practice during daily mass at the end of Liturgy of the Word, aside from general requests, the most common specific requests are for healing of persons who are suffering serious diseases, such as cancer, and those who are facing risky medical procedures, such as surgery. This is because healing of disease is understood by members of the congregation to be an appropriate objective of such prayer. The ultimate intercessor is Jesus, as indicated by St. Paul in his first letter to Timothy (2:5): "there is only one mediator between God and humanity, himself a human being, Christ Jesus…." As stated in the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

Since Abraham, intercession-asking on behalf of another-has been characteristic of a heart attuned to God's mercy. In the age of the Church, Christian intercession participates in Christ's, as an expression of the communion of saints. In intercession, he who prays looks "not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others," even to the point of praying for those who do him harm. (CCC 2635).

Saints that are frequently relied upon as intercessors to Christ for healing of certain diseases is described in a separate article.

GENERAL EVALUATIONS OF PRAYER FOR HEALING
Some people have taken upon themselves the task of attempting to prove that prayer is effective in healing by conducting a scientific study. It seems unlikely that God's work would be revealed in such a manner and such studies tend to be distinctly non-religious in their approach, treating the prayer as a type of straightforward intervention rather than in its deeper context as outlined above As a consequence, some of the characteristics of prayer that have been described here are not taken into consideration, with attention focused on getting specific results. Observed benefits of prayer, which have been proclaimed from such studies, may reflect the consequences of poor methodology as much as any actual response of God to the prayers.

Two well-known examples might be cited here. One is a report from St. Luke's hospital, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine 1999, titled A randomized, controlled trial of the effects of remote, intercessory prayer on outcomes in patients admitted to the coronary care unit. The study involved 999 patients at the coronary care unit, randomized to a control group (not receiving intercessory prayer) and a group who were the subjects of those praying for their healing (for four weeks on a daily basis, each person prayed for by name). The authors claimed that the group receiving the prayer had improved markers of coronary health (measured as a coronary course score) compared to the control group (length of hospitalization remained the same, however). This report generated a large number of letters to the journal challenging the methodology and results.

Another is Leonard Leibovici's study in Israel reported in the British Medical Journal (2001), under the title Effects of remote, retroactive intercessory prayer on outcomes in patients with bloodstream infection: randomised controlled trial. The author evaluated results of 2,000 patients randomized into a control group (patients who were not the subject of the prayers) and an intervention group (intercessory prayer for well being and full recovery). He reported that mortality in the control group was 30.2% but in the prayer group was 28.1% (this was not, however, a statistically significant difference), and that duration of hospitalization and duration of fever was significantly shorter in the prayer group than the control group. The methodology and results were strongly challenged by several letters to the editor in subsequent journal issues.

A further complication to evaluating results arises when it is the patients who are praying for their own recovery: the calming effect of undertaking this prayer may be the primary healing action that is observed, at least when populations are evaluated for the statistical impact of praying. Prayer may bring about a number of natural of other responses that aid healing. In addition to a calming effect, it might promote better compliance with (and thus better results from) the physician's interventions. Prayer may alter the sense of suffering that goes along with pain and debility, and thus allow the person to utilize fewer drugs that can have harmful side-effects. The impact of these and other natural responses to prayer might be revealed in studies of the effect of prayer. While a positive outcome in such studies might encourage people to pray, the basis for prayer described in the biblical texts is different. The response to prayer described in the gospels involves supernatural responses: people with seemingly incurable conditions are cured; all disorders are spontaneously resolved, as opposed to gradually improving over time. The supernatural influences are personal and are not subject to revelation through statistical analysis.

PAYER AS PART OF MEDICAL PRACTICE
The status and role of the physician, taken in the context of religion, is described in the Book of Sirach (aka Ecclesiastes; 38:1-8):

Hold the physician in honor, for he is essential to you, and God it was who established his profession. From God the doctor has his wisdom, and the king provides for his sustenance. His knowledge makes the doctor distinguished, and gives him access to those in authority. God makes the earth yield healing herbs which the prudent man should not neglect; was not the water sweetened by a twig that men might learn his power? He endows men with the knowledge to glory in his mighty works, through which the doctor eases pain and the druggist prepares his medicines.

In essence, the doctor is a minister of God who uses the physical medicines provided to him (in earlier times with herbs, now mainly through materials manufactured by man) to carry out healing; the druggist also plays his important part in the process. Often, the actions of the physician and the effects of the drugs provide the desired result. In some cases, they can not.

In the story of the woman suffering from years of hemorrhaging, it was mentioned that physicians had failed through the treatments they offered. The instances of healing that are described in detail in the Gospels involve diseases that were considered incurable (at least at this time in history), often being disorders suffered since birth or young age (e.g., blindness, epilepsy). Thus, it is implied, though not stated, that physicians may have been consulted but could not change the outcome. Divine intervention, attained through prayer (asking Jesus directly in the stories) is the solution.

The value of prayer for other, more limited or benign illnesses, is not thereby discounted. For example, in the Gospel of Matthew (1:29-31), there is mention of Simon's mother-in-law who "was in bed and feverish." Jesus "took her by the hand and helped her up and the fever left her…" Still, the focus of the healing stories involves more dramatic medical miracles.

Stories in Acts of the Apostles (see Acts 3:1-13; 5:15-16; 28:8-9) and from literature of that time period indicate that such spontaneous healings in response to faith remained common, mediated by the Apostles and other devout followers. Unfortunately, there is little that can be said about the later claims for healings because of the lack of authority attributed to the texts and inadequate investigation of the details.

Many such healings are today attributed to intercession of saints, particularly those saints who dealt with medical problems themselves, such as St. Peregrine Laziosi, who suffered from cancer of the foot. It is recognized that over time, for whatever reason (lack of faith, the separation, in the minds of many, of healing the body from spiritual salvation), the charism of spontaneous healing by the action of a living individual becomes less common, though it has not vanished (see Appendix for example). Healing prayer today, with the aim of remission of disease thanks to intervention of holy people, more often becomes one part of a lengthy healing process that also relies heavily upon the action of dedicated professional men and women, such as medical doctors, nurses, and pharmacists. They serve as instruments of God's intention. Thus, prayer does not substitute for appropriate medical work, but medical interventions also do not replace prayer.

As stated in Instructions on Prayers for Healing: "Obviously, recourse to prayer does not exclude, but rather encourages the use of effective natural means for preserving and restoring health, as well as leading the Church's sons and daughters to care for the sick, to assist them in body and spirit, and to seek to cure disease. Indeed, 'part of the plan laid out in God's providence is that we should fight strenuously against all sickness and carefully seek the blessings of good health....'"

The reliance on human societal structures, such as hospitals, clinics, pharmacies, and medical schools, seems consistent and parallel with the development of the Church-from its origins with the apostles on Pentecost-to the elaborate social structure described as the body of Christ. There has been a development of organizations and procedures to carry out what was spontaneous in the gospels.

POPE JOHN PAUL II
One of the most dramatic aspects of John Paul II's teachings came in his later years when it was obvious to everyone the extent to which he suffered from physical ailments. It was known that he had a Parkinson's type ailment, suffered from pain affecting his legs, and other problems that may have arisen from age and from the after effects of his near miss with death due to the assassination attempt. He inspired hundreds of millions of people by carrying on vigorously despite these conditions (more must be said about this in an article on the subject of suffering), and particularly gave comfort to those who were suffering from various diseases and disabilities.

In February 1993, he declared the World Day of the Sick, initiating an annual event for recognition of this concern, and noted that "Illness, which in everyday experience is perceived as a frustration of the natural life force, for believers becomes an appeal to "read" the new, difficult situation in the perspective which is proper to faith." He did this soon after he underwent surgery to remove a benign tumor, and just before his own health began to fail; in November of that year, he fell and dislocated his shoulder and in April of the next year he underwent hip replacement surgery with hospitalization for four weeks. It was also around this time that signs of Parkinson's disease appeared.

Few could doubt the tremendous faith of John Paul II, seeming to overshadow that of nearly everyone else. His reliance on prayer was legendary. If anyone would have the 'ear of God' (both directly, and through the intercession of Mary and the other saints), it would be the Vicar of Christ. So, it appears that God did not will him to be healed of these diseases. John Paul II understood and effectively utilized his own physical suffering (and the mental suffering that comes with bodily pain and limitations that are imposed), and the Catholic world were able to watch him bear this cross with Jesus. Important, too, in his lesson, was that he did not lose faith, did not turn from medical help, did not falter despite his continued ailments.

Ratzinger explained in Instructions for Prayers for Healing: "Yet not even the most intense prayer obtains the healing of all sicknesses. So it is that St. Paul had to learn from the Lord that 'my grace is enough for you; my power is made perfect in weakness' (2 Corinthians 12:9), and that the meaning of the experience of suffering can be that 'in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the Church' (Colossians 1:24).

We might ask, though, why did Jesus make it seem so easy for people to be cured of lifelong ailments during his ministry on earth? It was most likely because of the necessities of the time. Mark provides a clue to the situation with the first description of Jesus' teaching involving the cure of a demon-possessed man (Mark 1:27): "The people were so astonished that they started asking one another what it all meant, saying, 'Here is a teaching that is new, and with authority behind it.'" The display of this unique authority was also relayed in the story of the curing of the paralytic described in the Gospel of Matthew (9:2-6):

Some men brought to him a paralytic, lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven." At this, some of the teachers of the law said to themselves, "This fellow is blaspheming!" Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, "Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts? Which is easier: to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up and walk'? But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins...." Then he said to the paralytic, "Get up, take your mat and go home."

Thus, the healing of the sick was an external manifestation of God's power that was more easily understood than forgiveness of sins, the ultimate aim, one which was truly difficult for people to grasp (as shown by the trouble the apostles had even while being with Jesus much of the time). In the Gospel of Luke, just after the section quoted earlier about the numerous healings that Jesus had accomplished, Jesus responds this way to messengers from John the Baptist who pose a question (7:22-23):

So he replied to the messengers, "Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me."

Miraculous healing serves as a positive sign of the nature of the message Jesus brings; courage is gained by those who believe. Jesus displayed the value of healing, encouraging his followers forever after to help those who are sick and injured, to be like the good Samaritan. The miraculous healings themselves may have become less frequent but the message has become more fully developed over time.

APPENDIX: EXAMPLE OF MIRACULOUS HEALING ATTRIBUTED TO INTERCESSION OF A SAINT
The following excerpt is from a report that appeared in the Mindszenty Report (by the Cardinal Mindszenty Foundation) in September 1997. The full report (http://www.mindszenty.org/report/1997/sept97/sept97.html) gives more information about the life of Father John A. Houle, S.J., who was the person healed, including the dramatic story of his years of imprisonment in China. The intercessory is Saint Claude la Colombiere (1641-1682), who had become well-known for his spread of the devotion to the sacred heart of Jesus. Father Frank Parrish, who conducted the prayer for Father Houle, was much devoted to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and wrote a book on the subject titled "Sparks from the Heart."

Just before Christmas in 1989, he was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis, a lung disease that is always fatal. By February he was given only a few days to live. At Santa Teresita Hospital, run by the Carmelite Sisters of the Sacred Heart, his superior Fr. Frank Parrish-director of the Apostleship of Prayer for the Los Angeles Archdiocese-arrived at Father Houle's bedside with a first class relic of Blessed Claude la Colombiere, a small sliver of bone. He placed it on the dying priest's forehead and prayed for a miracle.

Three days later, Father Houle's condition had greatly improved and, to the amazement of his doctors, x-rays showed the pulmonary fibrosis had completely disappeared. The Jesuit priest's physician, Dr. Gary Conrad, said he had no explanation for what happened: "While, as a physician, I can't affirm or deny miracles as such, I'd have to say, and I have attested, that there's simply no medical explanation for the sudden turnabout in his condition. He was too far gone for that."

What happened next was detailed in The Mindszenty Report (May 1992) as follows: With Dr. Conrad's assistance, and that of Sr. Maria Elia, Santa Teresita's pastoral director, Fr. Parrish gathered medical data, pertinent x-rays, and other information to submit to the Sacred Congregation for the Causes of Saints.

Archdiocesan officials, especially Los Angeles Bishop John Ward, conducted extensive interviews with the hospital's staff physicians and personnel about the case. The Vatican postulator for the cause of Jesuit saints, Fr. Paolo Molinari, came to Los Angeles in October 1990 and conducted his own 10-day inquiry. A 200-plus page report on Father Houle's apparent miraculous recovery from terminal pulmonary fibrosis was subsequently submitted to high Church authorities in Rome who ruled, in 1991, that "there was no question of human agency in the events surrounding the Jesuit's remarkable recovery." The judgment was then sent to Pope John Paul for recommendation.

Months later came a letter from Fr. Peter Gumpel, the Jesuit secretary for the office in Rome that studies Jesuit causes of saints: "It is a joy for me to inform you that the medical board of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints has declared unanimously that a cure effected by God through the intercession of Blessed Claude de la Colombiere is so extraordinary that it cannot be explained by medical science."

Father Houle's miraculous cure was the third and final one necessary for Blessed Claude's canonization. On May 31, 1992-as a witness to a personal miracle by his 17th Century fellow Jesuit-the priest who had suffered imprisonment by the Chinese Communists was present at St. Claude's canonization Mass in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome as Pope John Paul II presided.

praying mantis - Friend - John 15:15 - Call me Amadeo

Acts 20:28 Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. 29I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; 30and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them.

2 Peter 2:1 But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. 2And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. 3And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.

2 Timothy 4:1 I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: 2preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. 3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions.


Jude 1:3 Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. 4For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

We have plenty of instructions and warnings about dealing with those who will not endure sound teaching and those who will be willing to teach unsound doctrine. We must be willing to rebuke, reprove, exhort, discipline, and take the ample means necessary and apporpriate to care for the people we have been called to shepherd over. Part of understanding how we can
protect people from unsound doctrine is to have sound doctrine. To know the scriptures as the Bereans did. Another way for us protect people from unsound doctrine is to teach common heresies. Indeed Heresies are partly, and sometimes largely, responsible for us having sound doctrine outlined by the fathers of the faith. In this chapter we will examine some of the common heresies and examine some of the post-modern constructs that are in vogue that line up with each of the classical heresies.


I. Jesus was not Eternal: the Heresy of Arianism

There was a priest in Alexandria, Egypt in 336 AD who believed that Jesus was one of the very best creatures that God created but not in actuality a timeless and eternal being who was co-existent with God. The main person who God used to defend the gospel against this false teaching was Athanasius who suffered greatly by those who disagreed with him. In 381 the council of Constantinople had to again address the issue - and mostly used the work done by Athanasius to help make their case. As you can see from the example above - most real heresies come from within the church- thus demonstrating to us that our real struggle, though not against flesh and blood, usually comes through flesh and blood who are plugged into our churches - and that our real enemy is not those who are lost in the world, but those in the church who are propagating things that chips away at the sovereignty of God.

Why it matters? We have several religious groups today that still espouse this view including Jehovah Witnesses and Unitarian. Also, in these post-modern days, we also have a common belief that people want to make God equal with humanity, or defined by the nature of man - meaning he is not all knowing, not all powerful, and not completely sovereign and aware of both the past and future. People are in danger of defining God based on their human characteristics rather than on the character of an all powerful God.


II. Jesus was not fully man: the Heresy of Docetism

This idea is formed around the idea that Jesus was fully God and divine but not human and therefore didn't really suffer. He could not fully relate to humans because he was not really human.

Why it matters? It is clear from scripture that God can relate to us as humans because he suffered, grieved and ultimately died. Also, for the sacrifice for man, a flawless and sinless man would have needed to be sacrificed.

Why it matters? Christ knows our pains, was an acceptable sacrifice, and a suitable subtitutionary atonement for our sins because he was human. Christ died, as a sinless man, for those who were sin-filled.

III. Human Beings by some effort on their part obtain Salvation: the Heresy of Pelagianism

A fifth century monk (from within the church, of course) taught that there was some aspect of man's own ability that can help them become righteous and in some way help save themself. Saint Agustine accused Pelagius of attempting to obtain righteousness based partly on the view that men had the ability to stop themselves from sinning, as opposed to the classical reformed view that we can not obtain righteousness on our own apart from Christ.

Why it matters? Whole churches function as learning centers of moralism - teaching wrong and right as if that were the answer, when we know clearly that Jesus is the answer and not a knowledge of a set of wrong and right behaviors. Likewise, when people place any amount of credit on themselves for their salvation than they go against the word of God that says, "so it depends not upon man's will or exertion but upon Christ who has mercy," in Romans 9:16.

IV. Considering yourself to be equal to Christ and the Word in Revelation - The Heresy of Montanism

Somewhere bewteen 165 and 177 AD Montanus began proclaiming prophesies that placed him equal to God. He called himself the paraclete - or the comforter who was to come - the one when now call the Holy Spirit. Some characteristics of Montanism was the belief that the prophesies that were spoken by Montanus superceded the scripture given by the apostles, or helped fulfill them. It focused on estatic prophesy rather than the orderly and sober preaching that had been common before this time. They described themselves as possessed by God. Instead of saying "thus sayeth the Lord," they spoke as if they were God himself speaking.

Why it matters? People who place themelves as new prophets, adding to the scripture according to their whims, whilst claiming to be God inspired are capable of the most serious heresies. See mormonism, and the Jim Jones cult as just a few modern examples.

V. Elitism based on some hidden knowledge - Gnosticism

Redemption came from secret knowledge that was above and beyond the ordinary doctrines of Christians. Gnostics believed faith was for the many but that knowledge was for the few. (130-202 AD). Salvation was a result of having the secret knowledge.

Why it matters? There are many religions today that insist that they have the "real" truth and that you can only be saved if you are a part of their church and hold the same "beliefs" that they do - as if adherring to their specific doctrines are what define whether or not you are saved.


When the churches of our age begin to claim "special knowledges," or "special works," or that Jesus was not completely God, or not exactly man - and that we can be equal to God's as they diminish God's sovereignty we are in deep danger of stepping off into classic false teachings. We should be on the look-out for elitits, for those who place their thinking equal to scripture - as if scripture is not something we can depend upon but something that can be twisted for whatever purpose we please. Each man must examine their own heart indeed, for no man can judge another's heart - and yet, God puts us each in the lives of other to proclaim the clarity of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the kingdom of God which includes love, submission, humility, concern for our brother (even saying the hard things), evangelism, generosity, listening to elders, striving and contending for the gospel, and for caring for one another. One of the best ways we can care for each other is to continually point people to Jesus Christ - the God made flesh, the word of God. Amen.

praying mantis - Friend - John 15:15 - Call me Amadeo

Praying Mantis thoughts for Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Defenders of the Faith
& His Church
---------------------
the Em3rging R3formers



1 Corinthians 9:16 - Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! 17For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward, but if not of my own will, I am still entrusted with a stewardship.

Introduction

God will not let his church alone. God did not create the body of Christ to be persecuted for no reason. God does not leave the body of Christ in the grave. God does not leave the church without weapons. God will not leave us without hope. God created the church, which is the body of Christ, to be a city shining on a hill for a purpose. Our church is not without enemies, and more often than not they are within our church seeking to take our focus off of the supremacy of Christ, for their pet agenda. God will raise up for us defenders of the faith in every age for His own glory; and, each defender will be uniquely picked for the age in which they live for God's glory to proclaim the sovereignty of God, the omnipotence and omniscience of the Creator, and that by faith alone, grace alone, Christ alone, and through the authority of His word are we saved.

It is important for us to understand the scope of the lives of such defenders of our faith throughout history to truly appreciate our role as beneficiaries of this same grace. For Adam and Eve appeared as enemies of faith by their choices because any evidence we have of them defending the faith is non-existent. The fact that God did not destroy them immediately and then clothed them is the only hint at the fact that God chose to extend to them any grace at all, outside of common grace of life, provision, and existence. Not until Genesis 4 do we see people who even called out for help upon the name of the Lord, which is some evidence of God's grace since nobody acknowledges God unless it has been given to them by God (1 Corithinas 12:3). We also hear of people walking with God as in the days of Adam around the time of Enoch, so then God was showing himself to certain people in his creation, which gives us hints at God's grace being extended to other people in his creation.

Genesis 4:26 To Seth also a son was born, and he called his name Enosh.
At that time people began to call upon the name of the LORD.

Genesi 5:22 Enoch walked with God after he fathered Methuselah 300 years and had other sons and daughters. 23Thus all the days of Enoch were 365 years. 24Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.

Some people have wrongly assumed as fact that man had sought after God, as opposed to God seeking after his creation, to be in relationship. As soon as Genesis 6 we learn the true nature of man, if we did not observe it cleary enough in Adam, Eve, Cain, and through the rest of creation, that outside of the grace of God all of mankind is completely depraved.

Genesis 6:5 The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6And the LORD was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. 7So the LORD said, "I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them." 8But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.

This is the first time we hear the words that describe people who have found "favor in the eyes of the Lord," or in other words "grace." This is the very first person after the fall that the word says specifically received God's unmerited favor and divine influence, which is by its definition the "grace" of God. It was unmerited because as we see in Genesis 6:5-8 that "every intention of the thoughts of (man's) heart was only evil continually." Noah had to have been included in this group of people- since we know from other verses that mankind is completely sinful, through and through.

Jeremiah 17:9 - The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?

Romans 3:9 What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, 10 as it is written:

"None is righteous, no, not one;
11no one understands;
no one seeks for God.
12All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
no one does good,
not even one."
13 "Their throat is an open grave;
they use their tongues to deceive."
"The venom of asps is under their lips."
14 "Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness."
15 "Their feet are swift to shed blood;
16in their paths are ruin and misery,
17and the way of peace they have not known."
18 "There is no fear of God before their eyes."

Thus, God extending his "favor," or "grace" to God makes Noah's life the very first documented instance in which God has made somebody to be a defender of the faith through the unmerted favor (grace) of God. The truth of God and his law and expectations of wrath upon those who would be an enemy to God's very nature are exemplefied through the actions of the flood and the grace that God extended through Noah's family.

Defenders of the faith have never been people who, of their own volition and accord pulled up their spiritual bootstraps and said, "gee whiz," I think I'm going to become a defender of the faith. Quite the opposite occurs. As the spirutal cliche has once been said, "God does not call the qualified, God qualified the called." In Joseph God demonstrates this concept by first giving Joseph a dream, then allowing him to be thrown in a well and sold as a slave to Egypt. God further demonstrates his sovereignty by allowing Joseph to be falsely accused of rape, thrown in prison - and then to raise him up to the upper reaches of power and authority - so that his people, God's people, might be preserved, along with the faith of those who are the "chosen people," of God.

We see the same thing with Abraham. Abraham is chosen by God not because of any great work on his part. God covenanted with Abraham while Abraham was asleep - to show it was a one way deal in Genesis 15. God would make a way for the faith to be defended through the life-example-teaching that an imperfect man like Abraham could bring. Abraham showed little faith with the birth of his first child by not waiting on the Lord. God wanted to demonstrate his grace through Abraham who had enough faith to go sacrifice his son but not enough to protect his wife as he went through foreign lands as he pretended his wife was his sister. Still Abraham, imperfect as he was, was who God would choose, predestine, elect, call to be his "man" for defending the faith.

Genesis 18:19
For I have chosen him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice, so that the LORD may bring to Abraham what he has promised him."

King David is another example of God raising up a defender of the faith from the most unlikely of people. A shepherd boy comes into the save the day against the nine foot five inch philistine giant Goliath - when all the real warriors are too afraid. And God removes the rightful inheritance of King Saul and passes it on to his man: the boy David.

There are many more fine examples, and this book will seek to demonstrate some of those examples, but let me conclude with one more example, the Apostle Paul. The disciples tried their very best to make God sovereign by casting lots to decide who the next disciple would be in Acts 1, presumably leaving the final decision up to the Lord, and Mathias was chosen. They recognized clearly that all true leaders (who I call defenders of the faith) had been people chosen by God rather than man. Still, God had other plans than theirs. For though we don't know what become of Mathias, it is clear to all that God once again chose the most unlikely of people to extend his grace to, the most highly worthless and depraved man - Saul from Tarsus who was killing Christians and persecuting not just men, but Jesus Christ himself. God always chooses the most rotten of men to extend his grace to so that all men may know it was God who was sovereign and not men. Saul is clearly called and chosen by God, not only by the testimony of his conversion, but by the results of what follows. This is a man, whose heart has been captured by God, not a man who has captured a "god." Where before he was a defender of laws and a church - now he has become a defender of "faith," or "christ," and of his church. He has so much become a defender of the church that he offers this curse to others who would contradict the gospel he is presenting. He says, "if anyone brings you a gospel other than the one I bring you today, may they be eternally damned."

In this book I will perhaps introduce some of you to Athanasius for the first time - the african bishop who endured great persecution defending the faith. I hope to introduce to you such great defenders of the faith as St Augustine, St Polycarp, Luther, Zwingli, Calvin, Knox, Edwards, Spurgeon, Edwards, Wesley, Billy Graham, and some modern-day defenders - which as you will see are as equally unqualified, undignified, and seemingly equal unworthy to the task put before them. However, through the grace of God, God has raised up countless defenders of the faith who are the em3rging r3formers.

I believe God has, in our time, put new challenges in our paths, new heretics who will have to be spoken against, new heresies that will have to be defended against. Why we would expect anything less is beyond reasonable bounds of clear thinking. In fact, one of the most important questions we should be able to answer is this: who are the post-modern heretics of our day. Post-modernism has made it clear that our biggest enemies are not those outside of our churches - it is from within that we face our biggest problems. We have many churches that have long forgot the essentials of the faith, and we have many post-modern Christians who love to speak-out more about the atrocities of the church than they do about the wonders of the cross and his resurrection, and what it means to live in a church where authority is extended to church leadership. People often could care more about the social aspects of the gospel rather than the spiritual ramifications of what it means to love our nieghbor and to love God. These are not simple instruction by any means. Learning what it means to "love God," and to "love others," encompasses thousands of pages, with hundreds of thousand words in 66 different books.

Acts 20:28-30 28 Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. 29I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; 30and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them.

Still, we must understand that even as we are called to be careful "overseers, to care for the church of God," that we are not defenders of the faith because of anything we can do, but because of what he did by "his own blood," Notice what the following verse says about "defending," yourself.

Luke 12:11 And when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not be anxious about how you should defend yourself or what you should say, 12 for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say."

The "Defense of the faith," is not something we do on our own, nor could we if we even wanted. Instead, we depend upon the Holy Spirit for instruction. We are not anxious because it is not something we do on our own - but we take courage because God has told us he will teach us what we should say in such trying circumstances. Certainly, part of following Jesus (defending the gospel - or good news) is enduring persecution, but God has never promised us anything other than the fact that we may enjoy eternity with him forever, even if our present sufferings are great.

A great many martrys have endured countless horrific deaths, and this too is sometimes the results of those who defend the faith.

I. Intro
---a. Why the gospel needs defending
------Heresy
------Heretics
------Wolves
------Classic Heresy
---b. God's election of Defenders of Faith
------God elects
------God empowers
------God allows suffering
------God protects his church
---c. Classic Defenders of the Faith
------Timothy
------Augustine
------Athanasius
------Iraneus
------Polycarp
------Luther
------Calvin
------Edwards
------Graham
---d. Post-Modern and Emerging False Teachings
------NDC - not disclosed currently
------NDC - not disclosed currently
------NDC - not disclosed currently
---e. Em3rging R3formers
------Wimber
------CJ Mahaney
------Driscoll

praying mantis - Friend - John 15:15 - Call me Amadeo

Praying Mantis thoughts for Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Acts 5:42 And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ.

Every age of mankind - yes even our post modern age - leaves us something key to proclaim - and that key is always "Jesus as the Christ," the hope of our world. Our problem is not church hierarchy, or legalism, or liscentiousness, or faulty church growth models - it is that we have taken our eyes off of Christ. If we had our eyes on Christ, we would gladly get down on our knees and serve the leadership in the church. If we had our eyes on Christ, we would gladly put away the paths in the internet that lead to death. If we had our eyes on Christ, we would gladly hang out with the sinners playing poker and having a brew. If we had our eyes on Christ we would think 10% but a poor joke for a starting place. If we had our eyes on Christ we would hold the hands of new believers and share with them daily in their homes ceaselessly preaching and teaching Jesus as the Christ. If we had our eyes on Jesus - we would see where he is wanting to heal.

Instead... we are reluctant to make disciples because we do not see the authority we have, because we fear rejection, because we are in the "business" of the world - we have no time to love our our family, never-the-less the lost who live next door. If we had our eyes on Christ - we would reach out to heal, reach out to make disciples - we would be "doing the stuff," of the kingdom. Our best intentions to "do the stuff" will always fail - but if we keep our eyes on Christ - the "stuff" happens.

The Apostolic Fathers, those who knew the apostles, but were not the apostles - decidely moved towards preaching submisson to bishops, and rules of wrong and right behavior. And those who followed, the apologists chose a slightly more philosphical and hellenist approach to making a case for Christianity. And both the Apostolic fathers and Apologists were key in helping us overcome heresies. Some would say Jesus was only a man, others would say Jesus was neither man nor flesh, but an appearance or "likeness" of flesh - and the Apostolic fathers and Apologists helped us fuse together the faithful words of the orginal apostles - those who did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as Christ. They helped fight against those who said Jesus was not the word of God, and the Holy Spirit the wisdom of God, and kept our eyes on the fullness of Jesus. Some were tempted to go off into philosophy and church ecclesiology - as a lifetime distraction - but the ones who defended the faith were the ones who kept people's eyes on Christ.

At the dawn of the reformation - the church was at the pinaccle of having taken its eyes off of Christ - and on to itself. The church was indeed rich and self sufficient - had all the schemes for raising money through selling indulgences, had even indeed began writing their own scriptures - the pope's word had become equal and greater to the word of God. The head church had indulged in a Montanist-like heresy of "being equal to the voice of God," and they toyed with a Pelagianism that would suggest you could save yourself by certain works, acts of repentance and submission to rules and leaders. There was no sense of right authority, only of acts, self-deeds, and salvation via works and ceremonies. Thankfully, God's revelation came to a few so that many would not perish in the lies of the age that pointed people away from Christ. Augustine had defended, through the power and leading of the Holy Spirit the church around 417, and God would raise up a new defender of God's church in Luther in 1521. Both Augustine and Luther would point people to Jesus Christ - and the phrase "Solo Christo" - (Christ Alone) - would become the mantra of the reformers. Christ-Alone, Faith-Alone, Grace-Alone, The Scriptures-Alone (as the final arbiter of so-called Montanist-like "prophetic," words). And all of this reforming of the church was for Soli Deo Gloria - for God's Glory Alone do we exist. WESTMINSTER SHORTER CATECHISM: Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever. (See Addendum A below for more info on the confession of the reformers)

In our post-modern age - the need for reforme is again clear. And on several fronts, we see need for reformation.

1. The Emerging Liberal Church

Type I - In the classic emerging liberal church which has been in the process of development since the age of the enlightenment - dependence on Jesus Christ has been replaced with knowledge enrichment and self-awareness, and relativity. Sin is no longer such a big deal - and rules of wrong and right are replaced with "love," "Acceptance," and "cheap-grace." This isn't the type of grace that God talks about - divine unmerited influence and mercy - but a grace that sets a chuckling God on his throne laughing at the knuckle-heads, who are his creation. "Boys will be boys," are the mantra of this generation - and the result is that men stop being men, and women start leading - and none of them are focused on the person of Jesus Christ. A reforming age is needed for these folks and it won't be the fundamentalists who care more for rules and laws than they do for the person of Christ. It will be the emerging reformers - neither liberal nor ignorantly fundamental.

Type II - in the post-modern-emerging liberal church which has seen massive growth in the last 10-20 years - there is again a smack of human hubris that smells like an elitist "gnosticism," full of secret knowledge and wisdom that the rest of the world is seemingly ignorant of - while at the same time infused with a general disdain for authority of any kind, and a general dis-taste for the concrete soteriology that Christ alone can bring. All of scripture, for the emerging-post-modern is too loosy-goosy for anyone to truly understand - so relativity once again raises it's head. Questions such as the following emerge: I don't really have to go to church - because my one or two friends are church? I don't really have to tithe because God really only wants generosity - and generosity is too random to be concrete - so I guess I'll just buy that car I wanted. People's retirement accounts are more important than giving to church's. Pastors are called pagan - and churches are disdained when they actually place spiritual authority in the order given by the apostles in Timoth and Titus. It will be emerging reformers who help assure there are qualified leaders in place according to biblical standards - and who are faithful to defend and strive faithfully for the gospel through the dependence on the word and the Holy Spirit. The Wisdom and Word of God will not be abandoned for a seemingly transparent move of God that is more will-o-the-wisp than concrete obedience to our Father in heaven.



2. The Emerging Market-based Church

There is a need for reform in the Emerging Market-based church which believes that you can build a church by having slick sets, fancy drama and music, a charismatic speaker, and fantastic church programs - while Christ and His Holy Spirit are conveniently ignored. Churches that have an appearance of wisdom but deny the power of the gospel have taken their eyes off of Jesus - and made Jesus into a consumer based community-club. Individual empowerment by the Holy Spirit and Jesus Christ for discipleship is replaced by social organizations that helps build large communities of people "who feel rich" but who are poor because they do not have an intimacy with Christ. The emerging reformers will help clean up the temple and tax collectors - and the whip of this justice will be the word of God and the power of the Holy Spirit - not some fluffy sentiment of "love" without action and the empowerment of authority.

3. The Dying Conservative Church

There is a need for reform needed in the dying conservative church. They have the semblance of wisdom but deny the power. They have not demonstrated the love and power of God by serving their community and by breaking down dividing walls. The word is preached - but the Holy Spirit is ignored. God will send the fire of the Holy Spirit through emerging reformers who are faithful to the words and WORKS of the Holy Spirit and Jesus.


I look forward to the church of the emerging reformers. People committed to right doctrine, a love of Christ, an appreciation for the authority of Christ and his church, a humility rooted in service and submission to Jesus and one another. This church that God is building will be stronger than the dying churches, and planted on the solid rock aof Christ and his word - not on a cultural shift and ambiguities of doctrine and leadings - but demonstrating a true unity with the different members of the body of Christ - and the giftings that God has given.



===========================================
Addendum A

WESTMINSTER SHORTER CATECHISM:
http://www.reformed.org/documents/WSC.html

Q. 1. What is the chief end of man?
A. Man’s chief end is to glorify God,[1] and to enjoy him forever.[2]

Q. 2. What rule hath God given to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy him?
A. The Word of God, which is contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments,[3] is the only rule to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy him.[4]

Q. 3. What do the Scriptures principally teach?
A. The Scriptures principally teach, what man is to believe concerning God,[5] and what duty God requires of man.[6]

Q. 4. What is God?
A. God is a Spirit,[7] infinite,[8] eternal,[9] and unchangeable,[10] in his being,[11] wisdom,[12] power,[13] holiness,[14] justice,[15] goodness,[16] and truth.[17]

Q. 5. Are there more Gods than one?
A. There is but one only,[18] the living and true God.[19]

Q. 6. How many persons are there in the Godhead?
A. There are three persons in the Godhead: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost;[20] and these three are one God, the same in substance, equal in power and glory.[21]

Q. 7. What are the decrees of God?
A. The decrees of God are, his eternal purpose, according to the counsel of his will, whereby, for his own glory, he hath foreordained whatsoever comes to pass.[22]

Q. 8. How doth God execute his decrees?
A. God executeth his decrees in the works of creation and providence.[23]

Q. 9. What is the work of creation?
A. The work of creation is, God’s making all things of nothing, by the word of his power,[24] in the space of six days, and all very good.[25]

Q. 10. How did God create man?
A. God created man male and female, after his own image,[26] in knowledge,[27] righteousness, and holiness,[28] with dominion over the creatures.[29]

Q. 11. What are God’s works of providence?
A. God’s works of providence are, his most holy,[30] wise,[31] and powerful[32] preserving[33] and governing[34] all his creatures, and all their actions.[35]

Q. 12. What special act of providence did God exercise towards man in the estate wherein he was created?
A. When God had created man, he entered into a covenant of life with him, upon condition of perfect obedience; forbidding him to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, upon pain of death.[36]

Q. 13. Did our first parents continue in the estate wherein they were created?
A. Our first parents, being left to the freedom of their own will, fell from the estate wherein they were created, by sinning against God.[37]

Q. 14. What is sin?
A. Sin is any want of conformity unto, or transgression of, the law of God.[38]

Q. 15. What was the sin whereby our first parents fell from the estate wherein they were created?
A. The sin whereby our first parents fell from the estate wherein they were created, was their eating the forbidden fruit.[39]

Q. 16. Did all mankind fall in Adam’s first transgression?
A. The covenant being made with Adam,[40] not only for himself, but for his posterity; all mankind, descending from him by ordinary generation, sinned in him, and fell with him, in his first transgression.[41]

Q. 17. Into what estate did the fall bring mankind?
A. The fall brought mankind into an estate of sin and misery.[42]

Q. 18. Wherein consists the sinfulness of that estate whereinto man fell?
A. The sinfulness of that estate whereinto man fell, consists in the guilt of Adam’s first sin,[43] the want of original righteousness,[44] and the corruption of his whole nature,[45] which is commonly called original sin; together with all actual transgressions which proceed from it.[46]

Q. 19. What is the misery of that estate whereinto man fell?
A. All mankind by their fall lost communion with God,[47] are under his wrath[48] and curse,[49] and so made liable to all the miseries of this life,[50] to death[51] itself, and to the pains of hell forever.[52]

Q. 20. Did God leave all mankind to perish in the estate of sin and misery?
A. God, having out of his mere good pleasure, from all eternity, elected some to everlasting life,[53] did enter into a covenant of grace to deliver them out of the estate of sin and misery, and to bring them into an estate of salvation by a Redeemer.[54]

Q. 21. Who is the Redeemer of God’s elect?
A. The only Redeemer of God’s elect is the Lord Jesus Christ,[55] who, being the eternal Son of God,[56] became man,[57] and so was, and continueth to be, God and man in two distinct natures, and one person, forever.[58]

Q. 22. How did Christ, being the Son of God, become man?
A. Christ, the Son of God, became man, by taking to himself a true body, and a reasonable soul,[59] being conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost, in the womb of the virgin Mary, and born of her,[60] yet without sin.[61]

Q. 23. What offices doth Christ execute as our Redeemer?
A. Christ, as our Redeemer, executeth the offices of a prophet,[62] of a priest,[63] and of a king,[64] both in his estate of humiliation and exaltation.

Q. 24. How doth Christ execute the office of a prophet?
A. Christ executeth the office of a prophet, in revealing to us, by his Word[65] and Spirit,[66] the will of God for our salvation.[67]

Q. 25. How doth Christ execute the office of a priest?
A. Christ executeth the office of a priest, in his once offering up of himself a sacrifice to satisfy divine justice,[68] and reconcile us to God,[69] and in making continual intercession for us.[70]

Q. 26. How doth Christ execute the office of a king?
A. Christ executeth the office of a king, in subduing us to himself, in ruling and defending us,[71] and in restraining and conquering all his and our enemies.[72]

Q. 27. Wherein did Christ’s humiliation consist?
A. Christ’s humiliation consisted in his being born, and that in a low condition,[73] made under the law,[74] undergoing the miseries of this life,[75] the wrath of God,[76] and the cursed death of the cross;[77] in being buried, and continuing under the power of death for a time.[78]

Q. 28. Wherein consisteth Christ’s exaltation?
A. Christ’s exaltation consisteth in his rising again from the dead on the third day,[79] in ascending up into heaven,[80] in sitting at the right hand[81] of God the Father, and in coming to judge the world at the last day.[82]

Q. 29. How are we made partakers of the redemption purchased by Christ?
A. We are made partakers of the redemption purchased by Christ, by the effectual application of it to us by his Holy Spirit.[83]

Q. 30. How doth the Spirit apply to us the redemption purchased by Christ?
A. The Spirit applieth to us the redemption purchased by Christ, by working faith in us,[84] and thereby uniting us to Christ in our effectual calling.[85]

Q. 31. What is effectual calling?
A. Effectual calling is the work of God’s Spirit, whereby, convincing us of our sin and misery, enlightening our minds in the knowledge of Christ,[86] and renewing our wills,[87] he doth persuade and enable us to embrace Jesus Christ,[88] freely offered to us in the gospel.[89]

Q. 32. What benefits do they that are effectually called partake of in this life?
A. They that are effectually called do in this life partake of justification, adoption, and sanctification, and the several benefits which in this life do either accompany or flow from them.[90]

Q. 33. What is justification?
A. Justification is an act of God’s free grace,[91] wherein he pardoneth all our sins,[92] and accepteth us as righteous in His sight,[93] only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us,[94] and received by faith alone.[95]

Q. 34. What is adoption?
A. Adoption is an act of God’s free grace,a whereby we are received into the number, and have a right to all the privileges, of the sons of God.[96]

Q. 35. What is sanctification?
A. Sanctification is the work of God’s free grace,[97] whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God,[98] and are enabled more and more to die unto sin, and live unto righteousness.[99]

Q. 36. What are the benefits which in this life do accompany or flow from justification, adoption, and sanctification?
A. The benefits which in this life do accompany or flow from justification, adoption, and sanctification, are, assurance of God’s love,[100] peace of conscience,[101] joy in the Holy Ghost,[102] increase of grace,[103] and perseverance therein to the end.[104]

Q. 37. What benefits do believers receive from Christ at death?
A. The souls of believers are at their death made perfect in holiness,[105] and do immediately pass into glory;[106] and their bodies, being still united in Christ,[107] do rest in their graves, till the resurrection.[108]

Q. 38. What benefits do believers receive from Christ at the resurrection?
A. At the resurrection, believers, being raised up in glory,[109] shall be openly acknowledged and acquitted in the day of judgment,[110] and made perfectly blessed in the full enjoying of God[111] to all eternity.[112]

Q. 39. What is the duty which God requireth of man?
A. The duty which God requireth of man, is obedience to his revealed will.[113]

Q. 40. What did God at first reveal to man for the rule of his obedience?
A. The rule which God at first revealed to man for his obedience, was the moral law.[114]

Q. 41. Wherein is the moral law summarily comprehended?
A. The moral law is summarily comprehended in the ten commandments.[115]

Q. 42. What is the sum of the ten commandments?
A. The sum of the ten commandments is, to love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our strength, and with all our mind; and our neighbor as ourselves.[116]

Q. 43. What is the preface to the ten commandments?
A. The preface to the ten commandments is in these words, I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.[117]

Q. 44. What doth the preface to the ten commandments teach us?
A. The preface to the ten commandments teacheth us, that because God is the Lord, and our God, and Redeemer, therefore we are bound to keep all his commandments.[118]

Q. 45. Which is the first commandment?
A. The first commandment is, Thou shalt have no other gods before me.[119]

Q. 46. What is required in the first commandment?
A. The first commandment requireth us to know and acknowledge God to be the only true God, and our God; and to worship and glorify him accordingly.[120]

Q. 47. What is forbidden in the first commandment?
A. The first commandment forbiddeth the denying,[121] or not worshiping and glorifying, the true God as God,[122] and our God;[123] and the giving of that worship and glory to any other, which is due to him alone.[124]

Q. 48. What are we specially taught by these words before me in the first commandment?
A. These words before me in the first commandment teach us, that God, who seeth all things, taketh notice of, and is much displeased with, the sin of having any other God.[125]

Q. 49. Which is the second commandment?
A. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.[126]

Q. 50. What is required in the second commandment?
A. The second commandment requireth the receiving, observing, and keeping pure and entire, all such religious worship and ordinances as God hath appointed in his Word.[127]

Q. 51. What is forbidden in the second commandment?
A. The second commandment forbiddeth the worshiping of God by images,[128] or any other way not appointed in his Word.[129]

Q. 52. What are the reasons annexed to the second commandment?
A. The reasons annexed to the second commandment are, God’s sovereignty over us,[130] his propriety in us,[131] and the zeal he hath to his own worship.[132]

Q. 53. Which is the third commandment?
A. The third commandment is, Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain: for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

Q. 54. What is required in the third commandment?
A. The third commandment requireth the holy and reverent use of God’s names, titles,[134] attributes,[135] ordinances,[136] Word,[137] and works.[138]

Q. 55. What is forbidden in the third commandment?
A. The third commandment forbiddeth all profaning or abusing of anything whereby God maketh himself known.[139]

Q. 56. What is the reason annexed to the third commandment?
A. The reason annexed to the third commandment is, that however the breakers of this commandment may escape punishment from men, yet the Lord our God will not suffer them to escape his righteous judgment.[140]

Q. 57. Which is the fourth commandment?
A. The fourth commandment is, Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservent, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.[141]

Q. 58. What is required in the fourth commandment?
A. The fourth commandment requireth the keeping holy to God such set times as he hath appointed in his Word; expressly one whole day in seven, to be a holy sabbath to himself.[142]

Q. 59. Which day of the seven hath God appointed to be the weekly sabbath?
A. From the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ, God appointed the seventh day of the week to be the weekly sabbath;[143] and the first day of the week ever since, to continue to the end of the world, which is the Christian sabbath.[144]

Q. 60. How is the sabbath to be sanctified?
A. The sabbath is to be sanctified by a holy resting all that day, even from such worldly employments and recreations as are lawful on other days;[145] and spending the whole time in the public and private exercises of God’s worship,[146] except so much as is to be taken up in the works of necessity and mercy.[147]

Q. 61. What is forbidden in the fourth commandment?
A. The fourth commandment forbiddeth the omission, or careless performance, of the duties required, and the profaning the day by idleness, or doing that which is in itself sinful, or by unnecessary thoughts, words, or works, about our worldly employments or recreations.[148]

Q. 62. What are the reasons annexed to the fourth commandment?
A. The reasons annexed to the fourth commandment are, God’s allowing us six days of the week for our own employments,[149] his challenging a special propriety in the seventh, his own example, and his blessing the sabbath day.[150]

Q. 63. Which is the fifth commandment?
A. The fifth commandment is, Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.[151]

Q. 64. What is required in the fifth commandment?
A. The fifth commandment requireth the preserving the honor, and performing the duties, belonging to everyone in their several places and relations, as superiors, inferiors, or equals.[152]

Q. 65. What is forbidden in the fifth commandment?
A. The fifth commandment forbiddeth the neglecting of, or doing anything against, the honor and duty which belongeth to everyone in their several places and relations.[153]

Q. 66. What is the reason annexed to the fifth commandment?
A. The reason annexed to the fifth commandment is, a promise of long life and prosperity (as far as it shall serve for God’s glory and their own good) to all such as keep this commandment.[154]

Q. 67. Which is the sixth commandment?
A. The sixth commandment is, Thou shalt not kill.[155]

Q. 68. What is required in the sixth commandment?
A. The sixth commandment requireth all lawful endeavors to preserve our own life, and the life of others.[156]

Q. 69. What is forbidden in the sixth commandment?
A. The sixth commandment forbiddeth the taking away of our own life, or the life of our neighbor, unjustly, or whatsoever tendeth thereunto.[157]

Q. 70. Which is the seventh commandment?
A. The seventh commandment is, Thou shalt not commit adultery.[158]

Q. 71. What is required in the seventh commandment?
A. The seventh commandment requireth the preservation of our own and our neighbor’s chastity, in heart, speech, and behavior.[159]

Q. 72. What is forbidden in the seventh commandment?
A. The seventh commandment forbiddeth all unchaste thoughts, words, and actions.[160]

Q. 73. Which is the eighth commandment?
A. The eighth commandment is, Thou shalt not steal.[161]

Q. 74. What is required in the eighth commandment?
A. The eighth commandment requireth the lawful procuring and furthering the wealth and outward estate of ourselves and others.[162]

Q. 75. What is forbidden in the eighth commandment?
A. The eighth commandment forbiddeth whatsoever doth, or may, unjustly hinder our own, or our neighbor’s wealth or outward estate.[163]

Q. 76. Which is the ninth commandment?
A. The ninth commandment is, Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.[164]

Q. 77. What is required in the ninth commandment?
A. The ninth commandment requireth the maintaining and promoting of truth between man and man, and of our own and our neighbor’s good name,[165] especially in witness-bearing.[166]

Q. 78. What is forbidden in the ninth commandment?
A. The ninth commandment forbiddeth whatsoever is prejudicial to truth, or injurious to our own, or our neighbor’s, good name.[167]

Q. 79. Which is the tenth commandment?
A. The tenth commandment is, Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor’s.[168]

Q. 80. What is required in the tenth commandment?
A. The tenth commandment requireth full contentment with our own condition,[169] with a right and charitable frame of spirit toward our neighbor, and all that is his.[170]

Q. 81. What is forbidden in the tenth commandment?
A. The tenth commandment forbiddeth all discontentment with our own estate,[171] envying or grieving at the good of our neighbor, and all inordinate motions and affections to anything that is his.[172]

Q. 82. Is any man able perfectly to keep the commandments of God?
A. No mere man, since the fall, is able in this life perfectly to keep the commandments of God, but doth daily break them in thought, word, and deed.[173]

Q. 83. Are all transgressions of the law equally heinous?
A. Some sins in themselves, and by reason of several aggravations, are more heinous in the sight of God than others.[174]

Q. 84. What doth every sin deserve?
A. Every sin deserveth God’s wrath and curse, both in this life, and that which is to come.[175]

Q. 85. What doth God require of us, that we may escape his wrath and curse, due to us for sin?
A. To escape the wrath and curse of God, due to us for sin, God requireth of us faith in Jesus Christ, repentance unto life,[176] with the diligent use of all the outward means whereby Christ communicateth to us the benefits of redemption.[177]

Q. 86. What is faith in Jesus Christ?
A. Faith in Jesus Christ is a saving grace,[178] whereby we receive and rest upon him alone for salvation, as he is offered to us in the gospel.[179]

Q. 87. What is repentance unto life?
A. Repentance unto life is a saving grace,[180] whereby a sinner, out of a true sense of his sin, and apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ,[181] doth, with grief and hatred of his sin, turn from it unto God,[182] with full purpose of, and endeavor after, new obedience.[183]

Q. 88. What are the outward and ordinary means whereby Christ communicateth to us the benefits of redemption?
A. The outward and ordinary means whereby Christ communicateth to us the benefits of redemption are, his ordinances, especially the Word, sacraments, and prayer; all which are made effectual to the elect for salvation.[184]

Q. 89. How is the Word made effectual to salvation?
A. The Spirit of God maketh the reading, but especially the preaching, of the Word, an effectual means of convincing and converting sinners, and of building them up in holiness and comfort, through faith, unto salvation.[185]

Q. 90. How is the Word to be read and heard, that it may become effectual to salvation?
A. That the Word may become effectual to salvation, we must attend thereunto with diligence, preparation, and prayer;[186] receive it with faith and love, lay it up in our hearts, and practice it in our lives.[187]

Q. 91. How do the sacraments become effectual means of salvation?
A. The sacraments become effectual means of salvation, not from any virtue in them, or in him that doth administer them; but only by the blessing of Christ, and the working of his Spirit in them that by faith receive them.[188]

Q. 92. What is a sacrament?
A. A sacrament is a holy ordinance instituted by Christ;[189] wherein, by sensible signs, Christ, and the benefits of the new covenant, are represented, sealed, and applied to believers.[190]

Q. 93. Which are the sacraments of the New Testament?
A. The sacraments of the New Testament are, baptism,[191] and the Lord’s Supper.[192]

Q. 94. What is baptism?
A. Baptism is a sacrament, wherein the washing with water in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost,[193] doth signify and seal our ingrafting into Christ, and partaking of the benefits of the covenant of grace, and our engagement to be the Lord’s.[194]

Q. 95. To whom is Baptism to be administered?
A. Baptism is not to be administered to any that are out of the visible church, till they profess their faith in Christ, and obedience to him;[195] but the infants of such as are members of the visible church are to be baptized.[196]

Q. 96. What is the Lord’s Supper?
A. The Lord’s Supper is a sacrament, wherein, by giving and receiving bread and wine, according to Christ’s appointment, his death is showed forth;[197] and the worthy receivers are, not after a corporal and carnal manner, but by faith, made partakers of his body and blood, with all his benefits, to their spiritual nourishment, and growth in grace.[198]

Q. 97. What is required for the worthy receiving of the Lord’s Supper?
A. It is required of them that would worthily partake of the Lord’s Supper, that they examine themselves of their knowledge to discern the Lord’s body, of their faith to feed upon him, of their repentance, love, and new obedience; lest, coming unworthily, they eat and drink judgment to themselves.[199]

Q. 98. What is prayer?
A. Prayer is an offering up of our desires unto God,[200] for things agreeable to his will,[201] in the name of Christ,[202] with confession of our sins,[203] and thankful acknowledgment of his mercies.[204]

Q. 99. What rule hath God given for our direction in prayer?
A. The whole Word of God is of use to direct us in prayer;[205] but the special rule of direction is that form of prayer which Christ taught his disciples, commonly called the Lord’s Prayer.[206]

Q. 100. What doth the preface of the Lord’s Prayer teach us?
A. The preface of the Lord’s Prayer, which is, Our Father which art in heaven, teacheth us to draw near to God with all holy reverence[207] and confidence,[208] as children to a father,[209] able and ready to help us;[210] and that we should pray with and for others.[211]

Q. 101. What do we pray for in the first petition?
A. In the first petition, which is, Hallowed be thy name, we pray that God would enable us, and others, to glorify him in all that whereby he maketh himself known;[212] and that he would dispose all things to his own glory.[213]

Q. 102. What do we pray for in the second petition?
A. In the second petition, which is, Thy kingdom come, we pray that Satan’s kingdom may be destroyed;[214] and that the kingdom of grace may be advanced,[215] ourselves and others brought into it, and kept in it;[216] and that the kingdom of glory may be hastened.[217]

Q. 103. What do we pray for in the third petition?
A. In the third petition, which is, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven, we pray that God, by his grace, would make us able and willing to know, obey, and submit to his will in all things,[218] as the angels do in heaven.[219]

Q. 104. What do we pray for in the fourth petition?
A. In the fourth petition, which is, Give us this day our daily bread, we pray that of God’s free gift we may receive a competent portion of the good things of this life, and enjoy his blessing with them.[220]

Q. 105. What do we pray for in the fifth petition?
A. In the fifth petition, which is, And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors, we pray that God, for Christ’s sake, would freely pardon all our sins;[221] which we are the rather encouraged to ask, because by his grace we are enabled from the heart to forgive others.[222]

Q. 106. What do we pray for in the sixth petition?
A. In the sixth petition, which is, And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, we pray that God would either keep us from being tempted to sin,[223] or support and deliver us when we are tempted.[224]

Q. 107. What doth the conclusion of the Lord’s Prayer teach us?
A. The conclusion of the Lord’s Prayer, which is, For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen, teacheth us to take our encouragement in prayer from God only,[225] and in our prayers to praise him, ascribing kingdom, power, and glory to him;[226] and, in testimony of our desire, and assurance to be heard, we say, Amen.[227]

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