Saturday Song: Burton Cummings, "Sad State of Affairs"

This fifties-styled song by one of Canada's foremost talents was a hit in 1980. After ten years with The Guess Who, he embarked on a successful solo career.

Check out the song here.

This song reminds me of the sad state of affairs at a house church I attended. To sum it up, the minister's wife was in love with another man and an elder of the church was in love with the minister.

Of course they had the hypocritical nerve to worry about my sexual purity. That elderly woman in love with the minister even quoted 2 Timothy 2:22 (KJV) to me as a warning. "Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart."

What seems to have escaped those carnal people is that they'll have to give an account to God someday. Look at what 1 Peter 4:17 (BBE) says about those who claim to follow Christ. "For the time has come for the judging, starting with the church of God; but if it makes a start with us, what will be the end of those who are not under the rule of God?"

Fortunately, that tiny congregation never grew and spread its leader's blasphemous doctrines beyond a few people. Even so, they did cause me to stumble, turning my back on God for nine years. This is Christ's warning to such misleaders in Mark 9:42 (BBE). "And whoever is a cause of trouble to one of these little ones who have faith in me, it would be better for him if a great stone was put round his neck and he was dropped into the sea".

Sadly, Satan has infiltrated churches with double agents who ruin the faith of naive believers. Matthew 24:24 (BBE)is a prophecy Jesus gave about these fakers. "For there will come up false Christs, and false prophets, who will do great signs and wonders; so that if possible even the saints might be tricked."

On Monday, I plan on posting about who's really the boss of hell.

Saturday Song: Berlin, "Take My Breath Away"

Whenever I hear this song, it brings back all the feelings and experiences to mind from August of 1986. I went to a hospital in the town of Stony Plain to have an operation on my right eye.

What made this operation frightening for me was that it was the only eye I could use to see. My left eye went blind in 1974 so I felt great trepidation about this one also losing sight.

Hear Berlin's song here.

At the time, I attended a house church which insisted that people with enough faith could be healed. Since my eyes never improved during the many prayer sessions, the elders assumed I lacked the faith to receive such a gift from God Almighty.

Consequently, I felt petrified. What if God let me go blind? What would I do for work because my job involved a lot of reading? These and other worries hounded me day and night.

Worse yet, a bubble formed on my retina but the doctor didn't explain what caused it. I feared that my distorted vision would be permanent.

When the doctor told me a week later that the bubble was dissolving, I felt chagrinned. All that worry was for nothing. My eye recovered and I was employed for another nine years at my job.

In all the years at that church, nobody explained about God's providence to me. No matter what happens, our heavenly Father does everything for our eventual good and his glory. That's why Scripture says in 1 Peter 5:7 (KJV)  "Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you."

Did you like the song and what I wrote? Please tell me in the box below. But if you'd rather not comment, have a wonderful weekend anyway.

Are Some Christians Superstitious?

I wrote last time about how the leader of an errant house church taught me all sorts of crazy and unbiblical doctrines. He, and his female sheep dog elder, had a superstitious mind set regarding demons. Like many Pentecostals and Charismatic believers, this couple inordinately feared Satan's minions.

One superstition they had was that the blood from the minister's stigmata wounds had special power to ward off demons and ill health. They adopted this notion by misapplying Acts 19:12 (KJV) which reads, "So that from his (Paul's) body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them."

They actually believed that those blood-stained rags would protect me from demonic harm and illnesses when I traveled to Toronto in the autumn of 1975. The fact that neither happened to me then didn't prove their assertion to be correct.

What we all need to remember is that the times of miracles, which I've already blogged about, occurred during specific time periods. There was the first batch during the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt. Then there were the ones which happened during the times of Elijah and Elishah.
The third, and final, cluster of miracles happened during the times of Christ and his apostles.

Miracles rarely happen today. Like the silence from heaven between the periods of miracles in history, the Lord is doing no public display of wonders. Far too many Christians try to force God to heal themselves and their friends but it

I thank God heartily that he freed me from superstition and the fear which accompanies it. How I Was Razed is a book which tells the glorious story of how God led me out of that church and into his truth. Read more about it at Amazon.

doesn't happen without God's will requiring it.

A NEW YEAR BUT SO WHAT?

The way people act on New Year's Eve, a casual observer would assume that something absolutely awe-inspiring had happened. Somebody from another planet, if there are such beings, would be puzzled at the eruption of joy around the world since nothing but the date changes from year to year. The annual Times Square ritual is the most striking example of this.

I blogged before about one New Years Eve when Mom taught me that years have numbers when I was eight. The novelty of this discovery wore off soon when I found that the snow was just as deep and the air was just as cold outside my bedroom window on the first day of January as it had been the previous day.

A few years after I gave my life to Christ, I attended a house church that observed something called Watch Night Service. The leader often made predictions, much to the delight of his handful of loyal congregants. When the spell of this pseudo-prophet eventually wore off, I realized that his "revelations" were invariably wrong.

When I discarded my Christian beliefs for nine years, each first of January was like any other. I felt no reason to celebrate something as artificial as the changing of calendars. The only pleasant aspect for me was having a day off work.

My attitude about this passing of the years didn't change when I returned to Christ's fold in 1996. I still had the same problems and opportunities as always. All that changed for me was that I brought my concerns to the Lord in prayer rather than fuming about them to myself.

I still don't bother getting all excited about New Year's Day. I have my hopes, such as publishing How I Was Razed: A Journey from Cultism to Christianity, and perhaps they won't be thwarted.

Even so, I've learned that I must find work-arounds for the difficulties I face. Like Christ admonished, I'll take things one day at a time since there's enough trouble at present. I'll let tomorrow worry about itself. This is good stress-busting advice for us all.