Cyber Truths By E-mail
10. If Peter Wrote Today (August 8, 2005)
Dear Friends,
We want to thank you for responding to our
e-mail requesting you to verify that you'd like to stay on our
list. We're delighted to have so many responses! We continue to
covet your prayers as we press on to produce the Demolishing
Stronghold video. Your prayers are helping us have
breakthroughs. Thank you!
I [Mike] was reminiscing this morning
before I climbed out of bed. It's been over 22 years that we've
been writing some form of teaching letter. When we first
started, we'd write them in pen, type them, mimeograph them,
then mail them out via "snail mail". Things have
changed! We still hope that what we write helps each of you on
your journey to salvation. We want to be at our Lord's banquet
table and rejoice together with you in our Lord's faithfulness
to have brought us home.
If Peter Wrote Today
Maybe some of you have done this before:
You picture Jesus or one of the apostles here on earth in our
time, and wonder what they'd think of Christianity. After
reading First Peter we tried to consider what the bold apostle
would write to the "Christendom" system in the US,
and what he would write to the individual followers of Jesus.
Here's what we think his letter might look like:
" To you who follow Jesus I remind you
that the whole world is under the control of the evil one. Be
careful how you live in it! Don't desire what the people of
this world desire. They have no concern about eternity. They
are doomed and don't care.
You in the US who call yourselves
"Christian" but don't follow Jesus, I warn you: Your
lives and those of the world are indistinguishable. I want to
remind you who call yourself "Christian" that the
Lord delivered the Israelites out of Egypt but later destroyed
in the desert those who did not trust. Except for the faithful
Joshua and Caleb, that generation never made it to the Promised
Land. And, if you continue in your lack of a trust that's
evidenced by the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit, you are not
going to make it to salvation at the completion of your life
pilgrimage. You can't just sit in pews and listen to religious
teaching. Repent! I remind you that there truly is an eternal
fire prepared for those who don't complete their pilgrimage to
salvation. You must authenticate yourself through His Spirit as
one of Jesus' own here on earth, in love-grounded obedient
trust in Him as the LORD of your life. Remember, it's not what
you think about yourself, but what He thinks that matters.
If you are a follower of Jesus, ask the
Holy Spirit each day to help you make your calling and election
sure. You must make every effort to add to your way of life
faith, and to faith, goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and
to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance;
and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly
kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love.
For if you possess these qualities in
increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective
in completing your pilgrimage to salvation. For if you do these
things, you will never fall, and you will receive a rich
welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ. Your time on earth is your testing ground to confirm if
you truly are the Father's child. Trust is seen in how you
live, not in what you think.
The true followers of Jesus around the
world are now forfeiting everything, including their lives, to
be true to their trust in Him alone. What does it cost many in
the US to call themselves "Christian"? An hour or two
in a pew, and financial provision for the institution of which
they're a part to continue. They face no threat to their lives
or livelihood to be considered "Christian". But
without a cost to forfeit the goals and values of the world
system, "Christians" will never perfect their faith,
nor find eternal glory.
If "Christians" will just choose
to follow Jesus as we in the earliest Church were commanded to
do, watch how your family and friends will treat you. Often,
the first cost of really being a follower of Jesus is that your
family and friends and even other "Christians" turn
against you. NO ONE who is without the indwelling Holy Spirit
can ever understand you; that's because as a follower of Jesus,
you give the Spirit of Christ rule in your soul.
Your worst tormentors as a follower of
Jesus will be "Christians" and your own family
members. Our Lord warned us of this: Trust in Him would divide
families, and we'd be persecuted by the religious
establishment. John and I were dragged before the Sanhedrin,
the Jewish High Council.
Religious people can't tolerate having
followers of Jesus around. They fear becoming convicted, as
you've become in response to the Spirit's call. Just keep in
mind: A follower of Jesus FOLLOWS Him no matter what the cost.
A "Christian" tries to hold on to all he can here on
earth, forfeiting not only his soul, but His eternal glory.
Keep this distinction in your heart clear, and be sure to
frequently test your own goals and motives.
Too many of you who once followed your Lord
no matter what the cost now suffer nothing for your Lord Jesus.
You've let yourself be seduced into becoming name-only
"Christians" and become friends of the values of this
world. If you do not repent, this path will make you an enemy
of our Father in heaven. If you're unsure where you stand, just
ask those who know you well: What are the first topics you
bring up, and what do you talk about most often?
Test Yourself:
How much of your conversation has anything
to do with following Jesus?
Another thing the Lord holds against those
who are name-only "Christians" is your toleration for
sin. Too many of you live in self-pity because you "can't
sin" like those around you do. With heavy heart as my
brothers Paul and John have so often written, I give you this
warning: Haven't you noticed that your prayers AREN'T being
answered by our Father? Haven't you noticed that you have no
testimony to His faithfulness? Worst of all, for too many of
you who once followed our Lord, it doesn't ever bother you...
Repent, and return to what you once had! If you don't, your
path is spiraling toward hell, not heaven.
I also warn you so that your life will be
full in Spirit, not empty and fruitless: Rid yourselves of all
malice and slander toward any other human made in God's image
and for whom Jesus died. Our Lord loves all mankind, and never
made you judge of anyone. And, repent of the deceit in your
heart that a "little sin" is OK. This is hypocrisy!
Repent for your envy of those "Christians" who live
according to the world's standards. Rather, grieve for them.
The way they live is of the evil one.
And most of all crave the truth as the Holy
Spirit would have you know it in your heart and live it day to
day. It's only through the Spirit's power that you can complete
the path to your salvation. In this manner of trusting in His
faithfulness in loving obedience, you will be like the living
Stone whom men rejected, but was chosen by God.
BE the living stones of this generation,
images of the Great Stone. If you will live as He would have
you live, you will be this generation's holy priesthood —
living sacrifices acceptable to our Father through Jesus
Christ.
Followers of Jesus are a chosen people, a
royal priesthood, a people belonging to God, that you may
declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into
his wonderful light. Choose the path of righteousness, and
fellowship only with the righteous, so that you may have
praises to your Father's glory. This is your true worship which
is acceptable to your Father. And be available in soul and
spirit to serve HIS purposes as a willing and effective
representative to those who have yet to trust Him. His heart
yearns for the lost to repent!
Again, I urge you, abstain from giving in
to your sinful desires, which war against your soul. Resist!
Remember, RESIST! Acquire the mind of Jesus in ALL your
thoughts. Show those around you that you truly are a follower
of Jesus by living in such a Christ-like way among them that,
though they harass you for not being part of their religious
practices or worldly lifestyle, they may see your good deeds
and glorify God on the day He visits us. And, live as free men,
but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as
servants of the Most High God. Be led by the Spirit!
Remember: You are to live as aliens and
strangers to the goals and desires of this world. Embrace the
rejection you face for following our Lord Jesus. It is a gift
from Him to refine you, demonstrating that you are truly His
follower as you respond in love.
The world and its desires pass away, but
the person who does the will of God lives forever. If you
suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable
before God. Remember what our Lord told us, "If you
belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is,
you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of
the world. That is why the world hates you." Judge
yourself: Does the world hate you?
You were called to this life of being
rejected by the world, because Christ suffered for you, leaving
you an example, that you should follow in His steps. And
remember that when they hurled their insults at Him, He did not
retaliate when He suffered. He made no threats, and took up no
offense against anyone. Instead, He entrusted Himself to Him
Who judges justly. Do likewise. Speak no slander against those
who reject you because of Jesus. Our Father will deal with
them. He can bring pressure on the resistant so that they might
turn from evil and come to Him for reconciliation.
Keep reminding yourself that your Lord bore
your sins in His body on the cross, so that you might die to
sins and live for righteousness. Through His suffering and
death, you have been reconciled with the Father. This is what
the world must see in your life: You truly are the Father's
child. And those who know you need to know your Father THROUGH
you.
May following our Lord Jesus create in you
His aroma. Entrust yourself to the Spirit within you, and He
will empower you to not only follow our Lord Jesus, but become
more like Him."Two followers of Jesus,
Mike & Sue Dowgiewicz
