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Contributors Anna Diehl Laraine Turner Hopeforhopeless.net Joe Beam raptureready.com Mark Watson Michael Houdmann TruthtoFreedom JesusMystery
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BLESSEDContents
6
Letter from the Editor
09 I‘m Married, but in Love with Someone Else
13 Sex and the Single Christian 19 How Stereotyping Can Cause Us to Miss God
23 The People God Will Never Talk To 29 Conviction vs. Condemnation: A Quick Review
33 When Loss Hits Your Life, It‘s Hard to Believe God Has Something Better 37 Imitating Christ: Not As Simple as it Seems 41 Prophets and Psychics: What‘s the Difference?
Page 4 Blessed Magazine April, May 2014 Issue
Letter From the Editor
Praise the Lord My Brothers and Sisters in Christ!
I am so excited to bring you another issue of Blessed Magazine filled with articles to spark your interest as well as provide insight for your walk with the Lord! As with every issue, I encourage you to read each article with an open mind, open heart and if at any time you have questions or need to contact the author, please reach out to us here We are always open to aspiring writers, bloggers and commentators to send us their work for consideration of being featured in our magazine If you would like to submit an article, please contact us at contact@blessedmagazine.org
I also want to thank our many subscribers and readers of Blessed Magazine as well as our advertisers. Again, please enjoy this issue of Blessed Magazine and if you are not a subscriber, subscribe today by visiting www.blessedmagazine.org Yours in Christ, Laraine Turner Editor in Chief
Page 6 Blessed Magazine April, May 2014 Issue
Blessed Magazine April, May 2014 Issue Page 7
I‘m Married, but in Love with Someone Else By Joe Beam
Blessed Magazine April, May 2014 Issue Page 9
This question came via email: I have been married to a man for 20 years (2 children later) that I do not and have never loved like I feel I should. I married in a rush and BECAUSE I felt like that's what God wanted for me at the time. I almost left him at the altar. I have been loving and caring, and submissive. I have prayed for all these years for God to give me the love I need. Well, recently I have fallen "madly in love" with a person that I have a work relationship with. There is no sex involved. I have been faithful. I have never had these feelings for anybody in my LIFE. My question is what do I do with this? It absolutely breaks my heart that I have never had this kind of love feeling in my life ever and now I do. I felt like in my prayer time in May, God told me to hold on, be faithful, and trust him and my passion and desire would come. Well, it did, for a different person. And I am still doing what God said. This other person has asked me would I consider marrying him if the circumstances were different Any advice? I wish I could label this as a typical question, but unfortunately, I get this more than any other. Many people – including Christian men and women - find themselves madly in love with someone other than their spouses. Therefore, rather than answering it for one person, I hope to answer it for thousands. While I address it specifically to the woman who sent the email, the application is to all who find themselves in this situation My Reply The best word to describe your feelings for the ―other man‖ is limerence. Limerence is a feeling of being madly in love with someone. Among its many characteristics are obsessive thinking about that person, changing things about yourself to please that person, and perceiving anyone who stands between you and that person as an enemy. It is a euphoric sensation that has no comparison. Those in limerence generally feel that no one else possibly can understand what it
feels like because there is nothing else close to it in our emotional experiences. ―I've never felt this way before,‖ or ―You cannot possibly comprehend,‖ are oft-used phrases by those in limerence. The person making those statements believes them absolutely to be true However, that usually is incorrect
It feels that way because such feelings of closeness and desire almost always rewrite history. That means that the person in limerence usually cannot remember feeling anything similar to this before, yet there may be objective evidence that s/he actually has. Allow me to explain One man I know said almost verbatim the statements you made in your question. ―I do not and have never loved [my wife] like I feel I should. I married in a rush and BECAUSE I felt like that's what God wanted for me at the time. I almost left [her] at the altar.‖ He, too, had prayed for years ―God…give me the love I need.‖ He made those statements to a marriage counselor he and his wife were seeing. He had not gone to save the marriage but to salve his conscience At the beginning of the next session, the counselor asked the wife to produce the love letters her husband had written to her when they were courting years before. The things he wrote in those letters disproved what he now believed about how he felt then. They showed that he did love her. As he read his own words, written in his own hand, he denied them. No, he had never felt that way toward his wife. He claimed that the feelings he had for the new woman in his life had never before occurred for him. Yet, the proof was right there in his own handwriting We call it rewriting history. That means our minds change our memories so that we are justified in what we currently feel or do. That is why he could so vividly remember his wedding day case of fear and doubt but could not remember the intense positive emotions he held
for his bride Can I say for certainty that you have rewritten history? No. However, I am very likely correct. It would be interesting to find the love letters you wrote back then, or scan the things you scribbled in notebooks or elsewhere. If we could catch a time machine, it would be fascinating to see how you acted No matter what you felt back then, you do not say that you do not love your husband. Instead, you state that you ―do not and have never loved like I feel I should.‖ That statement speaks more to a desire for the intensity of new romance than the deep love that develops over time. You wanted more emotionally, prayed for it, and now have it with another man. But what you are describing is the intensity of newness Even if you married the new man, with time that intensity would diminish and you would have a love - if you still loved him at all - that is not always exciting and fulfilling on every given day. Intense romantic love feels great, but it was never intended to be the norm over a lifetime. Security, safety, understanding, acceptance, caring, and a host of other emotions better describe what makes a long-term relationship work. Those emotions are deeper but not ecstatic like new love is Unfortunately, we live in a society which touts romantic love as the ―be all end all‖ on TV, in movies, in magazine articles, in novels and so forth. Yet the people who produce those things will not have that level of intense romance for a lifetime, either. As the work of Helen Fisher, PhD, has proven, that kind of intensity is meant to bring us together, not keep us together. It has to fade with time so that our lives can be balanced and not obsessively focused on one person. That is why limerence rarely lasts as long as three years You feel heartbroken now because you long for the intensity you currently feel, but know that to pursue it is to sin. If you were to leave your
husband for this man, you would violate your marriage covenant. Would the ―feeling‖ be worth it? You might think it is in the short-term, but when the limerence began to fade – as it must – you would have to face the fact that you sought temporary ecstasy over long-term good. You would be looking to God to make things right knowing that He had always looked to you to do things right Do the following things so that you may stay faithful
1. Do NOT think about a possible future with this man. You write, ―This other person has asked me would I consider marrying him if the circumstances were different.‖ Not only must you NOT answer that question, do NOT allow yourself to think about that question. As Michael Johnson, PhD, has shown in his study about commitment, even thinking about an alternative to your spouse will weaken your commitment to him. Whenever you find yourself daydreaming about what life would be like with the new man, immediately ask God to take that thought away from you and to lead you into the thoughts and actions of a Godly woman 2. End all contact with the new man. You said that your contact with him is through a work relationship. End that relationship now. As long as you are in contact with him either face-to-face, by writing, by phone, or in any other way, the intense emotions you feel may remain strong long enough for them to destroy your marriage. Even if it costs your losing a great income, great insurance, or a great workplace, do NOT allow yourself to stay in a situation of temptation. When Jesus taught us to pray, ―Lead me not into temptation‖ He did not expect us to stay in the face of the temptation. As we ask God to do His part to deliver us, we, too, must do our part to avoid the temptation
3. Listen to God. You wrote, ―I felt like in my prayer time in May God told me to hold on
be faithful, and trust him and my passion and desire would come.‖ I am happy for you that you feel He told you to be faithful. Read it in Hebrews 13:4, “Have respect for marriage. Always be faithful to your partner, because God will punish anyone who is immoral or unfaithful in marriage.” (Contemporary English Version) Be assured of this, God did not send you another man to fall in love with so that you would leave your husband. He does NOT violate His law. We should not either. 4. Seek help. The emotions you feel may grow stronger. As most of us have learned in life, when emotions and logic battle each other, emotion often wins. If you feel that you are strong enough to handle this by yourself, you are in danger. Find a Godly woman or a shepherd in the kingdom that you trust. Ask for their understanding, help, and accountability. 5. Work on your marriage. Come to a workshop such as ours or find you a great Christian marriage counselor. The love you wish to feel can occur with your husband, even if it is not there right now. It will not be the intensity of limerence, but it can be much deeper and much more fulfilling.
Sex and the Single Christian By Mark Watson
Blessed Magazine April, May 2014 Issue Page 13
The whole of this article can be summed up in three words: Abstinence or Marriage There is no third alternative. The scriptures are clear about these things and tell us what must be done to inherit life eternal. We must not sin. We must flee sin, especially fornication
Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's. (1Co 6:18-20) Fornication is a special sin in that it is really a sin against God‘s temple, where the Holy Spirit dwells What is fornication? It is any sexual relations outside of matrimony that is, marriage between a man and a woman. There are no exceptions. If you are not married you are not to have sex. If you are married you are only to have sex with your spouse But let us remember that God is not unmerciful, nor does he look upon the sin committed by a young couple who are in love and may have committed an injudicious act the same as someone caught in adultery. No, this kind of human weakness is contrasted clearly by those who commit adultery. In the old testament adultery was a capitol offense, whereas a man and a virgin (young woman) who slept together were forced to marry one another In order to get the mind of the LORD on these
matters let‘s take a look at just a few instances in the Old Testament as to how the LORD wanted these matters dealt with: If a man be found lying with a woman married to an husband, then they shall both of them die, both the man that lay with the woman, and the woman: so shalt thou put away evil from Israel. If a damsel that is a virgin be betrothed unto an husband, and a man find her in the city, and lie with her; Then ye shall bring them both out unto the gate of that city, and ye shall stone them with stones that they die; the damsel, because she cried not, being in the city; and the man, because he hath humbled his neighbor's wife: so thou shalt put away evil from among you. But if a man find a betrothed damsel in the field, and the man force her, and lie with her: then the man only that lay with her shall die: But unto the damsel thou shalt do nothing; there is in the damsel no sin worthy of death: for as when a man riseth against his neighbor, and slayeth him, even so is this matter: For he found her in the field, and the betrothed damsel cried, and there was none to save her. If a man find a damsel that is a virgin, which is not betrothed, and lay hold on her, and lie with her, and they be found; Then the man that lay with her shall give unto the damsel's father fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife; because he hath humbled her, he may not put her away all his days. A man shall not take his father's wife, nor discover his father's skirt. (Deu 22:22-30) If nothing else, we can see that God is not unmerciful nor does he look at all of these various kinds of fornication the exactly the same way. But the God of Israel views certain kinds of fornication as being worthy of death These are things to remember, especially today in our sex-crazed society, a society that seems to view any form of abstinence as socially undesirable and freakish. A cursory look at much of pop-culture seems to suggest that if you aren‘t having sex at least three times a week with at least two different partners, you are not ‗with it‘. This is not the teaching of God and Jesus Christ
Fornication is to not even be mentioned among the saints Today, these doctrines are largely ignored in the main Churches. They may not be specifically taught and sometimes the Churches make justifications for these kinds of sins. This is very, very wrong and a grave matter in the eyes of Christ. A Church that does this risks its standing in Christ, if indeed the church really belonged to him in the first place
But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints; (Eph 5:3) I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works; and the last to be more than the first. Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not. Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds. And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works. (Rev 2:19-23)
for today‘s Christians. It is a mark of those who sincerely walk with Christ and those that are only paying lip service to him. A true Christian will not be involved in fornication (pre-marital or extramarital and especially homosexual sex), they will abstain until married. If, however a person should fall, there is forgiveness with God, if there is genuine repentance It seems unlikely, however that many will really heed the LORD‘s advice. Most will find justifications for continuing in sexual sin and ignore the clear and repeated warnings of scripture. This is a spiritually deadly error. God makes provisions for his people, if a man or woman feels they cannot contain their sexual desire it is better to marry, but only in the LORD Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband. Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence: and likewise also the wife unto the husband. (1Co 7:2-3)
And I say therefore to the unmarried and widows, It is good for them if they abide even as I. But if they cannot contain, let them marry: for it is better to marry than to burn. (1Co 7:8-9) Here is the crux of the matter; No Sex outside of marriage, No ‗if ‘s‘, no ‗and‘s‘, and no ‗but‘s‘, plain and simple. If you really want to serve God, render your body as a sacrifice unto God
Fornication is a grave matter with Christ, indeed the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah suffered the punishment of eternal fire for their fornication
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service (Rom 12:1)
Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. (Jud 1:7)
All of you young people out there, I exhort you in the name of Jesus Christ to save yourself for your future husbands and wives and consider this young Christian women; if a man can control himself before marriage with the woman he loves enough to marry , he is far more likely to stay faithful to his wife than a man who tries to
Brothers and sisters, this is an important matter
deflower his fiancée before they marry, because he has already shown respect for his wife, the institution of marriage and demonstrated selfcontrol. Such a man is rare these days, to be sure. But ask someone who has been divorced the kind of hell they endure financially and emotionally and you will discover that finding such a mate is a prize worth far above all the gold mines in the world. The same can be said for young men who seek a faithful woman, find one that is not promiscuous before marriage. If they have had many lovers in the past, sooner or later, that pattern will almost certainly continue after marriage
A truly good wife is the most precious treasure a man can find! Her husband depends on her, and she never lets him down. She is good to him every day of her life, and with her own hands she gladly makes clothes. She is like a sailing ship that brings food from across the sea. She gets up before daylight to prepare food for her family and for her servants. She knows how to buy land and how to plant a vineyard, and she always works hard. She knows when to buy or sell, and she stays busy until late at night. She spins her own cloth, and she helps the poor and the needy. Her family has warm clothing, and so she doesn't worry when it snows. She does her own sewing, and everything she wears is beautiful. Her husband is a well-known and respected leader in the city. She makes clothes to sell to the shop owners. She is strong and graceful, as well as cheerful about the future. Her words are sensible, and her advice is thoughtful. She takes good care of her family and is never lazy. Her children praise her, and with great pride her husband says, ―There are many good women, but you are the best!‖ Charm can be deceiving, and beauty fades away, but a woman who honors the LORD deserves to be praised. (Pro 31:10-30 – CEV) Finding a good mate is no easy task and be warned. Marriage is a very serious affair and woe to those who defile the marriage bed! In closing, God is not unmerciful, besides the basic needs of food water and shelter, the sexual drive is very powerful, it is not be be
underestimated. God knows this because he put that drive in man, not to torment but to satisfy at the proper tine in the proper way. Let not married Christians, especially those ministers give you pat and simplistic answers to your questions about these issues frustrate or discourage you with their harsh and judgmental viewpoints. Go to God who is most merciful and understanding. Many of the ministers, who show such a cold and unforgiving view of the unique needs and problems of single Christians, have forgotten from whence they have fallen, or have secret sex sins of their own. Remember the cold and unforgiving spirit of many of worlds top televangelists just before they had their own sins exposed
I say again God is merciful, fall upon the mercies of Christ and ask for his guidance if the sex desire becomes too strong or you are overcome in a fault. If this is done sincerely from a humble heart, then rest assured that God does hear and will answer in his good time. A word of warning here, do not rush God, he knows what is best, and there is hardly are greater tragedy in life than a bad marriage, and if you do not believe me, ask someone who is in one My advise to single Christians is this: Wait, I say, on the Lord. (Psalms 27:14)
How Stereotyping Can Cause Us to Miss God By TruthtoFreedom
Blessed Magazine April, May 2014 Issue Page 19
With non-believers, how we communicate is as important as what we communicate. Many of us need to hear this counsel and heed it. We should attempt to speak truth in love to the lost around us. Yet it also seems inevitable that the church and its people will be judged for taking firm stands against sin. Jesus judged sin, and so did his followers, and they were killed for their stances. Even if we are friendly and loving, I wonder if Christians can easily avoid this label. Bottom Line of Message: Jesus did not come to be our Judge, but our Savior. As followers of Christ, we must follow his example
having done the right thing (Luke 10:38-42). – The man who wanted Jesus to tell his brother to split the inheritance with him (Luke 12:13-15)
Consider Jesus‘ response: ―Who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?‖ • But did Jesus accept this role of ―Judge‖? Let‘s look at a defining passage. Biblical Text: John 7:53—8:11
Introduction
• Be sure to give qualification about how this text isn‘t in the oldest manuscripts, but we have no good reason to think it wasn‘t an authentic story
• The two greatest perceptions of Christians by young outsiders today are that we are judgmental and anti-homosexual. Interestingly, these are the same perceptions that young churchgoers have of Christians as well
• The scene looks like a courtroom with teachers of the law and the Pharisees prosecutors, the woman as the defendant, crowds as the jury, and Jesus positioned as judge
• Why do people perceive Christians this way?
• The religious leaders think they have trapped Jesus. Under Jewish Law, it appears the woman should be executed because of her sin. But the Romans wouldn‘t allow Jews to execute people—that was only Rome‘s prerogative. So how will Jesus respond?
– Is it our stance toward legislation—we‘re known more for what we are against (and therefore judge) than what we are for?
– Is it because we suggest to people that they have to change their sinful behavior before God will love them and accept them? – Is it because we say that we hate the sin and not the sinner when people that are homosexuals see their behavior as an aspect of their identity (and so what they hear is that we hate the sinner)? • Are we really following Christ‘s own example when we judge the sinful behaviors of others?
• During Jesus‘ own ministry, he was often put in the position of judge – The rich, young ruler wanted Jesus to ―judge‖ him as someone who was good and would inherit eternal life (Luke 18:18-23) – Martha wanted Jesus to ―judge‖ Mary as not
the as the the
• In verse 7, Jesus implies that if he is to take the role of judge, then everyone will stand guilty— no one is without sin in their lives.
• Then Jesus says something incredible: ―Neither do I condemn you.‖ He does acknowledge her sin and call on her to change her ways, but he doesn‘t condemn or judge her • Refer to John 3:17-18. Jesus did not come to condemn or judge and if someone stands condemned or judged before God, that is not our responsibility. Our responsibility, like Jesus‘, is to offer love and grace without condemnation Conclusion/Application • What if we applied this truth as followers of Jesus? • Isn‘t this how we want to be treated? None of us is without sin in our lives; all of us are in need of God‘s grace and we are so thankful that Jesus loves us and accepts us in spite of our sin
• Like the woman caught in adultery, our sinful ways and lives will only change when we have first received, accepted, and experienced the unconditional love of Jesus. If that‘s true, then shouldn‘t we be people who are focused only on showing unconditional love and grace, and not judgment and condemnation toward others? • What if Christians and local churches became places known for their grace and love and not for their judgment? Do you think that would be attractive?
• Who have you judged in your life and what can you do to change your posture, and consequently, begin to change the perceptions? • We have a new and different starting point for our attitudes and actions: love and grace. Why? Because ―God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us‖ (Rom 5:8). Are we willing to follow his example?
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Page 22 Blessed Magazine April, May 2014 Issue
By Anna Diehl
Blessed Magazine April, May 2014 Issue Page 23
Let‘s talk about who is on that scary list God keeps of people He will never talk to. Many of us are convinced such a list exists, and some of us even feel sure our names are on it. Once we‘re on that list, we can be certain that God won‘t listen to our prayers, help us with our problems, save us, love us, or even look at us. Once He cuts all communication with us, how can we ever get our names off of the list? Perhaps we can‘t. Getting onto that list could seal our fate as souls destined to spend eternity in Hell. So how do we know if we‘re on it? Well, if we apply a little logic, it seems pretty easy to figure out what kind of people God has excommunicated. But before we start believing our own conclusions, we need to make sure our logic is sound and that we‘re making correct assumptions about the way God thinks. After all, it would be ridiculous to go through life thinking we‘re on that list if we‘re really not REALLY BAD SINNERS Anyone in this group is surely on God‘s blacklist. No one is perfect, but there are some people who do extra evil things. Surely God doesn‘t view rapists, child molesters, serial killers, torturers, terrorists, porn makers and pedophiles in the same category as pastors, missionaries and doctors. If He did, that would be insane Well, apparently God is insane because He DOES lump all of these people in the same category. Even more shocking, ―really bad sinners‖ is the only category of sin He has. He doesn‘t have a list of ―not so bad‖ sinners, because God hates sin. God hates impurity. Let‘s say sin is like dirt and goodness is like water. If you take a bottle of pure water and drop one teensy little grain of dirt into it, it is no longer pure and God rejects it Take another bottle and shove a whole bunch of mud into it that you scraped out of pig pen. God rejects that, too, but He doesn‘t reject it any faster than He did the first one. He rejects both bottles with equal disgust because the only thing acceptable to Him is total purity. No
human being is totally pure. We all sin, therefore we are all EQUALLY offensive to God
Where we go wrong is in assuming that God will be flexible about His standards. We know He wants perfect, but we figure He‘ll settle for almost perfect. He won‘t. He is impossibly stubborn when it comes to sin. If we aren‘t absolutely perfect, then He is so offended by us that He throws us into Hell. This is how touchy God is about sin. It is a huge issue to Him. The moment that perfect purity is damaged in anyway, He says an inexcusable crime has been committed which deserves the worst penalty He can come up with, and that‘s Hell So if we‘re all really bad sinners to God, and He‘s obviously talking to some of us, then we have to admit we were wrong about really bad sinners being on God‘s blacklist. Clearly our sins are not enough to make God not talk to us. Looks like we need to expand our definition REALLY BAD SINNERS WHO AREN’T CHRISTIANS This sounds better. Obviously God draws a line between Christians and non-Christians
Christians have had their sins atoned for by the Blood of Christ, but non-Christians haven‘t. Non-Christians are going to Hell because God hasn‘t forgiven them like He‘s forgiven Christians. So if we‘ve done terrible sins and we don‘t believe in Jesus, there‘s a definite chance that our names could be on the list of people that God will never talk to. That means that no matter what we do, we‘ll end up in Hell when we die The problem with this theory is that we can‘t explain Christians. No one is born a Christian, they become one by praying to Jesus, acknowledging that He paid the penalty for their sins on the cross, and humbly asking Him to save them from His Father‘s wrath. If God won‘t talk to non-Christians, then no one could ever get saved. Yet it‘s obvious looking around that there are quite a few Christians in the world who have very joyful relationships with God. Even
more astonishing is that some of these people say they used to do horrible things before they came to Jesus. Some of them were child molesters, drug pushers, pimps, murderers, rapists, and abusers. If God was willing to talk to them before they were even saved, then obviously being a Christian isn‘t a prerequisite to God paying attention to us. We‘ll have to try and get a better definition REALLY BAD SINNERS WHO AREN’T CHRISTIANS AND AREN’T REPENTANT ENOUGH
Perhaps now we‘ve finally hit on it. God might be willing to talk to unsaved sinners, but only if they are truly sorry about their sins. If we‘re just pretending to be sorry, God won‘t be fooled He‘ll see that we aren‘t serious about changing our lives for the better, and He‘ll just ignore us. So then, how do we figure out who is repentant enough? Well, anyone who is really sorry about sinning will stop doing it. That means all addicts are liars when they say they want to be free of their addictions. If they really wanted to be free, they‘d stop doing what they‘re doing. Anyone who begs God for forgiveness one minute and then goes right on back to the drugs or porn or alcohol the next minute, is obviously just playing games. We have to prove we‘re sorry before God will finally listen to us. We have to show Him evidence of real change in our lives The problem with this theory is that when Jesus was on earth, He was constantly forgiving people who didn‘t show Him any evidence of real change. Jesus was crucified between two other criminals. As they all hung there in agony, one of the criminals asked Jesus to remember him in Paradise. The man had the audacity to ask to go to Heaven even as he said that he knew he deserved to die for the evil things he had done. Where‘s the evidence of real change? The man was nailed to a cross. It‘s not like he had time to do some community service before he died, yet Jesus accepted him And then there was the woman who was caught
in adultery. According to God‘s Law, she was supposed to be stoned, but instead Jesus said He wouldn‘t hold her guilty and let her go free. The woman never fell down weeping at his feet. She didn‘t even say she was sorry. While He was on earth, Jesus got quite a reputation for hanging out with tax collectors who regularly cheated people, active prostitutes and other lowlifes who hadn‘t cleaned their lives up at all. Jesus was God. If He went out of His way to socialize with those were up to their necks in constant sinning, then He obviously doesn‘t need us to break all of our bad habits before He‘ll be willing to talk to us. We still haven‘t figured out just who these people are that God will never speak to
REALLY BAD SINNERS WHO HATE GOD There‘s a difference between not being a Christian and going out of your way to insult Christ. What about atheists who mock the whole idea that God exists? What about people who believe God exists and are trying to do everything they can to insult Him? What about people who worship Satan and pray to demons? Surely God wouldn‘t lower Himself to talk to them The difficulty here is that the Bible is filled with records of God going out of His way to establish some positive relationship with people who hate Him. He doesn‘t avoid His enemies—He chases them down and gives them a thousand opportunities to repent and be restored into a right relationship with Him. Ancient Israel might have been God‘s chosen nation, but she wanted nothing to with Him most of the time. She knew He hated idolatry, yet she worshiped every god she could get her hands on. She even set up idols to demons inside of God‘s holy Temple. What was His response? He disciplined her, but not to the point of destroying her. And then He restored her, even though she was totally unrepentant Israel isn‘t the only nation mentioned in the Bible. God speaks quite a bit about Egypt as well—a nation that didn‘t acknowledge Him at all. Instead of turning His back on the Egyptians and letting them all burn in Hell, God went to great lengths to prove to them that He was
greater than all of their other gods, therefore He was the One they should be putting their faith in. God loves every soul that He creates, and He reaches out to all of us. Some of us reach back to Him, others of us spit in His face. But no matter what we do, God doesn‘t abandon us. He keeps waiting, keeps calling, and keeps giving us opportunities to come
CONCLUSION What can we make of all this? If God wants to be with us regardless of our sin or bad attitudes, then who can possibly be on that list of people that He never speaks to? There are no names on that list, because the list has never existed. It is something we invented with the help of Satan and our own insecurities. It‘s very hard for our human minds to grasp the notion of a God who is so much more generous and gracious than we are. On earth, we‘re so used to cutting people off, blocking, and stonewalling. If we speak to someone and they don‘t answer, it usually means they‘re mad at us, so when we pray and God doesn‘t answer, we assume He‘s mad at us too. But once again, we‘re confusing ourselves by expecting God to act like a human. God doesn‘t communicate the same way we do. He always listens to us and He always responds to us, but we often can‘t detect His response because His style of communicating is so different than ours. We must resist the temptation to read into God‘s silence, because we will usually come away with wrong conclusions about what He‘s really thinking. If you are thinking loving thoughts about your child that you don‘t say out loud, does that make your feelings towards them less real? Of course not. Just because we don‘t hear God saying ―Yes, I heard you‖ every time we pray doesn‘t mean He isn‘t listening. Just because we don‘t hear Him saying ―I love you‖ doesn‘t mean that this isn‘t what He‘s thinking Since God is not human, we can‘t try to understand Him using human rules. Instead, we have to let Him teach us about Himself and we have to believe what He says about how He views us. God says that He loves each one of us with equal enthusiasm. He says that He enjoys
hearing us speak to Him and that He always welcomes our prayers. He says that He wants to spend eternity with all of us in Heaven and that if we come to Him on His terms, then we can all be saved. No one is excluded, no one is unwanted, no one is less loved. This is how God says He views us, and He is the only One who would know. It might seem strange and too good to be true to us, but we don‘t get to decide for God who He is supposed to be. If we really want to have a relationship with Him, we‘re going to have to take Him at His word and believe that He invites us to come to Him at any time. God is very clear that He wants to talk to anyone who wants to talk to Him. Do you want to talk to God? If you do, then go for it. Start talking to Him right now. Talk to Him like you would talk to someone who you knew loved you very much and was always eager to hear from you, because that is who God says He is
By Anna Diehl
Blessed Magazine April, May 2014 Issue Page 29
God convicts. Satan condemns. It‘s critical that you learn to tell the difference. Here are some key traits of each. When in doubt, run what you‘re hearing in your head through these basic markers. If it‘s condemnation, throw it out. ―There is no condemnation in Christ‖ (Rom. 8:1)
THREE MARKERS OF CONVICTION:
THREE MARKERS OF CONDEMNATION:
“Don’t steal that money or I will make sure you are caught.”
1. FOCUSES ON THE PAST (Events you can’t undo.) 2. “You really screwed up your marriage.” “Now that you have all that porn in your head, you’ll never be pleasing to God.” “It’s so disgusting how much you’ve slept around.” “It’s so terrible how you aborted your child.” “You were such an abusive parent. No wonder your kids are so messed up.” 3. BROAD, GENERAL CRITICISMS (Often character based) “You’re so selfish.” “You’re so full of lust.” “You’re such an ugly person.” “Even Jesus couldn’t love someone like you.” 4. IMPOSSIBLE or NONSPECIFIC COMMANDS “Stop being such a jerk all the time.” “Just get over yourself.” “Stop being so sensitive.” “Just stop drinking. Only losers struggle with addiction.” “Treat God with more respect.” “Grow up.”
The emotional effects of condemnation: you feel bad, hopeless, unforgivable, unfixable and ugly. You feel distant from God Theology of condemnation: Your sin is a shocking offense to God. He is disgusted, angry, and bitterly disappointed. He will remain distant from you until you perfect yourself. The pressure to improve is on you. You must now try to reearn His love which you lost due to your sin. There is no excuse for not instantly fixing yourself.
1. FOCUSES ON THE PRESENT AND FUTURE “You need to acknowledge that your drinking is out of control.”
“You are only reading the Bible because you feel guilty if you don’t. When daily devotions become legalistic, it’s time to take a break.”
“You’re trying to stay busy so you won’t have to time to pray.” “You’re not taking any time to rest during the week and it’s wearing you out.”
“Every time you look in the mirror, you think about how ugly you are. This habit is making it harder for you to accept My love for you.” 2. IDENTIFIES PRESENT PROBLEMS AND GIVES SPECIFIC, DOABLE COMMANDS “The tone you are using with your wife right now is hurting her feelings. Try to soften it.”
“Your daughter really needs your attention this weekend. Cancel the poker game so you can spend time with her instead.” “When you pray out loud at your home group, you’re trying to show off. This week, don’t take a turn praying out loud. Instead, talk to Me in the privacy of your mind so your words will be sincere.” “You don’t feel motivated to help in Sunday School because I haven’t equipped you. After church, cross your name off of the volunteer sheet. It will feel awkward to do, but it’s better than working without My empowerment.” 3. REVEALS CORE MOTIVATIONS WITH EMPATHY & REDIRECTS YOUR FOCUS ONTO GOD
“You’re jealous of the new car your friend bought because you think it means I love her more than you. That isn’t true. I love you just as much and I have given you many blessings. Your car might not be everything you want, but consider how I’ve kept it from breaking down all these years.” “You hate reading the Bible because you read things that make you feel bad. It’s important to learn to read things in context. I will teach you how to do this. I never say things just to make you feel bad.”
“You’re looking at porn because you’re afraid that if you’re vulnerable with your wife, she’ll hurt you again. But this porn is going to hurt you in other ways so it needs to stop. I understand your fears and I can heal the damage from the past. Let’s talk about this.”
The emotional effects of conviction: you feel encouraged, inspired to change, and hopeful about your future. Conviction makes you feel closer to God, not distant from Him
Theology of conviction: God is not shocked by your sin, He already knew about it and paid for it long before you were ever born. As His child, God‘s love for you is unconditional, He is always with you, and He is helping you to grow and mature. The strength to improve comes from His empowerment, not from within you. God understands why you do what you do better than you do, He is on your side, and He is empathetic. What‘s important to God is not outward behavior but your inward will and desire to please Him. If you sincerely want to please God, then you are pleasing Him regardless of how many times you stumble IMPORTANT NOTE:
“You think I can’t forgive your past because you can’t forgive yourself. But I am not like you. All of your sins have been atoned for by Jesus. Nothing you’ve done or ever will do can ever separate you from My love.”
“You think I’m holding your past mistakes against you. I’m not dwelling on your past. When you asked for forgiveness, I gave it to you. All those sins are behind us now–let’s move forward.” “Your earthly father hurt you very badly and you think I will do the same. But I am not like him. Ask Me to help you gain a better understanding of how kind and gentle I am.” “You’re afraid to talk to Me because you think I’ll ask you to do something difficult. I am not just a stream of hard commands–I’m your loving Father and I don’t want you to dread talking to Me. Ask Me to help you see yourself through My eyes so you can learn how much I love you.” “Try not to dwell on your speech tomorrow. I will give you the right words to say when the time comes, but not before. Meanwhile, I want you to focus on the fact that I am always with you.”
One nanosecond after the Holy Spirit convicts you, Satan will rush in and try to condemn you on the same subject. The Holy Spirit may convict you to stop watching an offensive movie, so you turn it off. God is pleased. But then Satan rushes in to go on and on about how wrong you were to ever be watching such trash in the first place. Beware of the sudden change in tone from conviction to condemnation and REJECT ALL CONDEMNATION. God loves every soul He ever made, and, once we are His kids through faith in Jesus, NOTHING WE DO CAN EVER SEPARATE US FROM HIS LOVE. GOD NEVER, EVER, EVER CONDEMNS HIS KIDS!
When Loss Hits Your Life, It‘s Hard to Believe God Has Something
Better By Hopeforhopeless.net Blessed Magazine April, May 2014 Issue Page 33
In times of life-shattering disappointment, it's almost impossible to believe that God has something better for you. For single people, hoping that God will turn your life around when you've lost someone or something important to you seems like an exercise in wishful thinking Sometimes we've so convinced ourselves that we've found the perfect person for us that our world falls apart when the relationship ends. We think we'll never find anyone again who could even come close to them. But there's a truth in the Bible that we'd rather not discuss. It sounds arrogant, even greedy. It's found in Exodus 34:14: Do not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God. Huh? Jealous? We don't get it. Jealousy is not a good quality in human beings. So how could it be good in God? Does it mean something different in his case? And how does that fit in with the idea that God has something better for us? Why God is like no other When God gave the Ten Commandments to the Jews, whom he had just rescued from slavery in Egypt, he wanted to impress on them that he is the only God, not just another in the large pantheon of gods the Egyptians had worshipped. He told them he was jealous because he wanted them to be clear they were to worship nothing except him. He says the same thing to us today. In the 21st century, we face a very real danger of turning our job, our possessions, and even a relationship into our god. It starts out subtly, but we spend so much time, energy and thought on these things that we can neglect the one true God. When we do that, sometimes God will shake us up in some way to bring us to our senses. But other times, when we refuse to make God the central focus of our life, he will take our false god completely away from us. When we do have times of loss, we're usually too angry or hurt to believe that God has something better for us: Himself
Don't get me wrong. When you love someone or enjoy your job, that doesn't mean God is going to take that away because he's jealous. He wants us to have good things, but only if we keep them in perspective and remember that they came from him. We shouldn't confuse the gift with the Giver. Believing that God has something better for you means understanding that he can supply the kind of soul-satisfying love another person never can. It means he understands you in a way no one else can. And it means he can fill that indescribable longing in your heart in a way that no one or nothing else can.
Winnowing away the undeserving Often we settle for less than the best for ourselves. Whether it's from low self-esteem or low standards for ourselves, we sometimes cling to poor choices. If we have been faithful, the Lord may remove whatever is unworthy because God has something better for us. Many of us have experienced that with jobs. Several years ago, God provided me with a new job in which I had a Christian boss, greater challenges, and more than half again as much income as the job before. When I got laid off from that job, God helped me get an even better job that enabled me to help thousands of deserving people, provided good fringe benefits and a steady, solid income And when I left that job, God made it possible for me to create this web site, which is the most fulfilling thing I've ever done. During the difficult transitions, was I able to say, "God has something better for me?" Truthfully, not always. I was pretty upset. But in fact God did have something better for me each time When we're too afraid or too stubborn to obey
When a promising relationship ends, it takes tremendous faith to say, "God has something better for me." In fact, atheists would call that attitude unrealistic and naive. It takes real trust in God to be able to say that. We're usually too close to a relationship to be objective about it. We can't see the other person's serious flaws
Maybe they're a nonbeliever who will never convert and God knows that--but we don't. We're stubborn, thinking we can convince them to accept Jesus as their Savior. If we're seeing someone we know is wrong for us, but no one else seems to be coming along or we think this may be our last chance for marriage, we can ignore the Holy Spirit's promptings. When you're 40 years old and you've dated someone for several years, it's scary to break it off, trusting that God has something better planned for you Settling for mediocrity
We find it hard to believe that God has something better for us. We don't have that kind of mountain-moving faith. We secretly hope that God will understand and improve our job or relationship. Sometimes he does. But sometimes he's telling us to move on. We sell ourselves short, and we sell God short too. Nobody wants to give up a sure thing, even when we know it's not right. Trusting that God has something better is risky, daredevil stuff, and we're supposed to be mature and conservative. Or are we? John Ortberg, in his bestselling book, If You Want to Walk on Water, You've Got to Get Out of the Boat, says, As long as my sense of being valuable and significant is tied to my success, it will be a fragile thing. But when I come to know in the marrow of my bones that I am just as valued and loved by God when I have fallen flat on my face, then I am gripped by a love stronger than success or failure. In our superficial, money-and-stuff motivated world, we've become brainwashed to believe that the high-paying job with the corner office, the luxury car, the impressive mansion, and the gorgeous spouse are the ultimate--as good as it can get. But what if God has something better? I live on a modest income. I drive an eight yearold mini-van. I live in a small, five-room house. I don't have a trophy wife; I have no wife at all And yet, I feel like one of the most blessed human beings on the face of the earth Why is that? It may sound as if I don't have much to be thankful for, but I have God, and all
along, he was everything I always wanted--I just didn't recognize it
When I was in my 20s and 30s, if you had told me I could be unmarried but still be happy and contented, I would have gotten very angry. I wouldn't have believed it. Even today, I don't completely understand it, but I have pledged to always tell you the truth on inspiration-forsingles.com, and this is the truth. Sure, there are days when I feel down. Sometimes I feel lonely. I didn't toss away my emotions over the years. But there are never any days that I feel hopeless. It took most of my lifetime to understand that God has something better for us. I hope you'll think about that truth in your own life, starting today What are you leaving behind? When you come to the end of your life, you will either leave behind a trail of trash, or a trail of treasure. A trail of trash is a string of traded in cars you got tired of. It's abandoned electronic gadgets tossed out with the garbage. Clothes you were once enthralled with now turned into cleaning rags or given away. It's a big pile of stuff you thought would make you happy, but never could. Or will you leave a trail of treasure? Jesus said: "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." (Matthew 6:19-21) Jesus was talking about things like kindness, generosity, compassion, encouragement, service, gentleness, and concern. He was also talking about love, love for other people and for God. If you believe that this earthly life is all there is, then yes, you may give in to the temptation to desperately grab at all the things society says are important. But if you believe that the best is yet to come, you'll be able to find peace and happiness in loving God and
living by his Word. We born-again people can't be content with the shallowness this world has to offer. We've had a glimpse of the truth. We know deep in our heart that God's ways are what really matter. We can't settle for second-best God has something better
Page 36 Blessed Magazine April, May 2014 Issue
By Anna Diehl
Blessed Magazine April, May 2014 Issue Page 37
When it comes to being fully devoted followers of Christ, we will find at first that our devotion to God can backfire on us, causing us intense misery and fury whenever we see God being abused. As the Holy Spirit aligns us with Himself, we will start to see the world more and more through His eyes. While seeing other people as Jesus does is promoted as a wonderful thing, it comes with some unpleasant surprises. Contrary to what we‘re often told, seeing things through God‘s eyes does not make us springs of love and grace towards our fellow man. Yes, we do get a whole new insight into how much God loves every soul He‘s ever made, and this is certainly life-altering. But if we‘re really aligning with all of God, love won‘t be the only area we mature in. We‘ll also grow in our understanding of sin as well—especially how outrageous it is to God
Sin is so incredibly offensive to God that He finds nothing less than Hell to be just punishment for it. There‘s an important lesson to be learned in this: to get close to God, we should expect lessons in both love AND rage. Those who only want to talk about God‘s love and grace are intentionally avoiding a huge part of who He is. But God‘s other traits don‘t disappear simply because we hide under the blankets and refuse to look at them. His fury over being dishonored is every bit as real as His mercy and long-suffering patience Nothing about God is moderate. All of His traits are extreme: His love, His anger, His mercy and His grace. He is a swirl of polar opposites, and how He manages to keep all of His passions in balance is an absolute mystery. The closer we get to Him, the more we will experience the pull of all His opposing passions and the more of a strain it will be on us to try and keep things in balance. We humans are used to viewing emotions like channels on a television screen: you choose one you want to watch, you don‘t try to watch them all at once. Imagine the mess it would make to walk into an electronics store and find a room full of televisions all blasting different stations at top volume. The result would be overwhelming noise: we wouldn‘t be
able to understand any of it. Yet for God, all of His passions exist simultaneously
He watches over Heaven and Hell at the same time, managing every detail of each extreme environment and finding satisfaction in both. How does He do this? We can‘t fathom it. But then again, we can‘t understand how He watches over humans, angels and demons at the same time, either. If we tried to keep track of every atom in the universe, our brains would hit overload, yet God is paying close attention to everything He‘s ever made all at the same time, and responding to each thing which a different emotion. Some souls on this earth are currently pleasing Him, while others are infuriating Him. He is simultaneously rewarding some and punishing others. Somehow God is able to share the griefs and joys of over six billion people at the same time without getting confused or tired. The closer we get to Him, the more we realize how complex He really is and the more overwhelmed we become God wants us to care about the things He cares about. This is a very overwhelming concept, because God cares about everything. When we are first learning to do this on deeper levels, it‘s easy to swing to extremes. When a soul is in grief, we can become exhausted by trying to share their burdens like Jesus does. When God is publicly mocked, we can become so filled with righteous anger that we feel like we‘re going to explode. While God does want us to share His heart, He does not want us to carry His burdens for Him. Despite His intense reactions to this world and the extreme language He uses—like before the Flood when He said He was sorry that He ever made us—God is always in control. In the midst of a storm of conflicting passions, He maintains incredible self-restraint so that He is never controlled by His passions like we humans are. God never ―loses His temper‖ in the sense that we think of when we use that phrase. When humans lose their tempers, they let their carnal passions become their masters and their actions become spastic and reactionary. But when God reaches the end of His patience, the violent ways in which He chooses to express His anger are all
pre-planned and perfectly controlled. Despite God‘s disgust with man‘s lust for evil, Noah‘s ark survived its voyage. Despite His fury over much of what goes on in the world today, planet Earth does not suddenly drop out of orbit, nor does the sun suddenly come hurtling towards it. When we remember that there are no strings keeping the celestial bodies in place, it really is quite impressive to realize that God is continuing to preserve life in this universe despite the many ways we are squandering it God loves all souls and hates all sin. He calls us to do the same. But while we are focused on sharing His passions, self-restraint must always be present. We must not act on any passion without the Holy Spirit‘s authorization, otherwise we are likely to run amuck. As Jesus modeled for us: there is a time for blessing children, and there is a time for overturning tables and cracking whips in the Temple. There is a time for saying ―Forgive them, Father, they know not what they do‖ and there‘s a time for saying, ―Get behind Me, Satan.‖ Just because we are in tune with God‘s view of a situation does not mean He wants us personally to act upon it. God hates abortion, but that doesn‘t mean we ought to go throwing rocks through a clinic‘s window. God hates sexual perversion, yet when we hold up signs saying ―God hates fags‖ we end up winning victories for Satan instead of honoring Christ. Many well-meaning Christians do a lot of damage by acting on what they feel are righteous passions without first getting clearance from the Holy Spirit. We must realize that God is infinitely more complex than we are, and no matter how well we think we know Him, we are still only scratching the surface of His vast Personality. Before we go rushing out and trying to imitate a Christ we do not fully understand, we must be humble enough to admit that God is too complex for our tiny minds to grasp, and therefore we can‘t hope to imitate Him right unless He guides our every step Sometimes we‘ll find ourselves dying to charge into the battlefield and prove our loyalty to God, only to have the Spirit insist that we stay on the bench. Other times we‘ll see a brother in need
and assume we‘re supposed to act, but He‘ll withhold the resources. Just because someone is mourning doesn‘t mean God wants YOU to comfort them. Just because someone is poor doesn‘t mean God wants YOU to share your resources with them. When we try to act like God by personally addressing every need that comes our way, we end up burned out, spiritually drained and emotionally exhausted. No matter how obvious the opportunity, we must check with the Spirit before we act. We must remember that God can take care of this world and defend His own Name without our help. We don‘t serve because God depends on us, we serve as a way of honoring Him and expressing our love for Him. Obedience is God‘s love language, but He wants to be the One who defines how we obey. Simply picking out some New Testament command that rings your personal bell and going for it is not what it means to obey God. As our Master, God should be leading everything we do. He should be the One we look to for direction in all things. Yes, He will certainly have us share with the poor, comfort the grieving, fight against evil and express the love of Christ, but it must all be done in HIS timing and HIS way. God has no use for servants who choose how they will serve Him and then expect to be rewarded for their arrogance. We must remember the point Jesus was making when He told the story of people who had done many good works in His Name arriving in Heaven only to be told ―I never knew you.‖ While God will not ever disown His own kids, He will certainly not be applauding good works that we did without submitting to His Authority Suppose you feel led to do something and you pray for confirmation but God doesn‘t say anything? As long as you are sincerely checking with God and are open to Him vetoing your plans, you can‘t go wrong. Some personalities will lean towards acting in such a moment, others will feel more comfortable waiting. As long as we are consciously submitting to God in everything we do, and recognizing that He could request a change of course at any moment, we will end up serving Him well. It‘s when we don‘t even bother to ask, or we throw up some token
prayer without really wanting a response that we get into trouble. Serving God is a serious thing, and it‘s not something other people should be defining for you. Your primary relationship is with God, not your pastor or other Christians. God is your Master, and He is the One you need to be checking your instincts with. The sooner we learn to go directly to God instead of relying on human mediators, the faster we will mature in the faith. Ask God to help you share His heart in all things, and ask the Holy Spirit to teach you how to recognize the many forms of His Voice. Then whenever something happens that stirs you up and makes you want to do something for God, check with Him to make sure your plans are aligned with His. God looks on our hearts and is very pleased whenever we sincerely desire to honor Him, even if our execution is flawed. But we must stop running off ahead of Him, for this does not please Him, and it often ends up helping His enemies instead
Page 40 Blessed Magazine April, May 2014 Issue
Prophets and Psychics: What‘s the Difference? By JesusMystery Blessed Magazine April, May 2014 Issue Page 41
To consider whether modern psychics' accuracy approaches that of biblical prophets, let's take Jean Dixon as a case study. This American psychic seemed to have a special ability to foretell events. But upon analysis her reputation seems unwarranted
For instance, Dixon had a vision that on February 5, 1962, a child was born in the Middle East who would transform the world by the year 2000. This special man would create a one-world religion and bring lasting world peace. She saw a cross growing above this man until it covered the whole earth. According to Dixon, this child would be a descendant of the ancient Egyptian Queen Nefertiti Where is this guy? Have you seen him? And how about that lasting world peace-it's nice, huh?
In fact, an exhaustive search of her prediction yields two indisputable facts. Her rate of accuracy is equivalent to those guessing the future, and her most publicized fulfillments were prophecies so intentionally vague as any number of events could have been hailed as fulfillments. Even the widely publicized prophecies of Nostradamus have frequently been proved wrong in spite of his vague oracles, which are difficult to disprove. For example, here is one of the predictions of Nostradamus: Takes the Goddess of the Moon, for his Day & Movement: A frantic wanderer and witness of Gods Law, In awakening the worlds great regions to Gods will (Ones Will) This is said to be about the death of Princess Diana. (You were probably thinking Margaret Thatcher.) Prophecies like this are as nebulous as seeing images in clouds. Yet some insist this is evidence of a Nostradamus prophecy fulfilled. Highly suspect, but difficult to disprove And this is generally the track record of psychics. When "The People's Almanac" researched the predictions of 25 top psychics, 92 percent of the predictions had proved wrong
The other 8 percent were questionable and could be explained by chance or general knowledge of circumstances.4 In other experiments with the world's foremost psychics, their rate of accuracy has been shown to hover around 11 percent, which might not be a bad average except for the fact that people making random guesses about the future score at the same percentile. This doesn't disprove all future telling, but it certainly explains why psychics aren't winning the lottery
The difference between psychics and prophets seems to be more one of kind than one of degree. Prophets made specific declarations about future events in relation to God's unfurling plan-and did it with unwavering accuracy. Psychics are more mercenary, providing vague sketches of the future to a market willing to pay for their services. They offer sensational information, but with a flawed track record According to the Scriptures, the God of the Hebrews spoke to his people through prophets, men and women who were especially attuned to God and who may or may not have been a part of the religious establishment. Some of the prophets' messages were for the present; others, for the future. Either way, their role was to proclaim God's declarations and disclosures to the people
In general, being a prophet ranked up there with working at a meatpacking plant among the world's most hazardous occupations. Even when they were telling the truth, prophets might be killed or thrown into prison by people who didn't like what they were saying. (Some kings hated hearing bad news.) According to historical accounts, the prophet Isaiah was sawn in half So consider a prophet's dilemma: death if he was proved wrong and the possibility of death if he was right. No true prophet wanted to offend God, and just as few wanted to be sawn in half. Thus most prophets waited until they were absolutely convinced that God had spoken, or else they kept their mouths shut. Kings began to shudder at their words. A true prophet's messages were never wrong