Inconvenient Truth about your Halloween Chocolate

Please follow this link to an article about extensive child labour in the chocolate industry.  It is shocking, disgusting, and we can't stand by and blissfully enjoy our chocolate at the expense of children who will never have a childhood.


The Inconvenient Truth about your Halloween Chocolate

Depression

It is becoming clear that I keep taking on more than I can handle.  It has been another very busy week that has left me exhausted.  Once again, this blog has suffered.  Please pray that God will help me to prioritize my commitments according to His will -- and that I will listen and obey!

Right now, I am preparing to share a message on depression at a Ladies' Breakfast this coming Saturday.  Since I don't have a blog post ready, I am sharing some of the introduction to my message.

 Depression

Why am I talking on such a difficult subject this morning?

There is a deep shame associated with depression – and that shame is magnified in the church.

I have dealt with depression for 35 years – over 25 years of that battle has been as a Christian.

I have always been open about my depression. As a result, I have been told many horrible things by Christians – some well-meaning, others simply self-righteous and judgemental. I have also talked with many Christians who are terrified that anyone will find out that they are taking antidepressants. A pastor friend of mine was told by one of his superiors never to talk about depression from the pulpit.

I am discussing this topic this morning because it is past time for this veil of shame to be removed! People dealing with depression and other mental health issues need compassion and healing instead of shame and abuse! I don't want others to go through the pain I have been through – pain magnified because those from whom I sought help did not understand depression and suicide.

2 years ago I was in a place closer to suicide than ever before as a Christian. All hope was gone. The people in my life who I had hoped would help me, thought I needed a strong hand. I didn't. My life circumstances were extremely difficult, and I didn't know how to cope. 

 I was a single mom with two boys on the autism spectrum. The oldest (about 16) was constantly being sent home from school as he was too aggressive to be there. Meltdowns – similar to temper tantrums --were common over very little things. One child's meltdown would trigger a meltdown in the other. These meltdowns would often last 45 minutes. They were filled with verbal and sometimes physical aggression, tears, cowering in fear, and the worst had Caleb responding to imaginary voices. 

My brother moved in with us, and for many reasons this escalated the stress and the meltdowns at that time. I also face health issues which include chronic fatigue. I was trying to get help with the home situation, and was given advice from people who had no clue what my life was really like. 

Please don't give life-circumstance advice if you really haven't seen or experienced what that person is going through. Advice that works in many, or even most situations, doesn't work in every situation. My extreme hopelessness was intensified by advice that I could not follow-through on. 

I was belittled and accused of making excuses, when the reality was that my stress-load was so high, and had been for way too long. Something “simple” to this person was truly impossible for me at that point in my life. At this point, my son also became suicidal and I was accused of giving him that idea. I tried very hard to hide my depression and my suicidal thoughts from my children. Since this person thought my depression was attention-seeking behaviour, he thought my son was imitating this attention-seeking. So, when I asked for help because my son was suicidal and his brother was frantic over the situation, I was told to go to a parenting workshop.

This person was well-meaning. Probably very frustrated with me. However, the “help” dramatically increased my hopelessness.

I had to take some time away from the kids and work on some strategies while the stress-load was removed. However, things didn't really improve until my oldest moved in with his dad and the stress-load decreased for the entire family.

I want to talk about several myths that surround depression. I want to share truths from the Scriptures, and I want to share some tools to help deal with depression – both as someone dealing personally with depression and for those with a loved one dealing with depression.First, I want to try to give you a glimpse into the mind of someone dealing with depression.

Waking up depressed is excruciatingly painful. The living darkness surrounds me, oppresses me, consumes me, filling me with negativity and despair. The darkness devours all hope, all dreams, all sense of worth. My eyes and ears are covered with scales that filter everything coming in, allowing only darkness to enter. No light can get to my mind, my emotions, my faith. 

Well rehearsed tapes of my failures and worthlessness play over and over. “You can't do anything right. You never will get it right. Your boys would be so much better off without you. No one would miss you if you were gone – in fact they would be happier if you and your depression were never heard from again. You think God will rescue you – well, we both know how disappointed He is with you. You have failed Him too many times already. You are worthless. You are a failure. You are ugly in body and soul and no one will ever love you. Your life causes more pain than good.” over and over and over with slight variations in content, but no variation in the overall message.

Anything someone says is twisted by this darkness. Professions of love or a desire to help are translated as pitiful attempts to get me to stop my depression because my depression is inconvenient for that person. Reminders of good in my life just can't get through the scales on my eyes and ears.

I want to share a couple of prayers that I wrote in times of depression – I have connected them together.

Dear Father, I look forward to a time when I will not start every prayer with a comment on how messed up I am! Right now I am finding it difficult to believe that I will ever see that time. I hate my depression and I hate myself for not stopping it. I hate my inability to change. The depressions are getting deeper and more frequent. How much of that is chemical imbalance and how much is my sin? Each depression pulls me further away from you. Each depression cancels work accomplished for you, and thus gets me more depressed! I have messed up so much that I find it difficult to pray. As my walk with you deteriorates, so do my relationships with Christians. I am so afraid that my depression will destroy my relationship with Wayne too. I hate the depression, yet it robs me of the ability to pray or read, it robs me of the power to overcome.

I am definitely still down. Instead of having a godly sorrow that leads to repentance, I am still hearing the demons telling me that I can’t change. That you hate disobedience and pride more than any other sin and that I’ve failed yet again. I am totally discouraged, aware that I am the problem in my own life. Back to the feelings I had as a suicidal teenager. I’m the one constant in every problem in my life. Right now I feel like there is too much to change. My faith is very weak and I don’t even know what hope is anymore. Absolutely everything is overwhelming – the dishes, the laundry, cooking, facing the boys when they come home from school.

Depression is far more than a pity-party.  It has a physical component -- a chemical imbalance -- just like diabetes or thyroid disease.  I'll post the rest of my message after I present it on Saturday.


If you live in the Ottawa area, I invite you to come to the breakfast at 9am Saturday, Nov.3.  It will be at Trinity Bible Church, 4101 Stagecoach Rd., Osgoode.  click here for more info.

Repentance

On October 4, my post was entitled the Keys to the Kingdom. In that post we looked at the first ever gospel message, preached by the Apostle Peter on Pentecost. Jesus had given Peter the Keys to the Kingdom of heaven, and Peter used those keys to show us how to get into heaven. Peter responded to those who were cut to the heart by his message with the instructions to:

“Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. This promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off – for all whom the Lord our God will call.” (Acts 2:38-39)

As the Bible records, the keys to the kingdom of heaven require us

1. to be cut to the heart by our sin and what Jesus did on the cross to redeem us
2. to repent
3. to be baptized for the forgiveness of sin

Let's look at repentance. Many people think repentance is just feeling sorry about your sin. That is part of being “cut to the heart.” Feeling sorry is not repentance.

In the New Testament, [repentance] does not merely mean “change of mind” (as some have gathered from the Greek term); it reflects the Old Testament and Jewish concept of “turning around” or “turning away' from sin. Jewish people were to repent whenever they sinned; the New Testament uses the term especially for the once-for-all turning a Gentile would undergo when converting to Judaism or any sinner would undergo when becoming a follower of Jesus.^*

I've heard repentance described as “making a 180.” Turn your life around in a completely different direction – the direction that God calls you to go.

To show that repentance meant more than just feeling sorry or having a change of mind, let's look at the first call to repentance in the New testament.

Then [John] said to the multitudes that came out to be baptized by him, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. (Lk 3:7-8 NKJV)

John the Baptist tells us that we need to bear fruits of repentance. There must be action that accompanies repentance. A Christian heritage or a Christian ceremony is not enough. Feeling sorry is not enough. We must turn away from sin and this turning will produce fruits – actions or results – of repentance.

Prayer: Father, we know we are sinners. It is our sin, it is my sin, that sent Jesus to the cross. That burdens my heart, and I know it burdens the hearts of many who read this. Please help us to respond to that burden with repentance. Let our lives be different today because we love Jesus. Show us the areas of our lives that need to change. Give us the strength and power to make that change. Thank you so much that Jesus went to the cross! Thank you that He led a sinless life so that we could have an example, and so that He could be the perfect sacrifice for our sins. Help us to imitate Him out of a deep love and gratitude. Please help us, please help me, not to belittle His sacrifice by clinging to our sin and our excuses. In the precious name of Jesus I pray, Amen.

*The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, Craig S. Keener, InterVarsity Press, 1993.

I have been crazy busy preparing for the Global Leadership Summit that happens today and tomorrow.  I have put together most of the display for the You Feed Them booth. As a result, I have not had any time to focus on this blog.  I received a devotion this morning that I want to share with you.  I have taken the liberty to share it with you, as there is a link to email it to your friends.  


Prime Time with God --The Power of Unity
TGIF Today God Is First Volume 1, by Os Hillman
10-18-2012
"That all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in Me and I am in You. May they also be in Us so that the world may believe that You have sent Me." John 17:21
What is the greatest power that allows the unsaved to make a decision for Jesus Christ? It isn't prayer, though this is important. It isn't good deeds, though deeds indicate a fruitful relationship with God. It isn't good behavior, though Christ commands us to be obedient as sons. The greatest power God's children have over darkness is unity. Jesus talked a great deal about His oneness with the Father and the importance of unity in the Body of Christ. It is the most difficult command Jesus gave to the Church, because it wars against the most evil aspect of our sin nature-independence.
In the last days we are seeing God's Spirit convict His children of the lack of unity among His Church. We are seeing God move between blacks and whites, ethnic groups, denominations, and parachurch groups. There is much work to be done. The walls of division and competition among His Body are a stench in God's nostrils. He sees the competition and the pride of ownership and weeps for the lost who cannot come to Him because they cannot see Him in His Body. When His Body is one, the unbelieving see that Jesus was sent by God. It is like a supernatural key that unlocks Heaven for the heathen soul. The key is in the hand of Christ's Church. When there is unity, there is power. Scripture tells us five will chase 100, but 100 will chase 10,000 (see Lev. 26:8). There is a dynamic multiplication factor in unity of numbers. We are a hundred times more effective when we are a unified group. Imagine what God could do with a unified Church.
Jesus prayed that we all might be one, as the Father and He are one. He wanted the same love God has for Jesus to be in each of us. When this love is in us, we are drawn to each other with a common mission. The walls fall down. The independent spirit is broken. Competition is destroyed. Satan's accusations are thwarted. Our love for each other is manifest to the world around us. Lost souls begin to seek this love that is so foreign to them.
Have you contributed to an independent spirit within His Body? Are you seeking to break down walls of competition among Christians, churches, denominations, and ethnic groups? Until we walk in the spirit of unity, we will hinder those in whom God has reserved a place in Heaven. Pray for His Church to be unified.
Today God Is First (TGIF) devotional message, Copyright by Os Hillman, Marketplace Leaders.

Today's Prayer

Dear God, I lift up your name and praise you this day, for you are the mighty God, creator of the universe, lover of mankind, sustainer of all, most magnificent and awesome father, most caring and devoted nurturer, most powerful of anyone and anything, all-knowing and ever-present. How can I even count the ways that you are worthy of my praise?! Thank you for your gift of love and life. Thank you for your promise of eternal life with you through your righteous son. Thank you for Jesus my Savior and the Holy Spirit who convicts and seals and guides me along the way. Thank you for the Word and your Word that illuminates, instructs, and leads me. I am grateful for who you are, all you do, and what you plan to do. In the name of Jesus I humbly come before you. Amen

Click here to go to Prime Time with God Facebook page.

Before and After -- rerun

My last Bible study post discussed the two keys to the kingdom of heaven are repentance and baptism.  I am very busy this week preparing a presentation about You Feed Them for the Canadian Global Leadership Summit.  We will be having a booth at the Ottawa location of this event, produced by Willow Creek.

As such, I don't have time to write another post just yet.  Here is a repost of  "Before and After."  Although it doesn't focus on the term repentance, it does focus on the meaning.

Before and After

            Most people in “Christian” circles associate the term Christian with those who are part of the kingdom of heaven.  Christians go to heaven... right?

(Mt 18:3) And [Jesus] said: “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

       Entering the kingdom of heaven requires change.   Jesus says in order to go to heaven, you must change – not just a little, but enough to recognize a child-like spirit.   This is not my teaching, but that of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.  I know of many people who call themselves Christians that are just like everyone else in our culture.  They certainly don't have the child-like heart to imitate their “Daddy.” Many of them know little more about God than that Jesus is the way out of hell and into heaven.  They don't have the innocence of childhood as they continue to swear and tell dirty jokes, as they cheat on their taxes or on their spouses, as they speed on the highway and speed past a beggar on the street, as they gossip and judge, as they fill up on TV and movies that are full of the messages of selfishness and sin that is now rampant in our culture,  as they spend more on entertainment than they give back to God, as they spend more to feed their pet than on taking care of the needy, as they live in a huge house while so many on the other side of the world have nowhere to live and no food to eat. Have these “Christians” really changed? Would Jesus say they have become like little children?  If there is no visible change in behaviour, has there really been a change at all?

The term “Christian” was first used as a derogatory name that meant “little Christ.”  Jesus was very different from anyone who had gone before Him.  For these early followers to be called “little Christs,” they must have changed from who they were before coming to know Jesus.  Their behaviour was so radically different from those around them, and so similar to what people had seen in Jesus,  that they earned the name Christian.  So, Christians as defined in the Bible are clearly going to heaven.  But claiming to be a  “Christian”  in North America today does not guarantee anything, including heaven.

Jesus taught that a person MUST CHANGE to enter heaven.

I can hear the argument already – change takes time.  True, change is an ongoing and life-long process.  However, if you truly have a relationship with the Living God – He won't let you stay the same.   I have seen a radical almost instantaneous change in many people when they decide to commit their lives to Christ. That is what Jesus is talking about here. Change does not earn your way into heaven, only the blood of Jesus on the cross can do that.  Rather, obvious ongoing change is a testimony that you are already in the kingdom of heaven and are being transformed by the Living God.  On the other hand, the lack of change is evidence that you are not yet in the kingdom of heaven. God has brought this to your attention, because He longs for you to join Him in heaven!  It all starts with commitment.  Make a commitment to give yourself fully to Jesus Christ, and He will make sure the rest of the details come together. This is much more than asking Him to forgive you and be your Savior.  It is much more like a marriage vow.

A person can be certain of entrance into the kingdom of heaven only if their life is marked by change – change from the inside out. Jesus declares that there must be a “Before and After” story for there to be a happy ending in heaven.

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving

Keys to the Kingdom

The Keys to the Kingdom

(Mt 16:15-19) “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say that I am?”

Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you lose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

Jesus is curious about what all the people are saying about him. He wants to know what His disciples have heard in terms of who people think He is. Then He directs the question to His disciples, “Who do you say I am?” Simon responds with the bold proclamation that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the Living God!

Jesus honors Simon by letting everyone know that God revealed this truth directly to Simon. Then Jesus gives Simon a new name – Peter – “the Rock.” Jesus is not done honoring Simon, now Peter. Jesus promises to give Peter the keys to the kingdom of heaven!

Wow! Jesus has given Peter power and authority of a unique kind. Peter has the keys that will unlock the doors to heaven. We are not talking about the cartoons where Peter is at the pearly gates with a ring of keys at his waist. Jesus promises that Peter will have the power and authority to show others how to enter the kingdom of heaven.

So, does the Bible ever tell us how Peter used those keys?

 It sure does!

Read Acts chapter 2 verses 14 to 39. After being filled with the Holy Spirit, Peter stands up before the crowd on Pentecost and shares the very first gospel sermon.

In verse 21, Peter quotes the prophet Joel “And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Peter finishes his sermon in verse 36 with “Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.”

Those who heard the sermon were “cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, 'Brothers, what shall we do?'”

OK, are you ready? Here is where Peter uses those keys to the kingdom of heaven.

Peter replied, “repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. This promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off – for all whom the Lord our God will call.” (Acts 2:38-39)

Repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins.

Peter, the man to whom Jesus gave the keys to His kingdom, did not say anything along the lines of “pray with me to receive Jesus as your personal Saviour.” There is no similar phrase in the entire Bible. When Peter answered the people's heart-felt cry of, “Brothers what shall we do?” He explained that there was more to “calling on the name of the Lord,” than a simple prayer.  It also wasn't enough to be cut to the heart about their sin.  Entrance into the kingdom of heaven requires repentance and baptism.