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1. Fighting Sexual Sin is Not About “Do More, Try Harder” A dangerous philosophy was circulating in the church at Colossae that was championing asceticism: if you want to remain pure, then separate yourself from the pleasures of the body that are so often a source of temptation. This philosophy said if you really want the fullness of divine life within you, then insulate your life. But Paul delivers a crushing blow to this philosophy: If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations—“Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” (referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh. (Colossians 2:20-23) No value. That is Paul’s verdict on asceticism. It simply doesn’t work. Yes, there is a grain of truth in the philosophy—all popular philosophies contain at least some wisdom in them. If you are tempted to sin sexually then it makes sense to get away from sexual temptations. This will keep sin at bay—but ultimately the flesh remains unsatiated. This false philosophy is still circulating in the church today. When the best advice we can give people is better Internet filters, cold showers, more hours in prayer, and trying harder, we have given into this philosophy that Paul says is of no value. This false philosophy either totally underestimates the power of sin, or it sets the benchmark of holiness too low. It either doesn’t get just how ingrained sexual sin is in us, or it thinks that merely getting rid of outward, blatant sexual sin is the goal. Neither is accurate. 2. Fighting Sexual Sin Starts with a New Identity Paul offers his readers another approach to fighting sin, and it starts with these core identity statements: “With Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world” (2:20) “You have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God” (3:3) “You have been raised with Christ” (3:1) “You were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead” (2:12) “You have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self” (3:9-10) “The riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (1:27) This is where a lot of modern readers check out. “Don’t give me these abstract theological ideas. I need something practical,” they think. But for Paul, there was nothing more practical, nothing more life-changing, than these ideas. We are united to the risen Christ by faith. His resurrection life flows in our veins now. The Spirit of the living Christ lives inside us, so we no longer belong to this world and the rules it plays by—we belong to Christ and the age to come. In order to have the power to fight lust, we first have to understand this: we no longer belong to sin. We belong to God who has accepted us and forgiven us, not because we purified ourselves first, but because we are united by faith to the Pure One, Jesus Christ. In order fight lust, we must understand that we no longer belong to lust. 3. Fighting Sexual Sin Continues by Kindling New Desires Knowing we are united to the living Christ, Paul writes, “Seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth” (3:1-2). The terms Paul uses here mean to center one’s interests, focus, and passions one something—to savor something. Now that God has united us to the risen Christ, we savor that reality, and this kindles new desires in us that displace a desire for sin. What are these “things” above that we should savor? First, we are to savor Christ himself. This is one of the reasons why Paul spills a lot of ink in this letter describing who Christ is. He is the beloved Son of God (1:13), the image of the invisible God (1:15), creator and sustainer of all things (1:16-17), the one whose blood reconciles us to the Father (1:20), the firstborn from the dead (1:18), and the one seated at God’s right hand (3:1). In him all the riches of wisdom and knowledge are hidden (2:3). The fullness of deity dwells in Him (1:19; 2:9). Second, we are to savor our new position before God. Christ is seated at God’s right hand and we are seated with Him (Ephesians 2:6). To be seated at a ruler’s right hand meant to be in the position of greatest authority, honor, and delight. Because Christ is in us, we share in the favor He has with the Father. Third, we are to savor the hope that some day we will see and experience these realities. Some day, Christ Himself will appear and we will appear with Him in glory (1:4). It is our destiny to be like the holy, pure Son of God. Some day our eyes will see the one who died for us and rose again, the one who is God in the flesh, and God will honor us as his royal children before every creature, every human soul, every angelic being in the universe. How does this practically help us to fight sexual sin? The reason why sexual sin can have such a grip on us is because of its power to define us and what is most valuable, how sexual pleasure makes us feel about ourselves. Sexual fantasy, pornography, or pursuing illicit sex makes us feel desired; it makes us feel valued and validated; it gives us a refuge; it gives us connection; it can even make us feel powerful. This is why setting our affections on things above is so important: it gives us a new center to our lives and gives us a completely new sense of value—not based in our worthiness but based on the love God has for Christ that overflows to us. 4. Fighting Sexual Sin is about Fighting For our New Desires Finally we come to Colossians 3:5, “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.” Paul here is not endorsing asceticism—something he has already refuted. Asceticism is about fighting to get rid of something we think is unholy, but mortifying sin is about fighting for the new affections that God is giving to us. We can construct helpful boundaries in our lives that keeps sexual sin out of reach, but we should do so standing on our identity as God’s beloved children, standing satisfied in Christ and God’s love. When sexual temptation comes knocking, we can say to it, “No, sin. That’s not who I am anymore. You do not define what life is to me anymore. You do not define me anymore. Christ is in me. I am a child of the king, and one day the whole world will know it.” 5. Fighting Sexual Sin is Sustained by Relationships that Remind Us of Our New Identity “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God” (Colossians 3:16). This is the essence of real accountability in the body of Christ. Yes, accountability involves confessing our temptations, sins, and the state of our heart, but it also involves godly encouragement. Accountability is not just about someone calling you out on your sin, but someone calling you up to the person you already are in Christ. Accountability is about surrounding yourself with the kind of Christian friendships that teach and admonish you, that inspire thankfulness, and that help us unpack all the wisdom contained in the great mystery that Paul called “Christ in us, the hope of glory” (1:27). Accountability is like stoking the embers of the fire. It does not add energy to the embers. It only exposes those embers to the air so new reactions can happen. When we engage in the disciplines of confession, encouragement, and mutual prayer we expose our souls again to the life-changing gospel, and God’s power is released again and again.

Since we all experience losses in our lives, we need to learn how to accept what we cannot change and grow through the crisis. How well we handle any crisis is determined by how we process three mental constructs. The first is permanence. The speed of recovery is greatly affected by whether we think the consequences of the crisis will have a short-term or long-term negative affect on us. The loss is permanent, but it doesn’t have to affect us permanently. There is the potential to grow through every crisis. Suppose your new employer is very irritable. It is a short-term problem if you think it is just a passing mood, and it will have little effect on you. But it is a long-term problem if you think the person is always irritable. You can respond to this crisis as follows: “I’m going to ignore him.” That is denial . “I’m going to be irritable back.” That is anger . “I’m going to try appeasing him.” That is bargaining. “I’m stuck with this irritable person whom I can’t change.” That is depressing. “I’m going to quit this job.” That is resignation. “I’m going to love him and learn how to live with him.” That is acceptance. The second construct is pervasiveness . You will recover slowly if you think your whole life is ruined. If you experience one loss-you are not a loser. If you fail to accomplish one goal-you are not a failure. If you get laid off at work-you are not unemployable. It is natural to grieve for what we have lost and it is an important part of the recovery process. However, a prolonged depression due to losses signifies an over attachment to people, places, and things that we have no right or ability to control. The martyred missionary, Jim Elliot said, “He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep in order to gain what he cannot lose.” The third mental construct is personalization. Blaming yourself for every loss will keep you in a rut. If you experience loss in one area, don’t generalize it into a total crisis. Keep it specific. If you experience a crisis today, don’t allow it to affect you tomorrow. Keep short accounts. If the world is disintegrating around you, don’t accept the blame when it’s not appropriate. If you are suffering the consequences of a bad decision, then change what you can, minimize your losses and move on. Such losses often cause us to evaluate who we are, especially if our identity was tied up with what we lost (i.e. job, or spouse). A crisis can deepen our walk with God and solidify our identity in Christ. Losses also precipitate the need for new relationships and change of scenery. These changes are probably necessary for our growth in Christ, but they would not have been made if not forced to do so. Nobody likes to entertain the idea of impermanence. We live every day with the assumption that tomorrow will be the same. We make plans for the future with the thought that we will have our health, and the same old job, family, and friends. James says otherwise. “Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that’” (James 4:13-15). Only God is permanent; everything else is changing. We are time-oriented people by nature, who are in the process of learning to see life from God’s eternal perspective. Three times Jesus told His disciples that He was going to Jerusalem and there He would be betrayed and crucified. The first time (Mark 8:31), they essentially denied Jesus and Peter even rebuked Him. The second time (Mark 9:32), they didn’t understand and were afraid to talk about it. On this third occasion (Mark 10:32-34), the disciples were astonished. Their life as usual was soon to be over. We all go through a very predictable reaction when an established lifestyle is abruptly ended by a crisis. Usually the crisis is defined by a significant loss that can be real, threatened or imagined. Our first response is denial and that can last for three minutes or thirty years. The initial reaction is a sense of disbelief, “No, not me!” Then we get angry and wonder, “How can this happen to me?” The anger often turns to bargaining. “Maybe I can alter what happened?” Finally, we feel depressed when the consequences if the loss cannot be reversed. Reaction to losses is the primary cause for depression. No crisis can destroy us, but they do reveal who we are. Learning to overcome losses is a critical part of our growth process. Everything we now have, someday we shall lose, except for our relationship with God. The critical questions are: Are we going to choose the path of resignation and allow the loss to negatively affect us for the rest of our lives, or are we going to accept what we cannot change and grow through the crisis? A wise person once said, A bend in the road is not the end of the road unless you fail to make the turn. www.discipleshipcounsel.com www.ficm.org Used by permission of Neil Anderson.

Me. Myself. And I. The three people we tend to care about the most in western civilization. Since the fall of Adam and Eve, the sickness of self-absorption has infected all of humanity, but it has particularly affected segments of the population that have adopted cultural values that revolve around the preservation of personal happiness. We are narcissists. In their book, The Narcissism Epidemic, psychologists Jean M. Twenge and W. Keith Campbell explore the rise of narcissism in American culture… Understanding the narcissism epidemic is important because its long-term consequences are destructive to society. American culture’s focus on self-admiration has caused a flight from reality to the land of grandiose fantasy. We have phony rich people (with interest-only mortgages and piles of debt), phony beauty (with plastic surgery and cosmetic procedures), phony athletes (with performance-enhancing drugs), phony celebrities (via reality TV and YouTube), phony genius students (with grade inflation), a phony national economy (with $18 trillion of government debt), phony feelings of being special among children (with parenting and education focused on self-esteem), and phony friends (with the social networking explosion). All this fantasy might feel good, but, unfortunately, reality always wins. The mortgage meltdown and the resulting financial crisis are just one demonstration of how inflated desires eventually crash to earth. So how do you know when you’re a carrier of this deadly disease? Well, first of all, you are. All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on him the sins of us all.– I saiah 53:7 NLT Obviously, some of us are affected by the narcissism more than others. There are plenty of people in our society who commit selfless acts of kindness on a daily basis and even heroic self-sacrificing deeds on occasion. We support causes, give to charity, and try to protect the people we love. But on the whole, we’re still highly concerned with protecting and providing for ourselves above anyone else. Thankfully, narcissism is a disease with a cure. But few people will discover the antidote and among those who hear about its healing power will be willing to swallow it entirely, having counted the cost of doing so. The cure for our narcissism epidemic is found in the cross. Jesus put it this way: Jesus told his disciples, “The nation’s leaders, the chief priests, and the teachers of the Law of Moses will make the Son of Man suffer terribly. They will reject him and kill him, but three days later he will rise to life.” Then Jesus said to all the people: If any of you want to be my followers, you must forget about yourself. You must take up your cross each day and follow me. If you want to save your life, you will destroy it. But if you give up your life for me, you will save it. What will you gain, if you own the whole world but destroy yourself or waste your life? Luke 9:22-25 CEV Practice self-forgetfulness. Take up your cross. Daily. Follow Jesus. That’s it. Stop focusing on your own wants and desires above all others and instead, embrace your cross on a daily basis and follow the example of Jesus in every possible way. And what does it mean to take up your cross? Well, it’s not about trying harder, doing better, or improving self. That’s all junk that came from our narcissism to begin with. Taking up our cross is a choice we must consciously make, but the cross we bear isn’t ours to choose. Just as Jesus submitted himself to every single detail of the painful plan of God for his life down to the last drop of blood he spilled on the cross, so we must choose to recognize that God himself is the very center of our universe and His will supersedes ours in every way. Whether life or death, happiness or suffering, taking up our cross involves us saying, as Jesus did in the garden on the eve of his death, “whatever you will, God.” Think of it this way. You don’t fly to Chicago. You can try, but your arms will get rather tired. What you can do is decide to get on the plane and allow yourself to go where the pilot takes you. Furthermore, the choice to take up our cross and follow Jesus is both a one-time decision as well as a daily series of decisions. I’m still learning to follow Him. I’m still fighting the remaining effects of the disease of narcissism. Thankfully, when I fail, I get to fall on the inexhaustible grace of God, look back to Jesus, and start following him again. The antidote is within reach. It’s free for the taking. Salvation is a gift from the Father of the One who died to make our redemption possible. Re-printed from www.brandoncox.com. Visit www.gracehillschurch.com.

Success has been accorded an endless array of definitions. Some are crafted to make failure seem more like success so that we can limp through life and fail without remorse or guilt. Other definitions are quite lofty, written to give us opportunity achieve in a manner that has little to do with the achievement and everything to do with restoring blunted self-esteems. Sometimes definitions are crafted as we go along, granting us permission to fluidly and nonchalantly alter the definition of success in order to form-fit whatever the outcome of our choices have been, thereby permitting us full license to define the outcome in whatever way suits us. Then there are other times when the definition of success is modified to diminish the works of those we’ve come to abhor and elevate those upon whom our favor has fallen. Some definitions of success are those shaped by the shifting pen of political correctness, or the placating tenets of the culture, or by the gnawing need for acceptance, or formed from the dictates of a particular social grouping that demands adherence to a prescribed set of standards. Whatever and wherever their source, a dizzying array of definitions abound. And it this mad array of definitions that sends us scurrying in a million different directions in order to be successful in whatever way success is defined at the moment. In the end, success becomes more defined by figuring out exactly what success is rather than actually fulfilling the definition. Why Success? It is interesting that success, in whatever manner it is defined, has come to define our worth and value. Success appears to have become the litmus test as to the credibility of our existence and the gauge of our value. Success has evolved into the exclusive commodity by which we ascribe value to ourselves and others. It is the thing that gives us status, grants us credibility, authenticates what we say, lends weight to our opinions, and awards us with the sense of a life well lived. It is the crown jewel of our existence, something to be vigorously pursued and rigorously obtained at all costs, for not doing so is a life squandered, opportunity lost, and self-esteem decimated. Success becomes so acutely defined and so irrevocably defining that we seldom entertain any other possible definition. We find ourselves so entangled in the culturally mandated definition and so absorbed in the achieving of that definition that the endeavor becomes inordinately consuming. We have no time to question the mark of success, and if we did we fear that the cultural definition might be correct and that our lives will have forever run amuck because we missed the cherished mark. Therefore, given that the defining scale of success has assumed such a dominant role in our culture, and given that we presume there to be some golden definition out there we must find a definition for it, otherwise we have no precise framework by which to determine our success or lack thereof. Once we feel we’ve landed on the singular definition of success, we throw ourselves into the chase for fear that our lives might devolve into obscurity, our legacy might be pathetic, and we ourselves remain contemptible. What We Do or Who We Are? Yet, the yardstick that we use to measure success is defined by what we do. It is measured by a series of accomplishments, the manner in which we have embellished life through those accomplishments, and the achievement of goals lofty behind the imagination of the common man and far beyond the reach of the hoards. It’s understanding what’s fundamentally achievable and then embracing the belief that success is defined as raising oneself significantly above that which is fundamentally achievable. It’s being intentional about ascending to some lofty escarpment that we ourselves had deemed impossible to surmount. In doing so, we evidence our worth as held up against the enormity of the task itself and the manner in which the everyday person accomplishes the task. If we can eclipse both, we feel that we have established our worth by virtue of these comparisons. Yet, the nature of such a mentality of success demands that we constantly achieve. It is an effort of insanely perpetual works that requires that we continually prove our worth as the previous achievement eventually fades sufficiently to demand a new one. Therefore, we become enslaved to achievements that demand nothing more than other achievements. With such an apparently irreconcilable flaw in thinking, it would be worthwhile to postulate that our worth must be based on something significantly more consistent and profoundly more fundamental. Value Based on Who We Are It would therefore be wise to consider the possibility that our worth is based on something so profound and unerringly rich that its worth singularly speaks for itself. It would make sense that our worth should be, and in reality is based on something that can’t be proven for no other reason than its value lies forever beyond our most magnificent achievements that would serve to even remotely evidence it. And that itself may be the great rub. Too often in life we want to control the things that define us. In the oddity of it all, we desperately want to discover and be obedient to what life says that defines our success while covertly crafting those very definitions behind the scenes. We can craft life, impose values, shift circumstances and modify a host of other variables that shape a definition of success in order to give us a maximum chance of success because we had a hand in determining what it is. Yet, we are entirely unable to define any manner of success that would rise to the level of value that we inherently possess. I would propose that next to God Himself, the thing of single greatest value is we ourselves. The priceless nature of a single human life, despite the manner in which we’ve blithely degraded that worth, is wholly immense. And this immensity is utterly inestimable on so many indescribable levels that proof stands as entirely irrelevant. Human beings stand as the most definitive accomplishment of creation, standing as the pinnacle of a creation that is indescribably marvelous in and of itself. We are the final touch of the cosmos themselves. We are the defining brush stroke of a creation that encompasses the galaxies, raised up mountains, gouged out canyons, threw birds into flight, painted fiery sunsets and spun the mesmerizing diversity of the seasons. We are God’s defining work. There can be no shade of arrogance or darkening of pride in such a reality as that would only serve to sadly mar us and leave us with a diminished countenance. Indeed, we should be inordinately humbled that we are God’s crowning achievement and that, aside from any purported success grants us inestimable worth. It is not about proving our worth through the sweaty efforts of success. It is about realizing successes of even the loftiest sort and boldest character could not in and of themselves prove our worth, for it is entirely inherent and undeniably priceless. It is in recognizing this precious reality that we work to achieve in life for the sheer pleasure of achievement, rather than as a despairing effort to establish our worth. We walk through life with vigor and tenacity out of a sense of worth, not out of some desperate effort to prove our worth. Life is engaged energized and inspired by our worth, rather than depleted in the pursuit of it. Our days are lived embracing the reality that our value is based on who we are, and to embrace that liberating reality is to embrace a life liberated. © 2015 Craig Lounsbrough, M.Div., Licensed Professional Counselor

“Sid, come to my office. We need to talk.” As Sid sat there wondering what was happening, the school official said, “Sid, I really like you. I believe in you. Yet, your grades aren’t cutting it here. You know it and I know it. Here is the good news. People with your character and values go on to be the CEOs of the straight A students. Yes, I am kicking you out of this college. Good luck.” Here is the irony to Sid’s story. Sid is now one of the largest donors to that school. He ended up being that CEO. In fact, a CEO of a Fortune 500 company. It wasn’t his grades that made him successful. It was what his parents put into him as a kid while he was in school that made him successful. 1: Read, read, read and when in doubt, read to your kids. Successful is… Sid was asked to leave his school because of his low grades. But he was a success because his parents taught him a love of learning and good life skills. A successful student isn’t defined by the grades on their report card. A successful student is one that: enjoys learning, is self-motivated, and connects the dots about others, like gratitude. Learning is a life-long journey. Life skills out-perform good grades. Reading is the Building Block Want to be an Attorney? You will have to read a lot. Want to be a Doctor, an Engineer, an Actor, or a Salesman? You will have to read a lot to be successful in your career. As my friend, Jeff Brown of Read to Lead, says, “Readers Lead and Leaders Read.” If you want to succeed above and beyond, reading is necessary. Encourage Reading by Reading Andrea’s favorite afternoon activity with her young children was to read a book for 20 minutes as she fell asleep on the coach. The kids joke that mom would read and start to slur her words as she fell asleep. The point is that Andrea made a routine to always find time to read, no matter how tired. Andrea would let the kids decide which books they wanted to read. (For full disclosure, the book, “Go, Dog, Go” was accidentally left outside during a thunderstorm and ruined, so she didn’t have to read it anymore.) When teaching reading to the kids, let them struggle and do it themselves. It will drive you crazy at times to help them with the word “that” for the 10,000th time their reading skills will grow much faster. When your child reads to you, overlook the mispronounced words. They will eventually get it. Better they believe they can read and enjoy the experience at a young age. Support Creativity by being Creative Crayons are cheap. Paper is cheap. Creativity is priceless. Give your kids lots of object to be creative with. Our kids love using the toilet paper rolls for all sorts of creative projects. It doesn’t need to be fancy or expensive for it to be fun to your kids. Your response to their projects is important to encourage them to explore more. Hanging the project on the wall or refrigerator is way more important than a perfect looking home. The tablet and phone will grab your children’s attention if this is what you grab first to entertain your kids. Grab crayons and craft paper first. Dream with your kids and watch them take off. Action Steps Find a time and create a habit to read to your young kids. Define a successful student as someone that loves reading and learning. Let them choose books that they want to read. Encourage them to practice reading and let them struggle through the words. Get crayons and craft items for your kids to create works of art. Parenting Tip/ Pocket Answer Readers will flourish. 2. Don’t buy a ticket to the Homework Dog and Pony Show How often did Dr. Leman help his kids with their homework? How often did Dr. Leman ask his kids if they finished their homework? His answers make sense, but do they really work? Find out in this episode. Dr. Kevin Leman never asked if his kids finished their homework. He keeps the tennis ball of life on their side of the court. So, they learn to be responsible for their own work. 1. It is their life and it is their homework, not yours. Let the teacher be the authority to get the work done. Your children will learn that they will be responsible for their work by others than mom and dad. When the report card comes home, Dr. Leman recommends saying to your kids, “I have a hard time understanding why, they send me YOUR report card. This is your report card. How do you feel about this report card?” I’ll never know if my kids are doing good or bad in school, if I don’t ask. Your kids want you to be engaged in their life. They will volunteer information about their school work. Your job is to show interest in their work. If they volunteer information, be positive and keep it their homework. Feel free to call the teacher and ask how you can help support the teacher to insure his school work gets done. What do I do if their grades are poor? The next time, they want to do or go somewhere, say, “Nope, we need to have this conversation about your grades. Within 4 years, a person will look at your grades from High School and will make inferences about you from those grades. If those grades are poor, they won’t want to accept you into college or a job. Are you happy with those grades? What do we need to do to get them up?” 2. School first, play second. Set the school first culture early. Get your child their own special spot to study. Set it up with their favorite pencil, good lighting and their touch. Set a specific time that homework starts, like 4 pm. This gives your kids the routine that I have my place, my stuff and a set time that school work gets done. Give your kid some time to play or decompress when the first get home from school, then encourage them to go to their spot and do their school work. Early on and later, put up their “work” on the frig. Show off their homework. 3. Don’t load the wagon so full. Make sure your child has enough time for the important things of life as well as the extra activities. Does your child have time to simply enjoy life? Does your child have time for his friends to come over? Does your child have enough time to get his school work done? Be pro-active in evaluating what does on the family wagon, so you kid’s can do the important things. Summation of podcasts by Dr. Leman. Used by permission. www.birthorderguy.com/podcast/046-3-no-brainer-ideas-to-make-your-child-a-successful-student/

I know a pastor in California who reversed his position on homosexuality. The pastor said that his shift coincided with his 15 year-old son’s announcement that he is gay. This is a situation every Christian should think through, now. At stake on the issue of a Christian sexual ethic is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. But what if, sitting across from you, is your child or grandchild? You will, without a doubt, have someone close to you in your family come out as gay or lesbian, if not already, then sometime in the future. How should a Christian parent or grandparent respond? One of the reasons this is such a crushing experience for many is because they assume that their alternatives are affirmation or alienation. I either give up my relationship with my child or I give up the Bible. The gospel never suggests this set of alternatives, and in fact demonstrates just the opposite. Every child, whether gay or straight, is oriented toward sin, and so are you. If your child or grandchild says he or she is gay, you shouldn’t act shocked, as though you are surprised your child might be tempted toward sin, or that you find your own sinful inclinations somehow less deserving of God’s judgment. Your child’s point of temptation doesn’t mean that your entire relationship with him or her should be defined by that. We don’t affirm what the Bible says is wrong simply because someone we love is drawn toward it, whether that’s “straight” fornication or gay relationships. At the same time, that doesn’t mean your entire relationship is now to become a sparring match over Romans 1. Ironically, those who cut off all relationship with a gay child buy into the narrative of the Sexual Revolutionaries, that every aspect of one’s identity is defined by sexual orientation and activity. As a Christian, you believe this person is made in the image of God, and thus worthy of love, regardless of how far away from God, or from you. First of all, consider what your child is telling you. He or she could be saying that this is an identity, from which they refuse to repent. That will require a different sort of response than if the child is saying, “This is how I feel, so what do I do?” This will change the way you respond, but what doesn’t change is your love and care for this child. Don’t panic and don’t reject them. Say explicitly that you love that child, no matter what, and mean it. Your relationship wasn’t formed by the child’s performance, and that won’t start now. If your loved one is a Christian, spend time over the years discipling him or her about what following Christ looks like. Jesus isn’t shocked by his or her temptations, and will not leave him or her alone to fight them. The path toward chastity and fidelity to Christ is a difficult one, and your child or grandchild will need you and the church and the great cloud of witnesses to cheer him or her on, as they walk a path that can be lonely in a world that too often defines sex and sexuality as ultimate in life. If your loved one isn’t a Christian, express your love, keep the relationship going, and be a gracious gospel witness. God never promises us that our children or grandchildren will all walk the way of Christ. Every wandering son or daughter needs to know that if the moment of crisis comes in his or her life, there’s a house waiting with a fatted-calf party ready to go, welcoming the wanderer home. One of the reasons this is so hard for some parents and grandparents is because somehow we assume this issue to be merely a “culture war” issue, and not a gospel issue. As such, parents are often perplexed as to how to deal with this in their families because they think this is about them. They wonder if others will judge them, as though they did something to “cause” this. That’s ridiculous, and it leads people ultimately either to reject biblical teaching to keep their kids or reject their kids (and their gospel witness to them) for the sake of appearing to keep the biblical teaching. At the root of all of that is pride, and I don’t mean that in the sense of “gay pride” but in the sense of carnal self-seeking. That’s a temptation for all parents, not just for those of gay children. We’re tempted to see our children as reflections of ourselves, and we’re tempted then to keep up our image. Crucify that temptation. God calls us to holiness, and to encourage one another to holiness. The Bible is clear that this means fleeing from sexual immorality, and that includes same-sex sexual activity (1 Cor. 6). God also calls parents to love their children. Be clear about your convictions, and at the same time don’t exile your child from your life. If we sacrifice grace for truth or truth for grace, we’re sub-Christian. www.russellmoore.com . Russell Moore is president of The Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission.

How do you beat porn addiction? For the man or woman who has been fighting this battle for the long time, often its seems like there’s no hope in sight. When we want to change, what practical defenses can be put in place that make for lasting change? Bob Reehm, author of The War Within , presents seven key tactics for maintaining sexual purity. Bob’s approach is both unique and refreshing because he weaves together his knowledge of Scripture with his experience in Naval warfare, painting a vivid picture of the spiritual battle behind sexual sin. Tactic #1: Scripture Memory – Bob writes, “A ship in the water is a good thing. Water in the ship is a bad thing. A Christian in the world is a good thing. The world in the Christian or a worldly Christian is a bad thing.” The question is: How do we keep water out of the boat? We need to utilize the weapons God has given us, and the primary weapon we have is His Word. Tactic #2: Armed with His Promises – Knowing God’s Word, we also need to apply it and meditate upon it. In times of temptation, in times of failure, and in all the ups and downs of life, we must have on the armor of God’s promises to fortify our hearts and minds. Just like a warship’s steel exterior, we must arm ourselves with His great promises, putting our trust in them, not in our feelings. Tactic #3: Reckoning Ourselves Dead to Sin – The Bible says that those who have the Spirit of Christ in them are united to Christ in his death and resurrection. This means we are currently “dead to sin.” What we must do is reckon or count this to be true. Like a warship wrapped in electromagnetic coils to ward off magnetic mines, when we wrap ourselves in Jesus Christ, we can ward off temptation. Tactic #4: Warfare Prayer – When an airplane attacks a ship on the open sea, the ship cannot outrun the plane. It must stand and fight. When Satan attacks with tempting thoughts, we cannot outrun him, but we can outgun him. Like Jesus in the wilderness, we need to have Scripture in our hearts and minds, ready to speak aloud when Satan whispers deceiving thoughts. Tactic #5: Retreat – When tempting situations present themselves, rather than remaining and letting ourselves be entertained by the idea of sin, God commands us to flee. When a ship is in range of an enemy’s guns, and there is no way to counterattack, the best thing to do is get out of range. Tactic #6: Cast Your Cares on God – When a submarine wants to attack a warship, it can hide beneath the “thermal layer” under the water. Similarly, often hidden motives and hurts in our hearts move us to act out in sinful ways. We turn to sin as an escape. Instead, we need to make God our refuge, learning the art of crying out to Him in times of frustration, exhaustion, and pain. Tactic #7: Community – No one goes to war alone. When the enemy attacks we need comrades to help us fight well. When it comes to fighting temptation and sin, we need to have fellow Christians around us, challenging us to holiness. www.covenanteyes.com . Used by permission of Luke Gilkerson.

Guest Author: Dr. Faydra Shapiro Introductions are funny things – sometimes it’s what is unsaid, what is assumed, that can tell you the most. Several years ago I gave a talk at a church in North America about Israel and Jewish-Christian relations. The listeners were very encouraging and as the talk drew to a close I felt I had really done a superb job of teaching and inspiring the audience. Until the moment when one elderly gentleman stood up to ask me a question. He said: “Thank you very much, Dr. Shapiro. That was a great talk. But one thing you didn’t really speak about was the role of your faith in Jesus Christ”. “Oh, dear”, I thought, my heart sinking. Clearly I had done a brilliant job, but I had missed an essential point. Since that day I take the time to state it plainly and for the record: I am a Jew. Admittedly a Jew with an out-of-the-ordinary interest in Christianity and the New Testament, but still, simply, an “Orthodox” Jew. That doesn’t necessarily matter much, but it’s always useful to know where a person is coming from. Today I want to discuss an issue that comes up often in my conversations with Christian – almost always evangelical – friends and students. This is the matter of “having a relationship with God”, and the belief that this is one of the benefits of the Jesus path. While I do recognize that the whole rhetoric of “relationship not religion” is a product of 1970s popular American evangelicalism, it is an attiude that has important implications even if it might not be mobilized by many Christians. Now again, let’s pay attention to the unsaid. Having a relationship with God as opposed to what? The other (clearly undesirable) option is “religion”. So with Jesus one can ostensibly have something true and immediate – a personal relationship with God, whereas Jews only have “religion”. Let’s unpack this a little. “Relationship” is understood to refer to something intimate, experiential, mystical, personal, friendly, deep, spiritual. “Religion” is ascribed the associations of being rule-oriented, man-made, legalistic, formal, distanced and superficial. Given these resonances, clearly having a relationship is something desirable whereas religion is something to progress past. And it is not uncommon for Christian readings of the gospels to assume precisely this – that what Jesus offered people was a personal (intimate, deep) relationship with God specifically in distinction to the Jews who only offered (formal, sterile) religion. You can imagine the impact that this kind of slogan has for Christian understandings of Judaism. It’s also interesting how this emphasis resonates with the current wave of people who insist that they are “spiritual, not religious.” The fact is that Judaism takes the idea of the individual’s relationship with God very seriously. It is obvious to Jews that both fear of God and love of God are important, and that emphasizing one over the over leads to an unhealthy imbalance. But the Jewish love of God and personal relationship with Him ends up looking quite different than that of contemporary evangelical Christianity for several reasons. First, most Jews find popular evangelical lyrics and expressions like “My Saviour, my closest friend” and “Jesus take the wheel” to be far too casually intimate with the Holy One Blessed be He, to be comfortable. The concern is that this approach casts the sovereign, powerful, Master of the Universe into a being dangerously much like ourselves. Second, Jews believe that doing His will is the highest expression of love, gratitude and clinging to God. In short, good relationships are expressed in action. Because performing mitzvoth (commandments) often looks so foreign to outsiders, it is very difficult for Christians to recognize things like keeping the dietary laws or Sabbath observance for what it is supposed to be – a declaration of love for God. I believe that the ideal for both Judaism and Christianity is a balance and an integration of heart and hands, relationship and religion, informal and formal, spontaneous and fixed. Our challenge is to look for the unseen behind the slogan, and behind our assumptions – to learn to see the “spiritual” in Judaism and the role of “practice” or “holy living” in Christianity. Soon Jews around the world will be marking the holiest day of the year – yom kippur (the Day of Atonement). It is a powerful day, dedicated to intensive prayer and fasting, with some of the most profound and moving liturgy of the Jewish tradition. Several times on that awesome day we will describe our relationship to God with these words: For we are your people, and you are our God. We are your children, and you are our Father. We are your servants, and you are our Lord. We are your community, and you are our Portion. We are your heritage, and you are our Lot. We are your flock, and you are our Shepherd. We are your vineyard, and you are our Keeper. We are your work, and you are our Maker. We are your companions, and you are our Beloved. We are your treasure, and you are our Friend. We are your people, and you are our King. We are your betrothed, and you are our Betrothed. From www.eteacherbiblical.com

Why do kids lie? They start early. It’s hard to trust again after a child has started habitually lying. How can you be sure he won’t lie again? How do you break him of the habit? Because once he starts, it’ll only get worse. If you’ve got a child who’s started lying, here are some things you may want to know. Kids lie for two basic reasons. One is for wish fulfillment . Some kids will come home and tell you they scored three goals in soccer…and then you find out they didn’t play at all. The second is out of fear . “Did you break that vase?” you demand. “No, I didn’t do it! Little Joey did it!” your seven-year-old claims. Most children lie out of fear. in order for there to be a relationship between two human beings, it must be based on trust otherwise the lying will become a mountain and get between them. So if your child lies to you, he needs to be caught in that lie and told that lying is not acceptable. There also needs to be a second consequence for lying. Let’s say that, a couple days later, your child says something like, “Can I go next door and play with Ronnie?” Your answer needs to be a matter-of-fact “No.” “Buy why?” your child asks. “You always let me go.” Now’s the teachable moment. “Honey, I don’t have any assurance that you’re going to be where you said you’ll be. Remember Wednesday night, when you told me you were going to be at Susan’s—and you weren’t?” Do you beat the kid over the head with the lie? No. Don’t drag it out long term. But saying something like that two or three times makes a memorable impression on a child that lying isn’t what you do. It doesn’t gain you anything, and it breaks down trust between the two of you. Children need to see and feel that immediate result. Remember the age old admonition: “You won’t get in trouble if you tell me the truth.” That needs to be true of your family. If your child tells the truth she can know that you’re unhappy, but she should not be punished for telling the truth. In those situations, you’ll need to think carefully before you open your mouth. How you respond to such a situation directly relates to how comfortable your child is in telling you the truth. Kids can be as dumb as mud and will do stupid things, but if they own up to them and say they’re sorry, they need to know that life will go on and you won’t beat them over the head for years for their mistake. Lastly, parents too have to be careful about their own lies; even those pesky little white lies are still lies. If you say to your child, “If someone from work calls, I’m not here,” and it’s not the truth, your child is smart enough to know it. And then your kid thinks, If it’s okay for you to lie, it’s okay for me to lie. Don’t forget, if you value honesty, you must also model it for your children. And that goes for any bit of character you’d like to see develop in your child For more on raising kids, Have a New Kid by Friday is a valuable resource! Purchase Have a New Kid by Friday HERE . – See more at: www.birthorderguy.com/parenting/liar-liar-pants-on-fire/

Share 0 I talked with a young woman who viewed the Christian life as one of utter dullness. She knew that following Christ was the right thing to do, but she was certain it would mean sacrificing her happiness. Where did this young woman, who was raised in a fine Christian family and church, acquire such an unbiblical notion? What are we doing—what are we missing—that leaves many of our children and our churches laboring under such false impressions? Why do we think it would be unspiritual for the Christian life to be centered on what God calls the good news of happiness (Isaiah 52:7)? Celebration and gladness of heart have characterized the church, including the suffering church, throughout history. Scripturally, the culture of God’s people is one of joy, happiness, gratitude, eating and drinking, singing and dancing, and making music. It’s not the people who know God who have reason to be miserable—it’s those who don’t. Unfortunately, children who grow up seeing church as a morose, hypercritical place will turn their backs on it in their quest for happiness. Those who have found happiness in the church, and ultimately in Christ, will usually stay or return. If we want our children and grandchildren and future generations to seek God as the answer to their deepest longings, we must teach them the foundational truth that He is by nature happy. They need to see that the God who brings them the Good News really can (and longs to) “change their sadness into happiness” (Jeremiah 31:13, NCV). When we understand that the God of the Bible is both happy and powerful enough to overcome our greatest grief and suffering and to give us cause for eternal happiness, Satan’s arguments against trusting God will lose their power. Sadly, few churches teach that God is happy—or wants us to be happy. We are unintentionally silencing the biblical revelation of one part of God’s nature, at great loss to the church, families, and individuals. I believe it’s vital that we not leave our children and future generations of Christians to figure out for themselves that God is happy. Most never will. How can they, unless their families and churches teach them and demonstrate God-centered happiness in their own lives? We need to tell them that sin, suffering, shame, and unhappiness are temporary conditions for God’s people. We’ll once and for all be righteous, healthy, shame free, and happy. Once we’re in His presence, we’ll never again experience the anger, judgment, and discipline of God we see in Scripture (all of which are appropriate and important, but even now do not nullify His happiness or love). What if our children and grandchildren learned from childhood that to know God is to know happiness—and to not know Him is misery that propels us to search for happiness where it can’t be found? What if, without having to explore the world’s sin, as Augustine did, they could understand his prayer after his conversion: “There is a joy that is not given to those who do not love you, but only to those who love you for your own sake. You, yourself, are their joy”?[i] What if they understood Augustine’s words, “They who think there is another, pursue some other and not the true joy”?[ii] What if our children saw in our families and churches a breadth of Christ-centered, ultimately optimistic happiness and were taught that this happiness originates in God, not the world? How might it fulfill these words: “That the generation to come might know, even the children yet to be born, that they may arise and tell them to their children, that they should put their confidence in God” (Psalm 78:6-7, NASB)? Imagine if our churches were known for being communities of Jesus-centered happiness, overflowing with the sheer gladness of what it means to live out the good news of great joy! And what if when our families left church and went to school, work, restaurants, and musical and dramatic performances, they didn’t feel they were walking away from God but toward the same happy God they’ve been worshiping? Envision how contagious the doctrine of God’s happiness could be if taught and grasped and lived out. What if we really believed the gospel doesn’t just offer us and our children and our communities and our world what we need but offers us what, in the depths of our hearts, we want? What if when suffering came, we faced it with an underlying faith that erupted into genuine gladness and thanksgiving? What if instead of looking away or being paralyzed by the needs of this world, we—with humility and gladness—reached out to intervene for the hungry, the sick, the unborn, the racially profiled, and the persecuted? Wouldn’t our children be less likely to leave the Christian faith, push away church as a bad memory, and pursue the world’s inferior happiness substitutes that will ultimately destroy them? I’m not talking about contrived happiness as a pretense or a strategy for church growth, but the genuine happiness that naturally flows from God and the gospel. Jonathan Edwards said, “It is of infinite importance . . . to know what kind of being God is. For he is . . . the only fountain of our happiness.”[iii] Sadly, some imagine that following Christ boils down to, “Just say no to happiness!” My hope and prayer is that we can counteract that misconception in our families and churches with a biblical doctrine of happiness, built upon the happiness of God. May we teach them that “In your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore” (Psalm 16:11). [i] Augustine, Augustine’s Confessions (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014), 52. [ii] Augustine, The Confessions of Saint Augustine (New York: E. P. Dutton, 1900), 255. [iii] Jonathan Edwards, “The Importance and Advantage of a Thorough Knowledge of Divine Truth,” Select Sermons. www.epm.org

Share 0 Have you settled for a mediocre faith? Is your prayer life mundane, expectations low. God is bigger than that. Steven Furtick preaches about childlike faith. “Paul said to not let anyone look down on you because you are young.” • I’m an expert on the idea of being dumb enough that God can do anything. Anything that is written in God’s Word is possible for anyone who believes. Audacious faith is the hope, the passion of my life and ministry. These words constantly inspire me: “I despair at the thought that my life might slip by without God showing Himself mighty in my life.” – Jim Cymbala. 2 Kings 3:9-20 is an incident in the life of the prophet Elisha. Elisha is an under-rated prophet. • Elisha did miracles everywhere he went. Fire from heaven, rain to heal a drought, defeating the host of prophets of Baal. There’s is nothing God can’t do. We can position ourselves, learn and get training, but only God can make it rain. After we’ve done all that we can do, we have to remember that only God can send favor, mercy, salvation, and healing. Only God can make it rain. Proverbs 3:5-6 states that… “in ALL your ways acknowledge Him.” We can’t expect God to show up in our work unless we do our work God’s way. You can do it. You can make it. When you attend conferences, or come together with other believers and Christian leaders, in at atmosphere like this it’s easy to get fired up, be inspired, motivated to act, etc. But we have to praise God for inspiration. But how will you get from inspiration to implementation? Having good ideas doesn’t make you a visionary, it makes you a daydreamer. The difference is having the audacity and courage to act. God gives you the faith to get started. If the size of the vision you have isn’t intimidating to you there’s a good chance it’s insulting to God. Remember Elijah’s faith. If you want to see the land filled with water, dig some ditches. Dig ditches in preparation for how God wants to use your life. You may not see rain or even see clouds, but don’t wait to get to work until you seethe evidence of God’s blessing. Faith believes it before it sees it. Pray for God to start a groundswell. Don’t let time talk you out of your dreams. Life can beat the audacity out of you. God is not done with you yet. Do it or die trying. True faith has a bit of ambiguity to it. No leader is ever 100% sure that they’ve heard from God. Just like Elijah, keep digging ditches. One of the reasons we struggle with insecurity is because we are comparing our behind-the-scenes with others highlight reels. If you will dig the ditches God will send the rain. If you will do what you can do God will do what only He can do. Sometimes it doesn’t seem like anything is happening, but you don’t know what God is doing behind-the-scenes. Hebrews 11:1 states that “Faith is the evidence of things hoped for and the evidence of things not yet seen.” Expect God to do great things through your life. Don’t dig one ditch… make the valley full. Noah looked stupid building a boat until it started to rain. When the vision you see around you doesn’t match what God has spoken to you, you’ve got to close your eyes and hold on to what you’ve heard. Be a ditch-digger. Believe for God to do great things. Notes by timschraeder.com. Used by permission.

Revelation 2:8-9 8 “To the angel of the church in Smyrna write the following: “Thus says the one who is the first and the last, the one who was dead, but came to life: 9 ‘I know the distress you are suffering and your poverty (but you are rich). The city of Smyrna was one of the three cities in Asia Minor who competed for the status of being the greatest city of the region along with Ephesus and Pergamum. The name of the city itself simply meant myrrh – expensive fragrance, because in the ancient times this was the chief expert of the city. Smyrna just like Ephesus was a coastal city perfectly positioned for accumulating enormous wealth because of its port and central location on trade route connecting all other cities of the Roman province of Asia Minor. Out of all seven cities mentioned in Revelation only Smyrna survives today as an inhabited city. It is called Izmir and it is located in the West of modern Turkey. The city was founded twice. Once it around as a Greek colony in Western Anatolia (around 1100 BCE) and after its total destruction was once again returned to life and habitation under the regional administration of Alexander the Great (4th century BCE). Perhaps, it is because of this known history of Smyrna as being dying and coming back to life that Jesus in his message to the messenger in Smyrna highlighted this particular aspect of his own life: He was also dead and came back to life. In a series of statements regarding Jesus’ personal knowledge of the perilous situation of his followers believers in the city of Smyrna, the Heavenly Priest, who is able to sympathize assures the congregation in Smyrna that the suffering and financial difficulties of this community is known and understood by him well. Yet Jesus tells the people experiencing social and, therefore, economic sanctions/isolation from prosperous Jewish and Pagan communities of Smyrna that in all reality they are rich. This idea of “things are not what they seem” will reappear many times throughout the book of revelation. I also know the slander against you by those who call themselves Jews… The second affirmation of Christ’s intimate acquaintance with the difficulties of Jewish and God-fearing followers of the Way had to do with a slander against them. Slander is a criminal action of making a false usually a spoken statement damaging to a person’s or group of persons’ reputation. This section is extremely important in order for us not to swerve from the road we are currently on – rereading the Letter of Revelation as a Jewish Christ-following document. Here too again the standard theory preconditions/forces the reader to think by the later categories while reading first century texts. The traditional theory goes something like this: The Christian Church at Smyrna suffered at the hands of the Jews. The Jews thought they were the people of God but were actually they were self-deceived representatives of Satan. Christians were now the People of God just as Jews once were. Why are were these people said not to be the Jews then? It is simple, the traditional theory posits – They were Jews by race and religion only. But they were not spiritual children of Abraham. Paul made the point in his writings that: “A man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit” (Rom.2:29). The Christian Church now was the Israel of God, the “true circumcision” and “the true Jews”, who worshiped God through Christ Jesus. But there are all kinds of misconceptions and anachronisms that are present in this common and usually unchallenged reconstruction of what took place in the City of Smyrna. This reconstruction that I sought to briefly present above is usually offered together with a story of martyrdom of great man of God Polycarp (bishop of Smyrna), disciple the Apostle John. When he was offered life in exchange for a public denial of Jesus and acceptance of Roman Emperor as Lord he uttered now his iconic words: “Eighty and six years have I served Him, and He has never done me wrong; how, then, can I blaspheme my King and my Saviour!” The story of Polycarp’s Martyrdom, though being one of the greatest stories that inspired millions of Christians for the greater commitment to the Lord, may not be historical at some very important points. The earliest manuscripts of Polycarp’s Martyrdom are dated to the tenth century CE and come across as full of inspirational Christian interpellations. This becomes clear when the story in Martyrdom of Polycarp is compared to the account as told by Eusebius in his Church History written in the fifth century CE. The differences are considerable. There are other issues like literary parallels with the passion of Christ that are doubtfully coincidental. Moreover, by the fifth century CE the Christ-followers have already developed what can be called Historic Non-Jewish (and often-times anti-Jewish) Christianity and therefore it is doubtful that documents coming from under the feather of fifth century Christian historians such as Eusebius can be trusted completely, especially when they involve the Jews. My point here is not that nothing in Eusebius’ account of the Martyrdom of Polycarp is true. But that simply we do not have ideologically independent and reliable sources to establish the details of Martyrdom, especially involving the Jews of the city of Smyrna, claiming that they led the way and encouraged the murder of St. Polycarp. The accuracy of Eusebius’s account have often been called into question many times both today and in the ancient times. For example, in the 5th century, the Christian historian Socrates Scholasticus described Eusebius as writing for “rhetorical finish” and for the “praises of the Emperor” rather than the “accurate statement of facts.” (Socrates Scholasticus, Church History, Book 1.1) The so-called historical methods of Eusebius were criticized by many modern scholars, which show that at least his chronology was something between an exact science and an instrument of propaganda. My suggestion, therefore, is to leave the story of the dating and the authenticity of these materials to the scholars of later periods and not to allow those accounts of Polycarp (whether they are true, false or only partially so) to influence our reading of a much earlier text of Revelation. We need to be able to read the Letter of Revelation as a first century literary work without borrowed insights and inspiration from later often-times anti-Jewish theology. … and really are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. The translation choice of the overwhelming majority of Christian translations of the Book of Revelation for the Greek is a synagogue of Satan. This a perfect example of inconsistent and clearly anti-Jewish (though most of the time without any malicious intent) translation. By inconsistency I mean that in the cases when the word synagogue is positive or neutral in meaning it is translated as a “congregation” or as “assembly” (James 2:2 “For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes…”), but in the cases that it is negative like in this case it is translated not as congregation or assembly of Satan – something that in modern minds evokes strictly Jewish (vs. non-Jewish) affiliation – “the synagogue”. If we read this text as is normally done in the context of Christian Polycarp being practically murdered in the mid-second century by the Jews. We will not be able to see any other interpretive options here at all. We would actually, as our interpretations of this normally do, have to disagree with what Jesus may be saying. Jesus says that those who slander his followers in Smyrna were dishonest about their Judean affiliation. They were actually not Jews. They only pretended doing so. One way to look at it is as we discussed before. That is these people are Jews in ethnicity and religion only, but not really in their hearts. But what if Jesus was right literally?! What if these people slandering the Jewish believers in Jesus and those who joined them in following the Jewish Christ were not Judeans/Jews at all? What if they were recent converts to the Judean life-style package from the Romans – a well-known and problematic phenomena in the Roman Empire? Incidentally, the utter religious zeal is very much characteristic of a religious convert. A Greco-Roman writer Epictetus who was a Stoic Philosopher residing in Asia Minor at the time of the composition of the Book of Revelation wrote the following: “Why, then do you call yourself a Stoic, why do you deceive the multitude, why do you act the part of a Judean, when you are a Greek? Do you not how each person is called a Judean, a Syrian, or an Egyptian? And when we see someone vacillating, we are accustomed to say, “He is not a Judean, but he is just pretending.” But when he takes up the state of mind of one who has been baptized and made a choice, then he is a Judean in both reality and name. So also we are falsely baptized, Judeans in word, but indeed something else, not in harmony with reason, far from applying the principles we profess, yet priding ourselves for being people who know them (Dissertations 2.9.19-21 = Stern no. 254).” www.eteacherbiblical.com .