Spirituality Column #798

March 1, 2022

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

Invasive Prayer

By Bob Walters

If you have heard of or perhaps follow Christian intercessory prayer minister Dutch Sheets, it’s likely you don’t spend much time asking yourself how to define “spirituality.”

And if, like me, you are wondering how in the world to pray a spiritual prayer of intercession – i.e., pray for God’s intervention – against Russia’s war and invasion of Ukraine, Sheets has some advice.  Spirituality is what Sheets does, 24/7/365.

Read this from his daily "Give Him 15" podcast last Friday:

"It is not always easy to know how to pray for situations like the invasion of Ukraine.  God cannot always stop evil from occurring, whether it be rape, murder, hunger, or war.  It is not a power issue - of course God is all-powerful.  It is a matter of allowing humans the privilege of free will.  When the human race became defiled at Adam's fall, evil entered the world.  One day it will end.  For now, it exists.

"Since God works on earth through people, not independently of them, dealing with evil requires human participation and cooperation with God and His laws.  He uses righteous authority, laws, and government to suppress evil.  At times, these restraining authorities must use force.  However, stopping evil regimes that have gained power and control can take time - again, because God uses people.

"All this to say it is not possible to simply pray a good prayer/s and end what is occurring in Ukraine.  Does this mean we don't pray?  Of course not.  We ask God to intervene in whatever ways He can, as quickly as He can.  We pray for comfort to those suffering.  We pray for other countries and leaders to make wise decisions that will mitigate the suffering and stop the evil.  We pray for people to come to Christ - God uses tragedies such as this to reach people.

"We also continue to pray for America's complete turnaround.  What occurs here affects the world. ..."  He ended the piece with this prayer and decree:

"Pray with me: Father, we ask for Your mercy to be manifested for the people in the Ukraine and the Baltic States.  We ask You to cause alliances and actions that will minimize violence and destruction.  We pray that evil doers will be exposed and judged for their wickedness.  We ask You to cause them to be hung on their own gallows.  We pray that those who don't know You will come to know You through difficult times they experience.  Bring revival to Eastern Europe.

"We pray for our government to make wise decisions.  Cause them to think clearly.  May they not fall into the traps and strategies of evil leaders.  Give NATO leaders wise strategies and sound decisions.

"We believe you will somehow use all of this to bring forth the great harvest You're planning.  Amp it up quickly, we pray.  Redeeming God, bring a tidal wave of glory into the earth.  We ask for this in Christ's name. Amen.

"Our decree: We decree that evil will ultimately fail; love will win." LINK 02/25/2022

Sheets has a wide following and offers a heavy-duty daily dose of Christian prophecy, prayer, and Holy Spirit discernment.  I'm no expert, but Sheets and "Give Him 15" pretty obviously comprise a sincere, charismatic ministry.  It is all Gospel, all Bible, revival, deep faith, spiritual immersion, and prayerful decrees ... all the time.

Be warned: Dutch is conservative and prays - a lot - for revival in America.

He may or may not be your cup of tea, but you can meet him at dutchsheets.org.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) planned a breezy piece on Eusebius and Athanasius this week, but the Ukraine injustice is just too heavy on his heart.  Pray, and be strong.

Spirituality Column #798

March 1, 2022

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

Invasive Prayer

By Bob Walters

If you have heard of or perhaps follow Christian intercessory prayer minister Dutch Sheets, it’s likely you don’t spend much time asking yourself how to define “spirituality.”

And if, like me, you are wondering how in the world to pray a spiritual prayer of intercession – i.e., pray for God’s intervention – against Russian’s was and invasion of Ukraine, Sheets has some advice.  Spirituality is what Sheets does, 24/7/365.

Read from his daily “Give Him 15” podcast last Friday:

“It is not always easy to know how to pray for situations like the invasion of Ukraine.  God cannot always stop evil from occurring, whether it is rape, murder, hunger, or war.  It is not a power issue – of course God is all-powerful.  It is a matter of allowing humans the privilege of a free will.  When the human race became defiled at Adam’s fall, evil entered the world.  One day it will end.  For now, it exists.

“Since God works on earth through people, not independently of them, dealing with evil requires human participation and cooperation with God and His laws.  He uses righteous authority, laws, and government to suppress evil.  At time, thewse restraining authorities must use force.  However, stopping evil regimes that have gained power and control can take time – again, because God uses people.

“All this is to say it is not possible to simply pray a good prayer/s and end what is occurring in Ukraine.  Does this mean we don’t pray?  Of course not.  We ask God to intervene in whatever ways He can, as quickly as He can.  We pray for comfort to those suffering.  We pray for other countries and leaders to make wise decisions that will mitigate the suffering and stop the evil.  We pray for people to come to Christ – God uses tragedies such as this to reach people.

“We also continue to pray for America’s complete turnaround.  What occurs here affects the world. …” He ended the piece with this prayer and decree:

“Pray with me: Father, we ask for your mercy to be manifested for the people in Ukraine and the Baltic states.  We ask You to cause alliances and actions that will minimize violence and destruction.  We pray that evil doers will be exposed and judged for their wickedness.  We ask You to cause them to be hung on their own gallows.  We pray that those who don’t know You will come to know You through the difficult times they experience.  Bring revival to Eastern Europe.

“We pray for our government to make wise decisions.  Cause them to think clearly.  May they not fall into the traps and strategies of evil leaders.  Give NATO leaders wise strategies and sound decisions.

“We believe You will somehow use all of this to bring forth the great harvest You’re planning.  Amp it up quickly, we pray.  Redeeming God, bring a tidal wave of glory into the earth.  We ask this in Christ’s name.  Amen.

“Our decree: We decree that evil will ultimately fail; love will win.” (Link 2-25-22) 

Sheets has a wide following and offers a heavy-duty daily dose of Christian prophecy, prayer, and Holy Spirit discernment. I’m no expert, but Sheed and “Give Him 15” pretty obviously comprise a sincere, charismatic ministry.  It is all Gospel, all Bible, revival, deep faith, spiritual immersion, and prayerful decrees … all the time.

Be warned: Dutch is a conservative and prays – a lot – for revival in America.

He may or may not be your cup of tea, but you can meet him at dutchsheets.org.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) planned a breezy piece on Eusebius and Athanasius this week, but the Ukraine injustice is just to heavy on his heart.  Pray, and be strong.

 

 Spirituality Column #796

February 15, 2022

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

Made My Week

By Bob Walters

“I love this – ‘to capture our faith in the truth, light and life approaching the heavenly realms that await beyond.’ I always focused just on salvation.” – Pamela Osborn Brandley

This recent, brief Facebook comment by our church pal and my wife’s friend and former teacher colleague Pam Brandley lit up my face with joy.

It drove home for me, again, the power of the teaching quoted at the end of last week’s column when we remembered the one-year anniversary of the passing of friend, mentor, encourager, and retired professor George Bebawi.  George taught that our salvation was only a thin slice of the glory that awaits us in life with Jesus amid the glory of God.  It is a faith dynamic that eludes many, but Pam picked it up immediately.

There exists a legion of us, right here in Indianapolis and literally around the world, who would recognize Pam’s comment as a fruit of George’s straight-shooter, erudite, wide-vision teaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.      

Pam and her husband Bruce exercise their faith robustly and regularly in service to our East 91^st Street Christian Church.  Though they didn’t know George, a few words from George could always take a bright, faithful light and make it brighter.

It was George’s approach that sin was and is terrible, yes, no surprise.  Everyone believes that.  But he believed, knew, and taught that the human fullness of life in Christ would never be very full if the focus remains on my sin, my salvation, my rewards, my room in the Father’s mansion, etc.  He saw those as human shortcomings because they all focus on the prideful, competitive, judgmental, guilty “me,” not God’s infinite love and not our selfless love of others He commands and Jesus demonstrated on the Cross.

George’s broad theological grasp was formed in his Jewish upbringing while living among Muslims in Cairo, coming to Christ in his late teens, becoming a Coptic (Orthodox Church of Egypt) priest, and receiving advanced degrees at Cambridge University, England, where he later taught.  His bio appears at GeorgeBebawi.com (link below).

George worked with Coptic leaders in Cairo, was an emissary at the Vatican (yes, the one in Rome), considered becoming a monk (in Egypt), did missions work in sub-Saharan Africa and was a medic with the International Red Cross in Beirut during the 1970s Lebanese Civil War.  He wrote many doctrinal books, but all in Arabic.

George had seen it all and, given his facility with languages ancient and new, read it all.  He could translate scripture, speak, or communicate among 11 different languages, including Copt (language of the Pharaohs), Aramaic (street language of the middle east at the time of Christ), Hebrew, Latin, Greek, Syriac, and others, including English.  Upon his arrival at Cambridge as a student in his 20s, he took a job translating the Coptic Bible into German.  We’re talking serious academic chops.

But also … George was a great guy and a serious pastoral presence for those of us who sat under his teaching. Through my friend May I met George in 2002. With Russ Blowers’ help in 2004 we started a weekly E91 Bible study George taught through 2017.  I was class coordinator and formatted/published George’s weekly class handouts.

What an education, and Pam’s note captured perfectly George’s rich teaching.

It made my week.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) thanks Stan N. for keeping alive  (link)GeorgeBebawi.com

Spirituality Column #795

February 8, 2022

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

A Sinner’s Lament

By Bob Walters

“…and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” – Genesis 3:5 KJV, Satan to Eve in the Garden of Eden.

This is where humanity’s trouble started, and it is critically important to notice what Satan is really saying.

Satan is not lying to Eve, saying she will be “as” the uppercase God and “know (God’s) good and evil.”  Look at the grammar.  Satan is telling Eve an absolute truth: that by her disobedience to God and eating from the tree, she, Adam, and all humanity will be stricken as lowercase “gods” – plural – with their own false versions of good and evil.

Satan’s word trick entrapped humanity’s freedom and curiosity in prideful vanity.

Everywhere in the Bible, the Creator and commander of all knowledge, things, righteousness, and truth is referred to as “God” – uppercase – or “Lord God” as He is identified in Genesis 3. Satan is promising Eve humans will be “as [false] gods.” True.

Linguistic ruses aside, learn this lesson: Ignore God, and you won’t know truth.

And when you do not know – or disregard – God’s truth, it is almost impossible to identify sin. You’ll see it as if you are your own god, not as God.  Sin becomes something that resides in the eye of the beholder causing us to look away from God.

Humanity’s history is full of Satan’s squishy lies that sound so much better to man than God’s righteous truth.  Jesus is our defense against Satan but my, how the false gods of today’s culture have a lamentable deal with the devil for us all.

I’ve begun reading Rod Dreher’s 2020 book, Live Not by Lies: A Manuel for Christian Dissidents.  It is an eye-opening, unsettling report by an Orthodox Christian who has read and interviewed countless survivors, escapees, and descendants of totalitarian cultural takeovers of the past 100 years: Soviet Russia, Hitler’s Germany, Communist Europe, etc.  Christians have taken a hard hit every time, as have others.

Dreher’s subjects include Solzhenitsyn, Carol Wojtyla (Pope John Paul II), Pope Benedict XVI, Václav Havel, and dozens of others.  Dreher tracks disturbing yet familiar trends in modern day America and Europe that may redefine what it means – and what it takes – to be a Christian. 

If the subject is to your liking, take a look. I’m going to stop there and avoid the politics of discussing Dreher’s themes, action points, and conclusions.  But I believe he presents Godly truth about the sins and lies of our time and that it’s a sin to ignore them.

And this … My great friend and mentor George Bebawi fied a year ago, Feb. 4, 2021, and I just wanted to note the anniversary of his passing.  Because of George’s international ministry, Covid has presented the “all-points” memorial gathering we would like to have had but he lives on brightly in many, many hearts … especially May’s.

George taught that “sin is maybe 10^th or 20^th on the list” of why Christ came into humanity.  God’s kingdom, glory, and love brought Jesus into our realm to, yes, save us from sin, but more profoundly to capture our faith in the truth, light and life approaching the heavenly realms that await beyond.  The uniqueness of Christ shone brightly in George.

We miss you, dear teacher.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) coordinated George’s weekly Bible and theology studies at East 91^st Street Christian Church, Indianapolis, 2004-2017.  Here’s a link to an in-depth video (and text) with Dreyer: ‘Live Not By Lies’—Rod Dreher: How Much Are We Willing to Sacrifice for the Truth?