Sermon Illustrations on Transformation

Kindness That Marcy Boy!

Kindness and confidence can transform even the most hopeless individuals into faithful servants.

At 14 years of age, the "bad boy" of a little Massachusetts town, was so powerful in his influence for evil that no one was found able to teach the district school which he attended; it seemed "pretty poor soil." Everyone said the student in question was "bad clear through," "hopeless," and "bound to go to ruin." One day a new teacher came who said he was not afraid to try. The school friends were quick to tell him all the stories of "the Marcy boy." All advised that he be forbidden to enter the school. However, he was allowed to enter. The teacher analyzed the "hopeless soil," and began at once to enrich it with kindness, justice, goodwill and confidence, and at the right time, dropped in seeds of ambition, hope and self-respect. The seed took root, developed, grew and began to bear fruit. The promising young student dropped his bad habits, studied day and night, went to college, and graduated with honors. He studied law, answered the call for men in 1812, became associate justice of the Supreme Court, United States senator, governor of New York, and finally Secretary of State. His name was William L. Marcy. He served faithfully in every situation. All of this happened because a good teacher saw in a child the image of God! A Lesson From a Terrapin One brother said that during his childhood in the country, he once found a terrapin. When he started to examine it, the terrapin pulled in its head and closed its shell like a vice. This displeased the boy, and he picked up something and tried to pry it open. His uncle saw all this and said: "No, that is not the way! You may kill it, but you will not get it open." The uncle took the terrapin into the house and set it on the hearth. It was not but a few minutes until it began to get warm. Then the terrapin pushed out its head, then its feet, and began crawling. "Terrapins are like that," the uncle said, "and people, too. You cannot force them into anything. But if you first warm them up with some real kindness, more than likely they will do what you want them to do."

Quietness, Secret of

True religion brings lasting inner peace that changes a person's demeanor.

A sergeant noted for his boisterousness was so changed by religion, that his comrades asked him what made him "so still." He told them that he had found something that would keep him quiet all the rest of his life.

War, Weapons of

Weapons of war transformed into tools for peace symbolize Christ's reign over violence.

I have been laboring among a people who once delighted in war; but, since Christianity has prevailed there, war has ceased altogether; and they are astonished how they ever engaged in all those deeds of savage cruelty, which, according to their usual practice, threatened the extermination of their race: but now the Prince of Peace reigns there. I have seen the musket-barrel taken from the stock, and carried to the anvil, and beaten into a spade or a hoe, though not into a ploughshare; for the plough does not yet turn up their fruitful soil: and the warrior who has used it in battle now employs it in cultivating the land. They have even gone further in illustration of this beautiful description of the prophet; for they have devoted the implements of war to the service of the sanctuary. The last sabbath I was there, I went into one of their chapels, and ministered to a large congregation of about fifteen hundred persons. A rude sort of pulpit was erected, and stairs led up to it; the railings of which, smooth and polished, were literally composed of the handles of warriors' spears, who had thus transferred their weapons, with themselves, to a nobler and better purpose, — the service of the sanctuary of God. Rev. Mr. Ellis.

Reason For Preaching Christ

Preaching Christ brings true reformation unlike preaching mere duty and good works.

The Rev. Mr. Venn, an evangelical and faithful minister of Christ, was one day addressed by a neighboring clergyman in nearly the following words: "Mr. Venn, I don't know how it is, but I should really think your doctrines of grace and faith were calculated to make all your hearers live in sin, and yet I must own that there is an astonishing reformation wrought in your parish; whereas I don't believe I ever made one soul the better, though I have been telling them their duty for many years." Mr. Venn was pleased at the clergyman's honest confession, and frankly told him he would do well to burn all his old sermons, and try what preaching Christ would do.

The Clergyman And The Profligate

A clergyman explained religion's purpose is to change a person's character, not just beliefs.

A clergyman having made several attempts to reform a profligate, was at length repulsed with, "It is all in vain, doctor; you cannot get me to change my religion." "I do not want that," replied the good man; "I wish religion to change you."

Hit The Nail

True grace changes the heart, preventing a person from becoming a rogue.

Rowland Hill was introduced to an aged Scotch minister somewhat resembling himself in piety and eccentricity. The old man looked at him for some time very earnestly, and at length said, “Weel, I’ve been looking for some time at your face.” “And what do you think of it?” said Mr. Hill. “Why, I am thinking that if the grace of God had na changed your heart you would have been a rogue.” Mr. Hill laughed and said, “You have hit the nail on the head.”

BIBLE—Judged by its Fruits

The Bible's transforming power produces evident positive changes in lives and families.

A Roman Catholic priest in Belgium rebuked a young woman and her brother for reading that "bad book" pointing to the Bible. "Mr. Priest," she replied, "a little while ago my brother was an idler, a gambler, a drunkard, and made such a noise in the house that no one could stay in it. Since he began to read the Bible, he works with industry, goes no longer to the tavern, no longer touches cards, brings home money to his poor old mother, and our life at home is quiet and delightful. How comes it, Mr. Priest, that a bad book produces such good fruits?"

Illumination

True illumination transforms from within, like Moses’ shining face and glowing alabaster.

When Moses returned from communion with God his face shone so brightly that a veil was needed. There was another transfiguration which is the result not of glory reflected but of grace transfused. “Be ye transformed (lit. transfigured) by the renewing of your mind,” says the apostle.

The visitor to the beautiful church of St. Paul without the walls at Rome is sure to be asked by the sacristans to notice the wonderful columns of pure alabaster which are among the splendors of that edifice. The guide brings a lighted taper which he places behind one of these massive pillars. The translucent alabaster immediately glows with the light that seems to play all through it with lambent effulgence. The solid mass glorifies the flame, as the flame illumines the solid substance. (Text.)

Imitation

Contemplating a beautiful example can inspire transformation into Christlike character.

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A beautiful statue once stood in the market-place of an Italian city. It was the statue of a Greek slave-girl. It represented the slave as tidy and well drest. A ragged, uncombed little street child, coming across the statue in her play, stopt and gazed at it in admiration. She was captivated by it. She gazed long and lovingly. Moved by a sudden impulse, she went home and washed her face and combed her hair. Another day she stopt again before the statue and admired it, and she got a new idea. Next day her tattered clothes were washed and mended. Each time she looked at the statue she found something in its beauties until she was a transformed child.

The history of the Christian religion has been a continuous record of men transformed by contemplation of the great Example. (Text.)

Training

Gentle, consistent training transforms even the most difficult children positively.

See PRACTISE, GRADUATED.

TRAINING CHILDREN

It is hard to conceive of a more unpromising specimen of a child than one who was placed a few years ago in the Babies’ Hospital of New York. “Criminal” was plainly marked on the face of this eighteen-months-old boy. Heredity and environment had done their worst for him. He was actually vicious. He slapt, pinched, scratched the other children without provocation. At meal time, after satisfying his own hunger, he would grab the food from the others, or with one or two sweeps of his small arms shove the food from the low table to the floor, and then would either step on it or, lying flat on his stomach, gather it under him in order to deprive the others.

A careful eye was kept on him to keep him from doing harm, and whenever he started out on his little journeyings of lawlessness and mischief he was not forcibly restrained, but his attention was diverted in some pleasant way from his wrong intentions. The attendants were not allowed, by word, look or action, ever to be hasty or unkind; coercion in any form or under any circumstances was to be avoided.

The superintendent of the hospital says of him: “In a surprizingly short time this child began to yield to the influence which surrounded him; one by one his little vicious tricks or habits were forgotten, and an occasional smile--a sweet one it was, too--began to reward our efforts, instead of the snarls and frowns which had heretofore greeted us. Absolute cleanliness and regular habits were instituted as a part of the cure.

“For nearly five years it was my good fortune to be able to keep the boy with me, and a more attractive, happy and lovable child it would be hard to find anywhere. He was absolutely obedient; in fact, it never seemed to occur to him to be otherwise.

“In the course of time our little charge not only grew to be the oldest inhabitant, but the oldest in point of age, and as new little ones came and went, his attitude toward them was lovely. He looked well after the needs of the tiny ones and took great pains to initiate the older ones into orderly and careful habits. He shared with them, without a thought of selfishness, toys, books, or dainties. Surely, heredity did not endow this child with all his good qualities; they were cultivated at an early age, and so deeply rooted were these good habits that they are likely to remain with him through life.”--_Jewish Exponent._

Training

Proper training uses even flaws to build beautiful character and growth.

See PRODIGY, A.

TRANSFORMATION

When Central Park, New York, was laid out the engineers encountered an immense heap of rocks. What to do with it was the question. To move it would cost thousands of dollars. Finally, honeysuckles and other vines were planted about it and made to climb up and shade it. And now that spot in the park is the loveliest and most fragrant anywhere about.

The best education is that which in like manner makes use of even unlovely traits in building character.

Training

Transformation can be sudden and complete, like a mayfly’s emergence from its old skin.

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The emergence of the soul clothed in its spiritual body is suggested by this account of the May-flies by Vernon L. Kellogg:

Young May-flies--the ones that don’t get eaten by dragons, stone-flies, water-tigers, and other May-flies--grow larger slowly, and wing-pads begin to grow on their backs. In a year, maybe, or two years for some kinds, they are ready for their great change. And this comes very suddenly. Some late afternoon or early evening thousands of young May-flies of the same kind, living in the same lake or river, swim up to the surface of the water, and, after resting there a few moments, suddenly split their skin along the back of the head and perhaps a little way farther along the back, and like a flash squirm out of this old skin, spread out their gauzy wings and fly away.--“Insect Stories.”

Training

Christianity transforms wild nature by training away its harmful traits.

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Here is a hint of what Christianity is constantly trying to do with wild human nature--transforming it by training off its moral “spines” and prickles:

The spineless cactus, the latest plant marvel originated by Mr. Burbank, probably gives greater promise of usefulness to man than any other of Mr. Burbank’s creations. The spineless cactus is an improved variety of the ordinary wild cactus known as the prickly pear, of which there are numerous species and more than a thousand varieties. (Text.)--_The World To-day._

Training

True religion transforms by the Holy Spirit’s power, changing darkness into light.

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The transformation accomplished by true religion is complete. It changes the whole nature by the importation of a new agency, a conquering power, an overmastering principle. We become incandescent by the energy of the Holy Spirit.

A carbon coil is a perfectly black substance. It is an emblem of utter darkness. But into it is poured an electric current and instantly it becomes a reservoir of light. There once lay in the earth a dull, dark bit of carbon. It suddenly became the subject of the intense transforming energy of volcanic fire. Ever since that it has been a diamond in which lives dazzling light. (Text.)

Training

A life once lost and lapsed can be transformed and renewed through meeting Jesus.

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Tohong (Peach-red) was a low-class dancing-girl, bought and sold. Restoration was a word not applicable to her, for she never was right. She was born lapsed and lived lapsed. Over the walls of the world that encircled her came the story of Jesus, a man, a wise and pure man, pure as God is pure; in fact, a God as God is God, yet it was said that he loved lost and fallen women. Peach-red had never before heard of such a being. Her soul was sick, and she wondered if she could but meet Him what He would say to “the likes of her,” and if He really could cure soul-sickness. When or where or how Peach-red met Jesus I know not; that she met Him I most assuredly know. Seven years had rolled away, and out of my life passed the name of Peach-red. It was forgotten in the multitude of names that crowded on me. One Sunday, after service in a great meeting-house of some two thousand people, with this and that one coming forward to say “Peace,” there appeared before me a smiling face known and yet not known. “Don’t you remember me? Baptized me seven years ago. My old name was Peach-red.” Here was this woman in value once less than zero, crowned with the light and liberty and growth in grace of seven years.--JAMES S. GALE, “Korea in Transition.”

Training

True transformation requires inward renewal, not mere outward decoration or discipline.

See BEAUTIFUL, INFLUENCE OF THE; BEAUTY, DECEIVED BY;

ENVIRONMENT THAT TRANSFORMS; REFORMATION.

TRANSFORMATION BY RENEWING

It is thought by many that time and discipline are alone wanted to bring out of this poor nature a perfect man. When the good things are planted in us they may be cherished and trained into glorious perfection, but they must be planted first. Least of all will any mere decoration suffice. A watch failing to keep time will not be corrected by any jeweling of the case; painting the organ-pipes will not improve the music; whitewashing the pump will not purify the water. Society in various ways seeks to gild the exterior, but what we need is beauty of life springing from truth in the inward parts. (Text.)--W. L. WATKINSON, “The Transfigured Sackcloth.”

In the Grip of Grace (Dallas: Word Publications, 1996)

Acts 16:25

Chuck Colson, the founder of Prison Fellowship, visited a prison in Brazil that is operated by Christians and founded on Christian principles. This is what he found:

When I visited this prison, I found the inmates smiling, particularly the murderer who opened the gates and let me in. Wherever I walked, I saw men at peace. I saw clean living areas, people working hard. The walls were decorated with biblical sayings from Psalms and Proverbs. My guide escorted me to the notorious prison cell once used for torture. Today, he told me, that area houses only a single inmate. As we reached that cell, he paused and asked, "Are you sure you want to go in?"

"Of course," I replied impatiently. "I've been in isolation cells all over the world." Slowly the guide swung open the massive door and I saw the prisoner in that punishment cell: a crucifix, beautifully carved by the inmates -- the prisoner Jesus, hanging on a cross.

"He's doing time for the rest of us," the guide said softly.

The Nature of A Snake

Isaiah 11:6

Once and a while a friendship is forged that seems to surprise everyone but the two who are in it. Zookeepers at Tokyo's Mutsugoro Okoku Zoo couldn't agree more. Gohan and Aochan have been living side by side since October, at times even curling up next to one another as they sleep. Such behavior is, perhaps, natural among creatures sharing habitats, except that Gohan and Aochan are NATURALLY predator and prey. Gohan is a three and a half inch dwarf hamster, and her companion, Aochan, is a rat snake. The hamster, whose name actually means “meal” in Japanese, was originally given to Aochan as dinner after the snake refused to eat frozen mice. But instead of dining, Aochan decided to make friends, and the two have shared a cage ever since. “I've never seen anything like it,” laughed the zookeeper. “Gohan sometimes even climbs onto Aochan to take a nap on his back.”

Such a relationship is one I find fascinating in its complexity (if not an accident waiting to happen). Though the friend who sent me this story assures me that unusual bondings have occurred throughout the animal kingdom without bad endings, I still find myself leery of the snake's intentions. Can a snake really surrender its natural instincts to hunt? What happens when Gohan gets in his way or makes him mad, or when the zookeeper is running late feeding the reptiles? Can the nature of a snake remain reversed because of a relationship?

In a significant prophecy of the coming Messiah and his ensuing reign, Isaiah describes a scene full of similarly unusual relationships: “The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant will play near the hole of the cobra, and the young child put his hand into the viper's nest. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea” (Isaiah 11:6-9).

On many levels it is a scene that is unimaginable. We would no sooner trust the cobra than we would trust the one who suggests we allow a child to play near it. Yet the vision speaks of a dramatic change in nature throughout God's kingdom, where the aggressiveness and cruelty that are so much a part of our world will be forever changed. We will look at the relationship of Gohan and Aochan and not fear the hamster's trust of the snake. For good reason, we easily ascribe such a reality as something God has promised us one day in heaven. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain; the wolf will live with the lamb and the leopard will lie down with the goat, for the old order of things will have passed away. I believe this is accurately an image of things to come. But is it not also something more?

There is something about the knowledge of the LORD that causes things on earth to be turned upside-down — even now. Isaiah depicts a world where lions and vipers will not kill; young lambs will rest peacefully beside predators, “for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea” (11:9). It is unnatural for a wolf not to harm a defenseless lamb or a snake not to bite the hand that invades its nest. Is it any more natural that you and I should be able to defy our human nature?

To bow before the person of Christ — in life, in prayer, in relationship — is to lay our lives at the feet of the one who is both Lamb and Lion. To know him is to cling to the hope of transformation and the assurance of new life. He alone can reverse the nature of the snake.

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[Original illustration at this number was deleted for being obsolete]

A New Use For Ku Klux Klan Sheets

Luke 10:34

When we "put on" Christ, we must take off our old self.

A few years ago the Red Cross was gathering supplies, medicine, clothing and food for the suffering people of Biafra. Inside one of the boxes that showed up at a collection center one day was a letter. It said: “We have recently been converted and because of our conversion we want to try to help. We won’t ever need these again. Can you use them for something?

Inside the box were several Ku Klux Klan sheets. The Red Cross cut them into strips and eventually used them to bandage the wounds of black victims in Africa.

Learning To Teach: An Interview With Howard Hendricks

Ezra 7:6

Interview with dynamic teacher-author Howard Hendricks, who tells how to develop and maintain a passion for teaching. Things of the heart are better "caught" than "taught." The best teachers are those who never stop growing.

"Passion Quiz" for teachers:

1. How much time do you spend each week on personal growth?

2. How often do you spend time with students outside of class?

3. How much do you know about your students’ personal lives?

4. How good are you at looking past their faults and weaknesses to see their potential in Christ?

Growing Confidence Spurs Latin American Outreach

Pastors, evangelists, and scholars gathered recently in Panama City for Latin America 2000, where delegates from two dozen countries brainstormed fresh ways to evangelize Central and South America’s 450 million people.

A NEW IDENTITY: Latin American Protestantism, which has an estimated 51 million adherents and has been widely hailed as a twentieth-century success story for evangelicals, is developing greater independence and a new resourcefulness.

Ruben Proietti, executive secretary of CONELA, says the next generation has been “born not through the preaching of missionaries but through another Latino.” He believes this trend has led to greater self-confidence among church leaders.

Along with their enhanced confidence, Latin American evangelicals are taking a sober look at future challenges. “Amidst the growth there is much weakness in doctrine,” Proietti says. But he is encouraged that the number of, and enrollment in, seminaries is growing. “Ministers need more education,” González says. “Today it is not sufficient to say, ‘I have a call from God to be a pastor.’ The new generation is university-educated, informed, and cosmopolitan. They don’t want an ignorant pastor.”

EXPANDING POWER: In many Latin American countries, the dramatic growth in the number of evangelicals has led to a greater respect from society at large.

[used 3/23/97] In Colombia, for example, evangelical believers have increased from 27,000 in 1967 to more than 3 million today, according to Hector Pardo, president of CONELA. When Colombian lawmakers created a new constitution, he says, the evangelical influence resulted in greater freedom of religion.

But there are dangers in this newfound strength among evangelicals, according to Luis Bush, director of AD2000. He believes there is a high risk of triumphalism. “The call to the church is to serve the society, not merely in proclamation, but servanthood.”

“We are not talking about triumphalism, but real transformation,” Proietti says. “When salt penetrates, you see changes. When a man stops drinking, stops doing drugs, begins to respect his wife, begins to carry out social responsibilities like paying taxes, this transforms the nation.”

MISSION ADVANCEMENT: One indicator of a church’s level of development is whether it is a receiver or a sender of missionaries. Patricio Paredes, a missions executive, says Latin America has crossed the threshold and today is “a sender of missionaries.”

“Latin America 2000 is clear proof that God has people in Latin America who both want to, and can, pay for the work of missions,” says Rudy Giren, president of COMIBAM (Congreso Misionero Iberoamericano). Also, all delegates and speakers were required for the first time to pay their own way to attend the conference.

David Oltrogge, director of recruiting for Wycliffe Bible Translators in Latin America, has noticed positive changes in attitudes toward missions. “For the first time, I’m hearing that efforts to share Christ have to be done in a culturally relevant way, specifically with respect to the Amerindian groups.”

“There are hundreds of municipalities in Mexico with zero percent evangelicals,” Alvarez says. “Christians were made for battle. If they don’t fight the enemy, they will fight each other. Our goal is to point Christians to the true battle.”

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Baptist Press: Alcohol, Drugs, Cult Left Him In Need of A Savior

Acts 4:12

John Cox has experienced the darker side of life. From alcohol to drugs to cults, Cox knows what it's like.

Raised in Texas, Cox went to First Baptist Church of Chico as a boy. During an altar call in one service, Cox's two brothers went forward. He said he felt a physical hand pushing him down the aisle as well.

The pastor told the boys they would be baptized the following week and instructed them to wear the appropriate clothing. “I thought it was going to be a swimming party or something,” Cox said. “I had no idea what was going on.”

What was going on, Cox said, was absolutely nothing. He was not saved at the time, and as he became a teenager he got involved with what everyone else in his small town was doing - drinking, partying, drugs, etc.

“I remember just going wild and kind of losing all respect for anybody,” Cox said.

As he got older, Cox's girlfriend, Sandee (who is now his wife and mother of their five kids), got involved in some eastern meditation and other cult activity. He and Sandee then moved to Memphis to go through a six-week training course of another cult, The Way International.

Cox recalled how members of The Way would witness to people in bars. The only problem was they sat and drank with them while they were witnessing. That bothered Cox, who, although not a Christian, had a respect for God and his Word. “I knew the Bible was not to be refuted,” he said. “Deep in my soul, I knew the Bible was the first and last word.”

He thought, “If God is God, he's separate from this lifestyle. He's not like me.”

Cult members didn't believe in the Trinity and they took a black marker to any passage in Scripture they didn't believe. “You'd look at their Bibles and maybe 2 or 3 percent of it would be marked out,” Cox said.

At the time, his experience with The Way wasn't all that frightening. “We were kind of going along with the flow. We were oblivious to a lot of it,” Cox said. “Now that I look back on it, it was really creepy. ...

“A lot of the practices they did were out of whack,” Cox said. “They would get in our face and, kind of like a drill sergeant, would invoke us into speaking in tongues. They would yell at us and intimidate us until we spoke in tongues.”

But God was working on John and Sandee - even working through members of The Way. “They had some semblance of the truth - that we are sinners,” Cox said. “God is so faithful. He let the good things stick.

“The good thing that stuck was that I was a sinner in need of a Savior. I didn't really know that before I got in there. Good came out of it.”

Cox soon started to read the Bible for himself. “It was like drawing from a deep well,” he said. “A couple of months after I picked the Bible up, I started repenting of things.”

He and Sandee, who were living together but weren't married, fell under conviction about that. They left The Way, hitchhiked back to Texas, got married and were baptized together.

“We were delivered from smoking, drinking and drugs - totally set free,” Cox said. “No rehabilitation, no withdrawals, no nothing.”

The new Christian recording artist with his debut album, “Sunny Day,” knows about the life-transforming power of the God who saved him. Now Cox, with a record contract on Questar Mission's label, and an upcoming spring concert tour with legendary Christian rock group Petra, has a platform to share his testimony.

“The cool thing about being a Christian is if the world were to crack open, and there we would be falling down into the abyss, I have the faith and hope that God is going to reach down with his hand and catch me and say, 'You're coming with me,'“ Cox said. “That is so awesome. I can't lose.”

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Baptist Press (BP) is the news service of the Southern Baptist Convention. Address: 901 Commerce St. #750, Nashville, TN 37203. Phone: (615) 244-2355. Fax: (615) 782-8736. E-mail: 70420.17@compuserve.com or BaptPress@aol.com.

Creating A World: Going Beyond Salvation

In twenty-three years of prison ministry, I've visited hundreds of prisons around the world, but I've never seen one quite as wretched as Garcia Moreno Prison in Quito, Ecuador. By the same token, I've never seen one so dramatically transformed into a place of peace -- all due to the efforts of one committed Christian.

That man is Jorge Crespo, once a celebrated lawyer, now chairman of Prison Fellowship in Ecuador. In my first visit to the prison, we climbed up steps slippery with blood. A routine beating, Crespo said grimly. The cells were dim, dungeon-like holes, thick with grime and spilled sewage.

When I went out to the courtyard, where I was scheduled to speak to the inmates, I was shocked by the Dickensian scene. Several of the inmates were limping; others had scarves covering their faces, perhaps to hide disfigurements. Right in front was a man with an empty eye socket, his face spotted with open sores. Speaking to this tattered crowd, I thought of Jesus' words to John the Baptist: Tell him "the blind see, the lame walk, ... and the Good News is being preached to the poor."

But afterward, Crespo took me down a dark corridor to a stunning contrast: a huge cellblock flooded with radiant light. At one end was an altar, with a huge cross, surrounded by two hundred inmates gathered for a worship service.

This division of the prison was run by Prison Fellowship, providing inmates with rigorous instruction in the Christian faith. Yet even this was only a training ground for another division of the prison -- a place where fully committed Christian inmates lived and ministered to the other inmates. Affectionately called "the Home," the area was spotless, with tiled floors and wooden bunks built by the inmates themselves. A small prayer closet tucked under a stairway was in use throughout the day.

As I listened to the testimonies of the inmates in "the Home," it struck me that I was seeing a metaphor for the Christian life. The contrast between the hellish chaos of the main prison and the white-washed brilliance of "the Home" was a reminder of the way our own moral and spiritual choices are realized in the world. In every action we take, we are either helping to create a hell on earth, or helping to bring down a foretaste of heaven. We are either contributing to the broken condition of the world, or participating with God in transforming the world.

Being a Christian does not end with personal salvation. After being redeemed, we are called to build a world that reflects God's righteousness. Our faith is meant to be a comprehensive WORLDview, giving us a blueprint for every area of life-principles for building an entire society embodying principles of justice and mercy.

The story of the Ecuador prison opens my latest book, "How Now Shall We Live?," coauthored by the executive editor of "BreakPoint," Nancy Pearcey. In it, we talk about the importance of crafting a Christian worldview in every area of life, every sphere of activity.

As we face a new millennium, Christians need to work together to transform our own world from a "prison" into a "Home."

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When and Where Was Jacob Saved?

Genesis 28:16

WHEN AND WHERE WAS JACOB SAVED? We have no trouble answering this question if we will line up our thinking with the Bible and what it states concerning real salvation. Our biggest problem in this Laodicean church age is that we have a tendency to twist the Bible to line up with our traditional thinking. This is not wise!

Many say Jacob was saved in Genesis chapter 28 when he had an encounter with God through a dream. When he awoke he said, “Surely the Lord is in this place and knew it not.” (Gen. 28:16) It is true that God made a promise to him in Gen. 28:13-15, “I am the LORD God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed; And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.” Jacob also made a vow in Gen. 28:20-22, “If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, so that I come again to my father’s house in peace; then shall the LORD be my God: And this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God’s house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee.”

You may say that sounds like he was saved to me. But let me ask you some questions to see if this experience Jacob had lines up with what the Bible has to say concerning real salvation.

First, can one be saved by making a bargain with the Lord? Notice Jacob said, “If God will be with me and etc., then shall the Lord be my God.” Does the Lord save man on your terms or His? Salvation is of the Lord and He will never save anyone on their terms. One must come to the end of himself and make a whole hearted surrender to Jesus as Lord before He will save that individual. No one can do that himself. It takes a work of the Holy Ghost to reprove (convict and convince) a man of sin, righteousness, and judgement. (John 16:8-11) We see a New Testament example of this in John 6 where a multitude of people were following Jesus desiring to make Him King. They would have gladly made a bargain with Jesus similar to what Jacob did in Genesis, but Jesus placed upon them the demand of whole-hearted reception of Himself as their Lord in John 6:53, when He said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.” And they were not willing to make such a commitment. They said it was too hard for them (verse 60) and turned away from Him and walked no more with Him. (verse 66) Our Lord did not save them on their terms and neither did He save Jacob on his terms in Genesis 28.

Second, did Jacob’s life change after Genesis 28? The Bible says a man’s life changes. II Cor. 5:17 states, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” Jesus said in Mat. 23:25-26, “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.” There will be a change in one’s life when he is saved. We do not see a change in Jacob’s life after Genesis 28. He is still the same old conniver and deceiver that he was before, just as his name implies. The name Jacob means supplanter which implies being a conniver and deceiver. (Gen. 27:36)

Therefore, we conclude Jacob was not saved in Genesis 28. Many would object by saying, “But he had an encounter with God!” There are many others in the Bible who had an encounter with God and were not saved. Samuel is one example in I Sam. 3:4-14 where verse 7 states plainly, “Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord.” Another was the rich young ruler in Mark 10. Yet again there is the multitude in John 6 which we have already discussed. I could give you more, but if you will not believe these mentioned you sure would not believe some of the others. Tradition denies the Lord showing anything to a lost person, yet the scripture declares plainly in Psalm 25:8 that the Lord “will teach sinners in the way.” This states plainly that He will teach a lost person as he travels the narrow way to the strait gate. Theologically the Bible always refers to the “lost” as sinners and the “believers” as being saints. The Lord always has an encounter with the lost in some form or fashion. (John 6:45) If He did not reveal Himself to a person how could he ever believe God is (exists) and seek Him? (Heb. 11:6)

Since Jacob was not saved in Genesis 28, where was he saved? In Genesis 32, where we see him coming to the end of self and relying totally upon the Lord. This occurred 20 years after Gen. 28 when he was returning from Laban’s house with his wives and children where he is about to meet Esau who had vowed to kill Jacob the next time he saw him.

Jacob divides the people that was with him and the flocks, herds, and the camels into bands and sends them ahead with a distance between each one to meet Esau. Then for the first time (recorded) he prays (Gen. 32:9-12) unto the God of his fathers but never mentions Him being his God. When he was left alone, God began to deal with him. He wrestled with him in the form of a man. God had to wrestled with Jacob because Jacob still wanted things his way. He was trying to get God to leave him alone. This is just what every man does when the Holy Ghost begins to bring man to the end of self.

I believe Jacob had a backup plan if the plan to appease Esau with the bands of people and cattle did not work. I cannot prove this, but I believe he thought if all else failed he would outrun Esau to spare his life. At some point in time while wrestling Jacob, God touched the hollow of his thigh (the strength of his leg) and then Jacob took hold of God. At which point, God said, “Let me go.” But Jacob knowing all hope in self was gone said, “I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.” In essence, he was saying, “There is no one else to turn to. You’re all the hope I have. I don’t want to bargain any longer. I just need you.”

At that point, Jacob was saved. God changed his name from Jacob (supplanter) to Israel which means “prince of God” or “prince with God.” This occurred 20 years after his first encounter with God at the place he named Peniel which means “the face of God.” You can read this in Gen. 32:24-30.

After Gen. 32 we see Jacob a changed man. He shows compassion for those with him where before he was willing to sacrifice them for his own hide. (Gen. 33:12-14) He built his first altar (first recorded) at Shechem. (Gen. 33:18-20) He had his family put away their idols, a sure sign of a changed life -- a new creature. (Gen. 35:2)

We conclude that Jacob was saved at Peniel in Gen. 32, twenty years after his first encounter with God at Bethel in Gen. 28. This may not be acceptable to traditional thinking, but it lines up with the Bible and its teaching concerning real salvation. I think I will believe the Bible, God’s Holy Word instead of man’s traditional teaching.

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THE PERSUADER

Aug.-Sept., 1995

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[Original illustration at this number was a duplicate of HolwickID #5129]

Seek the Baptism of Fire

R.A. Torrey tells of a young women who professed to be a Christian, though many had trouble getting along with her. She was stubborn, proud, loud and obstinate... everything a Christian should not be. In other words, she was what a lot of unsanctified Christians are but keep pretty well hidden. She just couldn't seem to hide her real self.

She was a member of R. A. Torrey's church Bible Institute, of which her uncle was president. Every Bible Institute member was required to go out among the poor, and help them to Christ. ...

One day this girl had been out, and was tired. She walked long the Lake Shore drive, and noted the beautiful homes along its course. “Ah!” she said to herself, “this is what I like; I have had enough of dirty old stairways and squalor!” She went home fighting against the Holy Spirit. ...

At the tea table, the fight went on within her until all in a moment she totally surrendered to the complete will of God... she totally consecrated herself to be used according to His purpose, and the Holy Ghost and fire fell upon her. In an instant she ran across the room, threw her arms around a girl friend who was staying with her, and exclaimed, “I'm a volunteer for South Africa.”

The fire of the Lord had burnt up everything evil in her heart and life. So transformed was she from that time in her views, purposes, ambitions, and in her very face, that her best and closest friends could hardly believe she was the same girl. Isn't that why you need? You have an unconverted husband... and unsaved wife perhaps; seek for this baptism of fire so as to cleans and transform you that he or she may be won, by the change, to accept your Master as his or hers.

Moved!

Mark 5:15

Dr. G. Campbell Morgan relates the following experience: “One day one of the young men of my church came to see me and said, ‘Dr. Morgan, I want you to go with me to the home of a drunkard.’ When we arrived at the old rickety building, where the drunkard lived, we saw two dirty, ragged children running away from us. We walked up on the old porch and a poorly clad woman with a bruised place on her head came to the door and said, ‘Excuse the children for running but when they heard your footsteps they thought it was their father coming home drunk.’

“The woman invited us in and soon the drunkard came in; not so drunk as common. We had prayer and invited the drunkard to the service that night. He promised to come. He kept his promise. That night I did not preach at him but to him. I told him that Jesus could break every fetter and set the prisoner free. At the close of the service he came and knelt for prayer, and arose and declared the burden was gone. He was saved.

“About two or three months later the young man, who had taken me to the home of the drunkard came and said, ‘Dr. Morgan, I want you to go with me to the home of the ex-drunkard.’ We started but in another direction. I said to the young man, ‘You are taking me another way!’ ‘Yes,’ said the young man, ‘they have moved!’

“That is great! So many folks seem to get religion but they never move. when we reached the home it was a neat cottage and as we walked up the gravel walk we heard this old song, ‘Jesus lover of my soul, let me to thy bosom fly.’ It may have been rude of us but we looked through the window and there before the cozy fire, we saw the ex-drunkard sitting with one child on one knee and the other child on the other knee, and they were singing this old song. The mother came to the door, but there was no bruised place on her head. All were neat and clean and they were all happy.”

“Yes,” Paul said, “If any man be in Christ he is a new creature; old things are passed away and all things are become new.”

Cannibals Or Christians

The story is told of a college professor who visited the Fiji Islands. Being agnostic, he critically remarked to an elderly chief, “You're a great leader, but it's a pity you've been taken in by those foreign missionaries. They only want to get rich through you. No one believes the Bible anymore. People are tired of the threadbare story of Christ dying on a cross for the sins of mankind. They know better now. I'm sorry you've been so foolish as to accept their story.”

The old chief's eyes flashed as he answered, “See that great rock over there? On it we smashed the heads of our victims. Notice the furnace next to it? In that oven we formerly roasted the bodies of our enemies. If it hadn't been for those good missionaries and the love of Jesus that changed us from cannibals into Christians, you'd never leave this place alive! You'd better thank the Lord for the Gospel; otherwise we'd already be feasting on you. If it weren't for the Bible, you'd now be our supper!

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Another version from Wit&Wisdom, July 7, 2006:

James Calvert (1813-1892) was a zealous missionary to cannibals on the Fiji Islands. His faithful work bore fruit in the lives of those accustomed to taking the life of others. Years later an English earl visited the Fiji Islands and was critical of a chief's conversion to Christianity. “You're a great leader but it's a pity you've been taken in by those foreign missionaries. No one believes the Bible anymore. People are tired of the threadbare story of Christ dying on a cross for the sins of mankind. They know better now. I'm sorry you've been so foolish as to accept their story.”

The old chief responded with a gleam in his eyes, “See that great rock overt there? On it we smashed the heads of our victims. Notice the furnace next to it. In that oven we formerly roasted the bodies of our enemies. If it hadn't been for those good missionaries and the love of Jesus that changed us from Cannibals into Christians, you'd never leave this place! You'd better thank the Lord for the gospel; otherwise we'd already be feasting on you. If it weren't for the Bible and its salvation message, you'd now be our supper!”

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Quoted in Autoillustrator.com, “SPIRITUAL GRATITUDE” from, Kindred Spirit, Volume 16, Number 1, p. 6

I See It

The story is told that when a great big piece of marble was brought to Michelangelo, the artist walked around it and said, “My, isn’t it beautiful.” One of his helpers who was standing there said, “Well, all I see is a great big piece of marble -- that’s all.”

Michelangelo exclaimed, “Oh, I forgot. You don’t see what I see. I see a statue of David there.”

The helper looked again and replied, “Well, I don’t see it.” Michelangelo said, “That is because it is now in my own mind, but I am going to translate it into this piece of marble.” And he did.

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McGee 5:787

The Companionship of Jesus

The New Birth brings spiritual transformation instantly. However,

there is also a gradual transformation involved in one's relationship

with Christ. The former effects the heart, creating an inward likeness

of Christ. The latter effects the character, gradually

creating an outward likeness of Christ in the daily living of the

Christian.

Among the Dutch the rose was sometimes cultivated by planting an

inferior rose close to a rose of superior quality. The rose of

inferior quality was carefully watched and its thers removed so as to

avoid self-pollenation; the object being that it should be pollinated

by the superior rose. Gradually, the rose thus treated took upon

itself the characteristics of the superior life of its companion. This

is indeed a beautiful illustration of the blessing that comes to the

life that knows the companionship of Jesus. If our lives are

pollinated, as it were, by his righteousness; if His life-transforming

truth is received into the heart, and self be sacrificed to make room

for the incoming of his superior life, it cannot be other than that

gradually the life loses its own inferior characteristics and develops

the characteristics of the blessed life of him who is himself the Rose

of Sharon. --S. Gumbart

Pastor’s Personal Prison Experience Gives Him A Heart For The Incarcerated

Kory Gordon was introduced to drugs at an early age by his stepfather. By the age of 12 he tried his first pain medication and quickly became addicted.

“That opened up the doors for a long, hard life,” said Gordon.

When he was 22, the Hayhurst, Georgia, native moved to St. Petersburg, Florida, and found a six-figure job at a power plant. But everything changed when he started dealing drugs to coworkers and landed in jail with 11 felonies. He eventually was sentenced to 13 years behind bars.

Seven years into his sentence, he was moved temporarily to Pinellas County Jail. When he arrived, he found a Bible under his bed.

As he was reading, “My eyes were opened. I realized all my problems, crime, drama and drug abuse came from God not having a place in my life,” Gordon said.

Pushing the Bible aside, he was not quite ready to surrender his life to God. He found another book he thought was secular in content, but it was the testimony of how a woman was delivered by God from witchcraft.

As he was reading, the Gordon recalled, he jumped up from his bed and said, “God, you can have all of me – but I need you to free me from the slave master and the addiction.”

From that moment Gordon’s life looked different. He came back to his old cellmates with a Bible in his hand and immediately began ministering to others. He started a Bible study and became involved in the prison’s chapel services.

One Sunday he was able to share his testimony during chapel. That service opened doors for Gordon, while still serving time, to preach a weekly service. He discovered because he had lived through the struggles many of the men were facing, he could relate in ways others could not.

When word got out about his testimony, a Tallahassee church asked the young man to speak the day after his prison release. He traveled the Panhandle region sharing his testimony and preaching at churches. Not long after that, First Baptist Church in Eastpoint invited him to be their pastor, where he has served for two years.

Now 38, Gordon and his wife Kasey, who he met and married while he was still incarcerated, are expecting their first child.

Because of his experience, Gordon has a special place in his heart to minister to the incarcerated. While serving full-time at the coastal community church located on Apalachicola Bay, he also takes time to minister to the people God has laid heavy on his heart.

For the past two years, Gordon has been invited by the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office to speak at its annual Thanksgiving Service that includes a special meal and worship.

Prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, he traveled every other week to the Franklin County Jail to preach and made weekly trips to Promised Land Ministries Lighthouse recovery center in Crawfordville to minister to those in rehab there.

As he shares the gospel with prisoners, Gordon has seen lives radically changed. He recalled one married couple who was experiencing devastation in their lives and marriage from a meth addiction. God forever impacted their lives through Gordon’s ministry behind bars.

“Fast forward eight months and they are sober, in church, with jobs,” Gordon said. The husband was even being considered for a job at NASA. “It’s a great story of transformation.”

Although some are fearful walking into a jail to minister to people, the opposite is true, he said.

“People may be intimidated going in, but people in prison are way more receptive to the gospel. There’s nothing like ministering to people who are broken. It’s hard to tell successful people they need Christ but for broken people, their heart is already torn open.”

Diets and Waterfalls

“Christians aren't always nice people,” stated a friend of mine. And this was bothersome to her. For if Christianity is true, she reasoned, “why then aren't all Christians naturally nicer than non-Christians?”

I appreciate that question, as it awakens me to the reality of my own Christian testimony. And where I do not contend with judging a religion by its abuse, I do suspect it is a sincere question that has crossed many minds. And so, I believe her use of the word “naturally” focuses our attention in the right place. It is natural, in the sense that it is reasonable, to expect that one's accepting Christianity should lead to a changed person. Indeed, Christ himself expects results from this commitment.

But it is not natural at all, in the sense that it is effortless or instinctive, to defy human nature. In fact, it is unreasonable to expect that becoming a Christian obliterates all imperfections, bad attitudes, and wayward cravings.

Consider the following illustration. After the film “A Beautiful Mind” won an Oscar for Best Picture, John F. Nash, the exceptional mind behind that true story, was asked what it was like to live daily with Schizophrenia. You see, this Nobel Prize winner was indeed an extraordinarily brilliant mind, and yet a mind that suffered daily with paranoid delusions. Dr. Nash carefully noted that imperative to overcoming the tormenting visions of his disease was the emphasis he placed continually on putting his “mind on a diet.”

I very much appreciate the imagery of those words because I think they illumine the condition of the Christian. You see, the Christian, like the non-Christian, is subject to the cravings of the flesh, bombarded with tempting visions, and delusional feelings. We don't always feel like being nice, or moral for that matter. The Christian is not perfect. Nor should he ever claim to be. It is Christ we claim who is perfect. And we struggle to live well by that Vision, by that Reality — by the truth of who we are in light of him. With Christ as our vision of hope, we learn to deny the cravings of the flesh; we learn to put our minds on diets.

And indeed, Christ alone is our powerful hope. The great preacher Charles Haddon Spurgeon once powerfully explained this life-giving, life-sustaining hope by which the Christian lives. Says Spurgeon, “The Lord knows right well that you cannot change your own heart... It would be a very wonderful thing if one could stand at the foot of the Niagara Falls, and speak a word which should make the river Niagara begin to run up stream... Nothing but the power of God could achieve that marvel: but that would be more than a fit parallel to what would take place if the course of your nature were altogether reversed. All things are possible with God. He can reverse the direction of your desires and the current of your life, and instead of going downward from God, He can make your whole being tend upward toward God. That is, in fact, what the Lord has promised to do.” [1]

That is a compelling promise to live by! As Oswald Chambers beautifully noted, the only way to respond to that heavenly vision is “to give our utmost for His highest — our best for His glory.” The Christian is a work in progress, called to obedience, clinging to the hope of Christ.

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1. Charles Spurgeon, All of Grace, Ch. 6 “Concerning Deliverance from Sinning.”

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[Original illustration at this number was a duplicate of HolwickID #17775]

The Armor of Identity [2 versions]

1 Samuel 17

The story is told in 1 Samuel 17 that young King David did a very peculiar thing as he faced his enemy. The scene was undoubtedly tense: Israel stood poised on one mountain, the Philistines on another, the valley of Elah between them. His tormentor, Goliath, stood over nine feet tall, fully clothed in armor of bronze and holding an enormous spear. David was hardly a fit for the challenge. He was the smallest, the youngest of brothers, the one who was supposed to be shepherding the family sheep. And he had no armor or spear of his own.

Now, on David's side stood King Saul who acted as any concerned person does when someone he loves faces a battle in a valley where life isn't fair. He offered strategic advice, took his own armor, dressed David in it, and sent him off with a sword and a blessing. But David refused them. He took off Saul's armor and left the sword behind. And the Scriptures tell us that with his shepherd's bag, five stones and a sling, David defeated Goliath.

This familiar Bible story is one in which children rightfully take delight. But I tell it to rouse our imaginations to a potent image of Christianity. You see, in this scene we learn through young David that when our identity is found in God, authenticity and obedience are natural responses to life.

Indeed, David went into that valley authentically, facing Goliath as no one but himself, but not with confidence in his own being. David's confidence was rooted in what he knew God to be. Thus, young David walked forward in obedience to the One who walked beside him; he walked forward with an identity shaped by the presence of the living God.

Moreover, as one commentary observes, “It would have been natural for a youth... to make a parade of his gallantry. But David's piety sank all consideration of his own prowess and ascribed the success of those achievements to the divine aid, which he felt assured would not be withheld from him in a cause which so intimately concerned the safety and honor of His people.” [1]

You see, in obedience to the living God we find authenticity of character. Identity no longer has to be an uncomfortable search, or a timid view of life behind a mask. It is an adventurous display of a relationship with the One who knows you better than you know yourself.

Dear friend, as God revealed himself to David, so Christ has revealed himself to you and me. Truly, in Christ we can know the freedom of transformation and the strength that comes from leaving behind the masks of men and putting on the armor of God.

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1. JFB Commentary http://mydevotion.com/logos/htmljfb/1Samuel17.htm

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Version from 5/16/05:

The young David did a peculiar thing as he faced a formidable enemy. The scene was undoubtedly tense: Israel stood poised on one mountain, the Philistines on another; the valley of Elah was positioned between them. His tormentor, Goliath, stood over nine feet tall, and was fully clothed in armor of bronze. He held in his arms an enormous spear. David was hardly fit for the challenge. He was the smallest and the youngest of brothers. He was the one given the menial task of shepherding the family sheep. He had no armor or spear of his own.

On David's side stood King Saul who acted as any concerned person does when someone he loves faces a battle in a valley where life isn't fair: he offered strategic advice, took his own armor, dressed David in it, and sent him off with a sword and a blessing. But David refused them. He took off Saul's armor and left the sword behind. And with his shepherd's bag, five stones and a sling, David defeated Goliath.

This familiar story, told in 1 Samuel 17, is one in which children rightfully take delight. But I think it can also stir in our imaginations a potent image of following Christ. As I read this account of David, I wrestle with thoughts of identity. Would I have taken the armor off though it wasn't my own? Would I have been myself, aware of my own abilities, or would I have tried to make someone else's armor my confidence? David is for me a helpful reminder that when our identity is found in God, authenticity and obedience are natural responses to life: David took off the breastplate of Saul because he knew the fortress of God.

David went into the valley authentically, facing Goliath as no one but himself, going forth not with confidence in his own being, nor confidence in armor, but with confidence in the character of God. He walked forward in obedience to the one who walked beside him; he walked forward with an identity shaped by the presence of the living God. David knew as a young boy what he would proclaim throughout his life: “Now I know that the LORD saves his anointed; he answers him from his holy heaven with the saving power of his right hand. Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God” (Psalm 20:6-7). The man who sought after God's own heart found God's assurance and strength thrown in.

Abandoning ourselves to the person of God, we find ourselves able to become the person He's created us to be. David's bout with Goliath reminds us that identity no longer has to be an uncomfortable search, or a timid view of life behind a mask. It is a bold display of a relationship with the one who knows we better than we know ourselves.

Throughout David's life, God revealed Himself in valleys of death and shadows as the God who is present. So Christ continues to reveal himself in our every trial and temptation. “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:28-29). In Christ we can know the freedom of transformation and the strength that comes from leaving behind the masks of men and putting on the identity of God.

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[Original illustration at this number was a duplicate of HolwickID #17777]

What the Lord Can Do

Luke 15:11

We have been exploring the necessity of surrendering our emotions to what is true so that the truth harnesses our feelings, instead of our feelings determining what is true. To that end, I think of the marvelous examples of how the Scriptures have changed an individual's life - and even the course of history. Think of John Wesley. We are told that he preached over forty thousand sermons, wrote thousands of pages, and traveled nearly a quarter of a million miles, mostly by horseback. In his eighties he was still preaching twice a day! At eighty-six he wrote in his journal, "Laziness is slowing creeping in. There is an increasing tendency to stay in bed after five-thirty in the morning."

How powerful is a life so extraordinarily lived! Where did it all begin? In a simple service at which the preacher was reading from a commentary on the Book of Romans by Martin Luther. Who would have dreamed then that England's history was being shaped by a young preacher whose heart was being strangely warmed under the fire of God's Word?

Martin Luther, who was to change the course of European history, was himself unalterably moved by that simple little verse from Habakkuk, "The just shall live by his faith." He fell under the spell of these words on three distinct occasions. His final moment of reckoning came as he literally crawled on his knees up the staircase in Rome, laboring under the burden of seeking absolution for his sin. Suddenly the meaning of that verse descended on him with life - transforming force and gave him the courage to withstand the threats of the powers of his day.

I think, too, of the Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky. As he lay dying, the last thing he asked for was that the story of the prodigal son be read to him. That story had changed his life in his ten-year prison term in Siberia and appears in some form in most of his books. Is it little wonder, then, that forty thousand people braved the elements to walk behind his casket as it was carried through the streets of Saint Petersburg? His life was transformed by the Word.

Listen as God speaks, my friend. Wesley, Luther, and Dostoevsky were individuals who needed, as we do today, to hear from God to guide them in truth. They were men who felt deeply about life and love. Out of the depths of truth God transformed their hearts and minds - and He can transform yours.

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How A Bible Changed the Bounty's Mutineers

Luke 4:32

The Bible can change not only a life but an entire lifestyle. Most of us have heard the story of the Mutiny on the Bounty, but few of us have heard how the Bible played a very vital part in that historical event. The Bounty was a British ship which set sail from England in 1787, bound for the South Seas. The idea was that those on board would spend some time among the islands, transplanting fruit-bearing and food-bearing trees, and doing other things to make some of the islands more habitable. After ten months of voyage, the Bounty arrived safely at its destination, and for six months the officers and the crew gave themselves to the duties placed upon them by their government.

When the special task was completed, however, and the order came to embark again, the sailors rebelled. They had formed strong attachments for the native girls, and the climate and the ease of the South Sea island life was much to their liking. The result was mutiny on the Bounty, and the sailors placed Captain Bligh and a few loyal men adrift in an open boat. Captain Bligh, in an almost miraculous fashion, survived the ordeal, was rescued, and eventually arrived home in London to tell his story. An expedition was launched to punish the mutineers, and in due time fourteen of them were captured and paid the penalty under British law.

But nine of the men had gone to another distant island. There they formed a colony. Perhaps there has never been a more degraded and debauched social life than that of that colony. They learned to distill whiskey from a native plant, and the whiskey, as usual, along with other habits, led to their ruin. Disease and murder took the lives of all the native men and all but one of the white men named Alexander Smith. He found himself the only man on an island, surrounded by a crowd of women and half-breed children. Alexander Smith found a Bible among the possessions of a dead sailor. The Book was new to him. He had never read it before. He sat down and read it through. He believed it and he began to appropriate it. He wanted others to share in the benefits of this book, so he taught classes to the women and the children, as he read to them and taught them the Scriptures.

It was twenty years before a ship ever found that island, and when it did, a miniature Utopia was discovered. The people were living in decency, prosperity, harmony, and peace. There was nothing of crime, disease, immorality, insanity, or illiteracy. How was it accomplished? By reading, the believing, and the appropriating of the truth of God!

The Tale Of The Tardy Oxcart

Charles R. Swindoll, Word, pp. 50-51.

The Caterpillar Miracle

2 Corinthians 5:17

Caterpillars are ugly. Now I don't mean to be critical, but let's face it, those hairy crawlers are not the beauty queens of the animal kingdom. I've never heard of anyone with a caterpillar collection, have you? Oh, I suppose someone could try a makeover on a caterpillar, you know, just shave off some of that hair, give him a little color ... but who could ever imagine that one of the uglier critters around could actually become one of the most beautiful animals in the world - a butterfly! You don't see many pictures of caterpillars on things, but you see pictures of butterflies everywhere! A critter covered with ugly black hair becomes a butterfly splashed with amazing colors. An animal that lives off the leaves on the ground becomes the connoisseur of flower nectar ... and a creature that once crawled everywhere becomes one that can fly everywhere. We're not talking makeover here. We're talking miracle!

Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today about "The Caterpillar Miracle."

The Creator who so miraculously transforms caterpillars does something far more amazing. He does it for people ... like you and me. He did it for my wife's grandfather, and changed the course of her family's history, not to mention my history.

Karen's grandfather Bill Hadley was a handsome, successful man - with a fatal flaw - alcohol. He'd been hooked since he was 12 years old, and no one could get him unhooked ... including himself. His addiction eventually cost him his job, his relationship with his family, even his freedom - landing him in prison for a while. He was, in essence, crawling through life on a caterpillar level because of something inside him he couldn't change.

So, one night Bill Hadley decided to die. He was on his way to Lake Michigan in Chicago to end his life when he heard this vaguely familiar song coming out of an old rescue mission. It was a song his mother used to sing. He decided to go in for a minute - never dreaming that the caterpillar who went into that mission would emerge a butterfly. From that night on, Bill Hadley never touched a drop of alcohol again. He became a wonderful husband, a loving father, and a respected spokesman for the Man who changed his life. That night he was planning to die, Bill Hadley began a new life - by beginning a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

Now, while your struggles with your own darkness may be different from Bill Hadley's, the same kind of miracle can happen to you. It's described in our word for today from the Word of God, 2 Corinthians 5:17. "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" For the rest of his life, my wife's grandfather dedicated himself to telling as many people as possible about the life-changing miracle only Jesus could accomplish. And I'm married to some of his heritage - a heritage of spiritual transformation that has now affected another generation in our own children.

Transformation is what Jesus does. Bill Hadley would always tell people, "An old derelict like me could never be reformed - I was transformed by Jesus Christ!" That's the testimony of millions of people over hundreds of years, including the guy talking with you right now. We all fight our own monsters inside us - the sinful, hurtful, even shameful urges and attitudes and actions that we have never been able to conquer. And even being religious or spiritual, even our best efforts at self-improvement have only turned out to be an unsuccessful makeover for a caterpillar.

See, Jesus died on the cross to pay for the sin that enslaves you ... and now He offers to begin transforming you from the inside out - if you'll invite Him to be your Savior. If you have never begun this life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ, tell Him you want to begin it now. And if you're ready for that relationship, let me send you the booklet I wrote about it called "Yours For Life." Just contact us at the information we'll give in a moment.

Trying to be reformed can only change you on the outside. Jesus offers to transform you from the inside out - to make what had been so ugly into something so beautiful. It's time to let Jesus do what only He can do.

________________

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First Do No Harm: Giving Faith Room To Work

The U. S. Senate announced this week that it will delay considering some parts of the President's faith-based initiatives. That's because of a controversy over federal funding, and because of objections from both liberal and conservative groups. But in all the debate and controversy, let's be careful that we don't throw the baby out with the bath water.

When President Bush was Governor of Texas, he asked me what his state could do to help our work in the prisons. I said, "Do no harm" -- the first tenet of the Hippocratic Oath. The most important thing, I said, is to keep the bureaucrats from preventing us from doing our job. Well, that's exactly what he did. And he went a step further: He gave us permission to open the first Christian prison -- one that we still run in Texas today.

Clearing the way for ministries to do their work is one of the President's major goals, and that's important regardless of the funding question. When Mother Teresa came to New York a few years ago, she wanted to open a homeless shelter. But, the state insisted that she build an elevator. Mother Teresa chose not to use scarce funds that way, and therefore walked away from the deal -- a great loss to New York.

The President is promising to end the red tape -- and I say, "Right on." He also wants to give tax credits to all taxpayers, not just those who itemize deductions. Good! We ought to be supporting this.

But the President's proposal has done something else. It has focused attention on the power of faith to bring healing to our communities. And we ought to take advantage of the controversy and do what we as the Church do best.

I saw how important this kind of witness can be just a few days ago when I was in Kansas. I was there to dedicate our new InnerChange facility, in Winfield -- our third Christian prison in this country. I spoke that morning at the Governor's Prayer Breakfast in the capitol, Topeka. There were 1,500 people present. It was a great event, but it was just what you would expect: a civic event, a celebration with prayers and speeches.

But late that afternoon, as the Governor, Sen. Sam Brownback, and the legislative leadership accompanied me to the prison, we saw something far more powerful than a hundred prayer breakfasts. At the dedication service at the prison, Michael Smith gave his testimony. A four-time loser who, in one stint had spent two years in maximum security isolation, Michael told how Prison Fellowship had ministered to him and how his life had been changed through Jesus Christ. He told of his experience in the InnerChange Prison. In fact, they were so important to him that he delayed his parole in order to finish the entire course. It was a moving testimony.

When I glanced over at the Governor and other state officials -- the Speaker of the House, the Majority Leader -- their eyes were moist. That's the power of faith. That's what happens when Christians serve "the least of these." No one can deny the reality of a changed life.

So, let's take advantage of all the attention being focussed on faith-based solutions -- and yes, all the controversy over federal funding. And let's do what we ought to be doing anyway, with or without government encouragement. Let's do the Gospel and let the world see it, just as the top officials of Kansas saw it that day in a dreary Kansas prison. What they saw is real power: the power of the risen Christ.

_____________________

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Get Your Mother

A bumpkin family from the hills was visiting the city and they were in a mall for the first time in their life. The father and son were strolling around while the wife shopped. They were amazed by almost everything they saw, but especially by two shiny, silver walls that could move apart and then slide back together again.

The boy asked, "Paw, What's 'at?"

The father (never having seen an elevator) responded, "Son, I dunno. I ain't never seen anything like that in my entire life, I ain't go no idea'r what it is."

While the boy and his father were watching with amazement, a fat old lady in a wheel chair rolled up to the moving walls and pressed a button. The walls opened and the lady rolled between them into a small room. The walls closed and the boy and his father watched the small circular numbers above the walls light up sequentially. They continued to watch until it reached the last number and then the numbers began to light in the reverse order.

Then the walls opened up again and a gorgeous, voluptuous 24-year-old blonde woman stepped out.

The father, not taking his eyes off the young woman, said quietly to his Son, "Boy, go git yo Momma..."

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Make A New Ending

"Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending."

Maria Robinson

Motivational speaker

Cited in More of the Best of...BITS & PIECES

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Getting To Know Me

Galatians 5

During high school years I tried desperately to deconstruct and then reconstruct my personality. For starters, I hated being Southern. Television programs like THE BEVERLY HILLBILLIES and HEE HAW embarrassed me, and I cringed every time I heard President Lyndon Johnson open his mouth: "Mah fella Amuricuns..." Since the rest of the nation in the 1960s seemed to judge Southerners as backward, ignorant, and racist, I wanted to disassociate myself from my region.

Vowel by vowel, I worked on my accent, succeeding so well that people ever since have reacted with surprise when they hear I grew up in the Deep South. I began a campaign to read great books in order to remove provincial blinders. I shunned any behavior that conformed to "appropriate" or "proper" Southern etiquette and sought only the "authentic." I worked to gain control of my emotions so that they were my servant, never my master. I even changed my handwriting, forcing myself to form each letter in a different way than I had before.

By and large the makeover worked, giving me a personality that has fit comfortably in the decades since. I became less vulnerable and more open-minded and flexible - traits not cultivated in my upbringing but useful in my profession as a journalist. It was only years later that I realized the limits to a self-constructed personality. In most ways important to God, I had failed miserably. I was selfish, joyless, loveless, and lacked compassion. With the exception of self-control, I lacked all nine of the fruits of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5. These qualities, I came to realize, cannot be constructed. They must be grown, under the direction of an inner power, the Spirit.

I have since made it a regular practice to pray through the list in Galatians: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Do I show love, experience joy, feel peace, exhibit patience? I am humbly aware that any progress in those qualities comes as a result of the Spirit's work. I agree with J. Heinrich Arnold that Christian discipleship "is not a question of our own doing; it is a matter of making room for God so that he can live in us."

Ultimately I came to see that my entire project of reconstructing personality had been misguided. God did not want to work with a wholly different personality; he chose me, as I was.

Mark van Doren, the former literature professor of Thomas Merton (and subject of the movie QUIZ SHOW), visited his ex-student at the Kentucky monastery after a 13-year absence. Van Doren and other friends of Merton still could not comprehend the change that had come over Merton. What power could have transformed him from a New York party animal into a monk who cherished solitude and silence? Van Doren reported, "Of course he looked a little older; but as we sat and talked I could see no important difference in him, and once I interrupted a reminiscence of his by laughing. 'Tom,' I said, 'you haven't changed at all.'

"'Why would I? Here,' he said, 'our duty is to be more ourselves not less.' It was a searching remark and I stood happily corrected."

The New Testament presents the realm of the Spirit as the culmination of God's work on earth, and as I compare it to what went before, I catch a glimpse why. An Israelite in the Old Testament approached God with fear and trembling, through an elaborate series of rituals under the auspices of professional priests. Jesus' disciples had a much more personal connection. Even so, they seemed to grasp only a portion of what he said, and until the end badly misconstrued his mission. The Holy Spirit, though, "personalizes" God's presence in a way uniquely tailored to my own soul.

According to one account, Queen Victoria had very different impressions of her two most famous prime ministers. When she was with William Gladstone, she said, "I feel I am with one of the most important leaders of the world." Benjamin Disraeli, on the other hand, "makes me feel as if I am one of the most important people in the world." Reading that description, I thought of the difference between reactions to Jehovah of the Old Testament and the indwelling Spirit: one provokes awe, while one provides nurture.

Henri Nouwen said toward the end of his life that prayer had become for him primarily a time of "listening to the blessing." "The real 'work' of prayer," he said, "is to become silent and listen to the voice that says good things about me." That may sound self-indulgent, he admitted, but not if it meant seeing himself as the Beloved, a temple in which God chose to dwell. The more he listened to that voice, the less likely he was to judge his worth by how others responded to him, or by how much he achieved. He prayed for that inner presence to express itself in his daily life, in such things as eating and drinking, talking and loving, playing and working. He sought true freedom in an identity that was anchored in a place "beyond all human praise and blame."

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A Radical Plastic Surgeon Wants To Give You Wings

Job 11:7

"Plastic surgery changes the soul." - Joe Rosen

Joe Rosen is a world-famous plastic surgeon, and an odd man. His specialty doesn't get much respect but in 2000 more than 1.3 million people had cosmetic surgery by certified surgeons, an increase of 227 percent since 1992 (these numbers do not include medically necessary or reconstructive surgeries.) The number of men receiving nose jobs has increased 141 percent since 1997. These figures alone point to the tremendous popularity and increasing acceptance of body alteration, and suggest that the slippery slope from something as bizarre as eyelid tucks to something more bizarre, like wings, may be shorter than we think.

Human wings is precisely what Rosen wants to create. He has already been asked to turn a man into a lizard. He says, "I don't have any problem with altering the human form. We do it all the time. It is only our Judeo-Christian conservatism that makes us think this is wrong. Who doesn't try to send their children to the best schools, in the hopes of altering them? Who objects to a Palm Pilot, a thing we clasp to our bodies, with which we receive rapid electronic signals? Who doesn't surround themselves with a metal shell and travel at death-defying speeds? We have always altered ourselves, for beauty or for power, and so long as we are not causing harm what makes us think we should stop? ... Why do we only value the average? Why are plastic surgeons dedicated only to restoring our current notions of the conventional, as opposed to letting people explore, if they want, what the possibilities are? ... Human flesh is infinitely malleable. People say cosmetic surgery is frivolous - boobs and noses. But it's so much more than that! The body is a conduit for the soul, at least historically speaking. When you change what you look like, you change who you are."

Socialite Jocelyne Wildenstein has dedicated much of her life to turning herself into a cat, via plastic surgery. She has had her lips enlarged and her face pulled back at the eyes to simulate a feline appearance. Is she a freak or the cutting edge of the future?

Carl Elliott, a bioethicist and associate professor at the University of Minnesota, recently wrote in THE ATLANTIC about a strange new "trend" of perfectly healthy folks who desire nothing more than to have a limb amputated, and about the British doctor who has undertaken this surgery, believing that if he doesn't amputate the patients will do it themselves, which could lead to gangrene. Elliott wonders whether amputation obsession will morph into another psychiatric diagnosis, whether, like hysteria, it will "catch on." The metaphor of contagion is an interesting one. Multiple-personality disorder "caught on"; hysteria caught on. Why then might not an unquenchable desire for wings or fins catch on, too?

Lauren Slater tries to ascertain clearly, logically, what so bothers people about Rosen's ideas. At first glance, it might seem fairly obvious. For crying out loud, wings. That's playing God. We should not play God. We should not reach for the stars. Myth after myth has shown us the dangers of doing so - Icarus, the Tower of Babel; absolute power corrupts absolutely. Bill Joy, chief scientist at Sun Microsystems, says, as our technological capabilities expand, "a sequence of small, individually sensible advances leads to an accumulation of great power, and concomitantly, great danger." Rosen's response to this: "So are we supposed to stop advancing? And who says it's bad to play God? We already alter the course of God's 'will' in hundreds of ways. When we use antibiotics to combat the flu, when we figure out a way to wipe smallpox off the very face of the earth, surely we're altering the natural course of things. Who says the natural course of things is even right? Maybe God isn't good."

Another objection has to do with the idea of proteanism. Proteus, a minor mythological figure, could shape-shift at will, being alternately a tiger, a lizard, a fire, a flood. Robert Lifton has explored how Proteus has become a symbol for human beings in our time. Lacking traditions, supportive institutions, a set of historically rooted symbols, we have lost any sense of coherence and connection. Today it is not uncommon for a human being to shift belief systems several times in a lifetime, and with relatively little psychological discomfort. We move on. We remarry. Our protean abilities clearly have their upsides. We are flexible and creative. But the downside is, there is no psychic stability, no substantive self, nothing really meaty and authentic. We sense this about ourselves. We know we are superficial, all breadth and no depth. Rosen's work embodies this tendency, literally. He desires to make incarnate the identity diffusion so common to our culture. Rosen is in our face making us face up to the fact that the inner and outer connections have crumbled. In our ability to be everything, are we also nothing?

Over and over again, from the Middle Ages on, when the theologian Pico wrote, in a direct and influential challenge to the Platonic idea of essential forms - "We have given you, Adam, no visage proper to yourself, nor endowment properly your own ... trace for yourself the lineaments of your own nature ... in order that you, as the free and proud shaper of your own being, fashion yourself in the form you may prefer.... [W]ho then will not look with awe upon this our chameleon..." - over and over, since those words at least, we as human beings have fretted about the question of whether there is anything fixed at our core, any set of unalterable traits that make us who we were and are and always will be.

Lifton writes, "Until relatively recently, no more than a single major ideological shift was likely to occur in a lifetime, and that one would be long remembered for its conflict and soul searching. But today it is not unusual for several such shifts to take place within a year or even a month, whether in the realm of politics, religion, aesthetic values, personal relationships. ... Quite rare is the man or woman who has gone through life holding firmly to a single ideological vision. More usual is a tendency toward ideological fragments, bits and pieces of belief systems that allow for shifts, revisions, and recombination."

What Lifton has observed in the psyche Rosen wants to make manifest in the body. When Slater asked Rosen, "So, do you believe we are just in essence protean, that there is nothing fundamental, or core, to being human?" He said, "Lauren, I am a scientist. My original interests were in nerves. The answer to your question may lie in how our nervous systems operate." Human beings have limb maps in their brains. When a person loses a limb - say, the right arm - this portion of the neural map fades away. Similarly, when we gain a limb, the brain almost immediately senses it and goes about hooking it up via neural representation. Rosen explains, "If I were to attach a third thumb, your brain would map it. Our bodies change our brains, and our brains are infinitely moldable. If I were to give you wings, you would develop, literally, a winged brain." Plastic surgery changes the soul. To the extent that we believe our souls are part of our brains, Rosen is right.

Slater once read that a fetus does not scar. Fetal skin repairs itself seamlessly, evidence of damage sinking back into blackness. Plastic surgery, for all its incredible advances, has not yet been able to figure out how to replicate this mysterious fetal ability in the full-born human. Plastic surgery can give us wings and maybe even let us sing like loons, but it cannot stop scarring. This is oddly comforting to her.

__________________

Comment by Jeff Champlin in "A Winged Brain":

Beyond praising the beauty that emerges in the place of lost ideals, Rosen asserts the importance of creating beauty, of sculpting new life forms. His dream of winged humans embodies a new potentiality, a new hope for the creation of a humanity that values the diversity of life to such an extent that it wishes even to increase the variety and multiply the complexity of this diversity.

==================

From "News of the Weird" by Chuck Shepherd, Dec. 5, 2004:

Eccentric British rock musician Genesis P-Orridge (born Neil Megson) and his wife Lady Jaye Breyer are gradually transforming themselves surgically into gender-neutral human beings (“pandrogynous”) resembling each other, so that eventually they will be indistinguishable, to demonstrate how overrated gender is as a point of reference. (For example, he wore a lace dress at their wedding, and she dressed as a biker guy, with moustache, and for Valentine's Day 2003, each got breast implants.) P-Orridge told SF Weekly in October that their goal is to jointly become a third person, distinct from either of them.

Frozen In Time

Acts 9:26

Class reunions are always interesting experiences, largely because people change! My classmates remember me at 210 pounds, for example. They remember fat boy - and they've been surprised to find about 50 pounds less of me. Of course, not all changes are positive. You may see the once-athletic hunk, or the beautiful bombshell gone to seed, or that great head of hair now just a great head. Then there are those people who you once thought were "uncool" who have really classed up their act, or the one who was an academic "goof-off" who is now a big success. Fact is, people change. And if we're not careful, we'll still be thinking of them as they were, not as they are.

Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today about "Frozen In Time."

Now, it wasn't quite a class reunion for Saul of Tarsus, the violent persecutor of the early Christians. But there were some people who knew what he was like who were in for a major surprise. Our word for today from the Word of God begins with Acts 9:26. Now, on his way to arrest more Christians, Saul has encountered the living Christ on the road, and he's surrendered his life to the very one he had so violently opposed. Now the Christians back in Jerusalem hear that Saul is back in town - and they're not very excited about have the old "hit man" around.

Here's what it says, "When Saul came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples; but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he was really a disciple. But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. He told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus." You can just hear the Jerusalem disciples saying in unison, "Saul?" Here's the happy ending: "So Saul stayed with them and moved about freely in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord."

Now, the surprise and struggle of the original Christians is understandable. They had Saul categorized based on their past experiences with him in much the same way we all categorize people. But God had changed Saul! And they had to update their perception of him ... even their relationship with him.

Now we should all be able to see a little of ourselves in this picture: our tendency to freeze people in time assuming that they are what they were. "We sized him up a long time ago; he's lazy or deceitful or irresponsible." We express our judgments in words like, "Oh, you can't trust him," or "She uses people," or, "He's got a real problem." The human mind categorizes a person and then closes the door.

But he or she may very well be changing, and we can't see it ... or we won't see it. Even in families, we tend to see the weaknesses and shortcomings in our mate, or our child, or our parent. But many times we can't - or won't - see the changes they're trying to make, the good things they're trying to do, the growth. Sometimes we discourage the very changes we want in them by expecting the worst, only noticing the worst.

Maybe that person used to do, let's say, nine out of ten things wrong in a given area; now it's five out of ten. But we tend to see only the bad five because we've frozen them in time and we won't let them change or grow. And we're underestimating the life-changing power of the grace of God. God is changing His children all the time - and we have to allow for His work, give them a chance to change, encourage the changes, however small they may be.

The early Christians gave Saul a chance, and he grew into the mighty Apostle Paul. Let's expect the best of each other, not because we trust each other so much, but because we trust the transforming power of our Father's love. Stay up-to-date on what God is doing in the lives of the people near you - and don't leave them frozen in time.

________________

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Ivan the Terrible Wasn't A Monk

Ivan the IV was the first Czar of all Russia. He was such a cruel man that they called him "Ivan The Terrible." He married 7 wives and abused them all. He was immoral and violent. He used to throw animals off the Kremlin Walls just to watch them die. But when he died in 1584, historians record that they shaved his head and dressed him for burial in the robes of a monk, hoping that God would think that Ivan the Terrible was a monk, and thus allow him into heaven.

Is that how you get into heaven - by disguising yourself and hoping God will think you are someone else?

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Is It Ok To Sell A Bible To a Prostitute?

John 8:1

"Pastor is it OK to sell a Bible to a prostitute?"

Laura is a member of a small church in a small town in central Brazil. She has sold Avon products for years in the town to supplement the family income. One of her weekly routes takes her through the red light district, and with those business contacts she often shares her faith in Jesus Christ.

One day after asking her pastor if it is Ok to sell Bibles to prostitutes she took a few Bibles with her on her Avon trips to the red light district.

God opened a door to present Bibles and Christian books in a house of prostitutes. Oddly enough, the house was located directly across the road from a large evangelical church. Ten of these women gathered around a table one afternoon as Laura shared with them the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ. A few Bibles and some books containing testimonies of transformed lives were sold that afternoon.

Several months later there were terrible rains and floods in that part of Brazil, causing several deaths. With the floods came mudslides in communities that had been inundated by the rising rivers. Two prostitutes who had attended the book demonstration earlier that year talked about the danger and decided to read the Bible they had purchased. Perhaps thinking the book to be like an Agatha Christie mystery novel, they started with Revelation in order to find the conclusion of the story. What they read terrified them.

They read with dismay Revelation 21:7-8: "He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son. But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, and the sexually immoral, the idolaters and all liars -- their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death."

The gal who owned the Bible became alarmed and exclaimed, "We're lost! We're lost!" Her housemate replied, "No, you're lost. I'm not lost because I do penance every day." Still alarmed and concerned, they continued to read.

A few days later Laura visited her Avon customers. These two women literally pulled her off the street and shoved the Bible into her hands. "Read this part right there! Tell us what it means!" they ordered. Laura read the verses and responded, "It means that when you practice and live in one of these sins, you will not be permitted to enter heaven." Again, the owner of the Bible cried, "We're lost! We're lost! I told you we were lost!" Her friend again assured her, "No, you're lost. I'm not lost because I repent every day."

"Repentance," Laura explained, "is when you confess your wrong and completely turn around. You do not repent. Repenting is turning from your sin. You only feel guilty for your sins." Again, the prostitute shouted even louder, "We are lost! We're lost!" After sharing the plan of salvation and trying to pray with them, Laura returned home planning to visit again. One week passed by and she made her way down the muddy and rutted dirt streets of that little suburb. On arriving at the home of the two prostitutes, she was handed a note by the one who had been so assured of her false repentance.

Laura,

Enclosed is the money I owe. Thank you so much for help. After

your visit last week, I returned to my hometown and am living

with my parents. On Sunday I attended an evangelical church and

gave my heart to the Lord Jesus. If ever I visit your city

again, it will only be to attend your church. Jesus has made me

a different person.

Maria Isabel

We can never estimate the power of God's Spirit working through His Word to convict, regenerate and transform lives in Jesus Christ.

_____________________

This amazing true story of the power of God's Word comes from Richard Jacobsen, "A Miracle in Ipatinga," American Bible Society Record, (April 1988, Vol. 134, No. 4.), pp. 12-14. It was adapted by Rev. Wil Pounds in sermon "Neither Do I Condemn You," #6554 in Holwick sermon database.

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Five Transforming Truths That Shape Believers

Proverbs 3:5

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and He will make your paths straight."

Proverbs 3:5-6 is one of the most familiar passages of scripture in the Bible and has been a source of comfort and encouragement for many Christians. But, according to Archie England, reading only these two verses would mean missing out on four other "transforming truths" and the "key" that unlocks them.

"My heart wanted to preach on Proverbs 3:5-6; that was just all I wanted to preach," England said during the chapel service at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. "But as I began studying the context in chapter 3, I realized that the writer of Proverbs had given us a tremendous sermon in the whole chapter."

England, associate professor of Old Testament and Hebrew at NOBTS, pointed out a series of instructions given by the writer of Proverbs that form five transforming truths.

"In verse 3 [the writer of Proverbs] says, 'do not let kindness and truth leave you; bind them around your neck.' The first transforming truth is that we hold on to faithfulness and covenantal lovingkindness."

While the first truth deals with the priority a believer should have, the next transforming truth in chapter 3 focuses on faith. It is found in that famous verse 5 and it is simple and straightforward. "Trust in the Lord and do not lean on your own understanding."

"We find thirdly that we are to humble ourselves. We acknowledge the greatness, the majesty, the wonder, the beauty, the bounty of God Almighty. And we bow before him because we know that God is able, willing and capable to fill our cup and to bless us beyond all measure of blessing."

England noted that the text promises "refreshment and healing" to those who will humble themselves before him and worship him. This leads directly to the fourth transforming truth in the chapter -- honor.

"God is worthy of to be honored with that which He gives us -- our wealth and the first fruits of our fields," he stated. "Proverbs tells us that we ought to bring to God those tributes of praise and glory and honor."

The last transforming truth England highlighted is the endurance of the believer. Pointing to verse 11, he illustrated the importance of enduring God's discipline.

"God disciplines, he corrects those he loves. We are to endure all things for the sake of God's kingdom ... because it shows our commitment to persevere."

What is the key to understanding and unlocking these five transforming truths? England said that it is God's wisdom.

"The key to the issue is wisdom. This wisdom is more profitable, more productive, more precious."

"It is more profitable than silver, it is better gain than gold ... nothing can compare to the wisdom of God." he continued. "When we acknowledge the five truths that transform, when we understand that it is wisdom that is above all things, then we come to great peace."

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It's Not Me Anymore

1 Corinthians 6

Think about you in seventh grade. You say, “No, I'd rather not.” Well, think about you. I mean, what a hunk! Right? Miss America! Probably not. Our daughter had a funny experience in her senior French class in high school. There was some down time, and some girls were comparing their wallet pictures, including our daughter. She had out her senior picture out and her seventh grade picture right next to it. The teacher asked what everybody was laughing at. Well, now our daughter has always had a beautiful smile, but I have to tell you, in seventh grade it was decorated with braces, she had glasses, her hair was kind of kinky and curly and all pulled back, and she looked like a seventh grader. Well, her French teacher looked at that particular picture of our daughter, the seventh grade version, and then to the very beautiful senior in her graduation picture ... no glasses, long hair, carefully curled hair, big blue eyes unconcealed by glasses. That teacher had a simple two-word reaction, (French teacher, of course) “La Miracle!” Well, our daughter could laugh with her friends and her teacher at the seventh grade picture. Hey, it wasn't her anymore.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “It's Not Me Anymore.”

Our word for today from the Word of God comes from 1 Corinthians 6, where we read about people with a past, with a reputation, with a record. Listen to these verses. It starts out with some pretty bad news. “Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral nor idolater nor adulterers nor mail prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy, nor the drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the Kingdom of God.” Well, that's a lot of guilt there, a lot of shame, a lot of pain. But listen to 1 Corinthians 6:11. Here's the good news: “And that is what some of you were, but you were washed, you were sanctified.” That means made special again. “You were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and by the Spirit of our God.” These are people who are cleaned up, made special again, made right with God - only one possible way - in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's like our daughter and her seventh grade picture. She couldn't laugh at it when she was that person, but she sure could as a senior, because that photo represented who she was then - not now. That's the miracle - “La Miracle” - of being a new creation in Jesus Christ.

The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “When you are in Christ you are a new creation, the old is gone and new life has begun.” He not only changes your eternal future from hell to heaven, and makes your present meaningful, but He miraculously makes your past sins irrelevant. Maybe you're sometimes pursued by a past you wish you could do over or erase. The Bible says, “Repent and turn to God, and your sins will be wiped away, and times of refreshing will come from the Lord.” It's gone! God treats you like a whole new person. Why don't you treat you that way? Maybe you've even held on to some of the old you, because you just didn't believe it ever could be different.

But the Bible says, “He carried our sins in His own body on the tree that we might die to that sin.” There's no reason for you to still be wearing the braces and the glasses of a person you don't ever have to be again. If you've never been to His cross to get your sins forgiven, tell Him right now, “Jesus, I want you as my personal Savior for my personal sin.”

And now, on the other side of going to that cross, you can live beyond the guilt, beyond the shame. All those snapshots of who you were just don't matter anymore. It's not you anymore.

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[Original illustration here was a duplicate in HolwickID 25837-26027]

Prison Programs and the Public Good

You may have been listening on June 18 when Mark Earley commented on the recent, peer-reviewed study by the University of Pennsylvania documenting dramatically reduced recidivism in the Christian prison we run in Texas, known as the InnerChange Freedom Initiative, or IFI. The report not only documents reduced recidivism; it also analyzes and documents what a conversion is. The more similar studies like this come out, the more undeniable our witness becomes.

We had the opportunity to present this report to President Bush in the Roosevelt Room of the White House two weeks ago. There were about fifteen of us assembled, including three graduates of the program, one of whom was Robert Sutton. That’s the inmate that Bush had embraced six years ago when he was governor of Texas and dedicated the prison. The day after that, the Houston POST had featured a picture of Bush with his arm around, as the caption put it, “a convicted murderer.” Not good politics!

But this time Bush walked into the Roosevelt Room and saw Sutton standing there. Sutton has been released from prison; he’s back with his family, rehabilitated. He’s working to disciple other men still in prison. Bush went straight over to him and said, “You’re a good man, and I’m glad to see you here!” and threw his arms around him and embraced him. It was an amazing moment — prisoners witnessing to the president of the United States.

Prisoners witnessed to kings in biblical times, but I never thought I’d live to see the day when I would not only return to the White House, but bring ex-inmates with me who could tell the president of the United States about Jesus. We had a magnificent time that morning discussing the University of Pennsylvania study and its implications.

In the press briefing afterwards, Dr. Byron Johnson, author of the study, laid out the five spiritual transformation themes that the researchers have discovered and that, he said, were the causes of the reduction in recidivism. These are “I’m not who I used to be,” spiritual growth, God versus the prison code, a positive outlook on life, and the need to give back to society.

Do you realize what this means? We have a leading academic institution reporting a five-year study, peer-reviewed at Harvard and Princeton, that lays out the elements of spiritual transformation, the very anatomy of a conversion. The report caused the WALL STREET JOURNAL to title its editorial, that appeared on the Friday after the meeting in the White House, “Jesus Saves.”

When your friends tell you that your faith is merely private and you ought to keep it to yourself, tell them about this report. Faith isn’t just a private experience. Faith, when it is lived out, changes not only people — it also changes cultures, countries. It reduces recidivism. It eventually will reduce crime. And it results in inmates witnessing to presidents.

We have an amazing apologetic opportunity in this report, for it documents in academic terms what happens when somebody comes to Christ — they are transformed, and the public is better off for it. Wouldn’t you rather have people like this coming out into society instead of hardened criminals?

This is an example of exactly what we’re committed to here at BreakPoint — presenting the biblical point of view of life, which can be empirically validated. It works because it is true.

Things Are Askew

Romans 12:2

Things are askew. Things are not right. Of all Christian claims about the world this one is the most readily verified empirically. Go ahead, look around your world, and tell me that things are all right. If you can, contact me so that I can come join you.

It is not just the Christian who makes such a claim about the world. You would be hard pressed to find a religion, philosophy, or ideology that did not contain some notion of the wrongness of the world. Of course, each one has its own particular diagnosis about what exactly is wrong. For the Hindu, wrongness, even evil, is addressed as “illusion.” But for today's socialist, it is the unequal distribution of resources. And just as each diagnosis differs in content so accordingly the prescription differs in form. So for the Hindu, the mind needs to be cleared of illusion. But for the socialist, economic resources need to be radically redistributed.

The uniqueness of the Christian diagnosis is where it locates the problem. Not in belief, nor in economic distribution, nor lack of education, not even in morality, but in the human heart. The Christian diagnosis is that humanity is plagued with a universal epidemic of mal-formed souls. Sin has marred and corrupted our interior and thus on the exterior we act, well, human. And on the Christian account of things, human history is the story of men and nations acting out this malformation.

Thankfully, there is also the matter of the Christian prescription. For that, let us turn to that most formidable reformed theologian, John Calvin:

For as the surest source of destruction to men is to obey

themselves, so the only haven of safety is to have no other will,

no other wisdom, than to follow the Lord wherever He leads. Let

this, then, be the first step, to abandon ourselves, and devote

the whole energy of our minds to the service of God. By service,

I mean not only that which consists in verbal obedience, but that

by which the mind, divested of its own carnal feelings,

implicitly obeys the call of the Spirit of God. This

transformation (which Paul calls the renewing of the mind, Romans

12:2, Ephesians 4:23), though it is the first entrance of life,

was unknown to all philosophers. They give government of man to

reason alone… But Christian philosophy bids her give place, and

yield complete submission to the Holy Spirit, so that the man

himself no longer lives, but Christ lives and reigns in him

(Galatians 2:20).

This course is a course in soul re-formation. May you pursue it and be re-formed.

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Be Not Conformed To This World

Romans 12:2

“And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what [is] that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” (Romans 12:2 NKJV)

Be Not Conformed To This World

• conformed — made like

• world — 1 Jn 2:15-17, 2 Cor 6:14-17, Eph 2:2-3, 4:17-24, ! Pet 4:2-3 — temper, conduct, aim, policy.

• transformed — changed

• renewing…mind — Col 3:10, Rom 7:12, 22 — the change to be radical, internal, spiritual

• prove — by experience

• good — Gk., that which is good

• acceptable — Gk., the acceptable

• will…God — Gk., the will of God. Prove that whatever form it takes it is always the highest good of life; and always acceptable — well-pleasing — to a renewed heart — Ps 19:7-9

Nonconformity to the world — Anon.

I. Its nature;

1. It is not ceremonial;

2. Nor yet civil; but –

3. It is moral. Be not conformed to –

(1) The spirit of the world;

(2) The world, in your rules of life;

(3) In your company;

(4) In your practices.

II. Some reasons for its prohibition:

1. Duty;

2. Profession;

3. Self-love;

4. The love of your neighbour;

5. Religion prohibits it.

III. How it may be prevented. By –

1. The regeneration of our natures;

2. The exercise of daily prayer;

3. Guarding against temptation;

4. A constant dependence upon God.

General mistakes — W. Stevens

The world is a dangerous guide in regard to –

I. Faith. Because of –

1. Prejudice of education;

2. Custom;

3. Example.

II. The worship God requires.

III. Morality. Consider men in regard to –

1. Their masters;

2. Their professions;

3. Their received rules of life;

4. The actions which they celebrate;

5. Certain decisive occasions, which clearly show their principles and motives.

IV. The hour of death.

The folly and danger of conforming to this world — Dr Stennett

I. What this caution supposes:

1. The way of the world is wicked;

2. Christians are too prone to con form to the world;

3. The danger of such conformity.

II. This caution explained. Our principles, spirit, and conduct are to be at a distance from those of the world.

III. Its reasonableness.

The prince of this world — Who is the prince of this world? “The Lord is King,” cries the Psalmist; “let the earth rejoice; and let the multitude of the isles be glad thereof.” Is the Lord, then, the Prince of this world — the Prince of those who give up their hearts to this world? Is He your Prince, your King? By right He is so, by a twofold title, as your Creator, and as your Redeemer. But so long as you continue the children of this world, He is not, in point of fact, your King. He is not the king whom the children of this world honour, and obey, and serve. Their true king, the king whom they really honour, and obey, and serve, is … Whom did Eve obey and serve, when she was beguiled by the pleasures of the senses to pluck the forbidden fruit? Whom did Cain obey and serve, when he lifted his hand against Abel? Whom did the generation before the flood obey and serve, when it repented the Lord that He had made man? Whom did the children of the plain obey and serve, when they attempted to build a tower, the top of which should reach to heaven? Whom did Esau obey and serve, when he sold his birthright? Whom did the sons of Jacob obey and serve, when they cast Joseph into the pit? Whom did Samson obey and serve, when he laid his head in the lap of Delilah? Whom did David obey and serve, when he commanded that Uriah should be set in front of the battle, and left to die? Whom did Solomon obey and serve, when his wives turned away his heart to worship Ashtoreth and Milcom? Whom did Herod obey and serve, when he slew the children at Bethlehem? Whom did Judas obey and serve, when he betrayed his Master? Whom did Pilate obey and serve, when he gave up Him in whom he could find no fault, to be crucified? They all obeyed and served the prince of this world, the prince who, under one shape or other, reigns in the hearts of all the children of this world, swaying some by the lusts of the flesh, and others by the lusts of the eye, and others again by the pride of life. — Hare

“If any sin is fashionable, Christians should be out of fashion.” — Anon.

“The wisest of men in all ages have ever thought it prudence to conform to the innocent, though otherwise not convenient, customs of the age and place wherein they lived.” — J. Norris

“Religion is the perfection of wisdom — practice the best instructor — thanksgiving the sweetest recreation.” — Horne

“I have lived long enough to know what I did not at one time believe — that no society can be upheld in happiness and honour without the sentiment of religion.” — LaPlace

“The great end of religion is to make us like God, and conduct us to the enjoyment of Him … Whatever is called religious knowledge, if it does not direct us in the way to this end, is not religious knowledge; but something else falsely so called.” — J. Mason

God's Eye Is On All Guys

From the “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy” website:

Five gay men, out to make over the world -- one straight guy at a

time. They are the Fab Five: an elite team of gay men dedicated

to extolling the simple virtues of style, taste and class. Each

week their mission is to transform a style-deficient and culture-

deprived straight man from drab to fab in each of their

respective categories: fashion, food & wine, interior design,

grooming and culture.

In the Old Testament God had deep opinions on fashion (no blended shirts and ornate robes for the priests), food and wine (stay away from scallops and in the New Testament Jesus turned water into wine). And speaking of interior design, His temple was inlaid with intricately detailed gold! There were also many guidelines about grooming and how to operate within a culture.

But, God's purposes in these guidelines were to reveal His holiness and expose sin. He wants us to settle for nothing less than His standards for how we should live. He wants us to cry out for mercy, receive salvation and be content and productive where He places us. He wants us to esteem Him as the Creator and Author of all things perfect and beautiful.

In a 20/20 interview, the style squad of the Bravo Channel expose a little about themselves when one of the team berates a “straight” guy for using wire hangars. The dialog seemed almost to pay homage to the child abuse scene in Mommy Dearest.

The team panders to the basest of humor levels in their audience, laughing indignantly as they rebuke and guffaw over the inadequacies of their “project.” Using flippant comments as the rule, the Fab Five exploit an individual's image concerns and personal insecurities for laughs as they “makeover” this person. Thankfully, God transforms with love and never shame. He calls us to a holy standard knowing that the only way we can make it is by His tender mercy.

The Fab Five would remake the world into their “what's 'in' this season” image.

The Lord liberates the world to bear His Image as unique individuals, whereas the product of Queer Eye is consumer-based and discarded at the end of the day.

What this team is doing is nothing new. Men and women have tried to remake others into their own definitions for a long time. Even we in the church should consider repentance for re-modeling others into our image instead of guiding them to the Lord and His teachings. The Lord wants to reshape all our lives to His original intent that fulfills His holy design and liberates us to sing our unique song for all eternity.

As the world learns how self-identified “gay” men would remake society into their image, those of us who are believers must seek for ourselves and encourage others to allow God to liberate us into His image -- an image that bypasses the exterior and satiates the heart.

A person liberated into God's image will reflect Him well whether dressed in Versace or Wrangler's.

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Adapted from a column by Randy Thomas, communications director for Exodus International.

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Does 'Ex-gay' Therapy Work? Published Study Says It Does [2 versions]

The man who led the charge in the 1970s to remove homosexuality from a list of mental disorders now says that those claiming to be “ex-gay” are telling the truth.

Robert Spitzer's finding that some homosexuals can become heterosexuals is sure to re-ignite the debate over the effectiveness of such organizations as Exodus International, which seeks to reach homosexuals with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Three decades ago Spitzer helped lead the charge to take homosexuality off the American Psychiatric Association's list of mental disorders.

Spitzer's study, along with critical analysis from peers, is published in the October 2003 edition of the Archives of Sexual Behavior. He announced his findings in 2001 but had yet to publish them in an academic journal.

His study involved 45-minute telephone interviews with 200 people claiming to be former homosexuals -- 143 men, 57 women. They had to meet certain criteria, such as reporting “at least some minimal change” from homosexuality to heterosexuality that lasted at least five years.

For the purpose of the paper he called all forms of therapy -- religious and non-religious -- “reparative therapy.”

“This study ... clearly goes beyond anecdotal information and provides evidence that reparative therapy is sometimes successful,” Spitzer wrote. “For the participants in our study, there was no evidence of harm [from reparative therapy]. To the contrary, they reported that it was helpful in a variety of ways beyond changing sexual orientation itself.”

One argument against reparative therapy is that it will trigger depression in homosexuals. Spitzer, though, found just the opposite to be true: Those who had undergone reparative therapy had experienced far less depression. Forty-three percent of males and 47 percent of females reported being “markedly” or “extremely” depressed before their therapy. But that number dropped significantly after therapy, with only 1 percent of males and 4 percent of females in the study reporting having been depressed at any time during the year preceding the interview.

“Participants reported benefit from nonsexual changes, such as decreased depression, a greater sense of masculinity in males, and femininity in females, and developing intimate nonsexual relations with members of the same sex,” he wrote. “There is no doubt about what the participants in the study reported. The key question is judging the credibility of their self-reports.”

Spitzer acknowledged the controversial nature of the study. The American Academy of Pediatrics, American Psychiatric Association, American Psychological Association, National Association of Social Work and American Counseling Association all have issued position papers warning of possible harm of reparative therapy, he noted.

His colleagues criticized the report in a series of analytical pieces in the journal. Some said the study's subjects had an agenda and exaggerated the truth; others said the subjects were simply “bisexual.”

“When I started the study and told colleagues about it, I was greeted with anger and disbelief that I would be so foolish as to believe what ex-gays said about themselves,” he wrote. “I therefore should have realized that, despite any methodological improvements in assessment of change that I could incorporate into the study (such as the use of a fully structured interview schedule with detailed questions assessing multiple components of sexual orientation), many critics would never accept the subject's self-reports as credible.”

The average age of the men in the study was 42, the average age of the women 44. Sixty-six percent of the men and 47 percent of the women were married.

The study showed that some of the subjects were still struggling with the change. Of the 158 participants who were no longer in therapy, 13 percent of the men and 10 percent of the women reported that since undergoing therapy they had had a brief occurrence -- usually only a few days -- of “overt homosexual behavior.” But only two of these occurrences had happened in the previous year.

Only 11 percent of the men and 37 percent of the women reported a “complete” break from homosexuality -- that is, not even occasionally thinking a lustful thought.

Forty-three percent of the participants learned about the study from religious ministries while 23 percent learned about it from the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality, a group of professionals who offer therapy to homosexuals wishing to change. Ninety-three percent said that religion was “extremely” or “very” important in their lives.

Indiana University's John Bancroft argued that the subjects were biased.

“Given their powerful agenda of promoting such treatment, it would be surprising if they did not overestimate the amount of change,” he wrote.

But Spitzer asserted that if the subjects were lying they would not have admitted to their continuing struggles.

“If there was significant bias, one might expect that many participants would report complete or near complete change in all sexual orientation measures ... ,” he wrote.

On average the subjects began having homosexual thoughts at age 12 and began undergoing therapy at age 30.

If taken seriously, the study's findings have a far-reaching impact, Spitzer said.

“First, it questions the current conventional view that desire for therapy to change sexual orientation is always succumbing to societal pressure and irrational internalized homophobia,” he wrote. “For some individuals, changing sexual orientation can be a rational, self- directed goal. Second, it suggests that the mental health professionals should stop moving in the direction of banning therapy that has as a goal a change in sexual orientation.”

Spitzer, who said he was skeptical of reparative therapy before beginning the study, said more studies need to be done.

“[But] given the cost and complexity of such a study and the current view in the mental health professions of the benefits and risks of reorientation therapy, such a study is not going to happen in the near future,” he wrote. “This is unfortunate because of the real questions raised, albeit admittedly not resolved, by this study.”

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Another version from SermonCentral.com newsletter on July 25, 2005:

An explosive new study says some gay people can turn straight if they really want to. Robert L. Spitzer, a psychiatry professor at Columbia University who led the study, said he couldn’t estimate what percentage of highly motivated gay people can change their sexual orientation but he said the research “shows some people can change from gay to straight, and we ought to acknowledge that.”

Spitzer spearheaded the APA’s 1973 decision to remove homosexuality from its list of mental disorders. At the time, he said homosexuality does not meet the criteria for a mental disorder, and he called for more research to determine whether some people can change their sexuality.

Spitzer, who said he does not offer reparative therapy and began his study as a skeptic, said the research was paid for out of his department’s funds. He conducted 45-minute telephone interviews with 200 people, 143 of them men, who claimed they had changed their orientation from gay to heterosexual. The average age of those interviewed was 43. They answered about 60 questions about their sexual feelings and behavior before and after their efforts to change. Those efforts had begun about 14 years before the interviews for the men and 12 years for the women Most said they had used more than one strategy to change their orientation About half said the most helpful step was work with a mental health professional, most commonly a psychologist. About a third cited a support group, and fewer mentioned such aids as books and mentoring by a heterosexual.

Spitzer concluded that 66 percent of the men and 44 percent of the women had arrived at what he called good heterosexual functioning. That term was defined as being in a sustained, loving heterosexual relationship within the past year, getting enough satisfaction from the emotional relationship with their partner to rate at least seven on a 10-point scale, having satisfying heterosexual sex at least monthly and never or rarely thinking of somebody of the same sex during heterosexual sex. In addition, 89 percent of men and 95 percent of women said they were bothered only slightly, or not at all, by unwanted homosexual feelings. Only 11 percent of the men and 37 percent of the women reported a complete absence of homosexual indicators, including same-sex attraction.

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100 Sermon Illustrations on Transformation