Voyage to the Middle of a Brain

Posted on by
Reply

Check out the interview on our website with David Wilkerson from October 2007 in which he speaks directly to the financial crisis that he felt was coming. Look to the right on this page at click on Victoire magazine-English. 

______________________
“Today young men and women, you’re going to make history. Climb into this super-micro inner space ship and we’re going to be the first people in history to voyage inside someone’s head.”

We all piled into the ultra-modern craft. Of course we had been shrunk so small that we were invisible but all six of us still felt a bit uneasy as we flew into the crowded room.

“There in the corner, that lady with the short haircut, head for her ear!” the Captain yelled to the pilot. We hung on for dear life as the little craft banked and flew in the huge opening. We marveled as we flew past globs of wax, hanging like stalactites from the top of her inner ear.

Then we nosed into the brain itself. Surprising, we passed into the spongy mass without any problem. Our super-interpreter computer was able to show us what transpired in this lady’s grey matter.

Up ahead, there was a part that looked stormy. Once again we checked to see if our belts were firmly bucked because this promised to be a rough one. It kicked us sideways, and we tumbled over and over from the brainstorm, lightning sizzling the sides of our craft. All the while our computer analyzed the source of the problem.

“She’s mad at another lady here!” the computer announced simply. “Whew!” I thought. “That’s got to result in one big headache.” Finally we flew clear of the troubled area. It was time. I wasn’t sure our little ship could stand the pounding much longer.

Swamp Gas

Up ahead, we saw something eerie as we moved forward. It looked like a swamp with poisonous gas rising up! “Beep! Beep! Beep!” sounded the warning. “It’s a bitterness swamp! Steer clear or those acid fumes will consume this ship!”

Our pilot had his hands full but he finally veered left and avoided the morass. Problem was, everywhere we looked in this brain, danger hid–threatening mountains that our translation computer told us were fortresses of unforgiveness, storms caused by fear and doubt, lightning bolts of greed; jungles of desire for something she didn’t have.

Finally, we could take it no longer. “Get us out of here Captain! We’re gonna die if we stay in this lady’s head.” The pilot headed to where his navigation screen showed the other ear to be and after many harrowing adventures and near death experiences we flew out the other side of her head.

“Let’s go home!” we all screamed. But the Captain paid no attention as he scrutinized the other guests in the room where we flew once more. “There, that one!” he directed suddenly.

The pilot took us into the ear of a young man about 30-years of age. We all braced for the storms ahead as we passed the inevitable globs of earwax, heading for the depths of his brain.

Up ahead we saw what seemed to be a forest, highlighted by sunshine. Our computer told us what it was, as we flew over. “He’s thinking about how much he appreciates the person that invited him here and how many good things have happened to him recently.” Our eyes feasted on the beauty of the woods as we glided slowly over the treetops.

Up ahead, though, things were changing and we got ready for the worst. Didn’t need to though. A deep blue lake welcomed us. “These are his hopes for tomorrow,” the computer intoned. He believes that God is going to keep him and help his life mean something during his time on the earth.”

It’s hard to tell you what a joy that trip was. We saw beautiful colors, heard music that soothed our souls, saw sights that challenged us to accomplish more, heard drumbeats which seemed to be the rhythm of his heart responding to others’ needs. Finally, with much regret, we flew out the other ear.

No, one spoke for awhile as we headed out of the crowded room to return to our base. Finally, one young learner said to the Captain, “Those two there, their minds are so different. She must have a much harder life than that other fellow.”

“Not really,” the Captain answered. “Those two are married–to each other.”

“What! Then why the difference in their mind if their experiences are basically the same?”

“She is full of herself and she doesn’t filter her thoughts,” the Captain said sadly. “He takes God’s Word seriously and thinks about it. He purposely slams the door on the nastiness and fear that she welcomes. The difference is what they decide to think about all day and their obedience to the Word of God.”

Quietness reigned the rest of the way back. Lots to think about … lots to think about.

“Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies.” (The Message, Phil. 4:8,9)

The Pacifier and Compassion

Posted on by
Reply

Check out the interview on our website with David Wilkerson from October 2007 in which he speaks directly to the financial crisis that he felt was coming. Look to the right on this page at click on Victoire magazine-English

The Pacifier

(A true story)
Once upon a time in a church somewhere in the world, an infant of about 15 months stood next to his mother on a church bench, a pacifier covering a good percentage of his innocent face.

This pacifier held a powerful place in the life of the child. Touch his pacifier and he might break your arm (or at least your ears!)

Everyone else faced forward, more or less singing, but he looked towards the rear of the church, which was more interesting. The song-leader wasn’t very happy with the way the people warbled that morning and he fussed at them a bit.

The song-leader’s wife sat just behind our pacifier baby and she wasn’t in a sweet mood. There’s a good chance that she and the song-leader had had words before they arrived at the service. When he scolded the assembly, she puffed up and said, “Well, I wouldn’t sing now if he asked me to!”

The baby looked at her seriously, then took out his pacifier and offered it to her. “I don’t want that thing!” she huffed.

But my friend, that’s compassion! The little fellow knew the comfort that he received from his rubber stogy and he was willing to let her have a smack or two, if that would comfort her!

Do You Need Comfort?

A baby can’t understand the forces that troubled those two people but he tried to comfort her with what comforted him.
That’s what so good about Jesus. He knows how to comfort us because He’s been through it all, and He always gives us help perfectly adapted to our hurts.

“Don’t be so naive and self-confident. You’re not exempt. You could fall flat on your face as easily as anyone else. Forget about self-confidence; it’s useless. Cultivate God-confidence. No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face. All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; he’ll never let you be pushed past your limit; he’ll always be there to help you come through it.” (1 Cor. 10 :12, 13, The Message)

Once I was thinking about Isaiah 53 :4 : “Surely He has borne our griefs (sicknesses, weaknesses, and distresses) and carried our sorrows and pains [of punishment], yet we [ignorantly] considered Him stricken, smitten, and afflicted by God [as if with leprosy]. (Amplified version)

I believe the Lord spoke to me. “David, you know when you hurt and you come to me and you say, ‘Lord, it hurts!’ I know exactly what you’re feeling because when I went to the Cross, I took that very pain on myself. I’ve already felt it and I understand exactly what you feel.”

Sometimes we can’t understand someone else’s pain because we’ve never felt it.

When I was a young pastor in the United States one of the ladies in the church had had an operation for breast cancer. She later joined a group that tried to help ladies who had this operation.

“The first time that I went into a hospital room and I saw that woman in the bed, I knew exactly what she felt,” she told me.

And if we struggle with the burden of sin guilt, or sickness, or the pain of life, Jesus understands perfectly. He’s felt that pain.

The horror of the Cross weighed far more than the physical tortures that Jesus endured. God’s Son experienced the horror of every sin ever committed, of all our sicknesses, and all our suffering.

He never sinned but He carried all that horrible nastiness on Himself.

But the wonder of the Cross explodes with this truth—He understands! He know how to help.

“ Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. 16Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” (Heb. 4:14, 15, NIV)

If you’re hurting, why don’t you go to Jesus and tell Him.

He understands. He knows how to help.

———————–
Hmmm…

The truth is, everyone lives by faith. The only difference between Christian faith and non-Christian faith is the object of our faith.” Neil Anderson

Stopped Up Ears

Posted on by
3

Check out the interview with David Wilkerson from October 2007 in which he speaks directly to the financial crisis that he felt was coming. Look to the right on this page at click on Victoire magazine-English

Two new members of the AARP (American Association of Retired Persons) were talking about how vain women are. “Our wives are so vain. They don’t want to admit they are getting old,” one noted.

“I found a way to prove to them that they are getting old,” said the second. “You stand behind them a certain distance when they don’t know you are there, and say something, but they can’t hear you. That proves to them that they are getting hard of hearing.”

So the first fellow goes home and finds his wife in the kitchen washing dishes with her back toward him. “What are we having for lunch?” he said in a loud voice. Nothing. So he moves closer, “What are we having for lunch?” Still no response. So finally he moves right behind her and shouts, “What are we having for lunch!”

His wife turns to him with an exasperated look and says, “For the third time I tell you, fried chicken!”

Life is funny. It seems that each new birthday increases my wife’s sense of hearing. With her husband, though, it’s another story. When we watch television together one of my favorite phrases is, “Turn it up, please.” When I listen to music, it hurts her ears. When she’s ninety, she’ll be able to hear a twig snap one kilometer away, if this keeps up.

I don’t even want to know what her husband will be like if he makes it to ninety. “Huh? What? How’s that?” (“Turn your hearing aid on, goofball!”)

God addresses a whole flock of hard of hearing people.

“Concerning this we have much to say which is hard to explain, since you have become dull in your [spiritual] hearing and sluggish [even slothful in achieving spiritual insight]. For even though by this time you ought to be teaching others, you actually need someone to teach you over again the very first principles of God’s Word. You have come to need milk, not solid food.” (Heb. 5:11, 12, Amplified)

Though it’s frustrating to lose one’s physical hearing capacity, it’s deadly when you lose your spiritual hearing capacity. The people who received this letter (Hebrews) were evidently thinking of turning their back on Christ and going back to their old way of life and worship. Less persecution, you see.

Spiritually, they had shrunk. They couldn’t understand spiritual truths that seemed evident to them in the past. Godly things didn’t interest them nearly as much as before. “Yeah, Church is important, but you know, I’m not as gung-ho as I once was. There are other things in life you see.

“It’s okay if they want to be zealous for the Lord Jesus and you know, I’m not leaving the Lord. I just want to do other things.”

They’ve traded their heavenly marriage certificate for a simple fire-insurance policy. “Just do the minimum. You don’t need to be all-out for the Lord,” they think. Something else has captured the best part of their heart.

And it’s getting harder and harder to hear God’s voice, harder and harder to want to obey Him. People who should be in a spiritual Master’s degree program have regressed and are trying to fit their long legs under kindergarten tables.

What a shame.

The flip side of that is good news, though. You can grow. You can mature IF YOU WANT TO! (Excuse me for shouting but it’s exciting).

“By this time you ought to be teachers yourselves, yet here I find you need someone to sit down with you and go over the basics on God again, starting from square one—baby’s milk, when you should have been on solid food long ago! Milk is for beginners, inexperienced in God’s ways; solid food is for the mature, who have some practice in telling right from wrong.” (From Hebrews 5, The Message)

“Teachers yourselves,” “solid food,” “mature.” Hey, there’s hope if you’ll re-center your heart and dig the wax out of your ears. And cut some of that earhair!

Hey! How’s your hearing?

_________________________

Hmmm…

“The prayers and supplications that Christ offered up were joined with strong cries and tears, herein setting us an example not only to pray, but to be fervent and importunate in prayer. How many dry prayers, how few wet ones, do we offer up to God!” (Matthew Henry commenting on Heb. 5:6.)

Mrs. Table?

Posted on by
Reply

French and many other continental European languages have a peculiarity that drives English speakers crazy—their nouns are either masculine or feminine. No one seems to be able to pronounce the simple little word “the” so everything is either la or le in French.

Maybe a long time ago, when the French and the English fought all the time, the cave-men French tried to come up with a fail-safe method to stop the cave-men English invaders.

“If we could invent a tank that spouted fire, and ran on tracks we could beat them,” volunteered little Pierre. “Have you been sneaking into the wine again, little Pierre?” said his father. “Nothing like that will ever exist.”

But one day some one must have come up with a fool-proof method to stop their enemies. “Let’s make all our words either masculine or feminine. That way when they yell horrible things at us, they will be confused and we’ll defeat them.”

If that was what happened, it must have worked something like this: A big English soldier yells at the French lined up against them: “Rendez-vous petite espèce de vauriens! … ummm … attendez-vous un moment …” (“Give up you little good for nothings… wait a minute. ”)

“Hey, Richard, is “espèce” masculine or feminine?”

“You got me, I think it’s masculine.”

“Don’t be stupid, it feminine,” pipes up Rodney from the second row of soldiers!

“No, it’s masculine,” yell two or three others.

An while the English soldiers argue among themselves, the French mount a surprise attack and push them back to the English channel.

Now, I’m not sure that’s how the masculine and feminine article adjectives came to be. It’s a thought anyway. One thing I know is that they can drive you crazy if you’re not born here. “La foi means “faith”, le foie means liver, but the noun is pronounced the same way, so missionaries in France have been know to preach messages on the necessity of liver.

For a long time, I thought the gender of the adjective must have something to do with the object in question. In English, if an object is masculine it’s because it’s—well, it’s masculine. It’s a man. A woman’s a woman. So, I figured la table (the table) must have something feminine about it that made it la instead of le.

But then why, le camion–the truck—(lorry for our British readers), and la camionette—a van (lorryette for our British readers?)

One day, I had a revelation, though. On television I saw the host of a program ask a French person, “Do you think this word is masculine or feminine?” I don’t remember what the word was but if it had been me, I would have immediately considered whether that thing had more masculine or feminine characteristics.

You know what the French person did? He repeated the word and listened to it. He thought it sounded masculine or feminine. Suddenly, a light went on in my head. “It’s not considered masculine or feminine because of the characteristics of the thing, dummy! It’s because of the way the word sounds!”

Head slap to one’s own head!

I have bad news for language learners. A language isn’t just a series of noises that communicate ideas. Often it represents a way of looking at the world—a worldview. To really learn to communicate, you have to learn how a people think.

Another Way Of Seeing Things

That’s why some folks don’t always understand committed Christians. We see the world differently. Our worldview starts with God. Our heart has been changed by the power of the Holy Spirit and we want to do what pleases Him.

Jesus is our King and we’re subjects in His kingdom. We want to promote what He wants promoted, do what He wants done, accomplish what gives Him joy.

Eugene Peterson captures this conflict of worldviews well in his translation of parts of 1 Corinthiens 2:

“The experts of our day haven’t a clue about what this eternal plan is. If they had, they wouldn’t have killed the Master of the God-designed life on a cross. That’s why we have this Scripture text: ‘No one’s ever seen or heard anything like this, never so much as imagined anything quite like it—what God has arranged for those who love him.’

“But you’ve seen and heard it because God by his Spirit has brought it all out into the open before you … The unspiritual self, just as it is by nature, can’t receive the gifts of God’s Spirit. There’s no capacity for them. They seem like so much silliness. Spirit can be know only by spirit—God’s Spirit and our spirits in open communion. Spiritually alive, we have access to everything God’s Spirit is doing …” (From 1 Cor. 2, the Message).

Simply put, you have to understand God to know how He works; When He renews you, your way of seeing the world changes radically. The world thinks you’re a bit strange just like I think French masculine and feminine articles are strange.

There’s probably a reason for them, but I’ll bet that even the French don’t know why it all started. It might be because few seem to be able to pronounce “th” which makes it difficult to say “the” all the time. I think they inherited their articles from the Latin language.

But the worldview of Christ? When you know Him, it all makes sense and if you don’t know Him, it all seems silly. Only … only, it’s the most important thing in the universe to know and understand Him.

Cry out to Him in prayer. Read His Word, the Bible. Those who seek, find.

They find le chemin. (=”The way.” And that’s masculine, thank you, but it’s for women too!)

If You Goof Up, Get Up!

Posted on by
Reply

I heard a lady somewhere lament, “I knew that it wasn’t God’s will for me to marry that person, but I did it anyway and now I’m paying the price,”? Often people who speak like this are explaining that their mate is the reason why they are not accomplishing God’s purpose for their life or why they’re divorcing someone they can’t put up with anymore.

I got to thinking about it. You know, that lady messed things up for the entire world. How’s that David? Well, if she married someone she wasn’t supposed to marry, then her husband also married out of God’s will. And the two people who married the ones that should have married them, also missed God.

As did the ones that married the ones that shouldn’t have married the ones, who shouldn’t have married the one. You following me? So by my reckoning, probably everyone in the world married out of God’s will because of that one goofy woman.

It’s Not Like That!

It’s not like that. You know the good thing about God’s will? If you miss it, you aren’t finished. He still gives you a chance.

I told you about some of my “lost” escapades in Paris. One of the first happened when we were invited by our friends Jean-Francois et Francine (plus their handsome sons) to eat with them one evening.

This family lives on the west side of the ring around Paris. We were supposed to be at their house around seven but for some reason we took the wrong way and found ourselves on the ring going east. No problem, we’ll call—hmmm, except the cell phone battery was empty.

So I had to stop at a service station, buy a phone card and call. I found that I was on the wrong side of Paris, and faced rush-hour traffic to try to get back the other way. We raced along like a sore-footed snail.

When we finally got to the right exit we pulled off and waited on the right side of the ring where I thought our friend was waiting for us, but from my description Jean-Francois thought I was coming from the other way and he waited on the left side of the ring.

It was a high-stress situation and I was tempted just to say we’d missed it and go home but … we finally made connections and got there– two hours late– but we got there.

Was it worth it? Well, Françianne had prepared a Creole meal that I would have had to pay a fortune for in a restaurant, and we had a super time with some friends we were just getting to know. They were patient with our lostness so the evening wasn’t a waste.

If you miss your turn you don’t have to quit! If you took the wrong direction in life you don’t have to give up. God doesn’t condemn you to a second-rate life if you fail. He’s a Master at forgiving and redeeming tough situations.

David messed up big time and he paid a heavy tribute for his sin, but God redeemed the situation and put his Solomon, whose mother had been part of David’s sin, on the throne. David had repented and got back in God’s way.

Get up, repent and ask forgiveness, then get on with living for Him the best you can where you’re at. God wants a heart that’s loves Him fully and not one of us has ever run in a way that’s 100% perfect.

If the LORD delights in a man’s way,
he makes his steps firm; though he stumble, he will not fall,
for the LORD upholds him with his hand. (Ps. 37: 23, 24, NIV)

You know what? I suspect that some people accomplish more by doing what they consider to be Plan B for their lives than they ever would have, if they had been able to live in Plan A.

If you goof up—get up! Go on.