tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-78769338032002428372024-03-05T03:56:32.196-06:00Baxter's Ongoing ThoughtsC. Baxter Kruger, Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/18109712975412765686noreply@blogger.comBlogger150125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7876933803200242837.post-69630060826850238752014-08-14T12:11:00.001-05:002014-08-15T11:50:17.355-05:00Three Prayers <b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Lord Jesus Christ</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Lord
Jesus Christ, beloved and eternal and faithful Son of the Father, <i>Homoousios
to Patri,</i> Anointed of the Holy Spirit, incarnate, crucified, resurrected
and ascended Lord of all creation, I believe in you. With great joy, with
the praise of my whole heart I acknowledge and agree that you have found me in
my darkness and sin, laid hold of me and taken me down in your death, freed me
from sin and evil, quickened me with new life in your resurrection, and lifted
me up into your Father’s arms in your ascension, and into the communion of the
Holy Spirit. All of me, and mine, every war-torn fragment, every fearful,
unbelieving, shame-riddled, broken part is in you, in your Father, in the Holy
Spirit. I rest in you, Jesus, lover of my soul, my Savior, my Salvation, my
Saving Act, my King, my Liberator, healer of my broken heart, the author and
finisher of faith. You have included me in all that you are and have in your
union and face-to-face communion with your Father, and you have included me in
your own anointing in the Holy Spirit. You have included me in your
victory over evil and wickedness, and in your session at the Father’s right
hand, above all rule and authority in heaven and on earth. Nothing can
separate me from you, your Father, and the Holy Spirit, and the life you share
together. Blessed be your great name.</span><span style="font-family: Times;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Thank
you, blessed brother, Lord Jesus. You became what I am to bring me to be
what you are in your life with your Father in the Holy Spirit. I hear you
speak my name, and with the freedom of your heart, and mind, I turn toward your
Father to see him with your eyes. I receive the witness of the Spirit of
Adoption. I hear you Lord Jesus, and your “Abba! Father!” inside my own
soul. I receive your Father’s everlasting love, and give myself, all of
me, to your Father’s embrace, and to the healing and restoration of the Holy
Spirit’s communion.</span><span style="font-family: Times;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Lord
Jesus, in your courage, in the comfort of the personal presence of the Holy
Spirit, and in the unearthly assurance of your Father’s arms, I pledge all of
me to your service, to participate in your ministry of liberation of our
brothers and sisters. Reveal to me how and where you, your Father and the
Holy Spirit are already present in my ordinary life, work and play.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Reveal to me the agreements that I have
made with evil and darkness, that have given evil access to my life in you, that
I may break these agreements in your name, and that I may walk in every way in
the glorious freedom of the children of God, in full agreement with the Holy
Spirit, and in all the Holy Spirit’s gifts. Holy Spirit do for me, and
mine, what only you can do.</span><span style="font-family: Times;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">I take my
stand in you, Lord Jesus, and in your name and authority I bind and banish from
my life, my body, my mind, heart and will, my family, my sphere of influence, and my belongings every foul thing, every spirit and form of darkness and religion and wickedness, every power and art, every curse and covering and accusation that are directed towards me and mine. In your name, and by your authority, Lord Jesus, I summon the
holy and faithful angels and command them to destroy the kingdom of darkness
throughout my kingdom, and to establish the kingdom of the blessed Trinity
throughout my domain and ministry.</span><span style="font-family: Times;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Worthy
are you blessed Lord Jesus Christ, Father’s Son, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Homoousios to Patri,</i> Anointed One, Lamb of God who takes away the
sin of the world, the One who baptizes in the Holy Spirit, Victorious Warrior,
worthy are you of all praise and adoration and worship, now and forever.
Thank you for being my Savior, my Good Shepherd, my High Priest, my True and Faithful
witness, my Alpha and Omega, the Captain of my salvation, and the Healer of my
soul. I rest in you, and await your Word to me today. Amen <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">C. Baxter
Kruger, Ph.D. October, 2013</span><!--EndFragment-->
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> </span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Holy Spirit</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Blessed Holy Spirit, forgive me for
running from you. My heart grieves
as I confess to you that for many seasons in my life, even for years, I have
been afraid of you. I thought you
were a ghost to be avoided. In the
insanity of darkness I have ignored you, and your heart, and your guidance and
promptings. In the fear of the shadows I have resisted you, Holy Spirit, even grieved
you—the Lord and giver of life, the communion of the Father and Son, the joy of
the cosmos. Holy Spirit I ask you
now to forgive me. You know my
true heart. You know who I
am. I want no darkness in me at
all, only light, only you, in Jesus, in the Father. I acknowledge that I am
made for you Holy Spirit, created and recreated in Jesus himself to be the
temple of your joy, the fountain of your communion, the living expression of
your cascading life. I honor you as the secret of my very being and life in
Christ. For <i>you</i> my soul cries.
Thank you for your humility, for your irrepressible love, for your
merciful and tender care. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Blessed Holy Spirit, in hope and wonder
I acknowledge that in your great love you have made your way in Jesus and in
his suffering at human hands into the catacombs of my soul.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In unspeakable love you endured my
rejection of the Lord Jesus to find me in the broken places where I have
allowed darkness to gain a foothold in me and wound my eyes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In your presence, Holy Spirit, I
acknowledge that I have been deceived.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I have unwittingly, though willfully, allowed darkness access to my mind
and heart and will, to my life in Jesus in you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have opened my soul to the father of lies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Forgive me Holy Spirit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Heal my soul.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Restore my heart.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I confess to you that in the darkness I have lived from pain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Again and again I have reached for and
embraced false comforts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In my
confusion I have lived for myself, sacrificed my heart and relationships for
the approval of others and their schemes of salvation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have hurt those you love.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Heal the wounds that I have caused in
others.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Restore the hearts of
those that I have broken in my grand quest for life that only you can awaken.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I acknowledge to you Holy Spirit that I
have participated in the lies and half-truths of darkness, in the pretense and
crafty shifting and hiding of the evil one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thank you for giving me Jesus’ eyes so that I can see what I
have done, see how I have been deceived, see the darkness in me as
darkness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Continue to enlighten me
Holy Spirit; take my heart and guide me, free me to break every association and
agreement with evil, and banish all forms of darkness from my being forever in
Jesus’ name. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Blessed Holy Spirit, I rejoice in
seeing your redeeming genius in all of my life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In profound gratitude, I marvel at your persistent
care.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You have taken my weakness
and shame and blindness and transformed them into life for me, and for others.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I give myself to you Holy Spirit—all
that I know how to give, and all that I don’t, all of me and mine, all of my
doubts and fears and unbelief, my broken eyes, my hurt, my failure, all of my
shame and the accusations that I have accepted as truth, all of the damaged emotions
trapped in me and in my body, all of the ‘I am nots’ whispered to me by evil to
which I have agreed, all of me as I have given myself to participate in
darkness—I give to you, Holy Spirit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I am all yours, Holy Spirit; do for me what you alone can do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unravel the twisted kudzu of evil that
I have allowed to entangle my soul. I have no desire to be alive without
knowing you, Holy Spirit, without knowing your presence, your care, and your
encouragement, without your deep and abiding comfort and inspiration.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">you</i>
my heart longs. I turn away from all things to you Holy Spirit. I want to be
the man of your dreams.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I turn to
you, Holy Spirit; lead me, comfort me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Sing your song in my heart, dance with me; make me alive with your affirmation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Restore me, Holy Spirit, to your sanity
that I might live in you and in your communion, in the glorious liberation of
our adoption in Christ, in the simple joy of your presence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I ask you, Holy Spirit, to fashion me into
a living sacrament of Jesus’ grace, a human embodiment of the Father’s love,
and into a personal incarnation of your abounding life and care and mercy, and
of all of your gifts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In Jesus’
name, amen. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">C. Baxter
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><b> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> </span></b></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><b><i>Abba,</i></b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><b> Father</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Father, with all that is in me I bless
you, and I bless your Son, and the Holy Spirit. Thank you for giving Jesus to us, to me. He is the humble brother of the human
race, the truest friend in all of creation. I love his prayer to you: “Father, I have made Your name known to them, and will make
it known, that the love with which you love Me may be in them, and I in them.” Father, my soul shakes with hope
as I read Jesus’ words. I see his
burden for us so lost in the lie.
I sense his excitement in finding us, in finding me in the gnarled
darkness of evil that has broken our minds. Father, I am astounded. Your beloved Son, who lives face to face with you in the unspeakable
fellowship of the Holy Spirit submitted himself to us to be cursed by us,
beaten, mocked, and crucified. I see
you, Father, there in him, and the Holy Spirit. How can this be, Father? I have so missed your heart. I see Jesus’ heart beating with a love that could not
bear for us to live without knowing you.
I see the whole of his being running to become what we are, one of
us. I see him bow before our
insanity. We cursed Jesus, Father,
your eternal and beloved and faithful Son, we damned and rejected. Yet, in the horror of our
rejection of Jesus I see joy in his heart. What humility, what determined, passionate love I see in his
soul as he submitted to us. O
Father, he found us. O blessed
Lord Jesus, in submitting to us you made your way inside the great darkness
that has broken our very beings. Father,
Jesus, Holy Spirit, let all the earth be filled with silent joy. I stand in awe Father. Your Son accepted our brutal rejection,
and used our betrayal as his way to get inside our abyss of hopeless hell. And he brought you Father, and the Holy
Spirit with him. O Lord Jesus may
your name be praised forever. You
have pitched your tent, your own being inside our hell that we may know your
Father in the communion of the Holy Spirit—and live.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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Father, I am beginning to see you with
Jesus’ eyes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am learning to take
sides with Jesus against the way I see you Father.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am coming to know your heart and feel your affection.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is scary to risk believing what
Jesus shares with me about your goodness and love and mercy, but I have had
enough with the way I see things and the mess I have made of myself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I welcome Jesus' fellowship with you,
and bow before his knowledge of you, and of me, and of others.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Father, MacDonald was right: “Good
souls many will one day be horrified at the things they now believe of
God.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am one of those good
souls, Father.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Forgive me for what
I have believed about you, for the way I have tarred your face with the brush
of evil’s madness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have been
blindsided by the foul whisperer and his dastardly lies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You are love, Father, irrepressibly
good.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You have no darkness in you
at all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Your oneness with Jesus in
the Holy Spirit is too beautiful for words.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thank you for dreaming of me, for never once abandoning me
to my folly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thank you for your
beloved Son. I am embarrassed at how much of my life I have spent hiding from
you, Father.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I cry out to Jesus to
expand my thoughts until they are worthy of the theme of your heart. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Father, I see now how you have cared
for me all of my life, how you have protected me, nurtured me, created
opportunities for me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Forgive me
for how I have mishandled so much of my life, and the hearts of those we both
love.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It gives me courage to see
how you have always had my back.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Father, I receive your overflowing blessings upon me and mine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Blessed be your great name.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Father, you have given me a heart for
your Son’s glory.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am honored,
humbled, and thrilled.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I ask you
to send the Spirit in and through Jesus to me in ever new ways that I might
proclaim the unsearchable riches of your beloved Son to the world in darkness.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">C. Baxter
Kruger, Ph.D., 2014 </span><!--EndFragment-->
</span></span></div>
C. Baxter Kruger, Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/18109712975412765686noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7876933803200242837.post-74910109129965427652014-07-21T22:20:00.000-05:002014-07-21T22:20:47.001-05:00Fishing GloryA little break in the south Louisiana marsh Jack Cravelle fishing with my son Baxter (sporting a beard) and John Wauchope (Batman), son of Bruce Wauchope from Adelaide, Australia with Captain Jason Shilling of http://www.neworleansstylefishingcharters.com. Kowalick, note the monster taken on one of my lures. Just like when I fish with you. We were fishing for speckled trout, which are great to eat, when Captain Shilling noticed a massive school of fish blowing up on some pogies. It looked like a whale to me. As it turned out it was a school of 20+ pound Jacks. Needless to say we spent the afternoon chasing the school and had the time of our lives. John, the rookie, allegedly caught the slightly largest fish at over 22 pounds, but he lost points because it took him an hour to land the fish. He takes after his dad. Thank you Jason for a great day, and thank you Holy Spirit; we will have more please. That was a large time. Next up for me is speaking at Caleb Miller's place in Fort Collins, Colorado (http://www.fathershousefc.com/) Saturday and Sunday (26-27th) then to Denver with Wes Roberts on Monday and Tuesday (28-29th). Blessings to all.<br />
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C. Baxter Kruger, Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/18109712975412765686noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7876933803200242837.post-31758310217373873422014-07-12T21:51:00.001-05:002014-07-12T21:54:17.371-05:00The Artist<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<!--StartFragment-->
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"> At the last Open Table Conference in Portland, Paul Young read a letter from one of his friends from Germany. All of us were stunned silent as we listened. We all asked Paul to post the letter on his web site and for permission to share it with others. Below is the Paul's introduction and the letter, which is part of a book. Here your heart will shout, "Yes!" </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: -4.5pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"> From Paul...</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: -4.5pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: -4.5pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"> For
my birthday this year, on Mother’s Day, my friend K sent me a few pages of a
book, translated from the German, written by Martin Schleske, a master violin builder/craftsman.
She translated this piece because of conversation we recently had sitting in a
hotel lobby in Orlando, Florida.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">A world-class young
athlete friend had been paralyzed as a result of an on-camera stunt that went
badly, and K was distraught. But it wasn’t her friend she wanted to talk about;
it was God and ‘…His wonderful Plan for our life.’ How do we begin to talk
about a ‘loving and powerful God’ then move to tragedy, sickness, accident, and
calamity and finally make it worse by actually believing that we are honoring God
in making God author of all this mess in the name of Sovereignty and Control.
Some religious people, and Christians would be often among their ranks, believe
in grim determinism. It is fatalism with personality. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">There is an
impassable chasm (except perhaps in our darkened imaginations) between a God
who takes ownership for the Creation, along with the havoc it has produced, and
One who authors the evil within it. The first you might learn to trust, the
latter…twisted lip service at best.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">How often we
have heard well meaning and intentioned words such as, “It must be part of
God’s Plan.” Really? Might it be that many things are simply WRONG! There is no
justification for much of what we have brought to the table; what has been done
to us, and what we then participate in ourselves. It is WRONG! Wrong, wrong,
wrong, wrong, WRONG! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Even if God has
the creative audacity to build purpose out of the evil we create, it will never
justify what is wrong. Nothing, not even the salvation of the entire cosmos,
could ever justify a horrific torture device called a ‘cross’. That God would
submit to our darkness and transform this dark machine into an icon and
monument of grace, says more about the nature of God than it does about any blinded
attempt to justify evil.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Does God have a
wonderful Plan for my (your) life? Does God sit and draw up a perfect will for
you and me on some cosmic disconnected drafting table, a perfect plan that
requires a perfect response? Is God then left to react to our stupidity or
deafness or blindness or inability, as we constantly violate perfection with
our own indelible ink? What if this is about a God who has greater respect for
you than for ‘the plan’? What if there is no ‘plan’ for your life but rather a
relationship in which God constantly invites us to co-create, respectfully
submits to the choices we bring to the table and because this God ‘is’ Love,
will never be satisfied until only that which is of Love’s kind remains in us?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">What follows is
the article translated by K as a gift for my birthday. The first three
paragraphs are her commentary on Martin’s book.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Martin Schleske on Artist/Creator vs
Construction Designer<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">((At first Martin writes a lot of
fascinating things about the wood he uses for the violin’s body. Only one sort
of trees from a certain area in the mountains are formed by rough weather and
winds and meager ground, which produces resilient wood that is elastic at the
same time. He sometimes spends months seeking the right tree by tapping on them
with a tuning fork and that in old times violin builders found their ‘singer
trunks’ at the rivers where all the harvested wood was floated down to the
cities. Some trunks made melodic sounds when bouncing into others; these
revealed themselves as the ‘singers’.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Every hardship the tree experienced made
the roots go deeper and the structural fibers stronger, but all crooked it a
little this or that way. If a tree close to the chosen one, the ‘singer,’ fell,
the different angle of light and wind made the whole trunk twist a little,
which also shows up in every fiber. Other characteristics emerge in every
millimeter or wood and each is absolutely unique.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">The wood is then stored for years in the
workshop under certain heat and humidity conditions until it is ready for its
purpose to become a violin body. Now the violin builder starts cutting the
body’s bulge/curvature out of it that is uniquely crucial for giving the violin
its unique voice.))<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">It would be
cheap to force one’s perception on the wood. The art is in seeing what the
fiber requires. Someone fixated on the ‘ideal’ or ‘right’ shape only follows
his laws. The artist, who also knows about the laws of acoustics, see something
else: he honors what is crooked and what has become in the fibers and knows
that these must not be cut in the wrong places. Only then is the evolution a
spiritual one where inner wisdom and knowledge of the wood and its needs are
uppermost, and not blind perception to a ‘form’. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
perfectionist is content with fulfilling the law; the artist fulfills the
sound.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Romans 8:28-30 describes
a similar process: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“And those who love
God know that all things work together for good, for those who are called
according to purpose. Those he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to
the image of his Son, in order that He might be the firstborn among many
brothers. Those he predestined, he called, those he called he also justified,
and those he justified he also glorified.”</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">“It’s really
quite similar to working on the Violin’s bulge/curvature. The wood is carefully
chosen (called). A good violin builder respects the texture of the wood and
under his fingers he feels the character, the solidity and density. This shows
him both the possibilities and the limits of the wood. Each of this wood’s
quirks and characteristics has an influence on the sound it will bring forth.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Some trees, like
people, have suffered staggering hardships and overwhelming winds in their
life. The course of our fibers becomes difficult, one-sided, crooked and
scarred. But like the wood, we reveal our true selves during the small and
great ordeals of our lives – these knock on our life and thus make our fibers
(our inner structure) audible.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">If I as a violin
builder, am willing to work with the kind of fiber I get, ad start creating
with what has already become, and what is difficult and crooked…how much more
God will do so! God’s Wisdom knows what is necessary to build a unique sound
with our texture, our fiber and our sometimes difficult history. That is what
is meant by ‘called, justified and glorified’ in the above text.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">I will only
become a master artist/creator if I am willing to work with a
‘despite’...despite this particular flaw, this odd structure, this damage…I
will give this wood its voice! I will make it sing!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">While I am
working on a curvature/bulge, I sometimes feel the planer take a different approach.
This shows me, “Here I have to leave the idea of the curve I had in mind. It
may not be pretty, but necessary.” Everything that has happened to the wood
requires asymmetry.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">If the fibers
were lines definable by Math, one could construct an ideal curve, an ideal form
already defined before the work begins. But the fiber course is not perfect,
not ideal, and thus the making of a Violin body is no construction site, it is
an act of creation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">It’s an act of
creation because it is not the wood that yields to the Maker, but the Maker
yielding to the wood.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">The artist has
to ask himself what he has on hand: “How did this wood grow? What can it
become?” The intent of the process of creation allows for promised
possibilities to unfold. This cannot happen through a rigid plan. Everything
depends on the esteem and wisdom the Master has for his creation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">For our view of
life, it is a great difference if we see the world a creation or a
construction. It is not the idea of ‘Evolution’ that robs faith of his breath,
but thinking that the world is a divine construction site. This is the
difference between a Plan and a Promise, between Subordination and Dialogue,
between Religion and Faith.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">An Almighty
Engineer subdues the material. ‘Faith in God’ then means to submit to God.
Building violins has taught me otherwise. Creating relates to both ‘what is
given’ and to ‘what has already become’. Faith means to trust in the indwelling
wisdom of the creator and the promised possibilities. This is proven in the
process itself. The wood finds its own voice in being born again.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">When I feel the
fibers through the roughness of my planer it is like a dialogue with the wood.
Only while I’m working on it do I get clarity on how the curve should be. The
wood has its say in this joint creation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">A construction is
a forcing of a predetermined ideal on the material. Everything has to yield to
that idea. Now we are at the heart of legalism where life is coated in and
subdued by unrelenting ideal conceptions. We have arrived at the curse of
religion.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
‘justification’ of man in the Romans verse above, first and foremost means that
there is a Wisdom at work that does <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">justice</i>
to life. The real fibers of our life are respected and given a voice. It is an
act of love that embraces the imperfect and sees its worth. Love sees all the
beauty, joy, desire and hope (the possibilities of the soul), but it also sees
all the weaknesses, disappointments, sadness and pain (the crooked fibers).
God’s Wisdom gets involved in a dialogue in which we have a natural say. Our
life is not a construction; it is not done on a drawing board.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Creation means
that everything that is in the making is becoming in regard to what has already
grown. This is brilliant! In a construction, everything that is in the making
is under the constraint of what is wanted. That is insufficient! That is
pathetic!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Scriptures show
me that God has the heart of an artist, not a grim construction planner. If the
world were the work of a cosmic engineer, he would be in a constant state of
discontentedness. We would all suffer from the constant nagging of a dogged
designer whose plans just never work out like he intended or expected. Reality
could never live up to his spotless (wonderful) construction plans. But a true
Creator knows he not only has to shape, but also endorse and allow. Wisdom
allows things to grow and unfold.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">It is
fascinating to view the whole world as a composition, a painting or a sculpture
or scenes from a great work of art. Works of art can be beautiful and sometimes
odd.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">I am certain
that God, having the heart of an artist, has no intention to force reality to
obey Him at all costs. Wisdom does not know grim determination.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">The thought of
seeing every person as a work of art in progress, an ever-changing and unique
expression of God, changes our whole view of others and ourselves. Suddenly you
can see the odd, authentic, fascination, enjoyable, staggering interplay of
what is created and what has become of it. What was put into this person and
what has grown out of it? What is in the making?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">We could see
people as forms of expression of a great Artist, expressions that yearn to be
seen, read and heard.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">For
more about Martin Schleske go to:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://www.schleske.de/en/master-luthier/martin-schleske.html"><span style="background: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">http://www.</span><span style="background: #FFFFCC; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">schleske</span><span style="background: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">.de/en/master-luthier/martin-</span><span style="background: #FFFFCC; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">schleske</span><span style="background: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">.html</span></a></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--></span><span style="font-family: Times; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">A friend, Rob
Parsons, is about to publish (Hodder) a book called <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Wisdom House</i>. Here is an excerpt that bears on this conversation:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-line-height-alt: 11.05pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">It
isn’t just seeming physical disadvantages that can turn into a strength, but
life experiences too – even ones that others would naturally run from. Some
years ago, a friend of mine attended a lecture on stem cell research in Oxford
given by a world famous geneticist. During the question time, the scientist was
asked whether, in the future, it would be possible to clone Beethoven. His
answer was a brilliant ‘yes’ and ‘no’. ‘Yes’ if you could extract the DNA from
the bones in his coffin –you could create a human being who would be an
identical twin of Beethoven. ‘Yes,’ you could probably teach the ‘twin’ to play
the piano to a reasonably high level. But ‘no’, because Beethoven’s
father, who was also his music tutor, was a violent alcoholic. The young
Beethoven was very close to his mother who died when he was a teenager, and he
became responsible for raising his two brothers as his father lapsed deeper
into his alcoholism. He lost his first and only true love, he lived in poverty
weighed down with debts, he suffered from manic-depression and, like his
father, turned to alcohol. Then, just as Beethoven began to have some interest
in his compositions, he began to lose his hearing.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-line-height-alt: 11.05pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-line-height-alt: 11.05pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
culmination of all these experiences – the tumultuous feelings of rage, love,
despair, passion - were poured into his most famously pounding six
symphonies (Numbers Three to Eight) which are what we now revere as ‘classic’
Beethoven. More accomplished musicians may now play or conduct his works, but
they can never capture his greatness because that quality was born out of his
expression of his own life experience, of being true to himself. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">And finally,
from George MacDonald, writing in 1868:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
Scene: Robert Falconer’s “righteous” grandmother had burned his fiddle, the one
that had been his father’s and grandfather’s, lest it also lead Robert
astray….. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">“But though the loss of Miss St. John and
the piano was the last blow, his sorrow did not rest there, but returned to
brood over his bonny lady. She was scattered to the winds. Would any of her
ashes ever rise in the corn, and moan in the ripening wind of autumn? Might not
some atoms of the bonny leddy creep into the pines on the hill, whose ’soft and
soul-like sounds’ had taught him to play the Flowers of the Forest on those
strings which, like the nerves of an amputated limb, yet thrilled through his
being? Or might not some particle find its way by winds and waters to sycamore
forest of Italy, there creep up through the channels of its life to some
finely-rounded curve of noble tree, on the side that ever looks sunwards, and
be chosen once again by the violin-hunter, to be wrought into a new and
fame-gathering-instrument?<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-indent: .5in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"> <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Could it be that his bonny leddy had
learned her wondrous music in those forests, from the shine of the sun, and the
sighing of the winds through the sycamores and pines? For Robert knew that the
broad-leaved sycamore, and the sharp, needle-leaved pine, had each its share in
the violin. Only as the wild innocence of human nature, uncorrupted by wrong,
untaught by suffering, is to that nature struggling out of darkness into light,
such and so different is the living wood, with its sweetest tones of obedient
impulse, answering only to the wind which bloweth where it listeth, to that
wood, chosen, separated, individualized, tortured into strange, almost vital
shape, after a law to us nearly unknown, strung with the strings from animal
organizations, and put into the hands of man to utter the feelings of a soul
that has passed through a like history. This Robert could not yet think, and
had to grow able to think it by being himself made an instrument of God’s
music.”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">I am today a
unique sound that I will not be tomorrow and tomorrow could not be but for
today. What if…what if there is a God who could gather up all the broken bits
of the two fish and five loaves of my life, create purpose out of what was stolen
from me and what I then broke, and make certain that nothing is lost? That
would change everything!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->C. Baxter Kruger, Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/18109712975412765686noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7876933803200242837.post-307416943549087302014-05-25T12:15:00.000-05:002014-05-25T12:15:11.809-05:00Seaweed
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Walking on the white sand beach near Destin, Florida this
morning, I noticed some seaweed about ten yards from the shoreline.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At first I thought it was just a small
clump about 20 yards long.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But as
I looked I realized that it stretched for 500 yards along the beach.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The scene took me back many years to a
similar day on the beach with my wife and children.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My son, who was about 6 at the time, and I had decided that we
were going out to the sand bar when we noticed a stretch of dark seaweed
between us and the sand bar.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
walked the beach trying to find a gap, but there was none.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I finally grabbed his hand and said,
‘son, sometimes you have to step right into the dark stuff to get to the other
side.’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This morning as I reflected on the memory it hit me that my
son, at 6 years old, could not have seen the clear water on the other side of
the seaweed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was taller and had
a different perspective.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I could
see that the seaweed was only three or four yards wide.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He could not have seen what I was
seeing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I knew that we would make
it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He didn’t.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He trusted me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the message to me this morning was
not simply about a son’s trust.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
message was about the perspective of a father, of our Father.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I have no doubt that our Father feels the fear and pain, and
perhaps the guilt of our hearts as we find ourselves in the midst of various
forms of seaweed, some of which we have created ourselves, and some of which is
real only in our broken imaginations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In Jesus, our Father, and the Holy Spirit have identified themselves
with us as we are in our darkness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Yet our darkness is not darkness to the Father, Son and Holy
Spirit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They know us in the light
of life, from a higher vantage point.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Our Father does not see us as we see ourselves in our seaweed. He sees
us from a different perspective. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
sees us from the perspective of the gift that he gave to us “in Christ Jesus,
before the time of the ages” (2TIM 1:9), and from the perspective of who he has
made us in his incarnate, crucified, resurrected, and ascended Son.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He knows who we are.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This morning, our Father asked me to rest in his vision of
me, to take sides with him against the way I see myself, and against the way that
I feel about myself as I do so.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
think I heard him say that I was free to live in the seaweed if that is what I
wanted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But in that comment I also
heard the question, ‘why?’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And
somewhere in that moment Jesus reminded me of my favorite verse, “In that day
you shall know that I am in My Father, you are in Me, and I am in you” (John 14:20).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->C. Baxter Kruger, Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/18109712975412765686noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7876933803200242837.post-12621430344188611152014-05-16T12:52:00.000-05:002014-05-16T12:52:39.028-05:00A Prayer
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<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">This weekend over 50 men will be
gathering from around our country for our annual men’s
gathering. This year the gathering will be at Julian Fagan's farm. Paul Lavelle of
Operation Restored Warrior and I have written a prayer for this weekend that I
wanted to share with you.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px;">Every
blessing to you all.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Lord
Jesus, I take refuge in you, in your heart, in your life, in your death, and
resurrection and ascension. I take
refuge in the fullness of your work on my behalf, and in your enthronement
above all names and powers in this age and in all ages to come. Speak to me, Lord Jesus, in this
moment. Say to me, “I am your
salvation.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Lord
Jesus, I give to you my body, my soul, my heart, my mind and thoughts, my spirit
and will, my masculinity and sexuality.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I give to you my fears and brokenness, my shame and guilt and
doubts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I relinquish all forms of
control and call upon you as my Savior.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Thank you for sharing yourself with me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I want to see with your eyes, hear with your ears, know with
your mind, will with your will.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I acknowledge you Jesus, with
gratefulness, as my covering.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In
the safety of your embrace, I ask you to cleanse my wounds inflicted by the
enemy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cleanse me of every form of
darkness, sin, and evil; cleanse me Jesus, my conscience, my despair, my
unbelief.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Restore me again today
with your life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I invite the Holy
Spirit, sent in your name, to renew me today, to restore me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Blessed Holy Spirit, I claim you as my
inheritance in Jesus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Heal my
soul.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do for me, and my brothers,
what only you can do.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Father,
Son and Holy Spirit come now again especially into the places that have been
deadened by the battle, and re-breathe life into me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Breathe hope, breathe faith, breathe joy, freedom and love.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Come Lord Jesus, come again with your
Father and the Holy Spirit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I ask
for a deeper intimacy with you, Jesus, in the pain of my wounds.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">As
a band of brothers, as warriors in the Kingdom of God wounded in the battle, we
step back from the front line, and we give this weekend to you Jesus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Father, Son, and Holy Spirit we consecrate
this weekend to you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Together, we
give to you our homes, our jobs and families, and all that we left behind. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Together, we ask that you bless our
loved ones, and release your faithful angels to protect them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Jesus,
into your hands we give you our cares, our burdens, our worries.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We release to you the world, and all things
and pressures and concerns that dominate us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We center ourselves in you, and we make ourselves utterly
available to you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Together, we consecrate
this space, and we give to you our time together, our waking, our sleeping, our
conversation, our cooking and laughing and drinking, our crawfish boil, and our time alone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We give this entire weekend to you, and
rest in your blessing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In this
world of darkness, we claim the Kingdom of the blessed Trinity here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We claim the authority of Jesus
here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">We
take our stand in the full work of Jesus Christ, in and through and over and
with each one of us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lord Jesus
Christ, Father’s Son, anointed of the Holy Spirit, Lord of all creation, in
your name we silence every voice in all creation this weekend, and as brothers
in the war, we ask that only the voice of our Father, his faithful Son, and the
Holy Spirit would be allowed to address and be heard by us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We give you permission, blessed Trinity,
to work behind our watchful dragons, and as deeply as you want to work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We invite you into our private and
secret places, into our wounds and pain, and we welcome your intimate, healing presence.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
Refresh us, blessed Trinity. Renew us. Help us use Jesus’ ears and eyes. In the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.</span></span><!--EndFragment-->
C. Baxter Kruger, Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/18109712975412765686noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7876933803200242837.post-41868757580178825042014-04-23T22:59:00.002-05:002014-04-23T23:00:45.743-05:00Top 10 Books<div class="im">
I
just spent a few days with Dr. Ken Blue, and part of the conversation
included us trying to narrow down our top ten favorite books. It wasn't
easy, but here they are:</div>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> C. Baxter Kruger<br />
</span></span><br />
<ol>
<li><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The Trinitarian Faith (and The Mediation of Christ)— T.F. Torrance
</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Unspoken Sermons— George MacDonald
</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">On the Incarnation of the Word of God (and Against the Arians)— Athanasius
</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Church Dogmatics IV.1 (and IV.2)— Karl Barth
</span></span></li>
<li><div class="im">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The Unconditional Freeness of the Gospel— Thomas Erskine
</span></span></div>
</li>
<li><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The Weight of Glory (and The Great Divorce)— C.S. Lewis
</span></span></li>
<li><div class="im">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Worship, Community and the Triune God of Grace— James Torrance
</span></span></div>
</li>
<li><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The Shack— Wm. Paul Young
</span></span></li>
<li><div class="im">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">On the Trinity— St. Hilary
</span></span></div>
</li>
<li><div class="im">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The Trinity and the Kingdom— Jurgen Moltmann
</span></span></div>
</li>
<li><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The Forgotten Father— Thomas Smail (this is a little lagniappe, or if you are from the Big 10 it’s just adding!)<br />
</span></span></li>
</ol>
<div class="im">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br />
Ken Blue<br />
</span></span><br />
<ol>
<li><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The Mediation of Christ— T.F. Torrance
</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Worship, Community and the Triune God of Grace— James Torrance
</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The Denial of Death— Ernest Becker (or preface of book)
</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Church Dogmatics IV.2— Karl Barth
</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The Forgotten Father, the Giving Gift, Life Father, Like Son— Thomas Smail
</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The Divine Conspiracy— Dallas Willard
</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Ministry On the Fireline— Ray Anderson
</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Freedom for Ministry— Richard John Neuhaus
</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Subversion of Christianity and The Presence of the Kingdom— Jacques Elull
</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The Presence of the Future— George Eldon Ladd </span></span></li>
</ol>
</div>
C. Baxter Kruger, Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/18109712975412765686noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7876933803200242837.post-42191535560755088202014-04-19T01:13:00.001-05:002014-04-19T01:13:57.651-05:00Good Friday
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">I have been
reading Hilary of Poitiers and Gregory Nazianzen, both early church greats
(Hilary in the West, and Gregory in the East).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What strikes me is the way each of these brothers are so completely
consumed with the incarnation of the Father’s Son, and the anointed One.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Any, and every, hint of insult to the
shocking union of Jesus with us in our fallen existence catches their quick
scrutiny.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They never pretend to
explain how this most beautiful union came to be; they simply defend it with a
vengeance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For both of these men,
and for other great leaders of the early church—Irenaeus, Athanasius, Cyril,
Basil, and Gregory of Nyssa, to name a few—the whole work of Christ is bound up
with his union with us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For me,
this is the fundamental difference between the early church and us today in the
‘modern’ West.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Within the legal
framework, which is normal to us, the incarnation gets a mere nod, as it is perceived
as essential to having a pure sacrifice for the cross.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The incarnation, like the ascension of
Jesus, is orthodox as we all know, but when is the last time you heard a sermon
on the ascension, or on the incarnation for that matter?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For these men, however, the
incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus are all of a
piece, all part of the same stunning act of the Father, Son and Spirit working
to unite us as we are in our brokenness and sin with the trinitarian life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What could be more beautiful?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">It is here that
my understanding of the crucifixion of Jesus has changed over the years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As a young boy I was taught that Jesus
suffered the wrath of his Father on the cross, the wrath that was intended for
us—and I was to be grateful.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Such
an interpretation made sense to my Western mind, but it never made sense to my
heart.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I read Athanasius over
35 years ago my heart heard another message, with a different God, and a
different issue.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some years later
I heard the same message in T. F. Torrance, James Torrance, John McLeod
Campbell, Thomas Erskine, George MacDonald, and C. S. Lewis, and not least Karl
Barth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Without being too
complicated let me say that how we frame the problem that Jesus came to ‘fix,’
or what we assume about the problem, determines the way we interpret what
happened on the cross.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">In the modern West,
generally speaking, at least on the right, the problem is that God is holy and
we have sinned.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since God is holy;
he cannot simply forgive us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thus,
there must be some kind of satisfaction (Anselm) or punishment (penal
substitution).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hence, Jesus steps
onto the scene of history as the pure, spotless lamb who gives himself to
suffer the punishment due to fall on us as guilty sinners.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In this framework, and its extreme
versions of a fiery, angry, furious God, Jesus suffers from his Father.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His sufferings are on our behalf and
for our salvation, but the suffering is afflicted from his Father.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The cross, on this reading, is about
satisfying the Father’s (rather different from the Son’s) holiness.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">When I read the
brothers mentioned earlier, the frame is different.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For them the fundamental issue is not ‘how can a just God
forgive sinners’ or be legally satisfied to forgive (not to concede that penal
substitution is forgiveness, for there is no forgiveness in this theory at all,
only justice, and a non-relational, abstract justice at that).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For these brothers the question is ‘how
can God unite himself with us in our fallen humanity.’<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Anything less
than this union—real, personal union between the Father’s Son and the anointed
One with us as broken, sinful, shame-riddled sinners—is for these men unworthy
of the word ‘salvation.’ For it leaves <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">us</i>
outside of the divine life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So the
question is not so much as to the satisfaction of divine law as it is the
uniting of the divine life with us in our death.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This distinction, to me, constitutes two different pair of
glasses through which to read the story of Jesus’ death.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It may well be that both pair need to
be honored, in some way, but at the moment I am simply contending that the
‘union’ pair be brought back into the conversation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This perspective has been disastrously lost in the modern West.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">The discussion
comes to this: Is the cross about Jesus’ suffering wrath from his Father or
about his suffering wrath from us?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>If the goal is to satisfy his Father’s justice (leaving aside how this
could possibly be different from his own) then the death of Jesus will be
interpreted as his suffering the righteous wrath of his Father against sinners
in our place.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If the goal is to
unite himself with us as fallen sinners (and with his Father and the Holy Spirit in shared life)
then the goal is to reach the real, sinful us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And how does the Father’s Son, and the anointed One unite
himself with us in our iniquity?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How
does Jesus connect with us in our estrangement and alienation?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All four Gospels shout a
straightforward, simple message.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
willfully submitted to our rejection.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">We crucified Jesus.</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nothing could be more clear.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The wrath poured out on Calvary’s hill
did not originate in the Father’s heart, or in the Holy Spirit’s, but in ours.
It was the Jews and the Gentiles (us), not his Father or the Holy Spirit who
mocked Jesus, ridiculed him, unjustly condemned him, beat him, and tortured him
to death.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(See Matthew1:21, 23; 16:21;
17:12, 22, 23; 20:18-19, 28; 26:2-4, 45, (53) 59, 66; 27:1, 25-26, 31, 35, 46; Mark
8:31; 9:12, 31; 10:33-34, 45; 14:1, 11 (27) 41; 15:24-25; Luke 9:22, 44; 17:25;
18:31-33; 19:47; 20:13-17; 22:2, 53; 23:18-23, 33; John 16:32; 17:26; 18:35;
19:15-16, 18; Acts 7:52; Heb 12:3; 9:28; IPet 2:24; 3:18; Gal 3:13, not to
mention the rest of Paul).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">How does the
blessed Trinity, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit find a way to unite themselves
in their unutterable oneness and love and life with us in our iniquity, and sad,
broken, hellish destitution (and what is ‘salvation’ without this union)?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is the question, to me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Anything less than this union (with the
sinful us) may get us forensically ‘declared’ legally clean, perhaps, but the
broken us is still outside of the abounding life of God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What exactly is ‘salvation’ if it does
not include our real place in the trinitarian life?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">The shocker, as
Scripture is at pains to shout, is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">submission,
divine</i> submission—<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">to us in our sin.</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Far from being the place where he
poured out his wrath on his beloved Son, the cross is about the human race
pouring out our wrath on the beloved and anointed one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the cross is about the Father using
our treachery as his way of finding us in our iniquity—in his union with Jesus—and
accepting us as we are, embracing us, including us in his own relationship with
his beloved.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Who saw this coming? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yet what could be more obvious?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On this day millennia ago Jesus
submitted himself to us in our loathsome pain, in our collusion with the
dastardly one’s vile hatred of the blessed Trinity and of all things living and
beautiful. We were trapped in the darkness of the evil one, lost to life in the
Father’s arms, without light, life, and hope.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus submitted his life to us, and we—in the madness of
evil’s spin—crucified him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He died
in the arms of our disgust.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
bowed before humanity in our great darkness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> In his submission he</span> made contact with Adam hiding in the bushes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Therein he reached us, the real
us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Submitting to our diabolically
schemed, murderous betrayal he found his way inside our iniquity—and he brought
his Father and the Holy Spirit with him—uniting all that he is as the Father’s
beloved and faithful Son, and all that he is as the One anointed in the Holy
Spirit with us in our sin.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is
the at-onement. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus is the mercy
seat, the place where heaven and all it contains meets all that we are as
sinners in divine, inconceivable mercy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This Jesus is real hope.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
is Good Friday.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->C. Baxter Kruger, Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/18109712975412765686noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7876933803200242837.post-83114503030376325752014-02-14T13:05:00.000-06:002014-02-14T13:05:10.345-06:00A Perfect Knight"A King does not need a perfect knight."--from the movie, The Kingdom of HeavenC. Baxter Kruger, Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/18109712975412765686noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7876933803200242837.post-69970230290656590552014-02-04T15:59:00.000-06:002014-02-04T15:59:00.354-06:00The Open Table Conference<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Last year I got to participate with John MacMurray and Paul Young at three Open Table Conferences across the country. Each was an amazing gathering of eager and diversely gifted people. I was thrilled and honored to be in the middle of it all. These conferences are designed for us to slow down and get to know one another, hear the truth of all truths, and experience real healing. In each, though in different ways, the Holy Spirit was at work doing what only the Holy Spirit can do. How beautiful. My favorite part was meeting folks from around the world and listening to their stories, and to their questions. It became clear the the Lord has had many of us on a journey of struggle and liberation, and these events were moments when he drew us together for real encouragement. Each time I had this joy within me that smiled, and whispered, "the cat is out of the bag, and the cat is the Lion of the Tribe of Judah!" It is not an understatement to say that there is far more going on here than we ever dared to dream. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">So I am thrilled to announce that this year we will be offering two more. One on the West coast, and one on the East. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 20px;">You will have to ask John why Oregon gets a second OTC, while the middle of our country has not had one....yet! It is a joy to me to invite you all to join us. We will surely be discussing the stunning reality that we have all been included in the beautiful relationship of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and how the Holy Spirit is at work healing our inner worlds so that we can participate in the trinitarian life with free, restored, and open hearts, and renewed minds.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 20px;">Open Table Web Site </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 20px;">http://opentableconference.com</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 20px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 25px;">Open Table Conference “West” </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 25px;">June 20-22, 2014</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 25px;">Multnomah University, Portland, OR</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 36px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 36px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Open Table Conference “East” </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 25px;">Oct 24-26, 2014</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 36px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 20px;">North East, Maryland - Sandy Cove Ministry Center</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 36px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><br /></span></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><br /></span></span>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><br /></span></span>C. Baxter Kruger, Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/18109712975412765686noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7876933803200242837.post-49051066575262647172013-12-25T10:21:00.003-06:002013-12-25T10:21:53.848-06:00We Believe "Our blessed Lord Jesus Christ, who, according to his transcendent love, became what we are to bring us to be what he is himself" — St. Irenaeus<br />
<br />
Holy Spirit, on this day of shocking divine humility and salvation, reveal to us the agreements that we have made with the darkness concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. We want no more darkness. In our culture of unbelief, we declare that we believe in Jesus Christ, the beloved, eternal and faithful Son of the Father (<i>Homoousios to Patri</i>), the One anointed in the Holy Spirit, incarnate, crucified, resurrected, and ascended Lord of all Creation, the Vicarious Man, Immanuel.<br />
<br />
Merry Christmas to all.<br />
<br />
<br />C. Baxter Kruger, Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/18109712975412765686noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7876933803200242837.post-69388704722114131282013-11-06T15:12:00.001-06:002013-11-06T15:12:19.808-06:00The Crisis of the Western ChurchWe just posted on our web site a lecture I gave several years ago, "The Crisis of the Western Church and the Way Forward" that I suspect needs to be revisited. <br />
<br />
Here is the link. <a href="http://www.perichoresis.org/free-resources/free-lecture-series/message/the-crisis-of-the-western-church-and-the-way-forward.html" target="_blank">http://www.perichoresis.org/free-resources/free-lecture-series/message/the-crisis-of-the-western-church-and-the-way-forward.html</a>C. Baxter Kruger, Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/18109712975412765686noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7876933803200242837.post-85210754720338987012013-11-02T11:23:00.002-05:002013-11-02T11:23:13.020-05:00Isaiah 53Heather Celoria forwarded me a simple, but fascinating article on Isaiah 53. The title is "Punished 'for' or 'by' our sins — The Suffering Servant of Isaiah 53," by Santo Calarco. Here is the link.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.clarion-journal.com/clarion_journal_of_spirit/2013/10/punished-for-or-by-our-sins-the-suffering-servant-of-isaiah-53-santo-calarco.html#" target="_blank">http://www.clarion-journal.com/clarion_journal_of_spirit/2013/10/punished-for-or-by-our-sins-the-suffering-servant-of-isaiah-53-santo-calarco.html#</a>C. Baxter Kruger, Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/18109712975412765686noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7876933803200242837.post-29719665318590618172013-10-19T11:01:00.003-05:002013-10-19T11:01:36.763-05:00From Gregory Nazianzen<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“We needed an Incarnate
God, a God put to death, that we might live. We were put to death together with Him, that we might be cleansed;
we rose again with Him because we were put to death with Him; we were glorified
with Him, because we rose again with Him,” Gregory Nazianzen, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>A Select Library, </i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Second Oration on
Easter,” XXVIII.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>C. Baxter Kruger, Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/18109712975412765686noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7876933803200242837.post-44221057262417672682013-10-16T12:18:00.000-05:002013-10-16T12:18:03.490-05:00UnionUnion. Union. Union! Anything less than the true, real, and personal union of Jesus Christ—the Father's eternal Son incarnate, anointed in the Holy Spirit—with the fallen human race is unworthy of the word 'salvation.'C. Baxter Kruger, Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/18109712975412765686noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7876933803200242837.post-11787089791755443052013-10-09T11:11:00.000-05:002013-10-09T11:11:36.118-05:00Words from Ancient Warriors for Truth<!--StartFragment--><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“For this was the very end and purpose of His Incarnation, that our human nature might in His Person obtain and receive whatever it could not otherwise have obtained, and that we might be partakers both of the same nature and of the same blessings within Him... It was necessary, therefore, that God and man should be personally united, in order that human nature might be invested with power and exalted to glory” <i>The Orations of St. Athanasius Against the Arians</i> (London: Griffith, Farran, Okeden & Welsh), IV.6; cf. III.34, and II.70.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
“As, on the one hand, we could not have been redeemed from sin and the curse, unless the flesh and nature, which the Word took upon Him had been truly ours (for we should have had no interest by his assumption of any foreign nature); so also man could not have been united to the Divine nature, unless that Word, which was made flesh, had not been, in essence and nature, the Word and Son of God. For that was the very purpose and end of our Lord’s Incarnation, that He should join what is man by nature to Him who is by nature God, that so man might enjoy His salvation and His union with God without any fear of its failing or decrease” <i>The Orations of St. Athanasius Against the Arians</i> (London: Griffith, Farran, Okeden & Welsh), II.70; cf. III.34, and IV.6.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
“For that which He has not assumed He has not healed; but that which is united to His Godhead is also saved. If only half Adam fell, then that which Christ assumes and saves may be half also; but if the whole of his nature fell, it must be united to the whole nature of Him that was begotten, and so be saved as a whole,” Gregory Nazianzen, <i>A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church,</i> second series, vol. VII (Edinburgh: T&T Clark), Ep. CI.</span></span>
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C. Baxter Kruger, Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/18109712975412765686noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7876933803200242837.post-37923691839055542872013-10-07T15:04:00.000-05:002013-11-06T09:56:48.129-06:00A Prayer<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">For the past several months I have had
the privilege of getting to know CMSgt (Ret) Paul Lavelle of Operation Restored
Warrior (http://www.operationrestoredwarrior.org). He and his team are
involved in the most daring, and astonishing mission, restoring the hearts of
warriors. Nearly 500 men have been through their program Operation Drop
Zone, and every one of these men—men who were suicidal, suffering from PTSD,
and CSD, and other profound and terrible issues—have been healed. Their
mission is simple and beautiful and powerful. Lavelle and his team
believe in our Lord Jesus Christ, his oneness with his Father in the Holy
Spirit, and Jesus has led these men to understand how He has united himself
with us all, and how He heals our broken souls. I have been honored to be part
of the conversation among ORW's team. I am more honored that I have been
given a place in the next Operation Drop Zone (Oct. 21-26), and asked to speak
at the reunion to follow.</span><span style="font-family: Times;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;">Over the last several years the Holy
Spirit has been revealing himself to me in profoundly personal ways, awakening
me, loving me, revealing to me who I am in Jesus, and encouraging my heart.
Thank you, Holy Spirit, I will have more please. Brothers and
sisters we are in a war. We have an enemy, cowardly as he is. He
knows he has been defeated in Jesus, and he knows that we don't know much of
Jesus' victory. The enemy deceives us, and then hides his deception, so
that we don't know that we have made agreements with him and his
darkness. As we get hints of his schemes we are attacked
with accusations and assaults. The picture that the Hoy Spirit has
given to me is of a beaver dam, with hundreds of limbs and twigs interwoven on
top of large logs at the bottom. This beaver dam is formed by the
agreements we have made with darkness throughout our lives. (Simply ask the
Holy Spirit to reveal to you the agreements that you have made, and then break
them in the name of Jesus). This beaver dam holds back the river of
living water, the great, overflowing fountain of the trinitarian life of
Father, Son and Holy Spirit, that is already at the core of our beings because
of Jesus' union with us.</span><span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;">So, daily I have been asking about my
agreements, and the Holy Spirit has been faithful to reveal them to me, often
to my shock and horror. As I break them in the name of Jesus, the Holy
Spirit will give me a new agreement to make with the Father, Son and Spirit to
replace the old one that I had made with wicked one. </span><span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;">This morning, as I finished praying
through the ORW prayer, the prayer below rose in my heart. It is my honor
to pass it along to you, in the hope and joy of our liberation together (Col.
1:27; John 14:20). </span><span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Lord
Jesus Christ, beloved and eternal Son of the Father, <i>Homoousios to Patri,</i>
Anointed of the Holy Spirit, incarnate, crucified, resurrected and ascended
Lord of all creation, I believe in you. With great joy, with the praise
of my whole heart I acknowledge and agree that you have found me in my darkness
and sin, laid hold of me and taken me down in your death, freed me from sin and
evil, quickened me with new life in your resurrection, and lifted me up into
your Father’s arms in your ascension. All of me, and mine, every war-torn
fragment, every fearful, unbelieving, shame-riddled, broken part is in you, in
your Father, in the Holy Spirit. I rest in you, Jesus, lover of my soul,
my Savior, my Salvation, my Saving Act, my King, my Liberator, healer of my
broken heart, the author and finisher of my faith. You have included me in all
that you are and have in your union and face-to-face communion with your
Father, and you have included me in your own anointing in the Holy Spirit.
You have included me in your victory over evil and wickedness, and in your
session at the Father’s right hand, above all rule and authority in heaven and
on earth. Nothing can separate me from you, your Father, and the Holy
Spirit.</span><span style="font-family: Times;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Thank
you, blessed brother, Lord Jesus. You became what I am to bring me to be
what you are in your life with your Father in the Holy Spirit. I hear you
speak my name, and with the freedom of your heart, and mind, I turn toward your
Father to see him with your eyes. I receive the witness of the Spirit of
Adoption. I hear you Lord Jesus, and your “Abba! Father!” inside my own
soul. I receive your Father’s everlasting love, and give myself, all of
me, to your Father’s embrace, and to the healing and restoration of the Holy
Spirit’s communion.</span><span style="font-family: Times;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Lord Jesus,
in your courage, in the comfort of the personal presence of the Holy Spirit,
and in the unearthly assurance of your Father’s arms, I pledge all of me to
your service, to participate in your ministry of liberation of our brothers and
sisters. Reveal to me the agreements that I have made with evil and
darkness, that I may break these agreements in your name, and that I may walk
in every way in the glorious freedom of the children of God, in full agreement
with the Holy Spirit, and in all the Holy Spirit’s gifts. </span><span style="font-family: Times;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">I take my
stand in you, Lord Jesus, and in your name and authority I bind and banish from
my life, my body, my humanity, my family, my sphere of influence, my kingdom, my ministry, and my properties every foul thing, every spirit, power, and art, every prayer,
curse, covering, idea, and desire that are directed towards me, and mine, that are
not in full submission to you, your Father, and the Holy Spirit. In your
name, and by your authority, Lord Jesus, I summon the holy and faithful angels and command
them to destroy the kingdom of darkness throughout my kingdom, and to establish
the kingdom of the blessed Trinity throughout my domain.</span><span style="font-family: Times;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Worthy
are you blessed Lord Jesus Christ, Father’s Son, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Homoousios to Patri,</i> Anointed One, Lamb of God who takes away the
sin of the world, the One who baptizes in the Holy Spirit, Victorious Warrior,
worthy are you of all praise and adoration and worship, now and forever.
Thank you for being my Savior, my Good Shepherd, my High Priest, my True and Faithful
witness, my Alpha and Omega, the Captain of my salvation, and the Healer of my
soul. I rest in you, and await your Word to me today. Amen <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<!--EndFragment--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><br /></span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->C. Baxter Kruger, Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/18109712975412765686noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7876933803200242837.post-53780855700897719612013-09-27T11:30:00.000-05:002013-09-27T11:30:07.648-05:00A Wedding Blessing
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<!--StartFragment-->
<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A
Wedding Blessing<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">for
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Kyle
and Laura<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">May
God the Father give you His heart<br />
May God the Son give you His eyes<br />
May God the Holy Spirit give you His fellowship<br />
That you may love one another with the love of the Father<br />
See one another through the eyes of Jesus himself<br />
Enjoy one another, body and soul, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">in
the communion of the Holy Spirit. Amen<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">–Dad<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->C. Baxter Kruger, Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/18109712975412765686noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7876933803200242837.post-89389534089236409292013-09-24T16:36:00.001-05:002013-09-24T16:36:20.601-05:00My Little Girl...Mrs. Kyle Cameron Moore<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM5Qz39xGvCcyF_BiFjjeVmwy1D9tIAlZ4Mshb0H8r2kyDcXu7LJ70idQgUh1xtqFDNAZAd0EbO18eGNb2-kbYpP_T7a41vGsZRPgP9njQbUcPmYQohduXKsrUw2aTPoNhZXV15y_HTSE/s1600/Laura+Wedding.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM5Qz39xGvCcyF_BiFjjeVmwy1D9tIAlZ4Mshb0H8r2kyDcXu7LJ70idQgUh1xtqFDNAZAd0EbO18eGNb2-kbYpP_T7a41vGsZRPgP9njQbUcPmYQohduXKsrUw2aTPoNhZXV15y_HTSE/s320/Laura+Wedding.jpg" width="228" /></a></div>
<br />C. Baxter Kruger, Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/18109712975412765686noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7876933803200242837.post-26800894699469838192013-09-12T11:03:00.002-05:002013-09-12T11:03:47.102-05:00A Word from Professor T. F. Torrance
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">An excerpt from
Professor Thomas F. Torrance’s essay, “Come, Creator Spirit, for the Renewal of
Worship and Witness,” in his book <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Theology
in Reconstruction</i>, (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1975
reprint). p 241.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">“With
the Incarnation, God the eternal Son became Man, without ceasing to be God and
without breaking the communion of the Holy Trinity within which God lives his
own divine life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the birth and
life of Jesus on earth human nature and divine nature were inseparably united
in the eternal Person of God the Son.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Therefore in him the closed circle of the inner life of God was made to
overlap with human life, and human nature was taken up to share in the eternal
communion of the Father and the Son in the Holy Spirit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In this one Man the divine life and
love overflowed into creaturely and human being, so that Jesus, Man on earth,
received the Spirit of God without measure, for the fulness of the Godhead
dwelt in him bodily.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus became
the Bearer of the Holy Spirit among men.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">“But
who was Jesus?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was very Man,
our Brother.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In him the Holy Son
of God was grafted on to the stock of our fallen human existence, and in him
our mortal and corrupt human nature was assumed into union with the Holy Son of
God, so that in Jesus, in his birth and sinless life, in his death and
resurrection, there took place a holy and awful judgment on our flesh of sin,
and an atoning sanctification of our unholy human existence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was only through such atonement that
God in all his Godness and holiness came to dwell in the midst of mortal,
sinful man.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because that took
place in Jesus who made our flesh of sin his very own and who wrought out in
himself peace and reconciliation between man and God, he became not only the
Bearer but the Mediator of the Holy Spirit to men.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Now
we may understand the distinctively new mode of the Spirit’s coming into the
experience of men.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The inner life
of the Holy Trinity which is private to God alone is extended to include human
nature in and through Jesus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This
is possible because of the atonement that took place in him, for now that the
enmity between God and man has been abolished, God the Holy Spirit may dwell in
the midst of mortal sinful man.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This is the way that the divine love has taken to redeem man, by making
him share in the holy power in which God lives his own divine life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The pouring out of that power from on
high took place at Pentecost, with the entry of the Holy Spirit in his new mode
of presence and activity into the experience of mortal men.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->C. Baxter Kruger, Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/18109712975412765686noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7876933803200242837.post-52256786390661884142013-09-09T21:56:00.000-05:002013-09-09T21:56:23.276-05:00Open Table Conference-Asheville
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">In the summer of 1979 I worked as a
counselor at Camp Rockmont near Asheville, NC. Having no previous experience
with camping I was thrown to the wolves, the dreaded 13 year olds, the veterans
of the Camp, which I dearly loved.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Each morning we had a
devotional before breakfast, which I found challenging, to say the least.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One morning we were awakened by an
announcement that the whole camp would gather in the Gym for a special
devotional time. Since my guys were perpetually late, except for food, we were
the last group to get there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
only seats left were on the front row.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>At some forsaken hour, I sat there wondering why there was such a hushed
tone in a room full of hundreds of boys.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Then I noticed a middle aged man walk in from the right. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was Billy Graham in person.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I did not realize that he was friends
with the owner and lived just around the corner.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Needless to say, we were all speechless.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Much taller than I expected, and a
handsome man, his eyes spoke volumes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Some years later I had the privilege of meeting Professor Thomas F.
Torrance in his home.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He had the
same eyes—apostolic eyes—the kind that stare into your soul.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When that happens, you wither until the
light finds something ancient within you that is quickened.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I cannot recall much of what Billy
Graham said, except for one statement.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He gathered his breath and stared straight at me, at least it felt like
it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With his Virginia accent he
thundered, “You shall know the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Truth,</i>
and the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Truth</i> shall set you
free.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My heart knew instantly
that the Lord himself was addressing me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I did not have the understanding at the time to process what was
happening, and if I had, I would have probably run.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Nearly 35 years later things are
clearer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On that sleepy morning
near Asheville, through Billy Graham, the Lord answered my heart.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This was the summer between my Junior
and Senior years at Ole Miss, and although I certainly had been having a
‘large’ time, I knew that there had to be more.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many nights, after the parties, I would walk in a field
behind my dorm and pray—cry is more like it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now, at this moment, the Lord answered. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“The answer is the Truth. It is the
Truth that you seek.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of course the
answer begs another question, what then is the Truth?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So through Billy Graham came the answer that then became a
new question, which turns out to be the question of my life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What is the Truth that sets us
free?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And there was one other
thing, a final word. “You will know that you know the Truth when it sets <i>you free.”</i> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Jesus</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"> is the
Truth. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not Jesus alone, but Jesus
in his Father, and Jesus anointed in the Holy Spirit, and Jesus as the one in
and through and by and for whom all things are created and sustained.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In his incarnation the Father’s Son and
Anointed One established his relationship—the relationship he already had with
us and with all creation—inside his own humanity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Submitting to our murder on the cross this Son established
his relationship with us in our sin and darkness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">He came to seek and to save that which
was lost.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He found all of me,
every broken, shame-riddled fragment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He found all of you, and all of us, in our sin, bound as we were in the
trauma of evil.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Under the spell of
the wicked one, we rejected Jesus and damned him, cursing and mocking him in
our profound confusion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
accepted us as we were.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He bore
our scorn, and died in the affliction of evil’s bitter enmity as it was vented
through the world’s darkened heart.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Through submitting to us he made his way inside the headquarters of the
cruel one, the source of our blindness, sin and death, and hell.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is atonement.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is the Truth, Jesus himself inside
our darkness, finding and accepting us as we had become in the wickedness of
evil, loving and embracing us in our brokenness, to deliver us from what we had
become in the dark.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i>And he was not
alone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He brought his Father and
the Holy Spirit with him.</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Now Jesus bears our pain in himself as
he sits face to face with his Father in the abounding life that is the Holy
Spirit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now, inside the dastardly
confusion that has captivated our minds and hearts, Jesus summons us in the
Holy Spirit to break our agreements with evil and to agree with him about who
we are, to take sides with him against our own way of thinking, and to live in
the freedom of the Holy Spirit’s witness inside our own souls.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">So, for me to return to Asheville,
North Carolina, after all these years, and to speak with Paul Young and John
MacMurray at the Billy Graham Training Center at The Cove, was a monumental
moment in my life. Personally speaking, The Open Table Conference turned out to
be a blessing beyond my wildest dreams. It was a gathering of hungry sisters
and brothers from around the country, and even from the Motherland.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have never experienced such a
beautiful, clear, sustained vision of Jesus Christ in my life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tears and hope, life, freedom and
healing rose in us all like an oasis as conversations cascaded around our meals
and walks and debriefings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There
was sadness, as we had time to share our hurts, and I am sure from some of the
questions that there were a few feathers ruffled.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus has a way of doing that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One lady said to me, “Finally, I have a gospel that is
actually good news to share.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Another person said, “I hope this is true; if it is not it will be the
greatest disappointment in the universe.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I assured him that Jesus is the Truth, and that our issue is not that we
have overestimated Jesus Christ.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He is the One who has found us in the great darkness, embraced us,
included us in his life with his Father, and in his anointing in the Holy
Spirit, and he is setting us free by revealing the Truth in the Holy Spirit.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Thank you John MacMurray for your
vision, and for your courage, and for making this Open Table Conference
happen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It proved to be a
quickening in the Holy Spirit in the vision of Jesus, the Truth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We had a ‘large’ time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And, as my friend David Kowalick likes
to say, ‘the best is yet to be.’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
cannot wait for Hawaii.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But first
comes the event of the year, my daughter Laura’s wedding on September 21<sup>st</sup>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Speaking of ‘large’ times.</span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->C. Baxter Kruger, Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/18109712975412765686noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7876933803200242837.post-25785140435452420052013-08-27T15:33:00.001-05:002013-08-27T15:33:15.334-05:00The BeamI have been reading Dallas Willard's, <i>The Divine Conspiracy.</i> Note what he says about the beam (or board) in our own eyes.<br />
<br />
"Condemnation is the board in our eye. He knows that the mere fact that we are condemning someone shows our heart does not have the kingdom rightness he has been talking about. Condemnation, self-righteousness, blinds us to the reality of the other person. We cannot 'see cleary' how to assist our brother, because we cannot see our brother. And we will never know how to truly help him until we have grown into the kind of person who does not condemn. Period. 'Getting the board our' is not a matter of correcting something that is wrong in our life so that we will be able to condemn our dear ones better—more effectively, so to speak" (p. 224).C. Baxter Kruger, Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/18109712975412765686noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7876933803200242837.post-46829337425272241242013-08-14T08:54:00.000-05:002013-08-14T08:54:33.153-05:00First Presbyterian, Natchez, MSPaul Young and I will be speaking together at First Presbyterian Church in Natchez, MS on August 21, at 6:30. You are all welcome to join us. It promises to be a large time.<br />
<br />
For more information visit www.fpcnatchez.org. <br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><br /></span>C. Baxter Kruger, Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/18109712975412765686noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7876933803200242837.post-1773185882224133802013-08-06T23:42:00.000-05:002013-08-06T23:42:02.577-05:00I Will Make You Known"I have made Your name known to them, and I will make it known; that the love wherewith You love Me may be in them, and I in them" (John 17:26).<br />
<br />
Who can but marvel at the hope of these words? Jesus prays to his Father. He shares his heart. He lets his own desire be made known. Father, I desire that the love that we have known from all eternity in the freedom and joy of the Holy Spirit would be in them, that they could taste and feel and experience our relationship. Life. Eternal, abounding, overflowing life. Indeed, it is even deeper. We have been prayed over by Jesus himself. Father, I desire that <i>I would be in them.</i> Jesus himself, and all that he is and has with his Father, in us, as much ours as it is Jesus'. The gift of all gifts. <br />
<br />
The heart of the universe is here before our eyes. The gospel itself is right here. This is the conversation that predates the creation of all worlds. Here is the agenda behind our existence. Here is the eternal word spoken over the human race before we ever came to be. Away with external religious systems. Jesus desires to be in us—and is. His prayer has been answered. He heads to the cross to meet us in our shame, in our rejection, in our treachery—and he did. He made his way into our humanity, into our broken humanity, into our sinful, black, blind, obstinate, and hopeless humanity. That is what he did on the cross. He made his way into our lives, into our hearts, into the soul of our broken being.<br />
<br />
Jesus desires to be in us—and he is. Now comes the best part. "I have made Your name known to them, and <i>I will</i> make it known." He is declaring to us, to the black pit of our shame, to our despairing and broken parts whose only word is utter silence, <i>"I will</i> make Your name known." <br />
<br />
Jesus is saying, I take responsibility for meeting you in your sin and revealing My Father to you. I will meet you. I will find you. I will enter into your terrorized inner worlds and make contact with you hiding in the bushes of your great fear. I will cross all worlds, all illusions, all delusions, into the abyss of evil's lie and embrace you—and I have. And I will not rest until every leaf of your gnarled darkness is turned over, until you see with my eyes, until you know with my heart who My Father is, and you are liberated with the freedom of our Holy Spirit.<br />
<br />
"I have made Your name known to them, and <i>I will</i> make it known." <br />
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Prayer<br />
<br />
Lord Jesus, beloved and faithful Son of the Father, anointed One, I have nothing to give to you but my brokenness.<br />
<br />
Can you not hear Jesus say, 'I take your brokenness and in exchange I give you My heart to know My Father? I embrace you in your great sadness, now take sides with me against the way you see My Father, and against the way you see yourself, and against the way you see others?'<br />
<br />
C. Baxter Kruger, Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/18109712975412765686noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7876933803200242837.post-53543234791679564332013-08-01T20:40:00.003-05:002013-08-01T20:40:59.157-05:00The Redeeming Genius<br />
<div>
The Holy Spirit is a redeeming genius. He or She walks with us in our pathology, and weaves it with our giftedness, to transform us into a living sacrament of the Father's love and Jesus' grace, for the liberation of others. </div>
C. Baxter Kruger, Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/18109712975412765686noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7876933803200242837.post-60963940128038874902013-07-25T13:45:00.001-05:002013-07-25T13:45:55.825-05:00Fort Collins, COI will be in Fort Collins, Colorado speaking on Saturday, July 27th. If you would like to join us contact www.fathershousefc.com or call 970-402-0747<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cccccc; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;">.</span></span>C. Baxter Kruger, Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/18109712975412765686noreply@blogger.com2