Michael Clayton

On Saturday night I enjoyed a movie with some friends from the medical school as we relaxed during our weekend after mid-terms. We ended up seeing the movie “Michael Clayton.” The movie, starring George Clooney, is a thriller and a drama involving a high-powered law firm based in New York City which is defending a corporation called U North. In my opinion, this was an excellent movie with some powerful spiritual themes. I would highly recommend it. The film painted a compelling picture of man’s utter lostness and depravity while also speaking of the spiritual desert that is Western society. The way in which these themes were presented reminded me of one of my favorite pieces of literature, The Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan. At one point the character, Arthur, who has become convicted about the vanity and evil of his life complains of feeling as if he were carrying a burden, as Christian in The Pilgrim’s Progress did when he was made aware of the wrath to come by reading the Bible. In Christian’s case, he was blessed to meet Evangelist who directed him to the Wicket Gate on his way to Mt. Zion. The spiritual deadness of Western society was revealed in Arthur’s case where the only thing “spiritual” he found to direct him was a children’s fantasy book. We see this book later and it is marked-up and highlighted as are the Bibles of many Christians. Also, as in the case of Christian in The Pilgrim’s Progress, all of Arthur’s associates believe that he has gone off the deep-end as he seeks to leave his former life behind. This, of course, is reminiscent of Paul’s writing to the Corinthians, “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” Making a break with the world-system, as Arthur did in the movie, will always look crazy to the worldly. Spurning the pleasures and treasures that Satan holds out to us if only we will deny our God by our actions looks crazy to those who are “doing what pagans choose to do - living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry,” as the apostle Peter said. In the end the movie has some very redeeming plot twists which I will let you find out about by watching it.

He shouts with joy because you give him victory

The Lord has brought me through my second week of medical school exams. I am overwhelmed by his providence. He has blessed me and given me my heart's desires. I will proclaim the Lord Jesus Christ, His Cross, His Resurrection and His Salvation, until I leave this world which is not my home.

The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.

How the king rejoices in your strength, O Lord!
He shouts with joy because you give him victory.
For you have given him his heart’s desire;
you have withheld nothing he requested.

You welcomed him back with success and prosperity.
You placed a crown of finest gold on his head.
He asked you to preserve his life,
and you granted his request.
The days of his life stretch on forever.
Your victory brings him great honor,
and you have clothed him with splendor and majesty.
You have endowed him with eternal blessings
and given him the joy of your presence.
For the king trusts in the Lord.
The unfailing love of the Most High will keep him from stumbling.

Opening Doors She May Not Enter

A reflection on sorrow from George MacDonald.

…at that moment, some strange melodious bird took up its song, and sang, not an ordinary bird-song, with constant repetitions of the same melody, but what sounded like a continuous strain, in which one thought was expressed, deepening in intensity as it evolved in progress. It sounded like a welcome already overshadowed with the coming farewell. As in all sweetest music, a tinge of sadness was in every note. Nor do we know how much of the pleasures even of life we owe to the intermingled sorrows. Joy cannot unfold the deepest truths, although deepest truth must be deepest joy. Cometh white-robed Sorrow, stooping and wan, and flingeth wide the doors she may not enter. Almost we linger with Sorrow for very love.

From his “fairy tale,” Phantastes

The Humility to Accept Your Own Testimony

I was talking with a friend recently who is struggling with his faith and I shared something that has helped me at times when I've struggled. I actually think that struggles in our faith can be sign of our lack of humility. I think this because it takes humility to listen to and believe the testimonies of others who have faith in Christ and who have seen God's power in their lives, confirming that the promises in Scripture are real. But it takes even less humility to believe our own testimony. It might be sad that many are not strengthened in their faith by the testimonies of others but I think it is a fact for many of those who struggle to believe what the Bible tells us about our God. But even if we can't accept the testimonies of others, are we so arrogant not even to accept our own testimony from a time when we were convinced that God was with us and that we were saved by what Christ did on the cross for us? You see, I have been friends with this man for a while and there was a time when I was greatly strengthened by the strength of his faith. So I reminded him of that time and exhorted him to accept his own testimony. I have actually written down a testimony for myself during a time that I was 100% certain that Christ was God and that He really had saved me from my sins. I wrote it down so that I could read it at a future time if I was struggling. This practice has actually helped me. I know that it is a sign of a lack of humility that I am not as strongly helped by the testimonies of others but I think most of us would admit that we usually trust our own perceptions over the perceptions of others. So when I struggle I have to ask myself, "would you really tell yourself from six months ago or a year ago that 'you are wrong in your certainty about Christ.'?" This practice only works for the person who, even in their struggle, desires to believe what the Word tells us about Christ. Without the desire to believe, this practice will make no difference.

In other news, living in Southern California has been interesting this week. Over the last couple of days I watched a large forest fire work its way down a mountain north of here. Other than that, visibility has been low and I always think I should see someone barbecuing somewhere. Pray for the firefighters and for those who have lost their homes. Pray also for the arsonists who started the fires, that they would realize that their sins make them deserving of a fire that will never be quenched and that faith in Jesus Christ is the only way to escape that fate.

Piper!

Lately I've been surprised to find myself becoming a fan of John Piper. I never really thought this would happen. Not that I had anything against Piper but he is the hero of many a Calvinist and I'm not one of them. But after having received a burned CD of Piper sermons from one of my colleagues here at the med school I've spent a number of nights listening to Piper preach as I lie in bed before I fall asleep. Piper is certainly one of the best preachers I've ever heard. He is eloquent and passionate in his preaching and his messages are always intelligently presented. So far what I've listened to are biographies of certain Christians and missionaries like Adoniram Judson, John Owen and Martin Luther. One of the things I like best about Piper is that he is very uncompromising. He knows that holding Scripture as the highest authority for the Christian is fundamental to us being the Church. I realize that he would strongly disagree with some of my theological positions but I have a greater respect for someone like Piper than for some relativist who is afraid of stepping on anyone's toes. I look forward to listening to more of Piper's preaching and maybe checking out some of his books.

Strengthen, O Lord, your servant...

Well, today was a blessed and exciting day. Today was my confirmation into the expression of Christ's one holy catholic and apostolic Church called the Anglican Communion. I was blessed to be confirmed by the laying on of hands of the Bishop Evans Kisekka of Uganda at Christ's Church (Anglican) in Highland, California, formerly known as Inland Anglican Fellowship. Our priest, Brian Schulz, was also just ordained this weekend in a service at St. James Church in Newport Beach. Bishop Kisekka preached a powerful message on being Soldiers for Christ, which in a later post I plan on writing about. It took time and discernment to make this decision to be confirmed as an Anglican. I actually went through a confirmation class at St. Patrick's Church in Lexington, Ky., a few years ago but I wasn't ready to make the commitment yet. With all of the problems in the Anglican Communion, some might question the wisdom of being confirmed at this time. But the way I see it, I was confirmed into the Church of Uganda, where the Authority of Scripture is still held high and where the Power of the Holy Spirit is invited into the life of the Church. I am excited to become very involved in this congregation which I have already grown to love and I believe that because of our openness to the Holy Spirit and our commitment to the orthodox faith, God will use us here for His glory. Amen.

Pictured Above: Six of the seven confirmands, Fr. Brian Schulz, Bishop Evans Kisekka and his wife and Fr. Menees of St. James - Newport Beach.

Calvin on Holiness

I love this quote from Calvin's Institutes.

Now what is to be learned from the law can be readily understood: that God, as he is our Creator, has toward us by right the place of Father and Lord; for this reason we owe him glory, reverence, love, and fear; verily, that we have no right to follow the mind’s caprice wherever it impels us, but, dependent upon his will, ought to stand firm in that alone which is pleasing to him; then, that righteousness and uprightness are pleasing to him, but he abominates wickedness; and that, for this reason, unless we turn away from our Creator in impious ingratitude, we must cherish righteousness all our life. For if only when we prefer his will to our own do we render to him the reverence that is his due, it follows that the only lawful worship of him is the observance of righteousness, holiness, and purity.

John Calvin, Institutes 2.8.2

An Exciting Sunday

Well, this weekend was very enjoyable as I went on a retreat with most of my classmates into the mountains and got to enjoy a great sermon poreached by a South African brother from the Reformed Episcopal Church at Inland Anglican Fellowship. The retreat was relaxing and was a great time of fellowship with my classmates. We had an intense game of ultimate frisbee, did some hiking, had a couple of worship services and got to see a very entertaining talent show. The highlight of the talent show for me was getting to hear the wife of one of our professors expertly play a Chinese instrument called the zither.

Church was great also. Our guest pastor preached on the story of the rich man and Lazarus. He went so far as to say that by not caring for the poor we are earning ourselves a place in hell. It might sound harsh but I think it is a message that Christians in a rich country need to hear over and over again. I know that I need to hear it... and act on it. To me what made the sermon so exciting though was that he shared about the Common Cause Partnership and the strong possibility that a united orthodox Anglican presence will arise in North America. He also warned that as this comes to together, fulfilling the hopes and dreams of many Anglicans, that we must guard against becoming prideful about it. I think any newfound unity between Christians can only come from the Holy Spirit as it seems that human effort only leads to more divisions or to the sickly kind of ecumenism we have seen in the past century that seems only to lead away from Christianity and toward liberalism.

A Week Unlike Any Other

This week my brain worked harder than any other week of my life. I never would have imagined that the human mind was capable of this much memorization in this short a period of time before doing this. I really can't imagine that there is anything else like it. It was my first week of medical school examinations. I had examinations in biochem, anatomy, physiology, histology, patient diagnosis and evidence based medicine. And thanks be to God, it went very very well. I didn't sleep very much, I consumed way too much caffeine, I didn't eat very well and I spent an average of eight hours a day studying while I wasn't taking exams. I began the week sleeping at night but by the end of the week my schedule of cat-naps had morphed into sleeping during the day after exams and then studying all night until the exam in the morning. For all of the suffering of this week, I can say that I now am very satisfied and have a strong sense of accomplishment. I actually like medical school. The Lord brought me here and He brought me through this. I give all credit to Him and I am thankful to all who prayed for me.

I Love My Church

My new church-home, Inland Anglican Fellowship, continues to amaze me. It is truly just what I had hoped to find when I moved here. I really appreciate the charismatic in the context of the liturgical and sacramental.

One of my fellow parishioners named Fred was kind enough to give me a book about when the charismatic renewal broke out into the Episcopal Church in the 1960’s. The book Fred lent me is called “Nine O’Clock in the Morning,” and is written by Father Dennis Bennett. Father Bennett had been a priest in Van Nuys but moved to Seattle where he introduced many to the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. The book is a very inspirational read and shows what an openness to God’s power can do in a person. One thing I appreciate is how Father Bennett describes the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. He says that Baptism in the Holy Spirit is not more of the Holy Spirit in a Christian, as every true Christian has the Holy Spirit in them. He says that Baptism of the Holy Spirit is the Holy Spirit having more of the individual Christian. I think that he is correct and I think that this theology undoes a lot of what can seem problematic to some about this Baptism.

Two other things in the book so far have struck me quite deeply. One place is where Father Bennett describes a conference of the Assemblies of God at which he spoke at. Concerning the Pentecostal ministers there he said, “Few of these good men had what my church would consider adequate theological training, but I had more than an inkling that they were my superiors in the training that matters: knowing the Lord, and his ways.” It can be hard, as a seminary educated man, to admit that this is, in fact, true. But I learned this summer that it was most certainly true. I learned it while I was at Bethel Church in Redding with some friends from the Foursquare church I attend in Battle Ground. While I was there I became convinced that one of my friends was actually my spiritual superior. He had been in the school of the Holy Spirit while I had attempted by my striving and “knowing” more about God to draw closer to Him. I don’t think it works that way. Academics is no substitute for simply resting in the Presence of God. Please don’t misunderstand me though. Asbury Theological Seminary is a wonderful place, which I will always see as a home away from home, and God changed my life greatly for the better there. I think a person can be in “the school of the Holy Spirit” while in seminary but usually the two do not go together.

Another thing that struck me deeply was a passage on how the Baptism of the Holy Spirit affected Father Bennett’s view of the Bible. Bennett had been educated at a liberal seminary and steeped in higher criticism of the Bible. Before his Holy Spirit Baptism Father Bennett said that, “to accept the Scriptures in their entirety as the work of the Holy Spirit was foreign to anything I had been taught, and yet that is exactly what I found myself being pressed to do as I continued in the life of the Spirit.” At one point in a meeting, where a minister who doubted the veracity of Scripture was present, a woman spoke in tongues and it was translated by another in the room as, “This is my Book! This is my Book! You read my Book! Don’t criticize my Book! Just read my Book! For I am the Lord! I am the Lord! I am the Lord!” That was so powerful to me to read because I have noticed this summer, since my experience at Bethel that my own respect for the Word has greatly increased. I actually prayed at one point this summer, “Lord, help me to really believe the Bible.” To some of you this may seem strange coming from me. I am a very conservative person so you might not think that I would have a problem believing the words of Scripture. But I think that I was so steeped in the lies of liberal theology from my past that many of those lies took root and I really did doubt the truthfulness of portions of Scripture. I knew that it was where I had met Jesus but I still didn’t necessarily believe the veracity of some Old Testament miracles or maybe every word that is presented as having been spoken by Christ. But when you begin to see real miracles taking place today it is much easier to believe that God perfectly inspired the Bible and preserved in perfectly for today.

Medical school is going well, I hope. My first exams are the week after next. I’m already feeling guilty for having taken this much of a break from studying so maybe in a week or two I’ll post something new.