When it comes to reading the Old Testament, many Christians are intimidated and might even ignore it all together. However, you can’t retreat into the New Testament for long without realizing the Apostles are constantly referencing, interpreting and preaching from the Old Testament. Not only does 2 Timothy 3:16 tell us that, “all Scripture is breathed out by God” (which would include the Old Testament) but the context (vs. 15) makes evident that the Apostle Paul primarily has the Old Testament in view. We therefore do not have the option to avoid the first two thirds of our bible or relegate it to some sort of lesser status.

There is a difference in knowing IF we should read the Old Testament and HOW we should read the Old Testament as Christians. To read it rightly, we have to walk the narrow path between the twin ditches of mysticism and moralism. Mysticism completely ignores the original author and audience to find a deeper meaning; it uses allegory and symbol to adjust the Old Testament to fit the new. Moralism on the other hand reduces the Old Testament to a collection of guidelines and examples. Both however, are sub-christian in nature (any Jew, Muslim or Gnostic can read the bible this way) and both are avoided by simply reading the Old Testament like Jesus. In other words, to read the Old Testament like a Christian; read it like Christ.

Jesus’ view of the scriptures denies a mystical approach. He was consistently seeking meaning of Old Testament passages in the intent of its original author. Take for example the way he answers the Sadducees question about the resurrection in Matthew 22:31-32:

“And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God: ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not God of the dead, but of the living.”

How does he come to his conclusion that the verse he quotes (Exodus 3:6) proves the resurrection? He pays attention to the grammar. God says “I am” present tense not “I was” past tense. He doesn’t need to allegorize a passage to support this doctrine, he interprets it the same way we would any other book. Just because the bible is divinely written doesn’t mean that it should be interpreted in some “spiritual sense” removed from the normal cues of an authors meaning. I’ve always enjoyed this quote from Walter Henrichsen on this subject,

“If you were to say to an audience, ‘I crossed the ocean from the United States to Europe,’ you wouldn’t want them to interpret our statement to mean that you crossed life’s difficult waters into the haven of a new experience. Likewise, no journalist would like to write of the famine of a country such as India and have his words interpreted to mean that the people of India were experiencing a great intellectual hunger.”

This approach to the bible corresponds better with the person of Jesus. The apostle John tells us that God revealed himself through the incarnation, God becoming man. Jesus taking on flesh was a way of God humbling himself to make himself understandable. We see the same thing in Genesis 15 when God makes a cutting covenant with Abraham. God condescends to a local cultural form of contract so that Abraham can understand that he intends to fulfill his promise. He submits himself to a cultural practice to make what he is saying clear. In the bible God is doing the same thing; he condescends to the rules of language and grammar because he desires to be understood. To read the bible like Jesus we must abandon our search for meaning in subjective mysticism and focus on what the Old Testament says as written by its original author and to its original audience.

Although a fence has been firmly planted to keep us out of the ditch of mysticism, we still must avoid the ditch on the other side of the road. Reading the Old Testament like Jesus also protects us from moralism. In John 5:39 Jesus criticizes how the Pharisees read the Old Testament and then gives them the single most foundational principle of a Christian understanding of the Old Testament. He says,            
“You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me.”
He does the same thing with his disciples after his resurrection.  First for the two disciples on the road to Emmaus and then to the twelve in Jerusalem Jesus opens their minds to understand the scripture by explaining the entire Old Testament in relationship to himself. (Luke 24:13-47) Not only do we find numerous prophesies throughout its pages that speak specifically of Jesus’ person and work, but the Old Testament reveals God’s entire plan that begins in Genesis 3 and culminates in Jesus. It proves beyond a shadow of a doubt our need for Jesus as a single nation (Israel) is given every advantage and still finds themselves sinners deserving of judgment. We find countless preemptive pictures of Jesus’ sacrifice. Every great theme of who God is and what he is like is amplified and climaxes in Jesus’ coming. If we are to read the Old Testament as Christians we need to read it as if Jesus is the main subject, and even the main character, just like Jesus did.

When we begin to read the Old Testament like Jesus, that’s when we begin to reclaim it and recognize that it is living and powerful. We find unity between the testaments and relevancy in our lives. Don’t make the mistake of a sub-christian approach to reading the Old Testament; follow Jesus’ footsteps down the narrow path avoiding both moralism and mysticism.

One of my favorite parts of Christmastime is putting together the crèche. Unpacking each little individual character from the nativity scene is one of many highlights as I decorate our home and tree. I set out Mary and Joseph, then the magi and shepherds, followed by their many sheep. Of course there’s always the donkey, camel, and most important, baby Jesus.

My mom has the best crèche from the early 1950s. I’ve told her that I’d gladly inherit it and enjoy it for the rest of my life. She reminded me the other day that when I would visit their home on Hood Canal with my young children many moons ago, Jordan used to love the crèche scene as well. He would take baby Jesus and put Him in his pocket all day long. Mom and I laughed over the memory from 28 years ago, and I mused all day on a very real truth: Carrying Jesus in our pocket.

I love having pockets. They contain many items on any given day. An old movie ticket, pennies, Kleenex—sometimes even a dollar bill. I love it when I put on a coat I haven’t worn in a year and find an old ticket to the 5th Avenue Theatre, or even better, a five-dollar bill. That will buy you…let’s see, one eggnog latte.

All of these items in my pockets are hidden and forgotten. Much like Jesus is for us at times. We just put Him in our pockets and keep Him hidden until we are in the mood to search for Him. We bring Him out when it’s convenient, when we’ve suddenly remembered to search Him out. We have Him there when we need Him, but until then, He’s hidden down deep. He’s safe there. And we may even think we’re safe with Him there. It brings us comfort knowing He’s there—when we need Him. We can even be surprised to reach in and find Him so faithful to us all these years. What a nice find.

It’s a time of safety these days. Safety in the world, safety among our friends, safety while we run hither and thither in our busy lives. We treat Jesus like a pocket friend. Someone we know we can reach out to when we need Him. But in the meantime, He’s hidden in the darkness, out of full view. If people talk to us, they might never guess we have this hidden Friend, and this is problem if we really want to impact the kingdom for Him.

There’s no criticism, disregard, or disdain, or discomfort in keeping the gospel hidden. The New Testament doesn't say anything about making sure we're nice. It speaks of loving, serving, speaking the truth, and proclaiming the gospel. We are easily falling into the trap of making sure that we don't say anything to offend, especially if we suspect our hearers might not agree or like what we might say. We submit to the virtue of niceness above our obedience to God Himself.

Jesus won’t be relegated to our pockets. His pronouncement, “I am the Light of the World” means that darkness cannot hide Him. Our fear of disapproval cannot shroud Him. He conquered death itself! I hardly think being resurrected from the dark, hidden corners of our lives is a difficulty for Him. But it may be for us.

I talked to a man at church Sunday named John. He wanted me to pray for his neighbor who had been in a life threatening car accident. He was visiting her all the time and sharing the hope of the gospel with her. I looked up at his black and white baseball cap he proudly wore on his head. The very bold lettering said, “JESUS INSIDE,” and when he walked away, I said, “Nice hat!”

Karma has taken the modern American worldview captive. Divested of its Hindu roots and multiple-lives timescale, it has become an accepted truth that your actions, both good and bad, will come back to you sometime in your life. It is assumed that the universe has a built-in justice system that operates morally much like a physical law. Although it may be a comforting doctrine to those on the receiving end of injustice, it falls terribly short of what the bible teaches.

The first issue is that karma reduces justice to an impersonal law of nature whereas the bible always leaves justice in the hands of a personal God. Look at what Paul says in Galatians:

Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.

Karma cannot be mocked; it is only a force, indifferent to the offence and the offender. Biblically however, our actions have a direct impact upon God. We can please him, offend him, and we see in the above passage that expecting no reaction from God whatsoever is a form of mockery. Karma however makes avoiding negative consequences our primary motivation for righteousness and ignores our responsibility to God our creator.

Karma also does not leave enough room for the wickedness of humankind. By reducing life to a one-to-one formula we are left to believe that if nothing bad is happening to us, we must be doing everything right. Jesus dealt with a similar mindset in Luke 13:

There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent,you will all likewise perish.”

Jesus explains here that our quality of living, or even the ease and timing of our death is no guarantee of right standing before God. In fact, horror of horrors, the bible recognizes that in this life the wicked will sometimes get off scot-free; liars will get wealthy, rapists will be undiscovered, mass-murders will die of old age but none of them will escape eternal justice (see Psalm 73).  Jesus explains to the crowd that our sinfulness is so pervasive that we are all headed towards judgment and condemnation. In this regard, karma also implies that we could somehow atone for our sins by some amount of temporal suffering but as our sins are ultimately against an eternal God, eternal punishment alone will satisfy justice.

Finally and most importantly, karma does not allow for the grace of God. In spite of the fact that our sins are an offense to a personal God, and that they are rightly deserving of eternal justice, through God sending Jesus to die the death that we deserve, our punishment can be escaped. Jesus hanging on the cross shows the utter vanity of karma, as true and perfect righteousness suffered not only a shameful and horrendously painful death but also experienced the full wrath of God. Jesus not only suffered the punishment we deserved, but offers us the reward of eternal life that only he deserves. This great exchange, as Martin Luther called it, is diametrically opposed to karma in every way.

Karma cannot provide true justice, but God can. It cannot look at reality honestly, but the bible does. It cannot save you from what you deserve but Jesus will. Forsake karma, abandon it and walk away. I promise it won’t be offended.

God at Work

It all began with a word from Pastor Bob Caldwell at the NW pastor’s conference. He encouraged all the Calvary pastors there to “recalibrate” and make an effort to assess whether our ministry was meeting the needs of our congregations and fulfilling God’s vision for where they should be heading. Since then, I and many other pastors in the NW have been looking to the next steps, and looking to see what changes need to be made.

The Lord certainly has been at work since then, and the result of recent changes has meant a new church plant in Arlington, and new opportunities for several young men to become assistant pastors at MLT, Whidbey Island, and Lake Stevens, and for the head pastors there to be blessed with the help they need in these new guys.

With the church planting we have been doing in Wallingford and Capitol Hill, I’ve really needed to fill gaps at the church in Mountlake Terrace left by Jordan, Justin, and Jack turning their focus to their own campuses.

Jack Coultas has been instrumental in developing the ministry in Wallingford, but he has been divided in wanting to be focused on the ministry there while fulfilling his old duties at MLT. He has been on staff at MLT for 3 years and has done a great job with facilities, assisting in pastoral duties, and CCBC work. However I needed to reclaim the assisting role at MLT that Jack has held, in order to meet the many needs of our congregation there. Jack will be able to continue his ministry at Wallingford helping pastor Jordan as a lay minister while that church grows. Jack said this about the change, “I feel relieved" (because his ministry focus had gotten too divided).

Daniel Lefotu will be the new assistant at Calvary MLT, Jonathan Finley will be the new assistant at Whidbey Island, and Brandon Howland will be the new assistant at Lake Stevens (in the Summer of 2012).

God Always Works on Both Ends

It’s like when we share the Gospel with people, and they come to faith in Christ, they always say that God had been working in their hearts for a while, using other people and events to draw them to himself. God is always working on both ends of an outcome, and we know it is Him doing the work to confirm His Will when He brings things to pass.

When there was a vacancy at Calvary Whidbey, it opened a door for Jonathan Finley to step in there to assist Pastor Brett Williams. This is a great step for Jonathan and Danielle and we are super excited to see him grow into that role. But that left even more pastoral responsibilities at MLT that needed to be met.

Pastor Kelley Taylor and his staff had been training Daniel for some time to assist in youth work and worship, but there wasn't a staff position available at CC Lake Stevens to be filled. As Kelley prayed about 'recalibrating', God began to renew and reform his vision for CCLS. This led to a chain reaction of events resulting in a strong church plant in Arlington, and therefore a staff opening in the future to meet the needs at CCLS.

But prior to this Daniel and Pastor Wayne had begun praying about Daniel assisting at CC MLT. Through prayer and counsel Daniel sensed this was God's leading. That opened Kelley's mind to the possibility of filling an assistant role with someone else. Around that same time, Brandon spoke to Kelley about wanting to get back into ministry from police work. Kelley was very excited to hear this, and although Kelley would be sad to see Daniel go, he saw the Lord opening doors for Brandon who had done great worship leading and pastoral ministry in the South.

It may seem like a lot of shuffling, but it’s clear to me that the Lord orchestrates these kinds of events. And through a lot of open and candid conversations, and much prayer and seeking the Lord by many people, we can see how the Lord is working on all sides to put the right people in the right positions to fulfill the vision He has given us. The recalibration Bob Caldwell encouraged us to do has expanded the opportunities.

Meet the New Guy

I’m really excited to bring on Daniel as an assistant pastor at Calvary Fellowship. Although he is a bit new to our congregation at MLT, he has been a good servant of God at Lake Stevens. Here are some things you should know about him:

1) Recently graduated from CCBC in MLT; 2) Worked several years in Jr. Hi ministry at CCLS; 3) Was a Worship leader at CCLS; 4) He is especially gifted at evangelism and teaching, and is known for his Christian Rap as 'Barnabas'.

I’m looking to him to fill the roles of assisting at CREW, organizing outreaches at Westlake, colleges, and schools. And he and Jesse Williams are going to help me personally with Pastoral duties and small group development.

All of this reminds me of Eph. 2:10, "For we are His handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them."

Self-control is essentially having mastery over your desires by not allowing what you want to determine where you’re going and what you do. Biblically, this is not for aesthetic purposes, like a Buddhist monk who believes the root of all suffering is desire and therefore seeks to remove any form of desire from his life. Instead, the Bible recognizes that many desires we have are natural and good; food, sex, security, etc; but they are not ultimate. Jesus explained this in the Sermon on the Mount:

“Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

The issue is not what we want, or even what we need, but what we are seeking. Essentially then, self-control is the ability to resist or delay your desires for a greater purpose. In his letter to the Corinthians, Paul uses the image of a runner training for a race:

“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.”

If self-control is so obviously beneficial and even essential to the Christian life, why is it so difficult? Telling ourselves we need self-control seems a lot like telling the captain of a sinking ship he needs a boat without holes. It seems like we need self-control in order to exercise it. That doesn’t stop us from trying…and trying…and failing.

I am convinced that the problem is primarily a grammatical one. We continuously act as if the “self” in self-control is the subject, the one doing the controlling when in actuality, “self” is the object, the one being controlled. We know this to be true because Galatians 5:23 lists self-control as a fruit of the spirit, a by-product of our walking in dependence upon God. We are not strong enough to hold the reins of our desires, but God is. When it comes to self-control we need to repent of our bad grammar and self-reliance and allow God to do the work.

Oh what a lovely thing it is to be wooed! To be wooed is to be taken on a journey with every little surprise thought out just for you. Every detail has been set in place with your likes and passions in mind. He sets the table a special way. He looks nice. He arranges the whole day around you. There is nothing quite like it.
What is even more incredible is that the human version of romance is merely a dim reflection of the wooing of our Savior. I look out my window upon the early morning and hear families of birds singing to the sun. That was my Savior romancing me. I hear the trickling of a stream in a cool grove of trees. That was my Savior seducing me. I look to the diamond stars in the sky. Each one of those is a kiss from him. When I realize this the world becomes an intimate and romantic love letter from its very Creator.
We are so blessed to have such a romantic and thoughtful lover in Jesus. After all, he IS love. He created love. While earthly love is one of the most beautiful and satisfying things we can experience, it is only so satisfying because it is a picture of the relationship the Lord wants to have with us. Notice his love letters. Let yourself be swoon in his presence. Let yourself be wooed.

My name is Donny Button. I’m a 29-year-old white male and a born-again believer and follower of Christ. I am currently serving time in solitary confinement (the hole) at Washington State Penitentiary for robbing a bank in Clarkston, Washington. I’m in the hole for being the leader of a white supremacist gang and planning to kill a correctional officer. I’m the highest secured inmate in the state and will remain in solitary confinement until my release in 3/27/2017. I came to prison at 20 years old and since then I have been let out twice, only to return back to prison within a couple months.

Growing up, I was often told if I didn’t change my behavior I would end up in prison, so it was no surprise to anyone when I got busted by the DEA for smuggling 80 pounds of pot across the Canadian border and ended up in federal prison. Before I came to prison, I took all the love and help my family and friends showed me for granted. They all bent over backwards to try and help me. They forgave me every time I blew it or betrayed them. They had always been there for me and showed me nothing but compassion and love. I repaid them by taking whatever I could from them and spitting in their face.

After my arrival in prison I was pulled up by the woods, “solid white boys” who schooled me and made a strong impression on me. They were gangsters and I wanted to be like them. Over the first couple of years I made a name for myself as a solid white boy. I felt like I was worth something, like I finally found my calling. I eventually became well known, feared, and respected. I learned and practiced neo-nazi philosophy until I rose in ranks to second in command in the white supremacist gang, “The Aryan Family.” I stabbed a black man in the neck three times, brutally assaulted several other inmates and correctional officers, dealt drugs, extorted weak inmates, and reprimanded other inmates. I got swastikas, racist, and demon tattoos all over my body. I hated people for the color of their skin or religion, especially Jews and Christians. I hurt a lot of people and did a lot of bad things. This is just a summary of what I’ve done in prison to give you an idea of what kind of person I was. I set out on a path of self-destruction leaving pain and misery in my wake, with a total disregard for anyone but myself. A few years ago after a two year stretch in solitary confinement (the hole) I thought I discovered God, and was saved. I felt I had changed and I wanted out of the Aryan Family and the criminal way of life. I wanted my life back. I contacted the gang task force and told them how I felt. They said they would help me but first I would have to help them. I agreed and they transferred me to a low risk medium prison, where I was supposed to help locate drugs or corrupt staff bringing in dope. I thought I could do that but it turned out I couldn’t. My faith in God was superficial; I fooled myself into thinking it was real. Within the first week of my arrival I was high on meth and I took control of the entire prison. I corrupted a female staff member and soon after I had her bring me ounces of heroin, meth, and marijuana along with several cell phones. I had inmates assaulted and I called the shots.

I went right back into the life I was trying to leave. It didn’t take the gang task force long to see I wasn’t going to help them and I was playing both sides of the fence. Back to solitary confinement I went. The woman got fired; she also had a husband and a daughter. I don’t know what affect this had on her family.

I burned all my bridges; I was facing some serious decisions, pulled in several directions. I just wanted to escape from it all. I felt every option I had was wrong, and I decided to kill myself. I was too much of a coward to hang myself or cut my wrists, but I figured if I killed a correctional officer they would have to give me the death penalty. I had a steel shank and I planned on stabbing a correctional officer in the chest. Thank God that before I could do it I got a surprise shake down and the weapon was found.

Then I was moved to where I now sit writing this testimony. I also got elevated to the very top of my gang and I had control of all the white boys in every prison in Washington State. Because of my behavior I was stripped of everything. No mattress, no clothes, no blankets, no hot meals, no mail, no phone calls, no papers, no pens, no books, no bible, no nothing except underwear and socks and just 24-7 of staring at the wall and thinking. I held on to the hope that I was now the big boss man and had control over everyone, but this wasn’t much consolation and soon faded. Then guilt, remorse, self-pity, bitterness, fear, and self hate slowly crept into my mind. Then it took over until every day was a living hell with nothing to distract me. I was forced to take a very long, very hard look at myself and my life and what I had done to others and all those who loved me. I felt like scrooge on the night before Christmas when he was forced to really look at himself. There was no more smoke and mirrors, no more self-deception, for the first time. I could not run from the problem but had to face it. Then the questions started coming in, the Big Why. Why did I do that to people I loved? Why did I throw away my life? Why was I sitting in a 9x12-foot cell sleeping on concrete when I could be on the streets with a wife and kids, eating popcorn on the couch, watching movies? What in the heck was I doing? Who did I impress? Just what was I trying to accomplish, besides ruining my life and others? For who? People I don’t really know, who don’t even care about me whether I live or die, why? So people would think I was cool, so I could prove I was a man, that I was tough and not scared of anything? Why would I throw my life away? To prove a point? No one cared, the joke was on me, and I was a coward. It was all in vain, a complete waste. Instead of being the big man on campus, I had become the biggest loser of them all.

After 29 years, I had finally seen everything for what it was, and I did not like what I had seen, and I could not look away. I had literally been reduced to nothing. My situation seemed impossible and unbearable. I did not think I could survive another minute. I had no hope, no reason to live, I had no strength left to keep fighting. What was the use? My life was over. I hit rock bottom for real and this is when I hit my knees and cried out to God with my soul and entire being, one word: Help! I did not say it with my mouth or my mind; I spoke with a groan from the depths of my soul. And praise God, He answered me. He comforted me right then and there. I eventually got a Bible and change began to occur in me, a real change from the inside. I accepted Jesus as my Lord; I finally understood what it was all about. I didn’t just read His word like a novel, I drank it in and it gave me life. God spared me and showed me mercy after all I had done, when all my reasoning, philosophy, worldly wisdom and everything else could not save me from this world or myself. The one true God came through and lifted me out of this pit of hell when I had no hope and was tormented day and night by my past and guilt. When I felt sorry for myself and was filled with the darkness of bitterness and hate, He gave me peace, hope, love, joy, strength, light, and life.

He gave me the courage to stand on my own two feet as a man and walk away from the Aryan Family for good, to publicly denounce gangs and stand against them. He humbled me so that I could apologize to some men in here who I had persecuted in the past, but now I call my brothers in Christ. He gave me purpose and meaning to my life. By all rights I should be the most miserable inmate in the state of Washington, but you can ask around I’m one of the happiest. I smile all day, sing, laugh, and have no worries. Of course everyone thinks I’m faking, but you can’t fake something like that in a place this dark. God printed a goal in my heart and I plan to turn my situation into a positive result that will bear lots of fruit. I can use this experience to teach kids and young adults about the realities of drugs, crime, and gang life. I want to help people, not to hurt them. By the power of God’s grace, as everyone will soon be a witness to, He took the chief of sinners, an evil, lying, manipulative extremely violent, selfish, hate-filled man, who was going to commit murder, then suicide, and then turned this same man into an instrument of His love to help others, to spread the gospel, and to be a shining light of God’s grace in this place of darkness demonstrating God’s power to change anybody. Amen.