Beware When Your Core Beliefs Cost You Nothing

 

Evangelical Christians have a problem today: we believe too little.

 

Most Evangelical Christians readily believe, for example, that Jesus is loving, that he has forgiven their sins, and that as a result they will go to heaven when they die. 

 

But that belief costs us nothing. It can exist as pleasant background noise, like leaving the radio on in the car during our commute. Once we get to the office, however, that belief is a difference that makes very little difference in most Christians' everyday lives. 

 

And that type of cheap belief is not at all unique. From the beginning of Jesus' ministry, people struggled to believe that all that he was proclaiming was true. There were parts of it that they found easy to believe. I think that if all Jesus shared was the gospel that many evangelicals believe today-"I am God in the flesh. I have come to die for your sins. Load them up on my back and I will carry them to the Cross where God will punish me instead of you"-he would have been the most popular man in Jerusalem! I think people would have carried the cross for him! The offer of a free lunch-especially a free eternal lunch-has always had takers across all of human history. And it always will. 

 

But from the beginning, Jesus called his hearers to believe-and to stake their lives on the belief-that all that the prophets had spoken was being fulfilled in his ministry. In fact, it was his insistence that all eighteen dimensions of the day of the Lord were being inaugurated by him (see the free downloadable chart at Steve Schaefer's marvelous www.livingintheoverlap.com ) that caused people to stumble and ultimately reject him.

 

The belief that your sins are forgiven can exist as pleasant "Family Radio" background music in your life. But the belief that through his death and resurrection Christ has placed his very own heart within you-the belief that he is calling and equipping you to be the witness of his kingdom in your sphere of influence through your choices and your confession-that is anything but elevator music. 

 

The belief that Messiah Jesus' rule over the cosmos has been inaugurated with his resurrection and ascension, and that his return to consummate his rule is the great overarching fact and daily hope of our lives-that will cause a person to stand out from the crowd almost immediately.

 

The core of Christian belief will always cost you everything, whether you practice it in Pyongyang, North Korea or Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In 2 Timothy 3:12, the apostle Paul says, "All who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted." The persecution comes precisely because our basic beliefs as Christians compel us to act publicly in ways that "have turned the world upside down" (Acts 17:6). 

 

So let us learn, live, and proclaim all that the prophets have spoken, all of which has been inaugurated and will be consummated by Christ Jesus. As the Scriptures show and the witness of the faithful church throughout history attests, such can never be private background belief. It is the stuff that moves mountains and causes whole kingdoms to crumble. Steward the message well by proclaiming it in its fullness today.

 

For guidance in proclaiming the gospel, make sure to check out our free podcasts, video clips, and blog posts this month at www.ericfoley.com .

 

 

 

 

I recently had a chance to see behind the special immigration computer they look at when they swipe your passport on entry into a country. If you are wondering why they don't need to look very hard at you when you hand them your passport, it's because they have a series of pictures and all of your passport info on their computer screen. 

 

This was in a non-English-speaking country. The reason why they don't have to read English very well when they are looking at your passport?  All the info is popping up on their screen in their own language. Pretty sweet, if you are an immigration officer. It might not be that helpful to a local policeman with limited foreign language training who doesn't have a passport swiping system, though. That tidbit is good to remember: immigration officers know your information, even if they don't know your language.  

 

The pictures they pulled up were interesting. I didn't have a lot of time to inspect them before the officer returned to the computer, so I couldn't tell exactly what they were, but it appeared to be the last four times I'd been swiped on entry to this country. So if my passport photo looks like it looked the last few times they swiped it, I guess that is good. That might explain why they never question me about why I look a bit different every time I go through this port-of-entry.  If they are just checking my photo against my photo (and not how I actually look in person), then I'm in good shape to get through every time. I'm not sure whether that makes me feel secure on the border.

 

Last observation: with the info that they call up on their screen with a swipe, it seems that they could easily pull up other info on you. Did you know that both the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) have Facebook pages? If you "like" their page - the way 9,314 people have for ICE, and 269 for TSA - then couldn't they pull up your Facebook page with their swipe and get a lot more information on you; information you might not want them to have? It can't be that hard, and if you've "liked" their page, chances are they're not violating your rights.

 

That's all for now. I have to see if I've "liked" any Facebook pages that I shouldn't have...

 

 

Pray that the Lord will allow North Koreans to believe in Jesus through the Bible, Christian books, and evangelical materials.

 

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.[2 Timothy 3:16, 17]

 

The first missionary of both North and South Korea was Robert Thomas who died soon after his arrival at Chosun. He died for the Gospel after he gave a Bible to Chun-kwon Park, a soldier of Chosun. That Bible made Chun-Kwon Park a serious Christian. He became a leader of Ahnju Church soon after. In addition, Young-Shick Park, who used pages of the Bible as his wall paper, donated this house and it later became the first church of Pyongyang, Neoldarigol Chapel (Changdaehuyn Church). God has used the Bible, Christian books, and evangelical materials given by the early believers, though they had to pay a heavy price to offer them. Now, let us pray that God will give us the courage to be the ones who pass the Bibles on, even though we too will put our life at risk just like Thomas did.

 

This prayer request is from Day 9 (on Mass Media) of our 30 Day NK Prayer Guide, written with the NK church. To purchase a copy, email super-intern Brett.

  

 

 

The map above was created by WikiTravel.org user, Cacahuate, and is available here.  Click on map to view in higher resolution.