The Most Lethal Weapon

“Why do they do what they do?” This question was asked by Vice President Joe Biden this past Wednesday at the public memorial service for MIT Officer, Sean Collier, who was shot and killed by the marathon bombers a week ago. He echoed the major question now being addressed in the ongoing investigation of the Boston Marathon bombings: what was the motive? How did two apparently “normal,” nonviolent young men become radicalized jihadists?

While authorities wait for answers from the hospitalized younger brother, Dzhokar Tsarnev, psychological experts are offering hypotheses. Some suggest that the brothers had not made a good adjustment to life here and had a confused identity, feeling alienated, lonely and helpless. It is not unusual for such persons to identify with groups who feel oppressed and that their frequent visiting of jihadi extremist websites may indicate they were seeking group identification.

This may be accurate, but still does not explain how someone moves from online identification with a hate group to acting out violent terrorism. Especially disturbing is the knowledge that the brothers put together devices deliberately designed to kill and maim as many people as possible, calmly walked into a crowd of innocent bystanders, deposited their bombs, and next day resumed ordinary life activities. People at a loss to understand such malevolent behavior label it “evil.”

I think the label “evil” is more accurate than most people realize. Jesus made it clear that in the unseen spiritual dimension there is warfare. Satan hates the human race and seeks only to steal from us, kill and destroy us (John 10:10a) Whenever he can, Satan enlists the help of human beings in his warfare. He doesn't do it openly, but under the wire of awareness through deceit. From the beginning, Satan has always operated this way.

Jesus called Satan “the father of lies,” and indicated that he always twists the truth to his own advantage. Deception is Satan's most lethal weapon, for under its cover he can so confuse people’s thinking that they actually believe their violence is a good act in combating great societal evil.

Sound impossible? It's not! Satan has been practicing these tactics on the human race for thousands of years, and history demonstrates that he's duped human beings countless times. Hitler and Stalin are two prime examples from the 20th century. Both had a vision of how society could be improved, and neither one regarded themselves as evil men. The holocaust of human death they each left behind could never be described as anything other than pure evil.

But Satan is at warfare with all of us, using the same tactic of deception. He uses negative circumstances we encounter to rob us of our happiness and destroy our feelings of self-worth. He lies to us by encouraging thoughts of inferiority, hopelessness, fear and worry, depression etc. to recycle endlessly through our minds. Under his attack, we lose sleep, develop grudges, become resentful, ruminate on negative events and lash out at others in anger. All the while we think this is only our own thoughts and feelings, never suspecting Satan's outside influence on us.

The Bible describes this deception of Satan as erecting “strongholds” in our minds and warns us to dismantle them. The apostle Peter also warns us “Be alert and of a sober mind. Your enemy, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to attack.” (1 Peter 5:8)

You are at war whether you realize it or not. Your enemy is cunning, and you need to be aware of his tactics, for we have been given power over him through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Come join us this Sunday at 9:00 AM or 11:00 AM. We are concluding our series on “Spiritual Warfare,” and my topic this week is “Personal Deliverance.”

Pastor Che

Where Was God?

The heart-wrenching parade of names, faces and personal stories is becoming too long. It seems we barely get life to return to semi-normal, when the next tragedy occurs. In too rapid succession, we've seen Aurora, Colorado, Newtown, Connecticut, Boston and now as I write this, West, Texas. And that's not even mentioning hurricane Sandy and the devastation caused by the extreme weather conditions this winter.

Shortly after the explosions at the Boston Marathon, twitter was trending heavily with  “Pray for Boston.” As I scanned down the condolences, I knew there was another trend on people's hearts that would never show up as a twitter hashmark. But it is the question that is always there: “Where was God?”

It's only natural to wonder if God is good, all-powerful and all-knowing, why doesn't He intervene and stop tragedies from occurring? And we've all heard the explanation about our free will. We were created in God's image with the power of  autonomous choice, which means that God sees and respects us as having the same order of being as Himself.

While not a perfect analogy, let me use an example: my relationship with my son Gabriel. One time when he was about 4 years old, I literally had to snatch him up as he darted into the street after a ball. He yelled in angry protest, not noticing the car that was barreling down the street. I intervened then because he was a child and I was an adult. But Gabriel is a man now, and I do not intervene in his life like that. I respect his adult status and allow him the freedom to express his personhood through his own choices.

To those of you who still find yourself angry with God and wondering, “Why doesn't He do something?” Ask yourself the following question: “Would you really want to live in a world where God could usurp your freedom and intervene at any time?” Would you want Him clearing your plate when you're getting ready to overeat, washing your mouth with soap the next time you uttered an expletive deleted, or appearing at the end of your bed every time you decided to have casual sex?

You may still insist that you wouldn't want God to intervene in your personal life, just in major tragedies. How big and devastating does an event need to be before it's a major tragedy and whose opinion should be the determining factor? It's highly unlikely that even a panel of experts could agree on the exact point where God should intervene.

God has given us, all of us the gift of free will and with it, the power to benefit, damage or even destroy the lives of others. It's an incredible gift and God knew we would need some guidance to properly use it, so He warned us to listen to wisdom. But we often insist on doing our own thing and having our own way, not realizing the chaos we are releasing in our own life and the lives of others. Does God stand by just wringing His hands and watching us defeat and destroy ourselves? Not hardly!

God did something. It's described in Romans 5:6–8: “When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. Now most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. But God showed His great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.”

Christ’s death has the power to radically transform our lives if we choose to accept the gift of God's love. God continues to respect us, so each of us has to make our own choice. But next time you wonder, “Where was God?” Look at the cross!

Please come join us this Sunday at 9:00 AM or 11:00 AM as we continue our current series on Spiritual Warfare. I will be speaking on "Spiritual Boot Camp"

Pastor Che

The Real World War

During the last few weeks, North Korea has dominated international news. I've been watching with interest because I was born in South Korea and came to United States when I was 4 years old. I still have relatives living in South Korea.

Daily, North Korea continues to ratchet up its rhetoric, declaring a state of war on South Korea, plans to restart its plutonium production reactor and threats to deliver a nuclear Armageddon to the United States. While most analysts agree that the threats from Pyongyang are more bluster than reality, they can't be lightly dismissed. In fact, a recent CNN poll indicates that the majority of US citizens take North Korea's threats very seriously. Despite the fact that we are separated by over half a century from the most recent world war, the situation in North Korea reminds us that our world still contains the possibility of an all-out nuclear holocaust.

Probably none of us will lose sleep tonight over the possibility of a nuclear world war being imminent, but most of us do not realize that every day we are involved in a real world war that is aimed at our personal destruction. It is a war being conducted in stealth under the radar of our awareness, and it is highly successful in accomplishing its objectives.

Father God warns us in John 10:10 that “The thief comes only to steal, to kill and to destroy.” He was referring to Satan and all the powers of evil in their vendetta against the human race. Now you may think, “Well nobody is trying to kill or destroy me and I haven't been robbed of anything.” Are you sure? Ask yourself the following questions:

• Do you have difficulty sleeping at night because you are worrying about finances, a relationship, or your work situation?
• Are you or someone you love battling a serious health condition?
• Are you unemployed and having difficulty finding new employment?
• Do you struggle with habits like compulsive eating or shopping, smoking, alcohol or drug abuse, gambling, or online pornography?
• Do you often feel down and have difficulty shaking “the blues?”

These life situations are so common that we tend to accept them without questioning their origins. We attribute them to lack of self-control, self-defeating habits or bad luck. We seldom consider that there may be an opposition force that is also affecting our lives, attempting to destroy our peace of mind, steal our happiness and kill our hopes for the future.

Ephesians 6:12 tells us: “We are not fighting with flesh and blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.”

In His death and resurrection, Jesus Christ obtained victory over these powers, and has given us the authority and dominion to disarm them and render them helpless. (Luke 10:19; Ephesians 1:20–23) in order to do this, we must become aware of our enemy and how he wages his warfare against us. We must learn how to use the weapons of spiritual warfare that Father God has provided to us, and understand the commission He has given to us to usher in His kingdom on this Earth.

I invite you to join us on Sunday mornings at 9:00 AM or 11:00 AM during the month of April as we start a new series on Spiritual Warfare. Our topic this Sunday is “God at War.”

Pastor Che

How's Your Vision?

His cheek was bright red, his lips trembling, and I could see him fighting back tears as he ran to me on the sidelines looking for fatherly comfort. I kissed his forehead and tousled his hair. Gently I said, “You have to remember son, always keep your eye on the ball.” It was years ago when my son Gabriel was very young and had just started playing soccer. He'd been hit hard by a soccer ball that caught him unaware.

Actually, “Keep your eye on the ball!” was one of the most frequently yelled directives to those tiny soccer players. As we parents proudly looked on, our miniature athletes often appeared confused, running pell-mell about the field, their activity looking more like a Three Stooges video clip than a soccer game. They were eager and enthusiastic, but it was obvious to any observer, many of them still lacked a real vision about the purpose of the game. Of course, that came with time and practice.

Anyone who has ever excelled at a sport knows how important it is to maintain focus and have vision. Vision involves not only understanding the purpose of the activity, but possessing the ability to visualize successfully completing the play. The skilled athlete can see themself executing the perfect golf swing, sinking the rebound shot, or performing the faultless gymnastic floor exercise.

The vision capacity of the inexperienced athlete is limited, for they are not sure what a successful skill looks like or feels like. It is the responsibility of the coach to implant a clear vision within them by providing, modeling, and pointing out relevant cues, critiquing their efforts to improve skills, and providing them with multiple ways to practice skill acquisition. Over time this vision becomes incorporated in the athlete’s unconscious and becomes second nature in their performance. An athlete who doesn't develop this type of vision will never go very far.

This same principle applies to the game of life. People with a clear vision about their purpose and destiny are confident, hopeful, persistent, decisive, and willing to take risks. They are the movers and shakers who make things happen, who achieve their goals. By contrast, people without such vision frequently waste a lot of their time, ability and energy pursuing dead ends. They have difficulty making decisions and setting priorities and often feel frustrated with the lack of purpose they experience. Visionless people also frequently become slaves to the mundane because they are too cautious to take risks.

How's your vision? Father God warns us in Proverbs 29:18, that we must have a vision for our life or we will stumble in confusion and fail to accomplish anything significant. He also makes it clear in Ephesians 2:10 that He has a vision for our life, one that will use our abilities to their best advantage and provide a full, satisfying life for us.

Father God promises us that His life coach, the Holy Spirit, will guide us with this vision and instruct us in how to accomplish it (Galatians 5:25). He desires that each one of us will have a life of meaning and purpose, and a destiny that will fulfill us beyond anything we can imagine.

Please join us this Sunday at 9:00 AM or 11:00 AM. This is the weekend of our annual Revival Alliance Conference, and also our Vision Sunday as we celebrate the 19th anniversary of HRock Church.

Pastor Che

R-CSI (Conclusion)

It was a long shot, but we had to consider the possibility that the death of Javier Cruz had been staged as a publicity stunt. The body was taken directly from the crime scene to the county morgue for autopsy, standard procedure in murder investigations. County coroner’s report listed causes of death due to blood loss from internal injuries and asphyxiation by being hung. Bottom line, Javier Cruz was dead.

During the next few days, “Javier sightings” became increasingly numerous, overloading the switchboard at precinct headquarters. It was impossible to interview everyone to determine if these sightings were credible. By midweek, the hottest trending topic on Twitter was a mass vigil in front of the vault at the Memorial Gardens Cemetery. Reports indicated several hundred to several thousand people were present.

In response to concerns from cemetery personnel regarding possible property damage, police were dispatched to disperse the crowd. They arrived to find people wildly excited, crying, laughing, and screaming, “He was here! He was here! I can't believe it! He was here!” Everyone reported that Javier had suddenly appeared and spoke to them for several minutes. Many took pictures or recorded video on their cell phones. However when they attempted play back, there was no image of Javier, only a bright light.

Later, on the evening news, a reporter interviewed Javier's associate leaders. They looked completely different now, confident, bold and elated. They reported Javier had definitely come back from the dead and was alive again. They intended to devote the rest of their lives to spreading Javier’s message of reconciliation and unconditional love from God to all people who would accept it.

The CSI unit continued to collect evidence for several weeks. We had no reasonable explanations for what occurred at the vigil event. While it might have been possible to assume that a few people had hallucinated and “seen Javier,” it was highly unlikely that hundreds of people at one time could have had a mass hallucination.

Both followers and family related they had seen Javier several times, were convinced he was alive again, and had no further interest in our CSI investigation.
Since we could not even be sure there was still a dead body to recover, we were forced to retire the case as open and unresolved….

Over 2000 years later, the most famous CSI case in history is still unresolved and remains open: the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Based on references from ancient sources, modern scholars agree that Jesus Christ was an actual historical person who was crucified by Pontius Pilate between 30 and 36 A.D. In 1986, the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) published an article, “A Study of the Physical Death of Jesus Christ,” which stated that the description of Jesus’ death was medically consistent with death by hypovolemic shock (extreme blood loss) and asphyxiation.

The unusual evidence of Jesus’ resurrection continues to present itself for investigation by every person today.  The apostle Paul best summed up this evidence in I Timothy 3:16.  He stated that beyond all doubt, the work of God as Messiah, which had been hidden for ages, was revealed when Jesus Christ appeared in human form. (Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:23)  Through the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus demonstrated He was the Son of God by performing many miracles and teaching about the kingdom of God. (Acts 10:38) Angels were present throughout His life and at His resurrection. (Luke 2:9-13; Luke 24:1-8) The message of salvation through the death and resurrection of Christ is for everyone. (Romans 10:8-13)

Jesus was seen after His resurrection by His disciples, two followers going to a small town, Emmaus, near Jerusalem, a woman, and over 500 people at one time.
(I Corinthians 15:3-8; Luke 24:13-35; John 20:11-18)

Now the question is: What will you do with this evidence?

Come and join us for a special Easter celebration this Sunday at 9:00 AM or 11:00 AM. Enjoy the special production called, “The Victor’s Crown” as we investigate again the unique and compelling evidence for the resurrection of Christ.

Pastor Che

R-CSI (Part 2)

I was telling you about all the strange events that started happening on the Sunday that the body of Javier Cruz disappeared. Believe it or not, things only got stranger as that day wore on.

About 3 o'clock, Dayley, a homeless man well-known to precinct police came into headquarters with a wild story about seeing an alien from outer space. He appeared anxious and frightened. He stated that he had been sleeping in the cemetery when he was awakened by a very bright light emanating from some type of alien being he described as “at least 10 feet tall, and hovering just above the ground.” While he watched, it raised an arm-like appendage toward the vault holding the body of Javier Cruz and the heavy steel–reinforced gate automatically swung open. Immediately there was a huge burst of light from within the vault, and Dayley yelled, “When I saw that happen, I figured there might be more of them and I got out of there quick!”

We all listened patiently, although it was difficult not to snicker. Dayley typically is more drunk than sober. But he insisted that we fill out an incident report for him to sign. His parting words were, “I tell you I saw them. The aliens have landed.” Two days later we were shocked to discover that footage from the cemetery security camera corroborated at least one part of Dayley’s story: the burst of light from inside the vault. In fact the light had emitted some type of electromagnetic energy that apparently disrupted the camera’s functioning at that point leaving a blank picture. I don't mind telling you that discovery unsettled all of us.

One of our most difficult challenges was establishing a motive. Who would want to steal a dead body and why? Of course we needed to locate the associate leaders of Javier Cruz for questioning. Hopefully they would be able to shed some light on these unusual circumstances. We had a surveillance team covering the Cruz headquarters round-the-clock, but it remained empty. We finally located the leaders in a canyon residence just north of the city. Apparently the night of the murder they had all fled and gone into hiding, fearing for their lives.

We questioned each leader separately, and each one gave the same story. They didn't know anything about the break-in at the vault, and couldn't imagine any motive for stealing Javier's body. Apparently the woman who reported to police that she had conversed with Javier early Sunday morning, also communicated the same message to these leaders. They all stated they did not believe her story, and felt she must've been stressed and traumatized.

After advising the leaders to stay local for follow-up questioning if needed, we were getting ready to leave when one of them received a text message from two young men hired as bodyguards for Javier. The message was marked “urgent” and simply stated, “Javier was here and talked with us!”

We asked the young men to meet us at precinct headquarters. They were very excited, smiling and laughing. Hearing about the theft, they had visited the Memorial Gardens Cemetery to view the family vault for themselves. They returned by bus to their apartment on the upper west side of the city. At the bus stop, they were joined by a friendly man, walking in the same direction, who struck up a conversation with them.

The really odd thing about their story was that they talked with this man for over an hour before realizing he was Javier. They reported that he somehow “looked different, yet the same.” Actually it was things he said in the conversation that led to their conclusion that he was Javier. We repeatedly probed as to whether this could be a case of mistaken identity, but both men resolutely insisted that it was Javier. When we asked them where we could locate Javier, they replied they didn't know. One stated, “When our conversation ended, Javier said goodbye and just disappeared.”

After the first 24 hours, our investigation seemed hopelessly mired as we kept discovering increasingly strange and unusual “evidence” related to the case. Was it possible that Javier had not died, and perhaps the whole thing was a publicity stunt? (What do you think? What explanation best fits the evidence uncovered thus far?)

Come join us this Sunday at 9:00 AM or 11:00 AM. This is Palm Sunday and my sermon is, “The King of Glory.”

Pastor Che

R-CSI

(If today was 33 A D, a first-hand account might go something like this:)

I was the desk sergeant down at precinct headquarters early that Sunday morning when the earthquake happened. It was significant enough, probably a 5.5, but hardly devastating. True to form the board lit up with callers wanting to know the magnitude and epicenter, and of course I simply had to refer them to local television and radio stations.

But then the call came that I will never forget. It was a woman crying hysterically and screaming, “He's gone! He's gone! They've stolen his body!” I tried without much success to get her to calm down. It took several minutes, but I finally managed to obtain her location. She was calling from the northwest corner of the Memorial Gardens Cemetery, apparently at the site of a family vault.

Then I found out that it was his  body that was missing, Javier Cruz.; the internationally known spiritual philosopher who had managed in a few short years to start a religious revolution with his unorthodox ideas. While he had growing popularity among nonreligious people, who packed out auditoriums to hear him speak, most religious leaders considered him a heretic and took every opportunity to slam him in the press.

Over time sides became more polarized and then the inevitable finally happened. A group of religious extremists took it upon themselves to rid society of his dangerous new ideas. They raided Javier’s headquarters, overpowering his top associates who apparently managed to flee the building through a rear exit. They beat Javier beyond recognition and hung him from a tree in front of the building.

Some friends and family members who witnessed the event immediately called police, but told reporters that they took their time getting to the scene. Whatever the case, Javier was dead by the time they arrived. A private funeral was held three days ago. I'm not particularly religious or philosophical, so I didn't pay a lot of attention to the publicity he attracted. The way things go these days I'm sure he'll soon be forgotten.

I dispatched a CSI unit to the crime scene and waited for their report. A few hours later they returned looking stunned. Several things at the scene did not make sense. For one, his clothes were neatly folded and set on a slab in the vault. Why would anyone want to undress a dead body before stealing it? The heavy steel-reinforced gate at the entrance to the family vault was swung open, but still locked, and there were no signs of forcible entry. Although the grass was damp from a slight shower, there were no footprints leading into or out of the family vault. No fingerprints were found on the gate, anywhere inside the vault or even on his clothes.

Investigators were struggling to come up with plausible explanations for the evidence gathered this far, or should I say the lack of evidence.  Not even the flowers or memorabilia left by admirers appeared to be disturbed in any way. This had to be the work of pros. But how did they pull it off? And why?

While we were still wondering about this, a police lieutenant called from the field. He had been approached by a woman, who identified herself as a friend of the family, and stated that she had conversed with Javier earlier in the day. He informed me, he was bringing her down to the precinct for questioning. I told him he should take her to County General and admit her to the psych ward. This was all we needed, a crazy on the loose! She must be traumatized and hallucinating. What type of useful information could we possibly get from her?

Imagine that you are this desk sergeant, and this is all the information you have. What would you think happened to the body? Who might have a motive to steal it? Who would you want to bring in for questioning? (Join us next week as this R-CSI continues to uncover more evidence.)

I invite you to our 9 AM or 11:00 AM services this Sunday where I will speak on the “The Overcoming Church.”

Pastor Che