Baltic Family Camp 2022

What a joy it was to share a week with brothers, sisters, missionaires and friends from eleven European countries last week at the Baltic Family Camp (BFC) in Lithuania. Ten years ago this camp began with the goal of providing rest and spiritual renewal for missionaries and Christians in Central Europe along with creating a network among the mostly small, distant churches on that continent. Thanks to the blessings of the Father, those goals have been accomplished. Ten years later the BFC brings together family in the Lord!

After a two-year absence due to COVID, we (113 campers) gathered at a wonderful new campground (Camp Bebriukas, which means “Beaver:) near Moletai, Lithuania and focused on our theme of “Nobody But Jesus.” Dr. Daniel Napier (who along with his wife, Karly, serve on the mission field in Greece) was our guest teacher. He offered us fresh insight on the privilege of prayer by unpacking Christ’s prayer in Luke 11. Thanks to other gifted teachers from the states, the children and teens enjoyed interactive classes, crafts and activities. It was a tremendous week of growth, fellowship, worship, and family. One young lady, Victoria, put Christ on in baptism.

We also heard stories from refugess from both Ukraine and Belarus. In spite of the conflict raging near this part of the world, God is at work bringing relief, rescue and hope to those affected. The camp confirmed once more that our connection in Jesus goes beyond any nationality or borders.

The need for the BFC just grows greater. God continues to use it to build up his kingdom.

Confidence to Crisis

Have you ever been at a faith crossroad? At a point in which doubts start to creep in? It could be triggered by any number of events, but it shook your faith foundation, moving you, perhaps, from confidence to crisis. If you have, be assured that you are not alone. It happens to many, if not most. Life just has a way of doing that.

I think about a time in Christ’s life when it seemed those all around him were having a crisis of faith (see Mark 9:14-29). It followed the incredible experience of the transfiguration—which should have definitely been a faith confidence booster. But it was not yet evident in his disciples. As the crowds surged around Jesus (which was the norm during the early part of his public ministry), he took note of his disciples arguing with the “teachers of the law.” From what we know about these teachers, arguing over some matter of the Law was what they did best. Repeatedly they attempted to draw Jesus into the fray, but he never took their bait.  Apparently here, his disciples did—hook, line and sinker—and he was curious to know why. So, he asked. This introduced him to another person—a father of a demon-possessed child—who was having his own confidence to crisis moment.

“I BELIEVE; HELP MY OVERCOME MY UNBELIEF”

It turned out that the argument had to do with the failure of Christ’s disciples to exorcise the demon from the boy. How and why their failure devolved into the heated discussion with these teachers, we are not told, but by reading the text it is evident that everyone is feeling the frustration. The desperate father was in panic mode. Even Christ reacted, exclaiming, “O unbelieving generation, how long shall I stay with you? How long will I put up with you?” Not a lot of confidence—just crisis. But that was about to change.

The boy is brought to Jesus. The father then appeals for help; for healing. He says to Jesus, “if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.” “If you can.” Here he stands before the King of Kings; before the Messiah, who has demonstrated again and again his ability to heal, and he all he could muster was, “If you can.” This is what crisis does to us. We doubt. We question. We hesitate. We hurt. We know God is there, but we still wonder why we are suffering; why our prayers are not answered; why things are as they are. And we find ourselves struggling, while expressing the exact same thing as this dad. “I do believe, Lord, but sometimes, when things are really tough, I need some help in dealing with my unbelief.” Thankfully, just as both the father and the son discovered, Jesus can provide us that help.

“EVERYTHING IS POSSIBLE FOR ONE WHO BELIEVES”

This is the amazing answer of Jesus into this situation. If it seems too good to be true, well, it isn’t. A little context helps though. Jesus is not speaking about winning the lottery, but about faith in him; about moving back from crisis to confidence; about taking these immature disciples, arguing instead of healing, on a faith journey that ultimately would lead them to grow so confident in their faith that they would change the world; about us believing, like with this demon-possessed boy, that Jesus really is the answer. So, how do we get there? Here are some suggestions when life has moved us from confidence to crisis.

• Take it to God. Just as the father finally did in this story, we do not hesitate to take our doubts, our struggles, our hurts directly to our heavenly Father. We do not try to handle them ourselves alone. They are bigger than us and our ability, regardless of how strong we think we are. We express them to the Father. We confess our struggles. His shoulders are more than adequate to handle them. We have the invitation to do so. “Cast our cares on him, for he cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7; see also Hebrews 4:16-18). So why hold back? Job didn’t. He poured out his soul to God. David also. Read some of his Psalms. No matter what the crisis is—a diagnosis; the loss of a job; martial difficulty; mental illness; financial insecurity; death of a loved one—take it, doubts and all, to God.
• Be honest. No reason not to be totally transparent; to express whatever it is we are feeling. Again, he can handle it. We need to be honest with ourselves too. There are some things above our paygrade—that we cannot handle like a demon-possessed son. In these crisis moments, we should not go around pretending that everything is fine, when it isn’t. The New Testament is full of people honestly, desperately seeking out Jesus with that transparency rewarded. If we desire help from God, don’t play games with it; don’t act like doubts don’t exist—own up to them before God and see what he will do with them.
• Wait. Now, here is the hard part. None of us like to wait. When we are in crisis, we want it over—and yesterday! When pain comes, we seek immediate relief. Where is the pill to take, right? Sometimes, thankfully, as in this story, God does respond quickly, but not always. Recall Habakkuk’s honest statement (1:2), “How long, Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or I cry out to you, ‘Violence!’ but you do not save?” Wow. Who cannot relate to that? (BTW, I recommend reading both the Old Testament books of Habakkuk and Job when dealing with doubts.) This is us, right? But I also am reminded of what the prophet Isaiah shared (40:31), that they who “wait upon the Lord” will mount up on wings as eagles and will run and not grow weary. Waiting—while not much welcomed—sometimes is the only answer. It gives God the chance to bring about answers and blessings in his time. Isaiah also wrote this: “Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; therefore, he will rise up to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait on him!” (30:18) So, in the midst of doubts, counter them with God’s grace and compassion, which he longs to share and realize there are blessings to be found, even while we wait.
• Challenge our faith. Crises are challenging, which means we have to raise up our faith to meet them. This is exactly what this process is—of returning back to confidence from crisis. We accept them, honestly take them to God and wait on him to deliver. This is how faith grows. This is how his early disciples went from being unable to heal; denying they ever knew Jesus to being able to take the gospel to the world. They did not allow doubts to defeat them nor did they give up when they failed; they just kept on believing and processing their unbelief through Jesus. Remember when Christ compared our faith to a mustard seed that would eventually grow into a large tree (Matthew 17:20)? That does not happen if our faith finds a comfortable spot on the recliner and sits emobilized. It has to have its exercise to be strong enough for the crisis.

Here is what renowned Christian author, Timothy Keller writes in his book, The King’s Cross, about this story:

Jesus could have told the man, “I am the glory of God in human form. Purify your heart, confess all your sins, get rid of all your doubts and your double-mindedness. Once you have surrendered to me totally and can come before me with a pure heart, then you can ask for the healing you need.” But Jesus doesn’t say that—not at all. The boy’s father says, “I am not faithful, I am riddled with doubts, and I cannot muster the strength necessary to meet my moral and spiritual challenges. But help me.” That’s saving faith—faith in Jesus instead of oneself. Perfect righteousness is impossible for us and if you wait for that, you will never come into the presence of God.” (Page 121)

Doubts are not going away. The world is atmospheric with them. As in this biblical story they can seize the moment and hold sway. But they are not faith defeaters. If we transparently turn to God in them, we can actually emerge stronger. Our belief—if processed with Christ—can inform our unbelief and even produce blessings. It did for the father in this story. It did eventually for the disciples and it will for us. Don’t forget prayer in the equation though. Jesus said of the demons terrorizing the young boy, “This kind can come out only by prayer.” Doubts can disappear through prayer too. Lord, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”

Where Have All the Christians Gone?

The Wokeness of the Gospel

Theologian N.T. Wright has an enlightening statement about our current “woke” culture. He observed that it is trying to produce the gospel multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, socially just community only without the gospel. To me this is exactly it. It is not difficult to observe that some of the woke agenda has a kingdom of God element to it. Eradicate racism; sexism; poverty; in order to create a more just and equal community? Sure thing. Scripture has long been advocating for just that (Proverbs 31:8-9; Isaiah 1:17; Amos 5:24; Micah 6:8; Zechariah 7:9-10; Matthew 7:12; James 1:27 to name just a few). But without the gospel (Christ) at the center, it has and always will fail. Too many self-serving agendas interfere; noble ideas become corrupted by power; injustice actually happens, incredibly enough, in the name of justice. We may be witnessing some of that even now. So, I believe, the answer is not going to be found in more laws or politicians or advocacy groups or God forbid, violence. (It certainly has not been found here so far—instead these only seems to produce more of it).

The answer, I believe, has and always will be Christ. Now, I realize to many this either sounds completely naïve or totally out of touch with any reality they have experienced with church and Christians. And I will admit that so often the church has failed to live up to our calling in this regard, but that has never been Christ’s fault. (Again, our own self-serving tendencies get in our way—no one is immune to that.)  Why Christ is the true answer is that his agenda is fully others-serving. It is fueled by a truly unconditional love that even has enough space to love (not eviscerate) enemies. It is an approach of respect not condescension. It turns the other cheek, not striking back harder and faster. Christ’s agenda is not to cancel anyone (even if there may be reasons), but to redeem (Bible word for reclaim, help, seek mutually beneficial solutions, etc.) everyone. The community he desires is the design of heaven. One in which all nations, tribes, peoples, languages come together in mutual respect adopting that agenda as the kingdom of God (Isaiah 2:2-4; Daniel 7:14; Micah 4:1-3; Revelation 5:9; 7:4).

The Apostle Paul writing to one of the very first churches, struggling to implement such a kingdom approach in the face of racism, sexism and injustice (slavery) informed them, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28). This idea of oneness is essential to creating this kind of community (and honestly why churches have failed to consistently do so). Out of diversity, Christ calls us to unite. But how? How could first century Jews and non-Jews after centuries of hostility born out of vast cultural differences and embedded suspicion lay that aside and actually find oneness? Again, the answer was Christ. Admittedly this is not an easy answer because it involves surrendering and very few of us enjoy that. But Christ isn’t asking us to surrender our individuality or the rich diversity that formed us, as much as he is asking that we rearrange all of that in order to “seek first the kingdom of God” (Matthew 6:33). So, what we surrender is what hurts us most–like our prejudices, our pride, our anger, our bitterness, our self-serving agendas, our destructive behaviors, our haterd, our cynicism, our narcissism, etc. and replace that with his values of love, mercy, grace, forgiveness, selflessness, kindness, compassion, gentleness, goodness, joy, peacefulness and hopefulness. This does reshape and redefine, first exposing to us our own contributions to the problems, while then, offering us a way to emerge from them as a better person—because of Jesus. But never does Christ ask us to deny our heritage, our ethnicity, our culturally unique diversity. Rather that is part of the beauty of his community—we become one together within that diversity and even celebrate aspects of it, while we celebrate him as the reason why it can even happen. (Another early church struggled in this journey and again it was the Apostle Paul who wrote to encourage them in the pursuit, while recognizing the difficulties of merging cultures—see Romans 14, It is fascinating read outlining how unity in diversity can co-exist). This community can then serve as a witness to the world; a place where folks of all nations with diverse customs and backgrounds can be accepted; a place where people of all color and language can find common ground, mutual respect, and justice; all because we follow the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ. It is a true alternative community devoted to each other, seeking to “honor one another above ourselves” (see Romans 12:10).

Significantly central to this happening is—it is not our own self-will or determination that will drive this (because as noted—this always goes sideways and not occasionally, but every time), but his will—and that is what makes all of the difference (Matthew 6:10). The tricky part is actually surrendering to it as we redefine our primary identity in Jesus. We constantly have to work at that—and it is the reason why this community will not be perfected and fully functioning until Christ’s returns and makes it so (Revelation 21:1-5), but in the interim we can try, can’t we? We can let Christ lead us to become more mature, better reflecting his will. We can strive for our churches to more fully embrace and model the biblical ideal of community. We can create welcoming places in the name of Jesus that offer a glimpse of what a true multi-racial, multi-cultural, socially just community feels like absent of political and other self-serving agendas. We can push back against the divisive, anger-inducing narratives currently driving the hatred and suspicion, with a message of acceptance and hope in Christ Jesus. Why not? What do we have to lose? What are we gaining by holding on to grievances; targeting others who do not look or think like us as enemies—weaponizing social media and other outlets to strike our blows? We are only doubling-down on our collective grief and failures. Instead, it is time for us to “speak a better word” (Hebrews 12:24) and double-down on Jesus. Unless I am misreading—it appears our culture is screaming out for much of what he stands for. They just do not know which way to look. How about truly surrendering our self-will to him for once and moving aside a bit to allow his light an opening to illuminate his Way? Wokeness could take on an entirely new kingdom meaning.

The Woman, the Dragon and the Beasts–Revelation 12-13

As John’s vision about the little scroll continues, he begins to see “wonderous” signs, which he describes in vivid and fascinating terms to his audience. As we delve into them, we need to remember that what John is sharing here is symbolic visions intended to convey a specific message first and foremost to his original readers—those suffering persecution at the hand of Roman oppressors. The tendency with the content of these two chapters is to get lost in the details, that is, to chase the symbolism in an attempt to connect his vision to current historical context instead of keeping it rooted within its own context. Remember for us to be able to understand what biblical text (including Revelation text) means to us here and now, we first must grasp what it meant to them then and there. And what this section of the Revelation meant for its original recipients was pivotal to the entire message and flow of the book. There is a spiritual war raging. Satan, the enemy and power behind the brutality of Rome was enraged, utilizing his allies in destructive pursuit of all things related to the kingdom of God, including God’s people. This was the reality lived out by Christians then—their context—and John is speaking into it the message of God. That is, in spite of the dragon, the beasts and all the other powerful manifestations of Roman aggression—God will deliver; Christians will conquer; Satan will fail, but unfortunately not without casualties of war. So as John messaged them, processing all of this” “calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of the saints” (Revelation 13:10).

• The radiant woman. As with most of the symbolism in these chapters, there are divergent interpretations related to this first sign that John witnesses, however as far as the identity of the woman, there is general agreement that she represents God’s people (Of note—often God’s people as a group are likened to women—Isaiah 62:11; Micah 4:10; Galatians 4:31; Matthew 9:15; Revelation 21:9). The details surrounding her are less clear. Is the sun reflective of her relationship with God? Are the twelve stars the twelve patriarchs or the twelve apostles? Does she represent just Israel, the church or both? Perhaps the best approach is to see her as she is first presented representing the first coveted people—the Jews—since they indeed did birth the Messiah. Then later as she is shown to have fled to safety to be protected by God, she would represent the church during its infancy, as it grew across Asia Minor. However interpreted, this woman represents the sum of God’s people whom the dragon pursues with all of his fury—including “the rest of her offspring”—the very recipients of John’s letter living in that fury.
• The dragon. There is little mystery here about its identity since John tells us (12:9). This is Satan vividly and horrifically portrayed as a red (color of blood) dragon with seven heads, ten horns and seven crowns. The best way to understand their significance is in avoiding the rabbit hole of trying to specifically identify the heads, horns and crowns to anyone then or now, but perhaps rather to see the heads as symbolic of earthly wisdom, the horns as symbolizing great power and the seven crowns as representing great authority (note that the word used here is not stephanos or victory crown). His power is far-reaching like a huge dragon’s tail—doing damage in all realms. John portrays him as him as lying in wait to destroy the woman’s child upon birth (think here about Herod’s actions to find and kill the Christ-child—Matthew 2).
• 1260 days. Another reference to a set period of time. As one commentator noted, this number in Jewish apocalyptic literature also symbolized turmoil and trouble.
• The child—this is an obvious reference to Jesus, the Christ. He is portrayed as ruling in prophecy—the King of Kings. Yet an alternative interpretive reading of this text is that his rule will be that of a shepherd. Satan was unsuccessful in his plans to destroy the child due to God’s intervention and protection—perhaps referencing the resurrection.
• Warfare in heaven. So, enraged at not being able to take down the child, Satan turns his wrath toward heaven itself, but is unable to defeat Michael and his angel army. The result was him being cast out of that realm—along with his followers (see Ezekiel 28;17; Luke 10:18). What John is here sharing is extremely significant to his overall message. Not only is he offering up to his readers a glimpse of a grand supernatural spiritual struggle, he is explaining why it is happening, along with placing them within it—they actually are on a battlefield in this war.
• Warfare on earth. After the accuser (a very significant description of Satan) was defeated in heaven, he took the battle to earth. While heaven could rejoice, the earth could not—it would feel the full weight of his fury “because his time was short.” And it was—eventually pagan Rome would lose the battle with Christianity due to the three-pronged defense John details in the text: the blood of the Lamb; the word of testimony; and the fact that Christians did not “shrink from death.” But prior to this the dragon raged—again trying to destroy the woman (think “church “universal in this reference) but again failing due to God’s protection (many ideas about what the earth swallowing up the river means—none definitive). So next Satan turned his attention to the rest of her offspring—the seven churches of Asia and all who “obey God’s commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus.”
• The beasts. These are widely interpreted images from John’s revelation. They have been identified in all kinds of ways, but the best way to understand both the first and the second beast is to know that they together represent the far-reaching, empirical power of Rome—able to reach into and crush every aspect of life. And to know and realize that they are partnered with and empowered by the dragon to do his bidding in his ongoing war against those who follow the Lamb. Two plausible explanations as to the identies of the beasts are: First, the first beast represents the overarching military might of Rome that was at Satan’s disposal to use against Christians with the second beast being the economic power of Rome also used to exploit and harm Christians. Second, the first beast is representative of all of Roman oppression against the saints, while the second beast is a Caesar—in this case, Domitian, who above and beyond even what he predessecors did—saw himself as a deity and demanded to be worshipped as such—or else. However they are viewed—it is John’s way of conveying to his readers that Rome was being used by Satan to wage war against them—using all of their resources including deception, might, economic pressure, idolatry, etc. It is essential to note the similarities of the first beast—coming out of the sea—to Daniel’s experience (Daniel 7). There the beasts represented four world power (Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome). Perhaps John is borrowing from Daniel to convey that his last empire—Rome—embodies all of the might and evil of those other kingdoms combined. “Who can make war against him?” John related. Certainly, as he describes the first beast it is something nightmares are made of—and indeed that is what they lived. Again, we must avoid losing the message in the symbolism. Looking for specifics in the horns, heads, and crowns are mostly futile pursuits now so far removed from the original context—again they likely represent worldly wisdom, power and rule. The second beast that comes from the earth is in lock-step with both the dragon and first beast to crush Christians, using deception (appeared less ferocious but still spoke for and as the dragon), idolatry (enforcing Caesar worship) and economic oppression as tools of persecution—forcing everyone (and as John previously affirmed—the beast had authority over everyone—a reference no doubt to Rome’s vast empire) to receive the mark of the beast to survive. The result was “the whole world was astonished and followed the beast,” except for those without the mark; those already marked by another—the 144,000, those whose names were in the Lamb’s Book of Life—who therefore felt the full wrath of the dragon through the beasts. Simply an amazing picture John is portraying here—of violence, corruption, oppression, intentional targeting of Christ followers by Satan using and exploiting all aspects of the Roman empire. Yes, it was spiritual warfare, and yes it still is. Informing his original audience of this warfare in this way accomplished several important things: it gave them a context of why they were being persecuted; it allowed them to see that they were a part of a bigger story; it did not sugarcoat their struggle; but it also let them know that God remained engaged in the battle; had already defeated and thwarted Satan numerous times and would again on their behalf; and it called on them to be patient and faithful in the meantime.
• The fatal wound that had been healed. This was prominently seen on the first beast and recorded by John—indicating its significance. Two theories exist. One sees this as the death, burial and resurrection of Christ and the damage it did to Satan’s cause. The other views it as being the death of Nero, which had long lasting and weakening ramifications for Rome.
• 666. Much has been made of this number—the mark of the beast. What was it? A literal marking of some kind? Coins with Caesar images? A document of some kind used to buy and sell? Did it represent a person—Nero for instance—since using numbering based on the Greek alphabet his name equals 666 (if this is a correct interpretation it would likely not be Nero himself, but Nero serving as the example of all Roman emperors). Is it the ultimate way to identify imperfection as opposed to the classic use of the number “7” in Scripture with 666 being “evil raised to the highest power?” Whatever, whoever it was and meant—it had to do with their context and situation, not ours (not some yet seen, coming anti-Christ). And yes, it did represent the separating line between those who followed the dragon and those who did not.

These two chapters present many interpretive challenges as we are so removed from the original setting and context shrouding parts of the text in mystery–as to exact specifics. Two closing points connected to that: First–and again–we must remain focused on the original recipients of the letter; their circumstances of living their faith out in the hostile environment of Roman oppression. For us to not just understand the Revelation, but to be enouraged by its message, this is imperative. Second, while we may not be able to specifically identify all of the symbolism, John’s original audience would have been and since it was all about their struggles, that is what mattered most.