Calling All Perfectionists

Calling All Perfectionists
By Armando Aguilar and Rebecca Maes

You know who you are: the frantic and determined, the methodical and uncompromising. You run at life full force, never letting up, resolved to get it right…but not just right, perfect. Leaving no stone unturned, no detail unattended, no person off the hook, you are convinced that if managed perfectly, life can turn out just as you planned.

Most of us are not extreme perfectionists, demanding an ultimate utopian existence. It takes a special kind of obsession, perhaps one on speed, to supply the excessive amounts of energy required to attend to every detail of life. Yes, most of us settle for tamer diligence, tempering our control tendencies to a few very specific areas of life: work, relationships, hobbies, religion, etc.

The perfectionist disposition believes: By my own power, intelligence, skills or manipulation, I can perfect all that is under my control.

Whether you are a mild manipulator or a severe compulsionist there is something you need to know: perfection is out of your reach. It is unachievable, not possible, not even feasible. You are ordering an entrée that is not even on the menu!

Only Jesus is perfect. Everything He sets His mind to do, He does with the utmost excellence and satisfaction. From creating this complex universe to living a sinless life to conquering death, He did it all well. He did it all perfectly.

As His followers, having placed our complete faith and trust in his work for us on the cross, we are promised to be like Him someday. One day our transformation will be complete and we will be wholly remade in His image (Romans 8:29). Then, and only then, will we be perfect.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 tells us that, “(God) has put eternity into man’s heart…” We know that we were made for more than this life. Civilizations throughout history have built traditions and religions on the fear that there is something, someone waiting to meet their spirits after this physical life is over. Unfortunately, perfectionists have lived and died by codes they believed would win them eternity, but really only earned damnation.

Paul poignantly comments, “Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect…” (Philippians 3:12). In humility, Paul admitted that he is a work in progress, pressing “toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil 3:14). He knew his dismal condition on this earth fell far short of perfection, but he was not defeated by his state.

God has given mankind an eternal perspective so that we would seek for truth…seek Him. As long as we live according to our fleshly nature in a fallen world, in the midst of a depraved mankind, perfection is impossible. It is only through Christ that we have hope beyond this desperately flawed existence. Death, by God’s grace, puts an end to our futile struggle for perfection and finally places utopia within our reach. Instead of attempting to make heaven a place on earth, we should look forward to being released from this confining existence!

Eternity is our only hope. And more than eternity, glorification is our only hope. When Jesus returns for His church, He will make all things right. He will make all things perfect. Gloriously, He will transform the fallen, substandard, and evil into the beautiful, outstanding, and righteous. Heaven will be a place of no tears, no suffering, no dying and no mistakes...but life before heaven will never achieve this heavenly potential. Until we are set free, we must learn to live with less than perfection.

Dear perfectionist, embrace reality. You are not perfect and neither is anyone around you. Let yourself off the hook, and let everyone else off too. Remember Paul’s words: “Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God” (2 Corinthians 3:5). Transfer your expectation from that which cannot deliver to the only One who can. Know that perfection is waiting for you one day...someday...but not today.

Who is to Blame for Muslim Violence?

When a man walks onto a bus knowing that a minute later he will be dead along with dozens of innocent people, one asks the question, “Who is to blame for this atrocious action?” Is it the man’s fault that he made the decision to massacre these people or is it the situation that he grew up in that made him the way he is?

For over a decade, certain groups of people believe that Israel is to blame for terror committed against Israelis by Palestinian Muslims. After all, what else are the Palestinians supposed to do? For some people, it is the victims of Islamic violence responsible for that violence.

Let’s look back to 9/11. Thousands of Americans were killed by Islamic terrorists and the justification for this action, some people will say, is because the U.S. has been treating the Middle East terrible for too long.

Who is to blame when Muslim rioters looted for a month in France? The answer for the Left would be France because they do not know how to incorporate immigrants.

A great way to understand the moral differences between conservatives and liberals is to ask who is to blame for acts of evil crimes committed against innocent people. Most conservatives will blame the perpetrator while most liberals blame either the victims group or the circumstances.

My last example will be the L.A. riots where a vast majority of blacks set fire to stores and murdered innocent employees and owners in certain sections of the city. Who is to blame for this atrocity? Are we supposed to understand the anger of these people when looking at America’s racism? If we do the latter, America will justify every evil action done by criminals and immediately blame the unfortunate socioeconomic and other circumstances of the person’s life.

We are responsible for our own actions, not a radical group that we have submitted our ideology to.

We do not know where and when the next Islamic attack will occur. All we can know is that some people will find reasons to hold the targeted group largely responsible.

--Armando
armando@csulb.net

Islam's View of the Cross of Christ

For those who are unaware, Muslims believe that Jesus existed for a different reason than the belief of Christians. The impact of His life was acknowledged but divides with the Christian over the death of Jesus and was it means.

Most Muslims are taught that Jesus was not crucified. In Sura 4, verses 157-159, provides the basis for the denial of the crucifixion:

"And because of their saying: We slew the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, Allah's messenger. They slew him not nor crucified, but it appeared so unto them; and lo! those who disagree concerning it are in doubt therefore; they have no knowledge thereof save pursuit of a conjecture; they slew him not for certain. But Allah took him up unto Himself. Allah is ever Might, Wise. There is not on e of the People of the Scripture [Jews] but will believe in him before his death, and on the Day of Resurrection he will be a witness against them."

We must remember that this was written by the Prophet Muhammad, who was born in AD 571. There were witnesses that had reported that Jesus died by crucifixion including non-Christian historians who had no reason to fabricate the death of Christ. The crucifixion of Christ was common knowledge in the last part of the first century. It was not questioned.

Let's think about this for a second. If the death of Jesus did not occur through crucifixion, this hoax must have been created immediately since Christians were speaking and teaching about the power of Christs suffering and death as a means of salvation. This message was even preached in Jerusalem! To the Jewish leaders of that time, this type of preaching was considered blasphemy, since Christians claimed that Jesus was the Son of God (Mark 14:61-64).

Christian express their faith on the fact that Jesus was publicly tried, condemned, executed, and raise from the dead. Everyone in Jerusalem knew that Jesus had been crucified, and many had watched him die. These skeptics could have brought this false information to Pilate the governor or Herod the king or to the Jewish Council and gotten proof that he had not been condemned or crucified the way Christians said he was. But no one did that.

Paul, who was a contemporary of Jesus, said, "Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures...he was buried...he was raised on the third day...then he appeared to more than five hundred brother at one time, most of whom are still alive."
(1 Corinthians 15:3-6).

John Piper writes about the validity of the crucifixion:
"Why did Paul say 'most of whom are still alive'? Because he was not afraid to have his claims put to the test. he knew they could be verified by eyewitnesses. In other words, Christianity was spreading druing the very decades when eyewitnesses could have most easily proved it false. But the basic claims stood the test. The events had happened."

--Armando

Islam, Muhammad, Jesus, & Parakletos

Here are some facts about Islam that I think would be helpful for everyone to understand. If you are reading and are a Muslim, I hope that you would be challenge by what is said and examine the Qur’an and Christian theology and history and see if what I am writing is true. If you are reading this and you profess to be a Christian, I would say to you as well that just because you claim to be Christians is no guarantee in itself that you are a genuine Christian with your sins forgiven or that you are on your way to heaven.

Here are some quick facts about the Qur’an.
-- Qur’an is considered Islam’s “holy book” composed of 114 “suras” or chapters.
-- Muslims regard the Qur’an as the infallible Word of God.
-- The author of the Qur’an was Muhammad (about A.D. 570) wrote about the revelations of Allah around A.D. 610.
-- The view of Jesus as Lord and the representations of the Trinity are considered heresy to Islam. Sura 4, “Women”, verse 171 says, “The Messiah, Jesus the son of Mary, was no more than God’s apostle…So believe in God [Allah] and his apostles and do not say: ‘Three.’ Forbear, and it shall be better for you. God is but one God. God forbid that he should have a son!”


What did Muhammad teach about his relation to Jesus? Did he see himself as superior to Jesus? According to Sura 61, “Battle Array”, verse 6, Muhammad does state that Jesus taught that, “an apostle…will come after me whose name is Ahmad [Muhammad].” Christ taught something completely different in that God the Holy Spirit who he called the Comforter (John 14:16-17) whom he could send from the Father, would come after him. This Comforter (parakletos) would come and glorify him, Jesus the Christ. The word “parakletos” is very important because Muhammad must have confused the Greek word “parakletos” with “periklytos”, which translates to mean “famed, praised”. As some of you know, Muhammad could not read. Muhammad taught that Jesus teaches that he, Muhammad, was to be the last and “seal” of God’s prophets.

We must note that the Gospels make it very apparent that Jesus taught that revelational history reached its climax and finality in him (Heb 1:1-2) and also that his apostles completed God’s revelatory activity (II Tim 3:16-17).

I will again write more on another day. I would like each of you reading to remember that we must evangelize the Muslim world by every appropriate means possible. Remember that this can be accomplished by the grace and power of God. If I were in a Muslim country today, speaking out against Muhammad and Islam is punishable by death. Nevertheless, the biblical Christ is the Muslim’s only hope of heaven, and the church must evangelize the Muslim world without hesitation.

--Armando

Islam, The Hadith, & The Gospel of Jesus Christ

Over the last few months, I have written about the fallacy of the L.A. Church of Christ, Mormonism, & Jehovah’s Witness. These “off-branches” of Christianity are far from the truth of what true Christianity actually entails. Now I would like to avert our attention towards other false beliefs and religions that teach a completely different view on God. We’ll start by taking a look at Islam and what Christians can do in order to witness to a Muslim and share the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

One of the important views of Islam is the understanding of the hadith, which are the traditions of Muhammad. Other than the hadith, the Qur’an scriptures are of higher authority than the hadith for Muslims. The hadith contains thousands of records of the words and deeds of Muhammad and were recorded over a 200 year period after Muhammad’s death. These recordings had no eyewitnesses present or friends of eyewitness to account for Muhammad’s words unlike the Gospel which accounts of the life and teaching of Christ which was witnessed by thousands. The hadith was complied by al-Bukhari, who died in AD 870, which was 238 years after Muhammad’s death.


In sharing the Gospel with a Muslim, we must understand three truths that the Qur’an affirms: (1) God’s words and revelations cannot be altered. (2) Previous revelations were given to the Jews and the Christians: the Taurat (Torah), the Zabur (Psalms), and the Injil (Gospel). (3) These three revelations were still present with the Jews and the Christians during Muhammad’s lifetime (the hadith also affirms this fact).

What does this all mean? Simply this, if the Judeo-Christian scriptures were present – and uncorrupted – during Muhammad’s day, then we can express to Muslims, based on the authority of both the Qur’an and the hadith, to read the bible and read about the previous revelations about God and about Jesus’ claims of deity.

Sexual Temptation?

There are certain disciplines that we must follow or else we will slide into sin through temptations. Our pride can definitely get in the way and keep us from having fellowship with our Father. In short, we are increased and Christ is decreased. How do we learn to stray from this idolatry and weaken our own pride and propagate humility?

Are some of you having struggles in your relationship and/or are being tempted with sexual sin?

I know that I sometimes forget about the severity of my own sin. The seriousness of our sin is nothing to take lightly.

Psalm 130:3-4... "If you, O Lord, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness; therefore you are feared."

I really like this quote I read a while ago from William Law, "We may justly condemn ourselves as the greatest sinners we know, because we know
more of the folly of our own heart than we do of other people's...Therefore every sinner knows more of the aggravations of his own guilt than he does of other people's, and consequently may justly look upon himself to be the greatest sinner that he knows."

The easiest way to meet the need for self-esteem in people is to tell them that "God loves you". But a closer look at the Gospel reveals that the true meaning, "grace for sinners and deliverance for the sinned-against" has been dumbed-down to "unconditional acceptance for the victims of others lack of acceptance". We must remember that the Gospel is much more than unconditional love. God accepts us just as Christ is. He bears the curse that you and I deserve. He does not accept me "as I am" but "as I am in Jesus Christ". Do you see the difference? We must stray away from the idea that we are in charge of our own salvation...which is a common idea that Christians may not be aware they are doing.

"The cross becomes simply a demonstration that God loves me. It loses its force as the substitutionary atonement by the perfect Lamb in my place, who invites my repentance for heart-pervading sin!" -David Powlison

Why have I not talked about specific sexual sin and relationships? Knowing these truths first will better equip you to recognize not only your sexual sin but other sins as well. It all points to the Gospel and salvation! A better knowledge of the substitutional sacrifice Christ has done for us will continue to draw us closer and closer to the Father and He will be the source of conquering sin in our lives. Christ is so much bigger than our own sin, so much bigger than Satan!

I Timothy 1:15... "It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all."

God bless you guys!

'hungry?' Wrap Up

I would personally like to thank everyone for a great event this past Wednesday. Everyone came with a servants heart and helped feed over 400 Cal State Long Beach students.

Here are some folks I would like to thank:
Simon Bardone: Our speaker for the evening. You preach it man!
Catalyst: You guys rocked the house. The lyrics of your songs are inspiring
John, Debbie, & the rest of KCCC: Thanks for sticking around
Mark & David of Christian Students Unite: Thanks for your overall help. Love you guys!
Karla Goddu: Thank you for consistently & faithfully praying that the Lord will transform lives at CSULB.
Elliot and the rest of AACF: Thanks for helping out with the food. You guys rock!
James Davis: Thanks for helping out with clean-up.

Thanks again for everyone who helped out and was a part of the event. I received dozens of encouraging e-mails and people who were impacted form the event. Unification will create influence and I am pleased to be serving with each of you.

God Bless you guys!


--Armando
armando@csulb.net

Understanding Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead)

When I was a kid, my understanding of Dia de los Muertos was very slim. All I saw were people dressed up like skeletons and fancy clothes to recognize those kids and adults who has passed away. Now that I'm a little bit older, I see that this is something more than just a remeberance day for the deceased.

The origins of Dia de los Muertos stem from prehispanic Mexico. The ancestors were a regular part of the community and were well respected. The living had the ability to speak to the deceased ancestors and obeyed the guidance of a particular ancestor. The offering of human sacrifices was believed to help sustain the universe. After death, each soul was guided by a dog through several steps in order to arrive at Mictlán, the place of the dead.

Mictlán had several different areas to accommodate the dead, depending on how they died. These areas were for the following people: babies, women who had died while giving birth, warriors, victims of drowning, etc.

The dead would return to visit their family members and friends in order to help them, give them counsel, and to sometimes to rebuke them.

The Spaniards came around and change day to fit a more Catholic perspective.

It needs to be known that the origin of Dia de los Muertos has absolutely nothing to do with the death, resurrection, and/or life of Jesus Christ. I understand that we are to remember those you have passed away, but to pray to the dead and create idols is where the line has to be drawn.


A simple look into the scriptures will show that we are to pray and receive guidance from Jesus Christ and no one else.

1 Timothy 2:5-6
"For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus!"

Romans 6:23
"For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord!"

We should not put our hope & trust in deceased ancestors but in the love and reality of Christ's life, death, & resurrection. He rose from the dead and defeated death. His shed blood can cleanse us of ALL sin. Forget all your arguments, repent and put your trust in Jesus Christ, and be saved from God's wrath. Read & understand the scriptures, He will never let you down!

--Armando
armando@csulb.net