Gnosis is a foreign word that means “knowledge.” The “Gn” part of the word is pronounced like “gnat.” Gnosticism is a loosely connected set of ideas held by groups of people who believe that there is “hidden knowledge” that is only accessible to the “enlightened” or “invited.” Kabballah, Freemasonry, Shriners, Buddhists, Hindus, alchemy, and a hundred forms of witchcraft argue about the proper definition of Gnosticism. Some of the various bits […]
Author Archive: Douglas Thomas
Golden Toothpicks
I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. Now the one who plants and the one who waters are equal, and each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are God’s co-workers. You are God’s field, God’s building. According to God’s grace that […]
Running out of Supplies
You may run out of grits one day. They are a temporary answer to a temporary problem. Shortbread, too. There already is no electricity in many places on the earth. Some places only have it 1/3 of the day as an improvement from having none. It could all stop one day. You should never run out of peace, though! You should never be short of patience. There should never be a […]
Blessing and Cursing
Cursing, in most peoples’ minds, amounts to someone talking to them loudly with the inclusion of offensive words to the conversation. Another possibility would simply be the use of phrases like, “damn it!” or “I’ll be damned if…” Looking to examples in Scripture of both blessings and curses reveals something different from these cultural examples. Asking the Spirit how to respond to people or situations frequently obtains good examples of […]
Will Power vs. Values Power
If I decide that I am going to start saving money, or stop using tobacco, or be nicer, or stop beating the dog, I am not likely to be successful if I have only had a change of mind, and not had a change of values. If I am not going to beat the dog anymore, but then the dog chews up my $30 shirt, the dog might get a […]
CAPS Warfare
Avoiding 4 things in your life can improve the outcomes of your warfare against your enemies drastically: C omplaints – spending time complaining instead of praying or prophesying better outcomes can lock me as a prisoner in the situations about which I am complaining. (1 Corinthians 10:10) A ccusations – even if the people I am accusing of evil are truly guilty of it, unless I am called to expose […]
Hirelings
It seems that the difference between the definitions of “prostitute” and “mercenary” is simply what kind of work is being sold. Mercenary and merchant are words that have the same root. Our most common use of the word mercenary is related to the work of a soldier. The idea from its beginning was simply trading work for pay. Malachi reported an impending judgement by Yahweh that included His judgement of […]
Competition for Resources
Do nothing out of rivalry or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves. Everyone should look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. (Philippians 2:3,4 Holman Christian Standard Bible®©) Part of the contention that existed around Jesus before He was crucified included the Jewish religious leaders’ fear of losing control of the nation. They had managed to negotiate with […]
Yahweh the Builder
Now I want you to know, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from a spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. But God was not pleased with most of […]
Staying Welcome
Some of my evangelical mentors (Navigators, Campus Crusade, Intervarsity Press) instructed me to believe that when I turned to Jesus in faith I had my sin paid for. In Scriptural terms, they called that being “justified.” The next step of my process from death to life is an on-going one: “sanctification.” In this part of God’s plan, I am having my mind and heart changed to think like Jesus, and […]