Greetings, fellow believers.
I'm sorry that Rodney and I were not able to produce a Blast from the Past today; circumstances prevented it. But be assured that we are on it for next week. We still have plenty of material to come.
In the meantime, here is ANOTHER blast from the past, but just a more recent past: five rather than twenty-five years ago.
The most misunderstood theme and the most common problem I deal with in the body of Christ is people claiming that they "live in the absolute," or those who, when faced with a dilemma in life, use a phrase such as "all is of God" to help it along. That all is of God is certainly a truth, but it is the worst way (in fact, it is NO way) to deal with a practical issue.
MANY people have said to me over the years, "Since you believe that all is of God, why do you get upset over Christians?" As I've said, this is the most misunderstood issue that I confront, possibly on a daily basis. Even those who have believed for thirty years will say things
like, "Why are you bothering with this, because all is of God."
I hope this "Return to Zender" video from 2018 is a help to you.
Thank you, as always, for your love of me and this work, and for God working in you to support the work. (See what I just did there? I bordered on the absolute when I said, "God working in you to support the work." I should have
just said, "Thank you for supporting this work," but I'm trepidatious to have anyone say, "I don't support this work. It is God Who supports this work, and He is just using me." Of course this is true, but I like to think that those of mature faith already understand the absolute viewpoint—realizing also that I myself understand it—and so feel that is generally safe to use personal pronouns such as "I" or "you," without anyone thinking that we are denying the activity of God in any of our
activities, or denying the fact that all is of God.)
People have suggested before that I am being vain for saying that "I" wrote this or that book, since of course, all is of God.
(I ask them what the alternative would be? Should I put on the cover: "The First Idiot in Heaven," by "God." Hm. Seems a tad audacious to me. But when I put "Martin Zender," some would say, "How dare you take credit for writing this book?" as though I do not realize that every single move I make and every single thought of my head is out of and from God. Do you see how crazy things can get when we bog ourselves down in the absolute viewpoint?)
I think that some DO get bogged down here because, for so many years, they believed in free will and they are now afraid to put emphasis on any personal pronouns, as though that would indicate that they have reverted back to free
will. In the old days, perhaps the use of personal pronouns was indicative of a believe in free will, but today, in our maturity, it is simply a way to distinguish ourselves from others. For instance, the reason I put, "The First Idiot in Heaven," as being "by Martin Zender," is to let you know that this book was written by me rather than, say, by Clyde Pilkington. Or A.E. Knoch. Or Dan Rather. Or Boz Scaggs.
Someone once accused me of overusing the pronoun "I" when writing about myself. When I inquired which other pronoun would do duty for "I" (YOU wrote "The First Idiot in Heaven"? WE wrote "The First Idiot in Heaven"? THEY wrote "The First Idiot in Heaven"?), the
guy didn't have an answer. He was stuck (or thought he was) in the absolute viewpoint, deathly afraid of any personal pronoun being suggestive of a belief in free will.
You hope
this helps.
They are remaining yours in Christ Jesus,
God
