Pre-marital counseling is a challenge. If return could be guaranteed, the couple most often would benefit by having counseling conversations 1-3 years after the ceremony. Before the hard-clad decision to marry this specific candidate, couples should talk through:

1. What generally triggers anger. The way they express anger. How they fight. How they get over it, come back together, and say I’m sorry.
2. What is their relationship with money? Expectations about goals, budgets, bookkeeping debt.
3. Some examples each has of their model of marriage. What does each not like about their parent’s marriage? Their favorite part of Mom and Dad’s marriage?
4. Sexual expectations.
5. Role and expressions of faith.
6. Who gets custody of the dog if you split?

That is not an exhaustive list, even if possible and the right questions. Some “pastoral counselors” lean heavy on topics we need to think through and/or carry heavy scars.

One year after the covenant is “signed” a couple might write down: “What we should have talked about!”

After my wife came home from the hospital recently, I was especially sensitive to Carole’s needs and really glad she had come home. A short time later, I heard her say she knew we were getting back to normal because I was getting irritated with her. (Only because she wouldn’t help me rake the leaves!)

When a friend asked for “wisdom” about marriage, the # 1 relationship rule for couples that repeatedly came to mind as most helpful is from Romans 12:10 NIV:

Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other.

Honor her! Honor him! Always. In every situation.

Honoring requires faithfulness, fidelity, cover his/her back, speaking kindly and have your partner’s best interests at the forefront of your intention. Honoring means to keep your mate’s personal development, mission, goals, dreams, ambitions with covenant strength. Never make fun of or diminish in public. Unless you have a death wish.

All of this assumes each of us knows what honoring means. It requires knowing your love’s heart well enough to know how he/she feels honored. That is a good question to ask. “What can I do to express my honor for you in___________” (name a specific).

God put Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden to “keep” it. The traditional wedding ceremony includes the question, “Will you keep…?”

“To keep” means “to protect, to preserve.”

How do you intend to “keep” the person to whom you have given your heart? How will you protect your own heart if the “honoring” gets to be manipulative or destructive? Protecting and preserving are promises to build on.

Honoring one another is a Kingdom rule for all relationships.

Honor one another.

D. Dean Benton

Visit our website–Deanbenton.org

I don’t know if I’m depressed, tired, lonely, post-crises depleted or just flat feeling sorry for myself. I can’t even find coffee that tastes good.

Being a soul-tender is important to me. Not to please God, lest He kick me to the curb, but if I don’t satisfactorily tend my soul, I feel crappy.

An acquaintance told me they expected about 70 family members for Thanksgiving dinner. Seventy! And Carole consults the Internet just to seat our tribe. I asked the lady from the huge family if they sat around the table.

“Yes, but not the same table.”

She also said they did not sing this year. When the crowd was smaller, she directed them in singing 3-4 songs each year. With a gathering that large, singing would have been spectacular. The four at our table probably would have been self-conscious. We should have sung anyway!

I need to pray, worship, be touched by music and art, exercise, read and engage in conversation. Seventy is a not a conversation group, it is a crowd. I need a table full of people who like to talk about everything. I think 4-8 talkers of the story-telling variety is about right.  

Time has gotten hijacked—stolen or filled with important stuff. But none, not one, thing on my list gets crossed off. Oh, I have prayed. Short sentence prayers to ask God to be with friends who grieve and those who need God’s attention and healing. I’ve skimmed Ezekiel chapter by chapter. That counts for something, doesn’t it? And severe gratitude for healing my wife!

I ran across a book title that captures my mood: “Go Tell The Bees that I’m Gone.” My bee-keeper friends tell me how our world is dependent on bees for food, flowers and things not usually considered. The book title is upside-down. I don’t have anything to offer the bees. They wouldn’t notice my absence.

King David was faithful to set prayer times. He prayed seven times a day (Psalm 119:164). Daniel, who was a busy, busy government leader of integrity, prayed three times each day (Daniel 6:10). Lately—not me!

Ten or fifteen years ago, we met friends/missionaries for lunch. We were early, so I went to Half-price Book Store. Half-way through the store, a specific book caught my eye. It almost fell off the shelf—“choose me, choose me!” Emotionally Healthy Spirituality, by Peter Scazzero. About ten minutes into lunch, John asked me, “Have you ever read “Emotionally Healthy Spirituality?” You can guess how stunned I was.

It must have been in the same time frame I picked up Scazzero’s little book, Daily Office. Clearing a bookshelf this week, I found the book. In that little book, he includes

1. Silence, Stillness, Centering
2. Scripture
3. Devotional reading
4. Question to consider
5. Prayer

The phrase “Daily Office” designates setting times aside each day to “do the work of God.” For many of us it is quieting self and centering for a minute or five several times during the day using Scripture, Prayer, Stillness and/or intentional and vocal blessing .

I like warm days when I can sit in the car on a parking lot for an extended period. This “Daily Office” approach assumes we’ve got two minutes, five or ten minutes. Finding a place to warm one’s soul is important as the days grow shorter and elements chill us.

This discipline sounds wooden and lacking spontaneity, but my barren soul needs  stimulation and direction. 

(c)2021 D. Dean Benton 

Thanksgiving 2021.

Our list is long.

I can’t move far from concentrating on my wife being actively preparing for this season. Carole walked to the edge a couple of times over the past six weeks and triple-bypass surgery. She almost gave up. Contemplating how things turned toward healing focuses on medical people who released the blessing—they prayed with us, promised to pray for her and they spoke hope. Those acts released energy and healing into the room. I’m talking about real energy and real healing that lifted our sagging heads and hearts while nudging the body to do its best work.

Just last week the Kidney Specialist talked dialysis possibility. Carole was asking how could she could go from perfect kidney numbers to critical stage in six days? Her GP said, “Wait a minute—let’s look at the large picture.” 

A couple of med adjustments seem to have been the solution. Meds that had been needed post surgery had been ordered as permanent. The doctor’s words lifted sagging heads and hearts, again. Psalm 3:3 became one of my go-to scriptures for this season:

“But you, Lord, are a shield around me, Lord, You are the lifter of my head.”

God did that and He selected an interesting group of people to be co-lifters. Yesterday, I looked through cards and letters Carole received. Friends and family walked with her and poured into us. Thank you for gas money, food, words, prayers. They prayed when I was out of words and single-minded. They stood steady. We are Thankful!

Thanks! – Praise – Celebration!

A friend sent me several pages of her book proposal. I couldn’t grasp why I was crying while reading. Tears of thanks and grief. I was thankful for a Savior and a Kingdom anxious to heal her wounds and pain. I grieved that Kingdom Life had not reached her sooner. We hurt over friends who gave up. “Lost” takes on so many shades. I am very thankful for those who cared for the hurting and grieving while striving to keep their own selves together. Some “lifted” when they were deep in their own grief. Thank you!

Another go-to motivator from Ephesians 5:19-20:

 Don’t drink too much wine. That cheapens your life. Drink the Spirit of God, huge drafts of him. Sing hymns instead of drinking songs! Sing songs from your heart to Christ. Sing praises over everything, any excuse for a song to God the Father in the name of our Master, Jesus Christ.

“Any excuse for a song to God.”

Carole asked me to get her a 2022 calendar. I couldn’t find what she wanted. “Not in, yet.” Are you kidding me? It is Thanksgiving and there are no calendars? The clerk checked with management and was told their shipment of calendars are on parked trucks and stalled on ships in harbors.

(I found several cases of calendars in the back room at Menards.)

I am thankful that we—you, Carole and I—have a reason to want and need for a 2022 calendar.

I am also thankful for our nation and the faithful founding fathers and mothers. George Washington had this to say a few Thanksgiving Days ago:

President George Washington’s Thanksgiving Proclamation:

“Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor– and whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public Thanksgiving and Prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.

“Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be – That we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks–for His kind care and protection of the People of this Country previous to their becoming a Nation–for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of His Providence which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war–for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed – for the peaceable and rational manner, in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted – for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed; and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and in general for all the great and various favors which He hath been pleased to confer upon us.

“And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions – to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually – to render our national government a blessing to all the people, by constantly being a government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed – to protect and guide all Sovereigns and Nations (especially such as have shown kindness unto us) and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord – To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us – and generally to grant unto all Mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best.”

Happy Thanks giving

©2021 D. Dean Benton

An excerpt from a closing chapter of The Carafe Conspiracy. ©2021 D. Dean Benton.

The Carafe Conspiracy is the act of walking beside and pouring into companions, associates and clients. That is clearly the work of a Jesus Follower. What do we pour? What is the point of walking beside? It is to experience together the coming of God’s Kingdom onto Earth in and on individuals, communities and nations. We are not conspiratorial. We desire to discover and pour the essentials that develop a Jesus Follower. Our Carafe ministry is a mission that matters. The unknown—hidden to us—feels like a conspiracy as Holy Spirit guides people, reveals what needs to happen, how we are to respond and reveals through discernment, revelations, conversations, the path to healing, and the significant life. All of this is based on the answer to, Just how far are we willing to grow?

“Your kingdom come! Now!”

But it didn’t seem to be coming. Chad packed his case into the car, waved to security and drove toward wherever his vehicle would take him. He drove past the hospital’s parking lot where he had been slugged and the hospital where his friends had brought him when he had been found in the old building. Chad had forgotten how long he was a recovering patient or even if there was a diagnosis. Closed head injury with temporary amnesia sounded right. Not much clarity about that hospital stay. He stood in the spot where the drug dealers had beaten and kidnaped him and the Patient Discharge door where his friends had picked him up to take him back to the Southwood campus to recover.

“I’m going to ask Brent what he remembers.” With that he wrote a note in his phone and pointed his car to the Interstate truck stop to settle into his favorite coffee shop booth. Favorite because it gave him the best view to sketch the customers, waitress and what was going on in his head.

Two cups and a piece of peach pie into the second hour of his mental free-wheeling he started a fresh sketch pad page and a new customer. A man with dark, short hair, glasses and a mask he adjusted into place between sips of coffee. This restaurant catered to truck drivers and travelers. The man taking shape on Chad’s paper wore a blazer and a badge. Maybe he liked chrome things too. There was something familiar about the man which drew the artist’s full attention.

“Seoul, Korea. I met him at a church or the embassy in Seoul.” He returned to his pencil work. But something didn’t fit. He puzzled until he realized no one in Seoul would have been wearing a mask like that when they would have met.

“May I join you for a minute?” Chad introduced himself and sat uninvited at the table. “Do you work in Seoul?”

The man chuckled said he did not. “I’m a doctor at St. Luke’s on 176^th Street. Not in Seoul, but in this city. Have you been to Seoul?”

There was no answer, just silence as the puzzling continued. Of course, Chad would have seen people wearing masks at the hospital. His amnesia had been deeper than he thought.

“I traveled to Seoul on NGO trips. I didn’t meet you there, I must have met you in your hospital. You came into my room to talk about my head injury.” Slowly clarity slipped in. He remembered this masked man being in his hospital room wearing a mask. Other hidden memories began focusing like lens focus when twisted. “Dr., any clue what I’m talking about?” I would have had friends with me. Nurse Della….”

“Of course. Della is a close friend. I remember! Every event including the Putnams is memorable.” Chad knew the Dr. was smiling behind the mask. “Yes. I was working at Nicol’s Memorial that day, but your injury demanded my skill so, I was called in to St. Luke’s. It was a chaotic time for us.”

“Did you tell me you would pray for me?”

“I did pray for you. I told your friends I would be praying for you and for my judgement and ability.”

“Do you say that to all your patients?”

“Well, that is what we do.”

“What we do?” Chad asked.

“Yes.” The doctor paused. My grandparents and great-grandparents would regularly go to Prayer Mountain in Seoul at 4:00 a.m. to pray. Their prayer altars were in an excavated-out hole in the mountain. That prayer tradition comes to me. Miracles! Spiritual awakenings. You may have missed South Korea if you didn’t go to Prayer Mountain.”

“At four a.m.?”

“Yes. If people did not arrive until 5:00, my family thought they were backslidden.”

Chad felt he had missed something and that he was late. Definitely late.

“We Western Christians have missed….”

If he lived long enough for his mustache to grow as bushy as Ross’ and he adopted all the habits of Brent, Buddy  and Charlie, he would never forget that phrase: “Well, that is what we do!”

The physician’s digital device jarred Chad back into the moment. The doctor was being called to an emergency. “Got to go. Talk to your friends about that hospital visit. They will know more than I do.” As he walked toward the door, Dr. Cho turned and addressed Chad. “And—I want a copy of that drawing.”

Chad Wilson sat at the truck stop counter staring at his pencil drawing. Slowly, he remembered the minutes after the doctor had left his hospital room that night after his journey into absence and forgotten-ness. Chad repeated out loud what he had said to himself that night, “What just happened here?”

The next morning, he related to his “friends” the truck stop encounter. Then, he asked them, “What did happen that evening? What was your take-away?”

There were no instant answers. There was a lot of staring into coffee cups. There was no one answer. There was a feeling that even after an answer was found or many answers, they would be inadequate.

Brent chuckled and said, “I would think that a prophet-at-large would know what happened!”

“You would think so, wouldn’t you? Chad good naturedly responded.

“You’ve been thinking, apparently, that you came home that night. You had been in the hospital for three days,” Della said. “You were pretty much out-of-it most of the time You talked about Sondra. I don’t remember your wife’s name being a Sondra.”

“Great! You going to tell the media what I said?”

“You were down, weak from discouragement and depression—on the verge of giving up and we couldn’t figure out why,” Della’s voice was soft, “and I was concerned for you.”

Ross was on his way to work with a last swallow of Mountain Dew. “The medical people kept saying it was a Closed Head Injury. I was thinking Lance and I could really have big fun with a Closed Head Injury theme. Do you notice how disciplined I was? A real grown-up. I restrained myself. Nothing inappropriate when I had such a huge opening.” Ross could have “left the stage” but he wasn’t finished sharing his take. “I’m not experienced with this, but it felt to me like it was what y’all are talking about when you say, ‘Kingdom.’ It was and is—as in still going on—a Kingdom event.”

The tribe muttered an assortment of responses.

“It was that!”

“Dr. Cho released the blessing!” Brent said with gentle passion. “It took me hours to be able to put a label on what happened to me and to all of us. He released the blessing and Ross is right. It is still being released.”

“What exactly does that mean?” Ross asked.

Felicia placed her hand on Chad’s arm and answered him. “You turned from depressed to hopeful, jubilant and positive anticipation. Your demeanor changed, something got healed that wasn’t closed up in your skull.”

“Holy Spirit lifted up your head, Chad, literally and in every other way.” Charlie was experiencing the moment, again.

“But you, O Lord, are a shield around me,   my glory, the Lifter of my head…” (Psalm 3:3).

His wife Della said, “We all heard you singing those words in praise. Something just beyond definition moved through that room into each of us, at least that is what you have described.” Nurse Della was at that moment touching a radical healing realm. “I have wondered ever since what if we had sung those words.”

“Well, let’s see.” Charlie used the interlude to pull up “You’re My Glory” on his phone playlist.

“I call out to the Lord,

and he answers me from his holy mountain.

 I lie down and sleep;

I wake again, because the Lord sustains me” (Psalm 34-5).

Chad spoke the words into a quiet room. “That is my testimony. I own those words. ‘I wake again—Lifter of my head.’”

©2021 D. Dean Benton

The Carafe Conspiracy. A novel, will soon be published as an ebook.

Strange dream in which I was involved with a house-based fellowship’s renewal gathering. It wasn’t a large house, but it was exciting and energized. The families decided to move to the house during the meeting, sleeping in sleeping bags on the basement floor. Acts Two describes a gathering in the Upper Room. The dream had that flavor.

That small fellowship was hounded by non-faith people and harassed by some churches, especially a church across the street. That group gathered on their front lawn to protest their neighbors—the fellowship with whom I was connected.

Given my recent study of secular worldviews and biblical worldviews, there is no mystery where that comes from. In the dream, I walked around the block and the properties to capture a sense of what was going on. The leader of the harassing church was sitting in a lawn chair on their church lawn. I sat on the grass and asked him what the hassle was about.

“You people are obsessed with healing. That stuff stopped with the Apostles. We have doctors and medicine these days….”

Of course! I thought. I remember staring at the grass in front of me and feeling badly that this man could miss the Kingdom message that far. I was celebrating doctors and medicine and all the skills the techs, nurses and doctors had learned and stewarded into growth. Several times surgeons and physicians have told me about studying to solve mysterious cases. Their late hour research saved their patient in what could have been the last hour. That kind of commitment is worthy of celebration and thankfulness for it is God’s gift of healing through skilled people.

“Jesus now called the Twelve and gave them authority and power to deal with all the demons and cure diseases. He commissioned them to preach the news of God’s kingdom and heal the sick” (Luke 9:1-2).

A nurse’s statement to me that day: “We can give all kinds of care and medicine, and we do, but healing comes through the patient’s eating and personal efforts.” (paraphrase) The “pro’s” job is to equip the “sick” with tools and the will to position self to receive God’s healing intervention. Russ Taff’s wife talks about her husband’s addiction being a family of origin problem. Then she says, “Nor was his healing alone!”  

I still feel like I sit on the grass on that church lawn seeing a resistance to the supernatural or what is not “reasonable” by Western standards—anything we do not understand or can’t measure. I don’t want to waste my energy with wishing, denying or being possessed with naïve illusion. Jesus talked about His Kingdom that placed a lot of leverage on curiosity and creativity.

So where would be find some of that?

In the 1960s, there were revivalists and healing evangelists who prayed for legs to be lengthened. Later, a spread of specialists prayed for the filling of teeth. What seemed to me to be ridiculous, was a genuine experience for people I knew. There have always been “healing specialists” who were frontier people willing to risk to market answers and God’s redemptive power. For example:

Some of my friends and acquaintances have lost their taste and smell post-Covid. I am asking God to anoint a tribe of healing-gifted Jesus-Followers to speak His healing into those Covid-19 Long-haulers. I don’t visualize tent-meetings or a 4^th window at McDonalds for drive-through praying. I am asking God to strategically place these pray-ers in churches, fellowships, coffee-gatherings—wherever there is a need and people risking to ask for healing and faith-ers who will speak to and on behalf of God.

In our rationalist age, that sounds silly or crazy. Jesus said, “Proclaim the good news of the Kingdom and heal the sick” (Luke 9:2).

• Curiosity.  Where are people hurting, stuck, oppressed or in bondage?

• Creative. Listen when Holy Spirit says, “Let me tell you how.”

• Courageous. It is not the “healer’s” boldness or faith. Courage is born of our empathy that grows into action—the sight and sound of those who are empty or hurt that motivates us to speak healing.

“Pray ye the Lord of the harvest to send laborers…” (Jesus—Matthew 9:38).

LORD, SEND ME.

©2021 D. Dean Benton

Our Granddaughter Rachel at about 3-years-old could chase off any non-invited helper with, “I DO IT!!”

Carole says the best bonus’ of hospital stays are warmed blankets and chipped ice administered by caring nurses and techs. It was early in the second day in ICU after triple-bypass that my wife was holding a cup of ice chips. I saw it was tipping and helped her hold the cup. She opened her eyes and asked me with fire: “What are you doing?” Then she declared. “I do it!!”

It sounded so familiar I backed off. Don’t mess with Carole’s ice chips! A couple minutes later, she allowed the cup of ice chips to gently empty into her lap which alerted her nurse to a clean-up in aisle 4.

We have learned there are some things that happen only if we do it, and in somethings we need all the help we can get.

Jesus said what we permit on earth will be permitted in Heaven; what we prohibit on earth will be prohibited in Heaven. (Matthew 18:18). It makes a lot of sense when we get past the “Let, Loose, bind.” Bluntly, if it doesn’t matter that much to you, Child of God, why should I bother? (God).

When the specialist pulled the breathing tube from Carole’s throat, about 2 hours after she gestured, “I am so finished with this!” we discovered she had lost the tiny bit of soprano range she had. She talked like she was drunk. There were days of worrisome thoughts and trying to figure out why she couldn’t stay awake. The anesthesia hung on to organs and cells. After they moved her out of ICU, I talked to the lovely nurse about concerns. She said, “We can use—and do use—all kinds of meds and drugs, but the best med for her is to walk and to eat.” That is a big principle. There are some things others can’t do for you. And the inferred promise from Jesus is, “You do what needs to be done—what you can do—and I’m committed to some of the heavy lifting.”

In the months after my bypass surgery, I wrote Mosquito Park Secrets. It is about why the list of Fruit of the Spirit should be posted in cardiologist’s offices. They are the fruit of the Holy Spirit. What Holy Spirit grows in us. Fruit is product of what is planted. What, I wondered, should we plant, nurture and steward that Holy Spirit can use to grow things like….

“Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23).

When we thought the procedure would be a stent, I wondered if that writing held up after 23 years. I read the book and concluded it does. Great stories and quotes from medical writers and many disciplines. I share my actions, reactions and failures. Fruit of the Spirit is broader than medicine and health. The Fruit of the Spirit have been called the characteristics of Jesus.

I DO IT!

Amelia Earhart said,

“The most difficult thing is the decision to act. The rest is merely tenacity.“

When I arrived at the hospital today, Carole was sitting in a straight back chair. Her bottom was hurting. She had been in that chair for an hour, she said. Not a happy lady! The other change was that she was wearing a striped, green gown which means she is self-helping. No one told her how to fulfill her Green Gown Commission. Some of the limitations were removed. There were strict rules about lifting with her arms, but no longer. No one told her. Her walker was just out of reach and she wanted to sit in the butt-cushioning chair. She was doing the best she could with the info she had.

One of the pulmonary techs talked about his career experience and plans in his country of origin and in USA. Carole responded to new skills he has added by saying, “now you have more options.”

“Options. What exactly does that mean?”

He fits the tall, dark, handsome picture. When I met him the other day, he was non-verbal and sour. When Carole told him what new and more options meant, his countenance changed. He turned to me with a smile a positive shake of his head. Wow!

“People are doing about the best they can.”

I don’t remember who said that, but it resonates with me.

The Kingdom Good News is telling people the options available.

I DO IT!! If you know alternative options are available.

©2021 D. Dean Benton

One of our favorite preachers used 2 Chronicles 7:14 for text and content recently.

“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray, seek my face, turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”

My reaction surprised me. “I don’t want to hear it!”

I spent a lot of time examining that verse months ago, and applying it. Most of my friends did humble, pray, seek, turn. I take God at His word, we are forgiven. However, two-years later our land is not healed. It is hard to detect any movement in that direction. In fact, it appears that corruption has expanded, and we are witnessing more of an unhealed land than at any time in this generation’s history.

I asked myself if I blamed God for that. No. I want to know what we did not do or did not obey adequately that kept God from doing the healing and renovation.

I’ve been reading about spiritual authority and pursuing “What you bind on earth will be bound in heaven; what you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 18:18). One translation uses the word, “What you prevent or prohibit on earth; what you permit on earth….”

Wow! Since Matthew puts it that way, we have a larger role in things than we thought.

During the night two days ago, the U.S. House of Reps passed a bill that would make abortion a Federal issue guaranteeing abortions until the birth moment. The most expansive abortion bill in history. Why? What motivates female political stars say, “We will fight for abortion!” They are unwilling to fight for traditional Constitutional Rights, why abortion?

The inscription on the Statue of Liberty says, in part,

“Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

We can add another line: “The land of abortion.” Land of the free to abort at will.”

Is that what neutralized God’s hand? The pagan world was doing what they do. 2 Chronicles 7:14 is about “My people.” When 26% of Christians vote, are we intentionally or by neglect permitting it? 2 Chronicles 7:14 is about God’s People—what should we have done to correct and change this—the one “right” that D.C. is willing to fight for?

I don’t have an answer, but the “permit” and “prohibit-prevent ”principle seems close. The Old Testament worship of Baal kept Israel in trouble with God. It included the offering of children as sacrifices to Baal and Molech. Has God gotten soft? If He would nuke Sodom, what gives Western Culture a pass?

One of the most important elements of the Spirit-filled walk is the Believer’s authority. From Luke 9:

“When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick” (9:1-2; see also Luke 10:1 & 17)).

In The Intercessors Handbook—How to Pray with Boldness, Authority & Supernatural Power, (Chosen Books, 2016) Jennifer Eivaz  teaches,

“Spiritual authority was delegated first to the disciples and then to every believer in Christ. We have all authority in His name and the capacity to subdue anything that hinders His Kingdom from expanding. And while this is powerful truth, it is something we need to learn how to live” (page 50).

Ms. Eivaz lists where our authority is restricted and where it is empowered.

1. Authority where we have overcome.
2. Authority for tasks to which we are assigned or gifted.
3. Authority to ask for more.
4. Authority for serving spiritual leaders

I call your attention to number 2—”Authority for tasks to which we are assigned.” This includes territorial authority. When we minister as guests in a church, we are careful to work under the authority of the pastor. If we are invited, there is an implied delegated authority. There were times when that delegated authority was rescinded due to me overstepping or the resident minister disagreeing with our message.

One of the territory issues I figured out: If a nationally or internationally-known speaker says, “The church needs to—should…,” listeners know he or she is talking about the Universal Church. If I get lathered up and say, “The church needs to…,” listeners think I’m talking about their church. It is the only one they know about and probably the one they care most about.

Territorial authority is crucial because there are territorial dark spirits who will guard their control of the spiritual areas to which Satan appointed them or which they have clawed themselves into control.

Some men and women are given larger regions and given adequate anointing of authority for say, New Mexico or Omaha or influencers in the education sphere. Acting on that authority is foundationed by knowing the will of God. His kingdom and will are inseparable. Some assignments are too large for one person. Prophet Dutch Sheets has authority in the realm of government. He has associates and teams who participate and plan strategies based on what they hear from Holy Spirit. Lance Wallnau is another teacher to whom I pay attention. There are many others who have earned credibility. We drove past a church today once pastored by Tommy Barnette who has authority and favor for leading people to Christ in vast numbers.

The Kenneth Copeland ministries has felt authorized to pray against Covid-19. I think there is a disease & pandemic named Covid and there is a spirit named Covid. Brother Copeland is a spiritual frontiersman—occasionally, he gets “way out there.” There is a hit piece in the papers this morning about him asking for money to buy an airplane. He has airplanes and was a commercial pilot before he was called to ministry. One or more of those planes was used to fly 5000-10,000 refugees out of Afghanistan. I read and hear Christians and secularists making fun of Copeland. That is not a wise behavior! He is not equipped to fight the disease named Covid that is not his “territory.” He is praying against the spirit of Covid. This pandemic has been from the beginning or has become a spiritual battle. What “principality, power, wicked spirits in heavenly places” are leading the spread and damage and collateral damage? Taking orders from? For what purpose?

“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against a spiritual wickedness in high places” (Ephesians 6:12).

I’m wondering who has Kingdom spiritual authority, therefore, responsibility over the USA Southern Border. What about Afghanistan? Minneapolis? Washington, D.C.?

Authority is not just a national, region, international imperative. Each person, family, home has sovereign rights which you are viewed as a trespasser without authority. Honoring personal boundaries is the right thing. A spouse can give the authorization to minister to a mate. Most of the people I hear testifying about witnessing to a stranger speak of receiving a question or asking if they have permission. Being careful not to intrude or invade, we can expect Holy Spirit to open an on-ramp to those whom we are to tell about Jesus.

Nations have sovereignty which comes under question when widows, orphans, strangers, pilgrims are abused or harassed. I’m not talking about westernizing or colonizing, but proclaiming the Kingdom Gospel–telling and showing God’s love and desire that people live in freedom.

Kingdom authority neglected may be the reason our land has not been healed. Although I have asked, Holy Spirit has me on a need-to-know basis. At least to this moment. He certainly has alerted me to the regions and areas I do have authority.

A few of the resources that have influenced me:

I Give You Authority, Charles H. Kraft (Chosen Books, 1997).

The Intercessors Handbook, Jennifer Eivaz (Chosen Books, 2016).

Power Evangelism, John Wimber & Kevin Springer, (Regal Books, 2009).

The Purpose and Power of AUTHORITY, Dr. Myles Munroe, (Whitaker House, 2011).

©2021 D. Dean Benton

Listening to a Wild at Heart podcast series.* John Eldridge, a legitimate counselor and therapist, talked about the trauma we have been in and are affected and afflicted by. I have not thought of that description—trauma. What else could better describe the past 18 months?

When I turned off the treadmill and paused the podcast, I got a phone call from Susan to talk about my automobile’s manufacturers warranty. Best laugh I’ve had since July. She must be my friend because she calls more often that my grandkids. Does Susan and her company think I’m worrying about that warranty while I’m praying about Afghanistan, Southern Border invasion, hurricanes, a government gone rogue and Covid? And! Real friends who are long-haulers, and those who are not well. They are using up my prayer bandwidth!

Eldridge and team talked about the necessity of healing, recovery and restoration. In what aisle at Walmart or Target is that to be found? In what terrain is that spiritual power found? Where is the blessing released? “The Kingdom is righteousness, peace and joy” (Romans 14:17) Not words or yesterday or tomorrow, but today!  I have vision to see that dimension of Kingdom breaking out in healings, fellowship and Holy Spirit activity in the presence of Jesus.

In the third session, Eldredge talks about “Apostacy” that accompanies the Last Days. My thinking has been that apostacy was about abandoning orthodox beliefs and doctrines. Eldredge says apostacy may be faithful people just giving up on God because of too many disappointments and weariness of the conflict.

Chapter 7 of my Mining Rhyme, Reason, Reality book is about digging into my own faith worldview to uncover my beliefs and paradigms concerning the Spirit Filled Walk and living the Kingdom life.

A paragraph from Chapter 7:

“My most used phrases these days are, ‘God, what are you doing? Where am I to fit?’ And ‘What in the hell is going on?’ I have heard of behavior today in universities, medicine and government that could only have been thought up in a satanic think tank.

“In what setting would you feel comfortable to any degree to say, ‘I’m finished. I can’t do this anymore!’? What are your resources speaking to and praying for you to recover and edifying you to renew your strength?

I believe that The Kingdom offers resources through “all kinds of healings,” and that recovery and soul restoration to manufacturer’s settings is available.

The five-fold ministry has a work load these days. When your worldview includes the contemporary ministries of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers (Ephesians 4:11-13), you wonder where the prayer lines for depleted souls are forming.

Your Kingdom come! Today! Now!

© D. Dean Benton

*Wild at Heart Podcast with John Eldredge– https://wildatheart.org/podcast. The September series will pop up beginning with September 6 episode.

“But the salvation of the consistently righteous is of the Lord; He is their Refuge and secure Stronghold in a time of trouble. And the Lord helps them and delivers them; He delivers them from the wicked and saves them, because they trust and take refuse in Him” (Psalm 37:39-40).

There is no one-worldview-fits-all. Even trying to find a consensus a biblical worldview is difficult. The Old Testament is the historical and spiritual story of the Hebrew nation with their preferences and paradigms. The New Testament has at least two dominant worldviews which are Hebrew and Greek. The Gospels outline Jesus’ worldview. The Epistles speak to Greeks rather than Jews, so when Paul especially writes to the non-Hebrew audiences, he has Greeks in mind. Jesus’ worldview according to Charles H. Kraft:

“As a human being he (Jesus) had a set of perspectives on life, most of which he shared with the rest of his society—including his enemies. But there were certain distinctives—in Jesus’ understandings that did not originate in the society in which he lived his early life. These came directly from God the Father and are normative for us, his followers.” (Page 103)

Dr. Charles Kraft goes on to tell us why there is not one “approved” worldview.

“If then, Christian principles and values can operate within any given worldview, it is misleading to use a term as ‘Christian worldview’. For if God were advocating a totally Christian worldview, the implications would be that there is one divinely endorsed set of assumptions, values and commitments designed to compete with those of every cultural worldview.” (Page 81)

Okay, then! What is a Christian worldview?

Dr. David S. Dockery has helped me understand the complex meanings.

“Christians everywhere recognize there is a great spiritual battle raging for the hearts and minds of men and women around the globe. We now find ourselves in a cosmic struggle between a morally indifferent culture and Christian truth. Thus, we need to shape a Christian world and life view that will help us to think Christianly and live out the truth of Christian faith.”

“A Christian worldview is not just one’s personal faith expression, not just a theory. It is an all encompassing way of life, applicable to all spheres of life.”

As I studied this subject, I increasingly felt that the Apostle’s Creed was a one-page description of a generic Christian worldview.

Google Apostle’s Creed and you’ll find differing versions depending on denomination and even version of the source being quoted—whether traditional, reformed or modern. That makes me smile.

The way the world really is

Who God is

Who we are

How God genuinely feels about us and what He intends for us

What life is about.

Let’s again look at the definition of Worldview:

“…the culturally structured assumptions, values, and commitments underlying a people’s perception of reality. Worldview is the major influence how we perceive REALITY. In terms of worldview assumptions, values and commitments, a society structures such things as what its people are to believe, how they are to picture reality, and how and what they are to analyze. People interpret and react on this basis reflexively without thinking.” (Page 20)

What do we mean when we say or think “Christian Worldview?” How does our faith in Jesus Christ become a standard for behavior? A psychologist says accepting Christ and inviting him into our life, “replaces self (ego) on the throne of our life and installs Jesus.” Jesus becomes the central element and reference of our life.

Here are some changes that happen in our personal throne room when we make Him Lord:

A New View of God.

A New View of Self

A New View of God’s Present Activity

A New View of God’s Love

A Kingdom Family

My worldview is a Christian view—this Christian’s operational assumptions, but not the Christian worldview. There is no guarantee that this (the author) Christian’s worldview is accurate or holy. Worldviews are extremely personal tools we use to figure out what is real—from our perspective. The more of God’s Word we involve in our presumptions, meshed with an intimate relationship with Jesus, the closer we will be to God’s REALITY.

To dig through, contemplate, define and freshen our presumptions, gives us a way to determine who we assume we are in Christ. Are we thinking, acting, feeling like He does?

David Dockery says a worldview must seek to answer questions like:

Where did we come from?

Who are we?

What has gone wrong with the world?

What solution can be offered to fix it?

Do I Have A Biblical Worldview?

Ask George! It used to be George Gallup. Now it is George Barna if you are wondering about church or religious beliefs and practices. Barna feels to me like a member of our extended family who may show up for Thanksgiving. His American Culture and Faith Institute conducted a nationwide survey about what is and who has a biblical worldview. They used 50 questions. Fifty-one percent of American adults believe they have a biblical worldview. Research shows based on specific questions that only 6% have a biblical worldview.

Barna also observed that about 70% of U.S. adults claim to be Christians. “Of those, 84% claim to have a biblical worldview. However, the American Worldview Inventory reports only 19% of self-professed Christians actually hold a biblical worldview.”

Barna suggests we think about our own presumptions, perceptions, assumptions and beliefs. You may want to write your thoughts down.

• The existence, nature, character, and purposes of God.
• The nature, character, and purpose of human beings.
• The existence, source and application of absolute moral truth.
• The reliability, relevancy, and validity of the Bible.
• Whether or not people need to be saved from their sins, and if so, how.
• The existence of life after death, and the dynamics of that experience.
• Any existing spiritual or supernatural authorities, and define their powers and domains of influence.
• The definition of success for your life on earth.

Hey, George! We are not all theologians! I find David Dockery’s four questions above easier. Barna’s are more complex and more comprehensive. Neither give you a complete view of your worldview but will give you data upon which you can compare to biblical teachings and principles.

“A biblical worldview enables you to think like Jesus so that you can live like Jesus. Because your worldview is the filter through which you make all of your decisions, developing a biblical worldview is one of the foundations of a truly Christian life.” (George Barna)

Is that helpful? The purpose of this chapter was to answer “what is it?” I also wanted to think through if all things were changed by becoming a Jesus Follower. Yes, everything is changed in our relationship with God. We are new creatures before Him. It feels right to me that our ultimate filter is “I believe in God, maker of heaven and earth.”

I like Barna’s use of the words “developing a biblical worldview.” It fits with “by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2). Making God Primary sets us on a lifetime of inviting Him to restore and heal us totally and completely. Active and participatory.

“The secret is this: Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27).

©2021 D. Dean Benton

Excerpted from Mining Rhyme, Reason, Reality (©2021 D. Dean Benton Publish Fall, 2021)

Please be in touch with questions or comments. I dig reality.

I awoke long before dawn. Bad dream. The church where I was working at in the dream, told me I could not be involved in the TV interview program. The person scheduled for the day’s program was Marilyn Monroe. Program leaders said I was cancelled due to my “heavy-handed questions.”  I promise you—I have no hidden thing for Marilyn, no subconscious lust that is only released in dreams. I knew, even in my dream, that I would never ask a question to trap, “gotcha” or belittle.

Another dream: I was opening a Wednesday evening Bible Study and a man interrupted to say to the gathering that I was not worthy of leading the meeting and to prove his point, he asked for evidence be brought forth. A woman presented a bagel—cut in half—that contained particles assumed to be a forbidden, but not identified substance.

As ridiculous and hilarious the dreams, I couldn’t go back to sleep. I felt seriously accused with only a thin defense. After coffee and half a bagel with peanut butter, the heavy accusation was still on me. I looked up “accusation” in a digital concordance.

“Satan is relentless in his accusations—he accuses God’s children continually. He hates God and all that God is, which means he also hates God’s mercy and forgiveness extended to sinful humanity. Satan the accuser stands before God in an attempt to somehow lessen God’s love or diminish God’s mercy. Fortunately, his accusations against us fall on deaf ears:” (Erwin Lutzer—Moody Church)

Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies” (Romans 8:33).

“Salvation belongs to the Lord, and His justification cannot be reversed. God is greater than our accuser.”

Accusation is systemic. Satan is the “accuser of the brethren,” (Revelation 12:10). Brené Brown reminds us we are self-accusers. “Never enough,” “Not good enough,” “Always….”

It has been a long time since Marilyn did a cameo appearance in my dreams or bagels were used as evidence of my inadequacy or ineptitude. There was a real spirit of accusation behind the silliness for which I had to say to any tormenters—“Stop it!” And, affirmation of …

“Salvation belongs to the Lord, and His justification cannot be reversed. God is greater than our accuser.”

God does not accuse! Remember that. He does not hang us over the fires of hell just to watch us sweat. Jesus said Holy Spirit has a different approach and always with the promise, “Salvation belongs to the Lord!” There is the promise of redemption and justification along with the conviction. If you are feeling accusation, it is satan and you can say, “Stop it! In Jesus Name.”

“And when he comes, he will convict the world of its sin, and of God’s righteousness, and of the coming judgment” (John 16:8).

I think Holy Spirit enjoys convicting us of sin or something we need to own, allow Him to fix and heal. While accusation is a weapon of torment, Holy Spirit knows conviction is the first step toward healing and wholeness. Our response is to own what we are experiencing conviction and ask for forgiveness and instruction what to do about the dwarfing element that Holy Spirit saw.

You and I live in an atmosphere of accusation. Those who live from biblical paradigms and mindset, will be accused. “You are anti-science, you are racist, you are without the hope of change or redemption.” You know the litany. The dream was not surprising when I figured out what the triggers were.  

No accusers Allowed!

Copyright 2021 D. Dean Benton