Happy Reformation Day

On this day 495 year ago,  Martin Luther nailed his famous 95 Theses to the door of Wittenburg Castle in Wittenburg Germany.  This is often sighted as the beginning of the reformation.   Luthers concern was the buying and selling of indulgences as a means of obtaining favour with God.   He, as did other reformers, had come to understand that Salvation is a free gift of God received by faith in Jesus Christ alone.

You've  heard of the 95 Theses but have you ever read them.   This is one of the most significant documents of all times simply because of its impact on western civilization.   After reading the 95 Theses,  you might want to check out the link below for an article from Christian History for a bit of historical background. (1)

Disputation on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences Commonly Known as
The 95 Theses


by Dr. Martin Luther

Out of love and concern for the truth, and with the object of eliciting it, the following heads will be the subject of a public discussion at Wittenberg under the presidency of the reverend father, Martin Luther, Augustinian, Master of Arts and Sacred Theology, and duly appointed Lecturer on these subjects in that place. He requests that whoever cannot be present personally to debate the matter orally will do so in absence in writing.

1. When our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, said "Repent", He called for the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.
   
   
2. The word cannot be properly understood as referring to the sacrament of penance, i.e. confession and satisfaction, as administered by the clergy.
   
3. Yet its meaning is not restricted to repentance in one's heart; for such repentance is null unless it produces outward signs in various mortifications of the flesh.
   
4. As long as hatred of self abides (i.e. true inward repentance) the penalty of sin abides, viz., until we enter the kingdom of heaven.
   
5. The pope has neither the will nor the power to remit any penalties beyond those imposed either at his own discretion or by canon law.
   
6. The pope himself cannot remit guilt, but only declare and confirm that it has been remitted by God; or, at most, he can remit it in cases reserved to his discretion. Except for these cases, the guilt remains untouched.
   
7. God never remits guilt to anyone without, at the same time, making him humbly submissive to the priest, His representative.
   
8. The penitential canons apply only to men who are still alive, and, according to the canons themselves, none applies to the dead.
   
9. Accordingly, the Holy Spirit, acting in the person of the pope, manifests grace to us, by the fact that the papal regulations always cease to apply at death, or in any hard case.
   
10. It is a wrongful act, due to ignorance, when priests retain the canonical penalties on the dead in purgatory.
    
11. When canonical penalties were changed and made to apply to purgatory, surely it would seem that tares were sown while the bishops were asleep.
    
12. In former days, the canonical penalties were imposed, not after, but before absolution was pronounced; and were intended to be tests of true contrition.
    
13. Death puts an end to all the claims of the Church; even the dying are already dead to the canon laws, and are no longer bound by them.
    
14. Defective piety or love in a dying person is necessarily accompanied by great fear, which is greatest where the piety or love is least.
    
15. This fear or horror is sufficient in itself, whatever else might be said, to constitute the pain of purgatory, since it approaches very closely to the horror of despair.
    
16. There seems to be the same difference between hell, purgatory, and heaven as between despair, uncertainty, and assurance.
    
17. Of a truth, the pains of souls in purgatory ought to be abated, and charity ought to be proportionately increased.
    
18. Moreover, it does not seem proved, on any grounds of reason or Scripture, that these souls are outside the state of merit, or unable to grow in grace.
    
19. Nor does it seem proved to be always the case that they are certain and assured of salvation, even if we are very certain ourselves.
    
20. Therefore the pope, in speaking of the plenary remission of all penalties, does not mean "all" in the strict sense, but only those imposed by himself.
    
21. Hence those who preach indulgences are in error when they say that a man is absolved and saved from every penalty by the pope's indulgences.
    
22. Indeed, he cannot remit to souls in purgatory any penalty which canon law declares should be suffered in the present life.
    
23. If plenary remission could be granted to anyone at all, it would be only in the cases of the most perfect, i.e. to very few.
    
24. It must therefore be the case that the major part of the people are deceived by that indiscriminate and high-sounding promise of relief from penalty.
    
25. The same power as the pope exercises in general over purgatory is exercised in particular by every single bishop in his bishopric and priest in his parish.
    
26. The pope does excellently when he grants remission to the souls in purgatory on account of intercessions made on their behalf, and not by the power of the keys (which he cannot exercise for them).
    
27. There is no divine authority for preaching that the soul flies out of the purgatory immediately the money clinks in the bottom of the chest.
    
28. It is certainly possible that when the money clinks in the bottom of the chest avarice and greed increase; but when the church offers intercession, all depends in the will of God.
    
29. Who knows whether all souls in purgatory wish to be redeemed in view of what is said of St. Severinus and St. Pascal? (Note: Paschal I, pope 817-24. The legend is that he and Severinus were willing to endure the pains of purgatory for the benefit of the faithful).
    
30. No one is sure of the reality of his own contrition, much less of receiving plenary forgiveness.
    
31. One who bona fide buys indulgence is a rare as a bona fide penitent man, i.e. very rare indeed.
    
32. All those who believe themselves certain of their own salvation by means of letters of indulgence, will be eternally damned, together with their teachers.
    
33. We should be most carefully on our guard against those who say that the papal indulgences are an inestimable divine gift, and that a man is reconciled to God by them.
    
34. For the grace conveyed by these indulgences relates simply to the penalties of the sacramental "satisfactions" decreed merely by man.
    
35. It is not in accordance with Christian doctrines to preach and teach that those who buy off souls, or purchase confessional licenses, have no need to repent of their own sins.
    
36. Any Christian whatsoever, who is truly repentant, enjoys plenary remission from penalty and guilt, and this is given him without letters of indulgence.
    
37. Any true Christian whatsoever, living or dead, participates in all the benefits of Christ and the Church; and this participation is granted to him by God without letters of indulgence.
    
38. Yet the pope's remission and dispensation are in no way to be despised, for, as already said, they proclaim the divine remission.
    
39. It is very difficult, even for the most learned theologians, to extol to the people the great bounty contained in the indulgences, while, at the same time, praising contrition as a virtue.
    
40. A truly contrite sinner seeks out, and loves to pay, the penalties of his sins; whereas the very multitude of indulgences dulls men's consciences, and tends to make them hate the penalties.
    
41. Papal indulgences should only be preached with caution, lest people gain a wrong understanding, and think that they are preferable to other good works: those of love.
    
42. Christians should be taught that the pope does not at all intend that the purchase of indulgences should be understood as at all comparable with the works of mercy.
    
43. Christians should be taught that one who gives to the poor, or lends to the needy, does a better action than if he purchases indulgences.
    
44. Because, by works of love, love grows and a man becomes a better man; whereas, by indulgences, he does not become a better man, but only escapes certain penalties.
    
45. Christians should be taught that he who sees a needy person, but passes him by although he gives money for indulgences, gains no benefit from the pope's pardon, but only incurs the wrath of God.
    
46. Christians should be taught that, unless they have more than they need, they are bound to retain what is only necessary for the upkeep of their home, and should in no way squander it on indulgences.
    
47. Christians should be taught that they purchase indulgences voluntarily, and are not under obligation to do so.
    
48. Christians should be taught that, in granting indulgences, the pope has more need, and more desire, for devout prayer on his own behalf than for ready money.
    
49. Christians should be taught that the pope's indulgences are useful only if one does not rely on them, but most harmful if one loses the fear of God through them.
    
50. Christians should be taught that, if the pope knew the exactions of the indulgence-preachers, he would rather the church of St. Peter were reduced to ashes than be built with the skin, flesh, and bones of the sheep.
    
51. Christians should be taught that the pope would be willing, as he ought if necessity should arise, to sell the church of St. Peter, and give, too, his own money to many of those from whom the pardon-merchants conjure money.
    
52. It is vain to rely on salvation by letters of indulgence, even if the commissary, or indeed the pope himself, were to pledge his own soul for their validity.
    
53. Those are enemies of Christ and the pope who forbid the word of God to be preached at all in some churches, in order that indulgences may be preached in others.
    
54. The word of God suffers injury if, in the same sermon, an equal or longer time is devoted to indulgences than to that word.
    
55. The pope cannot help taking the view that if indulgences (very small matters) are celebrated by one bell, one pageant, or one ceremony, the gospel (a very great matter) should be preached to the accompaniment of a hundred bells, a hundred processions, a hundred ceremonies.
    
56. The treasures of the church, out of which the pope dispenses indulgences, are not sufficiently spoken of or known among the people of Christ.
    
57. That these treasures are not temporal are clear from the fact that many of the merchants do not grant them freely, but only collect them.
    
58. Nor are they the merits of Christ and the saints, because, even apart from the pope, these merits are always working grace in the inner man, and working the cross, death, and hell in the outer man.
    
59. St. Laurence said that the poor were the treasures of the church, but he used the term in accordance with the custom of his own time.
    
60. We do not speak rashly in saying that the treasures of the church are the keys of the church, and are bestowed by the merits of Christ.
    
61. For it is clear that the power of the pope suffices, by itself, for the remission of penalties and reserved cases.
    
62. The true treasure of the church is the Holy gospel of the glory and the grace of God.
    
63. It is right to regard this treasure as most odious, for it makes the first to be the last.
    
64. On the other hand, the treasure of indulgences is most acceptable, for it makes the last to be the first.
    
65. Therefore the treasures of the gospel are nets which, in former times, they used to fish for men of wealth.
    
66. The treasures of the indulgences are the nets which to-day they use to fish for the wealth of men.
    
67. The indulgences, which the merchants extol as the greatest of favours, are seen to be, in fact, a favourite means for money-getting.
    
68. Nevertheless, they are not to be compared with the grace of God and the compassion shown in the Cross.
    
69. Bishops and curates, in duty bound, must receive the commissaries of the papal indulgences with all reverence.
    
70. But they are under a much greater obligation to watch closely and attend carefully lest these men preach their own fancies instead of what the pope commissioned.
    
71. Let him be anathema and accursed who denies the apostolic character of the indulgences.
    
72. On the other hand, let him be blessed who is on his guard against the wantonness and license of the pardon-merchant's words.
    
73. In the same way, the pope rightly excommunicates those who make any plans to the detriment of the trade in indulgences.
    
74. It is much more in keeping with his views to excommunicate those who use the pretext of indulgences to plot anything to the detriment of holy love and truth.
    
75. It is foolish to think that papal indulgences have so much power that they can absolve a man even if he has done the impossible and violated the mother of God.
    
76. We assert the contrary, and say that the pope's pardons are not able to remove the least venial of sins as far as their guilt is concerned.
    
77. When it is said that not even St. Peter, if he were now pope, could grant a greater grace, it is blasphemy against St. Peter and the pope.
    
78. We assert the contrary, and say that he, and any pope whatever, possesses greater graces, viz., the gospel, spiritual powers, gifts of healing, etc., as is declared in I Corinthians 12 [:28].
    
79. It is blasphemy to say that the insignia of the cross with the papal arms are of equal value to the cross on which Christ died.
    
80. The bishops, curates, and theologians, who permit assertions of that kind to be made to the people without let or hindrance, will have to answer for it.
    
81. This unbridled preaching of indulgences makes it difficult for learned men to guard the respect due to the pope against false accusations, or at least from the keen criticisms of the laity.
    
82. They ask, e.g.: Why does not the pope liberate everyone from purgatory for the sake of love (a most holy thing) and because of the supreme necessity of their souls? This would be morally the best of all reasons. Meanwhile he redeems innumerable souls for money, a most perishable thing, with which to build St. Peter's church, a very minor purpose.
    
83. Again: Why should funeral and anniversary masses for the dead continue to be said? And why does not the pope repay, or permit to be repaid, the benefactions instituted for these purposes, since it is wrong to pray for those souls who are now redeemed?
    
84. Again: Surely this is a new sort of compassion, on the part of God and the pope, when an impious man, an enemy of God, is allowed to pay money to redeem a devout soul, a friend of God; while yet that devout and beloved soul is not allowed to be redeemed without payment, for love's sake, and just because of its need of redemption.
    
85. Again: Why are the penitential canon laws, which in fact, if not in practice, have long been obsolete and dead in themselves,—why are they, to-day, still used in imposing fines in money, through the granting of indulgences, as if all the penitential canons were fully operative?
    
86. Again: since the pope's income to-day is larger than that of the wealthiest of wealthy men, why does he not build this one church of St. Peter with his own money, rather than with the money of indigent believers?
    
87. Again: What does the pope remit or dispense to people who, by their perfect repentance, have a right to plenary remission or dispensation?
    
88. Again: Surely a greater good could be done to the church if the pope were to bestow these remissions and dispensations, not once, as now, but a hundred times a day, for the benefit of any believer whatever.
    
89. What the pope seeks by indulgences is not money, but rather the salvation of souls; why then does he suspend the letters and indulgences formerly conceded, and still as efficacious as ever?
    
90. These questions are serious matters of conscience to the laity. To suppress them by force alone, and not to refute them by giving reasons, is to expose the church and the pope to the ridicule of their enemies, and to make Christian people unhappy.
    
91. If therefore, indulgences were preached in accordance with the spirit and mind of the pope, all these difficulties would be easily overcome, and indeed, cease to exist.
    
92. Away, then, with those prophets who say to Christ's people, "Peace, peace," where in there is no peace.
    
93. Hail, hail to all those prophets who say to Christ's people, "The cross, the cross," where there is no cross.
    
94. Christians should be exhorted to be zealous to follow Christ, their Head, through penalties, deaths, and hells.
    
95. And let them thus be more confident of entering heaven through many tribulations rather than a false assurance of peace.

(1)  http://www.christianitytoday.com/ch/131christians/theologians/luther.html?start=1

PRAYER FOR OUR CUBAN FRIENDS

Hurricane Sandy Devastates Eastern Cuba

Early Thursday morning Hurricane Sandy struck eastern Cuba with  vengeance.   Reports say that it was far worse than expected.   The Cuban government reports that at one mountain monitoring station winds were recorded in excess of 150 miles per hour before the station was knocked out.

Just last week. as President of Calvary Road Ministries, 1  I led a team of 11 Canadians (Team Canada) to this very area to conduct a first of its kind Pastor's and Wives Conference.    We had brought 106 Cuban Pastors and Wives to Club Amigo, Guardalavaca.  This had never been done before and it took us many months of negotiations with the Cuban government in order for it to happen.

Here in North America,  October is Pastor Appreciation Month.   Pastors and their families labour under great hardship and sacrifice in Cuba but there is no Pastor Appreciation Month for them.  The average Pastor makes $ 15-20 per month.   They live in houses attached to the church and they are too poor to go on vacation so there is no opportunity for Rest and Relaxation.   Our goal in the Conference was to encourage their hearts and strengthen them for ministry and give them a time of refreshment.   I will write more about this conference and the lasting impact it will have on Cuba in a future post.   Right now,  I want to ask you to pray for our brothers and sisters in Cuba.

Last Thursday,  my wife and I and all these Pastors and their wives were comfortably sleeping in our beds at the resort.   This week,  the resort is in ruins as is much of eastern Cuba as a result of Hurricane Sandy.   Reports out of Cuba are suggesting it is the worst they have seen.    These people live in deep poverty and the destruction caused by this hurricane will only create more misery.

Through Calvary Road Minsitries I have been working with Pastors and Churches in Cuba for
about 10-11 years.    All of the Pastors we work with live in the affected area of the Hurricane.   I cannot not tell you strongly enough the burden of my heart knowing that these dear servants of God with whom I just spent an excting spirutally supercharged week are now facing this devastation.   They are mighty servants and I know that they are out there helping the people in their communities.

 Eleven people are reported dead including three in Palma Soriano the city in which my Cuban partner in ministry lives.    I have not been able to contact him because power and telephone lines are down.   I am concerned.    It is reported that Palma is one of the hardest hit areas.   In addition, we left three team members behind to vist some ministry areas and bring encouragement and support to church planters in the San Luis area.   It too is reported to be one of the hardest hit areas and we are concerned about them as we are unable to contact them.


I have been in touch with my friend who is the President of the Baptist Convention of Eastern Cuba.   He reports wide spread distruction including churches and homes. 2    It will be some time before we receive a clear picture of how the churches have been effective.    With the power out,  many people cannot cook their food and the churches in the Santiago de Cuba and Palma Soriano area are cooking and providing food for believers and unbelievers alike.

I have hundreds of friends in Cuba and many more aquaintences.   I am not only concerned for them, but also for all the people of eastern Cuba.   Their lives are already difficult and this destruction will only make it worse. 3  

The purpose of this blog is to call you to pray for the Church and for the people of  Cuba.   There are people in many countries around the world who read this blog every month and I'd like to ask you to join me in prayer for Cuba.

Here's what I'd like to ask you to pray for.

• That even in the midst of the destruction,  God would be glorified
• That God would bring comfort and strength to those whos homes have been damaged or destoryed.
• Pray that our friends and ministry partners, Pastors and church planters and their families would all be safe.   Especially my partner and Cuban Director of Calvary Road,  Josue and his family in Palma Soriano.
• Pray for our three Canadian team members who are presently in the very heart of one of the hardest hit areas.   Pray that they would be safe and that God would use them to bring comfort and aid to the people around them.
• Ask God to help the churches respond with love and charity to their neighbours
• Pray that these hardships might turn people to God and that there would be an evangelistic harvest as a result of these difficult times.
• Pray specifically for the 106 Pastors and Wives that we met with last week.   Pray that the spiritual refreshment they received last week would not be drained by this disaster.   Pray rather that the strength they received would motivate them and energize them to help those around them.

Thank You For Praying


1. Calvary Road Gospel Association was founded in 1980 as a radio ministry but went on to be involved in training pastors and church planters throughout Latin America.   In these past 11 years we have been working in Cuba supporting churchs, pastors,  and church planters.    If you wish more information about Calvary Road e-mail me a  calvaryroad@rogers.com 

2.  Some of the report from Joel Dupont, President of the Baptist Convention of Eastern Cuba.

- House phones are not working. Santiago is destroyed. Many peo...

ple lost their homes. Many have lost their roof. There is no electricity and I don't know how they will cook their food. Churches in Santiago are cooking for people in need, believers or non believers.

How terrible it is to be powerless. .. 6:00 am received a call from a friend, ... preliminary reports about Hurricane Sandy. It reportedly entered Green Sea beach, about 14 km from Santiago. A tour by pastors and leaders of the Eastern Cuba Baptist Convention, (reports) several temples(churches) affected and several houses collapsed. My house was damaged. I still can not get to talk to my family.
Please, I beg your prayers, for our families, for THE BROTHERS OF FAITH AND all the Cuban people. This is time to pray... We need all the grace and mercy of God. Psalm 121. Seeing us helpless before the reality of a disaster, pray, and help.

3  I will write another blog in the near future to help you understand the condition underwhich people live and churches minister.   For now,  you need to underesand that before the hurricane it was difficult enough to survive each day.

My Flirt With Fame 

Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but those who act faithfully are his delight. (Proverbs 12:22)
 Though honesty and truthfulness are highly valued by God, they are not exactly prominent features in our culture. When it comes to lying and dishonesty, it seems like everyone is doing it. Surveys suggest that most people feel comfortable lying at least in some situations. It even seems that we expect our elected officials to lie to us.    Yet, scripture tells us that lying lips are an abomination (1) to God.   It is something that God absolutely hates.   As followers of Jesus, our lives ought to be marked by honessty and intergrity.
Recently a good and godly friend of mine was faced with an interesting dilemma.    Would he compromise his honesty and integrity for a brief flirt with fame.    I’m happy to welcome Pastor Werner Peters, Pastor of Toronto’s Chinese Gospel Church, (English Congregation) as our guest blogger.     I trust you’ll find his words entertaining and challenging.

My vegetable-oil adventure lasted about a year.  I had converted a diesel-powered car to burn used vegetable oil. Interested people would stop and ask me questions about my experiment with renewable (and recycled) fuel.    A friend of mine (a ministry colleague) heard about the vegetable oil and actually used the filtration process as an illustration in a sermon he was giving to his congregation.    Before we take communion, we need to ensure that "the dirt in our souls is filtered out", and he used my process of filtering out used vegetable oil through a pair of denim blue jeans as an analogy.²

One of the people listening to him that day was a student of journalism at Ryerson.   The story piqued her interest and she got my contact information from him, and gave me a call.

"Do you mind if I come over and do an interview with you," she asked?

"Not at all," I responded. Before the week was out, she showed up with another classmate and professional camera equipment. It took a couple of hours, but I showed her how it was done, and she plied me with many questions.    It was my 15 minutes of fame, I thought.

A few weeks later, I got a call from CBC Radio³.   They had heard of my greasy ways, and wanted to interview me for some Saturday morning entertainment program.    Once again, I agreed to be interviewed, but this would not be a student who is learning to do interviews. This would now be the real thing.    I was going to be heard by 500,000 people, she told me. "Wonderful," I thought.   Maybe I could even slip in the location of our church or something similarly surreptitious and get some free advertising.
"We’ll call you back," she said. She did, within a week.

"We have it all ready," She said. "The dialogue is written out.    Now, you have to understand that we’ve spiced it up a little.    And we have fictionalized it in order to make it more entertaining."

"Wait a minute," I was still trying to process the phrase ‘the dialogue. is all written out’ and when she used the word ‘fictionalized’ I started getting dizzy.    I saw my second 15 minutes of fame slipping through my fingers.

"I don’t understand, you’ve scripted a dialogue?    You’ve written out what I am going to say," I ask incredulously?

Without skipping a beat, as if they do this every day, she said, "Yep." (Implied, "Did this plebe actually think we were going to let him speak his own mind on national radio!    How naive!"
Another question, because it finally occurred to me what she meant by ‘fictionalized’. "Umm, excuse me, but are you saying that I will have to say things that are actually not true about myself?"

"Yes." She was on the phone, but I could hear her blank stare.    And I am thinking to myself, "I can’t believe this.    She knows I am a preacher, and she wants me to go on the airwaves to tell things about myself that are untrue."

"I’m sorry, but I really don’t think I can do this.    Thank you for thinking of me though."    I had to say something to bring closure to this embarrassing affair while I hung up the phone.

Being totally unnerved, I emailed a journalist acquaintance of mine, and explained what happened to me. "Is this normal operating procedure in your industry?"
He assured me that it was unethical and no, it was not normal.

My experience has left me doubtful though. Now, every time I turn on the radio,   I wonder…..⁴

------
1. Abonination: 1 an object of disgust or hatred. 2 a feeling of hatred

2. Pastor Werner’s car actually ran on used MacDonalds french fry oil. Imagine going into MacDonald’s and saying, "Filler up."

3. CBC is the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Canada’s National broadcaster, both radio and TV.

4. The problem with lying, dishonesty and lack of integrity is that you can never fully trust that source. When we lie about earthly things, can people really trust us when we talk about heavenly things?

Why I Minister In Cuba

Tomorrow I will lead a team of eleven Canadian Pastors and their wives in a week of ministry to the communist country of Cuba. Cuba is an island nation of 11 million people and is perhaps the poorest country in the western hemisphere. We will be hosting the first ever Cuban Pastor’s Conference held in one of the famous all inclusive resorts. More than 50 pastoral couples will gather for one week of rest, relaxation and refreshment. There will be time for the beach, eating and relaxing as well as spiritual refreshment in our Monday to Thursday morning and evening sessions and workshop.

This Conference/Retreat is a culmination of almost 10 years of work in Cuba building relationships and helping the Cuban church. Through the Calvary Road Gospel Association (an organization I founded in 1980) we have been helping Pastors and churches in the hard to reach places of Cuba. The core of our ministry is evangelism and discipleship but you can’t do that without caring for the many physical needs you see every day. So, we’re involved in farms, supporting church planters and missionaries and other humanitarian means.

If you know me at all personally, you know I’m pretty passionate about this ministry and could talk about it all day long. Sometimes I’m asked, "Why Cuba?" For today’s Friday Five, let me give you 5 good reasons why I’m passionately involved in ministry to Cuba.

1. God Is At Work In Cuba Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might quake at your presence— 2 as when fire kindles brushwood and the fire causes water to boil— to make your name known to your adversaries, and that the nations might tremble at your presence! (Isaiah 64:1-2)
In the midst of poverty and oppression, the church in Cuba is coming alive in revival.   Especially in the eastern part of Cuba where we are working.   God is at work in incredible ways as scores of young people are coming to faith in Jesus Christ.  Churches that once were stale and dry are coming alive and catching a vision for reaching their island nation with the gospel.  It is absolutely exciting to be part of something that God is doing.  If you ever experience it you will get caught up in it and it will stir your soul.   Nothing stirs your soul and makes you feel so alive as to see God at work in the renewal of the church and the spread of the gospel in spiritual awakening.

I believe that every Christian should look around them, see where God is at work and join God in the work of the Kingdom there.

2. God Cares About Poor And Oppressed PeopleThe Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; 2 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour, (Isaiah 61:1-2)
I believe God has a special place in His heart for the poor.  Cuba is one of the poorest and most oppressed places on earth.  For example, food rationing means each family member can have 4oz of chicken per month (yes, per month), 5lbs of rice, ½ liter of cooking oil, 8 eggs etc.  The average wage is about $ 15 per month.

I minister in Cuba because God cares about the poor, the oppressed, and the brokenhearted.   These people who have so little are so generous of heart and so thankful and grateful for every little thing you can do to help them.   They are encouraged just by your presence and shower you with so much love.

Everyone is not called to work among the poor.   Rich people have to be reached with the gospel too and it is just as legitimate to work among the middle-class and the rich as it is among the poor. However, because God cares about the poor we should not turn a blind eye to they difficulties   There are poor people right in your neighbourhood and perhaps God is calling you to come along side them to encourage, to love and to share the Good News about Jesus.

3. God Is Please To Work Through My WeaknessFor the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:10)
God loves to take the weak things of this world and use them for His glory so that He gets all the credit and glory which is rightfully His.  I never cease to be amazed at how God is using me in Cuba. That’s not a backhanded way of giving credit to myself.   I am genuinely amazed at how God chooses to use me just because I make myself available to Him.    I am no one special but am allowed, by God's good pleasure, to be involved in some pretty incredible things that are taking place in Cuba that frankly are way out of my league, way out of my ability.

How could a guy like me come up with the resources to be helping farmers produce more crops so they can feed hungry people?    How can a guy like me go places where not outsider has gone and bring blessing and help to people?    How could a guy like me convince scores of people to give him  loads of money to distribute in ministry?    I’ll tell you how. The sovereign hand of God.   As someone once said, "God’s not after your ability. He’s after your availability." Are you making yourself available to God?

　

4.  God Has Opened Incredible Door For MinistryI know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name. (Revelation 3:8)
I didn’t go to Cuba the first time looking to develop any kind of significant ministry.    I went at the invitation of a friend simply to teach and preach at a Church Workers Conference.   The incredible thing is that this is all of God.   I have simply tried to walk in obedience and it is an incredible journey that continues to bless my soul and build my faith.    Our job is not to push doors open but to walk through them when God opens them.   If God is in it, it cannot fail.   He will complete what He Himself has begun.

I wonder how many times God has been willing to work and move but we weren’t willing to move with Him.     This ministry in Cuba is all of God. He calls the shots. He gives the direction and all we have to do is follow. I love it.

5.   God Energizes My SpiritI know this sounds unbelievably selfish but being where God is at work and seeing Him take a weak vessel like myself and do some pretty incredible things is totally energizing.    When I am in Cuba (2-3 times a year) we go and work hard.   It’s not a Cuba resort vacation but rather long hard days of travel and ministry.    It’s physically demanding because we are on the go all the time, travelling, preaching, and meeting with people and the temperature is 100F.    Yet, it totally energizes my spirit and strengthens me for the ministry back in Canada.    As tired as I am when I come home;  if my church were to ever tell me I could no longer make these ministry trips it would kill me emotionally and spiritually.

When you are in God’s presence, seeing God at work and know that He has given you the incredible blessing to be part of something great He is doing, it will energize you like nothing else.

It’s not without difficulties.    We just received word a few hours ago that the Resort (Cuban government owned and controlled) has decided not to allow us to use the meeting room we had booked months ago for our worship and workshop sessions.    Cuba is a very difficult country in which to work.    Yet, there is no place I’d rather be this next week.    Working along side my brothers and sisters in Christ to bring them hope and encouragement in the great work of the Kingdom.

Keep us in your prayers this week¹. We’ll surely need them.

　
　

1. Pray especially that the authorities would change their mind and allow us to use the meeting room at the Resort for our worship and workshop sessions. 

The Ghost In Her Closet

If you are a regular reader of Pastor Rick’s Study you know that nothing has been written here for some time. I hope now that I will be able to write on a more regular basis. Among all the busy things taking place in my life including my church and preparing for a first of its kind Pastor’s Conference for Cuban Pastors and their wives later this month, my mother had been dealing with terminal cancer. I have made three 1,500 kilometre trips in recent weeks. These things have made it difficult to have the time to write.

My mother died on September 19,2012. I shared some memories at her memorial service. I have debated for many days about sharing them here. They are personal words. Originally I shared them so that mourners could better understand my mother and her life. I share them here (slightly edited) because I believe they speak to the patience and grace of a loving Heavenly Father who graciously pursues us to woo us to Himself. September 21, 2012

Memories of Mom

The Ghost In Her Closet

My Mom was born in the glory days of the small coal mining town of Springhill, NS in the 1920's. She was the middle of three daughters born to Ben and Ina McAloney.   Springhill was a working man’s town where Mom learned the value of hard work, and where she develop tenacity to face the hard struggles of life.   Those struggles were soon to come.

She married Blaine Hayden, my father, at a very early age. Together they had three children, Lyndia my sister, Larry my brother, and myself Rick the baby of the family. I’m sure that like all young couples they started out with great dreams and hopes. Our father worked in town, and was an aspiring professional boxer who actually trained with Joe Louis and it is claimed he should have been the British Commonwealth Champion.

I never really knew my father. Alcohol got the better of him and when we were all very young my mother and he split up and eventually divorced in a day when that carried a heavy stigma. I saw him only once again some 30 years or more later at my grandmother Hayden’s funeral. My mother was left with three little kids and no means of support. In the early 50's there was little in the way of a social safety net. My mother struggled to provide for and to hold her little family together.

I’m not perfectly clear on those early years as I was only about 3 years old, but I know she worked where she could including cleaning rooms in a Springhill Hotel. I can still see that hotel in my minds eye and I can picture my Mom coming home from work. I have no idea who looked after us while she was there. She also worked as a live in housekeeper for our local MLA and I remember riding out a hurricane in that house.

I also remember "Mato Face" . I actually knew "Mato Face" - he lived nearby and I’d see him outside in the yard. Over the years, my family has laughed itself silly hearing mom tell stories about "Mato face." It didn’t matter how many times we heard the story we’d laugh and laugh. We laughed so hard all Mom had to do is say "Mato Face, Mato Face" and we’d be rolling in tears of laughter. I don’t think any of us actually remember the whole story we just had to hear her say "Mato face" and we were gone.

It became impossible for Mom to keep us all together as there was very little if any help available. In the end, in order to provide for her family, Mom did perhaps the most difficult and loving thing a mother could do in those circumstances. She made a decision to place her children in other homes to be cared for. This is a decision that became a ghost in my mother’s closet that would haunt her for pretty much the rest of her life. It was that which pained her heart through the years.

My sister Lyndia went to live with my Grandmother Hayden in Springhill. There was a couple without children who begged my mother to allow them to adopt my brother Larry. What else was she to do? Here was an opportunity to give him the care she thought she never could. I was the baby and so I was to live with Mom.

Separating us kids, especially putting Larry up for adoption, was the hardest and most courageous thing my mother could do but as I said it would haunt her the rest of her life. We never really talked about it until more recent years but I knew this decision was always in the back of her mind, it never left her and I’m sure she felt the judgment of others who thought they knew better.

In 1955-56 my Mom and I left Springhill and moved to Saskatchewan with her sister, Aunt Eleanor and Uncle Ed and their family. We lived with them and they became my family. Mom worked in the Officers Mess on the Air Force base and in a local restaurant where she was one of the very first people to cook Kentucky Fried Chicken. I remember going there and sitting up on the stool at the counter like a big shot and my Mom bringing me some pop and food. Anything I wanted.

Mom and I would joyfully write letters to my sister and brother in Nova Scotia and I can remember with great excitement wrapping up Christmas presents and taking them to the Post Office to mail. At first we’d get letters back but I also remember my disappointment when we stopped receiving those letters from my brother. I can only imagine how Mom must have been feeling. Years later we learned that our letters and gifts never did make it to my brother. Through the years, Mom would trace his steps and follow his life and seek to make contact whenever she could but with no response and the ghost in her closet would continue to haunt her. She never stopped loving him, or us.

In spite of the hardship in her life and the lingering pain in her heart, my Mom was a tough old bird, she refused to be depressed, and her tenacity carried her through. My sister Lyndia and I are a lot like her in that way. Without ever saying a lot she taught us to work hard and face the hardships of life head on without a lot of whining. She had a good sense of humour and taught us to laugh. "Mato Face" "Mato Face".

I guess you would say we were the working poor. Mom always tried to provide by working at some job even if it wasn’t very high paying. We didn’t have much but we were warm, happy and fed. When I was about 10 yrs old we lived in a little 2 room house in the Landladies backyard. We had a trap door in the floor to put the milk and eggs, an outhouse out back and Mom had an old record player and one 45rpm record of Kitty Wells or Patsy Cline or some country singer and we’d listen to one song over and over and over and over again. I’m sure she must have worried at times where we’d get our next meal but there was always something and on Sundays our Landlord who was a Chinese Cook would invite us up for supper. What a treat and Mom would sit around for hours playing cards, smoking cigarettes and drinking tea and probably a few beer.

Eventually my Uncle Ed was stationed in Toronto and we all moved there. Mom met an old Springhill friend name Al Dunphy whom she married in 1961. Al and I never really got along but he and Mom built a good life together. They were just hardworking working class people. This stability opened up an opportunity that I am sure absolutely thrilled my mother. When I was about 12 or 13 my sister Lyndia came to live with us in Toronto. In some ways she was a stranger to me because we had never lived together since we were very young. I soon learned that my sister could be a pest sending me to the store for her several times an evening. When I’d say no, she’d go to Mom and coax Mom to make me go. Sometimes Mom would make me go and sometimes she say "Lyndia, he’s already gone for you twice already. Leave him alone." I think she favoured Lyndia a little bit in those days simply because she was so delighted to have at least two of us together again. (Said jokingly).

Mom and Al never owned a car but eventually bought a house in Toronto. They worked hard, paid their bills and never went in debt. They saved up and paid cash for everything. They never had much, but they were good honest people. Mom always wished she had something to leave us all. Back in about 1972 on a trip to the Maritimes from Ontario, I bought this plastic lobster for Mom. (Hold up lobster). Its been in the family for 40 years. You might say it’s a family Heirloom. For years we’ve joked with Mom about who was going to get the Lester the Lobster when she’s gone. We all heard how families fight over things and who’s going to get what when their loved ones pass away so we decided this is it. I lost, and I"m stuck with Lester the Lobster.(My grand niece Evie says his name is "Snappy").

Eventually my sister Lyndia got married and had two children - Tracy and Nat. My Mom took great joy in her granddaughters and eventually her grandchildren right up to the day she died. The same is true when I got married and had children, Heidi, Amy, and Tim. For a time Mom lived with us in the Moncton area and then moved to the Saint John area closer to Lyndia. I have to say my sister and my two nieces were wonderful to my Mom. They loved her and cared for her and included her in so many things they did.

Mom was a forgiving, caring person. She never held a grudge. This was displayed so powerfully when after being divorced from my father for many years, she returned to Springhill to care for his mother, my Grandmother Hayden in her dying days. Mom was a walking encyclopaedia of family information. She knew everybody’s birthday and anniversary and important dates. She faithfully sent cards and letters to family and friends year after year after year. Just a few weeks ago while in the Hospice, she wrote a series of letters to friends and family, including me. They loved her at Bobby’s Hospice, (a fantastic palliative care facility in Saint John, New Brunswick) they thought she was a real sweetheart who never complained and had a quick wit and sense of humour that brightened their day. Her only complaint was she couldn’t get up to walk and would say she wanted to go dancing.

Mom lived a good and happy life, but you will never understand her, if you don’t understand the Ghost in Her Closet. The one that haunted her all her life. It left deep scares that took a lifetime to heal. She longed for the day when she would have all three of her children together. Her soul longed for release from the guilt and the pain she felt for the decision she made some 59 years ago.

Early in my life, at the age of 12 I came to know Jesus Christ as my personal Saviour and Lord. Mom never took me to church but I know she was proud of the fact that I went and certainly was proud when I became a Pastor. My sister Lyndia also became a born again Christian. Over the years our greatest desire was to see our Mom also come to know forgiveness and eternal life through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. We longed for her to know His love and acceptance regardless of what ghosts were in her closet. Without being pushy, from time to time we would speak to her about receiving Christ as her Saviour and she would say something like "When I can live the life, I’ll do it." I know that deep down inside she wondered if God could ever accept her, if that ghost could ever be cleared from her closet.

Every Sunday Mom would watch Jerry Falwell on TV and Billy Graham whenever he was on. She was faithful. About 4 years ago she was watching Billy Graham and when he gave the invitation to receive Jesus Christ, my Mom prayed and trusted Jesus to forgive her sins and to be her Saviour. Of course for a long time she was too proud to tell us but she eventually told my sister. The change was slow at first, and frankly I wondered if Mom truly understood what Christ had done for her.

But there was a miracle taking place deep in her heart, slowly but surely as she read her Bible each night the light began to shine into that closet, exposing that Ghost as the fraud that it was and lifting the guilt. I am not aware of all the details, but I understand that a conversation with Pastor Barry Todd not too long ago caused the light of God’s truth to shine full blaze into my mothers soul and my Mom finally dealt with that Ghost in her closet that had haunted and pained her for some 59 years. It was gone and the glorious light of Jesus Christ brought to her the peace, forgiveness and acceptance that had so long eluded her.

My sister and nieces who cared for her so lovingly over these last months tell me that they have never seen her more peaceful, more content and more alive. Jesus Christ came into my mothers life and the Ghost in the Closet had to leave.

Pastor Barry asked Mom recently, "Edith, what are you going to say to Jesus when you see Him."

Her response was simple, powerful, and refreshing. "Jesus I Love You."

We’re going to really miss you Mom. Your Grand Kids and your great Grand Kids are going to really miss you. But we are so thankful that by the grace of God you have been set free from the ghost in your closet and that today you’ve gone dancing with the angels.


What are the Ghosts in your closet? In the words of Betsy Ten Boom, "There is no pit so deep, that the love of God is not deeper still." He is gracious and He is patient and He is lovingly pursuing you to deliver you from the Ghosts in your closet, to bring you forgiveness and a life of peace and joy so that one day, you too, may dance with the angels.