The definition of ultimatum is a final statement of terms, demands or conditions, if rejected, leads to a breaking off of negotiations and the results is a show of force. The definition of alternatives is, being offered choices between two or more options. In turn, you reap the consequences of the choices you have made. This is made by your own free will and no one else’s.

The reason I am writing this newsletter is in a response that I had with a person who has been reading our material. He felt like the content of our letters made him feel that, the word of God and how I was using it was from a standpoint that, if you don’t submit to God, He would use force on us to obey what He said in scripture. In other words, God gives us ultimatums like, shape up or ship out. The responses and comments that I get from feedback, I take very seriously. I personally do not have a problem with people trying to get into my head. I welcome the debate if necessary, as I have said this is what committed life is all about, interacting with each other.

On our web site, I have a newsletter called law vs. grace. I point out that many within the body of Christ interpret scripture through the spirit of laws meaning, God says measure up and obey what I say or I am going to knock the stuffing out of you. I find that too many born again believers within the Christian community are sitting in churches Sunday after Sunday under teaching that say, unless you start measuring up God isn’t going to tolerate us and He’s going to allow some catastrophe to befall you by His hand. This type of preaching is the most destructive abuse a preacher or teacher of the word can put on the body of Christ. It destroys and stops the people to open up their hearts and trust God to heal them of all the crud and abuse many of us have been brought up with and are still experiencing in our lives. In essence, there is no mercy and grace in the message. This type of understanding can become so inbred in our souls that the Devil uses it to cloud our minds and cause us to not receive and bask in the love of the Lord.

Ephesians 4:15 says, “We should speak the truth in love, so we can grow up in Christ and be totally submitted to Him because; He is the head of the body.” 1Cor.13: 1-3 says, “If I speak in the tongues of men and even angels, but have not love [that reasoning, intentional, spiritual devotion such as inspired by God’s love for me,] I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers that is, the gift of interpreting the divine will and purposes and understand all the secret truth and mysteries, and possess all knowledge and if I can remove mountains, but have not love (God’s love in me) I am nothing and a useless nobody. If I give out all that I have to the poor in providing food and if I am doing works in my own self righteousness in order that I can get praise from people and do not have a broken and humble heart with God’s love in me. I am nothing.”

This is a strong statement being said here. To have all this ability and showy talent and gifts but not be loving and not have a real God love for ourselves and other people means that, God is not impressed and calls us a nobody and useless. Let me point out the grievousness of this condition. In essence what we have here are children with a large vocabulary of the word of God and puffing them self up with knowledge and having no fellow feelings with the infirmities of others, including themselves.

In the book of revelations chapter 16 it talks about the great city of Babylon, if you understand that Babylon is considered as a corrupt spirit against God. The word great city in the Greek translation is methistano: meaning carried away or seduced. This reference goes directly to the love chapter in 1Cor 13:2 and as we just noted this verse says that, if we do not function in love we are a nobody. Babylon represents a spirit that was led away by deception from experiencing the love of the Lord. They were seduced to rise up in their own strength and power and try to attain some semblance of recognition and might on their own. Let me get right to the point. I hope we are all observing what has been going on in the world right now. The United States under our president with agreement from congress has decided to invade Iraq to deliver the iraqian people of a tyrant or what I believe to be a Babylonian spirit of a lack of love, and a spirit of murder that this leader has inflicted on these people that he has ruled. How much more real can God make it for us, so we can actually see human nature in its most grotesque form being unfolded before our very eyes? This is a hard and scaring revelation to think that there is a Babylonian spirit that is at work within the born again Christian community of some of today’s churches. In Matthew10:28 Jesus tells us “not to worry so much about those who can kill our bodies, but those that can kill our body and souls.” When are we going to get to understand that God is not in the revenge business with His children in any form?

When we take a close look at ultimatums vs. alternatives we have to take note what type of spirit is driving these to words. In 1John 4:16 it tells us that God is love. Only a love without any strings attached would step out of heaven and die on a cross for our rebellion and spiritually un-renewed self. My reasoning tells me that if a person goes that far, He doesn’t change His mind and give up on the people for which He died. Jesus is never ending in His endeavor to save us from ourselves. Common sense tells you this.

“Love never is envious nor boils over with jealousy;” Have you ever had the experience of doing something that was very hurting and an offense to God. You weren’t aware of it, and were just going about your merry way prospering and finding out much later when God got your attention that, you had to go back and apologies. Moreover, you came to recognize that God didn’t jump all over your case when you first offended Him. I believe we will experience these things so God can show us through example that, even though we offend Him he doesn’t become unforgiving over us not feeling remorse at first and us just going about our merry way playing in our playpens. In turn, I know we can relate a little more easily when someone offends us and doesn’t say there sorry but, goes their merry way and it seems like there prospering in every thing they do. It’s then that we get tempted to give into this spirit of getting even when you think, I am here hurting and they’re just having a good old time.

“Love is never boastful or vainglorious, does not display itself haughtily. It is not conceited with pride, it is not rude or unmannerly, and does not act unbecomingly. God’s love does not insist on its own rights or is not self seeking;” In plan language love never brags on its accomplishments and struts like a peacock. It never tries to take credit for the things it has done and it is never arrogant and cruel. The problem with living under ultimatums is, it never gives you time to think things out. Ever had a conversation with anybody just sharing yourself or wanting some feed back and before you get done explaining yourself your getting feedback and the one your talking to begins to push their believing system on you. I don’t believe that the majority of Christians today realize that God is not in the advice giving business. God wants us to start using our own minds and reasoning power to decide on His will without timetables and compelling us by force.

This is what a relationship with the Holy Spirit is all about. It’s a communication of thoughts, words, attitudes and motives between two people and is as real as talking to a healthy person in the physical senses. The greatest feeling in the world is allowing the Holy Spirit to inform us through His patient reasoning influence, of some addiction or bondage that the Devil has inflicted on us through our ignorance. Now unless we start encountering this type of relationship with the Lord, we will never be able to assemble in His name and minister to each other with tender care and anointed wisdom.“Love does not become touchy or fretful or resentful; it takes no account of the evil done to it and pays no attention to a suffered wrong.” Have you ever done anything financially or just put your self out to help somebody that you believed had a real need, only to find out they squandered the money on drugs and ended up talking about you behind your back. Have you ever tried to have relationships and share you God given dreams and hopes with someone only to find out you caste you words of wisdom and the hopes God gave you for your future, and they were treated with complete indifference with the people you shared them with. These kinds of hurts can cut very deep in the hearts and souls of God’s people. God’s love doesn’t function like this in any shape or form. Its obvious to me we all have offended God and tested His resolve to love us by taking no account of what we were guilty of doing to Him. Let me repeat. How are we supposed to love others who have inflicted these types of wounds on us unless, we have learned through practical experience of God’s love for us, when we did these things to Him. It’s like the dominos effect. Us growing up in the Lord is a love learning business and nothing more.

As I am sitting here, writing, that inner voice of the Holy Spirit is telling me that this kind of love is something to be discovered and sought after with all the grit and gusto one can muster. There is a quality of life in this experience that my mind cannot understand. If I am going to believe the best of everybody, I am going to have to live without a judgmental attitude. In turn, I’m going to have to learn how to forgive. Why? I’m going to be hurt in the process. It goes on to say that this love doesn’t weaken. Well let’s get real, I get weak at times and have to run to the Lord to get my daily nourishment of His love to handle my encounters with people who do not walk in perfection. I haven’t run into any perfect people. I’m hoping to run into a lot more hungry people searching after God’s perfect will in their lives.

If you and I really believe that the word of God is our final authority, do you know anybody including us who have really learned how to love like this? Think about this for a few thousands years, what kind of love is this? Why do I say a thousand years? Because God’s kind of love is eternal and we need to receive it continually, just like we breathe. I have heard hundreds of messages over these many years on love, only to come to the conclusion that for me to really possess and love others this way, I have to get to the point of allowing God to love me and experience it for my self.

1John 4:18 says, “ there is no anxiety or fear of danger in love, but full growing love turns our fears out of doors and expels every trace of terror. For fear brings with it the thoughts of punishment and he who lives in this kind of fear has not come to the full maturity of love and is not yet totally perfect. We can only love God because we are learning to allow Him to love us.” It is important to remind ourselves that God is not looking for perfection, but for us to be constantly pliable in His hands and allow Him to invade our hearts and mind to change our thinking to be like His. I am convinced that as people learn to daily walk in this type of relationship with the Lord, His keeping power of love makes us confident and focused on what walking in the Spirit is all about. If born again believers are walking in disobedience and we know that many of them are its because, they are not experiencing the love of God in their lives. You are the biggest fool that ever walked the planet of you don’t want to be loved like this. It becomes complete insanity to live away from God’s goodness and grace.

These contingencies create barriers that once they are broken by us on purpose or unintentional, it causes consequences that create influences upon our hearts and if we respond with brokenness, it will always lead us back to Him. It was His plan of chastising and the scolding of us that shows us the great love that He has for us His children. We all have a weakened human nature and because of this, we have a tendency to at times to veer from absorbing His love and grace. Our responses cause the consequences and measures that God preordained and had to take to save us from ourselves and complete destruction. We have to understand that God created a hedge and safety net to protect us from ourselves and our ignorance of His ways.

When we violate this preordained system, God tries to run to our aid if we will allow Him to. It is God’s intention to have us respond to Him because of His goodness and grace. If we decide to live by a system of us measuring up to get His attention and earn His favor, or deciding our ways of reasoning are better than His then, He uses the world system to get our attention and the consequences we reap bring us to the end of ourselves. If we really understand this, who in their right mind would want to live in a life of strife and confusion like this and not respond to His goodness and grace. The problem is I don’t believe many of us understand the process going on, because we are ignorant of God’s ways and the real love He has for us. Oh, we have heard it preached maybe for years but I don’t believe we are experiencing it with enough power to want to change our life styles and stop living in disobedience and missing God’s best.

When we don’t grow up to understand that we are loved by God as sons and daughters and are still thinking that God has something against us because we are some kind of slaves at His commands, we cannot grow up to be kings and priest in His kingdom to rule and reign along side with Him. You have to become a son and daughter interacting with Him, before we can become a king and priest. We are forever children not recognizing our inheritance from God because, we have no concept or experience of how God our loving Father is supposed to be interacting with us.