SEVEN: Supernatural - You Were Made For More (Nov/Dec 2019) - Issue 69

SEVEN

MEN / GOD / LIFE NOV / DEC 2019 / ISSUE 69 NEWSSTAND PRICE CDN $4.95

EXTRATERRESTRIALS

ALIENS AND THE BIBLE

DISCERNING FANTASY AND REALITY

PREPARING YOUR CHILDREN TO NAVIGATE MEDIA

SUPERNATURAL YOU WERE MADE FOR MORE

FEATURE

EDIA AELSTR 2 SEVEN JULY / AUGUST 2019

ROM

YOUR PARENTING PERSPECTIVE MATTERS

BY BRAD HUEBERT

NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2019 SEVEN 3

WE’RE NOT TRYING TO PREVENT OUR KIDS FROM BEING CHANGED

BY THE WORLD, WE’RE PREPARING OUR KIDS TO CHANGE THE WORLD IN JESUS’ NAME.

4 SEVEN SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2019

etflix, my friends, is an unsettling mirror.

Open the App. Like, right now. Take a leisurely scroll down the virtual buffet of TV shows and movies strategically curated to engage the majority of their customers… including you.

Seeing any patterns? Do they trouble you?

Now think of your innocent young son or daughter swiping into this stuff on their iPad. In their room. Alone. See their eyes widening, their pulse quickening, their hearts darkening. And that’s just Netflix.

Today’s media serves up such a pervasive hot mess of mythological, occult, sexual, and New Age psychobabble that we as parents can never truly say to our children, “When I was your age…” because as Chuck Beckler once said, “We were never their age.”

I grew up with the Smurfs and MacGyver.

Now we’re dealing with Riverdale, Sabrina, Lucifer, Supernatural, Ghost Hunters, American Gods, Black Mirror, and Haunted — never mind the countless ‘safer’ programs laced with subtler anti-Christian forms of spirituality.

How should Christian parents navigate this minefield? Not with fear, that’s for sure.

Fear often becomes a futile quest to preserve our children’s innocence by creating a Christian bubble for them to grow up in.

This is what I call a protectionist mindset.

The problem is, we can’t actually protect our kids from evil—at least, not forever.

Evil is really good at enticing our children’s God-given curiosity, and we can’t always be there to keep them from sneaking a peek into Pandora’s Box when we’re not looking.

When my kids were younger, we tried to draw healthy boundaries around what kinds of movies they watched. During the ‘sleepover stage,’ when they spent Friday nights binging Root Beer and Cheesies in front of their friends’ flickering widescreens, the rule was simple: “If you haven’t seen the movie your friends want to watch, call us to ask.”

Which is all fine and good, but kids don’t always listen. One night our son Noah,

probably eight or nine at the time, decided to watch Brothers Grimm (a horroresque popcorn flick inspired by Grimm’s fairy tales) at a sleepover without asking for permission.

The following night as I tucked him in, he didn’t want me to leave. Eyes bugging out of his skull, he confessed his transgression with tears and manic pleading for prayer. I remember thinking with a smirk, “That’ll teach him,” — and then prayed half-heartedly for him to feel better.

All this reminds me of a fantastic scene in a latenineties sci-fi flick called Soldier. The iconic Kurt Russel plays a genetically modified marine stranded with a colony of peaceful wayfarers on a wind-ravaged mining planet. Russel’s decommissioned man of blood and metal is ‘adopted’ by one of the families and their tender little boy in particular.

At one point, a viperous snake slithers into the family living quarters. Instead of killing the snake himself, the Soldier shows the little boy how to vanquish the deadly intruder using a boot as a blunt-force weapon. The child’s parents are horrified and furious that he would expose their son to such danger at an early age. Later in the story, however, another serpent slithers towards mom and dad as they sleep. Now empowered to handle this poisonous enemy, the little guy crushes the snake’s head with the boot and saves his incredulous parents’ lives.

Protecting our kids is a significant part of our parenting role early on, but this can never become our ultimate goal.

As believers in Jesus, we’re trying to raise hope-hearted, faith-filled, love-gushing, world-changing sons and daughters of God. We want our children’s identities to grow from Jesus and who they are in him, not from the sin and evil they’ve been taught to avoid and fear. We’re not trying to prevent our kids from being changed by the world, we’re preparing our kids to change the world in Jesus’ name.

What this means is that over time, our parental protection should be replaced by their personal empowerment. As Hebrews 5:12-14 says, “Though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food… But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.”

The best way to protect our kids from evil is to ditch our protectionist mindset for an empowerment mindset that teaches them to discern evil and overcome it. They’ll never mature in their faith until they can do this for themselves.

Here are four ways an empowerment mindset can inform our parenting.

PROGRESSIVE EDUCATION We’re obviously not going to sit a four-year-old down and say, “Look kid, demons are everywhere, all around us in

the shadows, and they want to kill us by coming through the TV. But trust God and you’ll be okay. Good night and good luck.”

With toddlers, you might start by establishing, “God is here with us. He’s big and good and he protects us.”

As children grow older, they inevitably experience the dark side of life. So we say, “There are bad and dangerous things in the world, but God is way bigger than they are and we can trust him to help us as our loving Father.”

When they’re old enough to be curious or fearful about evil, we might teach them, “The devil is real, but God is so powerful that after Jesus died for our sins, he defeated death and satan by rising from the dead. Now Jesus is always with us and gives us power and comfort no matter what happens.”

And eventually, the whole enchilada: “The devil is at war with you and is trying to take you out. But good news! Jesus has overcome satan through his death and resurrection.

Now you need to take your place in Christ and learn to exercise his authority over the devil, resisting the evil one’s schemes and helping others find freedom and victory.”

Remember: The goal is empowerment, not protection.

PRACTICING DISCERNMENT Jesus shared this parable to help us understand the reality we live in: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.

“The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’ ‘An enemy did this,’ he replied. The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’ ‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’” (Matthew 13:24-30).

The world, Jesus explains, is a mixed bag. God is at work and so is the enemy. Where God plants seeds, the enemy plants weeds (and vice versa). This means — chew on this one for a while — that nothing humans produce this side of heaven is purely good or purely evil. There are weeds among the wheat, and there is often wheat among the weeds.

Servants of God, Jesus says, tend to get so focused on the weeds (the evil) that they forget about the wheat (the good). He also says we can’t fix the mix on this side

NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2019 SEVEN 5

THE GOAL IS EMPOWERMENT, NOT PROTECTION.

of heaven. So what can we do? “Hate what is evil; cling to what is good” (Romans 12:9). As we’re sifting our way through life, “whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable — if anything is excellent or praiseworthy — think about such things” (Philippians 4:8).

Sometimes a TV show or movie is so corrupt that it’s not worth sifting through. I’ve shut offending movies off in the middle of family movie night more than once. A protectionist mindset is more extreme, making sweeping verdicts about anything that’s not squeaky clean. It doesn’t do the hard work of authentic discernment, which finds the gold buried in the dirt and teaches other people to do the same.

TESTING THE FRUIT The personal dimension of discernment is somewhat subjective, but powerful nonetheless. Colossians 3:14 says, “Let the perfect peace of Christ rule in your hearts.” The peace of Christ is the standard we’re supposed to use to discern our interaction with the world because it describes the normal state of a believer filled with the love of Jesus.

The perfect peace of Christ is also a powerful parenting tool. Your kids might say, “There’s nothing wrong with this show, dad. Everyone is watching it.” And we can reply, “How does it make you feel? What is it doing to your heart?

Is it producing peace?”

All three of my kids have felt the Holy Spirit’s peace after God freed them of guilt, shame, or fear. When our children experience His peace for themselves, they’re better equipped to discern when something is coming from the wrong spirit by noting the effect it’s having on them.

When they’ve tasted Jesus’ perfect peace, they can learn to reject things and influences that disturb that peace or rob them of it, regardless of what other people think or choose.

TALKING TO JESUS The first time I watched the Lord of the Rings trilogy with my son, Noah, he experienced a vivid, demonically-

6 SEVEN NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2019

inspired nightmare. Gollum was leading a vast army of orcs to come and kill him and the imagery left him gutted by fear. The morning after, I showed Noah how to invite Jesus into his nightmare.

First, I had him close his eyes to recount the dream in detail, focusing on how the dream made him feel. When I could tell he was re-living it, I prayed out loud: “Lord Jesus, you see Noah there in his dream, with Gollum leading this scary army of orcs to kill him. He’s really afraid. But what would like Noah to know right now? Would you please reveal your truth to him about satan and these enemies?”

A few seconds later, a smile broke like a sunrise across Noah’s face and he opened his eyes.

“What happened?” I asked. “Did God show you something or speak to you?”

“Yeah,” he replied. “He said the devil is afraid of me because of Jesus.”

A protectionist mindset might think, “See? I never should have let him watch something that could give him nightmares.” An empowerment mindset says, “I’m glad that happened. Now he’s heard from God and knows more about his authority in Jesus.”

There is obviously a whole lot more we could say about parenting through an era of supernaturally laced media.

My wife and I have certainly made mistakes along the way and have a lot to learn. That said, my last thought is simply this: If you’ve adopted any part of a protectionist mindset, I encourage you to repent and ask the Holy Spirit to show you how to parent with an empowering mindset instead.

You’ll be glad you did.

/ BRAD HUEBERT is the happily married father of three children who won’t stop growing up. He lives in Calgary, Alberta where he planted Manifest Church to embody his passion to help everyone everywhere discover true life in Christ.

Save your seat and press into the full life at:

promisekeepers.ca *Locations may be subject to change

NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2019 SEVEN 7

PK PODIUM

HELP MY UNBELIEF

FEATURES

BELIEVING THE GOD OF THE SUPERNATURAL

02 Media Maelstrom

BY KIRK GILES

14 Supernatural Obsession 18 Extraterrestrials

D

id you go to Area 51 in Nevada this past September? Over the summer, there was a social media “joke” of gathering a group of people to storm Area 51 — the secretive US military base in Nevada, where many people believe aliens are being held. Millions of people responded to a Facebook post saying they would join together to raid the facility. When it was all said and done, only about several dozen actually showed up.

However, what this social media response revealed is the continuing fascination with the supernatural.

I have always had a difficult time believing any of it to be true. The very idea of things happening beyond what seems “natural” is difficult for me to comprehend. Yet, if we were honest, most of us are still interested in the supernatural. Movies, books, and everyday conversations remind us that we are a culture fascinated by what is “out there.”

My hope is our fascination for the supernatural opens us up to experiencing the God of the supernatural. Sometimes, in our North American mindset, we end up putting God in a box in terms of what He will do.

In some ways, this has been the human mindset since the beginning of time. The Israelites were stuck between the Red Sea and the Egyptians. Panic swept over the camp as they questioned how God could lead them to that impossible situation.

Then, the supernatural happens as God parts the sea. Over and over again, the Bible is filled with stories of a supernatural God meeting the needs of His people.

8 SEVEN NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2019

Do you believe God can do the supernatural today?

Over the last number of years, I have been reading stories of supernatural visions coming to people in countries around the world. In these visions, Jesus is explaining the Gospel to people, and they are placing their faith in Him. It’s incredible to hear.

But even when we hear these stories, there is still this part of us that wrestles with the question — “Was it really God who did that?”

I take encouragement from the story of a man who came to Jesus with a son who needed healing. He said to Jesus, “IF you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” Jesus challenged this man’s faith, and then the man said: “I believe, help my unbelief.”

The father had the belief that Jesus could help his unbelief. This is the kind of prayer I can relate to. I believe He is the God of the supernatural. But too many times, I don’t truly believe that I — or the people I love — will experience it.

The God who parted the Red Sea is the same God who is appearing as Jesus in visions to people around the world. He is also the same God who will show up in your circumstances in supernatural ways.

Lord, we believe – help our unbelief.

24 Spiritual Protection

COLUMNS 08 // PK Podium 28 // Sports Scene 30 // Out of My Depth 31 // Lives Worth Leading

DEPARTMENTS 10 // The Pulse 33 // Music Reviews 34 // Power Play

EDITORIAL Questions and comments regarding editorial can be sent to ssukkau@promisekeepers.ca, or mailed to Promise Keepers Canada at the address provided.

DESIGN DEVON WAGENAAR Devon J Andrew Design Inc. djadesign.ca PROMISE KEEPERS CANADA 210-3027 Harvester Road Burlington, ON L7N 3G7

/ KIRK GILES is the president of Promise Keepers Canada. However, his most important roles as a man are husband to Shannon and father to Carter, Joshua, Sydney and Samuel.

(905) 331-1830 info@promisekeepers.ca

Life Insurance for children today is a plan for their tomorrow.

Life insurance for children costs less than you might think.

Purchasing life insurance for your child may ensure they have coverage as an adult – regardless of how their health might change.

To protect the financial future of your child or grandchild, or to learn more, speak with your Financial Representative or call Member Services at 1.800.563.6237 today. faithlifefinancial.ca

Helping you be wise with money and live generously.

PROTECTING FINANCIAL FUTURES

•

LIVING CHRISTIAN VALUES

•

BUILDING A BETTER WORLD

THE PULSE

BITS / BLIPS / BEATS / BLURBS THE LATEST NEWS FROM PROMISE KEEPERS CANADA

BITS / BLIPS / BEATS / BLURBS

IMPACTING THE NEXT GENERATION

/ WE ALL WANT to see the next generation walking with Jesus. This is even more true when we think about our own children. In a world swamped with technology and social media it is often hard to engage our kids in something that will help them grow in their faith — let alone get their attention!

Mike Gordon is no stranger to this struggle. He regularly engages the next generation as a speaker on the national team of Youth for Christ. In fact, he has had over 2500 speaking engagements and become one of the most booked speakers in North America. Whether it’s at a church on Sunday morning, conferences, camps, music festivals, Bible Colleges, or TV; Mike is motivated by his love for Jesus, and his love for people as he uses his dynamic speaking experience and storytelling humour to connect with everyone.

After the pain of his parents’ separation, Mike was kicked out of his home at only 14. Check out our recent podcast interview with Mike to hear his story.

We are thrilled to have Mike leading a special youth breakout session at most Impact conferences this year. This is a fantastic opportunity to bring the young men you know to the conference and share some time together — unplugged. Whether you bring your son, nephew or another young man you know, they will be challenged and encouraged by spending time together and hearing Mike.

Who will you bring? >> Learn more at: promisekeepers.ca/impact

ONLINE SMALL GROUPS / OUR FIRST EVER online small group launched earlier this fall. Created to be a convenient way to connect with other men regardless of location, each week participants spend an hour in study and conversation with a Promise Keepers Canada facilitator and guest speaker. Each small group will focus on a topic relevant to the lives of men. >> Learn more at: promisekeepers.ca/small-groups

10 SEVEN NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2019

FROM KIRK'S BLOG WHAT IS A HEALTHY VIEW OF MASCULINITY? / “OUR CULTURE SEEMS to pose two extreme views of masculinity: either that you need to be a UFC, gun-slinging, lion tamer, or, the other extreme, that there are no psychological or sociological differences between men and women. How does a Christian respond to this and not fall into either trap and still uphold biblical masculinity?”

This is an accurate assessment of masculinity in our culture, but I think there are even more views people hold to. For example, have you noticed the number of television shows that portray men as lazy and ignorant? Pay attention to the number of movies where the female character is becoming the hero because the men just aren’t good enough. Also, toxic masculinity has produced an environment where many view most men as perverts and abusers.

How does a Christian respond to these views and still uphold biblical masculinity? >> Continue reading at: kirkgiles.com

THIS IS ME TV

SOCIAL CLUB MISFITS: DEALING WITH CHURCH HURT / GETTING KICKED OUT of his church, in front of the whole church, by someone he had looked up to, stung... Understandably, Marty was angry with God and gave up on the church when this happened. But his friends, the church community, and God didn’t give up on him.

Today Marty is one half of the Christian hip hop group, Social Club Misfits, and boldly proclaims the gospel to all who will listen.

This is a story for those of us who have been hurt by the church and why we shouldn’t give up. Even when it hurts. >> Watch this episode and others at: Thisismetv.com

NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2019 SEVEN 11

PODCASTS FIGHTING FORGIVENESS WITH MIKE GORDON

THE POSITIVE IMPACT OF CHRISTIAN FAITH ON MEN

/ IN HIS LAST year of high school, Mike gave his life to Christ on a mission trip in what was considered the most dangerous city in the world at that time. Years before that decision, his parents broke up, and he was kicked out of his house with a garbage bag when he was 14. He spent years walking the broad road until he was invited to a church event which is deeply connected to everything he does today in ministry.

Over the years, Mike has done everything from skydiving in Dubai, surfing in California, stand-up comedy at Yuks Yuks, mountain climbing in China, celebrating with the Stanley Cup, white water rafting in the Central American jungles, climbing the Monty Python Castle in Scotland, getting baptized in Israel, snorkeling in the ocean and being selected for Fear Factor Live in the US. Up next? Speaking at the Promise Keepers Canada National Conferences.

/ MEDIA TODAY OFTEN creates a false narrative around Christianity. The truth about the good Christians bring to society is downplayed, ignored or purposely distorted, especially for Christian men.

In this podcast, Dr. David Haskell shares scientific research showing Christian faith actually has a positive effect on men. They are more likely to treat women with respect, have higher satisfaction in their marriage and get more involved with their kids. Faith in Jesus makes them better husbands, fathers and citizens. He also touches on Christianity’s positive influence on society, and whether a political party should get involved with religion.

WHAT TO DO WHEN PAST SEXUAL ABUSE IS HURTING YOUR MARRIAGE

WHERE ARE YOU? RESPONDING TO GOD’S VOICE WITH JOHN VERMILYA / IN THIS EPISODE of the podcast, Kirk and Jeff chat about the importance of back-to-school time and offer advice for parents.

We also pulled up an uplifting session with John Vermilya from the 2016 Toronto Quest conference.

Through storytelling and humour, John talks about how fear plays a role in men’s lives and prevents them from following Jesus. He encourages men to quit hiding, stop covering their sin and start seeking Jesus. God is calling us to follow Him — “Where are you?” It is time to reply, “Here I am.”

/ IF YOUR WIFE was a victim of past sexual abuse, you know the damage and hurt it causes. With 1 in 4 girls experiencing some form of sexual abuse before they are 18 years old (US DOJ), there are a larger number of married couples dealing with haunted marriages.

Depression, anxiety, nightmares and substance abuse are just some of the consequences. Even more challenging is forming and maintaining healthy relationships.

In this podcast, Dr. Barbara Wilson offers hope. She talks about what your wife needs and how you can help with useful advice on how to help those victims to start their recovery journey.

>> Find these and other podcasts at: promisekeepers.ca/podcast 12 SEVEN NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2019

GREATER TOGETHER

D.L. Deeks Insurance and Evangelicals form a winning partnership.

Introducing the Group Auto & Property Insurance Program for members & adherents of an Evangelical Church in Canada.

Our goal is to be the industry leader in providing excellent, quality service and competitive home and car insurance rates to the Evangelical Community in Canada.

Call 1-855-633-1964 www.deeksinsurance.ca

D.L. Deeks Insurance Services Inc. (“Deeks Insurance”) is a licensed insurance intermediary. Auto and home insurance policies are primarily underwritten by Unifund Assurance Company (“Unifund”). Deeks Insurance and Unifund share common ownership.

Eligibility requirements, limitations, exclusions or additional costs may apply, and/or may vary by province. D.L Deeks Insurance Services Inc. and logo is a registered trademark of Deeks Insurance.

NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2019 SEVEN 13

FEATURE

R U T A N R E P U S

N O I S S E S OB Shazam!

The movie where a boy-turnedsuperhero battles against the spiritual beings that personify the seven deadly sins. Interesting concept. Don’t we all want to be the kid that fights and wins against darkness and evil?

The world of entertainment, whether books, videos, or games, is laden with supernatural themes and characters. We have the comic book heroes. We have the fantasy heroes. We have the sci-fi genre. Wait!

We even have the action movies where our favourite character does things on screen that are clearly not physically possible. Ten bad guys shooting machine guns miss while the hero, with a handgun, turns and pops each one off with a single shot. One of the Fast & Furious movies had a runway scene that was so long that the runway itself would have to be 42 km long! But we love the action, we love the suspense, and we love the rush!

14 SEVEN NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2019

RA L

YOU WERE MADE FOR MORE

BY MARC BRULÉ

WHY? WHY IS THERE SUCH AN INFATUATION WITH THE SUPERNATURAL IN OUR WORLD? Ecclesiastes 3:11 states, “…He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end.” (NLT) First, we are wired for the eternal.

We are wired for the spiritual. We are wired for the supernatural. God never intended for us to have lives restricted to just a natural system.

God walked with Adam in the garden. That connection was lost because of sin. Jesus restored that

connection. Now, as believers, God does not simply walk with us. He dwells within us by His Holy Spirit!

This is the connection we were made to have.

Second, I think people, Christians included, are bored. Life in the first century Church was not boring in any way! God was on the move, people’s lives were being transformed in masses. The Gospel was being preached and there was risk, danger, and thrill. It's far too easy for us as western world Christians to settle into a mundane spiritual life. We read our Bibles. We pray. We go to Church.

And we just do life. Were we not made for more than this? So we seek out the thrill by vicariously living through the heroes we watch, read about, or pretend to be in video games. We get our adrenaline rush there and tell ourselves we are satisfied.

The world and Christians alike go after these supernatural genres because we long for more. And so we should. We should long to see God moving through us in witnessing. We should long for God’s power to invade people’s lives and transform them.

We should long to see Jesus glorified in His Church and in the world.

NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2019 SEVEN 15

the dominion of darkness and the slavery of sin. He conquered death. He provided forgiveness and eternal life.

He gave us His Holy Spirit to empower us in life. The list goes on and on.

A Christian has a conversation with a friend and, while sharing his faith, tells a story of God doing something supernatural in his life. “My wife was sick with a fever. I prayed for her and within an hour the fever was gone and she had all her energy back! God healed her.” The look of skepticism is clear, followed by, “Cool. If that’s what you believe.”

WHY? WHY ARE PEOPLE ENAMOURED WITH THE SUPERNATURAL YET SKEPTICAL ABOUT JESUS AND HIS POWER TO CHANGE LIVES AND SITUATIONS? First, the supernatural is compartmentalized. Many people may enjoy supernaturally based movies, books, and games but they don’t actually believe in their reality. There is a conflicting internal desire and denial.

Desire because they're wired for the supernatural and in some way want it to be real. Denial because to believe it will change a person’s life and not just keep it as entertainment in one of life’s boxes.

Second, to acknowledge the power of Jesus has personal implications. If someone believes that Jesus is alive today and still does supernatural things he must also face the question of what Jesus wants to do in his life. It goes something like this, “If I believe

16 SEVEN NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2019

that Jesus is alive then I have to face the fact that He died and rose again for me. If that’s true then I have to face the fact that Jesus truly is Lord and now I'm faced with surrendering my life to Him. I don’t really want to do that. So if I deny the supernatural, I don’t have to deal with it.”

THE LORDSHIP OF JESUS IS THE REAL ISSUE. People can believe in angels. Many do.

However, there is no accountability, no lordship there. There is just spiritual activity.

People can believe in demonic forces. Many do. However, there is the belief that their own human will can keep them safe. It's just spiritual activity that they can engage in or avoid.

People can believe in new age concepts — reincarnation, yin/yang, chi, spiritual force and balance.

However, there is no accountability, no lordship there. They are just ways one can navigate their own spiritual path.

The world needs to know that Jesus is real. The Church needs to know the real Jesus. He is powerful. He is Lord of all. He is actively working in the lives of people today. He is more powerful than any and all the superheroes combined! He is the only real superhero. He rescued us from

THE NEXT TIME YOU READ A BOOK, WATCH A MOVIE, OR PLAY A GAME, COMPARE YOUR HERO TO JESUS. WHO COMES OUT ON TOP? Can these books, movies, and games be used as a reminder of our heart’s longing for a supernatural life? Maybe the next time you watch a movie with a friend you can tell him about the One who bested death. He might respond with skepticism at first. But perhaps God wants to show Himself to that person in a very real, supernatural way. Pray for him.

Pray for yourself. Get out of spiritual boredom. Present yourself as available for God’s power to work through. Ephesians 1:17-23 speaks of how God wants us to know and understand his power that is for us as believers — the power He used to raise Christ from the dead.

Maybe you are a Superhero sidekick! The Sam in Frodo’s world.

The Robin in Batman’s world. Part of the team. A Christ-ian.

/ MARC BRULÉ is the Lead Pastor at WellSpring Community Church in Welland, ON and has served as National Worship Leader for Promise Keepers for 11 years. He's married to Wendy (34 years) and together have three children (Amy, Jonathan, Adam).

Make Your Home Safe Today Filtering Set your house rules for which parts of the Internet your kids (and their guests) can visit. Then add exceptions for specific devices to restrict young kids or give older kids more freedom.

Protect your kids online with KidsWifi.

Monitoring Check on the sites your kids are visiting. Look at the whole network or specific devices. Do it from anywhere with Internet access using any browser.

Time Limits Limit screen time by pausing the Internet. Set bedtimes to prevent late-night browsing. All managed from your phone or any other Internet browser.

Connectivity Keeping your kids safe is as simple as connecting to a Wi-Fi network. Using any wireless device—from computers to tablets to game consoles—you can protect your kids (and their friends) simply by connecting them to your KidsWifi network.

Plug in and Protect. It’s that simple.

promisekeepers.ca/wifi

NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2019 SEVEN 17

FEATURE

EXTRATERRESTRI WOULD THE DISCOVERY OF ALIEN LIFE DISPROVE THE BIBLE?

BY SAMUEL SMITH

What would the discovery of intelligent alien mean for our theology?

B

ioLogos Foundation President Deborah Haarsma, the former chair of Calvin College’s physics and astronomy department, gave her thoughts at a recent BioLogos conference on tough hypothetical questions related to what the potential discovery of intelligent life on other planets would have on biblical claims and teachings.

The BioLogos Foundation is an advocacy group that exists to help bridge biblical faith with modern scientific theories, which many in today’s secular society believe must be at odds.

With a conference theme of “beyond conflict,” Haarsma outlined how the theology of incarnation wouldn’t be disproven if alien life were to be discovered on other planets.

While online commentators and atheists argue that the discovery of intelligent alien life would be the “end of organized religion," she shot down the notion that Christianity is “parochial” and something that is local with no cosmic significance.

18 SEVEN NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2019

Although the Bible is about events that took place on Earth, Haarsma points out that the Bible is even more narrow than that because it really focuses on Abraham and his descendants. In the New Testament, the Bible focuses on Jesus’ life and ministry.

She notes the New Testament primarily takes place in the Middle East. Even in Jesus’ journeys, Christ did not travel too far of a distance from where He was born.

Although the Bible is focused primarily on a certain geographical region, its message still applies to the entire Earth.

“God’s revelation was very particular for a particular culture and a particular place. But yet, the claims of Scripture are cosmic,” she says. “In Colossians 1 it says that ‘In Him, all things were created: things on Heaven, things on Earth, visible, invisible, thrones, powers, rulers, authorities.’ All those things were created through Him and for Him.” The biblical text from Colossians 1, Haarsma contends, suggests that claims of Christianity reach far beyond Earth and “inhabit the whole cosmos.” “[T]he Christ that was incarnate here on Earth was the same Christ of the whole universe,” she added. “Whether or not there are intelligent aliens, the Bible’s claims are cosmic in scope and [and can’t be] shoveled aside.”

Some might ask whether the discovery of alien life reduces the significance of the human race.

IALS “Whether or not there are intelligent beings, we are significant in God’s eyes,” Haarsma asserted. “How do we know? Well, the incarnation is a huge clue. God came and lived here as one of us. Christ died for us. He sent His spirit to live with [us]. These are the things that make us significant in God’s eyes [like] our relationship with Him.” But would the discovery of intelligent alien life alter views on Christ’s incarnation? Haarsma explains that such a question is one where many Christians disagree.

There are several theological possibilities, she points out.

One possibility is that Christ’s sacrifice on Earth redeemed the entire universe, while another possibility is that aliens might not need redemption because they might have made a different choice than humans when it comes to sin and the Fall.

Another option, she argues, was that God might have also been incarnated on alien planets to provide redemption in those worlds. The last possibility she mentioned is that aliens have their own way to God that is different from the paths humans have to God. Haarsma noted that this idea of God being incarnated on other planets was suggested in the final novel of C.S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia series.

“In Narnia, you have the idea of Aslan, God appearing in the form of a Lion in a different world,” she explains. “And by the time you get to the end of The Chronicles of Narnia in The Last Battle, you see him acknowledge that there are

many worlds all pointing to one God. But God incarnates in different ways.”

In Perelandra, part of Lewis’ The Space Trilogy, Haarsma notes that Lewis talks about how life that is born after the incarnation would still look like Christ. It is the notion that God’s incarnation on Earth has an effect on what intelligent life looks like elsewhere.

“I don’t know the right answer to this. There are multiple options here to consider,” she admits.

“So I don’t think this is a showstopper for Christianity.

It is something that we need to wrestle with. Christians have multiple views on how God can be related to aliens.

But we do know that Christ took on human form. So our understanding of the incarnation itself here on Earth is still robust.”

Despite the different possibilities, Haarsma asserts that God’s character will remain the same.

“It is the same character of love, the same desire to be sacrificial, the same desire to redeem people to Himself,” she stresses. “While Christians have multiple views on God related to aliens, we know that Christ died to redeem human sin.”

/ Story originally published on www.christianpost.com.

Reprinted with permission.

NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2019 SEVEN 19

20 SEVEN NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2019

NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2019 SEVEN 21

promisekeepers.ca

Save your seat and press into the full life at:

WHO WILL YOU BRING?

NATIONAL MEN'S CONFERENCES

22 SEVEN NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2019

Developing Christian Leaders Anyone. Anywhere. Anytime.

Pathways is a ‘distributed learning’ model, taking classroom courses out of the box and down the road to where you are.

Interactive, website based courses can be taken:

Individually Customized to fit around your life

As a Cluster With others from your community or ministry

At an RMC Site Take courses at a designated site

Certificate, diploma, or 4-year degree available via Pathways. Continuing education courses also available.

Discover a new pathway to learning and ministry!

Personal consultations are available at: www.rmcpathways.ca or enrolment@rockymountaincollege.ca or by calling 403.284.5100 ext. 222

Rocky Mountain College

NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2019 SEVEN 23

FEATURE

Spiritual

Protection WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU ENCOUNTER THE DEMONIC

BY JEFF STEARNS

M

ost of us have experienced moments when we encounter something that could be demonic. It might not be obvious — it might just be a very strong sense of fear or a feeling that something is there. Knowing beforehand how we will respond in these situations can help us be prepared when the time comes.

NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2019 SEVEN 25

sovereign remove fill barrier 26 SEVEN NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2019

When your kids call for you in the middle of the night, sometimes you wake up nicely, and sometimes you are like the walking dead. As six-yearold Renae called from her bedroom, I stumbled down the hallway using the walls to keep me upright. I was barely awake. My whole goal was to get her back to sleep so I could get back to sleep.

ME: “What’s wrong Renae?”

RENAE: “I don’t like him. He’s staring at me.”

ME: (Sigh) “Who’s staring at you?”

RENAE: “Lucifer.”

ME: (To say I’m wide awake now is an understatement.) “What? Who is…?

Where is he?”

RENAE: “In the corner. I don’t like him looking at me.”

I turned my head slowly to look at the corner behind me, hoping and praying there would be nothing there when I looked. Slowly a thought made its way into my groggy head.

ME: “Renae, do you mean Lucifer the cat from the movie Cinderella?”

RENAE: “Yeah, I don’t like the cat...”

Overwhelmed with relief, I prayed for Renae, reassured her the cartoon cat was gone, and stumbled back to my bed. Then I laid awake for the next hour waiting for my heart rate to return to normal and the adrenaline to drain from my system.

While that situation ended rather anticlimactically, I have been in other situations where a demonic presence was either suspected or obvious.

Many people question if belief in the demonic is just superstition, but the Bible doesn’t give this option. Satan is mentioned 54 times in Old Testament books and by every writer in the New Testament. In the 29 gospel passages that mention Satan, 25 of the times, Jesus is the speaker. If Jesus says he is real…

However, we must never forget, although Satan and demons are powerful, real, and our enemies, Jesus is greater. His death and resurrection have given him victory over evil. He lives in us, and nothing can overcome us or separate us from him.

“You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.” 1 John 4:4 “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:38-39 When we encounter the demonic, we need to place our trust in Jesus and let him stand as our shield. How do we do that? While whole books are written on spiritual warfare, one of the most simple and valuable things I have learned is a prayer to ask for God’s protection: “Dear Father, you are the creator and sustainer. You are sovereign over everything and have all power and authority. Lord, I ask that you bind and remove anything here that is not of you. Please fill this place with your Holy Spirit, your light. Please place your barrier of protection around us and keep us safe from the evil one. Amen.”

You can say the prayer in your own words - this is only a short example of the prayer. What is important are the four parts: 1. GOD IS SOVEREIGN. 2. REMOVE EVIL. 3. FILL WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT. 4. BARRIER OF PROTECTION.

GOD IS SOVEREIGN.

We start here by declaring and recognizing God’s authority and power to act. This is His world, and we are His people. God is all-powerful and all-

knowing. No one compares to Him. We are not coming against evil in our own power or name but in the name of Jesus, who has the victory. The enemy shudders at praise of our Heavenly Father.

REMOVE EVIL. Often it is hard to know what we are dealing with. It could be anything from actual demonic forces to something as benign as our nerves and imagination. “It doesn’t matter”, is still the right answer. Ask Jesus to remove anything that is not of Him. Satan is a bully we cannot handle on our own, but he is no match for the risen Christ!

FILL WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT. Once we have asked Jesus to clear away the evil, we do not want to leave that space vacant. We want to ask Jesus to fill the place with His Holy Spirit, His love, His light. Leave no room for darkness to return.

BARRIER OF PROTECTION. In the Psalms, David often talks about a hedge of protection. I have seen hedges and personally don’t find the idea of my enemy being held back by greenery to be comforting. I am not trying to be flippant, I just want something more substantial! So, I have switched to calling it a barrier. If David lived today would he ask for a force field? A wall? Barbed wire? I don’t know what the right modern equivalent is, let God work out what kind of barrier it is.

I have found this prayer to be helpful time and time again, from simple things like comforting children when they have had a nightmare, to encounters with the openly demonic. You can change the wording; this is not magic, but it is a prayer to our Heavenly Father. You can add more praise or be more specific in your prayer — make it your own. You don’t have to say it loudly; you can even pray it silently. It is a prayer asking God to intervene and take care of your bully.

We will have those moments in life when we encounter evil, and having a plan on how to respond can give us the confidence to stand in the power of Jesus. Four simple steps: sovereign, remove, fill and barrier. After you have prayed, continue to praise God. He deserves it, and the enemy hates it. Jesus has the victory!

/ JEFF STEARNS is the Communications Director for Promise Keepers Canada, where he has served since 2006. In January, he is transitioning to the role of Senior Pastor at Garrison Road church in Fort Erie.

NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2019 SEVEN 27

SPORTS SCENE

SIGHTS SET ON HEAVEN

RAMS STARS GROUNDED IN FAITH

BY CARTER BROOKS

S

ince moving back to Los Angeles from St. Louis in 2016, the Rams have found much success. Coming up one game shy of a Super Bowl championship in 2018-19, Los Angeles has built its consistency around a highly-talented offence and a strong faith base amongst its star players,

28 SEVEN NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2019

all the while relying on the game’s touchdowns, while adding 1,950 youngest Head Coach to call the right yards receiving and 10 touchdown play signals. receptions.

Leading the way for the offensive “God means everything. Without juggernaut Rams is play-caller Sean Him, none of this is possible,” Gurley McVay, Pro-Bowl running back Todd told Sports Spectrum in 2019. “Faith, Gurley, No. 1 wideout Brandin Cooks, family, football — I’m trying to keep up-and-coming slot receiver Cooper that philosophy… He’s just done so Kupp, and the always consistent much. He’s blessed me, that’s why I kicker Greg Zuerlein. The glue that am where I am, because He’s blessed keeps that five-man wrecking crew me so much my whole life.” thriving is the shared “What more can I belief in Jesus Christ. ask for?” he said prior "NO MATTER WHAT Not only do these to Super Bowl 53. “He’s THE NAYSAYERS men exemplify Christ given me everything I SAY, NO MATTER on the field, they wanted plus more. I’m openly do so off the super grateful for every WHAT ANYONE field, both in and out opportunity I get, and it’s TELLS ME, I KNOW of the public’s eye. just a blessing to be here.”

THAT MY IDENTITY From something as Brandin Cooks, 26, has seemingly simple as only been with the Rams IS IN CHRIST AND sharing a ‘Bible verse for two seasons, but he NOTHING CAN TAKE of the day’ Tweet with has certainly made an ME OFF OF THAT.” fans, to an interview impact on the team quoting a focus offensively. He hauled in passage in times of various injury a career-high 1,204 receiving yards, recoveries, to offering up praises while adding six touchdowns in his following a Super Bowl loss, these debut season in Los Angeles. Cooks men of God certainly do more than has over 5,500 yards and 33 NFL just talk the talk. touchdowns to his name.

Sean McVay was hired by Los Despite catching eight passes for Angeles in 2017 at the tender age of 30, 120 yards in the Rams’ Super Bowl making him the youngest Head Coach loss in early 2019, Cooks offered up in modern day NFL history. With the praises on his Twitter page, just hours Rams, McVay is 27-10, having won the after the defeat.

NFC West in both 2017 and 2018. He is “Lord, I love you beyond words!” the youngest person to ever win the Cooks Tweeted. “I hope someone NFL Coach of the Year award, and the was saved tonight through all youngest Head Coach to appear in a circumstances. May you shine bright Super Bowl game. through it all. For your honor, your McVay grew up in the Roman glory and your praise. Whatever you Catholic faith, where he spent are up to, God, I know it’s for your significant time working on his faith, glory!” while attending confirmation classes Kupp, 26, who has started just as a youth. He claims that his on19 career games, already has 143 field attitude and persona is greatly receptions, 1,940 yards and 15 influenced by his Catholic upbringing. touchdowns to his name. After Todd Gurley, 25, who went 10 th making his NFL debut in 2017, Kupp overall in 2015, has now suited up for suffered a season-ending ACL tear, the Rams for five seasons, picking up keeping the young receiver out of the 4,817 yards on the ground, 51 rushing lineup for LA’s run to the Super Bowl.

He bounced back tremendously with 505 receiving yards through the Rams’ first five games of 2019.

“Being able to every day find that joy in life that only comes from the Spirit, there is growth happening,” Kupp said in the 2019 Football Sunday intro video. “…knowing where your identity is and knowing that as much as I want to be a football player and I strive to be that, I’m so much more than that. This life is temporary but there’s such great things ahead. No matter what the naysayers say, no matter what anyone tells me, I know that my identity is in Christ and nothing can take me off of that.”

Zeurlein — or Legatron as he is commonly referred to — found his way onto the LA Rams as a late round draft pick in 2012, after growing up a soccer fan. The 31-year-old currently has over 750 individual NFL points to his name in kicking 177 field goals and 222 extra points in eight seasons of work.

Zuerlein holds the NFL record for most field goals per game in a single season, while holding the Rams’ longest field goal record (61 yards).

“Sometimes people think the highlevel of play can go to your head, but I think it can actually be a humbling situation,” Zuerlein told The Catholic Exchange. “The phrase that keeps me from getting carried away is: I will only be tolerated as long as it takes for the team to find my replacement. This helps me not to take myself seriously and keep things directed toward Heaven rather than earth.”

/ CARTER BROOKS is a news writer and sports columnist situated in Winnipeg, Manitoba. On top of reading and writing, coaching hockey is his favourite pastime. Carter can be reached at carterbrooks1994@gmail.com.

NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2019 SEVEN 29

OUT OF MY DEPTH

EVEN THE DEMONS KNOW

WHEN JESUS ACTS, THE SPIRITUAL REALM TREMBLES

BY PHIL WAGLER

I

attended a youth conference years ago where I was introduced to the demonic for the first time. A young adult came screaming from the side of the auditorium during a prayer time. His curdled voice disrupted the gathering and raised my eyebrows before a few large men dragged him away. I had never witnessed something like that before.

Recently a ministry colleague saw two people bow their heads in a restaurant before eating. Assuming them to be fellow believers he introduced himself. To his shock, they were Satanists! When he asked what they were praying, they said it was for the destruction of churches and ministry leaders in the area.

Do you believe in the spiritual realm?

How you answer that may depend on the culture that formed you. I was raised in a rural, Protestant Christian culture. That could explain why that youth conference was so paradigmshaking for me.

What it revealed was what we see isn’t the whole story; what happens in the spiritual realm impacts what we see in the natural realm.

And the Gospel of Mark reveals that the spiritual realm knows Jesus!

In Mark 1 Jesus steps into view with authoritative teaching in Capernaum.

People are amazed, but they don’t yet grasp his full glory. The demons, however, are very aware. A man with an unclean spirit cries out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy

30 SEVEN NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2019

us? I know who you are — the Holy creation-despising, God-defying One of God” (Mark 1:24). Jesus quickly purposes. The demons are many, a quiets the demons and frees the man Legion, and they have contextualized they have imprisoned. themselves into a geography for A few chapters later Jesus they speak what is understood — not and his disciples cross the Sea of fantastical language — and reveal Galilee. This is the they are working a place first adventure of Jesus THE SPIRITUAL where people live, work, and his disciples into play and call home.

REALM KNOWS Gentile territory. And, The demons, however, just as when Jesus was cower before the One! EXACTLY WHO revealed to his native The confluence of evil is HE IS; IT’S Jewish culture — the first reduced to begging and to recognize him is the HUMANS THAT the battle isn’t even fair. demons. The spiritual Jesus is the power! They ARE ONLY NOW may be named Legion, but realm knows exactly who he is; it’s humans there is no other name COMING TO that are only now coming under heaven by which KNOW HIM. to know him. people can be set free A crazy, troubled and made whole. This is man — so out of control that his own precisely what the demons know. people can’t handle him — lived The Gospels reveal a profound among the tombs. He was brash and thought: when Jesus enters a location a self-harmer. He sees Jesus and to redeem people and set up His runs, not to attack, but to fall on his Kingdom, it's the demons who know knees. He rages, “What do you want it’s coming first. What might the with me, Jesus Son of the Most High spiritual realm know about where God? In God’s name don’t torture you call home that you are not paying me” (Mark 5:6-7). The demons invoke attention to? If Jesus is on the move, God’s name to avoid God’s judgement! the spiritual realm is shaking. This They realize — just as the demons did is mysterious, it may mess with your in Mark 1:24 — that a cosmic shaking paradigms, but that doesn’t mean it was taking place. isn’t as true now as it was then.

Jesus is on a mission of liberty and deliverance. Everyone else saw this bloke as a problem, but Jesus saw one bearing the image of God. Jesus / PHIL WAGLER is lead pastor of is for the man and he confronts the Kelowna Gospel Fellowship Church, hellish horde that is not for him. The BC. He also serves the Peace and man had become evil’s tool for their Reconciliation Network of the World own fear-inducing, identity-twisting, Evangelical Alliance.

LIVES WORTH LEADING

PLUG INTO THE SUPERNATURAL

WHO NEEDS IRON MAN WHEN YOU GOT JESUS?

BY COLIN MCCARTNEY

O

ur society is obsessed with the supernatural. All one has to do is a quick review of box office successes and you will notice a long listing of Marvel movies or fantasy type adventures like the “Star Wars” or “Lord Of The Rings” series, etc.

These are clear indicators that our culture is longing and thirsting for the supernatural in their lives. I believe this is a normal hunger placed in the soul of every person. Blaise Pascal describes this as such; “What else does this craving, and this helplessness, proclaim but that there was once in a man a true happiness, of which all that now remains is the empty print and trace? This he tries in vain to fill with everything around him, seeking in things that are not there the help he cannot find in those that are, though none can help, since this infinite abyss can be filled only with an infinite and immutable object, in other words by God himself.”

A few years ago, I went through the hardest time of my life that could rival any Hollywood blockbuster. I suffered the murder of a young man who served with us in our urban ministry followed by the death of a child from our neighbourhood where we serve.

In between these horrible events I had to deal with the suicide attempt of a family member and the death of my beloved dog. All of this took place within a span of three months.

Needless to say, it took a toll on my well being. In order to get my life

THEY POINT TO together I was allowed a the government allowed three-month sabbatical helicopter evacuations for SOMETHING FAR to recover. I pulled my emergency purposes.

BIGGER — GOD’S children out of school, When I got the results SUPERNATURAL packed our bags and left from my X-ray, I was told Toronto in search of the the damage to my neck PRESENCE IN supernatural power of showed that the wave OUR LIVES! God I sorely needed to get pummelled me straight through these soul-draining tragedies. down onto the ocean floor in a perfect Only two days into our trip the 90% angle thus limiting the break. The sabbatical would come to a horrible doctors were amazed as they said that end in a water accident that left me if my body had been at any other angle paralyzed from the neck down. At my neck would have snapped off. I was this point in my story you’re probably told I’d never walk normal again and thinking to yourself; “What does all this would not have the use of my hands. have to do with the supernatural?”

Yet, as the weeks passed in my Great question and here is my answer. recovery my therapists called me the All throughout these tragedies God walking miracle and today, I’m pretty was with me each step of the way. I felt well healed. All of these so-called his presence as we grieved the tragic coincidences cannot be luck. They deaths of our friends while comforting point to something far bigger — God’s their distraught families. It was a tough supernatural presence in our lives! path to walk but we felt Christ’s tears This is the greatest supernatural mix with ours and felt the reality of reality I encountered in everything I God’s love all around us. We knew that went through — God is with us right our beloved friends were with Jesus. here and right now. All you need to do When I was drowning in the ocean is plug into his supernatural presence. unable to move due to paralysis, I After all, who needs Iron Man when experienced God’s presence with me you got Jesus! under those turbulent waves. When I was rescued from the roaring waters and gently placed on the sandy beach, I discovered that my rescuer was an / COLIN MCCARTNEY is an ordained emergency room doctor who specialized minister, speaker, and a bestselling in surf injuries. He just happened to be author. He is also the founder of on vacation at the very beach where I UrbanPromise Toronto and now leads was paralyzed. When I was air vac’d Connect Ministries in Toronto where he, by helicopter to the hospital, I later his wife Judith, and their two children discovered I was the first one ever air reside. For information in booking Colin vac’d from that side of the island as as a speaker, please visit just two weeks before my accident connectministries.org.

NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2019 SEVEN 31

NO MAN IS AN ISLAND

AN UNTAMED GOD

LEARNING TO ACCEPT THE SUPERNATURAL

BY NEIL JOSEPHSON

I

have believed in God as long as I can remember. I was blessed to be raised in a home where Christian faith wasn’t just talked about, it was lived consistently and honestly. That made it easier for me to have faith. I believed not only that God loved me and Jesus died for me, I believed that God did everything the Bible said and more.

My belief in the transcendent, supernatural God was complete and unambiguous. I had the simple, humble faith of a child, the kind Jesus said was the greatest in the kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 18).

And then I grew older. With the growth of abstract reasoning and exposure to new thoughts and relationships, I began to ask questions… lots of them.

Some were pointless like “If God can do anything, can he make a rock so heavy he can’t lift it? Can God make a square circle?”

I came to see pretty quickly that these are just word games, artificially created paradoxes that have nothing to do with real faith. But there were more profound questions to come, questions like “If God is all-good, and all-powerful why is there evil and suffering in the world?

How could Jesus be both fully God and fully human? How does prayer work?”

I have spent my adult Christian life seeking to answer questions like these, studying philosophy and apologetics, completing two seminary degrees in the process. I have invested the largest chunk of my vocational career

32 SEVEN NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2019

to helping others think through faith questions, teaching at a Bible college for 20 years and with FamilyLife Canada for 10.

And here’s what I have concluded:

God is not only greater than we think, God is greater than we can think.

Read that again because it is important… not just for you and for me but for the Church, especially in the Western world.

Most of us reading this have been shaped by the Western worldview which is predominantly rationalistic and scientific. It leads us to disbelieve anything we can’t rationally explain.

Part of that is good and healthy. We shouldn’t accept things uncritically and we don’t need to shy away from hard questions about Christian faith.

Truth can withstand our skepticism and doubt.

But here’s what can happen: first, we reduce God to the size of our own capacity to think and understand — a God we can explain and manage and even control — and then finally and tragically, we conclude that this shrunken God is unworthy of our worship and our obedience.

I fear that the God so many in the Western world have rejected is not the God of the Bible but a god of our own creation. A completely safe, rational, explainable God. A tame God. An unsupernatural God. The second half of my Christian journey has been marked by a

conscious effort to let God be God, unbound by the limits of human thought and language.

I began to focus a little less on my learning and reasoning and prayed for God to overwhelm me with things I did not and could never understand. I began to pray for miracles again. I read books of systematic theology less and the Bible more. And I committed to believing it — all of it — including the supernatural parts.

I still question and likely always will. I have a strong rational inclination.

But when I reject the supernatural, when I refuse to believe in something simply because I can’t get my mind around it, the answer isn’t more rationalization — it’s more faith.

By all means, let’s keep studying and debating and thinking about the great questions of life and faith - but let us also live in wonder and worship.

“God does things too marvelous for people to understand. He does too many miracles to count!" Job 9:10

/ NEIL JOSEPHSON is the National Director with FamilyLife Canada.Neil, together with his wife Sharol, lead FamilyLife Canada. Neil loves to learn, teach and write about anything related to marriage, family and Christian discipleship. Married since 1978, Neil and Sharol have two great sons, two awesome daugther-in-laws and four of the sweetest grandchildren ever.

MUSIC REVIEWS

THE STORY'S NOT OVER JEREMY CAMP (Sparrow Records)

UNSTOPPABLE GOD SANCTUS REAL (Framework/Fair Trade)

WHEN THE LIGHT COMES BIG DADDY WEAVE (Curb Word Entertainment)

/ I HAVE LOVED Jeremy Camp since his frosted tips, Christian rock beginnings in the early 2000’s, but it’s encouraging to hear his sound evolve as he returns for his 11th studio album, The Story’s Not Over. While he's grown into a more contemporary pop sounds, it's satisfying to hear him keep some of the vocal edge and rock sensibilities from his early days on standout track, ‘Dead Man Walking'.

I wish he would've explored this raw sound more as the album weaves between both ends of the pop-rock spectrum, but settles more on the upbeat dance track end with ‘Should’ve Been Me’ and ‘Only You Can’ with some forays into the slower, inspirational middle with ‘Keep Me in the Moment’ and ‘Out of My Hands’.

While the latest offering doesn't reach the staggering heights of Jeremy Camp classics such as ‘There Will Be a Day’ or ‘Walk By Faith’, there’s still plenty to dig into. Camp’s voice is as powerful and brooding as ever, and he presents an uplifting message to meditate on.

Camp has experienced more than his fair share of grief, some of which has fuelled his most poignant work, and it’s encouraging to feel his forward-focus as he sings on the title track, "Don't need to know what's ahead/Don't need to know how it ends/I know that You got Your hand on me."

Overall, The Story’s Not Over proves exactly that; there's a bright future ahead for Jeremy Camp fans.

/ SANCTUS REAL IS another long-running CCM staple that seems to be searching for a new spark.

While the band set out in a different musical direction after the loss of founder and lead singer Matt Hammitt, Dustin Lolli has proven himself a reliable replacement.

However, what made Sanctus Real a standout from the pack in their early days; distorted electric guitars, bombastic drums and hits like 2006’s ‘I’m Not Alright’ or 2010’s heartbreaking ballad “Lead Me”, are sorely missing here.

Instead, in finding a new footing it seems the band and production team has relied too heavily on the current CCM pop formula; pleasing to the

ear but ultimately nothing that sticks with you for the long haul.

Lyrically, the imagery and stories here also rely on some well-worn cliches that undercut the polished production. That’s not to say the album is without substance, tracks like ‘Unending Hope’ and ‘A Million Ways’ feature beautiful piano melodies and showcases Lolli’s impressive vocal chops.

Ultimately, I was left wanting to like the album more than I actually was. There’s a rich heritage of fantastic Christian music with Sanctus REAL, here’s hoping they can find, and reignite, that spark.

/ BIG DADDY WEAVE has a quality that’s become so rare in long-running bands; nearly every original member since 1998 remains.

The continuity of band makeup bleeds into their music making for a unbroken yet evolving sound for their latest, When the Light Comes.

Standout tracks like ‘Alive’ and ‘This Is What We Live For’ are soaring anthems of praise, chock-full of sharp synth and pulsing electric guitar.

Elsewhere, highlight ‘I Know’ slows things down with lilting strings and Weaver’s searching vocals as he sings, "And though my eyes have never seen You/I've seen enough to say/I know that You are good/I know that You are kind."

Overall, the album embodies the bright celebration that is the Good News of the Gospel.

As Weaver sings on ‘Your Love Changes Everything’ "Your mercy/has washed away/All the lies of who I was/I'm free from the guilt and shame.”

While the highs are high, there are some completely forgettable tracks here as well, not bad, just very skippable. While they don’t detract from the album, they don’t add anything either.

In the end, despite a few misses, When the Light Comes is another brilliant showcase of why Big Daddy Weave has dominated the CCM charts for over 20 years.

/ STEVEN SUKKAU works in radio on the prairies of Southern Manitoba.

NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2019 SEVEN 33

POWER PLAY

TOYS / TOOLS / TECHNOLOGY FROM HERE TO THERE AND FUN ALONG THE WAY

BY SANDY MCMURRAY

BIO HYBRID FUTURE CAR

// biohybrid.com The Bio-Hybrid is a concept vehicle that tries to bridge the gap between bicycles and gas-powered cars. It has four wheels for stability, and weather protection, unlike a bicycle. It's small enough to travel on bike paths and to park in small spaces, but large enough to carry some cargo.

Powered by an electric motor and the driver's muscles, the Bio-Hybrid has less environmental impact than gasoline powered vehicles and even large electric cars. Range on one battery charge is approximately 50 km.

Bio-Hybrid will be available in two versions: passenger and cargo. For more information, see biohybrid.com.

34 SEVEN NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2019

NUTCRACKER

// kikkerland.com Before it was a ballet, the nutcracker was an essential household tool. According to Wikipedia, nuts were historically opened using a hammer and anvil, often made of stone. Some nuts such as walnuts can also be opened by hand, by holding the nut in the palm of the hand and applying pressure with the other palm or thumb, or using another nut.

Kikkerland's nutcracker is more toy than tool, but who says you can't play with your food? Pull the spring back and let go to crack nuts with ease. The bright red knob and shiny coiled spring are irresistible.

The Pull & Crack Nutcracker sells for $10.

PIZZA MEMORY GAME

// genuinefred.com Memoroni is a cheesy game that challenges your concentration and memory. Players try to find pizzas that are exactly the same.

The goal is to be the player who matches the most pie pairs.

There are 48 discs with 24 pizza toppings, with options like Meat Lover's and Hawaiian. The cards are packaged in an authentic looking pizza box. (Tiny plastic table not included.)

You don't have to be rolling in dough to buy this. Memoroni sells for about $10. If you can finish a game in 30 minutes, it's free to play again.

GIANT FROSTY

// hammacher.com Do people come from miles around to see your Christmas lights each year? Does it seem like you're in competition with your neighbours to make the most spectacular outdoor display? If so, I've got just the thing.

The Video Projecting Frosty The Snowman from Hammacher Schlemmer is guaranteed to make you a local legend. It's a ten foot tall inflatable snowman that plays clips from the classic 1969 on its belly.

The built-in projector plays scenes from the movie and alternating messages on his candy cane sign from an SD card (included).

Setup takes just minutes, with the attached electric air pump.

Frosty's durable polyester exterior is made to withstand snow, wind, and sun. The package comes with eight stakes and four tethers to keep him from “hurrying on his way”.

If you want something bigger, Hammacher also sells a 15-foot inflatable Rudoph, 16-foot inflatable Snoopy, and two-storey inflatable Grinch.

Frosty sells for US $350.

MANGROOMER

// amazon.ca Most Barbers are happy to cut your hair and shave your face, but that's where it stops. If you want a smooth hairless back, you're on your own.

Until now, that is.

Enter the Mangroomer Ultimate Pro, the ultimate back shaving tool.

The ultra wide back groomer blade shaves large areas and longer hairs; the second foil body groomer head is designed for maintenance, shorter hairs and a perfectly smooth shave.

Mangroomer also features the Power Burst button. Press at any time for an added burst of power, to effortlessly shave through extra thick or coarser areas of hair growth.

Throw away that old razor and broom handle contraption you've been using and let a professional tool take over. The Mangroomer sells for about $65.

HOT RATZ BOOT DRYERS

// seirus.com Seirus wants you to stay warm this winter. A winter coat is not enough; you also need to protect your head, hands, and feet. For this, Seirus offers fleece masks, heated gloves, and electric dryers shaped like rodents.

Hot Ratz boot dryers slide into the top of your ski or snow boots and blow air inside to dry them out. Seirus promises the fans are "whisper-quiet" so they won't disturb you as they blow, all night if necessary. Hot Ratz are compact and portable, so you can take them along for ski trips or winter camping. AC adapters are provided for both home and car use.

A set of Hot Ratz costs about $50.

DESIGNER HEATER

// lasko.com Every house has one room that always seems cold, no matter how you adjust the furnace. The wind blows from that direction, or the windows need better insulation, or... something. Whatever the problem is, the space needs more heat.

Check out the Lasko 6405 - a space heater designed with both form and function in mind. Its ceramic heating element warms up quickly and keeps things toasty. And it looks great - more like art or furniture than an appliance.

You can set and forget a specific temperature or just turn it on manually for low or high heat. The built-in timer will turn off the heater automatically after 1-7 hours. Optional oscillation function will swivel the heater back and forth to distribute heat in the room. Cool-touch exterior makes the heater safe to touch, even after running for hours.

The Lasko 6405 is available for about $85.

36 SEVEN NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2019

STORM KIT

Are you ready for winter storms and extreme cold weather? Winter storms may bring power failures, cell phone outages, and icy roads.

Plan ahead to keep your home and family safe.

Do you have matches and candles handy? Do you have at least one good quality flashlight, with spare batteries? Modern flashlights and lanterns with LED bulbs will last longer than older ones with incandescent bulbs. Some models, like the Streamlight Siege Lantern, provide bright light for hundreds of hours on a single charge.

Mobile phones should be set to low power mode as they won't last long without a charge. For short-term power outages, it's helpful to have a USB power pack that can provide one or more charges to mobile devices.

You should also have a plan to use up perishable foods. A hard shell cooler can keep fruits and vegetables fresh for days in the event of a blackout. Frozen foods can be set outside in a garbage bag. Propane or charcoal grills can be used to cook outside, provided you can get to them.

For more information about emergency preparedness, check out redcross.ca or getprepared.gc.ca

SHARED STORAGE

// zipstored.com Texas-based Zipstored is looking for two kinds of people: those who need storage space and those who have extra. They provide a storage connection and take a fee from both sides. It's like AirBnB for your stuff.

“By using non-traditional spaces like homes, garages, and offices, Zipstored brings low cost storage to our customers and helps our hosts pay their bills,” says entrepreneur Asker Ahmed.

The service goes beyond matchmaking. They also provide pickup and delivery services, to get the stuff from place to place.

Zipstored has just launched in the US, and expects to expand quickly.

/ SANDY MCMURRAY writes about games, toys, and gadgets at funspot.ca.

Mental Health

NEXT ISSUE

38 SEVEN NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2019

For millions of men, mental health remains their secret battle. Bombarded with shame and stigmas, unhealthy coping strategies or destructive advice like "suck it up" or "be a man and deal with it", many men struggle and succumb in silence. Next issue we turn our gaze inward, into the warfare that takes place within, and the reinforcements we can call upon.

FROM KIRK GILES

THE SEASONS OF FATHERHOOD WHY DADS MATTER AT EVERY STAGE OF LIFE

TERENCE ROLSTON, PRESIDENT OF FOCUS ON THE FAMILY CANADA

NEIL JOSEPHSON, NATIONAL DIRECTOR OF FAMILYLIFE CANADA

DR. RICK REED, PRESIDENT OF HERITAGE COLLEGE & SEMINARY

ORDER NOW

Pursue information knowledge wisdom.

Information and knowledge are abundant.

Understanding is deficient. Filtering information into what is right, what is good and what is useful requires understanding. True understanding means knowing God. That is wisdom.

Toronto campus & online www.tyndaleseminary.ca