November 1 4 ,1990- The Portland Observei "Page 3
• Portland Observer
RELIGION
Heaven within these walls
The Personal Nature Of Evil
Often I awake at night in the middle
of a dream in which I am battling against
evil in some way. These nocturnal wres
tling matches are not with flesh-and-
blood persons, but with undefined, mys
terious forces. I realize that, as my spiri
tual journey deepens, evil forces within
me are striving to reverse the process.
It’s as if Satan himself is jealous that I am
drawing closer to God. I don’t want to
put too much stock in these dreams be
cause I suspect they often mirror the
conscious concerns of my soul. Yet they
alert me to the very real spiritual battle
which is in process over my spiritual life.
The image of being gradually pulled
away from communion with God is an
appropriate way to describe the influ
ence o f evil. We can be distracted in our
pursuit of God in the most subtle ways.
Rarely are we confronted directly with
proposals to renounce God. Rather we
are seduced by appeals to our pride, our
insecurity or our guilt for past failures,
almost daily we meet the adversary of
our souls in one of his ¡numberable dis
guises.
Talking about Satan can be prob
lematic because we know so little about
him. We often dismiss him as an imagi
nary cartoon character dressed in red
carrying a pitchfork. But denying Sa
tan’s existence leads to a shallow view of
sin. We erroneously explain our sin as
human error or ignorance rather than
defiant rebellion against God’s authority
which began with Satan and spread to all
of humanity. If we don’t take the devil
and sin seriously, we won’t take God
seriously either. We wrongly assume
that God will simply close His eyes to
our repeated acts of selfishness. We must
stand in awe of His holiness, which Sa
tan’s dominion over our world violates.
The Distraction of pride and pleas
ure
Kenneth Leech notes that the im-
portant element in understanding sin is
“ not the precise structure of demonol
ogy, but rather the existence of false
spiritual directions, false paths, idols which
can become the focus of attention and
divert the soul towards a destructive and
death-inducing spirituality.” Take, for
example, the temptation to pride.
The effect o f pride, even in the
smallest matters, is to cut us off from
others whose honesty we need in order to
keep growing.
There may be no deadlier trap for
any of us. We are constantly tempted to
think we have arrived at some state of
advanced spirituality. We look around at
others and smugly think we have pro
gressed farther than they have. It’s the
same mistake made by the Pharisee in
Jesus’ parable in Luke 18:9-14. The self-
righteous ruler thought God would be
pleased with him in comparison to the
tax collector standing nearby. But the
sinful lax collector was throwing his
entire life on the mercy of God. His act of
total surrender made a sham of the Phari
see’s diligent efforts to appear relig
iously respectable.
A news analyst once observed that,
in his opinion, the president of the United
States is the most isolated, lonely person
in the world. Everyone he meets is infe
rior to him in rank or position. He has
more power than anyone else on earth.
He is “ Mr. President’ ’ to all except those
in his family. As a result of his elevated
stature, the president tends to lose touch
with reality because no one addresses
him as an equal. His advisors and staff
members tell him what he wants to hear
instead of honestly confronting him with
what he needs to hear. The president’s
perspective on the world eventually
becomes distorted. His life on the pedes
tal slowly becomes unreal and fabri
cated, especially as his thoughts gravi
tate toward “ my place in history.”
S c rip tu re o f the ^ e e h ^
SCRIPTURE OF THE WEEK:
II TIMOTHY 3
"Save the Center"
A similar process can occur with us.
The effect of pride, even in the smallest
matters, is to cut us off from others
whose honesty we need in order to keep
growing. By elevating ourselves above
another person, we take a step toward a
distorted perspective o f ourselves. We
begin to forget our status as redeemed
sinners. We are beggars who have expe
rienced unbelievable charity. But we pass
up the opportunity to be enriched by any
person over whom we have pridefully
exalted ourselves. Even worse, we begin
to think that we have reached our posi
tion because of our own efforts. At that
point we deny the grace of God which is
the very source of our spirituality.
I findthe face of pride lurking around
every comer. It tempts me to take credit
for my career, my achievements and my
role as a man, a husband, a father, and a
leader. It praises me for any success I
enjoy on my spiritual journey. These are
dangerous thoughts, for they divert my
eyes from God to myself and prompt me
to measure myself against others.
Along with pride, pleasure is one of
the Satan’s most obvious distractions
from spirituality. But we can be easily
fooled by the concept of pleasure. We
are quick to identify certain evil desires
for pleasure and reject them. But we
succumb to other pleasurable desires
which are no more holy, but which ap
pear to be innocent or morally neutral.
For example, we know that illicit sexual
activity is wrong, so we keep up our
guard when we are alone with other
women or men lest we slip into compro
mising relationships. But we have no
qualms about furnishing our homes ex
travagantly while limiting our giving to
others. Wc must guard ourselves as dili
gently against subtle overindulgence to
pleasure as against the most obvious.
WHAT:
WHEN:
FESTIVE MUSICAL
SATURDAY,
NOVEMBER 17, 1990
W HERE: DR. O.B. WILLIAMS
CENTER 22 NE BEECH
WHY:
TO HELP SAVE THE
"MISS GRACE COLLINS"
DAY CARE CENTER
TIM E:
7:00 P.M.
FREE WILL OFFERING
Make check payable to: "Miss Grace
Collins Center"
Sponsored by Concerned Citizens,
Parents, Friends, Community, and Day
Care Center Staff.
THANK YOU FOR SHARING
AND CARING
Contact persons: Gladys Young,
282-6340; La Verne Davis, 280-6456
on forth coming
Nuptials
>
Earnest Warren & Patrica Hill
Wigland
O ne of the N orthw est Largest W ig D isplays
W igs and Hairpieces For all N ationalities
E va G abor
N aomi S ims
R enee of P aris
Synthetic & H um an H air
For Braiding & Weeving
I
Mon - Fr. 10 a.m. - 6 p.m.
Saturday 10 - 5:30 pm
<C.
12TH ANNUAL’
THANKSGIVING CRUSADE
JÏ
ARAÑATELA
HURCH
conducted by
Eld Leon Brewer Jr.
pastor of The New Testament Church
4222 N.E. 12th Avenue
Portland Oregon
Service will be held at
Highland United Church of Christ
4635 N.E. 9th
(corner of 9th and Going St.)
Rev. C. Prescol Host Pastor
November 22-25,1990
7:30 p.m. nightly
Sunday Service 3:30 p.m.
282-1664
1105
N.E. B roadw ay
sT
Jesus Loves You!
Sunday Services
Sunday School
9:00 A.M.
Morning Worship
Special Guest from California
Bro. James Robins with his guitar
Crusade choir singing nightly
N ear Llovd C enter
4236 N.E. Eighth Avenue
10:30 A.M.
(corner of 8th & Skidmore)
Maranatha School of Ministry
Portland, Oregon 97211
6:30 P.M.
(503) 287-0261
"The public is invited"
Phillip S. Nelson, Pastor
Mid-Week Services - Wednesday
Rev. Wendell H. Wallace
Senior Pastor
7:30 P.M.
Speedy
Service
Friendly
Call for
Quote!!!
YOU ARE INVITED
,
TO ATTEND
Best Cash Prices
DAD'S OIL SERVICE
Heating Oils
104 NE Russel St.
Portland, OR 97212
(503) 282-5111
Av’
THE
ARTS & CRAFTS FAIR
LES FEM M ES
AT
OPEN HOUSE
MT. OLIVET BAPTIST CHURCH
TOR Inosn-cnvii
DEBUTANTES & CAVALIERS
Saturday - November 17, 1990
5 - 6:30 p.m.
Cascade Campus
705 N. Killingswnrtli Street
XT)'
V* «
/ /
V
y
116 N E S c h u y ler (at B roadw ay)
Por 11 a n d , O r egon
F rid a y , N ovem ber 23, 1990
S a tu rd a y , N ovem ber 24, 1990
10 - 6 PM
WE ARE MOVING
SUNDAY SERVICES
TO
Stone Tower Church,
N.E. Sandy Blvd. fit 30th
Worship Services 8:00 A.M. & 11:00 A.M.
Church School 9:30 A.M. to 10:30 A.M.
Bible Study. Wednesdays. 116 N.E.Schuyler
10:30 A.M. and 6:30 P.M.
Radio Ministry each Sunday. 8:00 A.M.-KBMS
A Teaching Church With A Reaching Ministry
Dr. James E. Martin, Senior Pastor
Cafeteria
ItliC K U iriN O VUUNG IM t lliS A N I) G H N TU iM kN
7 l l l TO l i n i GKADIiS.
s*
rr
MT OLIVET BAPTIST
CHURCH
Oo.r ~R.,x«s
Church Office 116 N.E. Schuyler,