Unka Glen

a-dash-of-ravishing asked: Hey Unka! I was wondering about paranormal events, I know that 99.99% of that stuff is a hoax, but there are some things I’ve even experienced MYSELF, and cases that are just too real. Are they demons? Is it Satan’s plot to lead us astray from Christ and into things like the occult? Thanks for your time! :)

Unka Glen answered: You’re certainly right that most of that “paranormal” stuff is a hoax. And of course both demons and angels are real. The Bible talks about both, so there you have it. But here’s where most people get it turned around: 2 Corinthians 11:14 says “Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.”

You see, the devil doesn’t care about you believing in him, there’s not really much to believe in there anyway, and he knows that. It’s really about you believing in his counterfeit version of God. 

Satan says: God cares about you, so He wants you to be rich!

God says: I will supply all your needs according to MY RICHES, so you can focus on giving to the poor.

Satan says: God wants you to be successful! It’s the key to happiness!

God says: Take infinite, perfect peace. Take endless joy. Follow me, and your heart will be so full, it will overflow to those around you. 

Satan says: We’re all afraid of so many things in this world, so BE CAREFUL, and try to keep God happy!

God says: Have no fear. I am your hiding place. I will protect you from trouble, and I will surround you with songs of deliverance. 

…Anyway, you see the point, the enemy isn’t really looking for you to believe in all that occult stuff. The deeper one goes into reading around and investigating things, the more likely one is to eventually hear the actual Gospel.

The enemy knows that someone with an eyes-open interest in the occult may be closer to finding the truth than a person who has fallen for a fake and messed up version of Christianity that denies people a connection with God from the start.

Satan says: Read your bible, go to church, and pray, then God will be pleased with you.

God says: Just hang with me for awhile. Right now I don’t care what you’ve done. Just let me hold you awhile.

Anonymous asked: Can I ask about pornography? I feel like I’ve fallen so many times, how many times will God forgive me? Am I really sorry if I continue to do it? How many times can I spit in Gods face? [edited for length]

Unka Glen answered: Well, you actually have about a zillion things about you that need fixing or tweaking or adjusting, right? In fact, nobody ever dies a perfect human being. So it’s kind of an endless list of things to work on, and that’s true for all of us.

So right away we know one thing for sure: God is infinitely patient. We know that God will never be dealing with a perfect human being. From birth to death, He will be dealing with some kind of wrongness from each of us. If He couldn’t tolerate all that, none of us would be here. 

He tells us that love is patient, and kind, and that it keeps no record of wrongs, and then He said, “I am love”.

But WE keep a record of our wrongs, don’t we? Despite Isaiah 43:18 telling us, “forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.” We live in that past anyway. We make it about our performance when our performance didn’t get us saved and it certainly can’t keep us in good standing with God.

So if we let it drop when it comes to our past, we’re still in the present looking at a zillion sins, knowing that even in our future, this list of sins and imperfections will still exist. And there’s only one way to handle all this: one at a time. 

If I tell you to paint a house, you can’t paint all the rooms at once, right? you start in one place and you end in another. You plan it so that you literally don’t paint yourself into a corner. Same thing with your spiritual life, you’re meant to wisely start in one place, and end in another, dealing with one thing at a time. 

It’s SUPER IMPORTANT that you get this list of things you need to deal with in the right order. And in your case, this is your real problem: you’ve put porn at the top of your list. And so I must ask you, why? Is it of major theological importance? Does it effect your witness? Does it ruin your life in some tangible way? How did this get to the top of the list?

You and I know the answer is: the emotions of guilt put it there. Here’s what you need to know about that: guilt is a tool of the enemy, and it always entraps. In your case you’ve been convinced that looking at naked people is the exact same thing as “spitting in God’s face”. It’s obviously not. This is a lie. 

So we should have thought of GUILT as the thing to put at the top of this list! Our guilt tells us theological lies. It keeps us from sharing God with others in an effective way, because we either share our guilt-ridden lives (and who would want to sign up for that?), or more likely we don’t share Christ at all, because we feel unworthy. In the end guilt is ruining everything.

Why isn’t guilt at the top of your list? 

Not only isn’t guilt at the top of the list, it’s not even ON your list! Worse still, it’s actually the thing you’re using to decide what order the list goes in! Guilt was the setup. Guilt was the trap. Porn just happens to be the thing you were willing to feel guilty about. Once you’ve been convinced that you’ve “spit in God’s face”, then you can’t go to God and ask for help, right?

And the separation is complete. 

You think it’s the porn that did the damage. It was the guilt. And here’s the thing about that. Quit the porn, and the enemy with tempt you to feel guilty about something else. Now, by contrast, if you quit the guilt, then you have all that mental energy, and all that renewed connection with God, to fight the porn thing. 

You see, when you get that list right, each item you work on builds a momentum towards solving the next thing. 

thecleric asked: Glen, thank you, you are a blessing to me and you do great work. Question: my dad was murdered when I was 7. Coming from a non-Christian home this made me have no desire for God until I met my wife who introduced me to Jesus. I’ve forgiven the murderer (who is in jail) and have been thinking: should I reach out to this man and if so how? I worry that he doesn’t want my forgiveness or that I’m only doing it for myself (to perhaps get some closure). As someone in prison ministry what do you think?

Unka Glen answered: I think beware of ideas that sound “Christian”. More often than not, they’re designed to make us feel Christian. You have no need for that. You are a Christian my brother, and a plenty strong one at that, judging by what you’ve overcome, and I’m just flippin’ proud at know ya.

Could this be a sort of back-handed selfish thing? Well, just about anything can be said to be self-serving in some way, but the key question to ask yourself is: would I still do this, if nobody ever knew about it? Do you need the closure? If you’ve forgiven this brother (and I know that’s a multi-layered process), then it’s closed. 

Speaking as a prison ministry professional, I can tell you that it would almost certainly mean a great deal to that inmate. There’s an image of inmates as bring either cold people or hustlers, but I can tell you I’ve met far more cold and hustling individuals in three piece suits, than I have wearing prison uniforms. 

It would mean a great deal to this man, and benefit him on some level almost certainly, and if you want to do that, I’ve got your back all the way. But do I think you’ll get anything out of it? Nope. Not likely. If it’s about ministering to him, then that doesn’t matter. If it’s about you, write him a letter, leave off the return address, and say your peace.

But let’s land on this: how amazing is the love of Christ? Look at the extremes it takes us to! Think of how transforming and transcending it is. You’ve forgiven the unforgivable in others, because you were forgiven a debt you could never pay. Look at the extremes that the enemy went to, just in order to keep you from finding this love, but you found your true self, you found your Heavenly Father, and nothing will ever be the same again!  

Life is a hurricane. It swirls, and blows, and chaos ensues. Some people try to keep it all in order, others try to pretend it’s not happening, others just try to hang on and ride it out.

The goal for us as Christians, is to find the eye of that storm, where it’s still, where we can look straight up and see cool blue sky. It may rage all around us, but there is peace in the eye of the storm. There is peace in the midst of chaos. 

This eye is moving, it moves forward, and we must move with it, lest all the storms and worries of life overtake us. By the same token, if we move too fast, we dash into the face of this storm, and we constantly become subject to it’s fury and drama and turmoil. 

Be still at the heart of your storm. Be still and know that He is God. Be still and know that you are not God. Then ask God to take every anxiety you have. Clear the slate. Know the peace that surpasses all understanding.

prettiest-romance asked: Unka Glen, I feel so depressed. I’m trying to read more Bible verses and feel hopeful, but I can’t. I’m so sad all the time, I can’t shake it. I feel like I’ve been lied to this whole time. Everyone says that God has a plan for me, but I’m so miserable because of my own decisions. It feels like everyone else is running ahead of me and I’m left behind, trying to be happy when I’m not. I can’t do this anymore. What does God want from me?

Unka Glen answered: What God wants from you, is YOU. He doesn’t want you “running ahead” with your friends. He wants you. As you are. He doesn’t want to talk plans about the future. Plenty of time for that later. Neither does He want to focus on your past.

He just wants you. The real you. Right now.

You’re tired of pretending to be happy when you’re not. You’re tired of pretending to be all “Christian” about things, when you don’t feel Christian sometimes. You feel sad, and frustrated, and so, so tired. You feel like you can’t keep up the act anymore. So why don’t you just drop it?

We all know we’re being a bit fake with each other in the church.

In twelve step programs they have a saying: “fake it until you make it”. The idea being, if you don’t know how to live sober, start by pretending that you’re a sober person, and imitate what sober people do. Pretty soon, by faking it, you become that thing you want to be. This makes a certain amount of sense when you’re trying to change your lifestyle, but it won’t work for living out your faith.

And that’s a shame, because a lot of people say to themselves: “I don’t know how to act Christian, so I’ll just pretend, and act like I’m saved.” You can see the problem right away. Saved is a state of being. It’s something you either are, or you are not. It’s not an act.

Imagine I adopt you as my daughter, and bring you into my home. There’s no need to act as if you’re family, because you are family. But let’s say you decide to pretend and act like part of the family because you just can’t seem to accept that you really are part of the family. 

And let’s say that we show you love and acceptance in the family. Well, your first thought is: they aren’t loving me, they’re loving the fake person I’m pretending to be. Wherever there is pretending and fake-ness, no love can be received, no matter how much it’s sent. Indeed there can be no hope of love.

And all along is the abiding fear: what if they got to know the real me?

Well, God knows the real you, and He loves you right now, as you are. Sure there’s plenty that both you and God want to change about your life, but there’s nothing you can do to make God love you any more than He does right now, and there’s nothing you can do to make Him love you any less.

I can’t answer for all the people in your life, as to what they’ll think of the real you, but those who love you, already see the real you. Others around you are longing to be real in their own lives, and they’re waiting for someone to have the courage to lead the way. As for me, I love real Christianity. Raw, funky, unfiltered, and messy. I vastly prefer the real messy you, over the not-quite-believable mask of perfection.

How small is your world? Some people live their whole life inside of work obligations, family obligations, and even God-obligations. They never get give themselves a chance to live in the world of possibilities. I want you to live in a world where your spiritual life is an adventure.

We get so trapped inside of our habits, our fears, and our nagging self doubt. We need to break out, but the problem is, we see God as too small as well. We see Him as petty, rude, loveless, and a holder of grudges who simply fails to understand how things work with us.

Maybe we feel more comfortable living under that legalistic rock that we crawled under. Romans 7:6 says, “Now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.”

That new way of following the Spirit seems scary and overwhelming. We can’t play the old game of measuring ourselves, or checking to see what our grade is. We resist all that freedom. It’s too scary. But at long last, it’s a big world out there, and the adventure is worth facing those things we cringe to avoid.

In John 10, Jesus said that His sheep recognize His voice, and that they will run away from a stranger, because they don’t recognize his voice. It occurs to me that the most important thing is to learn to recognize the voice of the Lord in our head, and by contrast, the voice of the enemy who would lead us astray. 

First, let’s learn to recognize the voice of the enemy:

• You need to read more Bible.
• You need to go to church more often.
• You don’t pray enough.

The voice of the enemy is always about “have-to’s”, the voice of the Good Shepherd is always about the “get-to’s”. If the enemy can’t keep you from following God, he’ll try to make following God an obligation and a chore. He always makes it seem as though you aren’t qualified. You aren’t accept by God. Not yet anyway, just jump through this hoop.

Speaking of that kind of manipulation… here’s more of the enemy’s voice:

• You know that thing you’re afraid of? God gave you that spirit of fear.
• Learn to put up with things more, and forgive! Now!
• You’re not allowed to feel how you feel.

Remember that the enemy comes “disguised as an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14). His specialty is setting up a false sense of righteousness where you play the martyr, and put up with stuff you should not. Even worse, as you resent being everyone’s doormat, you end up resenting God for making you tolerate something He never told you to tolerate.

• Look what you did! You call yourself a Christian!
• You better get it right this time.
• Act more Christian!

This is the voice of condemnation, and there is now NO condemnation for those in Christ (Romans 8:1). Grace is unlimited, and our relationship in no way depends on us behaving well enough. You are God’s child, and just as no child of yours could ever make you stop loving them because of the way they act, so much more does a perfect God love you despite ANYTHING you do.

So let’s look at what God’s voice sounds like, so we can learn to follow our Shepherd:

• Don’t cheat yourself, hear my words of comfort in prayer.
• When you’re lost, guides will appear.
• I’m gentle and humble of heart.
• You have nothing to fear. I will never leave you.
• Take heart, be courageous, be bold. 
• You are a world changer.
• I know exactly how you feel, and I don’t blame you.
• Even so, let me lead you out of this anger and bitterness.
• Look at what you’ve done, you are so much better than that!
• I want the best for you, and you’d settle for so much less.
• You don’t have to earn my love, it’s always there.
• Don’t be anxious or fearful, that’s not who you are.
• Be still. I’ve got this. Breathe.
• Let me just hold you awhile, okay?
• I know it’s all a big mess, I can handle it.
• Just give me you, as you are, that’s all I want.