By James Wilson

Acts 10 records the remarkable story of the Apostle Peter napping on a flat roof. He sees a vision/dream in which the Holy Spirit lowers a sheet with animals on it. Although they are legally forbidden the Spirit instructs him to rise, kill, and eat. Knowing the Old Testament prohibitions Peter declines. The Spirit says what God has called clean he is not to call unclean; he believes. A new adventure is launched leading a Roman centurion and his household to Christ. There is more.

Peter recalls the Levitical Code that forbids eating these animals. But Peter was present when Jesus – in Mark 7 – declares all foods clean from that moment on. By His sacrifice of His life Jesus fulfills the Levitical Code, rendering it no longer binding. Had Peter recalled and engaged the whole Word of God instead of his selected memory of what he found important, he would have saved himself and the Holy Spirit considerable trouble.

I had an amazing encounter during a wedding rehearsal. One of the bridesmaids asked for a private moment with me. When I led her into a side room she blurted out that she could not be “here.” I asked if she had another appointment and she explained that she could not be in a church under any circumstances. She elaborated that she had been a heroin addict for many years and had even sold her body and abandoned her children to support her habit. She told me she was now clean and sober, but convinced God could not stand the sight of her even so. When – on Holy Spirit prompting – I asked her if she wanted to come “home” she burst into tears and flew into my arms. She came home.

Some church leaders would say I let her off too easily; she did not say a sinners’ prayer or ask forgiveness for abusing herself and others. They forget Jesus’ treatment of the adulterous woman in the Temple in John 8, the five-times married-and-currently-shacking-up woman in John 4, or the prostitute who washed His feet with her hair in Luke 7. Others would say I compromised myself by meeting her privately and even taking her into my arms. But they would be ignoring Bible passages from John 7:24 – Stop judging by appearances – to Romans 4:4 – Don’t judge the servant of another – and Galatians 1:10 – we serve God and not men. Jesus is ever willing to show love and mercy and He is not careful about how he appears while doing it.

This Great Awakening appears different from any we have encountered before. If we would ride this God-wave we will have to re-engage Scripture – all of it – and no longer be content with favorite passages or the principles they espouse. We will need to recall that mercy trumps judgment, that Christ came to set us free and enable us to bear one another’s burdens – especially burdens no self-respecting Christian would risk naming as his own.

The whole of Scripture teaches repentance – for all of us – is cored in the re-focus of attention on God Himself. Remorse for sin is an important detail, but still a detail. Repentance requires a refresher course in hating sin while loving the sinner; we were once those we despise per 1 Corinthians 6. And we’d best know which scriptures still count. For example, how do we know 2 Chronicles 7:13-14 applies to us but the Levitical code does not?

It’s not hard. The code is rules for the sacrifices that cleanse from sin. Jesus’ death cleanses from sin perfectly; new sacrifices were once valid but are no longer necessary. Repentance – re-focus on God – is the point of the 2 Chronicles passage; it is as crucial as ever and ever shall be.

The secular meteorologists forecast a strong El Nino ocean current this year, one sure to dump plenty of rain on drought stricken California while actually inhibiting much-more-needed snowfall. This current has already delivered abundantly, but the surprise is the snowfall that flies in the face of the weathermen. Every snowfield in California is at or near normal levels for this time of year. God is good – and a lot smarter than secular weathermen.

Many Christians in the state believe the rain and snowfall is God’s gracious response to the Trifecta of Repentance that swept up the West Coast the second week of September. That week was a walking out of 2 Chronicles 7:13-14; it looks, quacks and waddles like a repentance-fruited duck. We all need to believe that recognizing the dynamics of this already begun Great Awakening requires across-the-board re-engagement with the whole of Scripture.

James A. Wilson is the author of Living As Ambassadors of Relationships and The Holy Spirit and the End Times – available at local bookstores or by e-mailing him at
praynorthstate@charter.net