Vertigo

Wellcome Images 2018

 

A few nights ago I awoke from a sound sleep and got out of bed, when I suddenly fell backward, as if a tsunami had flooded over me, swept me away in its whirling fury, and pinned me helpless against the mattress.

Thankfully, it subsided in about 30 seconds, but when I cautiously struggled to my feet and began to walk, I found myself veering off to the left. That also soon resolved but left me feeling shaken and unsteady.

As a retired neurologist, I began to diagnose myself and realized I had no other symptoms of stroke, was too old for new onset multiple sclerosis (MS), and had no fever or other symptoms of viral infection. However, the left side of my head was congested, which I sometimes experience in the morning because of allergies, and the left side of my neck was sore, also not unusual as my husband and I have been strenuously rehearsing our latest Theatre Arts dance with overhead lifts and drops.

So I reasoned that sinus pressure and neck muscle spasm had brought on the vertigo by sending faulty signals to the system that maintains balance and equilibrium. I used an herbal nasal spray and anti-inflammatory medication with some relief of the head and neck symptoms. We went to morning practice as usual, but when I attempted to get up after lying down on the floor to stretch, the tsunami returned, again rendering me helpless in its swirling current.

Discouraged and unable to practice, we returned home. I realized that I must have benign paroxysmal positional vertigo, a common and seldom serious condition in which a calcium deposit, called an otolith, dislodges from its usual position in the innermost canal of the inner ear and escapes to the outermost canal, where it causes a false sense of movement. The vertigo usually comes on suddenly after a period of lying down, particularly when turning the head to the affected side and arising quickly, or from any sudden movement or positional change.

Vertigo is a curse for anyone. For a female Theatre Arts dancer, it is the kiss of death, as this dance form involves spins, lifts, drops, and sudden changes of position from standing to being suspended horizontally over the partner’s head or even held upside down – often while spinning. Any momentary lapse in balance or spatial awareness could result in a disastrous fall from overhead and cause serious injury.

I prayed that the symptoms would just disappear, but in case they didn’t, I planned to try a maneuver known as the Epley maneuver, designed to guide the otolith back into the innermost canal of the inner ear. The next morning, a repeat bout of vertigo upon arising led me to test this plan. With my husband’s help, I went through a series of rapid position changes, which brought on more dizziness, alternating with rest periods on the bed.

When the maneuver was completed, I had no more vertigo, but I felt uneasy, unsettled, and dissociated from my surroundings. After breakfast, coffee, and much prayer, we decided to attempt rehearsing again. I found that by focusing out in the distance and being hypervigilant about my balance, there was no vertigo, despite the spins, drops, lifts, and position changes. Apparently these all happened too quickly to give the otolith sufficient time to dislodge from its normal position. The following day, I had no symptoms, nor have I had any since. Praise the Lord for His faithfulness (Psalm 89:8) and for answered prayer!

Unexpected blessings from this harrowing encounter were the knowledge of how to deal with this in the future if it were ever to recur, perhaps closer to a performance setting when I might not have the luxury of being able to rest or take a break, or the time or Internet access to research how to do the Epley maneuver.

An even greater blessing was the new-found gratitude in being able to do what I sometimes take for granted – not just complex, challenging dance moves, but even simple actions like getting out of bed or walking without literally bouncing off the wall. It reminded me of recovering from the pneumonia I had several years ago, and being thankful just to be able to breathe freely, sleep quietly without coughing, and walk across a room without getting short of breath.

Sometimes God allows incidents like these into our lives to remind us of our total dependence on Him (John 15:5) and thankfulness for every move we make and every breath we take (Acts 17:28). As Oswald Chambers wrote in My Utmost for His Highest, “It is the sick person who really knows what health is.” The logical extension is that it is only the person who knows he is a sinner deserving eternal punishment in hell who can receive God’s free gift of eternal life in Heaven (Romans 3:23; 6:23).

Minimizing the vertigo by directing my gaze upward and outward reminded me to always keep my focus on Jesus and His kingdom, particularly when encountering the turbulence of life, and to look up (Luke 21:28), for our redemption through the Rapture is close at hand!

This episode of vertigo also reminded me that sometimes He even allows our lives to be turned upside down or set spinning, all for our ultimate good and His glory (Romans 8:28).

Before we can be saved by trusting in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) as the only Way to Heaven (John 14:6), we must come to the end of ourselves, which may feel like a total upheaval of all we know and believe.

The early church, first known as Christians, or ‘the Way,” turned the world upside down by spreading the truth and Word of their Savior Jesus Christ (Acts 11:26; 22:4). His crucifixion was marked by extraordinary events, including the sky turning black at midday, a great earthquake, the dead arising from their graves, and the thick, impenetrable veil of the temple tearing from top to bottom (Matthew 27:45-54; 28:2), symbolizing God in the flesh coming from Heaven to earth (John 1:1-14) to end the separation of Holy God from sinful man (Romans 5:10). His resurrection was the single most significant, paradigm-shifting event of all time.

Even His teachings seem filled with paradox that set conventional wisdom on its head. We must lose our life to save it (Matthew 16:25). He who is first will be last, and he who is last will be first (Matthew 20:16). The meek shall inherit the earth, and the poor shall inherit the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 5:3-5).

With God’s infinite power (Genesis 35:11), far exceeding that of any tsunami, whether real or perceived, the blind shall see, the lame shall leap, and the dead shall live again (John 3:16) in Him! Every molecule in our earthly body shall be rearranged in the twinkling of an eye as He transforms us into our glorified body (1 Corinthians 15:52) that will never age, die, or experience pain, sorrow or sin! Even the earth will be burned with heat so intense (2 Peter 3:10) that it transforms its molecular structure into the New Jerusalem!

Praise God that only He can turn things completely around and upside down and make them completely new (2 Corinthians 5:17), and that He even gives us earthly reminders of what is to come when He returns for His children!  

© 2021 Laurie Collett

 

Know What You Believe!

 

Photo by FatherRon 2011

So now that we’ve examined the definition of an evangelical Christian, what do those who identify as evangelicals actually believe? Could it be that some nominal Christians differ from core doctrine not only in fine points over the meaning of a few controversial verses, but also in basic concepts about Jesus Christ, salvation, and God’s Word?

And does it really matter? As long as they prayed the “sinner’s prayer” and “asked Jesus into their heart,” isn’t that enough? Or does accepting heresy as truth really mean that the “Christian” doesn’t know Jesus at all, and therefore is not truly saved? Jesus Himself warned that not all who did good works in His Name or claimed to know Him belonged to Him, for He never knew them, and banished them as workers of evil (Luke 13:23-30).

To find out what those meeting their research definition of an evangelical Christian actually believe, Ligonier Ministries and LifeWay Research surveyed 3,002 Americans in 2018, including 518 identified as evangelicals. Their findings regarding agreement or disagreement with 34 core beliefs about God, salvation, ethics, and the Bible are published in the October 16, 2018 issue of Christianity Today. The survey was repeated in 2020.

Not surprisingly, the overall proportions of Americans disagreeing with Bible-based doctrine has continued to increase since previous surveys in 2014 and 2016. But more disheartening is the widespread, increasing, deep confusion about core Christian beliefs even among so-called evangelicals.

Among Americans with “evangelical beliefs,” nearly all (97%) endorsed the true statement that “there is one true God in three persons.” Yet 78% (2018) and 65% (2020) agreed with the statement that “Jesus was the first and greatest being created by God the Father,” attesting to their overall confusion. As Scripture clearly states, Jesus Christ is God, the Word Who was present with God the Father since the beginning of time (John 1:1). Not only was Jesus Christ not created, but He actually is the Creator of all that there is and ever was (John 1:1-3).

If our thinking relegates Jesus to the status of a mere created being, it not only strips Him of His divinity, but it invalidates the miracle of salvation. The mystery of salvation is that God Himself, the Creator of all, willingly left His throne in Heaven, took on human form (John 1:14), and suffered an agonizing death to pay our sin debt in full (Romans 3:25).  He then rose again on the third day, proving His divinity, so that all who believe this and trust Him have eternal life (1 Corinthians 15:1-4; John 3:16).

About half (52% in 2018; 46% in 2020) of “evangelicals” agreed that “Most people are basically good,” which flies in the face of the curse of sin affecting every human since Adam disobeyed God (Genesis 3; Romans 5:12). Jesus in His earthly ministry reaffirmed that only God is good (Matthew 19:17), and the apostle Paul wrote that no person is righteous (Romans 3:10-12), for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). The prophet Isaiah wrote that our so-called righteousness as a claim to salvation is as offensive as filthy rags in God’s sight (Isaiah 64:6)

Even the apostle Paul, arguably the most devoted Christian ever to walk the earth, acknowledged that he had to die daily to his sin nature (1 Corinthians 15:31), which was constantly at war with the Holy Spirit  (Romans 7:4-25) living in His heart since the moment he was saved (John 14:16-17).

Perhaps even more shocking than their belief in man’s goodness is that 51% of “evangelical Christians” in 2018 and 42% in 2020 agreed that “God accepts the worship of all religions.” Yet all other religions deny the divinity of Jesus Christ, claiming instead that he was a good man, wise teacher, great prophet, or even the brother of Lucifer. Jesus Himself proclaimed that He is the only Way to the Father (John 14:6), and that the gate to salvation is narrow, whereas the gate to destruction is broad and captures the souls of many (Matthew 7:13-14).

Acts 4:12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

In keeping with this all-inclusive, yet tragically erroneous belief of many paths to Heaven, nearly one third (32%) of “evangelicals” agreed that “religious belief is a matter of personal opinion [and] not about objective truth,” as did 60% of all Americans surveyed.

But if evangelicals put no more stock in their religious belief than they do in any personal opinion, they slide down a slippery slope that ends in denying the absolute truth of the Bible.  We cannot “cherry-pick” verses to match our idiosyncratic beliefs or to justify “lifestyle choices” that are actually sins, for “no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation” but rather was inspired by the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:20-21).

2 Timothy 3:16: All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.

If we give way to popular opinion rather than Bible truth, for example by endorsing evolution rather than a literal six-day creation by the Triune God (Genesis 1,2), then we are falling prey to “cunningly devised fables” (2 Peter 1: 16) that erode the very core of our faith. The theory of evolution calls for ongoing and repeated cycles of death to “improve” the gene pool, which in itself is ludicrous since observed mutations lead to disease rather than to better function.

More importantly, it denies the power of God to speak the worlds into existence, including mankind created in His image (Genesis 1:26). If we evolved from the animals, we are no better than the beasts, and there is no absolute standard for morality, and no rationale for or consequences of the construct of sin.

Even worse, striking at the heart of Christian faith is that if we are not all sinners through the disobedience of Adam and Eve, we have no need of a Savior. Christ’s death on the cross was therefore in vain, totally unnecessary, and irrelevant, because there is no God, no Heaven, and no meaning to our existence beyond the stark biological reality. Doubting portions of God’s Word ultimately leads to rejection of its saving power (Romans 1:16).

Sadly, Americans as a whole are at even greater odds with Bible truths than are those who claim the Name of Jesus. So, born-again Christian, know what you believe, make sure it lines up with Bible truth, and be prepared to defend it to others!

© 2018 Laurie Collett

Edited and reposted from the archives

 

Posted by Laurie Collett at 7:36 AM

Are You an Evangelical?

 

Photo by Frank Karlitschek 2015

Do you consider yourself an evangelical, born again Christian? If I were to attempt a Scripture-based definition of an evangelical, I would say the term applies to one who has been saved by faith (Ephesians 2:8-9) in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ ( 1 Corinthians 15:1-4) as the only Way to Heaven (John 14:6).

Such a person has a spiritual second birth (John 3:3-8) by the indwelling Holy Spirit (John 14:17). Out of gratitude to Jesus Christ, Who paid the price demanded for all our sins to reconcile sinful man to Holy God (John 1:29; Romans 3:25; 1 John 2:2; 4:10), the evangelical seeks to obey God, including His Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20) to tell everyone the Good News, or Gospel, of how they can be saved and be sure they will spend eternity in Heaven.

For purposes of theological research, however, Ligonier Ministries and LifeWay Research define evangelicals as those who strongly agree with all four of the following statements:

1. The Bible is the highest authority for what I believe. (See 2 Timothy 3:16)

2.  It is very important for me personally to encourage non-Christians to trust Jesus Christ as their Savior (See Matthew 28:19-20; Mark 16:15-16; Acts 1:8;  1 Peter 2:9; 3:15).

3. Jesus Christ’s death on the cross is the only sacrifice that could remove the penalty of my sin (See Hebrews 10:1-14).

4. Only those who trust in Jesus Christ alone as their Savior receive God’s free gift of eternal salvation (See John 14:6; Matthew 7:13-14).

Yet Ligonier/LifeWay research has shown that many American evangelicals are “deeply confused” about some core doctrines of the Christian faith. To see if you might be one of them, consider taking the following quiz they published and writing down your “True” or “False” responses before checking the answers below:

1. God the Father and Jesus Christ are equally divine.

2. Jesus is a hybrid, partially divine and partially human.

3. God the Son is uncreated.

4. The Holy Spirit is a force.

5. The Holy Spirit is less divine than the Father and the Son.

6. “Father,” “Son,” and “Holy Spirit” are three different names for one divine person.

Answers:

1. True. in 325 AD, the Council of Nicaea stated that the Father and the Son are of the same divine essence, and they condemned Subordinationism, a false doctrine stating that Jesus is inferior to the Father. This is of historical and ecclesiastical interest, but as born-again Christians guided by the Holy Spirit, we can rely on God’s Word alone as the basis of our doctrinal beliefs.

Referring to Scripture as our ultimate authority, Jesus Christ described His equality with the Father:

John 14:9 Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father?

The apostle John, whose gospel and letters are the source for much of Christology, wrote that Jesus (the Word), the Father, and the Holy Spirit all have authority in Heaven, and all are One, despite their different personalities and roles.

1 John 5:7 For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.

2. False. In 381 AD, the Council of Constantinople condemned Apollinarianism, a false doctrine stating that Jesus is not equally human and divine, but is one person with one nature. Apollinarianism, condemned at the Council of Constantinople in 381, taught that Jesus had a perfect divine nature but an imperfect human nature.

Although Jesus has a human body and soul in His earthly ministry (John 1:14), He is, always was, and always will be God, the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8). Although He suffered the same temptations that all humans do, He was and is perfect and without sin (Hebrews 4:15), whereas all humans are sinners (Romans 3:23).

John 1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

John 10:17 Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. 18 No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.

3. True. The Council of Nicaea stated that Jesus Christ the Son is coeternal with the Father and condemned Arianism, a heresy stating that the Son was created by God before time.

John 1: 1 In the beginning was the Word (Jesus Christ the Son), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made

Revelation 1:8 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.

4. False. The Council of Constantinople correctly taught that the Holy Spirit is equal to God the Father and Jesus Christ the Son (1 John 5:7). They condemned Pneumatomachianism, a false doctrine that the Spirit was a created force or power and not a person of the Trinity. Jesus Himself clearly describes the Holy Spirit, or Comforter, as a person.

John 14:16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; 17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.

5. False. Subordinationism is defined as the heresy that the Spirit is inferior to the Father and the Son, and it was excluded by the Nicene Creed. John explains that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are one Triune God, each with equal authority in Heaven (1 John 5:7). The Spirit, with The Father and Son, collaborated equally in creation, the Spirit’s role being to empower the process:

Genesis 1: 1 In the beginning God (plural noun Elohim, connoting the three persons of the Trinity) created the heaven and the earth. 2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

6. False. While the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are equally divine, as shown above, and while all are unified in their perfect will, they each have distinct personalities and roles, as evidenced throughout Scripture. Jesus Christ the Son is the express image of God the Father (Hebrews 1:3) and He intercedes for us to the Father (Romans 8:34), while the Spirit works directly in our mind, soul and spirit to teach us about Jesus Christ and to draw our attention to Him (John 16:13-14).

So how did you do on this quiz? As we draw ever closer to the End Times, false prophets (Matthew 7:15; 24:11,24) and false teachings (1 Timothy 4:1,13,16) abound, and many are misled by Satan’s ministers (2 Corinthians 11:13-15), as we shall see in a subsequent post. We must know what we believe, stand up for it, and share it with others!

© 2018 Laurie Collett

Reposted from the archives