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I was hanging out with some guys recently and someone asked what was on my mind. I didn’t know where some of the other guys were at. I didn’t know if some of them even knew Jesus or where their walk was with him. I was surprised by what came out of my mouth. I told them, “You guys, I just want you to know the real Jesus.”

I talked about how I hated religion but loved Jesus.

I wish they asked me what I meant by that.

You see, religion had beat me up pretty bad. Let’s face it, there is a demonic poser going by the Name “Jesus” in a lot of churches. A taskmaster Jesus who doesn’t really love you unless you meet some parameters of performance. Some people’s “Jesus” is actually the AntiChrist (which literally means “in place of Christ”). Jesus said, “You will know them by their fruit.” Does this Christian truly and sacrificially love? Do I? If not, then are not acting as Christ’s followers, are they? Jesus said, “You will know my followers by their love.”

This really opens up the questions: What does love look like? Can love ever be harsh or mean? How do we speak the truth in love because you can never divorce truth from love? Does it mean I don’t love someone if I fail to speak the truth to someone who is living in sin? Is it love to overlook their choices that hurt themselves and all of society? Do people love me if they never rebuke me? How does someone rebuke another in love? Shun another in love?

I worshiped that antiChrist spirit for years because somewhere along the way, and because of stark terror, fear, and intimidation, I became convinced that this was the only Jesus there was!

My Christian role models reinforced this.

Churches I had belonged to reinforced this.

The antichrist “religion” spirit eventually betrayed me and destroyed me. It drove me to despair and a depression so horrible I would never wish it on my worst enemy. I lost my faith – and this was a good thing. I needed to be done with my faith so I could gain Jesus and his faith.

“God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. 10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” Ephesians 2:8-10 NLT (true saving “faith” is “Jesus’ faith”, a gift from God search it out and you will find this to be true!)

Galatians 2:16 Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. (KJV)

He says: “I will proclaim Your name to My brothers; I will sing Your praises in the congregation.” 13And again: “I will put My trust in Him.” And once again: “Here am I, and the children God has given Me.” Hebrews 2:12-13 (He puts His trust into us. It’s his perfect trust that has saved us, not our faltering trust. See more here: http://www.biblelife.org/yourfaith.htm)

His faith won’t let me down. His grace never fails.

His faith says, “As He is, so am I in this world” (1 John 4).

Religion says, “It all depends on you. Your faith. Your trust. Your obedience. religion says, do, do, do, do…” There is a lot of do do in religion.

But then again, doesn’t Jesus say “do” as well? Doesn’t he expect you to obey? Yet the motivation for obedience to Jesus is that you are caught up in the Divine Romance. You obey because you love. You love because he first loved you and Jesus says we are in deep trouble if we have left our first love (Rev 2). Jesus says that if we love him we will do what he commands (John 14-17). We will obey him if we truly love him. We cannot possibly hope to love him without first receiving his love. “We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4)

So when it comes to religion, yes, I have a chip on my shoulder. I hate it because religion is what rejected and murdered God. Religions kills love. Religion killed my soul. Most of our problems among Christians (and most all of my remaining problems) stem from the lingering confusion about the true nature of Jesus (Who is He and what has he accomplished?) and the hellish dangers of religion.

Some are still so apt to follow the confusion and darkness of Jonathan Edwards who penned the most famous and most blasphemous sermon “Sinners in the Hands of Angry God”. The Truth is quite the opposite. The truth is rather, “God, in the Hands of Angry Sinners”.

The truth is plain to see in Scripture:

“For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16 NLT 

I have a great compassion on those suffering with what I suffered with because I know that they too can, by God’s mercy, find the real Jesus and come to know his love and be liberated from the AntiChrist like I was! Jesus wants to save “Christians” too!

I now rest in the grace of Christ completely independent from my performance. I know I am deeply loved and rest in the peace of Christ’s love. You can too. If you are depressed, consider getting to know Jesus. He can heal you like he healed me… without drugs, but by the power of the Holy Spirit and the victory Jesus won over the darkness when religion tortured him and nailed him to some wood.

Everyone knows Jesus is good and religion REALLY sucks. This is why this video has 31 million views:

So… your feedback is appreciated. In what ways do you agree or disagree?

ps. I know it’s been common to use the word “religion” in a negative Christless sense. That is how I am using the word in this blog but please be aware that the Bible uses the word “religion” fondly when speaking of “pure and undefiled religion” which is to care for orphans and widows (practical love) and keep yourself pure from the world. I pray we can all grow into an experience of that!

Here is a message my friend Kyle shared:

It has been a very long time since I have drawn anything… until recently. Having children helps bring art back into your life and reminds you why you liked it. It’s fun to create. We were made in the image of the Creator.

Art is meant to be shared, seen and heard and appreciated.

For the past ten years and more my wife and I have been creating music. Please visit our music website @ www.reflectworship.com to hear what we’ve been creating. (And download a sample of our new album free!)

Growing up I spent a great deal of time out in the woods. Every day after school I went to explore and go hiking. I have so many stories encountering wildlife. One day I ran into a buck that was perhaps two years old at most. He had never encountered a human before and was curious. He didn’t run away and so I spent an hour with him following him around until he met with an older brother or cousin buck. Once he saw me, they both ran away.

Here is one of my best deer portraits:

Also Enjoy this slideshow of some of my best drawings from years past:

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Do you like to draw? What are some of your favorite hobbies?

Enjoy this five song Christmas concert we filmed in our living room after the kids were asleep. (Parents, you know how that goes).

If you live near Green Bay, Catherine and I want to invite you to a concert with the whole band featuring our latest project, favorite worship songs, and some new songs we are excited to share with you! Mark your calendars:

March 3rd 2017 @ 7:30 at
The Cup Of Joy
232 S. Broadway
Green Bay WI 54914

Since I am a writer, I have written several blogs about why these carefully chosen songs mean so much to us. They can be found on our band website www.reflectworship.com. We begin the concert with a brand new version of the Native American Christmas song:

The Huron Carol. (Read all about this song here!)

O Little Town of Bethlehem – “…Cast out our sin, and enter in, be born in us today…” Those lyrics of the song remind me of what Jesus had to say about being born again. Ever wonder what it means to be born again?

John doesn’t start his Gospel talking about Christ’s birth like some of the others, but begins by talking about someone else’s birth…” (Read more Here)

Center of the Angels Songs – “…Lamb of God, Savior to all…”

This song is all about the names of Jesus. There is most always something very significant about names in Scripture. John (whose name means “grace”) introduces Jesus (whose name means “I AM Salvation”) as, “the lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.”

The first, and arguably the most important of the Jewish feasts, was… (Read more Here)

Joy To The World – “…Do we think of Jesus as “full of Joy”? I think that all too often we remember him as a man well acquainted with sorrow and grief. This is true, but I will postulate that there is also no one who could ever hold a candle to the kind of Joy Jesus knew and displayed as well. This is part of why he was SO attractive to the innumerable crowds that walked for miles to see Jesus and encounter his love.

Scripture tells us that in the Lord’s Presence there is fullness of joy and at his right hand, pleasures evermore. Do we believe this? …”(Read more Here)

What song do you think we should include in a Christmas album? What is your favorite Christmas song and Why? Let me know! Leave a comment!

One of the favorite songs I get to share in this Christmas season is Mary Did You Know?

One line that I highlight before I sing the song are:

“Mary did you know… that when you kissed your little baby, that you kissed the face of God?”

Do you remember when you first came to realize that Jesus was God?

I was really shocked and amazed. Still am. And then, when I read that Jesus was the Creator, that put it over the top.

“In the beginning the Word (Jesus) already existed.
The Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
He existed in the beginning with God.
God created everything through him,
and nothing was created except through him.
The Word gave life to everything that was created,
and his life brought light to everyone.” John 1:1-4 NLT

I love the phrase in Colossians 1:16:

“Everything was created through him and for him.”

Some other translations render it: “All things were created by him and for him” and a few others: “by him and in him”. I discovered the meaning of life when I read that verse.

I was created by Jesus for Jesus. You were created by Jesus for Jesus. Your and my life will only make sense and find fulfillment in connection to, and in relationship with this One who made us for himself. Yeshua (Jesus) which literally means “I AM Salvation”.

Pretty cool, huh?

Which brings us to the last, and probably often misunderstood, line in the song:

“…This sleeping child you’re holding is the Great I AM.”

As many of you know “I AM” was the Name that God revealed himself as, particularly to Moses in the burning bush incident (Ex. 3:14). This is God’s eternal Name. (By the way, this is the same as Yahweh, Jehovah, YHWH, or Yehowah – we don’t really know how to say it since the scribes left out the vowels lest anyone blaspheme the name. In most Bibles I AM is rendered as LORD in all caps and appears over 6000 times.

I don’t pretend to grasp the full significance of His Name, I AM. I know that, as the LORD himself has said, “it is wonderfully beyond our comprehension”. And this is good news! No one you have ever met or heard about has God figured out. It is greater still than the most exhilarating revelation that you have ever had into his nature thus far. Isn’t that great?

And while his Name is wonderfully profound, it is also very practical as I have discovered. As the LORD progressively reveals himself throughout Scripture, He pairs his name I AM with things that he actually is for us. To Abraham he revealed himself as Jehovah Jirah “I AM your Provider/Provision”, to others…

O my goodness. I just realized I was about to recreate from scratch the same blog post I made years ago. I did a search and fond it. Here is a link to that blog: https://daniellovett.com/2012/04/25/i-am-salvation-the-name-of-jesus-yashua/

Have you ever encountered people who have just come to faith in Jesus Christ? They are so excited about Jesus and eager to learn more. It is SO refreshing and amazing to be around these kinds of people!

On the flip side, have you met others who have been around the Christian faith for a while and seem to have lost the plot? They seem depressed and distracted with life. They are no longer full of the joy they once had from knowing Jesus. They are not as eager to talk about Jesus.

I have to admit that sadly, I fall more into the latter category.

I had a dream that exposed my heart on the matter:

I met some young men of Asian descent. I overheard one of them say that people always mistake him for Chinese and how that irritated him. They had just come from a conference and were very excited about what they were learning.

I went up to them and asked them if the conference was about God. They said yes it was and they were learning about Jehovah Rophi. (Exodus 15:26 says, “I am Jehovah–Rophi, the LORD that heals you.” More literally “I AM your Healing”.)

I said, “I am so happy for you that you are learning about God,” and then I became saddened as I reflected on the status of my own heart. I continued, “I know all about God but I have neglected him. I avoid him. I honestly don’t know why I do it. Why have I forsaken him?”

I then shared with them one of my favorite Scriptures from 1 John 4:

“God is love. There is no fear in love for perfect love drives out all fear because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears in not yet made perfect by his love. We love because he first loved us.”

And then I woke up.

My emotions were threadbare all day long and I broke down a few times. I just wanted to return to God… like for real. Not like all the “fake” times I say all these prayers of commitment and then go on ignoring him and betray him the next chance I get.

I was touched when I heard the Lord speak to me the he was granting me repentance. In other words he was making a way for me to come back and be the transformed man he intends for me to be.

The key was love.

I need to simply receive his perfect love.

Then and only then will I love God or anyone else.

I recently had a convo with a young man who is still one of those excited about his faith. I encouraged him that this walk with God is ALL about receiving his love. Keep receiving well. This is the key to healthy spirituality.I reminded him of Jesus words that loving others is equally as important as loving God.

So how is our love?

Mine has been not so great. I might still hold grudges. I think I have walls around my heart. I’m rarely honest about what I’m going through. I hide it. I don’t think I’m as easy to get along with as I once thought. Perhaps I’m not so easy to love. I shut people out and ignore them until I have no friends left. I shut down my heart so I won’t ever feel the pain of the loss. I avoid messy relationships and therefore avoid all relationships. Perhaps I’m the messy relationship others are avoiding.

I feel lost… Well, at least that describes how my heart has felt lately. I have lost the plot and begin to wonder what the Apostle Paul was so excited about that would cause him to suffer SO much for the joy of knowing Jesus. What would cause Paul to dedicate such immense effort to spread the message of Christ even in the face of such persecution? (See Scripture below *)

I wish I could write songs or write anything that would change the world for the better (or start a love/Jesus revolution) but I guess that sort of thing might need to flow from a healthy heart that is full of something worth giving.

Well, perhaps this is step in the right direction. So, I’m gonna write a lame prayer now.

“Yeshua, You are salvation. You are complete and total restoration and healing for all that troubles us, all that brings us dis-ease. You are the cure. Will you receive me back and bring some restoration to this old dried up heart of mine? I come to you. Best as I can, in my derailed and broken up state, I come to you. I know you do receive me because you promise never to reject any that come to you and you guarantee to give them relationship (John 6 & 17). Thank you for your faithfulness even though I have been faithless. Help me find a few genuine friends who will love me and that I can love and invest into. Peace out.”

‘Peace out?’ …I told you it would be lame.

*Paul wrote: “Why are we also in danger every hour? 31 I affirm, brethren, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily. 32 If from human motives I fought with wild beasts at Ephesus, what does it profit me? If the dead are not raised, LET US EAT AND DRINK, FOR TOMORROW WE DIE. 33 Do not be deceived: “Bad company corrupts good morals.” 34 Become sober-minded as you ought, and stop sinning; for some have no knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame.” (1 Cor 15)

– I’m doing some research into this and I am trying to figure out if he literally fought wild beasts in a coliseum in Ephesus around AD 54, or if this was just figurative language of the opposition and fierce persecution he faced from the religious and pagans? I think both.