TEST TIME

Greetings fellow TEST TAKERS.

Back in the day...when I would strap on my guitar...crank up the amp to 10 and begin to play before some rowdy fraternity boys and sorority girls...before we played we had to have a SOUND CHECK. Of course the name of the band...represented the quality of music that we were attempting to create...THE BLIND DISTORTION.

I would walk up to the microphone...tap it gently with my finger to see if it was on...and then say..."Testing...testing...1,2,3...testing." Or I would say..."Testing...check..check...money orders...cash...check." At Woodstock...Crosby Stills Nash would start of by saying "Testing, 1,2,3...hike." The bottom line is...before you commenced the show...you needed to test the sound system.

Testing is a part of life. In school we enter into the Testing Zone...by sitting in a class... absorb voluminous amounts of information...and then take a test...not necessarily on the material...but a test of our retention abilities. For me, the testing preparation was to cram the night...or even the day of the test...and regurgitate information on a sheet paper...to be forgotten before I walked out of the classroom.

Radio and Television have test patterns...tests for the Emergency Broadcasting System (with a shrill warning sound) where they informed us...that this was a test...it's only a test...in the case of a real emergency we should turn to a certain frequency for more instructions. In school in the 50's we would go through fire drills...where we would at the least expected moment hear a fire alarm...and we would PRACTICE lining up in an orderly manner and march outside until the all clear was sounded. We would also be tested for our reaction to an Atomic Bomb being dropped on America. SIDE NOTE: My Dad use to pronounce it Atomic Bum. I used to make him mad when I asked responded..."Atomic Bum...what is that a Nuclear Hobo?" When the alarm sounded for the drill for the Atomic Bomb...we were instructed to climb under our wooden desks and cover our heads. I guess the desks were lead lined and reinforced with steel.

We are instructed to also have an Emergency Spiritual Broadcasting System. We are instructed to tune in to frequency of WGOD...77777.

"TEST YOURSELVES...to see if you are IN THE FAITH; EXAMINE YOURSELVES! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is IN YOU --unless you FAIL THE TEST."
(II CORINTHIANS 13:5)

Paul is not talking about testing yourselves to see if you had accepted Jesus as your Saviour. Paul had written a letter of correction to this group of believers at the church (gathering) in Corinth. They were believers...who lacked no spiritual gifts and were anticipating the return of Jesus...BUT they had ISSUES that Paul spent a lot of time correcting. They were factions, gossipers, greedy, self-centered, getting drunk at the Lord's Supper (kinda hard to do on Welch's Grape Juice), eating and drinking up all the food at the COVER DISH...so the people in the back of the line did not get anything, immorality with sex with a mother-in-law, and out of order services.

Paul was coming to them for a 3rd time...and he was encouraging them...to TEST THEMSELVES to see if they were IN THE FAITH...before he got there. Paul was expecting...there relationship with Jesus Christ...their belief of the D.B.R. to be manifested BY THEIR ACTIONS. They were to test certain areas of their lives....and see if it lined up with a STANDARD. The standard is the means by which we CALIBRATE. If we don't line up with the CALIBRATION...there will be no CELEBRATION.

The areas that needed to be TESTED...are found in II Corinthians 12:20,21. A companion list may be found in Galatians 5:19-21 (aka deeds of the flesh).


"For I am not afraid that perhaps when I come I may find you to be not what I wish and may be found by you to be not what you wish; that perhaps...there may be: NOTE: There are 11 areas that were/possible to be found among those who claim they believe in the DEATH, BURIAL, RESURRECTION of Jesus.

1. Debates/Strife= a quarrel, wrangling, contention, debate, striving, variance.
Are you always stirring things up? Can you ever be wrong? Can you ever yield your right to be right?

2. Envyings/Jealousy= heat, zeal, jealousy, malice, fervent mind, indignation, to be hot, to be boiling or glowing.
Are you a hot head.? Do people situations push your buttons? Notice how something you envy after or some one you are jealous of is rooted in anger...because they have and you do not have.

3. Wrath/Angry Tempers= Passion...as if breathing hard, fierceness, indignation (see envyings/jealousy), wrath, to breath hard, blow, smoke, immolate (slaughter for any purpose), kill, slay, to sacrifice.
Again...are you a hot head? Do you get so angry that you see red...and begin huffing and puffing? Are you willing to slaughter and sacrifice someone to appease your wrath?

4. Strifes/Disputes=Intrigue, factions, contention, strife, to stimulate.
Do you like to stoke the fire? Do you like to gather around you groups of like mind and complain about others? Do you like to stimulate/provoke controversy within your church?

5. Backbiters/Slanderers= defamation (defaming someones character), evil speaking, backbiting (takes place behind the back of the one you are talking about), talkative against.
This is akin to the backstabbers. They smile at you to your face...but once your back is turned...they start gnawing on your back like a werewolf at a human buffet.

6. Whisperers/Gossips=A slanderer, secret detraction, to utter an untruth (or partial truth...or even the truth behind the back), attempt to deceive by falsehood, lie.
Psst...have you heard. Pssst...we need to pray for so and so. Psst...Can you believe what sister so and so got caught at? Pssst...thank God I'm not like..."


7. Swellings/Arrogance= inflation, haughtiness, blowing (full of hot air), to inflate, make proud, puffed up.
The best way to make someone small is to inflate yourself out of proportion. The Pharisee said, "I thank God I am not like them" The publican said, "Lord be merciful to me a sinner." John the Baptist put it like this..."He must increase, I must decrease."

8. Tumults/Disturbances= instability, disorder, commotion, confusion, inconstant, unstable.
Do you keep things stirred up in yours and others lives? Do you thrive on constant drama? Is your life hallmarked by confusion? Are you unstable in all your ways as you are constantly tossed to and fro by every wave of life?

9. Uncleanness/Impurity=impurity physically or morally, foul, unclean, lewd, demonic
Do you need to be cleaned up? Are you opening up your life to demon activity? Are you allowing the Lord of the Flies...to lay maggots in your life?

10. Fornication/Immorality= We get this from the Greek word for pornography. Harlotry, incest, adultery, idolatry, indulge in unlawful lust.
Are you hooked on sex? Can you take your eyes off of the female/male anatomy? Is your life consumed with thoughts of who you would like to have sex with...in your imagination or in reality? Do you think the ADULT in adultery means that it is OK...for you to fornicate because you are an ADULT and you can do what you like?

11. Lasciviousness/Sensuality= licentiousness, filthy, wantonness, unrestrained.
Unrestrained thoughts, produce unrestrained words, resulting in unrestrained actions. Are you out of control? Have you practice filthy acts for so long...that now they seem normal? Is your volition (free will) making all the wrong choices?

WOW...what a list. According to Jesus...you don't even have to do these things..you just have to thing them...and you become guilty as if you had done them. For some that means...well since I've thought them...and it's like I already have done them...I might as well carry out the dead. I know one guy who states...if God did not want me to lust after women...he would not have made me this way....so he is only doing what comes naturally. Well...he is half right...he is doing what comes naturally...but we are called to RESTRAIN our UNRESTRAINT.

Well...did you pass the test? Did you get an A+ or an F-?

Next time...we see what we are to do with the results of our TEST if we find out that we are NOT in the FAITH.

DESPAIR NOT...THERE IS HOPE.

Love and Tested Kisses
Rodney "Teacher, Do You Grade On A Curve" Boyd