CHAPTER 1
What is this weapon?
In the edition of June 1977 of the French multi-dictionary Larousse, to the appellation Boomerang or Boumerang, we read:
(1) Australian weapon, form curve, which returns to its starting point after its trajectory and that is used as a game.
(2) Act of hostility which turns against its author.
This book has no claim to give a third definition to this word, because its author is not a derived academician of college of higher education, but if he had one to give, it could nevertheless be translated thus:
(3) Hostile acts against the sin in our lives that God ALWAYS returns to author's favour.
It is not here to call into question any Christian doctrine or to draw comparisons on the behavior or the instruction given by some denominations.
The only purpose of this book is to testify to the Glory of God in my life and that of my loved ones. To testify of this "Boomerang Effect" that is the word of God spoken by the breath of the Holy Spirit, if it is put into practice with a true and sincere heart.
What we will discover together is the Boomerang Effect, to which some expect perhaps. The one, from which after all his misfortunes Job could tell, (Job 42-5): I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. //
It's not about (Job 42-10): And the LORD turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before.//
Double what I owned, would be in effect for some, a non negligible attraction to move closer God. Today, 23 February 1 995, if I work to write this book, isn't that I previously received from the LORD, the double of my material possessions, but rather because I am forced to note having already received more than double what I owned in fruits of the spirit, described in (GAL 5-22) But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, fidelity, meekness, self-control: //
Some may not fail to say, (John 8-13): "Thou bearest witness concerning thyself; thy witness is not true."//
Those here I will answer (John 8-14) " Though I bear record of myself, yet my record is true: for I know whence I came, and whither I go; but ye cannot tell whence I come, and whither I go." / /.
"Whence I came» is always described in Galatians 5, but not in verse 22 as previously, just a little more before, in verses 19 to 21, (Galatians 5-19/21), Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.//
I will enlarge only the least possible on this first part, "Whence I came". It will appear uninteresting to some, but I think however necessary to the spiritual analyses of my reactions, my feelings, my motivations that we will treat together in the second part: "Where I go."
Where am I going, thus? If I persevere along this path until the end of my path, I certainly have no fears to have. Who can indeed, better than me for myself, have realized day by day, the change that God was occurring in the depths of my heart. From constant tightness, I was unconsciously living in the past, gradually, I discovered peace. Was it the effect of a new doctrine, the effect of a new philosophy? No! It was "The Boomerang Effect".
Guided by the Holy Spirit, I accepted to cut myself off from evil, my own personality, at least I felt it so at this moment, and God in His grace returned to me the most beautiful of realities, the LIFE, the LIFE. The double what I had given Him, as was the case of Job, but purified, sanctified.
We find it in another form in (Revelation 12/11): and they (i.e. the Christians) have overcome him (i.e. Satan) by reason of the blood of the Lamb (i.e. Jesus), and by reason of the word of their testimony, and have not loved their life even unto death.//
Did I have taken me’s own life? I who live twice more! Did I compelled myself to rules? Me who feel me free! Did I learn my new philosophy by rote? I who only read very little! Did I make introspection a new phobia? No! None of this! Jesus said (Matthew 11-29/30): Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest to your souls; for my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.//
I do not mean however everything has always seemed to me easy. How many times, on the contrary, I fought to see God through my own desires? How many times again, did I see in my wife in particular, the MIDGE that she had in the eye without seeing the beam there in mine? Each time however, with patience and perseverance, the Holy Spirit initially alleviated me, then comforted me, then invited me to read a passage from God's Word, to raise me awareness of my lack of understanding. Did I always accept it in a few minutes? Admittedly not! Sometimes indeed a few minutes, but often a few hours, sometimes even a few weeks, to see ... I let you guess. Did I felt then convicted, cut off from God? No! Because He is gentle and humble of heart.
Very quickly, much faster than for the calling into question, He encouraged me to accept the forgiveness of God in the Christ Jesus, where everything have been perfectly accomplished on the cross. I had then to accept as sufficient this first time in order to not crucify Him twice and to understand, to admit that I did not have anything more to do for myself, to admit that there was no common measure between his work and mine. The only comparison that we could allow us today, would be in fact in knowing to say thank you Lord for the life of joy and abundance that you give us, rather than seeking to accomplish a work that will be always beyond our capacities. I did not say a life of carelessness, but nevertheless: To live! It's in that respect, the miracle.
How great is the surprise at the time of a new encounter of the trapping circumstances, for someone like me who, in the habit of his forty ninth year, looks at then himself to act at the same image of what Jesus teaches us, without difficulty or animosity, unlike what he lived before. Do not believe however that I am or think I have become perfect, nor even be alone in discovering such benefits. This would be a very big mistake. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof, provided I do not give up on this path. On this path, the journey is the discovery of the heart of God, because each step in which He leads us himself, allows us to discover a little better the Love that He bears to us, the love He bears to our neighbor and the Love of our neighbor. It is indeed a small part of the heart of God that we discover through new joys, joys we did not know, when He transforms Himself our heart. This one leaps for joy more frequently in front of simple things, while those perverse which led us previously, and that God condemns in His Word, begin to seem to us increasingly useless and vain. In front of this result in nothing premeditated, would we have then the right to doubt that He is effectively our guide, our rock? Would we be entitled to conceive that He is not the one who bandages our wounds and provides for all our needs?
Would we, however, be entitled to derive the credit of glory to us, we who have only received the gift that God offers to each one of those who accept He through the sacrifice of Jesus to the Cross? Absolutely not! Absolutely not! Who actually accomplished everything, us or Him?
Him, because He is the very essence of God, has been able to bear all the temptations of sin in which, for one or the other, I am, and we have all fallen. Was he less tempted than us? Undoubtedly not, but because He never said yes to the sin, God made His enemies His stepping stone. Was Jesus confronted with the lowest of the low small temptations or the lowest of the low small demons? Would God have made a special stepping stone for Him? A stepping stone that allowed Him to reach the highest step without having to struggle?
NO! Whatever his sport, the world champion is not crowned without encountered his adversaries or simply the weakest. However, he respects those who have served to him as a stepping stone for he is aware of their strength. He knows that one day he will be beaten by one of them when he will had become less vigilant one hundredth of second or that, with the years, he will have weakened. The sportsman knows his adversaries; Jesus knew His and has respected His. He remained humble and because of this, God raised Him to the highest rank: The one which will never be dethroned. That is why whoever comes to Him will never be confused.
Have we not been accepted when we converted, we have given our whole life to Jesus and we concretized our faith before God and men through the waters of baptism? Have we not been perfectly cleansed, by Him who has done everything by obedience to God, by communion with God's Spirit and by whom God wants to lead us to Him?
Yes, we were accepted and laundered, because He has been obedient until death, until He shed His blood. He does not ask us to remake the same thing. He knows it is perfectly impossible for us and harmful. Otherwise, why would He have done it for us? He just asks us our agreement to follow Him.
If we were going on an expedition into a virgin forest, would we clear a path next to our guide? Or would we follow him? We are tourists behind Him and only have to let us drive. The trail is already cleared ahead us. If a «liana» tries to block our way, do not try to cut it, just order it to withdraw, in the name of the one who has already cut it. It will certainly withdraw to our great wonder, for God is the same yesterday, today and forever, but we will not say in this, that we are champions. His Blood has covered all our sins, reconciling us with God our Father, for this reason the path is open to us. Have we become perfect? Yes, of course! We have become, because perfectly laundered, but will we remain so?
Have we indeed begun to live by respecting ALL the rules of God? If we pay attention to some gross and visible imbalances of which many have suffered like alcoholism, the debauchery, the fury, the lie, the theft, the murder, and many others, undoubtedly we more or less left that on one side, when we have received the seed of faith that the Holy Spirit brings with Him. If we however must beat us more or less daily against temptation, can we to really talk of ourselves as a free person? If we are obliged to constrain us by certain rules or attitudes to be victorious about these temptations, are they not the ones which occupy the major part of our mind and sometimes remain the mistresses of our spontaneous reactions?
How many do they respect rule at one hundred percent? How many could truthfully say live from day to day this spiritual reality contained in (Matthew 5-44): But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;//
To this daily and non-occasional light on the days of worship, how many can remain safe for themselves and continue to criticize those who are not 'Christians' or even mocking the attitude of one or the other? Let us not forget indeed verse 45 of the same passage: “THAT YE MAY BE” the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. //
That ye may be! Never let us forget this “That ye may be”, because it is here, the perseverance of the saints. But “That ye may be”, will you say to me, except Jesus, nobody is Christian?
Yes there are! There are many Christians, because many are sincere and progress towards the truth. Does the farmer wait his wheat field in harvest, to call it wheat field? We cannot therefore wait to be perfect to recognize us Christian, just like we cannot reject whoever as unworthy to be it, under the pretext of acts that we consider imperfect. To be Christian is not a state, but a movement on a pathway. Some try to do it by themselves, with their unpurified heart, others, like the grain of wheat for its growth, expect first to God and a little to the man. They let themselves then lead to the purification by God and do only their share of man.
As you will be able read in the following pages, I personally try to keep at best this pathway I see good, to let me be purified, and not to do it by myself. As for to judge who will be or not save, I defer to our righteous judge, who sees everything, hears everything, knows everything and before whom any man will appear. (Matthew 16-19) tells us: And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven…// Would it give us the right to use the ones from hell? Thus, I will not do it!
We will see together acts or behaviors that unfortunately can lead to it, but to go until to know whom, as individual will be lost or not, I am not here to judge of that. What would I do if not of (John 3-16/17): For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.//
Saved how? By Grace! By faith in Jesus Christ! By faith that the blood he shed for us on the Cross covers the sins of one who acknowledges his faults, repents of them, requests forgiveness before God through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and does not commit them again. (Hebrews 9-11/14): But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?//
"How much more does He cleanse our consciences from dead works that we should serve the living God!” There is much here about a huge topic of reflection or meditation, there is a fundamental spiritual reality that we must live, and we will try to realize together. Since several years, I have seen the Lord teach me on myself, on my own behaviors, my own shortcomings, revealing me their source to make me victorious and then He is able to bless me of His Love to deepest of my heart. I am not alone with whom He proceeds thus. To be convinced me of this, it is enough for me to look at only to relatives like my wife and many others, to know that I do not have anything exceptional.
The Lord wants to purify our conscience and for this reason, He wants to reveal us our present or past failures, so that we do not reproduce them indefinitely. (Luke 13-6/9): He spake also this parable; A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came and sought fruit thereon, and found none.
Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none: cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground? And he answering said unto him,
Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung it: And if it bear fruit, well: and if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down.//
There is well here a notion of time, to enter the fruits of the Spirit that we saw in Galatians 5 22. I allow myself to recall them, they are: joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, fidelity, meekness, self-control, to name only the main ones. We could indeed add to that, the love is right, the love is without fear, the love is… and we would give the very definition of the heart of God.
I do not believe that this notion of time, applies only to the new converts, quite the contrary. How many indeed do remain only trees dead before God, for the simple reason that they have forsaken their first faith in favor of a law become very familiar because it has been managed for many years by the flesh! There is indeed a time for all things under heaven, because a new spring can make the dried out tree bloom again. It is never too late to change one's path as long as one has life, for the Boomerang Effect of God that makes our faith grow is for the living. After???
(Hebrews 6 - 1/3): Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. And this will we do, if God permit.//
So let's go if you want to the presentation.
(Biblical texts are from King James or Darby version)
