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Laws
GOOD
MORNING, HAPPY NEW YEAR, AND THE BLESSINGS OF THE LORD BE
UPON YOU!!
Sure glad to see all of you again after the long Christmas
and New Years holiday break. I'm still working on
our website updates, and the CoffeeBreakOnline website is
down at the moment. We're celebrating two years of
Coffee Breaks this month. We've published more than
500 of them in the past two years. Starting in
January 2005 with something like 30,000 readers, we've
multiplied that number by more than 12 or 13, and now have
something on the order of 400,000+ online readers.
In addition, we have print copies of these Coffee Breaks
that go out to some readers that have no online access.
I'm
actually working on a new series dealing with the 23rd
Psalm for us to begin this new year, but because of many
other conflicting events, it isn't ready yet for
publication. This piece was originally published
almost two years ago, and I decided to republish some of
those older Coffee Breaks this week as a "Best
Of" group.
That
said, grab the old coffee pot -- better yet, your French
Press (an Expresso Machine works, too) -- and fix yourself
a good cup of dark brew to start the day.
Thought maybe we might talk about some laws today. Now
I’m no lawyer, and I’ve no intention of becoming one,
but I have fought a number of cases throughout the years
in courts. I’ve been blessed by being able to win every
single case I’ve fought in court – and I didn’t hire
a lawyer to represent me, my family, or our interests.
It isn’t necessary to get into all the details, but
Della and I got into a rough and tumble legal case
concerning some of our kids a number of years ago. Initially, we hired an attorney to begin the case, but he
wanted some $30,000 to really fight it.
Another lawyer friend told me that he thought I ought to
do my own legal research. I had tried to get him to
represent us, but he was closing his office and moving to
Colorado. After reviewing the issues of the case, he said
to me one day, “I’ve read your writings many times.
You know how to lay things out pretty clearly. Why don’t
you do the court case yourself?”
That was a scary proposition. At least at first.
I think
all of us are intimidated by courts, courtrooms, judges,
lawyers, police officers, etc., only because we are
ignorant of the Law, how it really works, and its
consequences. Della and I weren’t ready to kick out $30
grand in legal fees, so we decided that I would do the
research, prepare the arguments, and file the necessary
briefs in the courts. She would be the spokesperson in the
case and argue the merits before the judges.
Both of us got involved in doing depositions, getting
affidavits, serving warrants on prospective witnesses –
you know, the whole schmeer. What an experience!
I spent many countless hours in law libraries in Alaska
and Washington, studying case law, court decisions,
Supreme Court decisions, and the legislative history
behind the laws. Wheww! It's amazing, though,
what you learn. I found out a whole lot more than
I ever wanted to know, and when I was done, I was all the
more certain I never wanted to be an attorney.
Nevertheless, it gave me an incredible respect for the
legislators who draft these laws, the attorneys, judges, and the laws they
seek to apply.
Oh, and our case? By the time the case came before the
presiding judge of the Superior Court, I had filed a
three-inch thick stack of documents including affidavits,
depositions, testimony of witnesses, and legal arguments
that took in just about every aspect of previous case law
and the rulings of the state Supreme Court. After
reviewing the pile of documents I had filed, the judge
asked Della if she was ready to begin. She indicated that
she was.
The judge then asked opposing counsel if he was ready, and
he stood up and argued for a postponement. Della immediate
came to her feet and objected on the grounds that every
piece of possible evidence had already been collected.
She
didn’t wait for the judge to rule on opposing
counsel’s motion – she just dived in with her
argument.
The judge listened for a few minutes, (because we were
representing the case pro se rather than through
attorneys, the judge gave us a lot of latitude we wouldn't
have otherwise gotten) and then lifted his
hand in the air and said, “Hold on, Mrs. Capener!”
He
then turned to the opposing counsel and said to him,
“Unless you can give me some powerful reason not to,
I’m going to rule against you and your client.”
The opposing counsel then asked for a brief recess so he
could confer with us. He stepped out into the hall outside
the courtroom and bargained for an out-of-court
settlement. The terms he offered – while not entirely to
our liking – met the essence of what we were arguing
for. Had he not bargained, his client would surely have
gone to jail.
We stepped back into the courtroom, advised the judge that
we had a settlement; he reviewed the particulars and gave
his stamp of approval.
On the way out of the courthouse a few moments later, that
attorney stepped into the elevator with us. When the door
closed, and the three of us were alone for those 45
seconds or so, he said, “I’ve practiced law for 50
years, and I’ve never seen anyone come to court so
well-prepared. I’ve never lost a case in those 50 years,
but had I gone on to fight this one, it would have been my
first defeat. And if you ever tell anyone I said so,
I’ll deny it to my last breath!”
Della and I both laughed, and I said, “We had a personal
and vested interest in this case and its outcome. We had
to be thorough!” He quickly responded, “Sure, but most
folks get so emotionally involved in their cases that they
make lousy attorneys. You didn’t let your emotions cloud
your legal arguments.” The elevator door opened and that
was the end of our discussion.
Della and I had accomplished in six months of intensive
teamwork what our previous attorney friends had said would
take two-to-three years and cost us $30,000-plus. It was a
teaching experience for both of us. We not only learned
some civil and criminal laws in the process, we learned
some spiritual laws.
That’s what I’d like to share with you.
In a series of Coffee Breaks recently completed, titled
The American Covenant, I talked about the
foundations of our nation’s legal system – how it was
based in a fundamental respect and honor of the Lord Jesus
Christ, and how the honor of God played such a major role
in the establishing of our Constitution.
In civil law, a judge and/or jury listens to arguments
that affect the lives of the contesting parties and makes
a determination of which party has been aggrieved, and
which party has been the offender. An assessment of
damages is arrived at and the offending party is required
to make whatever restitution the judge and jury determine.
In criminal law, mandates are passed designed to protect
the interests and the welfare of society in general.
If
someone steals, they pay a penalty. That penalty can be
time in prison, financial restitution or both. If someone
kills, that person faces the possible penalty of death
and/or incarceration for much – if not all – of the
rest of their lives.
Laws are passed with certain objectives in mind. The
breaking of those laws brings penalties, consequences that
folks often either ignore or just don’t think about.
Some of these laws are negotiable with altered
consequences in the realm of civil or criminal law. Some
of these laws have a spiritual counterpart which is
non-negotiable.
Consider the scientific realm. We have laws of
mathematics. We have laws of physics. We have laws of
nature. We have laws of biology. These laws exist – not
because some man or woman or group of people passed them
into existence. They exist because they are universal laws
that are part of our creation.
A geneticist will tell you that the theory of evolution is
poppycock. The laws of genetics unequivocally proscribe
“every kind reproducing after its kind.” You have to
deliberately alter the DNA by outside manipulation in
order to produce something different. Let me draw an
example from the citrus groves we had while living in
Texas.
We had a parent tree that was used to spawn oranges of
several varieties and grapefruit of several varieties.
That parent tree produces a fruit similar to an orange,
but quite tart or bitter in taste. I could splice into that
tree a branch from a different citrus variety and produce
navel or mandarin or Valencia. Here’s the rub.
The new
tree that is produced – regardless of which citrus fruit
I come up with – will continue to produce whatever kind
of orange variety I have created by altering the plant’s
DNA. But it will not produce another Valencia tree by
taking the seeds from those oranges and replanting them.
Why? Because the laws that God spoke into being at
creation dictate every kind after its kind. In this case,
I’ve altered the original, rendering it sterile. It is a
law of nature. It is non-negotiable.
Let’s look at some different kinds of laws. These laws
are just as non-negotiable.
In Proverbs 23:7, Solomon wrote, “As [a man] thinketh
in his heart, so is he.” (KJV)
Now that’s a
non-negotiable law. If a person allows their mind to dwell
on certain things in life, they ultimately become what
they think.
Think on negative things, and that’s what you will
become. Think on anger, hatred, revenge, spite, your
disagreements with others, and you will suffer the
consequences in your own body. Think poverty, and you’ll
be poor. Think defeat, and you’ll be a loser.
Think health, think life, think prosperity, think
blessing, etc., and that’s what you will become: a
prosperous person who blesses those around you; a person
who lives in good health.
How does this kind of law work in a person? Simple.
There’s a corollary to “as a man thinketh…”
Jesus put it like this, “O generation of vipers, how
can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the
abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A good man out
of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good
things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth
forth evil things.”
(Matthew 12:34-35 KJV)
Understand?
If a person’s mind is on doubt, unbelief, fear, evil,
etc., it is impossible for him or her to bring forth
anything productive in life. He or she has become fearful
and unbelieving because they first believe it, and then
speak it. I’ll clarify that momentarily.
The opposite is also true. When a person thinks faith,
thinks prosperity, thinks blessings, that’s what he or
she speaks. Once spoken, it sets another law in motion.
Solomon expressed that law like this:
“Death and life
are in the power of the tongue, and they who indulge it
shall eat the fruit of it [for death or life].”
(Proverbs 18:21 Amplified)
Ever stop to consider how such a law can exist? In Genesis
1:26-27, we are told, “And God said, Let Us [Father, Son
and Holy Spirit] make mankind in Our image, after Our
likeness; and let them have complete authority..”
(Amplified)
“….So God created man in His own image, in
the image and likeness of God He created him; male and
female He created them.”
Beginning to make sense, right? Seven times God spoke, and
creation came into existence. His very speaking brought
with it creative power. He spoke and the world we now live
in was created. He spoke and life came forth. He spoke,
and according to that which he spoke, universal laws came
into being – laws that are non-negotiable, laws that
cannot be altered whether we like them or not.
If, therefore, we were created in His image and after His
likeness – and He has the power to create just by
speaking it so – we have that same kind of creative
power in our speaking. The sin that drove Adam and Eve out
of the Garden has contaminated the entire human race and
degraded our abilities, but death and life are still in
the power of the tongue.
If, as Jesus said, “out of the abundance of the heart,
the mouth speaketh…,” then what we think and believe
is what comes forth from our lips. The law is this: what
you speak is what you get. Speak life, and you’ll have
life. Speak death, and you’ll have death. Speak poverty,
indebtedness, being broke all the time, etc., and you’ll
stay poor and in debt – and wonder why you can never get
ahead. It’s simple, folks! You get what you speak!
I got my first real, practical lesson in these laws when I
was a teenager. Both my brother and I had come down with
the flu bug and we were at home from school enjoying (!)
being sick. Dad came into the bedroom to check on us, and
it occurred to me that I had never seen him sick – not
even once! So I said to him, “Dad, how come you’re
never sick?”
His answer blew me away. “Son, I just refuse to get
sick.”
That made no sense whatever. “How can you refuse to get
sick?” I asked. “How is it that you can reject a virus
like the flu just because you decide you’re not going to
get it?”
“I just do,” he said. “I’ve decided that I’m
going to walk in the health that God has promised, so I
just refuse any viruses or sicknesses. I don’t get
sick.” He didn’t, either. Dad believed the promise
made in Proverbs 3:5-8,
“Trust in the LORD with all
thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In
all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy
paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and
depart from evil. It shall be health to thy navel, and
marrow to thy bones.”
(KJV)
It was an astonishing illustration for me as a teenager.
With very rare exceptions, he never got sick until he was
68 years of age. That in itself was a topic of argument
between us.
It wasn’t long after our discussion on health that we
got into another discussion. I overheard Dad make a
comment to Mom about living to be 70 years of age. At
fifteen or sixteen years of age by now, I had been through
the Bible from cover to cover probably twenty times, and
had memorized large portions of scripture at my father’s
insistence. His statement about living to be 70 years old
just didn’t square in my spirit, so I called him on it.
He quoted Psalm 90:10, “The days of our years are
threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength
they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and
sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.”
I said
to him, “Dad, that’s a rotten confession! You’ve
forgotten the first part of David’s statement, ‘Thou
hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in
the light of thy countenance. For all our days are passed
away in thy wrath: we spend our years as a tale that is
told.'” (see verses 8-9)
I continued on, “Dad, the seventy years are by reason
of sin. The promise of God is found in Genesis 6:3,
‘And
the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man,
for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an
hundred and twenty years.’ Why would you settle for less
than 120 years – especially since longevity runs in our
family?”
Somehow, that was something that never lodged in him.
We
argued that point for many years, and he continued to
confess seventy years his entire life.
In 1984, Della and I took my folks, Della’s mother, and
our oldest son, Chris, to Hawaii for a vacation trip.
Della and I were sitting on the beach at Waikiki watching
Dad and Chris play in the surf. Suddenly, the Holy Spirit
spoke to me and said, “Your father has cancer, and has
two years to live. He will not know it until he sees a
doctor, and the doctor will tell him that he has six
months to live.” I turned to Della and shared with her
what the Holy Spirit had just said. We agreed that it was
not something to share – although we encouraged Dad to
get a thorough physical checkup. We felt that it was a
warning and preparation so that we would know in advance
and be able to deal with the family issues that would
certainly arise when the cancer became known.
Sure enough, in the fall of 1985, it was clear that
Dad’s health was rapidly declining. Della and I went to
Saint Paul Island to fill in for him so he could take the
necessary time to get a thorough checkup. In November, he
was diagnosed at Oral Roberts’ City of Faith hospital in
Tulsa with cancer. They opened him up, and closed him
right back without operating. The doctors told Dad he had
six months to live. He passed away exactly six months
later on Good Friday, 1986.
Della and I have been keenly aware of the non-negotiable
spiritual law that comes with what we believe and what we
speak. Dad was a living example of that law – both for
good, and for evil. We never understood why he couldn’t
accept the fact that the promise of 120 years applied to
him, just like the promise of good health. He confessed
– and walked in – nearly perfect health right up to
the time he got cancer. His confession of living for 70
years was also enacted in his life. He was 70 years and
six months old when he died.
Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and they
who indulge it shall eat the fruit of it.
That’s a
non-negotiable, inviolable law.
As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.
That is also a
non-negotiable, inviolable law.
No wonder the apostle Paul wrote, “Finally, brethren,
whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest,
whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure,
whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of
good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any
praise, think on these things.” (Philippians 4:8 KJV)
Have I got you re-thinking your thought-life? Great!
See you
Wednesday. We're going to really switch gears and
talk about guitars, and praise and worship.
Believe
the unbelievable. Effect, and do the impossible.
Blessings on you!
Regner
A. Capener
CAPENER MINISTRIES
RIVER WORSHIP CENTER
700 South 6th Street
Sunnyside, Washington 98944
(509) 837-4657
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To
arrange for speaking engagements, please call Della
Capener at (956) 490-7171.
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