Being Perfect Stinks

“Your room is perfect!” A friend said this to me after seeing my room in college for the first time. I asked, “What do you mean?” They replied, “Everything is in perfect alignment; even the papers and pens on your desk are in perfect proportion and distance from the edges and the corners.” My friend was right. I hadn’t even noticed this before, and it got me thinking, “Yeah…why do I have my room and things so ‘perfect?’”

This seemingly “insignificant” event was used by the Lord to stir new thoughts inside my mind and heart. I started asking myself questions like, “Have I become one of those weird people who do weird things and have weird quirks?” Such questions drew my mind to the past when I had encountered other people doing “weird” things that seemed strange but “harmless.” Such as, one person I knew vacuumed the carpet in their entire house almost every day. I found out this person couldn’t stand it when people walked on the carpet and left footprints. So, they vacuumed daily to get the carpet fibers all leaning in the same direction.

Then there is a guy I played baseball with. He was a pitcher, and just about every time he prepared to throw a pitch he would tap his hand on the top of his cap. This same teammate also took 5-6 showers every day. I thought to myself, “He can’t stink that bad…why so much showering? I barely take one shower a day, do I need more showers so I don’t stink?”

Years later, at around the age of 27, I began “RECOVERY.” Meaning, I began to deal with my “weird” quirks, which were actually symptoms and “covers.” My “covers” were connected to emotional confusion, which was connected to depression and internal friction, which was connected to pain deep inside my heart and mind. In other words, the dots of my life journey to that point began to be connected and “uncovered.” When I began to ask myself these questions, and answered these questions with honesty, my mind seemed to quietly open up, and I began to understand myself, and others, and the world around me, better.

As I look back, I now know that my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, began to reveal truth to me back then. As I moved out of denial about my issues and stopped “overspiritualizing” so many things, I realized, and understood, life on an entirely new level. I realized the reason that person vacuumed the carpet every day had nothing to do with removing dirt, but rather it was a distraction they used in an attempt to deny, and not deal with, whatever deeper, unresolved issues they had inside. The same with my baseball teammate; his cap tapping and numerous daily showers were symptoms of something deeper going on inside of him.

The more I dug into my weird behaviors and the emotions hiding beneath these behaviors, the truth came out—I was trying to be perfect! Without being fully conscious of it, my “perfect” room was me attempting to compensate for how “imperfect” I felt in the core of who I was. On the fringe of my personality existed a young man scared to admit to himself, and to others, and especially to God, that he had some quirks, and some issues, and some pain. I attempted to control these deep reservoirs of pain and insecurity by being compulsively focused on my external behaviors. I was trying to be perfect on the outside to balance how horribly imperfect I felt on the inside. I reached a point where I smacked myself in the face, yanked my hair, and said to myself, “Scott, snap out of it…being perfect stinks! Trying to be perfect is exhausting! Attempting perfection is frustrating! Hiding behind perfectionism is not God’s plan for my life! The time has come for me to stop this painful and pressurized pursuit of perfection and to begin making changes in my life! Jesus…please help me to change.”

Well, I’m sure you are not surprised to hear that this was a major turning point in my life, and in my recovery, and in my ministry! As I began to learn more, and to heal more, and to grow more as a person, it was like being “born-again AGAIN!” I began to experience life with less of a “weight” on my emotions and my mind…the world was lifted off my back, so to speak. Life became easier and more manageable. I began to experience that this new NOT BEING PERFECT approach to life was so much easier and healthier! I began to intentionally leave my desk messy and tell myself, “Jesus loves messy people! Jesus loves weird people! Jesus adores quirky people! Jesus delights in those of us who are imperfect!”

I am now in my 22^nd year of recovery; working through perfectionism was one of the initial phases. I still have my quirks and “weirdnesses,” but they’ve greatly diminished and are deflated of the former drive and wounded emotions that fueled them. Even today, those old “habits” and “tapes” will begin to replay inside of me. But, now I quickly recognize them and shift my focus from external behaviors to what is really happening in my heart, mind, emotions, and spirit. I look to my insides to find out what is really going on by asking Jesus to help me. My desk today is nowhere near perfect. Actually, as I write this, I look to my right and there is my desk…dusty, with open books, objects strewn about, and all kinds of stuff scattered haphazardly, and I say aloud to my desk (and to all attempts to perfectionism), “Let the dust arise and let the papers and the junk compound on my desk…I do not care because Jesus, and my family, and my friends, love and accept me just as I am—imperfect!”

Do you mind if I ask you…are you trying to be perfect like I tried to be? Or, are you weird, and quirky, and imperfect like me? Or, maybe you haven’t really thought about such things before? Maybe today would be the day you can express the courage inside of you—through Jesus Christ—and begin to explore and dig a little bit…it could change your life.

“Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens [and are trying to be perfect], and I will give you rest.”

– Jesus Christ
Matthew 10:39

If I can be of help in any way, be sure and let me know. Our ministry is here to serve, and to help, and to love on, imperfect people!

Not perfect and loving it…and living it,

Scott Nute

Life Saving Texts

With so many good things taking place in our ministry, it is a challenge to know where to start! Let me share about our new texting follow-up & information system.

Our ministry works hard to not only reach the lost and win them to Christ, but also to provide “layers” of follow-up contact and information to the people who commit to Christ during our events. We do this in several ways, such as our direct training of the local churches we work with who are responsible to apply the follow-up training we provide to them. Now, in addition to supplementing the local church follow-up training we provide, our ministry will be using a “Texting” system that allows people to contact us for further information.

Over the next year, God willing, we plan on conducting evangelism & training projects in four 3rd-world countries. We can use our text follow-up system anywhere in the world, and we will provide text follow-up information before, during, and after, our events! People who come to Christ at our events can easily text us for more information. Plus, those who attend our events but don’t commit to Christ at that time, or anyone for that matter, can contact us for spiritual growth and “life” information. You can give it a try right now to see for yourself…for MORE information on any topic below text MORE to 832-271-3353, and then follow the prompting response that will connect you to that topic on our website, which is now available in 103 languages:

We believe using this text follow-up & information system will help our ministry to have a greater impact in people’s lives in numerous ways, such as personal evangelism, and spiritual growth, and overall life development!

October 16-19, I will be in New Mexico, which is where I am from! We are having a “Harvest Festival” with First Baptist Church of Logan, NM. I will also be speaking in the local public schools talking to the students on issues such as drugs & alcohol, peer-pressure, and other issues many students face. I cannot share about Christianity in the schools, but we will invite the students and teachers to the Harvest Festival event.

Next month I will share details of the strategic multi-phase project we are working on in the Philippines for November 7-13, 2016 and into 2017! Until then, your prayers & ministry partnership are appreciated!

Sincerely,

Scott Nute

I Saw “The Number”

“Hey Scott…can we have a small get-together in your room tonight?” My dormitory neighbor asked me that question. I replied, “Sure.” This was October 31^st, Halloween night, 1985. I had just arrived at my dorm room after baseball practice at New Mexico Highlands University in Las Vegas, NM. I ran to take a shower and returned, and within a few minutes four of my dorm friends came to my room. The one who arranged this meeting was a guy from Dallas, TX, named Jim. And to this day, I don’t know why he asked to have this meeting in my room. What happened that evening in my dorm room was perhaps the most “unusual” and internally disturbing spiritual experience of my life…and it ended up changing my life—FOREVER!

Jim had us sit in a line on the floor, and he sat in front of the four of us. He gave each of us a piece of paper, a pen, and a white candle. He told us to write down what “good things” we wanted to happen in our lives that school year, and we did. Next, Jim had us get on our knees as if praying, and starting with the first person in line (I just happened to be last) Jim told this person to take the candle and stick it through the piece of paper on which we had written our list of “good things.” Then, Jim lit the candle and instructed the first person to drip wax on their paper. Down the line it went. When they got to me I was freaking out! I felt UTTERLY & COMPLETELY uncomfortable! An extremely uneasy “feeling” rushed over and through me during this “meeting.” Well, I did what Jim said and lit the white candle and dripped the wax on my paper. As we finished, I looked down the line at my friends who were involved in this “meeting” with me, and each of them had this “look” on their faces…no expressions, very stoic, lifeless! I have no idea if those guys knew what was actually going on or not? Suddenly, Jim stood up, turned on the lights, and instantly they all changed expressions like nothing had happened. I was frozen in stunned silence!

The guys left my dorm room but Jim remained for a few more minutes, so it was just him and me. I said, “Jim, what was that…what did we just do?” He replied, “we were praying for ‘good luck’…prayers with the white candle makes good things to happen to us.” Jim also had a red candle and he then told me, “the red candle is to put curses on people.” At first I thought (or perhaps hoped) he was joking, but the seriousness of his facial expression clearly said that he was dead serious! He laid both candles on my desk, and I actually picked them up to look at them. I looked closely at the top of the red candle, it was a thin dinner candle with grooves twisting around it. At the top of the candle it was smooth, and Jim had taken a knife and carved a circle around the top of the candle, and in that circle was the number “666.”

“This calls for wisdom. Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. That number is 666” (Revelation 13:18).

I was 18 years old when this happened. Now, 31 years later, it is still crystal clear in my mind! I had naively been involved in a satanic “white magic” séance. I was petrified when I saw that “666” on the red candle! Then, I asked Jim, “Where did you learn how to do this stuff?” He answered, “My father taught me.” Now, I don’t know if he meant his biological father, or his spiritual father, satan. What I do know is I kept my distance from Jim from that night on.

What happened in my dorm room that night was 100% real with no exaggerations whatsoever! There was “something” in my room with us that night…a clear, powerful, intangible, and frightening “presence”…and it scared me! In retrospect, this event was at least the 4^th “satanic” experience I had encountered, but this one was by far the most direct. Once I went to a rock concert to hear the band, “Iron Maiden,” and they were famous for their song, “666, The Number of the Beast.” I can say there was an obvious “power & worship” taking place in that concert. Another time, I had a “bad trip” on the hallucinogenic drug, “mushrooms.” At a party, while listening to the rock band “Led Zeppelin,” I literally began to see everything in different shades of red, and people had to take care of me because I was in a panic. They almost took me to the emergency room to get my stomach pumped for a potential drug overdose. After several hours, the drugs faded and I was “ok.” And another time, one night in high school, some devil-worshipers crashed our outdoor keg party. After everyone left, the leader of this cult began to hypnotically dance around the fire and chant. As he danced, I sensed that same eerie “presence” that I did in my college dorm room the following year. All of these experiences were subtle exposures to, and invitations to choose to get more directly involved with, satanism.

Satan is constantly at work in our society, especially on young people! It seems the devil can be blunter with young people through rock music, drugs, and such things. These methods, along with countless others, lure and bait people into his dark world. I have noticed that people from broken and abusive homes may be more vulnerable to satanism; however, we are all targets of satanic attacks. Whether it is direct exposure like what happened to me, or a more indirect, and subtle, “friendly” exposure to satan’s invitations to dabble in his ways. Whether we dabble just a little, or if we choose to get heavily involved in living for lucifer and his world system, we are all constantly exposed to satan’s world. I won’t ask if satan is working in your life and tempting you. Rather, I will ask HOW is satan working in your life and tempting you, and how are you dealing with it?

There are a few things I learned from the naïve dabbling I did in satan’s world. And, I think these characteristics below, along with others, are what lure, bait, and tempt people to become involved in satanism.

1. ACCEPTANCE: People involved in satanism have found “acceptance” in their so-called satanic family. We all need acceptance, and if we don’t find it in “normal” ways, such as a stable family, we will drift toward anything, even dangerous things, that will provide the acceptance we desperately need.
2. ATTENTION: A common trait with a fair number of satanists is “outlandish” behaviors and lifestyles, such as dressing all in black, or having extremely bright hair color, or bizarre clothing, tattoos, earrings, etc. At their core, satanists are extremely broken, hurt, confused, and lonely people. In an attempt to compensate for the unbearable void and pain inside of their hearts, they choose satanism as an extreme attention gaining magnet, which eventually makes their lives worse.
3. ESCAPE: The night the devil worshipers danced around the fire at our party, before he danced, the leader of their satanic cult came to me alone and said, “I am on the ultimate drug!” Like a “drug,” satanism provides a temporary delusional escape from the pain and realities of life. The leader of the cult was offering this “drug” to me and my friends in an attempt to recruit us into his devil-worshipping group.
4. POWER: People like the “power” that satan’s spirit gives them. As the devil-worshippers danced around the fire, one of our friends yelled at them and said, “Get out of here you devil-worshipers!” They stopped dancing around the fire, and their facial expressions changed, and with sheer hate in their eyes they just stared at us for several seconds…it was a wordless “threat!” Then, they turned and left. They felt powerful!
5. ANGER: satanism gives people a “justified” outlet for their anger, which commonly manifests in various forms of acting out and rebellion, such as drugs, violence, scaring people, animal or human sacrifice, etc. Blunt and/or subtle hate, anger, and vengeance are common characteristics of satanists. It seems satanists are angry from life, which includes any imperfect and distorted expressions of God, Christianity, and “religion” that have been thrown at them during their lives.
6. CONTROL: What it comes down to is people enter satanism because it gives them a powerful and intoxicating “illusion” of having “control” over their lives, and control over other people, and control over their destinies. They trade their souls for this “control.”

I believe a big reason I was so extremely uncomfortable the night of that satanic séance in my dorm room is because my mom had accepted Jesus Christ, and she was praying for me and had begun to share about Jesus Christ with me! One year after the satanic séance in my dorm room, in the dorm room right above that one, I repented of my sin and I asked Jesus Christ to be my personal Lord and Savior! I renounced satan and his work in my life!

A major difference between God and satan is that when we are serving God through Jesus Christ, we know it! With satan, a vast majority of people who are serving him don’t know it because they are spiritually blind. Let’s reach out to them with the Gospel of Jesus Christ so that they, too, can be set free from “his” darkness and brought into “HIS” light!

“Look, I have given you authority over all the power of the enemy, and you can walk among snakes and scorpions and crush them. Nothing will injure you.” – Jesus Christ (Luke 10:19).

For Jesus Christ,

Scott Nute

The Lands of Deserts & Typhoons

In our ministry of Reaching, Winning, & Training people around the world with the Good News of Jesus Christ, there is always the anticipation of where God will send me next. Soon, I will be in the land of deserts in Logan, New Mexico, a town of 900 people. From there, I will travel to the land of typhoons in Manila, Philippines, a metro city of over 12,000,000 people. Though these two places are complete opposites, the goal is the same—win souls to Jesus Christ!

For the first time in many years I will be conducting an event inside of an American church! October 16-19, we will have a “Harvest Festival” in First Baptist Church of Logan, NM (my home state)! Plus, I will be speaking in the local public schools, talking to the students on issues like drugs & alcohol, peer pressure, and such things. I cannot share about Christianity in the schools, but we will invite the students and teachers to the event.

Then, November 7-13, I will be conducting FIVE Community Crusades in Manila, Philippines! These community crusades are local church evangelistic events, which are smaller versions of our larger outdoor crusades. These events will be done as preliminary phases of the larger, outdoor Regionwide Crusade we plan to conduct next year in the same area. These two phases enable us to have a greater impact in a region for Jesus Christ! In tandem with each Community Crusade, we will be conducting outreach School Programs (like the one in the photo below) where I have the freedom to preach Jesus Christ! These school programs are tremendous opportunities to reach masses of youth with the Gospel!

In between these events, I will travel to Dallas, TX, to attend the Luis Palau “Next Generation Alliance (NGA)” Conference for vocational evangelists, November 3. This will be a time for traveling evangelists to get together for fellowship, encouragement, and networking.

Find our ministry on social media for daily photos, posts, and updates! We are on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Vimeo, and YouTube. Find us, friend us, and invite your social media friends to our pages!

Below is my upcoming schedule. Please pray for lives to be changed through these events!

• October 15-20—LOGAN, NM, USA—Harvest Festival, and Public School Assembly Programs
• November 3—DALLAS, TX, USA—Luis Palau “Next Generation Alliance (NGA)” Conference for Vocational Evangelists
• November 7-13—MANILA, PHILIPPINES—Five Community Crusades, and six Outreach School Programs

Thank you for your prayers & donations to our ministry! I could not do this ministry without you!

Into the world,

Scott Nute

Sands of Pleasure

A parent’s love for their children is a powerful and mysterious force! When I was around 12 years old, my mom, brother and I lived in the desert part of the USA—Las Cruces, New Mexico! One day, my mom walked in the door from work and she asked me to go to her car and get some stuff. Well, I grumbled under my breath and assumed this was my regular “bring in the groceries” chore. I took her keys and strolled out to her car and opened the back hatch and was utterly shocked! There was a brand new bike…bright black, with yellow mag wheels! It took a couple minutes for it to register in my brain what just happened…my mom had surprised me with the bike I had been wanting! I ran in and gave her the biggest hug and kiss ever! She actually seemed happier than I was! Parents receive deep-running pleasure when they see that their children are happy! It was not my birthday, nor Christmas, nor any special day. And, no special events had taken place, such as me coming home with straight A’s on my report card, because that never happened, not even close! My mom bought me that bike because she loved me, and because she delighted in me, and because she was unconditionally pleased with me!

In Mark Chapter 1, we read the story of when Jesus Christ was baptized by John the Baptist. Afterward, from Heaven, God the Father said, “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” (Mark 1:11). Then, something very strange and illogical happened: the result of God the Father being well pleased with His Son Jesus was not the “typical” expression of love a parent gives to their child, such as giving them a twenty dollar bill, or ordering them a pizza, or having their friends spend the night, or giving them a new bike. Rather, God gave His Son Jesus the command to go and live in the desert, “At once the Spirit sent him [Jesus] out into the wilderness [desert], and he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan.” (Mark 1:12-13). Why did God do this to His Son?

As He did with Jesus, God will intentionally send you and me into the “desert” too, even at the most illogical and unexpected times! There are several things we can learn from this desert story in Mark Chapter 1. The first thing we notice is that Jesus was sent into the desert because of His obedience, as God stated in Mark 1:11, “with you [Jesus] I am well pleased.” When a Christian is going through some tough “desert” times the first reaction from others may be to ask, “Have you sinned?”  This may be the case with some of us, as we may need to repent of our half-hearted focus on, and service to, Christ and others. I know my own sins and bad judgment have gotten me into unnecessary “desert” times. But, it is clear from this Bible text that we can be placed in the desert by God Himself because we have been obedient and because the Father is “well pleased” with us. So, if we are going through a desert stage an important question to ask ourselves is, “Am I in this desert because of my obedience, or my disobedience?”

A second thing about life in the desert is isolation. Jesus was alone in the desert for “forty days” (Mark 1:13). Isolation during our desert phase is a very important component because it digs deep into every category of our humanity. As an introvert, I don’t have much of a problem with isolation, so I have to make sure to get out with people for balance. Yet, for many people, the quiet of isolation can be disturbing. The silence speaks loud while our busy schedules snuff God’s voice. Isolation can tune our spiritual “ears” to hear more clearly from God. During isolation we may finally become still enough to the point where God can begin to surface our “less than best” life patterns. Isolation can surface, and begin to break up, any behaviors, and opinions, and thoughts, that we have never been conscious of and never dealt with before. Isolation can trigger our blind spots and weaknesses.

A third life application we see during Jesus’ time in the desert is that “He was with the wild animals” (Mark 1:13). His entire 40 days in the desert was a super battle between Jesus and the devil. Therefore, the desert is for warfare training! These “wild animals” Jesus encountered can refer to satanic powers and demons. But, notice the wild animals did not harm Jesus because Jesus had power over them. You and I also have power over Satan’s temptations through Christ…IF we learn how to recognize and process spiritual warfare. Jesus had encountered a “spiritual high” when He was baptized and anointed, and being sent into the desert was like a spiritual “boot camp” and reality check for Him. The same applies to you and me! Our spiritual discernment is sharpened and we are empowered for life and service in the desert, that is…if we let God have His way to train us for spiritual war “against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 6:12). If we are truly following and serving Jesus Christ we will encounter satanic warfare at times. If we don’t, then something is obviously wrong in our walk and service to Christ.

Another thing that can happen during our desert time is that emotional wounds may surface. It is possible to be so busy and focused on outward “things” that we, even subconsciously, can attempt to stay one step ahead of any unresolved past issues. Most homes today suffer from a barrage of things that damage us such as divorce, violence, alcoholism, compulsive behaviors, workaholism, etc. A child who grows up in this environment most likely winds up emotionally wounded. Eventually exhaustion, frustration, and even physical symptoms like weight loss, and anxiety, and sleep pattern changes, can begin to hinder our lives. The desert can let us know that we need to take time to resolve and heal from any wounds and pains from our past. Perhaps the next step is Christian Counseling?

One last lesson we learn from the desert is the preparation for service it builds within us. After His time in the desert, Jesus started His ministry! I used to play baseball in the minor leagues for the Detroit Tigers. In a sense, God has His own “desert minor leagues” He uses to prepare us for more fruitful and powerful ministry. After being released from my professional baseball contract I became a janitor at a campus ministry. It was during my janitor time of “toilet bowl cleaning and floor vacuuming” that the Lord actually called me into global evangelism. Being a janitor was vital and humbling preparation for serving in the ministry God called me to. Sending a minor league pitcher to the major leagues too early can damage him. Similarly, God may go out of His way to shut doors while He has us in the desert because we are not ready for the next step yet. What type of ministry is God preparing you for?

Are you in a “desert” today? What are you learning? What phase are you in? It won’t last forever…let Jesus hang on to you as you let go of you! Let us know how we can pray for you.

From the sand dunes,

Scott