Frustrating.
That's one word to describe how I feel about church at the moment. A while ago, a speaker once said that church was like a hospital; where people go to get better. I disagree, because no one wants to stay in a hospital; no matter how good the food is or the facilities are. You want to leave as soon as you get better
But church is another proposition. You get your sick people, but they find that it's a good place to hang out; not necessarily to get well. And soon, they thrive in their neurosis and hangups instead of dealing with them. The more appropriate place that corresponds to this would be an...asylum
Harsh words? To be sure. I have never minced words and lately, the increasing weariness of dealing with the same old cra..wait, this is a Christian blog so let me use a Greek word that Paul used: 'skubalon'. It means rubbish, dung,etc etc. Hmm..not any nicer than the expletive that I had to stop myself from using.
If you asked me what a church should look like. I would say that it's a place where people are honest and authentic, or can be without being condemned. That's not to say that you can't be rebuked lovingly, but that you can bring up something and it's okay to do so.
What prevents this is fear. The fear of being ridiculed, rejected and run out of the group. Three R's that Satan has used to great effect to build a nice church with a myriad of walls internally. All the rallies, all the revivals and restorationist movements will not help. These have been the church's typical responses to Satan's 3 "R"s. Unfortunately, the church's little r's would make much of a permanent dent. Why?
Because the church needs a transformation from the inside out. That's how the Holy Spirit works. Not outside in like so many of these churches like to think. All the programs, all the techniques and all the whizz bang speakers and music will amount to nothing more than a light 5 minute drizzle on parched desert land. The water must come from the underground and it must saturate the soil from down to up. Then, and only then will you see sustaining growth
Will this happen to my church? God, I hope so.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Some thoughts on Prayer
Initially, I wasn't going to write on prayer but this was sparked by a very good piece written by Ian on his blog and further interesting and intelligent observations by Chris and the Walking Disaster. So, I thought I'd thrown in my take on this
Ian has quite rightly pointed out some misconceptions about prayer. I hope to expand a little by highlighting what I see as two misconceptions about prayer as it is practiced today
1)Prayer as incantation
This is the type of prayer that sounds no different from a "Money come, Money come" plea to the money gods above. In a sermon given by Chris to the youth one day, he mentioned that we make the mistake of seeing God as an ATM machine - that all he is good for is giving things to us. So, it is no surprise that we we see him as a big Santa Claus and our prayers reflect that
This is why the Prayer of Jabez flies off the shelves in a Christian bookstore. We want secret techniques, ways and words of tweaking God to do our will; not his. An incantation is a series of things you say to get something done according to what you want. This is not Christianity, this is paganism, which is why we told not to babble in prayer like the pagans do (Matthew 6:7)
2) Prayer as a two way communication
I get worried when I see things like people journalling stuff like " God had a one hour conversation with me, and he told me to get my car repainted and to floss more often. Oh! the angel Gabriel said 'hi' to me as well..".
Please don't get the idea that I said God never talks to you. He does - through his Word primarily (Colossians 3:16, 2 Timothy 3:16, Acts 17:11). What he does not do is engage in some Neal Walsch 'Coversations with God' episode with you. There are people in mental institutions who take this too far. Or on the other hand, you can make lots of money with this..
Prayer is you talking to God. Period.
It's like talking to God on a walkie-talkie. You press the button down and talk - then you hang up. He then communicates to you through your reading of the Word, circumstances (both good and bad), people, the weather etc etc. So, in totality, far from limiting God's way of communicating with you - it's much greater than you think; but you need to have some objective way of measuring this - and this is the Word.
If God engages in a two-way conversation with you, then Biblically, you are a prophet. I don't claim to be one. But if you do and if you don't fulfill those requirements of what a prophet is...well, we all know what happens to false prophets, don't we?
3) Prayer as a weapon
This is one of the most abused ways in which prayer is used. Usually seen in bad versions of charismatic church back room deliverances, they involve phrases such as "Get out! In the name of..etc etc). You know what I'm talking about
So some people get the idea that once they throw in a few strong phrases here and there. Satan's going to run away and cower in fright. That's it's your words that send him scurrying...and I'm not so sure about that
Listen. Prayer by itself has no intrinsic power.
What?!? Heresy,you say...
If you were being beaten up by bullies, it's not your weak cry of "Dad, help!" that makes them stop wailing on you. It's the big, strong angry man who hears your plaintive cry and comes running down the road to help you that will.
It is not prayer that has the power. It is God. Remember those times you nearly came to grief and suddenly were delivered through God's mercy and grace? Did you pray before your car skidded off the road? I think not. God's providence ensures that you remain in him. Prayer is a means of thanking him, pleading to him, intercedding for others, crying in grief to him..but it is not a weapon to be wielded to make the congregation do YOUR will,to control others through fear and not to make you look like some superhero, just because you sound all Elijah-like.
Look at Ephesians 6:13-17. The armor of God is composed of numerous items but there is only one offensive weapon: The Sword of the Spirit .
And what is the Sword of the Spirit? The Word of God
In the next verse (v:18), Paul then exhorts us to pray, all kinds of prayer. Prayer is the walkie talkie. Putting on the armor just means you have your gear on. But if you don't talk to HQ, how are you going to know what your marching orders are?
Dismissed, soldier!
Ian has quite rightly pointed out some misconceptions about prayer. I hope to expand a little by highlighting what I see as two misconceptions about prayer as it is practiced today
1)Prayer as incantation
This is the type of prayer that sounds no different from a "Money come, Money come" plea to the money gods above. In a sermon given by Chris to the youth one day, he mentioned that we make the mistake of seeing God as an ATM machine - that all he is good for is giving things to us. So, it is no surprise that we we see him as a big Santa Claus and our prayers reflect that
This is why the Prayer of Jabez flies off the shelves in a Christian bookstore. We want secret techniques, ways and words of tweaking God to do our will; not his. An incantation is a series of things you say to get something done according to what you want. This is not Christianity, this is paganism, which is why we told not to babble in prayer like the pagans do (Matthew 6:7)
2) Prayer as a two way communication
I get worried when I see things like people journalling stuff like " God had a one hour conversation with me, and he told me to get my car repainted and to floss more often. Oh! the angel Gabriel said 'hi' to me as well..".
Please don't get the idea that I said God never talks to you. He does - through his Word primarily (Colossians 3:16, 2 Timothy 3:16, Acts 17:11). What he does not do is engage in some Neal Walsch 'Coversations with God' episode with you. There are people in mental institutions who take this too far. Or on the other hand, you can make lots of money with this..
Prayer is you talking to God. Period.
It's like talking to God on a walkie-talkie. You press the button down and talk - then you hang up. He then communicates to you through your reading of the Word, circumstances (both good and bad), people, the weather etc etc. So, in totality, far from limiting God's way of communicating with you - it's much greater than you think; but you need to have some objective way of measuring this - and this is the Word.
If God engages in a two-way conversation with you, then Biblically, you are a prophet. I don't claim to be one. But if you do and if you don't fulfill those requirements of what a prophet is...well, we all know what happens to false prophets, don't we?
3) Prayer as a weapon
This is one of the most abused ways in which prayer is used. Usually seen in bad versions of charismatic church back room deliverances, they involve phrases such as "Get out! In the name of..etc etc). You know what I'm talking about
So some people get the idea that once they throw in a few strong phrases here and there. Satan's going to run away and cower in fright. That's it's your words that send him scurrying...and I'm not so sure about that
Listen. Prayer by itself has no intrinsic power.
What?!? Heresy,you say...
If you were being beaten up by bullies, it's not your weak cry of "Dad, help!" that makes them stop wailing on you. It's the big, strong angry man who hears your plaintive cry and comes running down the road to help you that will.
It is not prayer that has the power. It is God. Remember those times you nearly came to grief and suddenly were delivered through God's mercy and grace? Did you pray before your car skidded off the road? I think not. God's providence ensures that you remain in him. Prayer is a means of thanking him, pleading to him, intercedding for others, crying in grief to him..but it is not a weapon to be wielded to make the congregation do YOUR will,to control others through fear and not to make you look like some superhero, just because you sound all Elijah-like.
Look at Ephesians 6:13-17. The armor of God is composed of numerous items but there is only one offensive weapon: The Sword of the Spirit .
And what is the Sword of the Spirit? The Word of God
In the next verse (v:18), Paul then exhorts us to pray, all kinds of prayer. Prayer is the walkie talkie. Putting on the armor just means you have your gear on. But if you don't talk to HQ, how are you going to know what your marching orders are?
Dismissed, soldier!
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
One cessationist's perspective
Imagine this scenario.
You are about to fly to the U.S. Suddenly, over the intercom, you hear the pilot’s voice:
“Ladies and Gentlemen. This is your captain speaking. I’ve had…a leading from God. He told me that I shouldn’t take you to the U.S. Yes, I heard his voice while I was shaving. You know what? We aren’t flying to Los Angeles today. We’re going to Moscow. How about that?”
What would you do? That’s the last time I fly Shekinah Airlines, that’s what I would say!
Over the years, I have slowly seen the dominating influence of the charismatic movement across all denominations and churches. In fact, the rise has been meteoric and wide-ranging. Music is the one such vehicle of this transmission. When I heard “Shout to the Lord” in a conservative Catholic church one Sunday, I knew that it wouldn’t be far long before the Vatican would have it’s own version of the televangelists on TBN (But being Italian, they’d have a lot more style, I presume). In fact, the Catholic Charismatic movement, by some estimates, far exceeds the number of Protestant Charismatics.
In the past, I was content to keep quiet because the raging debates between myself and some of the more vocal charismatics in my own family were so divisive that my grandmother banned all theological discussions at the family dinner table for a while.
Yes, I know, I have a weird family; others fight over money, we fight over Theology.
But now I’m taking a stand because of what I see as an almost patronising and arrogant view by charismatics in general that their view is that dominant, and therefore correct hermeunetical view. This disregards the fact that their movement is only about a hundred years old, and other views have had a longer and more traditional base to claim on. Might, numbers and being the newest doctrine on the block doesn’t always equal righ
Who of us that have maybe questioned the validity of what charismatics believe have been accused with these lines:
“ You are trying to quench the Holy Spirit’s power. That’s a sin!”
“ Sigh. I guess you don’t understand how the Spirit works..”
“ Why are you being an obstacle to God’s work?”
“ I think Satan has clouded your judgement. There’s demonic activity somewhere!”
“ You are only experiencing of what it feels like to be a Christian. If only you could feel what I’m feeling”
and my personal favourite:
“ You think too much. Don’t over analyse. Just let go, and let God!”
What if I told you that there were Christians who thought, felt, saw and tasted God more intently than ever before outside of the charismatic circle?
What if by leaving most of that goofiness behind, the authentic Christianity you would experience would render that a pale shadow?
Far from taking you into a ‘experience’ with God through a secondary baptism in the Holy Spirit ( a Biblically dubious contention), you become wrapped in world where self-worship sometimes becomes the norm, where you lay your God-given rational faculties down for superstition wrapped up in pseudo-Christian gift wrapping and where Gnostic patterns of ‘hidden knowledge’ suffuse it’s practice
I think one reason why people like me haven’t spoken up is that we didn’t want to look as though we were dividing the body of Christ. Maybe some of it was a low self-esteem; it could be that deep down, we thought we were missing out on ‘something’. And we wanted to be part of the good stuff, but really deep down, it didn’t sink right
Keeping quiet was okay until I realised that silence to some meant assent to them. And this was not definitely so.
And when I started seeing people’s life’s get bent out of shape by false prophecies, healings that were supposed to occur but never did; I wanted to address them
Also, and when the people who could one day run the world’s greatest superpower with nuclear weapons at hand could alter the course of my destiny, and my unborn children with policies that are dictated by your ‘leadings’, then you’ve crossed the line
It took me many years to work out why. It meant unloading all the rubbish that I had been fed and seeing again with the eyes of the Spirit. And this time, I understood what living in the Holy Spirit meant. It means that the focus is on Christ – and only him.
I am a Cessationist. This means that I believe that the more spectacular gifts in the early church, like speaking in tongues, ceased upon completion of the Canon (the Bible). I think that God still heals, and will always heal. He is the source of all healing – whether it’s from your white blood cell count stabilising on it’s own or in the form of a flying hospital giving you your precious sight back. He can work miracles outside of the natural laws, although all evidence points to the fact that for this time period; he has chosen to work within them.
I find the practice of ‘being slain’ downright goofy and not backed by scripture. Tongues as spoken today seems to be more of an auto-suggestive practice and until I find a healing incident involving the resuscitation of the dead and regeneration of a severed limb backed by the British Medical Association or some reputable scientific body; I remain sceptical
You are about to fly to the U.S. Suddenly, over the intercom, you hear the pilot’s voice:
“Ladies and Gentlemen. This is your captain speaking. I’ve had…a leading from God. He told me that I shouldn’t take you to the U.S. Yes, I heard his voice while I was shaving. You know what? We aren’t flying to Los Angeles today. We’re going to Moscow. How about that?”
What would you do? That’s the last time I fly Shekinah Airlines, that’s what I would say!
Over the years, I have slowly seen the dominating influence of the charismatic movement across all denominations and churches. In fact, the rise has been meteoric and wide-ranging. Music is the one such vehicle of this transmission. When I heard “Shout to the Lord” in a conservative Catholic church one Sunday, I knew that it wouldn’t be far long before the Vatican would have it’s own version of the televangelists on TBN (But being Italian, they’d have a lot more style, I presume). In fact, the Catholic Charismatic movement, by some estimates, far exceeds the number of Protestant Charismatics.
In the past, I was content to keep quiet because the raging debates between myself and some of the more vocal charismatics in my own family were so divisive that my grandmother banned all theological discussions at the family dinner table for a while.
Yes, I know, I have a weird family; others fight over money, we fight over Theology.
But now I’m taking a stand because of what I see as an almost patronising and arrogant view by charismatics in general that their view is that dominant, and therefore correct hermeunetical view. This disregards the fact that their movement is only about a hundred years old, and other views have had a longer and more traditional base to claim on. Might, numbers and being the newest doctrine on the block doesn’t always equal righ
Who of us that have maybe questioned the validity of what charismatics believe have been accused with these lines:
“ You are trying to quench the Holy Spirit’s power. That’s a sin!”
“ Sigh. I guess you don’t understand how the Spirit works..”
“ Why are you being an obstacle to God’s work?”
“ I think Satan has clouded your judgement. There’s demonic activity somewhere!”
“ You are only experiencing of what it feels like to be a Christian. If only you could feel what I’m feeling”
and my personal favourite:
“ You think too much. Don’t over analyse. Just let go, and let God!”
What if I told you that there were Christians who thought, felt, saw and tasted God more intently than ever before outside of the charismatic circle?
What if by leaving most of that goofiness behind, the authentic Christianity you would experience would render that a pale shadow?
Far from taking you into a ‘experience’ with God through a secondary baptism in the Holy Spirit ( a Biblically dubious contention), you become wrapped in world where self-worship sometimes becomes the norm, where you lay your God-given rational faculties down for superstition wrapped up in pseudo-Christian gift wrapping and where Gnostic patterns of ‘hidden knowledge’ suffuse it’s practice
I think one reason why people like me haven’t spoken up is that we didn’t want to look as though we were dividing the body of Christ. Maybe some of it was a low self-esteem; it could be that deep down, we thought we were missing out on ‘something’. And we wanted to be part of the good stuff, but really deep down, it didn’t sink right
Keeping quiet was okay until I realised that silence to some meant assent to them. And this was not definitely so.
And when I started seeing people’s life’s get bent out of shape by false prophecies, healings that were supposed to occur but never did; I wanted to address them
Also, and when the people who could one day run the world’s greatest superpower with nuclear weapons at hand could alter the course of my destiny, and my unborn children with policies that are dictated by your ‘leadings’, then you’ve crossed the line
It took me many years to work out why. It meant unloading all the rubbish that I had been fed and seeing again with the eyes of the Spirit. And this time, I understood what living in the Holy Spirit meant. It means that the focus is on Christ – and only him.
I am a Cessationist. This means that I believe that the more spectacular gifts in the early church, like speaking in tongues, ceased upon completion of the Canon (the Bible). I think that God still heals, and will always heal. He is the source of all healing – whether it’s from your white blood cell count stabilising on it’s own or in the form of a flying hospital giving you your precious sight back. He can work miracles outside of the natural laws, although all evidence points to the fact that for this time period; he has chosen to work within them.
I find the practice of ‘being slain’ downright goofy and not backed by scripture. Tongues as spoken today seems to be more of an auto-suggestive practice and until I find a healing incident involving the resuscitation of the dead and regeneration of a severed limb backed by the British Medical Association or some reputable scientific body; I remain sceptical
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