Prophecy

Prophecy is an area I want to get back into. I studied with the Seventh Day Adventist for a few years, even got baptized there. I was amazed at the sense they were able to make out of the prophecy in the Bible. Things just seemed to fit together and were verified by the rest of scripture. Then I came to believe that they were way off base on some key issues, so how could I trust all they said about the prophecy?

Anyway, I am going to check some stuff out and a friend said she would post some stuff here for me. Fire away Pam!

Finding Meaning In Life

An article in today’s newspaper with the above title examined the life work of a local psychology professor. I do not know this man and have never been much for psychology, but Paul Antrobus’ story is very interesting to me. He is now a quadriplegic confined to a wheelchair due to a tragic accident (fell of a ladder) and yet he maintains a strong desire to help others in his field of work. What connected with me was that while he believes strongly in Christ, he has problems with the focus and strategies of the Church. Once an ordained Baptist minister, He and his wife went to India as missionaries. This experience was a big part in his change of vocation.

This quote really made me think, “During my 5 1/2 years in India, I realized that theology really didn’t help people. In a lot of cases while the church did some good things; I felt the church was really missing a lot when it came to the kind of help people really needed. I saw too many people who were judged and condemned by the church. In India, the East Indian people didn’t condemn people the way the church did and I think that had a powerful influence on me.”

Here is a person who was highly motivated to help others (in the way most of us like to say we are) and yet he looked to the example of non-Christians a saw a better example. I think this is exactly what many whom I blog with are waking up to; no matter what you think we can gain from our beliefs, no matter what you think the faith can offer others, it is useless if it does not result in helping them in their physical needs.

We all aspire to be an open book on the internet, and Paul exemplifies this openness; He says ” Being judgmental became an issue for me in psychology to the point where I would say to graduate students and other psychologists; ‘If you listen to somebody’s life story, no matter what they have done, if you can’t turn around to that person and describe how you see them, how you understand them without judging them then you shouldn’t be in this business. So I have been a bit of a rebel and I kind of like that. It doesn’t bother me. Jesus was a rebel and so was Mother Theresa.”

Maybe what the church (and the world) needs is more rebels. Maybe those who have allowed our church to be more about judgment than understanding should not be in the business.

Forgiveness vs Trust

Would you forgive someone who offended you? Of course!

Eph 4: 31,32 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

We must forgive or we allow our own spirit to be harmed. But does that mean we continue to trust the offender? If they are in a role of church leadership do you allow them to continue, regardless of the offense? What if we are talking about a youth minister that admits to having sex with children? How far are you willing to take this?

Believe it or not, there are many who preach that we must forgive and forget no matter what, because of what Christ has done for us. That is not at all what the Bible says. Forgiveness does not mean that we must continue to trust the offender.

Reading on from the above text;

Eph 5:1-7 Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a man is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient. Therefore do not be partners with them.

The above text says to avoid those who fall into serious sin. Is this a contradiction? No. There is a difference between forgiveness and trust. We may forgive someone and yet not trust them. We may love them and yet not want to be around them.

There is one thing I think is important to notice here though; “But among you…” This text is directed at those who are a part of the body of Christ (the church). Jesus reached out in love and forgiveness to the prostitute and the thief, and yet He was harsh and condemning toward the Pharisees and Sadducees (the religious leaders of His day). We likewise must do our best to reach out to sinners. But once they proclaim to be living for Christ they must know that certain things are just not acceptable. I see this as a process of ‘growing into responsibility’. And those with the greater roles in the church are to be held to a higher degree of accountability.

Sadly, what we see in most churches is the opposite of what it should be. We see accusations thrown at those we should love into the faith and complete trust with no system of accountability for those in church leadership.

Train yourself to let go… of everything you fear to lose

Consider the following text from the Star Wars “Revenge of the Sith” Episode. Note that Anikin has been having dreams of his pregnant wife dying while giving birth;

Yoda: Careful you must be when sensing the future Anakin. The fear of loss is a path to the dark side.

Anakin Skywalker: I won’t let these visions come true, Master Yoda.

Yoda: Death is a natural part of life. Rejoice for those around you who transform into the Force. Mourn them do not. Miss them do not. Attachment leads to jealousy. The shadow of greed that is.

Anakin Skywalker: What must I do, Master Yoda?

Yoda: Train yourself to let go… of everything you fear to lose.

I watched the show a few days ago and have thought since about how close this discussion is to biblical principals. The whole series, and many others, are thought by many to draw heavily upon the teachings of the bible, but then they probably draw from other religions also. What I wanted to mention is that this particular teaching is one you very rarely hear coming from the pulpit of our churches. Yet, does not the summary statement from Yoda not sound exactly like the “forsake all” message from Christ in Luke 14:25-33?

Oh sure, I have heard the message delivered in a half hearted manner at church, but I think it deserves much more than that. Usually, when brought up in church it will be aimed at not hanging on to our material possessions, which it certainly does. But it goes deeper than that. Jesus is laying down just what it will cost you to follow Him!

Many go to church and live out their faith with very little challenge. Church leadership should not allow this type of lukewarm environment. How? By being the leader they have signed up to be. By doing the hard things themselves and leading by example.

How do we forsake all for Christ? What does that mean to you? How would you react if everything you love was taken from you? These are things all committed Christians should be challenged to face.

Christianity or Christ

I would like to comment on something expressed at themiraclechannel.ca forum;

(Andre) “We MUST stand and require our leaders to choose between Christianity and Christ, because so far, a very little portion of them know how to make this distinction.”

This is from Andre and before I go on I should say that Andre toned it down a bit in a follow-up post. Anyway, the main point here is the our leaders today must choose between Christianity and Christ. I think this is a true and valid statement. If you have read through much of what I have written here you know that I believe there to be serious problems in the church. But has the faith been so twisted and devalued that there is no hope for it to ever again represent the teachings and ministry of Our Lord? Sure there will always be hope and you would think that somehow God would someday rectify the situation, but as things stand today things look pretty bleak.

The churches of today are in the biggest fight of their life. The fight to survive. But the problem is they have succumbed to worldy ways to grow their numbers. Little churches are being consumed by bigger ones with better music ministries and professional worship teams. If you want to stay in business you have to change… not into Christlikeness but into wordliness. You must have visitation teams, home groups, sports events, summer camp, etc. All these things are fine and dandy where you have mature leadership but very often the leadership is not so mature and is not being challenged to grow. They are kept busy with involvement in social events and don’t have time to grow in knowledge and in spirit. The worst thing in all of this is that, in order to fund all of this activity the churches require a lot of fund raising. And that is where you lose any hope that your team of workers might be able to grow in the Lord. We got people running to and fro, working their butts off raising money so that they can keep this organization running all so that we can what?? Teach them not to look toward worldly things but seek first ye the Kingdom of heaven?

And what do newcomers see? I tell you, I have talked to a lot of people (church goers and non-church goers) about what they see as a major problem in the church today. You would be surprised how many will instantly blurt out that there is too much begging for money. Don’t get me wrong, I think we should disire to support the church and those who minister us. But it has come to the church expecting that support. The church has no right to make people feel obligated to give. Worse than that, many have devised clever messages based on twisted theology to extract that money, do a search on the internet for the prosperity gospel if you don’t know what i am talking about. Or they will bring out the Old Testament practice of thithing. And beyond your regular giving you need to give for this and support that. And those most hurt by all of this is the poorest. There are wolves amongst the sheep and those who are not feeding off the flock are guilty of tolerating the carnage.

If I were a pastor nowadays I would rather have a handful of people meeting in my basement than a thousand sitting in my pews. There are many out there doing just that because they have chosen Christ over Christianity.

Lessons For Leaders

It is very important that you know that my concerns for the Church are directed at the leaders. Of course I hope that others who have no desire to be a leader will read as well so that they can know which leaders are good and which are bad (and why it is very important to steer clear of the bad ones).

Example in point. I have mentioned in previous post about my friend Tim’s website that challenges the teachings and fund raising methods of the Miracle Channel (Canadian Christian TV channel). If you did any browsing around on his site you may have noticed that there is a lot of focus directly on the founders of the station Dick and Joan Dewart. Tim and other contributers directly addressed these two as they had taken the top leadership roles. It is a very Biblical teaching that with leadership comes responsibility. Dick and Joan were completely unwilling to answer to any of Tim’s questions from the start. I think at first there was some correspondence but even that was meant to shrug them off as unimportant and misguided. They just seemed to think they did not have to be accountable for what they teach. Maybe within there own circle they are different, but there was something else going on that went undetected by their co-leaders until a few days ago. Dick resigned because it was found out that he was having an “extra-marital affair”. Joan also resigned her position. They also had to resign their roles in a church in Lethbridge.

Being aware of how much corruption there is in the Churches today, this is no surprise to me. Actually, I feel this pales in comparison to the amount of damage they have done by raping the flock under the premise of promoting the Gospel. I don’t mean to kick them while they are down, I just think it is imperative that we examine the lives of the leaders of the faith. There is a huge movement out there that is saying that God wants you to be successful and healthy. This movement is just a front for those who see an easy way to take money from people. Many of them have no compassion for anyone, many others have just fooled themselves into believing that they are doing it for God. All of them are leading people down a dangerous path and getting very wealthy for doing so.

Is it so hard to discern where the heart of a man (or woman) lies? I watched a segment on the Miracle Channel where Dick was teaching, a segment called “Lessons for Leaders”. I have it recorded and have watched it through a few times. There is a few spots where Dick addressed some biblical direction for leadership qualities, but for about 90% of it you would think you were watching someone speak about how best to manipulate others and fill your pockets with money. A lot of garbage like this is aired on the channel and yet there are a ton of people financially supporting the channel while they can hardly pay there own bills, even at the promise of giving so that God will reward you. Once you bite into the possibility that someone is offering you the only way out of your troubles it seems that your ability to discern their integrity is lost. I speak from experience.

It is not enough that a person has a knowledge of the bible a appears to be promoting the Gospel, their life must be in line with what they teach or they do not deserve a cent of your hard earned wages or an ounce of your trust.

Lessons for Leaders? Maybe what the Church needs right now is Lessons for Followers so that the leaders don’t feel so comfortable in their positions.

Tribal Trails TV

Tribal Trails is a Native Christian broadcast that is doing a great job of reaching out to Natives (please pardon me if I just use the generic term here) in Canada. They cover most of Western Canada and the far North but there is one station in Ontario also. I love to watch the show because I get a feeling of realness in the hosts and guests that I just don’t get out of most Christian broadcasting. The show features scripture reading, singing and guest interviews as many do, but you don’t get the feeling that the show has been professionally produced.

The show is celebrating 25 years of broadcasting and yesterdays show went over some of it’s history. I was highly impressed by how the founders Derrick and Jean Hiscox were led by God to start the show. Natives in remote areas were already getting some Christian broadcasting but they felt there was a need for a broadcast that could reach the people in there own way. They needed so many things, money was a big concern of course, but they felt the first step was to have a commitment from some Natives to run the show. They wanted that commitment to be volunteered, not provoked. They were about to give up on the idea when four Native people (one couple and two ladies) volunteered and they had what they were praying for as a sign from God that this is what they were to do. Against all kinds of odds, they were able to air a few shows and it has kept going. The show still reflects it’s humble beginnings. There are no major efforts to ask for money for support, just a quick flash on the screen at the end of the show that it is supported by it’s viewers.

Is that the way things are done today? Do we look for signs that God is with us in our ventures, and abandon our pet projects if we don’t see that God is with us? Do we ask that God gives us signs along the way? Are we able to keep a humble attitude?

God be with you Tim

My friend Tim (see my “The Miracle Channel Review” link) has put an enormous effort into challenging The Miracle Channel. All Christians should be aware of what is being taught by the “evangelists’ on this channel, check Tim’s website and you will see what I mean.

Tim was interviewed on the CBC news again today, a follow up to a two part segment CBC did in November, 2006. He hasn’t got a link to today’s broadcast yet, but here is a link to the previous CBC interview (13 minute video);

http://www.cbc.ca/clips/rm-hi/Pasqualotto-MiraclesForSale_Pac061109.rm

Not only that, Tim has been asked to (and has agreed to) do an interview with a Toronto radio station, a Calgary radio station, and John Gormley is going to interview him also – all tomorrow! (Today is Monday, Feb 12th)

God be with you Tim!

Money is not the answer

With all my talk of the problems with today’s churches, I should talk a little about solutions.

1. It is obvious to most that the current church systems waste money. If you don’t like it then tell the church. If they don’t listen, be quiet or get out. Your service in Godly ways will suffer as long as you are worried about money. If what God wants you to do with your life requires financial backing, he will provide all you need. If you can be of service with little money then be humble enough to accept that. You only show your lack of faith in God to provide all that you need if you spend all your time trying to figure out how to get more money to do God’s work instead of just doing what you can. Money is not the answer. Jesus said “You cannot serve God and mammon” and yet we operate as though we cannot do a thing without money.

2. Do some serious praying and reading to make sure you know what the bible says. Key in on what Jesus says and does. Make sure you are not believing something that has no biblical support. You should be able to envision Jesus doing what you are doing. As I have pointed out here, there are a lot of things taught today that just don’t line up with scripture. Today’s churches have become a business and they are selling the word of God for a dollar. Many programs are in place that fail to do much of anything except keep people busy. Make sure you know how to avoid the pitfalls of “religion” so that you can fully realize the reality of an almighty God in your life.

3. There is no salvation without sacrifice. Jesus made it clear that following him was going to cost you something, something that you love dearly (else it would not be a sacrifice). You may be called to be a volunteer, an organizer, a care giver, or just a friend. Try to recognize the gifts that God has given you that you can use to make a difference in the lives of others, however small that may seem. Do not be afraid to try. You will no doubt have many ways to avoid what you know you should do, do them anyway.

Yes there are solutions. The problem is that I have to actually do something. You see, I am not talking to anyone but myself.

Jesus is a dictator not a politician

Jesus did not run for office, He was not a political rebellion, He was not a social revolutionist, and He did not campaign for equal rights.. Jesus is a dictator! Jesus commanded that we love God with all we have. He commanded that we are to live a life of love and service to others. Jesus commanded that we follow Him. Yet He is not a dictator in the way we have come to know the term, He is a BENEVOLENT dictator. What He commands is out of love and complete understanding of our desires and needs.

We see a lot of Christian leaders playing politics today, are they following the example of Jesus? No! We see a lot of Christians openly and publicly protesting the immorality of the world today. Are they following the example of Jesus? No!

I don’t see any biblical text that supports Christians to openly and publicly confront the immorality of the world. Consider that the only people that Jesus openly and publicly rebuked were the Pharisees. Consider that Jesus submitted Himself to the governmental authority of Pilate;

Then Pilate said to Him, “Are You not speaking to me? Do You not know that I have power to crucify You, and power to release You?” 11 Jesus answered, “You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above. Therefore the one who delivered Me to you has the greater sin.” John 19:10,11

Consider the following statement from Paul;

Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. 4 For he is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. 5 Therefore you must be subject, not only because of wrath but also for conscience’ sake. Rom 13:1-5

Consider the following statement from Peter;

Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake, whether to the king as supreme, 14 or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good. 15 For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men— 16 as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God. 17 Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king. 1 Pet 2:13-17

Paul and Peter clearly understood that God sets people up in government and positions of authority and uses them to bring Glory to His name. Even the wicked rulers are used to His Glory. Any teaching that Christians must try to “help God accomplish His purpose” by being politically active does not come from the Bible, it just is not there. Also consider this, when Paul and Peter wrote those things they were under great oppression and in immediate danger of torture and death. We have no where near that kind of oppression today yet religious leaders who claim to represent Christ make a mockery of our faith and show themselves to be hypocrites by spewing all kinds of insults at those God put in positions of authority. They back all sorts of “Religious Right” movements and try to promote Christian values outside of the Church without any Biblical foundation to do so. Submitting yourself to Christ means submitting yourself to the authorities that God has set up on earth, to the extent that you can still profess Jesus as Lord.

Amongst ourselves we may of course discuss political matters, we are just not to preach the moral values of our faith to the world as if we have authority from God to do so. It is like me trying to tell you how you should raise your children. It is like a Canadian wanting to vote in a Russian election. Most Christians accept that we are translated into a new Kingdom when we accept Christ so this should not be a hard teaching. It is only hard because of years of improper teaching and example from the pulpit.

What you do have the right to do though, is stand up in church for what you believe is correct biblical teaching. Funny how the Church has reversed that teaching. Today’s churches openly and publicly confront the world about Christian morality, yet when it comes to criticism from within the church they do not want it discussed in the open. This is not how the early church was, they discussed church matters openly and publicly, They wrote letters (epistles) for all to read (even non-Christians) addressing false teachings and corrupt behavior. Somewhere things got turned around. Do you think that just maybe this was done for their own selfish benefit? Do you think this may explain how the church has gotten so far off track? We are all bondservants to our loving dictator, your pastor has no authority to silence you. Your concerns should be discussed openly and publicly. Our churches will remain steeped in hypocrisy and error as long as we stay silent.