Session Notes

Anne Rice Quits Christianity, Says Followers Not True to Christ.

Novelist Anne Rice, famous for her darkly seductive works such as Interview with the Vampire and The Witching Hour, announced this week via her Facebook page that she has decided to “quit” Christianity because of how the religion is increasingly being used to push anti-gay, anti-feminist and anti-science views.

Her publisher, Alfred A. Knopf, has confirmed that this posting and subsequent comments were indeed written by Rice and not an impostor.

Novelist Rejects Christianity, Remains “Committed to Christ”
On Wednesday, Rice wrote the following on her Facebook page:

“For those who care, and I understand if you don’t: Today I quit being a Christian. I’m out. I remain committed to Christ as always but not to being ‘Christian’ or to being part of Christianity. It’s simply impossible for me to ‘belong’ to this quarrelsome, hostile, disputatious, and deservedly infamous group. For ten years, I’ve tried. I’ve failed. I’m an outsider. My conscience will allow nothing else.”

She followed this with:

“As I said below, I quit being a Christian. I’m out. In the name of Christ, I refuse to be anti-gay. I refuse to be anti-feminist. I refuse to be anti-artificial birth control. I refuse to be anti-Democrat. I refuse to be anti-secular humanism. I refuse to be anti-science. I refuse to be anti-life. In the name of Christ, I quit Christianity and being Christian. Amen.”

Explaining herself further, Rice’s latest offering on her Facebook page emphasizes that her faith remains as strong as ever, but that it is the affiliation with some of the religion’s followers that has prompted her to redefine herself:

“My faith in Christ is central to my life. My conversion from a pessimistic atheist lost in a world I didn’t understand, to an optimistic believer in a universe created and sustained by a loving God is crucial to me. But following Christ does not mean following His followers. Christ is infinitely more important than Christianity and always will be, no matter what Christianity is, has been, or might become.”

All I can say is, Man, have I ever thought that myself!!!!!!!

Isn’t it strange how secular society seems to get the Gospel so much better then the Church does??? We seem to only get this:

So much that the rest of society seems to be down on their knees screaming:

Vatican

The sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic Church in the US and abroad was a matter of homosexuals preying on adolescent boys, not one of pedophilia, said the Vatican’s representative at the UN in Geneva, Switzerland. It is “more correct” said Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, to speak of ephebophilia, a homosexual attraction to adolescent males, than pedophilia, in relation to the scandals.

“Of all priests involved in the abuses, 80 to 90 per cent belong to this sexual orientation minority which is sexually engaged with adolescent boys between the ages of 11 and 17,” said Tomasi. His statement is backed up by a report commissioned by the US bishops that found that in the overwhelming majority of cases the clergy involved were homosexuals, with 81 percent of victims being adolescent males.

Ok, I’ve been waiting weeks for someone to finally go public with this reality: it’s not often I find myself supporting much that comes out of the Vatican — but this is brilliant — and, perhaps, hope for change…

(Yes, I fully recognize this guy is gonna get roasted alive for sheer political stupidity — but it’s not like I can’t relate to being such a driven truth-teller that I end up looking like a bull in a china shop myself. Yes, I realize that the latter part of the article is a whiny and pathetic attempt at deflection — but HE’S STILL TELLING THE TRUTH in the first part.)

Here’s what he is saying:

Accusing the Roman Catholic clergy of Pedophilia is actually letting them off the hook. The majority of the offenders are really gay and, in addition, they seem to lack the ability to relate even to other adult gay males.

Let me translate that for you:

The RC Church has, through celibacy, created a situation where men who struggle with sexual orientation seem to be inordinately selected for the clergy. It selects them simply by creating a place where they easily find that their lack of desire for members of the opposite sex will not come under scrutiny and will even be applauded.

But, it’s beyond even that…

The RC Church, through a system of alienation from normal society, has also created a situation which attracts those who are unable to properly relate to adult sexuality.

Ephebophilia is an attraction to adolescents or people in puberty. By itself, it has NOTHING to do with gays, or even men. Thus, what is really happening is that the RC Church has created a system which not only selects for Homosexuality, it also further down-selects for those who, largely, could only see themselves as exercising such towards 11-16yr old boys (and, thus, do not simply ignore the rules of the RC Church and have sex with other men.) In other words, a very rare breed indeed.

Ok, first, let’s get a few things on the table:

(1). His popeliness is in this — and in it up to his eyeballs:

The future Pope Benedict XVI took over the abuse case of an Arizona priest, then let it languish at the Vatican for years despite repeated pleas from the bishop for the man to be removed from the priesthood, according to church correspondence.

Documents reviewed by The Associated Press show that in the 1990s, a church tribunal found that the Rev. Michael Teta of Tucson, Ariz., had molested children as far back as the late 1970s. The panel deemed his behavior — including allegations that he abused boys in a confessional — almost “satanic.” The tribunal referred his case to then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who would become pope in 2005.

But it took 12 years from the time Ratzinger assumed control of the case in a signed letter until Teta was formally removed from ministry, a step only the Vatican can take.

As abuse cases with the pontiff’s fingerprints mushroom, Teta’s case and that of another Arizona priest cast further doubt on the church’s insistence that the future pope played no role in shielding pedophiles.

An abuse hotline set up by the Catholic Church in Germany melted down on its first day of operation as more than 4,000 alleged victims of paedophile and violent priests called in to seek counselling and advice.

The numbers were far more than the handful of therapists assigned to deal with them could cope with.

In the end only 162 out of 4,459 callers were given advice before the system was shut down.

Andreas Zimmer, head of the project in the Bishopric of Trier, admitted that he wasn’t prepared for “that kind of an onslaught’.

(3). In the first article, the following statistics were published:

The vast plurality of Protestant churches in the US, numbering more than 224,000, including thousands of independent non-denominational groups, make the kind of organized tracking and recording of individual abuse cases as was done in the Catholic Church all but impossible. Nevertheless, some of the sex abuse cases in other religious communities have been documented piecemeal.

In June 2007, the Associated Press revealed that three companies that insure the majority of Protestant churches in the US said they receive upward of 260 reports each year of young people under 18 being sexually abused by clergy, church staff, volunteers or congregation members. Church Mutual Insurance Co., GuideOne Insurance Co. and Brotherhood Mutual Insurance Co., which insure 165,495 churches for liability against child sex abuse, emphasized that their figures did not always specify which cases were against minors and added that not all allegations were followed by convictions or even investigations.

National surveys by Christian Ministry Resources (CMR), a tax and legal-advice publisher serving more than 75,000 congregations and 1,000 denominational agencies, has also issued a report that found that child-abuse allegations against American Protestant churches averaged 70 per week since 1993, with a slight downward trend starting in 1997. The same report also found that among Protestant churches, volunteers are more likely than clergy or paid staff to be abusers.

Basically, the 70 per week number is meaningless headline mongering as no insurance company in the world would touch that sort of risk and 3 of them obviously have. But, we can trust the 260/yr figure — the insurance companies in question have a vested interest in maintaining the accuracy of those statements.

Of the approximately 350,000 churches in the US, only 5 per cent are Catholic. If we use the same reporting period (52yrs) the Catholics are using, scale by capita (in other words X .5) and then use 40% of that number to separate the actual numbers of Protestant clergy/staff abusing minors from volunteers/parishioners, we end up with a per capita comparison of 2740 : 10,667 of Protestant to Catholic abuse victims or 389% higher rate of abuse by Catholic Clergy. Protestant circles apparently have, per capita, even less VICTIMS then the RC Church has ABUSERS!!! (And few abusers only abuse once…)

The RC Church can rant all they like about this not being a problem of celibacy — but, apparently married people seem to not score as homosexuals with ephebophilia anywhere near as often as the celibate…

In other words, It’s already a huge problem, it’s been suppressed from the top and the lid (judging from their call center crash) is about to blow off of thousands more victims. There are only about 400,000 Catholic clergy worldwide. “1.5-5 percent” is not much of a defense – it’s actually a completely damning figure. Their own numbers really mean 6,000-20,000 abusing priests world wide — the majority of which their own stats say they have done nothing about. The occurrence of homosexuals who struggle with ephebophilia in the general population is a tiny fraction of that. Honestly, if the Vatican decides to sell stock, I wouldn’t be buying any for the next few decades as the payouts are going to be mind blowing…

But, here’s the interesting part of all this — the hope inducing part:

For years, the general public has been screaming for the RC Church to do something about the problem of Pedophile priests. And, the RC Church has been responding with statements about how it is unfortunate that positions of power attract Pedophiles and with statements about plans for addressing that problem (And real action). That’s blatant denial. It’s the equivalent of saying: “We have a weasel problem in our hen house and all of our chickens are getting eaten. We need to erect an electrified bear fence to keep out large predators.”

What this rather whiny but still highly placed Vatican leader is really saying here is that the Church finally gets it, is admitting it and, hopefully is going to do something about it. Now, what is going to be interesting to see is if they attempt to put in place some band-aid screening test for homosexuals who struggle with ephebophilia or if someone at the top is finally going to grow a set of them and admit that the only sure way to select for non-homosexuals who are attracted to and can maintain healthy sexual and romantic relationships with adult members of the opposite sex is to make sure the priests are married — you know, kinda-sorta like Paul’s idea…

It’s not like we DON’T know that around 20% of them are already married and doing just fine… (Which, by the way, makes that 6,000-20,000 number all the more extreme…)

The actual transcript of what he had to say:

“It was a shocking thing to say and I knew it was a shocking thing to say. But no one has the right to live without being shocked. No one has the right to spend their life without being offended. Nobody has to read this book. Nobody has to pick it up. Nobody has to open it. And if you open it and read it, you don’t have to like it. And if you read it and you dislike it, you don’t have to remain silent about it. You can write to me, you can complain about it, you can write to the publisher, you can write to the papers, you can write your own book. You can do all those things, but there your rights stop. No one has the right to stop me writing this book. No one has the right to stop it being published, or bought, or sold or read. That’s all I have to say on that subject.”

There’s two aspects of this that grab me:

(1). Once again, a clever marketer uses the insulted outrage of Evangelical mouthpieces to make himself millions — and they still are too dense to figure out they are being used.

(2). He’s so dead right.

You know, here’s a mind blowing, revolutionary and never-before-thought-of idea for the entirety of Christendom: How about we take this guy’s advice? Let’s stop doing our required whining to make these people money, stand up and tell the truth about what it means to be free to really live the life Christ died to give us and then get in the faces of the religious right that would continue to preach a gospel of rules or raw stupidity (Or just kowtow to this silliness) and cease living lives of reactionary humiliation.

You know, sorta like that Jesus guy did???

Scotteriology

Can you imagine if Jesus actually showed up for that service? The first-century Galilean apocalyptic radical is somehow transported through time and space ala Bill and Ted’s phone-booth, and he can understand English and has a social context for the gathering “in his name”…I imagine him fashioning a whip and driving people out of their seats saying, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of retards.”

Hopefully, after his mini-sermon Jesus mounts one of the mimes and beats him into submission… ’cause that would be awesome!

Ok, a client just gifted me this site today. My abs and throat already hurt from laughing and I’ve only been at it for 1/2 an hour.

What Evangelical Christendom most desperately needs is another 500 sites like this — sites run by people who stand up in what the true prophetic calling of Christ and His Church really is: the call to truth in the face of that which is SO overwhelmingly and pervasively, yes, “Retarded.”

Then, just maybe, the general public will start waking up, cut off the funding that keeps these people on the air and demand a real relationship with the living God.

The Stranger, Seattle’s Only Newspaper

Some very scary s**t is going down in Texas. Scarier than usual. “Repent Amarillo” is a rabid group of religious nuts—homegrown religious extremists of the conservative Christian variety—and they’re not just going after the gays.

But, then again, Pat Robertson is actually starting to look rather normal, sane and on page with Jesus — at least when compared with, “Repent Amarillo,” where ministering the love of Jesus now includes stalking and terrorizing swingers in Amarillo, Texas (until the group disbanded) — and now is about erasing the Episcopalians…

Ya, getting them all fired is certain to bring the gentle, kind and love starved swinging community to the real love of Jesus and the healthy community of believers they so deeply need…

American Family Association

The American Family Association, a religious right group, is urging that Tillikum Tilly, the killer whale that killed a trainer at SeaWorld Orlando, be put down, preferably by stoning. Citing Tilly’s history of violent altercations, the group is slamming SeaWorld for not listening to Scripture in how to deal with the animal:

Says the ancient civil code of Israel, “When an ox gores a man or woman to death, the ox shall be stoned, and its flesh shall not be eaten, but the owner shall not be liable.” Exodus 21:28

However, the group is going further and laying the blame for the trainer’s death directly at the feet of Chuck Thompson, the curator in charge of animal behavior, because, according to Scripture, But, the Scripture soberly warns, if one of your animals kills a second time because you didn’t kill it after it claimed its first human victim, this time you die right along with your animal. To use the example from Exodus, if your ox kills a second time,

“the ox shall be stoned, and its owner also shall be put to death.” Exodus 21:29

SeaWorld has no plans to execute Tilly.

And, we all hoped they would learn from Pat Robertson/Haiti…

But, I for one vote for it… but, they have to stand in the tank while throwing the stones…

Steve McVey:

“‘My feelings were aroused for him’ (5:4). That happened to us all when Jesus swept us off our feet and we trusted Him.

Don’t think it irreverent to view Christ in a romantic way. He is the One who calls us His bride. He is the One who wrote to us in terms of passion and romance. We simply respond to Him. ‘We love Him because He first love us’ (1 John 4:19). We didn’t initiate or set the pace for this relationship. He did. We have simply responded to His irresistible charm, affirming by faith, ‘My beloved is mine and I am His’ (Song of Solomon 2:16)! Like every new bride, our profession of faith in Him is nothing less than the thrilling realization that, ‘I am my beloved’s and his desire is for me’ (7:10, emphasis added)!

I didn’t imagine the idea of the dance as a literary metaphor to describe your relationship to Him. That is how He described it. In Zephaniah 3:17, the Bible says, ‘He will exult over you with joy’ (emphasis added). Strong’s Concordance defines the word ‘exult’(sometimes translated ‘rejoice’) in the following way: ‘To spin around under the influence of a violent emotion.’

One character quipped, ‘I grew up in a church where we were taught that premarital sex was wrong because it might lead to dancing, and now you tell me that the Lord dances over me??’ It’s true, He does. The love of Jesus Christ for you is not just a ‘gentle Jesus, meek and mild’ kind of love. It is a love filled with passion. It is a love that caused your Prince Charming to wield His sword (of the Spirit) and fight the dragon (the devil, see Revelation 12:9) for you!

His love for you is great! One might say that the love of Jesus for you could be X-rated, not because of impurity, but because of intensity. Does that idea make you feel uncomfortable? It shouldn’t, because He really does love you with an intensity beyond human comprehension. You are the pearl of great price for which He paid everything He owned in order to possess you. (See Matthew 13:45-46)

I pray this love for us/clients/schools/the world in all our intimate relationships, especially receiving it from our Father/Mother God.

Being Broken From The Need To Control – Grace Walk Ministries:::Sharing the Love & Life of Christ:

“Relax, and enjoy your journey. Rest in your Father’s sovereignty. Your life is an adventure, planned and performed by Him. We grow weary when we try to do what He alone can do. It is through our trials that He will lift our controlling need to be in charge. We must see that we are not in charge, but God alone determines and controls the unfolding of our destiny. Control is an arena for which we are not suited. Our Father, on the other hand, is perfectly suited for that role. So let go. Lay down your life for His sake and you will find it. Cling to your own life and you will lose it. Zoe (an authentic, abundant life) is yours. Don’t forfeit it for bios (biological life, mundane existence). If that is your deep desire, join in heartfelt agreement with this prayer: Father, move in me and through me to lay down my agenda and my control and trust You alone. Thank you that You will complete the work you have begun in me. I yield my circumstances to You and ask You to teach me to trust You more through all of it. Bring me to maturity, according to Your plan.”

THIS IS ONE OF THE MOST POWERFUL ARTICLES!!! I PRAY WWHEN WE, OUR FAMILIES, FRIENDS, CLIENTS, SCHOOLS, AND WORLD FEEL BROKEN HEARTED THAT WE REST to feel content in all circumstances according to HIS PLAN.

Kudzu Christians – Grace Walk Ministries:::Sharing the Love & Life of Christ:

” until we receive glorified bodies, we each possess the power of indwelling sin in our bodies. (See Romans 7:21-23) As we trust Christ at each moment, His life empowers us to walk in victory. However, when we fail to depend on Him, we yield ourselves to the power of sin.”

The is a very good article on God revealing healing. However it needs to be read in light of Jesus taking away sin and it’s power by us being open to it/Him by faith. May it be so that we depend of Jesus every moment to experience the victory.

When We Feel Nothing – Grace Walk Ministries:::Sharing the Love & Life of Christ:

“hen we feel nothing, God’s grace shines brightest. It’s one thing to trust Him when everything is going our way, but when circumstances close in on us, trusting Him is evidence of supernatural grace flowing through us. Do you find yourself not feeling the ‘joy of the Lord’ the way you want? If so, be assured you’re at a place where the current of grace can run deeper and wider than usual in you. Whether you feel His presence or not, just trust Him. Be assured that He knows the path you are walking and He is quietly walking it with you. Cling to Jesus and know that the Sun will shine again for one simple reason – Great is His faithfulness.  ”

I pray the spirit would teach us/the world the comfort of His grace in our painful times.

abcnews.com

At least nine out of 10 Americans, men and women alike, have had premarital sex, says a new report. And premarital sex isn’t new — the high rates include the sexual habits of women born in the 1940s, challenging the idea that sexual behaviors used to be more restrained.Sex has apparently become something of a young American habit. “It’s hard to stop the evolution of that urge,” said Judy Kuriansky, a sex therapist, media personality and adjunct professor of psychology at Columbia University Teachers College in New York.The report, published by the private Guttmacher Institute in New York, challenges the thinking behind government-funded programs that rely primarily on abstinence-only teachings. The study, released Tuesday, appears in the new issue of Public Health Reports.

So to summarize, everyone is having premarital sex. All the Christians are having premarital sex too — even those subjected to purity balls and purity rings. In fact, it matters not at all what race, sex or religion the persons hold, they are all having every sort of sex and the only reason they are not having babies all over the place is that, in spite of the US government and abstinence education, more and more of them have figured out contraception.

Oh ya, and 5% of Americans apparently lie on anonymous surveys about having sex…

The Grace to Shut Up – Grace Walk Ministries:::Sharing the Love & Life of Christ:

“Do you say too much, too often? If so, pray for God’s grace to flow through your actions in such a way as to cause you to know when to say nothing and then enable you to do it. Sometimes grace never looks better than when it enable us to simply shut-up.  ”

This is a great article! After being frustrated with not being able to communicate and completely know the truth of Jesus taking away our/the world’s sin now, I told God. He said I do not have to say anything, IT IS JUST HIS SPIRIT!!! “Well then Spirit teach and enable me/other believers to sense when to Shut Up!!!”

theglobeandmail.com

On Wednesday, an Ottawa official named Athanasios Hadjis quietly announced that section 13(1) of the Canadian Human Rights Act, popularly known as the hate-speech law, will no longer be enforced.

The law prohibits the transmission on telephone or Internet of “any matter that is likely to expose a person or persons to hatred or contempt” on the basis of “race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, age, sex, marital status, family status, disability and conviction for which a pardon has been granted.”

Mr. Hadjis is an adjudicator with the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal, which rules on discrimination cases. While he is not a judge, and therefore can’t strike down a law, he is the main gatekeeper for the hate-speech law, and his decision was bold.

“I have concluded,” he said, that the law is unconstitutional under 2(b) of the Charter of Rights, which guarantees freedom of thought, opinion and expression. As a result, he declared that “I will simply refuse to apply these provisions” to the hate-speech case he was judging, and by extension to any future cases.

Suddenly, the place known as the public sphere looks very different. For the past three decades, Canada has tried to keep it clean and neutral by preventing the appearance of the sorts of words and images that are linked to discriminatory actions. Kathleen Mahoney, a University of Calgary law professor who advocates such laws, boasts that Canada has more laws limiting harmful speech than any other country.

But there is a strong sense, even if Mr. Hadjis’s decision is overturned by the Supreme Court, that the era of hate-speech laws is coming to an end.

First, in practical terms, hate-speech laws have failed. Attacks on people based on religion or skin colour remain rare but occasional crimes in Canada, but their prevalence hasn’t been affected one way or another by outlawing hateful speech.

So very seldom does anyone connected to anything of government manage to get anything right, even the slightest touch of reason deserves to be applauded. But this, this is so far beyond just a touch of reason!!!

The psychology under it is actually very similar to claims of school uniforms eliminating gang violence in schools. If you actually look at the violence stats before and after the requirement of uniforms is in place at an institution, you find the exact same levels of violence — but no one can identify if a perpetrator of violence was a gang member or not. Thus the violent act is simply listed as violence and not attributed to a gang.

Laws intended to stop the speech of those who are inherently criminal will do almost nothing to arrest their behaviors (and it is almost always the behaviors that pose the threat.) All silencing them does is hide them from view. The problem is that, then, those same laws are used to also silence those with no criminal intent.

If there is ever a set of otherwise useless laws that have been used to suppress truth and cancel debate, it’s hate laws. They have been used to fine religious leaders speaking out against abortion. They have been used to destroy therapists who would treat politically correct disorders some do not want healed. They have been used to force religious institutions to hire those who do not support their views and they nearly canceled the degrees of hundreds of teachers who believed homosexuality should not be promoted. That’s not the elimination of hate — that’s reverse discrimination — politically correct hate against those who would stand in the public square and speak..

Personally, I WANT every wack job, hate monger, lunatic and predator to have the right to stand on the public street corner of the internet and shout their vile proclamations at the top of their digital lungs. It’s when your enemy goes silent that you know you are in trouble anyway and I WANT to know exactly where the problems are…

I want to watch them stand there toe-to-toe with every other idea and have to defend themselves from all the other people now free to speak and/or call them idiots…

I also WANT the ranks of the politically correct to have to stand up and defend the oh-so-sacred ideas they hold dear (Because I’m gonna to enjoy watching a lot of them start looking pretty silly..)

By some miracle, even the human rights commission agrees that we’re finally big enough boys and girls to be able to talk to each other — or at least have the right to go make some popcorn and watch the fireworks go down.

I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it. ~Voltaire

Voltaire APPLAUDS

nationalpost.com

Christian parents who objected to their children being taught about other religions in a mandatory new Quebec school course have suffered a serious setback with a ruling this week that the teachings do not infringe their religious freedoms.

Quebec Superior Court Justice Jean-Guy Dubois dismissed a bid by parents in Drummondville, Que., who said the course on ethics and religious culture introduced across the province last year was undermining their efforts to instill Christian faith in their children.

“In light of all the evidence presented, the court does not see how the … course limits the plaintiff’s freedom of conscience and of religion for the children when it provides an overall presentation of various religions without obliging the children to adhere to them,” Judge Dubois wrote.

Step #1: Schools and the governments that back them all over North America throw their lot in with secularization and toss religion out of schools. The backing belief is that our society needs freedom of religion — and such freedom demands a secular state that supports all religions equally and promotes none of them.

Church response: “Help, we’re being oppressed!!! You have taken God out of the classroom and our children are becoming secular humanists.”

Step #2: Those same school systems and governments realize that religion is a critical part of society and the ability to understand those religions usually means less killing of the members of such. As such, they introduce a fair and balanced program that promotes none of those religions but simply teaches the facts about them.

Church response: “Help, we’re being oppressed!!! You are indoctrinating our children with other religions…” (Then they sue the school board…)

Step #2: Judge comes back with a well reasoned response saying that learning about world religions is not the same thing as promoting them — and tells them to go away and shut up.

Church response: “Help, we’re being oppressed!!! You are infringing on our rights to form our children’s faith development and we’re gonna sue you some more…”

Humm, so, let me get this straight: The only way a free society which values general human rights can avoid treading on your specific rights is to teach every student in every school only about your religion… Thus, your snowflake’s little minds can remain properly ignorant I mean pure, undefiled and Godly.

Sounds to me like the veil just got ripped back on a plan for a totalitarian theocracy — not the freedom Jesus died to bring.

It may actually be rather pivotal though… We finally get the chance to see Fundamentalist Evangelicalism and Catholicism admitting their hatred of that freedom and acknowledging what they really wanted all along:

Control.

Pivotal, because at least truth provides a foundation for change…

How To Have a Grace Filled Ministry – Grace Walk Ministries:::Sharing the Love & Life of Christ:

“As is God¡¯s customary way of working, He began to show His answers when I came to the end of myself. I had wanted Him to show me how to motivate the people. He had other plans. He had been wanting to do a deeper work in me which would transform first my own life, then my ministry. This night of despair became the doorway through which God brought me to bring me into an arena of grace like I had never known. In the days to follow the Lord began to reveal truths to me about walking in grace which radically changed the way I understood and did ministry. Before my church became a grace filled ministry, it was necessary for God to cause me to become a grace filled pastor. That began to happen as a couple of truths were deposited deeply into me by the Holy Spirit. ¡ö Christ is life, not ministry. For 17 years, if you had asked me who I am I would have answered, ¡°I am a preacher.¡± My sense of identity came from my role. In reality, that isn¡¯t who I am but is only what I do. Who I am is a child of God who shares the very life of Jesus Christ. This may sound like a minor distinction, but beginning to see myself first and foremost as a man consumed with Jesus caused ministry to flow from me in a way I had never known. Focusing on ministry produces religious activity, but understanding our union with Christ will cause one to experience an outflow of divine life. ¡ö Success comes through a Person, not a performance. I believed that success in ministry meant measurable progress. While there is certainly nothing wrong with results which are measurable, I have come to believe that real success comes as we abide in Jesus Christ and allow Him to continually express His life through us. That may or may not always produce results which look impressive. Was John successful on Patmos? Was Paul successful while in the Philippian jail? Was Jesus successful when he hung dying on a cross? God measures success differently from contemporary society. Grace Filled Churches As God continued to work the truths of this new grace walk deep into me, I began to see a change in the life of my church. As I changed, they began to change too. It wasn¡¯t unlike what happens in a marriage when God begins to do a deep work in the husband and the wife responds as she sees the Holy Spirit work in him. Church life began to be different in two ways.”

This is an incredibly inspiring article on the way motivation really occurs, esp in churches. I disagree with some of the “trying” words, but it clearly says the leader/counsellor is Jesus. May it be so for us, our families, friends, our practice and the world.

Big Noise Blog.

A set of resources definitely worth noting.

All but Richard Rohr are relationship focused New Covenant theologians. (Rohr is more of a mystic in search of experience but he does, to some level, get grace.)

Steve McVey is very good and I’m rather fond of hijacking his quotes — but needs to be read carefully as he still has some thinking about sin that needs transformation…

This guy should also be added to the list — thanks Kathy!

Note, also permalink, top level posted here.

The power of Eternality:

The man/woman who stands with no fear of death is the most dangerous being alive. The entirety of the system of this world rides on the ability to take a life from another. When death ceases to terrify, control is lost.

The power of Absolution:

This world — especially the Christian side of it — stands in the constant fear of guilt. It stands with heads hung in shame while playing roles designed to prove to those who hold this weeks rating scale that they do, indeed, measure up. The teachings of Jesus have been so bastardized and bent by the keepers of religious power that it actually seems reasonable when that-which-formerly-was is again brought as a means of enforcing the awareness of our guiltiness and pinned on Jesus. But, we didn’t get a Bandaid for our sins — we, with Christ, died to them — and were raised to a new life that doesn’t relate to them. Our heads can never again hang low — because the standard which judged us (The law) can never again condemn us — no matter what.

The power of Love:

So many people live in the fear that if they ever gave God control of their lives, He’d bring out massive pain and torment (and a few plagues from Egypt too) to finally hurt them enough to change them. Yet, Jesus made it very clear that to see His heart was to see the Father. It’s a heart that will never lead through shame, fear, guilt, condemnation, coercion, punishment, torment or wrath. It’s a gentle heart that works quietly inside — when we are ready — to call us to life.

The power of Life:

Almost every aspect of our world is focused upon dying. We have drugs — they keep us emotionally dead. We have TV and entertainment to keep us distracted until we die. We have disassociative meditative techniques that are used to attain the peace of the grave while living. We run from shame, fear, guilt and the paralysis that comes from feeling trapped and bound and this drives that seeking of death. Through canceling all of that, the Gospel not only reawakens the desire to live, it legitimated the call to live and unlocked the creative energy to drive such.

The power of Freedom:

Wanna know why our bricks and mortar churches are emptying by the droves? People heard that Jesus came to set them free — and something deep within them intuitively knows that a list of rules isn’t what He had in mind. The message of the Gospel isn’t less rules — it’s TOTAL freedom. “When a man finally grasps grace, he suddenly finds himself standing, naked and trembling, in such a wide open space that he can do naught else but reach up for a hand to hold — for a guide to lead him through.” Anon

The power of Intimacy:

We can reach up for that hand to hold and that guide who will lead us through. It’s safe now. The cross is critical to this for it proved that not only is God good — but it proved that who He is IS GOOD. The human race unleashed the very worst it had to offer on the one being in the universe who could have annihilated them with a thought — and He loved them so much He let them kill Him and then came back to love them even more. To love ME even more…

The power of Faith:

Faith isn’t belief — faith is Christ in you, the hope of Glory. The Christian life has nothing to do with trying harder or trying period. It’s about surrender to that new life which has been created in you to enough of a degree that you can stop trying and literally get the hell out of the way. It’s about a surrender to a wisdom so much greater then our own that the foundations of this sick and corrupt system of control we call life begin to get blown up — not just for yourself, but also for those you love.

The power of Holy Anger:

Jesus made one thing very clear: He didn’t come to make nice — He came to start a war. The religious leaders of the day didn’t kill, “Gentle Jesus meek and mild.” They killed a guy who they could plainly see was destroying everything about their system of religious power — not trying to start the Progressive Conservative/Republican party. Then, He turned to the disenfranchised, the broken, the humiliated, the poor, the shameful, the powerless and promised them a power greater then the world had ever seen — just before he invited them to join up and open fire.

The power of Humanness:

Look around the world — every major religion out there sees human beings as basically screwed up and disgusting. It then offers it’s prescription to fix them — if people will only tow their line. The Gospel sees people as made in the image of God and, though once broken, as currently perfect without them doing anything to fix themselves. (That’s God’s job.) He came not to destroy them — but to reverse that which was broken about them once and for all. He came to make them fully human and fully alive.

The power of Transformation:

The foundational job of the gospel is to tear back the veils that keep people from seeing the beauty and dignity of the current reality of their lives. Read that again — not to fix people, for that job is already done. The primary weapon we are given is truth — the ability to tear back the lies that have the ones we love trapped in a set of falsehoods that reduce them to that which formerly was (dead) and drive them towards a set of broken strategies which will never fulfill the deepest longings of their hearts.

The power of Passion:

The magical core of the Gospel is the call to the deepest desires of our hearts. If God made those hearts and planted those deep longings within them, then those deep longings have to be His will for our lives. All of the above was NOT done because God wants to finally get you to the point of being a well-trained-seal who will do some religious dance when told. He did all of the above so you could finally reach inside and discover that deepest place of your heart where He planted the vision He created for you to become — and then full-tilt LIVE IT OUT.

The Gospel is not seen in ethics. The Gospel is first seen when a human heart, transformed so that it both is able to hear the voice of God and longs to do so, begins to reach out for the hand of a loving father and, when finding that hand, begins to take the risk to step out and live.

The Gospel achieves it’s true 10,000 candle-power brilliance when that heart reaches out and loves, it stops and cries, it gives to another, it stands in defiance of the night, it attacks with fury, it rescues the broken, it binds up the wounded, it touches that paintbrush to canvas, it places finger to string or key, it speaks with fire and precision, it screams with the fury of Almighty God at the thought of one of His precious children living with even one chain, it kisses with passion and then it makes love with with all of the erotic intensity that only a heart set free can even risk.

It’s the captivating and irresistible master plan of liberty the God of the universe, exploding out of the passionate longings of His heart, wrote for you.

Don’t Ask, Appropriate! – Grace Walk Ministries:::Sharing the Love & Life of Christ:

“Do you need wisdom? That’s Him. Do you need righteousness? That’s Him. Holiness? That’s Him, too. Do you need sanctification, guidance, strength? It’s all Him. What do you need today? His name is IAM. I AM what? Anything you need. All the fullness of I AM is in Jesus. ‘For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him’ (Col.1:19). All the fullness of Jesus is in you. Don’t pray for what you already have. Just appropriate the sufficiency of the Christ who is living in you. You don’t have to struggle or beg for what you think you need. You already have it. Just let Jesus be Jesus in and through you. “

This is an excellent article on just resting in the grace of understanding/knowing that we have everything of Christ in us now. May it be so.

Ways To Say Good Job To Your Child, How To Say Good Job:

“75 Ways To Say ‘Good Job!’”

Excellent article!

I remember Henri Nouwen, the marvelous spiritual author, once telling me personally, “Richard, if I had to describe what we mean by original sin, I believe it is humanity’s endless capacity for self-loathing.”

We were given the absolutely most magnificent gift of therapy (if I could call it that) in the Mystery of the Incarnation. If we could really believe that objectively, metaphysically we are the temple of the Holy Spirit, we are the place where the Divine dwells, and that the Holy is not out there, we could save thousands of dollars in therapy and avoid years of self-doubt.

But what did we do? We made Christianity largely into what I’ve always called a worthiness contest, a moral achievement contest, at which nobody wins. All we can do is pretend. Inside of such a system, religious people are almost programmed for hypocrisy, even with the best of intentions.

Some quotes just stand on their own.

cbc.ca.

Religion is serious business, she says, and cultural elites like Hitchens are foolish if they think they can jettison it.

For one thing, she says, religion ties into the the glorious art and cultural traditions of the West. With their bare-bones, secular education, students come to university knowing nothing, Camille says. “NOTHING!” she shouts to the audience, the heavens, the ancient statues that lurk in adjacent rooms.

They don’t know Bible stories anymore (except, occasionally, for working-class students from religious homes, she said). They don’t know the story of Moses, fleeing slavery from Egypt.

How can you understand the depth of the American civil rights movement, she asks, without a regard for the religious underpinning of Martin Luther King Jr. and other clergy? “Let my people go,” which black slaves used to sing, had a great resonance that allowed them to unite their pain and longing with a powerful, religious tradition.

What do we have? Homer Simpson? O.J. Simpson? The Terminator?

And again:

Religion is serious business

It’s just a bunny trail but… It seems that even the atheists are more capable of understanding the current state of Christianity then most of the Church…

That’s true in two senses — the reality that the Church has mostly become a business, and at a deeper level as well…

For years, secular society has claimed art — and we let them (Often acting as though most of it were evil — God FORBID we should paint/photograph a nude…) They claimed music — and we held idiot-level seminars on the evils of drums in worship. They have claimed the authority on traditions and culture — and we let them — often ignoring the roots of such ourselves. Secular society reduced the world to a mechanical system — and we avoided science and the beauty/order that clearly shows a Creator. They claimed/revised history — and we allowed them to ignore spirituality throughout it. They (correctly) mocked religion — and we passively sat back and defended religion instead of reciprocally mocking their ignorance and presenting intimacy with God.

In a place where spiritual people should have stood up and been counted, we have been silent — while barking furiously about ethical issues that change nothing in a society.

Now, finally, the ultimate pathetic irony: We’ve crawled our whipped hides back into our little stained glass caves where we are sitting, licking our wounds and railing on about the evils of this world and it is now the ATHEISTS who have had to stand up and defend the cultural value of faith out of their own fear of what a truly secular society would actually look like.

TheSpec.com.

A Freelton man who describes himself as a software developer and aspiring screenplay writer is accused in a California court of running a $14-million US Ponzi scheme.

Gordon Driver and his company, Axcess Automation, are alleged to have defrauded more than 100 Canadian and American investors since 2006 by promising them weekly returns on their investment as high as 5 per cent, based on special software he says he developed to trade futures.

Among those who invested in the alleged Ponzi scheme, court documents say, are Ron and Reynold Mainse, sons of David Mainse, founder of Burlington’s Crossroads Television and 100 Huntley Street.

Reynold Mainse became interested, Driver testified, and eventually invested some money. Ron Mainse also became an investor.

In Driver’s April 23 testimony, he alleged the two Mainse brothers also acted as finders, bringing other investors to Driver.

Ron Mainse is out of the country and could not be reached for comment.

Reynold Mainse did not respond to an interview request.

(For explanation on the title, go here.)

The mothership, meanwhile, had this to say:

Well the board of Crossroads have asked me to inform you that Ron and Reynold Mainse will not be appearing on any Crossroads programming or otherwise represent Crossroads for the time being as they focus their energies on certain matters in their personal lives. They’ve stepped down from their duties until such time as the board of directors have complete understanding of all the issues related to a matter that they were involved in outside of the ministry here at Crossroads.

(Of course, immediately the right set about painting them as victims instead of the finders they were.)

Nothing ever changes:

Rather interesting how they go down in flames right after attempting to mock/silence Drew for calling them and the Church to account for a gospel of control, shame and guilt and towards a Gospel of freedom, grace and intimacy with the Father. It’s almost Luke 13 in real life:

One of my favorite heretics paraphrased Luke 13 this way:

“I tell you it is not true that these people suffered such things because they were worse sinners than any other, but I also tell you that as long as you persist in seeing it this way, your deaths will be viewed in the same [Judgment of God] way.”

If only they could have looked forward with these eyes — it wouldn’t have been Drew’s last appearance…

Wittenburg Door

Ms. Wisteria, who holds a degree in early Christian fabric and drapery design from Emory University’s Candler School of Theology, worked as a model during her student days, and she came to a conclusion: Christian women needed a lingerie line that would let them look sexy but still retain that sense of modesty required for bedtime prayers and morning quiet time.

There’s a widespread misconception, she said, that Christians fear pleasure, especially sexual pleasure, and see it as degrading, corrupting and tainted.

“That’s a dirty, rotten LIE,” she yelled, stamping her foot on the marble floor.

“But it’s always so hard for a couple to transition from kneeling together in awe before the gates of heaven — praying for famine victims in Darfur, for instance, or the political situation in East Timor–and then jumping into the sack for a session of hot carnal pleasure. I wanted to help bridge that gap. That was my sacred mission.”

The result was her first popular cutting-edge design– the breakaway flannel granny gown.

If I wouldn’t take so much heat out of the fundamentalist Evangelical right (And reverends thereof), there’s a twisted part of me that would want to not bill this as the parody it is — and see how many would take it seriously.

But, having been drawn and quartered for not condemning a client who bought his wife sweaters from Victoria’s Secret, for linking to a site which sells foam wedges to support couples for love making (Especially disabled couples), for suggesting a Pyrex toy could be used to treat vaginal spasms, for suggesting that God created our ability to have fantasy and for having the nerve to suggest a sexual teaching guide (with [GASP] pencil diagrams) was not leading a couple into pornography, I must refrain — and wonder how much of the article really is parody; or if it’s history…

2007 September GraceVine – Grace Walk Ministries:::Sharing the Love & Life of Christ:

“2007 September GraceVine Grace Is Bigger Than Your Sins by Steve McVey   One of the most amazing aspects of God’s grace is the way it blows sin right off the map of our lives. Make no mistake about it – sin lost the battle with God and is now a non-entity as far as its ability to stop His purposes for the life of the Christian. Are there consequences for our sins? We have all seen that often to be the case. Do our sins disqualify us from being used by God? Not at all. David committed a horrible sin when he slept with Bathsheba, but after they were married and God wanted the temple to be rebuilt it was her son, Solomon, that He used to accomplish that project. Peter flatly denied that he even knew Jesus, but when it came time for the sermon to be preached on the day of Pentecost, he was the man who God used that day. Abraham had his wife Sarah tell a king that she was his sister so that the king wouldn’t kill him to have a chance to take her. Despite his horrible and cowardly sin, God reaffirmed His intention to make him the father of a great nation many times afterwards. The list could go on and on. It’s a strange thing to hear debate in the church today about who God can and can’t use. The fact is that God can use anybody He wants to use. I learned this truth even before I understood the grace walk. Years ago someone asked me about a certain, flamboyant TV evangelist. ‘What do you think of him?’ I was asked. ‘He’s an idiot,’ I responded in my ‘I-haven’t-learned-a-thing-about-grace’ way that was all too common back then. The woman then went on to tell me how God had used that man’s ministry to transform her life. ‘What do you think now?’ she asked. Without hesitation, I answered, ‘I guess God uses idiots!’ While my response was far from graceful, it’s true. God uses idiots. I should know. He used me despite my years of legalistic idiocy. God can use you too. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that you might have done something that is so terrible that your Father can’t redeem your past and use your life for His glory. He can use you and He will use you. Jesus came to put away your sin and He fully succeeded at that. (See Hebrews 9:26) We need to stop worshipping our sins by focusing on them and glory in the finished work of the cross. God’s grace is bigger than our sins and He will use our lives for His glory. Let’s just trust Him to do it! “

This is a great article that God can work good for us despite how we act or believe!!! May His sense of control be so for our family, friends, school, churches, and clients. Now it is about feelings not deeds.

GraceAndMercy.org

Church history demonstrates that believers in every generation become enslaved to a performance basis for earning God’s approval and blessing. In other words, they believe they are right with God because they do the right things. This is a constant temptation for all who desire to please God. [...] I’ll be using the term performance basis interchangeably with the term legalism.

Because performance-based living is so deeply rooted in human nature, the entire world, not just the Christian world, is filled with people who either thrive on it or who are constantly striving to extricate themselves from it. But apart from the applied grace of God – the exact opposite of performance-based living – nothing more than superficial relief is ever realized by anyone, Christian or not.

The really entertaining thing about these guys is their background: They are specialists in bringing people out of cults. They have launched this site to take on fundamentalist Evangelical legalism — using those same skills. (See their first post)

From where I’m sitting, it looks to be about time…

This man has compressed more of what the life of Christ is into a 5 min song then most preachers get in their entire lives.

This song is a prayer set to music — the heart cry of a man who knows the Father for a people who know little of such and everything of rules, status and performance.

Ok, this guy needs no other intro except to have his videos posted:

His mission: “To find those with holy hand grenades up their butts and pull the pin…”

BTW: 100 Huntley St. got massive feedback over this. About 60% of the comments were hugely positive — but the other 40% (Coupled with raw cowardice) caused them to refuse to replay his interview and erase any evidence of it ever having been aired. (Not even the KGB could erase something that well.)

Think about it: 60% of those who are watching this (A massively conservative Evangelical audience to begin with) are on his page — and there is such a limited grasp of the situation the Church is in that all 100 Huntley St. can do to cope with reality is to try to deny it.

If this is any indication, the bricks and mortar church is likely already dead — it just hasn’t noticed it yet.

Steve McVey:

“The problem with rededicating ourselves to Christ is self, which is really just another word for the self-sufficiency of the flesh. The essence of religious flesh, as strange as it might seem, is our attempt at trying to live the Christian life. That is what actually prevents us from living the Christian life. In fact, the harder we try, the greater the likelihood that we won’t succeed because victory in the Christian life doesn’t come by trying. It comes by trusting. “

This is a great reminder article we need often it is not what we do, but what Christ does through us. I disagree with, we have to trust/be dependent, but I do think we have to be OPEN to coming to Him, trust, and being dependent. May it be so

Gospelrevolution.com

Most of our lives do not play out the way Imus', Jimmy Swaggert's, Ted Haggard's, Bill Clinton's, Michael Richard's, Mel Gibson's, or any other high profile person's does under the glare of the public's spotlight. But play out they do. Still, to whom much is given much is required. When you have a bigger platform, and take that platform for criticizing other human beings for being less than you are as opposed to criticizing what they think or teach, then your "fall" will be greater.

We cannot recommend living a life of condemning others as less than ourselves. We tried. It is not a positive existence. We are not holier than anyone. Neither is anyone holier than we. Because all of our potential and perceived evil was paid for by the Blood of Christ. Plus, all of our holiness has been imputed to us by Him.

I went to see this guy this weekend. He’s a very interesting speaker — and a guy who has been through the fire for actually having the courage to read his Bible for himself instead of just regurgitating what he had been fed. His site is no less interesting.

So much has been written about Jesus in two different channels — it’s easy to see Him as a little MPD (Now the politically correct term is DID).

On the one hand, Jesus is presented as a guy who loved everyone, who went around healing people and drawing the hearts of the broken towards Him. (The subtext under this particular presentation is usually, “Shut up and be tolerant.”)

On the other, He is presented as a guy who ripped the religious leaders a new one and who braided up a whip (Properly translated, probably actually a flog) of cords, stalked into an area the size of a city block, physically attacked people, whipped animals and functionally leveled the place. (The subtext under this presentation is clearly, “Look out sinner, unless you straighten up, you’re next.”)

The result of this has been a Church split into two camps: The nearly fascist rantings of Fundamentalist Evangelical Christianity and the passive moralizing or lukewarm social activism of Mainstream Christianity and Roman Catholicism. Neither, to say the least, is having much impact on our society — except as fuel for the fires of comedy…

But, if you actually stop and look beyond the stereotyping, you see a different Jesus: He’s a Jesus who loved everyone (Even his murderers), who was willing to lower Himself to serve/heal anyone and who really did die to redeem the whole world to Himself — and He’s a Jesus who was ruthlessly and aggressively intolerant of the ideas and hypocrisy of people who would act like they were holy, judge/condemn from that platform, violate the hearts of others and/or suffocate them with religion. But, even those people, He still loved.

I wonder what our world would look like if every believer on the planet was willing to walk his/her naked, unzipped and unarmed heart into the homes, bars, back alleys, crack houses, sexual chaos and relational brokennesses of people and simply love and minister the healing power of Christ to those they find there (instead of moralizing at them) while, en mass, also standing up to the hypocrisy of the religious/political leadership and demanding truth out of them?

CNN.com

Liberty University, the evangelical school in Virginia founded by the late Rev. Jerry Falwell, is drawing heat Friday for its decision to revoke recognition of the College Democrats’ chapter on campus.

According to the Lynchburg News & Advance, the school decided a week ago the organization “stood against the moral principles” held by the school and therefore could no longer be sanctioned.

Maria Childress, the staff adviser to the club, told the paper the school — which opposes abortion rights and gay marriage — had issues with the Democratic Party platform.

Childress says she was told by Mark Hine, the vice president of student affairs, that “‘You can’t be a Democrat and be a Christian and be a university representative.’”

Ironic isn’t it — a Fundamentalist Evangelical College called Liberty University which purported to be founded for the protection of freedom and the American Way uses its political clout to silence two of the most fundamental of American rights: Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Association…

The experts, in their inestimable wisdom, have spoken: Obama, along with his wife and beautiful children, apparently is going to hell…

nakedpastor:

“Kathy said, on May 11th, 2009 at 3:51 pm Cynicism at its’ finest. I love it! I just discovered your blog about a week ago and am really enjoying it. I am not a fan of the bricks-and-mortar church. Church to me is what happens every Thursday night in our small group.

I’m in the west but maybe some day will visit your church. We have a mutual friend-Shane.

Ray the Recovering Cynic said, on May 11th, 2009 at 4:01 pm True story from a pastor friend of mine: apparently the day after his paternal great-grandfather’s death, the local priest dropped by Granddad’s house … and the first words out of said priest’s mouth were, ‘how much money did he leave to the church?’

Granddad left the church that day, and never returned. A soul was lost.

nakedpastor said, on May 11th, 2009 at 4:12 pm ray: the priest’s?”

Ok, I’ve posted some of the comments — but you really need to follow the link to see the comic. It’s just too true.

The last comment — by the Rev himself — had only one error. It should have been followed by a period.

I’m adding this guy to my blog roll…

CNN.com.

In a message posted on the Miami archdiocese Web page, the archbishop apologized to parishioners and radio listeners for what he called a “scandal.”

“Father Cutie made a promise of celibacy and all priests are expected to fulfill that promise with the help of God,” Favalora said. “Father Cutie’s actions cannot be condoned despite the good works he has done as a priest.”

Cutie apologized in an online statement Tuesday, saying he “wants to ask for forgiveness if my actions have caused pain and sadness. … I assure you that my service and dedication to God remain intact.”

Isn’t it interesting how an archdiocese well known as a safe haven for sexually abusive priests suddenly manages to get so pissy assertive when the other person involved is old enough to vote. And has ovaries.

It says something about the priorities and underlying patterns of brokenness here that this is what would finally be called a, “Scandal…” In any other church, everyone would be cheering that the one leader in the area who is actually doing something productive to really change people’s love lives has now, himself, found love.

You always see this pattern in systems of religious power: Those actions which undermine the power system are always deemed to be so much more evil then those which are neutral or actually maintain said system. The rating process really has nothing to do with any sort of evaluation of the actual damage sustained by human hearts…

post-gazette.com.

Grove City student suspended over gay porn video

Says film income helped pay tuition

Thursday, May 07, 2009

The Associated Press
GROVE CITY, Pa. — A student is appealing his suspension from a Christian college in Mercer County for appearing in gay porn videos using a pseudonym.

Twenty-two-year-old John Gechter, of Philadelphia, was suspended for one year pending appeal from Grove City College after a student saw him last month in a video posted online.

Mr. Gechter is appealing the suspension and says he may sue, claiming that the gay porn job isn’t any of the school’s business, especially since he performed using the name “Vincent DeSalvo.” Mr. Gechter says he used his porn income to pay for his schooling.

School officials say Mr. Gechter is suspended because he was well aware his porn involvement “exhibited behavior contrary to the values” of the school about 50 miles north of Pittsburgh.

Three interesting things here:

The most interesting part of this is still being recognized by precisely nobody… Apparently, the student who was looking at same-sex oriented erotic videos and narc’ed him out — well, s/he’s still a member of the student body…

It seems that, on this week’s edition of the naughty list, the sex acts involved in viewing same-sex erotic materials are not quite naughty enough to qualify as a, “Really bad sin,” — but performing them (at least on film) is. Or maybe, the real issue is just that the public can’t identify which student reported the problem — thus the school can still claim the problem doesn’t exist in their back yard, avoid dealing with it and still retain their carefully crafted public image…

The second interesting fact is that this guy is telling the truth about his financial needs. It seems that, for no better reason then hiding their finances from the government, the school canceled every student’s ability to subsidize an education in the normal (student loan) way.

The third interesting thing is that no one stated considering keeping them both there, admitting that the entire student body is overloaded with broken hearts and working with all of them to heal such…

Fundamentalist logic…

CNN.com

The more often Americans go to church, the more likely they are to support the torture of suspected terrorists, according to a new survey.

More than half of people who attend services at least once a week — 54 percent — said the use of torture against suspected terrorists is “often” or “sometimes” justified. Only 42 percent of people who “seldom or never” go to services agreed, according to the analysis released Wednesday by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.

White evangelical Protestants were the religious group most likely to say torture is often or sometimes justified — more than six in 10 supported it. People unaffiliated with any religious organization were least likely to back it. Only four in 10 of them did.

Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words — and the only answer that can be given to this order of monumental stupidity and callous disregard for human life:

(JesusFacePalm)

Christianity has not been based on the teachings of Jesus for a very, very long time…

worldnetdaily.com

A respected pastor, best-selling author and founder of a major ministry to teens predicts an imminent “earth-shattering calamity” centered in New York City that will spread to major urban areas across the country and around the world – part of what he sees as a judgment from God.

“An earth-shattering calamity is about to happen,” he writes. “It is going to be so frightening, we are all going to tremble – even the godliest among us.”

Wilkerson’s vision is of fires raging through New York City.

“It will engulf the whole megaplex, including areas of New Jersey and Connecticut. Major cities all across America will experience riots and blazing fires – such as we saw in Watts, Los Angeles, years ago,” he explains. “There will be riots and fires in cities worldwide. There will be looting – including Times Square, New York City. What we are experiencing now is not a recession, not even a depression. We are under God’s wrath. In Psalm 11 it is written, “If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?”

I can just see how this latest embarrassment to the cause of Christ on earth got started:

David Wilkerson awakens in a cold sweat: (Gasp)(Pant)

“Oh NO, I just dreamed God nuked the world — this has to mean more then last night when I dreamed I was falling into a pool of chocolate pudding and the night before when I dreamed my wife wanted to stab me and I woke up with a massive bruise in my ribs where she delivered the right elbow of fellowship to stop me from snoring. Yes, it HAS to mean more…” (Burp)

“But why… Oh ya, now I remember — God didn’t pour quite all His wrath out on Christ. God’s focus has now shifted to to nuking the sinners in the center of the entire known universe — New York City. (You know, like, where I live…)”

“Of COURSE, I’ve been appointed as His mouthpiece — I now speak for the (Que reverential tone) L-O-R-D!!!!!!! Now where is my antacid — this heartburn feels like my chest is on fire…”

“But wait, what’s that verse some Still Small Voice is mentioning?”

2Tim. 1:7 For God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

“Ah — never mind that — It’s not just the heathen, WE’RE ALL GONNA BURN!!!!!”

Either that, or this guy has got some serious inside contacts inside Al Qaeda…

Chicago Breaking News

The pastor of Willow Creek Chicago — the city campus of the evangelical megachurch Willow Creek Community Church — has resigned and admitted to “sexual impurity,” a church spokesman said.

The pastor, Rev. Steve Wu, could not be reached, and the church would [not] specify what took place.

Wu, 43, moved from California’s Silicon Valley in early 2006, hired by senior pastor Rev. Bill Hybels to lead Willow Creek Chicago, the downtown branch of the South Barrington-based church.

And further down…

The statement said: “He admitted to sexual impurity and has taken full responsibility for his sin. He has expressed a desire to participate in a restoration process.”

The usual drama continues — yet another collection of sex obsessed evangelicals find yet another in their midst who slipped Willy across this week’s line and, yet again, have tossed him out on his, er, nether-regions as a form of utterly useless restorative therapy that is sure to result in both zero change and a speaking tour — probably with a book deal. (Clearly, we assume, this is necessary because sex is so much badder then all the rest of the antics they are involved in.) None of this is new. What’s interesting is how honest they have been this time…

“has taken full responsibility for his sin.”

Two errors in seven words — pretty much a record I think…

Last time I checked Scripture, it tells me Jesus took responsibility for the sin of the entire world, took it all upon Himself and died for it. Paul further tells us that (Rom 7) we died with Christ to all of the elemental principles of this world (Col 2:21) and the very concept of the naughty and nice list style of living that got instituted in at the Fall in the garden of Eden. Sin was such a serious problem that no one other then God Himself could do ANYTHING about it — and He had to die, kill us and then raise all of the above to a new life to do it. And, He did it — once and for all

But not in Bill Hybel’s inferno… It’s a special place of image and performance where people handle sin with so little seriousness that they actually believe that a human being can do something to fix it. Here, sin (At least whatever of it is on the latest naughty list) is still front and center (Because apparently Jesus only died so we can eat Jr. Bacon Cheeseburgers) and people are still scaled by it until they can work hard enough to appear to clean up their own acts.

But don’t worry, it’s a caring place where they help people reach that sinless state — by ensuring their unemployment…[SIGH]

I’m still waiting for a church with the guts to stand up and say,

Today pastor _________ came to us to admit that he’s been having an affair with our women’s ministry coordinator. We’re leaving both of them in their jobs and are going to set out as a community to experience what it is like to see Jesus do what He said he would do in setting the captives free if we actually become the safe place He talked about. This week we are going to start that journey by talking about guilt, shame and condemnation and how that unholy trinity keeps people doing stupid things that will never satisfy. Bring what you have been conned into believing is your own dirty laundry at 11am and we’ll see if Jesus can do the stain removal you never could even get started on…

Ya, I know — never mind…[SIGH]

John Eldredge: December 2008:

“omething profound takes place in the soul of a person when they know they matter; when they know they are prized. It changes them. All questions of tit-for-tat are swept away; there is no longer any room for fear in the relationship. They know they are loved, and it evokes love in return. Someone who is recued has a deep and profound gratitude to the rescuer. ‘You would do this for me?’ But if their rescuer said, ‘I did not do this for you; I did this for me. I did it to prove my greatness. In fact, your complete unworthiness to be rescued is part of my plan to show my greatness.’ Could you imagine the relationship having any sort of future?  ”

This is an incredible Christmas article regarding our true worth even BEFORE Jesus took away our/the sins of the world. It is about relationship/knowing Him not beliefs/religion. May it be so for all of us.

John Eldredge: Finding Church:

“They do not actually teach people how to be intimate with God, or hear his voice. Intimacy with God is not promoted; most folks don’t know how to find it. We’ve spoken to a number of good people, mature believers who sincerely love God and dearly want to join him in his battle for this world, but who have found church to be an exercise in frustration. The number of these folks continues to grow; it is a very significant trend. These are not simply malcontents, who really just want to sleep in on Sundays. These are sincere followers of Jesus and they want a genuine place of church; they just don’t know where to find it. So they ask us, ‘What do you do?’ Let me first say what we have done – we have been a part of many different church expressions, from liturgical to conservative Bible to charismatic. And we have benefited richly from all of them. God can be found in many different expressions of ‘church.’ Most recently we have found the house church model to be particularly focused on what we believe are a few of the absolute essentials. Read the various urgings toward ‘church’ in the epistles, and ask yourself, ‘How could this take place in an hour on Sunday morning in a group of 500 or 5,000? How can we pray for one another, really? How can we encourage one another, really? Bear one another’s burdens?’ It can be a rich experience to worship with a large group of people, and hear the word of God taught by a gifted teacher. But there is simply no way that the fellowship urged in the Scriptures can be expressed without involvement in a small group.”

This is a good reminder article. May it be so for all of us and the world so we only do what God is in, not try to be Him for all. I pray we do nothing in our own strength to remain in peace.

:

“”

Awesome article from Breakforth 09!!! May it be so more clearly for us until we can rest in faith.

The Denver Post

The Rev. Ted Haggard emerged from three weeks of intensive counseling convinced he is “completely heterosexual” and told an oversight board that his sexual contact with men was limited to his accuser.

Ya, ok, not so much… (To say nothing of the idiotic delusion of reparative therapy being completed in three weeks…)

ap.org

Disgraced evangelical leader Ted Haggard’s former church disclosed Friday that the gay sex scandal that caused his downfall extends to a young male church volunteer who reported having a sexual relationship with Haggard – a revelation that comes as Haggard tries to repair his public image.

Brady Boyd, who succeeded Haggard as senior pastor of the 10,000-member New Life Church in Colorado Springs, told The Associated Press that the man came forward to church officials in late 2006 shortly after a Denver male prostitute claimed to have had a three-year cash-for-sex relationship with Haggard.

But of course, the church is clearly living out their commitment to a transparent, open reflection of a new life in Christ… We think… Ok, maybe they are mostly covering it up better then even Haggard himself and even paying hush money…

Boyd said the church reached a legal settlement to pay the man for counseling and college tuition, with one condition being that none of the parties involved discuss the matter publicly.

Boyd said a Colorado Springs TV station reached him Thursday to say the young man was planning to provide a detailed report of his relationship with Haggard to the station. Boyd said the church preferred to keep the matter private, but it was the man’s decision to go public.

But no, of course it’s not hush money — it’s just compassionate assistance… Um, no wait…

“It wasn’t at all a settlement to make him be quiet or not tell his story,” Boyd said. “Our desire was to help him. Here was a young man who wanted to get on with his life. We considered it more compassionate assistance – certainly not hush money. I know what’s what everyone will want to say because that’s the most salacious thing to say, but that’s not at all what it was.”

Boyd said the church will not take action against the man if he tells his story in the press.

“We have legal standing to do that, but not the desire to,” he said.

Yep, compassionate assistance — with a Non Disclosure Agreement. I’ll bet the church also makes patrons of their food bank sign one though so I’m sure it’s all standard procedure…

It isn’t often that Evangelical Christendom manages NOT to make me ashamed to be associated with them — this is not their lucky day…

Steve McVey:

“emember that there is nothing wrong with the Law of God. God’s Law was given to open the eyes of the self-righteous to their own unrighteousness. The fact is, though, that you and I have been released from the Law (See Romans 7:6) through our death with Christ on the cross. By His grace, we saw our own unrighteousness and, by His grace, we repented of the folly of our sin and turned to Him in faith. At that moment, we were born again and now have no connection to the Law whatsoever. (Read Romans 7:1-6 for the biblical explanation.) If we don’t realize that we have moved out of the bondage of Babylonian captivity, we will still live under the terroristic threats of legalism. But you have been delivered from Babylon. You aren’t under the Law anymore. The religious Al-Qaeda have no rights or authority over you anymore. Your Liberator has set you free “

This is a good brief article on the law vs Jesus. I see repentance as a change in thinking from the Counsellor/Sprit.

Steve McVey:

“When Jesus said that the Scripture in Isaiah had been fulfilled that very day, He was revealing that He was the personification of the anointing of God. The anointing has come to us in the person of the Anointed One! Because Jesus Christ lives inside you, you have everything you need to do anything that God has planned for you to do! Paul wrote that, In [Christ] all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, and in Him you have been made complete (Colossians 2:9,10). If Jesus Christ lives in you, everything you need to succeed in life resides within you. You have need of nothing else. God’s grace within you is the anointing you need to accomplish everything He has planned for you. Grace equals enablement! You have miraculous, supernatural, God-given, enablement. That sets you apart from others whose dreams depend on their own ability. The early church grasped this fact and accomplished miraculous results. The same is possible for you. John reminds us, ‘But you have an anointing from the Holy One (1 John 2:20). Notice that he doesn’t say you still need it, but that you have it. He further notes, ‘As for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you (2:27). The word here means continue to be present and not depart. In Jesus Christ, you already have all you need to have to do all that you need to do to accomplish God’s plan for your life. Do you understand your ability? Like the anointing of Aaron, you haven‘t been given a small dab of ability. It just isn’t His nature to give sparingly. When He gives, He really pours it on! You are drenched in divine ability to do all that He has planned for you to do.”

We often think we do not see miracles very much anymore. Is it because we are doing things in our own strength rather than allowing Him to work through us? May just the Divine in us show.

This is from Dan Allender’s book — The Healing Path — which I read years ago. (One of my clients was just so incredibly gracious as to type out and email me the key part this evening…) It’s been the foundation of my thinking with respect to activism for years.

What are the basic principles of the world? They are the lists of dos and don’ts that rule most every social engagement and establish the boundaries for acceptable and unacceptable behavior. They are the conventions of respectability that announce you as a full member in good standing or, in their absence, mark you as a philistine, a poseur. Whether we are in third grade, at a trade convention, in the foyer of a church, or on a tennis court, we hate to wear the wrong clothes, say the wrong thing, or be dismissed for being different.

We all know that the rules are seldom (if ever) written and announced. The most powerful rules are unstated and assumed. We long to fit in. We feel awkward when we are outsiders and shame when we were once inside but now are no longer accepted. What gets us in and keeps us inside? Following the rules – approving of those who are impeccable in their performance, viewing with derision those who are not. As long as we align ourselves with the power base of whatever group we wish to enter, we receive the benefits of membership and avoid the liabilities of being a stranger. But as Christians we are called to follow our father Abraham and by faith depart from our country, class, race, subculture, and family. We are to be in the world, but not wage life according to the basic human principles that determine good and bad, in and out.

“In but not of” requires we belong while always retaining an awareness of our first loyalty. Does this involve a “leaving” that calls us to give up our very identity as constructed in the matrix of citizenship, class, race, subculture and family? Yes. Does loyalty to Christ call us to be prophetic and disruptive to every group and person with whom we engage? No. We are called to a particular time, place, group, family, and person. Without an ability to enter the world of the particular others God has placed in our lives, however, we will never gain access to disrupt them and offer them a taste of the bounty of Christ.

We should strive to “fit in” almost every way that gives us access to those we are called to love, but without ever buying into the basic rules required to be a full-fledged, 100-percent, card-carrying member of a particular group. We should never blindly support any group or person – no matter if what brings the group together is a theological flag, moral issue, counseling orientation, or church denomination.

Why? There is something wrong with every culture and group, and to affirm any as the basis of identity and the substance of life is to find a home rather that to live as a sojourner.

In my mind, this is one of the most eloquent declarations of war ever written.

It’s a covert war — a guerrilla war — of the highest order. Its mission, to infiltrate every aspect of society, to learn its ways, to understand how it thinks so clearly that you appear to be one of them — while always waiting for the moment to strike a lethal blow destroying the fabric of evil that places the minds and hearts of its members in bondage.

Its goal? No, it’s NOT to make them stop sinning. Its goal is to replace their legalistic bondage with that which terrifies both religion and society equally: a double punch of real live intimacy with the living God and the all-inclusive liberty He died to make their inheritance.

Oh ya — reread the above. What is Dan implying is its first target? That’s right — so called, “Christian culture,” and the rest of what passes as the Church.

What if Starbucks marketed like the church???

It’s nausea inducing — and it’s starkly true.

What is even more disturbing is that this video is itself actually a marketing tactic for a company that MARKETS CHURCHES called BeyondRelevanceDotCom. (No, I will NOT provide a live link to them…)

I’m not sure which is more nauseating…

Perhaps, instead of marketing churches, we could fix them so they don’t need to be marketed??? Perhaps we could actually introduce people to a Life Changing Power so dramatic that their friends will want to come and see? Perhaps we could look at the mess that makes up the church and the broken hearts that cause such so that it’s real love that greets people as they walk in the door?

Unless this is an admission that it can’t be done — that both this company and the churches it works with really are permanently beyond relevance and marketing is their only hope…

(In that case, we really have a problem because it’s not like the general public hasn’t already figured out that if you need to market it, it’s likely garbage…)

Got this emailed to me today — and I have to post it.

…Is there anyone in our midst who pretends to understand the awesome love in the heart of the Abba of Jesus that inspired, motivated and brought about Christmas? The shipwrecked at the stable kneel in the presence of mystery.

God entered into our world not with the crushing impact of unbearable glory but in the way of weakness, vulnerability and need. On a wintry night in an obscure cave, the infant Jesus was a humble, naked, helpless God who allowed us to get close to him.

The Bethlehem mystery will ever be a scandal to aspiring disciples who seek a triumphant Savior and a prosperity Gospel. The infant Jesus was born in unimpressive circumstances; no one can say exactly where. His parents were of no social significance whatsoever, and His chosen welcoming committee were all turkeys, losers and dirt-poor shepherds. But in this weakness and poverty the shipwrecked at the stable would come to know the love of God. The shipwrecked at the stable tremble in adoration of the Christ child and quake at the in breaking of God Almighty, because all the Santa Clauses and red-nosed reindeer, fifty foot trees and thundering church bells put together create less pandemonium than the infant Jesus when, instead of remaining a statue in a crib, He comes alive and delivers us over to the fire that He came to light.

The shipwrecked at the stable are the poor in spirit who feel lost in the cosmos…finding it not only tacky but utterly absurd to be caught up either in tinsel trees or in religious experiences. They have been saved, rescued, delivered from the waters of death, set free for a new shot at life. … what are the shipwrecked saying? Let go of your paltry desires and expand your expectations. Christmas means that God has given us nothing less than Himself. Don’t order just a piece of toast when eggs Benedict are on the menu. Don’t come with a thimble when God has nothing less to give you than the ocean of Himself. Don’t be contented with a ‘nice’ Christmas when Jesus says, ‘It has pleased My Father to give you the Kingdom’. ..Anything connected with Christmas that is not centered in Christ Jesus–tree, ornaments, turkey dinner, exchange of gifts, worship itself, is empty gesturing. Blessed are the shipwrecked for they see God in all the trappings of Christmas and experience a joy that the world does not understand.

Don’t be so preoccupied with the purity of your heart. And once you’ve turned to Jesus, don’t turn back and look at yourself. Don’t wonder where you stand with Him. The sadness of not being perfect, the discovery that you really are sinful, is a feeling much too human, even borders on idolatry. Focus your vision outside yourself on the beauty, graciousness and compassion of Jesus Christ. The pure of heart praise Him from sunrise to sundown. Even when they feel broken, feeble, distracted, insecure and uncertain, they are able to release it into His peace. A heart like that is stripped and filled–stripped of self and filled with the fullness of God. Holiness is not a personal achievement. It is and emptiness you discover in yourself. Instead of resenting it, you accept it and it becomes the free space where the Lord can create anew. To cry our, ‘You alone are the Holy One, you alone are the Lord’ that is what it means to be pure of heart. And it doesn’t come by your Herculean efforts and threadbare resolutions. Simply hoard nothing of yourself; sweep the house clean. Sweep out even the attic, even the nagging, painful consciousness of your past. Accept being shipwrecked. Renounce everything that is heavy, even the weight of your sins. See only the compassion, the infinite patience and the tender love of Christ. Jesus is Lord. That suffices. Your guilt and reproach disappear into the nothingness of non-attention. You are no longer aware of yourself…even the desire for holiness is transformed into a pure and simple desire for Jesus.

For the shipwrecked, becoming a little child means accepting oneself as being of little account. When Jesus tells us to become like little children He is urging us to forget what lies behind. Children have no past. Like little children the shipwrecked don’t bring the baggage of the past into the stable of the present moment…the single most important consideration during the sacred season of Advent is intensity of desire. An intense inner desire is already the sign of His presence in our hearts. The rest is the work of the Holy Spirit. The only explanation of why the shipwrecked exist is the personal magnetism of Jesus and only he who has experienced it can believe what the love of Jesus is. You could more easily catch a hurricane in a shrimp net than you can understand the wild, relentless, passionate, uncompromising, pursuing love of God made present in the manger. The shipwrecked preserve the meaning of Christmas in its pristine purity–the birthday of the Savior and the eruption of the messianic era into history.

by Brennan Manning

Think about it — no, meditate on it. It’s the Gospel in it’s most straight and simple form — so simple, in fact, that Evangelical Christendom usually misses it entirely. It’s not a cute little prequel to a morality tale — it’s the savage annihilation of any lie that told you that the God of the universe could ever do anything but love you. It’s the God of the universe laughing at the idea that you could ever do anything about what separated you from Him and the the cosmically insane plan He hatched to make sure nothing in the universe could ever separate Him from His kids again.

If you’ve ever wondered if anyone out there wants you, you have your answer.

Steve McVey:

” know you’re expecting me to come back with an army, and set you free from these creeps, but actually I am the Messiah. At this point, everyone starts staring at their shoes, and says: Oh, my God, he’s gonna keep saying this. So what you’re left with is: either Christ was who He said He was—the Messiah—or a complete nutcase.”

This is an excellent commentary on the role of conflict/protection in the Good News. Father make it crystal clear to all of us.

Steve McVey:

“it is only when you understand how deeply you are loved that you will be released to pour out agape on others. 1 John 4:19 says ‘we love because He first loved us.’ We don’t just love Him for that reason. We love everybody for that reason. When my grandchildren visit our home and dip their beach pail into the Gulf of Mexico, the pail can’t contain the Gulf so the water spills over the edge on every side. That’s how it is when we have received God’s love. It’s just too much for us, so everybody around us gets wet too. This is where grace becomes practical. When we have fully experienced the loving grace of God, we will faithfully express it. As He is, so are we in this world. Jesus loved. He loved the down-and-outers (the Samaritan woman) and the up-and-outers (Matthew). He loved the unrighteous (Zaccheus) and the self-righteous (Saul of Tarsus). He loved the rogues (Peter) and the religious (Nicodemus.) He loved the horribly immoral (the woman taken in adultery) and the highly moral (the rich young ruler). Jesus just loved. He said, ‘I and my Father are one’ (John 10:30). He shares the same DNA as the One who is love. What else could he do? “

This is an excellent reassurance that unconditional grace will motivate/move us, especially to love as Jesus.

Steve McVey:

“As Jesus said, the greater our understanding of forgiveness the greater the love. The obstacle that most people have trouble getting past in accepting the reality that all their sins have been forgiven is the idea that future sins could already be dealt with, even before we commit them. I remind you though that when Christ died for our sins, He died for all of them and we hadn’t even been born yet. If Christ could take every sin we would commit upon Himself at the cross before we had committed a single one of them, why couldn’t he forgive them in the same way? He can and He did. Your sins are forgiven. Not just some of them, but all of them. What if every sin of our lifetime is already forgiven? What difference would that make in how we lived from day-to-day? I can tell you the difference: it would free us to take our eyes off ourselves and put them on Christ and on others. It would deliver us from self-consciousness and sin-consciousness. The fact is that our sins have all been forgiven. That won’t cause anybody to run wild. The Apostle Paul answered that objection when he said, ‘If all this about grace is true, does that mean we just sin like crazy because we know it’s all covered by grace?’ He answered his own question, ‘God forbid! How can we live in sin if we have already died to it? Or don’t you understand that every one of us who have been placed into Jesus Christ were with Him when He died? The reality is that when somebody dies, they are free from sin and we died!’ (See Romans 6:1-7) We can relax when it comes to the fear that grace will cause people to sin. It won’t do that. Instead it will cause those who understand the scope of forgiveness to love Jesus more and to take their eyes off themselves and live freely in grace.”

This is an excellent discussion of the looming question, fear of license, and vision for us. May it be so.

Grace Walk Resources – Company Info:

“Each member of the Grace Walk team has a passion to share the sufficiency of Jesus Christ, not only for salvation, but for daily living. We have each experienced the bondage of legalism but have been transformed by coming to understand our identity in Christ and what it means to walk in grace. Consequently, He has given us a burning desire to see the body of Christ growing in grace as well.”

This in an excellent introduction to the discussion.

Steve McVey: March 2008:

“Let’s face it – the grace walk so contradicts the way many of us grew up believing was the right approach to the Christian life. It may even contradict what we’ve believed up until this moment. So, when the Holy Spirit ‘starts messing with’ our belief system, it’s a little scary. After all, we’ve lived in the security of our beliefs for a long time and to have somebody come along putting forth views that contradict what we have believed is unsettling. We don’t want to be led astray and besides that, grace is downright scary after living in legalism for a lot of years. It’s scary for one reason: it leaves us totally out of control. We can no longer be in charge of our Christian walk, knowing that when we do this, then that will happen. In other words, we stop being able to control things, including God. And nobody likes that on the front end. “

This is an empathetic article on the fear with the Spirit challenges us about the truth of our beliefs. May He allow us to rest that Jesus is in control. The try harder/rededicate yourself approach doesn’t work, only Jesus/His Finished Work is the answer.

Steve McVey: May 2008:

” The sails on the boat can be a metaphor for our lives. The wind (Christ’s Spirit) must fill us in order for us to move forward toward our destination. 2. The tell-tales let you know when the wind is moving across the sail in the most efficient way. The tell-tales in our lives are joy and peace. When Christ animates our lives, these will both ‘line up’ together. 3. Sometimes one tell=tale will be horizontal, showing that the wind is moving across the sail in the best way at that place, while another tell-tale will be jumping around in every direction -showing that part of the sail isn’t getting optimum wind flow across it. It is possible that we are appropriating the sufficiency of Christ in one area of life, yet still may need to submit another area of life to Him. 4. Sanctification is the ongoing work of the spirit (wind) increasingly showing us areas that we still can yield to His control (the tell-tales showing how the wind can be trimmed for maximum efficiency). “

This is an excellent illustration for understanding what it means to do something in our own strength. I pray we sail through life’s challenges.

Steve McVey: September 2008:

“I put this online a long time ago, but enough time has passed that I want to use it again. What do you see? This sketch has been around since the late 1800s. It’s a picture of both an old woman and a young woman, depending on your perspective. If you’re having a hard time seeing both — the necklace on the young woman is the old woman’s mouth. Beneath the necklace of the young woman is the old woman’s chin. The ear of the young woman is the old woman’s eye. (If you can’t see it from those descriptions, it’ll take divine revelation for you to see it The Lord spoke to me through this picture a few years ago when I was struggling with a situation that looked very ‘ugly’ to me. He showed me that it wasn’t the picture that needed to change. What needed to change was my perspective. Since that time, the situation that I initially thought was ugly actually turned into something I see now as beautiful. Our Father’s plan is often not to change our circumstances, but to change how we see and respond to those circumstances. “

This is the timeless illustration of the way we can see things according to the physical/flesh/law/sin or the spiritual/love/appearnace of sin/Jesus. I pray we always see ourselves/other/the world according to Christ’s, and His victory from the cross. May God allow us to rest/stand in our righteousness of Him in us and not on our own.

GV July 2007:

“Christians are those who have become one with God through Jesus Christ. Everything in our lives is intimately associated with Him through our relationship to Him, thus making it sacred. Because Christ lives through you, all that you do becomes sanctified (made holy) because He is the One doing the work through you.”

This is an excellent definition of a Christian! I pray we genuinely show it. It also talks about what sanctification really means to a believer.

GV Jan 2008:

“Control freaks – that’s what we all are when we try to be in charge of our own lives. God never intended for us to be in control. Controlling things is His role, not ours. ‘My life is out of control!’ people have tearfully said to me at times in the counseling office. What they really meant was ‘My life is out of my control and I don’t like it!’             Imagine a baby holding a pair of new shoes in his hands. He is playing with them and happy they belong to him. His parent reaches down to take the shoes and put them on the child’s feet. All the child sees is that his shoes are being taken out of his hands. He doesn’t like it. He wants to control them and keep them in his hands, but he will never walk in them that way.             The parent takes the shoes from the hand of the child and the baby begins to cry. He is overwhelmed with anger, confusion and regret that his shoes are being taken from him. He screams. He kicks in protest. He is losing control of the thing he loves and wants to hold. He doesn’t understand what his parent is doing. But the parent understands and does what is necessary to enable the child to walk – whether the child likes it or even understands.             The goal is to enable the child to enjoy the shoes to the fullest by walking in them. The parent knows that if the shoes are used for their designed purpose, the child will truly benefit and not simply be amused by them.             Only a baby thinks the highest pleasure is to hold them in his hands. He doesn’t see the whole picture. So the parent overrules the baby’s wishes and does what is needful. Eventually the child will understand. When he does, he is thrilled, and more important than that, he walks. Do you want to walk? What are you holding onto that you need to release? Let it go. God knows what He is doing.”

This is an excellent article for parenting and dealing with the crisies of life. I pray for this rest and openness to genuinely let go of our way after working through the emotions individually/together with others.

The New Yorker

But, according to Add Health data, evangelical teen-agers are more sexually active than Mormons, mainline Protestants, and Jews. On average, white evangelical Protestants make their “sexual début”—to use the festive term of social-science researchers—shortly after turning sixteen. Among major religious groups, only black Protestants begin having sex earlier.

Another key difference in behavior, Regnerus reports, is that evangelical Protestant teen-agers are significantly less likely than other groups to use contraception. This could be because evangelicals are also among the most likely to believe that using contraception will send the message that they are looking for sex. It could also be because many evangelicals are steeped in the abstinence movement’s warnings that condoms won’t actually protect them from pregnancy or venereal disease. More provocatively, Regnerus found that only half of sexually active teen-agers who say that they seek guidance from God or the Scriptures when making a tough decision report using contraception every time. By contrast, sixty-nine per cent of sexually active youth who say that they most often follow the counsel of a parent or another trusted adult consistently use protection.

The gulf between sexual belief and sexual behavior becomes apparent, too, when you look at the outcomes of abstinence-pledge movements. Nationwide, according to a 2001 estimate, some two and a half million people have taken a pledge to remain celibate until marriage. Usually, they do so under the auspices of movements such as True Love Waits or the Silver Ring Thing. Sometimes, they make their vows at big rallies featuring Christian pop stars and laser light shows, or at purity balls, where girls in frothy dresses exchange rings with their fathers, who vow to help them remain virgins until the day they marry. More than half of those who take such pledges—which, unlike abstinence-only classes in public schools, are explicitly Christian—end up having sex before marriage, and not usually with their future spouse.

The stats just keep rolling in — Evangelical shame and Catholic guilt once again just doesn’t seem capable of arresting the misplaced human teen’s longing for love. Whatever shall we do???

Perhaps that might be a reason to offer it to them some other way — like maybe just being fathers and mothers to the fatherless and motherless???

Or, we could just launch another purity ball instead…

LiveNHim:

“You don’t need to have a kind of ‘in your face’ grace approach exclaiming your freedom to those who ‘just don’t quite get it’. Now, there may be a time where you do need to take a stand on God’s grace and freedom in the church, but I’m talking everyday life here. The general rule of thumb when it comes to personal relationships with those who do not understand God’s incredible gift of grace for living is simply more ‘grace’. What does that look like? We’re to act ‘in love’, even to the point of refraining from a freedom we think is perfectly fine to protect our relationship with other believers. It’s a humble, accepting and encouraging approach to those who might differ with us. Limiting your freedom on behalf of another is not a compromise of grace but more a sacrifice of love. Allow Christ to love through you…at times, it will be a sacrifice.”

This is a great article on extending grace when we differ about our beliefs.

LiveNHim:

“God gave us an incredible gift in the human body and brain. Every action, thought, desire is recorded on the human hard drive of the brain. The ‘old self’ or nature is dead (that’s what happens when you get crucified…you don’t typically recover) and you have been raised up a brand new self or nature. Those old desires, habits and behaviors have been recorded and can and will resurface…that broad term ‘flesh’ or old ways of thinking and behaving will set its desire against the Spirit but the truth is, you are ‘dead’ to that stuff! There is no real power to make you act or think in the ‘old way’, in fact, quite the opposite. You have the omnipotent power and Life of Christ in you to think and live a brand new life. “

I agree with the majority of the article I see “choice” as openness to it. Believing is not works. I pray He gives us all His understanding of it.

mdolla.

Here’s a new [prayer] machine [that] can be found on the streets of Orlando.

I just don’t know why but it kinda reminded me of something…

And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. (Matthew 6:5-6)

We still just don’t get it…

Understanding the Inspirational Personality Type : Lifetime Guarantee Ministries:

“Personality Traits Ambitious Charger Confident/Determined Intuitive Persuasive Spontaneous Adaptable Responsible Flesh Type & Traits (Over-bearing) Pushy/Ready-Fire-Aim Domineering/Intimidating Egotistical Restless Insensitive Undisciplined Over-bearing Can’t say no”

This is a fascinating personality chart. We are to encourage the personality/spirit and ignore the flesh traits. This is because sin does not come into play anymore, beyond the fact it just brought death in the first place. May it be so.

What is of paramount importance is the content of what truth is:

“With my wisdom firmly placed in Him, I can enjoy fellowship with others who are in Him and who may understand some truth differently than I do. I can desire to know the ‘what’s’ and the ‘why’s’, but be at rest. I can also live perfectly at peace with my lack of knowing. I no longer expect of myself or others to understand all about ‘truths’. Jesus, who I am ‘in’, understands it all. This is what abiding is about. My life does not independently contain all that it needs to live. The truth is in Someone else- Jesus.”

This is an excellent brief article on searching for truth, but also being at rest not knowing until it is revealed to us. May it be so for us.

globeandmail.com.

“There are millions of people around this world praying to their god – whether it’s Hindu, Buddha, Allah – that his [McCain's] opponent wins. … And Lord, I pray that you will guard your own reputation, because they’re going to think that their God is bigger than you, if that happens.” – Arnold Conrad, pastor of Grace Evangelical Free Church, delivering the invocation at a John McCain rally in Davenport, Iowa, last Saturday.

You know, some articles nearly say it all — the once strong and vibrant God of Evangelicalism clearly is now barely surviving, on life support and down to His last best strategy — saving the world (or at least his own branding rights) through a trigger happy fighter pilot and an even more trigger happy moose hunter. (And, apparently, He might not even be capable of pulling that one off given that the public has finally figured out the moose hunter is also more then just a bit of a dimwit…)

Back in their day, the Roman Catholic response to Protestant heretics was to burn them at the stake. Surly some of the technology involved was documented or there is at least some expert in the Catholic Church who could be freed up to lend us a hand for a few days… This has now become an emergency — somehow we’ve gotta cleanse the Evangelical gene pool before this order of ignorance reproduces…

Abiding:

” second reason we do not understand abiding is that our humanness does not want to. The heart of abiding is dependence. Dependence is the mortal enemy of self (our flesh). Our flesh screams out against dependence. We like the idea of improving ourselves ‘for’ God. We are drawn to ways that increase our strength, wisdom and abilities ‘for’ Him. This is why we can not relate to Paul when he says, ‘Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.’ (2 Cor. 12:10) We long for love, acceptance, value and identity; but we want it the old fashioned way- we want to earn it and deserve it. You can not understand the concept of abiding (let alone live in it) until you are willing to recognize that living the Christian life is not about you getting better or working harder. As Christ said, ‘you must deny yourself’. You living the Christian life, in fact, is impossible. You must be convinced that only Jesus within you can live the Christian life.”

This is an excellent article on resting in our completeness because of Jesus rising from the cross. We can be at peace. May it/this, His wisdom be so for us.

Philosophy of Ministry:

“he Sermon on the Mount proves that before God we all stand on level ground: murderers and temper-throwers, adulterers and lusters, thieves and coveters. We are all desperate, and that is in fact the only state appropriate to a human being who wants to know God. Having fallen from the absolute Ideal, we have nowhere to land but in the safety net of absolute grace.’ It is interesting to me that when referring to his life before Christ, Paul said, ‘as to the Law found blameless’. In describing his life as a believer, he said, ‘For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the wishing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I wish, I do not do but I practice the very evil that I do now wish.’ “

It offers a good compilation of the verses of the real reason for the law.

HURRICANE KATRINA, MEANS OF JUDGMENT OR OPPORTUNITY FOR HOPE:

“d not the death of Christ deal with the root cause of sinful behavior:  sinful hearts?  For me, a pat answer of God’s judgment merely raises many many more questions. We are tempted to be deceived into believing that grace is too light on sin.  However, my heart yearns to testify that it is true grace alone that exposes sin for the subtle dead lie that it is.  Apart from grace, sin is limited to negative-looking behaviors.  Apart from grace, we are tempted to see the need for more of God’s judgment, in addition to the cross.”

This is an excellent article on allowing God’s trust in us because of the 100% sufficiency of Christ as our life. May the Lord replace our fears with the revealing of His security/courage/peace/Finished Work.

A TALE OF TWO MIRRORS:

“ven though my new mirror did not yet need cleaning, I still tried different things to dress up the frame out of habit. After trying everything to dress up the frame, one day I sought to clean the mirror.  Surely the mirror needed cleaning by now. So, I peered into my mirror, saw my reflection, and reached to clean the surface of the mirror…and to my amazement… …to my utter amazement, the mirror had no surface, nothing to separate me from my reflection, and… …and I…I…I touched the face in the mirror!  It was then when I realized I had touched the very face of Jesus!”

SEPTEMBER 11, 2001:

“don’t understand much about the ‘why’ of this tragedy, but this I do know: God makes a person brand new in order to give him the life of His Son…and Christ’s life is sufficient for any situation! During this national distress, we will be tempted to do something to appease God’s wrath and to reclaim His favor.  But the truth is that Jesus Christ has already borne ALL of the Father’s contempt for sin and ALL of His divine judgment on the cross…for us!   God loves and adores each of His children by His amazing grace, not by what we do. ”

This is good brief article that highlights one of the defining moments of our history and our/Jesus response to it. May God reveal it to all.

ONE IOTA OF DIFFERENCE:

“Adam and Eve fell for the temptation to believe Satan’s one iota of a difference regarding the truth about God, and as a result, a division resulted between man and his relationship with God.  All of us inherited this division, this separation.  Jesus the Truth came (John 14:6) to eliminate that division by exposing all iotas in order to make us one in relationship with God (John 17:21). Believing little iota changes in God’s truths can subtly and significantly impact my relationship with God.  The following table presents some examples from my life.  Most often the difference is only one word.  God’s revealed truth nurtures my genuine communion relationship with Him.  However, just a little iota of difference in the truth tempts me to view myself as separate (divided) from God…tempting me to relate to Him as a separate Helper rather than my intimate Life.  When I fall for this temptation, stolen from me is the joy of experiencing the intimacy (oneness) that my relationship with God really is.  The undivided truth sets me free to genuinely, not religiously, relate to God and others (John 8:32, 36).    THE ONE IOTA OF DIFFERENCE   A temptation that steals the joy of my fellowship with God The truth that reveals the joy of my fellowship with God Foundational Biblical Truths God wants me to do good. God wants me! Jesus said, ‘If I am lifted up from earth, I will draw all men to Myself’ (John 12:32). I’m on fire for the Lord. I’m on fire with the Lord! You are light IN the Lord. Walk as children of light (Ephesians 5:8). I just hope for the best. I already have the best hope! The Lord Jesus Christ IS our hope (1 Timothy 1:1).”

This is a great article on the importance of truth rather than the temptation to trust a lie! One is doing it in our own strength the other is just Jesus as the truth of our heart. I agree we do not strive for victory. However I believe we rest in Jesus the victory in us. Our identity is not that we are sinners. We really are saints because Jesus is our heart and that He rose on the cross. We have Him as our new nature. I pray we know it as believers.

My Personal Psalm 23:

“…I shall not want (lack). I used to fall so short in my self-efforts to achieve goodness and happiness (Romans 3:10-12). But now the Lord has given me His righteousness as a gift (Galatians 2:20-21) and His life as my joy (Galatians 5:22, John 17:13). I am now complete in Christ and, therefore, I lack nothing (Colossians 2:9-10)!   He makes me to lie down in green pastures… God makes me lay down my self-efforts (Philippians 3:8).  The pastures where I then rest are lush green, and full of life (John 15:5). God nurtures me there in my true identity and life in His dear Son (Romans 8:16, John 6:51).   …He leads me beside the still waters. God then leads me to a quiet place to assure me of the finished work of His dear Son through the cross for re-creating me (Galatians 6:14-15). He leads me beside still waters to show me my reflection is now a reflection of Christ Himself (2 Corinthians 3:18)!    He restores my soul. This truth restores my soul (mind and emotions).  God turns my focus from temporal things to the indwelling eternal life of Christ (1 John 5:11-13). My mind is being renewed and my emotions are being healed by beholding the glory of His presence (Romans 12:2, Ephesians 4:20-24).   He leads me in the paths of righteousness…  God delights in ordering each of my steps (Psalm 37:23)… the unique ways Christ expresses His life through me (Colossians 1:29). Christ leads me in His righteous paths, not an external guide, but as my very life (Colossians 3:4).”

This is an incredible personal interpretation of the most common reading of the Bible at funerals for comfort/peace! It reveals we have so all of His LIFE/spirit in us if we just allow it show and not try. I pray we let Him have this control of our lives.

John Fischer

We’ve got to do something about Jesus. Tone Him down somehow. Make Him fit more into our idea of twentieth-century spirituality. Maybe it’s these new translations that are causing the problem. King James’s English kept Him comfortably distant, slightly removed from reality; but the new translations make Him appear so . . . well, so cringe . . . human.

If He was really human, then we have a big problem — then we, too, have to grapple with our humanity. Oh no, please Anything but that. Save me. Heal me. Sign, seal and deliver me, but don’t make me deal with real life. Don’t tell me my everyday is a spiritual experience. Let me keep my spirituality separate from my humanity. Let me keep it in nice, neat devotional compartments so I don’t have to think about how I live.

That’s what is beginning to bother me about Jesus. He was so normal. Take His first miracle as a case in point. He kept a party going. He saw the wine was giving out, so He changed 180 gallons of water into wine. It almost looks like He enjoyed people having a good time. That’s downright unspiritual. Christians aren’t supposed to be at parties like that in the first place, much less providing the wine. I’ll bet people were even dancing. This is very disturbing.

Another quote from one of my favorite heretics…

UNION WITH CHRIST:

” However, God doesn’t just want to help me! J  Oh how He wants to live through me in the life of His dear Son to minister to others (Galatians 2:20)!  These two attempts (at-temptations!) at ‘living’ are based on the subtle deception that I have a separate identity from Christ – that I have something in me that can do something of real value.  I do have a unique personality, but it is truly manifested only when Christ lives through me. ”

This is a good brief article on doing in our own strength vs Christ doing it through us. I disagree with the interpretation of the OT verse.

BEHOLDING CHRIST:

“true transformation comes not by doing anything, but only by beholding Christ.  Trust Him to reveal what this means.  Following  is my personal paraphrase of 2 Corinthians 3:18: Your need for striving by the law has been removed!  You are now free to be intimately one with Christ!  Look in the mirror.  When you see your face, see also the face of Christ!  It’s true!  I don’t understand it either – we will spend eternity savoring this!  So as you behold Christ now, you will be transformed on the outside to what you are completely like on the inside!  And because all of this is by grace through the Spirit, and not by your works, God is glorified.  Wow!  ”

These are fantastic one one-liners to encourage resting/not doing anything in our own strength.

YOU LISTENED TO ME:

“Our ears are the foundation of any true ministry in the body of Christ if we realize…He listens through us. I’m free!  Jesus is now real to me and to others I listen to, because for one brief moment in time…you listened to me. “

This is a fantastic article on the true Counsel/Love/Grace/and Truth

A One-Word Sermon: “Paul”:

” it doesn’t matter if I make a good name for myself or a bad name for myself in this world… it just doesn’t matter one itty bitty witty bit!  All that matters in all the heavens and the earth is that by grace Christ has already made a name for me, and a name for you.  Each of us have already been made new creations in Christ…we have been made real, yes genuine, through Christ alone (Galatians 6:14-15). Whew!  I no longer have to strive to make a name for myself.  I am free to be who I really am all because of what Christ really did for me and who He really is in me.  Paul.  Yes, I love that name because it is permeated with the genuine, fragrant life of Christ!”

A good small article on God’s acceptance (self-others) because of His work.

TRUE HEALING:

” But Jesus never physically healed anyone to healing sakes.  His healing was always for His sake…to reveal the reality of His divine life — the only true life there is and ever will be. I believe the primary focus on our preconceived idea of physical healing can subtly tempt us with the lie that we are not complete.”

An excellent brief article on the revelation of the risen Christ in us for our greatest good. God’s life can still bless others regardless of our physical condition. I pray we believe it.

BROKENNESS:

“Brokenness is the loving work of God as He uniquely strips each of His children of his or her self-sufficiency so that the beauty of Christ’s life shines through.  Isaiah 33:17 promises that ‘Your eyes will see the King (Jesus) in His beauty.’”

I very good brief article on the meaning of “doing it in your own strength.”

USATODAY.com.

Now there are 1.1 million copies in print and, two weeks ago, FaithWords, a division of Hachette Book Group, signed on as co-publisher with Windblown. Hatchette agreed to a 500,000-copy press run in June and a national campaign in the secular market in July.

The Shack's success has changed Young's life — a little.

He no longer works three jobs running a manufacturer's sales office and working on websites. Kim still works at Gresham High School as a baker, but she's driving a new Honda. They've moved from the tiny rental house, where he wrote The Shack in the windowless basement near the washing machine, to a bigger rental nearby.

Holding hands and beaming at one of their grandchildren, the Youngs say they'd be fine if the money vanished tomorrow.

"Mack is me, a guy who has made a mess of everything," Young says. "The book takes him outside everything familiar, back to the worst experience of his life and lets him recognize God is so much greater."

Yet, as McVey, the minister from Tampa, says, "This pure grace of God has always divided people."

Mohler, Driscoll and other evangelicals pick The Shack apart plank by plank.

No, God can't be a presented as a woman. No, the three parts of the Trinity did not all become fully human. Yes, there is a hierarchy in the Holy Trinity with God the Father in command. Yes, God will punish sin.

Young shrugs them off. Out there in America, where only three in 10 people attend weekly worship services and millions are ignorant of the Bible, his readers struggle to find a good God amid their pain.

As for critics, he shakes his head.

"I don't want to enter the Ultimate Fighting ring and duke it out in a cage-match with dogmatists. I have no need to knock churches down or pull people out," he says.

"I have a lot of freedom by knowing that you really experience God in relationships, wherever you are. It's fluid and dynamic, not cemented into an institution with a concrete foundation."

"But it's not about me. I have everything that matters, a free and open life full of love and empty of all secrets."

I have not read this book but I have it on order. I just discovered I didn’t waste my money…

Let’s do a brief assessment: Love of God? Check. Grace of God? Check. Freedom? Check. Fundamentalist Evangelicalism hates it? Check. The author has such freedom in the love of Christ he’s not even bothering to fight his critics? Check. Yep, it’s gotta be good.

It’s always easy to identify quality. It’s got a clear message of the heart of God — and the, “Dogmatists,” are tearing it apart. They are not tearing it apart because of the message of grace, love and freedom though — that message they claim to espouse (though their hearts are so far from it.) No, they are tearing it apart because, as a novel, it doesn’t rigidly chant a chapter and verse based perfect literal orthodoxy in telling that story and getting its point across.

The same critics that have ignored the thousands of theological inconsistencies in the allegorical work of, oh, I donno, say C.S. LEWIS!!!!!!{SIGH} Clearly they hate the message — but lack the guts to say so…

Hujonwi’s Place

Heavenly Father, we come before you to ask your forgiveness. We seek your direction and your guidance. We know your word says, “Woe to those who call evil good.” But that’s what we’ve done.

We’ve lost our spiritual equilibrium. We have inverted our values. We have ridiculed the absolute truth of your word in the name of moral pluralism. We have worshiped other gods and called it multiculturalism.

We have endorsed perversion and called it an alternative lifestyle.

We’ve exploited the poor and called it a lottery. We’ve neglected the needy and called it self-preservation. We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare. In the name of choice, we have killed our unborn. In the name of right to life, we have killed abortionists.

We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self-esteem. We have abused power and called it political savvy. We have coveted our neighbor’s possessions and called it taxes. We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression. We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment.

Search us, oh, God, and know our hearts today. Try us. Show us any wickedness within us. Cleanse us from every sin and set us free. Guide and bless these men and women who have been sent here by the people of the State of Kansas, and that they have been ordained by you to govern this great state.

Grant them your wisdom to rule. May their decisions direct us to the center of your will. And, as we continue our prayer and as we come in out of the fog, give us clear minds to accomplish our goals as we begin this Legislature. For we pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.

Ok, I just had this once again forwarded to me. It’s time for a response:

You could put it this way:

Heavenly Father, we come before you today to seek your direction and guidance. We know Your Word says that if we, in your name, rebuild what Christ destroyed, then we make Christ into, “A minister of sin,” but that is exactly what we have done.

We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values such that the things that matter the least now seem to matter the most.

We have stood in our systems of ethics and called it holiness.

We have stood in our systems of judgment and called it wisdom.

We have stood in our systems of control, and called them propriety.

We have ignored our call to teach others to hear Your voice so we could instead exploit them, and then called it respect for Divinely appointed authority.

We have created a Body of Christ that lives in dread of You, and called it the fear of the Lord.

We have created a system of public humiliation and rejection unto conformity instead of the love based transformation God really intended, and called it purity in the Church.

Then we have taken the illusion of real results from that broken system and used it to moralize against and sideline the leaders You put in power for not being like us, rather then loving them as You command.

Forget searching our hearts God — we already know we are Pharisaical and WE LIKE IT THAT WAY!

Yep, let’s hail this guy and send his prayer all over the internet. All he did is spew out the same little talking points the Evangelical right has been pounding for the last 50yrs — and forever alienate him from those who he should have been befriending and loving in such deep ways that their hearts changed. All this when he CLEARLY already had an open door there. Bravo!!!

Note: The effectiveness his, “Prayer,” was immediately apparent — a significant number of Legislators walked out in protest during it.

globeandmail.com

His own research has concluded there are five foundations, or systems, that people use to construct their morality.

These foundations can be compared to five colours on a palette. Liberals tend to rely only on two, while conservatives tend to use all five.

The first two, favored by liberals are:

Harm: whether someone is harmed or harm is reduced.

Reciprocity: whether something is fair and treats people fairly and justly.

The rest, which only conservatives give weight to, include:

In-group: whether something betrays the group.

Hierarchy: whether something is respectful of authority and superiors.

Purity: whether or not something is disgusting.

In a sense, liberals are color blind to conservative concerns because they tend to paint problems in terms of only the first two daubs on the palette: whether things decrease harm and increase justice, fairness or autonomy.

Conversely, because conservatives evaluate issues in all five colors, they tend to put less emphasis on the first two.

“It’s as though there are five wavelengths and liberals only perceive two of them,” says Prof. Haidt, who is writing a book on morality called The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion.

The above article will seem strangely off base for the first part of this post — but bear with me:

The conversation always sounds something like this:

Comment: More and more people are leaving our church. The numbers are remaining stable as inflow is roughly matching outflow but so few people last here. It seems we have become a place for new believers to come to Christ and then leave for other churches — or long term believers who have had it with the bricks and mortar church to stop over as they leave for the, “Emerging church.” All of them report the same problem: They are sick of the legalism, moralizing, shame based control and judgment, they believe there is nothing remaining here for them and are leaving to find a deep and personal spirituality and a relationship with Jesus. Why can’t we do something about this?

Response: Well, you know, here at First ‘Whatever’ Church we are definitely a community of grace but we have always had trouble with our small groups. It seems we just have not found the right small group pastor who can really connect with the needs of the people here but, when we do, you are going to see our church just explode as people stay here and make it their church home.

Say WHAT?!?!?!?!?

If I’ve heard it once, I’ve heard it a thousand times. It’s like the conversation is being carried on in two different languages — yet everyone imagines that they hear clearly. It’s not like the above absurdist conversation is even news to anyone outside of the ivory towers of die-hard-fundamentalism, but it doesn’t seem to be changing either. Why?

A quick perusal of Emerging/Emergent church blogs suggests one possibility — perhaps the hearts of the bricks and mortar church leadership are simply so blinded by evil they can’t see the damage being done? It’s more then possible that applies to a few — but I doubt it covers the majority. I know too many full tilt lovers of Jesus who also can’t seem to think outside of the above box.

Others have simply suggested that it’s just a changing of the guard and we should fan the flames of it happening — let the institutional Church die. Again, at some level that could have truth in it. Clearly some denominational structures desperately need to die for there is just nothing left of Jesus in them — but that’s hardly the majority either. As ugly as it often is, the institutional Church is NEEDED to continue the conveyance of foundational ideas forward to the next generation.

However, possibly for the first time in history, we are dealing with an astounding monoculture of institutional church spanning nearly all denominations (Yes, including Roman Catholic and the Protestant Cults) that many see as so far off that they doubt it can convey much of anything useful to the next generation. The result has been the largest transnational exodus from the church ever recorded (other then the historical country limited example of France — Thank-you Jesuits) when one factors in both percentage and speed of departure. If it is going to communicate, then it seriously needs a revamping… Problem is, Bricks and Mortar/Institutional Church is widely regarded as disinterested in even listening anymore…

The article above suggests a different possibility: Perhaps it’s a language barrier. Perhaps the distinction that the above author is applying to liberal/conservative lines also applies to Bricks and Mortar/Institutional Church divisions from the Emerging/Emergent Church. If so, perhaps there is a road map for some sort of conversation there — if that’s the only problem…

Much of the Emerging/Emergent Church is profoundly pragmatic in nature. They are concerned with issues of social justice, incensed about the abuse of the poor and the violation of the rights of those who can not defend themselves. They care little or not at all about authority, superiors or whether or not anyone feels that their little fiefdom is offended. They are remarkably similar to the liberal designation — though it is without a doubt that the Emerging/Emergent Church is really quite orthodox in theological position and probably a fair bit more educated in such.

The Bricks and Mortar/Institutional Church is profoundly concerned with group order, authority, the issue of sin/offense and it gives only some acknowledgment of social justice or the pain of those who endure such. While, like the Conservative designated above, they do acknowledge all five points, they differ in how little the social issues seem to be on the agenda except in so called mainline churches (i.e., United Church) that really do not fit the definition of orthodox at all.

It’s not an exact parallel but the resemblances are striking. The trick is going to be somehow managing to make the translation:

Can the damage of shame based control and the abuse of religious power be framed in terms of respect of authority?

Can a judgment and fear based Gospel ever be painted in terms that would actually be understood by the Bricks and Mortar/Institutional Church as disgusting?

Can the neglect of the (oh so sinful) broken and wounded ever be framed as the betrayal of the in-group?

The above three points don’t seem impossible — but they would require a remarkable increase in Scriptural knowledge, a reclamation of ability to personally hear the voice of God, some profound transitions in theology by the Bricks and Mortar/Institutional Church and a global information effort by the Emerging/Emergent Church to drown out modern reconstitutions of the Moral Majority.

In the fourth point lies the problem: While the theology is being tackled (to only name one of many) by Bob George, the increase in knowledge is being addressed by Brennan Manning and the ability to hear the voice of God is being tackled by Rev. Brad Jersak, the Emerging/Emergent Church simply isn’t organized. The phenomenon is happening — but no one speaks for it, is leading it or seems to even care about taking the job. In part, the decentralized nature of it is both WHY it’s happening — and why it’s silent.

Apparently, that’s the job of the internet for it seems to be the only place where the Emerging/Emergent Church even seems to bother speaking… But, is the Bricks and Mortar/Institutional Church even represented there? Is there a large enough population in the Bricks and Mortar church that can even understand a blog-roll generated Google page-ranking as an equivalency to a peer review or the comment section as a credible form of intellectual debate? Is that why it appears that no one is listening?

Is THAT cultural divide practically insurmountable?

Typology of Clergy Who Engage in Sexual Misconduct

• PSYCHOTIC & SEVERE BORDERLINES
  Impulsivity due to poor controls; sexual contact due to bizarre belief systems or theories; poor social judgment concerning actions and words; may have variety of sexual targets. Some related cases are:
  • MANIC STATE (especially when previously diagnosed; stopped taking medications)
  • ACUTE PSYCHOSIS SECONDARY TO DRUG REACTION (e.g. steroids)
  • ORGANIC/NEUROLOGICAL PROBLEM (e.g. tumor)
    
• SOCIOPATHS & SEVERE NARCISSISTIC CHARACTER DISORDERS
  Self-centered, gratification-oriented; sexual acting out varies considerably; good at manipulating & getting out of trouble; no concern for harm to others
  
• IMPULSE CONTROL DISORDERS
  Longstanding, ingrained impulsiveness, with or without substance abuse or addictions; sexual issues may be primary or secondary
  • SEXUAL IMPULSE CONTROL DISORDER
    Full range of diagnostic categories including pedophilia; sexual or aggressive needs being met by actions
  • GENERAL IMPULSE CONTROL DISORDER
    When sex is not the major area of acting out, but one area of abuse (e.g. Character Disorder)
    
• SEVERELY NEUROTIC AND/OR SOCIALLY ISOLATED
  Typically overly involved with clients & parishioners emotionally; sexual contact develops secondary to emotional involvement; however, this can become a repetitive pattern
  
• MILDLY NEUROTIC & SITUATIONAL BREAKDOWN IN OTHERWISE HEALTHY PERSON
  Having ruled out more serious pathologies and deficits, in these situations with a single victim and remorseful offender, the situational factors and timing appear to have played a major role — Rev. Marie Fortune calls these people "wanderers"
  
• UNINFORMED/NAIVE
  Having ruled out pathology and deficits, a lack of training and good organizational structure and supports appear to be the basis for boundaries crossings which set the stage for the involvement; this must be a non-predator, and the explanations cannot be rationalizations, excuses, or justifications; there should be remorse; sometimes person has a distorted view of the professional helping relationship or pastoral role and does not distinguish it from friendship

This is an exceptionally well thought out list of the underlying mental and emotional issues present in those who abuse. While targeted at ministers engaged in sexual misconduct (Admittedly an overwhelmingly large and growing subset) it would be a waste to limit it to this specific behavior or specific group.

The problem of abuse is present wherever there is the presence of power. Wherever a person is granted tacit authority over a person’s life (By virtue of age, God, science or whatever), there exists the possibility of abuse. When the person/position granted that power tends to operate without any meaningful societal constraints on his or her behavior, then that position or role will tend to attract those who desire to operate in darkness. It will attract the above personality types.

The functioning of the early Church demanded accountability. The difference is, they demanded it on a far deeper level:

Gal. 2:11 ¶ But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned.
Gal. 2:12 For prior to the coming of certain men from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he began to withdraw and hold himself aloof, fearing the party of the circumcision.
Gal. 2:13 And the rest of the Jews joined him in hypocrisy, with the result that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy.
Gal. 2:14 But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in the presence of all, “If you, being a Jew, live like the Gentiles and not like the Jews, how is it that you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?
Gal. 2:15 “We are Jews by nature, and not sinners from among the Gentiles;
Gal. 2:16 nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we may be justified by faith in Christ, and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law shall no flesh be justified.
Gal. 2:17 “But if, while seeking to be justified in Christ, we ourselves have also been found sinners, is Christ then a minister of sin? May it never be!
Gal. 2:18 “For if I rebuild what I have once destroyed, I prove myself to be a transgressor.
Gal. 2:19 “For through the Law I died to the Law, that I might live to God.
Gal. 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me.
Gal. 2:21 “I do not nullify the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly.”
Gal. 3:1 ¶ You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified?
Gal. 3:2 This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?
Gal. 3:3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Gal. 3:4 Did you suffer so many things in vain — if indeed it was in vain?

They didn’t demand accountability at the level of naughty behaviors — they demanded it at the level of surrender to the intimate Grace and Freedom of the Gospel. They demanded that at least her leaders if not also her members stand in a relationship of profound intimacy with God and in isolation from a set of rules that would put them back under the system of judgment that previously condemned them.

While, on the surface, this demand would appear to actually create the exact behaviors that were problematic through giving license, it doesn’t. When a person is captivated by an intimate life of, To quote E. Peterson’s Message translation, a life of, “What’s next Papa,” (Romans Chapter Eight) their life, by very definition, can not be dominated by shame and fear. Shame and fear are the core of most of the non-chemical personality issues and the deepest core of the last two (The ones they don’t seem to be able to figure out).

The irony is, most of our social groupings (Evangelical and otherwise) today have it precisely backwards: We tend to look at the crimes of lust and gossip in a person’s life and condemn them (Or at least call them to account) for such. We then look at the ways they are attempting to control others, inflicting the same shame and fear that drives their own hearts on them and/or demonstrating the personal conformity to the rule of law Paul took Peter to task over and we regard it as a little slip up in an otherwise righteous life. We define it as righteous because it does not exhibit the lust (or whatever) crime we feel is so bad.

Then we wonder why the world wide Church will probably pay out well over a Billion (Yes, you read me correctly) dollars by the end of this decade in compensation for sexual abuse alone, we wring our hands and we lament over why it was never stopped. The answer is simple — we forgot about what really matters.

But, that’s hardly the real tragedy — the real one is that spiritual abuse and other missuses of power often leave much larger bullet holes in a person’s heart then a clearly definable violation like sexual abuse. And, they are so much more common.

John Fischer – Chapter 33

Fear of Dancing

The Spirit of God dances. He can’t be tamed. He won’t be contained. He refuses to be confined to a weekend retreat, an evening meeting, or even a moment of devotion. He doesn’t follow schedules, programs, or agendas, and He doesn’t wait for His name to be called.

The Spirit of God dances. He dances right under the noses of those who don’t believe in dancing; and He dances right on by those who do. He dances through the assemblies of the keepers of the dance, and right on out the door — and no one sees Him go.

And as the dancers continue the empty steps of their pantomime, the Spirit of God dances on out into the streets. He dances by the harlots in the red-light districts, by the victims of AIDS in lonely homes, by bag ladies in the inner cities, and by struggling farm families across the plains. He finds the orphans and widows and dances through the lonely pain of their lives. He dances through the camps of hungry children, through the crowded streets of the oppressed, and past the wire where the South African woman is hanging out ragged laundry as well as by the scrubbed white faces sitting in church in the nearby city.

Sometimes the dance turns to mourning, but always there’s the dance. Happy dance or sad dance….the Spirit of God always dances.

His favorite dancing places are those where the keepers of the dance don’t want Him to go: on MTV, on drive-in movie screens, or on smoky stages with microphones that smell of whiskey. The Spirit of God loves sinners and dances best where life spills out on the floor.

Occasionally He dances on the clean, sweet-smelling stages of the keepers of the dance — but not as often as He would like. He dances there when the keepers need Him: when there is pain, whenever life spills out on the floor. But usually the floor is clean and the dance is simulated, carefully choreographed by the keepers of the dance to use only those steps with which they feel secure.

The Spirit of God refuses to be choreographed. His dance is raw, new, and jerky. It’s not always pleasing to the eye, but His dance is fresh in the lives of human beings whose floors have not been cleaned up. It isn’t well-rehearsed, polished, or perfect; it slips and slides, sometimes innovative and shocking and at other times just exhilarant, but it’s always real.

Most people, even those who pride themselves in their dancing, are afraid of this spontaneous dance. They’re afraid of anything they can’t control; and His dance is wild, unmanageable, even mad. But most important, it’s vulnerable, open to criticism — the quality they fear most. So they must create their own dance of predictable steps and prescribed routines and send all their people through dance school — or outlaw dance altogether.

But this should come as no surprise. It has always been this way. The Lord of the Dance himself was here once, and it was the same way then. He danced on the keepers’ holy days and broke their holy laws. His timing — if not His whole dance — always seemed offbeat. He turned the tables on their dance in the Temple as He led a solemn dance of respect through their lighthearted nonchalance. He rode along Palm Drive atop a donkey at the head of the greatest hosanna dance ever.

He wanted to turn their empty religious movements into heartfelt, joyous dancing. He wanted them to exchange the grip of the Law for the freedom of the dance. But they thought He was a clumsy dancer, always bumping into their traditions and stepping on their pious toes. He even danced with the wrong crowd, in smoke-filled rooms and on messy floors.

Once He described His generation and declared, “We played the flute for you, but you would not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn. For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Here is a glutton and drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ ”

No, nothing’s really changed . . . but the Spirit of God dances on.

This has to be one of my favorite quotes of all time — especially these two lines:

He dances through the assemblies of the keepers of the dance, and right on out the door — and no one sees Him go. And as the dancers continue the empty steps of their pantomime, the Spirit of God dances on out into the streets.

He wanted to turn their empty religious movements into heartfelt, joyous dancing. He wanted them to exchange the grip of the Law for the freedom of the dance. But they thought He was a clumsy dancer, always bumping into their traditions and stepping on their pious toes. He even danced with the wrong crowd, in smoke-filled rooms and on messy floors.

The Messenger (EMC)

Direct link: (Please see page #3)

The Messenger Mag

Not what we wear?

If a person were invited to Buckingham Palace to see the queen, would they wear blue jeans? I wonder if they’d even let them in. Even the non-believer dresses up for a social event, but us, we come as we are. God judges what’s in the heart, not what’s in the mind or on the body [letters, May 1]. True, but I put on my very best on Sunday morning because I am going to the House of God to worship the King. I wonder sometimes how the outside world sees us Christians as we do church. We have swung away from legalism so far that now we are “hanging loose” as we would have said it in my day, but now I think the word is “cool.” Cool, is that what we are!

Fine, guys, grow your hair, but please wash and comb them. Simon on American Idol told Carly Smithson to dress like a performer. The secular world is telling each other, while millions of people are watching, that it’s not cool to let it all hang out. Maybe our pastors (men of God) should tell us how we should dress when we come to worship the King of Kings, Lord of Lords, but then again I have also seen them deliver a message wearing their work clothes (jeans). In my time no one other than authorized persons were allowed behind the pulpit, which was a sacred place.

Maybe they carried it too far at that time, true, but now it has become a gymnasium where toddlers chase each other around after the service while mothers watch and hope they won’t hurt themselves. Maybe if we sat while we sang and stood during the sermon we might get the message. Okay, I am sorry; maybe that is a bit hard. But let’s at least keep the volume button at the same level during the sermon as it was during the band.

By the way, I just cannot visualize Jesus in blue jeans. Sorry.

Walter Hamm
Riverton, Man.”

Dear Walter,

I’m so glad you care about fashion in church. I cared about fashion too. More specifically, I was really concerned with those who’s outer fashions were like a cup washed only on the outside but who’s hearts were set on image and filled with judgment and self-righteousness.

Most of the fashions I liked the best I found outside of the Temple:

I found them on the woman caught in adultery when she was thrown at my feet almost naked. I’ve never seen a woman more beautifully clothed in a heart that truly was mine.

I found them on the prostitute I met at the well who had to come out there at high noon to avoid the scorn of religious people. Her heart fashions were so beautiful she brought half of the town to me.

I found them on the alcoholics I knew — in fact, I liked them so much I hung out with them. The religious leaders soon took to calling Me a drunkard because of the company I kept.

I’m in full agreement with you Walter — I too hate the fashions I find all across Evangelical Christianity today. They are fashions of legalism and control. Fashions of the abuse of power and the suppression of human hearts in My name. They are the fashions of people who no longer believe that I can actually change the human heart all by Myself and have, like the Pharisees, taken it upon themselves to do My job.

In fact, I hate their fashions so much, I’ve already left the building and it’s unlikely I’ll be coming back.

Walter, could you do me a favor? Please tell the last one out the door to make sure the lights are turned out.

Love
Jesus

P.S. I haven’t left the city though. Right now, I’m hanging out with a pot-head and a sex addict down at the skate park if you’d like to drop by. You may have trouble recognizing me though — I’m getting to like wearing baggy pants…

Houston Community Newspapers

Riggle last week disclosed a plan to erect 150-foot crosses at the south and north entrances to the city. The crosses would be on the Grace South Campus and the North Campus properties.

Riggle doesn’t mince words when he says that the country is headed in the wrong direction politically and spiritually. The only way out, he adds, is what he believes the Founding Fathers always intended the United States to be – a Christian nation. He says the project is a start in the right direction.

Multiple choice pop quiz for the Evangelical Right:

Q: What do you think would do more to show your city the love of Christ and bring people to Jesus?

(1). Take several million dollars and feed the poor, house the homeless, heal the sick, counsel the abused and mend the broken — you know, kinda like Jesus did.

(2). Take several million dollars and build two cross shaped prayer towers so high they require FAA approval such that America can climb up them to pray that God would stop the moral decline of a greedy and vain country.

Answer key: If you picked #1, you obviously haven’t lived here for the last twenty years…

St. Petersburg Times

Calling it a way to “open the door for dialogue” between the resort and its homeowners, Anne Hathorn, of the Clearwater firm of Becker & Poliakoff, said the resort must cut off ties with Web sites that promote the swinger lifestyle, tighten control on the use of Caliente’s name in event advertisements and where the ads are distributed, and get Caliente reinstated in the American Association for Nude Recreation.

Caliente Resort said it plans to keep on marketing to those it calls “nontraditional nudists.”

Caliente was embroiled in controversy last month when the association temporarily suspended its membership and opened an investigation into sexually charged monthly parties at Caliente organized by Aahz Party Lifestyle Group, a “lifestyle,” or swingers, group with Caliente’s blessing.

The association promotes family-friendly nudism. Its investigation puts at stake Caliente’s access to marketing assistance and membership subsidies for tourists, among other advantages.

Here’s one for the category of ironic parallelism…

They come there looking for freedom, a chance to throw off the oppressive constraints of society and run free in their (largely) wrinkled, middle-aged birthday suits — “just as God intended it.”

Then they create a complicated series of rules and regulations for what constitutes appropriate freedom, a homeowners association to back it and retain a lawyer to enforce their definitions of freedom… It seems oppression follows wherever rule-keeper type people are…

Sounds a lot like Evangelical Christianity doesn’t it??? We too set out to create a place supposedly based based on grace with its calling of freeing people from the bondage to law and judgment that has trapped them in that which formerly was (A system of law, sin and death) and unable to breath free.

Then we create a place sanctioned by Revenue Canada, governed by a federally approved charter, led by a talking head (we misname a pastor), controlled by an elected board issuing edicts (which we misname the elders) and managed by staff people (often misnamed the deacons) hired under their agreement to uphold a code of conduct and do what that board tells them to do. We preach a gospel of performance and moralizing and flood people with good-works systems and, “Opportunities,” to perform such in to prove that they really belong — and guilt them into doing such.

And, then we wonder why it becomes a place of fear, shame and the bondage of a tiny minority’s control with people living in the exact opposite of what Jesus came to bring.

And, worst of all, we do so because we can’t believe that Jesus/the Gospel has any real power. We can’t believe that setting people free will unleash love and community — not selfishness. We can’t believe that preaching real grace (Not the performance based version) will draw people to heal — not to wreak the lives of others. We can’t believe that creating a church where the broken messes of our lives are spilling out all over the place (where everyone is ok with those messes being there) and relying on God to heal them (Rather then using judgment based performance to fix it) could actually create a church where it is safe to be — not a haven for abusers. We can’t even fathom that the absence of structure could actually inspire creativity — not anarchy.

We can’t — because, if we’re honest with ourselves, we don’t really believe that Jesus is real or that He can heal. So, we’ve created our own systems. Surprise surprise, they suck.

fakerepublic.typepad.com

welcome to christianville!

in this execrable, alien space, the ancient practice of spending time in quiet reflection, study, meditation and prayer becomes the anathema that is the ‘quiet-time™’. the heart-felt prayer of the penitent sinner is patented as ‘the sinner’s prayer™’, the replete glories of the gospel are squeezed, pruned, abridged and tamed into ‘the four spiritual laws™’, ‘four things god wants you to know™’ and ‘the romans road™’. do you see the difference? freedom is prescribed, delineated, dissected, formulated and packaged and in the process is twisted and warped into law, regulation, death. when a partial truth is sold as the whole truth, it becomes an insidious lie!

Though he seems to have an abhorrence for capitalization, he’s brilliant!!!

Rolling Stone

When most Americans think of the Christian right, they think of scenes from television — great halls full of perfectly groomed people in pale suits and light-colored dresses, smiling and happy and full of the Holy Spirit, robotically singing hymns at the behest of some squeaky-clean pastor with a baritone voice and impossible hair. We don’t get to see the utterly batshit world they live in, when the cameras are turned off and their pastors are not afraid of saying the really dumb stuff, for fear of it turning up on CNN. In American evangelical Christianity, in other words, there’s a ready-for-prime-time stage act — toned down and lip-synced to match a set of PG lyrics that won’t scare the advertisers — and then there’s the real party backstage, where the spiritual hair really gets let down. I was about to go backstage, to personally take part in the indoctrination process for a major Southern evangelical church… I badly wanted to be invisible.

In these Southern churches there are few wizened old sages such as one might find among Catholic bishops or Russian startsi. Here your church leader is an athlete, a business dynamo, a champion eater with a bull’s belly, outwardly a tireless heterosexual — and if you want to know what a church beginner is supposed to look like, just make it the opposite of that. Show weakness, financial trouble, frustration with the opposite sex, and if you’re overweight, be so unhealthily, and in a way that you’re ashamed of. The fundamentalist formula is much less a journey from folly to wisdom than it is from weakness to strength. They don’t want a near-complete personality that needs fine-tuning — they want a human jellyfish, raw clay they can transform into a vigorous instrument of God.

It will make you laugh, it will sicken you, and, most of all, it will definitely annoy you — because it’s the truth.

Contrary to popular belief, you will find no evil in Harry Potter. Real evil is found here, clothed in the garb of religion, masked with the illusion of holiness and preaching a Jesus who died to be your rabbit’s foot and wants you to do what your reverend tells you to do. It revels in power and it delights in the weakness and ignorance of others that allows it to reduce children of the Most High King to idiocy.

Oh ya — it would like your donations too…

CNN.com

In the Texas raid, 416 children were removed from the ranch and placed in state custody. They are in temporary shelters and face a series of court hearings beginning April 17.

Investigators said Thursday they have left the YFZ ranch. The investigation, which also involves the FBI, is continuing.

In Hildale and Colorado City, people are reluctant to speak with outsiders, much less go on the record. Their responses ranged from indignation to resigned vows to leave matters up to the Lord.

“It’s very unjustified. It’s — it’s religious persecution,” said a woman who would not give her name.

A man who identified himself only as Nephi said he will remain prayerful and dedicated to his church.

“I think I am going to be at peace about it. It’s in the Lord’s hands. And we will leave it at that,” he said.

Marlene Hammon, a plural wife, was a small child when the Short Creek raid took place. She remembers being very frightened by the threat of being separated from her five mothers and 38 siblings.

Fawneta Carroll was 7 when she was separated from her family in the 1953 raid. She returned to polygamy and believes one of her 24 sisters was in the Texas compound with her children.

“If there is abuse, that should be investigated and taken care of,” she said. “But I do not see how you can use that to justify taking 416 children out of their homes and away from their families.”

Priscilla Hammon was born just after the raid and also lives in a polygamous marriage. She says she has many children and grandchildren, and that the threat of being separated by outsiders is always there. advertisement

The children are scared, she says.

“How can I possibly promise my children nothing will happen to them, when I see something like this taking place?”

Another day, another hour of CNN blasting out yet more sordid details of child molestation in the name of God. Endless fascination with the religion (and the strange and obviously abusive practices of it) and the quest to get closer and finally onto the compound to see the faithful.

Isn’t it interesting how politically correct the whole thing is? Where exactly are real ministers who know enough philosophy to stand up and call this whole thing what it is? Not once have I ever heard anyone grow the balls large enough to actually question the religion itself.

It’s really simple actually:

“Did God create man in the image of Himself? If so, then doesn’t it make sense that any person who, in the name of God, espouses treating people in a way that harms that image has to be preaching a false gospel as no sane creator harms what He has made?”

If the above is true, how about we look at the wreaked lives of these people, toss this out as a nonviable religion and just start just calling it an act of criminal mind control??? (It’s deserving of about as much special recognition/protection under law as one drunk beating up another by hitting him with a Bible.)

Oh yes, perhaps then we can also apply this to Fundamentalist Evangelical Christianity… Ah, I get it — ok, never mind… It’s our God ordained right to treat people like that…

On second thought, WE MUST STAND FIRM FOR FLDS RELIGIOUS FREEDOM. Our fundamental RIGHTS and FREEDOMS are at stake… [SIGH]

NPR

If you’re willing to risk your freedom for a few dollars, then I guess you must really need the money. I mean, all I wanted to do was get dinner and if you really want to join me … hey, you’re more than welcome.

“You know, I just felt maybe he really needs help,” Diaz says.

Isn’t it interesting how people are surprised by the response of this kid to a little kindness. It’s like the idea is original to him or something…

Ok, I’ve finally been asked about this one time too many. Ignoring grace and freedom for a moment and joining the legalists at their own game, allow me to declare a little jihad…

It’s time to post:

What follows is a brief word study demonstrating what I have said for years: Pastors or other church leaders lumping two teens making out in the backseat of a car in with the word fornication is an improper use of the text, it displays terrible hermetical skills, it represents more of the same attempts to twist Scripture to fit our world views and is basically irresponsible.

(I know it’s unclear but it will just have to do as a position statement…)

First, a simple cut and paste from the Greek Strongs:

1608. e˙kporneu/w ekporneuo; from 1537 and 4203; mid. to give oneself up to fornication: —indulged in gross immorality(1).

4202. pornei÷a porneia, por-ni´-ah; from 4203; harlotry (including adultery and incest); figuratively, idolatry:—fornication.

4203. porneu/w porneuo, porn-yoo´-o; from 4204; to act the harlot, i.e. (literally) indulge unlawful lust (of either sex), or (figuratively) practise idolatry:—commit (fornication).

To combine the three terms in question: It describes a behavior that is not simply immoral — it is grossly immoral and abnormal. It is about sex with children or family members, adultery, prostitution (Or sex which is criminal in nature) and it is almost always referenced in the context of idol worship — a fact we repeatedly blow past as a figurative reference. IT’S NOT!!! It’s about deviant sexual behaviors.

The three verses where such is directly referenced in any more then passing comment are as follows:

Acts 15:20 but that we write to them that they abstain from things contaminated by idols and from fornication and from what is strangled and from blood.

Acts 15:29 that you abstain from things sacrificed to idols and from blood and from things strangled and from fornication; if you keep yourselves free from such things, you will do well. Farewell.”

Acts 21:25 “But concerning the Gentiles who have believed, we wrote, having decided that they should abstain from meat sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what is strangled and from fornication.”

We have this picture of their worship as being a bunch of savages dancing around an idol — nothing could be further from the truth. There were two gods in question:

Baal:

Among the false gods to which Israel was vulnerable, Baal (Otherwise known as Mollech) posed the greatest threat. This deity was the supreme fertility god of Canaanite worship. He was celebrated as the lord of death and destruction. Sacrifices to Baal were thought to increase one’s own abundance. Baal was a god associated with the sun, power and violence. Altars to Baal were erected in high places in order to allow a full view of the sun’s rising and setting.

His temple was staffed by prostitutes and involved both heterosexual and lesbian acts as well as the sacrifice of children — usually after raping and torturing them. Bestiality was also involved. Children in question were usually the illegitimate infant offspring of the priestess…

When the early worship centers were excavated in the 60’s, the people involved refused to publish what they found as no one would have believed them that these things were possible.

Ashteroth-wife of Baal:

“The queen of heaven” in Canaanite worship (Or Diana or Isis) (Jer. 7:18) was the feminine counterpart of Baal and the god of life and sensuality; her priests were eunuchs dressed in women’s attire (I Kings 14:24). Worship involved the most gross forms of heterosexual and homosexual sexual behaviors.

Worship emphasized ecstatic, sensual feelings and digressed to orgies and the eventual worship of the penis (phallic symbols marked their worship in the same way that the Cross marks Christian worship).

The penis symbolized Baal in the same way that Ashteroth was the idol of idealized, erotic femininity. Both male and female expressions of sexuality were exaggerated and inflamed by the worship of Baal and Ashteroth.

The writers of the New Testament were very well aware of the behaviors practiced in the worship of these gods as well as the feasts where animals were first tortured to death via strangulation. For them to continually lump this word in with said worship would have come part and parcel with their total abhorrence of the actions in question.

The definition of the word as well as the repeated use in this context makes it hermeneutically irresponsible to try and adapt it to define two teens in the back seat of dad’s car.

Doing so is roughly the equivalent of describing a thirteen year old girl who just had an early term abortion and discovered she would have had twins as a, “Bloodthirsty, homicidal serial killer of children.”

Ok, so, can even the legalists stop beating up on their hormone-stoned children now and find a better way??? (It’s not like your judgment ever stopped their roaming hands anyway…) Just maybe, a weird concept like having a relationship with them could help???

Welcome to People to People Ministries

An attitude that is prevalent among Christians today is: “God’s grace gives us the ability to live up to His law.” We recognize that we are saved by grace and would even call someone a heretic who said otherwise. But when it comes to living the Christian life, many think it is done through obedience to the law. What we are doing is commingling law and grace.

You see, God did not intend for us to try to live up to the standards of the law. He knew that it was an impossibility for us. Because we can’t, the law continues to condemn us by showing us our sinfulness. That is what Paul meant when he said in Galatians 2:18, “If I rebuild what I destroyed, I prove that I am a lawbreaker.” The law condemns us before salvation. And if we try to live up to it as a Christian, it continues to condemn us. That is the law’s purpose.

This was sent to me earlier today. I haven’t read the whole site but what I have read is refreshing. Bob George seems to be a rather remarkable exception to the legalism driven reconstituted-Judaism that passes as Christianity in about 95% of Evangelical churches in North America. (And I’m being charitable at 95%)

He’s clear, blunt, loud, unswerving and he appears to be taking it onto the airwaves — where he’s not flinching as he publicly renders Christians permanently uncontrollable to the pulpits of their former slave drivers.

Now, if we could only find about 5000 more of him in all different nationalities to drown out the noise of Rick Warren, Ted Haggard, Chuck Colson, Steve Arterburn, Doug Weiss and their ilk (And perhaps raise up a lynch mob or two as well…), the conversion of the entire world would be nearly a forgone conclusion. The Gospel is just too good to resist — that kind of love is irresistible…

But, that would require untold thousands of ministers to somehow manage to get over the grief of loosing control of their congregations to Jesus…

Cracked.com

All I need from you is agreement that it’s entirely possible for either an atheist or theist world to devolve into a screaming murder festival. The religious leader sends his people into battle because he thinks God commanded it, the Stalins and Maos of the world do the same because they see their people as nothing more than meaty fuel to be ground up to feed the machinery of The State. In both cases, the people are equally dead.

A brilliant and rather well written (Though somewhat offensive) shot at fundamentalists — of both the Evangelical and Atheistic varieties.

Q&A: Lording it over your faith:

“Does he want you to know that you can hear from God for yourself, and that no one else can hear from Him better than you … or does he tell you that God speaks to him on your behalf?  Does he create a tension between dependence upon God vs. dependence upon himself?
 
You know what I think?  I think you ask me because you already know, but are afraid you might be hearing it wrong.  That’s what I think.    Connie, you have the life of Christ within you.  I wrote what I did as a witness to what you already know, but may not have been able to put words to.  You hear from God very well and I hope to encourage you to trust what He speaks to your heart!!
 
Please feel free to write back soon, for I hope to hear from you, and to know that your confidence in HIS working within you is strengthened.”

This is a very encouraging brief article on the definition of spiritual abuse/hurt and it’s root origin. When people grow up feeling unimportant through lack of attention, affection, validation they may set themselves up as those who preach themselves. This is in contrast to Christ/His Finished Work. When others demand, it often can be because they are hiding the fact they should not be trusted. I pray all we touch know that their confidence in God’s working in them is strengthened.

fakerepublic.typepad.com

1,500 pastors leave the ministry permanently each month in america.
4,000 new churches start each year in america.
7,000 churches close each year in america.
50% of pastors’ marriages end in divorce.
70% of pastors continually battle depression.
80% of pastors and 85% of their spouses feel discouraged in their roles.
95% of pastors do not regularly pray with their spouses.
70% of pastors do not have a close friend, confidant, or mentor.
50% of pastors are so discouraged they would leave the ministry if they could, but have no other way to make a living. 80% of pastors spend under 15 minutes a day in prayer.
70% of pastors only study god’s word when preparing a message.
40% of pastors have had an extra-marital sexual affair since entering ministry.
80% of seminary graduates who enter ministry will leave the ministry within the first five years.
80% of pastors’ wives feel their husbands are overworked.
80% of the adult children of pastors sought professional help for depression.
90% of pastors said their training was inadequate for ministry.
85% of pastors report that their biggest problem is dealing with abstinent elders, deacons, worship leaders, worship teams, board members, and associate pastors.
90% of pastors said the hardest thing about ministry is uncooperative people.
70% of pastors are grossly underpaid.
80% of pastors’ wives feel unappreciated by the congregation.
90% of pastors said ministry was completely different from what they thought it would be.
70% of pastors felt called of god into ministry when they began.
50% of pastors felt called of god into ministry three years later.
80% of pastors’ wives feel pressured to be someone they are not and do things they are not called to do in the church.
50% of pastors’ wives feel that their husbands entering ministry was the most destructive thing to ever happen to their families.

Stats like these are probably only the tip of the iceberg and likely to grow incredibly. Why is no mystery either. The institutional church is not losing the bench warmers or the Sr. Citizens — she is losing the people who are actually seeking the face of God and longing for intimacy with Him. Those are the ones with passion — the ones who back pastors who are trying to make a difference and who defend pastors (who are actually trying to preach grace and freedom) from their inevitable employment terminations.

Christianity is filled with groups of people futilely praying for revival. Is it any wonder that the institutional church can not be the forum for it? There’s already nothing left…

Besides, the prayer is already answered and the revival is already happening — and that +50% of the institutional church that has already left the building has left to join it in house churches…

Q&A: Legalism has caused me to lose my closeness with God.:

“When you read Paul’s letters, for example, make sure you notice how he always establishes the reality of who the believers really are. In Ephesians 5, Paul is addressing the believers as ”beloved children“ (v1), ”saints“ (v3), NOT ”sons of disobedience“ (v6&7), ”formerly darkness, but NOW you are light in the Lord“ (v8). His admonition was for the believers to live like the believers they were.”

This is an excellent article encouraging others not to feel legalism has forever stripped them of their feeling of the closeness of God. It reminds us to not put it on our children as it may lessen their natural love for the Lord.

Q&A: What about the sanctification mentioned in Hebrews 12:14?:

“t sure couldn’t be the old performance-based sanctification they were resorting to because that bogus sanctification had no power over sin. The only possible sanctification he demands is that of the once and for all done deal of Christ. Now, also notice the connection: peace with all men and this sanctification. This is INCREDIBLY significant!! Why? Because there is NO real peace we can have with one another unless it is based upon the peace established by Christ in breaking down the barriers between us. In 1 Corinthians 2:2 Paul writes: ”For I determined to know nothing among you except Christ, and him crucified“. This is the same thing referred to by the writer of Hebrews because ”pursuing“ this sanctification is the determination to see all things in view of it.”

This is an incredible article that stresses the two HEB verses 12:10 and 14! We have been made righteous and holy by Christ alone!!!

snopes.com

Bill Donohue, president of The Catholic League, has condemned The Golden Compass as a “pernicious” effort to indoctrinate children into anti-Christian beliefs and has produced a 23-page pamphlet titled The Golden Compass: Unmasked in which he maintains that Pullman “sells atheism for kids.” Donohoe told interviewer John Gibson on 9 October 2007 why he believes Christians should stay away from the film:

Isn’t fundamentalism of every stripe fun? They’re a guaranteed marketing plan for nearly everything:

Want to make a movie about the death of Christ? Just position it to make the zealot Jews mad and get free marketing.

Want to market a fantasy movie to secular society? Get the Christian fundamentalists mad and turn a show likely to do nothing at the box office into an instant hit via all of their free marketing.

Want to release the most dismal and unartistic film about sex and violence possible (One with no redeeming quality that would get it a decent review anywhere)? Just position it so it riles up the family coalition and get free marketing.

Want to release the dumbest cowboy story ever that has such a lame plot it would never get a second glance? Just make sure the cowboys are gay, bent on doing each other and the anti-gay marriage lobby will go crazy while even sane reviewers will give you a positive review. They’ll generate enough fire and smoke that the academy awards will be your oyster…

Want to be a huge star as a radio talk show host and a shock jock? Just tick-off Mr. Al Sharpton and, after a brief vacation, get re-signed to a huge salary and possibly even take in damages via the court system to boot. (Yes, I consider Rev. a term of far to high of respect to apply to him…)

Welcome to the world — it’s hardly just Islamofascism that’s sweeping the planet… Problem is, it’s not just fun — it’s a threat. Fundamentalism of every stripe is being fanned to a furious flame all over the world — and legitimizing the control of themselves and everyone else through their insane actions. Apparently, the members of such are all too stupid to figure out they are probably pawns in a much larger game.

DemocracyNow.org

The foundation of any system of freedom is the rule of law rather then the rule of the elite. The rule of law must be maintained through the voice of the people who are free to learn and think. When they are daily submerged in a swamp of inflammatory rhetoric, they neither think nor learn. In such, freedom dies and tyranny rules.

While the fundamentalist Christian elite think they are bringing a new dawn of the rule and reign of Christ on earth, they are actually destroying the freedom of religion so many fought and died for.

Simply, if they can control others to think their way, so can anyone else:

The person who uses political power to force others to conform to his ideas seems inevitably to become corrupted by the power he holds. In due course, he comes to believe that power and wisdom are one and the same, and since he has power, he must also have wisdom. At this point he begins to lose his ability to distinguish between what is morally right and what is politically expedient. [Unknown]

No one is exempt from this principle — not even the Christian Right.

Two comments that are totally profound:

Ministry and the Spiritual Life

All Jesus’ words and actions emerge from his intimate relationships with his Father. “Do you not believe,” Jesus says, “that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? What I say to you I do not speak of my own accord: it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his works. You must believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe it on the evidence of these works” (John 14:10-11).

Just as all Jesus’ words and actions emerge from his communion with his Father, so all our words and actions must emerge from our communion with Jesus. “In all truth I tell you,” he says, “whoever believes in me will perform the same works as I do myself, and will perform even greater works. … Whatever you ask for in my name I will do” (John 14:12-13). It is this profound truth that reveals the relationship between the spiritual life and the life of ministry.

Acting in the Name of Jesus

Ministry is acting in the Name of Jesus. When all our actions are in the Name, they will bear fruit for eternal life. To act in the Name of Jesus, however, doesn’t mean to act as a representative of Jesus or his spokesperson. It means to act in an intimate communion with him. The Name is like a house, a tent, a dwelling. To act in the Name of Jesus, therefore, means to act from the place where we are united with Jesus in love. To the question “Where are you?” we should be able to answer, “I am in the Name.” Then, whatever we do cannot be other than ministry because it will always be Jesus himself who acts in and through us. The final question for all who minister is “Are you in the Name of Jesus?”" When we can say yes to that, all of our lives will be ministry.

There are counselors who happen to be Christians — and then there are Christian Counselors. I pray I am in the latter category for the former is the definition of useless. Of course, that also would apply to plumbers…

Q&A: Formulating an argument against the responsibility guilt tri:

“Of course, even when believers are ”guilted“ into something our Father is able to cause this to work out for their good. This doesn’t make it ”okay“ for leaders to do such things, but actually makes it evident that such leaders are motivated and motivating by the flesh. But God is not hindered by the flesh … for His grace is only made more obvious against this lifeless backdrop!!
I have a question though: Why do you think God is in the business of convicting believers of disobedience when, in fact, He only ministers grace and life to us in Christ … because He has ALREADY made us slaves of obedience? Were you not aware of this? Somehow, we have misread the passage in John 16:7-11 so that we have assumed that this ”conviction“ is directed toward those rescued OUT of the world, instead of toward the unbelieving world itself.”

This is a fantastic article that talks about what obedience means to believers and unbelievers! I pray the churches would give the truth about the difference. Focusing on sin CANNOT TAKE SIN AWAY US, JESUS ALREADY DID FOR BELIEVERS.

charlotte.com

The Rev. Creflo Dollar disclosed the World Changers Church International’s financial information to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, but said the money he spends is his own.

Dollar said his income comes from personal investments, including businesses and real estate ventures. But the church gave him a Rolls Royce, which he mainly uses for special occasions, he said.

“Without a doubt, my life is not average,” he said. “But I’d like to say, just because it is excessive doesn’t necessarily mean it’s wrong.”

Remember the story of the day where Jesus stormed into an area the size of a city block, braided up a flog of cords and spent a good hour and a half driving out the gays and the hookers??? Oh, uhh, ya, never mind…

Maybe the federal government of the United States can braid up a flog of their own and take over for Jesus — starting with the rather aptly named Rev. Dollar?

Q&A: Chastisement in view of development, not shortcomings!:

“WE are the ones who have a problem recognizing it. Just because His dealings may SEEM to line up with injuries or trials or what-have-you, we are the ones who will try to figure out what GOD might be doing by things that may have no connection whatever!!
Some thoughts:
Do your back injuries really have to be considered as ”chastisements“ at all? Could they not just be a weakness and/or an injury? Then again, might this incident not end up being a ”gift“ as our father works all things together for your good? I think we have been trained to be very, very superstitious in our ”Christian“ upbringing.”

This is a good reminder that God sees us/others according to our reality in Christ, if we believe in Jesus/His Work for us. We are the ones who have the problem recognizing it.