Quote of the Week

Dan at Cerulean Sanctum wrote a great blog today (the link is at the end of this post). Here is a quote from it I think is worth considering,

Whenever I consider the American Church’s state, I can’t help but think that much of our problem stems, not from the weight of glory, but from the burden of worldliness. Our inability to resist the weight of the world has rendered us fat and lazy, shackled to things, and far from the heart of God.


The post is here.

Christian Yoga?

Have you ever heard of Christian Yoga? There is a lot of controversy about it because its critics maintain that even the yoga exercise is tied spiritually to occultic Eastern Religions, especially to Hinduism and Buddhism and their [Hindu's] gods.

Here is the best article I've read so far describing the position against it.

Another facet I've come across is various Hindu leaders worldwide who say that there cannot be any such thing as Christian yoga. And they aren't happy about it at all. For example, here is a letter from the Hindu American Foundation in response to an article on Christian Yoga in Time Magazine.

Perhaps we should think a little more about this practice?

Good Article on Apostasy [Mostly Emergent]

I read an excellent summary of the apostasy in the evangelical movement today. Actually, it really covers only the emergent trends, not other apostasy. Some people actually think the emergents are the only problem. Not so. In the article, Greg Stier summarizes six points of apostasy. I will interpret what he means, at least what I think he means, after each point. For the full 2-page article, go to the source at the end of this post.

1. A growing emphasis on quasi or full on universalism.
By universalism the author means all are saved through Christ. One does not need to "receive" Christ as savior or confess sin. It is automatic for everyone.

2. A tendency to de-emphasize, question or outright attack core theological truths.
In other words, N. T. Wright's theology of the New Perspective on Paul which I call process justification. Could this be a form of Roman Catholicism in disguise?

3. An overemphasis on “the red letters” of the Bible.
In other words, they only read what Jesus said in the gospels, not especially the miracles He did and certainly not the epistles. To explain how they see the epistles fitting in with the gospels, see #2.

4. An increasing skepticism toward certainty about anything.
In other words, postmodernism philosophy influencing emergent or what te emergents are beginning to call progressive Christianity. And a few both inside and outside emergent call it postmodern Christianity.

5. An overwhelming focus on conversations rather than conclusions.
In other words, process theology, which means "we get the truths of God by the process of conversation and others' ideas and thoughts, not the Word of God [i.e. the Bible] being the final and only authority." In other words, like the Linex process system and Wikipedia.....in other words, Wiki-Christianity. We keep adding to Christianity and so theology is "in process," everchanging.

6. A redefining of the gospel without propositions.
Many propositions (outright statements of truth) are found in the epistles which the emergents usually avoid like the plague. See also #3.


Source: http://www.christianpost.com/article/20080125/30976_The_Coming_Apostasy.htm

Our Economics

Lately, I've been studying economics and reading best-selling books about the current economic problems. I think Robert Reich, former Secretary of Labor under President Clinton, has gotten the centrality of the situation in his latest book, Supercapitalism. He writes,

Many of the advocates of "family values" who are in high dudgeon about the media are the same people, by the way, who celebrate the free market and are deeply suspicious of government regulation. Unfortunately for them, they cannot have it both ways.

Then a little later he writes,

The problem is that the choices we make in the market don't fully reflect our values as citizens. We might make different choices if we understood and faced the social consequences of our purchases or investments and if we knew all other consumers and investors would join us in forbearing from certain great deals whose social consequences were abhorrent to us. But we are unlikely to make the sacrifice if we think we'll be the only consumer or investor who refrains. The only way for the citizens in us to trump the consumers and investors in us is through laws and regulations that make our purchases and investments a social choice as well as a personal one.

In other words, either we are going to be consumers/investors which will require little regulation in trade, labor and prices; or we need to accept government regulation to curtail the greed and unfair trade practices that occur when a country like ours has unfettered free trade. This is basically what the Bible teaches throughout. We are either transformed by Jesus Christ, or we need to be under law[s] in order to prevent chaos and God's judgment.

I've been saying for 30 years that evangelism is the answer for this country because the more people who truly get born again, the better the motivations and ethics of the citizens as a whole. Since we have not been good at doing that, instead muddling our message with so-called conservative politics (which are more neo-con than conservative), our fellow unbelieving citizens have missed the central point - which is what happened at the cross and how that affects, or Ii should say, could affect them.

So, since we did such a poor job in evangelism and now that the message is being tossed aside in so many evangelical churches so evangelism wouldn't matter anyway, the only solution is to get back under restrictive laws. Or, go the way we are going into a few wealthy and most poor citizenry. Human beings are going to do what they think is best for them and whatever makes them happy UNLESS there is a spiritual transformation. And by that term, I don't mean the current Buddhist-Hindu influenced "contemplative spirituality." I mean a true conversion experience -by grace alone, by faith alone and by Christ alone [sola gratia, sola fide and sola Christus].

The "New" Legalism

I am becoming concerned about the increasing legalism rearing it's ugly head, but this time in forms other than we saw during the first half of the twentieth century from the Fundamentalists. This time around, instead of NOT doing the "109 things we are against," the new legalists want you to DO things that they feel is necessary for your sanctification and at times even for your salvation. One group is the Third Wave Charismatics who want you to continually fast and pray. At this rate I am afraid for their followers' health as many might become anorexic. The emergents want you to help the poor, bring justice to them and also do something about the environment. If you don't, then you are not a "Christ-follower." Then there are the Young Calvinists who require some, but not all, of the former fundamentalists rules. But unlike the older type of legalism, this new type doesn't cause you to lose your salvation. According to the Young Calvinists, you never had it in the first place. Here is the scary thing about this - if any of them met me in high school, I was so squeaky clean, they would think I was saved - lock, stock and barrel. But I wasn't. That is scary to me. Methinks the Young Calvinists should study the sanctification process a little more with the emphasis on P-R-O-C-E-S-S.
Here is an example:

1) "If you look like Brittany Spears you're going to hell. You certainly have not received Christ."

2) If you look like Brittany Spears, and you've received Christ (and I can only know by asking you), it might mean you haven't been a Christian that long and, while other things are changing inside of you, it hasn't reached the outer part of you----YET. Or, maybe it means, you haven't really received Christ.

Which one of the above do you think is the true sanctification process. When you go too far into Lordship salvation, #1 is where you might end up. I do agree with Lordship salvation, but not to the extreme, and not knowing the person or people you are talking about. What exactly is their story.

For some more on this topic, there is an excellent list of today's "new" legalism at the Onward, Forward Toward blog.

Quote of the Week

“Christian leaders should not make partisan endorsements. Neither should the evangelical movement be in the hip pocket of any political party. Instead, as good citizens, Christians bring righteousness and justice to bear on public life while never allowing ourselves to become a special-interest group. Thus, the fact that some evangelicals support one candidate and others support another is an encouraging sign that we are not monolithic, led by a few partisans. This is not a sign of a ‘crackup’; it is a sign of health.” —Chuck Colson, refuting repeated articles in the New York Times that have assessed disagreement among evangelicals as the “evangelical crackup”

___Chuck Colson on Breakpoint, 1/24/08

God Is Both - Stop Making Us Choose!

Lately I've been chagrined that many Christian pastors and teachers and bloggers and other types seem obssessed with forcing us to choose between the we-will-grow-by-suffering God and the "He-will-do-a-miracle God."

For example, Internet Monk has a post where he seems to imply that we have to choose between seeing Jesus as disciples, or seeing the miraculous God.

Then in my Sunday School class last week, more of the same thinking. Now we have to choose between God's love and His power. Or at least, choose His love first and THEN His power (but with an implication of downplaying His power).

Well, I have news for both mindsets. You cannot divide God from His love, and from His discipleship, and from His power and the miraculous. I want to see more churches get to the last chapter of Job. I have rarely, outside of the Word of Faith teachers, heard any pastor or teacher spend much time on that chapter, IF they even got to it at all. I find that as dishonest as someone who scurries over chapters 3-37 and spends hours on the last chapter.

I also want people to stop teaching James 1 without James 5, especially verses 13-15. These verses talk about God healing people through the church elders and from the wording it sounds like a sure thing; not a "maybe" thing.

Remember, you cannot create your own God, and many today are doing just that. And not only the emergents, but many of the Young Calvinists too.

What is God Going To Do With America?

This is a long blog post today, so sit back and relax.

What is God going to do with America? This is a question that is being asked more and more these days in many churches. Sadly, like Israel and Judea of the OT prophets, we also have two competing versions of what God is doing today with America, as well as the church.
David Wilkerson, whom I respect greatly, since the publication of his prophetic book, The Vision in 1974, has been continually warning America and the American evangelical church that it cannot do the stuff its doing and think God will look the other way. A few years ago I tried as objectively as I could went back in his book, and tried to determine which of his prophecies have come to fulfillment, which are obviously untrue and which ones either haven’t come to term yet, or won’t. I found that over 70% had come true and under 10% were probably wrong. The rest of the 20% either will come true or won’t. Time will tell. But his prophecies, unlike so many of the Third Wave prophets, are specific. The Third Wavers say they are also 70% accurate but their prophecies are vague and generalized. To me, Wilkerson has done a much better job.

Listen to Wilkerson (from 10-9-2002),
“Right now, God is surely judging America for its wickedness. I think of all the ways our nation has removed his name from the public. Growing up, I was taught that America was a Christian nation, founded by godly men who sought freedom to worship the Lord in truth. Of course, South Africa and other nations claim the same origins.
I have no doubt that God has blessed certain nations like America, to help evangelize the world. In its infancy, this country was the greatest missionary-sending nation on earth. America sent pastors, teachers and evangelists all over the globe. Meanwhile, a holy people back home kept back the flood tides of iniquity. Godly leaders, devoted preachers and zealous congregations stood up to honor the Lord's name.
But iniquity began to abound. God's name was mocked. And our nation became pleasure-mad. We turned to idols of wealth, prosperity, material gain. And we quickly lost our zeal and compassion for the lost. Now we're no longer a great missionary-sending nation. Instead, we're exporting a gospel of prosperity and covetousness.
In his great love and wisdom, the Lord has sought to purify our nation with severe chastenings. He's allowed droughts, floods, financial collapses, tornadoes, hurricanes, drastic weather changes. He's sounding the trumpet loudly. But no one is alarmed.
Many ministers claim, "God isn't like that. He isn't behind any of these tragedies. They're all the devil's work." I can't tell you how much these preachers exasperate me. They don't know their Bible.”

He cites Amos 4:6-10. And then he writes this last paragraph:

“You can't tell me the Lord isn't behind all the judgments we're experiencing. Many ministers present God as a kindly, doting grandfather. Of course, the Lord is merciful and gracious. But what these shepherds don't understand is that God's judgments are his mercy and grace. He's saying, "Return to me. I've had to send these chastisements to purge your nation and get your attention. You've sinned so deeply, you've blinded yourselves. Now judgment is the only language you'll understand. This is all about my love for you."

Wilkerson then turns his attention to the church and says,

“Yet multitudes in the church are always looking for some new thing. They want new and exciting ways to worship God. So they seek out Bethel altars, where the praises sound loud and joyful. But the worship in these places is led by men who don't weep over the sin in God's house. Their praises may be exuberant and colorful. But there's no true presence of Christ. And there's no protection against the deception of the flesh.......America itself has become the world's worst pusher of deceptive gospels. How? Christians have become biblically illiterate. They don't bother to read God's Word anymore. They're not willing to fast or spend time in prayer. Instead, they run here and there, seeking out the flesh-pleasing teaching of some compromised evangelist.
How could multitudes of believers fall for such deceptions? How could they be so easily led astray? How did these masses become so blind to false works of the flesh? Amos tells us why: their protective walls are down, because of sin. God has removed the horns from the altar. And the people have lost all discernment. Such believers will be among the first to embrace the Antichrist.”

Listen to prophet Andrew Strom and the titles of his recent messages,

“Why I Left the Prophetic Movement” [he is talking about the Third Wave prophetic movement]
“We Have Lost the Gospel”
“We’ve Lost Christianity”
“Economic Judgment is Imminent” [upon America]
“The Greatest Danger for America”


And what are the “other” prophets saying?

Listen to Kim Clement, a third wave prophet from July 14, 2007,

"AMERICA, YOUR GREATEST HOUR IS UPON YOU!
North Korea is only the beginning of the submission of the nations. China is looking upon this nation now and saying, 'If they are afraid, and they are internally divided and cannot fulfill what they have said concerning Iraq and the Middle East, then we shall surely stand to win against them.'" Again, says the Lord, "What do I say about this? A leader in the East, in Asia, shall suddenly topple over in the presence of cameras and the network."
God says, "This will be a sign. This must not be taken lightly. During these summer months and before the election, I will be exposing certain ones. Three to four nations that I've said before shall follow suit. They say our arms will be laid down. America shall finally win the battle, even though you will continually be hated. Hatred," says the Spirit of God, "shall never conclude its action successfully. I have now sent a Word to this nation again and I have done it over and over. I will cause these next few months to be months of great victory and exposure, the secrets of the Lord shall be revealed. I will capture those who have captured. I will terrorize those who have terrorized. I will bring justice over and over and over.
"America shall be on her knees because of the wind that I am sending that shall cause a cleansing to take place that could never have happened had there not been the sound of victory in the voices of the people as they praised in the midst of fear, in the midst of terror. Rejoice, for this year, many great breakthroughs will cause My people to say, 'it has begun—it surely has begun. The season has come, it is upon us, and it has begun.'"
"I will open up the heavens and send the rain and the wind. Can you hear the sound, can you hear the sound of the wind? I will send the wind to you just like the day of Pentecost. As they were in one accord, they heard the sound that came. Hear the sound I'm sending to this nation. I'm sending a sound of triumph, of victory to this nation. I'm sending a sound of victory to your nation. Your accusers have said they will come, the terrorists have said they will come and destroy in the summer months of this nation. Watch me," says the Lord, "I will protect this nation again. I will reveal and expose where they are hidden, again and again and again. Do you hear the sound of victory for this nation? I can hear the sound of a mighty army. Can you hear the sound? I can hear the sound of a mighty army, tens of thousands of angels. Can you hear the sound?"
"Your military power shall never die, nor shall it wane, but the spiritual militant power has risen above your natural military power." God says, "Because of this, I will speed up and accelerate your victory. Hidden in the third cave of the Pakistan border, I will sniff out and draw out many of those that have hidden themselves. There will be two deaths in Pakistan; the Spirit of God says it shall cause havoc.
"I will bring peace to this nation as it has never ever experienced. Do not fear, your borders are protected, your schools are protected, your children are protected, your jets are protected, your air space is protected, your seas are protected, your land is protected, My people are protected. For this day, the God of the universe hears your praise and sends the fire of God to Pakistan. It is time for the exposure says the Spirit of the Living God. Rejoice America, your restoration has begun. Now I will pay back," says the Spirit of the Lord, "for vengeance is mine. I will pay back your enemies by putting you on the top; economically I will drive you back to the highest place, as I do what I'm going to do with your energy crisis. You will have the Middle East come to you and say 'Will you share with us what you have discovered?'"

Many other Third Wave prophets are saying basically the same thing. There doesn’t seem to be a call by these prophets for any kind of repentance. Perhaps they assume we will know that. But certainly this should be contained in the prophetic word, should it not? Consider many of Francis Frangipane’s writings where he declares that God won’t allow America to fall because He needs America to fund missions. And several others have this same “word.”

However, to be fair, a few are beginning to think differently. Rick Joyner recently wrote,

“More troubles are coming, not only to America but to the world, unless we repent. Possibly the most devastating disaster in the history of America could be creeping up on us through some of the most beautiful weather conditions imaginable. The South has enjoyed its most beautiful autumn weather in memory--which is the problem! The glorious sunny days, with near perfect temperatures, are veiling what is potentially the worst disaster to ever hit our nation--a whole region of the country is fast running out of water. Without rain, major cities and a multitude of small towns will soon have to be abandoned, displacing millions of people. It seems that the warning of I Thessalonians 5:3 is especially appropriate for this…”


Obviously, you will need to make up your own mind. Is America in trouble? Or will God magically ride in and save us. Before you answer, think about the state of the evangelical church in America today. When I started this blog in the summer of 2004, it was bad, but not as bad as today. In my almost 45 years of being a born-again Christian (yes, I’m not afraid of using that word), I have never seen the evangelical church in such a mess and in such chaos. I think I must agree with much of Wilkerson’s writings when he tells us that God cannot and will not wink and ignore the present state of the church.

Even the secular “prophets” seem to see the truth. I recently finished the brilliant new book by Pat Buchanan, Day of Reckoning.
Listen to what he writes at the beginning of the last chapter,

“Native-born Americans are no longer reproducing themselves. And our leaders seem incapable of securing our border against an endless invasion from the Third World. As a people we save nothing. We spend all we earn.
Our dependence on foreign goods for the necessities of our national and on foreign loans to pay for them, deepens with each year. Social Security and Medicare are headed for bankruptcy, as our politicians appear incapable of imposing the sacrifices needed to save them. The annual U.S. trade deficit in manufactures alone is half a trillion dollars. We have become the world's leading debtor. The dollar has sunk to all-time lows against the euro, a twenty-six low against the pound. The Canadian dollar has reached parity with the U.S. dollar for the first time in 30 years. Yet we borrow billions of dollars a year to fight wars and defend nations as though these were the flush times of the fifities.
...Our infrastructure---bridges, tunnels, sewers, ports, airports, electrical grids---is crumbling. We depend on imported oil for 60% of our consumption but have not built a refinery in twenty-five years.
...With armed forces of 1.4 million, and an army of 500,000 men and women, we are committed to defending nations from Europe to the Middle East to Asia and the Pacific. Few of these commitments are vital to our security. Almost all are the residue of a Cold War that ended two decades ago.

..Most powerfully and prominently, the forces working for an end to American sovereignty and independence are the transnational corporations that make up fifty of the world's hundred largest economic entities. Their agenda? They intend to create a new world order where capital, goods, and people all move freely across borders. Indeed national borders disappear..... Their agenda is about globalism, and it is about greed...the last obstacle standing in the way of the brave new world transnationals is the American people's will to preserve the free, independent, sovereign, self-sufficient republic they inherited from their fathers and wish to hand down to their children.”

Sobering stuff indeed and a matter for lots of prayer, not only for America, but also for the American church.

Crazy Healing Theories

You probably thought from reading the title that I was going to attack the faith healers. No, actually I am going to defend them.....at least this time (though I don't always defend them as you know). Yes, you guessed it if you read me. It's Pentecostal theology time.....:)

Well, as I've written before here, the Internet Monk can either make me very happy when I agree passionately with him, or make me very unhappy when I disagree passionately with him. This time I am disagreeing and am a very unhappy camper. You can read his whole post here - the one I will refer to below:

My Theology Can Beat Up Your Theology: Thoughts on always saying more than the other guy


Here is the excerpt I want us to look at today. OK, Monk, I've got my fightin' shoes on.

He is talking about forming a doctrinal view and then constantly upping it. Then he gives an example of what he's talking about,

The basic form of this game could be seen, for example, among those who believe in the continuance of spiritual gifts such as healing. Let’s say someone affirms the continuance of some kind of healing gifts, manifested as God sovereignly chooses. It will not be enough to say that one believes God can heal. This will be greeted by someone claiming God ALWAYS heals. This will be followed by the claim that if God DOESN'T heal, it’s our fault. And then we hear that God WILL heal if you use this prayer or attend this church. Then God heals big things, and does so immediately, IF we really believe. Of course, someone has heard that God is raising the dead somewhere, and someone else will settle for nothing else but perfect health for all true Christians, because by his stripes we are healed……

O..kaaaay. The only thing I can say about this that will make more sense than what you just read is this - I don't know anyone "upping" this type of healing. I don't know anyone who would start affirming healing gifts and keep on going to resurrection. I've never heard of that. Most Charismatics and many Pentecostals take the low road mostly of "Yes, God does and often heals" and they stay there. The Word Faith Pentecostals (they are NOT Third Wave Charismatics) start with the high road of healing in the atonement. But I can understand with so much confusion on the part of non-C/P'ers that they don't know what the difference is between a Charismatic and a Pentecostal; between a neo-Pentecostal and a Word of Faith Pentcostal. If someone is going to criticise any or all of these groups, they at least should be familiar with them.

I am seeing this constantly. On blogs here and there I read that WOF teachers believe Third Wave stuff and are a part fo the Kansas City Prophetic movement. Uh, no. They believe in healing in the atonement and what they see in the Bible, especially in passages like Matt. 8:17. THey ahve nothing to do with the KC prophets. Then they say that Thrid Wavers believe Word of Faith type of healing. Uh...no, with the exeption recently of a very few. They seem to believe in an impartation. These two views are diametrically opposed IMO and should not be confused.

Democracy Everywhere?

For many years, because of my long-time study of dictatorships, I've said that democracy will not work well if foisted upon certain countries because of their histories. I think it's apparent that Iraq is one of them. Now we have the situation in Kenya, supposedly the "pearl" democracy of Africa. Here is a very good Op/Ed piece I read in the New Yoprk Times last week.

Kenyan democracy has failed because ordinary people were encouraged to believe that the process in and of itself could bring change. So Kenya’s leaders — and often international observers — interpret democracy simply in terms of the ceremony of multiparty elections. Polls bestow legitimacy on politicians to pillage for five years until the next depressing cycle begins.

Source: NY Times Op/Ed section, Jan 11, 2008. Quote is from Aiden Hartley's article, Democracy By Other Means

Quote of the Week

"The Church has halted somewhere between Calvary and Pentecost."

_____Joe Brice

We Are Too!....So There!

One emergent pastor thinks Christians are too self-centered and not getting out to help people enough.

Chuck Colson, in his radio commentary yesterday, disagreed. He said,

"What do these pundits think evangelicals have been doing for the past years?" And then he named three long-time ministries. I've included them and many more below:

Prison Fellowship, World Vision, Feed the Children, Salvation Army, and many inner city missions that have been around for decades including the Fred Jordan one that specializes in helping the skid row women of Los Angeles. In addition, there are thousands of Christian groups and churches helping the poor and disencfranchised as I reported in the last days' posts in my review of the book Street Saints.

Come on emergents! Wake up and look around, and stop trying to hog the social gospel all by yourselves. Evangelicals have been and are now more and more on board too, WITHOUT losing the message of the cross and salvation thought the substitionary atonement of Jesus Christ.

Review of "Everything Must Change" - Part 5

I've read about three reviews of this book and all of them mentioned that McLaren was spouting Marxist liberation theology. I don't agree. He is just taking a more liberal (Protestant) view but I didn't see any Marxism doctrine or call to physical revolutions in the book. What McLaren wants is change. But the problem he refuses to contend with in all of his books IMO is HOW people change. He thinks they will simply change when they understand and are more educated and treated well. But the liberal Protestants and surprisingly, also the Christian Right have been trying to change what people do for decades. And what has it produced? Not what both groups have promised us. So how do people change? Through the transformation of a new birth through Jesus Christ. But that doesn’t mean we don’t do the social gospel too. But the foundation MUST be what happened at the cross – both the historical event itself as well as the spiritual event. Saying these things, let’s proceed to find out how McLaren analyzes the current world situation. His analysis is interesting and good in many places. But his solution is vague and IMO unworkable because it’s basically based on people being good and doing the right thing.

One of the main themes throughout the book is found on p. 33,
After noting that more and more young Christians are dropping out of church he tells why,
“it [the church] has specialized in dealing with ‘spiritual needs’ to the exclusion of physical and social needs.”

McLaren was visiting Rwanda and met a lady named Justine. Justine made the statement that revolutionized McLaren's thinking. She said, "If Jesus' message of the kingdom of God is true, then everything must change." And this is how the book got its title. By this she meant we cannot take Jesus' message and patch it onto existing ways of doing things. The background of this statement by Justine was the fact that Rwandan churches were teaching salvation but not how tribes should love each other and get along.
And here is what happened when McLaren was in South Africa confronting the AIDs crisis. Someone said to him, "You know your problem? You Pentecostals and you evangelical are specialized. You specialized in healing, in getting people born again, in creating financially successful churches -- but you need to go beyond that. It's time to get a better message - something bigger than just those things. If you stop there all your preaching is nonsense."
Well, what did he mean? He went on to explain that the people needed to learn practical things too that relate to their daily lives. In reading what the young man said, I see that the healing evangelists once again don’t explain things well. The young African said that the preachers are telling the people they will pray for them and then they will be healed of AIDS. So the people don’t take their medications and die. This is what I call Stupid Word of Faith teaching as opposed to what I’ve presented on this blog previously and I call a New Kind of Faith Teacher (and Teaching).

On. P. 30, McLaren does what Street Saints is all about. He tells of a Pentecostal pastor in the Dominican Republic who develops a health program. And one of his colleagues reaches out to glue-sniffing street kids, installing in the church basement so the kids can get clean. McLaren is again 50 years behind. I don’t know many churches that are not doing this kind of thing either in their communities and/or through good mission organizations that are preaching and doing both word and deed.


McLaren is what I consider to be the emergent’s philosopher-at-large and on pages 35-39 he shows this by launching into a very good discussion of where we’ve been in Cartesian philosophy models and where we need to go. I also discussed this a while back in my posts on the postmodernist philosophers like Derrida and Foucault as shown against the Rationalists like Descartes. McLaren makes an interesting distinction between postmodern and postcolonial. He goes into how Cartesianism made the First world powers of Europe and then North America overconfident. And what did that do to the colonized Third World?
He answers this by expanding in the remaining pages about the suicide machine.

I do have to give kudos to McLaren for understanding that the political liberal method of throwing money at the poor isn’t working. He talks about this on p. 50 and suggests we need to find a better model. I felt he was vague as how to do this other than getting everyone to do the right thing – i.e. be better with resources and the environment, don’t be greedy, try to be more loving and understanding, and work for justice and more equity for the poor. He avoids communistic thinking by realizing that there won’t be true economic equality, but strives to get us to be MORE equitable.

Again, he gleans from the four areas of the suicide machine (above) what he calls threre interlocking systems. And if these systems don’t interlock correctly the balance of nature and society is thrown off. The three systems are:

1. Prosperity Dysfunction-seen in the environment disaster
2. Equity Dysfunction-seen in the huge disparity between the CEO class and the underclass
3. Security Dysfunction-Seen as violence to be the way to keep the status quo

He next presents the emergents’ view as opposed to what he calls the conventional view. Again, at times I think he is raising up straw men that seldom exist anymore, at least in the west. I will summarize the views he presents. This is contained on pages 78-80.

Question #1-What is the story we find ourselves in?
Conventional View-God created the world as perfect but then Adam and Eve sinned, so God has determined that the entire universe must eventually be destroyed except for those specifically exempted (by this I gather he means born-again Christians in the Calvinistic view. From the books I’ve read by him, McLaren always seems to believe every evangelical is ultra-Calvinistic).

Emergent View-God created the world as good but human beings rebelled. God wants to save humanity and heal it from its sickness, but it needs a shepherd to guide them.

Question #2-What questions did Jesus come to answer?

Conventional View-Since everyone is doomed to hell, Jesus seeks to answer how individuals can avoid this and how can God help individuals be successful and happy until then?

Emergent View-“Since the human race is in such desperate trouble, Jesus seeks to answer the question, What can be done about the mess we’re in? “ How can we be liberated in all areas of our lives? Jesus specifically came to answer how to be liberated politically since that was the question asked of him by 1st century peoples under the Roman Empire.

Question #3-How did Jesus respond to the crisis?

Conventional View-“You must repent of your sins and believe that my Father punished me on the cross so he won’t have to punish you in hell.”

Emergent View-“Jesus says in essence, ‘I have been sent by God with this good news—that God loves humanity, even in its lostness and sin. God graciously invites everyone and anyone to turn from his or her current path and follow a new way. Trust me and be my disciple and you will be transformed, and you will participate in the transformation of the world, which is possible, beginning right now.’ This is the good news.”

I want to make a comment here. This last Emergent View is basically the same doctrine I heard over and over growing up in my liberal Protestant church, It is NOT evangelical (or completely Biblical IMO).

Question #4-Why is Jesus Important. What is his Purpose?

Conventional View-Jesus came to solve the problem of original sin, meaning he helps qualified individuals not to be sent to hell for their sin or imperfection.”

Emergent View-“Jesus came to be the Savior of the world, meaning he came to save the earth and all it contains from its ongoing destruction because of human evil. Through his life and teaching, through his suffering, death and resurrection, he inserted into human history a seed of grace, truth and hope that can never be defeated….All who find in Jesus God’s hope and truth discover the privilege of participating in his ongoing work of personal and global transformation and liberation from evil and injustice.”

On pages 122-123 he makes a case for the gospel (good news) being a political word in Roman culture, not especially a religious one. Therefore, the case then can be made that the followers of Jesus heard and understood this as a more political term of liberation instead of a more personal one of spirit and soul salvation. So, good news to the first century Jew would be one of peace—politically. This section might be what some reviewers are concerned about a touching on political liberation theology.

He next goes into what he calls the new global love economy. This is what Christians should be doing—managing our resources better so the earth won’t be depleted and there is enough for everybody. Involved in this is God’s ecosystem as He designed it. McLaren says we either will restore it or destroy it through empire building. Also, along these lines he quotes Wendell Berry,

“…the churches which claim to honor God as the ‘maker of heaven and earth,’ have lately shown little inclination to honor the earth or to protect it from those who would dishonor it.”

In a later chapter McLaren discusses large scale name-calling and how it destroys a country’s unity. He cites as an example the Hutus-Tutsi problem. Calling other groups cockroaches and tall trees isn’t helpful. I remember in my study of spousal abuse that most men who batter cannot do it unless they denigrate their wives by calling them derogatory names like…..well…I cannot write them here….but I’m sure you get it.

He quotes Donald Rumsfeld, “We have a choice, either to change the way we live, or to change the way they [muslim terrorists] live, and we choose the latter.”

McLaren’s view is that this is all wrong. We should instead be saying,
“We have a choice, either to change the unacceptable way we live, or to change the unacceptable way they live, which is impossible to do against their will—without stooping to ethnic cleansing so they don’t live at all So, we choose the former, in the confidence that a voluntary change in our behavior will precipitate an unexpected change in their behavior.”
You see this kind of optimism throughout the book.

Next he goes into capitalism which he names Theocapitalism. He gives the Four Spiritual Laws of Theocapitalism which is bringing us into crisis.
Law 1-The Law of Progress Through Rapid Growth
Law 2-The Law of Serenity Through Possession and Consumption
Law 3-The Law of Salvation Through Competition Alone
Law 4-The Law of Freedom to Prosper Through Unaccountable Corporations

The upshot of all of these “Laws” is greed and unlimited growth and consumption.
Here is how McLaren says Jesus confronts these Laws:
Law 1-The Law of Good Deeds of the Common Good
Law 2-The Law of Satisfaction Through Gratitude and Sharing
Law 3-The Law of Salvation Through Seeking Justice
Law 4-The Law of Freedom to Prosper by Building Better Communities

He asks, “What benefits will come to the rich if the poor are better off? What dangers and negative consequences will follow for the rich if the poor are not better off?”

Then he asks, “What kind of world will we who are comparatively rich and powerful bequest to our children and grandchildren if we do not redirect our energies from accumulation, and self-protection toward compassion, service and equity? And what kind world will we bequeath to future generations if equity becomes our sacred passion and personal ambition?”

Of course, talking about equity systems and rich vs. poor would necessitate discussing economics which he does in chapter 30. He presents seven categories of development economics.
1. Trade-we need to integrate free trade with fair trade. The United States, McLaren says, needs to hear the rising anger of what some other countries perceive as unfair U.S. trade policies.
2. Aid-Aid is essential but has been poorly planned, coordinated and administered.
3. Debt-Debt payments need to be administered more wisely.
My Comment: This certainly has merit as we have seen in pre-WWII Germany. Much of Hitler’s rise was due to the excessive reparations payments required, especially by France.
4. Limits-we must live within environmental and biological limits. Why should the Southern Hemisphere restrict their birth rate if the Northern countries squander resources? And vice-versa: why should Northern Hemisphere countries save and contain their resources if the Southern countries do nothing to control their population. Interesting point.
5. Wages-Protect poor workers from exploitation. Have a relational factor in companies. For example, the CEO cannot earn a certain times the lowest paid worker.
6. Justice-Governments need to be accountable to maintain an equality of justice for all.
7. Community-Strengthen families and communities through coming against unjust practices that cause destruction.
In chapter 32 he goes back to discussing the suicide machine that he talked about earlier. He says,
“The way to dismantle the suicide machine is to deny it the fuel on which it runs: confidence—confidence in its framing story. The way to create a generous, generative, and humane alternative society. In place of the suicide machine is to believe the good news of the kingdom of God.”

In the concluding chapters he points out the similarities between the fight against abortion and the fight against greenhouse gases, He writes that both follow from the same script—“we can engage in pleasurable or profitable behaviors with undesired consequences and either avoid the consequences or clean them up later.”

I think he makes a good point here. He is basically saying that the church has been focusing too much on the personal behaviors of people and neglecting the larger societal problems. In fact, this IMO is the theme of the entire book.

He ends the book with a call to action involving these four points:
1. Personal Action-disbelieving the old framing story and replacing it with the new one (the one he presents in this book)
2. Community Action-He says the church needs to stop being chaplains of the dominant system and provide an alternative. He says many churches are changing into more missional churches and he says their emergence will be one of the most developments in our time.
3. Public Action-From non-violent methods of social change including civil disobedience, rallies and festivals, political organizing, artistic expression and public demonstration, people bonding together can change the framing story.
4. Global Action-This will come out of Community and Public Action. He says “this will change the societal map of greed, lust, arrogance, fear, racism, domination, oppression, revenge and injustice. He wants people to label these as unacceptable, unnatural and changeable.

Review of "Street Saints" - Part 4

Ideology is not confined to communists and fascists. We, too, have our share of it, and it shows in our policies. All modern ideologies have the same irrational root: the permeation of politics with millenarian ideas of pseudo-religious character. The result is a dream world.....more recently our national leaders have talked about "creating" a new society, a "Great Society," and to that end making "war against poverty," war against hunger.
___Dr. Gerhardt Niemeyer, professor of philosopher at University of Notre Dame


In Barbara Elliott's book Street Saints, she follows this train of thought in the second to last chapter. when she writes,

"Eric Voegelin, one of the most astute critics of modernism, argues that the modern age has been characterized by the emergence of politics as a secular means of salvation. He traces the unraveling order back to Joachim of Flora, a medieval mystic who depicted man's history in three ascending ages, which would bring about the final age of perfection. According to Voegelin, "He and his successors replaced faith in God with faith in man's ability to build heaven on earth. The new earthly faith depended on the fallacious notion that history itself has a purpose, "the achievement of human perfection. Salvation was to be sought in this world, through the pursuit of temporal achievements aimed at making material the transcendent world of God. Hobbes and Rousseau [My Note: these were 18th century philosophers] took the next steps, claiming that political order could provide the means to rescue man from his fallen state and remake his image."

Then she writes that at the turn fo the 20th century the Socialist Universalists remade this order in the pattern of the church. She quotes William G. Fremantle saying, "the Nation as the Church, its rulers as ministers of Christ, its whole body as a Christian brotherhood."

In other words, now the government would replace the church. We began to really see this during the Franklin Roosevelt era and then again in 1964 with the announcement of the "Great Society" by President Lyndon Johnson. However, there are two points somewhat in favor of what's been done. But when government does it, what is the result, even if some of it "works?":

1. Many poor people have been helped, but many only temporarily. Many have enough food and shelter but live at a very low level off the government as we all know (welfare). But what about the homeless? The government cannot seem to know what to do about this problem. Could it be that government can be limited in providing "economic salvation" to its citizens?

2. We must ask of churches throughout the centuries, especially since 1700, Where in the world have you been?? If the church was taking care of it's own members, plus others outside its walls, would we even need government to intercede/interfere?

Elliott continues by saying,
"Government can never bring about the kingdom of heaven."

Both books - Elliott's Street Saints and McLaren's Everything Must Change seem to call for churches, Christian groups and Christian individuals to be the change agents. The big difference is in Elliott's theology contrasted to McLaren's.

Both books have examples of churches and church groups helping people. Street Saints paints a picture of what the current church can do. She describes in great detail scads of programs that are funded through the government in the faith-based initiative program BUT NOT run by the government. The programs she writes about are run by churches, groups of churches and foundations run by Christians. Here is an overview of the types of programs she includes in the book:

They range from anti-gang efforts to racial reconciliation to rescuing at risk kids to transforming prison inmates to low-cost medical care for the poor to educational opportunities for disadvantaged youth, and so forth.

And what does McLaren say along these lines in his book? Tomorrow I will try to describe his book in more detail but as with most of his books, it can be vague as to how his ideology is to be carried out. But in this book (this is the third book by him I've read), I found his theology to be more precise. I will present that in tomorrow's post.

Perhaps if we put both books together, we can get the whole picture and really help people. Elliott's book will supply the needed theology that McLaren wants to deny. McLaren gives us a good outline of the problem. But then, that is what the emergents do best - identify the problem.

Stay tuned........

Review of "Everything Must Change" - Part 3

From Brian McLaren's Everything Must Change,

As I explained in some detail in The Secret Message of Jesus, more and more of us are realizing something our best theologians have been saying for quite a while: Jesus' message is not actually about escaping this troubled world for heaven's blissful shores, as is popularly assumed, but instead is about God's will being done on this troubled earth as it is in heaven. So people interested in being a new kind of Christian will inevitably begin to care more and more about this world, and they'll want to better understand it's most significant problems, and they'll want to find out how they can fit in with God's dreams actually coming true down here more often.

McLaren calls himself a progressive Christian in the book, which I am assuming is somewhere between a true evangelical and a liberal Protestant. The one glaring problem with this book as compared to Street Saints is the complete lack of presenting a saving substitutionary atonement gospel. I felt before I read this book I would simply read a warmed-over liberal Protestant theology. And, I wasn't disappointed. But yet I was because I desparately wanted to see how hearts would be changed to accomplish all the things McLaren espouses (which I'll go into in future posts). McLaren is the philosopher of the emergent movement and you see it fairly well-done and researched in his book. I did learn a lot, but then McLaren is good at identifying the problems but IMO, weak at solving them because of this heart-change problem; or I should say, the lack of.

In the beginning of the book he discusses what he calls the suicide machine and this is a theme throughout the book. The suicide machine is the way the world, and especially first world countries, are going. He lists four key areas which make up the bulk of the book's content. These areas are:
1. The breakdown of the environment as a result of management of resources by the wealthiest 1/3 of the population which he calls the prosperity crisis.
2. The growing gap between the ultra-rich and the extremely poor which he calls the equity crisis.
3. The danger of cataclysmic war resulting from intensifying resentment and fear among groups at the opposite ends of the economic spectrum which he calls the security crisis.
4. The failure of the world's religions (including Christianity) to provide a framing story capable of healing or reducing the previous three crises which he calls the spirituality crisis.

Review of "Street Saints" - Part 2

Street Saints by Barbara J. Elliott.

Daniel Coats, U.S. ambassador to Germany, wrote the Forward to this book and says the following after describing his experience of the government bulldozing existing houses in an inner city of Chicago. He says that the residents wept; they didn't want government housing, which later became blighted, because this was still their neighborhood. And then Coats writes,

Whatever antibodies that community had to combat its social maladies were crushed - not only by the bulldozer, but by the hubris that claims that the government can remake human beings. We replaced a whole generation of fathers with welfare checks, which has left whole pockets of our cities fatherless. When government took over the care of the poor, private charities were often crowded out. And as we centralized our social services in the government, the private voluntary sector shrank. We are still trying to undo the damage done, which now stretches into the third generation of our cities.

The above passages pretty well set the theme for the book. Government has failed in the past 44 years to really help the poor. So, now we need another approach and it's time the church get back to the social gospel WITHOUT losing the gospel of the cross as it did in liberal Protestant movements during the 20th century. By the way, the liberal Protestants were some of the major voices encouraging government to handle the problem. And now we have the New Christian Left. Will they also devastate the poor by encouraging non-faith-based government programs?

The following exerpt from the book is what it's about - those churches and individual Christians that are really making a difference with the poor through an empowerment of help, education and a voice in the community and political process coupled with a spiritual healing and transformation.

"The Reverend asked the drug dealer why he (the Reverend) was losing the battle for the kids on the street in his inner city neighborhood. The drug dealer replied, "It's simple. When Johnny goes to school in the morning I'm there and you're not. When he comes home from the school in the afternoon, I'm there and you're not. When his grandmother sends him for a loaf of bread at the corner store, I'm there and you're not. I win, you lose."
It was then that the Reverend realized he had to take it to the streets....the gospel that is, as well as other help for these kids."

Review of "Street Saints" and "Everything Must Change"--Part 1

It's amazing how God has given me a desire to get interested in a certain subject or read a certain book or have a certain experience, and then I see how they are related although they seem to be very different. I'm now reading two different books that I just happened to find out about. I had no idea they would be similar - presenting the social gospel. However, they seem to come from two different "Christian" perspectives.

The first one is entitled Street Faith by Barabara J. Elliott and the second one is Brian McLaren's new book, Everything Must Change.

For the next few posts I will be reviewing, comparing and discussing these two books. You can see their covers on my Shelfari shefl at the immediate left.

First a general overview of both books. Street Saints is the most comprehensive book I've seen that shows us specific faith-based programs in our towns and cities and how they operate. The general theme of this book is that Christians and churches are getting involved in ministries to the disenfranchised. Another theme in this book that I think is very important is these programs do not neglect the gospel. In one of the last chapters, Elliott brings forth a very strong statemnt of what the gospel is. She actually utters the words, "substitutionary atonement." Oh my gosh!! Some one who champions the social gospel has the guts to actually say those words., Today, that is truly miraculous. I've written quite a few posts here asking why it has become so difficult, since after the Civil War, for evangelicals to do the social gospel without ditching their statements of faith. I think this book is at least getting to the answer.

And then we have Brian McLaren's book. As usual, McLaren presents the social gospel but not what I would call The Gospel. It is the gospel according to many in the emergent movement, which I've said before much of which equates to liberal Protestantism. Some bloggers who've reviewed this book says he presents Marxist liberation theology. Frankly, I didn't see that and I think that might be a bit unfair. But it is basically the stuff I heard growing up in my liberal Protestant church.

If we all would just do the right thing, everything would change for the better because people are basically good and will do the right thing. That was the theme of this book - at least to me. I found it the book to be interesting and as usual McLaren does a credible job of identifying problems. It's the answers that bothers me.

Everything Must Change deals with what McLaren calls three interlocking systems. And if these systems don’t interlock correctly, the balance of nature and society is thrown off. The three systems are:

1. Prosperity Dysfunction-seen in the environment disaster
2. Equity Dysfunction-seen in the huge disparity between the CEO class and the underclass
3. Security Dysfunction-Seen as violence to be the way to keep the status quo

In future reviews of this book we shall see how McLaren develops these three themes. And in future reviews of Street Faith we shall find out how churches and individuals start faith-based ministries, how they are funded, how they operate, who is involved and the outcomes.

Stay tuned........

Great Post from the Onward, Forward, Toward...Blog

The TotemtoTemple blog has a new name, Onward, Forward, Toward.... A recent post there was marvelous in describing the mess going on today's evangelical church. Here's the main part of that post with permission from the blogger.

"The politicians want us to be their voting bloc to vote God’s Only Party into office.
The seeker sensitive types want us to make church a cool place for sinners with a lukewarm gospel.
The church growth experts want us to be their demographic in order to market us.
The word of faithers want us to buy our way out of our trials.
The corporate church theorists want us to become cut-throat and act businesslike.
The emergents want us to be the deconstructors of the essentials and rewrite the Bible.
The Reconstructionists want us to be the rebuilders of Christian America.
The dominionists want it to be heaven on earth and recreate Eden.
The riverites want us to keep splashing and talking about renewal while the world around them decays.
The atheists and agnostics want us to just go away.
The Charismatics want us to dance ourselves into obsolescence.
The Pentecostals want us to recreate the Christianized ‘honky-tonk’ to flesh out to.
The Third Wavers want us to become the prophetic Don Quixote and chase spiritual windmills instead of souls and hammer down property stakes on our borders.
The bible prophecy teachers want to make us their bunker from impending doom.
The Messianics want us to build a shrine to Jerusalem and partake of Jewish customs and holidays..
The N.A.R. want us to surrender church leadership to them and make Colorado Springs, CO the new Vatican.
The purpose-driven want us to eternally search for purpose but never find our calling.
The spiritual warfare people want us to cast the alcohol demon off of seventh street from the confines of the sanctuary while not reaching out to the city."

Source: The Church Needs to Become the Church

Buddhist "Emergents"?

Even other religions are getting in on the "we need to relate more to the postmodern generation" thinking.

Zen Buddhists in Japan felt they had to modernize to interest people in what they were all about. So, they put on colorful robes and had a fashion show, walking out on the catwalk to rap music.

Said one,
"We won't change Buddha's teachings, but perhaps we need a different presentation that can touch the feelings of the people today."

Source: http://www.gadling.com/2007/12/19/big-in-japan-buddhist-monks-strut-it-out-on-the-catwalk/

Is This the New Legalism?

Here is an interesting tidbit of an idea. I got this from another blog that quotes a popular speaker. Well, how popular he is depends on in which camp you are theologically. Anyway, here is the tidbit - the emergents do a lot of talking about how to prove your Christianity. You must help the poor and the environment. Is this a new form of legalism? Now, that is one interesting concept. And this is what you get from the process conversion [justification] theology that is going around right now.

Dever on "What Evangelism Isn't"

I thought these points on "what evangelism isn't" were outstanding. I just wish these things were being spoken years ago. They are a summary of a part of The Gospel and Personal Evangelism by Mark Dever © 2007.

"1. Imposition
Probably the most common objection to evangelism today is, "Isn't it wrong to impose our beliefs on others?"
Some people don't practice evangelism because they feel they are imposing on others. And the way evangelism is often done, I can understand the confusion! But when you understand what the Bible presents as evangelism, it's really not a matter of imposing your beliefs.
It's important to understand that the message you are sharing is not merely an opinion but a fact. That's why sharing the gospel can't be called an imposition, any more than a pilot can impose his belief on all his passengers that the runway is here and not there.
Additionally, the truths of the gospel are not yours, in the sense that they uniquely pertain to you or your perspective or experience, or in the sense that you came up with them. When you evangelize, you are not merely saying, "This is how I like to think of God," or "This is how I see it." You're presenting the Christian gospel. You didn't invent it, and you have no authority to alter it.

2. Personal Testimony
One of the classic testimonies was given by a blind man Jesus healed. When he was questioned after Jesus healed him, he responded, "Whether he [Jesus] is a sinner or not, I don't know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!" (John 9:25). The man disregarded the menacing threats of those more honored and respected than he in order to give this verbal witness to the power of God. It's a wonderful, powerful testimony, but it's not evangelism. There is no gospel in it. The man didn't even know who Jesus was.
An account of a changed life is wonderful and inspiring thing, but it's the gospel of Jesus Christ that explains what it's all about and how it happened.

3. Social Action and Public Involvement
Being involved in mercy ministries may help to commend the gospel, which is why Jesus taught, "Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven" (Matt. 5:16). Displaying God's compassion and kindness by our actions is a good and appropriate thing for Christians to do. But such actions are not evangelism. They commend the gospel, but they share it with no one. To be evangelism, the gospel must be clearly communicated, whether in written or oral form."

[My comment] Get this next sentence. ALL liberal Protestants and emergents and seeker-sensitive/purpose-drivens need to hear them:

"When our eyes fall from God to humanity, social ills replace sin, horizontal problems replace the fundamental vertical problem between us and God, winning elections eclipses winning souls.

4. Apologetics
Other people mistake apologetics for evangelism. Like the activities we've considered above, apologetics itself is a good thing. We are instructed by Peter to be ready to give a reason for the hope that we have (1 Pet. 3:15). And apologetics is doing exactly that. Apologetics is answering questions and objections people may have about God or Christ, or about the Bible or the message of the gospel. By far the greatest danger in apologetics is being distracted from the main message. Evangelism is not defending the virgin birth or defending the historicity of the resurrection. Apologetics is defending the faith, answering the questions others have about Christianity. It is responding to the agenda that others set. Evangelism, however, is following Christ's agenda, the news about him. Evangelism is the positive act of telling the good news about Jesus Christ and the way of salvation through him.

5. The Results of Evangelism
Finally, one of the most common and dangerous mistakes in evangelism is to misinterpret the results of evangelism—the conversion of unbelievers—for evangelism itself, which is the simple telling of the gospel message. Who can deny that much modern evangelism has become emotionally manipulative, seeking simply to cause a momentary decision of the sinner's will, yet neglecting the biblical idea that conversion is the result of the supernatural, gracious act of God toward the sinner?
When we are involved in a program in which converts are quickly counted, decisions are more likely pressed, and evangelism is gauged by its immediately obvious effect, we are involved in undermining real evangelism and real churches.
The Christian call to evangelism is a call not simply to persuade people to make decisions but rather to proclaim to them the good news of salvation in Christ, to call them to repentance, and to give God the glory for regeneration and conversion. We don't fail in our evangelism if we faithfully tell the gospel to someone who is not converted; we fail only if we don't faithfully tell the gospel at all. Evangelism itself isn't converting people; it's telling them that they need to be converted and telling them how they can be."

Source: http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2007/decemberweb-only/101-12.0.html