Over at vibist.com there is a quote from Rob Bell which is Bell's answer to the Christianity Today magazine's question: "How would you present this gospel on Twitter?"

Here is Bell's answer?


I would say that history is headed somewhere. The thousands of little ways in which you are tempted to believe that hope might actually be a legitimate response to the insanity of the world actually can be trusted. And the Christian story is that a tomb is empty, and a movement has actually begun that has been present in a sense all along in creation. And all those times when your cynicism was at odds with an impulse within you that said that this little thing might be about something bigger—those tiny little slivers may in fact be connected to something really, really big.


Would someone please tell me what this means? I never heard Jesus talk this way.

"What Made Me Come Through Those Doors?"

While I am solidly against most of the Thrid Wave "stuff," one of their "prophets" at times does make sense. His name is Bill Yount and something he wrote recently really struck me as true. In fact, I've been thinking about the same thing recently so perhaps God is talking to many of us about it. With apologies to Mr. Yount, I plaziarized his title for my blog post today.

To explain the title, and what I hear God saying to us about our prayer task, here is a snippet of his article,


At the end of the service we were praying for healing for people at the altar. A man came staggering up the aisle to the altar and began to tell us something. He said, "Ten minutes ago I was in a bar, drinking. I left that bar and was walking down the highway past your church. Something told me to walk over to your building. I have been watching you all through the windows. Tell me something, what made me come through those doors?" He kept repeating his question over and over to us. "What made me come through those doors? What was it?"


This is exactly what happened in the Welsh revival beginning in 1904 in the town of Lougher in the Moriah Chapel. The hard-living miners would be streaming down the street having come out of the bars and houses of prostitution. They would be passing Mount Moriah Church and suddenly had this conviction of sin. Tears were trickling down their faces as they hurried into the church and gave their lives to Christ. Conservative estimates are tht more than 150,000 people came to Christ in that church in the first 6 months. This had the effect of changing the nation. THe bars and houses of prostitution were almsot empty. People were in church every night for hours.

I am believing more and more that this is exactly what has to happen short of a horrbile national catastrophe afecting almost everyone (or maybe both wil happen). Our cutsey, ineffective programs and methods have utterly failed the church, the society and the country (USA, as well as other western countries).

OK...troops....you all got your prayer orders. Hmmmm....I think that includes me too.

OK, all you ancient-future folks, stay tuned. I never have udnerstood how Christians and even pastors can attend the movies they do. We have gotten to the point where there is no conviction and no discernment. Lately the Holy Spirit has impressed upon me that we need to pray for more conviction, especially in our churches. If people are convicted they will want a Savior, not a nice guy pal who does nice things for people. Here is what an "ancient" Christian (Tertullian) said in the 3rd century about the theater, which in the Roman Empire presented many immoral plays,


Why is it right to look on what it is disgraceful to do? How is it that the things which defile a man in going out of his mouth, are not regarded as doing so when they go in at his eyes and ears--when eyes and ears are the immediate attendants of the spirit? You have the theater forbidden, then, in the forbidding of immodesty

Hmmm....maybe he was a legalist. No, I doubt that he was. And neither am I, but most Christians today, especially younger ones, would laugh at this suggestion. immodesty? What is that?

Putting a law down isn't the answer. It's powerful HOly Ghost preaching that will convict and teach the Scriptrues in the Spirit of revelation.

Source for the quote:Christianity Today magazine, May 2010 issue

Rabbi Jesus vs. Savior Jesus

Those who follow the emergents' Rabbi Jesus will be very disappointed indeed and probably will in the future find themselves in deep doo-doo. Rabbi Jesus is a nice guy but he is terribly ineffective. Some versions of Rabbi Jesus do say he healed the sick but for some reason he has become very ineffective in this regard today. He also came and actually died to help The Poor but he failed there too as there still were as many poor people when he died in Israel as there were in his lifetime. And the poor are stil with us. But this is rich Republicans fault and Rabbi Jesus wants you to use Marxist liberation theological ideas to combat this. He also came to bring social justice to the oppressed and poor but he failed in that too. Poor Rabbi Jesus. Rabbi Jesus cannot help you with your sin as he did not die for that purpose. So, the way your "progressive" church will tell you to salve your guilty conscience is by helping the poor and bringing social justice to the world. Oh, and loving everyone too. Rabbi Jesus won't be helping you to do this however, but a vague "God" will try to help you. Basically you and your church are on their own. However the good news about Rabbi Jesus is.....he will bring everyone into unity and to heaven with him when we die. He's a very inclusive guy.

There is another Jesus that we aren't hearing about too much today (at least not where I live). He is Savior Jesus. He actually healed the sick and will do so today. He converts people so they have a new nature and lots of hope, not only for this world, but for the next world to come. Unfortuantely, Savior Jesus took his death very seriously as did his Father GOd, so only those who confess Savior Jesus will be joining him in the hereafter, as well as having true peace, hope and empowerment on this earth.

Oh, by the way, you don't have to help the poor and bring social justice if you follow Savior Jesus as he isn't legalistic like Rabbi Jesus is. But because of the transformation inside of you, (which, by the way, does not often happen with Rabbi Jesus followers), you will probably want to help the poor and have the power to really do it right, unlike Rabbi Jesus' followers who will only bring misery to the poor with their humanistic, fleshly and goofy ideas that regulate the poor instead of transforming and empowering them.

A Few Interesting Sites

Many of us are "in-betweeners." By that I mean we have kind of graduated from a hymn-like traditional service but aren't quite taken with what is called a "contemporary" service either. Is there only two chpices here? Read what Bob over at Onward, Forward, Toward writes about this dilemma.


And for some great laughs, but also seeing a real truth about the emergent movement coming into churches and whether your church is next, read, Top 10 Signs your Church May Be About To Drink “Calf Juice” at the Sola Sisters blog.

Quote of the Week

Regarding the arrogance of the emergent camp........


It’s pure historical ignorance or arrogance. It’s as thought the church for the last 2000 years hasn’t had a clue what they’re doing, and now, thanks to guys like Leonard Sweet, we can start doing church.


_____Dale van Dyke, pastor of Harvest Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan

Why We Want to Help the Poor

I've been thinking recently about why churches today are in a panic to help the poor and replacing this as the center of their doctrine. What Christ did at the cross for us (in regards to sin) is being replaced in more and more evangelical churches by this moe liberal Protestant doctrinal center. And, this replacement of the social gospel is increasingly coming into our pulpits and Sunday School classes. This isn't about NOT helping the poor, by the way. This is about why this doctrine is replacing the cross. I think I might have the answer.

When you replace the cross and the propitiation of Jesus Christ as the way God has ordained for sin and guilt to be resolved, you accumulate more guilt. One popular way to assuage the guilt is to "help people" and generally do good works. Another way is to try to observe good morals, in other words, the law. This latter technique for assuaging guilt might also explain why there is so much enthusiasm on the part of Christian evangelical college students and seminarians for the New Perspective on Paul as good works are stressed as necessary for salvation.

Obviously we need to get back to the cross of substitutionary atonement as our center and foundation, and allow the social gospel to come out of this. If we do this, we really will help the poor, instead of making things more miserable for them with our "good intentions" and at times hairbrained ideas which are not coming from the spirit of God, but the flesh and carnal mind. This is what happens when you have the wrong center and anti-foundationalism in your Christianity.

In the May Issue of Charisma magazine there is an article entitled End of the Line. It starts out this way,

"There is an uneasy feeling in evangelicalism today that everything is changing."

You can say that again. But IMO the change isn't good. At least not the change this author (Brian Zahnd) is talking about. I am hearing this type of thing so much today and it sounds good but it's off-center.

"Protestant Reform is no longer the issue."

Oh really? I think that is precisely the issue. We need to revisit some (perhaps not all) of what the Reformation talked about.

Later on the author says this,

"If we are going to persuade a skeptical world of the gospel of Jesus Christ and make a compelling case for Chrstianity in this century, we will have to so on their terms."

Really? Is that why Paul wrote I Corinthians? On their terms? Or is that book precisely to tell the church at Corinth that they cannot practice Christianity on their terms. And exactly what did happen at Mars Hill with those Greek philosophy types? There is a big difference between using illustrations from people's cultural understanding to relate Gospel (Biblical) concepts. It's a whole different road to travel if the Gospel is changed in order to meet the evangelized on their terms. And that is precisely what we are seeing in today's evangelical churches, especially among the younger pastors. They have the same group-think and word-speak. Here is an example from what he writes later on. He says the church is spending too much time in protests and politics. Point well taken. Then he proceeds to ask why we cannot act in love and reconciliation. Fine. But what is always missing in these writings and sermons and teachings from the younger set is what happened at the cross using words like sin, propitiation, redemption from God's wrath, etc. If those words are too big and hard perhaps we can define them I don't expect a motmon to change their Book of Mormon for me I can udnerstand Mormonism on MY terms. Get my point here?

Love and reconciliation are so overused today. God's love and reconciliation cannot be fully understand without the illustration of redemption and the necessity of it. But so many of these younger Christians have their nose in the four gospels....period. Even in the gospel you could get the real gospel, but they don't seem to read those verses, I guess. Their criticism of course is that us older folks spend too much time in Paul. That can be true. Perhaps we can balance each other? Maybe read the whole Bible? The book of Hebrews is very explicit in the first 10 chapters, especially, about Christ's finished work on the cross. It uses those BIG words too. You are rarely hearing this today. In fact you rarely hear any teaching out of Hebrews, or Galatians for that matter unless it is being skewered and deconstructed in its interpretation ala the New Perspective on Paul. I am truly discouraged about the direction the evangelical church is going in this country (America). It's very clear historically that a country goes in the direction, being blessed or cursed, as its religion. Perhaps we should look at the state of our country and ask ourselves what the state of our religion is.

I think I've finally figured it out. The "new progressive-emergent" Christians tell us how tolerant they are and how much they love people, especially the oppressed. But then why are they so unfriendly to "normative folks," espcially the elderly? And why are they so snarky and at times hostile? I think I've figured it out. When one leaves what Jesus did at the cross regarding His dealing with our sin, we tend to assuage our guilt with the usual works program. It takes various forms in different eras; the groups within the church have various names, but it's essentially the same.

Today in evangelical-land, it's emergents or progressives; or "grace" Christians; or universalist Christians, or whatever other name the works people go under. In the beginning and middle of the last century they were called "holiness people" and at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries they were called liberal Protestants and before that Unitarians; but it's still the same game. The game is this: If I do enough good things, God will (pick one)--"like me/save me/I will feel better about myself/I will feel noble"--etc.

I Found a Fantastic Author!

I am reading the two most fabulous books right now by Gene Edward Veith. He is -associate professor of English at Concordia University-Wisconsin. One is on Postmodernism and one is on Fascism. For the next weeks I will now and then psot great quotes from these books. Out of all my reading, I really haven't found anyone as good as Veith (except perhaps for C. A. Carson) who really understands the extreme danger of postmodern philosophical thinking and its relation to totalitarianism to the evangelical church today. Here are some gems to start out with.

Now concerning liberal theology, far from appealing to modern man, the liberal churches have plummeted in membership. If the liberals were right, there is really no need for a church. If a Bible is a myth and we really don’t need to be saved, as the liberals so earnestly preached, why not sleep in on Sunday mornings. Ironically, conservative and fundamentalist churches began to grow, addressing the genuine spiritual needs that modernist churches denied.

Real Revival is Needed NOW!

I started this blog almost 6 years ago to point out, warn and inform people about the Third Wave Charismtic so-called "revival." Today, this movement is now being called the New Apostolic Reformation, NAR for short. I've said then and I say now that you will not and cannot change a country through either fundamentalist legalism (putting all sorts of laws on people who don't want those laws...i.e. the Christian Right); nor through false Christian spirituality (The NAR revivals, mysticism, etc.) where the leaders and participants confuse the occult spirit for the Holy Spirit; and certainly not through postmodern philsophical foundations as we see in the emergent movement.

The only way to change a country is the old-fashioned way; the Romans 10 way. I don;t mean old methods necessarily...please do not confuse the two. Romans 10:14 tells us that the only way people will "believe" is through people telling them. While I certainly don't advocate the older method of "hit and run" evangelism, I do advocate a mind set that says, "I will be ready if and when the Holy Spirit leads a conversation in that direction. I will get involved in activities directed by the spirit in my community to serve, to enjoy hobbies and also to get to know the people God wants me to tell. The Christian Right missed it with their legalistic approach and now the Christian Left is missing it with their liberal Protestant-type of social activism. Social activism doesn't change people and most times it doesn't even change a situation for the better--not for long anyway.

Today, it is absolutely shocking how our Christian leaders are selling us out to postmodern destructive philosophy. Thirty-five years ago they began this sell-out with promises that we could change our country "another way"(the Christian Right). and now the Progressives (the fancy-wancy new name the emergents have given themselves) are telling us once again that we can change the country "another way" (through a social justice atonement belief and social activism as the Center). Both ways won't work and right now the country is in such bad spiritual shape, which is effecting and affecting every aspect of it, that we cannot afford to be on these roads anymore. We must get back on the right road of the gospel of the cross and Resurrection. Sorry guys--No more postmodern deconstructionist/radical reader interpretation of the Bible allowed.

It doesn't take a genius to figure out why the United States is in such bad shape. When the church fails, countries fail. Study France and the condition fo the Catholic church there in 1789 and it's apparent. Study Germany and the majority of (liberal) Lutheran Church theology there in 1933 and it's apparent. And now, study the evangelical church in America in 2010 and it's extremely apparent.

Our Christian leaders (most of them, not all) have sold us out for power and money and who knows what else. Perhaps it is time for us "common congregants" to rise up and tell them they are no longer needed as we will select the right people ourselves, since our Christian institutions cannot seem to do an adequate job of it.

What we need is Real Revival--a perfect balance between Word (doctrine) and Spirit (revelation and leading). Now, THAT combo changes countries.

NOTE:You might wish to read about the Welsh Revival of the early 20th century to understand what I am talking about. Just Google it.

Emptying Religion?

In today's New York Times Op/ Ed page philosopher Stanley Fish points out an interesting dilemma. He takes the example of the recent controversy of a cross planted in the Mojave Desert in California in 1934. The Veterans of Foreign Wars put it there as a commemoration to those soldiers who died in WWI. So why is this causing a furor and even went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court? Hey, it's a cross. As in Christianity....aaaauuughhh! On the way to the Supreme Court, the Ninth District Court of appeals, which by the way is one fo the most liberal, if not THE most liberal appeals court in the United States, said that the cross showed an establishment of religion in that place. The Supreme Court transferred the federal land upon which the cross stood to the adjoining private property thus resolving the issue. Neat huh. Fish writes,

"Now the fun and crazy stuff begins. Kennedy denies that the “emplacement” of the cross was accompanied by any intention “to promote a Christian message.” It was “intended simply to honor our Nation’s fallen soldiers."

His point is that in order for religious symbols of any religion to be in the "public square, the message of the religion itself must be stripped from it. In other words, it becomes a secular symbol, not a religious one, and therefore, has a different meaning altogether. Since Fish is a postmodernist and some believe a deconstructionist, this kind of stuff is right down his alley. By this is meant, What do symbols and words really mean? Today, when someone looks at a cross they might not be thinking of a Saviour named Jesus who died for their sins. Why? Because I don't think most Americans have even heard that message. I know it's rare out here where I live in Southern California to find people who know and understand even a teeiest bit the Christian message. They might have heard bits and pieces but certainly not a cogent, whole mesage. My point is this: a symbol can get people to thinking, but a message that makes sense and is clear certainly needs to accompany the symbol. And this is where true evangelism comes in as a necessary mode of communciation, thus taking us away, however briefly, from being only "relevant."

Christian Carnival CCCXXV

Welcome to the 325th Christian Carnival. Here is the lineup for this week.


*Joe at the Personal Finance By The Book blog lists three types of procrastination and three reasons why people do it. Then he says that there is one thing we better not procrastinate. Go to his post entitled Procrastination: What Is It and Why Do We Do It? to find out why people procrastinate and the one thing we better not do.


*If you want a Christian camp for the whole family and the value of a good camp, check out one in the state of Georgia at the SiteTally.com blog in the post, CampCharis.org--His Reflection In Our Lives.


*This was an unusual post as it’s an analogy of hockey with Christianity. Chris of the Life As A Human blog presents Crosby Shoots, Can Jesus Save?.


*Kolby of the Youth Ministry Media blog gives us 5 iphone apps that you need for youth ministry. Some of these apps are organizational and a few are for personal devotions.


*I’ve noticed quite a lot of books and blogs writing about the Resurrection lately. As I read Tim’s post entitled, Here’s to Revolution, I was reminded that after Jesus died, the disciples were still fearful. But after the Resurrection (and especially after Pentecost) things changed. Tim of the Even If I Walk Alone blog has captured three big changes in the disciples that followed the Resurrection. He says that we can also experience these changes and thus as he says, “change the world.”


***Well, this is an interesting coincidence. Two different bloggers wrote a book review this week about the very same book. With the New Perspective on Paul lurking about, it seems everyone wants to know the “real” Paul. Both bloggers are fairly positive about the book, but both also have a criticism too near the end of the reviews.***

*Marcus of Seeking the Truth… reviews of this book about the Apostle Paul by Anthony Thiselton. In the review Marcus is very detailed as to what the themes of the book are, as well as a critique of a few things Marcus felt the author could have changed. You can find this fascinating review at his post entitled, Book Review: The Living Paul.


Danny at Boston Bible Geeks also gives us his take on this book, looking at some of the themes of Paul at his post, Book Review: The Living Paul.


*This post really spoke to me as I am distressed to see the whole evangelical movement scurrying around to help The Poor and replacing the cross as Christianity’s center. But do they really help The Poor? Russ at the Thinking in Christ blog
gives us a post entitled, Unintended Consequences in which he gives us an example of good intentions which are not thought out and result in problems for those who we wish to help. After reading this post I hope you will ask God how we can really help those in need.


*Michelle of the And She Went Out... blog always has fascinating stories about where God sends her as a nurse. Read her latest adventure at the post entitled Just Praise And Adoration. (Darn! I wish I knew about those tissue flap things when I was taking care of my bedridden mother.)


*I want a 2011 Mustang! I want a Mustang! I want a Mustang! Of course I didn’t mention I have a very good 2005 Toyota RAV4 with only 11,000 miles on it. Aslo I didn’t mention that I am the original owner and owe nothing on it. I’m wondering if I’m coveting. Trent of the Christian Men-Christian Warriors blog writes about what coveting means in his post, Enemy Behind the Line: Coveting. Oh, by the way, Trent starts the blog by telling us that he wants a certain ($52,000) car too….Hmmmmm.


*There are times when you learn fascinating things at the Christian Carnival and this post has some. The Heart, Mind, Soul, and Strength blog presents Confirmation day and my niece's bat mitzvah. Perhaps we can learn some things from our Jewish friends?


*The Shroud of Turin continues to baffle even the experts. Was this Jesus’s burial face cloth or not? Rodney of the RodneyOlsen.Net blog gives us a definite view in his post entitled, Shroud of Turin.


*John at Light Along the Journey finds a certain hike quite challenging and sees the analogy to our Christian walk (or maybe we could think of it as a “Christian hike?”) in his post entitled, Hills Reveal Hearts.


*Ridge at Ridge’s Blog writes about reflections from a man with terminal cancer. Here is a phrase that just captured me, “He said when you have terminal cancer, when you know you are going to die, you are thankful for each day, and you live each day to the fullest based on the energy that you have to live it.” Ridge’s post is entitled, Richard Rabehl.


*College is over and it’s grad school time! Dan at the keyboard theologians blog needs someone out there to help him find a good grad school for a masters in historical theology. If anyone out there knows one, tell Dan. If anyone out there knows what historical theology is, please tell me. Dan’s post is entitled, Looking at Grad Schools.


*Barry of the who am i? blog enjoyed this YouTube video of an English evangelist who converted to Christ from atheism in his post entitled, An atheist... now a lover of Christ. Hmmm….sounds familiar….almost my testimony too.


*Steven of the You Can't Mean That! points out that there are two ways to approach the historical Jesus. One is the way unbelievers approach it and the other is the Christian approach. Read these two approaches in detail at his post entitled, Questing for the 'Historical Jesus' - Part 2: Begging the Question.


*Violet of the Other Food: daily devo's has a unique perspective on our serving others as unto the Lord but with the twist of a continuing service into eternity. Be sure to read this post entitled, Heaven's work.


*Rey of The Bible Archive blog presents Guestblogger: Xulon on Ethics, Law and the Sabbath. Blogger Xulon talks about four areas of ethics and the law. The four are entitled, Ethics Beyond Duty, The Law of Moses Has Been Done Away With, The Ten Commandments Are Done Away With The Law Of Moses, and The Sabbath in the New Testament. I found the third one about the Ten Commandments fascinating as I never realized that the nine of the Ten Commandments are clearly spelled out in the New Testament (grace). These four posts are a short read and I recommend them highly.


**My contribution is entitled, Emptying Religion? in which I dicuss Stanley Fish's op/ed piece today in the New York Times on emptying religoon of its content.

An Old Quote That is VERY Relevant for Today Too

We do not wish to abolish teaching and to make every man his own master, but if the curates will not teach the gospel, the layman must have the Scripture, and read it for himself, taking God for his teacher.

________William Tyndale (1494-1536)


Source:http://www.christianitytoday.com/ch/thepastinthepresent/classicfaithformoderntimes/thelighttoourpaths.html