Why I don't teach Tithing...

Yes, I do not teach tithing as represented by most churches at Jacob's Well.

As you know, if you attend here regularly or heard yesterday's message. But since I am sure that message shocked some, upset others and probably set a lot of guilt laden believers free...I thought I would take some time to expound here.

I teach principles of giving rooted in the Old Testament texts concerning Israel's system of economics represented in the Manna, Tithe, Gleaning, Debt forgiveness, Jubilee and the Sabbath texts (Ex 16:16- 26, Lev 25, Dt 15); taught and modeled by Jesus and the early church and expounded on by the Apostles in both word and deed.

Israel followed the Old Covenant law and that law contained commands that fell under three general categories:
-Moral
-Ceremonial
-Civil

As New Covenant followers of God, we must discern which of the commands pass through the cross and resurrection of Jesus. I believe the NT teaches that much of the moral law passes through, but the ceremonial and civil law do not in the letter of the law; but do in the spirit of the law. Most of the commands of the law were fulfilled by Jesus and now are embodied in spirit in the believer's life both personal and communally as the church.

I believe the "righteousness" of the Christian church exceeds and goes beyond that of the OT believer. Kingdom economic's surpass Israel's economics. The ending of the civil based kingdom focus of the OT necessitates a Kingdom ethic that embraces OT ethics in relationship to money, giving and the poor but allows for the expansion of the gospel into all the world via a spiritual kingdom.

Laws have become principles for the community of faith to wrestle with and walk out for the good of the community and in honor and worship of God; who has blessed us and made us stewards of His resources.

You can search high and low in the epistles and letters and you will find no clear cut teaching on anything that reflects a literal command to Tithe. But you do find a sacrificial giving community that embodies a corporate ethos that clearly resembles all the commands and practices of the OT community of faith.

The NT focuses on the inner life of the heart and soul; uprooting the love of money and all its abuses and idolatry. This focus goes beyond and below the ideas of blessings, the pursuit of wealth or percentages.

The main NT text's that speak directly to the issue of care for the poor and giving are below.

Remember this—a farmer who plants only a few seeds will get a small crop. But the one who plants generously will get a generous crop. You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. “For God loves a person who gives cheerfully.” And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others.
-2 Corinthians 9:6-8

Now regarding your question about the money being collected for God’s people in Jerusalem. You should follow the same procedure I gave to the churches in Galatia. On the first day of each week, you should each put aside a portion of the money you have earned. Don’t wait until I get there and then try to collect it all at once.
-1 Corinthians 16:1-2

Give in proportion to what you have. Whatever you give is acceptable if you give it eagerly. And give according to what you have, not what you don’t have. Of course, I don’t mean your giving should make life easy for others and hard for yourselves. I only mean that there should be some equality. Right now you have plenty and can help those who are in need. Later, they will have plenty and can share with you when you need it. In this way, things will be equal. As the Scriptures say,
“Those who gathered a lot had nothing left over, and those who gathered only a little had enough."
-2 Corinthians 8:11-15

...I want you to excel also in this gracious act of giving. I am not commanding you to do this. But I am testing how genuine your love is by comparing it with the eagerness of the other churches." -2 Cor 8:7-8

The New Testament's basic giving principles:

1. Give All You Can
Key phrase in 1 Cor 16:2: "as he may prosper" (nas version)

2. Give voluntarily
Key phrases: You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure (2 Cor 9:7

3. Give with Equality in mind
Key phrase: There should be some equality (2 Cor 8:13)

The New Testament's giving ethos examined:
-Acts 2:43-47
-Acts 4:32-35,
-Acts 6:1
-John 12:6

In the OT the land apportioning and giving texts provided basically two realities:
-An opportunity for everyone to work and provide for ones family.
-A safety net for those who couldn't care for themselves.

These two principles pass on to the NT community. NT economics maintain the ethos that if you can work, you should. If you can't we will take care of you. Giving isn't meant to enable sinful lifestyles, immaturity, greediness or laziness. Giving is a gracious example of generosity that cares for the poor and suffering and exhibits a community that is free from the love of money and is motivated by love and not fear or greed.

There is much more on the subject that expands on the beautiful way in which NT communities went above and beyond in the care of the poor, one another and for the mission of God to the world; but for brevity sake...these are the main guiding principles we at Jacob's Well use to express our value of Partnering together for Mission.

Strokes, Nipples and Adventures in missing the point...

A week or so ago, I posted a picture on a post about the following verse:

"O LORD, my heart is not proud, nor my eyes haughty; Nor do I involve myself in great matters, Or in things too difficult for me. Surely I have composed and quieted my soul; Like a weaned child rests against his mother, My soul is like a weaned child within me. O Israel, hope in the LORD From this time forth and forever. -King David (Psalms 131)

That post didn't receive any comments on my blog...but it got 43 comments generated on my facebook page....all revolving around the "nipple" that was visible in the painting.

The conversations and the experience reminds me of a quote from the great and polarizing Tony Campolo:

“I have three things I’d like to say today. First, while you were sleeping last night, 30,000 kids died of starvation or diseases related to malnutrition. Second, most of you don’t give a shit. What’s worse is that you’re more upset with the fact that I said shit than the fact that 30,000 kids died last night.”

Yes, we Christians are prone to adventures in missing the point. We major on the minors and minor on the majors. Not one person had anything to say about the point of the post, the scripture or asked about the story behind it. All we could do was dance around the nipple issue. Now, maybe thats a lesson in the distracting nature of image and message...but thats another post.

I wanted to give some background to that original post.

I had just experienced a scary day. My wife woke up and started getting a tingling sensation on her left side of her body. Her leg, arm and face started going numb. We finally ended up at the doctors, doing neurological tests and spending time in the ER doing tests to try to determine if she had MS, a tumor, a stroke or what. She couldn't stand on her toes, she was lethargic and the symptoms came then receded and then came back again over the next 8 days. We didn't tell anyone for the first 7 days. She played through the worship service the first weekend with all of this taking place in her body. She didn't want to frighten the kids or make it public until she had some answers. It was a scary week to say the least.

The Lord used this verse to minister peace to my soul in the midst of this trial. I clung to it and shared it to hopefully encourage someone else in a tough place of anxiety, fear or worry.

What I got, is what most people experience in the church....a lot of opinions, judgements, religiousness, scripture quoting and slightly antagonistic interchanges...all stuff that is typical for the internet and unfortunately for Christians.

During this week, sandwiched between two Sundays of heartfelt and passionate delivery of the word of God; I was knee deep in defending myself from: accusations of mishandling the scriptures, not understanding the biblical narrative, not meeting parishioners needs, leaving a sheep to die alone in his sin, neglecting people, inducing potential sinners to lust...all while working through the fact that my wife might be having a life altering stroke that could reshape all our lives.

Good times...

So here I sit...all the test came back normal, no tumors, MS, lesions on the brain or signs of any stroke. Good news indeed...but my wife is still in bed and wont be going to work today because all she can accomplish is about an hour of activity before she has to sleep again.

As I ponder this verse again and practice the spiritual work of encouraging myself in the Lord...I really find the whole series of interchanges this week to be painfully reflective of how far we all have to go in walking out a type of Christianity that isn't going to repel the world.

(pic: http://www.andreatyrimos.com)

Skunk Stink & Prickly People....

There is a ton of relational collateral damage in the church. Some of it is just the flotsam and jetsam that is part of fallen human reality and some stuff is just viral, chronic dysfunction,that has taken root in the broken and wounded places of our souls. The process of exposure and healing can be a messy and often painful process for the person with the brokenness and the people around them, who suffer through the path towards wholeness.

It's much like tangoing with a Skunk or Porcupine...

Skunk people are the ones who when you get to close, press to hard, touch their idols or prick their consciences...they raise their tail's and if they perceive a provoking coming on...they spray a stink of hellashish proportions into the relational air. They often prance around with their tails half cocked...always eyeing you with suspicion. They are night dwellers. They like the shadows and the background. They love to be anonymous. They are often given to gossip. They have sharp teeth and a nasty disposition if confronted or cornered and God have mercy on your sweet little soul if you get a full dose of their noxious poison doused on you from their ass like defense mechanisms. You will suffer...long and hard. You can always tell when this person has been around...their stink lingers on everything and especially on people. Many a church or relational community has been evacuated and determined "uninhabitable" by the presences of these anti-social malcontents.

Other folks are like Porcupines...
Both Skunks and Porcupine people are cute. They often have a charm and sweetness about them that can deceive you from the distance. Masters of the art of perception...they lure people into close proximity with their qualities of genuine approachability but will turn on you once you pass their predetermined safe zone. Porcupine People meander through their lives with a pace that seems harmless...they are often jovial and humble and would never seem to want to harm a gnat.

But if you cross them...look out! A shower of soul piercing quills will be let loose upon you that will make the Persian's projectile attacks on the Spartans look like a fresh spring sprinkle! You can end up plummeted in a mass of prickly, penetrating, persnickety pins that will easily sink into your sensitive heart but resist removal, even by one with the strength of Atlas! Once stuck...you will suffer. The church is bleeding profusely from these relational wounds.
The Apostle Paul knew full well of our proclivity to such cannibalistic tendencies when he warned and admonished the Galatian believers:

"But if you bite and devour one another, be careful that you are not destroyed by each other." -Galatians 5:15

In another letter to a chaotic group of divisive people, he laid out a small quote that sheds painful light on our often dark temperaments:

Love is not irritable -1 Corinthians 13:5

The simple truth is hard to face...we all have a long way to go. Some people are like lemons, when life squeezes them, they pour out a sour response. Some are more like peaches: when the pressure is on, the result is still sweet.

I pray the church of Jesus can once again be known as a safe and fragrant place of love and service. But, in order for that to happen...some of us are going to have to be radically changed from the inside out...and that means having our "stink glands" removed and our coats of chaos shorn...to become the inter-related people God desires us to be.

That is a difficult endeavor indeed...but the grace of God is present to change us. Love is a powerful tool of transformation. We all need one another to help us see and respond to the process of growth that the Spirt is outworking among us as a community of faith. Together in time...we are forced to face the issues within us. It is one of the blessings and hardships of walking in community. Grace provides space to face...our crap. It then empowers us to accept what is, has been and could be and move towards a healthier life.

That is the rough road of discipleship...some people embrace it...many run from it...spraying and shaking with uncontrollable defensiveness.

Red & Yellow, Black and White...all are precious in His sight

One of the beautiful things about the church God is continually forming us into at Jacob's Well is the racial diversity. It was amazing to share the outdoors together at our family camp with a mix of different languages, foods and faces. Learning to live out the kingdom of God on Earth as it is in Heaven is a call we seek to follow, especially in the cultural make up of our congregation. The Lord is beautiful in our togetherness.

Karate Jesus...?

"Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah, and said to him, “Look, you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.”But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” So Samuel prayed to the LORD. And the LORD said to Samuel, “Heed the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them. According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt, even to this day; with which they have forsaken Me and served other gods; so they are doing to you also.” -1 Samuel 8:4-8

I'm often a conflicted person when it comes to national holidays...especially the ones that celebrate wars, soldiers and events of past bloodshed. Now I'm as grateful as the next person for the sacrifice of our military men and women and their families but I find my faith and my origin of birth at odds with each other. I know many people don't have a problem with this kind of image but I do. I know the arguments about the freedom of speech and the blood that has been spilled just so I can even question the ideology behind such blending of faith and patriotism. Again, I am grateful for the freedoms that Americans are losing more and more but that doesn't eliminate the theological briar patch that I find myself within; especially when I see an American flag and a "Christian" flag (as if there is one) sitting next to each other on a church stage. I get jittery when led in songs that celebrate militarism and patriotism within the context of worshipping God.

On the 4th of July, I can offer a prayer of thankfulness for being in this country but that prayer isn't offered in some kind of exlusive sense of pride; but out of sincere gratitude for the blessings that I have here. But in the same moment, I am held to the call to live out the truth of Phil. 3:20:

"But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ"

The tension in that reality isn't always easy to live out without sounding like a Gandhi quoting, granola munching, leftist hippie or a gun toting, RNC card carrying, Jeezuz fish wearing, fundamentalist rightwinger.

The temptation to enthrone Jesus as leader of whatever group, issue or campaign we are most geeked up about; is viral in the church and on the campaign trail. It seems Jesus is a chameleon these days...in some circles he is the tough guy whose an odd mix of Chuck Norris, George Washington and the tomahawk wielding dude from Last of the Mohicans. On other stages He is channeling Oprah, Howard Cunningham and Mr. Rogers and is always softly humming the Barney song. For some He is an incarnation of Noah the grand marshall of the animal loving kingdom...for others He's a buck hunting, hairy chested outdoors man with blood on his jeans and a chew in His lip. Sometimes He's a soft nursery worker and other times a hard bouncer. In the halls of crinkle brow He's a tee-totaling, creationist, or sterile scientist or bearded, Ben & Jerry lovin history teacher or politicized geneticist.

It gets wearisome trying to sort out the many versions of Jesus that are being traded these days in America.

I guess this 4th of July...I'm just going to burn and blow something up on Saturday...and say my prayers on Sunday.

Most of the people drown....

Sex & Jesus....?

Nightline's report "Sermons with an Edge" Sex & Jesus; about Mark Driscoll and the church Mars Hill in Seattle.

Are men better...?

Well here we go, another chapter in our 1 Corinthians series that should be a firecracker! We will tackle all kinds of challenging issues surrounding the place, role, position, function of women and men in home, church and culture. If you are unaware of the debates that take place between Complementarians and Egalitarians than you might be surprised as we delve into this little nugget of church splitting drama.
Issues like:
1. Do men and women have different ways for being saved?
2. Are men and women designed to come before God in prayer in a different way?
3. Are there lists of spiritual gifts that are listed for only men or only women?
4. Do men and women inherit spiritual “sonship” in a different way?
5. Is the command to make disciples given only to one gender?

I think that if our positions on these subjects affect 50% of our community...it's an important issue to unpack. Trust me there is a load of baggage surrounding these issues and people get pretty weird, uptight, confrontational and quick to tie people to the stakes when these subject are discussed. So stay tuned it might get interesting around here.

Thanksgiving Community Feast....

We hosted our 2nd Thanksgiving Community Feast on November 26th at the Jacob's Well Community Resource Center. Under General Shirley Reed (Aka Grandma) and the CRC directors Jim and Linda Carney as well as a bunch of volunteers; the event turned out to be a huge success. You can view picture of the dinner: Here.

Our goal as a church is to develop a regular shared meal schedule in the CRC. With the growing economic challenges, we are seeing an opportunity to recapture the simplicity of biblical community...in particular, sharing resources, in this case...eating together. Not feeding the homeless per say, but eating together. Choosing to create a table that many different people from any background can sit and share with one another in a meal, conversation, life, joys and pains. Setting a table not out of charity but out of community. We are working at caring for one another in this church and neighborhood. Finding practical ways to nurture relationships within and without the church community. Choosing to maintain the dignity of anyone who needs help be it economic, physical, relational, emotional or spiritual.

The joy of the Thanksgiving Feast for me as a pastor, was seeing a family eating together with strangers at the table...and my prayer is that in time, those strangers will become friends...and then brothers or sisters. But even if that doesn't take place...the church should be living this way, and the times we are in are pushing us towards a more Christian community.

Below is a quote that I think goes for the jugular but is needed to move us towards the reality of shared life vs just ministering to people in a clinical way:

"The vision of Jesus is not spread through organizational structures, but through touch, breath, shared life. It is spread through people who have discovered love… I believe that the great tragedy of the church is not that rich Christians do not care about the poor, but that they do not know the poor. Yet if we are called to live the new community for which Christ was crucified, we cannot remain strangers to one another. Jesus demands that we live in a very different way Charity… functions to keep the wealthy sane. Tithes, tax-exempt donations, and short-term mission trips, while they accomplish some good, also function as outlets that allow wealthy Christians to pay off their consciences while avoiding a revolution of lifestyle. People do their time in a social program or distribute food and clothes through organizations which take their excess. That way, they never actually have to face the poor and give their clothes, their food, their beds. Wealthy Christians never actually have to be with poor people, with Christ in disguise. Instead of living out this alternative vision, the church has been content to be a broker between the rich and the poor. Both those trapped in poverty and those trapped in riches view the church as a distribution center, a place where the poor come to get stuff and the rich come to dump stuff. No radical new community is formed… In that model, the power structure has not budged. The power has merely changed hands". -Shane Claiborne

JAVALUJAH!!!!

The church for YOU....

Sunday fever....

The evils of getting jiggy with it.

ugh...

Bamboozled again...

Well, it appears the wools been pulled over some of our eyes yet again..it's come out that Michael Guglielmucci, musician who wrote the song "Healer", which I posted previously, was faking his cancer for two years and duping innocent people while raising cash for the cause, who knows where that all went? You can read more here.

I'm getting nauseated with so much of this stuff going on right now. I know there has been liars, wolves in sheep's clothing, quacks, 'christian voodoo men", fake healers, snake oil peddlers and kooky spooky nuts who throw things, blow things and sell lots of things and we love it so. The sideshow has been ratcheting up for ages but with all the recent Lakeland shenanigans going down...I'm starting to get ticked and yet, I read this verse and I pause, with my forehead veins still protruding...

"Some proclaim Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from goodwill. These proclaim Christ out of love, knowing that I have been put here for the defense of the gospel; the others proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely but intending to increase my suffering in my imprisonment. What does it matter? Just this, that Christ is proclaimed in every way, whether out of false motives or true; and in that I rejoice. Yes, and I will continue to rejoice." Philippians 1:15-18

I guess I will have to figure out how to rejoice in this...some how, some way. I can rejoice that he was exposed and as another brother has said, it was probably due in part to the popularity of the song and the light it shed on him...so in a way, he dug his own pit and fell into it...which might become a mercy from God for his own soul.

The Apostle Paul urged the Ephesian elders to..."be on your guard" (Acts 20:31). The challenge is to be level headed, clear minded and biblically rooted in these times. We need to learn to: "test the spirits to see whether they are from God" -I Jn 4:1; because the days ahead will continue to pump out more and more deceiving signs and wonders, false prophets, teachers and apostles.

Jesus warned about the "God is moving here and there crowd" in Matthew 24:23-24 "Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect."

The church and faithful pastors have to hold fast to the example of the Ephesian church that was praised by Jesus for the way they handled the traveling charismatic circus of their day..."I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. -Revelations 2:2.

With out sounding like I'm quoting from a Left Behind book or channeling a TBN prophesy guy with greying hair, wide eyes and the grumbling and rumbling sound of hysteria brewing in my bowels...I still think these days seem to be evidence that we are way to prone to deception, which could bode bad if these times come, if they are not already here:

"The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. -2 Thessalonians 2:9-12

That should send us to prayer and bible study and urge us to get our butts back into a healthy, truth preaching and teaching church. Oh and maybe canceling our subscriptions to the christian magazines that are peddling and promoting this strange fire revival stuff. Turn off the christian boob tube, quit panting after the next movement, message or man that is pranced around as the latest and greatest.

God help us...

BOOO!!!

I read elsewhere that someone was saying that they were part of another church body in town and that they were going to "come and check us out".

Please...dont.

When are we going to stop "checking things out" that sounds like a continual Costco nipple session. Ugh. If you "go" somewhere...maybe you should stop just "going" and become a member. Be loyal, support your church and pastor, love the people God has surrounded you with, develop your gifts, serve, give and celebrate life together for the long haul. Love each other, have mercy and grace for one another. Learn to sow into the need, don't just point out the needs. A truly spiritual person can see the underdeveloped parts of a garden and works and cares for it with their gifts and talents and Godward influnece to help make it more fruitful. Church garden do not need more Ravens that swoop in and pick and tear, nibble and dribble and then flutter off to the next garden.

I'm praying for the Holy Scarecrow anointing.
BOO...SHOOO....YOU!!!

Jesus said the "birds of the air" should come and "nest in the branches"(Mark 4:32). So make a nest, make some babies and start feeding off the insects that are killing the tree...make the tree of God's dwelling more fruitful by you being there. Don't be a pest or a parasite.

'nuff of this willy nilly tip toe through the churches thing...if we keep reshuffling the deck nothing is really growing. Play your hand..if you just got two of a kind...so be it. People keep looking for the full house instead of playing the hand they are dealt. I'm not saying that God never moves His pieces around the chess board but the lack of commitment and the way we shop and graze today makes real lasting relationships almost impossible to develop. Community can happen around a general vision and that is good and goes fairly deep, at least until something more exciting comes along. But real, meaningful relationships require years of history, events, ups and downs, good times and bad times...together.

So let's stop sharing with our Christian friends and instead...reach out and share Jesus with people who are not connected to Him and His body. I understand when we are excited about where God has us...but our commission is to take the good news primarily to those who have not heard or...those who need to hear the echo of love and grace...again.

Let's do a little dance...a party with you

“Smokin', snortin', shootin', suckin', tokin', poppin', droppin'. Let's do a little dance...party with you" -Mike (Chris Farley) in Black Sheep

With the recent Florida Outpouring revival news and various other in your face examples of Toronto-Brownsville-Vineyardish manifestations being claimed as a work of God, I desire to share a few things. I have been down this road in the past both personally and as part of a house church network I was connected with in the 90's. I have seen and experienced the gifts of the real Holy Spirit and the authentic move of God and also the questionable and the down right un-holy spirit.

It's a tough world to swim within and discerning what is really God and isn’t, is often a real challenge. But more than anything I learned during those seasons of renewal, revival? and wild services, was that ignoring “red flags’ in my gut...was not spiritual. Looking back I see that the Lord spoke to my heart through the scriptures and the warnings of the Spirit more times than I was willing to trust.

We experienced great movings of God in a season of visitation that both refreshed, renewed, revealed and unveiled and exposed. As a result we saw God, flesh, satan and human frailty, insecurity and dysfunction in those visitations. In the end some people grew up, some got divorced, others left the church or the dream of real church life. Some got jaded, others pressed through and became a little wiser. When people pray for a visitation from God, they really have no clue what they are asking for...its like lighting a stick of dynamite...things will change, some for the good and some for the bad. Below is an example of the at least irresponsible and probably heretical presentation of the Holy Spirit and or the very counterfeit work of the enemy.


I see the same stirrings again...here are some of the red flags I see swirling around in the conversation, reports and publications via the web or print.

There are now post-denominational, neo-Pentecostal, half-modern in a post-modern suit, "new charismatics"; with their "new" wine & new wine skin-post-church or post-something mantras leading churches, meetings and movements. There are unaccountable, unhinged, loose cannon emerging "from something, but falling into something else" prophets and apostles out of the woods now.

The messengers and the messages must be dealt with. Here is some “signs” of the version of a gospel they are spreading:

-Overt and public displaying of power, that grand stands, is pompish and popeish, pushy, aggressive and always seems to be loud, shouting and grips your forehead with conquering force.  

-An ooey-gooey, pubescent like, syrupy, jesus is my lover, romance novelish, pseudo-spiritual-sexual intimacy focus.

-The odd, overcoming, drunken, sloshed, off in a distance stare, teenie bopperish giggling, jerking-tweeking-lurching and now whacked drug-like induced trances and supposed anointing'.

-The generally unsubstantiated, un-recorded, easily faked, supposed miracles; always seem like the elusive big-foot and alien appearance videos...always claiming and never quite proving the events.

-Their unquestioned, never challenged, hard to argue with always private and personal God-Spirit-Angel voices, and the over the top, super spiritual, God told me, God said...24-7 God talk.

-The out right strange, above and beyond, non or slightly biblical visitations.

-A host of other oddities are sweeping some parts of the church....Angel feathers, gems from heaven, gold dust, spirit fog, bread/manna showing up, spiritual oil dripping from hands, a heavenly dentist appearing and filling or capping teeth with gold, people dropping pounds in a service and on and on it goes...the only things I have not seen or heard of yet, is snake handling and drinking poison, but I am sure we will get some new and improved version soon.

More later...

Hipster Jesus

Some homogenous units that are meeting behind closed doors in suburban or ex-urban megachurches act out the concept of Sartre’s play “No Exit”, which depicts hell as three self-consumed individuals who are locked up in a room with no escape and whose eyelids cannot close. These christians gather there, with eyes wide open, some of them hanging around the coffee bar to check out the possibilities for future dates, perhaps in hopes of building cozy christian homes. Some others plan evangelistic ski trips to Vail, with the only aim of showing their non-christian homogenous friends that Christians can have fun, too. -Paul Metzger in the book “Consuming Jesus”

Can I say something to you 20 somethings?

Church is more than how many people of the opposite sex are gathered together.
If you are choosing to worship somewhere that takes a half tank of gas to get there, just so you can increase your chances to land a mate or sip a latte with hipster Jesus...you are building a christian life that is dangerously self centered.

I know, I know that is harsh but...when are we going to stop looking to the church as the grand love boat and return to the church as a place of mission and worship? If I hear another college aged person tell me they are choosing their place of worship based on how many “peeps” attend there, I am going to puke. Friends are grand but what if Christ is telling you to plant your butt someplace that isn’t going to add a whole lot of pics of hot chicks or swell fellas to your myspace page? I fear we are attending churches to dance around the social phallic symbol or modern asherah poles. It’s egocentric christian hedonism turned into snazzy latte worship...it’s all about our own needs being met. It’s really just spiritual narscissim. I am praying for some young Josiah’s who will cut down the asherah poles and usher in a season of dedicated zeal to serve God with purity of heart and willing hands to serve.

Bow to me...?

pope
Originally uploaded by ericblauer.

I cringed last week when Pope Benedict XVI released his shocking statement on "Catholic Identity." In clear, non-negotiable and jaw-dropping terms, the pontiff stated that (1) only Catholics are true Christians; (2) other Christian denominations are "not true churches"; and (3) all non-Catholics lack the "means of salvation."

"It has been almost 500 years since Martin Luther first nailed his 95 theses on the Wittenburg door and ignited the Protestant Reformation. From that point the Holy Spirit's river began to flow in so many new directions—gushing over the restrictive walls of the Catholic system and spilling into the nations of the world.

Today hundreds of millions of people have found salvation through the preaching of the gospel through non-Catholic churches: Lutheran, Anglican, Baptist, Brethren, Methodist, Pentecostal—you name it. All churches that proclaim faith in the resurrected Christ are part of the universal church that the Son of God purchased with His blood.

It is incredibly sad that Vatican leaders are so blind to what God has been doing outside their isolated little world for so many years. It is even sadder that Pope Benedict thinks that by issuing an edict from his office in Italy he can transport us into the past.

I know most Protestants probably just rolled their eyes when they heard about the pope's announcement. Catholics who have been worshiping with Protestant Christians for years were probably also confused by it. Catholic charismatics, who have enjoyed fellowship with Protestants in recent years and experienced renewed faith and the power of the Holy Spirit, have now been told to break ties to those people since they are not true Christians.
-Lee Grady (Charisma editor)


Wow...looks like the beast awakens from slumber.

(Cartoon by Doug Marlette)

What do you think of this....

Warning: video contains disturbing pics of world tragedy.

I know a lot of christians subscribe to this kind of eschatology (study of last things).
But...chaos charisma is alive and thriving in christian movies, books and media but in a world of evil, injustice, suffering and tragedy...I wish we could send a more hopeful message. But, maybe all christian eschatology has to offer is death, destruction, horror, judgment, terror, panic, suffering...hell.

Is this all there is, all the gospel offers for humanity on earth?

I don't think so.

Highways and Byways