First and Only Husband went to Krygyzstan back in 2004 for two weeks to teach some computer classes. While he was there, one of the men in his class told him that 9/11 was a spiritual blessing for Afghanistan. He said that when the U.S. went into Afghanistan and got rid of the Taliban, there was a freedom in that country that hadn't been felt for years. With that freedom came God's good news. Before 9/11, the Christians in that country could have been counted on one hand. Today, there are thousands of believers in Christ. It is truly an example of how God can take something that's bad and make good from it.
I came across a recent post (3/23) by Joel Rosenberg on his blog, The Joshua Fund. He continues with the good news:
The God of the Bible is moving powerfully in the Middle East to draw men, women and children to His heart and adopt them into His family in record numbers. More Muslims have come to faith in Jesus Christ over the last thirty years -- and specifically over the last seven to ten years -- than at any other time in human history. There is a revival going on among the ancient Catholic, Coptic, and Chaldean churches. Today, the Church is being truly resurrected in the lands of its birth.
....
In December 2001, Sheikh Ahmad al Qataani, a leading Saudi cleric, appeared on a live interview on Aljazeera satellite television to confirm that, sure enough, Muslims were turning to Jesus in alarming numbers. "In every hour, 667 Muslims convert to Christianity," Al Qataani warned. "Every day, 16,000 Muslims convert to Christianity. Every year, 6 million Muslims convert to Christianity." Stunned, the interviewer interrupted the cleric. "Hold on! Let me clarify. Do we have six million converting from Islam to Christianity?" Al Qataani repeated his assertion. "Every year," the cleric confirmed, adding, "a tragedy has happened."
One of the most dramatic developments is that many Muslims throughout the Middle East and even in the United States are seeing dreams and visions of Jesus. They are coming into churches explaining that they have already converted and now need a Bible and guidance on how to follow Jesus. This is in fulfillment of Biblical prophecy. The Hebrew Prophet Joel told us that "in the last days, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days....And everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved." (Joel 2:28-32)
So KEWL!!!!!!!!! :-) God is good.
If you want to get involved in what's going on over in the 10/40 window, a great resource is Praying Through the 100 Cities of the 10/40 Window. There are daily prayer requests for each of the 100 cities, and I can say from personal knowledge that at least one of the prayer requests has been answered through some of the people my husband met during his trip to Kyrgyzstan. So my post about that HERE.
I came across a short article written by Michael Horton on the Touchstone Mag site. He wrote about what our society clamors for in their pastor these days. I've seen exactly what he wrote about, and really, I'm sure just about everyone has. He writes:
Never mind Paul’s exhortation to Timothy to submit to elders and pastors as official ambassadors of Christ. These days, even in more confessional denominations, it seems that instead of being the Lord’s servant, ambassador, and minister of reconciliation, a pastor is supposed to be the community’s quarterback, class president, or the one voted “most likely to succeed.”
It used to be that the pastor had an office and worked in his study, but today the pastor has a job and works in his office. Whereas Peter organized the diaconal office so that the apostles could devote themselves to the Word and to prayer, ideal ministers seem increasingly to be managers, therapists, entertainers, and entrepreneurial businesspeople.
Open up the average issue of Christianity Today to advertisements for pastoral positions and you’ll find descriptions like “team builder,” “warm and personal style,” “outgoing,” “contagious personality,” and “effective communicator.” (Catholic friends tell me that something like this affects Catholicism, too.)
I think they’re looking for a Director of Sales and Marketing, whom they may (or may not) call “Pastor.” I’m not against directors of sales and marketing; I just don’t think that this is what we should be looking for in the way of shepherds.
Like I said, I've seen this before. The last church we were members of, our pastor was the Executive Pastor. And everyone loved (and still does, I'm sure) him because he was so "edgy." It would not be unusual for him to show up wearing some snazzy green shoes, or his hair dyed white blonde. Once he pulled onto the stage in a car. What an impact he made on all of us congregants. (Oh. Sorry. I mean customers. That's what the leadership in that church call their members.) As I look back, I wonder if he was making the best kind of impact. While he was long on wowing us all with the kewl things he did, he was short on teaching doctrine - the meat and potatoes of the Christian faith. This church that we went to was heavily influenced by Willow Creek Community Church in Chicago. Recently, Bill Hybels, the Executive Pastor of that church has gone on the record to say,
Some of the stuff that we have put millions of dollars into thinking it would really help our people grow and develop spiritually, when the data actually came back it wasn’t helping people that much. Other things that we didn’t put that much money into and didn’t put much staff against is stuff our people are crying out for.
We made a mistake. What we should have done when people crossed the line of faith and become Christians, we should have started telling people and teaching people that they have to take responsibility to become ‘self feeders.’ We should have gotten people, taught people, how to read their bible between service, how to do the spiritual practices much more aggressively on their own.
It's hard to put too much blame on these pastors. I look at my own home and think about the times when I've thought that the kids needed some neat-o kid's devotional book so they would be interested in their own quiet times. I bought one of those devotional books once for my oldest son, and we got about halfway through it before I realized I was throwing eye-candy at him, in the hopes that it would draw him to God. Since then, we've been sticking with, of ALL things, the BIBLE. The word of God is enough! I wish the church would make peace with that thought so we could do away with green shoes and mega-church programs that don't fill our need for communion with God.
I love Ruth Beechick, and I'm sure most of you get The Homeschool Minute from TOS. I love what she wrote in the latest edition and have to include it here so I can read it over and over.
The early Christians were strong on discipleship. A historian, Eusebius, wrote a history of the first 300 years of the church, and much of it tells how carefully they guarded the great truths of the faith. Heresies arose often, teaching doctrines such as claiming that Jesus had not existed from all eternity, thus was not fully God.
Church leaders taught and wrote letters against the errors. One writer of truth, Clement, said that "the apostles of the devil have filled [Clement's letters] with tares, exchanging some things, and adding others." They also "attempted to adulterate the sacred writings of the Lord." Many of the Christians in those days suffered martyrdom, bravely and even gladly. The true doctrines were worth dying for.
Through those early centuries, they preserved the sacred truths and the very words of scripture in order to disciple the young and the next generations. We today still benefit from their faithful guarding of true doctrines. Those early Christians discipled not by pop psychology, not by entertainment, but by the true, unadulterated words of God.
I knew a woman who went an entire school year without teaching her son any school subjects because she was waiting on a leading from God on which curriculum to use. It kinda wigged me out. I kept wondering if I was not as godly as she was since I didn't sit around waiting to hear the voice of God tell me to go the way of Charlotte Mason or The Well-Trained Mind. I prayed about it, did some research, then made a decision based on the research and how I "felt" God leading me. My decision wasn't perfect, but God led me along the way, and I've tweaked things here and there to make our homeschooling experience as good as can be. I've learned along the way, and I realize that for the most part, a lot of my learning was aquired through lessons learned and wisdom gained along the path. There's really, REALLY something good in that process, I believe. I think that God takes us slowly along the path He wants us to be on because while on that path, we become sanctified. We can't just all of a sudden "be there." God has given us a freedom to make choices which naturally lead to consequences for good or bad, but absolutely for His ultimate glory and our ultimate sanctification.
Till this very day - even to this very hour - I've often wondered about that woman's approach versus my approach. A few minutes ago, I read a blog entry that one of our pastors at church forwarded along and a light bulb went on for me! You've got to read it! ;-)
For me, this is the crucial paragraph from the post: A subjective sense of leading--when we've asked for it (as in James 1:5 we ask for wisdom) and when God freely gives it--is wonderful. The desire for such a subjective sense of leading, however, is too often, in contemporary evangelical piety, binding our brothers and sisters in Christ, paralyzing them from enjoying the good choices that God may provide, and causing them to wait wrongly before acting.
This will be brief. The way many Christians practice seeking God's will before they make a decision amounts to spiritual and emotional bondage. Christ has died to give us liberty and freedom (Rom. 6; Gal. 5; I Peter 2). We can only know the truth about God's will by what His Spirit reveals to us. He has revealed God's mind authoritatively in His Word. We should give ourselves to study what He has revealed. Personal reading, meditation, sermons, friends and books are all available to us to help us to better understand God's revealed will.
I do believe that God's Spirit will sometimes lead us subjectively. So, for instance, I am choosing to spend my life here on Capitol Hill because my wife & I sensed in 1993 that that is what God wanted us to do. However, I realized then (and now) that I could be wrong about that supposition. Scripture is NEVER wrong. I was free in 1993 to stay in England, or teach at a seminary, either of which would have been delightful opportunities. I understand that I was free to make those choices. But I chose, consulting Scripture, friends, wisdom, and my own subjective sense of the Lord's will, to come to DC. And even if I were wrong about that, I had (and have) that freedom in Christ to act in a way that is not sin. And I understand my pastoring here not to be sin. So I am free. Regardless of the sense of leading I had.
Most decisions I've made in my Christian life, I've made with no such sense of subjective leading. Maybe some would say that this is a mark of my spiritual immaturity. I understand this to be the way a redeemed child of God normally lives in this fallen world before the fullness of the Kingdom comes, Christ returns, and immediate, constant, unbroken fellowship with God is re-established.
A subjective sense of leading--when we've asked for it (as in James 1:5 we ask for wisdom) and when God freely gives it--is wonderful. The desire for such a subjective sense of leading, however, is too often, in contemporary evangelical piety, binding our brothers and sisters in Christ, paralyzing them from enjoying the good choices that God may provide, and causing them to wait wrongly before acting.
I recently read a blog post written by John MacArthur, titled Our Primary Concern about political involvement and a Christian's role in the political scene. A paragraph in the post stuck out at me and has been haunting my thoughts since I read it:
When the church takes a stance that emphasizes political activism and social moralizing, it always diverts energy and resources away from evangelization. Such an antagonistic position toward the established secular culture invariably leads believers to feel hostile not only to unsaved government leaders with whom they disagree, but also antagonistic toward the unsaved residents of that culture—neighbors and fellow citizens they ought to love, pray for, and share the gospel with. To me it is unthinkable that we become enemies of the very people we seek to win to Christ, our potential brothers and sisters in the Lord.
This was very convicting. I have to admit that when I saw John Edward's daughter on t.v., talking about how she wanted to help her Dad campaign because she loved him and wanted to spend the time with him, I was befuddled. I thought, "Really?" I'm ashamed to admit this. :-/ But without realizing it, I have begun to feel "antagonistic" to those that I disagree with politically.
More to pray and work on as God continues to beat out the ugly in me. ;-)
I just finished reading a great series from Pulpit Magazine titled The Flaws of the Fad-Driven Church. This is the link to Part I. Here is Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6 and Part 7. This is a great series that tackles such biggies as The Jabez Prayer, Rick Warren's 40 Days of Purpose, seeker sensitive churches, the emergent church movement....is there anything necessarily wrong with these trends that have popped up in church culture in the last 20 or more years? The author of the article believes so, as many of these fads have taken the place of the teaching of scripture. Take your time to read it. It really helped me to clear things up in my head concerning all these fads.
I just finished listening to my own pastor, Tom Nelson, deliver a message to the students of Dallas Theological Seminary on this subject. He was exhorting the up-and-coming pastors to keep their focus on the real thing - scripture - to stay away from wherever the popular culture happens to be blowing at the time, because popular culture trends never lasts, "but the Word of our God stands forever." (Is. 40:8)
Finally, if you're unsure what the emergent church is and what it stands for, watch these two YouTube videos for a little information. It will make your hair stand on end!
So much goes on in the world that we never see or hear about. As I watched the video below, I imagined things I might have been doing during the trouble that these Iraqi Christians went though, and are still going through. As I think about those things, I feel thankful to God that we aren't facing hard times like these in our own country, ashamed that I don't pray for persecuted Christians around the world enough, and humbled. Humbled because the small irritations that I deal with during a normal week around here are NOTHING compared to the struggle and humiliation that so many others go through.
William J. Murray, Chairman of the Religious Freedom Coaltion made this video while in Iraq: THE DEATH OF AN IRAQI CHURCH - During our fact finding mission to the Middle East , I interviewed Iraqi Christians at the Chaldean Catholic Church in Beirut, Lebanon. In the basement of the church a display had been placed on the walls of photos from the church in Iraq. The display started with average middle class family photos taken before Islamic oppression escalated with our invasion, and they show what the conditions are now.
I love reading Pulpit Magazine. It's really a blog, rather than a magazine, but I guess they can call it whatever they want. ;-) It actually used to be an online magazine before they changed it to the blog format. Pulpit Magazine is edited by John MacArthur, one of my favorite pastors. I have learned so much from listening to his daily radio podcasts.
Today's post on Pulpit Magazine kinda goes together with my post from yesterday about "culturally relevant" churches. In his post, John MacArthur writes about keeping truth, TRUTH. There is no need to change what is in the Bible to "fit" our culture today. Here's an excerpt:
Certainly, an individual’s understanding of the truth can be refined and sharpened by study of the Scripture. But the truth itself does not need to be reinvented or retooled in order to make it suitable for the times in which we live. The same truth Abraham, Moses, David, and the apostles believed is still truth for us. Changing times do not change the truth. Scripture is as unchanging as God Himself: “But the word of the LORD endures forever” (1 Peter 1:25). In other words, we need to adapt our understanding to the truth of God’s Word, not try to manipulate Scripture in a vain effort to harmonize it with the changing opinions of this world.
Here is a link to the rest of the post. Much shorter than the link to the article I posted yesterday. ;-) Go HERE.
We used to go to a church that brags about being "culturally relevant." Eight years. Whew! I am glad we are gone. Eight years of topics such as "The Top Ten Reasons to Love Your Spouse" was enough. I heard someone say, "I can get a list like that from Dr. Ruth! Why do I want to hear that from my pastor?" Well, I think there are obvious answers to that question. Dr. Ruth and my pastor should have very different answers to that, for the most part, right?
The reason I am glad to be free from a "culturally relevant" church is because looking back, I realize that I was a duck in the water at that church. The messages were great in their own right, but what was I REALLY gaining? Comparing what I've gained at our new church to what I gained at our old church, I can see a huge difference.
The church we go to now is relevant to me, a Christian seeking to be closer to God, rather than my spouse, kids, friends at work.......I found that I was SO underinformed when we arrived at our new church. I understood strategies to "be happy and get along" but could I have explained anything about dispensationalism? Soteriology? The differences between Calvinism and Arminianism? How Modernism and Post-Modernism have affected the church? Grace????? I could not have. Basic Christian doctrine and ideas, and I couldn't really explain it to someone off the street to save my life - or theirs. ;-)
I just read a great article on this topic this afternoon. The title is Preaching without Reaching: The Irrelevance of Relevant Preaching by David Mills. Here are some excerpts and if you can, definitely go read the whole thing. David Mills specifically writes about pastors who bend the rules of the language in order to skirt "church" words so they can "reach the unchurched." In the article, he writes of a pastor-friend who thinks it's acceptable to trade out "perfectionism" for "legalism" and "permissiveness" for "licentiousness."
(The excerpt makes this a longish blog post, but hang it there, it's worth reading. :-)
“Perfectionism” is a very different thing from “legalism.” One is a psychological problem, the other a spiritual choice and theological error. The perfectionist will expect too much of himself and of others; the legalist will act as if God were not a gracious God but one whose favor could be won by obeying all the rules.
These are both problems, but they are not the same problem, though a man may be both a perfectionist and a legalist. The perfectionist should talk to a pastor or a therapist to learn to distinguish the pious pursuit of the good from the neurotic; the legalist should learn, or relearn, the doctrine and reality of grace.
In the same way, “permissiveness” is a very different thing from “licentiousness.” The first means relaxing the rules too much, the other means actions characterized by license and lawlessness, and usually in a lewd, lustful, and dissolute way. They are not even close to the same thing.
The depravity of the licentious is not at all expressed by calling them permissive. The licentious leer at young women in short skirts (or long skirts, for that matter); the permissive only permit people to do what they want, when they know they shouldn’t, with a genial smile and a forgiving wave of the hand.
Again, these are both problems, but they are not the same problem. The permissive man should enforce the rules he is given to enforce. The licentious man should repent of his sins and adopt such disciplines as will help him bring his appetites under control.
My friend’s substitutes are not synonyms. “Perfectionism” does not accurately translate “legalism” into the language of the day, nor does “permissiveness” translate “licentiousness.” The substitutes are not nearly close enough in meaning to replace the biblical and traditional terms.
The ideas are related but they are not the same. One cannot do the work of the other. You might as well, in a professional baseball game, send in Barry Manilow to replace Barry Bonds, because they are both rich, famous, talented men named Barry.
Here Christians ought to learn something from the world, for in this matter the world shows great common sense. The world itself does not define “relevance” as the highest level of discourse the marginally interested will tolerate, at least in the matters it really cares about.
Every field, from thoracic surgery to architecture to real estate law to stamp collecting, has its own specialized vocabulary. Every field demands that new members learn the language if they are to work inside it. Their willingness to learn it is a test of their desire to belong. The man unwilling to learn what an architrave and a pediment are is a man who does not really want to be an architect—and those who need an architect (as the world needs Christians) will not want him to design their house.
And the world is right about this. Christian preachers cannot afford, in the hope of speaking in a way more likely to get and to keep laymen who are (supposedly) intimidated when they speak the Faith’s given and natural language, to act as if its necessary language can be translated very far, lest the laity continue to be ignorant of the truth, and many members remain unconverted or only partly converted. For one thing, ignorant people can’t answer the questions some of their curious neighbors will ask them.
This leaves unsolved the problem of the “irrelevance” of the necessary Christian language. There is much more to be said about this, both about the ways in which the insider language can be conveyed and about the fact that we have a compelling story to tell, so that much preaching will need only to declare the facts.
But I think the first answer to the problem is not to simplify and replace the language and therefore distort the message, but inside the Church to explain, and outside the Church to live, so that those who think Christianity irrelevant will so desperately want to be part of our community that they will happily learn to speak in a new tongue.
I just discovered Christine Miller's blog, a little perspective, this week. I was so excited to come across it because we are using The Story of the Renaissance and Reformation by Nothing New Press. I am faithfully following Christine's booklist that is in the back of the book, and of course keeping her book as our guide through this time period, and the kids and I love every minute of it. Yesterday we didn't have school because we were getting ready for THE BIG CAMPOUT. We had Bible study as usual, and usually after that we segue into history, but yesterday we didn't, and my daughter was begging for us to read "just a little." :-) Love it.
Anyway, if you get the chance, check out Christine's blog. Her latest post, Safeguard your investment in your children just screams out at me. She asks a great question. When is it okay to let our kids participate in church youth activities?
This is something that my husband and I struggle with to a certain degree. Ask any of our close friends and they will tell you that we don't "get out" enough. According to most standards, we don't. According to our own standards, we're just about perfect. ;-) We are big believers in Proverbs 22:15 which says, "Folly is bound up in the heart of a child....." We see it in our children here at home every day, and we're not content exposing our kid's folly to other's children and vice versa. My husband and I are STILL working through the baggage we picked-up as we worked our way through public school, boarding school (me), college, youth groups and the party scene. Why would we want our children to have the same regrets we have? Because they'll MISS OUT? Ugh. There are so many things I wish I had missed out on because now I can't tell my children that I remained pure until marriage, or that I never got drunk, smoked a cigarette, or did any drugs. And more than one thing on this list I was exposed to through my church youth group, just as Christine wrote about.
Read her post.....she promises more on this topic later.
Trying to be the perfect Mom is so very humbling because I am so far from perfect. I have so many areas to work on in my own life so that I can be an effective Mom to my own four children. With this blog, I plan to share my struggles and victories and hope to hear from you about your own so we can encourage one another!
The link above is to my store where there are titles that have encouraged me as a parent or that we have read together during our Family Read-Aloud time in the evenings and were a huge hit with everyone. I hope you can find something intriguing for yourself and your family from our list of favorites.
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