Hailstone’s Masterpiece…
I just found Ben’s Wikipedia article on the “wordcast” phenomenon…
6 comments June 9th, 2007
I heart Chuck Norris…
I think I passed out for a few minutes after I read this article by Walker, Texas Ranger. Any article that contains the words:
“For that reason I believe theistic patriots need to be wise to atheists’ overt and covert schemes, exposing their agenda and fighting to lay waste to their plans.”
…and:
“For these liberal groups to win the war of ideological dominance, they know they must minimize the effects of Christianity, which many are doing (unbeknownst to others) behind the scenes through lobbying and legislation.”
…well, let’s just say I’ve found my favorite article ever. I have already bronzed it. I also printed part two on a quilt and now use it for my warmth at night. No one will win a war of ideological dominance against the Chucktator of Painland.
He goes on, by the way, to comment extensively on the continuing global wave of delight over “Chuck Norris Facts”.
I often visit his website so I can listen again and again to Chuck personally welcoming me to his website. I will often follow up that visit with a quick stop-over to this site to watch his commercial.
In all seriousness, his two articles on the threat of atheism were quite good, and right on the money. He really is a sincere and committed Christian, and that makes me really happy. And feel safe. For the articles really did make me giggle throughout as I came to the shocking and comforting realization that, in the fight against radical atheism, I’ve got Chuck Norris on my team.
My next prayer request is to read an article by Mr. T threatening to pity the fools who sign up for “Oprah Christianity”.
David
12 comments June 9th, 2007
A prophetic missiology…
Something that Brandon Hammonds prayed today got the ol’ wheels turning in my head and heart. He prayed that a missiology of signs and wonders would emerge in this generation. “Missiology”, for the uninitiated, is properly defined by the Oxford dictionary as the study of religious (typically Christian) missions and their methods and practices. Missiology and praxis (practice, as distinguished from theory) are two major buzz-words in the evangelical church in our day. The related term, of course, is missional - a term that captures the desire for the church to be relevant (or “contextual”) in its efforts to reach the hearts and lives of unbelievers. These efforts involve the message, morality, and methodology (thank you, Wikipedia…) of the believer who seeks to see the lost come to the saving knowledge of Jesus.
Brandon’s prayer stirred me again with appreciation for my missiology - as he so succinctly stated, a missiology of signs and wonders. I understand why cursing and drinking might help some in the emerging stream contextualize for unbelievers the aspects of the gospel that matter (winning the lost by not majoring on the minors - or what they might feel is a non-issue biblically). I can see why, in frustration, they would see the current expression of Christianity as one that is insufficient, irrelevant, and hopelessly unsuitable to present to an unbeliever in this hour. In many ways, I happen to agree.
Yet I long for a way to reach the lost that is radically different than being personally authentic, hospitable, and relatable. While I appreciate that, I am hungry to see more than a warm embrace and a conversation. I want something inexplicable, something transcendant, and something wholly inarguable to take place on a regular basis when I whisper the name of Jesus. I want to see the power of the Holy Spirit that the early church saw. I want to see the dead raised, I want to see the sick healed, and I want to see the demonized suddenly free. I want to see what the Apostle Peter, Charles Finney, and Jonathan Edwards saw: hearts cut in two with conviction of sin with a fear of the Lord and a yearning to repent. I want to see what Stephen and thousands of martyrs have seen: gnashing of teeth and the stopping of the ears because of the tormenting power of the truth for the heart that rages against God.
I want more. So I give myself to prayer and fasting, with the understanding of the uselessness of a conversation in which neither party has much of substance and depth to offer one another. I want to answer the great crisis of the hour from a place of significant personal encounter with the Living God. I do not want to answer the crisis facing the western church with an empty missiology. I want to gather in a solemn assembly in the face of a national crisis and appeal to God with all my might to relent and leave a blessing behind (Joel 2:14), or as Peter called it, a “time of refreshing” (Acts 3:19). That methodology and approach is incredibly frustrating for some evangelicals, as it seems to leave no immediate answer for the one who does not know Jesus. God’s answer of “who knows” in Joel 2 seems to lack the impact one would hope for when my neighbor is suffering, lonely, and depressed today.
I understand that frustration. It feels weak to wait. It feels powerless. In God’s economy, I tend to think of those two emotions, well, as the point.
What’s your missiology?David
14 comments June 8th, 2007
What I’m working on…
Like many of you I’ve been slogging away through this 40-day fast. I’m also a little on the busy side (in terms of being on a 40 day fast). Things are progressing nicely as we move towards our second prayer room - I feel as if we’ve entered the “calm before the storm” phase of things. Time will tell. My writing here has been sporadic, however, for a few other reasons - particularly a couple of projects I’m taking on over the next few months.
The project that has top priority (in regards to writing) right now is, I can now officially announce, that I’ve begun work on my second book. No title yet, but the subject matter is something that I care deeply about; namely, this question is on my mind: how do we know we’re in the end times? Obviously that subject was heavily on my mind when I posted the question to you a few weeks back, and it’s one that I am looking forward to fleshing out in more detail. What I care about the most is providing a tool for many to use to bolster their faith regarding what the scriptures say about the hour in which we live and the lifestyle that is therefore required to live - without apology.
What’s at stake
With the rise of preterism we are seeing a slight groundswell of momentum in some circles regarding the dismissal of the prophetic scriptures and their implications for the days to come. Preterism, for the uninitiated, is the school of biblical interpretation that dismisses the writings of the prophets in the Old Testament and the Book of Revelation in the New Testament to the past. All prophetic scripture, in other words, is seen as fulfilled by 70 AD. Most Preterists now waver a bit on the “all”, leaving the Second Coming as the one unfulfilled event to come - though the system still leaves any of the details that take place around the event of the Second Coming to the past. I find this theological system more troubling and dangerous than dispensationalism, or pre-trib theology. So I will be examining this system here and there in this space in the coming days.
Secondly, scoffers and mockers are sure to emerge as the hour gets late - Peter prophesied this two thousand years ago. There are many who have a vested interest in this time frame not being the end of the age, and will seek to convince any who listen of their mindset. Thus, those who seek to set themselves to live radically for Jesus in this hour are going to soon find themselves under assault, and I hope to help equip them to press on into the call of God in this hour for their lives.
Personal considerations
Beyond that, I wanted to break the news to you here to give you context on some of the posts that are going to pop up here and there over the coming weeks. Basically, I get to use this little wordcast to “explore the space” (as someone once said related to cowbells and Blue Oysters) and invite you into my thought processes as I write over the next month as well as discuss some related subjects that wouldn’t make it into the book itself. This seems like a fun experiment to me, I don’t know if this kind of thing is being done throughout the publishing world, and thought you might be interested in the process (somewhat). I’m sure someone more intelligent and more creative somewhere else in the blogosphere has thought of this concept, but how many of those guys believe that Jesus is going to shatter the nations at the valley of Meggido after He returns, followed shortly afterwards by the entrance of an impossibly huge floating city hovering over Jerusalem? I’m willing to bet my thought processes are slightly more quirky than theirs.
So, I hope (now that the ball is rolling) to post more frequently, not less. Let me know what you think. I still plan on continuing to post on different subjects such as the emerging church, the sermon on the mount, and other topics that interest me - this little journal has always been a means of expressing myself on topics I don’t normally get to write about - but I’m looking forward to the continuing dialogue regarding the last of the “last days”.
David
17 comments June 5th, 2007
The Justice Prayer Room: “Contending for Life, Revival, and Israel”
As you may or may not have heard, I am giving the primary leadership to the second prayer room that IHOP-KC is birthing on July 2nd. The current prayer room is now the Global Prayer Room, and is the focal point for our broadcasts and webstream to God-TV and the nations. We have felt the need now for some time to establish a second prayer room on our missions base - one that can continue to function as a “prayer laboratory”, even as we seek to establish the first one as our primary “prayer furnace”.
14 comments May 29th, 2007
Work and the End of the Age…
In light of my question about the end of the age, Lauren posted an interesting question related to college:
“I really do believe it’s the end of the age, but that’s being challenged by pressures to go to college. My friends once asked me if how sure I was if we are close to the end. My answer was that I am ready to bet my future on it. I only have a year of high school left to make up my mind for sure, but if I believe that we are with in a few decades of Jesus’ return, I don’t want to waste 4 of those years in school getting a degree that will help me make money.
I want to pursue the knowledge of God and devote myself to prayer and ministry full time. I know that there is no time to waste, so even in high school I’m trying to pursue God with all my heart. The every day things of life don’t matter as much because they are so temporary.
Dave, what are your thoughts on college? If your own kids were about to graduate from high school, would you rather see them go to FSM or get a college degree?”
I’m going to first give my answer to Lauren’s question, and then use the subject as a springboard to a broader topic related to our time and the end of the age:
Specific to this question, it is well beyond the scope of my understanding to discern the will of God related to the course Lauren’s life should take - and of course, she knows that as well. I will say, however, that the highest thing is not to engage in full-time ministry; 98% of the body of Christ is called to the marketplace, for instance. The highest thing is to be fully given to the will of God for our lives - there can be no lesser or greater thing. Thus many are called by God to serve diligently (and wholeheartedly) in the workplace as a “burning and shining lamp” to those who are lost and in need of salvation. Others are called by God to give themselves in the workplace to prayer and fasting while extravagantly giving to the poor, the needy, or the work of the gospel.
So, statistically, the vast majority of the body of Christ can and should give themselves faithfully to be trained and equipped in all manner of Christian (and non-Christian) colleges and universities. Having been involved now in full-time ministry for the last ten to fifteen years of my life, I have seen very few that have given themselves to labor in a college setting and not use some of their education in a ministry context. In fact, even education that seems “useless” on the front end will often serve a purpose years down the road that will greatly surprise the ones who were sure that they were “wasting” their time. Very little done to please the Lord ends up being wasted energy.
15 comments May 28th, 2007
Is it really the end of the age?
I haven’t posted much this week for a few reasons - birthing a second prayer room is time-consuming, thus there is much going on in my little world. The other reason I haven’t snuck a post in this week is because I’ve been researching like a madman for my next post examining the emerging church or the “emergent conversation”. I want to understand the dynamics involved so that I do not say anything unfair or out of bounds. I want to accurately represent the viewpoints in question, but to do so takes time.
In the meantime, discuss this little tidbit with me, because I’m curious - do you really live and think like it’s the end of the age? It’s one thing to believe it may be, that it could be, or that it probably is the end of the age; but how are we really living in light of what time it is? If we say it’s the end of the age, how does that information shift our thinking, living, time, and energy?
I wanted to hear from some of you how you are practically walking out the answer to this question - if you are. If you aren’t, I’m interested in that too.
David
12 comments May 26th, 2007
I’m still here…
…and I’m glad you’re still with me. A few asides before I post sometime later:
1. I camped. No electricity, no running water in our little cabin - but we had a wood stove. I’m ready for the end of the age - all I need are guns and soup.
2. I avoided ticks. Barely. A few close scrapes and narrow escapes, but I avoided ticks. Never has one man applied so much bug spray to himself.
3. I fought off huge forest creatures. Raccoons and possums mostly. But they were big.
4 . I need a vacation.
David
11 comments May 23rd, 2007
On vacation…
Leaving town, gone ’til Sunday night. The family and I are going…camping! Wow!
First I get a dog…now I’m going camping…
Clearly it’s the end of the age.
Miss you all - see you when I get back.
David
13 comments May 14th, 2007
The Reactionary Posture of the Emerging Church…
During the break in my seminar for our Israel Mandate Conference a few months ago, a young woman came up to me and asked me about my opinion of the Emerging Church movement. Limited in my time to answer, I had to come up with something succinct to summarize my thoughts. I responded with the following thought:
“The extreme edge of the holiness movement said, ‘before you have fellowship with us, you must totally embrace holiness’; the reaction of the Emerging Church is to say, ‘I’ll love you unconditionally until you choose to be holy.’ What is needed is a more biblical and less sentimental posture towards human nature - that true love does not shrink back from telling one who is in sin the truth about righteousness, yet is willing to love someone freely as they wrestle with truth’s implications.’”
I went on to talk for a moment about the short-term wisdom of a movement that seems so godly as it is so thoroughly embracing and inclusive towards, for example, homosexuals. It seems so loving during the early stages of the movement to freely and unconditionally embrace the sinner with no immediate pressure to renounce their lifestyle - while simultaneously leaving it vague and ambiguous as to whether or not they even need to. To have so many unsaved people, steeped in their sins, filling these churches around the nation searching for truth seems so wonderful - initially. The critical issue is not knit to the immediate inclusiveness and loving embrace. The “success” or health of a movement is revealed ten to fifteen years later. Has the movement produced the fruits of righteousness? If the homosexual that was initially embraced and loved is still a practicing homosexual ten to fifteen years later, can one honestly endorse the movement? If wholehearted love exhibiting authentic, biblical Christianity is not the end result of the journey, can one honestly testify that they had been traveling on the right road?
This was the point I was making, in essence, in my post about Barack Obama’s faith last week. You will know a tree by its fruit - those who follow you will only do (to a measure) what you have done recently. The memory of radical holiness and dedicated godliness is an insufficient motivator for the next generation - only a fresh and vibrant Christianity infused with life from the Spirit has the power to be contagious. The “fever” that is caught from the one who carries an authentic faith in Christ carries the symptoms of longing to know God and a hunger and a thirst to be with Him. In the deep stirring that is awakened within by the Holy Spirit, true faith is likewise awakened to live differently by the power of the Holy One.
15 comments May 9th, 2007
