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Common
Sense "The
things we think but dare not speak..." By
Ron Schwartz
NOTE: We have moved to
the El Dorado / Magnolia area of Arkansas and would like to connect with
other believers in the area. Children are a plus!
Ron Schwartz 100 East 10th Street El Dorado, AR 71730
Take a minute to
pray for these prayer needs: Prayer Requests, and if
possibly consider these employment needs for these Christian brothers and
sisters: Employment
Requests
My
son Michael's page (he's 18): Michael's
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these notes: SUBSCRIBE To view his
Biography: Biography Copyright
© 2001-2007 Ron Schwartz
The Retrovirus (Doth Not Nature teach You) 6/31/2010
Science
has long known that, somehow, certain forms of cancer were passed down to
ensuing generations. It wasn’t until the discovery of the retrovirus that
this pattern could be explained. Foreign DNA, only appearing native, is
intrinsic in every cell. In this same manner, Christianity has changed – not
by a sovereign act of God, but by foreign invaders that have become an
integrated part of our very system of beliefs. Christians are no longer
expected to be endowed with power and authority from above, and thus are
little different from unsaved counterparts who indulge in every form of
pleasure and enjoyment this world has to offer. Christians exist to be served
by their church and pastoral communities rather than to serve. Christianity
has been reduced to little more than a religion practiced in meeting a few
times a week, and the Bride of Christ reduced to little more than a whore
committing adultery with the world. City Of Confusion
(Doth Not Nature teach You) 5/13/2010 When
light is divided, it loses its ability to present color accurately. It no
longer reflects the “truth,” so to speak. Every object that a color of light
shines on becomes a shade of that particular color.
A red light will turn everything different shades of red. A blue light will
turn everything different shades of blue. The true color of an object is not
accurately reflected. Christian denominations, in the same way, have “shaded”
God’s Word (“truth”): each according to its own doctrinal distinction. Just
as light is no longer true light when it is separated into different shades
of color, Christianity, as soon as it is separated into different
denominations, ceases to be true Christianity. It is impossible for
Christians of different denominations to work together because they do not
see God, His Word, or the world “in the same light.” Denominations and
churches are not just “subsets” of Christianity; they are completely
different religions. Natural Selection (Doth Not Nature teach You) 4/3/2010
The
theory of evolution explains in grave singularity why contemporary
Christianity is so prevalent and popular. It explains how modern Christians
destitute of God’s Spirit can flourish, prosper, and excel in a world that
hates God. It explains why their camouflage allows them to blend in to the
world practically unnoticed. And it explains why more than one out of every
two Americans considers themselves Christians. Contemporary Christianity
is more popular than true Christianity. It’s like a weed: it consumes all
available resources on itself and leaves no fruit behind. It can live and
survive in almost any environment since it lives only for itself. Plants
that bear fruit are quite the opposite. All their energy is spent on the
fruit. It eventually consumes itself in its pursuit to provide fruit. Christian Politics 3/12/2010
The next time you’re in church, try to separate the pretense and
rhetoric that swallows you up as a tidal wave from the goodness of God that
comes from His invisible Spirit. God’s Spirit is all but replaced in most churches
by their programs, choreographed presentations, carefully prepared sermons,
and the plastic smiles made of artificial goodness covering every face. That
is not God at all. Do not be deceived. The leaders in your church are almost
certainly NOT God’s ambassadors. Don’t allow the politics (i.e. doctrine and
belief) that are pontificated to replace God’s “good” government in your
heart. How will you know the difference? Politics are all about the details
of what I think, feel and believe. God’s government is all about what God
originally intended and expressed through the life of the first man who ever
embodied it: Christ. Politics are teachings of belief. True government of God
is when Christ is alive within you, reigning in power and glory. So if you
feel cold and dead inside, perhaps it’s because you’ve become lost in
politics. Don’t allow your life to be wasted in the shallow and empty
acts of religious overtures like the lives of failed western Christian
leaders. Make a difference! You won’t find it or do it in the church you’re
attending, but rather in the lives of the people who work and live around
you. Blow them off their feet with your kindness. Knock them over with your
goodness. Cause them to say, “Only God could cause you to be so kind to me. I
don’t deserve this. God must be real!” Gambit 2/22/2010
Many women become jealous of the attention that beautiful sexy
women receive. So little by little, they change their appearance to match
that of the sensual women who have bewitched the world. As more and more men
take notice of their “new” seductive look (i.e. more skin exposed, tighter
fitting clothes, seductive mannerisms, etc.) they lose their shame and
embrace ignominy. Many contemporary churches follow this same behavior.
They’re tired of being overlooked, they’re tired of feeling like nothing, and
they’ve become confused in their apathy. So like a prostitute, they embrace
the values of this world, throw aside their honor, and invite the world
in. Remember that a prostitute goes through the motions of love, but
doesn’t really experience it. Likewise, many, many Christians merely go
through the motions of discipleship but never really experience it. If you
feel like a fake, perhaps you are. If you feel fraudulent in your spiritual
life, perhaps this is God’s spirit convicting you. Don’t change and adopt the
ways of this world. Repent! The Great Whore in Revelation is said to be, “the
mother of prostitutes.” In other words, just as she prostitutes
herself to the world, she teaches her children to do the same. What we find
today is generation after generation of Christians doing exactly what the
previous generation of Christians have done while the world slips deeper and
deeper into decadency. At least they are busy - busy working for the Lord.
But are they really? If John was to describe what he sees in the contemporary
church, would he describe their actions as a victorious army conquering the
world, or would he describe it as a beautiful woman having sex with a monster? The Assumption of Conflict. Part 3, The keeper 12/12/2009
It
is important to realize that we - as the body of Christ - are irrevocably
connected to each other through the Holy Spirit. Unlike our career and
dining pleasures, we do not choose our affiliations in body of Christ – the
Holy Spirit does. We must comprehend that the saints whose life touch
are put there for a reason, and this reason isn’t always clear to us. We are
not allowed the freedom to decide whom we will help or pass by. We
cannot stand afar off from the parts of the body of which we are connected
and criticize and condemn their misfortune and calamity. We must not pull up
anchor and sail away from those who have fallen among thieves. Our place
in the body of Christ is settled, obligatory, permanent, and
unalterable. Deal with it! You are destined to be on your guard
continually, to hedge about your garden keeping it from the tempter.
You must take responsibility for your brother because you are your brother’s
keeper. You must strengthen the Jobs who face storms of
adversity. You must come to the aid of those who fell among thieves.
Your support, strength, wisdom, and determination are both necessary and
compulsory for their restoration. Consequently, your life will never be free
from conflict. There will always be Christian brothers and sisters who
suffer adversity. Just like Job’s friends, the Levite, and the priest,
as soon as you become aware of their misfortune you are irrevocable connected
to their trail, and are therefore a part of the test. How you respond
will determine not only their future but yours also. The Assumption of Conflict. Part 2, As Incredible As
It Seems 11/20/2009 God demonstrated His love for us through passion, zeal,
and by abandonment in regards to His own welfare. He placed Himself in harm’s
way, endured disgrace and torture, tossed aside His throne, and risked
condemnation for our salvation. The example God set for us is that He didn’t
play it safe, nor did He live in the pretense of pleasure and sophistication.
He came as servant from the obscure and sordid goat pasture known as
Nazareth. Did God entitle Himself (as the King of the universe) to live in
the lap of luxury? Did God seek protection from humiliation, disgrace,
torment, and pain? Did He expect His righteousness should earn Him the
contractual benefits of happiness, prosperity, and pleasure? Did He seek
assurance that once He set aside His heavenly robe, He would get it back again?
No. Most Christians live in the shadows of great men who came before – men
who were daring and reckless in their love for God. These men loved with
desperation, intrepid courage, and, temerity. Yet contemporary Christians
play it safe and leave it to God to take all the chances. God was radical in
His love for us, however modern Christians feel that it is perfectly
acceptable to live lives of sophistication and pretense. How can this be? How
is it that western contemporary Christianity has digressed so far from the
love which God so aptly demonstrated when He tossed aside His kingdom and
rushed to our aid? How is it that we have lost focus on the one compelling
evidence that once defined Christians: love? The Assumption of Conflict 7/25/2009. What makes a people great
is the production, invention, creativity, and industry that emerges when they
are forced to unite against a common enemy.
Humanity was designed for conflict. Fighting and subduing are when they
are at their best. In the absences of a threat from a common enemy, humanity
will turn on itself and regress into self-destruction. Christianity was born in an environment of
conflict and danger. The early
founders went forth as God charged Adam: to “subdue” and to take “dominion” of this world in the name
of Christ. Uniting through conflict, they were forged into the hardest steel
through pain and suffering. Their
weapons were “the
blood of the Lamb and… the word of
their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death (Revelation 12:11).” The
greatest challenge that Christianity faced did not come from the edge of the
sword or the sound of a cracking whip.
Persecution, torment, suffering, and sorrow have been the friends of
Christianity. They have served to weed
out the uncommitted, the compromisers, and the apathetic. During the times of the great persecution,
the uncommitted fled quickly, leaving the ranks swelled with zealous
believers ready and willing to spill their own blood and give their own
lives. The greatest challenge for
Christianity cannot be measured in terms of pain, money, or sacrifice. That
is because the greatest challenge Christianity ever faced did not come from
oppression, persecution, or rejection; it came from its own success. Christianity and
Higher Learning, Part 4. A Single Word of Understanding 7/7/2009. If
I were to tell you that the difference between the New and Old Testament can
be boiled down to a single word, what would you consider that word? Nine out of ten Christians would say the
word is “love.” If you selected love
you would be in the majority, but you would also be wrong. Christianity and Higher Learning, Part 3. "Do you
love me more?" 7/2/2009. Western Christians stand in bitter contrast
to the Christianity Jesus taught. Jesus taught that our love for God
cannot be a component of our lives - it must consume our lives. And that our
love for God cannot coexist with other gods that sit on the throne of our
heart – it must rule them. Western Christianity has manufactured an
understanding God that makes exceptions to His rules. They present a God that
loves them so much that He no longer cares if He is loved. Their concept of
God puts them on the throne and God in service to them. What we find today are Christian leaders
who have become experts at pulling down “God things” for their
followers. These things look and sound like living water but disappear
almost as soon as they are received. True living water causes you not to
thirst again, but these God things only make the parasite Christian more and
more thirsty for the imitation living water that church leaders peddle.
Rather than growing up in the Spirit and ascending up to be with God,
contemporary Christians have developed a symbiotic relationship with their
Christian leaders. They slowly turn into parasites that cannot live on
their own. They maintain a pseudo-Christian life style by nursing from the
spiritual life of their pastor or church host. This is the consequence of
a Christian society that will not trade in that which they cannot keep for
that for which they cannot lose. They want the best of both worlds and,
as a result, will eventually lose both. Christianity and Higher Learning, Part 2.
Barriers to Spiritual Maturity 6/25/2009. What churches
need today is to once again embrace desperation for the Holy Spirit as
opposed to desperation for church buildings and the teachers that work
there. Christians must learn to let go of their articulate speakers and
the plethora of Christian literature they cherish. They must find the
same love and passion for the Spirit that they do for the information
spilling out of Christian centers of higher learning. There is life beyond
the physical. There is a spiritual world of unimaginable beauty and
tranquility that fewer and fewer Christians are coming to know. It is beyond
the physical rainbow and through the physical looking glass. You cannot
get there by any physical means. You must have the Spirit to guide you! Christianity and Higher Learning, Part 1.
Introduction to the University of the Holy Spirit 6/15/2009. Paul saw the “milk” or “(first)
principles (Greek: ‘the beginning’).. of Christ”
as a sort of elementary school. He lists the elements of this education
to include: “repentance (i.e. the
message of salvation),” “dead works, and of faith
toward God (i.e. Christian living and character, providence,
faith, etc.),” “baptisms (i.e.
departing from sin, living godly, spiritually filled, etc.),” “laying on of hands (i.e. healing, spiritual
gifts and ministry),” the “resurrection of the
dead, and of eternal judgment (i.e. teachings on end time, the
hereafter, heavenly places and beings, demons, etc.).” He doesn’t say
that there is anything wrong with this teaching, but that there must come a
time to go beyond it into what he calls “perfection”
or maturity. However, the teaching he identifies as “milk” or “first
principles” that Christians are to grow beyond are in fact all
that is taught by most all western churches and ministries. You would
be hard pressed to find something taught in our churches that are not derived
from Paul’s list of the “milk” of the
Word. In contrast to Paul’s teaching ministries of today aspire to the
elementary instead of the mature. This is an important concept because most
ministries and churches believe that by teaching the “milk” they are providing maturity to the
saints. However, the way to true spiritual maturity is a forgotten and
shunned concept by most western ministries. Central to their teaching
is the implied notion that to be taught and grow toward maturity requires
remaining under a good ministry and church. This is true for elementary
education of Christ, but it won’t bring you to maturity. To find maturity you
must go beyond church and their ministries into a higher education which only
the Holy Ghost can teach. True spiritual maturity can only be acquired
through the University of Holy Spirit. This is a level of education
that cannot be taught by men or obtained through church attendance. Real
Christianity. Part 3. Fixed Or Replaced? 10/5/2008. Out of Saul’s
institution arose two giants among men. Both of them loved God,
both were known for their exploits in battle, both were loved by the people,
and both considered the other as a brother. Of course, we are referring
to Jonathan and David. To say that Jonathan and David were good friends
does not begin to describe their relationship. They loved one
another. David loved Jonathan with a love that transcended the love he
had for his own natural brothers. Real
Christianity. Part 2. Brotherhood or Egocentricity? 9/15/2008. Brotherhood
is a characteristic of Christianity that is next to non-existent among
Christian leaders today. Brotherhood has become watered down to the
point where it now means nothing more than good friendship, fondness,
personal accountability, and, in some cases, subjugation to a leading human
authority. Although there can be some merit to the “brotherhood” found
in these things, there remains one aspect of true brotherhood that is never
discussed or embraced by today’s Western Christian culture. Real
Christianity. Part 1. 9/6/2008. Our practice of “going to church” (or “having
church”) is the biggest, most successful snare that Satan has set for modern
Christians. Most Christians have been
snared and are choking to death in the very churches in which they expected
to find life. But then, isn’t that how
snares work? A hunter sets snares in
well-traveled (traditional) animal trails and sometimes sets a little food
inside or on either side of the snare.
The animal, thinking it will find life-sustaining food, walks straight
into the snare and ends up killing itself.
In the same way, Christians everywhere believe that their form of
“going to church” is life-sustaining when in reality it is killing them. It prevents them from experiencing true
Christianity. It is a poor substitute
for the genuine article. The Spirit of
Truth and Errors. Part 1. The Wisdom of Solomon. 7/24/2008. Today, lines are being drawn in the sand. On one side are places like Toronto and
Lakeland, people like Bob Jones, Todd Bentley, Benny Hinn, and Rick Joyner,
and something that calls itself the “modern prophetic movement.” On the other side are mainstream Pentecostals
and Fundamentalists who protect the status quo. What makes this battle so difficult to sort
out is that the issues in question have so little applicable scripture to aid
in discernment. Proponents of this new
movement claim that what we are seeing is nothing short of the works of
Christ, his apostles, his prophets, and a final outpouring of God’s Spirit,
while opponents claim it is unbiblical and demonic. Desperately needed is the Wisdom of Solomon
to discern and bring forth the truth. Out of the
Wilderness. Part 5 - Message To The Captives. 6/1/2008. When
God’s people have had to endure captivity it was global in scope. Both
the righteous and unrighteous endured tribulation together. If we are
entering a time of captivity then tribulation will befall us all. So
don’t ask the question “why” when trouble befalls you. Instead
repent! Repent for the sin in the church, repent for the sin of our
nations, repent for the spiritual desolation that pervades our societies, and
repent for our failure to be the light of this world that our Lord has called
use to be. Out of the
Wilderness. Part 4 - "The Tares and the Wheat". 5/10/2008. Unity
does not mean compromise How
important was unity to Jesus? Whoever
eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up
at the last day. On hearing it, many of his disciples said, "This
is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?" Aware
that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, "Does
this offend you? He went on to say, "This is why I told you that no one
can come to me unless the Father has enabled him." From this
time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him. "You
do not want to leave too, do you?" Jesus asked the Twelve. Jesus
always allowed His Word to separate the tares from the wheat. He
did not dilute His Word to make it more acceptable for the sake of
numbers. Unity is important to Jesus, but His desire for unity extended
only to those who stayed with Him. There is and always has been a unity
among those who embrace the Words of Christ. Out of the
Wilderness. Part 3 - "As it was in the days of Noah.". 5/2/2008. Today,
as in “the days of Noah,”
angels are once again joining with men to produce a perversion of nature:
men/women of great power. Once again, this power is the spiritual
amalgamation of earth and hell, and once again, people are worshipped because
of their power. But even though a perversion of the supernatural is
taking place upon the earth, a turpitude of epic proportions and unparalleled
deceit, an event not witnessed by humanity in five thousand years, “people [nevertheless
go about] eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage” as
though the events of this age are commonplace. What we see
taking place today is a merging of Christianity with spiritualism, and
mysticism to create a universal Christianity. It is the “Constantinizing”
of modern Christianity all over again, only this time it is spiritually
motivated instead of politically. As such, it will be much more
powerful because these “prophets” are getting direction from beings claiming
to be angels, Jesus, and (soon to be) dead prophets. And, like
Constantine, the leaders of this movement are not limited to the boundaries
of the scripture. They are free to merge with Eastern religions like
Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam, and yes, even Satanism. In fact, they already
are. This is the inception of the
rebirth of a universal religion. Out of the
Wilderness. Part 2 - "Go not forth!". 4/6/2008. Matthew
24:23-26 Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe
it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and
shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they
shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before. Wherefore
if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth:
behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not. Out of the
Wilderness. Part 1 - The Remnant and the End Time Message. 4/6/2008. Many
Christians who contact us are confused and hurt that they are all
alone. They long for the encouragement of other believers and try to
make sense of their solitude. We are unable to offer these saints help
since we do not understand the work that God is doing in their lives.
If there is a remnant, they would remain aware that within them still dwells
the seed of Babylonian culture which they must continue to purge. As a
result, they would not view their lives as superior to others. They
would be only too aware of their own humanity to believe that they are part
of God’s “end-time” remnant. You see, if there is a true remnant, it is
so well hidden that those who are part of it do not recognize that they
are. Therefore, they would not be talking about the remnant: something
of which they could not possibly be a part. The true remnant would be
hidden from others who are also part of it. Joshua-gate. Part 1 - The Great End Time Conspiracy. 3/18/2008. Do
you sometimes wonder why it seems that God has forsaken you? Then you
are not alone. More and more Christians of this generation are asking
the same question. Have you ever wondered why it seems that you just
can’t seem to find a church where the power and presence of God is “really”
active (and we are not talking about pretenders and counterfeiters with all
their hype)? Once again, you are not alone. Have you ever
wondered why there is such a great migration and exodus from traditional
churches as Christians search for something real? Yes, you are not
alone. More and more, God is not just forsaking this generation; more
and more He is actively working against it. And now, it is not just
churches that are beginning to experience it. Individual people are,
too. Joshua-gate. Part 2 - The Conspiracy of Security. 3/25/2008. Contemporary
churches have backslidden, but the good news is that God still looks at each
individual heart. Therefore, you are not without hope. If your
heart is still yielding enough to receive His conviction, you must lay down
your idols before it is too late. Quit trying to find the right church
and pastor to help you. Look to God. Most of the time, all you
will receive at an institutional church is a “fix” that numbs you against the
true conviction of the Holy Spirit. Joshua-gate. Part 3 - The Jezebel Conspiracy: the Downfall of Kings. 3/30/2008. Ask yourself this: Are
you secure in your relationship with your spouse? Do you trust him or
her? Do you doubt whether or not s/he truly loves you? Do you
feel as though something is wrong? Do you feel like s/he is holding back
affection? How about your relationship with your parents? Do you
trust their love for you? Do you believe that they truly care about
you? Are you in the least bit concerned whether or not they will help
and support you? If you don’t trust someone, or if you feel insecure
about that relationship, then something is wrong. It should NOT be that
way. You should have absolute trust, security, and confidence in
your spouse. You should have absolute faith in your parents’ support
and love. Trust, faith, confidence, and security are all marks of
healthy relationships, and when these positive characteristics are missing,
it is symptomatic of a serious problem. Joshua-gate. Part 4 - Divestment, The Forgotten Words Of Christ. 4/21/2008. “Feints” are “maneuvers designed to distract or mislead, done by giving
the impression that a certain maneuver will take place, while in fact
another, or even none, will.” One type
of feint is when an army pretends to be attacking in one area to draw
the enemy’s attention away from the place where the true attack will
occur. That way, while the enemy is
marshaling its forces in one area, the real attack takes place in another. Joshua-gate. Part 5 - None Dare Call It Apostasy. 4/28/2008. Most
Christians believe that the word “apostasy” is synonymous with social
decadence. When we hear this word applied to the state of the church,
many Christians assume that it has to do with sin or backsliding. But
being backslidden does not really capture the meaning of the word. In
fact, Christians don’t need to be backslidden to be apostate. There are
many respected and devout Christians today filling our churches who are
actually living in apostasy. Choose Life - The Architecture of God. 3/10/2008. Church development is determined largely by
the vision and objectives of men. They develop according to the goals
and philosophies set by their leaders. But what if… What if God
set the vision? What if God guided its destiny? What would our
churches become if God were in control? Dissipation - If Samson Could Warn Us. 2/11/2008. Every Christian
has, at one time or another, asked the question, “What has happened to
Christianity?” It’s impossible to spend any length of time reading the
New Testament and not wonder why Christianity no longer resembles that which was practiced by Christ and His
followers. It’s a sad revelation that all Christians must eventually
reconcile in their own minds. Instead of rationalizing apathy,
compromise, and sin, let us ask instead, “Why is the Christianity of the past
no longer relevant today?” If the contemporary teaching that
“Christianity has changed” is actually a fabrication of modern academia, then
just where does this leave modern Christianity? It leaves Christian
leaders with no excuse for the apathetic, backslidden, carnal condition of
the churches for which they are responsible. So, then, why is modern
Christianity so different from Jesus’ teachings? The answer to this
contradiction is found in a passage from the Gospel according to Luke: Jesus
actually told us it would happen. It is
interesting that caged wild animals will often lose their instinct to
mate. Then their species simply dies out and vanishes away, with
only documents left to prove that they ever existed. Similarly, we have
only ancient and few documents to provide us with information as to what
Christianity once was. Christianity is nearly extinct. Christians
have live within the cages of institution for so long that they have lost
almost every characteristic of which they once was. Slowly Christianity
is dying out and vanishing away. Reading about Christianity, as taught
and exampled by Jesus and practiced by His disciples, is like reading about
the ancient Mayan civilization. The people who live in the
territory of that civilization today no longer resemble the greatness of that
kingdom. Compared to what they once were, the people who live there
today are poor and lowly. Who owns Your Faith? 1/25/2008. Of all the
apostles, perhaps Peter gives us the best insight into how Jesus sought to
develop faith in His disciples. It was Peter who believed that Jesus
was the Christ and proclaimed, “Thou art the
Christ, the Son of the living God (Matthew 16:16).” It was
Peter who walked on water and who boldly proclaimed the gospel message on the
day of Pentecost, resulting in the salvation of thousands. We should
consider the technique Jesus employed as we determine how to properly raise
our children in faith and how to develop faith within our own communities of
believers where we fellowship. What was Jesus’ secret? How did He
develop faith amongst His disciples? Jesus used adversity – in particular,
literal storms – to build the faith of his disciples. Everything Has an End - Paving the way for the
Antichrist. 1/8/2008. It is called the
Transitive Property in mathematics. Briefly, it means that if A=B and
B=C then A=C. When we consider the contemporary church, it is more like
if A=B, B=C, C=D, D=E, and E=F, then A=F. By this, we mean that we have
become so far removed from the origins of what we believe and practice that
we are completely unaware of how the philosophical outlook of contemporary
Christianity and the attitude of church leaders have been molded by previous
generations. Take, for instance, the progenitor of church
leadership. How did it begin? What are its roots? Consider
the words, “It
is not reason that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables.” It is said that attitude is a reflection of
leadership. Disciples emulate the
behavior of their teachers. They also
emulate their perspectives and attitude.
Therefore, if the apostles thought that it was beneath them to wait on
tables, so would the rest who follow and model their behavior after
them. If the apostles felt that it was
“more important” to study the scriptures and pray, then so would all those
who follow. The apostles did get part
of their leadership responsibilities right – the part that required them to pray
and minister the word. But what about
the rest of their responsibility - the part that had to do with being an
example? You see, Jesus wasn’t just a
great teacher; He was also a great example.
And He continually demonstrated that nothing was beneath Him. He considered Himself a servant. His Generation - Part 5, Polymorphic Christianity. 12/2/2007. “On my way to work a few weeks ago,
God began to speak to my heart about a class system in Christianity. I
began to have ideas that I couldn’t find the words to describe. By the
time I got to work, my heart was heavy. I needed to find some way to
write about these thoughts, but I couldn’t find the words to describe
them. At my desk, I bowed my head and prayed, ‘Lord, give me some real
world example to explain these ideas You’ve given me.’ Almost
immediately, I heard the words, ‘poly’ and ‘morphic.’ ‘Poly
morphic,’ I repeated out loud. ‘There are no such words,’ I said to
myself. So I went to the website dictionary.com and typed the words as
one word, ‘polymorphic.’ I felt that perhaps it would recommend a real
word. To my surprise, it was a real word. Not only that,
but the definition was the exact description of the ideas that God was
speaking to my heart.” --Ron Schwartz, November 2007. There are many
different examples of polymorphic insects found in nature. Incredibly,
each of the different castes in each species comes from larvae laid by the
same queen. Though each larva may appear the same, the type of adult
they will become is predetermined before they came into existence as a result
of environmental factors such as the need for food, workers, or
protection. In this type of social system, the function of a particular
insect is predetermined, and they can never be anything different.
Humans and other mammals are not polymorphic and are thus not limited in
their social capacity. They are not predestined to have a single social
function. Instead, humans have the ability to grow, learn, adapt, and
expand themselves to become anything that they are physically and
intellectually capable of becoming. In keeping with the old adage, “The
sky is the limit,” humans have the ability to grow from one social function
into another, even to succeed at many different social functions. They
can breed and give birth like the Drone and Queen, they can work to provide
for their families like the Worker, and they can fight to protect the freedom
of their society like the Soldier. They are not “pre-caste” into a
single immutable social function. His Generation - Part
4, Finishing God's Work. 11/20/2007. To eat the meat
of Jesus means to “finish his [the
Father’s] work.” This requires
that you be brave and to believe. You must be brave enough to
step out of your comfort zone and finish the work the Holy Spirit begins around you.
When a woman came to a well near where Jesus sat, He preached to her the
message of the Kingdom of God. The Holy Spirit began the work by drawing her
to the well and creating the encounter. Christ finished what the Holy
Spirit began by acting on God’s behalf. We also must see these chance
encounters as Jesus and His disciples did: not as a coincidence, but as
divine appointment. When Peter and John came across a crippled beggar
at the temple, they saw it as the divine appointment God meant it to
be. The Holy Ghost began the work, so they finished it! To Peter
and John, meeting the crippled beggar wasn’t about gaining another follower
or expanding the size of their church. It was about allowing a life to
be forever transformed by the power of God. It is those times when we
partner with the Holy Spirit that we grow, that we become spiritually strong,
that we eat of the meat of the Holy Spirit. As we work with the Holy
Spirit to see lives transformed, we become the rivers of living water that
the scriptures describe. So, if you are spiritually depleted, do not
look for a preacher to toss you his crumbs. Look around for the encounters
that the Holy Spirit has created and complete the work. Sadly though, most
Christians do not see divine encounters, they only see coincidences, and
those who do recognize a divine encounter unusually do not act upon it. It is
because they have been so ingrained with the idea that they are not qualified
to minister to others, it’s not their job, and neither do they have the
authority to act, that the divine encounter simply slips away. His Generation - Part 3, The Church Of My House. 11/9/2007. If Christianity is to ever
become the Bride of Christ that it was destined to be, it will not be through
today’s institutions. It must return to its roots. It must cast
aside two thousand years of vain institution and adopt the spontaneous,
adaptive, and opportunistic methods of His generation. They must look
to Christ as their head and the Holy Spirit for answers and guidance.
Christians must be unleashed. They must be turned loose into the wild
to discover who they were prior to their domestication, to rediscover their
destiny by adapting, overcoming, and subduing this earth and the evil
ingrained into it. In order for this to happen, each home must become a
church, every parent a pastor, and every child a fiery disciple! His Generation - Part 2, What It Means To Believe. 10/19/2007. John 3:16 is, without doubt,
one of the most well-known scriptures in the Bible. Yet for all the
tens of thousands of times it is quoted each week, it seems to find no
place in today’s Christian culture. Who today evangelizes with
the message of “believing?” Why does the context of this
scripture seem to have little meaning among Christians today? Even a
cursory study of the New Testament will reveal that this passage is far from
being an anomaly. “Believing” is the central theme of the New
Testament. The word “believe” is
the Greek verb “pisteuo.” The noun version, “pistis,” is
translated as “faith.” The use of “believing” and “faith” are thus
interchangeable. They are essentially the same word. “Believing”
and “faith” were never meant to be used to exclusively describe a
process of salvation that was accomplished years ago. It was meant to
describe the everyday actions of believers as they lived their lives.
It was meant to describe how they handled adversity, sickness, and the lost
souls they encountered. It was meant to describe believing that Jesus
is the Son of God and following what He taught. It meant exercising His
faith, believing in His active power in their lives, and doing His
works. It meant to be an overcomer, a conqueror, and kings among
men. To the first believers, Christianity was a transformation.
It was not only an inward experience but also an ongoing outward manifestation
through their lives of their spiritual rebirth, the operation of the Spirit
in their lives, and the realization of Christ’s teaching in them. They
were and strove their entire lives to become all that He was, all that He
promised them, and all that He taught. That is what it meant to
“believe.” His Generation - Part 1, What Shall Become Of This
Generation? 10/9/2007. The generation of
Jesus began about 30AD with a relatively young rabbi walking through the
coastal cities of Galilee. He preached a message not unlike John the
Baptist’s message: a message that would become known as the Gospel, or “Good
News.” Twelve men, varying in age within about twenty years of Jesus,
joined Him as His Apostles. We want to declare His generation and what
became of it. Jesus’ generation lasted for about 70 years (30AD to
100AD). They were a generation of about thirteen men who changed the
known world. They never lost faith, they never lost focus, and they
never lost the passion required to spread this “good news.” They faced
severe opposition from their fellow countrymen, and they thrived during a
time of great persecution. They did not have all the answers, yet they
were able to leave some of the richest writings ever produced, and the reason
why we are able to assemble and worship God is completely the result of their
lives’ work. The men who
followed Jesus were unique. They were an anomaly for every other
generation of Christian leaders that were to follow. It is safe to say
that NO other generation of Christian leaders followed the example taught by
Christ and practiced by His original followers. These original
followers did not compete for preeminence or control. They did not split into
isolated factions of believers who went about their own business regardless
of what the others thought. In fact, thirty years after the death of
Christ, we find these men still operating as a team (rather than as
individuals), burning with the same passion of world evangelism. What
was different with them? Why were they such an anomaly? What Is A New Testament Church - Part 4 "Within
And Without". 9/19/2007. What
makes up a New Testament church is New Testament Christians. One reason we fail to see the type of
church that the First Century Christians knew is because Christians since
then have institutionalized their faith.
They are practicing intellectually what they believe to be a New
Testament faith, when it is, in reality, little more than living an Old
Testament life. The
Old Testament dealt with the outside.
Consequently, process and procedure were important (e.g., God told
Moses, “See, saith he, that thou make all things
according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount (Hebrews 8:5).”). Christian leaders and churches that focus
on process and procedure are NOT New Testament but Old. In
the Old Testament, people approached God through following the “process” of
the Tabernacle and Temple. But God is
no longer there. The process for
growing closer to God no longer works.
All that these processes can achieve now is religion. Institutionalizing faith is religion. It desires to boil everything down to a
recipe, a guideline, a process. If
this describes you, then you need to repent and do the first works again. If your priorities seem skewed, if
understanding what the New Testament is seems cloudy, if you are burdened by
all the spiritual/religious things that you are supposed to be doing, then
you are living in the Old Testament.
You must learn again (like you did when you were first saved) what it
means to have a personal relationship with God. What Is A New Testament Church - Part 3, Contextual
Ministry. 9/4/2007. The
practice of the New Testament church was vastly different from its
contemporary counterpart. “Appointed”
church offices took a back seat to the manifestation of the Spirit, while
those who were spiritually gifted were both encouraged and allowed to express
their spiritual gifts. Today, however,
the reverse is true. In our
contemporary church model, “appointed” church offices (i.e., men who are
appointed to a position of authority) are often expected to be
plenipotentiary leaders who take precedence over the spiritually gifted. The spiritually gifted are often viewed and
treated as troublemakers and renegades. Therefore, the
contemporary church is derailed, primarily because its leaders are. They have allowed their appointed positions
to give them a place in the church that God never intended. Appointed church leaders were to have
authority over that which belongs to men, not that which belongs to God. In a
New Testament church, a believer does not need to be appointed to a church
office in order to minister. ALL MATURE
CHRISTIANS are to be regarded as elders and speak with the SAME authority as
those appointed to church offices.
Why, then, have church offices at all?
The practice in the New Testament church was to appoint spiritually
mature individuals to handle the business and physical affairs of the
church. That is why all the
qualifications for a church office in Titus and Timothy deal with the honesty
and integrity of a man, NOT his spiritual endowment. What Is A New Testament Church - Part 2, Offerings
Of Fire. 8/28/2007. Missing
from most churches, especially those that claim to be New Testament, is the
sovereignty of the Holy Spirit. You
cannot create a New Testament church by setting in place elders and deacons,
by being accountable to an apostle, by developing ministries, by giving or
listening to anointed sermons, or by seeking spiritual gifts. If you want a New Testament church, you
must do what the first generation of Christians did: wait for the power! Do
you want to experience a New Testament church? Then stop trying to create one. All we can create is an Old Testament
church, a church produced out of human will and effort. Contrary to popular consensus, God does not
need apostles and prophets, spiritual gifts, or the New Testament church
structure in order to change the world.
God does not need traditional pastors or their programs in our
churches. The form of church and the
ministry structure they provide has done little to affect the people,
communities, or the nations of this world.
What God needs from us is something that church form and ministry
structure cannot provide. God needs
each of us to offer Him our lives as “an offering made by fire.” What Is A New Testament Church - Part 1, The New And
Old Testament Church. 8/14/2007. There was an Old Testament Church just as there is
a New Testament Church. Much of the
problem Christians face today comes from a misunderstanding of what structure
and obligations belong to the Old Testament Church and what to the New
Testament Church. In general,
Christians understand that they are no longer obligated to make blood
sacrifices for their sin. They clearly
see this as Old Testament obsolescence, but other things are not as
clear. What about the Jewish feasts or
abstaining from pork? Christians tend
to struggle with many of the sundry laws and ordinances. Many Christians are not clear as to how the
law applies to New Testament Christians.
The line of separation between the Old and New Testament is blurred
with Christians observing many Old Testament practices. It was a problem that was especially
difficult for first century Christianity, and a struggled they never
completely resolved. Consequently, it
is no wonder that Christians of today tend to embrace much of the Old
Testament structure when it comes to the New Testament Church. Domesticating Christians -
Part 3, Addicted To Pleasure 8/6/2007. Today’s
Christian leaders are propagating a perversion. Rather than stand in the gap, they fight to
see who can own the biggest share of it.
They have no motivation to want the gap removed since it is that gap
that gives them purpose, makes them relevant.
As they see it, God has called them to “fill the gap,” not remove
it. If there were no gap, what would
they do? As long as there exist
apathetic compromising Christians, then there is work for them to do. In
addition, they need the gap to get wider in order to have room for a new
generation of Christian leaders. The
gap is treated like prime real estate, with every institutional minister
attempting to get the biggest share.
As a result, the gap between God and His people gets wider as more and
more Christians are turned into addicts.
Christian leaders are not closing the gap; rather, they are
responsible for creating and widening it.
Every time Christian are given alternatives to seeking God themselves and seeking the infilling of His Spirit, there is a new “spiritual gap” created. Every sermon, book, crusade, and video teaching that does not cause Christians to abandon their pursuit of intellectual pleasure and spend time (however long that may be) seeking God until they are filled with His Spirit and become a river of living water is nothing more than a spiritual gap. The worst possible thing that could happen to the institutional church and its leaders is for “revival” to take place and the gap between God and His people to disappear. What would all the Christian leaders do then? They cannot allow that to happen, so they protect the gap by filling it with their ministries, churches, and sermons, and in doing so, they feed the addiction of God’s people, cleverly keeping them away from God. God’s people today are slaves to their addictions. They are addicted to their pleasures, and the pushers of these addictions are their Christian leaders who feed it to them. Domesticating Christians - Part 2, Unnatural
Selection 7/23/2007. God
meant for women to marry men, not angels.
How could men possibly compete with angels for the affection of
women? For “angels, which are greater in power and might (2 Peter 2:11)”
are nearly perfect beings. They
exercise tremendous strength and miraculous power. Angels surely
used their power to captivate the attention of human women. Human men
could not contend with such powerful beings. This perversion of God’s order
created offspring who were “mighty men which were
of old, men of renown.” It
is quite possible that this is from where the legends of Hercules and the
other Greek gods came. It is easy to
understand how their offspring could be seen as gods. Nevertheless, these “mighty men”
were a perversion of God’s order. It is interesting
that prior to this event in the scripture there is no evidence of
idolatry. There is no evidence that
mankind worshipped idols. We can
conclude that, up until this event, mankind recognized only a single God. They may not have acknowledged or
worshipped Him, but they still knew that He was God. The creation of these “mighty men… men of renown” could, in one sense,
be viewed as a fulfilling of the destiny of mankind. God said, “Let
us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over
the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and
over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the
earth (Genesis 1:26).” So when godlike beings began to emerge, those angel
beings could have claimed to be doing God’s will. But even
though their offspring appeared godlike, they only appeared that way. In reality, they were made in the image of
angels, not in the image of God. Domesticating Christians - Part 1 7/4/2007. True Christians who desire to be the subduer/conqueror that God destined them to be are incompatible with institutional churches. They are incompatible with the church setting that casts them as spectators, like cattle in stalls. Christians like this have sacrificed their knowledge of how to move and operate in the Spirit for the safety of their church-farm and the mindless duty of being fed by their pastor-farmer. They believe that only their pastor-farmer is blessed with the gift of feeding. So they have laid down their swords and armor and quietly conformed to becoming livestock. They no longer know how to survive and thrive in the environment God designed them to conquer. They are no longer God’s warriors against the land of spiritual darkness. They live now in the safety of their stall, and think that this is what God destined for them. God’s people have quite literally been “destroyed for lack of knowledge.” Poets Of The Spirit - Being A Doer Of The Word. 6/25/2007. The Holy
Spirit works in our lives, not through lectures and workbooks, but by leading
us through the difficult times. We
learn faith by practicing it, and God will make sure that we get ample
opportunities to practice it. We learn
patience, mercy, and forgiveness from people who hurt us. Every tangible
element in our Christian lives is obtained from living/practicing our
Christian faith. Sometimes we don’t know what to do. That is not the time to run to the Christian
bookstore but to pray for the leading of the Holy Spirit. When you allow God to handle the
circumstances in your life, you will begin to see a poet emerge in you. You will see people being drawn to the
performance of your life. When we
allow God to write His law in our hearts (as opposed to drawing from academia
and then trying to force it to work in our lives) we will see Christ lifted
up and all men drawn to him. Spiritual Authority - Part 1. Understanding
Spiritual Authority. 5/16/2007. There
is a great deal of confusion over the subject of Spiritual Authority
because people tend to confuse natural authority and spiritual
authority. This confusion is
pervasive in the teachings of well-known Christian teachers like Bill Gothard
and Watchman Nee. Natural authority is the power (or authority)
people have over others. People tend
to exploit the areas of their lives that contribute to their sense of
power. For instance, it is not unusual
for influential men to spend in excess of $1,000 on a name brand suit, $150
on a silk tie, $200 on leather shoes, thousands on a Rolex watch, and tens of
thousands on classy cars. Men are not
alone in their pursuit of power. Women
live in what they consider “a man’s world.”
Therefore, in order to feel significant, women feel they need to have
some sort power over men. But since
they are far less physically intimidating than most men, women have had to
learn other ways to achieve power and control. One especially effective tool is there sex
appeal. The most common way to do this
is by accentuating their physically sensual characteristics. They tend to wear clothes that accent their
physical shape, stockings and shoes that show off their legs, make-up and
hairstyles that accent their faces, jewelry and nail polish to show off their
hands, etc. Women have come to
understand that a man’s sexual drive is his weakness, and so when they
successfully exploit this weakness, they gain power over him. Other women go to the opposite extreme and
attempt to act and dress like their male counterparts trying to fit in with
them. None of this has anything to do
with spiritual authority. It is
merely people using natural authority to have power and control. Spiritual Authority - Part 2. The Application Of
Spiritual Authority. 5/22/2007.
This note addresses the relationship of the husband
and wife as well as that of parents and children. It also addresses the
issue of submission. The following is a sample of the part on the
husband and wife relationship: We learn here
that God created Eve to be a “help meet.”
The word “help (Hebrew: help, aid, or succor)” means just as it would
seem: “to aid or assist.”
Interestingly enough, the word “meet”
means “a part opposite, specifically a counterpart, or mate. It has the idea of something being set
against (as in opposition) something else.” Eve could help
him become better by providing balance through an opposing viewpoint. Their collaboration and cooperation is
known as “synergy.” It is the friction
between these two opposites who work together for a solution that creates
synergy. The following is
a sample of the part on submission: We must be careful not turn submission
into a spiritual act. When we do that it becomes law, and women
will submit, not out of love but out of some sense of duty or threat of
sin. This tends to diminish a wife’s
effectiveness as his help meet. Christian wives submit to their husbands
because that is the natural order that God established, and it is therefore
pleasing to Him. But to make
submission exclusively a wife’s role is wrong. We are “all [to] be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility:
for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.” Consequently, it should not be hard for a
woman to submit to her husband and he to her.
Submission should be our lifestyle. Spiritual Authority - Part 3. The Voice Of The Holy
Spirit. 5/30/2007. We
are convinced that most Christians do NOT know how to hear the voice of the
Spirit. Gleaning truths divined from
the scripture is NOT the voice of the Spirit.
Basing your decision on your understanding of biblical truths is NOT
hearing the voice of the Spirit.
Coming to a consensus through the counsel of others is NOT listening
to the Spirit of God. Instead of
hearing the voice of the Spirit, most Christians have come to accept their
own presumptions, cultural values, and intellectual knowledge of the
scripture to dictate the answers they desire and their spiritual
direction. Though truth can sometimes
be found in this way, it is a poor replacement for hearing what the Spirit
has to say. Only by listening to the
voice of the Holy Spirit can one be fully submitted to true spiritual
authority. When
you consider the scriptures as a whole, you begin to see certain themes
occurring. I believe “biblical themes”
are certain inalienable truths that the apostles embraced and were therefore
reflected in their writing. For
instance, Western civilization embraces justice and freedom. As a result, someone who embraces these
values will unknowingly communicate these virtues in their writing and speech
even though they may not directly address the subject. That is because these values are a part of
the way we think and are therefore reflected in how we communicate. This is also true in the writings of the
New Testament. There are certain
ideological truths like love, grace, and faith that were embraced by the
authors of the New Testament. These
values were at times subtly communicated in their writing. They appear as themes in their
writing. Therefore, when we read a
statement that seems to be in conflict with other New Testament passages, we
must look beyond the words and the Greek meaning, seeking to understand the
theme of the concept as it is expressed in the whole of the New
Testament. Spiritual Authority - Part 4. Case Studies In
Spiritual Authority. 6/3/2007. Case Study 1, the First Family. What
happened with Adam and Eve is very common.
Like most wives, Eve’s opinion of Adam was colored by his natural
authority over her. She saw him
not as a spiritual being but as the “physical” man that he was. The Serpent approached Eve not from a
position of natural authority but as a spiritual authority. There was no way that Adam could compete
with that. Even though he knew the mind
of God on the issue, Eve had more respect for someone coming from a position
of spiritual authority than one coming from a position of natural
authority. Adam lost out because
of his natural authority.
Consider the series of events that took place to bring about the fall
of mankind. Case Study 2, The First Church. Many Christians want to revert
back to the spiritual authority of the Old Testament. They liked having men represent them to God
as their priests. If they don’t have
to go to God, then their sin will not be exposed and their conscience will be
clear. Consequently, churches
everywhere put men as their priests/pastors in a position between them and
God. These men insulate them from the
prying eyes of the Holy Spirit. It is
easy to sit in a church and listen to someone preach, and it satisfies the
need to submit to God even if little is actually accomplished. The pastors/priests have no idea the lives
that their congregations lead, and this is the way people like it. But if God stood before them, there would
be no hiding their sin. Spiritual Authority - Part 5 Power
Over Serpents And Scorpions. 6/15/2007. When you put the scripture, “we wrestle,” together with the scripture, “power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the
power of the enemy,” you begin to understand that the spiritual
authority Christians can have “against
principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this
world, [and] against spiritual wickedness in
high places” is not given carte blanche to just any
Bible-toting believer. Like the Greeks
who trained their entire life for this contest, spiritual authority
over “serpents and scorpions, and over all the
power of the enemy” is for them who have conditioned and trained
their spiritual lives to be qualified for this fight. Believers do this through obeying the
discipleship described by Jesus, and through “crucifying the flesh” as described
by Paul. The measure of spiritual authority
a believer has is directly proportional to the degree that they are submitted
to the Lord. They must set aside sin
and personal ambitions and become obedient to God’s Spirit. And like the Greek sport, this training and
discipline must be considered lifelong and life changing. Coming Out Of Egypt - Part 1. Seven Times
Worse. 3/26/2007. Repeated
over and over again throughout the scripture is the principle of being “called
out.” Even
the word “church” comes from the Greek word “ecclesia”
which means “the called out ones.” In this scripture, we find Abraham being
called out of Ur. Later on, the
children of Israel are called out of Egypt, and then again out of Babylon. What is important is that with each calling out there is also a
calling to. God always has a purpose for His called out ones. Christians are called out with
purpose. We tend to lose sight of the
purpose and focus our attention on the coming out part. Christianity then regresses into a list of
“do’s and don’ts,” focusing on our outward appearance and superficial
obedience, rather than the process of our transformation (what we are to
become) from the inside out. It is this fullness of the Holy Spirit in our
lives, the casting of our crowns at the feet of Christ (making Him king
instead of us or our churches), and the yielding to His control and authority
that will restore Zion. Zion will not
be rebuilt by simply coming
out of a church, it will not come by fashioning a five-fold ministry,
nor will it come by pursuing spiritual gifts.
It can only come about when we come into His presence
and make Him Lord and King of His Church. Coming Out Of Egypt - Part 2. Swept And
Garnished." 4/6/2007. Each week, churches are filled with parasitic
Christians. They are like dry lifeless
sponges. They soak the life out of
everything around them. They come to
church after spending a (spiritually) lifeless week in the bowels of this
world. They are like batteries that
have been used up all week and barely have a spark of life. They expect their Sunday morning will
renew their spirits and re-charge their spiritual batteries with just enough
energy so that they can make it through another week. Then the cycle repeats itself. Is this the type of Christianity that is
described in the scriptures?
Absolutely not. Today’s version
of Christianity is fundamentally flawed in that it is an exercise in futility. It is, at best, superficial. Coming Out Of Egypt - Part 3. Yesterday's
Manna." 4/11/2007. There is nothing wrong with the bread of life. The wrong is in our own hearts. Is Jesus really enough? Institutional churches have so many
wonderful things. They have great
praise and worship teams. They have
articulate and educated preachers.
They have wonderful social programs for our families. But where is the bread of life in all these
things? Their programs are designed to
stimulate our senses. They captivate
our attention. They add to the boatload
of useless knowledge we already have, but they cannot transform us
spiritually. The only way for this to
happen is if we get hungry, hungry for something that institutional churches
are determined never to allow. If you
get hungry, you will soon realize that you are alone in a crowd, that the
people who surround you are shallow, and that the preachers are fake. You will find yourself hungering for
something that cannot be satisfied in their entertainment. You need Jesus. You need the bread of life. If church is something that you attend
dutifully, then just remember your family will feel the same way. Do they go out of obligation? Then something is wrong. Stop looking to churches and pastors for
answers and spiritual fulfillment, because it’s waiting for you at your very
own home. Your manna, the manna that
God has designed specifically for you, is waiting for you. It is found, not in a crowd of people, but
in the intimacy of your relationship with Him. What you miss today will never be again, so
don’t let a single day escape. Look
around. It’s within reach. But grasp it quickly before it melts away. Coming Out Of Egypt - Part 4. The
Ultimate Loser." 4/19/2007. Centuries ago, there existed a great people. They just did not know they were
great. They were the Greeks. They were a feudalistic society of
city-states each of which possessed its own army. But their constant fighting of each other
kept them from becoming the great empire that they should have been. That is, until the Persian Empire showed up
at their border. Persia had conquered
over forty nations and empires. It has an army of millions. In contrast, each Greek city-state had an
army that usually numbered in the tens of thousands. Nevertheless, the Greeks inflicted such
losses on the Persians that the Persians retreated back to their own
homeland, and the Greeks eventually took Persia’s place as the greatest
empire in the world. Just as the Greeks did in their time, today’s
Christians fight viciously against each other. They have no common enemy. Their enemy is each other. They are busy trying to turn
stones into bread as Satan sits back and
laughs in satisfaction. The temptation
Jesus overcame in the desert has become the demise of His followers. Coming Out Of Egypt - Part 5. Where
Are All The Men?" 4/23/2007. In every Christian home, the
husband/father desires to be the spiritual head of his home. As a responsible godly man, he tries to put
his family in an environment that nurtures spiritual growth. Some men control access to TV and other
media to which his children may be exposed.
Some control who their friends are, the way they dress, and even where
they get their education (home school or Christian school). Often these things are carried out properly
with admirable results in that children become mature, respectful,
well-behaved young people with a conscience for God. Most Christian parents know intuitively
what is right for their family.
In
addition, both the husband and wife know they need the fellowship of
like-minded Christians both for themselves and for their children. Eventually, they settle on a church that
they feel can best support their spiritual and social objectives for their
family. It would seem on the surface
that this model would go far to strengthen the family unit, but just the
reverse is true. The Barna Group Ltd.
studies, as well as that from many other groups show that the family unit of
contemporary Christianity is NO stronger than that of its secular
counterpart. In short, the church has
had zero impact in strengthening the family unit. Some studies even suggest that it has made
matters worse. Of course, none of this
makes any sense, or does it? Let’s
consider what spiritual principles are really at work and whether these
spiritual principles do in fact strengthen the family unit. Coming Out Of Egypt - Part 6. Dead
Faith." 5/1/2007. Spoiled and self-centered people tend to see faith as it
pertains to their needs. To them,
their faith is not considered in how it can help others but in how it can be
used to help their own income, to aid in their own good health, and to make
their children obedient. Faith is not
seen in their actions but in God’s.
You might say that they have a passive faith in an active God. With this kind of faith, God does all the
work, and they are the recipients of His loving kindness. While it is true that we are the recipients
of God’s good favor, it is only half of the equation. At least, that is how James saw it. To partake of God’s good favor and not
return it to those in need meant that their faith was dead. The Hebrew
people who came out of Egypt followed God through the Red Sea, as long as He
parted it. They ate manna, as long as
God provided it. And they drank of
water from a rock as long as God brought it forth. Their job was to believe, and God’s job was
to act. Contemporary Western evangelism is probably the best example of
dead, or institutional, faith. Rather
than evangelizing the lost in the neighborhood and the city, institutional
churches have found it much easier to “grow” by drawing Christians away from
the neighboring churches. They do this
by getting a better speaker, building a newer facility, having better
programs, and offering fun social activities.
Then, when Christians begin to arrive, they proclaim that God has
“blessed” them. But if the number
of Christians in a city remains the same, how can anyone say that God’s
kingdom is growing? Do you really
believe that God glorifies Himself by simply shuffling Christians from one
church to another within each city?
That is not “being blessed.” It
is dead faith. It is nothing more than institutional
faith, and it is a disgrace. By The Rivers Of Babylon - Part 1, What
it means to "Come out..." 2/12/2007. There is no magic in leaving an
institutional church. It does not
change you. In fact, the greatest danger facing people who leave
institutional churches is the very real probability that they will
inevitably reproduce the same type of institution as that from which they
came. We cannot stress
this enough. Many people have left an
institutional church and either joined or started a new one and then watched
as the new church evolved into an institutional church. Why?
It is because in their hearts they never really left Babylon. Babylon is still in their hearts.
Just because you may see the problems with an institutional church does not
mean that you now have all the answers.
You more than likely have wounds.
If a church has hurt you, it is important that the first thing you
find is healing. Quit responding to
the hurt. This means no phone calls,
no e-mail, and no sidebar conversations with your friends about what happened
to you. It will only keep the wound
open. So don’t respond to the things
you hear. Let them go. Don’t keep the cycle continuing. Find a place alone with God where you can
find healing that can only come from His Spirit. It will not happen overnight. This type of healing usually takes months. By The Rivers Of Babylon - Part 2,
Understanding Reproach 2/19/2007. Leaving Babylon
was not a magic pill they could take to make everything all right. Instead, leaving brought them into a state
of disgrace and shame. In reality,
they were already in that state: they just didn’t recognize it. Leaving caused them to recognize where they
had been. Whether they lived in
Babylon or in Jerusalem, the city was still in ruins. It just wasn’t until they left the great
city of Babylon to live in Jerusalem that they recognized the ruination. Their geographical location did not change
their state. They were still Jews
wherever they lived. Babylon
gave birth, but it gave birth to harlots.
There are many people who have come to understand the harlot nature of
Babylon. But what they fail to see is
that we are still the children of that system. We were birthed as harlots. This is probably the hardest thing for any
Christian to accept. Some of the harlot daughters may have left their mother,
just like those leaving the institutional church today. But they are still harlots. Their disassociation with the great harlot
did not change who they were. We
realize that this seems harsh, but it is crucial that we get through to
the spiritual Babylonian exiles.
There is a spiritual redemption/transformation that must accompany
your exodus or all you will be accomplishing is the enlargement the harlot’s
family. By The Rivers Of Babylon - Part 3,
Learning To Love 2/28/2007. It would be nice to believe that leaving a traditional
church fixes everything, but it does not.
You will not find the Land of Promise.
Nor will you step into the Garden of Eden. Quite often, leaving only creates a whole
new set of issues. Learning to love is
not unity in our groups and accepting those who are different. Learning to love is forgiving those who
hurt us most deeply so that you truly can be Jesus to others. Remember that hurt people hurt people. It sounds cliché, but it is true. Learning to love is being like Joseph:
embracing those who hated us to death, offering a hand of fellowship to those
who despised and rejected us, and willing to help them in their need. Jesus described this when He said, “For if
ye love them which love you, what thanks have ye? for sinners also love those
that love them (Luke 6:32).” Learning to love is putting others
first. Learning to love is seeing
other Christians who are different as better than you. When we learn to love, we let go of self
and self’s ambitions. It is our
selfishness and hurt that prevents Jesus from shining through us. When Jesus is able to shine through us, we
discover the true peace of God.
Remember, “Blessed are the merciful for they shall
obtain mercy.” By The Rivers Of Babylon - Part 4, Half
Way Up The Mountain. 3/5/2007. Mediocrity
refers to “a person of second-rate ability or value. The state of being mediocre.” Mediocre means “barely adequate. Rather inferior.” Mediocre comes from the Latin word mediocris
that means “middle height or state,” but more interestingly, it originally
meant “halfway up the mountain.” Is there any reason to climb halfway
up a mountain? It seems so
incomplete. Why take pride in
failure? Yet this is exactly what some
Jews did by not returning to Zion.
They were content with their current progress and saw no need to go
on. Many Christians are following the
same example. They are taking
satisfaction in their failure. The
institutional church is a failure; it is Babylon. By The Rivers Of Babylon - Part 5, The
Rise Of Aristocracy. 3/14/2007. Paul was faced with a particularly troubling
dilemma. His calling was to bring the
gospel to the Gentiles. Their culture and
society was vastly different from what we in the west have ever
experienced. Extreme poverty, as well
as social subjugation and persecution, was the rule. Personal freedom and liberty was
unknown. Therefore, people came into
Christianity with a subservient disposition.
In addition, people were coming from pagan worship, sexual perversion,
and a moral code that bore little resemblance to the Judaic morality
established by God. Therefore, each
church that Paul established required a lengthy process of deprogramming from
pagan virtues and morality to those of Christianity. He could spend years in each city building
up the people through teaching and the operation of spiritual gifts, or he
could turn them over to others to help carry on the process. What we find is a model of vanishing
leadership that diminished over time until all rule is turned over to God. By The Rivers Of Babylon -
Part 6, A Little Child Shall Lead Them.
3/19/2007.
The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie
down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together;
and a little child shall lead them (Isaiah 11:1-6). This is a prophecy concerning the Christ and His coming
kingdom. Contrary to how Christianity
is often practiced it’s NOT the wise and educated who are to lead in this
kingdom, but the “little child[ren].” In many ways,
Christianity would be better off if the so-called “leaders” would go to the
back of the line and let the “little child[ren]” lead. You cannot
really understand how much your mind has been influenced by the culture of
Babylon until you talk to “a little child” in Christ. Young
Christians aren’t stupid. They see the
sin, apathy, and compromise that experienced Christians often call maturity,
so you’re only fooling yourself.
We
have grown up, and in many ways, we regret it. We have one blessing, though: we are around
“little
child[ren]” in the Lord, and you know what? They are asking all the questions we once
asked. Only this time, they are not
hearing the discouraging arrogance from the lips of a wasted life. They are hearing a different message:
“You’re absolutely right! Lead on!”
Here A Little, And There A Little
- Part 1. 1/31/2007. Unlike the Old Testament, which
was all given at one time in its entirety to a single man (Moses), God made
it clear through this prophecy that the New Testament would come in parts,
like series of building blocks. It
would come “precept upon precept, line upon line.” The word translated “precept” is tsav (Hebrew) meaning
“commandment,” and the word translated “line”
is qav (Hebrew) “a cord (as means of measuring).” Thus this verse foretold the New Covenant,
its statutes and measure would come over the course of time through many
people. It would literally be “here a little, and there a little.” There
is an inherent weakness in this form of structure: anyone can claim to have
part of that revelation and set forth statutes that are contrary to true
revelation. To counter this, God sent
two messengers, the prophet John the Baptist and His Son Jesus Christ, to
preach the message of the kingdom.
Their ministries set in place the fundamentals and foundational
doctrine of the New Testament. It was
meant that others would follow and build (“precept
upon precept, line upon line”) upon this foundation, not try to
replace it. As Paul wrote, “For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid,
which is Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 3:11).” Here A Little, And There A Little
- Part 2, Understanding Church Leadership With The Gospels.
1/31/2007. The rank
of elders (which anyone can attain) is a way for mature Christians to grow
out from under the oversight of pastors/bishops without eliminating
pastors/bishops from the church. In
other words, pastors/bishops do not exercise cart blanche authority
over everyone in the church. It is interesting is that each of us knows
many people who fit this description yet hold no official church title. These people may not realize that they are,
in fact, peers of the official church government and that it is a mistake for
them not to be involved in the decisions and direction of the church they
attend. True elders are the missing
element in most churches. Most
contemporary churches seem to acknowledge only those who have official
titles, and as a result, they miss the spiritual richness they can gain from
true elders. If we could give any
advice to contemporary pastors, it would be to acknowledge the “true”
spiritual elders (as opposed to the “official” ones) of the congregation and
to treat them as peers. If they were
to do this, amazing things would begin to take place in their respective
churches. Will A Man Rob God?
1/24/2007. Will a man rob God? Yet ye
have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and
offerings ( Probably no other verse is more overused in the New Testament then
this Old Testament passage. Why? Because many Christian leaders feel that
this scripture gives them the authority to berate Christians into financing
their ministries. But is this what
God had in mind? Is this scripture
really intended to obligate New Testament believers into giving to a church
organization? What Is Truth?
1/17/2007. What Christian does not believe that they know “the truth?” Who among us cannot point to some
scriptural foundation for his system of beliefs? Are there any of us who cannot point to a
rich heritage of prominent Christian leaders who act as an endorsement of our
faith? Yet with all this “proof,” each
of our respective versions of the truth remains in conflict with each other. If another Christian’s version of the truth
has scriptural support and the endorsement of Christian leaders, how do we know
our version of the truth is correct? Peacemaker Or Trucebreaker.
1/8/2007. While visiting some friends not long ago, I saw that they
were watching “Apprentice.” Donald
Trump was explaining to someone his perspective of doing business. He said if people are honest with him, he
tries to work with them, but if you cross him, he said, “I’ll hate you
forever.” Such is the nature and
action of a trucebreaker, not a peacemaker.
Peacemakers have an inexplicable capacity to forgive. They find a way to set aside the hurts they
feel for the sake of the relationship.
They find a way to spin peace in an almost poetic style to fill in the
void of their pain. They overcome all
things by their love. You have a
choice. You can be a trucebreaker and
forever hate all those who have crossed you, or you can be a peacemaker and
learn to forgive others, to give your wounds to God. Give Him your wounds today, forgive those
who have crossed you, build again the bridges of broken relationships, and
cherish those whom God has put into your life. God has called you, as He called Esther,
not for yourself but for others. Be a
peacemaker. Practice the art of the
poetry of peace. If you are not sure
how, or if you are not sure that you can forgive, do not despair. You can learn at the feet of the Prince of
Peace. All you need to do is to let go
of your pain and reach out to Him. Pretenders. 12/20/2006.
Our English word hypocrite is a transliteration of the
noun form of this Greek word: hupokrites.
It means, “to
pretend, one who acts a part, one who wears a mask”
or “acts as something one is not.” Hupokrites was used to describe “an actor, a stage player, or a pretender.” It interesting that the origins and
idea of the word of hypocrisy originated not from religious
counterfeits, but from the description of a stage-actor. A Better Way, Part 2 - The
Butterfly Effect. 12/11/2006. Did
you ever wonder about this scripture?
Have you ever wonder how people could become so deluded that they
could believe a lie even though the truth is right in front of them? Delusions don’t sneak up on you in the
night and then pounce on you. They
come slowly over the course of time.
They come about through little ideas and compromises that build on one
another, each taking you a little further from the truth. There is a principle in our
natural universe that describes this form of behavior. It’s called The Butterfly Effect. The
Butterfly Effect is also known in mathematics as Chaos Theory, which espouses
the idea that "the flapping of a single butterfly's wings today produces
a tiny change in the state of the atmosphere. Over a period of time,
what the atmosphere actually does diverges from what it would have
done. So, in a month's time, a tornado that would have devastated the
Indonesian coast doesn't happen. Or maybe one that wasn't going to
happen does happen (Ian Stewart, Does God Play Dice? The
Mathematics of Chaos, pg. 141)." The idea is that things
matter, even small things, no matter how insignificant they may seem. A
Better Way,
Part 1 - The Second Law Of Thermodynamics. 12/5/2006. New Testament life is
to experience conversion and a life empowered by the Holy Spirit. Read the red - the words of Jesus – and you
will find it conspicuously missing the teaching of doctrine and traditions
like head coverings, tithing, church membership, ordination of leaders,
masses, liturgy, and other forms of the institution we have created. His teaching revolved around discipleship,
character, and lifestyle. His teaching
assumes that a convert would tend toward spiritual maturity, which is
typically not what we find today. His
teaching was all about experiencing and living the New Testament
as opposed to practicing or imitating it. Instead
of understanding why elders were appointed, most churches blindly
imitate it. They ordain elders and
deacons simply because they believe that imitating first century
Christianity will provide us the same experience. But experience must come first. These churches in Crete faced many
challenges that we do not face today.
Most of these churches had little access to scripture and about the
only scripture that existed was the Old Testament. Few people in these churches had
educational backgrounds as they came from an agrarian culture. These churches may have had to operate on
their own for years before Paul could come back through or send someone to
them. They had virtually no
communication with larger and more mature churches to ask questions or
receive advice. They were isolated,
alone, and vulnerable. In many
ways, the ordaining of elders and deacons was to shore up for the lack of New
Testament scripture. These
elders represented institution, not maturity.
"Ye
Ought To Be Teachers." 11/26/2006.
There comes a time when people should grow up. A cursory survey of Christianity in the
West reveals that this is not the case, at least not here. So why aren’t Christians growing up?
There are solid biblical principles that explain why people who have been
“churched” for years remain children or even babies their entire Christian
lives. These principles explain why
the contemporary Western Church remains an infant even though it has more
ministers, churches, Christian broadcasters, Christian books and Bibles,
freedom of religion, and finances for church operations than all other
nations combined. The Post-Modern Christian Era. 11/20/2006. Our modern age is generally
viewed as beginning about two hundred years ago when the Western nations abandoned
their religious wars and began to embrace personal religious freedom. Throughout the modern age, religious truth
was rarely questioned. The Bible was
always used as the textbook in the classroom, and “separation of Church and
State” was never an issue. Truths,
whether scientific, economic, or religious, were esteemed and valued. But all of that changed when the modern
age appeared to fail. The
perceived failure has lent justification for some Christian leaders to
embrace post-modern thinking. Spiritual Synergy: God's Design For Man. 11/11/2006.
Synergy
comes from the Greek words “sunergiā,” which means “cooperation,”
and sunergos
[strongs 4904], which means, “working together.” The idea is that when things work together
effectively, one and one can equal three.
It means that combining forces produces a better product than that
which could be produced separately.
The
original union of husband and wife is the best example of synergy. Together, they can excel at work, raise a
family, mind the affairs of a home, and do the work of the Lord. Their co-laboring allows them to be vastly
more effective than if each were to attempt it on his own. But there is more to the synergy that is
produced by this union than mutual cooperation. They are opposites. They see and do things differently and
therefore bring into the union their own uniqueness. The "True" Cost Of
Leadership. 11/4/2006.
Jesus
was destined to rule all nations, but His destiny was to come at a
cost. It would cost Him everything. Satan however saw an
advantage. Why not offer Him the same thing, but at no
cost? This same temptation is playing out today in the
contemporary church with many ignoring the cost and becoming a cheap
imitation instead. Is The "Contemporary"
Five-Fold Ministry Gods Design. 10/28/2006. Over
the past three decades, I have considered carefully the “contemporary”
five-fold ministry movement. It
asserts that in these last days God is restoring His New Testament
ministry. They point to such
occurrences as Elijah rebuilding the altar, Ezra rebuilding the temple, and
Peter’s teaching that Jesus would not return “until
the times of restitution of all things (Acts 3:21)” as
biblical patterns. The movement
teaches that God is restoring things like spiritual gifts, ministry, and
worship. The purpose of this note is
NOT to determine whether or not God is restoring or will restore these
things. If He chooses to do so, He
will. My goal is to define biblical
principles as a form of measure and to determine whether the contemporary
version of the five-fold ministry movement has fallen victim to the pollution
of western culture. To Lead Or To Follow -My Testimony. 10/23/2006. Just before my 16th birthday, I repented and made a decision to serve the Lord. Through the intervention of God, I found myself cast into a situation where I was expected to witness to other young people. It was during my first experience doing so that I witnessed for the first time the manifest presence of God. ...I stood up, walked over to their table, and began witnessing to them. I looked around and saw that all the people at the nearby tables were listening. God’s presence was there. So I pulled up a chair, stood on it, and began to witness to all the people at the surrounding tables. Soon, people from the other side of the restaurant had gathered around. Then the waitresses and the kitchen help. Six hours later, at 2:00am, I finally left. I quit only because I had lost my voice and could no longer speak for the Lord. The Shape Of Things To Come. 10/14/2006.
Everything has a shape. Have you ever
consider why some things have such peculiar shapes? It is usually because of the forces that
act upon it. For instance, an airplane
has wings to create lift so that it might overcome gravity. Both lift and gravity are forces that act
upon airplanes. The long narrow shape
of a rocket is designed to force the atmosphere around it evenly so that,
once launched, it travels in a straight direction. For rockets, atmospheric pressure is a
force. The design of a house’s roof is
to protect us from the forces of nature (weather). There are forces that act upon everything,
and everything responds to force. Even
who we are is the result of social, economic, spiritual, and cultural forces
that act upon us our entire lives. Just as their are forces that shape
our lives, there are also forces that shape the church. It's called:
The service-oriented culture. Coming Down From The Mountain. 10/3/2006. Several myths regarding Christian Leadership. What Children Wish Their Parents Knew. 9/20/2006. Children must come to see all the attributes of Christ in us that we want in them. In other words, they must be able to obtain forgiveness and second chances. We must demonstrate the ability to forgive seventy times seven because our Lord is kind, forgiving, and full of love. It is through love and forgiveness that they learn to see the Lord we serve. We must treat our children with the same grace and mercy that we have found. Far too often, this is not the case. Far too often, we act as though the Lord we serve is a taskmaster: he cannot be pleased and is never satisfied with our best. As a result, we treat our children the same way. The Revival That Almost Was. 9/11/2006. There are a lot of good men who honestly attempt to do the work of the Lord. Many have the zeal and passion of Jehu. Many have spent their lives coming against idolatry and the forces of evil that support it. They study hard and are dedicated to preaching the gospel of Christ. Some have spent their entire lives in this pursuit. They have zealously confronted evil and have never strayed from the work of the Lord. They work hard, pray continuously, and desire to see God’s Kingdom come. They have seen fruit from their labor and growth among their congregations. But for all their labor and good intentions they still don’t see the flames of revival they so desperately desire. What is wrong? Why are the heavens shut up? Why do godly men come up “short?” Spiritual Adultery - The Unspoken
Sin. 9/3/2006. According
to the letter of the law, this scripture pertains only to physical intimacy
between married people. Jesus, however,
taught us to look beyond the letter of the law and see the heart of the God
who gave it. He taught that “whosoever
looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already
in his heart (Matthew 5:28).” By
using the word “whosoever,” Jesus expanded it to include both married
and unmarried (thus including fornication as well as adultery). By using the words “with her,” He
also expanded the sin to include both parties. We find that adultery can be both physical
and emotional. But what about
spiritual adultery? Why is there so
little teaching concerning it? The
Old testament, Enhanced or Replaced. Part 1, The Everlasting Law? 8/16/2006.
Some
Christians are confused as to the purpose of the Judaic law and what we as
Christians should do with it. Should
we ignore it? Should we keep it? Is it relevant to us, and if so, why?
There is much
controversy surrounding the events and outcome of the apostolic council
assembled in Acts 15. Some point to
this chapter as supporting the idea that all Christians should be keeping the
law, at least portions of it. But in
the events of Acts 15, we find deceit, compromise, and arrogance. Men of power struggled to have their way
endorsed while others found themselves caught in the middle of one of the
biggest controversies in Christianity: should Gentiles (and Messianic Jews,
for that matter) keep the law?
The
Old testament, Part 2, Pleasing God. 8/21/2006.
Did
Jesus keep the Law? Did He endorse it? Did He instruct us to keep
it? What about pleasing God? Does it pleas God for us to
keep it?
The
Old testament, Part 3, Serving God In Spirit And In Truth.
8/29/2006. Some Christians believe that observing the law cannot
hurt anything. They will still do
everything they used to do, but they will just add to it the things contained
in the law. After all, how can
abstaining from pork and observing a Saturday Sabbath hurt anything?
Additionally, one of the foremost themes of the New Testament is that of
perfection. We must ask, “How is
perfection possible?” and “How do we get there from here?”
Cry Wolf. 8/10/2006. Ants are a curious example of the church. The ants are not strong but their nest is. In an ant colony, there is the visible part above ground. It provides no useful purpose. It can grow to be very large but its appearance of strength is an illusion. It is actually a frail structure that is easily swept away. Then there is the invisible part below ground. That is the part that provides shelter and protection. There the queen is nourished, eggs are laid, and larva grows...
Conventional Wisdom, Part 1 - Living in the Light or Darkness. 6/23/2006 Mankind is not designed for living in darkness. Not only do our bodies crave sleep at night, but we have poor night vision as well. It takes about twenty minutes for our eyes to adjust to the dark. Exposure to a brilliant light for even a fraction of a second causes us to lose our night vision. God designed us this way. Just as our natural bodies are designed to live in the light, so are our spiritual bodies.
It can be difficult to read the style of writing in the
Gospel according to John. It seems to
be intended to help future generations understand the difficulty his
countrymen had comprehending the teachings of Jesus. The opening verses of this gospel seem to
support this: “In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the
darkness comprehended it not (John 1:4-5).” Through each chapter of
this gospel, John demonstrates how men lived in deception. They misunderstood and rejected Jesus
because they mistook their darkness for being light, and because they refused
to leave the darkness surrounding them.
We see this same behavior today.
Men reject the wisdom of God because of the darkness in which they
live. Today this darkness is known as “Conventional Wisdom.”
Conventional Wisdom, Part 2 - Symmetry. 7/13/2006. Something that is asymmetrical is said to be lacking balance or a harmonious shape. In other words, it looks odd. Beauty is often associated with symmetry. It is difficult to find an asymmetrical shape that is attractive. A human body is a perfect example of symmetry. You can draw a line from head to toe and easily see that each half of the human body is more or less symmetrical to the other. Just like the symmetry of our shape we desire to find symmetry in all aspects of our lives. It makes things neat and predictable. This also applies to our spiritual lives. Conventional thinking is symmetrical in that it follows a set pattern that is based upon observation, logic, realism, and accepted standards. Therefore someone who thinks unconventionally swims against the tides of commonly accepted beliefs and traditions.
Conventional Wisdom, Part 3 - Disciples or Spectators. 8/1/2006. In 2001, 160 million out of the nearly 300 million people in the USA claimed to be spiritual or Christian. If this were so, then if every Christian would evangelize just one person, this entire nation would be won for the Lord. So why has this nation become ungodly rather than turned toward God? Why is sin so pervasive? Conventional wisdom is status quo. Conventional wisdom will never change the world. In fact, conventional wisdom will never change anything. Its followers are not disciples winning a lost world. They are spectators, content to sit on the sidelines and watch a dying world slip away.
Destiny.
5/31/2006. Not all of us are born with eyes, not everyone is born with
hands or feet, and not all people are born intelligent. But there is one inescapable thing with
which each of us are born that weaves in and out of the fragments of time
like a silver thread, that pursues us like a hunter our entire life. We can never escape it, we can never be
free from it, and only when we give into it do we truly find peace and
fulfillment. It is our destiny!
Destiny is not something we pursue. It pursues us. Destiny is not the simple result of chance
- that is to say, it isn’t the consequence of our decisions. Destiny is a silent pursuer. It is a lioness that patiently stalks her
prey, waiting for the opportunity to bring it under her control. We can run from our destiny, but we can
never escape it. It will find us, and
when it does, we will be forced to deal with it. Jonah And The Lost Message Of God's Mercy. 5/20/2006. Isaac Newton
taught us that an object in motion tends to travel in a straight line and at
a steady speed unless some force stops it.
This, however, does not explain diffusion - a drop of dye in a cup of
water tends to slowly diffuse until it is spread evenly throughout the entire
cup. This is because instead of
stopping when they encounter anther molecule, molecules tend to deflect away
from each other. The characteristic of
diffusion is found throughout nature.
It’s also known as “browning motion.”
Such is the nature of the universe.
Such is the nature of man. Jonah And The Sin Of Jeroboam. 5/10/2006. When we consider the disobedience of Jonah, we are forced to ask, “How is it that a man of God could act in such an openly insubordinate manner?” Tarshish wasn’t just in the opposite direction from Nineveh. Tarshish was quite literally on the other side of the known world. So how is it that Jonah became such a disobedient and defiant prophet? What’s missing from this picture? What’s missing is a general understanding of the spiritual and social culture in which Jonah lived. When we take into consideration the culture in which he lived, we begin to understand how Jonah could justify his actions. He quite possibly did not view his actions as disobedient. 3-Dimensional Christian Living - Living Without Limits! Going Beyond Boundaries! 4/28/2006. Our lives are full of boundaries. We can’t fly. We can’t breath under water. And more importantly, we can’t see into the spiritual realm. In fact, we have no access to it. There is a whole other universe to which we as physical beings have no access. It is a universe without limitations. But what if… what if there were a way into this universe? What then? Hijacked - Dumbing Down The Church. 4/22/2006. In a hijacking, someone forces the “destination” of others to change for their own benefit. To apply this to the Body of Christ, we must ask, “Has the destination of the Body of Christ been changed by others seeking their own benefit?” If we insert the definition of destination into the question, we then have, “Has the ultimate purpose for which the Church was created been changed by others who are seeking their own advantage?” It is easy to conform to the status
quo. It is easy to be like all the
other churches. It is easy to dumb
down the standards of God and turn failure into success. But since when has the status quo become
acceptable to God? Like secular
schools that pass out diplomas to young people who cannot read, have we
changed the standards so that now spiritual immaturity is on par with our
destiny? Tipping The Scales - Balanced Based
Theology. 4/11/2006. The
idea of Balance-Based Theology is everywhere in Christianity. Once again, this is a social behavior that
has made its way into Christianity and has become a “pseudo-spiritual”
principle. What I mean by a social
behavior is this: favorable acts bring about favorable results But does this principle work in gaining
God's favor? Not when it comes to
excusing sin. No amount of good works
can excuse the most trivial sin. Balance-Based
Theology is one of the greatest delusions for any Christian leader. It misconstrues the social conditioning of
this world as a spiritual principle, thereby deceiving men into believing
that greatness somehow translates into godliness. But nothing is a replacement for true
godliness. Longitude - Complexity and Copies. 4/3/2006.
There is something to be learned from the story of Longitude. It has to do with trying to improve on a
bad designs. Do we continue to add layers and layers of
complexity to the church thinking that the next thing will make it
perfect? Or is it time to start over - to go back to the original
design?
Today’s Christian leaders have read about how church was done by the first generation of Christians and have tried to imitate it. The result is something that resembles it but without substance. Most Christians have become so used to the copies that now the original looks like a fake.
Transformed or Just Repackaged? What
Happened to Ephesians 4? 3/27/2006. Is
the body of Christ incapable of taking care of itself? Or is it like a child who is confined to
bed, never allowed to walk or feed itself?
Through the years as culture has changed, so has the Church. Are these changes as a result of God’s
influence, or is the church merely been repackaged? Most preachers
compare their function to that of the Old Testament priesthood. Did you ever wonder why preachers are
selective about which Old Testament practices they bring into the New
Testament? Why not circumcision? Why not animal sacrifice? Why not construct a Tabernacle? Cause and Effect - What The Church Has
Learned From Economics 3/20/2006. Church leaders
have learned too much from the economics of the world. An economy is the “thrifty management (or
control) of resources, such as money, material, or labor.” Since churches today consist of these types
of resources (building, staff, members, money, etc.), they tend to be
influenced by the same economic principles that govern this world. Therefore, most church leaders see nothing
wrong with responding to economic pressure in the same manner that the world
does. This is worldly “cause and
effect.” When church leadership uses
this “common sense” approach, they lose the spiritual “cause and effect” that
comes about when people respond to the moving of the Holy Spirit.
The Laws Of Big And Little Things. 3/4/2006. I believe that God established these seemingly contradictory physical laws to demonstrate that, just as the physical universe has different laws that apply depending upon your place in it, so does His spiritual realm. There are laws that surround and govern God’s Kingdom. There are laws that pertain to those who are without His Kingdom and laws pertaining to those who are within. As in the natural universe, which laws apply depends on our spiritual position. …It is the Strong Force that, if
allowed to work, can bring about unity.
Regardless of our individual laws that cause us to repel one another,
the Spirit of God can keep us together.
But we must allow the Spirit of God to be the bond that holds us
together, not our laws. I find it
interesting that, just like the example of the nucleus, our laws tend to
repel each other, but God’s law, the law of the Spirit, tends to bond His
people together. When churches split,
when friends divide, it is usually because personal laws become more powerful
than the operation of God’s Spirit. We
can see this in nature, and we can see it in the Church.
Knowest Not These Things - The Value Of
Education.
2/15/2006.
2/15/2006.
Let’s consider for a moment the whole issue of education as a form of
certification. Education can be a
valuable tool. But sometimes education
is used in such a way that it replaces revelation and a relationship with
God. What I’m driving at is the use of
Bible colleges as a way to certify and approve a person as a minister. This is a sensitive issue. There are people who will argue that there
should be some form of validation criteria or that such education better
prepares a person for ministry. I do
not question their intentions. In
fact, I believe their intentions are commendable. What I question is whether or not this is
how God would have it. Does the
emphasis on education actually distract or even create barriers in finding the
course that the Spirit really has for them?
To answer this question, we need to examine education and intellect at
a deeper level. Structure Or The Voice Of The Holy Spirit - The Operation Of The Holy Spirit In The Church. 1/28/2006. What about women being quiet in Church? The writers of the New Testament knew they did not have all the answers. So at times they implemented temporary structure to address specific problems with the intention that eventually the structure would be replaced by the operation of the Holy Spirit. All of our church programs, agendas, and even our most ambitious goals for the church are but different forms of structure, and care must be taken so as not to distract the church from hearing from the Spirit of God. How is it that Christians and churches can be virtually in opposition to God and not know it? The answer is simpler than it may seem: it is called structure. When a church uses any form of structure, they face the danger of becoming "out of sync" with the Spirit. And nothing can replace the voice of the Holy Spirit in the Church. If structure must be imposed to address an issue, then it must be only temporary until the Body of Christ matures enough so that control can be turned over to the Holy Spirit as quickly as possible. Remember, structure is at best a crutch: it can never work as well as the Holy Spirit, nor should it be implemented with that intention. When Culture And
The Church Collide, What Monster Is Born - Christian Capitalists 12/30/2005.
We
understand the downfall of the first century church was when worldly cultures
such as Greek philosophy and rhetoric, Roman politics, achievement and
imperialism, and pagan beliefs began fusing with the culture of the Christian
church. Over the course of time, these
cultures mixing with that of the Church to bring about Catholicism. Today the church faces a new cultural
threat. Our capitalistic culture embraces prosperity through competition and
entrepreneurial endeavors that promote individualism. Each church body works for its individual advantage (over
others). The local churches of the
same area have become the true enemies of the other local churches. As a result,
churches no longer cooperate together but demonize one another and steal from
one another, all in the name of Christ.
Many pastors are no longer shepherds but entrepreneurs and businessmen
trying to stay ahead of their only competition: other local churches.
Suffer The Little
Children 2005 There are many
young people in the Lord who have not yet been contaminated by years of
church politics or damaged by the pessimisms of closet Christians. They are full of faith, hope, and charity,
the only three eternal values of this life, but rather than be encouraged to
share their zeal and faith, these young people in the Lord are usually made
to feel insignificant and unqualified.
They are pushed away from the spotlight in favor of the seasoned
disciples of the Lord.
It's Called The
Wait Theory 2005 It’s called “The Wait
Theory.” It’s been used for years in classroom settings where typically
the same few students always participate while the majority of others sit in
silence. According to the Wait Theory, you can always expect the same
few people to answer questions and fill in the silence. The same few
people comment while the others just sit silently by. Therefore,
what
would happen if instead of us being in control we would just once, just once,
just once let go and allow God to be in control? …Few people even remember
what was preached once they leave the building, but how many people remember
the day and hour that they experienced a move of the Lord? Everyone
does!
And The Band
Played On... 2005 No one really knows why the band [on
the Titanic] continued to play as the ship slipped beneath the water. This has been a topic of debate for
years. Was it from some displaced
notion of duty? This same tragedy is taking place in many churches
today. Preachers know that their
church have been hit by an iceberg of apathy and is sinking into the ocean of
complacency, but rather than sound the alarm they continue to preach on and
on as before. And as their church is
slowly swallowed up by the cold murky depths of indifference and lethargy
they nod their head knowing that they have done what they were called to
do. So they just continue to preach on
and on and on…
Perfect, Or Just
Very Good 12/26/2005.
When
a discussion on living free from sin arises, Christians inevitably ask, “Are
you saying that Christians can be perfect?”
No, I’m saying that Christians are not “born again” to sin. To not sin does NOT make one perfect. But nevertheless, the question of
perfection is always waiting in the wings.
Additionally, does “Covenant” based teach influence our concept our
perfection? The best condition the earth has ever known is in being “very
good,” not perfect. It says here
that “God saw every thing that he had made,” and “it was very good.” This included man. Therefore, even after being fashioned by
the hands of God, and even after man received the breath of God, he was still
only “very good.” Why is
that? Can God not create
perfection? Or is perfection possible
in this life?
For Unto You... 12/24/2005. Who was the angel addressing when he said, “For unto you is born this day…?” Was it not directed toward the shepherds? After all, the angel could have said, “For unto the world is born this day…” but he didn’t. It was a personal message, delivered not to the masses but to the few. It was an intimate message to a few shepherds. As far as they were concerned, the Savior of the world was born to them. God may seem to us to be the unreachable, untouchable, un-see-able, awesome God of the universe, but to us as individuals, He is a personal Savior. The Story of the
Wise Men - For We Know In Part. 12/21/2005. No
one knows for sure how it came about, but somehow it was revealed to these
Jews in Babylon that Messiah was born.
Perhaps they understood the chronology of divine events depicted in
the creation account (i.e. the sun of God was created on the fourth day, and
the Son of God was born 4,000 years after Adam – almost exactly). Perhaps prophets in their land foretold
the messiah’s birth, and that the star they saw represents this? What we do know is that they didn’t know
the full story. They knew a part of it
– their part, the part God wanted them to know. So driven by the part they knew, they went
west to Israel to find others who might know the other parts to this
mystery.
Perfect, Or Just Very Good . When a discussion on living free from sin arises, Christians inevitably ask, “Are you saying that Christians can be perfect?” No, I’m saying that Christians are not “born again” to sin. To not sin does NOT make one perfect. But nevertheless, the question of perfection is always waiting in the wings. Additionally, does “Covenant” based teach influence our concept our perfection? Who Is My Neighbor ? I’ve always considered that what Jesus was teaching us is that to be a Good Samaritan we should demonstrate simple acts and random acts of kindness. However, consider this story again. Jesus was not describing a simple act of kindness. He was describing a life saving event that temporarily interrupted the Samaritans life.
The Four Horseman
. I believe that whatever relevance the New Testament book of
Revelation has had to saints in prior Church ages it does not change or
diminish the significance it has for us today. I want to present a possible message that
this book speaks to us today – specifically, the four horseman. The Bag . It’s interesting that, in the New Testament, each
time that money was collected it never went to the purchase of buildings,
pews, song books, or the like. The
collection was generally distributed to the poor and needy, with a few
scriptures suggesting that it could be used to meet the “personal” needs of
missionaries (i.e. Timothy). The idea
of financing the business and material needs of a ministry is not what is
taught. E-mail
me: ron@ronschwartz.com.
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