I may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but sometimes I do realize when things happen in such a way that only God could have been behind them. In those situations, I am always reminded of a definition of "coincidence" I saw many years ago. Coincidence is when God performs a miracle and chooses to remain anonymous.
Yesterday two different emails came into my in-box from unrelated, but high-profile men of God. (Well, the emails came from the same person, but the articles they contained were from those two men.) They had the common thread of being from men who love The Church, the body of Christ, but who are also objective enough to see that the manifestation of the The Church in 2013 is not a perfect Church, "...not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing..." (Ephesians 5:27) Of course these men were speaking to The Church generally, but we must see their words as applicable to the smaller part of the body here.
Os Hillman writes, "In the early church there was an emphasis on developing a heart toward God. This was the Hebraic way...Loss of intimacy with God has been...a result of the influence of
the Greek spirit. The primary focus has been teaching and discipleship instead
of the development of a personal and intimate relationship with God. This has
resulted in a form of religion, but one without power."
Jack Hayford writes, "We're within frightening reach of being able to grow bigger churches while
failing to grow bigger people. We are
increasingly tooled and trained in technology and management techniques, better
resourced with music and media effects, and better housed and staged for added
consumer appeal...Amid our heavyweight enterprises at refining style, we are growing weak in
substance."
Thankfully it does not take a genius to see these two mighty men of God are asking questions about how The Church is and how it should be. Do they recognize what they are describing are observable affects of religious spirits at work within The Church? Of course, we cannot answer for them, but knowing one of them personally and the other through his writings I feel comfortable saying they both know the truth of Ephesians 6:12, "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places." If you are not willing to take my word for it, perhaps you can take their word for it. We are locked in spiritual battle that will likely affect The Church until Jesus returns. At present it is not perfect, but we can make a difference once we recognize the real enemy and fight it wherever we find it. God bless!
Saturday, January 26, 2013
Sunday, January 20, 2013
Who I Am
Author's note: It was eleven months ago, more or less, that I started this post. The balance just would not seem to come. I am leaving it as it was and finishing it. As a result, since it is not in chronological order, it may seem a little disjointed at least at the beginning. Thankfully, all you faithful readers of this blog are also intelligent enough to re-order as necessary and fill in the blanks.
As I wrote at the end of the previous post, it might have been awhile until there was another one. I just have to get on the same page with the Holy Spirit--and sooner would be better.
It is not difficult to imagine people reading many of the posts to this blog, especially the last two and asking themselves, "Who does he think he is?" It seems like it might be a good idea to answer that question. I know the answer to the question and many of my friends do as well. Here it is for the rest of you.
I am pretty sure they would not mind, as long as I give them credit, so I am going to let the recording group, Casting Crowns begin to help answer the question at hand.
I am a flower quickly fading
Here today and gone tomorrow
A wave tossed in the ocean
Vapor in the wind
Still You hear me when I'm calling
Lord You catch me when I'm falling
And You've told me who I am
I am Yours
Not because of who I am
But because of what You've done
Not because of what I've done
But because of who You are
I am Yours. Whom shall I fear, 'cause I am Yours.
I am nobody really. Then again I am somebody because somebody had to call our attention to the workings of a religious spirit--whether we listened or not. Now God is on record and we are responsible. Somebody had to do it and nobody else did. I will admit to possibly having delusions of granduer thinking that some of this blog could be turned into a book someday. Judging by the numbers of people reading the posts such a book might well sell twenty copies. Okay so it was not my best idea ever.
With that said, the blog is turning a corner (subject to change of course) to becoming more of...hmmm. It looks as though the blog is going to take a more practical turn. We will be doing a little more teaching, but our focus will be on countering the religious spirit through our actions. (I have no idea what I am writing about now, so I guess we will all find out together.) What I can tell you is, that at my age, one would think I should know a lot more than I do. What can I say? When I know it, you will know it because God has given us, "...this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us." (2 Corinthians 4:7) Some of us are just older dirt than others, and those who are have a responsibility to pass along what we have learned. I am taking that responsibility perhaps just a little more seriously and personally now. God bless!
As I wrote at the end of the previous post, it might have been awhile until there was another one. I just have to get on the same page with the Holy Spirit--and sooner would be better.
It is not difficult to imagine people reading many of the posts to this blog, especially the last two and asking themselves, "Who does he think he is?" It seems like it might be a good idea to answer that question. I know the answer to the question and many of my friends do as well. Here it is for the rest of you.
I am pretty sure they would not mind, as long as I give them credit, so I am going to let the recording group, Casting Crowns begin to help answer the question at hand.
I am a flower quickly fading
Here today and gone tomorrow
A wave tossed in the ocean
Vapor in the wind
Still You hear me when I'm calling
Lord You catch me when I'm falling
And You've told me who I am
I am Yours
Not because of who I am
But because of what You've done
Not because of what I've done
But because of who You are
I am Yours. Whom shall I fear, 'cause I am Yours.
I am nobody really. Then again I am somebody because somebody had to call our attention to the workings of a religious spirit--whether we listened or not. Now God is on record and we are responsible. Somebody had to do it and nobody else did. I will admit to possibly having delusions of granduer thinking that some of this blog could be turned into a book someday. Judging by the numbers of people reading the posts such a book might well sell twenty copies. Okay so it was not my best idea ever.
With that said, the blog is turning a corner (subject to change of course) to becoming more of...hmmm. It looks as though the blog is going to take a more practical turn. We will be doing a little more teaching, but our focus will be on countering the religious spirit through our actions. (I have no idea what I am writing about now, so I guess we will all find out together.) What I can tell you is, that at my age, one would think I should know a lot more than I do. What can I say? When I know it, you will know it because God has given us, "...this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us." (2 Corinthians 4:7) Some of us are just older dirt than others, and those who are have a responsibility to pass along what we have learned. I am taking that responsibility perhaps just a little more seriously and personally now. God bless!
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Still More on the Religious Spirit--Part 2
I am feeling a little provoked by a comment to this blog this morning. That is not a bad thing. Maybe it gets me back to something I should have done--in fact thought I would have done--several weeks ago. If you read the last post, it likely seemed incomplete. It seemed the same to me as well. I had thought there would be a follow-up and explanation sooner than this. Today I moderated a comment, which you can read, asking whether the next installment were coming soon. It is.
Did you take any time at all to meditate on the verses from James? They were chapter 3 verses 13 through 18 if you want to take a second look. To rehearse just a bit, the phrases "meekness of wisdom" and "bitter envy and self-seeking" from verses 13 and 14 are set in juxtaposition with one another meaning one or the other is our state. This applies to each and every one of us and to everything we do. To be as simple and straightforward as possible, we do everything from one of those two motivations. We are either acting in wisdom, which meekness tells us is not our own, but is from above, or our motivation is self-seeking. James even strengthens self-seeking by telling us that comes from bitter envy. If that does not initiate an "ouch" in your spirit, well, you might want to spend a little more time thinking about it.
I am fairly confident that I have never actually met a person who does absolutely everything in meekness of wisdom. I will give something like a shout out to the late Rev. Dale Holford. He is a great man and I still miss him being here on earth for me to talk with on occasion. He was in his late seventies when we had several conversations about people who acted out of self-seeking. He gave me some eternal perspective, which I, of course, did not fully appreciate at the time. The thing about a person who operates in the meekness of wisdom is that he or she is meek enough to understand the wisdom does not come from them and also too meek to tell you that. (Were this a Psalm, there would be a "Selah" there.) It is hard to find people like that.
In juxtaposition, finding people who are self-seeking is not difficult at all. They are literally everywhere. Of course I have to be very careful with my examples lest I become convicted myself. However, since this blog is really about the religious spirit, it might be best to take our examples from it's activities. (Whew, I was afraid I was writing myself into a corner there.) Okay, I am just going to tell you how I was first affected by a religious spirit, before I had any idea what it was. It was a lot of years ago and is going to be new information to most of you. Give me a little grace please.
Eugene Ryan was my speech teacher at Hancock College in the early 1970s. I really did not like the man at first. In fact I tried to change teachers, but was not able to do so. Today, I credit "Old Man Ryan" as he once referred to himself, for whatever ability I have to teach, preach, and speak as well as I do. He was a stickler for proper grammar, pronunciation, enunciation, and even posture during our classroom speeches. He taught me a lot and I found out during the two classes I had with him that I was more at ease doing public speaking than many of the other students were. That translated well to Bible college and homiletics classes. By and by I found that I really enjoyed people telling me how good I was at it. I mean I enjoyed it to the point that receiving the accolades became more important than teaching people how to live better lives--which, after all, is the point of sermonizing. I trust I have said enough that you understand the point? If not, then let me say, it was more important to me to be thought well of than to have lives changed by what I was doing.
This is getting a little longer than it probably should be so to sum up as briefly as possible, when we do things because they make us feel good, we are in danger of participating in what James called, "earthly, sensual, demonic" wisdom. (Think religious spirit.) We may be able to revisit this concept in the future, but if you can handle one more counter-intuitive thought, operating in the "meekness of wisdom" will make you feel good. That good feeling will come from the spirit rather than the soul. When we get to that point, literally everything in our lives will ascend on a heavenly trajectory. God bless!
Did you take any time at all to meditate on the verses from James? They were chapter 3 verses 13 through 18 if you want to take a second look. To rehearse just a bit, the phrases "meekness of wisdom" and "bitter envy and self-seeking" from verses 13 and 14 are set in juxtaposition with one another meaning one or the other is our state. This applies to each and every one of us and to everything we do. To be as simple and straightforward as possible, we do everything from one of those two motivations. We are either acting in wisdom, which meekness tells us is not our own, but is from above, or our motivation is self-seeking. James even strengthens self-seeking by telling us that comes from bitter envy. If that does not initiate an "ouch" in your spirit, well, you might want to spend a little more time thinking about it.
I am fairly confident that I have never actually met a person who does absolutely everything in meekness of wisdom. I will give something like a shout out to the late Rev. Dale Holford. He is a great man and I still miss him being here on earth for me to talk with on occasion. He was in his late seventies when we had several conversations about people who acted out of self-seeking. He gave me some eternal perspective, which I, of course, did not fully appreciate at the time. The thing about a person who operates in the meekness of wisdom is that he or she is meek enough to understand the wisdom does not come from them and also too meek to tell you that. (Were this a Psalm, there would be a "Selah" there.) It is hard to find people like that.
In juxtaposition, finding people who are self-seeking is not difficult at all. They are literally everywhere. Of course I have to be very careful with my examples lest I become convicted myself. However, since this blog is really about the religious spirit, it might be best to take our examples from it's activities. (Whew, I was afraid I was writing myself into a corner there.) Okay, I am just going to tell you how I was first affected by a religious spirit, before I had any idea what it was. It was a lot of years ago and is going to be new information to most of you. Give me a little grace please.
Eugene Ryan was my speech teacher at Hancock College in the early 1970s. I really did not like the man at first. In fact I tried to change teachers, but was not able to do so. Today, I credit "Old Man Ryan" as he once referred to himself, for whatever ability I have to teach, preach, and speak as well as I do. He was a stickler for proper grammar, pronunciation, enunciation, and even posture during our classroom speeches. He taught me a lot and I found out during the two classes I had with him that I was more at ease doing public speaking than many of the other students were. That translated well to Bible college and homiletics classes. By and by I found that I really enjoyed people telling me how good I was at it. I mean I enjoyed it to the point that receiving the accolades became more important than teaching people how to live better lives--which, after all, is the point of sermonizing. I trust I have said enough that you understand the point? If not, then let me say, it was more important to me to be thought well of than to have lives changed by what I was doing.
This is getting a little longer than it probably should be so to sum up as briefly as possible, when we do things because they make us feel good, we are in danger of participating in what James called, "earthly, sensual, demonic" wisdom. (Think religious spirit.) We may be able to revisit this concept in the future, but if you can handle one more counter-intuitive thought, operating in the "meekness of wisdom" will make you feel good. That good feeling will come from the spirit rather than the soul. When we get to that point, literally everything in our lives will ascend on a heavenly trajectory. God bless!
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