I Still Can't Settle on a Blog Name

Calling All Prophets

2005-12-06T18:59:00.000-08:00

Our world is fascinated with knowing things. Some people spend years in school learning various disciplines, some learn a trade, and others learn procrastination. Everyone also dedicates untold hours obsessing about an interest - be it philosophy, fantasy football, gardening, or photography.

The Church is not immune from this desire to know. Fed by mass interest in what the future holds, countless ministers and pseudo-ministers claim to possess a prophetic gift to speak truth about the future into lives. The mob is delighted by displays of so-called prophetic gifts. Some even claim (either explicitly or implicitly) to bear the mantle of the Hebrew prophets and the apostles. These pseudo-prophets focus on remote details about the future. They feed the popular hunger for knowledge.

Of all the books in the Bible, I find only tiny snippets that actually address knowing about future events in detail. Most are barely concerned with the readers' knowledge of the details. Instead, the prophets of old seemed to address the future only to the degree necessary to elicit a response from their audience. Though so much popular interest is centered around the details (where will I go to school, will I be successful, when is the rapture, etc.), the Bible seems to be almost exclusively concerned with action. We are obsessed with knowing about things, but the prophets were interested in doing things. We are interested in information, but the prophets were interested in activity.

We do nothing for people if all we do is ask them to believe as we do. Holiness requires more than simple intellectual assent or understanding of certain propositions. The changed life is the goal of true prophetic work. Truth embraced always results in changed behavior - baptism is a great example of outward demonstration of inward change.

So we have little need for more pseudo-prophets. No one needs to hear half-truths about what the future holds for them. What we desperately need is prophets who speak aggravating truth that sparks action. Too many of us feel guilty about saying things that compel people to take a certain action. We feel judgmental or arrogant. Our culture has conditioned us to believe that everyone's opinion is equally valid and respectable. The truth is that some things actually are better than others. May we never compel others to do things our way - but let us insist on things being done God's way. We need prophets who speak unpopular things that leave others without excuse for inaction. Speak the truth in love, but proclaim it unapologetically. Let us know the truth and live the better for it.

Looking Up

2005-10-25T20:39:00.000-07:00

Since we are the blessed recipients of lovely cold weather, I felt compelled to take a walk this evening. I put on my new winter coat and began to journey through my neighborhood. After walking for nearly an hour, I found that I actually began to get hot. After all, it's only about 50 degrees and a winter coat is a bit much. So I put my jacket on my driveway to lay down.

The startling thing was that the stars were actually visible. As a lifetime city-dweller, stars are a rare treat. As a looked up I saw two airplanes, a planet near the horizon, and even a satellite for a few moments. What really stood out to me was how big the sky was. The satellite, which was traveling faster than I can legally, took close to a minute and a half to traverse the sky. I was amazed that the horizon I saw actually stretched for hundreds of miles in each direction, and that was only what was visible to me at night.

Now that you are beginning to doze off, I must admit that I am not an astronomer. So why am I writing about satellites and the horizon? Simply put, I regularly behave as though I am the center of the universe and that my concerns should be everyone else's. How arrogant can I be?

Further, I've found that the more I focus on my problems and needs, the more screwed up I become. Emphasizing self does nothing but create - you guessed it - a selfish person. Not only do I become selfish, but my entire view of reality becomes distorted.

Suppressing knowledge of the Lord quickly leads to darkness and depravity. When we deny the light or fail to live in its glow, how can we be surprised when our lives are darkness? I think this was on Paul's mind when he wrote some Christians in Rome:

"For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened." - Romans 1:21

When I fail to look up and acknowledge God as Creator, as the Father of Lights, I am little more than a fool. My heart is darkened, my mind becomes foolish, and my practice becomes evil. Sometimes we need to look up and appreciate the majesty of God. His brilliance is clearly on display in creation. Too often I am obsessed with my own goals and acclaim. Cold winter walks remind me that God deserves honor and I dare not withhold it. Failure to look up is not an excuse.

Human Depravity and God's Law

2005-10-11T23:35:00.000-07:00

Early Tuesday morning I stumbled upon a particularly disturbing story. Most news recently has been troubling, with reports ranging from the aftermath of Katrina and Rita to the serious health risks posed by the bird flu, but the story I read struck a cord at the personal level. I read about some of the incredible atrocities committed in parts of Africa.

The article (see the link at the bottom of this post) tells the story of a woman who experienced unfathomable cruelty at the hands of members of the Hutu militia, the same group responsible for the genocide in Rwanda. Several men raped the woman while her husband was forced to watch. The thugs eventually killed him and her two children. Years later members of the same group dismembered her second husband and even forced her to eat parts of his flesh.

I do not intend to tell gruesome tales for the sake of a visceral response, but I just can't get over how brutal and evil the militiamen acts were. I find it embarrassing to admit that I share the same blood as they do - I am a member of the human race, and so are they. How can people do such wicked things to one another? It's one thing to steal so your family can eat (which is problematic too), but how can people be comfortable forcing a human to eat her murdered husband's body?

Now I am by no means a doom and gloom sort of person, but I just can't get over the chaos that appears to run rampant on the African continent (I am aware that all of Africa is not immersed in chaos). I don't think the problems are caused by poverty or Western oppression. I think they are fundamentally sourced in ignorance: both accidental (if such a term is fitting) and willful. Many people do not know to fear the Lord or have rejected that knowledge.

In a relatively recent film, Beyond the Gates of Splendor, viewers are exposed to a South American tribe that was immersed in a culture of violence. The entire life of the tribesmen was one of murder, revenge, and fear. Then the Good News came. Several American missionaries felt a burden for the people, and began to visit them and offer their friendship. As many of you know, the tribesmen eventually killed the missionaries because of a lie a fellow tribesman told.

After the missionaries had been caught up in the tribe's violence, the missionaries' wives and descendents developed relationships with the people, which led many of the tribesmen to embrace the Gospel. The film documents the dramatic cultural shift that took place after the teachings of Scripture were made known to them. The once violent people now lived in peace. One of the missionary's grandsons even was able to call his grandfather's murderer his surrogate grandfather. The Gospel changed people.

Back to the matter at hand, I am convinced that parts of Africa are so violent and wicked because that is the natural human condition. We are all bloodthirsty sadists without God's intervention. Wickedness prevails wherever one of two conditions is met: 1) God's truth is not known; or 2) God's truth is rejected.

The first chapter of Romans is clear that all men have a basic understanding of right and wrong. James teaches sin gives birth only to death. Why are people so brutal and hateful? They have not been exposed to God's revelation or they have surprised their knowledge of it. When I read an article as dark as the one about the woman above, I become acutely aware of the depravity of man. Watching the news reports of looters stealing Nike's as thousands are stranded in New Orleans illustrates our wickedness. Hearing police and rescue workers tell firsthand accounts of coming under sniper fire while trying to save the elderly screams out that we are desperately in need of help. We as people need the Lord's intervention.

I pray that we can admit to God that we are not able to solve the world's problems; we are not our own masters; we are not gods. I pray that we admit our need for God's instruction and guidance in our lives. I pray that we recognize others around us need that guidance as well. Left to our own devices, we are filthy - even able to force a husband to watch as his wife is raped. May we sing the psalmist's song and admit: "My soul is consumed with longing for your rules at all times" (Psalm 119:20). We need God's teaching to show us the way.

Oh Lord, come.

[This is the link to the article I discussed: http://hotzone.yahoo.com/b/hotzone/blogs1152. Be advised that the article is gruesome.]

Mortality

2005-10-03T08:53:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday I went to the doctor to have three moles removed. The doctor had previous expressed concern about whether or not the moles were or could develop into cancer. I am still waiting for the lab results, but the entire situation has already been redeemed for good.

As I lay on the operating table awaiting the arrival of the doctor, I felt emotionally and spiritually exposed. I could not help but be overwhelmed by the enormity of my frailness. I am dust and ashes. My body is broken, and will someday cease to operate. Fear is of course a natural reaction to such thoughts, and I did briefly encounter fear, but confidence in Christ is more powerful. In such a needy place, I was forced to place my trust in our great God and King. While it is true that death awaits me, as it does us all, my loving Master has conquered death.

When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory." "O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?" The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
-1 Corinthians 15:54-57

Since God has conquered death, removing its power, how should I respond? What does God expect of "the mortal [who] puts on immortality"? The answer is in the following verse...

Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
-1 Corinthians 15:58

Death has no power for fear or threat over the believer. We must not lose sight of our assignment: to always abound in the work of the Lord. Am I concerned about skin cancer? Sure. I'd hate to have to go through the various treatments. Though my body will die, Christ has redeemed me and won victory over death. Therefore, I will abound in His good work, for eternal works don't perish like bodies do.