Here is a bit tamer write up about "Christians". I've not read the remainder of the article in the magazine but it's pretty compelling so far. What are we as a nation of "Christians" doing? I don't think this guys stats are some how exclusively, non-fundamentalist c.o.C. I would think they wash over the whole gambit of God fearing folks. It's funny but for the past year I've heard rumblings of America awakening to a huge revival sometime "soon". Is this revival going to be a generic, scriptureless, non-committal revival that IS actually going to bring millions to the alter of an empty faith. The Purpose Driven Life author has a church of 20,000 plus and there's never been a need to baptize (though they have) people because the most important act is admitting you need Christ. Once you do that Poof you're saved. Joel Olsten, another mega-church pirate, also uses the cliché Biblical rhetoric of "love one another", "don't cast the first stone", "we're all sinners, that's ok Jesus loves us anyway" to pull in millions. If these guys are leading us (according to their book sales "us" is multiple millions of Americans) into the future I doubt it will be on a wave of firm Biblical principle. Are they good folks sure, are they Biblically sound, I'm not so sure.
Chuck, Sipp and I talked briefly about spiritual warfare when we were down last and I've been running the idea through my mind for a couple of years now and I've got to wonder about it now. With AP having its various issues and casual faith encroaching the mainstream the field marshals are falling or teaching contrary messages. The survival of this faith will be in a small dedicated handful of believers. Something is behind that…
As far as what all this means I’m not sure. God knows I have my own struggles and ideas that might be skewed but I believe that Christ died for me and I believe that through my baptism into him I have been granted a reprieve from the gates of damnation. I'm just worried about the rest of the folks because I think my voice is too small and too cluttered by the din of rhetoric to be heard.
But then again there is grace and it's there for a reason and only God has read the manual on that one. Maybe I should just relax...
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I have been blogging back and forth with Rachel's cousin, Adam Ellis. That's where I found Jeremy Walden's site. He and everyone else blogging on his site (except me) are into this new thing called the "Emergent Conversation". As near as I can tell, it is about personal evangelism, based around the eschatology of Jesus perfecting the Earth through us and returning to set up His Kingdom (which I have been blogging politely, yet adamantly against on his blog), and trying to use social/political Christian influence to bring about a worldwide revolution and return the world to a Utopian state identical to that of Eden. It's very complicated and I don't really think it's what God intended at all. If you want to check it out, it's at this site:
http://www.emergentvillage.com/Site/index.htm
It's very much about physicality and not being in a spiritual realm...They talk a lot about going back to "the way God intended" and "not giving up on God's project". It really disturbs me and it makes absolutely no sense in regard to what the Bible teaches very plainly. Why do people have to take something very simple and mess it up?
it is interesting Mullins... but what is more amazing is that salvation is SO easy... you said it yourself; You beleive Jeus dies for you and that he rose again, and that through your baptism, your sins are washed away... how easy is that??? Not easy enough for the general public. No self professed christian would admint to this, but we in America have everything "our way", and when it comes to a church, alot of folks look for one that does it "their way". I really can't see how much easier the Bible can be when it comes to salvation, but Jesus said it himself, that he came to divide people... just look at all the reactions when "the passion" came out.
OK, I have to make another comment. I think it's easy to think that numbers = they must be doing something right. I think it's easy to think that as humans since so many times "success" = numbers (usally money or amounts of goods, fame, etc.). But, if this were the case, we'd have to say that Islam MUST be right or Budhism or Catholicism or any other major world religion where the numbers are significant. The fact is, most people want a short-cut. They want to use the "I'm OK, you're OK" answer to everything. That's why homosexuality is being widely accepted as OK in many denominations now. People just want to feel good. They want to be told that it's effortless. That's why the Bible refers to people as sheep. Sheep are stupid, defenseless animals that must be led around to water, grass, and protected from everyting. It's very easy to be led astray. I can just see these guys saying, "It's OK little sheepy...come over here and eat these rotten bananna peels and drink some polluted river water." It'll sustain you for the moment, but wiwll rot your insides eventually because of its putridity and lack of nourishment. It's scary, sad, and sometimes a lonely feeling to be a Christian. That's why it's so nice to have the Great Shepherd watching over us.
very well put sipper. i have to agree with you. being a christian is a hard, lonely, unpopular way to go most of the time, but the feeling of knowing that Gods' grace washes me and i have a hope of something sooo much better gets me thru the "lonely" times.
i think the rick warrens and the joel osteens churches are so popular b/c they make being a christian so easy. and it's not easy. just because Jesus loves you and is there for you is not enough to get you into Heaven. "Faith without works is dead."
Amen, sister! Wed night at Dalraida, Dr. Kenneth Randolf (who most of us probably had for a Bible class at one point) taught the class for the ssummer series. One of the things he spoke about was how being a Christian doesn't exempt you from suffering. He used Paul as an example. Paul had this "thorn in the flesh" that he prayed would be removed from him and God told him "my grace is sufficient for you". Paul also suffered shipwrecks, snake bites (although it obviously didn't affect him too much), prison time, starvation, lonliness, beatings, you name it! Being a Christian IS difficult. It means you lose yourself. That's the hardest sacrifice we make today, and the one most people don't want to make.
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