Living Journey

I can’t post this ‘GodTube’, but this one is worth watching it’s pretty funny.

Something light as we enter into the weekend.

It is called ‘On the Subject of Communion Wafers…’

Let me start by saying that this post is mainly one that offers questions more that answers. The reasons will be clear as you continue to read.

I have recently been pointed to some further reading from a certain church’s web-site by Sarah who understands first hand how this particular church operates. She says:

Wow Virginia, what a surprise that I knew exactly what church you were talking about in your post! Did you see on the home page of their site they are finding “glory dust” now? Sounds like someone is going a bit crazy with a container of glitter.

I went over to their site and read a sermon by the Pastor called “What is happening among us?” The sermon notes are from April 15 - 2007, and address the passage: Ephesians 3:14-21. I will quote the passage for you and then I follow it with an outline and context of the whole chapter as I believe that context is important. (Please note that the sermon does not start with any scripture but instead starts with the manifestations happening in the church)

Eph 3:14-21 For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, that ye may be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inward man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; to the end that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be strong to apprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, that ye may be filled unto all the fulness of God. Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus unto all generations for ever and ever. Amen.

The whole of Ephesians 3 is about Paul having been given the revelation that, Gentiles by accepting Christ, would be heirs and of the same body with the believing Jews; and that Paul was to preach this Gospel to the Gentiles. Here is a breakdown of the chapter in context.

Ephesians 3 -

• Paul, a prisoner for the testimony of Jesus, declares his knowledge of what had been a mystery from all ages, that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs and of the same body with the Jews, Eph_3:1-6.
• Which doctrine he was made a minister, that he might declare the unsearchable riches of Christ, and make known to principalities and powers this eternal purpose of God, Eph_3:7-12.
• He desires them not to be discouraged on account of his tribulations, Eph_3:13.
• His prayer that they might be filled with all the fullness of God, Eph_3:14-19.
• His doxology, Eph_3:20, Eph_3:21. Gil

The Glory Dust

From the web-site there was a sermon called ‘What is happening among us?‘ he first speaks about the ‘Glory Dust’ manifesting itself among the people - and that lately a manifestation of oil has been seen - and the Pastor quotes two verses in Isaiah 43:18,19 which I will examine further at a later date. Those two verses say this:

Isa 43:18-19 Do not remember former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall sprout. Shall you not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, rivers in the desert.

Then he goes on to speak about certain manifestations; I will quote some of what has been said in his sermon:

Since January 2007 we have been experiencing this glory dust phenomenon frequently on a widespread scale in the life of our church. It has truly amazed me. In so many different settings it has appeared on people. We have isolated a number of types of this phenomenon: glitter like pieces, flake like pieces and very small sparkling pieces that appear to arise out of the body.

Besides this glory dust there is another manifestation that people are experiencing. It is oil on their hands and faces. (From the Church in question)

People ask - where is this ‘glory dust’ in the Bible? Here is my answer:

a. John 14:12

I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.

Jesus’ promise is quite amazing. Not only will we do his works, but greater works. What are the greater? We are not told. So we speculate. My point is: we do not have to have a verse for every work of God. Did Jesus have a verse for every mighty work that he did?

God does not contradict his word but there is more to God than is written in the Bible.

The above that I have emphasized is something that needs to be addressed, as it raises more questions than it does answers. I will get to them at the end of the post.

Back to the sermon

Only after he speaks about the Glory Dust does he use the passage found in Ephesians and he pays special attention to the last verse about the ‘Glory in the Church’ where he states the following:

First, I want to talk about the glory of God. As Paul brings his wonderful prayer in Ephesians 3 14 - 21 to a close he says, “…to him be glory in the church…” The glory is the glory of God. He wants the church to be of such a quality that it will bring glory to him. That will be so as his glory is seen in the church.

“Glory” refers to the visible splendour and moral perfection of God. God’s glory is the total of all that he is in his excellence. What we do know for sure, which is supported by scripture, is that God’s glory has a physical dimension which is visible and powerful.

Glory is usually always associated with great light, shining and fire. Although not called glory, God spoke to Moses from the bush that burned and was not consumed (Ex 3:3). The presence of God was so powerful, it would have consumed Moses so God commanded him not to come any closer

What he has established by doing this, is the setting up of the reader and the congregation to the certain fact that manifestations happen to show God’s Glory in His Church. He says that this is a fulfillment of the prophecy spoken about in Isaiah and that this is the ‘New Thing‘ (I have some concerns about how this scripture is being liberalised, see this post here (there are many ‘New Things’ about today, but how do we measure them if God is more than His Word?).

Is this the ‘New Thing’ that Isaiah speaks about? Or is this using eisegesis to interpret scripture? The fact that the sermon actually starts with him speaking at length about the manifestations found in his church and then contributes a scripture to back this up is pretty suspicious, isn’t it? That is leading an interpretation into scripture (which is eisegesis) rather than leading out from scripture (which is exegesis).

The questions that I really want to ask however, is based on his statement ‘that there is more to God than is written in His Word’.

Questions:

1. If God is more that His Word says He is does this now mean that there could be some extra revelation about Him that is not found in His Word, and can we now look forward to more outside revelation?

2. From where will this new/added revelation come, what will it look like and who will it come from, and where will it stop?

3. What does this added revelation mean and how does if effect what the written Word says?

4. Can we, or now indeed should we, diligently search the scriptures to see if these ‘new things’ that are being revealed as manifestations are scripturally sound if God is more that His written Word?

5. What is now our measuring tool to correctly discern if these ‘new things‘ are from God, how are we to discern outside of the written Word if God is more than what His Word says He is?

6. Should we accept all new things are from God — even if these manifestations are proven to be real - without biblical support because man says that they are from God even if they are outside revelations not found in the Word but from some very sincere people?

7. Is this truly being discerning, or is this falling for signs and wonders because they are just that, signs and wonders?

I think that for now I am going to leave these questions up to some of you to ask yourself. I think these are legitimate questions that I have raised because of outside revelations and methodologies being used within Christendom of late. You may have more questions that you may want to add to this list.

I will post at a later date about this ‘New Thing that Isaiah speaks about as I want to study it more. Is this new thing for the church or was it for Israel? Is it a picture of Isreal’s redemption and salvation, which she as a nation looks forward to, but is it also a picture of our redemption and salvation? From what I understand, it depends very much on your hermeneutical method and whether you exegete or you use eisegesis. Is is the ‘Glory Dust’ and the oil that some are being told of. Is this really the ‘Glory of the Church?’

Here is a related article on the New Thing:

• The New Thing 

What say you?

I was perusing the youtube site and found a very interesting video on ‘Lectio Divina’ other wise known as ‘Sacred Reading’, ‘Contemplative Prayer’ and ‘Centering Prayer’ and many other terms besides. What I did find was a youtube from a monastery that practices this form of Prayer in Community Life. I was going to post that youtube — and I still will if you are interested — but this post is an introduction about another form of prayer or worship called ‘Visio Divina’ and that is the youtube I will post.

Before I do that, here is a basic outline of L.D. because Visio Divina is derived from Lectio Divina I thought it best to start with an overview on L.D.

Lectio Divina

At the beginning of the L.D. video that I had stumbed upon there was a reference to Pope Benedict before the three Catholic Monastic Monks explain about Lectio Divina, the Pope said this about this form of prayer:

‘If [Lectio Divina] is promoted efficacy, I am convinced that it will produce a new spiritual springtime in the Church’ Pope Benedict XVI September 16 2005

The Emerging/Emergent church has embraced this form of prayer because it holds to an ecumenical generous orthodoxy. This is known and celebrated to all who understand this more liberal approach to ‘Doing Church’.

There is a lot of talk about ‘New’ things on the horizon, things like a ‘New Reformation‘ of deeds not creeds’, all the while saying that these things are a result from exercising a ‘Vintage Faith‘. Lectio Divina is promoted by the EMCer’s and there are a lot of key words bantered about like; missional, community, ancient traditions etc,.

Here again the missional focus is prominent as is the coming into contact with the ancient traditions of the Church, and one such feature is the use of lectio divina, or communal reading of Scripture, meditating on that text, and then praying through that text in the context of a community. @Jesus Creed

This form of prayer was derived from the ‘Desert Fathers’ and is not grounded in biblical practice, but is more similar to Buddhism and Transcendental Meditation. It is mystical and experiential and it allows for individual interpretation of a word of scripture and the point of reference is personified rather than relying on scripture to interpret scripture so it flies in the face of sola-scripture:

When meditating on a word reflect on the text of the passage, thinking about how to apply to one’s own life. Gravitate to any particular phrase or word that seems to be of particular import. This should not be confused with exegesis, but is a very personal reading of the Scripture

Listen to God. This is a freeing oneself from one’s own thoughts, both mundane and holy. It is about hearing God talk to us. Opening our mind, heart and soul to the influence of God. Any conversation must allow for both sides to communicate, and this most unfamiliar act is allowing oneself to be open to hearing God speak. @Wikipedia

Brian Flynn author of ‘Running against the Wind‘ explains it this way:

The concept of allowing God to speak through His Word is perfectly legitimate. I experience that when I read or meditate on the Bible. However, in the context of this article the purpose is not to contemplate the meaning of a Bible verse by thinking about it but is rather meant to gain an experience from it.

There is a difference between reading the Word and understanding its meaning versus a method of focusing on a single word to gain a mystical experience. @Lighhouse Trails Research.

Visio Divina

Now, finally we come to Visio Divina, as I said at the beginning of this post I was searching for something and I happened across a Visio Divina youtube. Visio Divina simply means ‘Divine Seeing’.

The practice of visio divina shares its origins with the long-practiced form of scripture reading known as lectio divina. As with lectio divina, visio divina nurtures the spiritual life through an intentional practice of reflection on scripture. With visio divina, visual art and scripture are considered together, supporting the practictioner through the reading of the Word, seeing with the eyes, listening with the heart, and responding in prayer. @Visio Divina

The following is what I have gleaned from the video:

They want to open our understanding of what the role of art in life of faith might be, and what it might become. They want to use all different art mediums to dissolve barriers between people of different spiritual paths and faiths. It wants to stretch the believers horizons in challenging the faith community to think in ‘New Ways’ about old truths and familiar stories. Visio Divina and its practice is designed to explore and identify the possibilities of ‘Spiritual Formation’ as it is revealed through the visual arts.

The Art & Soul Cafe’s board of directors who is all behind this Visio Divina calls themselves ‘The Council of Spirits‘. Could you get anymore New Age!!! Check this link for their youtube.

I wonder if this is going to be the next big thing in a church that I know of personally? I guess I will have to check their website more often.

I looked up in Wikipedia the term ‘New Age’ and the beliefs held by New Agers are not too disimilar to what is going on inside some churches! If this is something that is not of God but rather a giving over to man and his wiles ( and I strongly believe it to be a judgment from God rather than a building up of His Church as it is the separation of the sheep from goats, the strong delusion sent by God Himself. So technically speaking I could say, yes it is from God!) and if there is no repentance, then we will see more and more of this stuff. Hold on, this is going to get rough!

Anyway I think that this form of idolatry definately deserves a red flag.

A fantastic article by Roger Oakland.

• Are Emerging Church Critics Too Critical?

I have taken excerpts from a fantastic sermon called ‘The attack on the remnant’ by Jacob J Prasch. I have just gone through half of the sermon and have found two points of attack that I thought I would share with you. (When I have listened to the rest I will continue with the other points of attack).

From what I have listened to thus far, these attacks are happening in the church today, I am sure you will find it quite startling as you read about the High Places and the Alters — the king of Assyria and his stooges — and how the attacks begin.

Just as a side note; before any attack began it was common place to starve the people and cut off their food supply so that they became weakened before the the big guns came out. I found that to be of high importance because if we are to understand that in a spiritual way, then starving the church of the Word of God leaves her completely weakened and ready for an attack. It brought to my mind the scripture found in Amos 8vs. 11:

Amo 8:11 Behold the days come, saith the Lord, and I will send forth a famine into the land: not a famine of bread, nor a thirst of water, but of hearing the word of the Lord.

The Sermon - The outline

Jacob starts by reading all of Isaiah 36 and says that the king of Assyria is a shadow or type of anti-christ. From this passage of scripture where it talks about the king of Assyria and his planned attack, we can learn about how God’s chosen are attacked. It also illustrates what will happen in the last days just before the reign of the anti-christ and king of the World. Satan is already god/king of this world and he will manifest this in a tangible way as this age comes to an end. (see 2Cor 4:4)

Firstly, Satan attacks by quoting scripture out of context; he also sends a stooge before the attack is initiated. We can see a pattern not too unlike the serpent in the garden when we read: ‘Is it not he whose High Places and Alters Hezekiah has removed?’ Did not God say you could eat of all the trees?

Hezekiah did remove all the High Places and left the Alter standing and for a very good reason as we shall see later in this post; this is of upmost importance as we see the same High Place Worship happening today with a church that has lost her way. The true Alter of God has been replaced with an alien High Place. We must understand this concept in order to discern why the Church has become a place of Strange Fire and Strange Worship. We will get to that point later in this post.

We also see there is a messianic prophecy in this passage where the cup-bearer asks Hezekiah who was it that he trusted in; a broken reed which goes into a hand and pierces it. The chief of the cup-bearers is the one that comes before king Assyria and he sent by this king. This stooge represents a type of false prophet who makes way for the king who represents the anti-christ.

Isa 36:2-7 And the king of Assyria sent the chief of the cupbearers from Lachish to Jerusalem, to King Hezekiah, with a great army. And he stood by the conduit of the upper pool, in the highway of the Fuller’s Field. And Eliakim, Hilkiah’s son, And the chief of the cupbearers said to them, Say now to Hezekiah, The great king says this, the king of Assyria, What confidence is this in which you trust? I say, Are only words of the lips counsel and strength for war? Now, in whom have you trusted that you rebelled against me? Behold, you trust on the staff of this broken reed, on Egypt, which if a man leans on it, it goes into his hand and pierces it; so is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him. But if you say to me, We trust in Jehovah our God; is it not He whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed? And He said to Judah and Jerusalem, You shall worship before this altar.

1st Attack - Temptation - Isa 36:8

(Satan knows what we want, riches, fame, notoriety etc vs.8. Satan knows us better than we know ourselves, he knows how to tempt us, the only other person that knows us better than Satan is God Almighty that is why we must always look towards Him and not to our own ways.)

Isa 36:8 Now, then, please exchange pledges with my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able to set riders on them for you.

2nd Attack - Intimidation - Isa 36:9

(if we take our eyes of the Lord and put them on the problem, we will falter, if we take our eyes off of the problem and keep them on the Lord we will stand, the enemy knows this. Satan wants us to take our eyes off of Jesus and turn them towards the threats that he has given. Satan will try and get our eyes off of Jesus and to put them on the threats.)

Isa 36:9 How then will you turn away the face of one commander of the least of my master’s servants, and put your trust in Egypt for chariotry and horsemen?

We are all rebels - but for whose cause?

The king of Assyria also asks the question: Why do you rebel against me, against the king?
Isa 36:5 I say, thy counsel and strength for the war are but vain words: now on whom dost thou trust, that thou hast rebelled against me?

Why are you rebelling against the king, who are you to rebel against the king? If you are a true Christian who has been born again you are spiritually in rebellion against the god of this world. If you are a saved Christian you are in rebellion against the king of Syria who represents a type and shadow of the anti-christ who is the king of this world. If you are not a saved born again Christian you are in rebellion against the King do Kings.

The high places and the alters - what’s the difference?

Isa 36:7 But if thou say unto me, We trust in Jehovah our God: is not that he, whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken away, and hath said to Judah and to Jerusalem, Ye shall worship before this altar?

And said to Judah and Jerusalem - He had commanded them to worship only in Jerusalem, at the temple. This was in strict accordance with the law of Moses. Barnes

The Hebrew word for alter is Meso Beoch. The Meso Beoch is the most important picture for Christ in scripture. Blood atonement was made upon the Meso Beoch.

High places in hebrew is Bemoat; Hezekiah had taken the high places away; Blood atonement was made upon the Meso Beoch.

Idolatry doesn’t begin by the worship of other gods, idolatry begins by worshipping the true god in unbiblical ways. Israel began their idolatry by worshipping Jehovah at some other alien high place; not by worshipping baal or molech but by worshipping not according to Jehovah’s commands.

The hebrew term for idolatry is not worshipping idols it is ‘avoda zara’, which simply means a form of worship which is alien to scripture.

The strange fire

There is in Leviticus the account of strange fire; they were burning the fire to Jehovah but in an alien way, not according to scripture:

Lev 10:1 And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took each of them his censer, and put fire therein, and laid incense thereon, and offered strange fire before Jehovah, which he had not commanded them.

The term for unbiblical worship and the term for idolatry is the same term. Once you begin to worship the true God in an unbiblical way you will end up in idolatry. It is the path that gets you there; it’s inevitable. The Catholic Church is an example, they progressed into idolatry. They didn’t start with necromancy and icons they progressed into it. If you worship the one true God in an unbiblical way; that path leads you into idolatry.

Another example is the hebrew word for husband, master and owner which is ‘Bal’. Jehovah was Israel’s Bal. The Canaanites had their Bal. They had their god with the same name. If you begin to worship the true god in an unbiblical way another god gives a counterfeit.

Hezekiah realised this and he tore the high places down.

The above are some of the notes of the sermon which teach us the way in which the first two attacks will happen. I found this to be very interesting as we are seeing them happen today. Soon I will post on the other points of attack.

Related Post from Living Journey:

• A false prophet like Elijah

• Part Two available now

• Part Three also available

I was emailed this from a friend of mine today and I thougth I would share it with you.

This youtube was submitted by Darrikk who has a relatively new blog called ‘Defending Zionism‘.

I was just doing some more research into the ‘Orbs of light guy’ Rev. Darrel E. Stott, you may remember I posted about him a while back, Stott follows in the wake of the ‘William Branham Anointing‘ (perhaps the Branham mantle has rested upon him) he travels all around the globe to pass this anointing onto the unsuspecting. A church that I know of is foolishly having him as a guest speaker in the next few weeks.

I didn’t know a lot about Branham, but Carla from More Books and Things has recently written a post that told me everything that I needed to know concerning that wolf I mean ‘man’ hmmm…. wolf-man Branham. This took me back to Darrel E. Stott and his web-page to check out the latest from the ‘Glory Man’ himself to see the connections between the two men.

This photo (see thumbnail) has been taken from Stott’s web-page, it is a photo of the angelic beings that surround him. Not only are they appearing as circles or orbs nowadays; but there is a ‘new thing happening’ in the ‘Glory Realm‘ of Stott’s world, these angels appear as diamonds. Go to the link to see pictures of this. Or click the thumbnail on the left to see the ‘Diamond Angels’, this is taken directly from his site.

Here is the William Branham reference on Stott’s web-site below. On his site he testifies that an angel visited him in an ‘open vision’ (huh, what is that???) and told him that the anointing of William Branham will fall upon him and all Stott had to do was wait for it.

Darrel Stott has apparently been know to carry the ‘Glory of God‘ at times too and several photo’s have an image of him with this Glory resting upon him, like Moses perhaps? Yep, now I’m convinced! NOT!!

You see, according to what I read on Carla’s blog and from reading the outside links from her post, William Branham (and remember too that Stott now has this ‘angelic anointing’) has a thing about angels, yes … that is clear, but it also appears that there is a little thing about eagles. Notice that on Branham’s tomb stone; which is a pyramid by the way, if that isn’t enough warning for you that there is also an eagle on top of this pyramid. What is with that?

Here is the eagle found at Stott’s site on a page called ‘Prophetic Words by Darrel Stott‘. What is with this eagle? I wonder if we are going to see that symbol pop up in questionable christian circles?

And now for some more heresy… Drum roll please……….

After all of this I went to check up on this church who is having this guy come to spread his ‘Glory’ around. And what do you think I find, but more heresy.

Another couple is coming to the church not long after ‘Stott’s Angel and Supernatural Stone Crusade’ (yeah you read me right, Supernatural Stones are now appearing … look here … come to think of it, I do need some stones for beading, maybe some Swarosvki crystals would be nice).

This couple is part of the ‘Streams Ministries’ so I just had to check it out — and rightly so — it is called being a berean I think, read the following:

Rick and Rozi Penny have been associated with Streams Ministries International since 1997 and are certified teachers for Streams Institute for Spiritual Development (ISD).

They both operate under a “revivalist” anointing in ministry to the Body of Christ. Rick’s gift of exhortation and faith coupled with Rozi’s revelatory unction serve to ignite and encourage the hearts of believers. The Lord uses them to “stir up the gifts” in others and gives them insight into strongholds and roadblocks that hinder local bodies.

Their ministry gifts were birthed at World Harvest Bible College under Pastor Rod Parsley. During their association with Streams Ministries, God has built on these Pentecostal roots an understanding of dreams, visions, and the simple lifestyle of being “naturally supernatural.” This combination has given them a unique anointing for teaching and ministry. (This blurb is taken from the ‘Streams Ministries Website’ and is also found at the Church I know of personally)

Anyway, I popped on over to the ‘Streams Ministry Web-Site’ and read a few articles that I found there.

One article is called ‘A Glimpse of Heaven’ and below I have quoted some of it for you. I am going to red flag this like no-bodies business, in fact this whole post is red flagged but I bet you guessed that I have done that already haven’t you?

A second angel of white light appears behind me and is traveling with us. I ask him, “Where are we going?” He says that we are going to translate as soon as we find our gate (portal).

I am witnessing a heavenly atmosphere that is growing thicker. Somehow, I know this atmosphere will soon will be released upon the Earth. During worship services, some people will be taken up to Heaven, joining in the worship of Heaven. In a similar way, the worship of Heaven will join with us in our worship on earth.

Soon, I am told that some people who serve God on the Earth will often translate into Heaven and interact with the angels and heavenly beings. Angels and heavenly beings will also return with them to work together on Earth. This will fulfill God’s will on Earth, as it is in Heaven, and like it has never been seen in human history. @Streams Ministries

And here is an article from the same web-site about interpreting children’s dreams and how we must train our children for this service, the article is called, ‘Dreams: Children & The Night Season’:

In our dreams, or as I like to say “the Night Season”, is a very important way that God communicates to us. It is a language of the spirit that the church has lost that we need rediscover and help our children to learn.

Are You Training Your Children?

Here are some simple ways to build value in your child’s dream life, and glean some meaning:

1.Write down their dreams – create a dream journal
2.Have them draw pictures of their dreams
3.Have them act out their dreams (this can be really hilarious for the whole family)
4.Try to interpret their dreams, keep it simple
5.Review their dreams every 6 months

@Streams Ministries

Oh … and there is something more that I found at this site. And that is ‘Streams Ministries’ endorse something that is very, very close to ‘automatic writing’ . There is also something that is perhaps a little on the contemplative side of things as well. Also on this site you can buy anointing oil — for a reduced price of course — when you buy two tubes of the ‘exodus ‘Oil for his Glory Healing”. Read carefully why it is called the Exodus oil.

Look, I could go on and on and I could cut, paste and link until my saddened heart is so overwhelmed that I begin to feel physically sick (too late actually, I feel quite unwell now anyway). But seriously this is New-Age occultic stuff. I no longer can call a place that endorses such occultic practices a Christian Church, it is rather a Spiritualist church. Hard words for me to say, in fact it pains me so, but this place is strongly leaning towards spiritualism isn’t it?

This seriously has red flags all over it!!!

Ok, I just want to brag about my brilliant young sister. She is sooo cool! She is a graphic artist and I have been on at her to start her own blog so she can promote herself a bit more.

Well, she has started it, and I just wanted to plug it big time.

It is called ‘RetroCharm Art’ … how cool is that name. Make sure you visit her site and leave a comment if so inclined. Let’s she if she can get really well known so her career can start off.

I am obviously adding her to my blogroll section and I may even start an graphic art category because my youngest daughter seems to be following in her Auntie’s footsteps.

Anyway check it out and see how brilliant she it!!!

I think I am sticking with this for now. There were some issues with the sidebar when viewed with explorer on a smaller 17 inch screen that would make it near impossible to read anything with the other theme. I really liked it, but I would only use it if they ironed out that problem, which they have said they are going to tweak it.

But for now I will stick with what I know. I like the seamless feel that this theme offers and I like how I can choose to put a border around a picture or choose not to for that seamless feel.

Anyway, I am sorry if you have come across this blog in the middle of some frustrated changes.

My apologies.

The good thing is, most of my readers are from the other side of the globe so I can change while you are all tucked up in bed sleeping.

Thanks for your patience.

I promise you that I am working on that post about ‘The Weak God Theory‘, but I haven’t had a lot of time lately so I have put it on the back-burner of late.

I have bought my new car yesterday, and I am very happy with it, it is much better on my knee thank goodness. The thing with my knee is that years ago I broke my leg and when they set it, they set it crooked. You can’t tell from looking at it, unless you look closely and compare the shape with my other leg. Because of this I do get a bit of an ache, arthritic pain, (although lately it has been getting much worse) during really cold weather and also because of the bone being more curved I have favoured my other leg dramatically and over compensated with any steps or getting off of the floor etc. This has given me an older knee on my good leg. So, driving a manuel and pushing in the clutch all the time was not helping me.

So, happy driving days I hope!

Will post soon

Cya

I am not sure, one of my favourite colours is red and I love red with black… so I guess I will see if this works for me.

I have just come across something that has piqued my curiosity somewhat. And not in a positive way, rather cautiously I tread.

I was just wondering if any of you have heard of the ‘The Weak God Theory/Weak Theology’ it seems to be an extension (if there is such a thing) of the ‘Kenotic theory’. Extreme Open theists would find sympathy this theory.

Someone a while back had commented on my blog about this kenotic theory, and to be honest I had no idea what they were on about. But I have been reading some of Caputo’s work on this subject, he has written many books on this theory and although he is not considered a theologian, he has tried to marry the study of theology with philosophy and place it into an open dialogue of deconstruction. He has been invited to speak The 2007 Emergent Theological Philosophical Conversation. I am going to flag this also.

Heltzel says of Caputo’s work:

He has creatively and insightfully given theology a new form that can speak to postmodernists and the emerging church. (Peter Goodwin Heltzel – New York Theological Seminary, A review on The Weakness of God: A Theology of the Event by John D. Caputo 2006)

Anyway I have found some interesting quotes from people who have analysed Caputo’s work and from my understanding the outcome of ‘Deconstructionism’ and its theological and doctrinal implication is something that we as Christians may have to deal with in the not so distant future.

I am just going to do my homework on this a bit more before I post.

By the way, as I was looking for a book which is called Divine Foreknowledge – Four Different Views, I found another called The post-Christian mind – exposing its destructive agenda. I may have to refresh myself with that book too!

The first book — Divine Foreknowledge deals with these four views:

1. The Open Theist View - Gregory A Boyd
2. The Simple-Foreknowledge View - David Hunt
3. The Middle-Foreknowledge View - William Lane Craig
4. The Augustinian-Calvinist View - Paul Helm

Like I said it before, it is “the much hoped for outcome” that could well be the biggest problem within 21^st century Church and its decaying, crumbling fundamentals.

But before I leave this post I will say that I can and will – because of sheer finite understanding — hold certain things in tension. Let me make that point clear before any of you get on to the Free-will/Pre-destination or the Calvin/Arminian thing …. Or whatever else there is between!!!

There is and will always be theological tensions. Theological tensions occur when two seemly contradictory truths are place side by side. The tensions become apparent when we are unable to harmonize them together. For instance, How can the sovereignty of God and the freewill of man exist in the same universe? How can God be One in substance and exist in three persons? How can Jesus Christ possess both a human conciseness, mind, heart, and will, and a divine consciousness, mind, heart, and will? Yet the Scriptures clearly teach all. (Michael Bremmer)

I will post on the “Much hoped for outcome” that I think will be something that even the very elect will fall for.

I love Ravi Zacharias, I have read four of his books and I receive his newsletters on a regular basis. But I have to admit that over the last year his newsletters were sounding a little off beat. Something I couldn’t quite put my finger on.

But one day I received a newsletter that spoke about how Ravi had gone to ‘The Church of Latter Day Saints‘ to speak. Moriel has also documented this about this event:

Eye witnesses reported that Ravi’s message was unsettling in many way to the Mormon leaders, yet the Desert News stated that, “ While he {Ravi} acknowledged that members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints differ in many of their views from historic Christianity, he emphasized much of what they share in reverence for a being both consider the divine Savior of mankind.”

Christians and Mormons share a “reverence for a being both consider the divine Savior of mankind”? The Mormons have a different Jesus! True Christians do not revere the Jesus of Mormons who is the ½ brother of Lucifer.

It seems during one Q & A session held after the Tabernacle event, Ravi was asked by an apparent LDS girl to state what exactly the differences are concerning the Trinity; Ravi declined by claiming he was a guest. He went on to affirm there are deep differences, and then simply talked about how we are to dialogue respectfully between the two faiths. I can’t imagine Jesus or Paul leaving a person seeking the Truth in error.

Since reading that in a newsletter, I have had some concerns about the direction that Zacharias was heading. I left it on the back burner but hadn’t addressed it until now.

Now it appears my concerns are becoming a little more justified as Lighthouse has posted on some more rather disturbing news.

On Ravi’s own web-site he has included some questionable authors who endorse mystic new-age practices.

• Jill Carattini Among her favorite thinkers are Malcolm Muggeridge, Henri Nouwen, and many of the early church pilgrims, though the writings of C.S. Lewis have been most formative in her own thought and writing.

• Danielle DuRant (Danielle speaks of Richard J Foster from RENOVARE about his book Prayer: Finding the Heart’s True Home, he also has his own bible translation called ‘The Spiritual Formation Bible‘) Richard J. Foster writes that God longs for us “to come home to where we belong, to come home to that for which we were created.” He describes God’s love for us in a series of memorable rooms that He invites us into: “the dining room of his strength, where we can feast to our heart’s delight… the study of his wisdom, where we can learn and grow and stretch…and ask all the questions we want…the bedroom of his rest, where new peace is found….”

These so called ‘series of memorable rooms‘ (DuRant’s article is called ‘Places in the Heart’) are beginning to sound a little too like the interior castle that I have posted about before! This may be a bit of jump, but I am sure with time all will become apparent.

Anyway, I am going to flag him and this whole places in the heart thing… Let’s see where this goes!!!

Related Articles:

• Can Christians and Mormons Stand Together? by Mike Oppenheimer

• Seven Mansions by Carla from More Books and Things

The Tomb of Jesus found with bones in it, what does that mean to Christianity?

I say the end of it!

Yes, you read my words correctly, the end of it I say. If there has ever been a tomb found (in the past, recently or in the future) with the bones or body of Jesus in it, then true Christianity should end. And if these bones were in fact found to be Jesus’ and if this fact is 100% certain, without any doubt whatsoever then ‘Biblical Christianity’ would have no choice but to end. You would think that to be obvious wouldn’t you!

The Resurrection

Yesterday the world celebrated the resurrection of Christ. This celebration is an acknowledgement to this miraculous event, and we do this in eager anticipation of our own resurrection; our own hope is placed in Him who conquered death and ascended to heaven. Millions of Christians gather together during this time of celebration and give thanks to Him who went to the cross, who then died and then lay in a tomb for three days and three nights and with that tomb being found empty He was resurrected and appeared to many. Jesus then ascended to heaven and we eagerly wait for His return and our own resurrection.

The question…

It was only a few nights ago (on Passover in fact) that I was listening to a radio station in the car while taking my daughter home. The radio talk-back host was asking the question … If there was unequivocal proof that Jesus’ bones had been found would that rock your faith? He was of course referring to the new James Cameron film which had its timely release at the start of Easter … great PR work wouldn’t you say? This question is a worthy one and one that is worth searching the scriptures for. Where do I stand? Where do you stand? Would your faith be rocked?

Christians answer…

To fill you in a bit, this radio station is not a Christian one and the radio host is not a Christian, in fact he is an atheist and he questions many organised religions and their relativity to our world. He plays the devils advocate quite well.

It did come apparent to me that he understood perfectly what the resurrection should mean to Christians and probably came away patting his own back knowing (and confirming) that the majority of Christians who rang up and defended their faith are a little confused as to what being a Christian really means and what they are to believe in. Sad to say, but true all the same.

Anyway, one by one the Christians that rang up said that it wouldn’t change their faith one bit and that Jesus lived a good life and that we should all live like He lived and take on board the lessons He taught. I am guessing at this point that they mean the social lessons as that is the only thing you would have left if in fact Christ didn’t resurrect or ascend to heaven. They also said that He was still the son of God (….ummm my question is Why?) and that if it was proven beyond reasonable doubt that He did in fact have a wife and son and that He did not resurrect bodily that this would not change their faith one little bit. Not only that, but they went on to say that it would give their faith something more solid to stand on. Why?…. Because Jesus could now be proven to have existed to the all the unbelievers in the world and that He actually lived here on earth and lived a life that we all should follow because it was a good life and He taught good things to all people. The social Jesus!

The sign…

Ummm… what does our faith rest on? Does it rest only on the good life that Jesus portrayed, helping and healing the poor, sick and wounded? Many other faiths and humanitrian organisations would be a contender for that wouldn’t they? Is that the sign given that Jesus was the son of God, His good life and His good lessons for living a peaceful happy life with all of mankind all holding hands? I don’t think so. His life and His subsequent death and resurrection were the whole purpose He came to earth in the first place. To fulfill His Messianic purpose that was outline in the prophecies of the OT.

It wasn’t the social aspect of the gospel that was to be a sign for a faith to be based on… what did Jesus say would be the sign:

Mat 16:4 An evil and adulterous generation seeks a sign, and a sign will not be given to it, except the sign of Jonah the prophet. And leaving them, He went away.

The sign of Jonah points to Jonah being in the belly of a big fish for three days and three nights. See this sermon called ‘Jonah‘ by Jacob Prasch for a Midrashic explanation on the significance of ‘The Sign’.

Only one…

It wasn’t just one Christian (is the term ‘Christian’ now being redefined, think about it?) who rang up and said this. It was every Christian!

Except one.

Phew….

He said he would be floored and he would no longer call himself a Christian because of what Paul said to the Corinthians:

1Co 15:12-14 But if Christ is proclaimed, that He was raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is not a resurrection of the dead? But if there is not a resurrection of the dead, neither has Christ been raised. But if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation is worthless, and your faith is also worthless.

He was the last caller to be aired before the hour show ended. I am so thankful for that one and only caller who knew what the Word of God said concerning His son and how he backed up what he said by quoting scripture. My heart jumped with joy when he said that he would no longer call himself a Christian because finding the bones would render Jesus a good teacher and social worker but not the Messiah… then it sunk so low that all the other wonderfully good and well intentioned Christ-followers have not been taught and have not understood properly the Word of God concerning His Son Yeshua and have not met the resurrected Jesus on their road to their Damascus.

Even the radio host, an atheist, knew what the bones should mean to the Christian faith. He knew and understood more than those who claim to follow Christ.

There is a saying…

If He is not the Jewish Messiah; then He is not the Christ of Christians.

Yesterday was a day of joy for millions … I pray that they really do know the resurrected Christ.

I am just bringing my comment over from my ‘passover post‘… But let me just fill you in with a statement made by Chris, he made this comment concerning the passover and other observances:

It is also so amazing to me that there is so much of Christ in all of the festivals and observances in the OT, and confounds me at how the Jews cannot see it.

This got me thinking about why the Jews cannot see Messianic fulfillments in their feasts, so I commented saying the following:

It actually makes me question if the “Church” really makes a concerted effort to follow or to even try and understand the different feasts of the Lord and what they actually foreshadow. People wonder why Jews don’t get it, does the church actually try to show them how important it is to understand the feasts and their ultimate fulfillment? I could say more about this subject, but I will only post briefly today.

Let’s face it Easter Sunday is really the ‘Feast of Firstfruits’ and Jesus was the first of the firstfruit, that was made acceptable to the Lord.

1Co 15:20 But now Christ has been raised from the dead; He became the firstfruit of those having fallen asleep. … 1Co 15:23 But each in his own order: Christ, the firstfruit; afterward those of Christ at His coming.

The feasts of the Lord were a shadow of things to come and were appointed by God alone:

Lev 23:2 “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, These are the appointed feasts of the LORD that you shall proclaim as holy convocations; they are my appointed feasts.

And if all these feasts were a shadow of things to come and they point to a Messianic fulfillment, then the Church who beleives in the Resurrection of Yeshua, really should be a little more well versed in them. Not for legality reasons (let me make that point clear) but to show the messianic fulfillments that we as believers see and to show these fulfillments to the jews who have had their eyes blinded and their hearts hardened because of our (we being the gentile bride) being grafted in.

Interesting to note that during these particular Jewish feasts the book of Ruth is read in synagogues.

Ruth being the gentile bride fed Naomi with what??? The grain…. hmmmm

Who is the grain of the firstfruit harvest again?

Carla has done a good post on it called ‘First Fruits‘ and she has a link that is well worth the read called ‘The History of First Fruits’… it is worth checking out for all those who are interested.

After Passover I was thinking about Elijah’s cup and how it is Elijah who proclaims the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord which is found in Malachi.

Mal 4:5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of Jehovah come.

Jesus said that his first coming was not to judge the world but to save it and he used the scroll of Isaiah to explain further, see the ‘One Messiah, Two Comings’ article for an Hebraic understanding of this concept.

When Jesus was in the synagogue this happened

Luk 4:17-21 And the scroll of Isaiah the prophet was handed to Him. And unrolling the book, He found the place where it was written: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me. Because of this He anointed Me to proclaim the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me” to heal the brokenhearted, “to proclaim remission to captives, and to the blind to see again,” to send away the ones being crushed, in remission, “to preach an acceptable year of the Lord.” (Isa. 61:1, 2) And rolling up the scroll, returning it to the attendant, He sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them, Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your ears.

Notice that the Lord didn’t read all of verse 2; he stopped short of reading the whole verse and omitted this part of verse 2:

… and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn

This is the complete scripture in full to which He was referring:

Isa 61:1-2 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn;

This signifies that ‘Today the Lord has fulfilled the prophecies concerning His first coming and the age of Grace period, but it also illustrates to us that He has yet to fulfill the prophecies concerning His second coming as a Judge. One Messiah, Two Comings.

Luk 4:19 A comparison with the passage quoted, (Isa_61:1); (Isa_61:2) affords an instance of the exquisite accuracy of Scripture. Jesus stopped at, “The acceptable year of the Lord,” which is connected with the first advent and the dispensation of grace, (Gen_3:15); (The Scofield Commentary)

John the Baptist came in the Spirit of Elijah to proclaim the first coming of Jesus; scripture says this about John the Baptist being in the Spirit of Elijah:

Mat 17:10-12 And His disciples asked Him, saying, Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first? And answering, Jesus said to them, Elijah indeed comes first and shall restore all things. But I say to you, Elijah already came, and they did not know him, but did to him whatever they desired. So also the Son of Man is about to suffer by them.

Christ says that Elijah had to come to restore all things, meaning that all of us can have the opportunity to be restored because of the gospel, the age of Grace was ushered in. But this is not the great and terrible day of the Lord, it is not the Lord coming in Vengeance, but rather His first coming in Grace. Further, Christ says that John the Baptist partially fulfilled this role of Elijah and this was understood by His disciples:

Mat 17:13 Then the disciples understood that He spoke to them about John the Baptist.

If I understand things correctly here… if the anti-christ is to come before the second coming of the Lord (ok I know this can get into the whole ‘Pre-Trib/’Pre-Wrath eschatology) and the anti-christ does have a false prophet all of his own and that false prophet points to him and proclaims to the world that all should worship him, wouldn’t we find that this false prophet be very much like Elijah in the Old Testament? Wouldn’t he need a false prophet that appeared to be like a true prophet to fool the whole earth? It does say that the beast looks like a lamb (like the Lamb of God, only counterfeit) and this beast will do great signs and wonders much like Elijah in the Old Testament.

What is it about the Fire?

Rev 13:11-14 And I saw another beast rising up out of the earth, and it had two horns like a lamb, and it was speaking like a dragon. And it exercises all the authority of the first beast before it, and it was making the earth and the ones dwelling in it that they should prostrate themselves in worship before the first beast, whose wound of death [fig., fatal wound] was healed. And it performs great signs, so that even fire is coming down from heaven on the earth before the people. And it leads astray [fig., deceives] {my own} [people], the ones dwelling on the earth because of the signs which were given it to do before the beast, telling the ones dwelling on the earth to make an image to the beast which was having the wound of the sword and lived.

I just found it interesting that the false prophet can bring down fire just as Elijah did when he challenged Baal.

2Ki 1:10-14 And Elijah answered and said to the captain of fifty, If I be a man of God, let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty. And there came down fire from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty. And again he sent unto him another captain of fifty and his fifty. And he answered and said unto him, O man of God, thus hath the king said, Come down quickly. And Elijah answered and said unto them, If I be a man of God, let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty. And the fire of God came down from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty. And again he sent the captain of a third fifty with his fifty. And the third captain of fifty went up, and came and fell on his knees before Elijah, and besought him, and said unto him, O man of God, I pray thee, let my life, and the life of these fifty thy servants, be precious in thy sight. Behold, there came fire down from heaven, and consumed the two former captains of fifty with their fifties; but now let my life be precious in thy sight.

The question is this. What kind of Strange Fire will this false prophet bring into the world and what other miracles, signs and wonders will the counterfeit Elijah execute? (Please read the the article that this blog points to, it is long, but well worth the read if you are wondering about the fallen church and how Worship and Truth is something that is often put on the backburner these days. I highly recommend it. I will also link to the article at the end of this post. Please also note that I do not necessarily agree with every article written on this site as some of articles deal with soteriological arguments that I would rather leave alone for fear of stirring the Calvinism vs Arminianism debate of which this post is not about.)

Like I said, the Passover got me thinking about the real Elijah and his role in the lead up to the ‘Second Coming’, his complete role as indicated in scripture has not come to complete fruition yet.

It also got me thinking about the other Elijah - and I use that term as a typology a foreshadow only not as something to build doctrine from - the false prophet. What will be his role and how will he execute false signs and strange fires before the beast? Read the above scripture again slowly, Revelation 13:11-14. The scripture says that the signs will be given to this false prophet before the beast to convince Gods people that the dragon which looks like the lamb of God is in fact THE Lamb of God. We must be aware of this because this points to a grand delusion among the saints.

Before the Second Coming

2Th 2:3 let no man beguile you in any wise: for it will not be, except the falling away come first, and the man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition,

Will the false Elijah be so convincing to those who do not know him that they mistake this false one to be THE one so they welcome him and in doing so welcome the Beast who appears as a Lamb but is instead a dragon? Remember, they did not recognise John the Baptists’ role as Elijah. The prophet is never welcomed in his own hometown (more could be said about that, much more). Will the apostate church not recognise the true prophet but accept the false one and in doing so be welcoming the anti-christ with open arms? (luke 4:24)

Mat 17:12 But I say to you, Elijah already came, and they did not know him, but did to him whatever they desired. So also the Son of Man is about to suffer by them.

All these questions rolled around and around in my sleepy head last night, a long with many others that I will blog about in the not too distant future.

Related Article:

• Strange Fire
• The Right Manner of Worship and Drawing Nigh Unto God

Note to self:

Tomb of Jesus found with bones, what does that mean to Christianity?

I say the end of it!  Read Why!!!