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| Are We Worshipping The Wrong "God?"
Let’s take a close look at the character and personality traits of the entity that we in the Christian church today worship. This question cannot be accurately assessed by taking a survey listing potential attributes and asking people to answer true or false. The reason is that most people would give "technically" correct answers concerning most of God’s attributes while actually feeling, thinking, reasoning, making decisions, evaluating, speaking, acting, and worshipping in ways that say that they believe the opposite. However, neither I nor anyone else can accurately quantify what the lives of millions of “Christians” say that we believe about God. But we can make relatively accurate general observations based on what is being taught and preached in the majority of our churches and through "Christian" media (books, television, and movies).
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unChristian:
What A New Generation Really Thinks About Christianity…And Why It Matters |
| This book is currently #35 on the list of best selling books for the Association for Christian Retail and climbing. It is being hailed around the country as the definitive work describing the state of Christianity today and how to fix it. But is it an attempt at honest self-examination with sound doctrinal solutions or is it a misdiagnosis of the disease (and consequently the treatment needed) based on symptoms born of the current “good is evil, evil is good” “blame everything Western” mindset?
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| Secret Missionaries – Is It Biblical? |
| The objective is to send someone into a culture that would not normally allow entry to people whose primary intent is evangelization. This is accomplished by their declaration that they have such and such a skill or job and are immigrating there for that purpose. Once there, they hope to be “salt and light” by going about their normal daily lives in the hopes that the people that they encounter along the way will notice a difference in them and enquire about it. No direct evangelization is attempted because it would jeopardize their visa or possibly even result in prison or physical violence against them. However, the witness of their daily lives combined with their prayers and the prayers of those who visit there on short term mission trips will hopefully allow God to directly reveal Himself to the people of that region.
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How to Try the Spirits
-A.W. Tozer "Man: The Dwelling Place of God" (Chapter 29) |
| "Strange as it may seem, the danger today is greater for the fervent Christian than for the lukewarm and the self-satisfied. The seeker after God's best things is eager to hear anyone who offers a way by which he can obtain them. He longs for some new experience, some elevated view of truth, some operation of the Spirit that will raise him above the dead level of religious mediocrity he sees all around him, and for this reason he is ready to give a sympathetic ear to the new and the wonderful in religion, particularly if it is presented by someone with an attractive personality and a reputation for superior godliness."
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| What Is Truth? |
| It’s the age old question that Pontius Pilate once asked Jesus. And we’re still asking it today. Is there such a thing as truth? How about absolute truth? Is it knowable? Does it matter?
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| Mark Heard: Key to the Change in Pat Terry? |
| The music of Pat Terry was instrumental (pun intended) in my early years as a Christian. I never could figure out why the meek and mild Pat Terry who had such a powerful music ministry changing the lives of so many had wound up writing country songs for secular artists. His songs had been so filled with such poignant, honest, love for the Savior and a desire to see others come to know Him. I could never understand what happened to bring about such a dramatic shift. But I think I may have stumbled upon part of the answer: Mark Heard.
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| God’s Guidance Doesn’t Require That We Be Perfect |
| As suggested in the movie Luther, “we preach best what we need to learn most.” Perhaps you have struggled with the same paradox that I have. I’ve always known that God’s Word is replete with promises to guide us. But I’ve also known that God requires us to listen for His voice, trust Him, and be obedient for His guidance to be effective.
However, I’ve had a bit of an epiphany lately. I don’t have to be perfect for God to be able to guide me!
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| Denying the Name of Christ |
| The term “Christian” has become a dirty word nowadays. And not just for the world but by those who claim to be followers of Jesus Christ! For two thousand years it has been a banner carried boldly by those who had taken up their cross and surrendered their life to Christ. But now people who want all the benefits promised to followers of Christ but none of the stigma have begun to denounce the name for which previous generations have been persecuted and martyred. They prefer to not have any so-called label at all (clarity and definition being the ultimate enemy of the postmodern mind) but if one MUST be used then call them “spiritual” or, if you really corner them, “Christ followers.”
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| Well, Hello Dalai... |
| A Nun, a Buddhist, a Hindu, a Muslim, and a Rabbi go into an auditorium…ta dum SPALSH! Sounds like the opening of a bad joke, doesn’t it?
I recently attended the First Emory Summit on Religion, Conflict and Peacebuilding. It was one of the highlights of what was billed as “The Visit” by the Dalai Lama to Emory University (http://www.dalailama.emory.edu/). The event was just after the Dalai Lama had been awarded our nation’s highest civilian honor by President Bush consequently infuriating the Chinese.
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| The Knights Who Say "NIE!" |
| The recently released National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iran has been enthusiastically touted by both Ahmadinejad and the Democrats as incontrovertible evidence that President Bush has “lied” once again and was trying to rush us into “another” unnecessary war. Both the President of Iran and the majority party of Congress view it as a great victory.
Talk about not being able to see the forest for the trees...or the shrubberies as the case may be...
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| Christianity’s Fatal Flaw |
| It’s been the coupe de grace used for centuries by people who don’t believe in Christ to destroy many a Christian’s witness. Usually, we just put our tails between our legs and crawl away wrestling with our own unanswered questions and doubt. Yes, it seems to be Christianity’s fatal flaw that the omnipotent omnipresent omniscient God of the Universe left us without the ability to scientifically prove that He and His Son exist. Why would He do that? Is it some kind of cosmic joke? Or is it that they never existed in the first place?
The fact is that it is no oversight on God’s part…no “Achilles’ heel” in our theology…it is a central part of God’s design. He did it for a reason!
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| Are We Ashamed of the Gospel? |
| One of the most popular expressions in the church today is one attributed to St. Francis which says “Preach the Gospel at all times. Where necessary, use words.” But did he ever actually say that?
This past Sunday I heard a good sermon from my Pastor on shame. He taught on how there are two different kinds of shame: the shame which we feel when God’s Spirit convicts us of sin and the shame which we generate ourselves or which the world brings on us when we attempt to honor God. One is a necessary step towards repentance and change…the other is destructive and unnecessary.
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