Strange Fire

This week has seen the Strange Fire Conference in the United States hosted by John MacArthur, a conference accusing those in the Pentecostal and Charismatic movement of being in error, of wrongly dividing Scripture and encouraging experiences and ministries that are false and so leading the church of God astray.

The big questions being asked and answered are, should people be experiencing the baptism in the Spirit today? Should they prophesy and speak in tongues today? Should we lay hands on the sick and expect healing today? All answered in the negative, because it is argued Scripture says so, and they want those who believe otherwise to know and be corrected.

The fact is, it doesn’t, you have to draw lines where there are non, read things into rather than out of Scripture. Yes they may call Calvin to their defense, but please Calvin’s word doesn’t have the same authority as Scripture. And yes they may call the lack of such experiences at some periods in church history as evidence, but that is not to argue from Scripture, but experience or the lack of it.

I was brought up a cessationist, I know the arguments, I encountered Pentecostals, was impacted by their life and witness. They spoke in tongues and believed God heals today. I wrestled with the Scriptures. Was encouraged to believe that it was of the devil. But I had never seen such devotion and passion for Jesus, such a desire to know him and witness to him, such passion in worship and prayer, and no they weren’t speaking in tongues all the time and neither were they swinging from the chandeliers!

Yes, frequently the stories and objections were based on hearsay, frequently generalisations – yes there are some that do the movement no good, but please that applies across the whole church. Such arguments are false and misleading and sadly this seems to be the approach of this conference.

Praise God I came to see that I was reading Scripture through the lens of my own tradition, and my, how tradition can be blinding. Praise God for the witness of those I encountered. And oh, I wanted God, not just words. I wanted reality, not just form. Praise God I met him, I was powerfully baptised in the Spirit and suddenly my Christian life took on a whole new dynamic, a dynamic that was rooted in Scripture itself.

There's no one Like our God!

Sunday I had the privilege of introducing our new series on The Trinity at Gateway, Why Our God is Unique among the gods, and once again I was inspired, awed, and excited by the doctrine of the Trinity, or more particularly, knowing God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

One church member remarked beforehand that he couldn’t remember ever hearing any teaching on the Trinity, and he’s been around evangelical churches all his life. The sad fact is that we may acknowledge, confess in creeds and songs that we believe in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, but in reality are practicing unitarians – the belief that God is solely and singularly One, with no dynamic of loving persons.

Such a belief impoverishes our worship, cripples our life and undermines our witness.

To make God known we need to know him as he is.

Yes the Trinity takes some thought, some hard brain work, but it’s worth every ounce of effort, as this big, vast, vision of God dawns on our souls.

The reality is that every true Christian already knows something of this Trinitarian God through his work in their lives, 1, as the Holy Spirit convicts of sin  and 2, points them to Jesus Christ as their Saviour and then having confessed their faith in him, 3, the awareness that they are now sons and daughters of the living God and able to call him Father.

Sadly for many that’s where it stalls.

What about you?

Yes, the word ‘trinity’ is not in the Bible, but the Reality is.

Yes, it doesn’t immediately step out at us, but there are hints and movements that indicate that God who is time and again confessed as One God is in fact a trinity of persons. In contrast to a world that was full of gods – gods to cover every sphere of life – Israel confessed that God was One and he sovereignly ruled over all, yet over and over in it’s story there are hints that the God they confessed and saw and encountered in action was somehow more.

When you get to the New Testament, suddenly it hits you, this Jesus, whom the gospels are all about, is none other than God’s Son living in flesh just like ours, yet he says ‘before Abraham was I am’! And John introducing his gospel reaches back beyond time and says, ‘The Word was with God and the word was God’- always.  God face to face with himself. The same but distinct from. He is God here, but he prays to God who is there! As John unpacks the gospel he recounts Jesus talking in very personal and intimate ways about his relationship to the Father, that people who have seen him have seen the Father, that the Father is in him and he is in the Father! He says, ‘Believe in God, believe also in me.’

There’s more.

It’s not Two, but Three! Jesus says that when he goes away he is going to send One just like Himself, the Comforter, the Holy Spirit with whom and through whom both he and the Father enjoy fellowship. Wow! Suddenly we are getting little insights into the interior relationship of God. God is One, but he’s Three. There are three distinct personalities in the One God.

Suddenly our picture of God dramatically changes, ‘there is’ as the previous pope said, ‘a ‘We’ in God.’

God was not and is not some solitary, self absorbed, power consumed individual doing his ‘own’ arbitrary thing, but rather a community of distinct loving Persons, delighting in and serving  one another from all eternity.

God was not and is not some benign policeman, protecting you on the one hand but looking out for your misdemeanours and penalising you on the other. Neither is he some Hitler, consumed with power and authority, making rash judgement calls all in the name of the advancement of his purposes.

No, in the Trinity we discover as the Godfrey Birthill song puts it, a “wonderful, wonderful God….”

Do you know Him?

The Gay Agenda and the Bible

In the light of the reported comments regarding what the Archbishop of Canterbury has said regarding the Church of England and Gay marriage, and the Presses seeming delight in reporting that this is from someone from the evangelical wing, it behoves us to stop and ask what does the Bible say, or how  is it now being interpreted.

Roy Clements (a former evangelical Baptist minister who ‘came out’) has written:

“I believe there are at least three reasons why evangelicals must think again about homosexuality:

1. Because Christian hostility towards homophile relationships rests on an interpretation of the Bible which is in many respects open to question.
2. Because there is a diversity of opinion among Christians about the issue which will cause division within the churches unless an attitude of greater tolerance and mutual respect prevails.
3. Because current pastoral practice is damaging homosexual Christians and so alienating the gay community generally that evangelism is impossible.”

The big issue today is how we read the text. An anonymous minister writing on the website Fulcrum said, “But I cannot pretend to be straight when I read the Bible, and that means I read the text through a lens which is subtly different to the lens through which a straight man, or a woman, will read the Bible. That diversity is not a problem: it is a gift to the Church, and it helps us to see what the author is really saying.”  But that could be stated of many things and leaves us with a text that is utterly powerless to speak to us let alone change our lives.

This issue says Albert Mohler, President of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, "will expose a great divide over the authority of the Bible among many Christian churches and denominations — perhaps in a way exceeding any other issue."

21st Century Sexuality

When examined it would appear that a major part of the problem seems to be the overemphasis in the 21^st century on ‘being sexually active as the way to be most fully alive,’ and correspondingly any denial of that ‘right’ is seen as an infringement on personal freedom.

A Forgotten and Unspoken Truth: Homosexual behaviour is one of the most harmful and destructive of behaviours.

• Mostly compulsive promiscuity.
• 75% of homosexual men have more than 100 sexual partners during their lifetime.
• More than half of these partners are strangers.
• Only 8% of homosexual men and 7% of homosexual women ever have relationships lasting more than three years.
• Widespread drug use by homosexuals to heighten their sexual experiences.
• Homosexuals in general are three times as likely to be problem drinkers as the general population.
• Studies show that 47% of male homosexuals have a history of alcohol abuse and 51% have a history of drug abuse.
• 40% of homosexual men have a history of major depression. That compares with only 3% for men in general.
• Similarly 37% of female homosexuals have a history of depression. This leads in turn to heightened suicide rates.
• Studies show that homosexuals are much more likely to be paedophiles than heterosexual men.
• Homosexual activity is very destructive, resulting eventually in such problems as prostate damage, ulcers and ruptures, and chronic incontinence and diarrhea.[1]

Traditional Evangelical/Biblical Reasoning and Response:

Up until recently the traditional and accepted approach could be outlined as:

1. We are all obligated to do God’s will.
2. God’s will is expressed in the Bible.
3. The Bible forbids homosexual behaviour.
4. Therefore, homosexual behaviour is against God’s will, or is wrong.

In other words there was no doubt about what the Bible said, and as one theologian put it, "I have long insisted that the issue is one of hermeneutics, and that efforts to twist the text to mean what it clearly does not say are deplorable. Simply put, the Bible is negative toward same-sex behaviour, and there is no getting around it." And that "Paul wouldn't accept [a loving homosexual] relationship for a minute."  Walter Wink, To Hell With Gays (though one could certainly take issue with the title of his book, his comments are worth noting).

Not so any more.

The Problem we Face - There are now differing approaches to God and his Word:

1. God has authoritatively spoken in his Word in for all time.
2. God speaks in the world and we need to catch up with what God is doing in the world.
3. A complete redefinition of scripture - The Bible is no longer viewed as the literal word of God – a text with a fixed meaning – but a historical document that is a witness to God’s message, but we are told we need to remember that it was written by humans and therefore flawed. To that extent man needs to reinterpret it as he improves. As society changes so to must the Church’s teachings. We are all on a journey.  To quote Kate Blanchard, Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Alma College,“Those folks, those human beings, were ahead of their time in many ways, and we can be deeply grateful that they pooled the best of their wisdom together for the benefit of posterity. But like it or not, even the most inspired human authors are still only human; not only did our intellectual and spiritual ancestors get some stuff dead wrong, but they also never thought of many of the questions that we have to deal with. When such questions arise, we must courageously stand in our own time, trusting that inspiration and wisdom are renewable resources (that "God is still speaking," as one church puts it, even if some of us do have longstanding tradition on our side).”

And so Rob Bell is able to say, “I’ve seen....” and Steve Chalke speaks about being guided by his pastoral concerns, all of which leads a reappraisal of scripture, and the idea that there is a 'conversation between God and man that is still in progress, and as time goes by we are learning what’s right and wrong for our generation, adapting and changing as our understanding progresses.'

This is not what Christians and churches have believed down through the centuries. For the majority the Bible has been the God breathed, authoritative word, totally sufficient for faith and conduct, something that we submit our minds to, rather than stand over it in judgement.

A Quick overview of Some of the New Twists/Manipulations of Scripture:

• Gen. 2:18 “It’s not good for man to be alone” – the focus here is placed on the ‘aloneness’ of Adam, and the argument is made that God provided a suitable partner for Adam and that’s OK for Adam and perhaps most men, but for gay men it’s different, so if a woman doesn’t suit you it’s OK to be with and marry a man – correspondingly a woman, a woman, and the evangelical is now being accused of misusing scripture. To quote, “1. Eve was not created as purely a sex partner, or child bearer. Eve was created as a ‘helpmate’ a companion. This is certainly the basis of love in all relationships, hetero and homosexual. 2. Adam and Eve certainly seem to be God’s idea, but there is no reason to believe they were God’s ONLY idea. A God who can make 300 types of mushroom, can certainly make more than 2 types of people. 3. To conclude that Adam and Eve are the model for who we should be leaves us with more questions than answers. If this one couple populated the earth without God creating others  then we are all the product of incest. Surely that is not the biblical message. Who was Mrs. Cain? An ‘other’ created by God, just as we all are. 4. The logic that we should all be exactly like the first couple is specious at best. What if Adam had brown eyes? Should all men have brown eyes?”  The Bible and Homosexuality, Scholarship and Diversity Study.
• The multiplication mandate. God’s purpose at the beginning was humanities multiplication, now things have moved on, therefore it doesn’t matter who we connect with.
• Gen 19, the story of Sodom – 1, this is no longer considered to be about God’s judgment on homosexuality but judgment for failure to be hospitable – something of great importance in that culture, or 2, if it’s acknowledged that homosexuality is involved it’s not because it’s wrong but because rape/violence is used. Note though Jude 7 – Sodom and surrounding cities.
• Lev. 18:22 “You are not to lie with a man as with a woman” – this is taken to mean that as the woman in that culture was deemed to be of lower status, to lie with a man in such a way is to demean or dishonour him, but if you lie with a man as an equal that is OK.
• In Lev 18 and 20 it's said the practices are condemned because they are done in association with idolatry. “If the practices in Leviticus 18 and 20 are condemned because of their association with idolatry, then it logically follows that they would be permissible if they were committed apart from idolatry. That would mean incest, adultery, bestiality, and child sacrifice (all of which are listed in these chapters) are only condemned when associated with idolatry; otherwise, they are allowable. No responsible reader of these passages would agree with such a premise.(12)” Probe
• David and Jonathan, Ruth and Naomi, Jesus and John – here there is a lot of reading back from our present cultural understanding/distortions, where  love is nearly always sexualised and therefore seen as a sexual activity; we see this occurring in a lot of historical revisionism, i.e. Nelson. Not so in the OT and NT. Likewise there are many other cultures where love was thought of quite differently.
• Jesus never mentioned it. True, but he did state categorically the context for all sexual relations – a husband and wife.
• Rom. 1: 26, 27; 1 Cor. 6:9. The homosexuality Paul talks about was different, i.e  homosexual prostitution or pedophilia or Cultic. This argument cannot be sustained.
• Rom. 1:26, 27; “Contrary to nature.”  It’s argued that this is about heterosexuals indulging in homosexual practice, in other words, something that is not natural to them (!) therefore wrong. This is read into the text, which is about the ‘unnaturalness’ of men going after men and women with women.
• The Bible is only against non-consexual acts, i.e. rape, prostitution, idolatrous. Sex in the Bible is a marital activity, all sex outside of it is condemned (adultery, fornication, prostitution, bestiality, incest.....).  In the Bible (OT & NT) it is the two sexes that become one flesh.
• Queen James Bible. This is ‘gay’ interpretation of the Bible, that slants it in their direction.

A misuse of some other Texts, History and Guilt to Move us in Another Direction.

• “A good tree can’t produce bad fruit” – homosexuals say that’s what it’s done for me, it’s rejected and hurt me, therefore the doctrine, and churches/Christians who practice it must be wrong!
• “Judge not so that you are not judged” – You can’t/shouldn’t judge me, it’s wrong - Josh McDowell says this is becoming the most well known verse in the Bible.
• “It’s the same as slavery, the church once thought that was OK but came to believe differently”  – actually the church thought slavery was wrong way back, and the comparison is unjustified.  You’ll find in OT there were certain laws regarding the treatment of slaves.
• “It’s racist” – the fact is race and gender are 100% inherited, sexuality isn’t.
• “Use of guilt” – it’s argued that homosexuals commit suicide because of the churches teaching and attitude - that's overstated.
• “We are not under law” – if there is an admittance that the text does refer to homosexuality, then it’s very often said we are not under law and so it no longer applies.

What does the Bible say?

• Jesus fulfilled the Law, declared all foods clean (Mark 7:19), touched lepers, dead bodies.
• Jesus paid the price for our sin.

The Result:

• OT ceremonial laws were done away (see Hebrews).
• OT moral law still stands re stealing, killing, sexual relations, etc..
• All the sex ethics of the OT were restated in the NT.  Sex in the Bible is a marital activity, all sex outside of it is condemned (adultery, fornication, prostitution, .....).  In the Bible (OT & NT) it is the two sexes that become one flesh.
• Sin of any kind continues to be sin and still needs to be repented of. Paul says “such were some of you.”

A further argument: But what about the judgements relating to particular sins in OT, should they still be in force?

• In the OT Israel was a nation state called and governed by God for a purpose and as such there were civil penalties to be paid.
• In the NT the church is not a nation state, but it can be found in many nations and sin is dealt with by exhortation and exclusion.

James R. White and Jeffrey D. Niell in their book The Unthinkable has become Thinkable, contend that : “The net effect of this revisionist approach is a novel and destructive twisting of Scripture...The Bible is being reinterpreted according to urges that are "against nature" and then said to support the homosexual agenda...Despite the revisionists' protests to the contrary, their position is in actuality based upon human desire rather than upon biblical authority and interpretation.”

What about the nature of homosexuality?

• Homosexuality needs to be seen like any other wrong behaviour as a consequence of the Fall, and therefore our brokenness, which manifests itself in different ways in different individuals – we need to maintain a robust doctrine of sin.
• Just because we feel something doesn’t make it right. If we all followed the logic of ‘that’s the way I’m made’ we’d have chaos – sin has corrupted our feelings. People can be tempted by all kinds of wrong feelings.
• The answer is in the gospel – Paul says and ‘such were some of you’ 1 Cor 6:11.
• And again he says, "I have crucified the affections and lusts," a forgotten and neglected truth.

Richard Lovelace represents the past evangelical consensus when he argues: "If we can reinterpret the Scripture to endorse homosexual acts among Christians, we can make it endorse anything else we want to do or believe."

---

[1] Dr. Thomas Schmidt, Straight and Narrow?

Living the Saved Life

Overwhelmed by trials? Wondering whether you've done enough to really be saved? Got issues with anger?

There is an answer.

These are all big questions that many if not all Christians face at some time or another, but the encouraging thing is that this is nothing new and we find them all addressed in the Bible, especially the letter of James.

Though Martin Luther the Reformer thought it was a letter of straw it actually it turns out to be a letter of steel, and digging into it you discover this is more than some New Testament form of Proverbs but an amazing letter that covers a whole range of issues as James challenges the believers of the day to get off the back foot and onto the front foot in their Christian life and witness.

As such it covers a wide range of material regarding life and relationships, and what it means to be the people of God wherever we live and at whatever time in human history we find ourselves.

This is a radical letter.

It digs.

It gets under the skin.

It calls us up and pushes us forward.

For some time I've been working on and off on a devotional overview of James called Living the Saved Life. It's not designed to be a full in depth study of James, but seeks rather to draw out the message of James and it's challenges to us today. It's now available as an e-book on Amazon.

If you would like to purchase the study you can find it on Amazon UK at: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00EFD57XI 

For Amazon USA please go to: http://www.amazon.com/Living-the-Saved-Life-ebook

It’s also available internationally, please go to the various Amazon international sites.

If you enjoy it, please would you indicate on Amazon’s site with a like, stars, or even do a review.

Many thanks.

Acts 29

Yes, I know there isn't one and it finishes with chapter 28, but reading through Acts you can't help but notice the abruptness with which it end - you are left high and dry, you want to know what happens next.

And there's the point, it's not supposed to end, the story continues right down to today, and right around the globe!

The Acts of the Holy Spirit through God's people are still being done and told. God is still using ordinary people, filled with his Spirit to accomplish extraordinary things.

People are being saved and added to the church, delivered from the power of the evil one and set free to be who God wants them to be, healed from all kinds of sickness whether physically, emotionally or spiritually. Baptised in water; baptised in the Holy Spirit. Speaking in tongues, prophesying, seeing God's miraculous provision.

Yes, God is still on the move, moving by his Spirit, fulfilling his purposes, bringing his Kingdom in.

Do you know it?
Are you part of it?
What part are you playing in Acts 29?

Continuing the Ministry of Jesus

Reading the Acts of the Apostles one is gripped by its unfolding drama.

The way Luke starts it off is enough to make you sit up and take notice – “in the first book (Luke’s Gospel) Theophilus, I dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit….”

Implication, it’s not finished, I going to tell you some more! And my, does he!

But hang on, where is Jesus? In heaven – hallelujah!

So how can it be about his continuing ministry? Jesus said he would not leave us on our own but send One just like himself, who would be poured out on all flesh, and enable that flesh, those people, to take the good news of Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth and do greater works than he – not just words, as important as they are, but demonstrations.

Yes, Jesus was certainly physically present in heaven, but he had received from the Father the Gift of the Spirit, and he had come to the church in  order to release that ministry on a worldwide scale through the church – a people saved and incorporated into Christ, and known as His Body, of which Paul says, he, Christ, is the Head.

Acts vibrates with such a people and church that knew the presence of God, and where God is things happen! As the story unfolds we encounter the continuing ministry of Jesus in the proclamation of His word and works, his saving, healing and delivering power, his guiding and providing influence.

From the outset Luke for the benefit of Theophilus and those who would hear and read down through the centuries writes an ordered and verified account.

This is not sterile religion.

This is not about being comfortable.

This is not about stained glass windows – however nice they may be.

This is not about orders of service – however useful they may be, and even the charismatic has them.

This is not about holy buildings – the people are now the Temple.

This is not about having everything packaged so that we know what’s happening next.

This is not about programs, though they may be useful.

This is about knowing God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Not words on a page about God, but God himself. It’s about the life of God in the soul of man, and in the ‘soul’ of the church without which there can be no continuing ministry of Jesus.

Over the intervening centuries, that life has ebbed and flowed as different generations come and go. There are those who’ve grown up in churches or renewal/restoration movements but not had the same encounter with God their parents or grandparents had, and doctrine and practice is modified to account for it, and very soon structure and order become the norm. Then some desperate souls realise something is missing and get back to seeking and finding God again and encounter him afresh and so the tide comes in.

Where God is there is life, and ministry flows as the heart of God is revealed – it’s not tidy, nor is it static, but it pulsates with life, a life that challenges and changes, trumps and transforms our small lives and ministries.

O God grant us more of it!

Hearing the Prophetic

Last time I wrote about being open to the prophetic and it’s importance. In this blog I want to raise the challenge as to how we can hear the prophetic.

Having grown up in a cessationist church with no expectation of hearing God except through a Scripture and the preached word, then getting saved in a Pentecostal Church and experiencing the baptism in the Spirit, followed by involvement in a charismatic denominational church, then independent charismatic, followed by new church charismatic churches/streams I’ve been on a journey of what it means to hear God.

Two or three years ago while leading a church open to and committed to the things of the Spirit, I found myself provoked as to whether I was really as open to the prophetic voice of God as I thought I was. It wasn’t that anyone said it, in fact it had more to do with someone who struggled with the whole idea of prophecy, and it set me on a journey. A journey that was to have a dramatic twist.

I’ve heard and responded to God over the years, I thought I was doing it, but there are situations and circumstances that can make us blind.

I began to read, study and reflect afresh on what it means to hear God.

Then I went to a conference and while there attended a seminar on the gifts of the Spirit in a worship service – something I’ve always been keenly interested in. Little did I know God was setting up an ambush! Following the teaching we were encouraged to get into groups, preferably with people we didn’t know, then wait on God and see what he might say. When people began to share, a lady shared a simple picture about a father and son walking on a beach, the boy had a balloon in his hand, but he had lost it, and was now upset.

Simple, but loaded!

We had been encouraged to discuss what any word might mean and pray for any who it might apply to. Strangely we focussed on what wasn’t in the picture, then prayed. As I left that room I found myself thinking about what had just taken place and in a  matter of moments, God spoke to me saying I was the boy on the beach, the balloon I had been holding was gone and it wasn’t coming back. Then the thought, what would you do if you were that father, and this was your son? I found myself responding that I would get him another balloon, and with that God I felt God say that’s what I’m going to do for you!

The balloon represented who we were connected with and a change in relationship.

Over the next few weeks as I shared with fellow elders we felt that God was clearly leading us to merge our church with another in another ‘stream’ – in fact it turned out that God had already dropped the idea into the mind of one of the elders. Over the next few weeks we began to explore it with the church. Again we found God had been preparing people. Time and again we found God speaking and confirming. In just over six months we had processed the detail and merged the church, and it has been proven over and over that it was of God – PTL!

Had I not felt challenged as to how willing I was to hear God through the prophetic, we would not be where we are today. If I/we hadn’t, would God be blessing? I think he would. Would it be God’s best? I don’t think so. God had something else in mind and he was working to get us there, and I’m so glad he did.

Over the last few weeks my wife and I have been reading through the Acts of the Apostles and we have been reminded again and again of the dynamic of the early church, and dynamic that needs to be recovered and maintained.

Through the journey I learnt again the need to hear the prophetic voice; to not dictate how God should speak, and to be willing to respond to it.

Was there risk? Yes, but if you want to serve God’s purpose and keep engaging with his will that will always be the case.

How willing are you to hear God? How open to the prophetic? Are you as willing as you think you are?