2 Corinthians 12:9-10

“But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

John Piper on the prosperity ‘gospel’

Sometimes, when I find myself sprawled out on the couch and channel surfing, I will occasionally, out of curiosity, pause and briefly watch programing on the Trinity Broadcasting Network. I find myself fascinated by the more egregious examples, the pulpit prostitutes, of the prosperity ‘gospel’ in much the way a bird may be fascinated by a snake. At best, TBN sometimes unintentionally endorses doctrinal error and confusion; at worst, they enable con games that prey on the credulous in the name of the ‘gospel.’

As an addendum, I truly desire to maintain an irenic, gracious tone as I ‘blog’, to be respectful, but sometimes, when I listen to millionaire ‘evangelists’…………….

An Ecclesiastical Journey

Chapter One: Into the Seeker Sensitive Wilderness

I have experienced, over the years, almost the whole gamut of American ecclesiology, of American church culture. I have attended liberal, main-line Protestant churches; I have visited wonderful congregations steeped in the Pentecostal experience; I have worshiped with Southern Baptists. I currently attend a Presbyterian church with roots that run deep in Christ-centric reformed theology. I have also spent much time in a seeker-sensitive mega-church. Within all these churches, I find disciples of Christ being progressively conformed to the image of our Savior, Christ Jesus.

Also, within our unity as disciples of Christians, I find doctrinal disagreements, most of which are quite peripheral and hardly worthy of note. I sometimes find profound variation in doctrine, especially within the liberal currents of ecclesiology.

However, of all the aforementioned experiences, I have come to see that the seeker-sensitive church of the 21st century, while outwardly proclaiming orthodoxy and acting within the best of intentions, is a potentially dangerous and subtly heterodox perversion of biblical ecclesiology. While liberal churches often deny the basic doctrines of Christianity, they are, for the most part, forthright in their proclamations, and they are consistent with, and able to clearly articulate, their theology. Those who align themselves with liberal theology also comprise a very small percentage of overall church attendance, and, with no insult intended, have increasingly little influence over the affairs of culture. I also find an ironic commonality between the liberal branch of contemporary Christianity and the seeker-sensitive movement. Both are quite human-centric. Therein one finds egregious error.

John Piper - A Problem with Christians in Evangelicalism

Some thoughts about the Messiah…..

The following are some of my thoughts from an older essay that I recently integrated into a longer essay (as an addendum, I posted the aforementioned essay to this blog on 12-25-07), describing my ecclesiastical journey:

Let me talk to you about my Messiah, Jesus Christ. Let me open quite controversially. If Christ is just a great moral teacher, He failed, and failed miserably. For all His altruism, His selflessness in serving others, for all His concern for the disenfranchised, for His formidable moral standards, His end is not one that I would consider a glowing endorsement for emulating His life. He was crucified; He died a death quite gruesome and, in death, was associated with criminals. If such is the potential end for emulating Christ the Teacher, then I want nothing of it. If we consider Christ only a moral example, then I cannot endorse Him above the Buddha. I cannot endorse Him above Gandhi. I cannot endorse Him above an Old Testament patriarch. They differ not in kind, but only in degree. His death carries no greater meaning and import than that of Martin Luther King’s. However, if Christ is more than a teacher, if He is who He and His followers claim Him to be, the Son of God whose death on the cross precedes something greater, His physical resurrection, I then must consider Him in an altogether different light.

On the exaltation of Christ

I have been thinking quite a bit recently about the meaning of discipleship for followers of Christ. Understand, please, that my thoughts are born in immaturity so my observations may be quite remedial for some. I have come to believe a cheap grace permeates many churches in America. In an admirable evangelical zeal and with the best of intentions, but often lacking a firm foundation in solid biblical exegesis and understanding, the presentation of the gospel is sometimes unintentionally compromised by a misplaced focus. The result is a self-focused, self-centered aberration of true discipleship wherein our satisfaction, our comfort, is found in the state of our circumstances rather than in an absolute exaltation of Christ.

John Calvin, Sermons on the Beatitudes

I leached the following quote from The Thirsty Theologian: “What if we were to cling to the idea - so firmly planted in our heads that we seem to have been born with it - that if we suffer affliction in the world we can never really be blessed? If that were the case, which of us would not run a mile from the Lord Jesus Christ or willingly consent to be his disciple, even supposing we accepted his teaching and hailed him as God’s Son who calls us to himself? In that case we might well say, ‘Yes, but surely he knows our weakness and frailty? Why should he not put up with us as we are?’ Each one of us would take our shoulder from the wheel if we truly held the idea - deeply rooted, as I said - that blessedness is only for those who are comfortable and at ease.

What direction to take….

I have recently found myself struggling over the emerging direction of this web log. I have, on a few occasions, found myself questioning the wisdom of a particular post and then later remove it. I also inadvertently deleted a post, along with the comments, this morning. Note to self: self, do not engage in editing before 5:30AM, especially without a (large) dose of caffeine coursing though my veins. Fortunately, I had a rough copy of the text and was able to repost it in a rather unpolished state. The comments associated with the post are unfortunately forever gone. (As an addendum, I was eventually able to recover the comments)

All that being said, I have decided, after, after a bit of contemplation, to start another blog with the intent of allowing this blog to be more a vehicle of discipleship and my new blog to be a bit more eclectic. The URL of the new blog is Some Thoughts, the pan, as it were, to catch the detritus that falls out of this web log.

In the world, but not of it….

I have been, over the years, a bit of a political junkie. My political consciousness was initially raised in the late 1970’s, but with the rather recent advent of political ‘blogging’, I found my interest in things ideological sent on a rather steep upward trajectory. I would voraciously read political blogs from both sides of the divide; I lived on a steady diet of, for example, the DailyKos and the Huffington Post as well as Little Green Footballs and Powerlineblog. I enjoyed spirited debates with those on the opposite side of the ideological aisle, be it in person or on internet forums; I invested quite a bit of time and energy on political rhetoric.

However, I began to develop a bit of unease with my focus. I began to question if my energies were being directed appropriately. I asked myself if my conversations on deeper, more important things, things of eternal import, were compromised by the political baggage that I had left on the table. Was I primarily identifying myself, even if not intentionally, with a political label, or was I seeking to declare my identity as a disciple of my Savior?

While politics are not necessarily unimportant and political activism is not inherently wrong and to always be avoided, I have come to understand more clearly that I must remember where my citizenship lies. I must remind myself constantly that I am merely a sojourner upon the earth whose only call is serve my Savior in whatever capacity He may chose for me. We in Christ are in the world, but not of the world. I will not wrap the Cross in a flag or use it as an anchor for a political ideology. To allow anything to compromise the lordship of Christ Jesus in our lives, be it our politics, our work, our possessions, our families, or our hobbies is a disservice to our Messiah and to those whom we are to carry the Gospel in order to make disciples.

I Timothy 2:1-2
I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercessions and thanksgiving be made for everyone - for kings and all those in authority that we may live peaceful and quiet lives…

James 1:27
Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.

1 John 2:15-17 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If any one loves the world, love for the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world passes away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides for ever.

Romans 12:2
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

On Faith

The life of faith, properly understood within the Christian framework, is not an easy path. It becomes more difficult when it is misunderstood. There are some, both within and outside the Church, who appear to believe that Christians have a faith in faith. I think that, for some, faith is inferred as being a kind of invisible force to wield and be directed until circumstances yield to the force of faith. If one has enough faith, if one simply believes strongly enough, circumstances will change for the better. If the circumstances do not change, the inference is that the fault lies in ones lack of faith. However, I assert that faith, in the context of being a disciple of Christ, is better understood as trust.