BY PASTOR EMIKO AMOTSUKA
There is a 'new faith' in the land. A new faith in the land. It is different from that into which I was born through the sacrifice of Christ.
In the Old faith into which I was born, Jesus Christ the son of the Living God, is the center of attraction. He is the subject of worship. All hearts bow to him. In the new faith, “the man of God” not Jesus, is the center of attraction. The “man of God” is the subject of adoration. He is adored for the power that exude from him. Not the power to change men from sinners to saints, but power that is evidenced by the money he has behind him, the crowd that gathers to hear him.
Yes, there are testimonies of miracles from the people. But in these testimonies, Jesus of Nazareth is not the star of the story, it is the “man of God”, our “ father in the Lord who prayers”, he gets the glory.
There is a new faith in the Land. Outwardly, it resembles the old faith into which I was born through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, but it takes a discerning eye to see that it is not quite the same.
In the old faith, the messenger is a broken vessel through whom Christ is portrayed (2 Cor. 3....” we preach not ourselves but Christ Jesus”). In the new faith, “the man of God “ is so visible, I can hardly see Christ. How can I see Christ, when “ the man of God “ Captivates my attention with stories of his millions, of his exotic houses and cars, the names of the high and mighty who have come to him for prayer and the size and exploits of the ministry that far surpasses what any other ministry will ever dream of.
There is so much to admire or adore in “the man of God” that you can hardly think of the man of Galilee. Yet, it is only that humble Galilean, Jesus Christ, that has the power to change lives, and bring real and lasting peace and joy, but “ the powerful man of God” has stolen the show.
Oh,”man of God”, will you not retrace your steps to Calvary, and hide behind the cross so that the world can see Jesus Christ the true Giver of Life. For until we commit ourselves to portray Christ and Christ alone, Churches may multiply, but evil persist and grow in the land, for though men gather in churches, it is not to meet Christ, but to meet the anointed "man of God" .
Jesus said, ” and if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me”. John 12:32. Paul said, “ not I, but Christ” Gal 2:20.
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Living a Life of Unconditional Forgiveness
By Brian Zahnd
In the current vitriolic and polarizing culture-war atmosphere, a Sermon on the Mount emphasis of giving mercy, going the second mile, turning the other cheek, and forgiving “70 times seven” would serve the cause of Christ far better than an angry stance that smacks of, "We’re Christians and we’re not going to take it anymore."
Recently I was at a stoplight, and the car in front of me had a bumper sticker that read: “I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. They are so unlike your Christ.” The statement is attributed to Mahatma Gandhi. Of course it’s overstated and far too much of a glaring generalization. But I find little comfort in that.
When I saw that bumper sticker, I wanted to get out my car, walk up to the driver and apologize. I wanted to say something like: “I know. We have been far too unlike our Christ. Please forgive us.”
We live in a world where much is wrong. And what is most wrong with the world is not the politics or the economy or who happens to be living in the White House. What is most wrong with the world is the human heart.
The greed and pride and lust of the human heart are the epicenter of all that is wrong with the world. We should realize this by now.
As followers of Christ, we are not so much called to know the answer or preach the answer as much as we are called to be the answer. This is how we are salt and light (also found in the Sermon on the Mount). We are to model the answer by being Christlike in a Caesar-like world. This is what the Sermon on the Mount is all about.
The narrow (and difficult) way of the Golden Rule demands that we consider and not use others. The Golden Rule of considering others by giving them love, respect and mercy is the narrow gate that leads to salvation. Not because this is how salvation is earned, but because this is how salvation is lived.
Using other people as objects to satisfy our self-centered agenda is absolutely the highway to hell—it is the kind of life that leads to the utter and final ruin of the human soul. When creatures created in the image of God cooperate with sin and Satan to use other image-bearing creatures as objects to satisfy their own greed and lust, they conspire to erase the image of God from their own souls. This is what Jesus is trying to save us from in teaching us the narrow way of the Golden Rule.
This is the Sermon on the Mount—to choose the Christlike way of giving over the Caesar-like way of taking. To give mercy to the undeserving. To forgive the offender. To turn the other cheek to the enemy. To go the extra mile with the oppressor. To give the cloak to the scoundrel. To give cheerfully to the beggar. To forgive again and again. Seventy times seven.
This is the narrow way that Christ invites us to follow him on. It is a hard and difficult way. But because it is Christ who invites us to follow, it is also possible.
Above all, it is the way that leads to life. Do we dare believe this? To be Christians means that we do believe this. And not only do we believe it; we live it. We live it in community with others who share our faith in Jesus Christ. Even more significantly, we live it in fellowship with the one who promised to never leave us or forsake us and to be with us on the narrow road to the end of the age. —Brian Zahnd
In the current vitriolic and polarizing culture-war atmosphere, a Sermon on the Mount emphasis of giving mercy, going the second mile, turning the other cheek, and forgiving “70 times seven” would serve the cause of Christ far better than an angry stance that smacks of, "We’re Christians and we’re not going to take it anymore."
Recently I was at a stoplight, and the car in front of me had a bumper sticker that read: “I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. They are so unlike your Christ.” The statement is attributed to Mahatma Gandhi. Of course it’s overstated and far too much of a glaring generalization. But I find little comfort in that.
When I saw that bumper sticker, I wanted to get out my car, walk up to the driver and apologize. I wanted to say something like: “I know. We have been far too unlike our Christ. Please forgive us.”
We live in a world where much is wrong. And what is most wrong with the world is not the politics or the economy or who happens to be living in the White House. What is most wrong with the world is the human heart.
The greed and pride and lust of the human heart are the epicenter of all that is wrong with the world. We should realize this by now.
As followers of Christ, we are not so much called to know the answer or preach the answer as much as we are called to be the answer. This is how we are salt and light (also found in the Sermon on the Mount). We are to model the answer by being Christlike in a Caesar-like world. This is what the Sermon on the Mount is all about.
The narrow (and difficult) way of the Golden Rule demands that we consider and not use others. The Golden Rule of considering others by giving them love, respect and mercy is the narrow gate that leads to salvation. Not because this is how salvation is earned, but because this is how salvation is lived.
Using other people as objects to satisfy our self-centered agenda is absolutely the highway to hell—it is the kind of life that leads to the utter and final ruin of the human soul. When creatures created in the image of God cooperate with sin and Satan to use other image-bearing creatures as objects to satisfy their own greed and lust, they conspire to erase the image of God from their own souls. This is what Jesus is trying to save us from in teaching us the narrow way of the Golden Rule.
This is the Sermon on the Mount—to choose the Christlike way of giving over the Caesar-like way of taking. To give mercy to the undeserving. To forgive the offender. To turn the other cheek to the enemy. To go the extra mile with the oppressor. To give the cloak to the scoundrel. To give cheerfully to the beggar. To forgive again and again. Seventy times seven.
This is the narrow way that Christ invites us to follow him on. It is a hard and difficult way. But because it is Christ who invites us to follow, it is also possible.
Above all, it is the way that leads to life. Do we dare believe this? To be Christians means that we do believe this. And not only do we believe it; we live it. We live it in community with others who share our faith in Jesus Christ. Even more significantly, we live it in fellowship with the one who promised to never leave us or forsake us and to be with us on the narrow road to the end of the age. —Brian Zahnd
Friday, October 15, 2010
Hidden Grace
Dr John Yates
Australians we live in a time of unprecedented material affluence and deep spiritual poverty. There is no reason to suppose that we are any more devout than New Zealanders, where only a quarter of professing believers read the Bible regularly. Similarly, large numbers of Australian Christians struggle with prayer and even some of the largest churches cannot maintain regular prayer meetings. Sexual sins, the breakdown of Christian marriages and the pursuit of wealth in the church have become commonplace. These are however mere symptoms of a failure to know God intimately.
Our prevailing spiritual culture is suffering from a famine of the hearing of the words of the Lord (Amos 8:11) through a fundamentally mistaken notion of how God grows his children.. Many Christians expect that God will change their lives in the midst of a church meeting or conference where an anointed speaker who will somehow have a word for their lives. Whilst the scripture encourages believers to meet together4, our emphasis on meetings reveals a basic misunderstanding of the character of God. Jesus grew in the favour of his Father5 from finding the presence of God in his daily living, so the focal point of divine revelation will always be our vocation as human beings who eat, sleep, work, marry, have families, suffer, age and die.
Perhaps the most surprising thing about grace is that it keeps on breaking into the ordinary situations of life. It is a truly remarkable thing to find God in your daily life, sense him in your thoughts, become aware of his presence in daily conversations and encounter him in the watches of the night (Pss 63:6; 119:48). This mode of the presence of God is not like any natural image of a deity preoccupied with power, status, privilege and comfort. The Lord whom we adore through Jesus Christ is uniquely a God of grace who reveals himself in a unique shape and form. This is the form of the cross applied to daily life and explains why my theme for today is the hiddenness of grace.
Eternal Grace
The first thing we must say about grace is that it has no beginning. Paul particularly affirms this to strengthen believers under trial, “Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, vs9 who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began” (2 Tim 1:8-9). In opening up this theme of the eternity of grace Thomas Torrance said, “Grace is ...identical with Jesus Christ”. Grace never had a starting point because Jesus has forever been one with the Father (John 17:5). This has several enormous implications.
The first of these is that God’s gracious work is always at his initiative, he is the one who moves us to pray, confess, repent, love him and so on6. Secondly, there is nothing I can do to get “into” grace. Selwyn Hughes represents a popular but unbiblical way of thinking when he says, “How do you get “in grace”? It is by a new birth, a conversion, a changing of the centre of your life from self –interest to self surrender.” If I was chosen “in him (Christ) before the foundation of the world” (Eph 1:4) there has never been a time when I was outside of the grace of God. My conversion, however tortuous that experience may have been – and mine certainly was, was the result of rather than the beginning of God’s gracious work in me. It was the time I began to first experience “the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things” (Eph 3:9). A final implication flows from this, Peter exhorts us, “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” (2 Pet 3:18). We can only grow in grace not into grace. I am constantly within the limitless circle of the grace of God in Christ.
The Beginning and Loss of Grace
The pre-eminence of the grace of God is hidden deep within the human history of the world from its very beginning.
Eden, which means “delight”, would seem to be a place where grace abounds. The undeserved divine generosity was available to Adam and Eve through food, shelter, work and fellowship with God and each other. Free access was available to any tree, but “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” was barred under threat of death (Gen 2:16-17). . God’s Word was the only basis the first couple had for believing that eating from this tree would be fatal, for to outward appearances the tree of knowledge was identical any other tree (Gen 2:9)7. God had arranged the circumstances of Eden in such a way that grace could flow through faith in his Word in the midst of the human awareness of mortality8. The possibility of dying was a powerful revelation to Adam and Eve and the concentration point for the Word of God The fuller expression of grace God desired to impart required a fuller expression of faith in the Word, this was the purpose of temptation.
When Satan entered on the scene with the proposal, ““You will not surely die”” (Gen 3:4) Eve was faced with an acute dilemma, to trust God solely on the basis of his Word or trust in her own senses. The inducement to become like God and live forever free from the fear of death (Gen 3:4-5) caused Eve’s imagination to envisage the fruit of this tree as tastier and more delightful than anything she had ever experienced – including the Word of God9. Eve failed to believe that the uncomfortable “fear of the Lord” imparted by his Word of warning was the key to a higher wisdom (Prov 9:10). She and Adam and Eve could not accept that the unsettling fear of God was something to be delighted in (Isa 11:2-3; 33:6) as the secret to maintaining the experience of grace.
If Adam and Eve had feared God more than the threat of suffering death and so refused to eat of the tree, they would have been immediately been glorified by an overwhelming divine presence. Instead, they became subject to Satan’s power and in lifelong slavery through fear of death (Heb 2:15). Such fear plagues all human life, for every experience of weakness and suffering is a reminder to a guilty conscience that the divine judgment which ends earthly life is inescapable.
Having lost the glory of God (Rom 3:23) human beings became intoxicated with idolatrous substitutes: material wealth, sexual and sporting prowess, intellectual and artistic self-achievement, physical attractiveness or military strength. Christians are not immune from such temptations. We imagine ourselves as mature spiritual people, as great teachers and preachers of the Word of God, as wonderful counsellors or powerful evangelists. Churches set forth splendid visions, websites extol their networks, ministries profile their achievements; but none of this has anything to do with the way God’s surprising grace actually works.
Surprising Grace
The Old Testament is full of struggles with God. Abraham must have been completely perplexed when the LORD commanded him to sacrifice Isaac who was the child of promise (Gen 22). This led however to a new intimacy with God which was otherwise impossible. When the angel of the LORD says to Abraham, “now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son” (Gen 22:12), we understand that the patriarch has demonstrated by faith (Heb 11:17-19) that he feared God more than he feared the death of his son.
The whole book of Job represents an ordeal to find the ways of God when there are no signs of his favour. The righteous psalmists struggle with the hiddenness of the face of God in the presence of apparently triumphant evil (Pss 13:1; 27:9; 30:7; 44:24; 69:17; 88:14; 102:2; 143:7 cf. Isa 8:17). Under the weight of divine discipline the nation of Israel feels forgotten by God and cries out, ““My way is hidden from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God”?” (Isa 40:27). It is not however that God has forgotten his people10, but that in his unfathomable wisdom the Lord had withdrawn himself from open view because of their insatiable idolatries (Isa 30:19-22). Thus the prophet Isaiah declares, “Truly, you are a God who hides himself, O God of Israel, the Saviour.” (Isa 45:15). Nevertheless, by revelation it is possible to discern deep inside the hiddenness of God a plan for the perfection of his people.
We are so thoroughly egocentric, especially about our own spirituality. When things are going well we quickly attribute this to our obedience. If things are not going well we will try to find out what we have done wrong that has caused us to lose God’s favour11. If we can’t find a reason for God’s discipline we feel he has abandoned us in some way. This leaves us with an unavoidable choice, to trust the power of our reasoning about the ways of God, or to trust he is being gracious to us in an unseen manner in the midst of difficulties. To choose the latter is to choose grace through faith and this alone is the pathway of spiritual growth. This is the way of Christ.
Jesus is the Hidden Grace of God
Only Jesus exhaustively reveals to us the ways of God (John 14:6), for it is Jesus who provides us with an inexhaustible supply of grace; “from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace” (John 1:16).
Traditionally, grace has been defined as “unmerited favour”. Today it is more popular to expound the provision of grace by focussing on Jesus’ signs and wonders. Neither of these emphases12is adequate. Grace is more than an action of God; grace is God himself acting to reconstitute the very life of humanity through becoming one of us. In humbling himself and entering into the form of fallen human flesh (Phil 2:6-813; John 1:14) Jesus ceased to be equal with God in any measureable sense. There is a profound hiddenness about the depths of grace in Christ, for his humanity was like ours – weak, subject to temptation and mortal 14. In speaking of, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Cor 13:14) Paul provides content for his words, “that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.” (2 Cor 8:9). The grace of Christ is identical with his life, a life which is the polar opposite of striving for equality with God, as Adam and Eve did. This is a life which climaxes in the unsurpassable weakness and despair of the cross.
As Jesus approaches his passion in the Garden of Gethsemane he sweats great drops and blood and repeatedly petitions his Father for a way forward other than the way of the cross (Luke 22:39-46). Luther was quite right to say of this episode, “no man ever feared like this man”15. Here in Gethsemane the Son of God is almost paralysingly afraid. For every other believer there is the promise of being able to approach the “the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Heb 4:16). For Christ however there would be no mercy and grace, the Father has wilfully led Jesus into a situation where he must die the death of sinners, a death without the presence of God.
Jesus’ terrible cry,““My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”” (Mark 15:34) is an appeal for help which God does not answer. The sensation of the absence of the presence of God is overwhelming. If ever there was an occasion “deserving” of grace this would seem to be it. Instead, Jesus appears as a pitiful object of mockery, with no visible witness that he is Christ the King (Mark 15:32) and Son of God (Matt 27:40). His enemies gloated over his obvious humiliation and the disciples abandoned him because they could no longer discern the favour of God on his life. Every element of human experience testified to the absence of God and the victory of evil powers.
Thanks be to God, the resurrection reinterprets for us the manner of God’s working in Christ. Human reason concluded that God had said “No” to Jesus pleas on the cross, but the “No” was in fact a verdict upon our sin taken by Christ in our place (2 Cor 5:21). All human reasoning concerning the ways of God with man is condemned in the death of Christ, for not for a moment did the everlasting Father abandon his beloved Son. Despite all appearances, Paul can confidently say, “God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself” (2 Cor 5:19). The death-and-resurrection of Jesus, which is the content of the gospel, forces us to conclude against the total weight of human experience that God was fully present in the death of Jesus for the purpose of our salvation yet in a hidden and concealed way. In the thinking of the New Testament writers, grace is now tied to the work of the cross in a pre-eminent manner (Rom 3:24; 5:9-10; Eph 1:7).
There is a sense that God is most deeply at work when he is most intangible – as in Paul’s traumatic experience of suffering in Asia where he, in his own words, “despaired of life itself” (2 Cor 1:8); or consider the afflictions of the persecuted church described in the book of Revelation when the beast is “allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them” (13:7). Under such overwhelming pressures the whole realm of ordinary human reasoning and evidence must be abandoned, faith is trusting in the promises of God that he is being gracious whatever our experience may seem to be saying.
This is not however the blind and irrational commitment of religious fanaticism, it is a faith grounded in the knowledge that all of God’s acts of grace must take the shape of the death and resurrection of Jesus. This is the final knowledge of good and evil. Divine revelation can never teach us anything deeper than what it first taught our Lord himself, grace is first hidden before it is disclosed.
Grace Revealed
This is a lesson that every generation of believers must learn afresh, and which sadly most of this generation is not learning. We throng to conferences on power and influence, but turn away from the plain words of the Lord to Paul, ““My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”” (2 Cor 12:9). His opponents said, “His letters are weighty and strong, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech of no account.”” (2 Cor 10:10), yet there was a presence working in the apostle’s life that few can understand. Paul confidently claims, “we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. 12 So death is at work in us, but life in you.” (2 Cor 4:11-12).
Paul teaches that grace has no beginning and sets in process a dynamic spiritual movement. This is what he describes in Galatians, 1.God “set me apart before I was born”, 2. He “called me by his grace” 3. and “was pleased to reveal his Son in me, 4. in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles” (Gal 1:15-16) Such an impetus to proclaim Christ arises from the privilege of being conformed to the humble shape of his life.
Christians love the spectacular, but the staple diet Jesus left us was bread, wine, water and the word16. Folk love quoting texts like this one, “the people that do know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits” (Dan 11:32 NKJV), but Jesus stressed that we would find him in exercising grace to the hungry, thirsty, strangers, unclothed, sick and prisoners (Matt 25:31-46). This is why George Whitfield and John Wesley found such a presence of Christ with them as they ministered in the open air to illiterate coal miners, why William Wilberforce experienced the strength of the Lord in his service to slaves, why William Booth saw the hand of God in reaching out to drunks and derelicts, for George Mueller it was the kingdom of God with orphans, Mother Teresa found the Lord amongst the dying, Jacqui Pullinger with drug addicts, Heidi Baker amongst the impoverished of Mozambique. This is also why the indigenous people are the key to sustainable revival in Australia. Grace is found where you would humanly least expect it, hidden in the lives of those no-one wants to know about, discovered where the suffering of humanity is most like the brokenness of the cross.
A famous spiritual writer explains the wisdom of the way of God, “If the Christian really has a heart for the Lord then he may find himself in a space where everything seems to have lost meaning17” ...with experience... “The Christian begins to see ...the Lord is working death into his being... those periods of death are working for him... it is a thing that is good. The Christian is beginning to learn to let the Lord come and go as he will; that it is not necessary to be possessed by the Lord’s presence.” (Mme Guyon, Spiritual Torrents, pp.27-28).
Many sincere believers struggle to understand that grace is most intensely working in their suffering, because it just does not feel like it. We fail to understand that when we came to the Lord the shape and meaning of his life became the meaning of our lives18. For our lives to be conformed to the shape of the life of Christ means death and resurrection, wounding and healing at the hands of God19. All this is grace, hidden and manifest.
Such a mysterious operation of grace is working at all levels. The church in China only began to explode after the rise of communism, the expulsion of foreign missionaries and the Cultural Revolution, the revival in Argentina followed the loss of face endured through defeat in the war with Britain over the Falkland Islands. Today the Spirit is moving amazingly in South Africa, at Angus Buchan’s Mighty Men’s Conference this year over 350,000 men gathered, there are more than 7,000 24 hour prayer watches happening in that nation. Much of this involves the Afrikaners who are seeking a new identity in the post-apartheid era. We are not however in any of these places, what does the hidden nature of grace mean for us Australians, who are surely amongst the most psychologically and relationally dysfunctional people on the planet, ever seeking some new sensuous, sexual or spiritual experience.
Luther famously said, “Grace is the experience of being delivered from experience.” Jesus Christ is not some experience; he is a person whom you come to love whatever you experience in the trials and tribulations of daily life, of which there are many. The absence of the meat of the Word of God and the prayerlessness in our churches (Heb 5:12-14) is a tragedy, but in its very absence and the weakened spiritual climate it induces we can press into God (Phil 3:14) and find his hidden grace. Likewise, the spiritual apathy of our culture is appalling, yet by faith it can become a medium of grace for enduring spiritual growth.
When we learn to find God as the hidden God in all the troubles and disappointments of life we discover his sheer goodness. Grace teaches us that the divine purpose in ordaining “the many tribulations by which we must enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22) is never to impart to us evil, but only good, a good that will finally be our sole experience. This is what makes the loss of reputation, position, promotion or relationships through following Jesus all worthwhile20.
Conclusion
Love and fear dominate human existence, and they are mutually excluding. Love causes us to look out from ourselves in terms of what we may give to others; fear causes us to arrange our lives for self-protection. Fear overwhelmingly rules both this nation and its church. Only the revelation of grace can abolish fear and release love. John says, “By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.” (1 John 4:17-18).
Central to this text is the expression, “as he (Jesus) is so also are we in this world”. To realise that the shape of the life of Christ is the shape of our lives in this world is the insight that liberates us from thinking that God has ever had a will to do ill to his children. Inside this understanding is the recognition that no matter how difficult life becomes he is always there for us, grace is always present in every situation, no matter how invisible or impossible this may appear. To “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” (2 Pet 3:18) is in fact to grow in the knowledge of good and evil in the way God always intended, it is to come to the heart understanding that God is sheer goodness and in him is no evil at all. With such a revelation of surprising grace in all the unexpected places of life we are spontaneously moved to proclaim Jesus to those who still living in fear of “the shadow of death” (Luke 1:79), the truth about grace teaches us to renounce every distraction21 and to seek Jesus, who is the real content of grace and all that we will ever need for our spiritual formation.
Australians we live in a time of unprecedented material affluence and deep spiritual poverty. There is no reason to suppose that we are any more devout than New Zealanders, where only a quarter of professing believers read the Bible regularly. Similarly, large numbers of Australian Christians struggle with prayer and even some of the largest churches cannot maintain regular prayer meetings. Sexual sins, the breakdown of Christian marriages and the pursuit of wealth in the church have become commonplace. These are however mere symptoms of a failure to know God intimately.
Our prevailing spiritual culture is suffering from a famine of the hearing of the words of the Lord (Amos 8:11) through a fundamentally mistaken notion of how God grows his children.. Many Christians expect that God will change their lives in the midst of a church meeting or conference where an anointed speaker who will somehow have a word for their lives. Whilst the scripture encourages believers to meet together4, our emphasis on meetings reveals a basic misunderstanding of the character of God. Jesus grew in the favour of his Father5 from finding the presence of God in his daily living, so the focal point of divine revelation will always be our vocation as human beings who eat, sleep, work, marry, have families, suffer, age and die.
Perhaps the most surprising thing about grace is that it keeps on breaking into the ordinary situations of life. It is a truly remarkable thing to find God in your daily life, sense him in your thoughts, become aware of his presence in daily conversations and encounter him in the watches of the night (Pss 63:6; 119:48). This mode of the presence of God is not like any natural image of a deity preoccupied with power, status, privilege and comfort. The Lord whom we adore through Jesus Christ is uniquely a God of grace who reveals himself in a unique shape and form. This is the form of the cross applied to daily life and explains why my theme for today is the hiddenness of grace.
Eternal Grace
The first thing we must say about grace is that it has no beginning. Paul particularly affirms this to strengthen believers under trial, “Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, vs9 who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began” (2 Tim 1:8-9). In opening up this theme of the eternity of grace Thomas Torrance said, “Grace is ...identical with Jesus Christ”. Grace never had a starting point because Jesus has forever been one with the Father (John 17:5). This has several enormous implications.
The first of these is that God’s gracious work is always at his initiative, he is the one who moves us to pray, confess, repent, love him and so on6. Secondly, there is nothing I can do to get “into” grace. Selwyn Hughes represents a popular but unbiblical way of thinking when he says, “How do you get “in grace”? It is by a new birth, a conversion, a changing of the centre of your life from self –interest to self surrender.” If I was chosen “in him (Christ) before the foundation of the world” (Eph 1:4) there has never been a time when I was outside of the grace of God. My conversion, however tortuous that experience may have been – and mine certainly was, was the result of rather than the beginning of God’s gracious work in me. It was the time I began to first experience “the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things” (Eph 3:9). A final implication flows from this, Peter exhorts us, “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” (2 Pet 3:18). We can only grow in grace not into grace. I am constantly within the limitless circle of the grace of God in Christ.
The Beginning and Loss of Grace
The pre-eminence of the grace of God is hidden deep within the human history of the world from its very beginning.
Eden, which means “delight”, would seem to be a place where grace abounds. The undeserved divine generosity was available to Adam and Eve through food, shelter, work and fellowship with God and each other. Free access was available to any tree, but “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” was barred under threat of death (Gen 2:16-17). . God’s Word was the only basis the first couple had for believing that eating from this tree would be fatal, for to outward appearances the tree of knowledge was identical any other tree (Gen 2:9)7. God had arranged the circumstances of Eden in such a way that grace could flow through faith in his Word in the midst of the human awareness of mortality8. The possibility of dying was a powerful revelation to Adam and Eve and the concentration point for the Word of God The fuller expression of grace God desired to impart required a fuller expression of faith in the Word, this was the purpose of temptation.
When Satan entered on the scene with the proposal, ““You will not surely die”” (Gen 3:4) Eve was faced with an acute dilemma, to trust God solely on the basis of his Word or trust in her own senses. The inducement to become like God and live forever free from the fear of death (Gen 3:4-5) caused Eve’s imagination to envisage the fruit of this tree as tastier and more delightful than anything she had ever experienced – including the Word of God9. Eve failed to believe that the uncomfortable “fear of the Lord” imparted by his Word of warning was the key to a higher wisdom (Prov 9:10). She and Adam and Eve could not accept that the unsettling fear of God was something to be delighted in (Isa 11:2-3; 33:6) as the secret to maintaining the experience of grace.
If Adam and Eve had feared God more than the threat of suffering death and so refused to eat of the tree, they would have been immediately been glorified by an overwhelming divine presence. Instead, they became subject to Satan’s power and in lifelong slavery through fear of death (Heb 2:15). Such fear plagues all human life, for every experience of weakness and suffering is a reminder to a guilty conscience that the divine judgment which ends earthly life is inescapable.
Having lost the glory of God (Rom 3:23) human beings became intoxicated with idolatrous substitutes: material wealth, sexual and sporting prowess, intellectual and artistic self-achievement, physical attractiveness or military strength. Christians are not immune from such temptations. We imagine ourselves as mature spiritual people, as great teachers and preachers of the Word of God, as wonderful counsellors or powerful evangelists. Churches set forth splendid visions, websites extol their networks, ministries profile their achievements; but none of this has anything to do with the way God’s surprising grace actually works.
Surprising Grace
The Old Testament is full of struggles with God. Abraham must have been completely perplexed when the LORD commanded him to sacrifice Isaac who was the child of promise (Gen 22). This led however to a new intimacy with God which was otherwise impossible. When the angel of the LORD says to Abraham, “now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son” (Gen 22:12), we understand that the patriarch has demonstrated by faith (Heb 11:17-19) that he feared God more than he feared the death of his son.
The whole book of Job represents an ordeal to find the ways of God when there are no signs of his favour. The righteous psalmists struggle with the hiddenness of the face of God in the presence of apparently triumphant evil (Pss 13:1; 27:9; 30:7; 44:24; 69:17; 88:14; 102:2; 143:7 cf. Isa 8:17). Under the weight of divine discipline the nation of Israel feels forgotten by God and cries out, ““My way is hidden from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God”?” (Isa 40:27). It is not however that God has forgotten his people10, but that in his unfathomable wisdom the Lord had withdrawn himself from open view because of their insatiable idolatries (Isa 30:19-22). Thus the prophet Isaiah declares, “Truly, you are a God who hides himself, O God of Israel, the Saviour.” (Isa 45:15). Nevertheless, by revelation it is possible to discern deep inside the hiddenness of God a plan for the perfection of his people.
We are so thoroughly egocentric, especially about our own spirituality. When things are going well we quickly attribute this to our obedience. If things are not going well we will try to find out what we have done wrong that has caused us to lose God’s favour11. If we can’t find a reason for God’s discipline we feel he has abandoned us in some way. This leaves us with an unavoidable choice, to trust the power of our reasoning about the ways of God, or to trust he is being gracious to us in an unseen manner in the midst of difficulties. To choose the latter is to choose grace through faith and this alone is the pathway of spiritual growth. This is the way of Christ.
Jesus is the Hidden Grace of God
Only Jesus exhaustively reveals to us the ways of God (John 14:6), for it is Jesus who provides us with an inexhaustible supply of grace; “from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace” (John 1:16).
Traditionally, grace has been defined as “unmerited favour”. Today it is more popular to expound the provision of grace by focussing on Jesus’ signs and wonders. Neither of these emphases12is adequate. Grace is more than an action of God; grace is God himself acting to reconstitute the very life of humanity through becoming one of us. In humbling himself and entering into the form of fallen human flesh (Phil 2:6-813; John 1:14) Jesus ceased to be equal with God in any measureable sense. There is a profound hiddenness about the depths of grace in Christ, for his humanity was like ours – weak, subject to temptation and mortal 14. In speaking of, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Cor 13:14) Paul provides content for his words, “that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.” (2 Cor 8:9). The grace of Christ is identical with his life, a life which is the polar opposite of striving for equality with God, as Adam and Eve did. This is a life which climaxes in the unsurpassable weakness and despair of the cross.
As Jesus approaches his passion in the Garden of Gethsemane he sweats great drops and blood and repeatedly petitions his Father for a way forward other than the way of the cross (Luke 22:39-46). Luther was quite right to say of this episode, “no man ever feared like this man”15. Here in Gethsemane the Son of God is almost paralysingly afraid. For every other believer there is the promise of being able to approach the “the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Heb 4:16). For Christ however there would be no mercy and grace, the Father has wilfully led Jesus into a situation where he must die the death of sinners, a death without the presence of God.
Jesus’ terrible cry,““My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”” (Mark 15:34) is an appeal for help which God does not answer. The sensation of the absence of the presence of God is overwhelming. If ever there was an occasion “deserving” of grace this would seem to be it. Instead, Jesus appears as a pitiful object of mockery, with no visible witness that he is Christ the King (Mark 15:32) and Son of God (Matt 27:40). His enemies gloated over his obvious humiliation and the disciples abandoned him because they could no longer discern the favour of God on his life. Every element of human experience testified to the absence of God and the victory of evil powers.
Thanks be to God, the resurrection reinterprets for us the manner of God’s working in Christ. Human reason concluded that God had said “No” to Jesus pleas on the cross, but the “No” was in fact a verdict upon our sin taken by Christ in our place (2 Cor 5:21). All human reasoning concerning the ways of God with man is condemned in the death of Christ, for not for a moment did the everlasting Father abandon his beloved Son. Despite all appearances, Paul can confidently say, “God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself” (2 Cor 5:19). The death-and-resurrection of Jesus, which is the content of the gospel, forces us to conclude against the total weight of human experience that God was fully present in the death of Jesus for the purpose of our salvation yet in a hidden and concealed way. In the thinking of the New Testament writers, grace is now tied to the work of the cross in a pre-eminent manner (Rom 3:24; 5:9-10; Eph 1:7).
There is a sense that God is most deeply at work when he is most intangible – as in Paul’s traumatic experience of suffering in Asia where he, in his own words, “despaired of life itself” (2 Cor 1:8); or consider the afflictions of the persecuted church described in the book of Revelation when the beast is “allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them” (13:7). Under such overwhelming pressures the whole realm of ordinary human reasoning and evidence must be abandoned, faith is trusting in the promises of God that he is being gracious whatever our experience may seem to be saying.
This is not however the blind and irrational commitment of religious fanaticism, it is a faith grounded in the knowledge that all of God’s acts of grace must take the shape of the death and resurrection of Jesus. This is the final knowledge of good and evil. Divine revelation can never teach us anything deeper than what it first taught our Lord himself, grace is first hidden before it is disclosed.
Grace Revealed
This is a lesson that every generation of believers must learn afresh, and which sadly most of this generation is not learning. We throng to conferences on power and influence, but turn away from the plain words of the Lord to Paul, ““My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”” (2 Cor 12:9). His opponents said, “His letters are weighty and strong, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech of no account.”” (2 Cor 10:10), yet there was a presence working in the apostle’s life that few can understand. Paul confidently claims, “we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. 12 So death is at work in us, but life in you.” (2 Cor 4:11-12).
Paul teaches that grace has no beginning and sets in process a dynamic spiritual movement. This is what he describes in Galatians, 1.God “set me apart before I was born”, 2. He “called me by his grace” 3. and “was pleased to reveal his Son in me, 4. in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles” (Gal 1:15-16) Such an impetus to proclaim Christ arises from the privilege of being conformed to the humble shape of his life.
Christians love the spectacular, but the staple diet Jesus left us was bread, wine, water and the word16. Folk love quoting texts like this one, “the people that do know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits” (Dan 11:32 NKJV), but Jesus stressed that we would find him in exercising grace to the hungry, thirsty, strangers, unclothed, sick and prisoners (Matt 25:31-46). This is why George Whitfield and John Wesley found such a presence of Christ with them as they ministered in the open air to illiterate coal miners, why William Wilberforce experienced the strength of the Lord in his service to slaves, why William Booth saw the hand of God in reaching out to drunks and derelicts, for George Mueller it was the kingdom of God with orphans, Mother Teresa found the Lord amongst the dying, Jacqui Pullinger with drug addicts, Heidi Baker amongst the impoverished of Mozambique. This is also why the indigenous people are the key to sustainable revival in Australia. Grace is found where you would humanly least expect it, hidden in the lives of those no-one wants to know about, discovered where the suffering of humanity is most like the brokenness of the cross.
A famous spiritual writer explains the wisdom of the way of God, “If the Christian really has a heart for the Lord then he may find himself in a space where everything seems to have lost meaning17” ...with experience... “The Christian begins to see ...the Lord is working death into his being... those periods of death are working for him... it is a thing that is good. The Christian is beginning to learn to let the Lord come and go as he will; that it is not necessary to be possessed by the Lord’s presence.” (Mme Guyon, Spiritual Torrents, pp.27-28).
Many sincere believers struggle to understand that grace is most intensely working in their suffering, because it just does not feel like it. We fail to understand that when we came to the Lord the shape and meaning of his life became the meaning of our lives18. For our lives to be conformed to the shape of the life of Christ means death and resurrection, wounding and healing at the hands of God19. All this is grace, hidden and manifest.
Such a mysterious operation of grace is working at all levels. The church in China only began to explode after the rise of communism, the expulsion of foreign missionaries and the Cultural Revolution, the revival in Argentina followed the loss of face endured through defeat in the war with Britain over the Falkland Islands. Today the Spirit is moving amazingly in South Africa, at Angus Buchan’s Mighty Men’s Conference this year over 350,000 men gathered, there are more than 7,000 24 hour prayer watches happening in that nation. Much of this involves the Afrikaners who are seeking a new identity in the post-apartheid era. We are not however in any of these places, what does the hidden nature of grace mean for us Australians, who are surely amongst the most psychologically and relationally dysfunctional people on the planet, ever seeking some new sensuous, sexual or spiritual experience.
Luther famously said, “Grace is the experience of being delivered from experience.” Jesus Christ is not some experience; he is a person whom you come to love whatever you experience in the trials and tribulations of daily life, of which there are many. The absence of the meat of the Word of God and the prayerlessness in our churches (Heb 5:12-14) is a tragedy, but in its very absence and the weakened spiritual climate it induces we can press into God (Phil 3:14) and find his hidden grace. Likewise, the spiritual apathy of our culture is appalling, yet by faith it can become a medium of grace for enduring spiritual growth.
When we learn to find God as the hidden God in all the troubles and disappointments of life we discover his sheer goodness. Grace teaches us that the divine purpose in ordaining “the many tribulations by which we must enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22) is never to impart to us evil, but only good, a good that will finally be our sole experience. This is what makes the loss of reputation, position, promotion or relationships through following Jesus all worthwhile20.
Conclusion
Love and fear dominate human existence, and they are mutually excluding. Love causes us to look out from ourselves in terms of what we may give to others; fear causes us to arrange our lives for self-protection. Fear overwhelmingly rules both this nation and its church. Only the revelation of grace can abolish fear and release love. John says, “By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.” (1 John 4:17-18).
Central to this text is the expression, “as he (Jesus) is so also are we in this world”. To realise that the shape of the life of Christ is the shape of our lives in this world is the insight that liberates us from thinking that God has ever had a will to do ill to his children. Inside this understanding is the recognition that no matter how difficult life becomes he is always there for us, grace is always present in every situation, no matter how invisible or impossible this may appear. To “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” (2 Pet 3:18) is in fact to grow in the knowledge of good and evil in the way God always intended, it is to come to the heart understanding that God is sheer goodness and in him is no evil at all. With such a revelation of surprising grace in all the unexpected places of life we are spontaneously moved to proclaim Jesus to those who still living in fear of “the shadow of death” (Luke 1:79), the truth about grace teaches us to renounce every distraction21 and to seek Jesus, who is the real content of grace and all that we will ever need for our spiritual formation.
Praise Is God's ‘Reset' Button
By Lee Grady
Are you trapped in a prison of despair, doubt or anxiety? Learn to release the power of praise.
The apostle Paul's letter to the Philippians is one of the Bible's most unique books. Some scholars call it "the epistle of joy" because the word "joy" or "rejoice" appear in it 16 times. Yet what is amazing is that this letter about Christian joy was written from a prison cell!
While Paul was under the watchful eye of Roman guards, bound in chains, he wrote some of the most uplifting spiritual words ever penned. In the letter's four short chapters the author continually exhorts us to praise God no matter how dark our circumstances are. He writes: "I will rejoice" (1:18, NASB), "I rejoice and share my joy with you all" (2:17), "I urge you, rejoice in the same way" (2:18), "Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord" (3:1) and "Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!" (4:4).
"Paul always looked for the hidden blessing in every trial. Have you been complaining about your situation? Grumbling short-circuits faith, but joy revives it."
Like a broken record, Paul hammers the same theme over and over and over. REJOICE! The word "rejoice" actually means "to re-joy." It's like a reset button on a computer. When any type of electronic equipment goes out of whack, a reset button will get it back online. That is what happens when we rejoice: The joy we've lost is restored and our feeble faith rises again.
Perhaps Paul wrote this message to the Philippians because he remembered his first visit there. It was in Philippi that Paul and Silas were arrested and thrown into jail by the city's magistrates. Yet while the two men sat with their feet fastened in stocks, they began to pray and sing hymns. Long before the invention of subwoofers, this Holy Ghost jam session triggered an earthquake that shook the foundations of the prison and shattered everyone's chains (see Acts 16:25-26).
Do you feel bound by your circumstances? I know I do. Sometimes I feel literally trapped in a tiny prison of limitation and delay. And because of today's weak economy, many people who have enjoyed a carefree life in the past are facing job loss, financial uncertainty, debt and a dismal lack of opportunity. Yet when I pray about my own situation I always am led back to the ancient words of Paul to the Philippians: "Rejoice in the Lord!"
Perhaps right now, in this difficult season, you need to put Paul's message on your iPod and play it over and over. The supernatural joy that is released in praise will do many things:
Praise shatters despair. You think your situation is hopeless? Paul was under house arrest, and he couldn't leave his cell to preach the gospel. Yet he wrote: "Yes, and I will rejoice, for I know that [my imprisonment] will turn out for my deliverance through your prayers and the provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ" (Phil. 1:18b-19). Know that God is working behind the scenes. The clouds over your head may be dark, but praise will lift you above them so you can see the sun again.
Praise shatters negativity. Have you been complaining about your situation? Stop talking trash. Remember that Paul was in chains when he wrote: "Do all things without grumbling or disputing" (Phil. 2:14). He knew the children of Israel were barred from the Promised Land because they grumbled against the Lord (1 Cor. 10:10). Grumbling short-circuits faith, but joy revives it. Paul always looked for the hidden blessing in every trial, to the point that he thanked God even in the midst of shipwrecks, beatings, riots, death threats and starvation.
Praise shatters doubt. When you stop praising, you get stuck in the muck and mire of your own problems. All you can see is the here and now. But something supernatural happens when you rejoice in the Lord. You are lifted out of the prison of impossibility and translated into a realm where you can do "all things through Him who strengthens me" (Phil. 4:13). When you praise, you go into a phone booth looking like Clark Kent and you come out looking like Superman!
Praise shatters anxiety. Paul said that when we hit the "rejoice" button and replace worry with joy-filled prayer, "the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 4:7). Joy will calm your anxious heart and allow you to receive the promises of God.
Way back in 1970 a military chaplain named Merlin Carothers wrote a small book called Prison to Praise. Today it has sold more than 17 million copies in 53 languages. It challenges readers to thank and praise God in the midst of difficulties—and it's full of testimonies of everyday people who experienced miraculous breakthroughs when they obeyed this simple principle.
What Carothers wrote 40 years ago is still relevant today: "The very act of praise releases the power of God into a set of circumstances and enables God to change them. Miracles, power and victory will all be a part of what God does in our lives when we learn to rejoice in all things."
Are you trapped in a prison of despair, doubt or anxiety? Learn to release the power of praise.
The apostle Paul's letter to the Philippians is one of the Bible's most unique books. Some scholars call it "the epistle of joy" because the word "joy" or "rejoice" appear in it 16 times. Yet what is amazing is that this letter about Christian joy was written from a prison cell!
While Paul was under the watchful eye of Roman guards, bound in chains, he wrote some of the most uplifting spiritual words ever penned. In the letter's four short chapters the author continually exhorts us to praise God no matter how dark our circumstances are. He writes: "I will rejoice" (1:18, NASB), "I rejoice and share my joy with you all" (2:17), "I urge you, rejoice in the same way" (2:18), "Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord" (3:1) and "Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!" (4:4).
"Paul always looked for the hidden blessing in every trial. Have you been complaining about your situation? Grumbling short-circuits faith, but joy revives it."
Like a broken record, Paul hammers the same theme over and over and over. REJOICE! The word "rejoice" actually means "to re-joy." It's like a reset button on a computer. When any type of electronic equipment goes out of whack, a reset button will get it back online. That is what happens when we rejoice: The joy we've lost is restored and our feeble faith rises again.
Perhaps Paul wrote this message to the Philippians because he remembered his first visit there. It was in Philippi that Paul and Silas were arrested and thrown into jail by the city's magistrates. Yet while the two men sat with their feet fastened in stocks, they began to pray and sing hymns. Long before the invention of subwoofers, this Holy Ghost jam session triggered an earthquake that shook the foundations of the prison and shattered everyone's chains (see Acts 16:25-26).
Do you feel bound by your circumstances? I know I do. Sometimes I feel literally trapped in a tiny prison of limitation and delay. And because of today's weak economy, many people who have enjoyed a carefree life in the past are facing job loss, financial uncertainty, debt and a dismal lack of opportunity. Yet when I pray about my own situation I always am led back to the ancient words of Paul to the Philippians: "Rejoice in the Lord!"
Perhaps right now, in this difficult season, you need to put Paul's message on your iPod and play it over and over. The supernatural joy that is released in praise will do many things:
Praise shatters despair. You think your situation is hopeless? Paul was under house arrest, and he couldn't leave his cell to preach the gospel. Yet he wrote: "Yes, and I will rejoice, for I know that [my imprisonment] will turn out for my deliverance through your prayers and the provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ" (Phil. 1:18b-19). Know that God is working behind the scenes. The clouds over your head may be dark, but praise will lift you above them so you can see the sun again.
Praise shatters negativity. Have you been complaining about your situation? Stop talking trash. Remember that Paul was in chains when he wrote: "Do all things without grumbling or disputing" (Phil. 2:14). He knew the children of Israel were barred from the Promised Land because they grumbled against the Lord (1 Cor. 10:10). Grumbling short-circuits faith, but joy revives it. Paul always looked for the hidden blessing in every trial, to the point that he thanked God even in the midst of shipwrecks, beatings, riots, death threats and starvation.
Praise shatters doubt. When you stop praising, you get stuck in the muck and mire of your own problems. All you can see is the here and now. But something supernatural happens when you rejoice in the Lord. You are lifted out of the prison of impossibility and translated into a realm where you can do "all things through Him who strengthens me" (Phil. 4:13). When you praise, you go into a phone booth looking like Clark Kent and you come out looking like Superman!
Praise shatters anxiety. Paul said that when we hit the "rejoice" button and replace worry with joy-filled prayer, "the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 4:7). Joy will calm your anxious heart and allow you to receive the promises of God.
Way back in 1970 a military chaplain named Merlin Carothers wrote a small book called Prison to Praise. Today it has sold more than 17 million copies in 53 languages. It challenges readers to thank and praise God in the midst of difficulties—and it's full of testimonies of everyday people who experienced miraculous breakthroughs when they obeyed this simple principle.
What Carothers wrote 40 years ago is still relevant today: "The very act of praise releases the power of God into a set of circumstances and enables God to change them. Miracles, power and victory will all be a part of what God does in our lives when we learn to rejoice in all things."
Friday, September 3, 2010
KENNETH HAGIN’s FORGOTTEN WARNING
Before he died in 2003, the revered father of the Word-Faith
movement corrected his spiritual sons for going to extremes with
their message of prosperity.
Charismatic Bible teacher Kenneth Hagin Sr. is considered the
father of the so-called prosperity gospel. The folksy, self-trained
“Dad Hagin” started a grass-roots movement in Oklahoma that
produced a Bible college and a crop of famous preachers
including Kenneth Copeland, Jerry Savelle, Charles Capps, Jesse
DuPlantis, Creflo Dollar and dozens of others-all of whom teach
that Christians who give generously should expect financial
rewards on this side of heaven.
Hagin taught that God was not glorified by poverty and that
preachers do not have to be poor. But before he died in 2003 and
left his Rhema Bible Training Center in the hands of his son,
Kenneth Hagin Jr., he summoned many of his colleagues to Tulsa
to rebuke them for distorting his message. He was not happy that
some of his followers were manipulating the Bible to support what
he viewed as greed and selfish indulgence. Those who were close
to Hagin Sr. say he was passionate about correcting these abuses
before he died. In fact, he wrote a brutally honest book to address
his concerns. The Midas Touch was published in 2000, a year
after the infamous Tulsa meeting.
Many Word-Faith ministers ignored the book. But in light of the
recent controversy over prosperity doctrines, it might be a good
idea to dust it off and read it again.
Here are a few of the points Hagin made in The Midas Touch:
1. Financial prosperity is not a sign of God’s blessing. Hagin wrote:
“If wealth alone were a sign of spirituality, then drug traffickers and
crime bosses would be spiritual giants. Material wealth can be
connected to the blessings of God or it can be totally disconnected
from the blessings of God.”
2. People should never give in order to get. Hagin was critical of
those who “try to make the offering plate some kind of heavenly
vending machine.” He denounced those who link giving to getting,
especially those who give cars to get new cars or who give suits
to get new suits. He wrote: “There is no spiritual formula to sow a
Ford and reap a Mercedes.”
3. It is not biblical to “name your seed” in an offering. Hagin was
horrified by this practice, which was popularized in faith
conferences during the 1980s. Faith preachers sometimes tell
donors that when they give in an offering they should claim a
specific benefit to get a blessing in return. Hagin rejected this idea
and said that focusing on what you are going to receive “corrupts
the very attitude of our giving nature.”
4. The “hundredfold return” is not a biblical concept. Hagin did the
math and figured out that if this bizarre notion were true, “we would
have Christians walking around with not billions or trillions of
dollars, but quadrillions of dollars!” He rejected the popular teaching
that a believer should claim a specific monetary payback rate.
5. Preachers who claim to have a “debt-breaking” anointing should
not be trusted. Hagin was perplexed by ministers who promise
“supernatural debt cancellation” to those who give in certain
offerings. He wrote in The Midas Touch: “There is not one bit of
Scripture I know about that validates such a practice. I’m afraid it
is simply a scheme to raise money for the preacher, and
ultimately it can turn out to be dangerous and destructive for all
involved.”
(Many evangelists who appear on Christian television today use
this bogus claim. Usually they insist that the miraculous debt
cancellation will occur only if a person “gives right now,” as if the
anointing for this miracle suddenly evaporates after the prime time
viewing hour. This manipulative claim is more akin to witchcraft
than Christian belief.)
Hagin condemned other hairbrained gimmicks designed to trick
audiences into emptying their wallets. He was especially incensed
when a preacher told his radio listeners that he would take their
prayer requests to Jesus’ empty tomb in Jerusalem and pray over
them there-if donors included a special love gift. “What that radio
preacher really wanted was more people to send in offerings,”
Hagin wrote.
Thanks to the recent resurgence in bizarre donation schemes
promoted by American charismatics, the prosperity gospel is back
under the nation’s microscope. It’s time to revisit Hagin’s concerns
and find a biblical balance.
Hagin told his followers: “Overemphasizing or adding to what the
Bible actually teaches invariably does more harm than good.” If the
man who pioneered the modern concept of biblical prosperity blew
the whistle on his own movement, wouldn’t it make sense for us to
listen to his admonition?
By J. Lee Grady
movement corrected his spiritual sons for going to extremes with
their message of prosperity.
Charismatic Bible teacher Kenneth Hagin Sr. is considered the
father of the so-called prosperity gospel. The folksy, self-trained
“Dad Hagin” started a grass-roots movement in Oklahoma that
produced a Bible college and a crop of famous preachers
including Kenneth Copeland, Jerry Savelle, Charles Capps, Jesse
DuPlantis, Creflo Dollar and dozens of others-all of whom teach
that Christians who give generously should expect financial
rewards on this side of heaven.
Hagin taught that God was not glorified by poverty and that
preachers do not have to be poor. But before he died in 2003 and
left his Rhema Bible Training Center in the hands of his son,
Kenneth Hagin Jr., he summoned many of his colleagues to Tulsa
to rebuke them for distorting his message. He was not happy that
some of his followers were manipulating the Bible to support what
he viewed as greed and selfish indulgence. Those who were close
to Hagin Sr. say he was passionate about correcting these abuses
before he died. In fact, he wrote a brutally honest book to address
his concerns. The Midas Touch was published in 2000, a year
after the infamous Tulsa meeting.
Many Word-Faith ministers ignored the book. But in light of the
recent controversy over prosperity doctrines, it might be a good
idea to dust it off and read it again.
Here are a few of the points Hagin made in The Midas Touch:
1. Financial prosperity is not a sign of God’s blessing. Hagin wrote:
“If wealth alone were a sign of spirituality, then drug traffickers and
crime bosses would be spiritual giants. Material wealth can be
connected to the blessings of God or it can be totally disconnected
from the blessings of God.”
2. People should never give in order to get. Hagin was critical of
those who “try to make the offering plate some kind of heavenly
vending machine.” He denounced those who link giving to getting,
especially those who give cars to get new cars or who give suits
to get new suits. He wrote: “There is no spiritual formula to sow a
Ford and reap a Mercedes.”
3. It is not biblical to “name your seed” in an offering. Hagin was
horrified by this practice, which was popularized in faith
conferences during the 1980s. Faith preachers sometimes tell
donors that when they give in an offering they should claim a
specific benefit to get a blessing in return. Hagin rejected this idea
and said that focusing on what you are going to receive “corrupts
the very attitude of our giving nature.”
4. The “hundredfold return” is not a biblical concept. Hagin did the
math and figured out that if this bizarre notion were true, “we would
have Christians walking around with not billions or trillions of
dollars, but quadrillions of dollars!” He rejected the popular teaching
that a believer should claim a specific monetary payback rate.
5. Preachers who claim to have a “debt-breaking” anointing should
not be trusted. Hagin was perplexed by ministers who promise
“supernatural debt cancellation” to those who give in certain
offerings. He wrote in The Midas Touch: “There is not one bit of
Scripture I know about that validates such a practice. I’m afraid it
is simply a scheme to raise money for the preacher, and
ultimately it can turn out to be dangerous and destructive for all
involved.”
(Many evangelists who appear on Christian television today use
this bogus claim. Usually they insist that the miraculous debt
cancellation will occur only if a person “gives right now,” as if the
anointing for this miracle suddenly evaporates after the prime time
viewing hour. This manipulative claim is more akin to witchcraft
than Christian belief.)
Hagin condemned other hairbrained gimmicks designed to trick
audiences into emptying their wallets. He was especially incensed
when a preacher told his radio listeners that he would take their
prayer requests to Jesus’ empty tomb in Jerusalem and pray over
them there-if donors included a special love gift. “What that radio
preacher really wanted was more people to send in offerings,”
Hagin wrote.
Thanks to the recent resurgence in bizarre donation schemes
promoted by American charismatics, the prosperity gospel is back
under the nation’s microscope. It’s time to revisit Hagin’s concerns
and find a biblical balance.
Hagin told his followers: “Overemphasizing or adding to what the
Bible actually teaches invariably does more harm than good.” If the
man who pioneered the modern concept of biblical prosperity blew
the whistle on his own movement, wouldn’t it make sense for us to
listen to his admonition?
By J. Lee Grady
The Malachi Mandate: A Need for Spiritual Fathers and Mentors
By Jennifer LeClaire
There’s plenty of reflection among Christians about the spirit of Elijah. Doubtless, this Old Testament mouthpiece offers copious character traits that his New Testament counterparts would do well to model. However, for all the accurate prophetic decrees and miraculous moments that characterized Elijah’s ministry, it is his spiritual fatherhood that is perhaps most needed in the Body of Christ.
With companies of young prophets rising up and armies of prophetic believers awakening to the order to establish the Kingdom of God throughout all the earth, spiritual guidance is vital to a stable Church that the world will look to for answers.
Governments and other secular leaders won’t bow their ears to the utterances of super spiritual fruits, emotional flakes and hypocritical nuts. The governing church demands unwavering voices that refuse to compromise in the face of opposition, yet with a wisdom and grace that persuades even the hardest heart’s that God’s will is the only way.
The manifestation of the sons of God depends on spiritual fathers who will invest time and energy into their spiritual children. So as we consider Elijah and his miraculous ministry let us also consider this powerful prophet’s role in shaping the life and ministry of young Elisha, who went on to do far greater things than his spiritual mentor.
You don’t have to be an apostle to be a spiritual father or mother, but the apostolic reformation is surely ushering in a renewed focus on this relational dynamic that will prepare the Church for its Bridegroom. We are seeing the manifestation of the Malachi mandate that proclaims: “He shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers...” (Malachi 4:6)
“There’s a revelation that’s beginning to come to the earth that’s obviously a part of the apostolic movement,” says Bishop Tony Miller, founder of Destiny World Outreach in Greenville, S.C. “In fact, this revelation of spiritual fathers is one of the major aspects of the Apostolic Movement – and it’s oftentimes overlooked. It’s the Malachi 4 model where God is restoring the hearts of the fathers back to their children and their children back to their fathers. It’s a two-way avenue.”
The Emerging Fathers
Many church leaders mourn the dearth of spiritual fathers in the Body of Christ today. Some, like Apostle John Eckhardt, founder of Crusader Ministries in Chicago, believes this parental drought is hindering the purposes of God in the apostolic revolution.
“I believe there are thousands of emerging apostles that have gifts within them and they are not being released because we don’t have fathers that understand the apostolic calling and the [need to] release them like we should,” Eckhardt argues. “I believe we do have many young ministers with apostolic callings who struggle to develop on their own because there is no one in their region that they are connected to that has a heart to train and disciple them into their gifting.”
One reason for the scarcity of spiritual fathers is the lack of a widespread fathering model in former generations. Many of today’s local church leaders were not fathered themselves, and subsequently do not know how to father others. The apostolic revolution is helping to break this vicious cycle with spiritual fathers and mothers and spiritual sons and daughters who are willing to learn and grow into their respective roles together for the sake of future generations.
Doug Stringer, founder and president of Turning Point Ministries International in Houston, Texas, is writing a book on the topic of spiritual fathers. His passion is to reach what he deems as a fatherless generation emer-ging as a prophetic generation in pursuit of spiritual fathers. In his travels, he frequently encounters young men and women with a deep craving for spiritual fathers.
“My generation was fatherless,” says Stringer, 50, author of the upcoming book Who’s Your Daddy Now? “We don’t know how to be fathers ourselves, but the emerging generation tells me they don’t expect us to know how to be fathers. They just want us to be willing to try, and to identify with them and offer a sense of connectedness.”
Anatomy of a Spiritual Father
Of course, the concept of spiritual fatherhood is not new to the apostolic. Long before the apostles were fully restored to the Church, Dr. Lester Sumrall raised up three strong spiritual sons. Sumrall passed away in 1996, but his ministry lives on, in part, through what he imparted to Rod Parsley, Ulf Ekman and Billy Joe Daugherty. Sumrall was known as a “pastor of pastors.” Sumrall, himself, was tutored by British evangelist Howard Carter and blessed by Smith Wigglesworth.
Parsley views his relationship with Sumrall as akin to the dynamics between Elijah and Elisha. In 1992, Sumrall passed his “sword of anointing” to Parsley, conferring on him the spiritual mantle of his ministry. “Dr. Lester Sumrall was not only my spiritual mentor and my pastor, but also he was, above all, my best friend. For more than 15 years he protected me, guided me, instructed me, corrected me and exhorted me. He encouraged and inspired me to a closer walk with God, and he increased my understanding of the spirit realm as no other human ever has,” Parsley wrote in his book Rod Parsley Presents Adventuring With Christ by Lester Sumrall.
Parsley described many of the characteristics of a spiritual father: protection, guidance, instruction, correction, exhortation, encouragement and inspiration. Miller agrees that these are some of the chief earmarks of a true spiritual father. A spiritual father, he says, is always willing to give his life for his sons. A spiritual father, he adds, will always anchor his sons to his character and purpose. A spiritual father, he continues, will always see gifts in his son that other people don’t see – and inspire him to put the gifts to work.
“In this apostolic move we’re moving into a season where I believe the emphasis of the Kingdom is not in doing but in being. That’s why fathers are arising on the scene,” Miller explains. Miller’s spiritual father is Tom Peters, pastor of Trinity Church International in Lake Worth, Fla. Miller describes him as man of godly character, yet not overly charismatic, who has made a tremendous impact on his life.
“My spiritual father recently said to me, ‘You don’t even need me anymore. You do far bigger things than I do’,” Miller shares. “I told him I would always need him. I need him because he was there when I had nothing. He understood the assignment on my life and he helped God forge character in my life. Then he told me that if I stay true to the character of God and walk humbly before the Lord, God will keep promoting me. It’s more important to him that I stay in a right relationship with God and posture myself according to character and the purpose of god than it is that I keep expanding my borders. I believe that that’s the heart of the true father.”
Breaking Down Resistance
For all the talk about spiritual fathers, we must not forget that without willing spiritual sons there cannot be the two-way avenue that Miller described. Spiritual sons should respect and honor their spiritual fathers, according to Peter Sumrall. That means serving the father’s vision and taking his advice concerning your own.
“My dad used to laugh because some guys would say ‘You are my spiritual father,’ but they were too busy to pick him up at the airport,” Sumrall recalls. “They didn’t understand the meaning of serving, or of receiving the spiritual insight and authority a father has to offer.”
It seems not much has changed today. An independent spirit often causes would-be sons to resist sonship, most notably the correction that come with the relationship. However, fathers who refuse to correct their sons will lose their sons as Eli lost his (1 Samuel 2:34; 4:11). And the Bible clearly states that those who will not receive correction will become bastards (Hebrews 12:8).
Miller puts it this way: Sonship is not visible by how someone receives encouragement; it’s visible by how they receive correction. A true son doesn’t make his father adjust the way he leads; a true son adjusts the way he follows. While ultimate accountability is surely before the Lord, spiritual sonship goes beyond accountability to a willingness to submit yourself to a father who can speak to the blind spots in your life so you can grow.
“I think many guys resist spiritual fathers because they don’t want to have to get permission from anybody to do what they want to do. It’s not about permission-giving. It’s about maturity. It’s about wisdom. You can enforce compliance, but submission can never be forced,” Miller explains. “Submission is an attitude of the heart. There are a lot of people out there who are keeping the rules but who are not submitting. They call you father until there is something they don’t agree with.”
Another reason some resist the father movement because they have seen what Miller calls rent-a-father, an abominable act where leaders attempt to merchandise believers. It sounds something like this, “Send me your tithes and I will be your father.” That tactic is not relational and does not fit God’s pattern for fathers – spiritual or natural. When a child is born, the father doesn’t tell him, “pay me and I’ll take care of you.” There is nothing wrong with honoring spiritual fathers with gifts, Miller asserts, but honor is far more than sending a check.
“A true father will cut away the flesh – that’s what circumcision is – that would impede the flow of life,” Miller says. “When a father takes his knife to shape the character of a son, it’s not to harm him. It’s to release a greater flow of life. That’s the reason I tell young men, ‘If your spiritual father doesn’t have a knife, go and buy him one.’ I don’t want my father not to carry a knife because I want him to deal with the areas of my life that cut off my productivity.”
The Qualities of Sonship
Beyond submitting to the counsel and correction – and receiving the encouragement and strength – from a spiritual father, true sons honor their father. But honor goes beyond gifts or even submission to include a measure of dependence. Young warriors are built for exploits, but older men who become spiritual fathers have a burden to impart before they depart. Fathers have an urgency to make a deposit in their sons’ lives so they win the battle.
just as we honor God by asking him to help us with our challenges, spiritual sons honor their spiritual fathers by asking them for insight. This concept is illustrated in 2 Kings 6 when the sons of the prophets came to Elisha looking for his blessing to go build a bigger dwelling by the river. The sons of the prophets, Stringer explains, wanted to build their own place, but they wanted their spiritual father to go with them in case they needed him. Indeed, when the young prophets lost their axe head in the river they turned to Elisha for some insight. Stringer sees that axe head as a symbol of strength, passion and the first love. Elisha was able to help the young prophets retrieve what was lost.
“Sometimes we need to be available to the emerging generation as apostolic fathers and help them find their passion, their creativity, their sense of destiny and purpose that God gave them,” Stringer says. “We need to give them wisdom, another shot in the arm so to speak, to keep them moving forward because they are full of vision and anointing. We just have to give them a compass.”
Apostolic fathers lay foundations. Rather than lording a title or office over a spiritual son, they get under them to push them to a higher dimension. Miller still remembers a recent trip to South Africa. A man there made a statement that still pierces his heart and reminds him of the mandate on his life. The man said, “Your success is my honor.” Miller tells his spiritual sons that the greatest thing they could do for him is to take what he’s imparted to them and use it to expand the Kingdom.
The apostolic is a multi-generational movement. The establishment of the Kingdom demands spiritual fathers who are willing to propel their spiritual sons to greater heights. Stringer puts it this way: “We will either be like Elizabeth rejoicing over the birthing of a forerunner generation or we will be like Rachael weeping over the loss of a whole generation. “It is up to us as the Church to carry the expression of Christ and to really represent the Father to a generation that has been deemed fatherless.”
There’s plenty of reflection among Christians about the spirit of Elijah. Doubtless, this Old Testament mouthpiece offers copious character traits that his New Testament counterparts would do well to model. However, for all the accurate prophetic decrees and miraculous moments that characterized Elijah’s ministry, it is his spiritual fatherhood that is perhaps most needed in the Body of Christ.
With companies of young prophets rising up and armies of prophetic believers awakening to the order to establish the Kingdom of God throughout all the earth, spiritual guidance is vital to a stable Church that the world will look to for answers.
Governments and other secular leaders won’t bow their ears to the utterances of super spiritual fruits, emotional flakes and hypocritical nuts. The governing church demands unwavering voices that refuse to compromise in the face of opposition, yet with a wisdom and grace that persuades even the hardest heart’s that God’s will is the only way.
The manifestation of the sons of God depends on spiritual fathers who will invest time and energy into their spiritual children. So as we consider Elijah and his miraculous ministry let us also consider this powerful prophet’s role in shaping the life and ministry of young Elisha, who went on to do far greater things than his spiritual mentor.
You don’t have to be an apostle to be a spiritual father or mother, but the apostolic reformation is surely ushering in a renewed focus on this relational dynamic that will prepare the Church for its Bridegroom. We are seeing the manifestation of the Malachi mandate that proclaims: “He shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers...” (Malachi 4:6)
“There’s a revelation that’s beginning to come to the earth that’s obviously a part of the apostolic movement,” says Bishop Tony Miller, founder of Destiny World Outreach in Greenville, S.C. “In fact, this revelation of spiritual fathers is one of the major aspects of the Apostolic Movement – and it’s oftentimes overlooked. It’s the Malachi 4 model where God is restoring the hearts of the fathers back to their children and their children back to their fathers. It’s a two-way avenue.”
The Emerging Fathers
Many church leaders mourn the dearth of spiritual fathers in the Body of Christ today. Some, like Apostle John Eckhardt, founder of Crusader Ministries in Chicago, believes this parental drought is hindering the purposes of God in the apostolic revolution.
“I believe there are thousands of emerging apostles that have gifts within them and they are not being released because we don’t have fathers that understand the apostolic calling and the [need to] release them like we should,” Eckhardt argues. “I believe we do have many young ministers with apostolic callings who struggle to develop on their own because there is no one in their region that they are connected to that has a heart to train and disciple them into their gifting.”
One reason for the scarcity of spiritual fathers is the lack of a widespread fathering model in former generations. Many of today’s local church leaders were not fathered themselves, and subsequently do not know how to father others. The apostolic revolution is helping to break this vicious cycle with spiritual fathers and mothers and spiritual sons and daughters who are willing to learn and grow into their respective roles together for the sake of future generations.
Doug Stringer, founder and president of Turning Point Ministries International in Houston, Texas, is writing a book on the topic of spiritual fathers. His passion is to reach what he deems as a fatherless generation emer-ging as a prophetic generation in pursuit of spiritual fathers. In his travels, he frequently encounters young men and women with a deep craving for spiritual fathers.
“My generation was fatherless,” says Stringer, 50, author of the upcoming book Who’s Your Daddy Now? “We don’t know how to be fathers ourselves, but the emerging generation tells me they don’t expect us to know how to be fathers. They just want us to be willing to try, and to identify with them and offer a sense of connectedness.”
Anatomy of a Spiritual Father
Of course, the concept of spiritual fatherhood is not new to the apostolic. Long before the apostles were fully restored to the Church, Dr. Lester Sumrall raised up three strong spiritual sons. Sumrall passed away in 1996, but his ministry lives on, in part, through what he imparted to Rod Parsley, Ulf Ekman and Billy Joe Daugherty. Sumrall was known as a “pastor of pastors.” Sumrall, himself, was tutored by British evangelist Howard Carter and blessed by Smith Wigglesworth.
Parsley views his relationship with Sumrall as akin to the dynamics between Elijah and Elisha. In 1992, Sumrall passed his “sword of anointing” to Parsley, conferring on him the spiritual mantle of his ministry. “Dr. Lester Sumrall was not only my spiritual mentor and my pastor, but also he was, above all, my best friend. For more than 15 years he protected me, guided me, instructed me, corrected me and exhorted me. He encouraged and inspired me to a closer walk with God, and he increased my understanding of the spirit realm as no other human ever has,” Parsley wrote in his book Rod Parsley Presents Adventuring With Christ by Lester Sumrall.
Parsley described many of the characteristics of a spiritual father: protection, guidance, instruction, correction, exhortation, encouragement and inspiration. Miller agrees that these are some of the chief earmarks of a true spiritual father. A spiritual father, he says, is always willing to give his life for his sons. A spiritual father, he adds, will always anchor his sons to his character and purpose. A spiritual father, he continues, will always see gifts in his son that other people don’t see – and inspire him to put the gifts to work.
“In this apostolic move we’re moving into a season where I believe the emphasis of the Kingdom is not in doing but in being. That’s why fathers are arising on the scene,” Miller explains. Miller’s spiritual father is Tom Peters, pastor of Trinity Church International in Lake Worth, Fla. Miller describes him as man of godly character, yet not overly charismatic, who has made a tremendous impact on his life.
“My spiritual father recently said to me, ‘You don’t even need me anymore. You do far bigger things than I do’,” Miller shares. “I told him I would always need him. I need him because he was there when I had nothing. He understood the assignment on my life and he helped God forge character in my life. Then he told me that if I stay true to the character of God and walk humbly before the Lord, God will keep promoting me. It’s more important to him that I stay in a right relationship with God and posture myself according to character and the purpose of god than it is that I keep expanding my borders. I believe that that’s the heart of the true father.”
Breaking Down Resistance
For all the talk about spiritual fathers, we must not forget that without willing spiritual sons there cannot be the two-way avenue that Miller described. Spiritual sons should respect and honor their spiritual fathers, according to Peter Sumrall. That means serving the father’s vision and taking his advice concerning your own.
“My dad used to laugh because some guys would say ‘You are my spiritual father,’ but they were too busy to pick him up at the airport,” Sumrall recalls. “They didn’t understand the meaning of serving, or of receiving the spiritual insight and authority a father has to offer.”
It seems not much has changed today. An independent spirit often causes would-be sons to resist sonship, most notably the correction that come with the relationship. However, fathers who refuse to correct their sons will lose their sons as Eli lost his (1 Samuel 2:34; 4:11). And the Bible clearly states that those who will not receive correction will become bastards (Hebrews 12:8).
Miller puts it this way: Sonship is not visible by how someone receives encouragement; it’s visible by how they receive correction. A true son doesn’t make his father adjust the way he leads; a true son adjusts the way he follows. While ultimate accountability is surely before the Lord, spiritual sonship goes beyond accountability to a willingness to submit yourself to a father who can speak to the blind spots in your life so you can grow.
“I think many guys resist spiritual fathers because they don’t want to have to get permission from anybody to do what they want to do. It’s not about permission-giving. It’s about maturity. It’s about wisdom. You can enforce compliance, but submission can never be forced,” Miller explains. “Submission is an attitude of the heart. There are a lot of people out there who are keeping the rules but who are not submitting. They call you father until there is something they don’t agree with.”
Another reason some resist the father movement because they have seen what Miller calls rent-a-father, an abominable act where leaders attempt to merchandise believers. It sounds something like this, “Send me your tithes and I will be your father.” That tactic is not relational and does not fit God’s pattern for fathers – spiritual or natural. When a child is born, the father doesn’t tell him, “pay me and I’ll take care of you.” There is nothing wrong with honoring spiritual fathers with gifts, Miller asserts, but honor is far more than sending a check.
“A true father will cut away the flesh – that’s what circumcision is – that would impede the flow of life,” Miller says. “When a father takes his knife to shape the character of a son, it’s not to harm him. It’s to release a greater flow of life. That’s the reason I tell young men, ‘If your spiritual father doesn’t have a knife, go and buy him one.’ I don’t want my father not to carry a knife because I want him to deal with the areas of my life that cut off my productivity.”
The Qualities of Sonship
Beyond submitting to the counsel and correction – and receiving the encouragement and strength – from a spiritual father, true sons honor their father. But honor goes beyond gifts or even submission to include a measure of dependence. Young warriors are built for exploits, but older men who become spiritual fathers have a burden to impart before they depart. Fathers have an urgency to make a deposit in their sons’ lives so they win the battle.
just as we honor God by asking him to help us with our challenges, spiritual sons honor their spiritual fathers by asking them for insight. This concept is illustrated in 2 Kings 6 when the sons of the prophets came to Elisha looking for his blessing to go build a bigger dwelling by the river. The sons of the prophets, Stringer explains, wanted to build their own place, but they wanted their spiritual father to go with them in case they needed him. Indeed, when the young prophets lost their axe head in the river they turned to Elisha for some insight. Stringer sees that axe head as a symbol of strength, passion and the first love. Elisha was able to help the young prophets retrieve what was lost.
“Sometimes we need to be available to the emerging generation as apostolic fathers and help them find their passion, their creativity, their sense of destiny and purpose that God gave them,” Stringer says. “We need to give them wisdom, another shot in the arm so to speak, to keep them moving forward because they are full of vision and anointing. We just have to give them a compass.”
Apostolic fathers lay foundations. Rather than lording a title or office over a spiritual son, they get under them to push them to a higher dimension. Miller still remembers a recent trip to South Africa. A man there made a statement that still pierces his heart and reminds him of the mandate on his life. The man said, “Your success is my honor.” Miller tells his spiritual sons that the greatest thing they could do for him is to take what he’s imparted to them and use it to expand the Kingdom.
The apostolic is a multi-generational movement. The establishment of the Kingdom demands spiritual fathers who are willing to propel their spiritual sons to greater heights. Stringer puts it this way: “We will either be like Elizabeth rejoicing over the birthing of a forerunner generation or we will be like Rachael weeping over the loss of a whole generation. “It is up to us as the Church to carry the expression of Christ and to really represent the Father to a generation that has been deemed fatherless.”
Rod Parsley Gets Culturally Incorrect and Sees America's Great Awakening
By Jonas Clark
Rod Parsley Gets “Culturally Incorrect” on controversial social topics from abortion to Islam to homosexuality and more.
At this pivotal moment in history, America wrestles with herself. The minds and hearts of this generation have become the theater of conflict. It is a war of competing, mutually exclusive ways of viewing the universe and man’s place in it. It is a clash of paradigms, of value systems, and of visions of the future.
So says Pastor Rod Parsley in his latest book, “Culturally Incorrect: How Clashing Worldviews Affect Your Future.” Parsley contends that a healthy society requires the participation of morally founded people to offer policies that positively impact commerce and government; science and technology; and arts, entertainment and the media.
Parsley is the founder and president of The Center for Moral Clarity (CMC). Launched in 2004, CMC seeks to bridge the gap in America’s eroding value system by affecting moral change through passionate and effective Christian leadership and service. Parsley also serves as the senior pastor of World Harvest Church in Columbus, Ohio, and hosts “Breakthrough,” a daily and weekly television broadcast seen by millions across America and around the world. He is the bestselling author of “Silent No More.”
The Voice magazine caught up with Parsley to discuss his new book, the state of the Church, why Islam is making inroads into America, and many other ‘culturally incorrect’ topics.
Pastor Rod Parsley
The Voice: Why do you want people to read “Culturally Incorrect” and what do you hope they will learn?
Rod Parsley: The response to my previous book, “Silent No More,” showed me that we are a deeply divided people – politically and spiritually as well as morally. I wrote “Culturally Incorrect” to show why we are divided and how men and women of faith can engage in the war that is raging for the soul of our nation.
Through this book I want the culture at large to learn why the biblical worldview is superior to all others, and how false worldviews lead to disastrous results for our society. I also want the Church to understand its divine mandate to engage the culture. I truly believe this book can be the catalyst for a new Great Awakening in our nation, if the Church accepts its responsibility to make it happen.
The Voice: So you see another Great Awakening coming? How will it happen?
Rod Parsley: I absolutely see another Great Awakening coming to this nation in my lifetime, and the Word of God is calling this generation to its forefront. It’s incredible to imagine, but very realistic – God has used previous generations to effect massive cultural change before. The minds and hearts of this generation are the theater of conflict. Conflicting worldviews have led to competing, mutually exclusive ways of viewing the universe and man’s place in it. As the biblical worldview is shown to be superior – as it will, because absolute truth will not be denied – a new Great Awakening is not only possible, but inevitable.
The Voice: In the book you wrote, “We live in a generation of believers that has seemingly made the cross a gateway for self-help and converted the call to a life of Christian service into a quest for comfort and pleasure.” Whose fault is that? And how do we move out of a bless-me-only model of church that ultimately enables Christians to engage the culture around them?
Rod Parsley: I believe both church leaders and their followers share responsibility for our current state of lethargy, but would note that shepherds bear ultimate responsibility for their flocks. Today, we in the Church judge the effectiveness of a ministry by how many people are coming to worship services. I want us to return to a more telling measure of success, which is not how many people are coming but rather how many people are going into the culture to live transformed lives. I’m convinced that the Church’s failure to actively, vigorously and positively engage the culture has led to defeatism and isolation on our parts – and, as a result, we’re not heeding Jesus’ command to be salt and light.
The Voice: In “Culturally Incorrect” you write about withdrawal and isolation from society. Has there been too much focus on the rapture and not enough focus on advancing and establishing Christ’s Kingdom culture in our nation and the world?
Rod Parsley: It’s not a question of either-or. It’s a question of both-and. I don’t believe Christians can talk enough about our hope in the life to come – it is an essential component of the biblical worldview. I do believe the Church has ignored Christ’s mandate to establish the Kingdom of God on earth, and that necessarily involves engaging the culture, contending for the truth we’ve been given.
The Voice: What are the top three things that Christian leaders can do in their ministries to stop the onslaught of anti-Christ agendas?
Rod Parsley: It’s even more simple than that! The one most important thing our leadership can do is return to clear, biblical preaching of the cross. We have neglected to communicate biblical Christianity within our churches, and that has led to the current situation, in my judgment. Far too much of today’s preaching makes no mention of self-denial, which is entry-level Christianity.
While America’s liberal churches have abandoned the preaching of the cross because of its focus on sin and repentance, many conservative evangelical churches have shied away from it because of its unpopular call for self-denial and sacrifice. Many Christians have never been told that to save their life, they must lose it! Even our language suggests Christianity can be nothing more than a line on our resumes. We’re told to “accept Christ into our lives,” and that’s an attractive prospect for someone who already believes it’s all about them.
The Voice: What do you tell the person who says, “It may be your call from God to engage the culture, but not mine?”
Rod Parsley: If it’s a fellow Christian, I’d ask where in the Bible they found a personal exemption from Jesus’ command to be salt and light! I understand many believers are reluctant to come out of their sanctuaries and engage the culture. In the book I talk about “me and my comfort syndrome,” which is the product of an “easy believe” mentality in too much of the Church. I would only add that our divine appointment as ambassadors of our King requires us to witness our faith to a wayward culture. It’s not optional and it’s not flexible.
The Voice: Do you see progressive secularists in our nation pandering to those of Islamic faith while, at the same time, battling against the Christian faith? Or what is helping Islam make inroads in the United States?
Rod Parsley: The foundation of secular worldview is a rejection of the notion of absolute truth – that whatever is true for you may not be true for anyone else. This is a mindset that rejects Islam as well as Christianity, so I don’t think you’ll ever see secularists “pandering” to Muslims as such. I do believe, however, that the “anything goes” mentality of secularism has helped Islam make inroads in this nation. Man is continually looking to make sense of his surroundings, and Islam purports to do that. I noted in “Silent No More” that Islam is still growing rapidly in America, especially among blacks. As long as Bible believers fail to contend for the biblical worldview in the culture, something will fill the void in people’s hearts for something to believe in, and Muslims are, to say the least, aggressive about sharing their faith with others, to the point of imposing it.
The Voice: Non-believers say that Christians should not shove their morality and belief system down their throats. How do you address the issue of which moral compass our nation should look to?
Rod Parsley: I am committed to talking about God in the public square, as many of our Founding Fathers did. It’s impossible to divorce worldview from public policy and law-making. Yet I am mindful to do so with respect and humility. Terrorists operate by coercion. Christians have a different way of doing things – by persuasion, not compulsion. As former Attorney General John Ashcroft has said, “It is against my religion to impose my religion.”
The Voice: You discuss holding a biblical worldview that is not influenced by Marxism, Postmodernist worldviews and Humanism, etc. There is a push throughout our colleges and universities to produce graduates that have a “worldview.” Their worldview is that of a global citizen that will one day look to be governed by international law through the United Nations, not the United States Constitution. What’s your take on this?
Rod Parsley: I am a global citizen. Through our Bridge of Hope missions outreach, we’ve been active in meeting people’s physical and spiritual needs around the world. I started working to relieve human suffering in Sudan long before it was trendy to do so. My own view is that it would be a bad idea for the citizens of this nation to cede their authority to govern themselves to an international body, either the United Nations or some other organization.
Rod Parsley Preaching
The Voice: With the introduction of new words, terms and definitions, like the U.S. Constitution being called a “living document,” are we being set up for further judicial changes?
Rod Parsley: The notion that the Constitution should change over time has been around for decades and, in fact, was a factor in the U.S. Supreme Court’s outrageous Roe v. Wade decision in 1973. I addressed this situation, which I call “judicial tyranny,” in “Silent No More.” There are certainly many judges who hold to this erroneous view of the law on the bench today, but I’m grateful for those who are faithful to the historic role of the judiciary – to interpret the law, rather than make new law from the bench. Using the courts to advance a public-policy agenda has been part of the liberal playbook for a long time; it’s the only way they can get approval for their ideas. So I’m sure we’ll be having this discussion for the foreseeable future in this nation.
The Voice: You wrote about the myth of the separation of church and state in your book “Silent No More”. Since the writing of that book what has changed?
Rod Parsley: In one respect, nothing has changed. The concept of “separation of church and state” still does not appear in the Constitution! What has changed is that liberals and opponents of religious freedom have become even more militant in enforcing this outmoded concept. Around the world you’re seeing the proclamation of the Bible’s teaching on homosexuality denounced and even prosecuted as “hate speech,” and in some circumstances it’s illegal to evangelize in public. If we’re not vigilant we’ll see the elimination of our religious freedoms – all on the basis of a fictitious concept. It’s a scary thought, but one that should motivate Christians to action.
The Voice: Why does it seem that homosexuality has become so acceptable in American society? How do we combat the homosexual agenda that continues to sponsor hate crime legislation that intends to stop people like you from saying that homosexuality is immoral and their push to redefine the family?
Rod Parsley: The only way Christians can authentically and authoritatively approach the issue of homosexuality is from a heart of compassion. Love, not animosity, must be our motivation. It grieves me, for example, that the median age of homosexual men at death is 42 and for the population at large, the median age at death is 75. For lesbians, the median age at death is 45; for heterosexual women, 79. How can we not have compassion and love for people who are dying decades before they should?
We’ve fallen into the trap of labeling those on the other side as crazy, stupid or evil. That’s no way to save souls! In many cases, we have to convince our adversaries that we’re not hateful or vengeful before we can contend for the truth we bring them. In “Culturally Incorrect,” I have made the case as persuasively as I can that Christians should assertively contend for the biblical worldview and accept the call of authentic Christianity for their own lives. We possess absolute truth – God is the ultimate reality – and we shouldn’t be afraid to say so.
The Voice: Millions of babies have been murdered through abortions. In your book you talk about not settling for a partial victory. What is the next battle?
Rod Parsley: We won a great battle in April, when the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the federal Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003. I was present when President Bush signed that bill into law, and it’s gratifying to know that it will be enforced. Through our grassroots organization, the Center for Moral Clarity, we are involved now in helping to provide ultrasound machines for pro-life women’s clinics around the nation. We know that nearly nine out of every 10 women considering abortion will change their mind and keep their babies once they see an ultrasound image of the life inside them. Ultimately, though, my goal is to see Roe v. Wade overturned; that would send the battle over legal abortion back to the states, where it belongs, and I look forward to advocating for life at the state level when that happens.
The Voice: How can the everyday disciple of Christ make a difference?
Rod Parsley: First, by realizing that each of us already possesses the ability to make a difference. Unfortunately, most of us don’t use the influence we have over others – and we each have spheres of influence in our families, workplaces and communities. It’s also vital for disciples of Christ to understand and commit to the biblical mandate to be salt and light in Matthew 5. The current generation of believers has failed to meet the culture in the marketplace of ideas and present a relevant, compelling Gospel. We must, as Peter says, always be ready to give an answer for the hope that is within us. Only biblical Christianity brings meaningful, coherent and tested answers to our most basic questions – so believe me, our non-Christian friends and neighbors need what we have to offer; it’s just a matter of whether we will be obedient to share what we know.
The Voice: How will Church be different 25 years from now?
Rod Parsley: Frankly, the state of the Church 25 years from now depends on what we do now. If the Church doesn’t wake up and fulfill the mission that God has laid out for us in His Word, just 4 percent of my daughter’s generation will be Bible-believing Christians. This compares to 35 percent of my generation and 65 percent of my parents’ generation accepting the Bible as the Word of God. So you’re talking about a tremendous decline in the Church’s influence within two generations if we don’t accept our duty to become assertive advocates for our faith and for a biblical worldview.
The Voice: How has writing this book changed Rod Parsley?
Rod Parsley: Studying worldviews for “Culturally Incorrect” has helped me better understand the motivations for people’s actions in the public arena, especially those with whom I disagree. It’s important to understand what makes an abortion advocate or a same-sex marriage supporter believe what he or she believes. That’s the first step to persuading him or her to the rightness of my cause. I’ve also developed an even more profound sense of urgency about living an authentic Christian life, and leading those I influence to do the same.
Rod Parsley Gets “Culturally Incorrect” on controversial social topics from abortion to Islam to homosexuality and more.
At this pivotal moment in history, America wrestles with herself. The minds and hearts of this generation have become the theater of conflict. It is a war of competing, mutually exclusive ways of viewing the universe and man’s place in it. It is a clash of paradigms, of value systems, and of visions of the future.
So says Pastor Rod Parsley in his latest book, “Culturally Incorrect: How Clashing Worldviews Affect Your Future.” Parsley contends that a healthy society requires the participation of morally founded people to offer policies that positively impact commerce and government; science and technology; and arts, entertainment and the media.
Parsley is the founder and president of The Center for Moral Clarity (CMC). Launched in 2004, CMC seeks to bridge the gap in America’s eroding value system by affecting moral change through passionate and effective Christian leadership and service. Parsley also serves as the senior pastor of World Harvest Church in Columbus, Ohio, and hosts “Breakthrough,” a daily and weekly television broadcast seen by millions across America and around the world. He is the bestselling author of “Silent No More.”
The Voice magazine caught up with Parsley to discuss his new book, the state of the Church, why Islam is making inroads into America, and many other ‘culturally incorrect’ topics.
Pastor Rod Parsley
The Voice: Why do you want people to read “Culturally Incorrect” and what do you hope they will learn?
Rod Parsley: The response to my previous book, “Silent No More,” showed me that we are a deeply divided people – politically and spiritually as well as morally. I wrote “Culturally Incorrect” to show why we are divided and how men and women of faith can engage in the war that is raging for the soul of our nation.
Through this book I want the culture at large to learn why the biblical worldview is superior to all others, and how false worldviews lead to disastrous results for our society. I also want the Church to understand its divine mandate to engage the culture. I truly believe this book can be the catalyst for a new Great Awakening in our nation, if the Church accepts its responsibility to make it happen.
The Voice: So you see another Great Awakening coming? How will it happen?
Rod Parsley: I absolutely see another Great Awakening coming to this nation in my lifetime, and the Word of God is calling this generation to its forefront. It’s incredible to imagine, but very realistic – God has used previous generations to effect massive cultural change before. The minds and hearts of this generation are the theater of conflict. Conflicting worldviews have led to competing, mutually exclusive ways of viewing the universe and man’s place in it. As the biblical worldview is shown to be superior – as it will, because absolute truth will not be denied – a new Great Awakening is not only possible, but inevitable.
The Voice: In the book you wrote, “We live in a generation of believers that has seemingly made the cross a gateway for self-help and converted the call to a life of Christian service into a quest for comfort and pleasure.” Whose fault is that? And how do we move out of a bless-me-only model of church that ultimately enables Christians to engage the culture around them?
Rod Parsley: I believe both church leaders and their followers share responsibility for our current state of lethargy, but would note that shepherds bear ultimate responsibility for their flocks. Today, we in the Church judge the effectiveness of a ministry by how many people are coming to worship services. I want us to return to a more telling measure of success, which is not how many people are coming but rather how many people are going into the culture to live transformed lives. I’m convinced that the Church’s failure to actively, vigorously and positively engage the culture has led to defeatism and isolation on our parts – and, as a result, we’re not heeding Jesus’ command to be salt and light.
The Voice: In “Culturally Incorrect” you write about withdrawal and isolation from society. Has there been too much focus on the rapture and not enough focus on advancing and establishing Christ’s Kingdom culture in our nation and the world?
Rod Parsley: It’s not a question of either-or. It’s a question of both-and. I don’t believe Christians can talk enough about our hope in the life to come – it is an essential component of the biblical worldview. I do believe the Church has ignored Christ’s mandate to establish the Kingdom of God on earth, and that necessarily involves engaging the culture, contending for the truth we’ve been given.
The Voice: What are the top three things that Christian leaders can do in their ministries to stop the onslaught of anti-Christ agendas?
Rod Parsley: It’s even more simple than that! The one most important thing our leadership can do is return to clear, biblical preaching of the cross. We have neglected to communicate biblical Christianity within our churches, and that has led to the current situation, in my judgment. Far too much of today’s preaching makes no mention of self-denial, which is entry-level Christianity.
While America’s liberal churches have abandoned the preaching of the cross because of its focus on sin and repentance, many conservative evangelical churches have shied away from it because of its unpopular call for self-denial and sacrifice. Many Christians have never been told that to save their life, they must lose it! Even our language suggests Christianity can be nothing more than a line on our resumes. We’re told to “accept Christ into our lives,” and that’s an attractive prospect for someone who already believes it’s all about them.
The Voice: What do you tell the person who says, “It may be your call from God to engage the culture, but not mine?”
Rod Parsley: If it’s a fellow Christian, I’d ask where in the Bible they found a personal exemption from Jesus’ command to be salt and light! I understand many believers are reluctant to come out of their sanctuaries and engage the culture. In the book I talk about “me and my comfort syndrome,” which is the product of an “easy believe” mentality in too much of the Church. I would only add that our divine appointment as ambassadors of our King requires us to witness our faith to a wayward culture. It’s not optional and it’s not flexible.
The Voice: Do you see progressive secularists in our nation pandering to those of Islamic faith while, at the same time, battling against the Christian faith? Or what is helping Islam make inroads in the United States?
Rod Parsley: The foundation of secular worldview is a rejection of the notion of absolute truth – that whatever is true for you may not be true for anyone else. This is a mindset that rejects Islam as well as Christianity, so I don’t think you’ll ever see secularists “pandering” to Muslims as such. I do believe, however, that the “anything goes” mentality of secularism has helped Islam make inroads in this nation. Man is continually looking to make sense of his surroundings, and Islam purports to do that. I noted in “Silent No More” that Islam is still growing rapidly in America, especially among blacks. As long as Bible believers fail to contend for the biblical worldview in the culture, something will fill the void in people’s hearts for something to believe in, and Muslims are, to say the least, aggressive about sharing their faith with others, to the point of imposing it.
The Voice: Non-believers say that Christians should not shove their morality and belief system down their throats. How do you address the issue of which moral compass our nation should look to?
Rod Parsley: I am committed to talking about God in the public square, as many of our Founding Fathers did. It’s impossible to divorce worldview from public policy and law-making. Yet I am mindful to do so with respect and humility. Terrorists operate by coercion. Christians have a different way of doing things – by persuasion, not compulsion. As former Attorney General John Ashcroft has said, “It is against my religion to impose my religion.”
The Voice: You discuss holding a biblical worldview that is not influenced by Marxism, Postmodernist worldviews and Humanism, etc. There is a push throughout our colleges and universities to produce graduates that have a “worldview.” Their worldview is that of a global citizen that will one day look to be governed by international law through the United Nations, not the United States Constitution. What’s your take on this?
Rod Parsley: I am a global citizen. Through our Bridge of Hope missions outreach, we’ve been active in meeting people’s physical and spiritual needs around the world. I started working to relieve human suffering in Sudan long before it was trendy to do so. My own view is that it would be a bad idea for the citizens of this nation to cede their authority to govern themselves to an international body, either the United Nations or some other organization.
Rod Parsley Preaching
The Voice: With the introduction of new words, terms and definitions, like the U.S. Constitution being called a “living document,” are we being set up for further judicial changes?
Rod Parsley: The notion that the Constitution should change over time has been around for decades and, in fact, was a factor in the U.S. Supreme Court’s outrageous Roe v. Wade decision in 1973. I addressed this situation, which I call “judicial tyranny,” in “Silent No More.” There are certainly many judges who hold to this erroneous view of the law on the bench today, but I’m grateful for those who are faithful to the historic role of the judiciary – to interpret the law, rather than make new law from the bench. Using the courts to advance a public-policy agenda has been part of the liberal playbook for a long time; it’s the only way they can get approval for their ideas. So I’m sure we’ll be having this discussion for the foreseeable future in this nation.
The Voice: You wrote about the myth of the separation of church and state in your book “Silent No More”. Since the writing of that book what has changed?
Rod Parsley: In one respect, nothing has changed. The concept of “separation of church and state” still does not appear in the Constitution! What has changed is that liberals and opponents of religious freedom have become even more militant in enforcing this outmoded concept. Around the world you’re seeing the proclamation of the Bible’s teaching on homosexuality denounced and even prosecuted as “hate speech,” and in some circumstances it’s illegal to evangelize in public. If we’re not vigilant we’ll see the elimination of our religious freedoms – all on the basis of a fictitious concept. It’s a scary thought, but one that should motivate Christians to action.
The Voice: Why does it seem that homosexuality has become so acceptable in American society? How do we combat the homosexual agenda that continues to sponsor hate crime legislation that intends to stop people like you from saying that homosexuality is immoral and their push to redefine the family?
Rod Parsley: The only way Christians can authentically and authoritatively approach the issue of homosexuality is from a heart of compassion. Love, not animosity, must be our motivation. It grieves me, for example, that the median age of homosexual men at death is 42 and for the population at large, the median age at death is 75. For lesbians, the median age at death is 45; for heterosexual women, 79. How can we not have compassion and love for people who are dying decades before they should?
We’ve fallen into the trap of labeling those on the other side as crazy, stupid or evil. That’s no way to save souls! In many cases, we have to convince our adversaries that we’re not hateful or vengeful before we can contend for the truth we bring them. In “Culturally Incorrect,” I have made the case as persuasively as I can that Christians should assertively contend for the biblical worldview and accept the call of authentic Christianity for their own lives. We possess absolute truth – God is the ultimate reality – and we shouldn’t be afraid to say so.
The Voice: Millions of babies have been murdered through abortions. In your book you talk about not settling for a partial victory. What is the next battle?
Rod Parsley: We won a great battle in April, when the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the federal Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003. I was present when President Bush signed that bill into law, and it’s gratifying to know that it will be enforced. Through our grassroots organization, the Center for Moral Clarity, we are involved now in helping to provide ultrasound machines for pro-life women’s clinics around the nation. We know that nearly nine out of every 10 women considering abortion will change their mind and keep their babies once they see an ultrasound image of the life inside them. Ultimately, though, my goal is to see Roe v. Wade overturned; that would send the battle over legal abortion back to the states, where it belongs, and I look forward to advocating for life at the state level when that happens.
The Voice: How can the everyday disciple of Christ make a difference?
Rod Parsley: First, by realizing that each of us already possesses the ability to make a difference. Unfortunately, most of us don’t use the influence we have over others – and we each have spheres of influence in our families, workplaces and communities. It’s also vital for disciples of Christ to understand and commit to the biblical mandate to be salt and light in Matthew 5. The current generation of believers has failed to meet the culture in the marketplace of ideas and present a relevant, compelling Gospel. We must, as Peter says, always be ready to give an answer for the hope that is within us. Only biblical Christianity brings meaningful, coherent and tested answers to our most basic questions – so believe me, our non-Christian friends and neighbors need what we have to offer; it’s just a matter of whether we will be obedient to share what we know.
The Voice: How will Church be different 25 years from now?
Rod Parsley: Frankly, the state of the Church 25 years from now depends on what we do now. If the Church doesn’t wake up and fulfill the mission that God has laid out for us in His Word, just 4 percent of my daughter’s generation will be Bible-believing Christians. This compares to 35 percent of my generation and 65 percent of my parents’ generation accepting the Bible as the Word of God. So you’re talking about a tremendous decline in the Church’s influence within two generations if we don’t accept our duty to become assertive advocates for our faith and for a biblical worldview.
The Voice: How has writing this book changed Rod Parsley?
Rod Parsley: Studying worldviews for “Culturally Incorrect” has helped me better understand the motivations for people’s actions in the public arena, especially those with whom I disagree. It’s important to understand what makes an abortion advocate or a same-sex marriage supporter believe what he or she believes. That’s the first step to persuading him or her to the rightness of my cause. I’ve also developed an even more profound sense of urgency about living an authentic Christian life, and leading those I influence to do the same.
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