Why we've got it soooooooo wrong. (I'm serious!)

Christians are too divided. We are never going to see the move of God the way we desire, or rather the way that God desires to move unless we unify ourselves of heart, mind, and, spirit. We must come together now. 1 Corinthians 1:10-13 says:

“Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. For it has been declared to me concerning you, my brethren, by those of Chloe’s household, that there are contentions among you. Now I say this, that each of you says, ‘I am of Paul,’ or ‘I am of Apollos’ or ‘I am of Cephas,’ or ‘I am of Christ’. Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?”

Today we get caught up in what denomination we belong to, what church we worship at, or even worse, what political party we support! All these things are dividing the church! Our government is broken- some miss social justice and others reject moral tenets. None are good! If we rephrase verse 13 for today: “…Was Hillary Clinton crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Dick Cheney?” Absolutely not! Why are we divided over this? Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and give to God what is God’s! Once we become children of God we belong to Him. We are not Republican or Democrat; we are of the Kingdom of Heaven! We are not Baptist, Catholic, or Methodist; we are Christians! We belong to God, and should be putting His desires, teachings, and ways first. We shouldn’t put God through our political or religious filter. We should be putting politics and religion through God’s filter. This changes how we approach these things. We are to vote based on who lines up most with God’s ideals after prayer. Then, whether the person we voted for won or not, we are to remain in prayer for the winner of each election every day. God says to pray for all of our leaders, not just the ones you like. Don’t pray that they’ll come around to your way of thinking. Pray that they’ll come around to what God is doing, for His plans are bigger and wiser than all of us can comprehend. Be God’s and let that be that!

I'm busy, come again...

Here's a cool story I found in a message board to illustrate what I've been saying about how we use our time. Take from it what you will...

"Satan called a worldwide convention. In his opening address to his evil angels, he said, "We can't keep the Christians from going to church. We can't keep then from reading their Bibles and knowing the truth. We can't even keep them from conservative values. But we can do something else. We can keep them from forming an intimate, abiding experience in Christ. If they gain that connection with Jesus, our power over them is broken. So let them go to church, let them have their conservative lifestyles, but steal their time, so they can't gain that experience in Jesus Christ. This is what I want you to do, angels. Distract them from gaining hold of their Savior and maintaining that vital connection throughout their day!" "How shall we do this?", shouted his angels. "Keep them busy in the nonessentials of life and invent unnumbered schemes to occupy their minds," he answered. "Tempt them to spend, spend, spend, then, borrow, borrow, borrow. Convince the wives to go to work and the husbands to work 6 or 7 days a week, 10-12 hrs. a day, so they can afford their lifestyles. Keep them from spending time with their children. As their family fragments, soon, their homes will offer no escape from the pressures of work." "Overstimulate their minds so that they cannot hear that still small voice. Entice them to play the radio or cassette player whenever they drive, to keep the TV, the VCR, and their CD's going constantly in their homes. See to it that every store and restaurant in the world plays music constantly. This will jam their minds and break that union with Christ." "Fill their coffee tables with magazines and newspapers. Pound their minds with the news 24 hrs. a day. Invade their driving moments with billboards. Flood their mailboxes with junk mail, sweepstakes, mail order catalogues, and every kind of newsletter and promotional offering, free products, services, and false hopes." Even in their recreation, let them be excessive. Have them return from their recreation exhausted, disquieted and unprepared for the coming week. Don't let them go out in nature. Send them to amusement parks, sporting events, concerts and movies instead. And when they meet for spiritual fellowship, involve them in gossip and small talk so that they leave with troubled consciences and unsettled emotion." "Let them be involved in soul-winning. But crowd their lives with so many good causes they have no time to seek power from Christ. Soon they will be working in their own strength, sacrificing their health and family unity for the good of the cause." It was quite a convention in the end. And the evil angels went eagerly to their assignments causing Christians everywhere to get busy, busy, busy and rush here and there.Has the devil been successful at his scheme? You be the judge."

1 Timothy 2:4 (KJV)- "No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier." Even though I've been going through a period of fasting and praying, I haven't been able to cut out the distractions of my life to the point that I feel I should. It is truly a difficult thing to do. It is only by truly learning to pray all the time, even in the midst of distractions, that we will be able to hear God's voice consistently. Jesus was always surrounded by people. Sure, he got away by himself to pray and recharge his batteries, but still maintained a line of communication with the Father in the midst of the busy times.

Where do you belong?

Day 31 of this period of fasting and prayer- I'm almost there (at the end of 40 days)!

I believe that the 7 churches in The Revelation don't represent actual geographic territories, so much as they do general states of (dys)function of the Church during the end times. It's as if you went to a Baptist church in Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, Toronto, or Manila. You are still a member of the Baptist church. Certain denominations certainly show the listed charachter traits, since the people of each denomination reflect what that denomination teaches. Again, this isn't indicative of everybody in that denomination, or a condemnation of an entire denomination, as there are good people that really desire to worship and serve God in all that they do wherever they choose to worship. I see all of these churches functioning all over the world. The church of Ephesus can easily represent hardline fundementalism. The followers of this church hate sin, but also tend to hate the people that sin. They have forgot the first works, all based out of love.Churches such as Pergamos and Thiatira can represent hardline liberalism. The followers of this church have distorted God's word, blasphemed God, and given up God's teachings to look more acceptable to the world.There are lessons to be learned here. Wherever we worship, we should desire to belong to the church of Philidelphia. We have to decide to place our lives in the rhythm of the Holy Spirit everyday. (Rev. 3:10) "Because you have kept my command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those that dwell upon the earth." It is an ongoing challenge. It's so easy to get wrapped up in what we do everyday, that our senses become numb to how God moves and what God says. (2 Timothy 2:4) "No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who has chosen him to be a soldier". Prayer, scripture reading, and a fasted lifestyle keep us in touch with a God who has created each of us to do something special. If we get caught up in putting tv, video games, work, political activism, and other activities before tending to our daily relationship with God, that's where the tendencies of these other churches can come into our lives. The passions of our life become selfish and distorted.We can all name churches, denominations, and people that are full of the traits in the other churches (maybe even ourselves): niether cold nor hot, sexual immorality, celebrating activities that are dedicated to the prevailing god of the day (self), unbiblical doctrines, blasphemy, and unloving behavior. The key to these verses is this: John tells each church with God's own words how to avoid the fate he has spelled out. However, most people in these churches won't hear what is being said, and will continue down the path that draws them away from God. We just need to ask ourselves, "Am I really of the church of Philidelphia"? "What traits do I show from the other churches?" "What must I do to change my fate?" When we learn to follow God daily, we can then help others to that same place. That is what God desires for each of us.

Shhhhhh...

We all feel an amazing amount of stress in our lives. That is because of the pace at which we live. I'm not advocating laziness, but I am saying that the pace of our lives needs to be slowed way down, in order to decipher the crap from the treasure. We think that it is enough to call ourselves God's, and live like we always have. I'm not talking about what we do, but when we do. That's the trouble... we always do. And when we don't, we find other things to do! We will only hear from God, and feel His presence change us, as we spend time in quiet reflection with Him. It is so easy to go, go, go. It is so hard to sit in silence while we wait on God. But, it is the only way to really know we are on the right track to becoming who He created us to be. We need to stop planning, doing, or distracting ourselves just long enough to hear what God has for us. Then we can be confident that when we do, we do as God has willed. We are so in a hurry, that even as we pray or read scripture, it's hurried. We must slow down our minds and bodies to get in touch with God. There are a couple ancient monastic practices to help with this. 1) Centering Prayer- In this prayer we just want to quiet ourselves and as we breath in we pray, "Jesus Crist, Son of God", and as we exhale we pray, "have mercy on me, a sinner". This is called "The Jesus Prayer". We do this over and over, and feel our bodies relax. Then we sit in complete silence and focus on what God shows us. Pick a word or phrase to center yourself with as your mind starts to wander (i.e. Jesus, love, Holy Spirit, etc.). Sit and wait on God. The Holy Spirit will come over you and you should feel at peace. Then you can begin to pray and read in a state that allows you to be more receptive to God.
In America, we tend to read really fast. The monks practised the Lectio Divina. It is a process of reading slowly, silently, and contemplatively, waiting for God to point out a verse or phrase to us. We focus on the verse or phrase, repeating it over and over again in your mind, until it sinks in deep. What does this verse say to you? Why is it for you? How can you bring this into your life? Rest and let God speak to you. Go back into a centering silence, and let God's words be all that you hear. Write out what you have learned, so as to not forget it.
These two practices seem foriegn to us, but are ancient. They seem odd, because it is exactly the opposite of how we live our lives. How much time do we waste everyday? Can you remember moments you've spent unwisely today? We need to get in the practice of praying all the time. Spending time with God like this 4 times a day (morning, afternoon, evening, and night) will help move you in the right direction, even if at times you can only spend 5-10 minutes. Try it expectantly, you won't be disappointed.

Don't bury your head!

When 10,000 people are chanting "Death to America", shouldn't we realize that maybe there is a significant threat to our well being? Especially, when country of said protesters are working on atomic weapons! The longer we bury our heads in the sand and ignore it, the greater the risk. This country wants Isreal eliminated. They are a threat. To deny the time we are at in history, is to deny yourself a great opportunity. Take heed and do something great!

Iran Removing 40 Ambassadors From Posts
By ALI AKBAR DAREINI, Associated Press Writer 2 hours, 5 minutes ago
TEHRAN, Iran -
Iran's hard-line government said Wednesday it was removing 40 ambassadors and senior diplomats, including supporters of warmer ties with the West, from their posts in a shake-up that comes as the Islamic republic takes a more confrontational international stance.
Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki announced the changes to parliament, saying "the missions of more than 40 ambassadors and heads of Iranian diplomatic missions abroad will expire by the end of the year," which is March 20 under the Iranian calendar.
Mottaki, quoted by the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency, did not specify which ambassadors were among those being removed.
But IRNA said they included the ambassador to London, Mohammad Hossein Adeli, one of Iran's top diplomats and a leading member of the pragmatic foreign policy wing that supports contacts with Europe.
The moves give the new government of ultraconservative President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the chance to purge pro-reform figures brought in by his predecessor, moderate
Mohammad Khatami and install its own supporters.
Ahmadinejad has taken a tougher line on a number of issues, particularly negotiations with Britain, France and Germany over Iran's controversial nuclear program. Hard-liners have criticized Khatami's government for agreeing to freeze much of the country's atomic activities during the talks, and Ahmadinejad already has replaced much of the negotiating team with hard-liners.
The new president, elected in June, also generated a storm of international criticism last week when he called for
Israel's eradication, saying it should be "wiped off the map."
Tensions with Europe and the United States over the nuclear issue are high after Iran ended part of its freeze on nuclear activities earlier this year, resuming uranium conversion at a plant in Isfahan. Washington accuses Iran of secretly aiming to develop nuclear weapons, while Tehran counters that its nuclear program is for generating electricity.
The U.N. nuclear watchdog agency, the
International Atomic Energy Agency, will review Iran's cooperation on the nuclear issue during a Nov. 24 meeting, and Washington is pressing for Tehran to be referred to the
U.N. Security Council, where it could face sanctions for violating the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.
Sanctions, however, are unlikely.
Iran is sending conflicting signals to an international community concerned about its nuclear agenda, granting U.N. inspectors access to a secret military site but also saying it would process a new batch of uranium that could be used to make atomic weapons, diplomats in Vienna, Austria, said Wednesday on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.
The diplomats said IAEA experts were allowed to revisit a high-security military site in Parchin as they try to establish whether Tehran has a secret nuclear weapons program.
Parchin has been linked by the United States and other nations to alleged experiments linked to nuclear arms. The IAEA had for months been trying to follow up on a visit in January for further checks of buildings and areas within the sprawling military complex as it looks for traces of radioactivity.
Iran also has handed over documents and granted interviews with several senior officials believed linked to black market purchases of uranium enrichment technology, the diplomats said.
Ahmadinejad's victory in June elections sealed the decline of Iran's reform movement and solidified the control of hard-liners over the government. Some Iranians fear Ahmadinejad — a longtime member of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards — will bring back the policies of restrictions at home and confrontation abroad seen after the 1979 Islamic Revolution led by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
On Wednesday, more than 10,000 demonstrators shouted "Death to America!" and "Death to Israel!" in front of the former U.S. Embassy in Tehran in the largest such demonstration in years.
Hard-liners organize protests at the site annually to mark the anniversary of the Nov. 4, 1979 seizure of the embassy by student militants.
Demonstrators carried a large picture of Ahmadinejad emblazoned with his quote, "Israel must be wiped off the map." They burned U.S. and Israeli flags and effigies of
President Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Arial Sharon. Some wore a traditional Palestinian kaffiyah headdress, symbolizing their readiness to fight Israel.
"We have to continue our confrontation with the United States and Israel. This could help the world get rid of the arrogant powers," the hard-line Jomhuri Eslami daily said in an editorial.

Blessed are the peacemakers?

There are few things harder than living a life of love and being a peacemaker. In these times, few people are tough-skinned enough to take criticism. So many people are so sensitive and not mature enough to handle being offended. Guys used to be able to get into fights, which would often solve the problem. Now, I'd be afraid of a lawsuit if I ever threw a punch (Not that I should be throwing any). Because we can't ever express anger or displeasure without the threat of a lawsuit, our rage burns stronger. That is the nice thing about knowing God's peace. We can become offended and let it roll off our backs. God will settle our score someday, we don't need to here. But, because the people in this day and age are so thin-skinned, we may not be able to talk about important parts of our faith, someday soon, without it being classified as hate speech. This didn't stop the apostles. They were constantly in trouble with the Pharicees and Roman government. They were told to outright stop talking about Jesus. This eventually ended in the death of many apostles, because they wouldn't stop. This is the dichotomy we face; to love and be peacemakers, but to be relentless in furthering the word of God. How can we do both? That is the question we face everyday. They usually go hand in hand. Our actions should be our gospel. Very rarely do we have to step out and create waves by defending God's word. Those opportunities may increase someday. But for now, oddly enough, most of those oppotunities will come with the new apostate church.