Jimmie's Book

My mentor, Jimmie, is in the process of writing a book and has published the first chapter in seven parts on his blog. This is good stuff. He posted the chapter parts backwards on his blog so I will put the links in order so you can read them in order. Check it out.

I feel sort of privileged in that I have a copy of the book that started this but will never be published because he decided to put all three books into one.


Ministry Staff and Pragmatism
Biblical Incompetence
The God's of Ministry
Church member Pragmatism
Hired Guns
Business Model Management
Theological Incompetence

Which Theologian are You?

This was very interesting. I found the quiz over at Soup's. I have never heard of Anselm before and probably will check him out some. I find it interesting considering i have self tought myself concerning my thological stances.

You scored as Anselm. Anselm is the outstanding theologian of the medieval period.He sees man's primary problem as having failed to render unto God what we owe him, so God becomes man in Christ and gives God what he is due. You should read 'Cur Deus Homo?'

Anselm 93% Martin Luther 80% Karl Barth 80% Jonathan Edwards 60% John Calvin 53% Augustine 33% Friedrich Schleiermacher 33% Paul Tillich 27% Charles Finney 27% J?Moltmann 27% Which theologian are you? created with QuizFarm.com

I am Impressed

We had some good comments on the post about music being the one thing that got me out of the legalistic crowd. The one thing that got me was we focused on the music and not the real point of the post. I was purposely vague about what I like as far as music goes, although anyone who has read my blog for long could glean that from my lyric posts. The real point was in the last paragraph and Heidi was the only one who seemed to have gotten it. She also added a valid point. We need to study and know what is true so that when we see what is not we will know it.

Heidi’s comment also makes me want to add a disclaimer on my blog. I make the claim of being a modern prophet, but I want you to understand I am not the authority, I am only the conduit. I am still human and prone to mistakes, and sin. DO NOT TAKE WHAT I SAY TO BE THE FINAL WORD! Look it up yourselves, study the Word and see if what I say lines up, if it does not call me on it. I am not afraid to be wrong and I will not chastise someone who can point out that I am wrong. As a mater of fact I would be grateful to someone who could show me that I am truly wrong, but be prepared to back it up. Do not be a lazy Christian and accept what I say as the gospel without first going to the Word and verifying it.

Note: I am quite eclectic when it comes to music, but it has to meet one criterion for myself. It has to glorify G_d. Not all music that does not is bad; I just find I can’t listen to it. It sets me on edge for some reason.

So I am Smart, Not That Anybody Cares

I will say this test is flawed somewhere in the logic department but is a fairly accurate portrayal. The last real IQ test I took I got a 126 and it said I scored high in logical and sequential thinking.

Your IQ Is 130

Your Logical Intelligence is Below Average Your Verbal Intelligence is Exceptional Your Mathematical Intelligence is Genius Your General Knowledge is Genius

A Quick and Dirty IQ Test

Thanks Heidi

Music Was My Undoing

Arielle noted on my comments that she never would have taken me for a post-legalist, but to some extent in my distant past I was legalistic in my stance concerning Christianity. I had felt that people should follow the Word and if you did not, or did not fit in my theology you just could not possibly be a Christian or you just were not that good of one. There was one little problem I had; I could not toe the line with most people who are dogmatically legalistic in one little area. These people are whom I now refer to as the “Music Police”. These people are quite dogmatic in what is acceptable to listen to. If it is not a hymn in one of the recognized hymnals then the song has no value to G_d and should be shunned. If the song is set to modern music it is all the worse. I just could not stomach this. For as good as a lot of hymns are they are not scripture, nor are they sacred in any way. They are just man’s attempt at musically glorifying Him. There are some hymns that are not even good music, lyrically or musically. The one that stands out the most to me is a hymn titled “ Tell the Good News”. This hymn is supposed to exhort the believer to spread the gospel, yet each time I hear it I cannot get out of my mind the phrase “tell the gnus” (I know the “g” is silent in that name but it does not come out that way in my mind). As hard as I try to keep from thinking “Why do African antelope need to hear this story?” I just can’t. I also like modern music. I grew up listening to country, rock-n-roll, and pop music.

The whole thing got me to thinking about what kind of music is pleasing to G_d. The more I looked the more I found that there were no specific bans on types of music. The more I researched the origin of hymns the more I realized that the style of music was simply a reflection of the common music of the period it was written in. This got me to thinking more (I know that is dangerous) about what kind of music was common before most of the common hymns of today were written. My research at the time was limited and I could not find much information on the subject. It was almost as if music was not around before the hymns. I know that it was because there are references in the Word about praising Him with music, but it seems history was quiet about it. It just may not have been an issue in the church during that time.

Well the whole music issue got me to thinking about the rest of the legalistic positions and I realized that while sin is still sin and we are to strive toward perfection in Christ, we can never do it on our own, and that there is a broad spectrum of doctrine within Christianity that is not heresy. This was an eye-opener for me and I have since been striving to find just what the Word says without the intervention of man-made doctrine. It has not been easy and at times I have had to reconsider what I have previously thought to be true, but this is what is truly meant by “working out our salvation”. I like to call it the daily struggle to follow after Yeshua and has been truly “my undoing”.

Two Camps Divided

This is something I have been working on for a while. I know that I am going to be generalizing to some extent, but I have a concept stuck in my head that gets shattered when we talk about individuals and not groups. Individuals are just that individual and not easily put into one group. Yet, when I look at things from a distance I can see the divisions clearly.

Predominately I can see two camps in the Christian community; one is so busy trying to ensure the integrity of the gospel that they have lost their first love, the other is almost reactionary to the first group in that they have focused so much on G_d’s love and acceptance they have forgotten that He is also a just G_d and cannot abide sin. These two groups are so busy fighting each other that those who can be reached with the pure loving Gospel of Yeshua are lost in the crossfire. The more I wonder about how these two groups can be reconciled the more I wonder if it is even possible. Neither is willing to bend from their position. They have their hand picked favorite verses from the Word and will stick to them as if it meant life or death. I think this is the single most frustrating thing about my calling. Sometimes I think that it would be easier if I concentrated on bringing my message to the lost and letting the camps struggle and fight it out with each other, but I know my calling is to all people in hopes that their eyes will be opened.

How can I show these two vastly different ideological camps can learn to work as one? When they can let go of the petty squabbles and mesh; they can show Yeshua’s love, glory, and power more effectively. Can we not see that though G_d is just and cannot abide the imperfection that sin brings, including those sins that would corrupt His message, He loves us so much that He would do whatever it takes to bring us back to Him? While the solution is not simple we must come to an understanding that going to extremes to protect a point of view will only drive people away. Those that wish to condemn anything that is not specifically in the Word such as the style of music one listens to, or the exact style of your clothes need to understand that a legalistic approach will only drive people away from His love. Those who wish to ignore unrepentant sin under the guise of His love and grace being enough to cover that sin open us up to dangerous heresies such as universalism and need to be aware that the Word is clear that we are not to abide in sin.

This is where I came to an epiphany of sorts. I am not supposed to be fighting ideology with ideology. I am not even supposed to be “fighting” any one said group. That is not my job. If I tried “fighting” I will lose. This is exactly what is going on between the different camps. All I have to do is present the truth of Yeshua’s Holy, complete, furious yet gentle love for us; the rest is up to Him. He will cajole, woo, draw near those who open their hearts and listen. That is all any of us have to do. It is not our message it is His. We just get the privilege of being the “tool” He uses to get that message out.

I Love My Dog

I got a call on my cell phone here at work tonight. It was my oldest son telling me that he thinks we have a rattlesnake in the backyard. I can hear in the background Remington going nuts in the yard. I ask him “are you sure we have a rattlesnake?”, and he goes on to describe the snake to me including the fact that it’s tail is rattling. OK this is not good. I work an hour away, and a lot can happen in an hour including my dog getting stupid and getting killed. I trust my children to stay far enough away to not get bit. Here I am telling my son that he needs to get Remmy into the garage. My thinking was that, as soon as the snake felt less threatened it should leave. Ditto is then telling me that Remmy goes even more ballistic if he (my son) goes out there because Remmy seems to know that this particular snake is dangerous and is trying to protect him from the snake. This is why I love my dog. The closer Ditto got to Remmy meant the closer my son got to the snake. Remington would then get more aggressive with the snake if my son tried to come toward Remington to get the dog to safety. I am convinced that Remington would have risked his life to protect my son and tried to kill the snake had my son actually tried to get Remmy out of there. Fortunately, while I was talking to Birdie things quieted down in the backyard. Apparently the snake saw an avenue of escape and did so.

A Disturbing Trend

All of us have noticed the reduction in the amount of clothing young women are wearing today. I unfortunately get a huge overdose of it every weekend while I am working at Sears. Some of the stuff they wear today would have been considered lingerie just 5 years ago. The gap between the top of the pants or skirt and the bottom of the shirt is getting wider. Well this trend has followed into maternity clothing. It is hard to find clothing for a pregnant woman with out it being of the “belly bare” variety. I went looking at our local Wally World and could find nothing that could have been considered modest for Birdie. Well don’t think children don’t notice this either. Birdie was looking at some advertisement from a baby formula manufacturer she got in the mail and all of the pregnant women in the add were wearing the “belly bare” clothing. Puddleglum was cuddled up with her (as best any child could be cuddled up with a mom who is 8 months pregnant) at the time and remarked “Those ladies don’t know how to wear their shirts anymore?!!”

The Reckless Raging Fury

That is the most apt description of the love that G_d has for us I have ever read or heard. His love in an all-encompassing fire that lifts us up, tries us, and refines us without consuming us. It is steady, never-ending, and passionate. Yes I said passionate, Most of us think of G_d in some paternal sense, Father, Brother, Friend, but we think little about the passion He has for us. There is an old hymn called “Jesus Lover of my Soul” and it is very true. His love for us is so passionate and reckless that He did what most would consider unthinkable. He took our place; He came to earth, lived with us, and then died for us so that we could experience His love in its fullness. Most of us understand love as an emotion that is fleeting and has degrees, but Yeshua’s love has no degrees. There is nothing we can do to earn His love and nothing we can do to remove His love. If we were even given a small portion of His love we could not handle it, it is that strong. This has been a hard concept for me as I spent a good portion of my life not knowing I was loved like this. I knew He loved me, but I did not understand the passion involved in His love. Yeshua is still refining the understanding of this love in me.

Interestingly enough I was introduced to the concept in a novel written by Ted Dekker called “When Heaven Weeps”. I am now reading “ An Arrow Pointing to Heaven” which is a biography of Rich Mullins who as most of us know was one of the great musicians of our time. His song “The Love of God” is where I got the title for this post, and one of the few songs that I can hear in my head when I read the lyrics. I will leave you with that song for tonight. My we all be captured by the reckless raging furry that is the love of G_d.

There's a wideness in God's mercy
I cannot find in my own
And He keeps His fire burning
To melt this heart of stone
Keeps me aching with a yearning
Keeps me glad to have been caught
In the reckless raging fury
That they call the love of God

Now I've seen no band of angels
But I've heard the soldiers' songs
Love hangs over them like a banner
Love within them leads them on
To the battle on the journey
And it's never gonna stop
Ever widening their mercies
And the fury of His love

Oh the love of God
And oh, the love of God
The love of God

Joy and sorrow are this ocean
And in their every ebb and flow
Now the Lord a door has opened
That all Hell could never close
Here I'm tested and made worthy
Tossed about but lifted up
In the reckless raging fury
That they call the love of God

Would anybody be so kind as to explain .. Jesus.. to me?

This was the question posed to me a couple of weeks ago by a young girl from Malaysia. She was the main reason I set up an e-mail account on my blog. So far she has had difficulty contacting me through my e-mail. So my gentle readers I would like to hear from you and tell me what Jesus means to you. I will post my comments soon, but I think that a wide selection of personal stories from those who are Yeshua’s followers would also be beneficial.

She goes by the moniker of hairscrunchie.

Hairscrunchie,
I will put up my e-mail address again so if you are having trouble using the link you can cut and paste the address into your e-mail program.

eaglewoodone@hotmail.com

Update on Osteen

I said I could find the transcript here it is:
Interview With Joel Osteen

Here is the specific quote.

KING: What if you're Jewish or Muslim, you don't accept Christ at all?

OSTEEN: You know, I'm very careful about saying who would and wouldn't go to heaven. I don't know ...

KING: If you believe you have to believe in Christ? They're wrong, aren't they?

OSTEEN: Well, I don't know if I believe they're wrong. I believe here's what the Bible teaches and from the Christian faith this is what I believe. But I just think that only God with judge a person's heart. I spent a lot of time in India with my father. I don't know all about their religion. But I know they love God. And I don't know. I've seen their sincerity. So I don't know. I know for me, and what the Bible teaches, I want to have a relationship with Jesus.

The rest of the interview did not sound all that bad so I will reserve judgment for now. I will continue my study of his writings and wait on the Holy Spirit to give me guidance. I still know he has preached what is known as the “Prosperity Gospel”. I know that he does not ask for money in his broadcasts, but he does teach, “seed faith” when it comes to giving and receiving. While it is not completely unbiblical in it’s basic concept, too many preachers have used it to bilk money from people telling them if they just have enough faith then that seed will grow into something great, while the only one who actually benefits is the preacher who gets the donation.

Ok, I am done with my rant on this; I am reserving judgment for now due to my ignorance of Joel’s complete teachings, but the quote in the interview is enough to give me pause.

A Sad Disagreement

I have sat on this for a couple of days to ensure that I did not post something in haste that I would regret later. Cowboy has gone and made what was a lively but largely civil discussion on Andrea’s and my blog personal.

On a previous post I did mention my concern for Cowboy to Arielle when she posted her concern for him in my comments as well. Cowboy, if you took offence at that then I truly apologize and seek your forgiveness. I will endeavor to not get personal here on my blog, but if you wish to have an honest rational debate on whether or not the gospel is a message of temporal prosperity I will be happy to engage you in it.

For now I would like to address the personal attack:

“And y’all better be careful with your criticism. You’re not God and He said not once, but twice, “Touch not mine anointed.”

Do ya think you’re qualified to decide? I’m sure I’m not. It’s especially amusing to me that a self-proclaimed prophet is attacking people by name.

(Here’s a hint: That’s not what prophets do. Maybe that’s why Joel’s pastoring a church of about 20,000 and you’re blogging about him. Who’s doing more for the gospel?) “

First off no man is above criticism that includes myself. As to the comment about a “self-proclaimed” prophet you are so off the mark it is not even funny. I spent 10 years running from my calling (I know that is my fault but it is the truth), as a matter of fact if G_d would simply release me from His call on my life, I would be quite happy to go back to living in blissful ignorance. Life would be a lot easier. But seeing as how G_d knows better than me, He has not released His call on my life. So, Cowboy, if you take the “touch not my anointed” to mean that we are not to criticize then you are treading on dangerous ground yourself.

As to the subject of attacking people by name, I have made a point of not naming names;(I should have just kept to that policy) I did not name any until you, Cowboy, challenged someone to name people who were preaching the “Prosperity Gospel”. I did so over at Andrea’s. You, my friend, did not like my answer and challenged me again on Mr. Osteen. I checked things out again and stood by my original statement. I do not like naming names because it is the message that I am concerned about. I do not care if the guy’s name is Joe Bob Smith, it does not matter to me, but if he is preaching a message that denies or even waters down the gospel, I will not be afraid to speak up; but if we are going to make snide remarks about Mr. Osteen and myself well I will address them. Mr. Osteen preaches to a crowd of 20,000 because he tells them what they want to hear and it tickles their ears, I am not afraid to tell people the truth even if they don’t like it, therefore I do not have many people beating my door down to hear what I have to say.

Cowboy, I want you to know I love you like a brother. If you truly understood what that means to me you might even be touched. I do not always agree with you (I don’t always agree with my real brothers either), but I had come to respect you if for no other reason than you stick by your guns and will not back down from what you think is right. That is why what you said hurts a lot. I do not take my status as a modern prophet lightly. It is not something I asked for, and is a cup I wish could pass, but like I said He would not pass this cup to another.

As for the rest of Cowboy’s post.

At first I thought the best way to argue my case was to counter DC’s points one by one, but I realize that will do no good and DC would not see my counterpoints for what they are. I guess I am a little angry with myself for being baited into this in the first place over at Andrea’s. Whether or not DC wishes to admit it he does use the classic arguments of those involved in teaching the “Prosperity Gospel”.

I am going to be clear, I have not said or even implied that G_d wants us to be poor. What I have said is that we need to be sure of where are treasures are. There was a time I would have liked to have great financial wealth, but I have come to realize over the years that wealth is not about money it is about what you value. My riches are not in gold, silver, dollars, or whatever monetary value I could gain. Would it be nice if I had enough money to not concern myself with the bills? Yes it would but that is not my focus and should not be your focus. My riches are in my family and the ones I love they are more precious to me than anything in this world. The Word says that our heart will be where our treasure is, so are we looking to build a temporal treasure here that we cannot take with us and will fade away to nothing or will we lay up our treasures in Heaven where they cannot be corrupted?

One last point on Mr. Osteen, my problem is not with him, but his message. (Again I want to make it clear I did not bring up any names until I was challenged to name them. My preference is to teach the truth of Yeshua’s Gospel in all of its glory and brutality. When we know the truth we can see the counterfeit for what it is.) He cannot even agree on the most basic tenant of the Christian faith. That tenant is that Yeshua (Jesus Christ) is the only way to the Father period. In an interview with Larry King Mr. Osteen claimed that there is more than one path to heaven, basically opening up things for other religions like Islam, Buddhism, and many others. When he was pressed on the issue to make a definitive statement he waffled and said it was not up to him to decide, that was G_d’s area. (If I have to I will look up the specific transcripts but it is late now and I need to go to bed) He denies the truth of the gospel, so I cannot take anything else he says as truth. That is not furthering the gospel that is deceiving people out of a true relationship with the creator of the universe. How many will lose their souls because the gate has been opened to believe whatever you want to believe as long as you support his church.

Good News in the Blogging World

Billy D is BACK. It is enough to make this sick man’s heart soar. I will try not to party to hard as the coughing fits will get quite bad.

He has changed the color scheme and the name to “Because I Swear…” (I will let him explain). Go give him a visit and see what is going on in His neck of the woods.