I hate narrow-mindedness..
In Personal Evangelism we learned, that we should not expect a non-Christian to think and act like a bliever.. I fully agree to that! .. But what about believers? I am so sick and tired of people talking about GOD and Jesus and the Holy Spirit, while at the same time denying what He DOES!
Don't get me wrong here: Most Boyce- and Seminary Students will affirm what He DID, but hardly at all what He DOES. Even worse: They limit the actions of the Holy Spirit to preparing hearts and inspiring sermons ONLY.. (besides other minor issues) - even worse! they say that most of the things we read about in acts where apostolic miracles and thus do not occur in todays time anymore..
Narrow minded Sceptics! How little their faith is! And they don't even CARE that nothing ever HAPPENS in their life! the most exciting thing is a conversion.. oh pleeeeeease! give me a break!!
God never liked the size of the boxes that people tried to enclose Him in.. But those who don't demand from their father, need not receive! Thus I am not surprised most Baptists don't really experience anything extraorinary.. I may say: 99 to 100 % of the things "happening" (for which many people give God credit for) is man made.. Even worse: Most churches would probably be run much better by good non-christian business leaders, than by whatever we are trying to talk ourselves into being. Sounds offensive? oh boo-hoo. Reality does not always sound as sweet as we'd like it to sound.
why this bothers me is simple: non-Christians can say "this can all be explained by chance, well planned organization, psychology, and trained obedience" - and THEY ARE RIGHT!! as a Christian I don't believe in chance, but for a non-Christian, none of this makes sense! unless he decides not to think about it too much.. "leave your brain at the door when you enter church" - gee, I hated this line! but so many non-Christian people said this very thing to me.. I strongly disagreed! But with many churches I have to say: they're right!! :(
WHERE IS GOD?! this question bothers me MUCH these days! a LOT of teaching, NO love.. (hmm, makes me think of 1. corinthians 13:2) - but let's get to the point: what about God? where is He at? if what we are doing is nothing but psychology, training, organizing and making a habit out of doing whatever we're doing every sunday, WHERE IS THE POINT?!?! is this really what God called us to do?!
I say NO!! no no no no no no no NO!!! :( The Great Commission is a great thing - a very important commandment. I fully agree. But it's not the only one in that book!!! :( What about the healings? what about the prophecy? what about the speaking in tongues? what about all those gifts of the Spirit we simply DROPPED from our church schedule?! Does the Bible not teach us to practice ALL of these?!
I am sick and tired of half-lived truths! It's either the WHOLE Bible or none of it! And if you are attending a church that does not believe in healing, prophecy or speaking in tongues, let me tell you what: It's just like Jehova's Witnesses or the Mormons - "we take some, but we sure don't dare to take it all!" - and that's the very reason I am sooo frustrated!
It's NOT a cultural thing - because this very problem occurs in Germany as well as in the US. It's NOT a denominational thing, because I know Baptist churches who couldn't care less about what Piper or who-so-ever says, but who care for what the BIBLE says, and thus act upon it!
Let me share a link with y'all: http://revivalblog.com/2006/10/02/impartation/
Read this and think again - is YOUR church really experiencing GOD? The Holy Spirit? The gifts of the Spirit? Or are you limiting the Holy Spirit to "that nice feeling you get during worship" ? if so: WAKE UP!!! God is a zillion times bigger than that! :(
My prayer - for this country, for this college, for this denomination, and for those who read this is: Holy Spirit, COME! Fill us anew, we pray! Blow up our boxes, and let this unbelieving world see that you do things that leave non-Christians speachless!!! I pray that it is not our words, not our deeds, and not our psychological techniques that "get em coming", but that it is God Himself who gets the credit, for only HE can work those things you read (see link)...
If there is only the OPTION of giving man credit for what happens, FORGET the testimony! it will fail miserably before STRONG non-Christians! but have GOD do something, and HE will be glorified by thousands!!!
Amen.
Tags: Links, Gott, Predigt, Baptisten
6 Kommentare:
Wow, brave man of God... I'll back you up in prayer. You'll need it after saying this out loud. ;-) But be sure that Jesus is promised to be your lawyer.
In Christ
Tom
thanks bro!! :) and thanks for the link!! :)
im pretty sure i will get in trouble for this one ;) i posted it on facebook and had two people talk to me and rebuke me right away! *lol*
but i DO care about these people - i love them! and i don't write this because I'm mad at them, but because I worry about them and want them to actually experience God to the FULLEST!! :)
God bless you, Tom!! You're a GREAT encouragement!!! :) Thank you!
Hey Ordi it's Matthew from England. Just wanted to say that I'm completely in sync with so much of what you wrote and share that same sense of deep deep frustration with the state of things.
I was challenged a while back when someone (who was quoting someone else I think) said how much of a church service would be left standing if the Holy Spirit didn't bother turning up. You have to say a lot, even most with virtually all churches. The problem is that it's hard to lean so much on the spirit that if he's not there everyithng falls down - but that's where God calls us to be, to have faith in him alone and not our own strength and run the risk of failure.
Somehow God needs to re-ignite much of his church because the Gospel is not a matter of words but of power and we seldom see that power even in conversions.
Just one thing I'd like to pick on in what you said. The miracle of conversion is surely greater than physical things like healings which you said the opposite of in your post. Jesus' healings were often used as a sign of his authority so that he would directly draw people to himself and so are secondary. However, like you say this power should be evident in our lives if we are truely moving in God's ways.
Many blessings on you,
Matthew.
Hi Matthew! Thank you so much for your comment! :) Yes, I agree with you: a conversion is definately more important and much greater than any of the other signs and miracles - I absolutely agree to that! the problem I am sensing is, that our testimonies get watered down by the structure we have behind our churches, thus making them weak - if non-Christians can say "the church did it" and prove their point, what are we to say to them?
I wrote this to a friend of mine this morning:
"My testimonies most often leave out the 'second cause credit'. I tell people what God did, and that gets them thinking. I have no great religious family to rear me in this way, I have no history of church to condition me before God spoke, and thus no argument of non-Christians can stand against what God has done in my life!"
when Christians struggle with doubt, Satan can through all this stuff in the CHURCH did, and thus fire up the doubts some people have.. the Bible pictures faith very simple: remember what GOD did in the past, praise Him in the present and know that He provides for the future (TRUST HIM).. what I'm saying is: even many christians have a problem with the first point: what GOD did.. the cross is the most important issue, yes, but when it comes to doubts, they need something in their own lives where they can say: "without a doubt, that WAS God doing it, for no man could have done this!"
im simply worried about my brothers and sisters over here :(
1 - I'm just baffled anew at your stunning ability to rant in your blog in better English than most of my fellow citizens.
2 - Matthew?! Hey man!! :-D How's it going?!?! Tell me about Israel!!
3 - Preach it, Ordi! Whereas I prefer to worship in a not-so-very pentecostal service, I still think it's important to welcome those things when they come. Be open to all, whether it's your particular worship preference or not.
4 - That might have made no sense at all because I'm halbschlafgwahagne....
5 - Tschuess. <3
Bin beeindruckt! Find ich sehr geil was du geschrieben hast!
DUJI
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