Truth in the crowd?

Is there a correlation between number of followers and the truthfulness of a preacher's interpretation of Scripture?

If there is, which mega church should I sign up for? Rick Warren? Mark Driscoll? David Cho? Brian Houston?  Joel Osteen?

And if I look to Pentecost, when Peter preached a sermon and called 3,000 to repentance...to Paul preaching to his recently founded churches, preaching faith and the churches growing daily.

But...we're also told that the cross is offense. That narrow is the way that leads to salvation. And that in the last days...All that stuff about tickling ears (which frankly is used more to hammer disagreeing preachers than the perceived friendliness of the truth...)

So is church growth proof of anything besides the charisma of the preacher? I don't know anymore. Are people leaving because they don't like the Word as interpreted by the man of God ...is that evidence of the truth?

Sigh.

quid est veritas

Underdog

I've had one song running through my head for days...wish I was still doing Monday Melodies.@AudioAdrenaline "This Is The Good Life"


Once upon a time, my blog wasn't Saturday only, and I posted something called "Monday Melody"

From Audio Adrenaline's best album ever (Underdog), "Good Life"

I've watched my dreams all fade away
And blister in the sun
Everything I've ever had is unraveled and undone
I've set upon a worthless stack
Of my ambitious plans
And the people that I've loved the most
Have turned their backs and ran
[CHORUS:]
This is the good life
I've lost everything
I could ever want
And ever dream of
This is the good life
I found everything
I could ever need
Here in Your arms


Loneliness has left me searching
For someone to love
Poverty has changed my view
Of what true riches are
Sorrow's opened up my eyes
To see what real joy is
Pain has been the catalyst
To my heart's happiness
[CHORUS]


What good would it be
If you had everything
But you wouldn't have
The only thing you need

The problem with prophets

So, we were talking about modern prophets. I, very diplomatically, said that Hagee (blood moons) and Cahn (shemitah / jubilee) have staked a lot on this September. And so, in six months, the church should either give them reverence for correctly hearing from God, or tell them that from here on out, they may do nothing but preach The Sermon on the Mount (just read Matt 5-7 , no commentary.)

Another recently deceased evangelist-prophet was mentioned in the same breath as Greece.

I googled him. Wow, that guy had a terrible batting average.  When he preaches the word, fine. When he predicts gloom and doom, schedule a picnic.

The only sign that I give credence to at this time is the restoration of a Jewish homeland in Israel. Everything else recently is screaming at mice when the rats weren't the harbinger of doom. Plague, famine, war, death are on the decline. Apostasy, love growing cold, etc... show me statistics over the centuries and not just anecdotes.

I think about what Christ told Peter in John 21. And if he (John) sees my return, so what...follow me.

I've given up mostly on sorting out a hundred freaked out fear peddling wanna be prophets.

It is time for the church to plan our estates and funerals, raise children and grandchildren (no, not me, not yet), and plant trees for our descendants to sit under.

I believe in God. I believe in Jesus and His return.

But the interpretations...I'm not convinced.

Irrational exuberance.

The failure to receive the full miracle leads to A Monday Morning Quarterback session. And for a person who believes that he has seen divine intervention in other points in his life and perhaps in other people's life its hard when a case screaming for divine intervention doesn't get it .

So everyone in the community suddenly goes into a defensive mode defending God defending interpretation of God defending their beliefs and how they can elicit miracles from the almighty even though this time it didn't work.

My friends know that a particular event in 2008 a friend dying young relatively was one of several simultaneous events that brought me into a deep depression in the beginning of what I've termed my personal tribulation.  Years of questioning my faith questioning everything and it brings me to a very simplistic and skeptical faith. I lost my innocence a long time ago. I have seen too many promises and declarations unfulfilled. And even as scary as it is...sometimes I still see this world as God's big ant farm.

So do these practices of faith believing God trusting God speaking faith... do they even tip the scales or even budge the scales? does it change any outcomes?

I know that we are told that "And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him."
But how does He reward?

I have a hard time believing for miracles while I stroll through the graveyard.

Because of the Brave

My grandfather wore the uniform of our country's army, served for almost three decades, was deployed worldwide, most notably Vietnam, and is buried beside his brothers-in-arms at Leavenworth, having lived long enough to see four of his great-grandchildren.  He loved his country and gave his best years in service.

My father wore the guard's uniform of our state's prisons, serving for almost 25 years, dealing with some of the worst people in the state, suffering two minor injuries at the hands of the inmates.  He lived long enough to see six of his grandchildren, and his ashes are scattered at his favorite vacation spot.

I am honored to see my heritage of service. And although I have questions about current military and correctional/prison policy...I have great respect for the men in uniform.

Sorry, if you're looking for fireworks, check your local listings for time and place.

America! America!
God mend thine every flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self control,
Thy liberty in law.

No one knows...but what if we did?

Acts 2:16-17
No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:
“‘In the last days, God says,
    I will pour out my Spirit on all people...."

As a thought experiment, imagine two scenarios.

1) God has a conversation with Pope Francis, Billy Graham, the Egyptian Pope Tawadros, Brian Houston, and David Yonggi Cho. He tells them that Christ will return in ten years.

2) God has a conversation with Pope Francis, Billy Graham, the Egyptian Pope Tawadros, Brian Houston, and David Yonggi Cho. He tells them that Christ will return in five hundred years.

Assuming these five men of God, chosen in this experiment for fame and geographical diversity, proceed to sit down, digest what they've been told, and return to their flocks. How then would they guide the church?

A certain end time in the near future would lead to a stronger emphasis on evangelization. A stronger emphasis on career choices in ministry. Perhaps an admonition to postpone marriage and childbearing - all for souls, now! No point in spending more on church buildings. I am certain that I can research famous prophets who predicted a date and see how they led their adherents.

A certain end time in the distant future...changes everything. First, certain SUV-driving preachers would have to reconsider their statements. The church would have to look into affecting the entire culture, making the world a place where it would be possible for our grandchildren to be Christian and follow Christ. We would have to carefully create traditions and mold past tradition. We would need to pay great attention to our family ministry, sowing into the future of the church in the hands and feet of our children. We would build cathedrals and places for the worship of God. We would spend less time matching current events to prophecy and more time paying attention to discipleship.

But...We don't know when He's coming back.  And so we live in a tension.

Maranatha. Come quickly, Lord Jesus.

Best Selling doesn't mean Inspired Prophecy.

I once obliquely stated a reserved opinion about an end times interpretation. And in respect to someone who I respect greatly, I said I would reserve judgement until later.

The clock hasn't run out. But I'm going on a limb and saying that someone has their prophecy interpretation wrong.

Christianity has had many people who have taken the events of their times along with the prophecies of the Bible (including Daniel, Ezekiel, the Olivet discourse and Revelation) to conclude that we are in the really real end times. (As opposed to the last days that St. Peter said began at Pentecost)

Seeing as we are still in the church age obviously most of them have been wrong. Jesus still rules from heaven and we look forward to His second coming.

In my opinion, this Blood Moon phenomenon is an insult to prophecy, to statistics, mathematics, the intelligence of the Christian community, and the Prophet Joel.

The most prominent event perhaps was the blood moons in the fourteen nineties correlated with the eviction of the Jews from Portugal. but why would God give a sign after the event?

And where in the Word of God does God say that four equally spaced eclipses are a sign of anything?  With all due respect, if the heavens are God's billboard, all I see is dot-to-dot without numbers.

And why must they be corresponding with the feasts?  If God wants to make a sign, let Him do a true miracle, one against the mathematics of the astronomers.

And why do those get called the blood moons when other eclipses have caused a similar coloration of the moon from our point of view?

I've looked at both sides. And although I may be wrong, I'm willing to say that I think the Blood Moon phenomenon is not divinely inspired.  It's baking soda.

Another question since when does God wait an exact amount of time between judgments?  Has he ever done that? And why would the opening of the market would that be worse collapse in the attack on the towers? why is that day the day that marks the event?

I'm not convinced that next year is a jubilee year. There's to many theories about when you start counting, and whether the seventh jubilee was the super jubilee, or followed by one (50 years). I'm not convinced that God is holding America to Mosaic law in regards to these things.

Please don't get me wrong. America needs to repent. Americans need to repent. Christians need to repent. The whole world needs to repent. Repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand. And any preacher who calls people to repentance in the name of Jesus is doing the work of God.

But the call to repentance can stand on its own. We do not need signs from the sky and from the calendar which make us sound no more credible than the tabloids quoting Nostradamus.  Honestly that's how I feel when I hear these things.

But these men feel that there are watchmen seeing signs of danger. And they feel they must speak, they feel God has called them to speak. I cannot ask them to be silent I can't ask them to go against their conscience.