Confessions of a Heretic

There is ample evidence within the scriptures that the Kingdom has come already. That it is not so much a future event as it is a present-day reality. Let’s take a look at a few of the passages that support the idea that the Kingdom has already come.

And Jesus was saying to them, ” Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power.” (Mark 9:1)

This scripture has puzzled many, because we’ve always thought that the Kingdom’s coming was equivalent with the second coming of Christ. However what didn’t make any sense was the fact that Jesus said to His disciples and followers that some of them would not die until they had seen the Kingdom of God after it has come with power. Now either some of those present when Christ spoke those words are still alive today, or the Kingdom has already come. The obvious answer is the latter. There is a key within this statement and it is this: “after it has come with power.” This event is clearly referring to the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was poured out upon those in the upper room - the fulfillment of Christ’s promise that they would receive power from on high (Acts 1:8).

Ok, so I’m going to revisit the prosperity gospel.  I’ve been doing a lot of thinking recently about the Gospel of the Kingdom.  The Gospel that Jesus preached.  He always told the people that the Kingdom of God was “at hand.”  Meaning that it was close by.

We’ve been taught that the Kingdom will come - some day.  Upon Christ’s imminent return.  But until then we are destined to walk this God-forsaken planet that is clearly under the enemy’s control - and “hold on” till He gets back.  However I don’t think this is what Christ had in mind when He taught His disciples how to pray.

Christ said that we should pray that His Kingdom would come on earth as it is in heaven.  My question is this:  “Why would Jesus tell his disciples to pray an unanswerable prayer?”  Think about it.  If God never intends to answer this prayer before the imminent or unavoidable return of the King, then why would Jesus teach them to pray this way?  Unless, it is possible.  That His Kingdom can come on earth - here and now - as it is in heaven.

What message did Jesus preach - the good news of the Kingdom (of God).  And what was this good news?  That the King had brought the Kingdom with Him.  That the Kingdom had come!  The Kingdom’s coming was evidenced in signs, wonders & miracles - good things.  Whenever the Kingdom came near to the people, good things would happen.  Someone would get healed, delivered or raise from the dead.  And then Jesus would say - the Kingdom has come near to you.

I have too much to say on this topic at present, so I’m going to pause here.

I used to be pretty anti-prosperity Gospel.  I never subscribed in a “poverty Gospel either,” but I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about the subject after reading the following (found here):

Anyone who knows me, knows of my disdain for the prosperity gospel. The people who preach this gospel are wolves in sheep’s clothing.  Watch this video by John Piper and may it touch your soul as it did mine!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukcV-xtU3hc[/youtube]

After watching Piper’s video, I have recently begun to reconsider my position.  However, I will quailify that statement by saying that prosperity as defined by God and His kingdom is not the same as how the world has defined prosperity.

Here is my response:

I respectfully disagree.

Prosperity is what God is about. However I will qualify that statement by saying that prosperity in His true Kingdom is not the same as prosperity in the kingdoms of men.

God is not anti-prosperity. He is the God of abundance. He lacks nothing. He is good. He gives good gifts to His children. When they ask Him for bread He won’t give them a stone.

If He can’t or He won’t, then He’s a liar. If He can’t or He won’t then He’s not all powerful. & If He’s a liar and not all-powerful, then He’s not worthy.

Jesus came that we might have life, and that more abundantly. He came to set the captives free, to proclaim liberty to all who are oppressed. Here and now - TODAY! That is the message of the Gospel of the Kingdom. That is the good news. The Kingdom is not coming, it is here now. It is not just in word but it is in deed and displayed in power. Not for the glory of man, but for the glory of His name!

Jesus didn’t die for me or you. He died that He might bring glory to the Father. He died that all men might be reconciled to God to the glory of His name.

He came to bring prosperity of soul to all those who chose to live in the one true Kingdom!

Blessings!

The other day as I was sitting in “church,” the thought came to me, “this just isn’t practical.” The message was on spending time with God early, every morning. The pastor talked about how important and vital to life this discipline was in becoming more than an overcomer.  But instead of feeling motivated to go out there and make my morning quiet times just like his, I felt rather condemned.  Why?  Because my quiet times did not even come close to the bar that he had set.

The problem with the message was not that the the content wasn’t true. He was right.  That’s what we needed.  But at the end of the sermon, how many people were able to effect change in their daily devotional life? Probably less than 1% -especially by Wednesday.  So my question was:  “is this the most practical way to deliver this message?”

The answer seemed to me to be - “no.” 

Why? Because we’ve never seen what it’s like. We don’t know what it looks like to pursue God until we apprehend Him. We’ve not seen it modeled. Even if the pastor is good at it, we’re not going to gain his discipline through his message on Sunday morning.

What does being the “church” look like? I don’t know. I don’t believe we’ve seen a good model in America. That’s not to say that all church’s are evil, but I think that we live substandard of what God originally envisioned!

Tolerance is not approval.  What the world today is looking for is approval, not tolerance.  They have confused the two.

Tolerance is not saying that what someone does is ok, because some things just aren’t ok.  Tolerance is not saying that someone is right, because they could be wrong.  Tolerance is not saying that truth is relative, because we all know that lies abound. 

To cry for tolerance is intolerant.  It seems that those who say that Christianity is intolerant, are not themselves tolerant, by their own definition.  A definition that they themselves have defined.

As Christians we should be tolerant of what others believe, but that does not mean we should stamp it with our seal of approval.  There is a difference.  I can certainly appreciate and listen to differing points of views on religion, but I believe strongly that there is only one way to heaven.  That way is through Jesus the Christ.  God’s only begotten son.  The way (to heaven),  the (only) TRUTH, and the life. 

You are free to believe otherwise - a lie if you will, and I will respect you for your decision.  But please tolerate my position to respectfully say that you are wrong!

(As you have already said of my position!)

Ok, so we’re going to go back and visit Appeasement Theology, because it keeps popping up.  I was talking with a group of teens the other day about the exclusive claim of Jesus -that He was and is the only way to get into heaven, and it was received with mixed emotions.  Mainly that it wasn’t fair, that there were some people who would not be saved, and would have never heard the name of Jesus in their lifetime.  Surely God wouldn’t send those people to Hell.  Right?

I still believe what the Bible says in that “there is no other name, not in heaven nor on earth, but Jesus Christ - by which men will be saved.”

This is why Jesus gave the Great Commission, so that all family groups of the earth, might know and have the opportunity to call upon the name of the Lord.  It was the mission given to the disciples (all followers of Christ) to go with the Good News of God’s Kingdom to every family on the earth.

 2,000 years later the job has still not been completed!  It’s still not done.  I’m not sure what the exact statistics are, but there were over 3,000 people groups who have yet to hear the Good news around the turn of the millennium.  I’m pretty sure that this uncompleted task is what’s inhibiting Christ’s imminent return. 

Why?  Because He’s long-suffering.  He doesn’t want anyone to perish.  He desires that all men everywhere might come to repentance.

But still men cry that God is unjust and unfair.  But is that so?  Didn’t someone somewhere in the ancestral lines of the “Unreached People” groups make a decision to follow their own way instead of God’s?

An interesting study was done on primitive people groups across the globe, and the outcome of the study was astounding.  Take for instance the Indians that live in the mountains and caves of Mexico.  They are a very primitive people.  No electricity, plumbing, extreme poverty.  But when their roots were traced back, it was found that they were the descendants of the great Mayan empire.  This was the find in each and every case, that the primitive people that we know today are actually descendants of once great civilizations.  The researchers concluded that men did not start primitively and become more advanced, but rather quite the opposite.  That man was advanced, and has become primitive. 

The logical conclusion is that the further these people groups get away from God and His principles and laws, the more primitive they become.  Now that’s something to think about!

There is a line - I think.  Somewhere between faith and presumption.  When one is no longer standing in faith, but in presumption.  I’m not sure where the line starts to blur, but I know it’s there. 

For example,  I heard a story the other day of someone who had diabetes.  They believed that God was going to heal them.  They refused any medical treatment at all.  They even refused to alter their diet.  They simply believed their faith in God was going fix everything.

Now I can’t say that they’re wrong.  Maybe, they’re standing in faith? Maybe God will bring about a mighty healing in their lives?  But in my flesh, I feel as though they may be standing in presumption.  You know, God’s going to take care of it, so it doesn’t matter what we do.  We can abuse our bodies, because one day, God’s going to fix it.

Is it faith or is it presumption?  I don’t know.  You could go to the other extreme and say, “well, God’s not healed yet, so let’s do everything the doctors say.”  Is that response a refusal to stand in faith? 

The thing is you could apply this question to a million different situations.  I’m sure Mary looked as if she was standing in presumption when she believed she would have a child without even knowing a man.  I’m sure Abraham stood in presumption when he took matters into his own hands to accomplish God’s will in his life.  But yet, God says that Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him as faith?  David must have been ridiculed as standing in presumption when he refused to take the crown that was prophesied as his by Samuel long ago.  Who would’ve said that the three Hebrew children were standing in faith when they tested God’s ability to rescue them from a firey furnace.

We could go on and on.  Impossible stories that to an unbelieving world looked like men were standing in presumption, because they could not comprehend faith.

Well, the time has come for me to take a little break from being here.  I am packing up and moving across the country, so I will be out of pocket for a couple of days.  So if you don’t see me or hear from me for a little while, now you know why!

God Bless!

One day in the middle of the forest, somewhere in the eastern United States, various chemicals began collecting in a pool at the bottom of a huge cavern. As the weather began to change, a strong wind began to mix the chemicals thus causing a chemical reaction resulting in a black, bubbly liquid.

To further complicate matters in a separate pool other chemcials, namely aluminum, were coming together to form what appeared to be a container of some sort? What happened next was nothing short of miraculous - the wind swept up the black liquid depositing it inside the container creating a vacuum that caused the container to seal. Almost immediately colored liquids began falling from the sky landing on the container creating various patterns and shapes.

A hunter who was out in the woods happened by the location that all of these mysterious events took place - and a shiny red object caught his eye. As he approached the object he saw what appeared to be a sealed cup with the words “Coca-Cola Classic” inscribed on it. He picked it up and it was cool to the touch. The cup said “refreshing,” and being parched from a long day in the woods he decided to try and open the cup and see if he could drink it.

After thoroughly examining the cup he found a small lever on the top, that when lifted applied pressure to the lid of the cup. As he applied more pressure, a “popping” sound was heard and a hole opened up. As he looked inside he could see that his premonitions were correct - there was liquid in there. But he hesitated from drinking it, because it was black (unlike water) and bubbling. Maybe it was poison?

However, curiosity soon overtook him, and he lifted the cup to his mouth and in one fell swoop he devoured the contents. It was good. It wasn’t just good - it was really good! As he looked around there were more and more of these cups on the ground around him. He gathered them up, and hurried for home, forgetting all about the nature of the business that had originally brought him to the woods that day.

In his excitement, he shared his discovery with a friend who encouraged him to recreate the product and sell it. The rest was history.

And that my friends is the honest-to-God true story of how Coca-Cola was created!

Imagine, if you will, going into a dark room and trying to gather up all of the darkness and push it out the door. Would you start in the darkest corner, and try to sweep all of the darkness out?  Or get a net and try to catch it all?  The images create a pretty comical picture - don’t they?  After all the task would be impossible.

But walk into the same room and simply turn the light on, and immediately the darkness flees!  The concept is simple, darkness is vanquished by light, and not vice versa.  Darkness is simply the absence of light.  So in order to get rid of darkness we have to bring in the light.

Now take those same principles in the natural world and apply them to the spiritual.  Why do we keep trying to fight the darkness in our lives by trying to eliminate the it?  Our hearts are symbolic of the room that is filled with darkness - sin.  We know that the darkness needs to go, so we go in with a baseball bat to beat back it’s stranglehold on our lives.  The harder we try to eliminate sin from our lives the less effective we become, because we expend all of our energy on fighting something that doesn’t exist!  Simply put, sin is the absence of God’s light in our lives.  Granted there are all kinds of vices that help define that darkness, but they cannot be overcome apart from the light of God’s power. 

What if we simply turned the light on?  What if we walked into that room with the presence of God?  Wouldn’t the darkness/sin have to flee?  Once God comes in, there would be no room for anything else.  Since darkness is simply the absence of light, in God’s presence sin can not abound. 

Let’s stop trying to catch the darkness and throw it out the door.  Instead let’s turn the light on, and watch the darkness flee!

 43 “When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none. 44 Then he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. 45 Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first. So shall it also be with this wicked generation.”  (Matthew 12:43-45)