Heaven without Christ?

"The critical question for our generation - for every generation - is this:

If you could have heaven,

• with no sickness
• with all the friends you ever had on earth
• all the food you ever liked
• all the leisure activities you ever enjoyed
• all the natural beauties you ever saw
• all the physical pleasures you ever tasted
• no human conflict
• no natural disasters

------------------------could you be satisfied with heaven, if Christ was not there?"

From God is the Gospel - John Piper

We should never separate what is heaven, what is in heaven and Who is Heaven. So often we think and are told what heaven is or will be like - but the fact is we don't truly know and we won't know till we get there. Our focus, our passion, our desire should always be only Christ. Our rewards or treasure - whatever they may or may not be - can never compare to Christ.

Many people will think that their dear departed loved one who has (we presume) gone to heaven is looking down upon them left here on earth in pain, suffering and grief and is aware and even concerned with how they continue living their lives. This is probably just a sentimental coping mechanism invented by man to comfort one's grief. Surely to look down upon earth would cause pain and heartache seeing mankind in their current condition and if in heaven we have no pain, suffering or sadness then how could that be so? Surely whilst in heaven the last place they would be interested in would be our fallen planet - especially with the wonder and rapture of seeing and being with Christ.

Too often we focus on the 'message' of the Gospel - yes it is good news - yes it is great news - but not enough focus that the Gospel is Christ and our preaching should also focus and centre on Christ. There are many sermons preached that can only be described as pep talks - may we avoid the Christless preaching and return to the One and only Truth and worship Him whom God has lifted up.

W W J R

According to the acrostic What Would Jesus Do (WWJD) which is now so obsolete and abused we all thought that campaign was history then out came again the similar What Would Jesus Drive which seems to resurface every time a manufacturer brings out a new car and especially when they are now eco-friendly.

Now not to be outdone nor to offend the two-wheeling chopper loving soft-tails I have discovered the next big thang - What Would Jesus Ride?

(H.T. Think Christian)

Book Review: Living Spirituality

Robbymac does a great review of Living Spirituality by Dr. Greg Laughery. Here's a taste:-

Greg's depiction of impoverished spirituality includes a rather accurate, if stinging, assessment of churches that have become "institutionalized":

"This is partially due to the fact that Christians often seem to be primarily interested in themselves: propogating their programs, building their churches, even manipulating some of their own in order to achieve social status and accomplish their goals and aims. People are left behind in the wake of promising words that give the pretense of care and concern, but translate into intolerable levels of neglect and inconsistent waffling." (page 15)

Many people suffer emotional and spiritual abuse by such self-centred; navel gazing; churchtainment; wealth chasing oriented businesses dressed up in church clothing.

Post-Charismatic - Post-Hype

In the tradition of Charismatic Defects One and Two.

The more discerned and aware Christians or Jesus-followers (depending on how emerging/missional your persuasion) will recall a good essay written by Robbymac of which below is a sample. Keep a look out for it in book form by Kingsway Publications in a bookstore soon in 07 - should be a good read.

"In some ways they are very akin to the postmodern people I meet who are open to God but indifferent or hostile to church. These self-described post-charismatics are open to the working of the Holy Spirit, but due to excesses and abuses that they have seen or experienced, they are skeptical and even wary of ministries that are charismatic. Further, there are some who have come to a place where they overtly reject – or passively neglect – the more obvious supernatural workings of the Spirit.

It would probably be more accurate to call these people “post-HYPE”. They are tired of hearing great stories about the good old days, jaded from hearing too many prophecies about the great move of God that seems to always be just around the corner, fed up with exaggerated or even fabricated stories of healings and miracles, and disillusioned with a view of spiritual formation that is lived through a weekly crisis moment at the front of the church.

Broadly speaking, there are four major areas that come up repeatedly as reasons for post-charismatics pulling away from their Pentecostal, Charismatic, or Third Wave roots. The four areas are:

1. Abuses and elitism in prophetic ministry, coupled with a “carrot and stick” approach to holiness that many find legalistic, manipulative, and repressive.

2. The excesses of Word Faith teachings (health and wealth, prosperity doctrine) which clash with the emerging generations’ concern for a biblical approach to justice and ministry with the poor.

3. Authoritarianism and hierarchical leadership structures that exist more to control people than to equip the saints for works of service.

4. An approach to spiritual formation (discipleship) that depends on crisis events – whether at “the altar” in a church service, or in a large conference setting – but either neglects or deliberately belittles other means of spiritual maturation (ie. spiritual disciplines)

A saying that I have come to use a great deal in recent years is: “We only deconstruct in order to reconstruct”. As much as postmodernism is a critique of modernism, and the emerging church is a critique, but hopefully much more, of the modern church, I am hoping that a post-charismatic understanding of how the Holy Spirit works in individuals and communities of faith will serve as a critique of charismania excesses and questionable teachings, and lead ultimately to a more mature and balanced understanding, expectation, and functioning in the Spirit of Christ."

(H.T. Next-Wave)

Stretching the Truth

H.T. David

Circus Pentecostalis

This keen observer obviously talks from experience:

Among Pentecostals, with whom I’ve fellowshipped for 17 years, I have seen the very best and the very worst evangelical Christianity has to offer. I’m not quite sure why we seem to have such a monopoly on the extremes, but for the individuals I know who were instantly delivered of drug addictions, alcoholism and serious illnesses through the power of the Holy Spirit, there were also the freaks and flakes who thought they deserved pulpit time to showcase their dubious gifts and messages. And I mustn’t neglect to mention the innumerable “shakers and fakers” who made public displays of themselves during services by hollering, yelping, jerking and even trying to throw a punch at someone — all at wholly inappropriate times, and all under the guise of being “moved” by the Holy Spirit.

And she is also not blind to the elephant in the room either:

But we have got some big-time problems.

I know from my own observation that sexual immorality is widespread among Pentecostal clergy, and in many cases no church governance structure exists to do anything about it. Church leadership is frequently passed down in families as though salvation is acquired through DNA.

Prosperity teaching — which, when taught responsibly, can extract people from the mire of poverty mindsets — has degenerated into unabashed greed and charlatanism, with preachers shilling for multilevel marketing schemes that will never benefit the vast majority of the peons who buy into their promises of easy money.

Well-known ministers flaunt the trappings of wealth while Pentecostalism draws in more and more of the desperately poor in the developing world, and believers follow Jesus Christ in jeopardy of their lives in hideously repressive places such as Saudi Arabia, the Sudan and Pakistan while we believe God for a tricked-out Crossfire.

Bible Girl then concludes with:

The recent scandals among Pentecostals have shaken me. I struggle to understand how people who’ve come into contact with the very presence of God through worship, who’ve seen the power of the Holy Spirit at work in miraculous ways, can get involved in such craziness.

The problems continue and will continue to be problems when they pursue such wrong teachings as prosperity doctrine; the inherited church franchise system; the multi-level marketing schemes; the lucrative speaking circuit; the self-grandizing; the spiritual abuse; the lack of financial and ethical accountability; the nepotism; the selective out of context abuse and distortion of scripture verses to self-justify their position; etc etc - the list should never be this long for people who claim to be modeling their life on Jesus and His commands.

(H.T. 4:14)

Believe or Belief in God

Now belief in God is not the same thing as belief that God exists, or that there is such a thing as God. To believe that God exists is simply to accept a proposition of a certain sort - a proposition affirming that there is a personal being who, let's say, has existed from eternity, is almighty, perfectly wise, perfectly just, has created the world, and loves his creatures. To believe in God, however, is quite another matter. The Apostle's Creed begins thus: "I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven and earth..." One who repeats these words and means what he says is not simply announcing the fact that he accepts a certain proposition as true; much more is involved than that. Belief in God means trusting God, accepting Him, committing one's life to Him. To the believer the entire world looks different. Blue sky, verdant forests, great mountains, surging ocean, friends and family, love in its many forms and various manifestations -- the believer sees these things as gifts from God. The entire universe takes on a personal cast for him; the fundamental truth about reality is truth about a Person. So believing in God is more than accepting the proposition that God exists. Still, it is at least that much. One can't sensibly believe in God and thank Him for the mountains without believing that there is such a person to be thanked, and that He is in some way responsible for the mountains. Nor can one trust in God and commit oneself to Him without believing that He exists: "He who would come to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of those who seek Him"(Heb 11:6)

Alvin Plantinga - God, Freedom, and Evil.