An image...

Read what this is all about HERE.  Touching.

Why Seminary?

I have had some conversations with fellow believers in the past who expressed their thoughts on the necessity of seminary training for a pastor.  I have heard many times that going to seminary isn't a requirement to be a preacher in the Bible or that seminary is only for scholars with their heads stuck in books.  Musing over those ideas this morning gave rise to a few thoughts...

1)  Sure, Paul didn't go to seminary.  However he was a well-versed Jew who would have had the equivalent to seminary schooling prior to his conversion.  So lets set him aside, what about the other early church leaders - they didn't have the status of Paul and they didn't go to seminary.  They did just fine, doesn't that prove that seminary is unnecessary?  Short answer, no - the didn't go to seminary because there was no seminary.  Remember that the Bible is relevant to our lives today in many ways...yet, it also must be read in context.  Just because seminary isn't mentioned in Scripture does not mean it is unbiblical.  There were no cool audio/ visual powerpoint worship band experiences in the early church either - don't see a lot of people hating on that advancement.

2)  Would you hire a lawyer who didn't have his law degree (J.D.) based on the fact that lawyers in the 16th century didn't necessarily go to law school, they were often self-taught or mentored?  Of course not.  Law is a complicated and deep subject that requires years of study to properly practice, much less teach to others.  Why do we think that we can trust pastors who are devoid of higher education to preach truth instead of a false gospel?  I'm speaking generally of course, there are always some exceptions.

3)  If seminary exists today, why not go?  Doesn't a high-school football star stand a much better chance of doing well in the pros if he heads to college to refine his game for awhile?  Our young leaders should do the same.  If one feels a calling to pastorship and that call is confirmed, I believe that God will open the financial and logistical doors necessary for the person to seek seminary training.  Pastors who are against seminary training often tend towards a warped view of the gospel that they came up with.  A truth that no one in 2000 years of Christianity ever stood on before.  I believe that you will find a huge portion of pastors in today's most damaging false gospel, the prosperity gospel, to be without degree.

4)  On the flip side, a degree itself isn't saying much if it comes from some fruity liberal seminary - and they are everywhere.  One must be careful in choosing which seminary to attend.  A high view of Christ, the Bible, and the Gospel must be foremost in determining where to get an education. 

5)  Last point - I am only speaking in this blog of head pastors or teaching elders or whatever designation is given to the speaking head of the local church.  He is the person responsible for the decisions about sermon prep and what people hear on Sunday morning.  I think it would be great if all the staff and elders at a church had seminary training, but it seems like a good compromise and a fair requirement to mandate the preacher at least be accredited.  As for seminary being for bookworms...I believe that every pastor should be a theologian and every theologian should be a pastor.  Some people are more inclined towards academics and the like.  Others are more geared for practical ministry measures.  We should never elevate or degrade one from the other - both are essential elements of a good leader for Christ.  Without foundational truth, ministry is nothing but secular charity...without ministry, truth is dead head-knowledge.  Embrace both.

In summary, I think that our lead/ head/ teaching pastors in modern Christianity should be graduates of at least a Masters degree program in theology from an established seminary with solid-beliefs.  A seminary education can only assist the young man in his desire and his admonishment to meet the requirements of James 3:1, 1 Timothy 3 and Titus, particularly to:

"...hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sounddoctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it."

Thoughts?

Epiphany

Theology isn't ministry.

This simple statement came to me the other day after I spent an afternoon with an urban church planter. 

I am often so focused on getting my theology correct that I (and many others) end up with a massive deficiency in our own outworking of those foundational beliefs.

I am essentially insulated in my little bubble of work and family everyday.  I do pretty well ministering to my own family, and they ARE my first ministry priority, but I fail horribly at self-sacrificial works of love and mercy towards my own circle of friends, much less strangers.

I am being steadyily convicted about this idea that I am hiding in an ivory tower of thought instead of taking up my own cross on dusty roads to both share the gospel and to show others the grace that Jesus has given me.

My prayer is that God would work in the hearts of my family to begin breaking us out of our own little world and that he will move is us to take big steps in faith towards more personal ministry in our community.

Homeschooling

Over the weekend a friend of Tiff's from college that she had not seen in years came to visit us.  He is now an assistant pastor in Midtown for a large Baptist church.  During the visit by him, his wife, and his precious 10 month old - I was challenged in some of my thinking about education and the gospel.

For a few years I have been thinking about how to educate my children.  Tiff and I have discussed the issue and we had come to some agreement that we didn't want our boys going to public school.  I think that Tiff working in the school system made her very aware of how pitiful public education is.  Plus we worried about the impact that all those heathen children would have on our kids...lol

We talked about home-school alot.  Everyone at our church seems to advocate it, our pediatrician does it, its sorta the new fad...now that we know you can be both home-schooled and not weird...thanks to the external social clubs/ athletics that home-schoolers now participate in.

We decided that homeschooling elementary was not going to be the best option however since we would have multiple kids at different ages in the home (and some other factors).  Thus, we abandoned our first choice.  Still intent on staying away from govt-funded education, we decided that we needed to find a way to pay for private school.  I mean, kids in Christian school turn out better right?

Those private schools are expensive and I was stressing in my thoughts about how to pay for such a thing until Tiff's friend said something very true and very biblical this weekend.

When confronted with the question of what he and his wife intended to do with their kids, he said:

"We live in the city, we love the city, we seek to minister to those in the city, my kids will go to public school in the city."

Wow - what a novel idea.  Isn't that the real purpose mission anyway? - To be in the world but not of the world?

I know, I know...the standard objections came up in my head:

- What about the poor defenseless children, their minds will be so polluted by bad morality that they will be ruined for any ministry purposes.
- Pushing religion aside, the kids will get a horrid education...there goes college...
- The liberal teachers in public ed will certainly warp my childs understanding of the world...they might even convince the kids that SUVs really are a bad idea - oh no!

But, as hard as I tried - I could not come up with a single GOOD objection to what this friend said...certainly not a biblical one.

His statement says alot to me.  It says that:

- We are the principal instructors of our child's heart.  A kids morality is largely systemic of their parents guidance.
- College and big money are not the most important things out there..."he who gains everything, but loses his soul..."
- A worldview isn't the creation of isolated influence from educators - it comes from a lifetime of interaction with family, friends, church, and faith.

Have we (the young reformed) bought back into a fundamentalist philosophy of culture.  Are we seeking to circle the wagons and make nice little Christian cliques where we all drive mini-vans, wear polos buttoned all the way up, and drink homeschool kool-aid OR are we willing to lay it all out there (including the idols that are our kids) and trust God to accomplish his purposes of bringing light to a dark world through the message of Christ delivered on the lips and in the lives of believers?

I'm leaning towards public-school these days...

You're Probably Fat

A person cannot call themselves spiritually fit if they excuse the fact that they are fat! If you are fat, regardless of the reason, your fat is a poor testimony of what Christ is accomplishing in and through your life.

A provoking statement and a interesting article...HERE

Word of Faith

I am increasingly convinced that there is a heresy within American Christianity that began in the not too distant past with parts of Penetecostalism and that is now rooting itself in the minds of average evangelical believers across the nation.  I was under its influence for awhile, people very close to me struggle with the harmful effects of its teaching, and I have many good friends in Christ who are being swayed by it in varying degrees.  The teachings of the Word of Faith movement are unbiblical and dangerous and I hope that you will take some time to read what I say here and then research the issue yourself. 

Lets start with "what is the Word of Faith movement or WofF?"  It is essentially the belief that if one believes the word of God, speaks and confesses the word, never doubts, and tells others about this premise - the person will receive whatever they spoke and confessed.  Yes...whatever.  Confess and have faith in your financial improvement (along with tithing of course) and blamo - God provides.  State with no doubt that you will be healed from cancer and God is obligated to take the disease away.  Ask God to improve family communication within your home and have 100% faith that he will - marital improvement will follow with absolute certainty.

WofF teaching makes God our personal slot machine.  Put a faith quarter in, pull the handle the right way, and JACKPOT - God provides.

Originally put forward by EW Kenyon, the teaching claims that miracles and supernatural acts common in regular Pentecostalism should not be viewed as random outpourings of God - instead they are covenantal guarantees to us by God that can happen at our command IF, as Ken Hagin says...

"say it, do it, receive it, tell it"


WofF teachers misuse Scriptures like Mark 11 and to support their theology. They regard Isaiah 53:5 to mean that complete bodily healing is avaliable now to those who have full faith and that physical sickness is a failure of the Christian to belief, thereby allowing Satan to ron us of our divine right to health.

The WofF crew also likes to teach the odd doctrine that Jesus was wealthy based on statements about him having a treasurer (Judas) and how he did not work during his 3 year ministry. Such teaching obviously influences believers to seek for material fortune, through a process of tithing that ends up being compulsory in direct contradiction to Pauls New Testament decree. How they get around the red letters of the Bible which are so abundently clear that "the love of money is the root of many evils" - I don't understand.

Of course, the primary tenet of WofF belief is in the "positive" and "negative" confession. Falsely based on Proverbs 18:21, the teachings holds to the idea that humans are endowed with the same verbal creative ability that God used to begin our universe. God spoke things into existence and so can we. Belief and confession creates power and likewise, negativity and doubt breed helplessness.

The "name it/ claim it" philosophy of WofF belief is based far more on the New Age Spiritualism and Eastern concepts that came to America in the last 150 years than on any biblical footing. The extraordinary nature of such ideas and the general lack of much Scripture that can even be possibly used to support them should give pause - much less the fact that no major figures in church history attested to such beliefs.

While the practices above are certainly heterodox, they have not yet demonstrated heresy. But, it doesn't take much digging to unearth the theological foundations on which WofF rests. Key to the movement is the premise of being "little gods"...

Ken Hagin notes that by being "born again" we are as much an incarnation of God as Jesus was. He also warps the traditional view of the Holy Spirit by claiming that "You don't have God in you - You are one." His views are founded in yet another misunderstanding of bible verse, this time Psalms 82:6.

Atlanta pastor, Creflo Dollar, teaches his congregation that they are not just the image of God - they are "little g gods." "You're not human" he says "The only human part of you is the flesh you are wearing."

As Hank Hannegraff says: Word of Faith teaching demotes God and Christ and deifys man and Satan.

I hope that these short comments have sparked you interest in looking more closely into the teaching of this dangerous movement that destroys the faith of those whom it fails and that breeds pride in the hearts of sinful men.

Ahead of the game...

At first, the scientific world believe that the universe was eternal. Then in 1978, the director of NASA’s Goddard Space Center, Dr. Robert Jastrow, published a piece in the New York Times Magazine outlining the overwhelming evidence that our universe inexplicably burst into existence, and concluded saying:

“This is an exceedingly strange development, unexpected by all but the theologians. They have always accepted the word of the Bible: In the beginning God created heaven and earth… For the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountains of ignorance; he is about to conquer the highest peak; as he pulls himself over the final rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries.”

- Yup 

How to know you are of the elect...

"How may I know I'm elect? 

First, by the Word of God having come in divine power to the soul so that my self-complacency is shattered and my self-righteousness is renounced. 

Second, by the Holy Spirit convicting me of my woeful, guilty, and lost condition. 

Third, by having had revealed to me the suitability and sufficiency of Christ to meet my desperate case and by a divinely given faith causing me to lay hold of and rest upon Him as my only hope. 

Fourth, by the marks of the new nature within me - a love for God; an appetite for spiritual things; a longing for holiness; a seeking after conformity to Christ. 

Fifth, by the resistance which the new nature makes to the old, causing me to hate sin and loathe myself for it. 

Sixth, by avoiding everything which is condemned by God's Word and by sincerely repenting of and humbly confessing every transgression. Failure at this point will surely bring a dark cloud over our assurance causing the Spirit to withhold His witness. 

Seventh, by giving all diligence to cultivate the Christian graces and using all diligence to this end. 

Thus the knowledge of election is cumulative."

- A .W. Pink, The Doctrines of Election and Justification [Grand Rapids: Baker, 1974], pp. 140-41.

Quote: Rutherford on Loss

A friend from church sent us a snippet of her devotional this morning.  It included this quote from Samuel Rutherford (1600-1661) that speaks to my heart.  He wrote it to a mother who lost her child very early in life.

'Grace rooteth not out the affections of a mother, but putteth them on His wheel who maketh all things new, that they may be refined; therefore sorrow for a dead child is allowed to you, though by measure and ounceweights; the redeemed of the Lord have not a dominion or lordship over their sorrow and other affections, to lavish out Christ's goods at their pleasure.... He commandeth you to weep; and that princely One took up to heaven with Him a man's heart to be a compassionate High Priest. The cup ye drink was at the lip of sweet Jesus, and He drank of it.... Ye are not to think it a bad bargain for your beloved daughter that she died--she hath gold for copper and brass, eternity for time. All the knot must be that she died too soon, too young, in the morning of her life; but sovereignty must silence your thoughts. I was in your condition: I had but two children, and both are dead since I came hither. The supreme and absolute Former of all things giveth not an account of any of His matters. The good Husbandman may pluck His roses and gather His lilies at midsummer, and, for ought I dare say, in the beginning of the first summer month; and he may transplant young trees out of the lower ground to the higher, where they may have more of the sun and a more free air, at any season of the year. The goods are His own. The Creator of time and winds did a merciful injury (if I may borrow the word) to nature in landing the passenger so early.'

White House Easter Prayer Breakfast

President Obama said: 

I can’t shed light on centuries of scriptural interpretation or bring any new understandings to those of you who reflect on Easter’s meaning each and every year and each and every day.  But what I can do is tell you what draws me to this holy day and what lesson I take from Christ’s sacrifice and what inspires me about the story of the resurrection.

For even after the passage of 2,000 years, we can still picture the moment in our mind’s eye. The young man from Nazareth marched through Jerusalem; object of scorn and derision and abuse and torture by an empire.  The agony of crucifixion amid the cries of thieves. The discovery, just three days later, that would forever alter our world -- that the Son of Man was not to be found in His tomb and that Jesus Christ had risen. 

We are awed by the grace He showed even to those who would have killed Him.  We are thankful for the sacrifice He gave for the sins of humanity.  And we glory in the promise of redemption in the resurrection.

And such a promise is one of life’s great blessings, because, as I am continually learning, we are, each of us, imperfect. Each of us errs -- by accident or by design.  Each of us falls short of how we ought to live.  And selfishness and pride are vices that afflict us all.

It’s not easy to purge these afflictions, to achieve redemption.  But as Christians, we believe that redemption can be delivered -- by faith in Jesus Christ.  And the possibility of redemption can make straight the crookedness of a character; make whole the incompleteness of a soul.  Redemption makes life, however fleeting here on Earth, resound with eternal hope.

Of all the stories passed down through the gospels, this one in particular speaks to me during this season.  And I think of hanging -- watching Christ hang from the cross, enduring the final seconds of His passion.  He summoned what remained of His strength to utter a few last words before He breathed His last breath.

“Father,” He said, “into your hands I commit my spirit.” Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.  These words were spoken by our Lord and Savior, but they can just as truly be spoken by every one of us here today.  Their meaning can just as truly be lived out by all of God’s children. 

So, on this day, let us commit our spirit to the pursuit of a life that is true, to act justly and to love mercy and walk humbly with the Lord.  And when we falter, as we will, let redemption -- through commitment and through perseverance and through faith -- be our abiding hope and fervent prayer.

Wow-thats a pretty decent expression of belief in the deity of Christ and the truth of the empty tomb.  Of course, the President's stance on many social issues seems to be outside the bounds of biblical morality - but I can't judge his heart.  I was sad to read  from a partial list of attendees:

Pastor Bill Hybels, Senior Pastor, Willow Creek Community Church, IL
Bishop Vashti McKenzie, Bishop, A.M.E. Church
Elder Nancy Wilson, Metropolitan Community Church
Commissioner Israel Gaither, National Commander, Salvation Army
Pastor Joel Osteen, Pastor, Lakewood Church
Hyepin Im, Korean Christian Community Development
Dr. Arturo Chavez, President, Mexican American Catholic College
Rev. Sharon Watkins, General Minister and President, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
Fr. Larry Snyder, President, Catholic Charities
Rev. Peg Chemberlin, President, National Council of Churches
Dr. Julius Scruggs, President, National Baptist Convention of America
Sister Carol Keehan, President, Catholic Health Association
Pastor Kirbyjon Caldwell, Senior Pastor, Windsor Village United Methodist Church

With so many denominations and sects in attendance, where was the Reformed representative?  Did any OPC or PCA person get invited?  Oh well, its a partial list I guess.

Even if his views on many issues seem out of step with Scripture and despite the fact that his guest list isn't the most solid grouping of Gospel-advocates, I find hope in the President's words and a renewal in my mind of the admonision that I so often forget:

First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
- 1 Timothy 2:1-4

Baby Glover

Although you had not yet a name,
our hearts loved you deeply all the same.
We were so ready to be your mom and dad,
then fell the day you came.

For you did not come as we presumed,
your place at home was being groomed,
yet other plans our Sovereign had,
you went to heaven from the womb.

Life is never ill-conceived,
though in your death we are so grieved,
and even as our hearts now linger sad,
we know whom we’ve believed.

The God who numbers all our days,
no less deserves our endless praise,
he means this thing which hurts so bad,
to point towards heaven’s rays.

He’s teaching us to trust his grace,
while yet we cannot see his face.
In righteousness you now are clad,
held tight in our Father's embrace.

Baby Glover, your life does hence,
accomplish God's holy intents,
to make these saints in loss be glad,
for the Lord's mercy and providence.

-  I am not so creative on my own.  Thanks to John Piper for the basic format of this poem.  He wrote it after his daughter-in-law had a miscarriage several years ago.  I changed many words to fit our own personal situation.

Why no "Holy Week-Sunday?"

You may have noticed that I did not conclude the week with a "Holy Week-Sunday" post.  My apologies, I spent much of Resurrection Day at the hospital with my wife.

It was a bittersweet Easter weekend for us. We lost our baby yesterday at 12 weeks to miscarriage. It was very rough for my wife with 7 hrs of labor before the OB had to do surgery.

In the midst of such sadness we cling to the hope that comes from knowing that "He is Risen!"

As we head into this week we mourn for sure - but we are strengthened in knowing that we shall yet see our precious child in the presence of our heavenly Father.

Thank you all for your prayers in this difficult time and thanks to God that he loved us so much that he sent his Son to die for us and rise again that our sins would be washed away and that we might become his adopted heirs.

Holy Week - Friday

"It is finished..."

Learn the rest of what happened on Good Friday HERE

Holy Week - Thursday

And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying,

“This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying,
“This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. 

Read the rest HERE

Moralistic Therapeutic Deism

Moralistic Therapeutic Deism, sometimes abbreviated MTD^, is a term coined by authors Christian Smith at the Notre Dame and Lisa Pearce at UNC Chapel Hill, to describe the common religious beliefs among American youth^.  Their research project, titled the National Study of Youth and Religion, was funded by the Lily Endowment, a private organization known for its support of Christianity. The pair found that many young people believed in several moral statutes not exclusive to any of the major world religions:

1. A god exists who created and ordered the world and watches over human life on earth.
2. God wants people to be good, nice, and fair to each other, as taught in the Bible and by most world religions.
3. The central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself.
4. God does not need to be particularly involved in one's life except when God is needed to resolve a problem.
5. Good people go to heaven when they die.

These points of belief were compiled from interviews with approximately 3,000 young teenagers.

-  How many people do you know who believe this and call it Christianity?  Are you actively working to share the real Gospel with them?