Category Archives: Idols

Review: It’s Your Call

Posted on March 20, 2009 by Andrea Graham| 2 Comments

It’s You Call (Victory Publishing-November 2008) by Lawrence Powell, pastor of Agape Family Worship Center in New Jersey, promises to give readers the tools they need to bring their lives into purposeful focus by helping them discover their own God-given assignment and how to follow God’s compass to success.

The seven chapters seek to teach readers how to:

  1. Perceive, accept, and pursue the call of God
  2. Overcome the prison of the past
  3. Lose the weight. That is, to separate from the Old Boy’s network-the folks used to the old you who don’t like the You 2.0 that Jesus wants to upgrade to and seek to keep you back in the life you’ve been saved from (this is Andrea, the author’s metaphor is an eagle raised in a chicken coop, and says if you keep hanging around with chickens, you’ll let them mock you into continuing to act like a chicken). Note these folks can be Christians themselves who don’t want to grow and feel threatened by yours.
  4. Take the heat-a warning that God’s training program involves pain, pain, and more pain, and that if you want to follow Christ, you need to learn the old fashioned art of enduring under fire and submitting to God’s discipline, a concept rarely taught today.
  5. Keep on Keeping on-while under opposition. This one we hear about even less often in a Church prone to blaming persecution on the persecuted, “If you were more loving, the world wouldn’t hate you so much” is what I hear in some form or another being said to Christians torn apart by the enemies of the cross, just as Christ promised we would be if we’re faithful to Him. The basic thrust of this chapter is that as you purse God’s call on your life, you become a threat to the devil, and the accuser of the brethren will fight you every step of the way-and stir up your own friends and family, including fellow believers, if he can. His basic advice is to recognize the people the devil is using to stop you and ignore/avoid them, rather than letting yourself be controlled by them in the name of the popular notion that Christian love requires avoiding all conflict and never offending anyone. He also discusses mental attacks, and taking every thought captive.
  6. Stay Connected. Probably intended as a counter balance to all the advice about dumping the people the devil is using to keep you in sin, or at least not a threat to him, this one is all about staying connected to the people of God rather than letting fear and paranoia from past wounds turn you into a hermit. He teaches the reader to let God connect them to the people who will help mold them into their calling rather than hindering them and not to rely on the superficial judgment of man and the paranoid suspicion borne of past experience, but to rather rely on spiritual discernment.
  7. Get out of the boat. A final reminder that while you can’t achieve God’s purpose for you in human strength alone, you do have to actually do something. The way I like to put it is to point out that God’s miracles often do involve some type of effort-fill these jars with oil, go wash, get up and walk.

Over all, there is plenty of solid teaching that, if applied, could very well change your life. My primary concern is that we often get our fleshy desires confused with God’s. One could be pursing their “call” and actually running head long into sin. Such deceived persons, when applying the advice to dump people that criticize them for pursuing God’s call, will harden their hearts and write off the folks God sends to call them back to their true calling as legalistic folks sent by Satan to derail them. Thus they lose out with God, miss their calling, and may even lose their souls.

He’s right that many of us take the criticism of our naysayers too seriously. And too many Christians use Christian love as an excuse to keep rubbing elbows with people that lead them into sin. If anything, this is an oversight, as Powell does cover being teachable in chapter six. But he assumes that the call his reader is perusing is actually from God, and that sadly is not always the case.

For instance, plenty of folks are “called” to amass great wealth to themselves, but the scriptures have nothing positive to say about that. The spiritual gift of giving tends to come with an ability to accrue wealth, but like all gifts, this is not given for personal glory and enrichment, but for bringing glory to god and edifying the church. The old law required ten percent, but the new testament says with food and raiment, be content. Meet your family’s basic daily needs. Whatever’s left was meant for meeting the needs of the Church.

America doesn’t have a financial crisis. We’re still the richest, or one of the richest, nations on earth. What we have is a lifestyle crisis.

Likewise, read Hebrews 11, about all the saints who pursued God’s call without ever receiving the promise at all in this life. By earthly standards, if we only consider his temporal life, Jesus Christ himself was a dismal failure whose ministry ended in his trial and execution. The only lasting success that Christ achieved all came on or after Easter Sunday.

Biblically, Christians don’t labor to obtain earthly riches. Our reward isn’t this Earth, but the Kingdom. Does this mean you’re in danger of hellfire if you’re wealthy? Only if your earthly treasure is more important to you than Christ (because Mammon is an idol and no idolater will enter the kingdom.) However, only He can justly judge that. We all have blind spots.

So what does that have to do with pursuing God’s call? My point is that our notions of success tend to be completely at odds with the Lord’s, and that we tend to assume what we want, what we dream of, is from God. That can be the case, but not always. The easiest way to test which is the case with you is to examine the plan in the light of God’s word. However, when we really want something, we tend to bend scripture to say what we want it to. If we’ve convinced ourselves God has called us to do this, we’ll ignore his prophets when God calls them to rebuke us and point us back to the narrow way.

Thus, I don’t recommend simply ignoring your critics. Powell is absolutely right that a favorite device of the enemy is to tell you to that it’s arrogant to pursue your call. You’ll definitely get that from Christians content to sit in the bleachers. Christians threatened by anyone who dares to get in the game will get in your face and call you every name in the book. To justify their own inaction, they will even side with the enemies of Christ!

Posted in Book Reviews, Idols

Near Death Experiences: True or False?

Posted on October 24, 2008 by Andrea Graham| Comments Off

What do you think of Near Death Experiences such as the testimonies of Bishop Kelley, Mary K. Baxter, who was taken into the spirit to see Heaven and Hell, as well as Bill Weiss’s book 23 Minutes in Hell?
–Blessed

Dear Blessed,

I would be guarded about NDEs. They’re not scripture.

Don’t base your faith or doctrines on such testimonies, but on the Word of God alone. Take what can be backed up by scripture, be blessed by that, and leave the rest. In their right perspective, they can be encouraging–or a sharp rebuke, depending on the specific revelation. These testimonies are often the only form of prophecy that will be received outside charismatic churches, and should be treated as prophecy should be, that is, judged by the Word. Especially given that the false tends to outnumber the true.

As to the particular accounts mentioned, I am not familiar enough with them to vouch for them. The accounts may well be true, or not true. A testimony is a testimony. Prophecy is prophecy. NDEs can be considered either or both depending on what’s in the account, but neither are scripture. They are good for edification and in some cases rebuke, not for basing one’s theology and doctrine on. That must be grounded in the Word alone.

The Bible itself focuses more on revealing the character of Heaven’s King than it’s geography. If we know Heaven’s King, we really know all we need to know about the place. Because of that focus, I personally have little interest in reading such accounts, but will listen if one is given in church and give an answer if a reader asks me to discern whether the revelation lines up with scripture. Like all revelations, NDEs are only as good as they can be shown to line up with the Word of God.

Just as a false account can lead thousands of souls astray, so can a true witness bless thousands. If it is kept in proper perspective. There’s a temptation in the Church to elevate them to equality with scripture in authority. This makes an idol of the NDE no matter how accurate the account may be. Idolatry in any form is a serious sin that must be repented of and washed in the cleansing flow from Calvary.

In brief, keep such testimonies in their proper place by testing the authenticity of the revelation by the Bible and basing your doctrine on the word of God, not the revelation. On things revealed not backed up by scripture, give no credence. Where the revelation lines up with the Word, by all means, be blessed.

In Christ’s Joy,
Andrea Graham

Posted in Idols

Double Jeopardy! (Part Two)

Posted on January 17, 2007 by Andrea Graham| Comments Off

 by Andrea J. Graham

As a result of a potent combination of the attack on fatherhood and disintegrating families that we discussed last time, many Americans, true believer and secularist alike, operate under their personal variant of one of two popular understandings of who the God of our fathers is.

The first views God as an inept namby-pamby who can be tricked and is quick to forgive—the sliver of truth all good lies have mixed in. Paul must not have known what he was talking about in Galatians 6:7-8, as the god we believe in would never think of allowing us to suffer the consequences of our actions.

This god also is not someone you can expect much help from when trouble inevitably does come, and even if he seen as such, he’s certainly not a god worthy of honor. Sure, we often show him lip service and shower him with praise. But the intent is, at least in part, to stroke his ego with empty platitudes in order to grease the palm that hands out blessings, the assumption being our god, like all fathers, is too stupid to know what we’re up to.

We don’t rely on his grace so much as his approval of anything we set our little hearts on, for he loves us far too much to deny us anything we desire. Or else he simply knows he created us with enough sense to figure out what’s best for ourselves. He respects our boundaries and majority rule and wouldn’t dare to butt in on matters that don’t concern him, such as how we conduct our lives outside the confines of the church walls.

On the other hand, many of us struggle under the idea that God is a cruel tyrant, able, but unwilling to help us, for he in his righteousness is angry with us at any hint of wickedness, real or imagined. We may try, but we never quite feel like we have pleased him and sense we are unable to please him, imaging God is not fully aware we’re frail fallen creatures made of dust and incapable of attaining, at least on our own, the degree of purity that the citizens of Heaven must possess in order for Heaven to remain Heaven.

No, this god expects us to obtain perfection in our own strength, without any help from him, and grows wroth at always having to bail us out and is infuriated that we can’t stand on our own two feet and fall flat on our rumps every time we try. True, we often cling to the hope Christ can make intercession for us, yet we still live under a cloud of fear, just “knowing” one false step, and we’ll be struck by the proverbial thunderbolt this god evidently borrowed from Zeus.

Nothing but absolute perfection can please this god—and it’s true that no mortal can stand before the Lord of Hosts on our own merits and live, but this god, if we’re honest with ourselves, actually despises us, wishes Christ never went and paid the penalty issued against us, and is looking for an excuse to go back on his promise and cast us into Hell. In the meanwhile, he seeks every opportunity to bring pain and suffering into our lives for no other reason than his own sadistic pleasure.

We don’t pray to this god, because he won’t answer. We don’t expect or seek blessings from this god, because he won’t give them–unless we manage to twist his arm with enough good deeds, and then only so those points won’t go towards the “entrance fee” apparently not covered by the blood of Jesus Christ. The last thing we expect is this god to keep any of the promises in the bible, as he only made those promises so he could take them away from us as punishment, or they’re only for select favored people, which usually doesn’t include us.

If we’re fortunate, this god has gotten so mad, he’s walked off entirely, abandoning us to follow the natural laws that govern the universe or be swallowed up.

And a miracle? Forget it. This god isn’t in the miracle business anymore. And don’t expect anything to ever change—not for the better, anyway. You’ll just get more of the same old same old, though that’s the only way he’s reliable.

Indeed, it’s this god’s will we stand by and let the world get worse and worse, as he’s looking forward to the events of in John’s Revelation and getting to bathe a world he’s eager to condemn (see John 3:17) in his holy wrath. Of course, he’d turn around punish us for doing his will that we allow evil to reign if Christ would let him (see Phil 2:7-8 ;) , but I’m sure you know what Christ is expected to make him do instead (see John 15:10)—for those that are good enough, anyway. The worst of us will have to get our acts together just in time to become martyrs or else. The revelation isn’t about a final push to draw people to him, no, it’s all about getting back at those dirty rotten sinners, one last hurrah before Christ will force him (see 1 Cor 15:28) to lay aside vengeance and blood shedding and punishing and oh yeah, the thunderbolt, too.

It goes without saying, among believers, most of us who think this way certainly love Jesus with all our hearts, but we’d just rather avoid His father if we at all can. If we’re totally honest with ourselves, we wouldn’t want to be in the same Heaven as him, either, if the alternative wasn’t Hell. Don’t ask us to explain the trinity, though. We’ll get a convenient headache. < good natured ribbing> Of course, some of us have dumped God the Father for Jesus the Father, Jesus the Son, and Jesus the Holy Spirit.

Some of us, though, flicker between the two opinions, unstable, wanting to believe in the namby-pamby god, but secretly afraid God’s really the tyrant and not about to have anything to do with him if he is—and in all our back and forth, never arriving at the truth.

The devil doesn’t care which lie we believe in, as neither is a god we can trust, a god we can respect, a god we can even truly love. We’re much too filled with fear of the tyrant, and too busy taking advantage of the namby-pamby while keeping the Jesus Heaven Insurance Card in our back pockets. We’re certainly too busy trusting in our phony get-out-of-hell-free card (the one that promises we can sin all we want and get into Heaven) to place our trust in the true saving grace of the Perfect Father, who saw a world filled with broken people enslaved to sin and incapable of doing anything pleasing to Him, who willingly sacrificed His only begotten Son on our behalf, to free us not only from the penalty of sin, but ultimately from sin itself, who when we acknowledge our wrong and submit to His authority, will come sweeping into our lives and day by day remake us into His holy image, so long as we allow His Spirit to work in us, and will continue this work in us until the day we are ushered into Christ’s Kingdom. (Phil 1:6)

And a Perfect Father who means what he says and does what he says He’ll do, every time, all the time, just on time, without second thoughts or reluctance born of remorse? For many of us who profess the name of Christ, that’s simply unbelievable.

In truth, God is far more just and righteous than the tyrant, and his love and forgiveness render the namby-pamby’s an obscene mockery, but in separating God’s justice/righteousness from God’s love/forgiveness, and vice versa, both are rendered lies.

Behind all the lies, is that crafty old serpent, waging a war on fatherhood and the proper role of men, not merely to attack and decimate the family, or even the culture and civilization, but to strike out against and slander the Perfect Father Himself.

 

Knowing the devil is striking out at us ultimately to hurt our Eternal Father, protecting ourselves from this attack will bring the brethren to a place where we have to start making what for many will be some tough counter-cultural choices. And being far more careful of the media we expose ourselves and our children to is only the beginning, but the rest God must reveal to you. He may call you to step out into some form of activism (political or otherwise), to educate on these matters within your local church body, to make a difference in your own community and model the love of the Father for a child who does not have a godly father in their life. You may even be called to create media that truly honors the Lord and a biblical world view.

 

Trackposted to Rightwing Guy, Outside the Beltway, Perri Nelson’s Website, Is It Just Me?, The Random Yak, The HILL Chronicles, stikNstein… has no mercy, basil’s blog, Blue Star Chronicles, and Stuck On Stupid, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

Posted in Bible and Theology, Fatherhood, God's Character, Idols