QOD

"The Glory of God is man fully alive!"

-- John Calvin

Frustrated

I feel like my mind is going to explode. So in no random order, stuff on my mind.

Sunday School:
Probably one of the near most frustrating moments of my life. Why force people to come to Sunday School that have no desire to learn? What's worse is I felt I was prepared and the Spirit with me...and no result? What are you trying to teach me, God?

Love Deficit:
I feel that a lot of people around me lack love. I do not know what my approach to this will be yet. Gotta pray more. As this is something that strikes to the heart of my fellowship and family.

Get Better:
I feel this constant urge to go read more and pray more. I question whether or not this is truly from God. I pray that I get better, and it seems the path that I must take involves a heavy amount of invested time in Bible Reading, Christian book reading, etc. It leaves time for nothing else. What ends up happening is that I binge on "Christian stuff" for a week, so we are talking 3-4 hours of reading Christian stuff and praying... then I spend a couple days binging on TV. This cannot be good.

The craziest part is whether or not it is from God. I truly believe that the greatest threat upon Christianity (at least in North America) is attack on discernment and Scriptural truth. Satan could easily spur me on to the point where I get fed up and give up, (a risky move, but plausible). It is weird that I have guilt associated with rest, despite rest being perfectly cool with God.

Good Talks:
At Ryerson CCF, having no official responsibility, I was free to pray and basically talk to people at my leisure. I enjoyed this the most, counseling 1 on 1. I had a good number of talks this weekend, including a girl from grade 9 in Xara. I admire the girl (Crystal) for having such a heart for God at such a young age. (I secretly wish she was in my Sunday School Class).

The Praise of Men:
I wish I would stop caring what other people think.

The expert effect

"The brain 'offloads' its normal calculations if faced with an authoritative figure because claims of expertise were found to suppress activity in the neural circuit linked to decision-making," Caroline Gammell reports in The Daily Telegraph. "It means that people who make decisions after speaking to a financial adviser or a bank manager may be helpless to avoid following their lead. The research, published in the Public Library of Science One, studied the brains of 24 volunteers who were asked to make several financial choices. ... When the volunteers were advised to follow a certain course of action, they tended to follow that advice, even if it was not the best solution. Brain activity was notably different on the occasions a person received an 'expert opinion' and when they made a decision on their own. Author of the study Gregory Berns, a professor of neuroeconomics and psychiatry at Emory University in Atlanta, said: 'This study indicates that the brain relinquishes responsibility when a trusted authority provides expertise.' "

Source: GlobeandMail Social Studies March 26th 2009

QOD

"An armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life."

-- Robert A. Heinlein

QOD

O soul, consider this deeply: it is the life of a Christian that carries more conviction and persuasion than his words. Even if you, like an angel, talk of Christ, of the gospel, of the doctrines of grace, and of heaven, yet if you indulge devilish tempers, and live under the power of any sinful lusts and passions, you will hereby harden others against the things of God and prevent their setting out in the ways of God. Study and pray to be a consistent walker in the ways of holiness; otherwise, all is but windy profession and airy talk. O, how much harm is done to Christ’s cause by the unholy walk of many professors!

-- John Bunyan

QOD

"The greatest mistake is trying to be more agreeable than you can be."

-- Walter Bagehot

The higher allegiance (Ivan Moiseyev)

The son of Protestant peasant farmers, Ivan “Vanya” Moiseyev entered the army at eighteen to perform two years of required military training and service. Because he spoke openly of God, which was forbidden in the atheistic regime, Vanya was persecuted by his military supervisors.

Many times, he was challenged by his barracks to prove that God exists. The test was that God obtain leave for a certain sergeant. Leaves were hard to get. After asking God if he should accept the challenge, Vanya agreed. All night, he sat up with the sergeant explaining the things that he would need to know when he became a Christian. The next day, an authority from another town called and ordered the leave. The sergeant became a Christian and so did other men.

Once, after a discussion about God, Vanya was made to stand in the street throughout the whole night wearing their summer uniform.. The temperature at that time was thirteen degrees below zero. He obeyed the order and stood at the street the whole night, remaining faithful to God. Miraculously, he could see his officers and move his body despite the terrible cold. All throughout the ordeal, Vanya only prayed for his persecutors. For the next twelve nights, Ivan continued to stand in the street outside his barracks. Miraculously, he did not freeze, nor did he beg for mercy. Ivan continued to speak about his faith to his comrades and officers.

Soldiers around him were converted, impressed by his ardent faith. His commanders continued to interrogate him, trying to get him to deny Jesus. They put him in refrigerated cells. They clothed him in a special rubber suit, into which they pumped air until his chest was so compressed he scarcely could breath.

In his interrogation, Vanya testified, “I have one higher allegiance, and that is to Jesus Christ. He has given me certain orders, and these I cannot disobey.”

At the age of 20, Ivan knew that the communists would kill him. On July 11, 1972, he wrote his parents, “You will not see me anymore.” He then described a vision of angels and heaven which God had sent to strengthen him for the last trial. A few days later, a coffin arrived at his parents' home, welded shut. Vanya's mother insisted it be opened. A brother, who belonged to the Communist party resisted, but the rest of the family prevailed. Vanya was barely recognizable. Witnesses, Christian and non-Christian alike, signed a statement which declared that his chest had been burned. His face and body were lumped and bruised. Heel marks marred his body. His heart was punctured in six places. Vanya had been beaten and stabbed six times on the chest, and then drowned.

His family did not know about all the things which happened to Vanya, but his letters and the testimonies of the other witnesses completed the puzzle and made the story of Vanya known.
Colonel Malsin, his commander, said, “Moiseyev died with difficulty. He fought with death, but he died as a Christian.”

Source

For a more detailed account:
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VOD

“Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.”

James 1:12

Motivation

Note to self: Your motivation...is still wrong.

Greatest Fear Redux

I went out with some of the CCF folk this past weekend. I haven't seen them since the retreat, so it was great to see all of them again. I was suprised to see so many out, and was very happy to talk to them and generally joke around with them.

We went for bubble tea after going bowling, and towards the end of the night... I gave one of the girls the option to ask me a question, which I would answer truthfully. I also told her, regardless of what she asked me, I would answer truthfully.. (lol, you could make it really awkward.) :P

She asked, "What my greatest fear is?". I thought for a moment. I told her my greatest fear is that no one would believe what I say. She said that it was a silly fear. One would always be subject to the

In retrospect, yeah it is pretty stupid. So I am going to work on not caring what other people think. And for those that ask, what of Godly counsel? There is a difference between seeking counsel...and approval.

Random Memories of the Night:
- Playing Mafia with a Left 4 Dead theme
- Playing Mafia with a How I Met Your Mother theme (I was Barney)
- Brian Tse's bowling ball that took 5 minutes to get down the gutter....and rolled back towards us
- Ordering way too much sushi
- Seeing the CCF people I miss so

QOD

Thanks be to Thee, my Lord Jesus Christ
For all the benefits Thou hast given me,
For all the pains and insults Thou hast borne for me.
O most merciful Redeemer, friend and brother,
May I know Thee more clearly,
Love Thee more dearly,
Follow Thee more nearly,
Day by day.

St. Richard of Chichester

The Coming Evangelical Collapse

R: Be good and read the whole thing.

An anti-Christian chapter in Western history is about to begin. But out of the ruins, a new vitality and integrity will rise.

Oneida, Ky. - We are on the verge – within 10 years – of a major collapse of evangelical Christianity. This breakdown will follow the deterioration of the mainline Protestant world and it will fundamentally alter the religious and cultural environment in the West.

Within two generations, evangelicalism will be a house deserted of half its occupants. (Between 25 and 35 percent of Americans today are Evangelicals.) In the "Protestant" 20th century, Evangelicals flourished. But they will soon be living in a very secular and religiously antagonistic 21st century.

This collapse will herald the arrival of an anti-Christian chapter of the post-Christian West. Intolerance of Christianity will rise to levels many of us have not believed possible in our lifetimes, and public policy will become hostile toward evangelical Christianity, seeing it as the opponent of the common good.

Millions of Evangelicals will quit. Thousands of ministries will end. Christian media will be reduced, if not eliminated. Many Christian schools will go into rapid decline. I'm convinced the grace and mission of God will reach to the ends of the earth. But the end of evangelicalism as we know it is close.

Why is this going to happen?

1. Evangelicals have identified their movement with the culture war and with political conservatism. This will prove to be a very costly mistake. Evangelicals will increasingly be seen as a threat to cultural progress. Public leaders will consider us bad for America, bad for education, bad for children, and bad for society.

The evangelical investment in moral, social, and political issues has depleted our resources and exposed our weaknesses. Being against gay marriage and being rhetorically pro-life will not make up for the fact that massive majorities of Evangelicals can't articulate the Gospel with any coherence. We fell for the trap of believing in a cause more than a faith.

2. We Evangelicals have failed to pass on to our young people an orthodox form of faith that can take root and survive the secular onslaught. Ironically, the billions of dollars we've spent on youth ministers, Christian music, publishing, and media has produced a culture of young Christians who know next to nothing about their own faith except how they feel about it. Our young people have deep beliefs about the culture war, but do not know why they should obey scripture, the essentials of theology, or the experience of spiritual discipline and community. Coming generations of Christians are going to be monumentally ignorant and unprepared for culture-wide pressures.

3. There are three kinds of evangelical churches today: consumer-driven megachurches, dying churches, and new churches whose future is fragile. Denominations will shrink, even vanish, while fewer and fewer evangelical churches will survive and thrive.

4. Despite some very successful developments in the past 25 years, Christian education has not produced a product that can withstand the rising tide of secularism. Evangelicalism has used its educational system primarily to staff its own needs and talk to itself.

5. The confrontation between cultural secularism and the faith at the core of evangelical efforts to "do good" is rapidly approaching. We will soon see that the good Evangelicals want to do will be viewed as bad by so many, and much of that work will not be done. Look for ministries to take on a less and less distinctively Christian face in order to survive.

6. Even in areas where Evangelicals imagine themselves strong (like the Bible Belt), we will find a great inability to pass on to our children a vital evangelical confidence in the Bible and the importance of the faith.

7. The money will dry up.

What will be left?

•Expect evangelicalism to look more like the pragmatic, therapeutic, church-growth oriented megachurches that have defined success. Emphasis will shift from doctrine to relevance, motivation, and personal success – resulting in churches further compromised and weakened in their ability to pass on the faith.

•Two of the beneficiaries will be the Roman Catholic and Orthodox communions. Evangelicals have been entering these churches in recent decades and that trend will continue, with more efforts aimed at the "conversion" of Evangelicals to the Catholic and Orthodox traditions.

•A small band will work hard to rescue the movement from its demise through theological renewal. This is an attractive, innovative, and tireless community with outstanding media, publishing, and leadership development. Nonetheless, I believe the coming evangelical collapse will not result in a second reformation, though it may result in benefits for many churches and the beginnings of new churches.

•The emerging church will largely vanish from the evangelical landscape, becoming part of the small segment of progressive mainline Protestants that remain true to the liberal vision.

•Aggressively evangelistic fundamentalist churches will begin to disappear.

•Charismatic-Pentecostal Christianity will become the majority report in evangelicalism. Can this community withstand heresy, relativism, and confusion? To do so, it must make a priority of biblical authority, responsible leadership, and a reemergence of orthodoxy.

•Evangelicalism needs a "rescue mission" from the world Christian community. It is time for missionaries to come to America from Asia and Africa. Will they come? Will they be able to bring to our culture a more vital form of Christianity?

•Expect a fragmented response to the culture war. Some Evangelicals will work to create their own countercultures, rather than try to change the culture at large. Some will continue to see conservatism and Christianity through one lens and will engage the culture war much as before – a status quo the media will be all too happy to perpetuate. A significant number, however, may give up political engagement for a discipleship of deeper impact.

Is all of this a bad thing?

Evangelicalism doesn't need a bailout. Much of it needs a funeral. But what about what remains?

Is it a good thing that denominations are going to become largely irrelevant? Only if the networks that replace them are able to marshal resources, training, and vision to the mission field and into the planting and equipping of churches.

Is it a good thing that many marginal believers will depart? Possibly, if churches begin and continue the work of renewing serious church membership. We must change the conversation from the maintenance of traditional churches to developing new and culturally appropriate ones.

The ascendency of Charismatic-Pentecostal-influenced worship around the world can be a major positive for the evangelical movement if reformation can reach those churches and if it is joined with the calling, training, and mentoring of leaders. If American churches come under more of the influence of the movement of the Holy Spirit in Africa and Asia, this will be a good thing.

Will the evangelicalizing of Catholic and Orthodox communions be a good development? One can hope for greater unity and appreciation, but the history of these developments seems to be much more about a renewed vigor to "evangelize" Protestantism in the name of unity.

Will the coming collapse get Evangelicals past the pragmatism and shallowness that has brought about the loss of substance and power? Probably not. The purveyors of the evangelical circus will be in fine form, selling their wares as the promised solution to every church's problems. I expect the landscape of megachurch vacuity to be around for a very long time.

Will it shake lose the prosperity Gospel from its parasitical place on the evangelical body of Christ? Evidence from similar periods is not encouraging. American Christians seldom seem to be able to separate their theology from an overall idea of personal affluence and success.

The loss of their political clout may impel many Evangelicals to reconsider the wisdom of trying to create a "godly society." That doesn't mean they'll focus solely on saving souls, but the increasing concern will be how to keep secularism out of church, not stop it altogether. The integrity of the church as a countercultural movement with a message of "empire subversion" will increasingly replace a message of cultural and political entitlement.

Despite all of these challenges, it is impossible not to be hopeful. As one commenter has already said, "Christianity loves a crumbling empire."

We can rejoice that in the ruins, new forms of Christian vitality and ministry will be born. I expect to see a vital and growing house church movement. This cannot help but be good for an evangelicalism that has made buildings, numbers, and paid staff its drugs for half a century.

We need new evangelicalism that learns from the past and listens more carefully to what God says about being His people in the midst of a powerful, idolatrous culture.

I'm not a prophet. My view of evangelicalism is not authoritative or infallible. I am certainly wrong in some of these predictions. But is there anyone who is observing evangelicalism in these times who does not sense that the future of our movement holds many dangers and much potential?

• Michael Spencer is a writer and communicator living and working in a Christian community in Kentucky. He describes himself as "a postevangelical reformation Christian in search of a Jesus-shaped spirituality." This essay is adapted from a series on his blog, InternetMonk.com .

Source

How My Dad met My Mother

Our story begins at the dinner table...

*Parents arguing*

Me: *exasperated* How did you two meet?

Both: At a Chinese restaurant.

Me: .... that's it?

Dad: It was amazing, she said absolutely nothing at all for an hour!

Mom: He came in a white shirt and black pants, I thought he was either a waiter or fresh off the boat.

Dad: Hey, at the end.. I got her number.

Me: Awesome, good job Dad.

Mom: On our 2nd date, we went to the CNE. He wore these orange shorts and pants. It was ridiculous.

They were both quite adamant about telling their version of the story. It was one of those moments that I can only describe as....LEGENDARY.

There were other moments:
My dad apparently went to see her everyday for the first six months.
My Uncle (Kevin's dad) DROVE from OTTAWA every weekend to visit my auntie. That is mad props.
My mom tells her co-workers to meet people in Chinese restaurants.
My dad almost did not go through with it! They were set up by parents, and my mom was in a fierce argument with the auntie who was setting them up. Thank God, it worked out. :P

Rob Bell

You know the guy who does the NOOMA videos?

Apparently he's quite sketch.

Apologies to Jeff and anyone else who enjoy the videos.

More here.

QOD

"I have noticed that the people who are late are often so much jollier than the people who have to wait for them."

-- E. V. Lucas

It's gonna be a thing!

If you're in the know, one of the newest rages on the Internet is FML [warning: mostly mature content], or F*** my life. Like all internet meme's, it is passed on as a joke. Unlike other Internet meme's, FML has meaning attached to it. FML screams something of our culture. To cry out FML without any real self-examination, especially for those living in cushy North America, is a slap in the face to all people living in actual hardship.

My boyfriend broke up with me! FML.
The dog ate my homework. FML.
My girlfriend cheated on me with my best friend! FML.

Those are pretty tame examples. I see it nothing more as an attention grab. And how true! For the unsaved, is not life about glorifying self?

But, what of the Christian? I look towards Job.

The Sabeans came and carried off your oxen and donkey!
The fire of God came down and burned your sheeps!
The Chaleans stole your camels!
Your sons and daughters are dead!
You have been afflicted with painful sores!
Your friends blame you!
Your wife tells you to curse God and die! :(

FML? No.... Praise the Lord! PTL.

So my brethren, let's start our own cultural revolution. We will base it off the things that are of Christ.

PTL. It's gonna be a thing.

Foolishness

I prayed a prayer today...to be stronger. God answered me by asking "Why?". I responded so that I can be strong enough to handle the work that He has set for me. He answered again, "Why do you think I give you these things to do? So that you can realize your weakness, and rely on Me to accomplish them."

I also tried to usurp the position of righteous Judge. I lose.

MORE PRAYER, RICHARD! MORE PRAYER!

Chuck Norris reads?

For proof on God's existence I recommend Lee Strobel's The Case for a Creator or Hugh Ross's The Creator and the Cosmos: How the Latest Scientific Discoveries of the Century Reveal God. Another recent great book is Vox Day's The Irrational Atheist, which defends belief in God against the militant atheism of antagonists like Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and Daniel Dennett.
- Chuck Norris, Black Belt Patriotism, p. 226

I figured he just cracked the books' spines, and they sang their content.

The Irrational Athiest...read it. :)

QOD

“Being filled with the fullness of God is like a bottle in the ocean. You take the cork out of the bottle and sink it in the ocean, and you have the bottle completely full of ocean. The bottle is in the ocean, and the ocean is in the bottle. The ocean contains the bottle, but the bottle contains only a little bit of the ocean. So it is with the Christian.”

Dr. A.B. Simpson

Conviction

The Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged. With gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, And they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.
2 Timothy 2:24-25

I was talking to Pastor Scott about some stuff. He challenged me on some stuff... and I was like.. I hate you. But, I know for at least one area, that God was already saying, "You need to talk to this person about this." So with what Scott was saying, it is in line with what God is saying. Thus, I have some work ahead of me.

So on my hit-list for call outs. I have three people. None of which typically read my blog...so count yourselves lucky.

I was also wondering, how can we call upon the mercies of God... when we are in such a sinful deplorable state. When I say this, I speak of the things that we REFUSE to repent of. We ask Him to pour His blessings and mercy, yet are unwilling to fully submit to Him, especially for things that He has clearly stated in His Word. Where do we get off?

Let's pray for people to come to their senses, especially our professing brethren. We need to come back to our God with passion and desperation.