To Be A Fool…

We’ve heard about the Lakeland, Florida healing revival (you can watch on www.ignitedchurch.com ) with Todd Bentley. I believe GodTV is still showing it also!  I just heard this morning that you can tune into Morning Star for what is happening there as well. Any other reports of things going on?

I’m excited about what is happening, and I’m praying that it happens right here where I am as well.

Ok, hopefully you won’t be offended… but I had to share this blog post from Serving Bread listing the 10 reasons “Men Should Not Be Ordained.” Yeah, maybe I have a strange sense of humor (ok, no maybe about it)… but we hear all the arguments about why women cannot minister. Here is the ‘flip-side’ for you.

Here’s the article…

Ten Reasons Why Men Should Not Be Ordained (by Serving Bread)

10. A man’s place is in the army.
9. The pastoral duties of men who have children might distract them from the responsibility of being a parent.
8. The physique of men indicates that they are more suited to such tasks as chopping down trees and wrestling mountain lions. It would be “unnatural” for them to do ministerial tasks.
7. Man was created before woman, obviously as a prototype. Thus, they represent an experiment rather than the crowning achievement of creation.
6. Men are too emotional to be priests or pastors. Their conduct at football and basketball games demonstrates this.
5. Some men are handsome, and this will distract women worshipers.
4. Pastors need to nurture their congregations. But this is not a traditional male role. Throughout history, women have been recognized as not only more skilled than men at nurturing, but also more fervently attracted to it. This makes them the obvious choice for ordination.
3. Men are prone to violence. No really masculine man wants to settle disputes except by fighting about them. Thus they would be poor role models as well as dangerously unstable in positions of leadership.
2. The New Testament tells us that Jesus was betrayed by a man. His lack of faith and ensuing punishment remind us of the subordinated position that all men should take.
1. Men can still be involved in church activities, even without being ordained. They can sweep sidewalks, repair the church roof, and perhaps even lead the song service on Father’s Day. By confining themselves to such traditional male roles, they can still be vitally important in the life of the church.

What do you all think about the use of “titles” in the church? Good? Bad? Indifferent? I have always struggled with the concept of titles, but accepted them because… well… we were supposed to respect our leaders, and submit, right?

I heard a teaching by Graham Cooke a few weeks ago talking about how many “titles” are really ‘job descriptions’ rather than something we should actually call people.

I was reading a post on Battered Sheep about this topic. Go read it for yourself if you’d like, and let me know your thoughts!

Here is just one small quote from the article:

It is important to emphasize that such terms as “elder,” “overseer,” and “pastor” are functional terms, and were never intended to serve as formal titles. In other words, the terminology is descriptive of one’s task; they help to picture a church leader’s function or may even denote one’s spiritual maturity as in the term “elder.” Thus, it is just as foolish and unnecessary to speak of “Pastor Bob” as it is to speak of one who possesses the gift or function of hospitality as “Hospitality Harry”; or one who has the gift of mercy as “Mercy Mary”; or one who has the gift of giving as “Giving George.”

What do you think?

No one enjoys walking people through dark valleys or through painful reactions, but love says, I’ll be there for you. I may not know what to do or what to say. But I just can’t let you go through this alone!

Read the entire article by Wayne Jacobsen here.

A short video of Louie Giglio talking about Laminin. If you don’t know what Laminin is, and why you should care… listen to this. It was pretty amazing. (I found this on Tam’s blog)

This is the huge question in my house.  What about yours?

Stepping out of the comfort zone, and into the vastness of possibilites is rather frightening.  But it sure beats sitting here wondering “what if.”  That is, if I had any idea of where to step.

Update on watching the coverage HERE.

GodTV has extended their coverage of the Lakeland Florida Healing Revival with Todd Bentley. Monday through Sunday (April 21-27), every night this week at 7pm EST! I’ve watched some of these meetings… has anyone else been watching?

If you don’t get God TV you can watch on-line every night!!! You just need to register on GodTV and you can watch on-line what is happening in Lakeland, Fl.

Here is one testimony that is on YouTube from these meetings.

Todd Bentley (Fresh Fire Ministries) has been in Florida for awhile now as a healing revival has broken out there. They are continuing it through April 27th, and GodTV is going to be airing it the 18th, 19th and 20th. I’m going to tune in, and I’m very excited to see and hear what God has been doing in Lakeland, Florida! Apparently you can also watch it from Fresh Fire’s website as well, and I just got on there to watch.

There have been some amazing testimonies about what God has been doing!!!!
(updated post here)

Blessings,

Heidi

I just finished reading this book. “SO YOU DON’T WANT TO GO TO CHURCH ANYMORE” by Jake Colsen.

Let me say, wow! This book certainly challenges traditional thinking!

This story is nearly exactly what we went through with the church we left. The timeline is a bit different (and we were in leadership, but not pastors), but it was rather amazing to read OUR story. We are in a small fellowship right now, but with a strong desire to know where Father wants us, and what he wants us doing. This book opened my eyes to some of our continuing struggles to find a “place we fit.”

You can download it and read it from your computer if you’d like to at www.JakeColsen.com

There were actually 2 authors, who combined their names into one for this book.  One of them is Wayne Jacobsen.  If you want to hear an amazing message by him called “Sharing the Father’s Affection” you can watch it here. Or learn more about his ministry at www.lifestream.org The other author is Dave Coleman.

Heresy.

No word in Christian circles gets my attention as much as this one.  For some reason (probably the intent and spirit behind it) I often cringe when I hear this word.  For a long time, although I knew it was a TERRIBLE thing, I didn’t really know what it meant.  I did realize it was some sort of false teaching, but often times I was more upset at the intent of the person speaking the word than I was at the person spouting the false teaching.  Not because they were necessarily ‘wrong’ to call something to attention, but because of the spiritual club behind the word.  “Raca… you fool!  You are spouting something that is so far beneath us, and so against what we are saying, that we must now label you with the worst “Christian” curse word we can come up with!”

Here is the definition of Heresy from Wikipedia and some snippets of the explanation:

Heresy is a challenge to a prescribed system of belief, especially a religious one

Heretics usually do not define their own beliefs as heretical. Heresy is a value judgement and the expression of a view from within an established belief system. For instance, Roman Catholics held Protestantism as a heresy while some non-Catholics considered Catholicism the “Great Apostasy.”

And, in case you were wondering… they also have a “Christian Heresy” definition.

Christian heresy refers to unorthodox practices and beliefs that were deemed to be heretical by one or more of the Christian churches.

Today, heresy can be without a religious context as the holding of ideas that are in fundamental disagreement with the status quo in any practice and branch of knowledge.

So does that clear it up for you?  Me neither!  MUD!  Go ahead and read the entire entry, and maybe you’ll understand more than I do why this word has resurfaced in Christian communities.

Something that it does is tell me is that Heresy is often a religious term used to “label” things that are considered a “challenge” or “not-my-belief” by religious people.  Hmmm… what exactly is this supposed to mean to me?

If heresy is questioning something, then I’m guilty.  I’ve challenged the status-quo.  I’ve questioned why we do the things we do, and wondered many times about traditions and dogmas.  I’ve asked hard questions.  I’ve changed my so-called beliefs more than once on things as I have understood grace and mercy and struggled to overcome legalism and “religious” mindsets.

I’ve never denied Christ (which is what I THOUGHT heresy meant but yet that made no sense in light of how I hear people use the term)… and I even took an on-line quiz that proved I’m not a heretic!  But according to whose standard?  That is what I’m seeing now… that the word is being used against anyone who doesn’t believe according to our particular flavor of theology rather than based on the unerring truth of Christ.  Let’s be cautious, dear ones, in labeling people… or threatening them with a label when they are just trying to walk out their own life in Christ and work out their own salvation with the Lord.

If we cannot challenge and question something, then we are no better off than those who had to look to a priest or pastor to answer every and all questions.  Perhaps we must never read and try to understand the Bible for ourselves, or we might get something wrong.  Should we all hand in our Bibles so we “don’t read while thinking?”  Hey… that would make a great bumper sticker!

I’m not angry… but I am concerned that we are seeing the return of the “heresy police” in our midst.  That we cannot stand to be challenged and don’t trust believers to remain firm in the faith, so we must silence those who are spreading lies, and insulate people from anyone who might question them.  I have loved the apologetic people of the past decade or so, who have armed people with truth rather than hide them in a hole.

It all comes down to this for me.  Why DO we believe what we believe?  Are we solid on the things that we know to be true?  (ie. the basic tenents of faith… the things that make us a “Christian”)  How can we share that with others? How will we handle it when someone questions us?  And, to the point that we are able, are we equipping and discipling those who have turned to Jesus?  Encouraging them to learn and grow, and lean wholly on their Saviour and Lord?  Are we pointing to Jesus for all of the answers?  Are we avoiding the pit-fall of trying to BE God for people?

Can we lay down all of the pretense, and simply stand on the Word of God?  Stand in the grace and mercy of the One who gave His life for us?  Do we truly believe what we say we believe?

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.    John 14:6 (NIV)