1954 DON’T MOVE THE ROCKS
I want to cover a few things
today- not sure how much we will get to.
A few months ago I kept having a
‘thought’- I was thinking about a church/ministry that I have known for years.
They are from Kansas City [the Missouri
side].
I have read the pastor’s book- I
have met many that were involved in the church/movement- and I even had a good
pastor friend who eventually went and joined the ministry.
He held a doctorate in theology
and became one of the teachers for their university.
Okay- so- for some reason an
image of the ministry kept coming to mind.
Actually- I kept thinking about
the off balance of a few things I had heard over the years.
I was thinking about their
belief- taught to the students/members of the ministry- that they are all
convinced that we are definitely in the ‘end times’ and that they are actually
fulfilling a role of an end times prayer ministry that will rise up before the
Lord returns [which they believe the bible speaks about].
At its most basic level- this is
dangerous to do- for a variety of reasons.
The other thing that came to mind
was a simple statement I heard the minister make years ago.
He was mentioning some criticism
that their church/university has gotten over the years.
Some of the parents of the kids
have said to them ‘but you need to also learn some type of job skills- some
type of learning in the liberal arts- you can’t just spend all your time
praying and learning about being the Lords end time army’.
When I heard this- I actually
agreed with the critic- though I was sympathetic to the ministry.
Okay- after having these things
in my mind- for a few weeks [that’s how you know you’re actually praying in a
way for them- because you’re thinking about them- even during prayer].
Then I read in my local paper
that a kid from my town was I involved in a possible murder plot and killed his
wife.
They were involved in the above
mentioned ministry.
I went on-line a bit yesterday to
read up on it before I comment- I won’t mention the names- you can find that
from many other sources.
I just want to mention the danger
of various expressions of Protestant ministries- and why this is so.
The other day one of my friends
was mentioning some stuff about not being a ‘lone ranger’ in ministry.
And I agreed with him.
But I also reminded him that the
church he associates with [Baptist] is in many ways a ‘lone ranger’.
How so?
Depending on what kind of Baptist
church your involved with- some are highly ‘lone’- others not as much.
But by ‘lone’ I mean historically
they are a church movement that came out of the 16th century
Reformation [later on- they were part of what’s called the Radical Reformers-
those who took the reforms further than the initial protestors] and in
historical terms- they are all ‘rebelling’ against authority.
They left the historic church.
Now- I don’t take this view in a
harsh way- I have many good Baptist friends and many good churches are Baptist.
I say this only to give the broader
perspective.
Okay- as time progressed [from
the 1500’s] you had a multitude of churches/denominations break away from one
thing or another.
It's really astounding to see the
many divisions that have come since the days of the Reformation [which some Catholic
scholars warned would happen].
In these ‘off shoot’ expressions
of Christianity- some are less dangerous- others more.
Many cult watchers have lists of
what to look for in these movements- and these lists can be helpful.
What I try and tell people [and
teach] is if you stay connected as much as possible with the historic church
[yes- both the Catholic and Protestant expressions of it] then you are in safe
territory.
But if you truncate yourself from
'the church’ then you are heading for trouble.
In the above example- the thing that
troubled me was having lots of young kids- on ‘fire’ for God- being taught that
they are God’s ‘end time army’.
The actual ones!
Geez- that in itself is really
disturbing.
Why?
First- I think the Evangelical
church has to do some real soul searching about the way she views/expresses the
‘end times’.
The fact that over the last few
years some of the best sellers are Tim Layahes books- his End Times series- is
troubling.
He gives a very narrow- and skewed
view [in my opinion] of the bibles’ teaching about End Times.
I posted the other day from
Daniel 12- and I have hinted about these problems over the years.
But some of our view about the
end times comes from a miss reading of the actual Greek text.
In the gospels when we read ‘end
of the world’- the term actually means end of the AGE.
Okay- that little adjustment
alone can change our understanding about lots of stuff.
That’s just one little thing- I
have posted lots more over the years.
But the point I’m making is if we
have a whole group of fine young people- embracing a view- from the elders over
them- that they are indeed the actual 'end time army’ or prayer movement- that
was foretold about in the bible- than that’s very disturbing.
When I read about the case
yesterday [the ministry is IHOP_ Mike Bickle is the main leader- I won’t
mention the name of the local boy who is implicated in the death of his wife].
The church is trying to distance
itself from the incident- and to be fair the young kid seems to have started
his own ‘break away’ community [which can also be one of the problems with a
Protesting position form the start- that is when the actual name of your group
‘Protestant’ seems to say we are nonstop protestors- well that can give rise to
the nonstop protests- you think?]
We don’t know all the facts right
now- but we know enough to say we- as Evangelicals- as Protestants [which I am]
need to make every effort to stay connected to the historic church.
Yes- there are things that Evangelicals
disagree with- there are things that the historic early church might view differently
than we do.
But- they are our Fathers in the
faith.
Over the years I remember a verse
that some in the above movement used to mention.
It was a sort of obscure verse found
in the Old Testament.
It says ‘don't move the
foundation stones that your Fathers have laid down’.
Yeah- I think that verse fits
pretty well.
Note- Do me a favor, those who
read/like the posts- re-post them on other sites as well as the site you read
them on. Thanks- John. Don’t forget to scroll down on the timeline [Facebook] -
I have posted lots.