Archive for September, 2006

It’s True You Know

Published
by
carl
on September 28, 2006
in Christianity and Doctrine
. 1 Comment

I was reading a story in The New York Times Magazine this weekend. There was an article about a manchild who was taken in by a Christian High School and how his life was changed. At the end of his tenure there his GPA was not high enough to get an NCAA scholorship due to his record before he went to the school.

To counter this they found out about a program at BYU that gives High School replacement credit for correspondence courses. After completing the courses there was some difficulty getting the NCAA to accept them to which BYU bent over backwards to help the student out.

The NY Times reported that Sean Tuohy, one of the student’s benefactors said of the the people at BYU,

“The Mormons may be going to hell,” Sean says. “But they really are nice people.”

I laughed out loud when I read that. I reread it to my wife and she said,

That sounds like something my husband would say.

Popularity: 9% [?]

The Relevancy of the Gospel

Published
by
carl
on September 26, 2006
in Christianity, Emergent and Revival
. 1 Comment
I wrote this on David’s blog.  I reread it this morning and it stirred me up so I am going to repost it here.

Our pulpits are filled with people eager to tell what the Scriptures mean instead of preaching what the Scriptures say. Everything is up for interpretation and personal analysis. We have been robbed of absolutes and the Kingdom of God has suffered because of it.

There is nothing more relevant than the Advent. Nothing more relevant than the God who takes away sin and transforms lives. Lessons on how to live happy and wealthy lack the life changing power of the Gospel yet the church has been taught to settle for that.

Maranatha!

Popularity: 14% [?]

Wealth, Power, Beauty, Fame

Published
by
carl
on September 25, 2006
in Christianity and Revival
. 0 Comments

Wealth, Power, Beauty, and Fame. Are you willing to forgo all four to fulfill the call of God upon your life? Few people seek after all four but rare is the person who does not lust after one even if secretly. Are you willing to lay down that one to obtain the pearl of great price?
Jesus said,

“You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” matt 20:25-28

Will you stay true to your call while your lukewarm peers become wealthy? How long will you toil in anonymity as the men and women around you become well known? Will you you hope nobody asks you what you do at your wife’s family reunion because the truthful answer is “not much?”

Lets get down to brass tacks, How do you feel when nobody in a meeting reacts to a word of knowledge? You say, “The Lord has shown me this…Who is this person?” and all you get in return is blank stares. Do you feel self conscious that night? The next morning?

Popularity: 9% [?]

Youth Ablaze

Published
by
carl
on September 22, 2006
in Christianity, Holy Spirit, Revival, Salvation Story and Youth Ministry
. 2 Comments

Sometimes we can really take for granted when we are in the midst of a move of God. My youth group is one such instance. I have posted on it lots but here is a message one of the youth sent to me today (not the real names):

member the first day of school when you said to me and pricilla that you wanted testimonies in a few weeks about what God has been doing through us.

well… i have 2.remember debrah? she came for like the last 2 weeks but couldn’t come this week. well… God moved through me and touched her which helped her build up the courage she needed to go to churhc. she is baptist and not really religous. but the 2nd time she came… she fell in the Holy Spirit. That part is her testimony but mine is God moved through me to touched her so she could come to church and get touched herself.

Now last wednesday… member a spanish girl with cornrows sitting next to me? Well… she is one of my closest friends at school. I never pushed it on her that she needs to go to church or whatever. i mentioned it once or twice. But not last wed but the wed before she had a dream that i called her up. and the only thigs i said was “you need go to go church” then she said “i know but im just really busy” “well you know you need to go” “i know” well bye” “bye”. nd that was it in the dream. she told me and i told her that was confirmation that God wants you to go to church. So she came with me on wed and she ended up getting saved.

…snip…

I hope there are more testimonies for you to hear in the future.

love ya carl

- kerri

Maranatha!

Popularity: 20% [?]

My Rib is Hurting Me

Published
by
carl
on September 20, 2006
in Christianity
. 1 Comment

Last night I answered a knock at the door.  I opened it and there stood a woman holding a clip board and a man stood behind her.  They were obviously sales people and since I am broke (as my half dozen loyal readers know) I was not interested.

As the woman began to introduce herself I quickly said, “I am sorry but we are about to sit down for dinner.  Thanks.  Have a great day.”  Then I promptly closed the door.  I was not rude.  In fact I smiled the whole time.

As I walked into the living room my wife said,

“You used to invite salesmen in to witness to them.”

Ouch!  I mean, OUCH!  That was really painful.

Popularity: 8% [?]

Cane River Tent Revival

Published
by
carl
on September 14, 2006
in Christianity, Emergent, Healing, Holy Spirit, Revival and prayer
. 5 Comments

Who has any info on this? Appearantly Rev Ralph Sexton has had extended meetings that have seen quite the move of God. There was supposed to be a two week tent meeting and it turned into six. Before you dismiss it as jus another camp meeting watch this.

That’s fruit baby! Here are photos of the same.

I have an idea why this has happened. In an article in the Ashville Citizen-Times they reported,

Sexton began this revival in a cornfield six weeks ago with nearly 30 area pastors and churches who came together for a single cause: healing, soothing, saving and bringing God into troubled personal lives and into a world in a state of unrest and war.

I heard David Copeland exhort a crowd along the same lines. If we can stop looking at what revival can do for our church and start looking at what revival can do for God’s people and God’s purpose on the earth then we all might see the move we have been crying out for. Remember that the very creation is crying out for the revealing of the sons of God.

Sexton is quoted as saying,

“In our communities, there seems to be a hunger to return to basic moral and faith values,” he said. “We have an unsettled world. Every continent has a madman and every country is asking for peace and safety and we’re finding none.”

What do you know? The Gospel still works. We don’t need to reinvent it or repackage it.

Maranatha!

More report in the Wilmington Star

UPDATE:Hal Donaldson wrote in thte PE about disunity in the church being its greatest problem.

Popularity: 23% [?]

Revolution Flyer

Published
by
carl
on September 13, 2006
in Christianity and Youth Ministry
. 0 Comments

For those who have no ability, I am a graphics designer. For anyone with enough skills to open photoshop I am an obvious hack. Nevertheless, since I complete projects that I start I tend to do graphics for people.

I am posting this one because nobody over 17 will ever see it any other way. (And I pay the bill for this blog)


The concept I had was kind of a retro punk look.  I am not sure I acheived that but what can you do?  That little map took more time than I care to mention.  It consists  of about 14 layers.  The layout might look a little funny because this is the pretrimmed graphic with the bleed. If I weren’t so lazy I would have cropped it before posting.

Popularity: 13% [?]

Links, Blog, Tech Stuff and More!

Published
by
carl
on September 12, 2006
in Christianity, Holy Spirit, Revival and Wordpress
. 2 Comments

1. I have been on a blogging frenzy latley but wanted to post a few things of varrying importance.I have a soft spot for missionaries but I have a special affinity for Holy Ghost missionaries. I discovered a missionary drunk on the new wine a while ago while he was waiting to go to Brazil. If I had any money I would sponsor him but you all know how broke I am so he will have to settle for this plug and my prayers. Carl (great name by the way) keeps a great blog about his adventures adapting to a new country.

Brazilian medical system works differently that anything I am accustomed to. I’m not exactly sure yet how it works, but I am most definitely sure that I’m not accustomed to it.

and

Chatting with the guard, asking about his family, inviting him to dinner sometime, and wishing him a good day is also some insurance against getting shot should you inadvertently drift into the wrong line and have to be escorted away. It is, after all, considered poor manners to shoot someone who has invited you to dinner.

Just a few of the informative quips. Check it out and follow the adventure of hislegs and see if they, “first explode or burst suddenly into flames.”

2. If you don’t have Cocomment, get it. If you have a blog, get the plugin.

3. I am looking for a new webhost. Mine is not very good. I need xNix, CPanel, Fantastico, shell access as well as the ability to host multiple domains. I don’t need phone support. If you have a lead, let me know.

4. If you don’t use firefox stop reading. Get the TrashMail plugin. Once installed, you right-click in a mail for box and post a disposable email address. I keep it set at 2. So once someone has sent you 2 emails, the address gets deleted. My wife completed a form online last week and gave her real email address. She has gotten close to 1,000 junk emails since. With trashmail that would have been 2.

5. If you are still reading this far get a life.

Popularity: 13% [?]

Todd Bentley Heart Attack

Published
by
carl
on September 11, 2006
in Christianity, Healing, Revival, Revival Newsletters and prayer
. 4 Comments

I just got this note from Kelly Warren:

We just learned that Todd Bentley had a heart attack while doing a crusade in Uganda.God has been using Todd throughout the world to gather and release the Kingdom with power. You can see http://www.freshfire.ca for more info on Todd.

Please be in prayer for Todd, Shonnah and their three children, Lauralee, Esther and Elijah.

Father, we join with many who are reading this and speak total healing to Todd right now. Raise him up to continue releasing your awesome love and power throughout this earth! Much Love … Many Blessings!

Anyone got any more info?

UPDATE: Got this message from freshfire

 We ask that you would please keep Todd Bentley and Fresh Fire in your prayers at this time. Todd had a minor heart attack on Saturday night in Uganda, Africa after preaching at the last night of the miracle festival. He was taken to the hospital where he had another minor heart attack. He is presently resting in a hospital in Kampala, Uganda, where he continues to undergo various tests.

Continue reading ‘Todd Bentley Heart Attack’

Popularity: 42% [?]

Revival in India

Published
by
carl
on September 11, 2006
in Christianity and Revival
. 21 Comments

Seems like there is some sort of outpouring happening in a certain town in India. Here are links to a few citations:

Times of Restoration:

The revival that came to Meghalaya hundred of years ago has returned back and this time it’s in an unprecedented scale. People are turning to the Lord and besides Christians, even Hindu, Muslim and other non-Christian children and young people are seeing visions of Jesus, Heaven…(There is a link to a pdf file that gives a detailed account of the events.)

Here is an excerpt from a newspaper:

There have been reports during the past few weeks that students of 15 schools in Shillong and other institutions in the Khasi and Jaintia hills region were fainting, weeping, chanting hymns and having convulsions.

Another newspaper’s account:

The revival has affected all other denominations with prayer meetings and services being held on a regular basis.

A first hand account

First it started right on the ground where the celebration meeting was going on. Subsequently news began to pour in that it was happening in different places, but especially amongst the Presbyterians, and especially among the younger generation. Then we heard that students in a school in Silchar in Assam were experiencing the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. The school authorities, not knowing what was happening, actually had those students taken to a hospital.

hat tip revivalfire.info

Popularity: 21% [?]

Untimely Death

Published
by
carl
on September 10, 2006
in Christianity
. 0 Comments

As you know, the crocodile guy is dead.  I don’t want to sound uncaring and cold but I am a little angry at the guy.

So the guy had a passion for the wild.  He lived life to the fullest.  He chased after what he believed in.  But it left him with no eternal gain, his kids fatherless, and his wife widowed.

I can’t applaud that.  The man had a family to support and he spent his life being a daredevil.  Guess what, the devil is not afraid of a dare.

If you are reading this and you are not living for God, stop wasting your life on something frivolous.

Popularity: 5% [?]

Am I Religious?

Published
by
carl
on September 8, 2006
in Christianity, Doctrine, Emergent, Holy Spirit, The Goofy Church and holiness
. 15 Comments

Hear me out for a minute. I don’t fit in. The problem is, I don’t think I want to.

I did not grow up in church. I grew up heathen. I was lost in my sin and thought that God was ok with it. I knew that Jesus was the son of God who died for my sins on that cross. I knew that he rose from the dead. I knew that He was and is God. That seems to be enough these days, but it did not seem to be enough for God.

One day I encountered the living God. He absolutely invaded my life and knocked everything else off of the pedestal of my life. At that moment He became the pearl of great price Matthew 13:45-46 for which I traded everything else in my life for. That was it.

So I find myself today in a Christianity that seems to have had some other entryway than I went through and I wonder to myself if I missed something.

When I am around other Christians I would like to talk about Jesus. If I ever find myself in another men’s meeting that looked no different than any other business networking event I will simply go home and play with my children. At least I would have done something with eternal value.

I believe that we should sin less tomorrow than we did today; and that should not happen by chance. That should be a primary focus. Love God hate the devil. One or the other is not enough.

I was recently accused of being weak and offendable because I said that a new believer should not be allowed to invite his lost friends to get onstage with him to lead Sunday morning worship. I could not believe that this was debatable.  Is this the best the church has to offer? And if so, do I have to accept that?

Am I religious because when I go to a meeting of the called out ones I want people who have answered the call to be separate to lead the meeting? If someone is not close enough to Christ to realize that his lifestyle if filthy I don’t think they should be in a place of ministry. Does that make me a Pharisee? I don’t buy into the notion that all sins are the same. The thought that it doesn’t make a difference if we simply thought about a sin or are currently in it without repentance is total nonsense to me. I think Jesus was making the point that we should strive to be more holy because none are perfect. Not that holiness is futile. Does that make me a works-centered humanist?

I ask these questions but I do not know that I care about the answers. I am on fire for Jesus. I know that my sin is a reproach to Him. I am going to continue to tell other believers that their sin is the same. I want to be around others who will tell the same to me.

I have no desire to be in a church that sets the bar so low that any unconverted person feels at home. Church meetings are supposed to equip the saints to do the work of the ministry. Not a place where convicted consciences are soothed with soft words of a false hope. From my perspective that’s what lots of people are advocating. And I simply do not want to go along with it.

Maranatha!

Popularity: 19% [?]