Once again, ‘the end of the world’ has come and gone! Sigh.
Harold Camping is a wonderful example of a false prophet in our day. He stirred up fear for a few and ridicule from a great deal more. The 89 year old founder of ‘Family Radio’ had made similar pronouncements before. You would have thought that the disgrace of being proven a false prophet already would have prevented a following this time around, but once again people were willing to get behind him, in some cases selling their homes and cashing in their life savings. They paid for 1200 billboards to be put up in the US and 2000 more internationally. What an incredible waste and what deception! Now he is saying it was a ‘spiritual’ event. How pathetic is that! I can’t help but feel sorry for all who followed him, even though they should have known better.
They should have known better. As Quintin reminded us on Sunday, Jesus made it clear … “The Son of Man comes at such a time as you know not… No man knows the day or the hour…” But, nonetheless, we periodically have these guys who come along and insist that they know better. Camping is a classic case in point. Take a look at this quote from an interview he gave to New York magazine where he spoke of his prophecy:
“God has given sooo much information in the Bible about this, and so many proofs, and so many signs, that we know it is absolutely going to happen without any question at all. There’s nothing in the Bible that God has ever prophesied — there’s many things that he prophesied would happen and they always have happened — but there’s nothing in the Bible that holds a candle to the amount of information to this tremendous truth of the end of the world. I would be absolutely in rebellion against God if I thought anything other than it is absolutely going to happen without any question.”
Camping is a prestigious member of a select group with a longstanding tradition of heresy; men who claim to have some new secret revelation from God. Take note because this is ALWAYS a sure sign of error. Here is a quote from his website:
“… it was not until a very few years ago that the accurate knowledge of the entire timeline of history was revealed to true believers by God from the Bible. This timeline extends all the way to the end of time. During these past several years God has been revealing a great many truths, which have been completely hidden in the Bible until this time when we are so near the end of the world.”
I have actually had two preoccupying thoughts though as this scenario has unfolded (or not). The first, of course, is a disdain for men like Harold Camping who bring reproach upon the Bible and its message. Because they claim to be appealing to the Bible as their authority this becomes a type of guilt by association.
But, as much as I have been wowed by the audacity of Camping and his crew, I have been just as disturbed by the reaction of so many in the media. Last week, leading up to the ‘day of doom’, I was watching one news program where they were having a great laugh about the end of the world. It became the joke of the day. The fact that Camping set a date and time is laughable, however, they weren’t just laughing about that. It became more obvious as the program went on that their laughter was directed at the whole idea of impending judgment.
What made this so very, very poignant for me, and just too ironic, was the fact that, at the same time as they were having a great laugh at Harold Camping’s predictions of coming judgment in the form of great disasters upon the earth, they were passionately reporting (with actual video footage of course) on the devastating tornadoes, fires and floods occurring presently in unprecedented number and severity across our continent, not to mention the unprecedented political situation in the Middle East!
There is an incredible blindness evident in all of this. And it causes me to wonder if in some strange way God uses men like Harold Camping. I was reminded of the Scripture:
“First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, ‘Where is this coming he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.’ But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water. By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.”
2Pet 3:3-7
This week the ridicule continued on the same news program with people sending in staged ‘rapture photos’ of just their abandoned clothing lying where they were supposedly engaged in various activities at the time of their supposed rapture. Ha Ha Ha!
Date setting is absolutely in error and false prophets have theirs coming. But, I would not want to be found ‘in the seat of the scoffer’ either. Because, (and be assured of this) judgment IS coming on the earth and it will be no laughing matter. No one knows the day or the hour of His coming, or of the end of the world as we know it, but we know it is approaching, and it will be a day when the laughter will be turned to mourning for any and all who fail to take the message of the Bible seriously; who fail to take refuge in the Son while there is time.
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
The Real Dirt
I want to say first off that I am not condoning the defacing of public property. With that out of the way, I was reading one day about a guy who was in the bathroom at a popular coffee chain and he was taking notice of some of the writing on the wall. Along with all of the usual kind of stuff, someone had written “What Would Jesus Do?” there on the wall. Someone else had written directly underneath that, “Wash His hands.” A third person had written underneath that again, “And your feet.”
It is interesting that such a ‘discussion’ would take place in such a location. It is somehow made more appropriate by the fact that the dirt Jesus washed from the disciple’s feet was ‘real’ dirt. (See John 13) It wasn’t just what my mother called ‘clean dirt’ (read ‘mud’). First century Palestine wasn’t equipped with the hygienic luxuries we enjoy in our contemporary western world, and while sandals would have done a reasonable job of protecting feet from sharp rocks, they would have done little to keep out the filthy dust and dirt that would have been often unavoidable as they traveled.
Our 21st century eyes tend toward a very sanitized view of Jesus….
[Commercial Break: I highly recommend the book ‘The Jesus I Never Knew’ by Philip Yancey to help with that for those who haven’t read it. He is probably my favourite author and this is one of his best books.]
… The Lord of Glory descends to enter our world. He was born in a barn. Jesus was and is real world. He deals with our reality. He gets down into the dirty places of our living to clean. This is real life. Jesus isn’t into surface things. He’s not interested in appearance. He won’t be satisfied by anything superficial. He goes where He is needed most. He comes to our wretchedness and He brings His light with Him and His healing presence means we can never be the same. It’s humbling. It’s uncomfortable. It’s real. It’s the only hope for your soul and mine.
It is interesting that such a ‘discussion’ would take place in such a location. It is somehow made more appropriate by the fact that the dirt Jesus washed from the disciple’s feet was ‘real’ dirt. (See John 13) It wasn’t just what my mother called ‘clean dirt’ (read ‘mud’). First century Palestine wasn’t equipped with the hygienic luxuries we enjoy in our contemporary western world, and while sandals would have done a reasonable job of protecting feet from sharp rocks, they would have done little to keep out the filthy dust and dirt that would have been often unavoidable as they traveled.
Our 21st century eyes tend toward a very sanitized view of Jesus….
[Commercial Break: I highly recommend the book ‘The Jesus I Never Knew’ by Philip Yancey to help with that for those who haven’t read it. He is probably my favourite author and this is one of his best books.]
… The Lord of Glory descends to enter our world. He was born in a barn. Jesus was and is real world. He deals with our reality. He gets down into the dirty places of our living to clean. This is real life. Jesus isn’t into surface things. He’s not interested in appearance. He won’t be satisfied by anything superficial. He goes where He is needed most. He comes to our wretchedness and He brings His light with Him and His healing presence means we can never be the same. It’s humbling. It’s uncomfortable. It’s real. It’s the only hope for your soul and mine.
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Achievement
Last week I got to attend convocation ceremonies at the AC. On those rare occasions when I find myself back in the world of academia, especially at convocation time, I am always intrigued by how the virtue of achievement completely dominates. It is not unlike spending time in a foreign land with a different culture. It’s not that achievement and recognition aren’t valued in our culture at large for they obviously are. But out in the real world we don’t tend to parade it so. We usually do the opposite and down-play it forcing it to surface in less conspicuous ways. It is considered in poorest taste not to. Consider the guy who goes around talking about that promotion or raise he got at work.
In the academic setting there is absolutely no shame in it. It is blatantly front and centre, right down to the wild and crazy head gear that goes along with some of those doctorates!!! And it isn’t just that academic achievement becomes the one value that trumps everything else. It is more like achievement becomes the only value that exists. Character doesn’t really factor in, unless you get caught cheating of course. How kind a person might be or how generous they are in their relationships doesn’t count at all. Things like courage, humility, compassion, and even wisdom, don’t have a foot in the door.
Now, it’s no news flash that our contemporary education system largely ignores character development, and what might be called relational intelligence, except maybe by default. And lest I be misunderstood, this is not meant to be a criticism of our schools. In fact, I tend to think it best that they stay that way. Because I don’t believe they have the capacity, let alone the moral authority, to do more than what they do. After all, an academic institution really is about one thing – academics. It’s the only thing they really can do well. When it comes to moral and spiritual development, any attempt to use the public education system to promote these values will prove to be disastrous.
Whose job is it then you might ask? That is a very good question. I would argue for home and church. And I would argue it needs to be in that order too. And all of this is not to say that achievement has no place or value, nor is it without reward. It only needs to be kept in perspective while priority is given to prior values. And hopefully that is what we are able to do as we teach our children the rewards of effort and diligence tempered with virtues like mercy, forgiveness, grace, compassion, kindness, self-sacrifice, humility, courage, integrity. And hopefully, in our church family we can be more about loving and appreciating people based on who they are rather than what they do and encouraging them then to do well for His glory.
In the academic setting there is absolutely no shame in it. It is blatantly front and centre, right down to the wild and crazy head gear that goes along with some of those doctorates!!! And it isn’t just that academic achievement becomes the one value that trumps everything else. It is more like achievement becomes the only value that exists. Character doesn’t really factor in, unless you get caught cheating of course. How kind a person might be or how generous they are in their relationships doesn’t count at all. Things like courage, humility, compassion, and even wisdom, don’t have a foot in the door.
Now, it’s no news flash that our contemporary education system largely ignores character development, and what might be called relational intelligence, except maybe by default. And lest I be misunderstood, this is not meant to be a criticism of our schools. In fact, I tend to think it best that they stay that way. Because I don’t believe they have the capacity, let alone the moral authority, to do more than what they do. After all, an academic institution really is about one thing – academics. It’s the only thing they really can do well. When it comes to moral and spiritual development, any attempt to use the public education system to promote these values will prove to be disastrous.
Whose job is it then you might ask? That is a very good question. I would argue for home and church. And I would argue it needs to be in that order too. And all of this is not to say that achievement has no place or value, nor is it without reward. It only needs to be kept in perspective while priority is given to prior values. And hopefully that is what we are able to do as we teach our children the rewards of effort and diligence tempered with virtues like mercy, forgiveness, grace, compassion, kindness, self-sacrifice, humility, courage, integrity. And hopefully, in our church family we can be more about loving and appreciating people based on who they are rather than what they do and encouraging them then to do well for His glory.
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Too Busy To Be Blessed
Yesterday, we got to attend a Faith At Home seminar in Moncton with Brian Siewert who is the Canadian Director of Faith at Home Canada. It was a tremendous opportunity. It was also very interesting to see, during a discussion time, how quickly various leaders from numerous churches all came to a consensus identifying busyness as the number one obstacle they encounter preventing families from engaging in significant spiritual formation activities, either for home or church.
I was one of those leaders. There is no way I can disagree. It’s everywhere. Our entire culture is caught up in a lifestyle that leaves little room for spiritual priorities. It is the enemy we face; the spirit of the age in which we live.
“Hurry is the great enemy of spiritual life in our day. Hurry can destroy our souls. Hurry can keep us from living well. As Carl Jung wrote, 'Hurry is not of the devil; hurry is the devil.' Again and again, as we pursue spiritual life, we must do battle with hurry. For many of us the great danger is not that we will renounce our faith. It is that we will become so distracted and rushed and preoccupied that we will settle for a mediocre version of it. We will just skim our lives instead of actually living them.”
John Ortberg, "The Life You've Always Wanted (2002), page 77.
The only solution to this dire situation we find ourselves in is the radical realignment of our priorities according to the call of Jesus Christ upon our lives. We cannot follow Jesus and adhere to the cultural directives of our society at the same time. What we know to be of ultimate value has no perceived value to our culture. True, we do need to live missional lives and that does mean that we need to connect with the culture in order to relate the truth. But we must find a way to do so that doesn’t mean capitulating to society’s values. Otherwise, we will not only lose our message and our credibility, we will lose our way and end up living with the horrible harvest of futility that comes from sowing the seeds spiritual neglect. And you can read into that whatever you want.
And so, I repeat myself. The only solution to this dire situation we find ourselves in is the radical realignment of our priorities according to the call of Jesus Christ upon our lives. It will mean being different. It will mean being misunderstood. It will mean going against the flow, swimming upstream. But, as Dietrich Bonhoeffer pointed out, “The first call which every Christian experiences is the call to abandon the attachments of this world.” Or, as someone else put it, "Any dead fish can float downstream".
I was one of those leaders. There is no way I can disagree. It’s everywhere. Our entire culture is caught up in a lifestyle that leaves little room for spiritual priorities. It is the enemy we face; the spirit of the age in which we live.
“Hurry is the great enemy of spiritual life in our day. Hurry can destroy our souls. Hurry can keep us from living well. As Carl Jung wrote, 'Hurry is not of the devil; hurry is the devil.' Again and again, as we pursue spiritual life, we must do battle with hurry. For many of us the great danger is not that we will renounce our faith. It is that we will become so distracted and rushed and preoccupied that we will settle for a mediocre version of it. We will just skim our lives instead of actually living them.”
John Ortberg, "The Life You've Always Wanted (2002), page 77.
The only solution to this dire situation we find ourselves in is the radical realignment of our priorities according to the call of Jesus Christ upon our lives. We cannot follow Jesus and adhere to the cultural directives of our society at the same time. What we know to be of ultimate value has no perceived value to our culture. True, we do need to live missional lives and that does mean that we need to connect with the culture in order to relate the truth. But we must find a way to do so that doesn’t mean capitulating to society’s values. Otherwise, we will not only lose our message and our credibility, we will lose our way and end up living with the horrible harvest of futility that comes from sowing the seeds spiritual neglect. And you can read into that whatever you want.
And so, I repeat myself. The only solution to this dire situation we find ourselves in is the radical realignment of our priorities according to the call of Jesus Christ upon our lives. It will mean being different. It will mean being misunderstood. It will mean going against the flow, swimming upstream. But, as Dietrich Bonhoeffer pointed out, “The first call which every Christian experiences is the call to abandon the attachments of this world.” Or, as someone else put it, "Any dead fish can float downstream".
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