The Big Dog List

All scripture is God-breathed and useful. Nonetheless, there are sections which are more densely packed theologically than are others. These segments are both challenging and revelatory, focused and expansive. I think more of our sense of who God is, who we are, and what that might mean is packed into these places than any others. What are they, imo? The annotated list follows...

• Genesis Chapters 1-3: the most intriguing, deep, encompassing segment of the entire scriptures.
• Romans 8: the most densely packed, practical guide to being a Christian in the entire scriptures.
• Isaiah 53: the most insightful exposition of the atonement of Christ in the entire scriptures.
• Revelation Chapters 12-13: the most extensive, yet abridged revelation of end-times in the entire scriptures.
• The Gospel of John: the most revealing treatment of the life and teachings of Christ in the entire scriptures.
• Revelation 19:19-21:8: the only clear explanation of what will happen after Christ returns in the entire scriptures.

What about you? Have any ideas of what might be added to the list. If you convince me, I'll add them to the Big Dog List. :-)

The Perfumed Christ

...in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect... (1 Peter 3:15 NIV)

We are called to be witnesses, those that bear testimony to the world concerning Christ Jesus. Sometimes, we stumble over what that testimony should be. On the one hand, we know how important it is to preach Christ, to share the narrative of Christ's life, death and resurrection, because that is what one must believe in order to be saved. We can do so abridged, bulleted, almost creedally, i.e. "Jesus was was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, crucified, killed and buried under Pontius Pilate, descended into hell, raised bodily from the dead on the third day, ascended into heaven and seated on the right hand of God the Father Almighty, coming back again one day to judge the quick and the dead." We can even do so insincerely; which, believe it or not, has some value even if it is not likely to produce the best fruit. Regardless, witness Christ we must!

On the other hand, we can bear personal witness, i.e. "I believed on Christ and this is what it has done to me." Generally, this kind of witness finds it's platform in suppostions the world puts forth about us: "they're drunk," "he's crazy," "he's a criminal," "why are you so optimistic?" Personal testimony is likely to go farther, imo, than mere narratives about Christ because it comes with its own evidence in the one bearing the testimony. It's a one-two punch! The only drawback is that there actually has to be more than words coming from the witness. There has to be the evidence of something in the witness that elicits a question.

Ultimately, that something is hope. Not just the garden variety of optimism or even anticipation born of conviction, it has to be something much more than that. What? You may ask. I think the Apostle Paul describes it well in calling it "Christ in you, the hope of glory." As important as signs and wonders are to our witness, they can be the bad fruit of rotten trees. A testimony of Christ borne of a bad spirit does nothing to lift up Christ. What cannot be faked, and what puts off an unmistakable aroma is Christ in you. Folk may act Christian-like, or say Christian things, but there's something about people with Christ in them! It's intriguing, and alluring, and begs a question from the observers around them.

We, however, live in a world of many smells. We exude many ourselves. Therein lies a difficulty and challenge to us. We're in the world but are not to be of it. We're here to bear testimony to the world, but can't get carried away in it. Our witness loses potency and efficacy if what we exude looks, well, normal--no different than anyone else. The call is not to wear a doily on our head and ride around in a horse and buggy, but despite tooling around in a normal conveyance, with non-descript coiffs, to put off the unique aroma of Christ in us. That gets masked by an unholy, earthy musk if our hearts are not set apart to the Lord. The French perfected perfume to cover body odor, but I hate the smelly stuff. An unsanctified heart is a perfume that covers the sweet aroma of Christ.

Without a People the Vision Perishes

I've grown weary of the word, "vision," I'm almost afraid to use it. Generally, if we hear it from a pulpit, it's usually just the preface to a building campaign or some gradiose ministry scheme that usually has some other name than Christ's attached to it. OK, maybe I'm a touch jaded and callous, but I have to tell you, I've grown tired of the institutional, the organizational, and the impositional in the name of God Almighty.

Nonetheless, Christians need a vision, for life without hope is the soil of bitterness, nothing good grows in it. We don't need a Pied Piper, maybe not even John Piper, but we do need to see Christ in us, the hope of glory. We need a vision birthed in the dark of a tomb but risen to the glory of the throne of God. Not a vision of something of this world that will burn with this world: not something that within a generation or two will operate on principles the opposite of those it was started with just in order to keep it going. We do need a vision bigger than ourselves, but we have to see it in ourselves. It's Christ in us.

Jesus never built a hospital, an orphanage, a school, or an auditorium that would put Broadway to shame. He scarcely had a following when it was all said and done. Did it bother him? He was the only person ever to live for whom being full of himself was a good thing. I'd like to be full of him too. These last couple of years have been difficult and dark ones for me, vision killing years--maybe for you too. There is a hope rising though, finally, and it doesn't include a building, it won't make a splash, it doesn't even need a people! It does, however, need a Person.

Love vs. Spiritual Gifts

It is not uncommon when speaking of spiritual gifts (and particularly tongues) to have the uninitiated or inexperienced throw up a barricade to their pursuit with a condescending air, "Love is more important, that's what I'm pursuing." The argument may sound good, and make one feel good if he or she doesn't want to wander off into the spookies, but it doesn't hold up biblically and is actually a surefire way to not pursue love.

It is true, according to the scriptures, that nothing is more important in the kingdom of God than genuine love. It is a difficult thing to practice and nigh unto impossible to master. Love involves committment and sacrifice. Love demands putting my whole being, my goods, my gifts, and my presence at the service of my brothers and sisters. A difficult thing to do consistently, especially when it's not reciprocated! But then love doesn't look to itself, it counts the other as better than itself, and looks to the other's benefit.

Spritual gifts are not intended for the advantage of the gifted. Not that there is not some blessing in passing them along, but they exist to benefit the witness of their expression rather than the channel of their expression. The actor is merely conduit or a tool in God's hand, the benefit is for the common good. In spiritual gifts the focus is never on me but always on thee. Could they be a more loving expression?

Gifts do no one any good buried. In fact, the one who buries the gifts acts in a patently unloving and selfish way in doing so. He or she becomes a robber rather than a blesser, devilish rather than dovish! Love and spiritual gifts are not mutually exclusive, so let's not take the shortcut of putting the axe to one or the other. It's not one or the other, it's meant to be both and that includes tongues!

What would it take for the church to be truly godly? Loving each other as Jesus loves us would certainly fit the bill. I actually believe the world has yet to see what Jesus truly wants to reveal in his church. However, when the covers come off, though it will look unmistakingly like love, it will also be unmistakingly supernatural.

A Tug of War Only the Antichrist Can Win?

Check out this article concerning political developments in Turkey. If you haven't read any of the material I've written about end-times and Turkey, you might not see why it is interesting. If that's the case, click on those items in the Lighting Streaks side panel, read a bit, and see if things don't come into focus a bit more.

This little snippet is also quite interesting for the same reasons. I'm telling you, keep your eyes on Turkey if you want to guage where we are on the Road to Armageddon. And no, that doesn't star Bob Hope and Bing Crosby, although I'm beginning to wonder if Barak Obama won't put in a cameo appearance!

I Think Therefore I AM Is

Just a little thought exercise about things that ultimately matter...

We exist, self-aware, but chance is not even close to being a sufficient cause to explain our existence.
Therefore, something other than blind chance is responsible for our existence.

Whatever we can do, think, envision, discover, or know, the something responsible for our existence must be able to do better.
Therefore that something must be personal and intelligent.

Since we can reason, explore and discover, especially things like those above, that something must have wanted us to be aware of his existence.
Therefore that something must be communicative.

Everything that exists is highly ordered, symbiotic and incredibly efficient within its environment.
Therefore, that something should not be expected to be inscrutible, indifferent, or uncertain, and especially not so in his communication to us.

Therefore, it should be expected that something would have spoken to us clearly, in an engaging, inviting, and understandable way, and there is neither reason nor excuse not to know of him.

Only Christianity can swim in these waters. Or in other, somewhat Cartesian words: I think, therefore "I AM" is.

Perhaps you have some thoughts that would fit into the exercise.

The Choo Choo Index

I was watching CNBC while I ate lunch, and saw something that gave me a boost. Years ago, I moved within half a mile of a double, double RR crossing. Every train that crosses both crossings in either direction blows its horn 4 times for each crossing. Suffice it to say, I have an ear on the economy. I can gauge how well we're doing economically, just by what my ears tell me.

Now, I've never been afraid to spill my "secret" economic tell to friends in casual conversation, but that news report told me bona fide economists pay attention to similar things, albeit a bit more scientifically and accurately. They watch the number of truck drivers actually working on the road and the number of vehicle miles travelled to gauge how the economy is doing. BTW, it's quiet around here, and the economy is not doing well!

The long and short of all this: from now on, I won't be so quick to doubt my perception of how the economy is going. I might not be able to count on the Bureau of Economic Analysis to give me the straight poop, but I have an ace in the hole in the infallible Choo Choo Index!

Two Seeds in Human Nature

There are two seeds planted deep in the earth of human nature. One of them is most definitely God's fault, the other is only indirectly so. These two seeds lay dormant within us until effected by the stimulus that stirs them to life by God's design and as described in Paul's letter to the Romans. What are these seeds? One is sin and the other is faith.

Sin, as I've described it before, manifests itself so early in any of us, we don't recollect the when or the how of its initiation. We may start life with sin as a latency rather than an actuality, but we are born in it and to it, we imbibe it. It's as natural as breathing to us, not even noticeable to us! We all act sinfully long before the seed of sin is even discovered by it's budding within us. Nonetheless, it takes a stimulus to enliven that sinful seed--a catalyst acting upon the latency, awakening tendril and root and establishing it's vice like grip upon our souls.

Paul said that instigating agent was the commandment of God. What Adam and Eve could only pattern because they were not sinners from birth, we all are by our very nature. A singular command was sufficient to reveal their inability to handle all that God had given them: we have more commands but lack their pristine goodness. When we are exposed to the law, sin awakens, rises, and wrestles us into submission. No matter how hard our minds may try to exert the upper hand, the seed hidden in us wins the day and declares its hegemony over us.

Thankfully, there is another seed in us--the seed of faith. Everyone is given a measure by God, at least that's how I see it. That seed may be only a small, insignificant trifle, but it is sufficient to raise the dead to life and launch mountains like ICBMs. This seed requires a catalyst as well to produce its desired effect. Paul tells us that catalyst is the word of God.

Now some could envision that merely as a communication of biblical material, but I think it goes farther than that. I believe God has to be there, in the word, speaking ethereally that which may be coming palpably through the language of man.  In otherwords, it's the Word of God carried by the Breath of God: alive, active, compelling, convicting. When that Word comes that close, the ears of the heart are tickled to life, and the seed of faith can awaken.

God's Forensic Responsibility for Sin

It is easy to get into a circular argument when it comes to the responsibility for mankind's sin. Blaming it on the Devil doesn't cut it in my estimation, it only temporarily deflects the issue. Since the Devil did not fashion himself, nor his parameters of action, how can he be seen as the ultimate cause? Blaming it on the sinner is certainly more justified, but not without it's own philosophical problems. Whether one says (as would a Calvinist) that it was predetermined by an omnipotent God; or one says (as would an Arminian) that it was foreknown by omniscient God and allowed in his omnipotence, all paths lead back to God, the singular, and great initiator!

God, it seems to me, acts like he is responsible for sin. When one is omnipotent and omniscient there is just no avoiding the responsibility for what ensues from what he starts. It is similar to the responsibility that a parent shoulders when his or her rambunctious child throws the baseball the folks gave him for his birthday through the neighbor's window. The parent may not be the author of the act, but bears the responsibility for the potentiality of it just by giving the kid the ball--or even just for being called, "Mom," or "Dad." What any decent, reasonable parent does at that juncture is take responsibility by either paying for the damage outright, or negotiating a settlement the offended neighbor feels is justified.

God acts something like that responsible parent. He gave mankind God-like capacities, he endowed them with freedom of will, he certainly was not surprised by their failures. Though there is ample evidence that in the early church many thought the Devil was the "abused" neighbor, I don't think inspired scripture bears that out. They do, however, paint clearly the picture of God taking upon himself the rectification of the situation caused by his erring children. God is not the author of sin, that tag has to remain with us; but I, for one, am thankful he stood up and took the forensic responsibility for it.