This was a true prophetic word as opposed to Harold Camping's date-setting multi-million dollar campaign.
Aspire to live a religion full of the Holy Spirit demonstrated by love for widows and orphans. Desire Christ more than your Christianity. Repent and stop holding on to pain, hurt and unforgiveness. Without a changed life there is no salvation...walking an aisle, saying a prayer or raising a hand doesn't qualify you for heaven...only Jesus can offer regeneration and it involves a radical transformation. The kingdom of God is bigger than a Sunday service and is to be brought into all domains of society, even the political arena, but by mobilizing transformed agents...not legislative work or lobbying for conservative causes. There are consequences for sin and we should not damage people's souls by saying otherwise. There is forgiveness. There is hope. There is heaven for those who receive it...but it is not going to be forced on anyone...it is always offered as a choice.
7 comments:
Hi Neil,
This blog and your book, Organic Church has been enouraging and a formative read for me. My family and I recently made the decision to leave our home church here in Orange County and follow where God is leading us - to do church more simply. I'd love to connect with you directly/person. My email is kawaber@yahoo.com - I'd also like to hear about your thoughts about simple church ministry in Japan. God bless you brother, Russ B.
I love your way with words. This post reminds me of Lenoard Ravenhill's book, Why Revival Tarries. How clearly you spell out why we must be careful in case anything takes us away from the simplicity that there is in Christ, away from just understanding the Bible in the obvious way that most of it is written.
Thee is one minor juxtaposition of ideas that I might challenge: You say "The kingdom of God is bigger than a Sunday service and is to be brought into all domains of society, even the political arena, but by mobilizing transformed agents...not legislative work or lobbying for conservative causes." My argument is not with the comment about conservative causes, but with the statement "not legislative work or lobbying." But what if that is the part of the Kingdoms of this world that God has asked you to involve in. What if the call for some is to legislative and lobbying action, just as for others it is business or medicine. We want all of the kingdoms of this world to become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ!
Keep up the fantastic work! But please don't scare people out of political involvement. Sadly, in democracies, we tend to end up with the governments we deserve!
Your friend and recently naturalize American citizen, Tony.
Tony, I agree, which means that it is people who are agents of God's kingdom that make a difference. Of course they will represent legislature they are part of, but the idea that we can Christianize our nation by a voting bloc of moral folks that is absent from the transformation of the gospel of the kingdom is a losing ambition if you ask me. People like yourself and Dezi is exactly what I am talking about.
"Without a changed life there is no salvation...walking an aisle, saying a prayer or raising a hand doesn't qualify you for heaven..."
Uh...Neil...There is no changed life without salvation--you have the cart before the horse. Also, don't be so quick to dismiss the walking of an aisle or the raising of a hand. If there was a heart-felt expression of faith, then salvation was granted.
I know walking an aisle is not in the Bible but neither is the word "Trinity."
You get the point.
These are still a means to an end if there is faith involved. But then, again, Billy Graham should have never used altar calls, eh?
The name William Booth seems frequently to pop up with pearls of wizdom and insight. A man truly led by the "Holy Ghost"
dang. I love it
What a fantastic quote from a great saint of God. May we learn from our brother and amend our ways in this generation, for the glory of Christ and the joy of our neighbors.
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