the uncritical temper

This is the most convicting piece of literature I’ve read in a while.  I think that Chambers pins the issue down.  Matthew 7:1.  No escape. Buckle up:

“Judge not, that ye be not judged.” Criticism is part of the ordinary faculty of a man, he has a sense of humour, i.e., a sense of proportion, he sees where things are wrong and pulls the other fellow to bits; but Jesus says, ‘As a disciple, cultivate the uncritical temper.’  In the spiritual domain, criticism is love turned sour.  In a wholesome spiritual life there is no room for criticism.  The critical faculty is an intellectual one, not a moral one.  If criticism becomes a habit it will destroy the moral energy of the life and paralyse spiritual force.  The only Person who can criticise human beings is the Holy Spirit.  No human being dare criticise another human being, because immediately he does he puts himself in a superior position to the one he cricises.  A critic must be removed from what he criticises.  Before a man can criticise a work of art or a piece of music, his information must be complete, he must stand away from what he criticises as superior to it.  No human being can ever take that attitude to another human being; if he does he puts himself in the wrong position and grieves the Holy Spirit.  A man who is continually criticised becomes good for nothin, the effect of criticism knocks all the gumption and power out of him.  Criticism is deadly in its effect because it divides a man’s powers and prevents his being a force for anything.  That is never the work of the Holy Ghost.  The Holy Ghost alone is in the true positino of a critic; He is able to show what is wrong without wounding and hurting.

The temper of mind that makes us lynx-eyed in seeing where others are wrong does not do them any good, because the effect of our criticism is to paralyse their powers, which proves that the criticism was not of the Holy Ghost; we have put ourselves into the posiition of a superior person.  Jesus says a disciple can never stand away from another life and criticise it, therefore He advocates an uncritical temper, “Judge not.” Beware of anything that puts you in the place of the superior person.

The counsel of Jesus is to abstain from judging.  This sounds strange at first because the characteristic of the Holy Spirit in a Christian is to reveal the things that are wrong, but the strangeness is only on the surface.  The Holy Spirit does reveal what is wrong in others, but His discernment is never for purposes of criticism, but for purposes of intercession.  When the Holy Spirit reveals something of the nature of sin and unbelief in another, His purpose is not to make us feel the smug satisfaction of a critical spectator, ‘Well thank God, I am not like that’; but to make us so lay hold of God for that one that od enables him to turn away from the wrong thing.  Never ask God for discernment, becuase discernment increases your responsibility terrifically; and you cannot get out of it by talking, but only by bearing up the life in intercession before God until God puts him right.  ”If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and He shall give him life for them that sin not unto death.” (1 John v, 16.)  Our Lord allows no room for criticism in the spiritual life, but He does allow room for discernment and discrimination.

If we let these search-lights go straight down to the root of our spiritual life we will see why Jesus says ‘Don’t judge’; we won’t have time to.  Our whole life is o be lived so in the power of God that He can pour through us the rivers of living water to others.  Some of us are so concerned about the outflow that it dries up.  We continually ask, ‘Am I of any use?’ Jesus tells us how  be of use: ‘Believe in Me, and out of you will flow rivers of living water.’

“Judge not, that ye be not judged.”  If we let that maxim of our Lord’s sink into our hearts we will find how it hauls up.  ”Judge not” – why, we are always at it!  The average Christian is the most penetratingly critical individual, there is nothing of the likeness of Jesus Christ about him.  A critical temper is a contradiction to all our Lord’s teaching.  Jesus says of criticism, ‘Apply it to yourself, never to anyone else.’ “Why dost thou judge thy brother? . . . for we shall all stand before the judgement seat of Christ.”  Whenever you are in a critical temper, it is impossible to enter into communion with God.  Criticism makes you hard and vindictive and cruel, and leaves you with the flattering unction that you are a superior person.  It is impossible to develop the characteristics of a saint and maintain a critical attitude.  The first thing the Holy Spirit does is to give us a spring-cleaning, and there is no possibility of pride being left in a man after that.  I never met a man I could despair of after having discerned all that lies in me apart from the grace of God.  Stop having a measuring rod for others.  Jesus says regarding judging, ‘Don’t; be uncritical in your temper, because in the spiritual domain you can accomplish nothing by criticism.’  One of the severest lessons to learn to is leave the cases we do not understand to God.  There is always one fact more in every life of which we know nothing, therefore Jesus says, ‘Judge not.’  We cannot do it once and for all, we have to remember always that this is our Lord’s rule of conduct.

-Oswald Chambers

Thoughts?

Chambers, Oswald. Studies in the Sermon on the Mount. 1960 ed. London: Marshall, Morgan & Scott, 1960. Print.

am i a soldier of the cross?

Why must Chris Tomlin and Hillsong (no offense) replace this beautiful literature by Isaac Watts?  And please don’t be deceived into thinking it’s about “cultural relevance.”  That’s not viable anymore since outreach is no longer fulfilling its intended purpose, as it use to.  Every member of our congregation knows the songs we sing in church.  They have been playing on repeat for the past 20 years.  I think it’s time to start thinking beyond the silly analogies of our generation such as “if God’s grace was an ocean, we’d all be sinking.”  Great analogy! So now, what do I do with that exactly?

Oh, this song!  My favorite hymn.  What truth and boldness such as I have never seen in any of the worship songs of our time.  I am actually challenged every time I read this.  The “hymns” of our age are few and far between that ever challenge me and my walk.  The members of our churches need theology in their worship.  Christ saturated, challenging, and thought-provoking songs.  Not analogies.  Not emotion.  If our worship services are based off emotional experiences, the church in America will fail.  Oh, wait…

Experiences run out.  Feed the congregation theology in worship, and you will reap a congregation quenching for more of Jesus Christ.

Am I a soldier of the cross,
A follower of the Lamb,
And shall I fear to own His cause,
Or blush to speak His Name?

Must I be carried to the skies
On flowery beds of ease,
While others fought to win the prize,
And sailed through bloody seas?

Are there no foes for me to face?
Must I not stem the flood?
Is this vile world a friend to grace,
To help me on to God?

Sure I must fight if I would reign;
Increase my courage, Lord.
I’ll bear the toil, endure the pain,
Supported by Thy Word.

Thy saints in all this glorious war
Shall conquer, though they die;
They see the triumph from afar,
By faith’s discerning eye.

When that illustrious day shall rise,
And all Thy armies shine
In robes of victory through the skies,
The glory shall be Thine.

-Isaac Watts

“Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity…” -Hebrews 6:1

wrapping it up.

blah blah blah I haven’t blogged in a while blah blah blah.   So here’ goes:

This semester has been fun.  Lots to tell.  Talking points?  Okay.

Mutemath at the House of Blues

• 

  Bon Iver at Hollywood Forever

  Got tickets to Bon Iver’s sunrise concert at Hollywood Forever with an appearance from Megafaun.  Phenomenal concert! Mutemath at the House of Blues in San Diego, opened by As Tall As Lions.  Both of these with Paige Alyn Hoddick. Both of them mind-blowing.

• Having a WAY better job than last year.  And I get to use my hands to be creative, paint, saw, shape, and build things! Aaaaand besides all the fun stuff, I have more hours, and the obvious implication of this? More pay.

• I have been going home almost every weekend (for orthodontist reasons mostly… most of my friends here at apu have been getting upset with me.  Bitter-sweet.  Moving on.) and seeing my family, church friends, and Paige.  I don’t think this will happen as often next semester, but God knows.

• My dad got a new lease on life having received his new kidney on his birthday this year!  Definitely a God thing to be noted.

• I have been granted an awesome apartment (probably the coolest bachelor pad – minus the mess – EVER) with two fantastic roommates, Andrew Keahey and Chris Speed.  I’m honored.

• My awesome D-group.  We read through the first two books of C.S. Lewis’ space trilogy, Out of the Silent Planet and Perelandra.  Very creative and interesting books to think about, analyze, and enjoy.

Plenty of other exciting adventures took place this semester.  Besides this short list of excitements, probably one of the climaxes of my semester was the entire process of performing in The Philadelphia Story, directed by Erin Gaw.  I have been in about 16 musicals in my life, and this was my first straight play performance.  I learned priceless lessons in acting, technique, and centering that I will take with me the rest of my “acting career.”

So, up to this point, all my classes have been easy-sailing and mildly enjoyable.  After having registered for my classes for Spring semester, my conscience screams, “Buckle up.”

Here is my class schedule.  Other than Health, I think the semester is going to be pretty tough, considering that four of these classes involve large amounts of reading and writing; in the same breathe, I think that this coming semester will probably be one of the most enjoyably challenging experiences I have ever had to confront, on many levels.  I can’t wait.  I’m starting to take a couple classes for my Philosophy minor, which was inspired by Mr. Ryan Cowden, and I really cannot wait to take them.  Shayfer Wayne will be in my Contemporary Christian Thought class and I believe Mr. Garrett Graves and my roommate Andrew Keahey will be taking Comparative Religions with me.  Next semester will be fun and difficult, but I’m excited for the fun part.  On top of this, I have been finally scheduled to get jaw surgery.  January 27th, 2010.  Yeah, right?  It’s been a long time coming, and it will be hard to take a week, maybe two, off of school.  Just another challenge in the realm of my organizational skills.  Bring it.

This semester has been filled with new experiences, new friends, plenty of late nights and early mornings filled with 7-eleven runs, 5-hour energy drinks, intellectual conversations, and studying and papers, new professors, and new challenges.  All of these things are just a small step on the road to maturity, both physically and emotionally, and  mentally and spiritually.  With integrity, I can look in hindsight and say that most of my stress was induced from a lack of responsibility and efficiency with my time, energy, and especially sleep (but I guess time is a part of all three of those things).  This is the wrong I wish to correct going into Spring semester.  I am trusting that God will give me the strength daily to face each day head-on with a positive attitude, a bright perspective, and a contagious smile.

instead of blogging =|

So stupid facebook wouldn’t let me post this video because it was a “third-party copy-write infringement.”

 

Whatever.

 

All you people on facebook will still get to see it.  Don’t worry.  Tonight, I was going to write a two-part blog. The 1st being about my apartment/roommates and the 2nd being about Uta Hagen and her amazing philosophies on art and life.  ”Welp,” neither got done.  I started taking pictures of the apartment… and then I had a brilliant idea.  Just take a short clip of the apartment and put it to music.  Best idea EVER.  So Chris got home and eventually we got everyone (everyone being Chris, Andrew, and myself) in on the imminently infamous debut of “702.”  Here it is. Buckle up.

CAST:
Academy Award Winner - Chris Speed
Nobel Peace Prize Winner – Andrew Keahey
theatrical debut… miles grimes =|

Awayo: Fear to Faith

This is the brand new New Tribes Mission video.  Great example of the work NTM does and the Christ-like transformation that takes place in the hearts of people all over the world who have never heard the name, Jesus.

undisclosed exposure?

Written on Friday evening:

I don’t like it when people talk about brokenness. It’s stupid and usually sounds fake.  Because when I think of brokenness I think of Adonirum Judson, missionary to Burma (modern day Mayanmar). Gives up everything to bring the gospel to a place where people have never heard of the fullness of God’s pure holy joy and perfect all-redeeming plan of salvation.  Who lost his first wife to health complications.  Whose three children  had all died within two years of their lives.  Who remarried to a woman who shared in the humility of sacrificing comforts  and ease to live amongst smelly tribes, in hot humid jungles rampant with illness and risk of imminent death.  Who suffered the loss of that same wife and the loss of even more children.  Who spent 6 months on a boat at sea in hopes that the salt water air would rid him of illness and disease in order that he could return back to the task for which he felt called by God. THAT is true brokenness.

So often I get upset with the dramatics of my generation who beg for attention by singing, “sweetly broken, wholly surrendered,” at the top of their lungs, “arms high and heart abandoned.”  Give me a break.  I’m sorry, but I think that’s a little dramatic.  Of course I know I’m judgmental.  I’ve always recognized and called myself that before, but only now am I realizing how much of my precious time is wasted on my evaluation of other’s motives and relationship choices.  Who cares?! What a complete wast of my energy.  Gossip destroys not only the subject of gossip.  Gossip destroys the gossiper and the listener. It’s foolish and it destroys.  It’s a deceptive tool the devil likes to call, “venting.”  That’s ridiculous.  Lord, may I have the boldness to stand for what is right and just and true and holy in YOUR eyes.  Not what is right and just and true and holy in the estimation of my childish friends, of whom I count myself one.  So there you have it.  I’m a judgmental gossiping fool.  And I encourage those reading this rant of mine to learn from my ere and take a look at yourself.  If you talk about anyone behind their back in a way that does not bring glory to God, you are guilty of gossip and are lying to yourself and to your creator God who MADE you to reflect his glory.  That hurts me so much.  To realize what a gift and privilege God has entreated me with and to come to the realization that I waste it and trash it.  My stomach and my head hurts right now.

Tonight was kind of fun. Well… eh… I didn’t have a great time.  Here, let me put it this way: “It was real, it was fun, but it wasn’t real fun.”  That kind of negativity pretty much sums up my night.  It was great to see people and hang out, but I have no idea why I was in such a bad mood.  Maybe it was the food.  Maybe Katelyn’s snicker doodles or Paige’s chocolate-chip cookies that got to my head.  Maybe the carbonated Pineapple juice.  Maybe the fact that I was a villager twice in werewolves.  Maybe because I think there is a guy crushing on the girl who I’m no longer dating but still very much like.  Who knows?  Because I really have no idea what silly little inconsequential “thing,” for lack of better words, made me so discouraged and produced such a negative attitude in my soul.  I’ve been feeling this way for a while.  Several people have called me out on this in the past week, amongst other things.  My sister called me out on falling asleep in my four-hour-long Spanish class.  My mom and dad called me out on not contributing enough around the house.  Both Paige Hoddick and Cody Warwick  called me out on the fact that I make an overabundance of awful assumptions about people and their perceptions of me.  In case you haven’t figured it out yet, I’m a pretty messed up, immature, and completely irresponsible guy.  I’ll finish this later.  My eyes are going…

(and continuing on Saturday afternoon…)

Man I look like I have it all together.  I fool myself into thinking I do sometimes anyways.  As I was driving home that night, I came face to face with what an awful person I am.  I fully realized how unholy and unworthy I am to even ask the Lord Almighty to let me into his presence.  I was extremely mad with the night I had produced for myself and even more angry with myself for other reasons.  It was an awful feeling in which I find no hint of pleasure or joy.  I want never to feel that way again.  Despite how terribly cliched and overused the phrase sounds, I am a broken wretch.  I acknowledge that the degree is a fraction of that brokenness which some people experience on a daily basis.  So I humble myself in this moment and share with you a piece of myself.

Here is some more pity-party information for you; wallow in it.  My financial situation at home is not good.  We bought our house at the top of the housing market… right before it failed.  Do the math.  Because of this, I have to take out all my school loans in my name… That’s $20,000/year.  I had trouble finding a cosigner for my loan at first. Thank the Lord who knows all and works all according to his good purpose for those who love him, the one of the signatures went through.  So I’m going back to Azusa with empty pockets and a prayer. A prayer of gratitude and relief.  Moving on to more pity –> My dad has been diagnosed some years ago with a genetic kidney disorder known as polysystic kidney disease.  Basically, a bunch of growths start populating the kidneys and start growing exponentially faster with old age.   (and the rest is written on Sunday evening…) Last fall my dad’s neurfrologist (kidney disease doctor) told him he needed a new kidney.  Surprisingly enough, this is where things start to look positive.  The paper work for receiving a donor is so extensive that the doctors give it to their patients a year in advance in order to have the completion of the paperwork land before the kidney is actually needed.  My dad finished the paperwork in 3 months.  My dad is awesome.  AND a year later he is getting a new kidney… ON HIS BIRTHDAY! September first, you can be praying for my dad as he will be in surgery getting a renewed subscription on life; however, this means he will be out of work for two months, and as the primary financial care-giver of our family, that is a bit devastating.  Although my mom is working, it’s really insufficient compared to both of their monthly incomes.

I have been staying up extremely late this past summer and it has done damage to my mental and physical health, and even indirectly, my spiritual health.  Because I’m prone to sin (um… duh?), every shortcoming is amplified with a lack of sleep and lack of health.  This means I’m much more selfish, judgmental, and make assumptions that much more quickly and thoughtlessly.  If you are reading this and I hurt you in anyway, I want to make a confession and ask you for forgiveness.  I’m sorry.  I can’t do it on my own, and I realize that.  I’d appreciate your prayers more then anything in the world.  You don’t have to let me know you’re praying, just do.  As you can tell from this post, I’ve been in a sort of negative spiral, and it all came to a head with these experiences.

Harold Clousing

Now on a positive note.  A few things:  I’ve worked out some issues with a dear friend of mine.  There is an understanding on both sides and an excitement for what God has in store for us both as individuals.  I had a conversation with her tonight and it was full of grace and understanding and although the hurt is still present in us both, I couldn’t be more happy with where we stand now, and I think she might feel the same way.  I believe both of us walked away with joy in our hearts and a final contentment about the matter.  Big breath of relief.  The Lord, he is God.  I’m going back to Azusa!  Many new and exciting things are happening this coming year and I can’t wait to be a part of them.  I’m in a show (my first non-musical) called The Philadelphia Story and I have a main role.  Awesome.  My choral director was just accepted into the American Choral Director Association, which means APU Man Choir will be doing some excellent and prestigious performances this up and coming year.  Can’t wait.  Many of my old friends including Jeff Asper, Cameron Szcemka, Lauren Thompson, John Foster, Kensee Hobson, to name a few, are either coming or transferring to Azusa.  So stoked.  I’m living with two awesome roommates, Chris Speed and Andrew Keahey, and next to three of my closest friends at Azusa, Garrett Graves, Adam Rupp, and Shayfer Wayne.  Can’t contain my excitement.  I’m hoping that the Lord uses me this year, and have no expectations.  The Lord, he is God.  My dad is FINALLY getting a new kidney!  AND it’s from a good friend of ours… AND it’s on my dad’s BIRTHDAY!  The Lord, he is God.  And besides all of this, the Lord is working on my heart and shaping me into a man after HIS own heart.   I’m learning and experiencing so much, and knowing full well that I haven’t arrived and won’t ever truly arrive till that day Jesus Christ calls me home, I do  know that what little I’m experiencing NOW is a huge part of the man of God I so desire to become.  The Lord, he is truly God.

So this post started out negative and ended positive.  Sorry I don’t have any scripture right now to quote.  The truth and reason is I am actually writing in the dark.  I’m a HUGE advocate for God’s spoken Word.  In fact, I think it should be the topic of or at least mentioned in every “sermon” or “teaching” that happens to be preached.  I just don’t have a light right now, thank you to Paige Alyn Hoddick (www.paigealynhoddick.wordpress.com) who forgot to lend me her macbook pro charger tonight. =]

Oh! And the title.  I learned in my Psychology class in high school (thank you to Mr. Clay, most passionate teacher ever) that true love is undisclosed exposure.  Revealing things about yourself to people regardless of what they might think of you afterward.  That’s what I’m doing.  So, in other words, I’m trying to love everyone who reads this.  Or just everyone.  I may fail time and time again, but I will get better at it with each day I wake up, God help me.

ONE more thing.  True love is more then undisclosed exposure.  True love is this: “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” There is some scripture for ya.

So if I don’t see ya soon, “…good afternoon, good evening, and goodnight.” -Truman

Good 'ole Truman

a story and a paraphrase

Azusa Pacific Man Choir of 2008-2009 fame (i'm top left corner with my thumbs up)

The first two weeks of my summer were spent on a tour with Man Choir of Azusa Pacific University fame. The choir has 70 guys enrolled.  Here are two documented days of our tour that I wrote down for you. Why these two? Because they deal with Mormonism. Please read on. VERY fascinating stuff I must say.

Waiting to sing in the Christian Church in Utah

MONDAY
We woke up early. No surprise there. We left for Red Hills Southern Baptist Church in Red Hills, Utah at 9am.  The couple that invited us to the church were graduates of APU. Sweet couple. Well the drive was nice, mainly because I got a bunch of sleep.  It’s hard not to fall asleep to the drone of the highway… oh, and hours of driving. =]  We arrived at 4:30pm pacific time and our performance was at 6:30pm, but in reality by crossing the Arizona/Utah border, we crossed over into mountain time, loosing an hour (AZ doesn’t recognize daylight savings… too bad they’re missin’ out), so it was really 5:30pm. We were way late.  We had an hour to eat, set up the risers and sound system, and get our tuxes on.  Not much time for that, but we got it done just a little past 6:30pm.

This concert was special for a specific reason. Utah is believed to be the Promised Land for the Mormons. Because of the heavy population of the Ladder Day Saints (LDS), these Baptist church members experience a unique type of persecution.  It’s a type of discrimination. Of segregation.  People treat them cruelly and rarely make eye contact with them.  I’m sure the implications of this discrimination are much more far-reaching than you or I can fully realize. I have not yet experienced persecution on any level, so far as I can remember.
Well there wasn’t a whole congregation of people like there was in Arizona, but the few that did show up were full of joy and sincerely thankful for our visit.  They were encouraged that 70 men would come and sing for them. That was an encouraging stop for me. Praise Jesus.

That night we stayed in a Marriott. Again, praise Jesus.

TUESDAY

Waking up early again, we were served a complimentary breakfast by the hotel.  The next stop would be a public high school, which ironically enough was 90% Mormon.  Whatever.   It was interesting to see them respond to our songs. Most of our repertoire doesn’t coincide with LDS theology at all, (which I’ll touch on in a sec)…  but the kids were impressed and responded positively, and ultimately, Christ was proclaimed (Philippians 1:15-18).  The choral director even invited us to sing a few songs for his beginning choir.  Awesome. It was an interesting gesture, and for me, an unexpected one. Thank God that we were so well-received and that we were able to penetrate this Mormon-believing school with the truth of Christ’s Word.

The Marble-Painted, Soft-Wood Pillars.

The postlude to this high school experience was even cooler, for lack of better words.  Man Choir took a tour of the Mormon Temple Square.  THE Mormon Temple Square in the “Promised Land,” aka Utah…=]. Yyyeah. Well, we split into two groups and received a formal tour of the Square grounds.  We got to see the first tabernacle built by the first Mormon pioneers to America.  The entire building was constructed out of a type of soft-wood (the name of the wood escapes me), including the pews and the pillars; however, because the pioneers didn’t like the way the soft-wood looked, they painted the pews to look like hard-wood and the pillars to look like marble. The pillar pictured below is soft-wood, not marble. Weird? Yes. Their completely legitimate justification: They want the temple to look its best for the Lord. Well, I guess, amen to that. We toured a couple more insignificant buildings in the Square, then later ended up with the other group in the Mormon Tabernacle. The way in which the building was designed is unique.  Picture a football field. That’s how long the temple was. A huge organ at the front of the room took up 10% of the building.  Also, the ceilings were designed in such a way to allow the choir and any speaker to speak or sing without the use of any microphones. Perfect audible sound in the entire building.

The Organ… yep.

When we entered the Temple Sqare, Harold, being the complete smooth talker that he is, talked the elders into letting us sing ONE song in the Tabernacle. Of course we pushed the envelope and sang two. A little background before I go on. First of all, there are unspoken ranks in the Mormon church. The 2nd Organist of the church is higher “ranked” than the elders.  We were singing on the Organist’s practice time; rather, he was allowing us to sing on his practice time.  I believe are second song was Pentatonic Alleluia/Holy, Holy, Holy, and one of the elders realized that it didn’t jive with LDS doctrine. He came up to Harold and said quietly, “Thank you, that’s enough,” and we then sat down. The organist PLAYED the song we JUST SANG (‘Of the Father’s Love Begotten) on the organ! HOW COOL! We gave him a standing “O” and asked him to play another… he agreed to only if we would sing more for him =D!! We agreed. =] WE SANG 5 MORE SONGS!!! Elder’s power usurped by the Organist. That’s God’s legit supremacy for ya. Here’s a few vids of us in the Tabernacle (Listen to both of these all the way through! You’ll miss the cool parts in both. AND listen at the very end of each… there’s about a 3 second delay. That venue was legit):

Now for some Mormon History. =] I’m just going to post this as a summary. I might be wrong on some parts, but you’ll get the general idea. If any Mormons read this, please feel free to correct me.

General Warning: I in no way support or condone or believe any of this history to be true.

Mormon Origins:

• 13th tribe of Israel – Tribe of Mannaseh
  • Lehi was the prophet of this tribe
• Israel becomes upset with Lehi’s teaching; Lehi has four sons – older sons included Laman and Lemuel and younger sons included Sam and Nephi
  • Lehi prophesied destruction and captivity of Jerusalem by Babylon
  • Israel didn’t like it -> God told Lehi and family to go to wilderness
• Eventually, an angel revealed to the 4 brothers that Nephi would be chosen by God to lead family after Lehi’s death
  • brothers didn’t like this, especially Laman
• After his father’s death, Nephi built a boat and took the whole Lehi family to the Americas, where they established a homeland
• Lamanites escalate to violence causing Nephi to move his family elsewhere in the Americas
  • family of Lehi was then segregated
    • Nephites
    • Lamanites
• Nephites eventually became wicked and rebelled
  • civilization dwindled
  • the moment Jesus was crucified, many natural disasters occurred around the world. One bein ghte “dust”-ification of all the Mormon monuments and cities… =|
  • when there were only 2,500 Nephites left, Jesus appeared to them (supposedly one of his appearances after he was risen)
    

    Jesus appears in the Americas

• Jesus then proceeded to spend many days with them
  • organizing the church
  • teaching them the gospel
  • blessing them
• The last two Nephite were a man named Mormon and his son, Moroni
  • before dying, Mormon documented the history of the pioneers on golden plates
  • Moroni finished the last bit of history after the death of Mormon

This time was known as the “great apostasy” in which no new revelations from God’s prophets were heard, simply b/c there were no prophets (they had all been killed by the Nephites).

• skipping ahead to 1819, Joseph Smith arrives at the scene
  • 14 years old, mind you
  • couldn’t figure out which church to attend… =\
  • stumbled across the book of James – “if any lacks wisdom…”
• Smith goes out into the woods to pray
  • encounters 2 figures of light
    • The Father and Jesus Christ  – “the churches he seeks attendance at are false”
• Smith later encounters the angel Moroni (yes, Moroni became an angel somehow) who give Smith revelations
  • shows Smith where the golden tablets are, which he then proceeds to interpret (by means of divine “inspiration”)
• After he translated the plates, they go missing

TA DA! The End! Since then, the president’s (likened to the Pope of the Catholic Church) of the Mormon churches have taken liberties to divinely change “rules” of the Mormon church. The most recent rule change: Mormons may now drink caffeine, as long as it is cold. Psht!

Pray for these people. They need to be healed of their blindness to the true trinity known as God. The Alpha and Omega! The only God of everything. The Great and Mighty. Most of all, love them. That’s where true understanding and reconciliation take place, and with this comes the openness to hear the Word of truth! Thanks for reading. Comments?

my friends are believers!

I just received word that a bunch of friends that I met in Papua New Guinea have become believers! That is so exciting. Rich and Dawn Foster are missionaries to the Bena Bena Tribe right outside of Goroka. The tribe surrounds a fenced off ‘campus,’ of sorts, dedicated to mobilizing missionaries (basically a tool for recruitment). I wrote about it earlier in my blog, but I just want to reiterate how life changing this program was for me. Completely altered my course of direction and COMPLETELY transformed my worldview. In case you’re wondering, that’s why I’m almost anti-social justice, and pro-gospel preaching, Christ-transforming social justice. Each is called to what the Lord has for his or her life.

But ANYWAYS, please check out this video (watch with HQ) and this website if you’d like more information about this awesome, 5 week, college-level, hands-on, missions course in the heart of a tribe.

Anyways, here’s the letter I recieved via email from the Fosters.  Kokore and I are pictured below.

Begin Letter:

Dear Praying Friends and Family,

Once again, much time has passed since we last wrote.  Thankfully, however, this time we do not have any tribal fighting to report.  The children are currently enjoying their “summer” break and the count-down has begun — yesterday Hannah counted 50 more days until school resumes.  She was sad to think of all the time left before she begins 7th grade, but when Jordan heard that 50 days were left, he broke into a huge grin and was very excited for the many days left of summer break.  We are looking forward to some good learning and growing times together this summer with garden work, house work, daily chores, time in the Word, and lots of fun times together.  Hannah, as I said before, will be moving into 7th grade, Hadassah into 6th grade, Jordan into 4th grade, and Havannah into 2nd grade.  Where has the time gone?

This past week, Rich and a couple of national believers were involved in checking chapters 12-28 of Acts with a translation consultant.  The check went very well, and this week, they will be checking Romans 1.  Rich was wanting to have chapters 1-2 of Romans ready to check, but things have not progressed as he hoped.  There is the possibility of someone being available to do some more translation checking in the Fall of this year, so hopefully more of Romans can be ready for checking then.

We are nearing the end of Acts in our teaching to the Bena believers and they continue to grow in their understanding of who God is and in their daily walks with Him.  Each of them face many temptations — especially during the coffee picking/selling season (which we are in the middle of), and we are looking forward to moving into Romans with the teaching to get them further grounded in the doctrines of their new faith.

Baptism:

We are excited to think of our first baptism coming up in another couple of weeks.  Heti, Kokore, Efeke, and Buka have all expressed interest in being baptized and there may be more…  including some of our children.  We have purposefully gone slow in having a baptism because of all the misunderstandings and wrong teachings regarding baptism that permeate our area.  Many people believe that baptism = salvation;  even more believe that baptism places you into church membership;  almost everyone believes that you have to live a clean life before being baptized.  It is with a whole new understanding that the Bena believers realize that baptism is a picture of our new life in Christ and is a testimony to those around us that we now have life in Him and that the only stipulation for baptism is belief in the finished work of Christ.

Individual updates:

Heti and Janet continue to faithfully attend the teaching and Heti is also one of Rich’s main and most faithful translation helper.  Several times over the past months Heti will break down in tears over something that God is teaching him or over a fresh realization of what God has done for him.  It is amazing to see his heart become so soft as he was a very hardened man before salvation.  Janet has nearly completed the literacy course and is excited to be able to read God’s Word on her own.  We just had some books of the Bible in Bena (Genesis, Exodus, Jonah, Mark) printed in nice, spiral bound books, and Janet wants to purchase them all with her next paycheck.  I asked her which one she was going to buy, and she looked at me surprised and said, “I’m going to buy them all — they each have a different talk in them!”  Please continue to pray for growth in their husband/wife relationship. Although their relationship is slowly improving, there is still much room for growth.

Efeke has also nearly completed the literacy course and is thrilled with her ability to read.  She has had some hard times over the past months with her husband, Fred, not wanting her to have anything to do with our teaching.  She went through a period of not coming because he was upset with her, but she has recently returned to hear the teaching over the past month or so.  If you remember, Fred was one who attended most of the teaching from Creation to Christ the second time we taught in our village and seemed to understand what was taught.  When asked recently what his thoughts were on the teaching, his response was that he has not chosen to believe.  Please continue to pray for Fred’s salvation.

Morobe is also a believer, however, he has attended none of the teaching for the past couple of months.  Please pray that he will see his need to hear God’s Word.

Buka and Anita as we mentioned in our last letter had chosen to go back to attending the local “church” that is located next door to their home.  Since that time, Buka has expressed a need to return and also a desire to be a part of the outreach coming up sometime this year.  He has been coming to the teaching and was a part of the translation check this past week.  Anita, however, continues to remain aloof and disinterested in the teaching.  Please pray that God will show her the fallacy of what she is being taught and give her a hunger to hear the truth.  Pray also that she will not be afraid to stand up to opposition.

Kokore and Mena continue to come to the teaching on a fairly regular basis.  Mena has also nearly completed the literacy course and is excited with her ability to read.  Kokore, though a very quiet man, has a good understanding of spiritual things and also has a desire for his family to understand the truth.  We are unsure of where Mena is in her understanding of baptism, so we would appreciate prayer for discerning her thoughts in this area.

This letter has become quite long, so I will close for now.  We would appreciate your continued prayers for knowing where to head for an outreach later this year.

In His Love and Care,

Dawn for the Fosters

“christian” holy wars and the social gospel

Interesting. I’m reading this book called ‘Foxe’s Book of Martyrs,’ and Mr. Foxe just informed me of the medieval inquisition which included the Papal Inquisitions.

As you can probably guess, the book is about Christian persecutions as they’ve happened throughout history, starting with the early church, much like dc Talk’s ‘Jesus Freaks’ that was published some years ago.

I can’t tell you how interesting and inspiring this book is.  These witnesses bring a whole new meaning to Colossians 1:24. Not recanting their faith even to the point of excruciating pain. Incredible and invigorating. Not only is it inspiring, but the facts are very intriguing as well.  Take the movie ‘Gladiator’ for instance.  The philosopher and Emperor, Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (A.D. 162-180) was known as the last of ‘Five Good Emperors‘ of Rome.  You might remember him in the movie as the murdered father. He was responsible for the fourth general persecution against the Christians. Weird, right? He ordered and allowed (despite what wikipedia might tell you) countless horrible and unthinkable tortures.  Dang. He seemed like such a nice guy in the movie.

Now what I’ve just been reading is about the papal persecutions.  The history teachers leave out detailed information about these. ‘Christians’ were the villains; however, Christians were also the direct victims of these persecutions. Wait, what??

So before this era of Papal-ity (1208 A.D.), most of the persecutions against the believing church came from the pagan world. The church in Rome began to set aside scriptural doctrines such as holiness, piety, humility, charity, and compassion, and instead took up the sword along with pagan superstitions and practices. All of this in order to benefit the clergy of the Roman church.  ANY who disagreed with this doctrine (true Christians being the “any”) were labeled as heretics to the faith, and if refusing to recant “heresy,” were executed.

So now the world tells us that Christians were going around slaughtering heretics. False. Heretics were going around slaughtering Christians labeled as heretics. After all, 2 Timothy says, “all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.”  Now we get into persecution and suffering.

Oh the agendas of the social gospel.  To be quite honest, Azusa Pacific University upsets me when it comes to this issue.  This idea of “preach the gospel always, and when necessary, use words.”

WHAT?! NO!

And unfortunately, I hear too much of this at Azusa. God is behind it, maybe. I’m sure it pleases our Savior that the needy are being cared for; however, I’m convinced he’s more concerned about their eternal futures. I feel like many students at Azusa (or the mainstream students anyways) are taking the easy road, copping out and buying shoes for kids, rescuing little children from enslavement, sending monetary savings to feed some others. THIS IS NOT THE GOSPEL! Let me quote a friend of mine:

What is happening today in our Christian culture is the thought that the application of the gospel is to simply come to the monetary assistance of those in need.  This is an aspect, but it is not even the central aspect, but a corollary of the gospel.  I fear that there is a growing belief that the preaching of the gospel to those who are sufferers of social injustice is secondary to the remedying of these people’s situation.  Or, to look at it another way, that the remedying of social injustice is the preaching of the gospel to those who are its sufferers.

Oh friends!  Do not be deceived! Let us not usher in temporal comfort but everlasting. Or at least couple social justice with Christ’s message of redemption.  One without the other is meaningless. More so social justice without the gospel (not all third-world countries are needy fyi). And do not be deceived into the thinking that “loving” can indefinitely take the place of “witnessing.” If you are afraid to share the gospel because it will offend… that’s the whole point. The truth is offensive. It’s edgy, difficult to cope with. God’s gospel was seen as heretical. Christ was seen as a blasphemer. “PREACH THE WORD!” (2 Timothy 4:2). It’s a command straight from the mouth of Jesus Christ who died for everone’s sins and beat the heck out of death.

And in terms of staying safe and protected from disease and sickness and third-world maladies:

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall TRIBULATION, or DISTRESS, or PERSECUTION, or FAMINE, or NAKEDNESS, or DANGER, or SWORD? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death NOR life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. -Romans 8:35-39

Have I made my point clear? If you disagree or anything, I’d be happy to politely discuss it with you anytime. I have skype (milesgrimes), twitter (milesvincent), and aim (mgrimes08@mac.com), and my email is mgrimes08@apu.edu.

Let me leave you with one of my favorite quotes.

The world can do almost anything as well as or better than the church. You need not be a Christian to build houses, feed the hungry, or heal the sick. There is only one thing the world cannot do. It cannot offer grace.
-Gordon Macdonald

EDIT (6/13/09): In regards to the last statement/quote: The world can offer the avenue to grace. The means by which the grace is offered. Grace, the seed planted by the church waiting to be broken and made fruitful by the Holy Spirit.  The church: the workers who must usher in the harvest. Thank you Mr. Mark Montgomery =]

funny and narcissistic

yep, pretty much nailed it...