Ecstatic Experiences

"Ecstatic experiences, though they be tantalizing, do not constitute

the warp and woof of Christian

spirituality."

- Les Hardin -

The Spirituality of Paul

Broken Church- 70-80% Of OUR Kids Never Return.

We are full of it.... we are full of hot air, bologna, theology, hyper-spirituality, and the fact is that we aren't doing anything other than congratulating ourselves on the profundity of our revelations.

Between 70 and 80 percent of evangelicals in America, by the time they are twenty-one, will leave the faith and never return. Did you hear that? We are not even reaching our own children.

It's like we have a broken down car and we're trying to sell it to the world, saying, buy our product.

Our product stinks. We have nothing to sell but our Bible opinions. And how is the world responding to our bible opinions?
But we're going to keep doing it because we've got the "Bible."
But we're not delivering on the life, the love, the power, the truth, the Incarnate....(sigh!) ..... we are not delivering on Jesus as a general rule."
Seventy to eighty percent of our own children should be a terrifying statistic. It should cause us to sit back and say,

"Dear God how many hours, how much money is being poured into this thing called Christianity, and my own children aren't even serving the lord?"
This is broken Saints. It's broken! It's broken, broken, broken! But we're going to have an evangelism outreach, we are going to pass out... [pamplets or flyers]
Oh my!
- Stephen Crosby!

Read this Book as it gets to the real issue below the surface that we never talk about in church.

This insight in how our history, our past, our emotions, and our emotional responses and mechanisms affects us today,  is simply extraordinary.

I found the book to be the typical  slick marketing and packaging  to make a "Program" to sell to churches. So the writing is the usual dumbed own style of language and writing of typical evangelical  programs,

but in no way is this books HELP and INSIGHT shallow.  

He hits  subjects not talked about. 

It is VERY well written.

Every leader should read this book. 

 

The Emotionally Healthy Spirituality, Peter Scazzero 

Dirty Hands Theology

"Christ was Lord over all of it or none. A major theme for Bonhoeffer was that every Christian must be “fully human” by bringing God into his whole life, not merely into some “spiritual” realm. To be an ethereal figure who merely talked about God, but somehow refused to get his hands dirty in the real world in which God had placed him, was bad theology."

- Eric Metaxas. Bonhoeffer:Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy. 

Stronger Passion Than Evil

"Only by a stronger passion can evil passions be expelled, and .... a soul occupied by a positive devotion is sure to be occupied by spiritual demons. 

- Harry Emerson Fosdick.The Manhood Of The Master. 

To Busy To Hear Anything

  How are we to know, or find out what the Will of God is?...... The difficulty comes when there is a conflict of loyalties, or a choice between two apparent gods. At such points many feel unaware of any guidance, unable to discern or understand the signals of God; not because the signals are not given, but because the mind is too troubled, clouded and hurried to receive them.  

“He who is in a hurry,” said St.Vincent de Paul,  “delays the things of God.”  

~ Evelyn Underhill. The Spiritual Life

The Bent Ones

How blessed (or “happy”) are the poor in spirit; the kingdom of Heaven is theirs. —Matthew 5:3

“Poor in spirit” means an inner emptiness and humility, a beginner’s mind, and to live without a need for personal righteousness or reputation. It is the “powerlessness” of Alcoholics Anonymous’ First Step. The Greek word Matthew uses for “poor” is ptochoi, which literally means, “the very empty ones, those who are crouching.” They are the bent-over beggars, the little nobodies of this world who have nothing left, who aren’t self-preoccupied or full of themselves in any way. Jesus is saying: “Happy are you, you’re the freest of all.”

Becoming Good Humans

"We are not so much human beings trying to become spiritual. We’re already inherently spiritual beings and our job is learning how to be good humans! "

~ Richard Rohr

Only The Clever Win God!

"Historically, most people naturally presumed that they would come to God by finding unique spiritual locations, precise rituals, special priests or shamans, or unique sacred words. Our correct behavior or morality around these manifestations would bring us to God or God to us. The majority of us began by looking for the right maps or laws, hoping to pass some cosmic test. The assumption was that if you got the right answers, God would like you. God’s love was highly contingent, and the clever were assumed to be the winners.

But the Bible does not make transformation dependent on cleverness at all; rather, transformation is found in one of God’s favorite and most effective hiding places: humility."
~ Richard Rohr

Plow the Heart

"The human heart must be plowed much more deeply."

Dallas Willard. The Divine Conspiracy

Lord Promoted, Self Neglected

"The truly spiritual man is indeed something of an oddity. He lives not for himself but to promote the interests of Another. He seeks to persuade people to give all to his Lord and asks no portion or share for himself. He delights not to be honored but to see his Saviour glorified in the eyes of men. His joy is to see his Lord promoted and himself neglected. He finds few who care to talk about that which is the supreme object of his interest, so he is often silent and preoccupied in the midst of noisy religious shoptalk."

A.W. Tozer

Just Give Me The Bullet

"Laziness was another “mistake” I made on the path. Most people want a magic bullet. They are not truly willing to do their own personal work, and would prefer someone just give them the answer. They are hoping for a formula that promises that if they do ‘A’ then ‘B’ will happen."

(Jim Palmer. Notes From Over The Edge)

The Burning Rubber Of Fundamentalism

"In my case, I left Christian fundamentalism behind but managed to create a different fundamentalism around whatever my new and improved understanding of God became. During one season I even became a Universalist fundamentalist – “God loves everyone . . . dammit! Maybe if you would get your head out of your religious ass, you would realize this!” In other words, each step of my journey became the new “it” or standard that I judged others by. Essentially I poured concrete over my latest epiphany, and it became the new religion. I wasn’t necessarily nasty or belligerent about it but there was a certain insistence, silent pride, and arrogance to it......

It’s no secret that any person who feels led astray and betrayed by their religion is likely to become its biggest critic. A person lives many years under the oppression of religion. In reaction to this, they over-correct and become an Atheist. There are lots of options between a hideous concept of God and concluding there is no God at all, but when you over-correct, you skid by all the stuff in the middle."

(Jim Palmer. Notes From Over The Edge)

Just Peel The Potato Spirituality

"Spiritual living is not thinking about God while peeling a potato. Just peel the potato, and know that this is spiritual. God and life are inseparable."

(Jim Palmer. Notes From Over The Edge)

Practicing Quiet Noncooperation With Organized Religion

"You must now take full responsibility for your spiritual journey. Perhaps you feel you gave too many years of your life away in vain to religion. Don’t make the mistake of giving away more years in your bitterness. You have to move on. Stop railing against religion. It will keep you stalled on your spiritual journey, and feed your ego’s need to feel superior. Your ego is sneaky and would like nothing more than to distract you from your true Self by convincing you to forge an identity of being super spiritual or anti-religion. Instead, practice simple avoidance or quiet noncooperation with organized religion, but don’t waste time or energy being oppositional to it."

(Jim Palmer. Notes From Over The Edge)

Holy Spirit Does Not Develop Our Theology

"Being led by the spirit of Truth that is inside you is not about constructing theology, but about living and being in a whole and complete relationship with yourself, God, others, and life. The spirit of Truth inside you is not there to lead you to correct concepts and ideas about God, but is there to guide you into the same truth that Jesus lived, expressed, and was."

Jim Palmer. Notes From Over The Edge

They Day We Stopped Dancing

"This now-evident pattern is why so many of our contemporary spiritual teachers say that most of our problems are psychological in their manifestation, but spiritual in their solution. Most Christians of the Middle Ages more easily trusted the spiritual solution than we do, but they seldom had the vocabulary to describe the psychological manifestations as we do today. We articulate the psychological dimensions so well, and in so many ways, that contemporary people are trapped in sophisticated and helpful descriptions of the manifestations but have no One to surrender it all to. There is no Receiver Station, because we jumped off the divine waterwheel and withdrew from the dance."

~Richard Rohr. The Divine Dance