Misdiagnosis Of Church

"When any species undergoes a reproduction crisis, a name is giving it: "endangered." Arguably Christianity has entered such a crisis; our inability to reproduce the faith is the number one problem facing our families and churches today. Christianity in the West has become a sterile, exhausted religion. . . .

The dominant means of addressing the church's reproduction crisis has been to devise new methodologies and strategies for how we do church. This is a misdiagnosis of the problem, however, and without the right diagnosis of the disease, I cure is difficult."

-Leonard Sweet. From Tablet To Table.

Punching Holes In Darkness

"Robert Louis Stevenson, who was very ill as a child, recorded a childhood incident in his diary. He was seated by a window at nightfall, watching a lamplighter light the street lights below. His nurse came into the room and asked him what he was doing. “I’m watching a man make holes in the darkness,”

- Leonard Sweet

You Cain't Compromise Enough For Pagans

The Trap

"Somewhere along the way, Christianity Today exchanged social convenience for the truth. Like many Christians, you have fallen for the mistaken belief that if you present yourself as caring about what progressives care about, then you will be spared from their slander and suppression. You will not. And the Left has made that clear. It has weighed your desperate pleas for acceptance and still has found you wanting."

- CARMEN SCHOBER. May 23, 2020. An Open Letter to Christianity Today: Change Course or Step Aside.

Why Are You Managing My Spirituality?

"For once, my place with God in solitude would be honored - not managed or directed or interpreted by a pastor or a Bible study leader or anyone else who thought they knew what I needed.

For once, I wasn't going to have to force myself into someone else's prefabricated plan for my spiritual enrichment. 

I was so glad we had been instructed not to talk, because this meant no one could intrude by asking me what was wrong or trying to "help."

- Ruth Barton. "Sacred Rhythms"

Confined To Philosophy

"When Zeno learned that the only ship he had left was with all its freight lost at sea, he said, "Fortune, you deal kindly with me, confining me to my threadbare cloak and the life of a philosopher."

- Plutarch. Plutarch's Morals

Pride In Our Today!

"I find it odd that the church of the twenty first century thinks so highly of what the Holy Spirit has taught it today that it thinks so little of what the Holy Spirit has taught the church in the 1st century, the 2nd, the 3rd, the 4th, and so on. The Holy Spirit is not unique to our age. The Holy Spirit has been at work in the church for the past twenty one centuries.."

- Stephen Nichols -

I'm The Benovlent Dictator

"Things are better with me in charge."

"I'm trying to do great things for the good of people,

great things for the environment."

They always think they are the "benovlent dictator.""

- Tim Pool -

Interview on Joe Rogan. 

More of Jesus More Of His Saving Fulness See

"If I had a dollar for every time I heard someone say, “I am spiritual but not religious,” then I might not be any wiser about what that means—but I would be richer.....

In that context, people are usually trying to tell me that they have a sense of the divine depths of things but they are not churchgoers. They want to grow closer to God, but not at the cost of creeds, confessions, and religious wars large or small. Some of them have resigned from religions they once belonged to, taking what was helpful with them while leaving the rest behind......

Plenty of them are ‘satisfied, too, even as they confess that they are sometimes lonely.

I think I know what they mean by "religious". It is the "spiritual" part that is harder to grasp. My guess is they do not use that word in reference to a formal set of beliefs, since that belongs on the religion side of the page. It may be the name for a longing—for more meaning, more feeling, more connection, more life.

When I hear people talk about spirituality, that seems to be what they are describing. They know there is more to life than what meets the eye.... They would be happy for someone to teach them how to spend more time in the presence of this deeper reality, but when they visit the places where such knowledge is supposed to be found, they often find the rituals hollow and the language antique. 

Even religious people are vulnerable to this longing. Those who belong to communities of Faith have acquired a certain patients with what is sometimes called organized religion. They have learned to forgive its shortcomings as they have learned to forgive themselves. They do not expect their institutions to stand in for God, and they are happy to use inherited maps for some of life's journey. They do not need to walk off every Cliff all by themselves. Yet they too can Harbor the sense that there is more to life than they are being shown."

- Barbara Brown Taylor 

We Join The Stream Of Prayer.

Entering a constant flowing stream. It's nothing we've started, its only a stream we enter or not, we join or not.

We Are Joining Prayer

"We never begin to pray, we always enter into prayer that has already begun before us and without us, the prayer of the church. We may pray alone, but we are never alone when we pray."

Kim Fabricius

No Time To Show Jesus' Grave

"Well, those unchainedseem filled with what I lack somehow."

"They are," replied Sarkon. "They all are filled with Madness! Be grateful that you lack what they are filled with.

"Perhaps," said Everyman, staring vacantly into the dark sky.

"Do you believe the singer came alive again?"

"No-not at all. I know the man who buried him, you see. His grave is in a country field. . . ."

"Then let us go and dig him out and show the unchained men of Terra their great Folly and absurdity."

Sarkon blush. "I. . . .wh . . . ." He stammered much before he finally spoke.

"The grave, I must regret lies far away. We have not time enough to travel there today," he finally explained. He quickly changed the subject. It's just as well believe me.

- Calvin Miller. The Singer Trilogy (The Song)

Christians With A Bar Too Low To Inspire.

"Multitudes are now turning to Christ in all parts of the world. How unbearably tragic it would be, though, if the millions of Asia, South America and Africa were led to believe that the best we can hope for from the way of Christ is the level of Christianity visible in Europe and America today, a level that has left us tottering on the edge of world destruction. The world can no longer be left to Mere diplomats, politicians, and business leaders. They have done the best they could, I know that. But this is an age for Spiritual Heroes - a time for men and women to be heroic in faith and in spiritual character and power. The greatest danger to the Christian church today is that a pitching it's message to low."

- Dallas Willard. The Spirit of The Disciplines.

Human Cures For Suffering Fail

The modern age is an age of revolution — revolution motivated

by insight into the appalling vastness of human suffering and

need. Pleas for holiness and attacks on sin and Satan were

made for Centuries in response to the human situation. Today

such pleas have been replaced with a new agenda, Political and social critiques yield recipes for revolutions meant to liberate humankind from its many bondages. And on the

individual level various self-fulfilment techniques promise

personal revolutions bringing ’freedom in an unfree world'

and passage into the good life. Such are modern answers to

humanity's woes.

Against this background a few voices have continued to

emphasise that the cause of the distressed human condition,

individual and social ~ and its only possible cure — is a spiritual one. But what these Voices are saying is not clear. They point out that social and Political revolutions have

shown no tendency to transform the heart of darkness that lies deep in every human being. That is evidently true. And amid a flood of techniques for self-fulfilment there

is an epidemic of depression, suicide, personal emptiness, and

Escapism through drugs and alcohol, cultic obsession, consumerism, and sex and violence — all combined with an inability to sustain deep and enduring personal relationships so obviously the problem is a spiritual one and so must be the cure."

- Dallas Willard. The Spirit of The Disciplines.

Demons Carry Hands Full Of Stones

"At stonings angel stand apart

And weep above the martyrs' groans.

But demons always grin, and keep Both hands grasping - filled with

stones."

- Calvin Miller. The Singer Trilogy

With Wounded Hands.

The Great Invader breathes upon you 

as a man. 

Of Holy Fire, from that far land 

we're all 

Horizons meet. He knocks 

with wounded hands

Upon a the soul. And penetrates 

the wall."

Calvin Miller 

The Song. The Singer Trilogy 

We Like Big SHOW FAITH

"Modern American Christianity places great value and trust in the "big event," the spiritual conference, the rally, the Revival, and the concert. If we truly desire our children to study our methods, they are likely to learn that significant Kingdom Ministry takes place only on the stage before thousands of people.

The classic Christian witness has been that spirituality takes place in the everyday events of Life. . . .

Responding to those who hope to find God in spiritual conferences and the ecstatic meetings, Eugene Peterson quips in 'The Wisdom of Each Other' that one is more likely to find a spiritual readiness for the uniqueness of the Christian message among those who are dealing with the basics of daily existence than among those who are trying to escape them. We need God, not in the hyper emotional experiences that the North American Christianity has come to expect, but in the common, everyday stuff of life.

- Leslie T Hardin -

The Spirituality Of Jesus

Who You Working For?

Rules For Radicals

Saul Alinsky

(One of several epigraphs on introductory pages)

"Lest we forget at least an over-the-shoulder acknowledgment to the very first radical: from all our legends, mythology, and history (and who is to know where mythology leaves off and history begins — or which is which),

the first radical known to man

who rebelled against the establishment

and did it so effectively that

he at least won his own kingdom — Lucifer."

Burn Down Our Church We Worship

"If you burn down the church building and drive away all the people, you have not disturbed Christian worship at all. Keep a Christian from entering the church sanctuary and you have not in the least bit hindered his worship. We carry our sanctuary with us. We never leave it."

- A.W. Tozer -

Faint Desire

"The reason we are not able to see God is the faintness of our desire." 

- Meister Eckhart -

He talks about Daniels  pagan education in Babylon at the best university with Nebuchadnezzer.

"Babylon has one simple goal to eliminate Daniels distinctiveness as a god follower and absorbed into the values of their culture."

- Peter Scazzero. Emotionally Healthy Spirituality 

Expectations

"We all know the unpleasant experience of other people having expectations we never agreed to."

- Peter Scazzero. Emotionally Healthy Spirituality -

Lies About Love

We talk like love comes naturally and we have nothing to learn. Same attitude about motherhood and fatherhood. Because we birthed a child we naturally could not have any level of incompetence, or lack of knowledge on the subject. We were born knowing how to raise chuldren.  

"Many of us believe loving well is learned automatically. 
We underestimate the depth of our bad habits and what is needed to sustain long-term... change in our relationships."
- Peter Scazzero. Emotionally Healthy Spirituality -

Forsaking What Assembly?

Assembling Yourselves Together

Of all the scriptures used to unsettle or even to condemn those who have chosen to worship "outside the camp", this one is supreme:

Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. (Heb 10:25)

Does this verse not command regular worship in church? Let's see. We do see here that the first Christians "gathered together". But look at what this verse DOES NOT tell us:

• how often they gathered;
• on which day they did so;
• how many there were,
• what they did,
• where they gathered (though other verses explain this was in their homes as we have already seen).

Why do people read into this verse a command to "go to church"? Perhaps it is that word "assembling"? But the word simply means "gathering" nothing more or less. It is not talking about going to a church on Sunday mornings!

We must certainly gather together with other believers, but I do believe there is no lack of desire and willingness to obey that scripture amongst the Remnant. Why else would they be desperately seeking for fellowship?

Decentralized And Destructured Church

"It is also becoming plain that God himself is taking his beloved children on a journey, that involves a different type of fellowship with HIM and with EACHOTHER, an informal destructuralised Church.

This has been likened to the Church "Outside the Camp""

Swallowed Up Lives

"We go through the motions of doing so many things as if there is no alternative way of spending our days....... Any sense of Rhythm in our daily, weekly, and yearly lives has been swallowed up in the blizzard of our Lives. Add to this the storms and trials of life that blow into our lives unexpectedly and catch us off-guard, and we wonder why so many of us are disoriented and Confused. "

- Peter Scazzero. Emotionally Healthy Spirituality. 

Why Church Leaders Might Apologize.

"A problem of my leadership has been that I often desired you to join my ideas? affirm my program, my vision and my calling.

Yet I did so incredibly little to affirm you in what you are doing for others in your sphere of life, for family, and at work outside of this structure.

I apologize!"

- A former ministers confession to his congregation after going off salary and working a regular job just as they do and volunteering like they do.

Be A Source of Joy

BE A SOURCE OF JOY

Be someone people will really miss.

Be someone, that when the skyhook of mortality yanks you from this mortal corpse, people will miss you like they had a ventrical ripped out of their heart.

Be someone that people will miss.

Be somone that people will treasure so much that if you're gone, they will ache.

Be someone who people will miss.

Fill people up, so that when you are gone they will notice.

Don't be one of these people the neighbors have to wait for the flies to gather and the stench to spread before they call the body removal people.

- Stefan Molyneux -

Repugnant Interpretations

39 Articles of Religion

Anglican Church

VI. Of the Sufficiency of the holy Scriptures for salvation.

Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation: so that whatsoever is not read therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required of any man, that it should be believed as an article of the Faith, or be thought requisite or necessary to salvation. 

XX. Of The Authority of the Church

"Controversies of Faith: And yet it is not lawful for the Church to ordain any thing that is contrary to God’s Word written, neither may it so expound one place of Scripture, that it be repugnant to another."

When Darkness Is Our Friend.

What is Up With Some Psalms?

Like the Darkness of Psalm 88?

"The very presence of these prayers in scripture is a witness to God's understanding.

God knows how men speak when they are desperate."

- Derek Kidner -

We Are Limited - Accept it!

Embrace the Gift of Limits

We will finish our lives with unfinished goals and dreams ...

Our egos tend to be so inflated that we act as if we were God. Often we have larger fantasies and wishes for ourselves than our real lives can support....

Getting off our Thrones and joining the rest of humanity is a must for growing up. A part of us hates limits. We won't accept them.

- Peter Scazzero. Emotionally Healthy Spirituality

We must Believe The Resurrection!

“Anyone can be sentimental about the nativity; any fool can feel like a Christian at Christmas. But Easter is the main event; if you don’t believe in the resurrection, you’re not a believer.

“If you don’t believe in Easter,” Owen Meany said. “Don’t kid yourself—Don’t call yourself a Christian.”

― John Irving, A Prayer for Owen Meany

We Are Cups

"We are all cups.

Whatever we are filled with on the inside

is what comes

spilling out

when we are jostled."

Familiar With Scriptures

"But there's really only one thing I see that gave Paul such an intimate knowledge of the word of God:repeated exposure. Paul nowhere speaks of any discipline of memorizing scripture. He never commanded it, never mentions it, and never chastises anyone who can't recall the text that will. But he knew the text. He could recall it at will, just as Jesus could, and not just the favoured proof-texts. Paul knew the words, the context, the meaning, the situation, the direction toward which scripture was pointing, and it's intended goal. And he knew it because he had repeated exposure to it, from his childhood to his "college" years to his preaching and teaching as an apostle to the Gentiles. Paul new scripture thoroughly because he was constantly around it."

- Leslie Hardin. The spirituality of Paul

When We Don't Care To Know God.

The study of theology is considered by many to be dry, boring, irrelevant, and complicated. But for those who want to know God, the study of theology is indispensable. The word “theology” comes from two Greek words, theos (“God”) and logo: (“word”). The study of theology is an effort to make definitive statements about God and his implications in an accurate, coherent, relevant way, based on God’s self-revelations. Doctrine equips people to fulfill their primary purpose, which is to glorify and delight in God through a deep personal knowledge of him.

Meaningful relationship with God is dependent on correct knowledge of him. (Editors note: understanding a person for who they are, not a fabricated illusion we have created about them. My husband/wife is not an abuser... he/she is like this because they want me to produce the best within me.)

Any theological system that distinguishes between "relational propositions about God" and "a relationship with God” fails to see this necessary connection between love and knowledge. The capacity to love enjoy and tell others about a person is increased by greater knowledge of that person. Love and knowledge go hand in hand. Good lovers are students of the beloved. Knowledge of God is the goal of theology.

Knowledge without devotion is cold, dead orthodoxy. Devotion without knowledge is irrational instability. But true knowledge of God includes understanding ev-

erything from his perspective. Theology is learning to think God’s thoughts after him. It is to learn what God loves and hates, and to see, hear, think, and act the way he

does. Knowing how God thinks is the first step in becoming godly.

Many would like to think that just being a“good” person and “loving” God, without an emphasis on doctrine, is preferable. Bit being a good person can mean radically different things depending on what someone thinks "good" is, or what constitutes a “person.” Loving God will look very different depending on one's conception of "God" or "Love". The fundamental connections between belief

and behavior, and between love and knowledge, demand a rigorous pursuit of truth for those wanting to love God and to be godly."

ESV Study Bible Doctrine Notes in back. 

When Church Buildings are a Target

HOUSE CHURCHES

The uniform evidence of the NT is that the church in the first century met together for worship in domestic houses (cf. 16:19). Houses were used not because other options were unavailable (for example, a lecture hall) but because the house provided what was necessary for the gathering: kitchen space to prepare and serve the common meal. Houses were also by definition private space, allowing Christians to gather together as a community and drop the social boundaries that otherwise defined their daily lives. The host may have only provided

the space; this is the case in Philippi, where Lydia hosted the

"brothers" while Paul was leading the assembly (Acts 16:40).

Almost any house could have hosted a gathering, from small

flats in large Roman block apartment buildings (insulae) to

expansive urban villas. The size of the available rooms would

dictate the size of the worshiping congregation. Only once does Paul explicitly state that the whole church in a city was present in a single house (Rom. 16:23).

A house church was a domestic residence used at least weekly by the Christian community; therefore, by definition. a house church would be almost impossible to identify archaeologically unless it was altered to accommodate

Christian worship. A possible house church has been identified

in Capernaum, venerated in later generations as the site of Peter’s home The first architecturally defined house church known in the Roman Empire is from the mid-third century in Dura-Europos, a frontier city on the Euphrates River. This house was altered to include a large assembly space, a special space for baptisms, and special decorations. A third-century prayer hall has been found in a Roman military camp at Kefar Otnay in Israel. A floor inscription mentions “the God Jesus Christ.”

Born Married

Meryl and I are sitting side by side in our wing-back chairs tonight.

She turns to me and asks, “so... tomorrow makes 37?”

Me: “yep”.

Meryl “LORDY!! I shouldn’t even be that old yet, much less married that long!”

Me: “we were born married”.

Meryl: “oh, ok”.

With Meryl Vogh. Still.

Cliff Vogh.

The Leveling Effect Of Hell

OVERHEARD ON THE ISLAND

“Belief in hell was a great leveller. The Protestants believed the Catholics were going to hell, and the Catholics were just as sure the Protestants were headed there, so there was pleasure in it for everyone.”

- David Weale

WHY I Desire To Experience Good & Evil

An Intimate Knowledge & Experience With Good & Evil

Genesis 3:5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

1) Serpents Lie About GOD to Humanity (Eve)

A. God Lies - Contradicts God "will SURELY not die."

God just lied to you Eve! He's holding humanity back from improving themselves. From came creative powers and decisions. Liberate yourself!

But God said double verb emphasis in Hebrew "dying you shall die"

B. You are Not Made In God's Image. (Serpent isn't)

God lied! HE in fact held back the most important part of the "image".

Therefore;

C. It's Most Beneficial Not To Believe God.

If you eat the forbidden fruit.

Eyes will be opened - Liberated, see more clearly. GOD DUPES HUMANITY. It's a grand Delusion! You can gain knowledge and wisdom apart from God, if you pursue the opportunities.

Will be like God - He's holding back his key to success. Humans have incredible creative ideas and power. We are gods. Just realize it.

Know both good and evil - Knowledge and experience are power. Indulging in evil is power, it gains human insight. Deny no experience! Try it all - seek every last experience!

"Know Good and Evil" Meaning of KNOW. ??

Hebrew Know - יָדַע YADA - Verb.

Means to experience, to understand, to bring forth,

Serpents View of God.

1) God is Evil & Good.

God knows, experiences, and brings forth both Good and Evil. Typical ancient Pagan view of vindictive, petulant deities. This God is no different... like all others. God does some good, but is the cause of much evil in the world. Humanity should understand this, we are better than a God of evil. We are like God in Good, but we are unlike God in evil, we are better. God expressed Deceit & Selfishness by trying to knowlege to himself.

2) God stands in the way of Human enlightenment. Prefers their naivete!

Prefers unknowing, not understanding, not seeing, eyes shut puppets with little knowledge.

3) Humans Can Break the Boundary. Be Gods equally Creative as God.

4) God uses threats to gain Compliance.

Result of Human ingenuity

1. Relationship with Environment Broken 3:17-19

2. Relationship between Men and Women Strained 3:16

3. Relationship With God Distanced. 3:22-24

4. Free Will became a source of too many selfish and evil desires and acts.

5. Following Human Wisdom is Always a possible Choice. All actions have significant consequences, many of which we desire not to bear!

Adam and Eve Got exactly what they wanted. An intimate knowledge of both Good and Evil.

Freedom - not Happiness!

A Greater Detachment.

"The critical issue on the journey with God is not "Am I happy?" But "Am I free? Am I growing in the freedom God gave me?"

Detachment is the great secret of interior piece. Along the way, in this journey with Christ, we get attached to (literally "nail to") behaviours, habits, things, and people in an unhealthy way.

Like you I rarely realize how attached I am to something until God removes it. Then the power struggle begins....

When we put our claws into something and we don't want to take them out, we are beyond enjoying them.

Richard Rohr has written extensively about five essential truths to which men must awaken if they are to grow up into their god-given masculinity and spirituality.

Life is hard.

You are not that important.

Your life is not about you.

You are not in control.

You are going to die.

- Peter Scazzero. Emotionally Healthy Spirituality.

Pretend Initiators

" Gutenberg culture encouraged one-sided events in which Spectators pretended to be initiators."

- Leonard Sweet. Viral

ThecWay I Exist

"It is one thing to be able

to tweak and

control external behaviours;

it is another thing to experience those internal seismic shifts that change the way I exist in this world."

- Ruth Barton -

Sacred Rhythms

How Regularly I Love To judge

"Before we go through the Wall, we prefer to exercise that right to determine good and evil rather than leave this knowledge to God. Afterward, we know better.

I know. I am embarrassed when I think of how I regularly judged

other people's journeys with Christ that were different from mine. I had an opinion and attitude about almost everyone who was different

from me.....

People on the other side of the Wall are freed from judging others."

- Peter Scazzero. Emotionally Healthy Spirituality

God My Secretary!

"God doesn't appreciate being demoted to the rank of our personal secretary or assistant."

- Peter Scazzero. Emotionally Healthy Spirituality 

The Government Has No Money!

"The "Government" has no money.

Everything "government" has

They have TAKEN

PRINTED

Or BORROWED?

Most of "government" money

Has been Borrowed."

House Church Is Biblical Church

Acts 2:46 - Breaking bread in their homes.

Acts 5:42 - House to house taught and preached Jesus.

Acts 10:2,24 - Feared God ith whole household, invited all relatives and close friends.

Acts 12:12 - Houseof Mary wheremmany were gathered to pray.

Acts 16:32 - Lydias House.

Acts 18:7 - Tutius Justice house? Family and many others there.

Acts 20:20 - Taught house to house.

Romans 16:5 - Greet the church at their house. Prisca & Aquila.

1 Cor 16:19 - Together with the cburch in their house.

Col 4:15 - Greet Nymoja & church in her house.

Phil 1:2 - Philemon & the church at your house.

I like Control - God Should Consult Me!

"I like control.

I like to know where God is going, exactly what he is doing,

the exact route of how he is getting there,

and exactly when we will arrive.

I also like to remind God of his need to behave in ways that fit in with my clear ideas of him.

- Peter Scazzero -

Emotionally healthy spirituality

We Will Stamp Out Liberty

"If there's a liberty somewhere we haven't tried to stamp out, don't worry -- we have good people working on it."

Babaylon Bee

I'm My Own Judge and Yours

"Before we go through the Wall, we prefer to exercise that right to determine good and evil rather than leave this knowledge to God. Afterward, we know better.

I know. I am embarrassed when I think of how I regularly judged

other people's journeys with Christ that were different from mine. I had an opinion and attitude about almost everyone who was different

from me.....

People on the other side of the Wall are freed from judging others."

- Peter Scazzero. Emotionally Healthy Spirituality

Murder or Work To Death?

"The lawyers..... did not challenge the formal charges... but asked only whether the defendants might avoid execution. Is it more useful, Comrade Judges, "to have their corpses or their labour?""

- Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. The Gulag Archipelago. 

My Arrogant Judgement

"The root and origin of sin is the arrogance in which man wants to be his own and his neighbor's judge."

-Karl Barth-

Trained Sheep!

"But no, 

one thing was missing! What's missing is the conduct of the defendants. They have not yet 

become trained sheep."

They were still people!

- Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn -

The Gulag Archipelago