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FIRST RESPONSE: Radically Rethinking the Church with Alan Hirsch

Radically Rethinking the Church with Alan Hirsch

I have recently met a quiet, intense radical Christian, Alan Hirsch, who wants to dismantle 1600 years of church history by reconfiguring the church as mission rather than the church as community extending or promoting mission. While this doesn't sound dramatic and seems to follow a whole line of current thinking on the church as a missional community, I assure you that Hirsch will not support most of the hip thinking on this subject today. So here we go, reviewing his book The Forgotten Ways. We may have more to say on KingdomRain.net as this conversation continues. Stay tuned and join in.

FIRST RESPONSE: Christmas 2007: Yes, No or Maybe?

Like Joseph, God wants to intervene in our lives with his miracle. He wants to appear to us. Christmas must happen in our hearts: “O Holy Child of Bethlehem descend on us we pray. Cast out our sin and enter in. Be born in us today. We hear the Christmas Angels their great glad tidings tell. O come to us. Abide with us. O Lord, Emmanuel.” (O Little Town of Bethlehem) Jesus appeared in a dream to my Muslim friend Parvis and I later baptized him in the Pacific Ocean. God is not limited by race or religion. As with Joseph and Parvis he can get anyone he wants and change their lives forever.

FIRST RESPONSE: Porn Nation?

Pornography seems to be as old as the human race. Wall paintings excavated in Pompeii, destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in the later part of the First Century, graphically illustrate this. But what was a subculture of salacious sex is now mainstream. This is due to the Internet. No longer do lust driven people have to find satisfaction in seedy parts of town or in massage parlors fronting as legitimate businesses. Now, online, everything is immediately available at the click of a mouse. No one is protected and for untold Christians, in their loneliness , depression and sexual frustration, moral resolve dissolves. This has led, not only to personal shame, but it has also led to massive sexual addiction. This means that, try though they may, victims simply can't stop. It's not that they view raw sex daily. Many addicts follow the addiction cycle of pain buildup which leads to acting out followed by shame, guilt and deeper loneliness, isolation and more pain which then starts the cycle all over again.

FIRST RESPONSE: John Stott on the Holy Spirit: Still Relevant Today?

John Stott on the Holy Spirit: Still Relevant Today?

John Stott, English pastor and theologian, has written a seminal book on the Holy Spirit which continues to determine the position of many mainline evangelicals (Baptism and Fullness: The Work of the Holy Spirit Today, Inter Varsity Press, 1978). Thus, in First Response we revisit his work for our generation. The impact of Pentecostalism and the Charismatic Movement leads Stott to address the issues they raise. In these streams baptism and fullness of the Spirit come as a second experience after salvation and are signified by speaking in tongues, a supernatural Spirit-given language of praise and prayer. What are Biblical Christians to make of this?

FIRST RESPONSE: Saint Shock: Mother Teresa's “Dark Night of the Soul”

First Response: Saint Shock: Mother Teresa's “Dark Night of the Soul”

Time Magazine's (Sept 3, 2007) cover shows a head shot of Mother Teresa gaunt, sad-eyed, pursed lipped, staring into the camera. Its headline reads, “The Secret Life of Mother Teresa: Newly published letters reveal a beloved icon's 50-year crisis of faith.” The article itself leads with, “Her Agony.” In sum, her “agony” was to spend her life on the streets of Calcutta with the dying and emerge into the world spot light, including a Nobel Prize, without any sense of God's presence. She lived with a profound emptiness, desolation, and deepest loneliness. She felt Christ neither in her heart nor in the sacrament. All of this was shared with several “confessors” but never made public. Clearly this only intensified the loneliness of her soul. Now, we are told, we have a new Mother Teresa; her final ministry is to those who find the same alienation in their hearts. What are we to make of this?

FIRST RESPONSE: A New Reformation?

For many today, especially post-moderns under 40, the very nature or definition of the church is up for grabs. The Los Angeles Times ran a front page article (July 23, 2007) headlined: “Seeking the living word – in their living rooms.” The subtitle reads, “It's how the church began, say small Christian groups that forgo clergy and ritual.” Here is a sample from the article:

“Jason Kilp had a short commute to church one recent Sunday. He walked about 15 feet from the bedroom of his Anaheim apartment to a small worship service in the living room. 'It's intimate,' the 24-year old graphic design student said. Unlike gatherings he and his wife have attended at a 4,000-member mega-church in Irvine, Kilp said, 'this is like a conversation. It's somebody talking to you.'”

FIRST RESPONSE: Reviewing a best-selling Atheist: Christopher Hitchens

Reading Hitchens is like watching the British Prime Minister answer Parliament's questions on C-SPAN. The point is not reasoned argument (although Hitchens claims to enthrone reason). The point is thrust and parry, jab here and duck there. In nineteen relatively fast-moving chapters, Hitchens mercilessly slays the dragons of all religions, metaphysics, the argument from design, the Bible, the Koran, Mormons, miracles, eschatology, ethics and a host of sub-topics such as circumcision (“child abuse”). For Hitchens all we have is the natural world and reason (where reason comes from, he doesn't say). Put them together and atheism is the result.

Here is the heart of his argument: “There still remain four irreducible objections to religious faith: that it wholly misrepresents the origins of man and the cosmos, that because of this original error it manages to combine the maximum of servility with the maximum of solipsism [self-absorption], that it is both the result and the cause of dangerous sexual repression and that it is ultimately grounded on wish-thinking.” (p.4)

FIRST RESPONSE: 9/ll, Columbine and now Virginia Tech

9/ll, Columbine and now Virginia Tech
How do we deal with mass tragedy?

First, mindless suffering is the nature of this fallen world. Although created in all of God's goodness, heavenly revolt has stained earth, disrupted nature, separated us from God and released demonic rulers over our atmosphere and social structures. Lesser demons can also invade and thwart our lives.

Second, made in God's image, we have the divine dignity and freedom to love him, to ignore him, to pervert him, to populate our minds and hearts with false idols and religions, or even to hate him. This is the risk God takes with us to be in real relationships without coercion or force. Granted, salvation is his gift and by his grace alone, but God will not drag us kicking and screaming into a heaven which we would hate.

FIRST RESPONSE: He is Risen

In Jesus’ kingdom ministry God’s reign breaks in upon this presently sorry planet. All our enemies are being defeated; every area of life is coming under his lordship. The heart of this is the overthrow of Satan, the Great Rebel. His demons are sent packing. His lies are exposed. We are not gods. We are not even like gods. We are made in God’s image to love and worship him. Turned into worshipers, we become human again.

For the kingdom of God to be within reach, and triumph, the Messiah, the Davidic Warrior King, must become Isaiah 53's Suffering Servant of the Lord. In this role, Jesus goes to Jerusalem to disarm the devil and die for our sins. But, in the words of N.T. Wright, unlike the Hellenistic world, for most First Century Jews death is not a one way street; it is a “U Turn.” So Jesus dies. His crucified body is wrapped and buried. He is placed in a borrowed tomb. Then early on Sunday morning Jesus makes a “U-Turn.” He comes back from the dead, resurrected, and everything is irrevocably changed.

FIRST RESPONSE: Jesus' Tomb and Bone Box (Ossuary)?

Jesus' Tomb and Bone Box (Ossuary)?

The Discovery Channel, just before Easter, aired a “Documentary” on finding Jesus' Family Tomb. It is cut into a hillside half way between Jerusalem and Bethlehem. The broadcast announced that the tomb contained Jesus' ossuary and nine others. All are now held by the Israel Antiquities Authority. Today the grave is hidden beneath a housing development. It was originally uncovered in 1980 when the site was cleared. If the remains of Jesus have been found, how does this impact the Christian faith? To address this, we need to first separate fact from speculation and speculation from fiction. We do this in a question and answer format.

1. What can be known for sure about this tomb?

In a clearly defined time period, the Jews cut multi-roomed tombs into Palestinian hillsides to hold their dead.

FIRST RESPONSE: Jesus' Tomb and Bone Box (Ossuary)?

Jesus' Tomb and Bone Box (Ossuary)?

The Discovery Channel, just before Easter, aired a “Documentary” on finding Jesus' Family Tomb. It is cut into a hillside half way between Jerusalem and Bethlehem. The broadcast announced that the tomb contained Jesus' ossuary and nine others. All are now held by the Israel Antiquities Authority. Today the grave is hidden beneath a housing development. It was originally uncovered in 1980 when the site was cleared. If the remains of Jesus have been found, how does this impact the Christian faith? To address this, we need to first separate fact from speculation and speculation from fiction. We do this in a question and answer format.

1. What can be known for sure about this tomb?

In a clearly defined time period, the Jews cut multi-roomed tombs into Palestinian hillsides to hold their dead.

FIRST RESPONSE: Watch Out! Here Come The Pentecostals!

The New York Times ran a series of front page articles on the growth of Pentecostalism this last month. (January 14-16) They centered on a store-front church, “The Ark of Salvation,” in Harlem. There Pastor Danilo Florian ministers to a congregation of about 60 people, basically immigrants from the Dominican Republic. Since offerings total about $2000 a month, he has a full time job outside the church and does ministry at night and on the weekends. His schedule exhausts him but he soldiers on. The Times' articles center on him, his family, his faith, his hopes, fears and frustrations. Behind this very personal and touching reporting is the huge scope of the Pentecostal movement. Let's begin with a few statistics.

First Response: Agenda for 2007

What has happened in 2006 that sets the agenda for 2007? Consider the following:

1.   The “outing” of Ted Haggard – the continuing sexual crisis in the church.
2.   The move to ordain and marry practicing, self-affirming gays with schism in the mainline churches.
3.   The ignorance of the spiritual underpinnings of the war in Iraq.
4.   The emerging church movement morphing into the missional church movement.
5.   Time Magazine making you the “person of the year” through the Internet Revolution.
6.   The task of redeeming culture without assimilating to it: the continuing challenge of rock 'n roll.
7.   Church growth and influence shifting to the southern hemisphere.
8.   Your item on the list.

The old year is out and the new year in. What carries over from 2006 that becomes our agenda for the new year?

FIRST RESPONSE: The Nativity Story

In the wake of Mel Gibson's incredibly successful The Passion of the Christ, now a major studio has brought Jesus' birth to the screen. Hitting theaters the first weekend in December, The Nativity Story reverently and biblically portrays the first Christmas. There are many impressive aspects to the script and the film's production. To begin with, the writer, Mike Rich, is a Christian. Several key executives, including the Executive Producer, also profess Christ. The evangelical pastor of the Bel Air Presbyterian Church was asked to address those at New Line Cinema (a Time-Warner Company) releasing this film about the meaning of Christ's birth. The Grace Hill agency that promoted Mel Gibson's Passion has also been involved in promoting Nativity. Its world premier was held in Rome at the Vatican. So far so good.

FIRST RESPONSE: Ted Haggard Outed

Ted Haggard

The evangelical world was shaken and the liberal press gleeful with the revelation that the President of the National Association of Evangelicals and Pastor of the 14,000 member New Life Church in Colorado Springs has been involved in a three year relationship with Mike Jones, a Denver homosexual prostitute, who supplied him with sexual favors and amphetamines. The exact details remain vague. When Jones revealed this on a local TV newscast, Haggard waffled. He first denied any sexual relationship and claimed that he threw the drugs away. But Jones seemed credible and on Sunday Haggard resigned as Senior Pastor of the church he founded in 1985 and gave up his presidency of NAE.

FIRST RESPONSE:Bob Dylan’s Modern Times soars to the top of Billboard’s Chart: The Spiritual Journey

dylan

Popular culture was shaken in 1979 with the news that Bob Dylan had become a “born-again” Christian. As Dylan said recently in a Rolling Stone interview, “I own the ‘60’s.” How could the voice of a generation with his Jewish roots and his acidic critique of everything come to faith in Jesus? The liberal press, including Rolling Stone itself, quickly dismissed his radical change. Perhaps he was having a psychic breakdown. Perhaps he was shaken by his recent divorce. Perhaps he was exploring gospel music as he had explored other genres. If everything is political, this must be Dylan’s latest political move. When Jan Wenner, the publisher of Rolling Stone, reviewed Dylan’s first Christian album (Slow Train Coming), he virtually missed the point, failing to see that the “Slow Train” was Jesus, “coming around the bend.” Dylan clearly drew the line in “You Gotta Serve Somebody.” “It may be the devil or it may be the Lord, but you gotta serve somebody.” For this effort, he received “Song of the Year” at the Grammy’s.

FIRST RESPONSE: Father, Son and Holy Rift

First Response

Chuck Smith Sr. and Chuck Smith Jr. are featured in Column One on the front page of The L.A. Times. It seems that the younger Smith has so strayed from his father’s certainties that he has now (under pressure) withdrawn his Calvary Chapel in Dana Point, California, from the movement centered in Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa, the 15,000 member congregation which is the “Vatican” for the almost a thousand Calvary Chapels in the US. As the article unfolds, we see that the certainties of the elder Smith are no longer commanding for his son. What worked for one generation appears to be less viable for the next.

First Response: Point/Counter Point with Katharine Jefferts Schori...

...Presiding Bishop-elect, of the Episcopal Church, USA

The Episcopal Church, ripped with conflict to the point of schism, now has Katharine Jefferts Schori at the helm. On July 17, 2006, Time Magazine asked the new Presiding Bishop Elect 10 questions. Topics ranged from the appointment of Gay Bishops, to Science and Religion, to Intelligent Design,

Here Kingdomrain.net reprints her answers, following up each with our own response to the question asked, written by Don Williams. Good reading!

First Response: What can we learn from The Gospel of Judas?

This spring, The Gospel of Judas shook the Academic Community. It also shook much of the Church, especially that part tuned in to the media. Here was an ancient manuscript, pulled from the Egyptian desert, going back to about 100 years after Jesus’ ministry, presenting a very different picture of who he is and what he came to do...

...we need to remember Karl Barth (the greatest neo-orthodox theologian of the 20th Century) when he says that we need to learn from the heretics. Why is the Gospel of Judas such an eye-popper? Why does it land with such force in our post-modern world? And what does it have to teach us?

First Response: The tragic secret behind the SS Crises and the Undocumented

Central to our national angst are the issues of over 10 million illegals and our aging population facing a time-bomb of bankrupt Social Security and Medicare systems. Apparently, the previous generations misjudged the workforce needed to keep us solvent. Rather than more workers we will have less and jobs go begging apart from a huge undocumented workforce crossing our borders...

...But what is the core issue behind an aging population that one day will not be able to live on Social Security (when less and less is paid into it from a diminishing workforce) and millions of undocumented workers taking jobs that apparently we do not want to fill or are unable to fill? The answer, my friend is “blowing in the wind.” It will never be heard from the State House or the Media. Don Williams discusses.

N.T Wright, The Da Vinci Code and Joel Osteen

Last year, Bishop N. T. Wright (known in his popular writings as Tom Wright) lectured at Seattle Pacific University on decoding The Da Vinci Code. His subtitle is “The Challenge of Historic Christianity to Post-Modern Fantasy.” Wright asks why this book is so popular (the movie will propel it even further). He answers that it perfectly fits our post-modern mindset – fully centered in the self, even the transcendent or spiritual self, and nothing more. Wright calls us not merely to disagree with Brown. We must “be prepared to refute – that is to give a reasoned rebuttal of… popular misconceptions which leave people with muddled and misguided ideas about Jesus and the nature of the Christian faith.”

Where does Joel Osteen fit into this? Read and find out!

Don Williams.

The Secret of the Secret Church: Scientology

Scientology was founded by L. Ron Hubbard, an off-beat genius, who, among other things, wrote science fiction. His most famous work, Dianetics, published in 1950, claims that the source of mental and physical illness is due to psychic scars called “engrams.”

If you live in Hollywood, New York City or Clearwater Florida, there is a chance you have been exposed to Scientology. If you watch Oprah and see Tom Cruise ranting, there is a chance you have heard of Scientology. This “new religion” claims to be the fastest growing spiritual adventure on the planet, with over 10 million followers and billions of dollars in assets. Rolling Stone Magazine did a feature article on the movement in its last issue (March, 2006). Here Don Williams highlights the claims of Scientology and gets to it's "secret."

Don Williams

First Response: Costa Rica - God is Moving!

Eduardo and his family are part of a church plant, located in a poor section of San Jose (the capital). They minister basically to street kids, the homeless and broken families. The choice to move into this area has made church growth difficult. Most people from the middle and upper middle classes want protection from the very people they are called to serve. Their pastor “makes tents” in the financial field so that they can use their resources to impact the community. To belong to this fellowship is to be among the poor; discipleship is defined clearly as serving them. There is no option.

Don Williams in Costa Rica

First Response: "No Church? No Problem?"

As we enter the New Year the church in the US and beyond is in spasms. The issue of pedophilia severely damaged the integrity of the Roman Catholic Church and spilled over into the Protestant church as well. Gay clergy and gay marriage is splitting the Anglican Church internationally and the Episcopal Church nationally.

Emerging and Post-modern churches continue their severe critique of the traditional church while trying to reinvent their ministries. John Wimber’s dictum that we are to love the whole church is lost in the shuffle.

Don Williams

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