Wake up sleepy dreamers!

The Lord is looking for someone to stand in the gap and to intercede. Consider the economic state of the entire world. Look what’s happening around the world and consider, is this temporary? If so, what is it going to take to come out of it?? It may take our souls if we aren’t careful. Wake up and consider. If money is the root of all evil, consider the weight of a global recession. Consider, perhaps, that judgment is just around the corner.

I feel the Lord saying to wake up. I don’t want to be caught sleeping in the days ahead. Is this real to anyone else. Can we not see our own situation as similar to the books of Jeremiah and Ezekiel?? Am I crazy or are we on the cusp of something massively disturbing. This isn’t even a prophetic word for I did not get this in the councils of the Lord. I am simply looking with reason at the cause and effect of what this all means.

Lord, in your mercy, raise up a remnant.

Missouri basketball, the progress of man, and the mystery of iniquity…

I am not a basket ball fan, really, until March rolls around. There is something about tournaments that I can’t resist, and I have no idea why. I love playoffs. I always have and always will, to some degree or another.

Last night I watched the MU/Memphis game and it was a doozy. Like I said before, I don’t watch b-ball a lot and it had been a long time since I had but I sat down to watch this game and I was impressed. Not only was I impressed with how good and exciting this game was but also the talent that I saw. I was amazed how good these two teams were, how deep their benches were, and how good they worked together as teams. They definitely had their star players but I saw all contribute very strongly. Maybe it was just an unusually good game but it really stuck out to me how far this sport has evolved and grown into the entertainment powerhouse it is now. Watching these guys play was so visually stunning. I never realized how graceful the sport could be, when played well. As an artist I tend to go heavy on aesthetic beauty and some sports have it, while others just don’t, which is why I can’t stand watching bowling. Not much there to hold the attention.

The whole time I was watching this game I kept thinking about old black and white videos of basketball and how awkward, goofy, and ungraceful some of those guys were who started the sport. I kept getting images of dorky guys not knowing what they were doing with no technique and no formed skills, trying to take a huge leather ball and dump it into a basket. Well this was far from that. The point I am making is that basketball has come a long way through time, style, technique, and a few rare stars that have popped up along the way, making and re-creating the sport with their own personal flare and finesse.

Bottom line, this sport has evolved into what it is because man has formed it through time and taken every thing about it to the fullest expression of what basketball is and what it could ever be. Man takes things to the full, no matter what the subject matter may be because it’s in our nature to progress something and to move it forward till completion. And if ever something hinders the fullest expression that man wants, then man generally changes the rules to adapt to the expression desired. Which is maybe why I saw a lot of what looked like traveling to me.

This concept is not so much about basketball. It is an underlying theme with anything humans put their hands to, it just so happens that this concept really struck me while watching the game. Weird I know.

Man moves things to the fullest expression possible, with anything, but especially with sin. I’m not at all saying basketball is sinful, don’t read that. But it holds true that the longer someone does something, the better one gets at it. And it couldn’t be truer than with iniquity. That’s why it’s called a mystery; just when you would think someone can’t get any worse in sin, bam, you hear the most shocking, absurd, disgusting acts that so degrade the nobility intended for man. It’s even clearer when it comes to nations, in my opinion. The height of sin is most fully expressed in community when the expression of that sin is empowered by laws and ordinances. This is truly Psalm 2 stuff. Man casting off all restraint so as to express himself; it’s quite a terrifying reality.

As the extreme realities of sports grow even more extreme (I’m thinking the fairly recent development of motocross, bmx, stunt plane flying etc etc) so does the condition of the sin in man. Progress in the world around us is usually man just taking expression to the full. Not all expreesion is sinful, of course, but a majority of it is and when we continue to press the envelope in arenas dear to our hearts then I cannot help but see the underlying theme. There is a fullness of iniquity coming, when man’s deepest and clearest expression of sin is in practice, without restraint. Let’s face it, the longer we live in a sinful state, the more sinful that state becomes.

And so we watch and we pray. The church has been practicing for a few thousand years and I do believe her expression is going to be magnificent at the end. She will be burning and shining, full of grace and truth. As the sin of man progresses then so too must the light of the church.

The only national laws at the end of the age is no law.

“Law is in every culture, religious in origin. Because law governs man and society, because it establishes and declares the meaning of justice and righteousness, law is inescapably religious, in that it establishes in practical fashion the ultimate concerns of a culture.” Rushdooney

I am not, what one might consider, a political person. Obviously I pay attention to politics and what is going on in current events; we are after all told by Jesus to watch and to pray. In the watching, one will have to ask and answer questions that are political in nature. Needless to say, this quote got me thinking.

The aforementioned quote is from a class I’m taking on the kingdom of God. What is worth writing here, in my opinion, is that I believe America is on the verge of moral collapse as it concerns the national sentiment of established law and order. I pray and hope that in the place of the church this will be found an untrue statement. However, liberal politics are moving very quickly toward abolishment of law altogether. How can I say this?? Because liberalism is moving very rapidly, and has been for some decades, towards the abolishment of the idea of God. In it’s subjective nature, liberalism is whittling away at the idea of bounderies. The guidelines for what is acceptable are as blurry as they have ever been. We, as a nation, are losing all and any knowledge of objective truth. Ethics, it seems, are no longer relevant.

Law, because of its concrete religious foundations, is going to change into no law as soon as liberalism has it’s ultimate way. Does this souond familiar?? Have you read Psalm 2 lately?? What people are about these days is the casting off of any and all restraint, i.e. law. God has clearly established boundary lines in all forms of social dynamics and we as humans, apart from God, seek and strive to get out of those boundaries. This is in essence, original sin. It’s rebellion against God’s leadership. God makes a law and sets it in the conscience of man and man then has two options, rebel or ask God for help in walking in that law. Adam’s sin in the garden was that he ate of the tree which God commanded him not to eat of, but Adam’s sin began before that, when he didn’t ask God for help to not eat of it.

The only national laws at the culmination of this age are the laws that encourage lawlessness. As soon as unbelievers realize that God establishes bounds for us by establishing kings and rulers and judges over us then it is inevitable that we will abolish all law that has anything to do with anything in the Bible. It will be a lawless age with a lawless leader. And so we watch and we pray, that we might not be decieved with the coming of the lawless one. Stay awake friends!

God delights in us.

4:25 pm – IHOP K.C.

Have you ever just been in a season of mourning? Not necessarily about anything or anyone but no matter what you do, you just have a sense of loss or grief that perpetually nags at you? I have been in one of those seasons for a few months now and somehow, it doesn’t get easier as the days go on. I’m not talking about a morbid, depressive, opressive thing. I’ts a spiritual reality of barreness more than anything I think. Well today I felt it again, only heightened. But today was different, today was peaceful, today was good. God met me.  As I was sitting and praying I was reminded that I am in a justified state before God because of faith but in a perpetual sanctifying work by the Spirit, and in a mourning state that is produced by Godly sorrow becasue I miss Jesus. It’s a good thing to be in a place of sorrow when that sorrow is initiated by God for the redemption of your soul. All else besides I know yet again, fully and assuredly that God will deliver me because He delights in me.

On the prophets…

I’ve recently been reading the prophets of Israel in the O.T. Right now I’m in Habukkuk and it’s so good. You wouldn’t generally regard him as a major of the minor prophets but I have a feeling that he is the most quoted of the minors. Verse after verse and line after line is jam packed with weighty truths that one may constantly hear in theological conversation and yet few would place it in Habakkuk’s writings. I thought I’d share some of the most profound lines here so as to perhaps increase your hunger for these fiery men of God that few take time to read thoroughly.

“For I will work a work in your days which you would not believe though it were told to you, says the Lord.”

“Are you not from everlasting, O Lord my God, my Holy one?”

“But the just shall live by faith.”

“For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.”

“In wrath remember mercy.”

“The Lord is my strength; He will make my feet like deer’s feet and He will make me walk on my high hills.”

“The Lord is in His holy temple. Let all the earth keep silence before Him.”

“His glory covered the heavens and the earth was filled with His praise.”

“You are of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look on wickedness.”

These are just a few of the more powerful words that Habakkuk delivered in a time of trouble. What a comfort they must have been to the afflicted and what an abrasive thing they must have been to the comfortable.

So what is your favorite prophetic book at the moment, why??

The cyclical nature of God’s leadership over the earth…

It is winter in Kansas City, yet we are on the cusp of spring. It is an awkward place to be, in the scheme of things. Between two worlds lies both death and life. Winter’s cold grip still fights, to ensure that the appropriate amount of decay is allowed to permeate the ground. Why? In order to give life, in order, that when the season does fully transition and spring is allowed to have its way on the earth for a time, that there are enough nutrients and minerals from what was and is now passed, to bring life fully into bloom and to restore balance again by recreating and re-establishing what should be.

I was driving through the woods the other day, looking at the dead of all that was lying around, still under winters spell. I wondered to myself about the inevitable nature of nature. And of course my thoughts brought me into fellowship with  the creator. God, why do you allow death and life to coexist? Why is death so necessary to life? “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit” (John 12:24).

I began to think about the four seasons and their respective places in the universe, why they are the way they are, what they were created for, what they do in regards to their nature and evidences, and I found myself putting together a theory about the four seasons, categorizing them together with the due process of God’s leadership and guidance to bring forth the end, in order for new life to emerge. Behold, He makes all things new.

For those of you who read this blog spot at all will know that it’s main purpose and content is the end of all things, God’s summation and climax to this present age, so it is not surprising that I was led to stipulate about the 4 seasons in context to the culmination of the present history of the earth. It makes perfect sense to me that God would allow 4 seasons to keep life moving forward. A brief overview of the 4 seasons at this point seems necessary.

Spring is generally what we would consider the beginning of the year, for it once again establishes the strength of new life and gives life room and the necessities for it to flourish; rain, sun, minerals, warmth etc etc. Summer comes next, and with it, generally heat, soft winds form the south, long hours of light, a spirit of relaxation and rest and enjoyment. It too is necessary in it’s season for without its effects we would be in want for the time of rest it chiefly provides from the harshness of winter and of springs animation. Then comes the time for fall. It is a buffer where heat becomes mild cold. Fresh air comes from the graciousness of the leaves giving their last reserves of oxygen for the year. It is also a time of warning that winter comes soon, yet it is a gentle warning for it is enjoyable still. The hours get shorter and it gets darker but depending on your location on the globe you may see some of the most beautiful colors the world has to proudly exude. Then it comes, the cold fronts, the harsh wind and freezing rain. Snow while in its beauty, concealing a plan to blanket and cover all life and to suffocate so that death may enter on all life and allow life’s nutrients to be pulled down once again, falls into the earth for fertilization and for later use when spring will surely and faithfully come again. Winter makes its appearance.

I began to think of God’s perfect leadership in giving the seasons for their times and purposes. And I found similarities between the 4 seasons and His leading of human history. I equate them similarly. Creation’s account in Genesis, the beginning, is likened to Spring. God made life and all it entails and allowed it to flourish. Like spring, there came forth the patriarchs and matriarchs of Judeo-Christian life, the promise of something new. Covenants of life were made and promises established by God, much like the first buddings of Spring that show us life is coming, in full force. The time of Israel’s inheriting these promises through the judges and establishing the kingdom and the kingship is likened unto summer where life is now established and enjoyed by long hours, winds of relaxation, and abundance of crops. Summer is the time where much happens though not hurriedly, and when much is established that will be needed for the next season. Fall is  likened to Christ’s first coming. a time of beauty though the days grow shorter and death sets in. The Crucifixion portrays the transition of Israel’s blessed summer to the cold realities of a winter like response in abandoning the source of life, the Dayspring. This season allows death to set in and yet not fully for in the beginning of the Christian faith there was much life being given, much like the leaves of fall breathing out their reserves for the betterment of the surrounding atmosphere. and finally winter, likened unto the end of days as the contents of the Apocolypse set in. Death on every side. As wickedness abounds in the time of this wintry stage, so does murder, theft, idolatry, and all sorts of systemic evils. It carries with it an end of life, a permeance of cold, dark, and futility. But alas, we know for certain that spring will come again, in it’s time. There is coming a day to end all days and all seasons. Behold, He will make all things new as He comes with the clouds of Heaven. Jesus will put an end to winter’s cold and forever establish a new season previously unknown to mankind, a day of righteousness and bright light where life will flourish again, without ever again the cruel prospect of death’s decay setting in.

And so, we watch and pray. We struggle through the seasons of life, knowing that one day, life will forever abound in grace and glory and the Lord himself will be our light forever. Trees will give fruit for life and for healing of the nations intead of the mere oxygen of life and healing as they were for so long accustomed. We long for this day, with all our desire in the waiting. And we hope, for His promise is sure, as sure as the seasons come now. Yes, we can discern the sky and weather and much more, we can discern the times and the seasons, knowing that He that started it all will be faithful as the sun to complete it.

The nature of the Baptist’s ministry…

“What then did you go out to see?”

This half verse is from Luke chapter 7 where Jesus is addressing the Jews concerning John the Baptist. He’s asking them what they expected to find when they went to John in the wilderness. Note this, John was in the wilderness.

John was a messenger of Christ’s coming, and he was in the middle of the desert. He was not in King’s palaces or in synagauges or on street corners or in a foreign nation. He was not “where the action was” so to speak. He was mostly alone and isolated. He went away from everything, which is saying a lot if you understand the cultural context and what was currently going on in Israel at that time. John spent years alone in the wilderness preparing his own soul for the coming of the Christ and he spent these years in fasting and prayer. John never went to anybody. He didn’t start a new cell group, he didn’t start a different congregation. From what the Bible has to say about him, it seems like he didn’t even have a community. He wandered in the wilderness, praying. The nature of the ministry of the greatest man born of a woman was, to our standards, fruitless for the most part. He had no members, no staff, no money, and little by way of conversions.

John never went out to see anyone or to do anything. He stayed in the wilderness and cultivated a relationship with the coming Messiah. He neglected the good and common in order to more fully embrace the unseen and the eternal, the promise as yet unfulfilled. John was the greatest man ever born of a woman because he had no other portion than the Christ, nothing else stole his attention or affection.

In this day and age it is rare to even hear of fasting in times of trouble, much less as a lifestyle. But this was John’s primary mode of being, and he was praised by Jesus for it. I wonder when the people of God might see these implications and wake up to the reality that prayer is God’s way of establishing the kingdom. As a kingdom of priests we are required to pull away from the spirit of the world whilst still being and operating in it. I fear we have lost our grit for spiritual things in an age where our five senses are constantly inundated with advertisements and promises of comfort.

If we desire true Christian living, life in the spirit, power in our inner being, and clarity on doctrine that has been so out of reach for a majority of protestants for so painfully long, then I would challenge us to stop doing so much in our own strength and to embrace the life the baptist did. The weakness of God is far superior to our strongest efforts at church growth and evangelism. No one is drawn to cold dead things. But burning fires always catch peoples attention. Will we be burning and shining lamps again, like the apostles and prophets of old? Or will we continue to wrestle with the fear of man and to submit to the worlds sub standard critique of our empty denominationalism??

Rushing River

like waters that gather together
in order to flow farther,
my heart is impressed now
with all your desires
and my love cannot remain still
and as the dam gives way to uninterrupted passion
my song like water
filled with praise
fills this place
as I cry
Worthy, Holy lamb of God most high!

Abortion is wrong!

How can most all people, cultures, and societies in the world consider the birth of children a miracle and a blessing to be received with joy and gratitude until it comes down to one’s personal choice?! If it’s someone else’s child then it’s a happy moment, a time of celebration and a miracle of life. But if it’s an unwanted child that I have to deal with then it’s a curse and it deserves to die with the pain I have at the prospect of being responsible for it. This is not right. Either it’s a miracle in all respects and it deserves life and opportunity or it’s a curse in all respects and children should never be allowed anything, not even breath. How can we hold between two opinions so completely opposite? How can it be both? The argument I am making is that all people the world over love children, to some degree or another. But not all people the world over love aborting children. This should scream at us. This is written on the human frame, we love life and despise death. So why is it different with children, babies? Oh the wickedness of the human heart. We are so selfish. We’ll be happy for you and your child and even thank God for it but if I have to be responsible for my actions by giving birth then I will silence that birth because of the curse that it is to me. This is the faultiest argument at every level and the most exacting one to reveal human error. God have mercy upon us.

Floating space debris….that travels at 20,000 mph!!

I was listening to National Public Radio this morning on my way to the prayer room when a spot about floating space debris started. I reached forward to turn the volume up figuring, hey this might be interesting.

NASA reports that there are thousands of pieces of space debris orbiting our earth, used rocket parts, old satellites, and random pieces of space craft. I realize that we put stuff in space a lot but c’mon, thousands of chunks of debris?? Seems like a lot to me. But as it turns out, the U.S. military tracks these pieces too, apparently they are really dangerous to space stations. Now this is really getting interesting and I am fully sucked into the story….I reach forward to turn the volume up again. Thousands of floating space chunks, space stations dodging them, and now they are gonna tell me how fast this junk moves, definately worth listening to. I feel like I’m hearing excerpts from Star Wars. I mean, I’m not really a sci-fi geek but this is cool.

Last month an old piece of an outdated Russian satellite collided with something else and ended up sending even more debris floating around the blackness of space. This is why the military tracks this stuff, to watch and to warn space stations of the trajectory and orbit of all this junk, of which there are thousands of pieces. But they only follow pieces that are the size of baseballs or larger because clearly the small stuff isn’t gonna do any serious damage to any craft floating around. Unless it’s traveling at 20,000 mph!!!!! What the?!? Most of this junk travels at least 10-15,000 mph. Some at the aforementioned speed which is entirely too fast to react to, even if you do see it. OK, that’s terrifying.

How would you feel about floating around a space craft with few windows to see what may be speeding toward you, knowing that if something does hit your vessel its going to rip a hole through both sides of your ship, possibly even disembowling you in the process, and that you are powerless to stop it. My hats off to you astronauts, whoever you are. Going up into space is scary enough but to know all that other stuff is enough for me to keep my feet on the ground.

So the story ends with some really smart guy saying, “We should probably be more intentional about cleaning up after ourselves and tracking what we do leave behind.” Or something really inciteful like that.

I’m not sure that I actually learned anything useful by listening to NPR this morning but I obviously did think it cool enough to inform y’all about. I don’t think I’ll ever go into space.