On Knowing the Times
October 25, 2004
Posted by Dan Edelen in : Uncategorized Feedback : 2 comments
In the last month, the following passage has come up a dozen times and I believe it has worth for us right now:
Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. But at midnight there was a cry, ‘Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the wise answered, saying, ‘Since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.’ And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut. Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’ But he answered, ‘Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.
—Matthew 25:1-13
Matthew 25 has been the “gut check” chapter for me most of my life. Jesus tells us to expect the final outcomes of life to not always jive with our understanding or our lived out habits. If we are not careful, we will meet with unexpected surprises.
Part of me wants to always be like the wise virgins, but I know that more often than not I tend to be more foolish than I wish to admit. So many Americans perpetually live outside the realms of “Give us this day Thy daily bread” and have our schedules maxed out with things to do and places to be. It is amazing how God can step in and scramble those schedules when we least expect it.
No one knows when ill health will strike. We do not anticipate our spouse dying other than to have a life insurance policy just in case. Our kids will always be there.The neighbor who does not know the Lord will probably be okay because one day we will get around to sharing the Gospel with them.
On the other hand, we fret over how to juggle the kids’ soccer schedules, consult our PDAs religiously, and have to make our appearances at all the right events lest we be forgotten by “the important people.”
My priorities are wrong and I think most others have the same problem. The things that pass are given too much focus and the things that have eternal value are given short shrift.
Jesus said for us to let the day’s own trouble be sufficient for the day. He also said to store up treasures in heaven that are imperishable.
No one knows his or her time. How can we live then like there is no tomorrow in a country that believes that tomorrow is all that matters?
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“Eat His Body, Drink His Blood”
October 22, 2004
Posted by Dan Edelen in : Uncategorized Feedback : 5 comments
Christians today think that the worship song “revolution” that we are experiencing is something new. But for those of us who have been firmly planted on the Earth while it has gone ’round the sun forty times or more, this trend is nothing new.
Catholics like Ray Repp brought a new folk mentality to worship music around the time of Vatican II. This trickled over into Protestant churches a few years later, especially within liturgical denominations. Songs like “I Am the Resurrection,” “Lord of the Dance,” “Pass It On,” and “They’ll Know We are Christians By Our Love” all were big hits when I was growing up in the Sixties. We sang them regularly as kids and even saw a few of them creep into the adult services in the Lutheran churches I was a part of at the time.
Despite the fact that I routinely sang Larry Norman’s “I Wish We’d All Been Ready,” the one song that always seemed the strangest to me was “Sons of God”:
Sons of God, hear his holy Word,
Gather ’round the table of the Lord,
Eat His body, drink His blood,
And we’ll sing a song of love,
Hallelu, hallelu, hallelu, hallelujah!
As a young person, this song (very Catholic, but heartily sung in our Lutheran church at the time) always hinted at a mystery far beyond what I understood whenever the communion meal was served. But now that I am older, I find the whole thing very eerie.
As I mentioned, I grew up Lutheran. And despite the fact that no one in the Lutheran Church today will agree on this, I was taught a consubstantiation position on communion. This differs from the Catholic transubstantiation in that the bread and wine were not “magically” transformed into the body and blood of Christ before the communicant partook of the elements, but rather “something mystical” happened to those elements after they were consumed. At least that is how I understood all this in my younger days.
Later, I wound up in the Presbyterian Church. I found that their take on communion—simply a remembrance done out of the command of Christ—to be highly lacking in any sense of the transcendent, unlike my Lutheran experience. This is not to say that I grasped what I’d been taught, but the evasiveness of responses to my pressing questions to older Lutherans was bothersome. I never did get a complete handle on the Lutheran view, and if any five Lutherans of varying ages were pulled off the street in your town today, they’d all have a different take on communion, I’m certain.
Now I am not of the cannibalistic sort, but despite the fact that I’d probably get a knot in my stomach singing “Sons of God” today, something has been lost in evangelical and charismatic ranks when it comes to communion. I’d love to see us come to some higher treatment of the communion meal. It deserves more than we are giving it.
I am firmly convinced that in many ways we have simplified too greatly the entire idea of communion. A complete meal hosted in the home is more what I hope to see, and some house churches have gone this way, but I also hold out hope that an invocation and celebration of the wine and bread would entail more than the casualness we bring to it. We have lost too much mystery in our meetings, and where better to restore it than in communion?
What is your take on communion? What are your reminiscences and joys over the communion meal? What would you like to see done differently? And lastly, do you feel that we have lost something in the transcendence of the meal itself?
Blessings!
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Saying No to Politics As Usual
October 16, 2004
Posted by Dan Edelen in : Uncategorized Feedback : 3 comments
I could not be more burned out on politics than I am right now. Anyone else out there feel the same way?
What is continuing to disturb me is that Christians are obsessed with believing that this election is one step away from the apocalypse. So many believe that if they simply do one more canvass, put out one more sign, or get one more conservative registered to vote then all will be well with the world—so long as Nov. 2nd goes their way.
All I can say is that we are deceiving ourselves if we believe this to be the case.
Why is it that so few of the Christian folks who are signing petitions or wringing their hands over poll numbers are talking about prayer? Where are the millions down on their knees before the Lord? To hear from many American Christians, this election is not about issues, but about dark principalities and powers, spiritual forces bent on the very destruction of all we hold near and dear.
But if that is the case, why do we insist on ignoring what the Scriptures say is the only possible solution to dealing with such darkness?
For our struggle is not against a human opponent, but against rulers, against authorities, against cosmic powers in the darkness around us, against evil spiritual forces in the heavenly realm. For this reason, take up the whole armor of God so that you may be able to take a stand in that evil day. And when you have done everything you could, you will be able to stand firm. Stand firm, therefore, having fastened the belt of truth around your waist, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having put shoes on your feet so that you are ready to proclaim the gospel of peace.In addition to all of these, having taken up the shield of faith, with which you will be able to put out all the flaming arrows of the evil one, also take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Pray in the Spirit at all times with every kind of prayer and request there is. For the same reason be alert with every kind of effort and request for all the saints.
(Ephesians 6:12-18 ISV)
If we truly believe the word of God, then why are we spending so much time running around worrying if the wrong candidate wins on Nov. 2 that Satan-worshippers will run loose in the streets sacrificing our stray pets? We cower and fear and weep like babies when things go slightly out of our favor. We so easily forget:
For if we live, we live to the Lord. Or if we die, we die to the Lord. If therefore we live or die, we are the Lord’s.
(Romans 14:8 WEB)
Instead, we are doing everything we can to ensure our candidate wins. What kind of faithless people have we become that we believe everything is done by our own strength? We work ourselves to death and give no thought to prayer. But again, the Bible corrects us:
Some trust in chariots, and some in horses, but we trust the name of Yahweh our God. They are bowed down and fallen, but we rise up, and stand upright.
(Psalms 20:7-8 WEB)
If we don’t believe that God tells us to rest, that no matter who wins this election God is still sovereign and we are still His people, then how will those who don’t serve the Lord ever see the true peace that passes understanding that we Christians are called to possess? Instead, we rush around like pagans and worry. But what has that ever gotten us?
So stop concerning yourselves about what you will eat or what you will drink, and stop being distressed. For it is the gentiles who are concerned about all these things. Surely your Father knows that you need them! Instead, be concerned about his kingdom, and these things will be provided for you as well. Stop being afraid, little flock, for your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom.Sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor. Make yourselves wallets that don’t wear out—a dependable treasure in heaven, where no thief can get close and no moth can destroy anything. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
(Luke 12:29-34 ISV)
From the Lord Jesus’ lips to our ears.
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Thank You! And a Request…
October 9, 2004
Posted by Dan Edelen in : Uncategorized Feedback : 1 comment so far
I just wanted to write to say to all of you regular readers, “Thank you for your support! May God richly bless you beyond your wildest dreams and hopes.”
Cerulean Sanctum is one of my prime ministry outlets right now. There have been many trials and tribulations since 2000; I have not been able to return to full-time ministry as I had hoped, so this blog is my way of getting the message out. I believe that God is stirring people. I am amazed at how the blog phenomenon is spurring this on.
So this blog is a ministry for me, and as such, it will always be offered with no strings attached. I will never combine Cerulean Sanctum and commerce. There was much soul-searching on my part as to even include links to Amazon for my book suggestions on the right, but if someone stumbles across this site and I’m able to point them in the right direction for classic Christian lit, then it’s worth it. But as far as seeking donations via Paypal, Amazon, or others, that won’t ever happen.
All I ask of readers is this: If you like what you read here, then tell someone else. Blogroll Cerulean Sanctum or put a link on your regular Web site. Knowing that people are coming here to find wisdom and nourishment means more than you can imagine. The more who know, the more that blesses me. I can only pray that everyone who comes here encounters Jesus in a fresh and spiritually fulfilling way. That’s why Cerulean Sanctum exists.
Love and Peace in Jesus,
Dan
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Will the Real False Teacher Please Stand Up?
October 8, 2004
Posted by Dan Edelen in : Apologetics, Christianity in North America, Church Issues, Discernment, Heresy, Judgmentalism Feedback : 7 comments
Recently, I’ve tried to make any Friday posts I do here at Cerulean Sanctum a little less intense. But after several hours of websurfing last night (I’m under the weather and it beats lying in bed!), I just had to write what I leave for you today.
There used to be a TV gameshow called “To Tell the Truth.” The premise was that a person with an unusual history, job, or reputation would join two imposters pretending to be that person. After a series of questions from a panel of celebrities, the panel would be required to separate the truth teller from the liars. The imposters got money if they managed to fool the panel. What made the show interesting is that sometimes the least likely liars managed to fool all the panel—the janitor manages to convince everyone he’s the former king of Fiji, for instance, when the real former king is sitting right next to him.
The moment of truth, the nexus of tension on “To Tell the Truth” was when the host would finally ask, “Will the real __________ please stand up?”
Last night I followed a link that led to a website critical of several well-known radio and TV preachers. You can’t be a Christian and be on the Internet and not eventually come across a site like this, but in the past I had ignored them.
Not this time.
I decided to Google the names of a few of those preachers mentioned and see how many places branded them as false teachers, heretics, or outright servants of the Enemy. Unfortunately, I started with a preacher I tend to like, Jack Hayford.
I’ve listened to Jack Hayford of The Church on the Way, a Foursquare church out in California, many times. I find him to be a breath of fresh air since he is one of the few charismatics on the radio, and because I have found that a lot of what he says resonates in me. He is a thorough Bible expositor and often mines those little nuggets of wisdom that pass by so many people when they read the Scriptures. He’s not a “charismaniac,” by any means; rather he manages to keep the fire in the fireplace, something I admire in any charismatic preacher.
I lost track of the number of Web sites that called Hayford a false teacher. Most didn’t like the fact he was a charismatic, that he tended toward a pre-trib eschatology (I’d never heard him preach on this, so this was news to me), and that he supported unbiblical political involvement—mobilizing Christians to vote for moral leaders.
Now I’ve listened to messages by Hayford several dozen times. And in all those times, I think I’ve ever truly disagreed with him concerning his message on tithing. Personally, I don’t believe in a New Testament tithe like Hayford does, but rather I see that everything should be open to being given as the need arises. I suspect that my view would brand me a wanton backslider in many institutional churches and denominations, but that is the reasoning I’ve come to. I know that Hayford’s view is far more mainstream, frankly. I’ve not heard every message Hayford’s ever preached, so I cannot say that I know all of his theology, only that I’ve found him to be reasonable and within the bounds of what is usually acceptable in the Church.
But what defines a “false teacher?” And if we apply that criteria to all pastors and preachers out there, would 99.999% of them have to rise if someone asked, “Will the real false teacher please stand up?”
Pick an eschatological scenario, say a pre-trib, pre-millennial outlook. You’ve essentially just called every pastor who does not hold that view a false teacher. Personally, I don’t hold that end times view. Do I call every teacher who teaches what I don’t believe a heretic? Am I even uniquely qualified to make those determinations if hundreds of years of church history have been filled with better men than me wrestling with just those issues?
How many times has the pastor of your church ever said something that was even a fraction off? Is his ministry now disqualified? Is anyone not standing now?
Is John MacArthur a heretic because he’s a cessationist? Is Jack Hayford a false teacher because he’s nota cessationist? If you disagree with “The Bible Answer Man” Hank Hannegraf, are you doomed to forever wander the earth as an enemy of God? Preterist or Amillennialist? Sunday worship or Saturday worship? Who’s in and who’s out?
By now this post has gone on too long, so I’ll cut to the chase.
At what point do we extend grace to teachers and preachers on issues that divide Christians? My reading of the Bible shows that Paul usually only assailed those who were way out there on issues that most pastors or preachers today would affirm as deviant. Is there any wiggle room on some issues?
As much as I believe the Holy Spirit guides into all truth, I just as firmly believe that grace exists for us who teach and preach when we goof up. I know the standard is high, and here at Cerulean Sanctum I try not to ever go down routes that are far off the beaten path theologically. I try to stick with “The Main and the Plain.”
So what do you, those of you who enjoy coming to this blog, think about this issue? At what point does someone become a false teacher, and is there ever any grace for pastors and teachers who stray from the rock-solid truth?
Tags: Apologetics, Christianity in North America, Church Issues, Discernment, Heresy, Judgmentalism
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