Month: April 2010

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Laypeople Have Lost Their Job

There was a time when all Christians were supposed to pray for the prayer of a righteous man avails much. (James 5:16) We were told that we need to pray for our civic leaders. We were told to pray for the leaders of the church and for the direction of the church. In fact, we were told to pray about many things.

However, at some point, we decided to make a set of people responsible for our praying. They are called “prayer warriors.” They have the special gift of prayer and have gone through the training so that they can go on prayer offensives to take down the kingdom of the evil one.

Under this new idea, there are those who have the special calling to simply pray. This seems to be a continued movement towards firing the lay people. Years ago all members were all supposed to give Bible studies and work for the salvation of souls. Now we have Bible Workers who take care of that responsibility. Even the Pastors are no longer evangelists in many cases, we have professional evangelists for that work.

The “praise team” concept that we have borrowed from evangelicals seems like a development that will allow the people to sing praises to God, but in many cases the only people you hear are the leaders singing in the microphone.

How about preaching. Instead of developing the talent of the local elders, in many cases (in America) we simply bring in professional preachers. We save the local elders to preach when most of the church is away at camp meeting or Christmas.

So now we come to prayer. That is now in the hands of a select few who know the ins and outs of the discipline. One Wonders what is next. Soon the only contribution that Christians will have is give tithe and sit down and consume the religious entertainment that has been provided for them.

I ain’t got a problem with praise teams, but maybe every so often we aughta just cut down the volume on the leaders mics and have an old fashioned chorister lead the people in praising God. It may not sound as good to our ears, but there is something about a congregation with voices (some flat, some sharp, and some on the wrong note) that sounds REAL.

Maybe it is time for a revival of Bible Work. Not just dropping off the Amazing Facts lessons, but working with someone, reading the Bible and learning where texts are located. And maybe just maybe we aughta tell the prayer warriors that we are happy they are there, but in reality every believer is a prayer warrior and we all will pray for the coming kingdom.

Adventists used to say that lay-people will finish the work. Well if lay-people will finish the work, perhaps they aughta start working. By God’s grace, we will move closer to God and to each other and learn the skills to interact with the world from a spiritual and yes Adventist standpoint.

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i'm Tired of it

I gotta admit, I am tired of the end time speculations. As I say this, I must hasten to add that many readers of this website have probably not heard much of this. But it is there. Running a website like this gives you a steady diet of those who think you are too liberal to be trusted, or too conservative to be saved.

so I admit that my exprience is not everyone’s expereince. Many never hear about the end time. But I am on 4 email threds now, only one I originally subscribed to, where end time speculation is running rampant. Many of these scenarios are not even realistic. Some would make Hal Lindsey look like a sober presbyterian amalenialist in comparison.

You know, I wonder how much of this is end time fatigue. I can remember hearing reports of “the sunday law” being on president Reagon’s desk. We were assured that it was there. I can remember every economic downturn of my life hearing about how this was the last one that we would not come out of it. I just get tired of it. I sometimes understand those folks who just go on without thinking about it.

There is actually a cottage industry built around end time speculation. Certianly Left Behind and those kinds of things but what is surprising is that the fringes of that movemnet and our own sometimes coincide. Its as if we are almost to the point that the only way you can talk about the end time, and get anyone to listen is to also talk about politics, economics, and health.

What always interests me, is how little Jesus’ only words are talked about in this context. We will got to Daniel 11:45-12:1. We will go to Revelation 13..and currently popular Revelation 18. We will sometimes even go to Ezekiel and JEremiah. But very few go to Matthew 24. Very few talk about he signs given by Jesus himself.

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If You Wrong…Man Up and Say It!

Someone sent me an email in November of 2008 with a certainty that is undeniable. He clearly said that the end was here. The economic crash was prophesied in Revelation 18 and there would be no recovery. He then told me that the “judgment of the living” was about to close right now.

I questioned his interpretation of Revelation 18 and wondered about some of his other positions, but I simply said one thing, “If you are wrong…don’t just make more predictions….if we are here in 2012…then just admit you were wrong. The person never returned my email.

It is interesting how these things go. Individuals will make outlandish prognostications about the end of time that look closer to the left behind series than the Great Controversy and then when it tappers off, these same people make more predictions. They simply forget their earlier predictions and if pressed will say “God held back the winds.” Imagine my surprise when these same people become seen as “prophecy experts” or “Great students of prophecy” when their only claim to fame is a string of unfulfilled predictions.

So now instead of learning how to treat others better and instead of learning more of God, we are speculating about the laws that are to be passed and the instruments of torture that will be used against God’s remnant. Is this the end? I don’t know. I just wish some of these soothsayers who call themselves prophecy students would admit the same thing.