DREAM

I dreamed last night, or more likely early this morning, that I was quoting scriptures about God’s love and purpose for His Collection of People, otherwise known as the Body of Christ, or what we often just dub, the Church. In my dream I was feeling very up and positive with a new determination to see us as God sees us and help speak that into existence. When I woke up, emerging from the fog, I remember quipping that I am going to focus on our bright future and all was going to be okay.

After my cup of coffee I couldn’t help but be curious why I would dream such a thing since it is no longer my habit to pace the living room quoting scriptures in prayer trying to control the universe. Was this my former life resurging itself through my subconscious mind or was the Holy Spirit speaking to me? Dreams have formerly and currently been a vehicle of communication for me so I didn’t want to completely discount this one. The fact it didn’t carry any oppression or confusion with it, but instead I felt rather joyous and hopeful, gives me a cautious green light to explore the subject.  I thought to blog about it even if it's just to remind myself later.  That's one of the benefits of blogging - whether anyone reads your stuff or not, it's a place to journal.

In letting go of some of my former behaviors because they were rather ‘works’ oriented, I haven’t necessarily thrown out my core beliefs. In this case, I still believe in the power of scripture and I still believe in speaking it out into the atmosphere. But I am no longer compelled by the legalistic concept that there is no power in the scripture unless you speak it out loud. Wouldn’t that mean the power is in my speaking rather than in the power of the scripture itself? Isn’t there also power in ‘hiding the word in my heart so that I may not sin against God’ as David suggests in Psalm 119? Hiding doesn’t convey speaking, but rather storing something like a treasure, or a secret weapon to pull out when you most need it.  The Word is what will cause me to overcome temptation. I can think scripture and I can speak it. I can sing it and I can shout it. I can choose whatever ‘method’ of acknowledgement I want, but the power remains in the Word of God itself not in how I manage to agree with it.

Back to the dream, it does stir in me a desire to search the scriptures regarding the Body of Christ – the Bride of Christ - and God’s plan to partner with us. Even as the mega prosperity-driven church world threatens to redefine us and our mission, the Lord must have a plan to reclaim what is rightfully His. In the Old Testament there are plenty of accounts of how His chosen race went off the rails into idolatry, yet He always had a way of rekindling in them a desire to return to Him and worship only Him. Real life isn’t always about the sweetness and light of glory and victory, it’s also failure and defeat and with that, recovery and redemption.

For us, this last decade has been a discovery of how the existing institutional church has gone off the rails into its own idol worship. We have seemed to collectively sanction the exaltation of what is now commonly known, at least in the blog world, as the celebrity pastor. Our church leaders now have to be movers and shakers across the globe in order for us to revere them. If they are among the rich and famous, we can then live vicariously through them. What does this say about us? Why has a spirit of humility and true servanthood been replaced by what looks like the bravado of EGO and a sense of entitlement? There is a steady stream of evidence revealing that huge sums of money are funneled into the ‘lead’ pastor personal bank accounts.

Why do we know this and why don’t these types of pastors think we are smart enough to see what they are up to? Check out their houses (sometimes multiple homes!), their vehicles, their clothes, their jewelry, and most telling, their travel itinerary. What really gives it all away is how the adult pastor children flaunt their lifestyle online. So it’s easythese days to follow the money trail of the celebrity pastor, a lifestyle funded by the tithes and offerings of trusting followers who all give their blessing as they give their money in faith that it's being spent wisely. These pastors are living like CEOs of big corporations with the balance of power mainly in their hands, yet with tax exempt status. Do they realize their lifestyles actually endanger that status, not only for themselves but for the smaller conscientious churches. 

All this to say, we can see that the celebrity infested church is on a runaway train to its own destruction and we aren’t going to stop talking about it. But my dream last night could be hinting that there is a new phase in the journey, a bend in the road. It’s been there all along but maybe I am only now waking up to it. Unlike us, God isn’t surprised that the Christian community has given worship status to our pastors. He understands our natural bent toward wanting a human to elevate which reflects our selfishness and how we resist a true life of servanthood. Jesus’ disciples wanted him to act like an earthly king which would have made them feel better about themselves. Thankfully, God doesn’t panic and forget His original plan just because another stiff-necked generation refuses to cooperate. Could He want to remind us each of us who truly care about the outcome, in our own individual ways, that we are part of the plan to get His project back on track? He could do it single-handedly but chooses to work in a partnership with us, His people. It makes sense that He would give each of us tasks as part of the pro-active answer, whether it be prayer, blogging, writing articles or books, singing songs or some other artform – it’s all an opportunity to teach and hopefully turn the tide.

God has been calling people out of the mega church system for quite awhile now and who knows how many more may be leaving in the days and years ahead? That doesn’t mean the mega church world will end - it may only get worse. But, as we pray and seek out God’s thoughts on what is going on, we can forsee the victorious church spoken about in scripture. The Bride of Christ was designed to be God's vehicle of love.  And maybe it's not going to be some huge assembly where droves of people receive Christ by responding to an altar call.  Maybe it's going to be a world-wide community of believers, sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit, sharing the love of God and the Gospel of Christ one-on-one with those led to us - or us to them - however the Lord aranges it.  Why should we wait for an exalted man or woman on a stage do all the talking?  God wants to use all His yielded vessels, not just public speaker types.  Or rock star worship leader types.  Not saying He can't use people who are motivated to be in front of the throng all the time, but it's certainly not limited to those types.  So all I can do if that is the case is agree with scripture and say Come Holy Spirit and do your thing!  We are powerless without you!

Rethinking The House of God

 Familiar feelings arose in me a few Sunday's ago when I read once again the house of God scriptures in Psalms that suggest our corporate church gatherings as Christians should be a place of safety and rest in the presence of the Lord.  What goes on at church is a subject we misfits return to as we process what's happened to us since we left our controlling churches and what our future holds.  For another post on The House of God I wrote a few years back, click here if you are in the mood for further reading.
Here are a few of the scriptures referencing the house of God: 

Psalm 27:4-5"One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple. For in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling; he will hide me in the shelter of his sacred tent and set me high upon a rock."

Psalm 84: "How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord Almighty!  2 My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.  3 Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her young—a place near your altar, Lord Almighty, my King and my God. 4 Blessed are those who dwell in your house; they are ever praising you."  10 "Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked."

Reading these verses this time around I found myself feeling angry with the people who have turned the weekly Christian gathering into something we can no longer trust.  It's not our fault that we no longer fit in a church system that doesn't fit into God's description of what it should be.  Those scriptures infer safety and protection and a place of refuge, but it's obvious that someone has hijacked the meaning of going to church.  What we have lost is a true place of refuge, a great assembly to meet with the Lord, and a much needed reprieve from what we go through in the world.  It's been replaced by elements of the world system such as political posturing, elevating the pastors and their families to celebrity status and blatent nepatism and favoritism.  Instead of receiving replenishment for the week, we receive pressure to give a huge portion of our time and money to the machine, and sometimes even a chiding that we aren't doing enough to keep it alive and running. 

We are encouraged in scripture to honor the Sabbath, but Sabbath rest certainly doesn't come into play since there is no rest to be had.  It has become less and less about finding Jesus within what He called the house of prayer - in fact, prayer itself is one of many duties we must perform to assure the mighty machine runs smoothly.  We are made to feel like work horses who need to pull our weight.  This is taught from the pulpit and inferred weekly in the announcement segment that can last up to a half hour, plugging the need for all the groups and activity we need to support. 

Think about this:  For those in charge of God's House, it's a glorious place of sustenance and fulfillment. As long as the lead pastors can keep the volunteers busy propping up their ministry it works really well for them. Then think about the rest of the people, the worker bee volunteers, who lose sight of the Lord's true plan for their lives. It's like they are handing over their destiny to someone they have been taught is more important who deserve their undivided allegience and resources because they are in the work of the ministry.  As long as the layity is kept busy making the Pastor's vision succeed, there is little time to implement the vision God has given to each of them. If you observe the lives of people who are currently serving in churches today, their lives are consumed with meetings and events involving the church.

NonCelebrity Christian and I have been talking lately about how we can relate to the fury of Jesus when he encountered money changers in the temple when he took a whip to drive them out.  Jesus had an issue with turning His Father's house into a marketplace when it was supposed to be a house of prayer.  He also had an issue with the religiosity of the church leaders lording their positions over the people.  It seems so apparent that these issues have not only infilitrated the Church today, they have taken over.  Makes me want to cry out to Jesus 'where is your whip when we need it most?' 

Not to think too highly of ourselves, lest we become like those who are suspect in our minds, but perhaps the voice of the blogging world on the internet is one of the whips?  Just a suggestion, but will anything change until we are mad enough to stand up and say enough is enough?  Actually many of us are doing that.  As NonCeleb has often said, we are voting with our feet. 

Once we have voted with our feet, then what?  Is this where the journey takes a turn into an even deeper walk with the Lord one on one?  Can we be satisfied accepting that His house is a more personal one and can we trust Him to meet our every need of blessing and protection without aligning ourself to a local pastor family?  It's not like we can give our hearts to yet another church because the same government structure exists there as well.  And the answer doesn't necessarily lie in beginning another church, mainly because it will end up the same way.  Shouldn't the Christian walk be about each person being free to do the work of the ministry in the way God has called him to, touching the lives who God brings his way? 

So perhaps the answer is to continue to hang loose and wait on God and let whatevers going to happen 'happen organically' as my daughter is fond of saying.  "It" may never involve four walls again.  If that's what God has planned, is that enough for us?  It doesn't mean we haven't grieved over what should have been and that we don't pray for God to salvage what He can from the mess we have seemed to have made of His Church these days. 

I am doing my best to rethink these scripture concerning God's house and personalize them more.  Maybe that's what was meant all along, I don't know.  I do know I am comforted when He meets with me in the secret place which is indeed a type of house.  And yes, it is enough when I allow it to be, because He fills my cup like none other.  And no man or demonic plan can infiltrate His presence and take that from me or any of us.

Churches Who Quit Paying Their Mortgage Payments

 

A new trend seems to be emerging in certain circles of Christianity these days - quit paying your church mortgage yet with no plan to curtail outlandish spending habits - keep taking in the weekly tithe money and use it for what?  Pastor families who feel they are called as Christians to live like the rich and famous apparently want you to fund their lifestyles for Jesus.  Big proponents of the Properity Gospel these churches have outdone themselves on exhibiting their rules-don't-apply-to-us attitudes by defaulting on their mortgages.  Maybe we should all quit making our house payments too and use the money to go on vacation with pastors who seem to have invented a new meaning for recreational living.  Like them, we can just pray the Lord will provide for us through some hard-working business people who already have good investment practices.  We should ALL have such a sense of entitlement.  After all, we are King's Kids, are we not?  Well, yes we are children of the King, but that Particular King never mentioned living the high life using money from the collection plate.  Well, I guess he did refer to that, but it was in disgust of the practices of the Pharisees who loved the choice seats in the synagogue and walked around in fine robes, acting superior to the people who gave them their money.  Wow, that certainly resembles the attitudes of certain modern day prosperity-driven pastors - at least the ones we've seen.


Back to the delinquent mortgage topic, there are plenty of church stories to link to, but I will limit this post to the churches here out west that we happen to have been affiliated with at one time.  A few years back, Benny Perez, head pastor of The Church of Las Vegas, made news in his city and nationwide (Charisma magazine , Christianity Today ) when he and his board decided to quit paying the church mortgage because they owed the bank $7 million when the property was then only worth $2 million.  "The unusual move sparked debate over Christian ethics" says Christianity Today.  Eventually, a Canadian businessman and philanthropist (who is a friend to one of the church board members) bailed them out with a pledge of $3 million and then the church came up with another $1 million to keep themselves out of bankruptcy.  Now they have plans to build a new building and Benny has been spotted recently golfing on the Newport Coast which is quite spendy from what my friend who knows tells me. 

Even closer to home, the pastor of our former church (whose cousin is married to Benny Perez) decided that he too should quit paying his church mortgage.  (Was he advised by Benny to do this or did he decide, hey what works for BP works for me?)  Not too sure his board at the time was on board since none of them are on the board at this time but his wife and son and probably his cousins from Seattle.  According to THIS public notice that ran in the Idaho Stateman 4 weeks in March 2013, Capital Christian Center hasn't paid a mortgage since July 2012.  At the time the notice posted, the church owed more than $2 million on the church property - and it lists the payments they were ignoring from July - December 2012:

The defaults for which this sale is to be made are failure of Grantor to pay: (i) monthly payments as follows: $21,313.40 due July 15, 2012, $42,828.32 due August 15, 2012, $21,313.40 due September 15, 2012, $23,343.24 due October 15, 2012, $21,313.40 due November 15, 2012, and $20,298.48 due December 15, 2012, as set forth and required by the Deed of Trust and Note, and monthly payments thereafter on the 15th day of each month until the date of sale or reinstatement; (ii)late charges in the amount of $28,619.36, due and owing as of January 3, 2013 

The principal balance due on the Note as of January 3, 2013, was $2,543,323.75. The balance owing as of January 3, 2013, on the Note secured by the Deed of Trust (collectively, "Loan Documents"), was $2,654,427.60

If they didn't come up with the money by today, May 21st there was to be a Trustee Sale held, according to the public notice.  I'm sure CCC was praying and believing for a benefactor to bail them out in the nick of time to mirror what took place with Benny's church.  So, here it is May 21st and is there a Trustee Sale happening for the property at 2760 East Fairview Avenue, Meridian, ID, 83642?  No, because the benefactor apparently came in the form of their cousins who own a mega church in Seattle.  They co-signed a loan to make it possible to stave off today's sale.  Not sure on the details, but  I will update this info as it comes, but for now, all we know is they narrowly escaped at this time.  Were their prayers answered by this band-aid fix by relatives who step in to rescue their cousins in Boise?  Knowing the way they think, we are sure they believe it's the grace and favor of the Lord.  And who are we to know the mind of the Lord who is known for his long-suffering, so it may be.  Perhaps He is thinking of the unsuspecting and trusting people in the congregation in delaying what seems inevitable - after all, His timing is known for being perfect.

Grace or no grace, let's not forget the church in Boise operates as a 501c3 which means they have tax exempt status.  It would behoove the lead pastor family not to abuse this privilege in any way.  For instance, if they are using designated offering funds for designer clothes and furniture, multiple trips to Hawaii, expensive toys for their young children, etc., it could peek the interest of the IRS and that status could be revoked.  Even if the IRS never sees it, the people under their umbrella should be putting 2 and 2 together and seeing the church isn't making their mortgage payments but the lifestyle hasn't changed.  And now that the pastors to the rich and famous (don't even get me started) from Seattle are bailing their cousins out, shouldn't they be watching to see if CCC is going to begin to exhibit wise stewardship with the money so the loan isn't all for nought?

Do we want to see them fall, go under, be destroyed?  Not necessarily.  Do we want to see them no longer get away with unacceptable behavior?  Yes.  As long as they continue to blatently use tithes and offerings to live plushly while refraining from true, fruitful ministry, we have a bone to pick with them.  We'd like to see that come to an end because it brings damage to the cause of Christ by playing havoc with people's faith who are still within the 4 walls of the church at 2760 E. Fairview.  It would be great if the pastor family recognized what kind of people they have become, repent before the Lord and in front of the people fully, and get back to real Christianity and try to represent the true Gospel of Jesus.  If they don't see a need to change, then get jobs in the real world and live high on the hog that way - it would at least be acceptable.  Aren't pastors supposed to hold to a different standard, as they've always said, examples of how God wants us to live, as they've always preached?  They faithfully collect money every week from people who trust them to be wise stewards with that money to "do the work of the ministry".  It's evident that the lead clan is getting ministered to, but we have seen anything but wise stewardship from them to date. 

Welcome to the NPPC!

My husband came up with a pretty nifty idea in our discussion the other day.  What we need in the Christian Community at large is a new movement called the NPPC - No Paid Pastor Church!  I had to laugh and agree - yes, that is what is needed. 

Like alot of our tribe on the internet trying to figure out what's going to become of those of us who can't stomach church as usual anymore, we've pretty much concluded that the next big thing God does may have to be at a grass roots level.  Many of us see how ridiculous it is that certain churches allow their pastors and families to spend money so freely on anything BUT the work of the ministry.  The prosperity-driven church we left is a perfect example of pastors making no bones about living like elite citizens instead of identifying with the lowly faithful who donate their money each week trusting that the money is furthering the work of the Gospel.  In addition to paying for extremely comfortable homes, they are funding an on-going extensive travel itinerary, designer sunglasses (note: Karen Walker Sunglasses cost anywhere from $200 on sale to $380) and new cars et al.

This was tweeted last year

It's not that youth pastors aren't allowed to share their fantastic news with the world but the fact that they feel free to without giving thought to how badly certain folk in their care must feel looking at their ongoing extreme good fortune when some of these tithers have lost jobs and homes and are having a hard time making ends meet.  How Pastoral is THAT??  It's not pastoral, it's shallow and insensitive.  It confirms how deep they aren't.  As images of their new worldly possessions show up online like a tidal wave no wonder some of us think it's time for God to cave the Christian Community in so there will be no alternative but to meet in each others homes and take care of each other.   It'll actually be a relief.  No need to tithe - no need to pay anyone for doing what we all can do, because we all have something to contribute in order help each other instead of just helping the pastor.  And, concept, maybe we will be more free to help other people discover authentic Jesus, the one whose reputation has been so tarnished by the bratty behavior of the proponets of the prosperity gospel.

Of course, the prophetic flow (or wishful thinking) of certain leaders (especially celebrity wannabe types) say God is fixin' to move in deluge style - the next big tidal wave from heaven.  One such leader even mentioned the Third Wave is about to descend on us. So, there was a Wave One and Two?? If those 2 moves were significant, why have we yet to see any lasting fruit, other than church leaders increasing their salaries so they can live like high rollers more than ever?  The Third Wave?  Sorta echos The Third Reich.  Maybe not, but it does remind me of Mitt Romney's speech at the NRC the other night.  All these promises are well and good, and wouldn't it be great if all those things he said could really happen?  Seriously, we are supposed to believe you dudes now, after all we've gone through with promises up the wazoo that have yet to come to pass.  All I can picture is 2016 with some faceless new charismatic tauting promises from a big stage in the midst of hyped-up people in full worshipfest swing.  Am I talking about the NRC or a mega church convention?  Both! Ha! Can you believe how interchangeable these two worlds are?!

So, while we are waiting for church world as we've known it to collapse, here's a nifty twitter page I came across the other day for our amusement.  Someone else is thinking this pastor thing has gotten way out of control too.  Click here to read some pretty funny 'Celebrity Pastor' tweets!  One of my favorites is ""Ask not what your pastor can do for you, but what you can do for your pastor."  Thank God for humor to keep us busy, or to help usher in the new NPPC realm!

Reclaiming the Church One Story at a Time

We've noticed a marked increase of people making an exodus from toxic mega churches and eventually writing their stories online, how they were mistreated by the former leaders they were devoted to.  Accounts of abuse that make you shiver and shake your head in wonder.  The question that begs to be asked is "what has happened to the Church and why are we allowing this malevolence to kidnap it?"

One such story is on a new blog called Joyful Exiles (http://joyfulexiles.com/) by Paul and Jonna Petry, a former elder couple on staff at Mars Hill.  Paul was “wrongly fired by Driscoll for attempting to curb Mark’s power by opposing structual changes and new bylaws that were being pushed through by Mark” (Brent Detwiler explains on yet a different blog) – these bylaws, by the way, were to give Mark complete access to the money and decision making without dissent.  Since Paul is a lawyer he includes extensive documentation and resources (which we all can appreciate even if we may not have time to read all that), and Jonna’s story goes into the heart of all they went through there and the 4 years since they left.  The tone of the blog isn't vindictive, but instead sincere and heartfelt.

Interesting that it has taken 4 years to feel free tell their story.  Jonna says she couldn't tell it before now.  She didn't say she needed detox, but our guess she needed time to heal before moving confidently into the next phase of life.  Even after 6 or 7 years for us, I'm losing count, we still benefit from rounds of talk therapy since we left our church.  Healing has come, bit by bit, yet lingering affects of how we were treated can surface without warning.  The major surgery took place when we recognized we were participating in deception then fled the compound (which wasn't as easy as it sounds) but we still see that the Lord is tweaking us and removing wrong concepts about Him that were deeply embedded in our psyche.   You don't even know you still think a certain way till you are confronted with a circumstance that reminds you of the past.  Anyway, I hope that the Petry's are free to take all the time they need to detox and heal.  Not that there won't be 'ministry' opportunity along the way - we can all help others as we heal. 

Stories like these inevitably turn our thoughts to the current state of the Church.  It seems to be generally accepted now that pastors should be given almost exclusive access to the money and decision making and need to surround themselves with yes men who aim to please.  It has produced a climate that instead of ripe for harvest is ripe for leader types with fatal character flaws driven by personal ambition.  The body of Christ cheers this on since there is nothing new under the sun and people want a leader they can feel and see.  We are no different than Ancient Israel in the Old Testament who preferred Saul over Samuel.  We have naively handed the Church over to sociopathic dictator types who gladly seize the opportunity.

What some of us came to discern in the last 10 years, some earlier, is now becoming obvious to those who are under the abusive jurisdiction of the Mark Driscolls who behave no better than spoiled brats, kicking and screaming, bullying, to get their way.  From the outside looking in, it seems pathetic and derranged; but the insiders, thousands who attend his churches, seem clueless and smitten as if in love.   

At least many are seeing the truth according to the stories coming from a host of disillusioned and shocked people now in exodus mode.  It only seemed like yesterday when we were reading glowing reports of Mark's avante garde leadership.  He was certainly the new cool.  Now the truth of who he is leaking out into the vastness of cyberspace.  He not only dishes out way to much information about his private marriage bed in his recent sex book (??), stunning reports of mandatory shunning of those deemed disobedient have emerged, complete with church discipline contracts, like a new wave of revelation.

All that to say, if people finally see the light and leave these types of churches in droves, the remnant church growing on the interet and beyond will eventually be the new normal.  Instead of our scarlet letter B for Bitterness, we will be labeled The Throng who dares take back possession what is rightfully ours, our true identity in Christ (because of Jesus shed blood for us and only because of that).  Why have we allowed these tyrannical sociopaths to take over and tell us how to be Christians? They resemble Jesus no more than the Pharisees did back in His day.  We should know better than to follow anyone who esteems him/herself too highly as the chosen elite.  Jesus isn't about that at all.

It will be interesting to see what the next 10 years brings - what state the body of Christ will find herself in.  What will the next exodus be?  If it's Mark Driscoll this year, will it be Joel in Texas next year?  Joel is way sweet - such a nice guy so I can't imagine him bullying anyone.  However, what we heard from his wife could make your head spin.  It's not a prediction, I'm just wondering.  Perhaps church as we've known it will no longer exist.  One thing we keep coming back to in our talk therapy discussions, we can never, and will never, worship a pastor again.  We'd rather go without and stay safe near the Lord, under the shadow of His wing. 

With every strategy Lucifer has employed down through history, he eventually overplays his hand and tips us off that he's behind the evil schemes.  This one seems to be quite the tangled web.  We know he's behind it all.  The body of Christ looks like a mess.  Me included.  People are wounded right and left by leaders in particular.  But Jesus said in Matthew 10:26 "there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known."  He's the only one who can untangle the mess now.  He's the only one we can look to and trust.  He's the only one who can give the Church her identity back.  But in order to do so, alot has to be revealed and uncovered.  Maybe if enough of us speak up and tell our stories, we, the Church, will operate in a spirit worthy of our calling and in the anointing both Isaiah and Jesus spoke of in the scriptures (Isaiah 61 and Luke 4). 

Those are my rambling thoughts for today.

Halloween Sanctions of the New Pastoral Elite

 

I have nothing against Christians letting their kids trick or treat or have halloween parties. Apparently the progeny of our former pastor have no problem with it either. Now that halloween is sanctioned by the First Family of a World That Shouldn’t Matter, we can add it to the list of contradictions (that we’ve been keeping handy for later use). Their autocratic rules have changed direction one more time. Really, it wouldn’t even matter except that the former rules were often mandated with such authoritarian forboding which basically boils down to a form of intimidation.

It just sorta rankles that the years our kids were growing up halloween was such a big no no at The Former Church, so in order to take our kids trick or treating we had to sneak since it was considered participating in the devil’s holiday. We didn’t really sneak it - we just didn’t advertise - because we figured what overly concerned Christians don’t know wouldn’t hurt them. In an effort to grant kids an alternative to trick or treating, I think the church had parties some years but the costumes had to have a biblical theme. Our kids didnt’ attend since we were so busy sneaking them around our neighborhood because we never had a conviction that the Lord was telling us not to connect with our neighbors. By the way, it was a really great way to mingle with the neighborhood - we handed out candy from our door and we took our kids around to their houses too - and there was no other time of year when that happened so easily without being contrived. And we actually found out who lived around us.

I guess I’m just whining a little that our years of halloween weren’t as free and fun-loving as they could have been without Christian judgment glaring at us from churchland. To the contrary, the New Aristocracy seems to be frolicking in halloween delight! They not only participate in the festivities, they’ve jumped in with both feet decorating their kids and their houses and tweeting prolifically about it - as leaders of the church. “Not that there’s anything wrong with that” since they must be making up for all those years they had to dress up like Moses or the Virgin Mary and couldn’t just have a normal trick or treat night like the rest of America.

So my question is, if they keep rewriting all the rules that they were mandating before, what are they mandating now that they will be loosening up on in years to come? How about the undercover doctrine for instance? If they think they have so much authority in peoples’ lives TODAY maybe they should rethink it NOW instead of intruding on peoples’ private lives and misleading them for years with their unhealthy concept of God and all that He stands for. Otherwise, in the end, people who finally get free of them will be ranting about them just like I am ranting now about the intimidations of their tyannical parents.

Two Excellent Interviews on The New Apostolic Reformation

Photo Credit C. Peter Wagner via NPR.org

In case anyone is interested and you haven’t come across these interviews yet, they are definitely worth a listen:

My blogger buddy and friend Freeatlast and I have been listening to a couple interviews on NPR by Terry Gross on Fresh Air about the NAR - the New Apostolic Reformation led by C. Peter Wagner - its mission and possible effect on American politics. One of the online articles opens with:

A new charismatic Christian movement that seeks to take dominion over politics, business and culture in preparation for the end times and Jesus’ return is becoming more of a presence in American politics. The leaders are considered apostles and prophets, gifted by God for this role. Several apostles affiliated with the movement helped organize or spoke at Rick Perry’s August prayer rally, The Response.

 Listening gives you even more insight than reading the articles (the articles being only a summary). The first interview is with Rachel Tabachnick, who discusses the growing influence of the NAR in the political world. She has been researching and writing about the apostles for a decade and has her own blog call NARWatch and contributes to another blog called Talk To Action. The second interview is with Peter Wagner himself - his quiet grandfatherly tones leave you wondering how such a nice man came to pick up the idea that he has been appointed by God as Christianity’s modern day Apostle when he actually spent 30 years as a professor at Fuller Theological Seminary so it’s not like he hasn’t studied the scriptures. Somewhere along the line he decided his interpretation of scripture contains new revelation. (hmmm- who does that remind you of? Oh ya, Joseph Smith!) He’s been the mentor and leader to certain special prophets in the NAR such as Dutch Sheets, Cindy Jacobs, Chuck Pierce and Lou Engle. They have been, and could be still, considered ‘under his authority’. He says they are aligned apostolically. His resume also includes Co-founder of the World Prayer Center in Colorado Springs with Ted Haggard. And oh yes, that is part of the discussion in the interview you won’t want to miss.

One more thing - the interview touches on 40 days of light over DC as something these folks are involved in so i looked it up and found this from RightWingWatch.org:

John Benefiel, Cindy Jacobs, and others will be returning to DC this fall for forty days of prayer through something called “DC 40: Forty Days of Light Over D.C” through which they will lay spiritual “seige” to the city and the nation in general -

The organizers say this about it: 

The purpose of this siege is to change the atmosphere over the city of Washington D.C. through our worship, preparing the way for our legislators to function on a different playing field as we release 40 days of light over the city.

I know they think they mean well - but spiritual siege? Just saying - these types are serious in their agenda to change what it means to be a Christian. Maybe those who beg to differ should stage a different kind of “Occupy” protest to distinguish true believers of the original gospel from those who take great liberty to rewrite scripture and appoint themselves as Apostles of our faith.