Since last month’s e-teaching, God’s Regrets, was such a mind-stretcher, I thought it might be good to start the year off with something less cerebral. So below are two, two-minute videos, produced by the always-sardonic Onion News Network. I don’t recommend everything they produce, but these two videos offer a thought-provoking commentary on our culture as it relates to the rest of the world. It will take four minutes of your time. I’ll say no more.
Category Archives: e-Teachings
God’s Regrets and Man’s Free Will
The Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. The Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them” (Gen. 6:6-7).
I [the Lord] regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following Me and has not carried out My commands (1 Sam. 15:11).
I suppose it is comforting to know that even God has His bad days. But on a more serious level, we can’t help but wonder why God would regret something that He Himself did. We just read that God said He was sorry that He “made man on the earth.” He wished He hadn’t done it. But if God is all-knowing, and if He knows everything that is yet to happen, why didn’t He decide not to create man on the earth before He got started, knowing that He would regret it otherwise?
Surprised by Jesus
An astounding fact: Although the scribes and Pharisees rigorously studied God’s revelation of Himself in the Old Testament, when God appeared in human flesh and simply acted like Himself, they didn’t recognize Him. In fact, they hated Him. Think of that for a moment! Here were men who could quote large portions of the Old Testament, who considered themselves extremely devoted to God, who were Israel’s spiritual leaders, and who were anticipating a Messiah, but when God appeared on the earth, they wanted to kill Him. They were surprised by Jesus, to say the least.
Why were they so surprised? Simply put, He didn’t act and talk like they thought God should. More specifically, He didn’t keep their man-made traditions. What makes their surprise even more tragic is that Jesus didn’t come to earth disguised or impersonating someone else. He came as Himself—as God. Jesus acted just as He had been acting for thousands of years as revealed in Scripture. When the scribes and Pharisees critically questioned Him about His words or deeds, He answered them from Scripture. He knew what He was talking about. He knew what He was doing. He played the part of God flawlessly, because He was God. Still they were utterly surprised by Him.
Three Lessons from the Lakeland Outpouring and Todd Bentley
Depending on where you live in the world and what interests you, you may or may not have some knowledge of the recent revival meetings in Lakeland, Florida, led by Canadian Todd Bentley. Although tens of thousands from around the world flocked to Lakeland over a period of four months—mostly due to the reports of physical healings—the meetings generated considerable controversy due to Bentley’s questionable doctrines, strange angelic encounters, unconventional style, and his exaggerated and sometimes outright false reports of miracles.
Perhaps the crowning moment of the Lakeland meetings was June 23rd, when a number of prominent charismatic “apostles” and “prophets” publicly endorsed Bentley’s ministry and the revival he was leading. Charisma magazine, in an article titled, Leaders Commission Todd Bentley at “Lakeland Outpouring,” stated that, “The special service was billed by leaders as one of the greatest moments in revival history.” One well-known charismatic leader, an “apostle,” described that event as “a commissioning ceremony, complete with decrees and prophecies of going to higher levels, predictions of Todd’s increasing world-wide influence and leading a world-wide revival, emphatic and prolific endorsements of his character, etc.” Peter Wagner, “presiding apostle” of the International Coalition of Apostles, was one of those who endorsed Bentley that evening, publicly stating, “This commissioning represents a powerful spiritual transaction taking place in the invisible world. With this in mind, I take the apostolic authority that God has given me and I decree to Todd Bentley, your power will increase, your authority will increase, your favor will increase, your influence will increase, your revelation will increase.”
Is This It?
As we witness bank failures, unprecedented government bailouts, and wild swings in global stock markets, the current economic crisis has many Christians wondering. Is this the beginning of the end? Is America about to collapse? Is the stage being quickly set for the rise of the antichrist? Christians tend to be even more pessimistic than the general population during times like these, knowing from Scripture what ultimately is in store for the world. We have no doubt that, sooner or later, John’s prophetic visions recorded in the Book of Revelation will come to pass.
For starters, let me confess that I’ve always been sure that the antichrist is going to be revealed one day. And I’ve always been sure that Jesus is going to come back. However, after studying eschatology (the doctrine of the end times) off and on for the past thirty years, there is one thing that I’m much more certain of now than I was thirty years ago. That is this: People who are sure about their eschatology should not be so certain. Just ask the author of Eighty-Eight Reasons Why Jesus Will Return in 1988. The only real difference between him and thousands of other Christians is that he wrote a book, while they debated at Bible studies. Trust me; after all your antichrists repeatedly die off, you tend to become less dogmatic about your next pick.
Pastoring with Less Pain, Part 2 of 2
When pastors gather, they sometimes joke that if it weren’t for people, pastoring would be a great profession. Indeed, people are the reason that pastoring is sometimes so painful. However, as I contended in June’s E-teaching, Pastoring with Less Pain, Part 1 of 2, if you are a sincere disciple-making pastor, then you know that pastoring genuine sheep—those who want to be discipled and truly follow Jesus—is an absolute delight. Thus I did my best to encourage pastors to purge their churches of goats by preaching the truth. And if that doesn’t clear them all out, then biblical excommunication is in order. (And excommunication is biblical, of course.)
Most pastors, however, find the idea of excommunication to be a frightful proposition, and understandably so. Can you imagine what would happen in most churches if the pastor excommunicated someone, even attempting to do it quietly? Most likely it would result in gossip, strife, and a potential church split. If the pastor publicly explained his reason for the excommunication, he could well be accused of being insensitive, dictatorial, or face a lawsuit for defamation of character. Even though Jesus gave very clear instructions to all His followers regarding excommunication and shunning—instructions that are reinforced in the New Testament epistles—actually following those instructions seems like a way to open Pandora’s Box.
Pastoring with Less Pain, Part 1 of 2
Note: Like April’s e-teaching, Dear Pastor, Will You Repent With Me?, this month’s is also directed primarily to pastors, but even those who are not pastors could, I hope, benefit from reading it. Please understand that a major part of our ministry is to pastors around the world, and we’re reaching tens of thousands of them in numerous nations. This is a great burden on my heart, and I can’t help it! — David
I’ve been thinking about a conversation I had not long ago with a friend who is a pastor. He shared his pain regarding some people who had recently left his church. At one time they had been loyal, enthusiastic supporters of his ministry. But their departure was anything but that. Now they were speaking ill of him to others, and it had become ugly.
It wasn’t the first time he had experienced what pastors sometimes refer to as “the Judas syndrome.” And if past experience teaches anything, it wouldn’t be the last time.
Why?
Note: The E-Teaching that follows was originally published in January of 2005. It was my attempt to offer some biblical answers regarding the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami of December, 2004. In light of the recent natural disasters in Myanmar and China in which tens of thousands of people have tragically perished, I thought it would be appropriate to send it out again. It was originally written in hopes of reaching not only Christians, but those of other faiths who were trying to make some spiritual sense out of the tsunami. — David
Everyone around the world who believes in God (or gods), whether Christian, Hindu, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist or something else, seems to be asking the same question—Why? Why did God decree or permit a tsunami (and it must be one or the other, as there are no other possibilities for those who believe in an all-powerful God) to take the lives of well over 226,000 people in eleven nations? I’d like to make an attempt to answer that question as a Christian.
I Could Be Wrong About Some Things
Do you remember Y2K? It was 14 years ago this month. Looking back, it is amazing that so many of us anticipated catastrophic events on January 1, 2000. Dr. James Dobson, a man I respect and who has been right about so many things, dedicated three radio broadcasts, interviewing experts, to help Christians prepare for the inevitable. But he, along with so many of us, was dead wrong.
When I first felt called to the ministry in 1976, I came home from Penn State for a weekend to tell my parents that I was quitting my freshman year of college to enter the ministry. They suggested that I stay in college and then go on to seminary. I told them I couldn’t do that because it would be seven years before I graduated from seminary, and I was sure Jesus would be returning within seven years. He’d come back and I’d have nothing to show!
Deeds that Determine Destinies
Agnostic and celebrity astronomer Carl Sagan used to keep a framed postcard near his shaving mirror—just so he could see it every morning. On the back was a penciled message to a Mr. James Day of Swansea Valley, Wales.
It read:
Dear Friend,
Just a line to show that I am alive and kicking and going grand. It’s a treat.
Yours, WJR
On the opposite side of the postcard was a color photo of a sleek, four-funneled steamer captioned, “White Star Liner Titanic.” The postmark was dated April 12, 1912, just two days before the Titanic struck an iceberg in the Atlantic Ocean and sank with the loss of 1,500 lives, including that of WJR—William John Rogers.