google it!
When in doubt.....google it! And Question Everything! I think a dude named Euripides started that one way back when guys with names like that were saying it was a good thing to think.....and to question.... and it's been picked up by tons a bunch of others since then. Type it in on Google and see what I mean..... see what's out there in cyberspace. Are we asking any questions yet? :)
I was 25 back in 1960.... a part of that particular question everything period..... it led to all kinds of weird rebellion and anarchy stuff that was pretty ugly... got handled even more ugly... and all the love and peace stuff didn't bring either....real love or real peace. And brought in, as a result, our present age of entitlement..... nothing we do should ever have any sort of risk to it.... I deserve everything and I don't have to do anything to earn it.....strange to us who grew up in the 40's.
I have an executive friend in a large company who was interviewing 30 somethings for a major position in the company. One of the questions he asked was; What do these words mean to you.... work ethic. He received a blank stare.... and an awkward "I'm not sure what you mean", then a rephrasing of the question. The young man had no idea what the executive meant by the words work ethic.
I wonder what the response would be to questions about business ethics, integrity, manipulation, honesty, profiteering and righteousness in the marketplace. My problem is not really with all that within the business community.... the business market place.... the world system..... that's all part of the "kingdoms of this world". My problem is with those same questions I have about the Christian community, the Christian marketplace, the Christian religious system being the same as the world system...... it is supposed to be different...it is supposed to be part of His kingdom.
Here are the next couple sections of the article.....I think the author is asking the same questions.
2/ Where is the fruit?
Why is it that areas of the world which have had the largest evangelistic events in the history of the world, also have the most corrupt societies? Where is the fruit in changed lives and changed societies?
Why did one of the worst genocides in recent history happen in an area of the world which was the most evangelized? The Great Lakes region of Africa? Rwanda? It is said that Africa has been over evangelized and under discipled.
Recently I was in Ukraine and Armenia and noticed the scores of young people standing in the shadows. Apartments are small. There are no jobs and little money. Most of the night the kids are there hanging around. My question was, “How can we hire these standing idle in the market place for the Kingdom?” The response was that it was almost impossible since most of them had already been through the churches. They experienced the churches to be the same as the mafia or the political culture around them which exists only for the benefit of those at the top. Only too true for much of Africa as well.
We were a part of the revival in the Ukraine. We had anointed conferences with healing and power. We have our miracle stories but much of the “fruit” is back out on the street.
3/ Can you trust the motivation?
Revival is big business. Revival leaders become celebrities. We seem to crave our “Christian” celebrities just as much as the general population does their pop stars. One result is that we wander into Old Covenant understandings of "the man of God" and "the anointing" and miss the anointed priesthood of all believers.
Why do we see such a rush to attend the “revival” by so many ministry leaders? Why does “come and get some” have such an appeal? Why do we not question the obvious materialism of our celebrities?
The short answer is that we want the ministry fame, celebrity status and life style as well. We want the "man of God" status as well. The short answer is that we trust “it will break out” in our ministry. This is a ponzi scheme. So the christians flock for a while and the world remains untouched.
Does God meet genuinely hungry folks in this process. Of course. Does everyone have wrong motivations? Of course not.
But over the past thirty years we have seen several of these moves of revival move through the charismatic church. The church world gets excited. The meetings begin high and slowly wind down and the world remains mostly oblilvious to what has happened. Then the church waits for the next big thing.
I was very much involved in the last 30 years he refers to in the Charismatic church..... I have reached the same conclusions.... I am asking the same questions.....hoping you are as well. I never got answers until I started asking the questions. Now I agree.... it's time to question everything.... again.
:)
:)
I was 25 back in 1960.... a part of that particular question everything period..... it led to all kinds of weird rebellion and anarchy stuff that was pretty ugly... got handled even more ugly... and all the love and peace stuff didn't bring either....real love or real peace. And brought in, as a result, our present age of entitlement..... nothing we do should ever have any sort of risk to it.... I deserve everything and I don't have to do anything to earn it.....strange to us who grew up in the 40's.
I have an executive friend in a large company who was interviewing 30 somethings for a major position in the company. One of the questions he asked was; What do these words mean to you.... work ethic. He received a blank stare.... and an awkward "I'm not sure what you mean", then a rephrasing of the question. The young man had no idea what the executive meant by the words work ethic.
I wonder what the response would be to questions about business ethics, integrity, manipulation, honesty, profiteering and righteousness in the marketplace. My problem is not really with all that within the business community.... the business market place.... the world system..... that's all part of the "kingdoms of this world". My problem is with those same questions I have about the Christian community, the Christian marketplace, the Christian religious system being the same as the world system...... it is supposed to be different...it is supposed to be part of His kingdom.
Here are the next couple sections of the article.....I think the author is asking the same questions.
2/ Where is the fruit?
Why is it that areas of the world which have had the largest evangelistic events in the history of the world, also have the most corrupt societies? Where is the fruit in changed lives and changed societies?
Why did one of the worst genocides in recent history happen in an area of the world which was the most evangelized? The Great Lakes region of Africa? Rwanda? It is said that Africa has been over evangelized and under discipled.
Recently I was in Ukraine and Armenia and noticed the scores of young people standing in the shadows. Apartments are small. There are no jobs and little money. Most of the night the kids are there hanging around. My question was, “How can we hire these standing idle in the market place for the Kingdom?” The response was that it was almost impossible since most of them had already been through the churches. They experienced the churches to be the same as the mafia or the political culture around them which exists only for the benefit of those at the top. Only too true for much of Africa as well.
We were a part of the revival in the Ukraine. We had anointed conferences with healing and power. We have our miracle stories but much of the “fruit” is back out on the street.
3/ Can you trust the motivation?
Revival is big business. Revival leaders become celebrities. We seem to crave our “Christian” celebrities just as much as the general population does their pop stars. One result is that we wander into Old Covenant understandings of "the man of God" and "the anointing" and miss the anointed priesthood of all believers.
Why do we see such a rush to attend the “revival” by so many ministry leaders? Why does “come and get some” have such an appeal? Why do we not question the obvious materialism of our celebrities?
The short answer is that we want the ministry fame, celebrity status and life style as well. We want the "man of God" status as well. The short answer is that we trust “it will break out” in our ministry. This is a ponzi scheme. So the christians flock for a while and the world remains untouched.
Does God meet genuinely hungry folks in this process. Of course. Does everyone have wrong motivations? Of course not.
But over the past thirty years we have seen several of these moves of revival move through the charismatic church. The church world gets excited. The meetings begin high and slowly wind down and the world remains mostly oblilvious to what has happened. Then the church waits for the next big thing.
I was very much involved in the last 30 years he refers to in the Charismatic church..... I have reached the same conclusions.... I am asking the same questions.....hoping you are as well. I never got answers until I started asking the questions. Now I agree.... it's time to question everything.... again.
:)
:)
