SOMEWHERE IN TIME
I got a call from one of my brothers. Evidently some people (besides me) had been trying to convince them to try out an Assemblies of God church that was growing strong in Milwaukee and evidently they were thinking about it until they ran into a certain situation.
Their friend, who was a girl their age, was in a hospital bed recovering from something or another. Two groups of Christians came to visit her. The first group, from the AG church, prayed with her for healing and when she got none on the spot they told her she was lacking faith.
After they left, she cried.
The next group, from Elmbrook Church came shortly after. They prayed with her; some prayed that she would be healed but when no healing came they were o.k. with that because for reasons we don't understand God doesn't always heal. They talked with her and comforted her.
When they left, she was comforted.
Based on this my brothers decided not to pursue the Pentecostal (Assemblies of God) experience. Even as a Pentecostal I had to admit they made the right decision... because out of faith, hope and love, love is the most important.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Danny
AUGUST 1973
I met Danny on the U.S. Pawpaw - the ship I never wanted to be on. I talked to him about Christ and he gave his life to Christ.
I was very good at evangelism, but like Brian who led me to Christ, I wasn't the best with helping people in discipleship. There were two reasons I was not good at follow up:
1. Most of the people I led to Christ were hitchhikers, people I met on beaches and parks or in front of bars. I never saw them after I prayed with them.
2. I was never taught how to disciple others. Nobody discipled me when I became a Christian - so I put everybody in God's hands just like I was put in God's hands.
With Danny things were a little different. I lived on the same ship with him for four months so I got to help him grow, besides, he came to me regularly with questions.
The day I led him to Christ I prayed with him to be baptised with the Holy Spirit. I did that with everybody I led to Christ but nothing ever happened when I was with the others. Right after they prayed to receive Christ, I told them that they should pray to be baptised with the H.S. and I would pray with them to be filled with the Holy Spirit. I also told them that they might pray in an unknown language and not to be afraid of it, but no one ever did. I didn't worry about it either, because people don't always "feel" some powerful experience when they become Christian or feel like they receive a fuller experience - I never felt anything when I started my life of faith.
The day after I prayed with Danny, he came to me quite concerned because he didn't know what to make of an experience he had during the night. In the middle of the night he woke up with his arms in the air and he was praying in another language. I had never told him about the Pentecostal practice of lifting up hands to worship, but I did tell him about tongues the day before. I let him know that it was o.k. and what happened was good.
I met Danny on the U.S. Pawpaw - the ship I never wanted to be on. I talked to him about Christ and he gave his life to Christ.
I was very good at evangelism, but like Brian who led me to Christ, I wasn't the best with helping people in discipleship. There were two reasons I was not good at follow up:
1. Most of the people I led to Christ were hitchhikers, people I met on beaches and parks or in front of bars. I never saw them after I prayed with them.
2. I was never taught how to disciple others. Nobody discipled me when I became a Christian - so I put everybody in God's hands just like I was put in God's hands.
With Danny things were a little different. I lived on the same ship with him for four months so I got to help him grow, besides, he came to me regularly with questions.
The day I led him to Christ I prayed with him to be baptised with the Holy Spirit. I did that with everybody I led to Christ but nothing ever happened when I was with the others. Right after they prayed to receive Christ, I told them that they should pray to be baptised with the H.S. and I would pray with them to be filled with the Holy Spirit. I also told them that they might pray in an unknown language and not to be afraid of it, but no one ever did. I didn't worry about it either, because people don't always "feel" some powerful experience when they become Christian or feel like they receive a fuller experience - I never felt anything when I started my life of faith.
The day after I prayed with Danny, he came to me quite concerned because he didn't know what to make of an experience he had during the night. In the middle of the night he woke up with his arms in the air and he was praying in another language. I had never told him about the Pentecostal practice of lifting up hands to worship, but I did tell him about tongues the day before. I let him know that it was o.k. and what happened was good.
Friday, January 23, 2009
The Baptism of the Holy Spirit
I already talked about the Pentecostal (IE: Assembly of God) teaching about the Holy Spirit baptism, but I have not really given you my own version as I have experienced dozens of churches and studied as many, searched the scriptures and examined my own experience with God.
It is difficult to put the Holy Spirit in a box, as many on several sides do.
1. There are those who say the Filling of the Holy Spirit or Baptism of the Holy Spirit is the same as being born again, and there are no further fillings.
2. There are those who say that the experience the Apostles had with gifts, tongues and filling of the H.S. was only for their day.
3. There are those who say the Baptism of the H.S. is after conversion and always evidenced by tongues.
4. There are those who say the Baptism of the H.S. is after conversion but may not be evidenced by tongues.
From the Bible I learn that:
1. Paul associates the filling of the H.S. with repentance and baptism (the 3 are never separated in Paul's writings).
2. Even though theologically they are one and the same, experimentally in the early church, the book of Acts separates the experiences of repentance, baptism and the Baptism of the H.S. in different ways. One church receives the H.S. then is baptized, one is baptized and then receives the H.S., Paul asks certain people if they received the H.S. since they believed. The Samaritan church became believers long before Peter came and prayed with them to receive the H.S. To top off the list, John the Baptist was filled with the H.S. from his mother's womb.
Because we like to put God's work in theological boxes, all these are explained in different ways to fit whatever box a group likes. Good Bible scholars are in each camp and are ignored or refuted by other good Bible scholars.
My Conclusion:
God does what he wants - get over it. There are fillings we should seek, not just one experience, but regularly. Spiritual Christians are in all kinds of churches as are some really bad Christians. Not everybody gets the same experiences in the same ways.
It is difficult to put the Holy Spirit in a box, as many on several sides do.
1. There are those who say the Filling of the Holy Spirit or Baptism of the Holy Spirit is the same as being born again, and there are no further fillings.
2. There are those who say that the experience the Apostles had with gifts, tongues and filling of the H.S. was only for their day.
3. There are those who say the Baptism of the H.S. is after conversion and always evidenced by tongues.
4. There are those who say the Baptism of the H.S. is after conversion but may not be evidenced by tongues.
From the Bible I learn that:
1. Paul associates the filling of the H.S. with repentance and baptism (the 3 are never separated in Paul's writings).
2. Even though theologically they are one and the same, experimentally in the early church, the book of Acts separates the experiences of repentance, baptism and the Baptism of the H.S. in different ways. One church receives the H.S. then is baptized, one is baptized and then receives the H.S., Paul asks certain people if they received the H.S. since they believed. The Samaritan church became believers long before Peter came and prayed with them to receive the H.S. To top off the list, John the Baptist was filled with the H.S. from his mother's womb.
Because we like to put God's work in theological boxes, all these are explained in different ways to fit whatever box a group likes. Good Bible scholars are in each camp and are ignored or refuted by other good Bible scholars.
My Conclusion:
God does what he wants - get over it. There are fillings we should seek, not just one experience, but regularly. Spiritual Christians are in all kinds of churches as are some really bad Christians. Not everybody gets the same experiences in the same ways.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
The Catholics
If you have been reading my blogs from the beginning it will come as no surprise to you that I was brought up Roman Catholic attending Catholic schools until I was out of 8th Grade. I hated school, I needed to get out of my house and get on my own, and I wanted nothing to do with church. That sums up my life before November 1971.
Just weeks before I turned 19 I dedicated my life to Christ and was then emmersed into Southern Pentecostal and Charismatic Protestant culture which did not like Catholics which was the results of Centuries of anti Catholicism in the U.S., especially down South.
In 1785 there were fewer than 0.6% Catholics in this country - that's less than 1%. In the 1800s Catholics (half of which were Irish) integrated into the U.S. with a huge cultural backlash from the Protestants, many of who decided that Catholicism was the "Whore of Babylon." Persecution and even murder of Catholics increased at alarming rate as Catholics were blamed for disease, violence, and raising taxes.
Eventually the Catholic Church has found its way into American culture, but were still under a cloud of persecution and suspician. Even today the Catholic Church is considered the "Whore of Babylon" by many Protestants and End Time Fictional books.
When I dedicated my life to Christ I entered into that anti-Catholic world. I read books claiming that the Catholic Church was the church of the Anti-Christ and I was still under the influence of my own personal anti-Catholic Church feelings from my childhood.
As all my brothers and sisters and I became Born-again believers, we argued with my parents who stayed Catholic. I must confess, we made it very hard for them for awhile, but eventually we calmed down and the arguments faded away and love once again rule the house.
Almost 40 years later I can now say I have met good Christians who are still Catholic and I can now see that even though I was anti-Catholic for years, even then my Catholic upbringing was big part of my Christian walk, behind the scenes where I didn't see it. Here are some examples:
1. Catachism - I didn't learn how to have a personal relationship with God, but I learned about who God is. When I surrendered my life to Christ I had a large part of my Christian worldview already in place. It needed a bit of tweeking, but I understood a lot about who God was, heaven, hell, angels, demons, and so on.
2. The Holiness of God - Evangelicalism has an amazing gift in their focus on a relationship with Christ. Unfortunately, this focus on the nearness of God (the imminence of God) all too often deflects us away from the holiness of God - or in other words the fact that God is separate, high above and holy. Holiness means separate.
3. The Fear of God - The fear of God is also all too often neglected when we focus on the friendship of God. Hebrews 12 teaches us that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. The writer of Hebrews was talking to Christians!
4. Discipline - Although I quit the church in 7th grade, I learned certain things that are crucial to the Christian walk such as going to church every Sunday. I never questioned it after I stared a new life in Christ, I just knew Christians went to church on Sundays.
5. The Knowledge and Severity of Sin - Every Catholic in my days grew up learning that they were sinners. Sin defined for us, its seriousness was emphasised and we were given ways to deal with it. Protestants do deal with it in different ways (through prayer and repentence rather than through Confession) but few Protestant churches can match what I learned about the seriousness of sin.
These are things that took me years to be able to see. Back in my younger days, I was convinced that the Catholic Church had nothing good in it at all and as I mentioned, several of us in our family discussed our views with my parents. In the end, although they continued in the Catholic Church, I am told that they did some soul searching and grew stronger in their faith.
Just weeks before I turned 19 I dedicated my life to Christ and was then emmersed into Southern Pentecostal and Charismatic Protestant culture which did not like Catholics which was the results of Centuries of anti Catholicism in the U.S., especially down South.
In 1785 there were fewer than 0.6% Catholics in this country - that's less than 1%. In the 1800s Catholics (half of which were Irish) integrated into the U.S. with a huge cultural backlash from the Protestants, many of who decided that Catholicism was the "Whore of Babylon." Persecution and even murder of Catholics increased at alarming rate as Catholics were blamed for disease, violence, and raising taxes.
Eventually the Catholic Church has found its way into American culture, but were still under a cloud of persecution and suspician. Even today the Catholic Church is considered the "Whore of Babylon" by many Protestants and End Time Fictional books.
When I dedicated my life to Christ I entered into that anti-Catholic world. I read books claiming that the Catholic Church was the church of the Anti-Christ and I was still under the influence of my own personal anti-Catholic Church feelings from my childhood.
As all my brothers and sisters and I became Born-again believers, we argued with my parents who stayed Catholic. I must confess, we made it very hard for them for awhile, but eventually we calmed down and the arguments faded away and love once again rule the house.
Almost 40 years later I can now say I have met good Christians who are still Catholic and I can now see that even though I was anti-Catholic for years, even then my Catholic upbringing was big part of my Christian walk, behind the scenes where I didn't see it. Here are some examples:
1. Catachism - I didn't learn how to have a personal relationship with God, but I learned about who God is. When I surrendered my life to Christ I had a large part of my Christian worldview already in place. It needed a bit of tweeking, but I understood a lot about who God was, heaven, hell, angels, demons, and so on.
2. The Holiness of God - Evangelicalism has an amazing gift in their focus on a relationship with Christ. Unfortunately, this focus on the nearness of God (the imminence of God) all too often deflects us away from the holiness of God - or in other words the fact that God is separate, high above and holy. Holiness means separate.
3. The Fear of God - The fear of God is also all too often neglected when we focus on the friendship of God. Hebrews 12 teaches us that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. The writer of Hebrews was talking to Christians!
4. Discipline - Although I quit the church in 7th grade, I learned certain things that are crucial to the Christian walk such as going to church every Sunday. I never questioned it after I stared a new life in Christ, I just knew Christians went to church on Sundays.
5. The Knowledge and Severity of Sin - Every Catholic in my days grew up learning that they were sinners. Sin defined for us, its seriousness was emphasised and we were given ways to deal with it. Protestants do deal with it in different ways (through prayer and repentence rather than through Confession) but few Protestant churches can match what I learned about the seriousness of sin.
These are things that took me years to be able to see. Back in my younger days, I was convinced that the Catholic Church had nothing good in it at all and as I mentioned, several of us in our family discussed our views with my parents. In the end, although they continued in the Catholic Church, I am told that they did some soul searching and grew stronger in their faith.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Miami and Jews for Jesus
OCTOBER 1973
Yeah! I was able to get off the Pawpaw - the ship I hated so much and move to work in an office building in Miami, FL. I rented a room downtown where I shared a bathroom and a kitchen with 4 other middle age people who were not doing so well in life. One month later I moved into an apartment in Ft. Lauderdale with another Christian I met at mega Baptist church in Ft. Lauderdale. I went to that church for the next 2 months.
During those 3 months I lived in Miami, I visited a place I think was Jews for Jesus a couple of times.
The first time I went, the message was abouth worry. The speaker said it was a sin and needed to be treated like sin. One needs to confess worry as a lack of trusting God, and by confessing find forgiveness and deliverence.
At the time I worried so much about small things that I got stomach aches, so when I heard that message I confessed my lack of trust and put my worries in God's hands. I didn't notice any changes until I visited the same place a few months later and remembered my first visit. I realized that even though I didn't know when it happened, my worries had faded away along with my stomach cramps that had disappeared.
I don't remember anything else about Jews for Jesus.
Yeah! I was able to get off the Pawpaw - the ship I hated so much and move to work in an office building in Miami, FL. I rented a room downtown where I shared a bathroom and a kitchen with 4 other middle age people who were not doing so well in life. One month later I moved into an apartment in Ft. Lauderdale with another Christian I met at mega Baptist church in Ft. Lauderdale. I went to that church for the next 2 months.
During those 3 months I lived in Miami, I visited a place I think was Jews for Jesus a couple of times.
The first time I went, the message was abouth worry. The speaker said it was a sin and needed to be treated like sin. One needs to confess worry as a lack of trusting God, and by confessing find forgiveness and deliverence.
At the time I worried so much about small things that I got stomach aches, so when I heard that message I confessed my lack of trust and put my worries in God's hands. I didn't notice any changes until I visited the same place a few months later and remembered my first visit. I realized that even though I didn't know when it happened, my worries had faded away along with my stomach cramps that had disappeared.
I don't remember anything else about Jews for Jesus.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
The Gas Crisis
DECEMBER 1973
Once in Miami, I occasionally drove 7 hours up to Jacksonville to visit Dru. In late 1973 gas prices had gone up tremendously and gas stations had little or no gas to give.
I was in the first part of my journey dozens miles away from the Turnpike when I ran out of gas. All the gas stations along the way had been out of gas. I parked my car on the side of the road and hitched a ride with an empty gas can to the next gas station 15 miles down the road. When I got to the station the attendent told me they were out. So I prepared to go the next few dozen miles to the next gas station, but as I was on my way out, the attendant told me to wait. He closed the station, pumped me a couple of gallons and I hitched back to my car. The gas was no doubt from the bottom of their storage, because from then on my car had gas tank problems from dirty gas.
Once in Miami, I occasionally drove 7 hours up to Jacksonville to visit Dru. In late 1973 gas prices had gone up tremendously and gas stations had little or no gas to give.
I was in the first part of my journey dozens miles away from the Turnpike when I ran out of gas. All the gas stations along the way had been out of gas. I parked my car on the side of the road and hitched a ride with an empty gas can to the next gas station 15 miles down the road. When I got to the station the attendent told me they were out. So I prepared to go the next few dozen miles to the next gas station, but as I was on my way out, the attendant told me to wait. He closed the station, pumped me a couple of gallons and I hitched back to my car. The gas was no doubt from the bottom of their storage, because from then on my car had gas tank problems from dirty gas.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Opa Locka, FL
DECEMBER 1973
When I worked downtown Miami I was told I would never move again, but that changed because within 2 months I was transferred a few miles away to a Northern Miami city called Opa Locka to a Air-Sea Rescue Station. I worked at an airport for the Coast Guard little knowing that in little over a year's time I would be transported in one ot those helicopters while my friends took me to a Miami hospital.
In Opa Locka I began attending an Assemblies of God in Opa Locka a few miles from the base. The pastor there was Jim Rentz who in time became Jimmi Swaggart's Campus Pastor. When Jimmi Swaggart became national news for his indiscretions (meeting with prostitutes) Jim Rentz took over the ministry for 3 months. When Swaggart was again caught with a prostitute, Rentz fired Swaggart from the Jimmi Swaggart Ministries, and when Swaggart was fired from his own ministry...he turned around and fired Rentz. Oh the drama!
Jim Rentz and his wife were really awesome people who had me over for dinner or for his wife's great iced tea regularly. I didn't like tea usually, but she put so much sugar in the tea that it became something totally different. Pastor Rentz was also a decent preacher with a church of about 300.
I loved the music in the church - whoever deemed themselves to be a good musician got up front and played during the hymns. In particular there was this guy who played an out of tune violin. Not only was it out of tune, but he seemed to be tone deaf. Up front the band consisted of the pastor's wife on the piano, some old lady on the organ, an accordian player, a guitar player (the pastor's son) and this old guy who dominated the sound with his violin.
As good as Pastor Rentz was, when I brought visitors to his church, for some reason there was always a visiting evangelist which always meant disaster ... Every time! There was one evangelist who told us how to properly discipline children - he told us how great his kids were as a result... years later one of his daughters became a prostitute.
There was also one who was very much like the guy who preached by spitting and frothing at the mouth, pacing the platform like a trapped animal, screaming and then talking softly, challenging and attacking the audience with words that virtually put us through a lousy sermon for one hour. This happened on more than one occasion.
There were one or two exceptions to the rule. At another Assemblies of God in Jacksonville, FL, I saw Arthur Blessitt who was really good. When I saw him in 1972 he was beginning a long and interesting career walking around the world carrying a cross. Check this out: http://www.blessitt.com/. He has walked almost 40,000 miles in 315 countries and was the one who prayed with George Bush years ago. He was one of the best preachers I ever heard. He was also the weirdest preacher I ever heard. I thought he was great.
When I worked downtown Miami I was told I would never move again, but that changed because within 2 months I was transferred a few miles away to a Northern Miami city called Opa Locka to a Air-Sea Rescue Station. I worked at an airport for the Coast Guard little knowing that in little over a year's time I would be transported in one ot those helicopters while my friends took me to a Miami hospital.
In Opa Locka I began attending an Assemblies of God in Opa Locka a few miles from the base. The pastor there was Jim Rentz who in time became Jimmi Swaggart's Campus Pastor. When Jimmi Swaggart became national news for his indiscretions (meeting with prostitutes) Jim Rentz took over the ministry for 3 months. When Swaggart was again caught with a prostitute, Rentz fired Swaggart from the Jimmi Swaggart Ministries, and when Swaggart was fired from his own ministry...he turned around and fired Rentz. Oh the drama!
Jim Rentz and his wife were really awesome people who had me over for dinner or for his wife's great iced tea regularly. I didn't like tea usually, but she put so much sugar in the tea that it became something totally different. Pastor Rentz was also a decent preacher with a church of about 300.
I loved the music in the church - whoever deemed themselves to be a good musician got up front and played during the hymns. In particular there was this guy who played an out of tune violin. Not only was it out of tune, but he seemed to be tone deaf. Up front the band consisted of the pastor's wife on the piano, some old lady on the organ, an accordian player, a guitar player (the pastor's son) and this old guy who dominated the sound with his violin.
As good as Pastor Rentz was, when I brought visitors to his church, for some reason there was always a visiting evangelist which always meant disaster ... Every time! There was one evangelist who told us how to properly discipline children - he told us how great his kids were as a result... years later one of his daughters became a prostitute.
There was also one who was very much like the guy who preached by spitting and frothing at the mouth, pacing the platform like a trapped animal, screaming and then talking softly, challenging and attacking the audience with words that virtually put us through a lousy sermon for one hour. This happened on more than one occasion.
There were one or two exceptions to the rule. At another Assemblies of God in Jacksonville, FL, I saw Arthur Blessitt who was really good. When I saw him in 1972 he was beginning a long and interesting career walking around the world carrying a cross. Check this out: http://www.blessitt.com/. He has walked almost 40,000 miles in 315 countries and was the one who prayed with George Bush years ago. He was one of the best preachers I ever heard. He was also the weirdest preacher I ever heard. I thought he was great.
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