Theological Underpinning of a New Denomination

Calorie Chapel by Gayle D. Erwin

1. The Old Testament was filled with feasts:
A. They had at least one feast every month
B. Three of those feasts lasted at least a week
C. God set up the feast system
D. God commanded that the feasts be filled with joy

2. When Jesus came He was accused of being a glutton…
A. That surely meant that he had a weight problem, since no one that you know of who was skinny was ever accused of being a glutton.
B. Most of the gospel of John was written around a table.
C. The family of Jesus (in Mark chapter 3) thought he had gone crazy because he was not eating his lunch.

3. What did Jesus leave us to remember him by?
A. Food! Bread and wine.
B. Jesus became angry only a few times. One time was when he was hungry and a fig tree, though well leaved, did not yield any fruit. It made him angry enough to kill the tree.

4. After the Resurrection, every time you see Jesus, what is he doing? Eating!
A. Right after he appeared to the scared Apostles hidden in a room and told them not to fear, he asked them if they had anything to eat. Luke 24:41 And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?” Luke 24:42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish, Luke 24:43 and he took it and ate it in their presence.
B. The two men on the road to Emmaus did not even recognize Jesus until He sat down to eat. Then they said, “Now we know you.”

5. The Early Church had only a few constant habits–items that would readily identify them. Eating together was one of them. Acts 2:46 “Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts.”

6. How is Heaven going to begin? A feast–the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.

7. In Revelation 3:20 Jesus said, “Behold I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice I will come in to him and sup with him and he with me.”

Could it be that these Biblical revelations form the basis on a new doctrine?

Happy with Lard

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Charismatic Indulgences

I am enjoying facilitating a class at our church on the Protestant Reformation.  I love to read and study history; especially church history.  The characters, issues, and drama make for some very interesting reading under the craft of a good historical scholar and writer.  Admittedly, under a good scholar but bad writer, it can also be absolute drudgery!  However, there a plenty of great historical story tellers that make history come alive to those interested.

One of the aspects of studying history that always amazes me is how much we do not learn from it.  As much as I would like to believe that humankind is on an ever evolving incline of knowledge and understanding, a study of history shatters that delusion.  Knowledge and technology have not made us any better.  I like to repeat a quote I heard years ago which asserts that “to suggest humanity is better off because of technology is to suggest that a cannibal is better off with a knife and fork.”  Instead of progressive improvement, we seem to be in a constant cycle of enlightened discovery and abject stupidity.  Nevertheless, this is what makes studying human behavior and history fascinating and entertaining at the same time.

For instance, one of the abuses of the church the reformers wanted to purify from the Church was the abuse of indulgences.  Some Reformers did not want to do away with the practice of indulgences all together, but just correct their abuses.  Others, such a John Wycliffe and Martin Luther, could find no biblical warrant for their practice and wanted the practices of indulgences done away with completely.  The reformation tradition follows Wycliffe, Luther, and others in their assertion that any church tradition and practice must be established solely upon biblical evidence.  This assertion is one of the main reasons why Protestant churches emphasize Scripture – translation, study, and knowledge – above all else.

The practice of indulgences was long practiced in the Catholic Church.  It is still practiced today.  It is closely tied to the Catholic theology of Purgatory.  This is another doctrine that Protestants and Reformers rejected because of lack of Scriptural evidence.  A broad explanation of indulgences proposes that the good works of Christ and the saints have been deposited in heaven for all Christians in the treasury of merit.  These merits may be applied to the sins of Christians at the approval of the pope and applied to individuals by archbishops, bishops, and priests.  The application of these merits enables one to avoid paying further for their sins in purgatory.  Extreme abuses preceding and following Martin Luther’s time allowed these indulgences to be bought with money.  Thus, sin became a really money maker for the church.

Aside from the biblical and theological problems that indulgences and purgatory pose for biblical Christians, the Protestant Reformation recaptured the New Testament doctrine of God’s grace displayed and applied through the death and resurrection of Jesus the Messiah, God’s son.  Martin Luther, studying Romans and Galatians, came to the conviction that God’s grace cannot be purchased or earned.  It can only be received as a free gift.  Both the temporal and eternal forgiveness and salvation human longed for and needed was only available through faith in what Jesus Christ accomplished on the cross and in the resurrection.

As much as the Protestant Church would like to think that it is free from the influence of such doctrine and practice, one needs only to watch or listen to the selling of God’s grace in today’s Christian marketplace.  While salvation may not be up for sale, the grace of God to work miracles, provide, give guidance, and heal surely is in today’s popular Christianity.  It can be purchased by sending in an offering or purchasing a book or other materials.  At such a low, low price, God’s grace for healing and wealth will be released.

The Protestant Church has its own forms of relics too.  By purchasing prayer cloths, anointing oils, Christian jewelry, and other such items, and extra measure of God’s grace will flow in blessings to the believer.  All types of shamanistic items are sold to the unwary in hopes that the favor of God can be purchases instead of appropriated through simple faith.  It seems, in coming so far in history, we have not gotten very far.

The same grace that is made available through faith in Christ’s work that brings salvation is also available for all the other blessings of the Kingdom.  Why do we think they be can bought or sold?  They are given freely by grace.  They are “charismata” – grace-gifts given to us out of the love of the heavenly Father and his son, Jesus.  They are made available to everyone.  There is no need for a mediator – priest or televangelist.  We are asked, individually and communally, to come in faith believing “that he is a rewarder of those that diligently seek him.”

Pink Rose in Bloom, Bush House Gardens, Salem, Oregon, 2009 ©Weatherstone/Ron Almberg, Jr. (2010)

The Charismatic and Pentecostal stream of Protestantism is particularly caught in this trap of heresy and unorthodox practice.  Perhaps what is needed is a new reformation or a new “protest” that rebukes those responsible for such abuses.  Not only do they mislead the faithful.  They are profiting just like their Catholic forefathers upon the misery and sinful conditions of people who are needy and vulnerable.  Instead of selling them “a bill of goods” that will not profit their followers, they should be pointing them to the grace that is in Christ Jesus for every blessing.

Unfortunately, the same problem that caused the faithful 5oo years ago to fall into this trap and error is still prevalent today.  It is a lack of knowledge of the Word of God and its basic doctrines.  Unlike 500 years ago, however, the Bible is available to us in our own language.  We can read it and study it for ourselves.  We have learned teachers and preachers who are proclaiming the truths of the Scriptures.  What seems to be lacking is an attentive audience.

This sort of reminds me of the church Jesus chided when he revealed himself and his plans to the apostle John.  It seems that even though we live in an age where we can see, we are still blind (Revelation 3:17).  We live in a country that is rich with the teachings of God and access to biblical truth, and yet we are so poor.  It appears that Western Christianity is clothed with beautiful religious garb, but we are really naked.  Perhaps we do not know how wretched we really are if so many of the faithful in our Protestant, Bible-believing churches can fall into such error.

A start for all of us might be to study our history.  We need to rediscover what was lost and then found in the Reformation.  Some of the Reformers and Protestants paid for the discovery and practice of these truths with the ultimate price.  Perhaps then we would appreciate more fully today where we are in human history and the opportunities we have around us by way of Bible teaching and tools.  Most importantly, hopefully, we would refuse to fall back into the errors from which the Church in large measure was rescued.  Like Martin Luther, maybe we need to take a hammer and nail and post them in a prominent place so we will not soon forget.

©Weatherstone/Ron Almberg, Jr. (2010)

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Faith With Meaning

It is important for us to have meaning attached to the things we do.  However, sometimes religious people lose the meaning for the things they do in their relationship with God.  As a result, those things begin to be not only meaningless, but also boring and even drudgery.

One result of this is that Christians have a hard time passing their faith on to others.  Usually their children are the ones most cognizant of the fact that the Christian faith has lost meaning and implication for everyday living.  Who can blame them if they reject involvement in meaningless religious activity and end up leaving the faith altogether?

Another result is a loss of one’s ‘first love’ faith and relationship with God.  Meaning and religious faith practices lose their connection.  It is kind of like a story I read about.  On the first day of school, the kindergarten teacher said, “If anyone has to go to the bathroom, hold up two fingers.”  A small voice from the back of the room asked, “How will that help?”

When there is a disconnect between what we are doing and why we are doing it, we are often left asking ourselves, “How will that help?”  In fact, we drift into a sense that nothing will help – or can help us out of our spiritual fog.  Then we become resolved to meaningless activity and spiritual numbness.  That is when the enemy of our souls – the devil – tempts us into thinking that true happiness, joy, and meaning will only be found outside of our faith, its disciplines or relationships.

If we give in to this temptation, we then find our life consumed by trying to fill up this void with worldly things and activities that only bring further spiritual dryness to an already drought ridden soul.  Is this our only path?  Or, are we to just accept the disconnection between faith and meaning?  Hardly!

Our heavenly Father has much more in mind for us than just maintaining religious activity with no meaning.  How do we regain a sense of purpose and meaning in our faith?

• When Jesus talked to “First Love Lost Church” of Ephesus in the book of Revelation, he told them to return to the things they did at the beginning of their loving relationship with God.
• And when he chided the “First Church of Lukewarm” in Laodicea, he called them to seek him for all their needs rather than assume that the goods of this world were a guarantee of a good life.
• To the “First Church of the Snoring” in Smyrna, Jesus commanded the believers to “wake up!”  Their work for the Lord was not done yet and they had wandered from obedience to him.

Just like us, the believers of these churches got lost in meaningless religious activity.

Lone Tree In Fall Colors, Fall 2009 ©Weatherstone/Ron Almberg, Jr. (2009)

What can we learn from these churches? I believe the central message is the same to all of them.  It is all about relationship.  It is not about activity.  It is easy to get those two confused and prioritized wrong.  Our religious faith is not like a job which we do to get pay and benefits nor is it a ‘to do’ list to be checked off.  It was birthed out of God’s desire to have a meaningful relationship with us and will be maintained as a living faith only with the same goal in mind.

It is about a personal knowledge and experience of God. Brother Lawrence in his little booklet, “Practicing the Presence of God”, lived a life of vital relationship with his heavenly Father as a kitchen cook in a monastery.  He practiced a living relationship with God that included lively talking with God throughout his daily duties.  Out of that life-giving relationship his life was changed.  Plus, God used him to speak into the hearts of numerous people, some of which were heads of the church and leaders of the nation!

What could be accomplished through Christ’s followers if we measured our spiritual lives by what promotes a meaningful relationship with our heavenly Father versus religious activity?  The old hymn, In the Garden, expressed it well in the lines, “And He walks with me, and He talks with me, and He tells me I am his own.  And the joy we share as we tarry there, none other can ever know.”  This expresses very well what our heavenly Father is inviting us to through his son, Jesus.  Everyone is invited to this same full and vibrant relationship with the Lord.  He calls it “life more abundantly.”  It is faith – faith with meaning.

©Weatherstone/Ron Almberg, Jr. (2009)

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