Wednesday, October 27, 2010

#203-The Revival in These Last Days

Editor's Note: Apologize about the temporal gap of posts, just really busy lately. I also have one more post already written but i want to tweak it a bit, so expect that for Friday.


Firstly, visit this youtube video link  (embedding disabled) for a context of what I think we are dealing with, but note the words "Oh my God" are said 3-4 times, so if this offends don't watch.

Secondly, what does this have to do with us? Well I would argue that is how some of us (including myself at times) perceive our religious walk. The fire in the video obviously representing Hell, Dwight=God (knowing that if you light a match underneath someone, it will cause them to get going), the office=the last days.

Let me be more rephrase: There is this dominant notion that we are in the Last Days before Christ's return to earth, and the book of Revelation tells us the last days are to be defined by wars upon wars, messes upon messes, World War III, panic of panics...basically the first half hour of what is called "Black Friday" at a shopping mall, the day after Thanksgiving wherein all sorts of ridiculously extreme deals are going on and people NEED THOSE THINGS:

Is this not the kind of spunk we are operating in as a movement at times? We operate with a kind of vigilant militancy in sermons about this being the last days and pointing to various verses in the Bible to prove this and various events in the news to solidify these claims and they are all telling us that we need to be on some kind of raid breaking down every gate in order to save people. We need an end times revival.

And Here is my version of how I understand this kind of theology through history:

At the beginning of Christianity, Jesus was all up out of this boy in the ascension. Then He came back down through the Spirit in the Acts 2 day of Pentecost, but everyone knew Jesus was sooo about to come back from Heaven in fullness whenever he decided it was time. It was incredible. Things Were fantastic. God, apostles, people saved, miracles, One God. Then somewhere along the way they lost their way. Probably the second century. People started to intellectualize and institutionalize the Cross. It was not about Spirit revelation anymore, plus God became 3-in-1, and not just One. Catholic Church takes over Weird ideas are spawned. This happens for a long long time. Then the Reformation happened which kind of made the Catholic Church not so "Catholic" anymore, and we could all read and interpret the Bible, and Jesus would be back any minute...although things still were what they once were. A few hundred years later, Azuza Street Revival happens, just like in Acts. Miracles. And eventually a return to the revelation of Oneness. While things weren't perfect, with the Spirit out of it's slumber and alive in Pentecost, things were much better than before.

The problem is Jesus is so about to come back any minute. And we are working our tales off in panic to try clean up the mess of those 1800 years or so where the Spirit was for the most part absent in the workings of Christianity. 

Being Apostolic
So we are running the house trying to clean up the mess all the other Christians left us to clean up in their kind of Christian slumber and not caring what mess they left. People must be saved! We know we can do it! WE GOT THIS! GO GO GO GO!  DAD WILL BE HOME ANY MINUTE! By the time dad gets back, we can't let him know how messy things have been.

RUN AROUND IN A STRICKEN PANIC BECAUSE HE SO JUST CALLED US AND TOLD US HE WILL BE HOME SOON AND JUST NEEDS TO PICK UP A FEW THINGS FROM THE STORE (SCREAM LOUD NOW).

What can help us? I know: Revival. Has anyone seen the Revival around?  Anyone? (dog whistle "COME HERE REVIVAL" CLAP)

Someone lost the Revival? Well let's think about this for a minute. Who did we last with Revival and where was it at? Hmmm....there was definitely the 70's when all our hippy parents got sick of the drug scene and wanted some order in there lives. We definitely saw Huge revival then. Anyone else? Oh yes, we saw revival with the Africans pretty recently. And now even South America. But recently? Okay. Let's look everywhere around the house to find revival. We must find it! Check the cracks in the cushion couches. Don't panic. Not yet anyways. But be hurried. Like a fast-paced walk. Smile politely. Why are you looking in the oven?!? Who would have put the revival in the oven? Seriously?!? let's act rationally here people. Dad will be home in ten minutes. The revival will be our safety to cover up this historical mess. 

Logistics of the search? My Rationale: if we just act like we have tried hard enough searching for this revival, and attempted incorporating the latest modern innovations for Church Growth to locate the Revival (all those books at the book store about Church Growth? Think of them as an infomercial and you will never think about buying them), and we have prayed! Certainly we have prayed hard enough and long enough  to say "WE TRIED OUR BEST!" The Spirit will then tell us where the Revival is located. We will pick up. And utilize it. MILLIONS WILL BE SAVED! And not a moment too soon, because Dad will so be home by then.


Daddy Done Got Lost 
A few days ago, my dad was looking for his glasses pacing back and fourth through the house looking for them. We didn't know what he was looking for, we had our own lives to worry about. So there his man is, 5 years away from retirement, wondering the house as if he just heard a rumor the Holy Grail was secretly hidden by God within it. Checking counter-tops, bed-stands, couches, and bedstands again. Making the loudest noises ever in the process to let it be known to his internet-addicted children that he was searching for something important. After foot-stomping and breathing through his nose in frustration long and loud enough, I ask him what he is looking for. He said his glasses. I asked him if they were the tinted glasses that make him look like a creeper. He said no, but that he was looking for his regular glasses. I asked if they were the ones on his face already. He said they were and laughed at himself. The thing he thought he was missing (glasses) were already on his face and had been on his face for so long, he forgot what it was like without the glasses so much so, that he thought he had lost them. It is so for many of us on how we handle the concept of trying to find the revival by praying and shouting our way to hopefully stumbling upon it.

Suggestion....

PHIL COLLINS' with his cover of the Supreme's Number 1 hit "Can't Hurry Love" wherein the advice comes from his mother: "My mama said, "You can't hurry love. No, you'll just have to wait." She said "love don't come easy..." 



And also Romans. Romans 2:7. Something about patient continuance and also a further explanation about how there is not so much of a sense of panic in the first century churches (unless souls were endangered of being lost), but rather you get the sense that the Church genuinely trusted the Spirit for the whole Revival thing. Not on lighting fires in churches to scare people to go out and scare more people to get them to the church whereupon they will be scared all over again, but I am not in a preaching mood so take my stream of consciousness explanation just now for what it's worth and disagree because I am so realizing there are argumentative holes in this post, so let's see if you can figure them out, and out of stubbornness i will argue that I am right even though you are being more logical, but all of this will wait because I need MORE PHIL COLLINS!

13 comments:

  1. The UPC used to be a teaching movement that experienced revival and produced deep, thoughtful, theologically grounded saints.

    It has become a revivalist movement, filled with shallow, reactionary, highly dependent, and theologically immature children who need milk and can't stomach meat.

    A big part of the problem is the "Jesus is coming back right away" mentality. He might be. Or stuff may get way worse than we can imagine. But we need more teaching, less screaming, and we'll experience revival when we learn to emphasize spiritual maturity and discipleship, not theatrics and emotional frenzy.

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  2. I found apostolic salvation 28 years ago. The first few years I expected Jesus to return any minute, and if you'd've told me He still wouldn't be back by October 28, 2010, I'd've esteemed you a heretic. It was a good thing to realize that I need to live life with a long term view.

    When the apostles were with Jesus, they kept asking him, "Lord, are you going to free Israel now and restore our kingdom?" "The Father sets those dates," he replied, "and THEY ARE NOT FOR YOU TO KNOW." Ac 1.6-7

    Rembember when we were kids and we were curious about something, and our parents said, "That's not for you to know." Did that mean we should keep trying to find out? Now there are entire ministries and churches and novel series and video games built on answering a question that Jesus told us not to ask.

    The last days started on the day of Pentecost. They won't be here long in God's timing, but we're just vapors and mists. Jesus said, "I'll be right back." Live like that's another 2000 years. Live like you're madly in love with Jesus. Live like it's not the snapshot of you when you hear the trumpet that matters, but the in depth biographical coffee table picture book of your life that gives you significance. Like Paul wrote:

    1 Co 4.3-5 What about me? Have I been faithful? Well, it matters very little what you or anyone else thinks. I don't even trust my own judgment on this point. My conscience is clear, but that isn't what matters. It is the Lord himself who will examine me and decide. So be careful not to jump to conclusions before the Lord returns as to whether or not someone is faithful. When the Lord comes, he will bring our deepest secrets to light and will reveal our private motives. And then God will give to everyone whatever praise is due.

    Faithfulness is produced over a lifetime, not in the flash before the audit.

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  3. I love this post and especially the two comments above.

    So very very true and needed to be said.

    The reactionary preaching is in my opinion such a disgrace to God's kingdom. I hope more people can grasp onto the things mentioned here.

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  4. Very interesting. So could you tell me the exact point you're making? Is it that we shouldn't be intently searching for a revival?

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  5. The reason the church isn't growing is because it is in constant need of revival.

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  6. This is pretty much what my pastor preached on last weekend. And Tre Michael, he's saying that we're too busy looking for revival to realize that it's already right in front of us. Just like the glasses.

    Excellent post!

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  7. Love, love, love apl's comment. Love.

    Thank you. Apl. Sincerely. Your comment really resonated with me. Thank you.

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  8. Personally, I have come to the conclusion that the Lord will not be coming back for at least 70 more years.

    :O BLASPHEMY!!!!!!!!! STONE THIS HERETIC!!! LET HIM BE CUT OFF FOREVER FROM THE PEOPLE OF GOD!!!!!

    Okay, seriously though. The Bible says in Genesis 6:3 that the days of man shall be 120 years. By this frame of reference, on need only look at contemporary life expectancies and medical advances to figure out the rest.

    For those not willing to do the research themselves, here we go.

    First, generally accepted norms dictate that a generation lasts for 30 years.

    Second, life expectancy has been consistently increasing at a rate of 10 years per generation.

    Third, the current generation (generation Y) has roughly 10 years left before it is replaced by the following generation, and is expected to live to an average of 100 years.

    Conclusion.

    Take the 10 years of Generation Y, add in the two spans of 30 years from the proceeding generations, and you come up with a rough estimate of at least 70 years remaining until the rapture.

    How, this applies to this post.

    The reason why I believe we haven't had a grand sweeping revival of the mark and kind of Azuza Street, is simply because God has not yet deemed it to be the right time.

    Basic principles concur that God has a plan. And His plan being created in infinite wisdom and foreknowledge know exactly when and how He will decide to move. To wit, if tomorrow we suddenly launch into an earth-shattering revival the likes of which we have never even dreamed, or if we have several decades more of steadfast watching and waiting do before our prayers are answered; in either case the end result is the same, God's Will, will be done. Whether we're still alive to see it or not.

    Also as another personal note (as if the whole preceding wasn't), I have a theory as to why the "Rapture date" is always set only a few years away. Namely, we are mortal, and being mortal it is the destiny of every one of us to some day, DIE. In order to preserve our fragile psyches from this grim truth we continually set our departure date well in advance of our inevitable fate, thus presenting the duty of self-preservation to God, saying (very) self-righteously "Lord, get me out of here before I kick the bucket." As though we are both worthy of special consideration regarding death, and somehow smarter than God in His infinite wisdom.

    Yeah, it's a cynical point of view, and probably totally wrong, but hey, like I said at the beginning, it's just a theory. No harm, no foul.

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  9. Personally, I have come to the conclusion that the Lord will not be coming back for at least 70 more years.

    :O BLASPHEMY!!!!!!!!! STONE THIS HERETIC!!! LET HIM BE CUT OFF FOREVER FROM THE PEOPLE OF GOD!!!!!

    Okay, seriously though. The Bible says in Genesis 6:3 that the days of man shall be 120 years. By this frame of reference, on need only look at contemporary life expectancies and medical advances to figure out the rest.

    For those not willing to do the research themselves, here we go.

    First, generally accepted norms dictate that a generation lasts for 30 years.

    Second, life expectancy has been consistently increasing at a rate of 10 years per generation.

    Third, the current generation (generation Y) has roughly 10 years left before it is replaced by the following generation, and is expected to live to an average of 100 years.

    Conclusion.

    Take the 10 years of Generation Y, add in the two spans of 30 years from the proceeding generations, and you come up with a rough estimate of at least 70 years remaining until the rapture.

    How, this applies to this post.

    The reason why I believe we haven't had a grand sweeping revival of the mark and kind of Azuza Street, is simply because God has not yet deemed it to be the right time.

    Basic principles concur that God has a plan. And His plan being created in infinite wisdom and foreknowledge know exactly when and how He will decide to move. To wit, if tomorrow we suddenly launch into an earth-shattering revival the likes of which we have never even dreamed, or if we have several decades more of steadfast watching and waiting do before our prayers are answered; in either case the end result is the same, God's Will, will be done. Whether we're still alive to see it or not.

    Also as another personal note (as if the whole preceding wasn't), I have a theory as to why the "Rapture date" is always set only a few years away. Namely, we are mortal, and being mortal it is the destiny of every one of us to some day, DIE. In order to preserve our fragile psyches from this grim truth we continually set our departure date well in advance of our inevitable fate, thus presenting the duty of self-preservation to God, saying (very) self-righteously "Lord, get me out of here before I kick the bucket." As though we are both worthy of special consideration regarding death, and somehow smarter than God in His infinite wisdom.

    Yeah, it's a cynical point of view, and probably totally wrong, but hey, like I said at the beginning, it's just a theory. No harm, no foul.

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  10. Wile the average life span dose change the max life span (aka the age of the oldest person) has not change in some time (and it is about 120).

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  11. @ John,

    True, but I was looking at it in more of a majority-group way. That is, if it is true of the many and not of the few. So while the max may be 120 now, this will be the norm in about 70 years, which in the context of the scripture seems to be the more accurate interpretation...at least to my way of thinking.

    Again, probably totally off-base on this, but for now, it makes sense.

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  12. In discussing the imminent rapture, a wise elderly lady once told me, "Be ready as if he were coming today, but prepare as if he were coming in ten years." Thus, highlighting the necessity accommodation to THISworldliness and OTHERworldliness.

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  13. The American Experience and Frontline did a six-hour documentary on the last 400 years of religion in America called “God in America” http://www.pbs.org/godinamerica/ (that can be viewed online). The document is definitely a survey and leaves out a lot* but this and a few other topics make much more sense now after put into perspective of American religious history.

    *The Mormons almost entirely left out and we Pentecostals are a footnote on the topic of Hispanic immigration, but sadly** I think that's because we are so similar to the greater evangelical community that the producers felt that we are just a part of the rest of evangelical Christianity.

    **Since I think it speaks volumes about us and not the documentary.

    ReplyDelete