Far More Terrifying than Ghosts and Goblins

Today is Halloween, a day when we loved to be scared, but there is something far more terrifying than ghosts and goblins. It was the condition of the Roman Catholic Church on and before October 31, 1517. This was the day, 489 years ago, that Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses on the door of Castle Church in the German town of Wittenberg. Luther’s 95 Theses was a protest of the Church’s practice of selling indulgences. Pope Leo X had endorsed the selling of indulgences, which would pardon people from the punishment that their sins deserved, in order to raise money for construction of St. Peter’s Basilica.

Catholic theology at this time acknowledged that the sins of a repentant, baptized person where forgiven, but that some kind of temporary punishment had to be endured. By purchasing an indulgence, people could buy their way out of punishment for sin. Scary stuff. Obviously, this fueled Luther’s theological anger. Johann Tetzel who was selling indulgences in Luther’s homeland of German was said to have a catch phrase in his sales pitch: "Soon a coin in coffer rings, the soul from purgatory springs!”

You can read Luther’s 95 Theses here. But let me share just 6 of his 95 points, which highlight some of Luther’s main thoughts.

36. Every truly repentant Christian has a right to full remission of penalty and guilt, even without letters of pardon.

There was a time, when Christian people walked around with guilt even after their sins had been forgiven. I am thankful that we have come to a place where we understand that there is now no condemnation for those who in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1).

37. Every true Christian, whether living or dead, has part in all the blessings of Christ and the Church; and this is granted him by God, even without letters of pardon.

“True Christians” can receive blessings from God without getting official letters of pardon from the Church. This is what we call the priesthood of all believers. We can all go to God without any earthly mediator.

53. They are enemies of Christ and of the pope, who bid the Word of God be altogether silent in some Churches, in order that pardons may be preached in others.

Luther was sadden that “pardons for purchase” was being preached more than God’s word. At this time in Church History, the translation of the Bible in indigenous languages was still controversial. Luther believed that the preaching of the Bible should be a primary component in Christian worship.

62. The true treasure of the Church is the Most Holy Gospel of the glory and the grace of God.

The “gospel” for Luther was the biblical message that salvation is a gift of God's grace through Christ received by faith alone. What is now called “justification by faith.”

79. To say that the cross, emblazoned with the papal arms, which is set up [by the preachers of indulgences], is of equal worth with the Cross of Christ, is blasphemy.

Luther did not deny the legitimacy of the pope, but felt that his role in worship and salvation were secondary to the cross of Christ.

86. Again: -- "Why does not the pope, whose wealth is to-day greater than the riches of the richest, build just this one church of St. Peter with his own money, rather than with the money of poor believers?"

Luther did not hide he offence in theological arguments. He gets right to the point and tells the pope to build the church with his own money!

Have You Loved your Youth Pastor Today?

I love youth pastors. I love them because I believe in the work they do. I love them because I was one. Actually, I am still a youth pastor doing youth ministry. It is just that now my “youth” drive mini-vans, pay mortgages and have kids. But those who work with real teenagers – junior and senior high students – deserve our appreciation, love and support.

The Center for Youth and Family Ministry (CYFM) at Fuller Seminary released a report documenting the trends among high school seniors regarding their thoughts on youth ministry. 68% of those polled said that they go to youth group because they liked the youth pastor. This was a much more popular reason for attending youth ministry functions than the common assumption that teens go to youth group to be with their friends.

The report also asked what high school seniors wanted more of in their youth ministries. 70 percent of the respondents wanted more or much more time for deep conversation; 65 wanted more mission trips; 65 percent wanted more accountability; and 58 percent wanted more time to worship. Ranked last was the desire for more games.

These statistics underscore the truth that youth pastors ARE the ministry to the students in their ministry. Programs, events, rallies, trips, camps, retreats, etc. are all secondary to this one single truth that youth pastors offer themselves first as their ministry to youth. This truth requires youth pastors to be more than over-paid stand-up comedians or social juggernauts. They have to be in a passionate pursuit of Christ themselves. This truth also makes some think that youth are too dependant on the youth pastor, but this is really a matter of how the youth pastor responds to all the attention. Henri Nouwen describes those in Christian ministry as the living reminder of Christ, and if youth pastors use their position to point kids to Christ and the pathway of discipleship, then we should celebrate youth pastors and all the attention they get. No matter how cool their hair is, or how fashionable their attire, they must stand before their students and say imitate me as I imitate Christ.

Read more about the CYFM report here.

Tozer's Terror

A.W. Tozer continues to be a voice within the Christian community. Well after his death in 1963, his passion and message continue to influence us. If you google Tozer you can find MP3 copies of sermons that he preached. I read The Pursuit of God when I was in college. I was first introduced to Tozer through the introduction that I wrote in Leonard Ravenhill’s Why Revival Tarries

This week I came across an editorial that Tozer wrote in The Alliance Weekly (now called Alliance Life), in 1954, entitled “The Terror of the Lord.” He made some absolutely poignant statements regarding theology and ministry in this short one page article. Let me share just a view excerpts and my comments.

A truth fully taught in the Scriptures and verified in personal experience by countless numbers of holy men and women through the centuries might be condensed thus into a religious axiom: No one can know the true grace of God who has not first known the fear of God.

An accurate, biblical understanding of the fear of God sets the context for and understand of God’s grace. The fear/terror/dread of the Lord gives you a right perspective to see how amazing this grace is that we all sing about. If your theology does not make room for the holiness, awesomeness, wrath, anger, justice, terror of God, then grace seems puny and sentimental. God’s fury and terror makes his joy and grace look that much greater.

Until we have been gripped by that nameless terror which results when an unholy creature is suddenly confronted by that One who is the holiest of all, we are not likely to be much affected by the doctrine of love and grace as it is declared by the New Testament evangel.

He restates my previous comment with a great deal of eloquence here. We have to be “gripped” by terror in order to comprehend the doctrine of love.

The effort of liberal and borderline modernists to woo men to God by presenting the soft side of religion is an unqualified evil because it ignores the very reason for our alienation from God in the first place. Until a man has gotten into trouble with his heart he is not likely to get out of trouble with God.

This statement is still true 52 years later, except that the temptation to lure people to God by preaching the “soft side of religion” has crept into conservative, evangelical churches. I know that there has been more than one occasion that I preached the soft side, because I did not want people to be frightened off by the hard side of God. I love the way Tozer words this: “Until a man has gotten into trouble….” This is great. We need to see that our sin has gotten us into trouble with God.

As indispensable as is the terror of the Lord, we must always keep in mind that it cannot be induced by threats made in the name of the Lord. Hell and judgment are realities, and they must be preached in their Biblical context as fully as the Bible teaches them, no more and no less; but they cannot induce that mysterious thing we call the fear of the Lord…. The Holy Spirit alone can induce this emotion (of fear) in the human breast.

It is the Holy Spirit’s job to “scare the hell out of people.” I have no problems with Judgment Houses and other Christian outreaches that use dramatic presentation to tab into the Halloween vibe of late October in order to demonstrate the realities of sin, judgment and hell. I think Tozer is rather referring to preachers, pastors and Christian communicators who constantly use guilt and manipulation to try to make people feel afraid of God. All we have to do is preach the truth. Let’s let the Holy Spirit fill people with the terror of the Lord.

You can read the original editorial in pdf form here.

Or read an html version of it here.

Ted Haggard responds to Jesus Camp

I stumbled across some comments that Ted Haggard made about the film, Jesus Camp. Ted is in the film. Apparently, the directors spent some time filming at New Life (Ted’s church in Colorado Springs). It seems like Ted was not happy with the way he and the greater Evangelical/charismatic church is portrayed in the movie. I have not seen the movie, but from what I can tell, Ted joked around with the directors on camera and he feels like his joking comes across as serious comments. Also, he feels like the group in the film is being depicted as the norm in Evangelical and Pentecostal/charismatic Christianity. If you do not know Ted, let me give you the skinny: He is the current president of the National Association of Evangelicals, the pastor of one of the largest churches in the US and a fellow ORU alum. Here is what Ted said:

“You can expect to learn as much about the Catholic Church from Nacho Libre as you can learn about evangelicalism from Jesus Camp. This movie manipulates facts like a Michael Moore film and works the camera like The Blair Witch Project. It's one more 'documentary' that seems to miss the point intentionally.”

Not only is Ted the president of the NAE, but he is in touch with pop culture. I am impressed with both his leadership and knowledge of film.

“The group they chose is a sub-group of the charismatic movement portrayed as mainstream. Then by using the portion where I am joking around and casually talking about the growth of Evangelicalism, they make us all look like we're dominionists, which we are not. Not only does the movie misrepresent Evangelicalism, but it misrepresents the Charismatic movement. It does represent a small portion of the Charismatic movement, but I think the film demonizes it.”

I felt the same thing when watching the trailer for the movie. They show kids doing a skit where they are dressed up like soliders and then cut to Becky, the children's pastor, saying something about the Army of God. There was a subtle demonizing, in what I could see in the trailer.

You can read more comments at www.tedhaggard.com.

The directors responded by saying that they did not have an agenda in making the documentary. They write: Perhaps Pastor Ted regrets how he comes off in the film and is expressing it by criticizing us, Becky, and the children in the film. What he calls “negative” and not “normative” we see as simply true and accurate. As for us, we will continue to share “Jesus Camp,” with people from all backgrounds and beliefs and learn from the profound discussions that result from this film..

I made some comments in an earlier blog after watching and reading some of the news reports and trailers for the film. I am not writing a full-fledged review until I have seen the whole movie.

The Joy of Football

I just watched (via the Internet) my beloved Kansas City Chiefs beat the San Diego Chargers 30-27. Damon Huard was 15-27 for 232 yards and two touchdowns. LJ ran for two touchdowns of his own for 132 yards. The Chiefs “D” – which has returned – had four sacks, two by Jared Allen. In the post game interview, Coach Herm Edwards said that he preached a lot of a sermons to his team after the lost to the Steerlers and obviously it paid off, because they played well enough to win today. I love football.

I was also the only Chiefs fan at Doak Campbell Stadium at Florida State in Tallahassee yesterday. I went to my first FSU game. They lost to Boston College, but I loved being in there, in a football environment. I love football.

I was preaching today on the joy of the Lord, which is the joy that God himself experiences. Jonathan Edwards opens his Unpublished Essay on the Trinity with these words: “IT IS COMMON when speaking of the Divine happiness to say that God is infinitely happy in the enjoyment of Himself, in perfectly beholding and infinitely loving, and rejoicing in, His own essence and perfection…” The joy of the Lord is the joy expressed between the Father Son and Spirit. It is the joy that God himself experiences within himself. In the message, I pointed out that joy and happiness (which I believe are inseparable) are morally neutral. What makes joy/happiness good or bad is the source of the joy/happiness and how that joy/happiness is expressed.

For example, if puppy dogs and rainbows makes you happy--this is good. If other people's pain and suffering makes you happy--this is bad. I ended my message this morning talking about the meaninglessness of rooting your happiness in earthly things, which is true. This does not mean that you cannot receive joy from things like football. I love it. And yes, I get down when my team loses…but only for about an hour…after that I am good to go. This is because the true source of my joy and happiness comes from God’s joy. It is much more lasting and deeper than the joy of football.

Jesus Camp

So if you haven’t seen the news reports or any of the video clips for the controversial new indie film Jesus Camp, check it out at http://www.jesuscampthemovie.com. I haven’t seen the entire movie (although I would like to at sometime), so I want to avoid making a snap judgment of the film altogether, but from I have seen it has raised some critical issues for us in the Church, particularly in the Pentecostal/charismatic community to deal with. For me, it raises questions like:

How do we process Pentecostal spirituality in children’s ministry? How hard do we push our teenagers and children to live “sold out” for Christ?

How do children process guilt and shame over sin?

Do those of us in Pentecostal/charismatic youth and children’s ministry use emotion and hype in order to manipulate them?

If even if we are not trying to be manipulative, is that what is happening when we rely heavily on emotion and hype?

Are we confusing hype for truth or emotion for spirituality?

In order to answer these questions, I think that it is important to understand the “Kids on Fire” summer camp, which is featured in the film, in it’s context. I have not done extensive research, but from what I have read it seems that the camp and it’s leaders are clearly within the Pentecostal/charismatic (and therefore evangelical) stream of Christianity. So before you write off these people as freaks, flakes and cult leaders, it is important to see them in the context. Typically, Pentecostal spirituality includes an integration of body, mind, affections and spirit. It is also seized with a apocalyptic vision and fervor to proclaim the gospel before the coming of Christ. (See Steven Land, Pentecostal Spirituality) Over the last 100 years, we have seen a militant motif used a different times by different Pentecostal/charismatic groups, but typically that is what it is...a motif, a metaphor, a symbol, a way of using biblical language to inspire a group of Christians. Some of the media coverage of the movie has made too much of the camp's use of “war-like” themes. This is not uncommon in a Pentecostal/charismatic context.

With that said, I am uncomfortable with the clips that I have seen where kids are caused to feel guilty for their sins and for the sins of others. I have not seen the clips in their context, but I have seen enough that it makes me question the camps approach to children's ministry. Watching the clips on youtube.com has got me thinking whether or not children have the intellectual and emotional maturity to understand what is happening. I don't think they do. It is obvious that the kids are moved emotionally, but being moved is not the same thing as making a reasoned choice. It is also not the same thing as the working of the Holy Spirit. I do believe that we confuse emotional outward demonstrations with the inward working of the Holy Spirit.

I think it is critical that we do not try to bully our way past people's free, a reasoned will in trying to communicate biblcial truth. Overly emotional and guilt-ridden pleas for repentance can do that. Furthermore, the we can no longer equate emotional reactions with what the Holy Spirit is doing. Yes, the Spirit touches our emotions, but the Spirit's work is so much deeper than that.

I am eager to watch the film and give a better response, but check out the trailer and email me and let me know what you think.