Willohroots

There will be, God willing, six baptisms at this Sunday!  Praise God!  These are a varied bunch of people  coming from atheism, addiction, alcoholism, and two young men who  brought their mother to be baptised two years ago.  These two  guys came into our flock about 5 years ago and spontaneously asked us to pray for their mom.  Midway into the service she arrived.  They are now 15 and 13.  Praise God for His Spirit that quickens!

Please pray for Marie.  She would like  to be baptised , but has health problems.  She has lost a big toe and others are in danger.  She has been a single mom to my biggest fan, Althea,  a 27 year old perpetual child due to retardation.  Marie  is frightened,  I would be too.  Praise God for His Mercy.

We will be using the next door neighbors pool.  Years ago there was a blood feud situation between the neighbors and the old church.  Now he cuts our grass and plows our snow,  for free!  Last month he sent his son to Sunday School! Praise God for His Spirit that brings reconciliation!

Pray for good weather,  we would not want to be rained on, we might get wet!

So also the tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things See how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire! James 3:5 NASB

I have a love for sound doctrine, I also have a burden for souls.  There should be no conflict here, but in this imperfect world that groans for His coming to make all things right, I perceive a danger to the vast crowd of unreached, hell-bound,  misguided, people we are called to love.  It is easy for them to get caught in the cross-fire.  As we shoot at each other,  to no real  result,  there are casualties occurring on the sidelines about which  we need to be sensitive.

Allow me to make some opening statements to set up my argument.

• The majority of Americans are biblical ignorant
• Critical, logical thinking is not taught nor esteemed
• To unbelievers we are all one big group, Christians.  They do not understand or recognize our sub-groups that we so highly value.  They do not give a fig for Calvinist, Charismatic, fundamental, Liturgical, or any other label with which  we are so familiar
• Joel Olsteen, The Pope,  John MacArthur are all in the same group to them, “church guys”
• The general populations ignorance of theology is matched by an ignorance of History.  I was actually heartened to read C.S. Lewis describing the average RAF member’s idea of history as, a time long ago,  when there were knights, and cowboys and Indians, and most likely dragons, but not in any real order
• 17% of American casualties in Desert Storm were from “Friendly fire”
• There are some denominations that really creep me out,  I have no doubt they are in error
• One tool Islam has used since the Qu’ran is to point to the disunity in Christendom
• We have a whole lot of disunity

Let it be understood that there are some “preachers” out there that I would really like to meet in the deep woods.  I am an egotistical sinner,  enough to think that a lesson in self defence,  [that is what I would call it, I am a great rationalizer],  would do some of the   “Jesus Tokers”,  “Spirit Drunks”,  false Healers, and out right charlatans a world of good.  Let me knot up a scourge and go to town before I get too old to do it.  When I see some of the crazy things called Christian on youtube I get enough indignation , I think it is righteous, to smack the babble out of some of these fellows mouths.   There I confessed.  But I want to do it in the deep woods, not to avoid witnesses, but so that I am not a bad witness myself.

I have been married  thirty years, [ by the way, I am praying this does Not work like a mortgage,  30 and out],  and believe it or not, my lovely wife and I have fought.  I do not mind fighting, but we never wanted to do it in front of the children.  You see that is what we are in large part doing as Christians.  We meat eaters are fighting in front of children who have yet to taste milk!

I am trying to treat some of the Christians whose behavior I just can not stand as the crazy uncle at the family reunion,  he is going to be there, just ignore him.  I  need to do this because there is a world of unsaved people who need me to be loving and explain the Word to them.  This burden must out   desire to criticize the other team no matter who that might be.  It is perfectly allowable to suggest that the way I believe and worship makes more sense to me,  but it does no good to brand another as apostate to make myself look better.  Have you seen any of these evangelistic methods work?

• Why most people who say they  are  “Christian” are lost
• There is only one way to Heaven and we meet at 9 am
• Don’t be fooled by all the crosses on the steeples, it is a decoration
• Here is a list of famous preachers going to Hell

How hard is it to come up with a blog roll that says just that?  The blogosphere is chock full of Critics for Christ.  Jesus told us to go forth and make disciples, not go forth and criticize.  Let us attempt to correct each other in love and understanding, not in arrogance and hostility.  How many friendy fire casualties are acceptable in this war?  It is entirely acceptable to speak what you perceive to be the truth but do it in love, and with understanding not judgement.  I am strongly of the opinion that many are wrong, but I can not call them unsaved, that is well above  my authority.  I guess Peter said it best in his first letter, 3: 8,9

Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous: Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing.

Who does this encompass?  The people in your pew, your church, your denomination? I do not have the wherewithal to judge that.  If God is the Father, Christ is His virgin born son, Savior of mankind, and the Holy Spirit is the promised guide and comforter,then we have much in common.

Triage is the skill of putting resources to their best possible use by keeping first things first.   Think of the lost first, then deal with the misguided,  and don’t let the kids see you fight.

I will be returning to Willohroots Wednesday,  pray for safe travel and God’s Will.

Dissenting voices are welcome at Willohroots.  People who have the courage to speak against the writer are to be commended.  People who do so based on an honest biblical faith, doubly so.  Marianne Lordi  left a response to Tearful Salute.  That required a response that is this post,  Marianne, and readers, please take this in the spirit that I wrote it, one of humble love of you and of the Savior that taught me to love my God.

The most popular post on this blog is, “Close the Church of Christian Criticism”.  This is written out of a feeling of repentance festering in me for decades of being a critic myself.  I know we need to stand firm for doctrine, and never has one of my sermons been criticized for lack of a biblical base. [other criticisms abound, but not that one!]  I feel we save Satan a lot of trouble by sniping at ourselves, and in the disunity we show as the bride of Christ.  Christ seems to have a bi-polar bride who fights with herself at every opportunity.

I reply to Marianne as I have replied to many of my own flock, in love, but with the conviction of my spirit brought about by years of dedication to being lead by the Holy Spirit.  If the tone of love does not flow in my words, blame my writing skills, not my heart or my intent.

Joel Olsteen is a motivational speaker , who at the end of his sermon suggests that people go to a bible church.

I personally would never sit under him, there is no meat , there is no milk, there is no meal. To the millions of the unchurched and depressed in America, he may well be the only one in their lives who tells them to go to church. He is even specific in telling people to go to a bible based church. This means that he is advertising for me. Please explain how demonizing him will lead anyone to Christ.  My comment was, “he is not Satan”.  He is not.  Jesus loves Joel Olsteen, and please remember we have a God who can use a donkey to get His word out.  We are called to love even such as Joel, and I welcome people in my church who have been broken,[some by the church]  and turned to Olsteen for a positive word. I suppose none of them to be either saved or educated in scripture.

Suppose an innocent seeker followed Joel’s advice and went to a bible preaching church to find Jesus.  How effective is it to save that soul to

by demonizing  the one who referred him or her to come in the first place?  I can’t have it.  I confess I have done it myself,  God forgive me if I was ever a stumbling block to Salvation.

One of Rick Warren’s big classes, thousands in number,is discribed as the following,  ” ‘Fresh Start with God’  is designed to encourage, equip and assimilate new and recommitted believers as they grow in their relationship with Jesus Christ.” Please criticize this title. Have you listened to a few Rick Warren sermon’s before you made your pronouncement of his heresy?   I got up early this morning to listen to a few before I posted my reply to you, as I wish to be fair. It is not my style, it is his style, and I can see his appeal, and he does preach Christ. From 205 people on Easter Sunday 1980 to 22,000 last Sunday, he has grown a church a little.  Do you think none of them saved?  If you are repeating the mantra that Warren does not preach Christ, without listening to him preach, you have become a gossip, not by my judgement, but by the Bible’s.  God forgives us when we forgive others, recognize our sin and turn from it.

Marianne, you are convinced that Rick Warren will pay a price at the Judgement.  We can not do this!  God looks at the secret places of the heart, we can not do that.   Jesus said he did not come to judge, yet you and I wish to do that which the Blessed Savior refused to do.  He will judge when the time is right.  We are the branches, Jesus the true vine, God the Gardener, He will prune or cause to flourish whom He will.   Please, I beg of you, do not put yourself in such a dangerous position as presuming to judge, for with the same measurement we use to judge will we be judged ourselves.  I could not stand to such a judgement, and you can not either, for we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.  Is Christ’s blood not effective for the cleansing of Rick Warren’s sins?

Google Rick Warren, the first  4 or 5 pages are criticisms and denouncements.  Does this serve the Kingdom of Christ?  Why are there more pages criticizing Warren than Todd Bently or Andrew Womack?  I will post some possible reasons.

• It is easier to be  a Saturday morning quarterback then to get on the field
• Guys from little churches like mine are jealous,  envy motivates them to find fault
• He doesn’t do things the way you or I would
• He is not perfect, therefore there really are points to pick on and be correct about
• When you stand up for Christ, rocks will be thrown.
• Most of us on the internet are so desperate for readers that we will join the criticize club to get some hits
• It is easier to use the bible to see the sins of others than to use the bible as a mirror to see the depths of our own sin.

I salute you Marianne for your desire for the Gospel,  and I love you for your love of the Lord.  We most likely share a doctrinal statement with very little deviation.  I wish you were in my church, and were my friend, but as I said in the post you responded to, will you allow me to stand with you?  Am I ” out of the club” for my opinions?   I have been thrown out of a few churches, so that is not a new experience for me.  Somehow, through Divine Providence he has given me a pulpit and a mission in life, things I was too foolish to seek, so He must have some purpose to drive my life. [ sorry I just had to do that]  By the way, I did not think much of Rick Warren’s book,  “Purpose Driven Life”, not enough bible for me, but he is still my brother.

I wish to comment on one more thing, and it is a personal beef of mine.

“As it says in James,if you desire wisdom on a matter, ask and God will give it to you. Pray about it. God bless you.”

This implies that if I would just pray and seek God’s wisdom,  I would end up agreeing with you.  My dear believer,  the distance from God’s mouth to you ear is no shorter than from His to mine. In this statement is the crux of the matter ,  Christianity is not a competitive sport!  There is no “I am more saved than you are”  we are saved!  The only possible measure of our faith is the fruit of our works. Have you brought 22,00o people to church lately?   Me neither.

I do salute you. Thank you for allowing me to use you to show the source of the tear in my eye.

So an Irishman, a black guy, a Guatemalian, and a Polish fellow carry a carpet into a church while a Welshman holds the door….. Hey that is not a joke, that is my church!

Dayspring Bible Chapel!  When we told it we used a bit rougher language, but in brotherly love.   God bless the American church and the diversity it brings!

Out of 22 people in a DUI [DWI for y’all]  driving class, ordered by the court, when told a Breathalyzer would be used and a 0 tolerance policy extended,  guess how many [ out of 22]  were sent home for alcohol use.?

Remember this would mean drinking that morning, or getting tanked the night before.  Winner will receive the key to stately Willohroots manner for a weekend.

I borrow my brother's image to make a point.

I am using this image as I have stood where my brother stands, and felt what he is feeling, besides, I have no picture of me in like circumstance, and besides, this man is FAR more handsome than I.

I salute my brothers and sisters of the faith, who value good doctrine and try with all their might to please God by following His Word as they understand it, to the depths of their souls.  Good doctrine is important, even critical.  I do not respect the traditions of men, as we are sinful and fallible, and I truly believe that the bible gives us all we need to follow God faithfully.

We are warned in scripture by the Apostles, the Prophets , the Inspired Writers, and the Savior Himself, that  men would pervert and twist the Ways of God to suit the ways of man.  I salute, and I do not salute lightly,  your efforts and your principles. Please allow me to stand with you on the side of Scriptural Doctrine.

Allow me to explain the tears.  As a brother Fireman morns the loss of fellowship and the tragic waste of a death in the line of duty,  I morn the loss of fellowship and tragic waste of witness so many of my doctrinally sound brothers cause by their legalistic attitudes.  To some of these people ” legalistic” is a complement. “Competitive Christianity” is a sport at which all are losers. By being so conscious  of every jot and tittle of the Word, they seem to have missed the sentences, the paragraphs, the epistles themselves.  They understand the points, but do not connect them into a line.  It is in their criticism that their heart is shown.  Children of a forgiving God can not emulate Him by being , at least in their own eyes, perfect while seeing the faults of others. It can only be assumed that they have removed all motes.  Some examples found on blog pages and in pulpits:

• Joel Olsteen is not Satan, Satan would never advise so many people to find a bible preaching church near their home.  You may not like his style or content, but Satan?
• Billy Graham may have said a couple things you don’t like, but he never said he was perfect, he said Jesus was.  When you have pointed as many people to the cross as did he, feel free to criticize.
• Mark Driscoll can not be called apostate because you do not like his T-shirt.  His word usage is appropriate for his flock.  When you have pointed as many people to the cross as has he, feel free to criticize.
• All Catholics are not Hell bound.  I am no fan of Rome, but Christ has more to say about this than does the Pope.
• It is possible that “theoldadam” has been redeemed yet not turned Baptist.  [I said possible, as in , “All things are  Possible with God”]
• Rick Warren will not go to Hell for using Isa as a name for Yeshua the Messiah, it is no less an affront then calling Him by a Greek version of a Hebrew name.  Jesu forgives.
• True life stories abound on the Internet of churches beating people down.  Graceshaker’s story brought tears to my eyes.  This is done in the name of Jesus?  Look around, you can find some bragging about these incidents.
• John MacArthur is not the Second Coming, he is merely a great expositor, but human and possibly in error [but not much].
• Steve Brown [Steve Brown,etc.com] will not go to the “smoking” section of the afterlife for being a pipe smoker
• We are saved by Grace through Faith, not by our doctrine.

The attitude I have tryed to describe is one reason why it is hard to fill a church today, or find a church if you are looking.  My friend Texas Rob of ” A Voice Crying out in the Wilderness ” has as his  most recent post the desperate feelings of a futile search for fellowship in his area.  I have felt it myself.  Until I was in the pulpit at Dayspring I never had a fellowship  could fit into as the churches I could salute for biblical accuracy had a Pharisaical attitude, and the lovey dovey churches barely used a bible.

It hurts to see the Way of Truth and Love be used as a weapon. I am not sure my doctrinally correct friends will allow me to stand in their ranks.  I take great hope in Jeofurry, and Shawn W, and Graceshaker, Mike Bell,  Ike,  Joe, John, and Dr. Headly, and Rev. Andy Little, and the rest of you, who seem to understand that good biblical doctrine can and must be infused with, coated with, and major in Love.  John 3:16 shows us God’s motivation, pray that it becomes ours.

Wonderful imagery from Grace Church.     gracechristiancenter.com

I have been in the pulpit at Dayspring for five years now, well actually, only for the last two years has the name been Dayspring.  I have been preaching here at least every other week from 2000, every week since 2004.  I started as a preacher, now I am a pastor, God has been good to me to stage me up in this manner.  In His love and mercy He has let me grow in stages, matching my duties and responsibilities [at least to a degree] to my skill set and spiritual development.  Going from preacher to pastor was shocking, scary and to be honest if I were not forced into it it would have never happened.

God called me into the ministry in 1977, soon after I became a believer after a “Pauline” experience.  I responded in biblical fashion, like Jonah, I denied the call.  I remember standing by the edge of the Susquehanna River in Wilkes-Barre yelling at a God whose existence  I had denied just a short time before.  I remember shouting with tears in my eyes, “I do not like Your churches,I do not like your people, I can’t stand your preachers, get somebody else!”  [ Ah youth,  foolish youth, truly wasted on the young as they say. ]  Were my God not so merciful as to defy description, I would never have had the chance to serve Him and His people.  I now love His church, and His people, however I am still a bit skeptical of His preachers, well some of them.

Once again the bar is being raised.  I feel called to a greater commitment, a higher level of personal accountability, a greater degree of service and sanctification.   Should we go to 2 services?  Three?  An old time traditional service at 9:15? I feel there are people who miss the liturgical beauty of an “old time” worship, with organ hymns and responsive readings.    What about a Sunday night “unplugged” version with just guitar, no praise team,  and a relaxed Q and A period?  What about me elevating the bar on my personal prayer life and general lifestyle?

There are more questions than answers, but if you look in the above picture,  the jumper is made less as the bar is raised,  there must be less of me so that there may be more of Him.

Opinions highly valued.

Mega-volts of awesome power!

Stately Willohroots manner, nestled in a valley on top of the Blue Mountains, or Endless Mountains, of North Eastern Pa.  [ between the Smokey and Catskills , the heart of the Appalachian Chain, if you are looking at a topographical map]  was the scene of an electrifying experience recently.  A nearby lightning strike put a surge through our state of the art Dell tower, cooking the framistan or possibly the wiggetator.  As you can tell, I am no computer tech.

There are several things I found out through this experience.

1. There is no money in our reduced budget for repair of anything.
2. It is possible for me to warn my wife about taking on line tests in a storm
3. It is only possible for me to warn her, not to say anything that will actually affect her behavior
4. I really need to get more involved in the job search
5. My Son in Law , who bought me this replacement computer so that I can blog again is a real gift
6. I have a battery back-up surge protector left over from the closing of my office that the Internet company said to keep as it was too heavy to return. [ “too late smart”, the Pa. Dutch say]
7. No damage to anything can affect my love for my wife
8. I missed the on line community  here and at your sites.  A lot.

I appreciate The people who contacted me to inquire about my  lack of bloging activity.  Thank you for your concern, God bless your caring hearts.  I will email each of you soon, now that I am up and running on the electric pathways.  I will be catching up on my reading of your blogs and look forward to hearing from all of you soon!