On A Boat To Nowhere

My deep psyche offers up an image symbolizing my current phase of life. It is one of a small white sail boat, having just left shore. The sands are gold, and the port city is old, white, and well-lit. The deep blue of the ocean the boat is riding on expands into darker and darker shades, and then to pure black. It seems the journey is to nowhere, and will end with defeat.

I have it good - really good. I live in a wealthy country, in a wealthy city, surrounded by varying degrees of wealth. I have a great job, I am working my way up the corporate ladder quicker than others, next month I will be the youngest supervisor in my entire company. At 25, I am set for life, set for a good career, set for the upper middle class, condo, cars, and travel. All signs point to success! It worries me that I am settling in for the ride, accepting the journey.

When I remember to give myself a reality check, I quickly come to the conclusion that this is nothing. It is nothing, it is worth nothing, it will amount to nothing, and I am wasting my life. It is a prevailing thought in my mind when it is not busy thinking about other things, that I am for more than this, that we all are for more than this. I can't speak for everyone, but we are wasting our lives!

I feel like I'm soley responsible for wasting my life, as I am not trying at all. Like the movement of the little sailboat is because of its sail catching the strength of another force, the wind, so am
I, coasting along, not putting any effort in. But I still go forward.

But what do I do? Most people say that to add meaning to their life they need to go out and "make a difference", but I don't care about making a difference. Yeah, the world sucks, but the forecast doesn't call for anything better. There's charity, but I'm a skeptic. I don't want to be charitible just to make myself feel better, or to create the "well-balanced" life that all the "experts" say I should have.

I want to do what God made me to do, which will involve my natural gifting and deep passions. Maybe some of what He has planned for me is charity and "making a difference" - let it be. Maybe it will be something else entirely. I know one thing is true, He did not make me to be an industrial robot or a human resource.

I feel ready. Like I've grown up, shaken off the oppression and binds of a past life, given sight to faith, born a healthy degree of skepticism, and rooted myself in reality. Enough, anyway, to
take on whatever He has for me.

The Darkest Days

Vancouver songstress Sarah McLachlan opens her song World On Fire with the lyrics “Hearts are worn in these dark ages”. Every time I hear that song, I think about how a lot of people think that we live in the darkest days in history. My tendency is to think that while yes, there are dark things happening on earth, and horrifying potential, we are actually the most privileged set of human beings ever to live on this planet.

There are famines, there are population problems, there is global warming, there are wars and threats of wars, terrorism, nuclear technology, and outbreaks of diseases. But what are these problems compared to the problems of the past? We are privileged enough to have international law, whereby cruel dictators, which are dwarfed by ancient figures like devil-spawn Nero, can be stripped of their power. We have the technology that has created a better world in so many ways, such as medicine and healthcare and sanitation. We have advanced more in 100 years than humanity advanced in all of recorded human history combined in every way. We have a large portion of the planet’s population living under legitimate democratic government. We no longer have an educated elite hanging on to the ignorance of a general populace who can’t read to fill their coffers with the gold and silver of repentance. I could go on and on…

It’s been said that every generation says that the world is a worse place than when they were young. This all comes down to perspective. When they were young, they didn’t know half of what was going on, and weren’t versed enough in life to know how bad something actually is. When they become an adult, rationality is hijacked by the emotions involved in having children of their own, so mole hills become mountains, and everyone forgets that no one is dying from Polio anymore! Everyone forgets that Christians don’t get dipped in tar, have their mouths sewn shut, set on fire, and hung on a pole to light the road into Rome anymore.

Yet all the visible signs of a better world speak nothing of the heart’s condition. With the freedom of speech and the freedom of lunacy, the ease and universal nature of communication mediums, the inflammatory tendency of the media, there is mass confusion, a hiding of truth in the noise of opinion and commentary. This confusion added to the already confused state of most Western young people, whose legacy is one of confusion and non-clarity. No one knows who they are, where they are, why they are. The hearts of the fathers have turned from those of the sons, and because of this, the sons have done the same to their fathers. Starting with the industrial age, and ending in the death of any resemblance of the family necessary for proper nurture and care. Even though I can spend 8 hours in a plane and land on the other side of the planet unharmed, the world is full of despair and confusion.

Yes, we are wonderful, but we are despaired. Maybe, with this widespread darkness of the inner self, we do actually live in the darkest days... yet.

Communique l'kook

Remember the name Ronald Weinland. I stumbled upon his website(s) and his free online book entitled '2008: God's Final Witness' yesterday. I started to read the book, thinking it was just another preacher pulling headlines from the newspapers which 'prove' that the world is about to end. Not the case with this guy; he was very "right" in his style, in that he would admit that many people make claims about different signs and events and have done so since Jesus ascended, but he claimed his book is the only one that is actually correct. And without real reason.

I was astonished when, in his discussion about the Two Witnesses of Revelation 11, he actually claims to be one of them! He goes through the texts that describe these two end-time prophets, including some outside of Revelation (pretty hefty stuff), and then WHAMMY! he's one of them!! I took a gander at some of his sites - he has a few. You may want to check them out yourself (but only if you have absolutely nothing else to do...):

http://www.the-end.com/

http://www.ronaldweinland.com/

http://www.cog-pkg.org/

I never once entertained the thought of his audacious claim being true, but from what I've learned about the closed-minded missing the work of God, I decided to humour the man. I emailed him, or whoever it is that answers his emails, asking what the events were surrounding his "appointment by God", thinking that the commissioning of something so magificent and glorious and long-prophesied, bigger than the ministries of Moses and Elijah, would be quite an event! I also asked what proof in the way of miracles and/or displays of God's power he could provide to prove his claim.

I got a form letter back, and basically it explained that they are too busy to reply so read this and don't bother us anymore. It went on to explain how to "get ready" for the end of the world, one step of which is to read his two books over and over and over again. No where did it say anything about his "appointment by God" or any evidence to prove he is indeed one of "the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth". I replied saying, "There was no answer to my question in your form letter. Please be so kind as to provide an actual response or refer me to where the answer is posted online."

They replied: "Your question was more than adequately answered. We do not offer cliff notes."

I then commented on the maturity level of their organization and how the failure to provide answers on those questions not just to me, but to the whole freakin world (which he'll soon lay waste to), was proof enough that this was a Communique l'kook! I also promised him a special feature on my blog.

Take a good look; fire may come out of his mouth and destroy us all one day.

PostSecret.com

New favourite site: http://postsecret.blogspot.com/

Some people are so sad! :(

The Light of Darkness

I brought 2 books with me on a recent R&R trip to Hawaii, and I read one. The first was called ‘2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl’ by Daniel Pinchbeck, the second was ‘Piercing the Darkness’ by Frank Peretti. I only finished the first one, and it was so intriguing. To give you some background, it is based on ancient Mayan prophecies that date a cataclysmic end of time on December 21, 2012. It is actually more of a memoir of the author on things like shamanism, the use of hallucinogens, the occult, psychic ability, dreams, visions, visitations, the question of reality (matter, spirit), crop circles, alien abductions, and planetary movement. All of these things I have never thought twice about previously, dismissing them without question. I didn’t even know that this book had any of this content when I bought it; I was just interested in the Mayan calendar (ha!).

Through the author’s encounters with shamanic bush tribes in Africa and South America, through meetings with Priestesses, and through his use of certain barks and mushrooms (and other chemical synthetics), he described interaction with beings that we, as Christians, would call demons. It was so intriguing! I got so much insight into what “powers and principalities” really means, and it is nothing like I had previously thought.

Once I had finished this one, I looked at my next book, Piercing the Darkness, and was struck by the title. As Christians, even as a society in general, we tend to qualify anything evil as darkness. Light good, evil dark. However, because of the things I read in 2012, and based on certain truths about “the darkness”, this is probably a little misleading, and potentially harmful.

One of the best things I’ve learned is that the truth is one thing, and everything that isn’t the truth, no matter how close to the truth, is simply not truth (or un-truth). We call these lies – probably because this implies there’s someone to blame. In fact the best lies, the most difficult to catch, are those that are closest to the truth. Take a look at the very first lie; it’s rank with truth. We often associate truth with light, but we should not forget that the direct translation of the name of the Great Deciever Lucifer is ‘Light-Bearing One’. He was the son of the morning, the bright and morning star, the bearer of light. Nothing says he still isn’t a light-bearing one.

Through the descriptions of chats with the ‘powers and principalities’ and demons in 2012, I think it is hard to say that these beings are of darkness (not that they aren’t). In fact, you’d be hard pressed to imagine them being evil. This is because they are simply off-truth; they are of a culture a little to the left or to the right of God’s culture. Some might even call them good. We know that there is only One who is good though.

When you think about it, because there is only One who is good, just like there is only One possible Truth, off-good or off-truth or "evil" is just like us. We are the same as them, and we rarely consider ourselves evil. In fact, we consider ourselves to be generally good. How dangerous to presume the "powers of darkness" represent the other end of the spectrum of good and evil!

Theology, movies, books, stories all paint a picture of evil using fangs dripping blood and hairy heaving beasts. Maybe this is so we miss what evil really is – and fall right into it.

Bill O'Reilly

You'd expect an interviewee to get more words out than the interviewer in "fair and balanced" reporting, as found on Fox News, wouldn't you?

I don't know what irks me more -- the fact that Bill O is a real person, or the fact that he gets his own show on Fox. He makes me feel very smart.

Idiot Parade

One stormy Hawaiian evening last week, I resorted to watching the CNN YouTube Republican Debate, which presented all of the leading contenders for alpha male of the elephant herd. A former Bush-lover myself, I was shown the distinct evolution in myself and my own views over the past several years as I became increasingly agitated by some of the answers given to the questions of the general YouTube audience. It was more than the transparent attempts to woo voters, as every true politician is an expert at doing, using slogans and buzz words and even dressing like the President, it was some of the idiotic and prehistoric standpoints that really bothered me.

Of particular irk, a question challenging the military’s ‘don’t ask don’t tell’ policy about gay service-people. See clip.

I was astounded by Duncan Hunter’s answer, which proposed that “most” of the young people entering the military come from “Judeo-Christian” (buzz word) families, and because of this, would be uncomfortable and unfocused on the task at hand (in combat) if one of their peers was openly gay. Duncan wants to protect these poor children from the real world, and prevent the metaphorical bursting of their bubble. He gets the home school vote.

Mike Huckabee, Governor of Arkansas, accepts the rights of homosexuals to be whatever they want, but seems to allude to the potential “conduct” of these people as something of a lower class breed. He gets the fundamentalist vote.

Governor Mitt Romney skirted around the issue, not really answering in the end, knowing full well his answer could make or break him with some in the audience. If you look closely you can see him sweat when Anderson Cooper presses him for an answer, eventually saying that he doesn’t know, he’d ask his military counterparts. I hope he gets nobody’s vote.

Back to Mike Huckabee, Governor of Arkansas. It was he who was filmed with a Mr. Rick Mercer a while back on a hilarious CBC show called “Talking to Americans”, where we get a kick out of displaying the ignorance of some of our neighbours by getting them to say things like “Congratulations Canada for finishing the Tunnel to China!!”. (Really, we just want to make ourselves feel better about our inferiority complex.) Anyway, Presidential-hopeful Mike Huckabee is featured with a congratulations of his own. While I like to point out this little knowledge gap of someone wanting the planet’s top job, I have to say, he wouldn’t really be taking the cake, currently being eaten by the man of the [white] house. Take a look at Mike.

I almost want to take my chance at becoming an American citizen JUST to NOT vote for any of these guys.

$611 Billion

Amazing what else it can buy

Non-Profit for a New Christian Homeland in North America

Yup, it's true. Take a look at ChristianExodus.org.

:) I have to keep posting these; they are ridiculous.

In Other News, the Dow Jones Twinkling Eye Average is up...

Yes, it is now officially broken down to a science for us. See how the markets did today, but don't forget to check the Rapture Index as well. Today, it's up 2 points! Fasten your seatbelts!!

The Rapture Index

In its scoring, please remember the following criteria:

Rapture Index of 100 and Below: Slow prophetic activity
Rapture Index of 100 to 130: Moderate prophetic activity
Rapture Index of 130 to 160: Heavy prophetic activity
Rapture Index above 160: Fasten your seat belts!!!

Prayer Therapy

I haven’t ever found any value in prayer, the religious duty. And I think, in our common perception of prayer, that most often it refers to asking for something. So we may get out our list and sit down in our favourite chair, and begin to ask God for certain things, whether noble or (let’s face it) selfish, but how does that line up with the character of God, and what does that say about how we perceive Him? Asking prayer lines up with the teaching of Jesus that we are to ask and persist in asking, and believe that when we ask it will be done, but I like to imagine that Jesus, being the masterful teacher He is, was actually pitting our internal wills against each other (ie. our desire to have something against our stubbornness to let it go). More on that later.

Having to ask and ask and ask for something doesn’t seem to line up with the character of God, especially His fatherly positioning in our lives. Luke 11:11-13 says “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!" I realize the gift being discussed there is the Holy Spirit, but I think the concept is true for anything that we ask that He will give to us.

It always seemed an absurd idea to me that the more we ask for something, or the more we rally the troops to ask for the exact same thing, that maybe, just maybe, God would give it to us. Coming to mind are things like prayer chains, and prayer rallies, etc. This paints the character of God in dark colours, and our presumptions of who He is and how He views us seem to come from the shadows.

Don’t get me wrong, I believe there are certain times to gather the troops to pray, but I never believe it is to fill the offering pans with our petitions until they are overflowing with our answers. I believe God has instructed us to ask for things for other reasons. In a city-wide prayer gathering, for example, I suppose God may be more impressed with the implications of an entire city of believers laying aside their differences and coming together for one purpose, than what they’re actually praying for. Because of the unity, He may make happen what they are asking to show His happiness over that. Maybe amidst all the racket of petition, He’s waiting for people to speak out intentions or declarations which may trigger certain things in other realms (careful now!).

When it’s just us, quietly asking for a Ferrari in our favourite chair, I think His requirement of persistence may actually prove to build character in the beggar. In asking and asking and asking, and not receiving, we may get to thinking about why we want the Ferrari. It is then that God can gently tell us that we are placing too much priority on what others think of us, and aren’t finding all of our worth in God’s love. It is then that God gives us a deeper understanding of His love, because the real petition is made known: “God, I don’t feel worth a lot; show me my worth.” Ask and you will receive.

In a congregation praying for one of their terminally sick to be healed, in their fervency, maybe God would use that unity to bring the congregation as a whole to a new depth in understanding the ways of God, and His sovereignty. Maybe He would highlight areas where they are lacking. Maybe He would teach them about their own eternity, how to live is Christ, but to die is gain. Maybe He would heal her, maybe He wouldn’t.

It seems prayer, then, is therapy. It is like laying out on a couch and spilling your most sacred beans. It is less about life and all it brings, more about communion and intimacy. It is God working in our hearts to bring us closer to Him. Ask, and you will receive.

Christmas Shopping!!

If you're looking for some ideas, try Target: click here

More seriously though, go to the World Vision Gift Catalogue

Kathy Griffin at the Emmys

Warning! This may offend you!

I didn't hear about this until now; I wonder what would've happened if she said "Suck it, Mohammed!". Methinks she'd need an extra bodyguard or two. :)

Blessed, Broken, Given

I have always found it strange that the people who are considered our spiritual forefathers, the founders of the church, the workers of some of the greatest miracles recorded, were so glaringly
human. Jesus had spent a lot of time (three and a half years of constant working and travelling together) with his disciples; Peter, John, Matthew, etc. And yet, it wasn't until AFTER Jesus
appeared to them resurrected did they finally seem to start putting the puzzle together.

They had seen wonder after wonder, miracle after miracle, they had performed these very things in His name with their own hands. They had heard all the stories about rich rulers and poor widows, and had even had private sessions of insight into what the parables meant. They had Jesus, in the flesh, as their personal counsellor. And still, on the night Jesus was betrayed, Peter denied having ever met him - 3 times. The rest of them, who knows the true facts
of what happened to them, but they scattered in fear of their lives.

At that point, they still didn't get it. They just didn't get it. And this speaks volumes of the ways of God. Does he bestow his love on only the worthy, the fixed? Does he commission only the perfect? In no way. So the world will know it's Him and Him alone, He commissions those we would consider the last choice. He loves the destitute, the outcast, the sick, and makes true lovers out of them. His whole purpose is to create a family, to create people who can dwell in His love with Him. And grace is the best creator of what He wants.

Peter was filled with fear and uncertainty, thinking His best friend had been killed, and this was the end of His story - the whole thing a great big tease for the whole world. All of that work, all of the teaching - like it never happened! Do you think God was concerned? No, this is how it happens! We are largely products of our environment anyway, so of course, to be in the presence of a strong character like Jesus 24 hours a day for a number of years will produce in you a Jesus-like behaviour, sim-character. When He's gone, that's when true colours come out. [This reminds me of kids out of high school going to something like YWAM, and they spend all of their time in a certain controlled environment, and they come home on a spiritual high thinking they are going to change their world. They then of course don't have the support of the easy environment anymore and end up falling to old ways in a few weeks and lose heart thinking they've fallen out of God's will, and they look fondly on their time away as something lost. To be sure, there is a season for living in environments like this; Jesus did that with His own disciples.]

True colours are what need to be changed, and unfortunately, these are not "fixed" by creating an environment to live in. If that was the case, I think I'd be living at the monastery up the hill. And the thing is, true colours (ie. the heart) seem to be changed only when the gift is given and recieved (ie. grace, ie. salvation).

We reach a breaking point, a surrendering point, and at that point, that final moment of giving up, control can be given over to God. And we talk a lot about giving up control to God, but really what this is is love - us and God, it's always about love. This is us giving our hearts to Him, and Him giving His heart to us, in the most true love relationship we'll ever be in. This is not about Him becoming your master, about God wanting to be in control of everyone. This is about a husband and wife; you aren't only yours anymore, you belong to your other as well.

God's whole process seems to be blessing, breaking, and giving. I'm sure you can even relate this to your own life. Maybe you're in the blessing phase, maybe in a season of breaking (I'd think there's more than one), maybe you're in the giving time (where you are being given by God to others, in your love for Him). This whole 'Blessed, Broken, Given' concept comes from Luke 24:13-35 (click to read).

What does that have to do with anything? Well, it turns out, this account can be applied quite prophetically, and I'll let these lyrics to a song explain it:

Two men walked on the road to Emmaus
Blind to a stranger they met on the way
Late in the evening, they asked him to supper
To break bread together at the close of the day
The stranger took the bread and bowed his head
Then asked for a blessing then he broke it
Into pieces of three
He gave to these blind men this bread
Blessed and broken
And suddenly their blinded eyes did see
His life was blessed far more than I could ever imagine
He was touched by God's grace more than I'll ever know
Then he was broken by the hands of the father
To bring sight to all blind men who were lost on their way

After God blessed him and after God broke him
He was given to bring sight to all men
When he was blessed
When he was broken
and after he was given
God blessed him and broke him again and again

My life is blessed far more than I could ever imagine
I've been touched by God's grace more than I'll ever know
So let me be given to the hands of the father
Let me feel, what you felt, when you were broken for me
After my blessing, and after my breaking
Let me be given to bring sight to all men
When I've been blessed
When I've been broken
then after I've been given
Lord bless me and break me again and again
Lord bless me and break me again and again
(Cece Winans, Blessed, Broken, Given)

Be encouraged -- being broken doesn't mean you're lost, it means you're on your way to great great things happening in your life. You are a vessel, a carrier of the Lord's own heart (with all its love and power). Know that you are no less loved now, however unloved you feel, than the day you are finally "fixed". You are broken not because He wants to be able to love you more, but because He loves you more than He can bear right now.

Ridiculousness-ness

Come on, is this necessary? See http://objectiveministries.org/kidz/

When you need a boost...

This 11-minute video by Rob Bell will be sure to minister to you. Visit http://www.nooma.com/, and click the link to the video to "Rain 001", its location shown below. It's beautiful (maybe get the hankie ready too...)

Great find Chris!

Great Answers!

Last month, I asked y'all for your thoughts on Matthew 25 : 37-45, and I got some GREAT feedback. I love that we're all free to think and percieve things differently. The original post is this: Help! Anyway, I just wanted to make sure this particular response didn't go un-read - it's brilliant! John writes:

First, as a parent it is easy to understand that a child of yours-especially one that is in some way lesser than others-is truly an extension of your own self (just ask Jen). That being the case, the thought that "what you do unto them you do unto me" makes clear sense. We are all God's kids. The very DNA in each of us IS the image of God. He invented blood, hearts, souls, humanity. We are the extension of God.

Secondly, I think it's important to remember that 'doing' isn't always the point. If you love someone the things you do toward them will naturally (though not always) be out of love. You don't do them 'so that' they see you love them, but you do them 'because' you love them. They may never never notice what you've done, but that was not why you did it anyway. Jesus didn't die 'so that' we'd see that He loved us. He died simply because He loved us. Some people get it, some people never will. I guess my point is-don't strive to 'do' so much, but rather strive to love. I know it sounds cliche, especially in Christian circles but, try looking at people-all people-the way Jesus would. After all, the least of these that are spoken of and that are all around us are our brothers and sisters. We have God's homemade blood in our veins.

Disturbing Similarities - Neo-Nazism and the Religious Right

Interesting (and shocking) comparison between two [should be opposite] works: a monologue by a neo-nazi from a film, and an article from a popular Christian Magazine.

Take a look : Dinner Table Don'ts.

A New Brand?

I love this! Someone who isn't afraid to be real!

Kanye West - Jesus Walks

Healing Grace

I love the healing power of Jesus. Now before you roll your eyes and flip to another blog, let me show you what I did a while back. I was reading through Matthew (love it!), and I noticed a few similar instances where Jesus would simply heal everyone. There is a lot of teaching out there about pursuing physical healing, wanting it bad enough, having enough faith, spending enough, giving enough, and on the other spectrum exhausting every other possibility first, then asking for healing. But if you lump all these verses together, it begins to speak for itself. He is love, and out of that love is grace. That’s who He is – it’s beautiful to ‘watch Him work’ here. It talks about how He is willing to cure things, and how in large crowds He would heal them all before dismissing them. I am particularly highlighting the absolute nature of a lot of the writing below (words like "every" and "all"). This is in Matthew alone:

8:2-4 A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean." Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" Immediately he was cured of his leprosy.

8:15 He touched her hand and the fever left her, and she got up and began to wait on him.

9:35 Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness.

10:1 He called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.

10:8 "Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give."

12:15 Aware of this, Jesus withdrew from that place. Many followed him, and he healed all their sick, warning them not to tell who he was.

14:14 When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.

15:30 Great crowds came to him, bringing the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute and many others, and laid them at his feet; and he healed them.

19:2 Large crowds followed him, and he healed them there.

And I love the grandfathering of the power, exampled here, to His disciples in Acts 5:16: Crowds gathered also from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those tormented by evil spirits, and all of them were healed.

I guess I’ll label this a meditation. We’ve lost this Jesus.