That sounds like the beginning of a joke. And it usually is, but not this time. Not unless the joke is on me. Just how low am I willing to go to get you to read this stuff?

I did walk into a bar one night nineteen years ago with nothing more than the intention of having a few beers. I was not looking for anything else, especially company. Little did I know that this seemingly insignificant moment in my life would result in one of the determining factors of my eternal destination.

This was the night that I met my wife, Tammy. Before this I had never met a Pentecostal. And believe me, she was not Pentecostal then. But she had been raised attending the very church we are a part of today. There were various reasons she was where she was at that time but that is not the focus of this post.

It did not take her very long after we settled down into marriage to go into service to Christ and the Kingdom. And that is when the change for me started. I had been an avowed atheist since my mid teens and had already argued with many Christians about the non existence of God. I had did it for fun mostly and just because I liked to argue, if I could win.

Now I realize that all the arguments with Christians were with those Christians of the reformed persuasion. These are the ones that hold to a view of God’s sovereignty and foreknowledge that does not allow for anyone to do anything that is not at His whim or with His permission. When faced with the real questions of how a God could be both loving and good, yet allowed or instigated all the evil that surrounds us and has for all time, according to history, most Christians crumbled or fell back to the mysterious, but still wonderful, ways of a God that was not for us to understand, defense.

Needless to say, they did not convince me that I was wrong or that He was real.

But then I met Tammy, married her, and she got saved. What I did notice, even though I did not care at that time, was that she seemed to have a real relationship with something I did not even believe in. My grandmother did too. And if I had been willing to discuss these things with them, I might have had a change of mind a lot sooner. But I never wanted to argue with them. Or maybe the enemy deceived me into keeping my mouth shut so he would not lose me. It was probably both.

The relational and interpersonal method of worship, the interaction with God as a true Father figure, the open view of His attributes, power, and actions shown by the very ways Pentecostals live for the Kingdom, (even if they won’t admit it and their theological speech implies reformed thought), are the true power of being Pentecostal. God is not some distant, egotistical, tyrant like figure that causes all things to happen, whether good or bad, for His glory. Instead He is a loving Father that wants the best for His children and invites us to come to Him, giving ourselves to Him fully, so He can direct our lives in the best possible way.

This is what meeting Tammy caused me to start seeing. That is not the end of the story of my transformation but it was the beginning. Did God set us up to meet? Did He direct all of this? I seriously doubt it but do admit that I don’t know for sure. But as promised, He does work it all out for good, if we allow Him to. Even if we might be in a bar when we shouldn’t be.

So a guy walked into a bar, that guy being me, and looking back, I am so glad I did.

Back then.

Love you all

I read a post by Jason today about the need for holiness to again be championed by the church.  It seems to be an essential element of our ability to help the light of Christ shine in this world.  My comment took on a life of its own so I am asking you to read Jason’s article but I am modifying my comment to post here. 

I am in total agreement with Jason that there is a serious need in the church in America to come back to holiness.  Since the light of Christ can never be overcome by the darkness of the enemy, the dimming we ascertain is due to the position we have “between” the light of Christ and the darkness of a lost world.  If we were all transparent enough to allow Christ’s light to shine through us as He intended, we would see the darkness fleeing the light.  Instead we obfuscate when we should be helping to illuminate. 

I believe holiness is the key to our transparency.  Jason asked the following…

“With this said, what do some of you think about the lack of holiness being preached and expressed in the church today? (note: I am not talking about dresses and make-up”

I believe this is a very real factor in the equation. Holiness is mostly omitted or confused with legalistic ideas.  And we certainly don’t live as separated from the world, soldiers in the army of God.  Look at Dees post over at Hope Aflame.  We are so tied into the world it is no wonder the skeptics see no difference between us and them. 

Our constant need for “stuff”, for “entertainment”, for “acceptance”, for “influence”, ad infinitum, is diametrically positioned in relation to our mission to reflect the light of Christ.  When are we going to get it through our thick, titanium clad skulls that this is not about us.  It is about our neighbor and our enemy over us and about Jesus over even them. 

But serving Christ cannot be done if we never serve the others first.  And we can only do that by allowing the light to shine through us and that takes the transparency that is only achieved by holy living.

Jason also asked…

Also, do you feel that Pentecostal churches are feeling pressure to abandon the gifts of the Spirit in our services with the fear of people being uncomfortable?

I have to say that it may be that God Himself might be tired of some of the things we have been calling gifts and manifestations for so long.  Before going any further let me assure all that I am a FIRM believer in the supernatural gifting and moving of God in this time and place.  The very way God brought me to my knees in repentance and to salvation is all the evidence of this that I need.   

But what I mean about God being tired of our “antics” is this. 

Just look at what the vast majority of Pentecostals are seeking and being thrilled at in any given revival.  Slain in the Spirit, speaking in tongues, shouting, jumping, running the isles and I have even heard many boast of people jumping on the back of pews and running them.  Not sure what they call that. 

My question is simply, how do these things truly glorify God.  My falling down on the floor at the altar, which has happened by the way, did what for any lost soul?  Speaking in tongues has been elevated to the level of being worthy of worship itself.  Aren’t we to worship the gifter and not the gift?  Shouting, running, jumping does exactly what to help fulfill the great commission?  And I won’t even say anything about pew back running or picking up hot coals with bare hands or gold dust or gold teeth or…

What saddens me, and I wonder if it saddens God also, is our acceptance that this is all there is and we go away thrilled with the great service or revival.  Where are the miracles that really have the potential to impact lives?  Where are true, verifiable healings?  Where are all the truly changed people?  Where are the lasting deliverances from the activity of the adversary? 

I have experienced many, and am not bothered by any, of these things.  And even on occasion felt closer to God because of it.  As I said, I am saddened, but only because I know there could be so much more.  Are we just settling for what makes us happy at the moment?  And as far as it goes, if God is willing to allow us to have this level of gifting even though we are not very holy, what would we be able to do if we really did come back to holiness?

Some of the new, more postmodern Christians are probably not willing to accept or be comfortable with some of what we call Pentecostal gifting and manifestations.  But I would like to know if they could handle a paraplegic getting out of a wheelchair or a blind man gaining his sight in one of their altars.  I believe they would find this to be cause to sit up and take a fresh look.  I know I anxiously await it in my church. 

I just wonder if we might need to get rid of some of the excess first.

And I don’t have to wonder at all about the necessity to live a holy life before and for our God and King.  There just is no question about this.

Transparency is the need in this moment of darkness.  Then, and only then, can the Light shine through.

Love you all   

In my last post I mentioned some things I believe the enemy has corrupted or even brought about to use in our destruction.  I also intended to develop some practical ways to change our strategy and tactics that I believe would help us in this fight to the death.  Instead, I ended up with one of my longer articles that took me on a slightly different path. 

So this time I am going to try again to go where I intended to then.  I made the statement that our enemy slowly seduced us from the original attitudes that brought about the modern Pentecost.  He used some of the following tactics to do this. 

Acceptance by the rest of culture, entertainment, false manifestations and manipulations of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, pharisaical legalism, a false gospel of the pursuit of happiness and wealth, academics and the pursuit of knowledge, and finally a misperception of relevance.

I see these as the main areas of corruption but not necessarily all.  As I said then, I do not believe all of this is bad, just corrupted.  After all, our enemy is so good at taking the good and the true and twisting it into the bad and the false, in a way so subtle, so diabolical, that it is hard to recognize the evil. 

Let’s look a little closer. 

Acceptance.  We all want to be accepted.  We want to be asked to the party.  We want to be included in the program.  We love it when our ideas are implemented.  It is great when our words are the ones others seek to hear or read.  Most bloggers do look at their hit counters.  And this is okay.  But it does not usually fuel the drive that got us to that place of acceptance. 

At first it does keep us on our toes.  We must strive to stay on top.  But once we get accepted, we usually tend to find the comfortable.  We coast.  We lose the distinction of being the outsider with something to say.  With a new, relevant message.  This is what has happened to us.  We, as Pentecostal soldiers, who originally had a new weapon that scared the enemy and dealt him a lot of defeat, have been marginalized because we are now just one of the guys.  Playing that religious game.

Entertainment.  I hate the words, “I’m bored.”  My kids used to say this.  Often.  I also hear a lot of adults say it too.  I have thought about this more than most would believe and I don’t think I have ever said this about myself.  I don’t ever remember being bored.  Even when there was absolutely nothing to do outside myself, I still had the capacity to think and imagine.  And I say this as one who has spent a lot of time alone, as one who sought to spend that time alone.  Maybe I am just blessed that way. 

But the enemy has also cultivated the need for the individual to be constantly entertained.  Movies, TV, music, sports, internet.  Hunting, fishing, hobbies, games.  Parties, dates, meetings, reunions.  All of these things that take us over or outside ourselves have grown into giant entities of wasted time.  The days of personal introspection and Godly reflection are gone.  We must, instead spend massive amounts of time, energy, and money to feed the monster called Boredom.  I wonder if he is a principality or a power.

False manifestations and manipulations of the gifts of the Holy Spirit.  I really don’t want to go here.  But I believe I must.  I love the Holy Spirit and the Pentecostal church.  I have experienced things that at one time I was the most vocally against.  The Holy Spirit is real and alive and active in all Christians that allow Him to be.  The gifts of the Spirit are real and powerful and for today.  And I won’t even bother to argue about them because I understand the hesitancy of those who don’t believe to accept this. 

I understand their hesitancy for two reasons.  The first and simplest is that it is impossible to convince anyone of my personal experiences.  But the second reason is the more insidious of the two.  I believe the enemy has convinced some to portray the gifts in a way that is extra biblical. Some of these gifts are esteemed so highly they misplace others, which are possibly more effective as weapons against the enemy.  Some gifts become so sought after that good people are willing to go to any length possible to be seen as having them. 

Paul said he wished all would speak in tongues but he would rather them prophecy. (1 Cor 14:5)  But he also let us know we all had various gifts and different roles in the body in order to be effective.  (1 Cor 12:7)  The enemy has convinced us that we need the most popular gifts so much that some of us are willing to deceive others and, I believe, even ourselves, in false displays of these gifts.  This is the very reason an unbeliever often has a lot of ammunition against us.  False tongues, prophecy, healing, resurrections and many other manifestations that don’t even have scriptural backup, do not bring glory to our Lord and King.  They do nothing really but fuel the flame of unbelief.

Pharisaical legalism.  This had its strongest force in an earlier day.  I was not a part of this body when a person would have the state of their sanctification judged by the length of their hair or skirt, the amount of jewelry they wore, or many other outward rules and regulations that had no effect on the cleansing of anyone’s heart.  But we have grown past this.  Our new motto is come as you are.  Wear shorts and a t-shirt and even come barefoot in some churches, that’s okay. 

But is legalism gone or has the enemy just given it a facelift.  A whole lot of churches that say come as you are really do not mean this.  They really mean wear what you want.  But our Lord would certainly not mean to allow them in with a sinful lifestyle.  So we should certainly expect them to change first.  Doesn’t our attitude sometimes reflect the need for sanctification before salvation?

 A false gospel of the pursuit of happiness and wealth.  I believe this to be one of the most dangerous of all the weapons the enemy has unleashed against us to date.  God wants us above all else to be happy and prosperous.  Not full of joy and taken care of.  That would not be enough.  God is my friend and my father and there is just no way He would want me to suffer.  The enemy has a large contingent of people in his employ spreading this nefarious lie.  I believe some of them are deceived but there are a lot that have to know who they are serving.

What happens to that person who buys into this and continues to suffer?  What happens when the wealth never comes?  Some turn from the faith.  Some hang on as bitter, weaponless soldiers, battered even more intensely.  Some even hang tough and it doesn’t affect their relationship with Christ, but their lost loved ones see the deceit and will never come to faith.  I believe we have lost a lot of battles to increase the Kingdom where this doctrine is concerned.

 Academics and the pursuit of knowledge.  It is amazing that this could be corrupted.  Shouldn’t knowledge and the pursuit of it lead to a better understanding of God?  Not if the enemy can get his hands, paws, claws on it.  There is an abundance of scripture declaring God’s pleasure at our pursuit of knowledge. (Pro 8:10, Pro 24:5, Ecc 7:12, Dan 2:21, Mal 2:7)  But there are also some warnings.  (Luk 11:52, 1 Cor 8:1, 1 Cor 13:2)  If knowledge is not shared, if it brings about pride, or if it is presented with no love, it becomes a deadly weapon to be exploited by the enemy. 

Some of our most intelligent, intellectual theologians have reached a place where they are no longer teachable.  And in their arrogance they do a lot of harm to the body of Christ thru division and debate.  They have become prideful and unloving in their exposition of truth.  The more some learn about God the less they look like Him. 

A misperception of relevance.  The church must be relevant in whatever culture it is in.  It simply must matter and should be able to impact any area, age or culture.  Paul said he would be all things to all men so that some might be saved.  (1 Cor 9:22)  But unlike Paul, who meant it as a servant, (1 Cor 9:19) we seem to go to the extremes. 

We take the idea of relevance and seemingly throw it away by saying we will not reach out, we will not bend, we will not mix, or; we go to the opposite extreme and throw away all the rules, all the truths, all the peculiarities of servant hood to Christ and bring the culture into the church.  We must live in the world without being part of the world.  The enemy has successfully made this very hard to understand or apply. 

I hope you can see what I am saying here.  This has become a long read and for that I am sorry.  I hope you can take it and learn something and once again I apologize for not getting to where I intended to get.  Hang with me, please.  I will get there.

Love you all

Have you ever watched a movie about the revolutionary war?  Did you wonder why on earth the soldiers in those armies would just march right at each other, wide open, with no protection?  As if they were daring an enemy round to hit them. 

Look at a movie depicting warfare in a medieval setting and it is even crazier.  They just all dive in at each other, slashing and hacking away.  I wonder how they even know who they are killing. 

Somewhere along the line, as far as warfare tactics go, some smart soldier came up with the idea of cover.  Learn how to present as little a target as you can to the enemy.  That definitely seemed to make sense. 

Military institutions have underwent a lot of change since those first armies, with whatever they used for weapons, charged and started pummeling each other. The constant search for better equipment and weaponry is a never-ending necessity for those who engage in battle. If they intend to overcome their enemies, that is.  

When I joined the US Army in 1983, they were just finally wrapping up some of the equipment exchange programs they had initiated a few years prior to my enlistment.  Some of the new recruits were outfitted with the new battle dress uniforms, BDU’s, while others got a few articles in the old standard olive drab uniform.  For the first year of my enlistment I was issued the old “steel pot” helmet instead of the current Kevlar head protection.  The equipment is constantly being exchanged as the warfare strategy of the enemy changes. 

Weapons, tactics and strategy also constantly evolved while I was enlisted.  Mercifully I served my five years in peacetime.  But we still trained constantly.  Practicing and learning so we would be ready at all times.  A new weapon meant a lot of extra training.  Tactics and strategy was constantly revised and updated to counter any new threat.  The whole concept was known as combat readiness. 

Are we, the Church, combat ready?  I wonder.

We have been in a war against darkness of the most desperate kind, for the whole history of the Church, but not all seem to understand this.  I don’t think much of the Church even realizes they are at war.  This has to change.  We must do our duty to inform all of the body of the necessity of battle.  And even for those that are seasoned and battle hardened warriors, it looks to me like somewhere along the line, we failed to realize the enemy was changing his warfare strategy and we failed to see any need to update ours. 

We not only must teach all disciples the reality of spiritual warfare, but how to recognize the tactics of the enemy.  What is the goal of Satan?  Is it to rule in hell, so in essence, he can to take as many of us down as possible to rule over?  I don’t think so.  Satan as ruler of hell is a misconception.  He rules over this domain, because we gave him this rule. 

He is not dumb.  I believe he knows that he will suffer judgment and punishment.  Maybe he fights so hard to somehow try to change the inevitable outcome.  He has to know he cannot win.  But he can hurt God by making a whole lot of us follow his path to judgment. 

As far as tactics are concerned, do you think he is still employing the same methods he did one hundred years ago?  Or even fifty or ten.  I don’t.  I believe he adapts and adjusts every time we do. 

A little over one hundred years ago something happened that had been hidden for almost two millennium.  Some faithful followers of Christ realized something was missing.  They earnestly sought answers and were graciously answered.  The precious and powerful Holy Spirit of God came on the scene after being unwelcome for quite a while.  When He filled those early Pentecostals with a new power and a revived spirit, the Pentecostal movement was born.  And spiritual warfare was recognized once again as a reality. 

Through the gifts of the spirit, the enemy was pushed back and defeated in many areas and lives.  The movement has grown into the third largest group of confessing Christians.  And actually is believed by some to be the largest of those groups that actually try to live in a Christlike way.   

Those early Pentecostals were a force to be reckoned with because of their humility, their hunger, and their love. 

The enemy had to change tactics.  He had had many successes, mainly by manipulating the church into its concerns with the world, culture and government.  But these Pentecostals and their pursuit of holiness instead of the world set him back.  But he responded.  How?

He slowly seduced us.  Through acceptance by the rest of culture, though entertainment, through false manifestations and manipulations of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, through pharisaical legalism, through a false gospel of the pursuit of happiness and wealth, through academics and the pursuit of knowledge, and finally through a misperception of relevance.

We have become in many ways the very thing our founders wanted liberation from.  A worldly religious system.  And worldly religious systems do no harm to the enemy and sometimes even advance his campaign against our King. 

My church, the Alabaster Church of God, is in a revival at the moment.  My pastor, Robert Barnes, and the evangelist, John Ritcheson, seem to be putting forth a message from God that we must go beyond a simple personal refreshing.  Instead we must come back to our roots, which are humility, hunger and love.   

(2 Ch 7:14 ) If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

We must change our tactics and strategies from what they have become.  Instead of the elevation of self, and a pursuit of pleasure, and an attitude of hatred and judgment, we simply must humble ourselves before God, hunger for His presence and instruction, and turn back to the love for God and the love of all that He loves. 

The things that the enemy has used to divert us that I listed above are not all inherently bad or bad for us.  It is sometimes just the misuse or improper esteem we place on things and ideas and movements.  If we are to be effective in defeating the tactics of the enemy at the moment we simply must come back to the proper place in Christ that we should be. 

And if you know anything about current events, you know we must not tarry.

Combat readiness.  In my peacetime army training that simply meant sweat, lack of sleep, weariness and monotony even. 

In this real war between the forces of heaven and hell, it means life or death

Love you all