Moved the Content of this blog to http://returntosimplicity.com and more

Moved the Content of this blog to http://returntosimplicity.com

Hi!

Nice to have you visit. I have moved the contents of this blog to another URL address. In fact I have merged my three blogs; http://canemerge.blogspot.com/, http://unloadthestuffandgetrealwithothermen.blogspot.com/, and http://veritatemquaerens.blogspot.com/, and put them together under one blog, a WordPress blog, that I have added to my server address.

You can access my postings now at: http://returntosimplicity.com

I hope you join me at that address. My reasons for switching were quite simple. It is easier to maintain three blogs and one website, by merging them together. The WordPress template allows me to have multiple pages, and a very good blogging template and interface. So these are my reasons. Just go to the blog by click on this link, http://returntosimplicity.com. Thanks.

I appreciate very much your readership and comments.


Meaningful Male Friendship in a Disconnected Age - J. Lee Grady

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Meaningful Male Friendship in a Disconnected Age

Wednesday, 20 May 2009 07:37 J. Lee Grady Newsletters - Fire In My Bones

The epidemic of moral failure among men in the church today is directly tied to our lack of healthy relationships.

Despite the proliferation of iPhones, Blackberries, e-mail and social networking Web sites—not to mention Starbucks locations—many Christian men, if they are honest, will tell you they are lonely. They may Twitter several times a day to co-workers; they may have occasional golf buddies; they may even grab coffee with colleagues from time to time. But so many men who attend church regularly are friendless.

This was made real to me last weekend when I spoke to a group of men at a large charismatic church in Rochester, N.Y. I was talking about three different types of relationships we need: (1) "Pauls," who serve as spiritual fathers; (2) "Barnabases," peer-level encouragers who support and challenge us; and (3) "Timothys," younger men we inspire and mentor.

I asked the guys in Rochester to write down the names of the men in their lives who fall into each category. When the session was over, one man went home to his wife and announced that he couldn't write down one name in any of the categories. He had no meaningful relationships. Other men I spoke to that night admitted that they don't have mentors and have never been transparent with a male friend about personal problems.

Men are disconnected. And we wonder why the American church is dysfunctional?

Secular psychologists can tell you why men struggle to build close relationships with each other. But we rarely address this issue in the church—and as a result many men who love God live in painful isolation. I've identified the three biggest barriers to healthy male bonding:

#1. Macho stereotypes. The macho myth says a real man is a rugged individualist: strongly independent, emotionally detached, covered in body armor without visible weaknesses. The macho myth tells boys they must never cry—even when they are in pain—and that when they become adults they cannot be intimate with their wives or tender with their children. The macho myth says they must maintain dictatorial power and control in relationships, even if abuse is necessary.

Yet when we look at Scripture we see that Jesus Christ radically challenged the macho culture promoted by the religious leaders of His day. The Pharisees looked down on women, stayed aloof from children, and celebrated their own importance while refusing to touch the needy. Jesus, on the flip side, empowered marginalized women, held babies in His arms, touched lepers and told a parable about a father who embraced and kissed his wayward son. Jesus destroyed the macho myth by demonstrating that the strongest masculinity is gentle and approachable.

#2. Fear of homosexuality. In my travels I've noticed that men in other countries feel perfectly free to be affectionate. Men in Africa hold hands; in Latin countries they kiss each other on the neck. Sociologists say male affection was once more common in this country—but it waned around the same time awareness of homosexuality increased. Nowadays, many straight men are afraid to offer a consoling embrace to a friend lest it be viewed as a sexual advance.

That's tragic for many reasons, mostly because all human beings need affection to thrive. There are men today in their 60s and 70s who still crave the affection their emotionally-repressed fathers never gave them. So they live in shells and suffer in silence.

Many guys turn to homosexuality as a substitute for the healthy, non-sexual male affection they should have received. (Then the devil is all too eager to convince them they were "born that way.") The church could offer genuine healing to guys who struggle with sexual identity issues, but it will require us to offer fatherly or brotherly affection without fear.

#3. The competition trap. Let's face it: Guys are so insecure and so work-oriented that we rate each other and ourselves solely on performance. Whether on the fourth-grade playground or in the corporate boardroom, we are so obsessed with the game that we can't let any other guy get ahead. We have to win, so every other male becomes an obstacle to our goal.

Male pride is the single biggest reason we can't get close to our brothers. It's the reason a Christian guy with a porn addiction can't be honest enough to call a friend and share his ugly secret. It's the reason some pastors can't admit their marriages are suffering. It's the reason successful businessmen end up drinking on weekends instead of finding a support group. A big, fat ego stands in the way.

Jesus showed us how to deal with male pride. Right before He went to the cross He gathered His male followers together for the Passover, stripped off His clothes and put on a slave's towel. Then He proceeded to wash His disciples' smelly, dusty feet. When He finished the job He told His men they should treat each other the same way.

The current epidemic of moral failure among men in the church today is directly tied to our lack of healthy, honest relationships. The only way to reverse the trend is to reintroduce men to the servant Savior—who was so humble that he took off His macho armor and became vulnerable.

J. Lee Grady is editor of Charisma. You can follow him on Twitter at LeeGrady. He is the author of 10 Lies the Church Tells Women, which is available here.


God Has Pushed a Great Big Reset Button

God Has Pushed a Great Big Reset Button
Tuesday, 05 May 2009 08:35 J. Lee Grady Newsletters - Fire In My Bones


Put on your seat belt. What we are experiencing is so much more than an economic recession.

Unless you are Rip Van Winkle and have been asleep for years, I'm sure you feel the daily convulsions that are rocking our world. Change is hitting America right between the eyes. Everything that can be shaken is being shaken—from banks and insurance companies to car manufacturers and media empires.

Trusted brands, including Chrysler and United Airlines, may go out of business within months. Newspapers are laying off employees in droves as readers go digital; bookstores like Borders can't compete with Amazon.com. Pontiac is officially dead, and the city of Detroit—once the proud global headquarters of the auto industry—is rusting and jobless.
"Please don't fight the changes God wants to bring in your life. As you hold on to His unchangeable love, allow Him to push the reset button."

What we are experiencing today is more than an economic recession. The upheaval is affecting us politically, socially, technologically and spiritually. It feels as if God has pushed a giant red reset button in heaven. Change is being forced on us.

Meanwhile there is a big problem in the church: We Christians don't have a great track record when it comes to embracing change. We are slow adapters. Often we insist on doing church exactly like Grandpa did, and then when we realize we are outdated it's too late.

For a few months I've been pondering the changes happening in charismatic churches and praying about our future as a movement. I've been asking hard questions and wrestling with my own fears of change. And I've reached some uncomfortable conclusions:

1. The charismatic movement as we know it has ended. I celebrate what God did in recent years to bring the Holy Spirit's renewal to the church. My life was totally changed by it. But the cloud is moving, and we cannot pitch our tents around the revivals of the past. While we embrace the eternal things He gave us in those days, we must discard the styles and methods that are no longer fruitful so we can advance.

That doesn't mean we throw the baby out with the bathwater. We cling to what is good. But we must leave behind the excesses, extremes and flaky doctrines that give us a bad name. The one-man show is over. The prosperity circus was a failure. We must abandon the deceptive hype of the past. People today are craving authenticity—not shallow words and empty promises.

2. A "new generation" church is emerging. I visit two or three churches every month in this country. Those that are healthy and growing have developed new paradigms. Though they embrace the power of the Holy Spirit, they also place high value on evangelism, small-group discipleship, social justice and world missions. They are extravagant in giving to outreach. They are relational, not event-driven. And they demand character from leaders rather than simply celebrating a man or woman's spiritual anointing.

No one has coined a term for this movement yet, but it is growing—and it represents the future of Christianity in our country. These new generation churches embrace healthy leadership and don't tolerate the kind of ministry monkey business that has embarrassed us in recent years. These churches love sinners and preach grace, but they draw the lines necessary to enforce biblical standards.

New generation churches are also connected in a healthy, relational way to other churches, yet they are not denominational in a restrictive sense. They refuse labels. Rather than wearing the cumbersome armor of a religious structure, they are free to pray, dream and be creative about how they should reach the children, high school students, business leaders, drug addicts, immigrants, homeless people, twenty-somethings and church dropouts in their communities.

3. God is tearing down the walls that divide us. For too long we've been content to congregate in our comfortable tribal groups. But the essence of Pentecost involves the Holy Spirit's outpouring "on all mankind" (Acts 2:17, NASB). This means true Pentecostals cannot harbor racism.

God's agenda in this next season of revival will involve tearing down racist structures—and this will occur not only in white churches but in black and Hispanic ones as well. It also means that church leaders from China, India, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America will have a greater platform to speak into our lives here in the United States. Western Christians must accept the fact that we don't have all the answers!

4. We face an unprecedented global opportunity for evangelism. I've never been the first to try new gadgets. I still like to hold my newspaper and read it on the back porch—and I don't watch TV shows on an iPhone. But regardless of my creature habits, I can't stand in the way of today's technological revolution.

Jesus commanded us to preach the gospel to the ends of the earth—and that requires us to use every means possible. God is in a hurry to reach places like Uzbekistan, Niger and Yemen—and He will likely use podcasts, Blackberries and Facebook to do it. We should claim all new media so that every person on this planet can hear that Jesus died to save us.

Please don't fight the changes God wants to bring in your life. As you hold on to His unchangeable love, allow Him to push the reset button. Then buckle your seat belt and hold on. We are in for the ride of our lives!
____________________________
J. Lee Grady is editor of Charisma. You can follow him on Twitter at LeeGrady.
 
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God Provides in Naturally Supernatural Ways All That We Need - Even Cars

Today was quite the day. After a week of dealing with the accident that my dearly loved daughters were in, and thank the Lord He kept them safe, we got a settlement on the car and went out shopping for the replacement car. In my cluster of friends (guys) I have three that drive Toyota products and they swear by them (in a good sense, like "affirming"). So, after searching through the Internet, we found a Toyoda Corolla, and decided that first thing we would go and see it. So we went out to the dealer to look at a 2006 Toyota Corolla. We saw it and it had all kinds of scratches and dents and the rear panel had obviously been involved in an accident. The salesman "Mike" was showing it to us, when another person came out of the dealership saying that this car had just sold! Lori, my dear wife said, "Good, because we don't want it!"

Then my wife looked at me and said, "Let's go see Mikki at Alpine!" So off we went to the dealer that had sold us our last two cars. We took out three different Hyundai Sonatas and then an XG350. We were sold on the last one, the XG350. So we got a new car. It will be ready for us on Friday. We are thankful for a new car, and thankful at how it all came together. The dealership was great, the sales person, Mikki, was equally great. Alpine Hyundai have been first rate with us for our two previous cars. This time was no different.

We have to look at the purchase of cars as a necessary expense and also with an eye that we are not buying a lemon. Testimonials of users, especially of those who make sure to maintain and upkeep with regular service their vehicles, are the best testimonials.

With all Hyundai vehicles the main maintenance issue is the timing belt, which should be changed every 100 K. If you don't you end up causing all kinds of other problems that pile up on top of each other. It only makes sense, money wise, to maintain and thereby minimize your costs. Our Santa Fe is a great vehicle and Lori drives it to work each day to Woodstock (67 KM one way) and it has proven to be very reliable, both in spring/summer and especially fall/winter driving.

Our Elantra was a great vehicle as well, and even in the accident, it absorved the head on collision quite well, airbags deployed and the seat belts did their thing to preserve our daughters lives, never mind the excellent defensive driving skills of our daughter Caitlin, which prevented the vehicle from being hit on the sides. See the video of the crash test for the Hyundai Elantra.



Anyone who talks about the stupidity of airbags and seat belts really do not understand how much they do assist in preserving life. Both saved the lives of our daughters. So we were pleased with it, but wanted a bigger vehicle. The Sonata made the choice easy until we saw the XG350. The XG350 is like a upscale Sonata.

So, having looked around online, I found a video of the main features of our new car. Here it is:



We are thankful that we could pay cash for the car and not absorb debt. So there is a lot to be thankful for. We have gainful employement. We have our daughters safe and sound. We have our insurance which came through to provide the means to get another car. God is good, for He works through all these situations and people, to provide for us and makes us stewards of our finances so that we can have the means to be about what He wants us engaged in, including our jobs. Today I thank God that we have Him involved in all our affairs. Our family is very grateful for His caring hand, and for His hand of provision. He sustains and keeps His own. He uses people and companies and employers to bless His people, and He wants us, His people to be responsible stewards with that which He provides.


My Thoughts on Todd Bentley Divorce, Remarriage & Restoration

Galatians 6

Nothing but the Cross

1-3 Live creatively, friends. If someone falls into sin, forgivingly restore him, saving your critical comments for yourself. You might be needing forgiveness before the day's out. Stoop down and reach out to those who are oppressed. Share their burdens, and so complete Christ's law. If you think you are too good for that, you are badly deceived. [The Message]

I have waited until now to wade into this charismaniac nightmare called the Bentley Debacle in a growing circle of conservative charismatic Christians. "Debacle" is a noun, that is defined as "a sudden and ignominious failure; a fiasco". This whole debacle has revealed the ongoing erosion of biblical evangelical conservative theology, morality and ethics in the Western church, and the false heretical teachings which have become more and more normative within charismatic circles over the last decade. There are no more variant deviant theologies than those of Rick Joyner and Bill Johnson. To even consider these men as being able to bring Todd Bentley into accountability, discipline, correction and restoration, is the most deceptive ludicrous collusion that could take place within charismatic Christianity. It is in fact the pot calling the kettle black. Both Joyner and Johnson have aberrant theologies that mirror the same heretical teachings of Bentley. It is a frightening development that will further divide and marginalize the body of Christ. Were it not for such men as J. Lee Grady and such publications as Charisma magazine, the wider charismatic stream would not be aware of ongoing developments.

So here I am today, a former ordained minister, who left the institutional church a decade ago, but still very much in the stream of evangelicalism as a charismatic Reformed Anabaptist believer in the growing house church movement, still affected by the excesses and extremes of a charismatic renewal movement that has gone off the rails. Much of this derailment can be traced to the Toronto Blessing and its subsequent off shoots, who more and more emphasized experience over godly character development, and weird manifestations attributed to the Spirit, but very much filled with flesh and the demonic such as an obsession with the angelic, unbiblical signs and wonders.

I know, for I was on the inside, and was very much engaged with the Toronto Blessing, even after the Vineyard split from it. I was hoodwinked by the likes of John Arnott and TACF, Rick Joyner, Bill Johnson, as well as Todd Bentley, Joshua Mills, and Patricia King. I was an active financial supporter of Bentley, Mills and King. I was so hungry for God, that I parked by theological training aside, and just swallowed hook line and sinker so much "crap" from these people, that it took God to bring me to a place of repentance for having embraced false teachers, and a false revival movement. The most frightening aspect of their teaching was its mixture of partial truth with grievous error, and its seducing power over your heart and mind.

My withdrawal from the wacky charismatic side began three years ago. I came across many who were deeply disturbed by the extremes dominating the charismatic branch of the church, and many who chose to withdraw and join other more conservative and less controversial expressions of the body of Christ. The writings online of such bloggers as RobbyMac and his subsequent book "Post-Charismatic?" expressed much of the angst and much of the heart of those who withdrew, hoping for a return to biblical orthodoxy by these false teachers and their followers.

There was no need for "I told you sos" when the supposed revival in Florida in 2008 was exposed as being as fraudulent as its leader. Bentley and his cohorts were being exposed for some time, and the Florida "revival" proved to be stage for his undoing and full exposure as a heretic, false teacher, and false healer. When the gang of "apostles" took centre stage with Peter C. Wagner, the deception was complete, and yet, God in His sovereignty and mercy brought the whole enterprise crashing down.

Bentley was proven to be a fraud, and yet now, more than ever we have the likes of Johnson and Joyner bullying and pimping their product (the power ministry of Bentley) upon the still conservative charismatic branch of the body of Christ. They misuse and misinterpret passages of Scripture at will, trying to convince and re-establish Bentley in ministry.

I find it disturbing that these men get away with such misrepresentations of scripture. Restoration in the New Testament has nothing to do with ministry. All the passages conscerning restoration have to do with restoration to God and to other believers. The passage that Joyner has brow beaten many with, including J. Lee Grady, is Galatians 6:1 "Brothers, if a person is trapped in some sin, you who are spiritual help make him right again. You should do this in a gentle way. But be careful! You might be tempted to sin too." This only has to do with restoration to God, through repentance, and forgiveness, and restoring such a one to God and to the local body of Christ. How Joyner and others use this for restoration to ministry defies the laws of hermeneutics and twists the principles of interpretation and application.

It is not rocket science. Take the time to read Paul's writings concerning bishops, elders and deacons and you will find very strong language about conduct and behavior and the character of those who are called to servant leadership. Marriage is a huge issue in the texts found in the epistles (1 & 2 Timothy, Titus) and here we have one area where "restoration" should have been attempted secondly, only after Todd had been restored to God. As for the latter, we have not really discovered if Todd has trully repented. For such a public personality, you would think that he would express repentance to God and the body of Christ publicly, and not go through self-justification exercises on YouTube with Joyner. Todd should have demonstrated humility and done all that he could, and more, as well as call on the body of Christ to pray for him and Shonnah, for their healing and restoration to their marriage. But no, Todd has no such faith. So what kind of "great faith gift" does Todd actually have? Does he not believe that God can and does heal and restore broken marriages? All this is a cop-out and the shaming of the institution of marriage and a dishonoring of the scriptures and the truths they reveal about God and His holiness.

There is no doubt that there are people who divorce, but I find that there is no argument for remarriage within the texts of the New Testament. Divorce was granted for the hardness of our hearts. Remarriage is not an option, for marriage is a picture of the relationship the Bride of Christ has with Christ. If anything the Old Testament and the New Testament call upon believers to forgive and restore those who have injured their marriages through unfaithfulness, and adultry. Why would Bentley not desire what God says plainly that He desires?

I have gone from one position to a more liberal position in regards to remarriage, and back again to a conservative reading and application of these same texts. Ironically all the marriages I officiated as an ordained minister were for divorced people, other than one marriage, which was for a widow and widower. I regret that I ever performed these divorced peoples' marriages, but I cannot undo them. So, now I no longer support such a view as I do not believe it to be biblical.

Likewise, I believe that unfaithfulness in marriage, compounded by erroneous theology, and aberrant false teachings, leads to the disqualifications of such persons from opportunities at servant leadership. Persons such as Todd Bentley should not be restored to any kind of public ministry, ever. Disqualification in ministry is taught and clearly revealed in 1 Corinthians 9 (especially when contrasted to the standards in the pastoral epistles, 1 & 2 Timothy, and Titus). In 1 Corinthians 9 we read:

23I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.

24Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.

25Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 26Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. 27No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

Paul postulates about apostleship and character and commitment to holiness and integrity, and shows that "disqualification" is a possibility. Todd Bentley disqualified himself. Plain and simple.

I pray and hope for a full restoration of Todd Bentley to God and to the Body of Christ, but that by no means includes a restoration to public ministry. There certainly are a host of others in the charismatic stream who have divorced and remarried and carried on with "successful ministries" since their second marriages. That says more about the followers than it does of the divorced and remarried. Charismatics crave public personalities and heroes, and unfortunately, through the ongoing machinations of the likes of Joyner and Johnson and their respective propaganda campaign through seducing videos on YouTube, they will wear down many, and draw many others to support the public ministry of Todd Bentley, regardless of the sins committed and the disqualification from public ministry standard found in scripture.

Joyner and Johnson have argued without a thorough study and exegesis of the biblical passages, and have dodged all attempts at true scriptural standards. They have stood on an easy theology of greasy grace, where they have neutered the biblical call to discernment and judgment. They have accused those in the Body of Christ of judgmentalism, when in fact, those who have been committed to truth and holiness, are only calling people like Bentley to a right relationship, through repentance, forgiveness and restoration to God honoring relationships. This is biblical accountability, nothing more and nothing less. Joyner avoids these things, and counter attacks with smoke and mirrors. Joyner made it abundantly clear that he only wants Todd's ministry restored, as he has this great "gift" that must be used. If Joyner truly knew the scriptures, he would know that God cares more about character than gifts. This is the whole point of the qualifications of eldership found in 1 & 2 Timothy and Titus.

The unfortunate thing is that eventually Bentley will be "restored" by a perversion of the biblical texts, by false teachers such as Joyner and Johnson, and Bentley will again have a following. The degree of that following will depend on the people doing the following. Those who continue to seek after weird experiences and aberrant non-biblical teachings will continue to follow the tune of Bentley the pied piper, to their own demise and destruction. The only thing we in the wider Body of Christ can do, is to continue to pray and intercede with God for the preservation of those who belong to Him, that they will not be seduced by false teachers and their aberrant teachings. May God have mercy on us and may He rescue those who are sincerely seeking after Christ and His Kingdom.

Soli Deo Gloria
Sam in Waterloo, ON, Canada


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