Walking the Walk

It really doesn’t matter who we are, none of us are consistent in our practice of the worldview that we hold. If we are unbelievers who have thought through exactly what we do and don’t believe, we can only come out with a final conculsion that the world and all the individual things in it, are absurd. As Francis Schaeffer used to say, the result of “the impersonal plus time, plus chance.”

Schaeffer used to point out that the both notorious, and noted athiest, Bertrand Russel, had concluded that humanity’s final destination was an ignominious consignment to return to the dirt. Nevertheless, he gave himself to those issues that he viewed as moral causes. Though he thought that it really didn’t matter whether one behaved “well” or “badly” he often championed the cause of peace. Even an athiest cannot behave like one consistently.

From the starting point of Christian faith, one faces a high bar indeed. The Bible is clear that we all miss the mark of God’s perfect standard. Who is consistent in living out the most fundamental of the precepts of the faith? Nevertheless, in another way the Christian is the most consistent of all in that the Christian is the thankful participant in the redemptive work of Christ. By His finished work even our worst inconsistencies may be stricken from remembrance forever!

God knows what we are made of and has provided for those of our inconsistencies that are truly sinful, but appropriation of that provision is only possible by faith.

Is This How Paul Got His Start?

The smiling man in the picture below is Bill Hamon of Christian International Ministries Network.

The front page of his site explains the purpose of this ministry, “Jesus is involved in the restoration of His Church. Each of us is being compelled to look beyond our personal and local ministry goals and catch a glimpse of Christ’s vision for His whole Church throughout the nations of the world. Our desire is to help establish apostles and prophets as foundational ministries in the Church, and train, activate and facilitate the full restoration of all areas of fivefold ministry. In Ephesians 4:8 and 11, we read that Jesus gave fivefold ministers as gifts to the Church, “And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers.”

A perusal of his site and an examination of this type of ministry in the local church reveals an unfortunate mix of circular reasoning, false presuppositions and semantic mysticism. Circular reasoning in that one encounters arguments of the sort, “God’s prophets speak God’s message — I affirm that I am bringing you God’s message therefore you need to receive my message because I am God’s prophet.”

One becomes emeshed in this sort of theology through accepting unverifiable presuppositions: “God is restoring the five-fold ministry…” “These ministries are key to building the foundation of the church (as if it has not already been built)” etc.

Semantic Mysticism because this group and groups like this, use Christian language where the words themselves are invested with new meaning. It is a “bait and switch” tactic that results in buy in to bogus practice and experience in the area of Church life.

Semantic Mysticism because when the word “prophet” is used they are speaking of a “man-made” prophet rather than a “God-sent” prophet.

Semantic Mysticism because the prophecies themselves are individually vague and dependent on a person’s imagination and interpretation.

Semantic Mysticism because when one of these “establishers of the prophetic” says “prophet” we draw our meaning from our knowledge of Elijah, Nathan, Amos, and Agabus to name a few, but the reality is quite different!