amazing

this is an amazing testimony of a lady who got out of the new age, and she tells of how it's leaking into the church unawares.



~lynnie

aspergers?

i took an asperger's test, it said, 

Your Aspie score: 134 of 200

Your neurotypical (non-autistic) score: 68 of 200

You are very likely an Aspie

****

also took this aspergers quiz, which said, "Likely to be Autistic"

hmmm.....

****

just read this article about facebook and aspergers.... that about sums up what i love about facebook!  so useful and less confusing for me than real life!! LOL

~lynnie

10 point plan of interpretation

from derek thomas at the ligonier 2010 conference.

rule #1.  what matters here is a hermeneutic for 'ordinary' christians.  the perspicuity of scripture.  that which is essential for salvation can be discerned by ordinary christians using the ordinary means of grace -- by going to church, reading the bible, asking teachers, dependable commentaries.  no gnosticism necessary.

rule #2.  scripture has ONE meaning.  many applications, but only one meaning.  NOT the middle ages idea of 4 meanings in every text.  'when the literal will stand, that which is furthest from the literal is the worst' -- Calvin. one meaning... because behind it is only One Mind.  many authors but behind them only One Author.  a rational, coherent Mind.

rule #3.  scripture is its own interpreter.  NO contradictions; somewhere in scripture is the explanation for the seeming contradiction that we have failed to comprehend.  Be careful therefore of building an entire doctrine on one text.

rule #4.  interpret obscure passages in the light of those that are clear.

rule #5.  pay attention to genre.  God does NOT have feathers, and does not cluck like a chicken.

rule #6.  remember, writers sometimes wrote more than they knew.  interpretation needs to be of the authorial intent of the ORIGINAL Author-- God.

rule #7.  differentiate between description and prescription.  read the narrative in light of the didactive and moral passages.

rule #8.  no interpretation can EVER contradict the gospel.  no interpretation can ever discount justification by faith alone in Jesus Christ alone.

rule #9.  be careful about word studies.  etymology.  sometimes the root words wonderfully illustrate the meaning; sometimes they do not.

rule #10.  beware of a false christo-centrism.  ie. 'finding Jesus in every passage'.  not every text of scripture speaks directly about Jesus.  instead of, 'where is Jesus in this text?', it should be 'what is Jesus saying in this text?'.  you can hear Jesus in every text, but you may not see Him in every text.

be prepared to die for primary truths.  justification by faith alone in Jesus Christ alone is a doctrine we must be willing to die for.  but secondary and tertiary truths are not to be held with the same degree of closed-handedness.

true, valid, rock steady interpretation that passes the test of time CAN be attained.

~lynnie

the lie

this is the height of irony.  here bill johnson is speaking about identifying the devil's lie, and i identify almost immediately the lie in what he is saying, and he (probably) has no clue.  and in saying what he is saying, or failing to say, he is (unwittingly?) teaching people to ignore some basics, like our utter inability to do ANYTHING, and exhalts our own abilities and responsibility for God's will to come to pass.



some thoughts...

1. he speaks slowly and thoughtfully, it brings about a mellow receptivity to whatever he has to say... because of my background, that sends up red flags immediately.

2. 1:35 or so, he says, "The Holy Spirit will lead you into a conflict, but only the ones you are equipped to win.  He intentionally leads you around conflicts you are not prepared to win."  at about 2:15, "He leads you into a conflict that you are not only prepared to win, you have the heart to win.  Now any person, any single believer, from the strongest one who walks the planet to the weakest one, every person is capable of turning in fear if they feed their heart on the wrong stuff.  If you dwell on the wrong things long enough, you will adopt a reaction, a fear reaction."

• what about all the times God took His people into captivity to crush them and bring them to repentence? they didn't win those conflicts.  all the times Paul was shipwrecked and thrown in jail... he didn't win those conflicts.
• our hearts are deceitfully wicked, and incapable of walking with God without His enablement... our hearts are not able to do anything BUT fear, unless He Himself makes us fearless....
• he is stating even the weakest person has the ability to not turn in fear if they feed their hearts on the right stuff.... ergo, if you fail, it's because you didn't do it right, it's all your own fault.  it's up to you to manipulate things so that you win, every time.

3. at about 3:45 he says, "When a word comes to us, it must be tested.  Words must be tested for 2 reasons; you have to know that what was spoken over you was absolutely true." and i just showed that this word is highly flawed and is thus not absolutely true... by his own criteria.  "You won't know the strength of a word until you see the strength of it's opposition." but he later goes on to say the opposition doesn't have any power, except for the power that we give it.... (except we don't have power of our own!).  "Secondly, a promise is given that must be tested, because your reward for receiving the promise must be released to you based on you having an option."  but as far as i know, the ultimate promise is given not by our choice, but by Christ's choice to go to the cross on our behalf; because we do not have the power to make a choice in ourself. Christ died because of our INABILITY to choose right.  ...so how can it be any different for 'lesser' promises, whatever they might be? 

.... and then he talks about transferring power from yourself to satan, seemingly to validate his last statement.

this is where i stand:

manipulating and transferring power to something or away from something is controllling spiritual powers and is witchcraft.  we are to have nothing to do with it; we have no power of our own to transfer to satan...  and God will not allow the authority of Christ to be transferred to satan.  our only appropriate stance is to confess to Christ, we have no power, You have it all, we are at Your mercy, Your will be done.

all this magical manipulating of powers is witchcraft under a christian guise.

it's not : witchcraft is the manipulation of dark powers (a counterfeit), but 'wielding' God's power is ok (the "real thing")....

it is: witchcraft is the manipulation of spiritual powers in any way shape or form; only God is to manipulate, use, shape, govern the spiritual powers...  ANY form of spiritual manipulation on our part IS the counterfeit, it's us trying to be 'as God'.  

this is THE LIE in one of it's most insidious, dangerous, deceptive forms... because we think it's part of the real deal and honors God.... when it doesn't.

~lynnie

*edit* just had to add a link to this sermon that i just listened to that provides an entirely different view on 'winning' as it pertains to the christian life..... 

this is not christianity

i can understand:

1) prophetically acting out something that illustrates what one hopes for in prayer;

2) prophetically performing something that illustrates a truth so that others may get new insight...

...but this has gone way beyond that.  this is trying to make something happen in the spiritual realm.... this is witchcraft.

might as well skip the first 4 minutes (redundant repetition... the remainder is tedious enough to get through!)



~lynnie

God uses the broken

Sy Rogers tells it like it is... from SPIRITandTRUTH.ca on Vimeo.


~lynnie

DO.NOT.WANT.

i do pray.

~lynnie

scripture is sufficient

"But what is the truth? There is the point. Is the truth that which I imagine to be revealed to me by some private communication? Am I to fancy that I enjoy some special revelation, and am I to order my life by voices, dreams, and impressions? Brethren, fall not into this common delusion. God's word to us is in Holy Scripture. All the truth that sanctifies men is in God's Word. If your imaginary revelation is not according to this Word, it has no weight with us; and if it is according to this Word, it is no new thing."

--Charles Spurgeon, Sermon 1890, March 7, 1886

~lynnie

ooooh!!! i haz a glitterz!!!

aye carumba.



this is another spirit.  praise God i can see that now.  show that to them, too, Lord. :'(

~lynnie

food for thought

in the first 10 minutes, john piper shares his initial thoughts on rick warren's message.  i think john piper sees, like a father, the person rick warren is 'in hope'; rather than so many seeing him in his faults.  that's a father's heart, and is beautiful.

i appreciate his commentary on what rick warren was trying to say; but i think it is telling that the one who supposedly has great gifts of communication had to be 'interpreted' to be understood.... something was lacking, somewhere.



~lynnie

*edit:  between the 20 and 25 minute mark, piper adds some more comments.  very.good.balance.

desiring wisdom

i don't know about you, but i want wisdom.
i want to understand God, and live my life in a way that glorifies Him.

i read lots of books when i first became a christian.
some of them i thought were good, but later i realized they were not the greatest of theology.
so i learned to 'eat the meat, and spit out the bones'.
i mean, i wouldn't want to throw the baby out with the bathwater, would i?
there is lots to be learned from people's perspectives, even if they are fallable and prone to error.
God has a deposit in all His children that we can learn from.

i mean, we all miss it on one or another area of theology...
and even if authors miss it big time in one area,
they may have some pearls of wisdom i can glean from amongst the chaff.
i know the heart of God enough to recognize error when i see it.
and it pleases God when we diligently weed through the junk to find the gems,
faithful to His call to search out wisdom!!!
i'm so hungry for wisdom!!!

Genesis 3:6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.

i mean, it can't be all bad, right?
even when you eat food, you get chemicals that are toxic in large quantities,
but you wash off what you can, and trust that your body will filter out the rest.
our bodies can handle wee bits of poison, right?

it's obvious that God has truth in all of creation,
and can make Himself know through any source,
i mean, He even spoke through an donkey!
any wisdom i can glean is worth the effort of separating from the sludge.
i know what's error and what's true, i can always recognize it--
because i have the Holy Spirit indwelling me,
and He will always lead me away from wrong.

i'm desperate for wisdom.
i really want to know God!
i'm looking for it constantly,
in everything i read, in everything i hear.
truth is everywhere, if we just have ears to hear!!!

....strange, my ears are kinda itchy right now....

*

...lead us, Lord...
...may we search for wisdom in right places...
...give us discernment to recognize what tree the fruit is on...
...that we would feed on truth and not deception.


~lynnie

warren dgnc 2010

so... i just listened to the rick warren video sermon from the desiring god national conference 2010.

i feel exhausted. words coming at me at at medium high intensity that continued with no variation for an hour. i feel yelled at. i also feel like i had a ton of principles and ideas dumped on me to such an overwhelming degree all i can do is concede his intellectual victory over me.

but i will not do that.

needless to say, feeling so exhausted from hearing it, i can't do much arguing for or against.

pros: some pithy, useful statements and principles.

cons: over pragmatic. too much information to process (despite his own statement that we're preached at too much to process in a week!). too dependent on ones own apprehension of principles and convictions; no dependence on the Holy Spirit. do do do. and if you are a doer, you need to think more.... which is in itself an action word -- another 'do'. his perspective is that he knows, his ways and methods are right, and leaves no room open for other views.

his comments regarding mental illness are absolutely reprehensible. it diminishes the legitimacy of real mental illnesses by comparing it to the normal complexities of thought-life and the effects of sin nature. i'm sorry; his statements are so full of ignorance of real mental illness that i can say that he has NOT seen the face of mental illness; he has seen what he thinks is mental illness but is NOT. i'm too angry on that point to write anymore right now.

i also found it to be incredibly lacking in integrity to say 'he hates it when people promote their own books at conferences' then proceeds to do exactly that. he too often says one thing then does another..... or says one thing, then completely contradicts himself in the next breath.

end result: aggravated. is he a false teacher? i don't think so.... but he's got some stuff majorly out of whack, which can, while sincerely meaning good, nevertheless fails to do what his primary call as a pastor is: preach the gospel. not..... give an exhortation to pull up one's bootstraps, and get off yer duff.

but then, the greek word for 'false prophet' is transliterated 'pseudo-prophet'.... and warren's pretty pseudo.... something.

~lynnie

**edit:  aaah.  pelagianism.  here's a better review than i can do!

arminian grace, how strange the sound

[To the tune of Amazing Grace.]

Arminian “grace!” How strange the sound,
Salvation hinged on me.
I once was lost then turned around,
Was blind then chose to see.

What “grace” is it that calls for choice,
Made from some good within?
That part that wills to heed God’s voice,
Proved stronger than my sin.

Thru many ardent gospel pleas,
I sat with heart of stone.
But then some hidden good in me,
Propelled me toward my home.

When we’ve been there ten thousand years,
Because of what we’ve done,
We’ve no less days to sing our praise,
Than when we first begun.

(With apologies to John Newton)

snagged from Challies.com.

~lynnie