Today, I am going to start the brewing process of my first batch of beer. Irish Red Ale.
Might as well start a Saturday off right with getting people riled up about alcohol. 😉
Here’s one for the guitar man, or anyone who likes this kind of typo-graphical pictures.
<
It isn't my creation. I saw it on a comment on a web site that I was doing some Bible canon research.
I don't know for sure, but I heard a few times that the early Christian church used the fish as an icon rather than the cross. I'd love to learn more about that if that fits into the church history series.
In this modern age of trademarks and logos, you have to wonder a bit about Christian logos. Funny, huh? Christian logos when "logos" is Greek for "word."
"In the beginning was the Word. and the Word was with God and the Word was God." The apostle John, a Greek scholar? So much I don't know. So much I'd like to learn.
Here, you try it on your computer. “less than” “colon” 3 “right parentheses” followed by “greater than” and “less than.” For whatever reason, Wordsmith (is that the name of this blog platform?) won’t show the whole thing.
Bummer. I think the colon is treated as some kind of hypertext command blocking the rest of the fish. I’m giving up. Everyone have a nice day, at least nicer than the one my fish is having. 🙂
Getting closer. Now I’m loosing the tail which is “less than” followed by “greater than.” At that, I am giving up. I guess I’ll never be a famous blog typo-graphical artist. Sad, sad, sad.
Derek, It must be that some characters are being interpreted as blog “commands.” I think there is a hypertext method to prevent that, but I don’t know what it is. So, no fish today.
And #12 should say “greater than” followed by “less than.” And that, ladies and gentlemen, makes me a serial commentator, and I think I’d better retire my keyboard while I’m ahead.
Our next-door neighbor is an irresponsible pet owner, and has a dog that terrorizes the neighborhood by barking loudly all day and sometimes well into the night.
I pondered and prayed (mused before the Lord – is that praying? More Holy Ghost reflecting than interceding, not to mention some old-fashioned human deductive thinking) for quite a while.
I ended up with a device that gives a high-pitched sound. Pet owner is OK with me doing this. It has a remote control, and I have actually been able to train this monster (actually a very lovable, just very untrained creature) not to bark.
J.U.
Good ponderings about images, logos and the thing graphic designers we call “branding”.
A thing becomes known by its cultural impact, even upon a small group, which brands it with a promise when the thing is even thought of, like, see “the Golden Arches”, that triggers the image of a burger, fries and a milkshake.
The early followers of Jesus were fishermen. When the early persecutions arose and people had to function as a persecuted class they used the fish symbol and identified it with Jesus and His followers. What more awesome image could be triggered, that The Lord Himself, The Maker, The Giver of life is amongst even the two of us meeting at this moment, you drawing a lower arc, me drawing an upper one intersecting is such a way to make a simple fish body with a tail, and between each of us, wordless, we deepen our bond, pledge loyalty, and encourage each other with Him Who is our Blessed Hope?
Far before the marketeers co-opted the symbol for bumperstickers and tsotchkes to turn quick bucks, it was already a symbol of solidarity. =)
Got a link to the site that had the typographical logo?
While in the waiting area at my wife’s therapy doctors offices (wife has debilitating arthritis) I met the grandmother of Bobby Schuller sitting right next to me. We talked a bit of course. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Schuller
She told me that Robert Schuller had talked with her about his one life’s regret that he did not use the Word of God more during his ministry.
I have always believed that a ministry will always end up on the trash heap if it does not teach the Word of God.
I meet once a year at the Crystal Cathedral facilities with some other pastors. Over the years the hospitality of the place puts completely to shame CCCM who has not been as hospital in the past to me.
Under pastor Brian Broderson things may have changed, so don’t go by what I say.
***
My son calls me up while I was at work the other day and jokingly says, “My wife’s spray tans will increase your anointing 10%.”
After my initial bewilderment over his statement he later explained that pastor Greg Laurie (Harvest Crusades) had come into her business inquiring about her service.
G. No link. Just something I saw, actually in a comment or response on a blog, several weeks ago and it stuck in my mind, partially for the reasons you explained in your post. This person “signed” their comments much as you do with the guitar icon.
Apparently it worked on that blog, but not on this one.
You can create your own with the “instructions” I gave on comment #6. Sorry I can’t credit the original use, although, for all I know, that person copied it from somewhere else, who coped it from somewhere else. It’s the sincerest form of flattery, you know.
I have a friend who is a professional “brand” consultant and works with higher education. He is constantly saying that the “logo isn’t the brand. It’s the thoughts and feelings behind the brand that are triggered by the logo.” Much as you described to the golden arches.
No worries Derek, my comment was strictly hyperbolic parody. But it does illustrate a point (for me anyway). When I read Paul’s letters to somebody else, I always remind myself that I’m reading somebody else’s mail and that it may or may not have application for me in the here and now.
gg,
Believe me, I have some experience in bottling operations and have already looked up prices on equipment for starting a small operation. Something, I am keeping in the back of my mind.
But, first steps first.
Ahh…my problem is I have tons of ideas in my head, but little time or money to make them come to fruition.
I have learned to focus on the small things that bring joy to me or my wife.
Our garden is one of those things and this batch of beer (for me not the wife)
I was trying to find an event to go to sometime this year.
I looked up the Germantown Center for the Performing Arts and saw two events I would love to go to.
My wife and I both love jazz and blugrass and Wynton Marsalis and Ralph Stanley will both be in concert there this fall.
I probably can’t afford both, but has anyone seen either in concert and can give recommendations?
“The Kingdom is to be in the midst of your enemies. And he who will not suffer this does not want to be of the Kingdom of Christ ; he wants to be among friends, to sit among roses and lilies, not with the bad people but the devout people. O you blasphemers and betrayers of Christ! If Christ had done what you are doing who would ever have been spared?” – Martin Luther
I have had the opposite sentiment show up in my facebook newsfeed in the last couple days, so I’m just sharing.
Way back in 1987 Pastor Chuck Smith had written a somewhat sanitized book called, “The Harvest.”
He had neglected to tell the stories of some key individuals that had helped to build Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa in this book.
I found my self getting irritated. And apparently so did God. I explain how I know this in the book I wrote.
So I sat down and began to type out my own story as it were because I had a hand in helping to build Calvary Chapel.
This is a PDF rough draft of what I had written back then. There are a lot of missing pages and a few errors in spelling.
I have not worked on it at all, but yet it has been read by a lot of people who got back to me and told me how it impacted them deeply.
One couple uses the book as a text book to teach young people how to walk in the Spirit.
Because I do not believe in making personal profit from anything that God does through anyone’s life I give the book away freely.
Although one intelligent theologian told me i should publish it so that it can reach a wider audience.
I still think that you, my dear readers are fully capable of spreading the book around through the current day media avenues, such as twitter, facebook, blogs, texting etc…
I would humbly ask that you would do as such if you find that the book ministered to you and blessed you.
Which of course is my sincerest prayer.
David L Sloane
You will need the free Adobe Reader to access the Book if you do not have a PDF file reader. https://get.adobe.com/reader/
I was engrossed in your book, and wanted to let you know that page 19 is missing.
On pg 18 after “Where’s Lonnie”, it jumps to page 20.
Really fascinating so far.
Yes pages are missing and a lot of misspellings. It was a rough draft that I never have finished, but a lot of people have read it and encouraged me that they were blessed for having read it.
I felt that I needed to share it again after so many years.
Of course today there is a whole lot more to the story that has not been written down.
Also there are some teachings and such attached to the PDF that I had forgotten were even there.
The missing page you mentioned has a story about a 13 year old boy who had taken LSD at the Costa Mesa Fish Fry. He was scared and panicked.
Some Christians had come across him and were looking for Lonnie to pray over him. Lonnie had gone home so I asked what was up?
They took me to the young boy. I looked into his eyes and he was indeed very frightened. So without thinking about it I automatically asked him if he wanted to get the drug out of his body. Of course he said,”YES.”
So I laid my hands on him and commanded the LSD to leave his body completely in Jesus name. Much to my shock and amazement it actually happened.
I was only a few months old in the Lord and knew very little about such things. I had no preconceived notions of what can be done and what cannot be done.
i then asked the boy if he wanted to ask Jesus Christ into his life. He did and got born again and you could see the night and day difference in his eyes. All of us got bathed in the love of God that night.
A few minutes latter it happens again. “Where’s Lonnie, where’s Lonnie?”
I am brought to a circle of people surrounding a young girl writhing on the ground and snarling. Some Christians are kneeling down near her and pleading, “O dear
Jesus, O dear Jesus.
Somehow I was able to perceive that they did not have any faith operating at the moment.
So I cleared them away and knelt down near the girl. As I start to lay my hands on her, I hear several voices saying loudly, “Don’t let him touch her, don’t let him touch her.
I felt like I was beside myself and watching me in a slow motion movie, as I swung my hand around and pointed at the direction of the voices and proclaimed, “Be silent in the name of Jesus Christ!”
At that several young men ran away as fast as they could.
I continued to lay my hands on the young girl who was still rolling around on the ground and growling. I proclaimed, “Leave her Satan in Jesus Name.” She screamed and then went limp.
I lifted her up and asked her if she would like to invite Jesus Christ into her heart. She accepted Christ. She too had light coming from her eyes after accepting Christ
I walked home humbly marveling at what had just taken place that night. And wondered what it all meant to me.
The next day was a different story as I felt that somehow I had something to do with it. You would have thought that I was Billy Graham or someone else well known. it went to my big fat head.
After that for a while nothing at all took place until i got it into my head that I had nothing to do with what had happened. It was only by the grace of God and the Holy Spirit.
Now I am very careful about my heart’s attitude and always give God the glory.
So, the visiting Pastor at the church I attend spoke on Acts 4:32-37 and Acts 5:1-11 this morning. Pretty powerful account by Luke of some of the things that were happening in the early church.
On one hand you had what appeared to be perfect unity and every physical need being met via the willful giving of those that had to those that had need. A spiritual panacea as it were.
Then BAM! Right out of nowhere Luke interjects the story of Ananias & Sapphira!
They lied to God the Holy Spirit and paid the price…
As I was sitting there, unfortunately (sorry preachers) I got distracted in my own mind and I started thinking about Peter.
I wonder if it ever crossed his mind, as he was used by the Holy Spirit to expose and pronounce judgment on that lie perpetrated by Ananias & Sapphira, that he had essentially done the same thing just a few short years before by lying and denying that he had ever even known the Lord?
I wonder how he felt, what was he thinking? That must of been a very sobering experience. A reminder to me that if I see a man or women overtaken in a sin, to exercise humility and consider my own self if I intend to expose their sin in one way or the other.
In Peter’s case, he was ultimately prepared to pay the same price (death) as Ananias & Sapphira, but for different reasons obviously.
Which reminded me that if I’m not willing to deal with hypocrisy and sin in my own life and become willing to the price, I better think twice about dealing with sin and hypocrisy in someone else’s life.
I bore easily and get distracted in my own mind while watching my wrist watch during a service often.
Never looked at Peter having to be part of a death judgment for what he essentially had done himself.
The only separator was that Peter was not telling the truth to man as opposed to not telling the truth to the Holy Spirit by Ananias and Sapphira I guess.
Their sin canceled them from finishing out their lives. But did it cancel their salvation? Or is it the unforgivable sin of blasphemy of the Holy Spirit?
Ananias in Hebrew, “the Lord is gracious” and Sapphira in Aramaic, “beautiful”
For Christians today this is still a temptation: to so luxuriate in the love and grace of God that we do not take seriously the consequences of our deliberate sinning. But God will not be mocked (Gal 6:7-8).
“Their sin canceled them from finishing out their lives. But did it cancel their salvation? Or is it the unforgivable sin of blasphemy of the Holy Spirit?”
My experiences are a bit different than David’s. The hippie subculture carried over into the next four or five decades had nearly shipwrecked my faith. The reason being, so many of those experiences David mentions have been placed in the category of being salvific, when in fact much of it was simply reading and seeing Christiany through a 1960’s lens. So when something seemed weird or off to me as a kid growing up, it was interpreted to me as me not being “in the Spirit”. That load of BS was so large that it has taken me decades to ever so slowly untangle from that extra-Biblical shenanigans presented as Christianity itself. If only the Jesus People Culture would have communicated to the next generation(s) , “this is the way we relate to Jesus. Can’t wait to see how you will do the same, only in your way”, so much confusion and resentment could have been avoided. One thing I’ve observed about the general persona of the counterculture generation, especially in regards to Christianity- they can be very opinionated and arrogant.
I could never relate to the hippie subculture in the church and being in SoCal it was predominant.
Although I am in the same age category, having been born in the 1st half of the last century, I was a business man and sober.
From my vantage point the church looked dirty and addicted. I waited until the baths and haircut took place and some of the leaders forsook Laguna Canyon.:-)
Has anyone ever noticed that people who have decided to reject portions of the bible a lot of times become more fundamentalist and argumentative, indeed evangelistic about it if one might say so, than all the ones they accuse of the same.
They spendalmost hundreds of comments either here or on FB trying to prove their point and indeed become that which they so often denounce.
I am going to say right now, they appear as zealots a lot of times to me in their sheer love of their new found rejection.
David,
I think we are around the same age, although I was a few years too young to hang with you guys in the canyon, but I have been in church longer than most of you. I think Neo really does make a lot of sense in #45. There was plenty of cultic practice back in the Jesus Movement times. It came in the form of both peer pressure and this ideal that we had finally rescued Christianity from the doldrums of traditionalism. Most of the problems in Calvary today can be traced to a sense of elitism among many who quite frankly, had hands laid upon them too soon.
I agree about the cultic practice Ixtlan. The understanding some had was that discipline was needed in the Christian communes. Since most of the people in the movement were coming out of rebellion and were learning to give up all the drugs and free love etc.
The house leadership in some communes was inexperienced and did get heavy handed in their authority. But over all the legalism counterbalanced the lack of discipline and established some routine.
There was an enormous pressure to conform to what leadership projected as the normal Christian walk.
There were a lot of Christian cults as a result. The leadership was young and inexperienced and lorded it over the flock. Shekinah Fellowship would be one of the cults behind the scenes that I learned about many years later from those who were in that ministry.
Randal Slack was one who knows more about this then I. He saw first hand the abuse.
The idea that we had rescued Christianity from traditionalism came directly from the pulpit of those who built churches upon the movements momentum.
The Jesus movement in and of its self was free form and organic until churches started forming and capturing many of the new young believers.
We who were in on the movement were quite rebellious and did not take much from the generations before us.
It is unfair to say that we did not leave much for future generations to build upon, communicating with the younger generations, when we ourselves did not even look to older generations for much.
We did the best we could, and a lot of Christians can trace their salvation experience to our efforts at evangelism.
The only thing any of us can go by would be the Bible, especially the book of acts. Sharing our faith with others is a Christian norm that we see exemplified in that book.
Yes we were opinionated and arrogant for Christ…LOL
Over all the Holy Spirit was behind the Jesus People Movement initially. Then older men of God build their churches out of the movement and we saw a lot of parameters being laid down by their Biblical understanding etc.
The movement died around 1972 in my opinion, as the Churches became organized.
I operated outside of the Churches for the bulk of my walk with God. The things that I experienced just happened as I went about my daily life.
I expected God to use me to bring others to Christ. It is my calling. I enjoyed it.
And I do believe that I have Biblical support for having done as such.
I am not aware of any of the younger generations plight. The emergent church concept is foreign to me, as are the attitudes of the younger generation. Rebellion is typical of all young generations, that I do understand well.
I do know that the Biblical standard as set by the New Testament stands the test of time and salvation factors big time in it. Sharing the gospel message stands out to me personally in highlight when I read my New Testament.
Regarding paradigm shifts when realizing that there are other liberating and refreshing ways to read scripture, speaking for me and my wife, when we read this it was a bit of an epiphany.
Start here then perhaps check the rest at the link below it…
“And then something happened. They read a book, they had a conversation, they heard someone speak, and for the first time they had language for what they’d been experiencing. They realized there are others way to talk about and understand faith/Jesus/God/The Bible/growth
and they’re thrilled.
And then they share what they’re learning with the people around them and it doesn’t go so well. Their friends and family and roommates don’t get it, furrowing their brow and saying things like I’m concerned about your new theology and This new direction you’re taking is troubling and the clincher Where is Jesus in all this?”
thanks david.
Much of what you say is in line with my own memory of that time. There was saying years ago that if you remember the 60’s you weren’t there. I would say conversely for the Jesus Movement. My experience and memory is that 1972 is about right, although the mainline denominational church I was also attending had some significantly fruitful years for a few years afterwards. I also found that there was still an openness to the gospel in other places outside of S. Cal, as I did a great deal of missional work throughout the 70’s.
Neo’s generation is every bit as arrogant as the generation that preceded them. There is nothing new under the sun. I think it is possible that they heard too many Jesus Movement war stories along with too many Prophecy updates that left them thinking there had to be something beyond the Christianity that we were passing on to them.
And, not all boomer generation’s religion was “hippie culture”.
The name Neo is interesting because it reminds us of a character in the Matrix movie.
In the movie we see the character Neo is presented with a choice of remaining oblivious or coming into the realm of reality by Morpheus.
The heavenly message system given to mankind, the Bible, is like the choice set before Neo in the Matrix movie. We either believe it or reject it and remain oblivious to truth.
It is our choice to believe or reject, a choice all of us have to make.
Here is the choice we see in the Bible given to us all by Almighty God through Jesus Christ our Lord…to accept what He says about Himself or to reject it?
…8.
“All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them.
9.
“I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.
10.
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.…
John 10:8-10
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
John 14:16
It’s all yours today.
Today, I am going to start the brewing process of my first batch of beer. Irish Red Ale.
Might as well start a Saturday off right with getting people riled up about alcohol. 😉
I am going to repent and paint license plates, in that order.
randallslack….will you repaint and thin no more?
Here’s one for the guitar man, or anyone who likes this kind of typo-graphical pictures.
<
It isn't my creation. I saw it on a comment on a web site that I was doing some Bible canon research.
I don't know for sure, but I heard a few times that the early Christian church used the fish as an icon rather than the cross. I'd love to learn more about that if that fits into the church history series.
In this modern age of trademarks and logos, you have to wonder a bit about Christian logos. Funny, huh? Christian logos when "logos" is Greek for "word."
"In the beginning was the Word. and the Word was with God and the Word was God." The apostle John, a Greek scholar? So much I don't know. So much I'd like to learn.
Darn. The little icon didn’t show up. I’ll try again: ” < "
Well that’s a complete bust.
Here, you try it on your computer. “less than” “colon” 3 “right parentheses” followed by “greater than” and “less than.” For whatever reason, Wordsmith (is that the name of this blog platform?) won’t show the whole thing.
I’m going to try one more time. I’ll put spaces between each punctuation symbol.
<
If you type it out without spaces it makes a pretty good fish. Darn it, I hate it when a plan doesn't come together.
Bummer. I think the colon is treated as some kind of hypertext command blocking the rest of the fish. I’m giving up. Everyone have a nice day, at least nicer than the one my fish is having. 🙂
<
Is that it?
Haha…nope it won’t take it. I tired exactly what you typed in #6.
OK. I’m not going to give up. Assuming it is the colon causing the problem, I’m going to use a period. It will be a one-eyed fish, if it works.
<.)))
Getting closer. Now I’m loosing the tail which is “less than” followed by “greater than.” At that, I am giving up. I guess I’ll never be a famous blog typo-graphical artist. Sad, sad, sad.
🙁
Derek, It must be that some characters are being interpreted as blog “commands.” I think there is a hypertext method to prevent that, but I don’t know what it is. So, no fish today.
And #12 should say “greater than” followed by “less than.” And that, ladies and gentlemen, makes me a serial commentator, and I think I’d better retire my keyboard while I’m ahead.
I know when I am having issues, it’s usually involving my colon. 🙂
Arghh…large heating element went out on the front of the stove. Have to wait to brew/
A dog story.
Our next-door neighbor is an irresponsible pet owner, and has a dog that terrorizes the neighborhood by barking loudly all day and sometimes well into the night.
I pondered and prayed (mused before the Lord – is that praying? More Holy Ghost reflecting than interceding, not to mention some old-fashioned human deductive thinking) for quite a while.
I ended up with a device that gives a high-pitched sound. Pet owner is OK with me doing this. It has a remote control, and I have actually been able to train this monster (actually a very lovable, just very untrained creature) not to bark.
Hallelujah.
J.U.
Good ponderings about images, logos and the thing graphic designers we call “branding”.
A thing becomes known by its cultural impact, even upon a small group, which brands it with a promise when the thing is even thought of, like, see “the Golden Arches”, that triggers the image of a burger, fries and a milkshake.
The early followers of Jesus were fishermen. When the early persecutions arose and people had to function as a persecuted class they used the fish symbol and identified it with Jesus and His followers. What more awesome image could be triggered, that The Lord Himself, The Maker, The Giver of life is amongst even the two of us meeting at this moment, you drawing a lower arc, me drawing an upper one intersecting is such a way to make a simple fish body with a tail, and between each of us, wordless, we deepen our bond, pledge loyalty, and encourage each other with Him Who is our Blessed Hope?
Far before the marketeers co-opted the symbol for bumperstickers and tsotchkes to turn quick bucks, it was already a symbol of solidarity. =)
Got a link to the site that had the typographical logo?
RE: Derek @ # 1,
Careful there Derek, your salvation could be at stake…Know ye not that…nor drunkards…
Had a few interesting things this past week…
While in the waiting area at my wife’s therapy doctors offices (wife has debilitating arthritis) I met the grandmother of Bobby Schuller sitting right next to me. We talked a bit of course.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Schuller
She told me that Robert Schuller had talked with her about his one life’s regret that he did not use the Word of God more during his ministry.
Recall that he lost his life’s creation the Crystal Cathedral to the Catholic diocese.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crystal_Cathedral
I have always believed that a ministry will always end up on the trash heap if it does not teach the Word of God.
I meet once a year at the Crystal Cathedral facilities with some other pastors. Over the years the hospitality of the place puts completely to shame CCCM who has not been as hospital in the past to me.
Under pastor Brian Broderson things may have changed, so don’t go by what I say.
***
My son calls me up while I was at work the other day and jokingly says, “My wife’s spray tans will increase your anointing 10%.”
After my initial bewilderment over his statement he later explained that pastor Greg Laurie (Harvest Crusades) had come into her business inquiring about her service.
She runs a spray tan shop called the Tannery.
http://thetannerystudio.com/
I am super proud of my daughter in law. She built her business along with my son from scratch and now is Yelps 5* recommendation for spray tans!
Speaker of the house John Boehner is not the only one with a great fake tan…LOL
I still prefer the sun on my face…always have always will.
G. No link. Just something I saw, actually in a comment or response on a blog, several weeks ago and it stuck in my mind, partially for the reasons you explained in your post. This person “signed” their comments much as you do with the guitar icon.
Apparently it worked on that blog, but not on this one.
You can create your own with the “instructions” I gave on comment #6. Sorry I can’t credit the original use, although, for all I know, that person copied it from somewhere else, who coped it from somewhere else. It’s the sincerest form of flattery, you know.
I have a friend who is a professional “brand” consultant and works with higher education. He is constantly saying that the “logo isn’t the brand. It’s the thoughts and feelings behind the brand that are triggered by the logo.” Much as you described to the golden arches.
@ Muff #19
Lol…yeah, some wanted to call Jesus a drunkard also. 😉
J.U.
Let’s see if this works
<*)))<{
No worries Derek, my comment was strictly hyperbolic parody. But it does illustrate a point (for me anyway). When I read Paul’s letters to somebody else, I always remind myself that I’m reading somebody else’s mail and that it may or may not have application for me in the here and now.
This is for Derek with his beer brew and MLD, just because he is a Lutheran! Enjoy!!
Oh Nonnie…. I have to post that on FB. My bosses will laugh so hard.
And Derek, that is how my bosses started out and now look at us…. all grown up and brewing big batches.
gg,
Believe me, I have some experience in bottling operations and have already looked up prices on equipment for starting a small operation. Something, I am keeping in the back of my mind.
But, first steps first.
Derek,
sign me up as a customer of your microbrewery…
About the video – Lutherans do know how to have fun. They have a behind the scenes crew that drinks the bottles empty. 🙂
Linnea – You be so punny!!!
Ahh…my problem is I have tons of ideas in my head, but little time or money to make them come to fruition.
I have learned to focus on the small things that bring joy to me or my wife.
Our garden is one of those things and this batch of beer (for me not the wife)
I was trying to find an event to go to sometime this year.
I looked up the Germantown Center for the Performing Arts and saw two events I would love to go to.
My wife and I both love jazz and blugrass and Wynton Marsalis and Ralph Stanley will both be in concert there this fall.
I probably can’t afford both, but has anyone seen either in concert and can give recommendations?
“The Kingdom is to be in the midst of your enemies. And he who will not suffer this does not want to be of the Kingdom of Christ ; he wants to be among friends, to sit among roses and lilies, not with the bad people but the devout people. O you blasphemers and betrayers of Christ! If Christ had done what you are doing who would ever have been spared?” – Martin Luther
I have had the opposite sentiment show up in my facebook newsfeed in the last couple days, so I’m just sharing.
dswoager ,
Not every quote you read on the internet is true, accurate or from the person being quoted. – Abraham Lincoln
This was actually pulled out of Bonhoeffer’s Life Together, I assumed it was accurate. In any case I appreciate the sentiment.
MLD,
That was good-
Thomas Jefferson
Way back in 1987 Pastor Chuck Smith had written a somewhat sanitized book called, “The Harvest.”
He had neglected to tell the stories of some key individuals that had helped to build Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa in this book.
I found my self getting irritated. And apparently so did God. I explain how I know this in the book I wrote.
So I sat down and began to type out my own story as it were because I had a hand in helping to build Calvary Chapel.
This is a PDF rough draft of what I had written back then. There are a lot of missing pages and a few errors in spelling.
I have not worked on it at all, but yet it has been read by a lot of people who got back to me and told me how it impacted them deeply.
One couple uses the book as a text book to teach young people how to walk in the Spirit.
Because I do not believe in making personal profit from anything that God does through anyone’s life I give the book away freely.
Although one intelligent theologian told me i should publish it so that it can reach a wider audience.
I still think that you, my dear readers are fully capable of spreading the book around through the current day media avenues, such as twitter, facebook, blogs, texting etc…
I would humbly ask that you would do as such if you find that the book ministered to you and blessed you.
Which of course is my sincerest prayer.
David L Sloane
You will need the free Adobe Reader to access the Book if you do not have a PDF file reader.
https://get.adobe.com/reader/
Here is the download page to my book, “Jesus The Fruiful Vine.”
http://www.pdf-archive.com/2014/05/18/jesus-the-fruitful-vine/
David
I was engrossed in your book, and wanted to let you know that page 19 is missing.
On pg 18 after “Where’s Lonnie”, it jumps to page 20.
Really fascinating so far.
http://i1.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/088/733/2dr29.jpg
Yes pages are missing and a lot of misspellings. It was a rough draft that I never have finished, but a lot of people have read it and encouraged me that they were blessed for having read it.
I felt that I needed to share it again after so many years.
Of course today there is a whole lot more to the story that has not been written down.
Also there are some teachings and such attached to the PDF that I had forgotten were even there.
The missing page you mentioned has a story about a 13 year old boy who had taken LSD at the Costa Mesa Fish Fry. He was scared and panicked.
Some Christians had come across him and were looking for Lonnie to pray over him. Lonnie had gone home so I asked what was up?
They took me to the young boy. I looked into his eyes and he was indeed very frightened. So without thinking about it I automatically asked him if he wanted to get the drug out of his body. Of course he said,”YES.”
So I laid my hands on him and commanded the LSD to leave his body completely in Jesus name. Much to my shock and amazement it actually happened.
I was only a few months old in the Lord and knew very little about such things. I had no preconceived notions of what can be done and what cannot be done.
i then asked the boy if he wanted to ask Jesus Christ into his life. He did and got born again and you could see the night and day difference in his eyes. All of us got bathed in the love of God that night.
A few minutes latter it happens again. “Where’s Lonnie, where’s Lonnie?”
I am brought to a circle of people surrounding a young girl writhing on the ground and snarling. Some Christians are kneeling down near her and pleading, “O dear
Jesus, O dear Jesus.
Somehow I was able to perceive that they did not have any faith operating at the moment.
So I cleared them away and knelt down near the girl. As I start to lay my hands on her, I hear several voices saying loudly, “Don’t let him touch her, don’t let him touch her.
I felt like I was beside myself and watching me in a slow motion movie, as I swung my hand around and pointed at the direction of the voices and proclaimed, “Be silent in the name of Jesus Christ!”
At that several young men ran away as fast as they could.
I continued to lay my hands on the young girl who was still rolling around on the ground and growling. I proclaimed, “Leave her Satan in Jesus Name.” She screamed and then went limp.
I lifted her up and asked her if she would like to invite Jesus Christ into her heart. She accepted Christ. She too had light coming from her eyes after accepting Christ
I walked home humbly marveling at what had just taken place that night. And wondered what it all meant to me.
The next day was a different story as I felt that somehow I had something to do with it. You would have thought that I was Billy Graham or someone else well known. it went to my big fat head.
After that for a while nothing at all took place until i got it into my head that I had nothing to do with what had happened. It was only by the grace of God and the Holy Spirit.
Now I am very careful about my heart’s attitude and always give God the glory.
So, the visiting Pastor at the church I attend spoke on Acts 4:32-37 and Acts 5:1-11 this morning. Pretty powerful account by Luke of some of the things that were happening in the early church.
On one hand you had what appeared to be perfect unity and every physical need being met via the willful giving of those that had to those that had need. A spiritual panacea as it were.
Then BAM! Right out of nowhere Luke interjects the story of Ananias & Sapphira!
They lied to God the Holy Spirit and paid the price…
As I was sitting there, unfortunately (sorry preachers) I got distracted in my own mind and I started thinking about Peter.
I wonder if it ever crossed his mind, as he was used by the Holy Spirit to expose and pronounce judgment on that lie perpetrated by Ananias & Sapphira, that he had essentially done the same thing just a few short years before by lying and denying that he had ever even known the Lord?
I wonder how he felt, what was he thinking? That must of been a very sobering experience. A reminder to me that if I see a man or women overtaken in a sin, to exercise humility and consider my own self if I intend to expose their sin in one way or the other.
In Peter’s case, he was ultimately prepared to pay the same price (death) as Ananias & Sapphira, but for different reasons obviously.
Which reminded me that if I’m not willing to deal with hypocrisy and sin in my own life and become willing to the price, I better think twice about dealing with sin and hypocrisy in someone else’s life.
Scott,
I bore easily and get distracted in my own mind while watching my wrist watch during a service often.
Never looked at Peter having to be part of a death judgment for what he essentially had done himself.
The only separator was that Peter was not telling the truth to man as opposed to not telling the truth to the Holy Spirit by Ananias and Sapphira I guess.
Their sin canceled them from finishing out their lives. But did it cancel their salvation? Or is it the unforgivable sin of blasphemy of the Holy Spirit?
Ananias in Hebrew, “the Lord is gracious” and Sapphira in Aramaic, “beautiful”
For Christians today this is still a temptation: to so luxuriate in the love and grace of God that we do not take seriously the consequences of our deliberate sinning. But God will not be mocked (Gal 6:7-8).
“Their sin canceled them from finishing out their lives. But did it cancel their salvation? Or is it the unforgivable sin of blasphemy of the Holy Spirit?”
No, I believe we will see them both in heaven.
Got some more free music up.
This week it is bluegrass.
http://derekthornton71.blogspot.com/2014/05/free-bluegrass-music-may-18-2014.html
Lot of songs by Bill Monroe, Ralph Stanley and Flatt & Scruggs.
All free on the Internet Archive.
My experiences are a bit different than David’s. The hippie subculture carried over into the next four or five decades had nearly shipwrecked my faith. The reason being, so many of those experiences David mentions have been placed in the category of being salvific, when in fact much of it was simply reading and seeing Christiany through a 1960’s lens. So when something seemed weird or off to me as a kid growing up, it was interpreted to me as me not being “in the Spirit”. That load of BS was so large that it has taken me decades to ever so slowly untangle from that extra-Biblical shenanigans presented as Christianity itself. If only the Jesus People Culture would have communicated to the next generation(s) , “this is the way we relate to Jesus. Can’t wait to see how you will do the same, only in your way”, so much confusion and resentment could have been avoided. One thing I’ve observed about the general persona of the counterculture generation, especially in regards to Christianity- they can be very opinionated and arrogant.
I could never relate to the hippie subculture in the church and being in SoCal it was predominant.
Although I am in the same age category, having been born in the 1st half of the last century, I was a business man and sober.
From my vantage point the church looked dirty and addicted. I waited until the baths and haircut took place and some of the leaders forsook Laguna Canyon.:-)
I don’t know what it is with those hippies and their damn cults….
Gee MLD,
The only leader from the canyon I know of would be Oden Fong.
***
Neo,
I can’t relate to anything you said. Generational gap I guess…
O ya…Oden’s house in the canyon had a working shower…LOL
Has anyone ever noticed that people who have decided to reject portions of the bible a lot of times become more fundamentalist and argumentative, indeed evangelistic about it if one might say so, than all the ones they accuse of the same.
They spendalmost hundreds of comments either here or on FB trying to prove their point and indeed become that which they so often denounce.
I am going to say right now, they appear as zealots a lot of times to me in their sheer love of their new found rejection.
Well, zealots or either nutcases.
David,
I think we are around the same age, although I was a few years too young to hang with you guys in the canyon, but I have been in church longer than most of you. I think Neo really does make a lot of sense in #45. There was plenty of cultic practice back in the Jesus Movement times. It came in the form of both peer pressure and this ideal that we had finally rescued Christianity from the doldrums of traditionalism. Most of the problems in Calvary today can be traced to a sense of elitism among many who quite frankly, had hands laid upon them too soon.
I agree about the cultic practice Ixtlan. The understanding some had was that discipline was needed in the Christian communes. Since most of the people in the movement were coming out of rebellion and were learning to give up all the drugs and free love etc.
The house leadership in some communes was inexperienced and did get heavy handed in their authority. But over all the legalism counterbalanced the lack of discipline and established some routine.
There was an enormous pressure to conform to what leadership projected as the normal Christian walk.
There were a lot of Christian cults as a result. The leadership was young and inexperienced and lorded it over the flock. Shekinah Fellowship would be one of the cults behind the scenes that I learned about many years later from those who were in that ministry.
Randal Slack was one who knows more about this then I. He saw first hand the abuse.
The idea that we had rescued Christianity from traditionalism came directly from the pulpit of those who built churches upon the movements momentum.
The Jesus movement in and of its self was free form and organic until churches started forming and capturing many of the new young believers.
We who were in on the movement were quite rebellious and did not take much from the generations before us.
It is unfair to say that we did not leave much for future generations to build upon, communicating with the younger generations, when we ourselves did not even look to older generations for much.
We did the best we could, and a lot of Christians can trace their salvation experience to our efforts at evangelism.
The only thing any of us can go by would be the Bible, especially the book of acts. Sharing our faith with others is a Christian norm that we see exemplified in that book.
Yes we were opinionated and arrogant for Christ…LOL
Over all the Holy Spirit was behind the Jesus People Movement initially. Then older men of God build their churches out of the movement and we saw a lot of parameters being laid down by their Biblical understanding etc.
The movement died around 1972 in my opinion, as the Churches became organized.
I operated outside of the Churches for the bulk of my walk with God. The things that I experienced just happened as I went about my daily life.
I expected God to use me to bring others to Christ. It is my calling. I enjoyed it.
And I do believe that I have Biblical support for having done as such.
I am not aware of any of the younger generations plight. The emergent church concept is foreign to me, as are the attitudes of the younger generation. Rebellion is typical of all young generations, that I do understand well.
I do know that the Biblical standard as set by the New Testament stands the test of time and salvation factors big time in it. Sharing the gospel message stands out to me personally in highlight when I read my New Testament.
http://shekinahfellowship.blogspot.com/2010/08/chalvary-chapel-of-costa-mesa-sept-17th.html
http://youtu.be/Im_cwlWqOd4
GAG
http://youtu.be/EbjtwkOUcbM
Regarding paradigm shifts when realizing that there are other liberating and refreshing ways to read scripture, speaking for me and my wife, when we read this it was a bit of an epiphany.
Start here then perhaps check the rest at the link below it…
“And then something happened. They read a book, they had a conversation, they heard someone speak, and for the first time they had language for what they’d been experiencing. They realized there are others way to talk about and understand faith/Jesus/God/The Bible/growth
and they’re thrilled.
And then they share what they’re learning with the people around them and it doesn’t go so well. Their friends and family and roommates don’t get it, furrowing their brow and saying things like I’m concerned about your new theology and This new direction you’re taking is troubling and the clincher Where is Jesus in all this?”
http://robbellcom.tumblr.com/post/79886748736/what-is-the-bible-part-53-a-shout-out-to-the-lonely
brian @ # 54
Hilarious brian!!! Mel Brooks would laugh his ass off too! It’s a perfect take-off on his zaney satire The Producers.
thanks david.
Much of what you say is in line with my own memory of that time. There was saying years ago that if you remember the 60’s you weren’t there. I would say conversely for the Jesus Movement. My experience and memory is that 1972 is about right, although the mainline denominational church I was also attending had some significantly fruitful years for a few years afterwards. I also found that there was still an openness to the gospel in other places outside of S. Cal, as I did a great deal of missional work throughout the 70’s.
Neo’s generation is every bit as arrogant as the generation that preceded them. There is nothing new under the sun. I think it is possible that they heard too many Jesus Movement war stories along with too many Prophecy updates that left them thinking there had to be something beyond the Christianity that we were passing on to them.
And, not all boomer generation’s religion was “hippie culture”.
I admire David Sloane’s accounts. It must have been exciting to be an eyewitness to the birth of a new religion. 😉
The name Neo is interesting because it reminds us of a character in the Matrix movie.
In the movie we see the character Neo is presented with a choice of remaining oblivious or coming into the realm of reality by Morpheus.
The heavenly message system given to mankind, the Bible, is like the choice set before Neo in the Matrix movie. We either believe it or reject it and remain oblivious to truth.
It is our choice to believe or reject, a choice all of us have to make.
Here is the choice we see in the Bible given to us all by Almighty God through Jesus Christ our Lord…to accept what He says about Himself or to reject it?
…8.
“All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them.
9.
“I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.
10.
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.…
John 10:8-10
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
John 14:16
good morning everyone
Good morning Dusty! A new week, a new day, a new beginning for everyone! His mercies are new every morning. Blessings to all.