Reflections of an Undeconstructed Pentecostal
When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance (Acts 2:1-4).
Continue reading “The Sounds of Pentecost”
This post is offered as an answer to many responses to my previous blog – Jesus vs. Religion. Many who are sympathetic to Jefferson Bethke’s poem suggested that his message was a reaction to “man-made” religion. Again, I am sympathetic to the poem, and my brother is undoubtedly a very talented and dedicated believer. But I remain troubled by the poem’s contradictions and naïve theological assumptions. So, let’s discuss the essential nature of the Christian faith.
Continue reading “Man-made vs. God-made Religion”
This video has become “viral” and speaks to the heart of many. While I am somewhat sympathetic to the message, I find it to be uninformed and naive. Before I offer some correction to the message, let me state that this is not an attack upon this young man (Jefferson Bethke), or even a rebuke. Instead, I simply seek to offer some “fatherly counsel.”
Continue reading “Jesus vs. Religion!????”
A friend recently asked, “Could someone define the ‘old time way/religion’ to me?” My friend is a long term pastor with a heart to reach the next generation and is struggling with a cultural “tug-o-war.” Of course, he is not alone.
Continue reading “Give me that Old Time Religion!???”
The people of Israel were a people expecting deliverance from Roman domination. They desperately wanted to be free from Roman soldiers, Roman taxes, and Roman culture. As God had redeemed their ancestors from Egypt and Babylon, they now placed their hope in a new deliverer, a messiah that would embody Moses, Joshua, and David.
Continue reading “The Spirit and the Fire”
“For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth. I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me“ (John 17:19-21).
As a teen attending a Pentecostal church in the 1970s I consistently heard bold pronouncements about the dead Baptists, the apostate Methodists, and above all the “great whore” – the Catholic Church. The concept of ecumenism was most often presented as a diabolical scheme to form a “one-world” church led by the “false prophet” for the purpose of worshiping the notorious antichrist. As a young pastor in the 1980’s I discovered that these sentiments were firmly entrenched traditions in Pentecostal churches.
Continue reading “Is Your Church Too Small?”
Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:13-14).
Continue reading “Forgetting Forward”