more fire

I recently came across Bob Dylan’s 1979 gospel album Slow Train Coming. Simply put, it’s powerful. Apparently he has several other gospel albums. They were recorded in the late ’70s and early ’80s. Dylan’s work prior to his faith in Christ had many Judeo-Christian themes, but when he became a believer those themes became proclamations.

Robert Zimmerman was born to Jewish parents in Minnesota and after moving to New York City at age 19 he changed his name to Bob Dylan as an homage to the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas. In 1978 the 38-year old Bob Dylan was born again as a follower of Jesus Christ. His fans and peers in the entertainment industry had mixed views about his conversion. Some considered him to be a sell-out to mainstream religion while others applauded his humility and faith. Regardless of the critics’ pomp, Dylan made some amazing gospel music during his walk with Christ. “I Believe in You” and “Gotta Serve Somebody” are solid gospel tracks and both have had popular success since their release almost thirty years ago.

“You may be an ambassador to England or France,
You may like to gamble, you might like to dance,
You may be the heavyweight champion of the world,
You may be a socialite with a long string of pearls

But you’re gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You’re gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody.” from Gotta Serve Somebody.

Somewhere in the 1980s Dylan fell away from his faith in Jesus and today he fellowships with Lubavitch Jews. When he fell away from Christ many congregations chose not to sing Dylan’s music anymore. Today his gospel music can again be heard on radio stations and in churches sung by acts such as the Mighty Clouds of Joy and the Chicago Mass Choir. If you aren’t a fan of Dylan’s nasal singing, I suggest that you check out Gotta Serve Somebody: The Gospel Songs of Bob Dylan. It is a collection of gospel greats such as Shirley Caesar, Helen Baylor and even Bob Dylan singing the songs penned by Dylan. My favorite track from that album is currently Aaron Neville singing Saving Grace. If you’d like to see a clip of the making of that album check out the Multimedia page on this blog.

I believe in the gifts of the Spirit. Those who don’t believe that the gifts are for today often quote 1 Corinthians 13:10, “But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.” As far as I know that which is perfect has not yet come.

My problem with the the Charismatics is that they want to make Pentecost the center of the New Testament message. They boast about their gifts, rather than worshiping their God. Their focus becomes dreams, visions, healing and prophecy, which are all good for the edifying of the body of Christ, but should never usurp authentic worship of the God who imparts those gifts.

Liberals want to make social justice the central message of the New Testament. Social justice is relevant and good to a life in Christ, but it is not the center. Fundamentalists think that moral behavior is the center. They tell people “do” while the cross says “done”. Postmoderns emphasize grace and love, but when we look at John 3:16 we get a startling look at God’s love. For God so loved the world, that he slaughtered his only begotten Son.

The true center of the New Testament message is the blood-soaked, sin-absorbed cross. Liberals, postmoderns and most televangelists often avoid discussing blood and sin. They prefer talking about God’s promises. Unfortunately, there is no Good News without understanding the bad news. And the bad news is that every one of us has sinned. We are all guilty of deicide. We have spit in the face of the Savior. Pulled out his beard with our bare hands. Nailed him to the cross. And murdered the Savior of the world. When we begin to fathom what our sin has done we can begin to understand God’s mercy.

We should not shift the central message of the New Testament. We must remember that it is our sin that nailed Christ to the cross. And it is God’s mercy that raised him from the dead on the third day. When we acknowledge that we have chosen God’s things (i.e. the natural resources by which we live and build and enjoy) instead of choosing God we can begin to turn from our self-centered nature to a God-centered lifestyle. We can start living a life with values, rather than mere ideals. Most people wonder at some point in their life what is the purpose of our existence in the universe. When we repent of our selfish ways and turn to God we begin to understand that God made us with the intent that we would worship him and enjoy him forever.

Related posts:

• Emerging from Fundamentalism
• Heresy
• Throwing Stones

Last night I was sitting with my fiance Vonetta. She was designing the wedding invitations and I was poring over scripture. She’s been working hard in preparation for our rapidly-approaching wedding day–trying on dresses, designing invitations, working on the guest list, calling photographers. I admit that I’ve gotten off somewhat easy. I did help choose the color scheme and we went together to visit Central Park and the banquet hall several times, plus I’ve been working plenty of extra hours, but she’s the one bringing it all together.

Whenever she says that she’s feeling stressed I try to encourage her to put her burden on Jesus. Ever since I proposed to her that beautiful Thursday afternoon in the sanctuary of our church, I’ve taken to calling our Lord and Saviour our wedding planner because it was he who put us together. Last night Vonetta made me laugh. She’s got a great perspective and a wonderful sense of humor. While I was searching scripture, my bride-to-be, who was putting the final touches on the invitations, turned to me and said, “I feel like I’m Martha and you’re Mary.” At first I was taken aback. Did she just call me Mary? Then she said, “I’m working to put this wedding together while you get to sit with Jesus.”

“Martha had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, ‘Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!’ ‘Martha, Martha,’ the Lord answered, ‘you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.’” Luke 10:38-42.

Vonetta has a gift for applying the teachings of Jesus to our every day life. When we were in Wisconsin last year attending my cousin’s wedding we took a seat at the back of the reception hall where my dad, step-mom, brothers and sister were sitting. Two of my brothers and I were the ushers. Then my cousin came to our table and told us we have a table up front closer to them. When we were sitting at the table with the better view of the beautiful bride and groom, Vonetta leaned in and reminded me of Jesus’ teachings.

“If you are invited to a wedding feast, don’t always head for the best seat. What if someone more respected than you has also been invited? The host will say, ‘Let this person sit here instead.’ Then you will be embarrassed and will have to take whatever seat is left at the foot of the table! “Do this instead—sit at the foot of the table. Then when your host sees you, he will come and say, ‘Friend, we have a better place than this for you!’ Then you will be honored in front of all the other guests. For the proud will be humbled, but the humble will be honored.” Luke 14: 7-11.

I’m blessed that God has given me Vonetta. She has taught me so much about myself. And together we are gaining a deeper understanding of God’s plan for our life. I humble myself before God’s mighty throne and give glory to His holy name for bringing Vonetta and me together.

Related posts:
An intimate engagement
moaning and groaning

“Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.” Revelation 3:20.

It’s that easy. Just open the door. It might seem hard to believe, but all you have to do is let God in and you can eat with him. You don’t need to serve caviar and merlot. In fact, you can have tater tot casserole on the table and he will still want to commune with you. The 20th century prophet A.W. Tozer is a prime example of a person who opened his heart to God without any prior doctrinal knowledge. The only prerequisite to knowing God is a genuine desire to know him. When Tozer was 17 years old he was walking home from work when he heard a street preacher say, “If you don’t know how to be saved… just call on God.” When he got home, he got on his knees and yielded to God. And for the next 50 years he continued to yield and let the Lord have his way.

“I want the presence of God Himself, or I don’t want anything at all to do with religion…I want all that God has or I don’t want any.” A.W. Tozer.

I have been praying for more opportunities to witness to others about Christ and this Easter holiday I have been afforded several such opportunities. I’ll share just one. The Saturday before Easter my landlord, “Ari”, who happens to be an Orthodox Jew, stopped by to collect the rent money. He wasn’t able to give me a receipt because it was the Sabbath and he’s not supposed to work. He also said that he wasn’t able to accept my calls earlier in the week because he was celebrating Passover.

He knows that I am a Christian, but we had never talked deeply about things of a spiritual nature. The deepest our conversation had run before that Sabbath night was when I had commented about his tzitzit. I had been reading Numbers and came across the passage where the Lord says to Moses, “You are to make tassels on the corners of your garments…so that you will remember the commands of your Lord.” Ari said, “Yes. That’s true.” And that was about it.

Well, last Sabbath (i.e. Saturday) I had an opportunity to be a faithful witness and I seized it. After Ari told me that he had recently celebrated Passover I told him I was currently celebrating Easter. He asked what was the significance of Easter. I told him that it is actually the Christian equivalent of Passover. He looked interested so I went on. I explained that when the Hebrew people were about to escape from bondage in Egypt they put lamb’s blood on the sides and tops of the doors of their homes. They weren’t to put the blood on the base of the door because they weren’t to trample over the blood because it was considered sacred and precious. Ari knew all this, but I wanted to provide context.

“For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.” 1 Corinthians 5:7.

I explained that the Passover tradition kept by the Jewish people for over a thousand years was considered by early Christians to be a prophecy pointing to the sacrifice of Christ. They understood that Christ is the Lamb of God as foretold by the prophet Isaiah. In fact, Christ’s last supper was held on the evening of the preparation of the Passover dinner. After the last supper Jesus Christ willfully and obediently allowed himself to be sacrificed on a wooden cross. He did this to reconcile each of us to God by paying the debt of our sins.

“He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.” Isaiah 53:7.

And to this day the blood of the Lamb is saving those who are covered in it. When a person chooses to follow Christ they are to repent of their sins and confess that Christ is Lord. The believer is to then stay as close to the Lord as possible so as not to willfully sin and thus trample the precious blood of the Lamb. Our conversation then drifted to 1st century Judaism, the rabbis Hillel and Shammai and their interpretation of the law. This led to further witnessing to Christ’s Kingship, but that will have to be left for another post. There is much that Christians and Jews can learn from one another. And I pray that I am afforded more opportunities to witness to my friends, family and fellow Brooklynites about the glory of Christ. More fire!

Related posts on More Fire!

• Festival of Lights

• Hammer John in Sing Sing

Many Christians are barren in their walk with Christ. They attend Sunday services, sing hymns, and fellowship with other believers, but when it comes to drawing other souls to a life in Christ they are barren. They treat church as a social function rather than as a place to be refreshed in the midst of a great battle. They affirm doctrine, but do not have faith to be led by the Spirit. They sheepishly repeat the Apostle’s Creed in unison, but do not storm the altar to plead with God the Father for the salvation of souls that perish.

“For we know that the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.” Romans 8:20-23

Our journey into eternity began at the very moment we were conceived. After the death of this body our life either enters eternal glory where we enjoy God forever or it is damned to the fiery pits of hell for eternity. God is gracious and merciful, yet he is also righteous and just. As believers we are called to advance the Kingdom of God against the armies of darkness. We are to proclaim the name of Christ and wave the banner of his righteousness so that those lost in sin might repent and be saved.

The story of Hannah in the Book of Samuel is a wonderful testimony to the power of prayer and I believe that we can use her story to show how prayer can make the most barren believer bear fruit. Hannah didn’t have any children and desperately wanted a child so she began by petitioning the Lord with prayer. Notice the increasing intensity in the order of events in Hannah’s prayer vigil.

Hannah wept (1 Sam. 1: and later wept even more (v. 10). She was distressed and in “bitterness of soul” (v. 10) because of her barren state. Hannah prayed (v. 10) and continued to pray (v. 12) and finally she poured out her soul (v. 15). She regarded her unproductive state as an affliction, which she called “my great anguish and grief” (v. 16). After fasting from food and drink (v. 8, 15) she made a vow:

“O LORD Almighty, if you will only look upon your servant’s misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the LORD for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head.” (1 Sam. 1:11)

This is a woman desperate for a tangible answer to prayer. This is a woman who was “praying in her heart” (v. 12). If you are to bring others to Christ you too must be desperate for God’s touch. You must plead to him, call upon his name and be willing to sacrifice to him. I pray that this generation repents of its selfish nature and turns to God. I pray that there is a fresh anointing upon this generation that preachers, prophets and missionaries are raised up to proclaim the Good News that there is salvation in Christ. I pray that this generation is not barren, but bears fruit, boldly witnesses to Christ’s glory and invades the darkness with faith that the Lord is leading us into battle. More fire, more light, more revelation, more victory with God!

When the Fundamentalist Christian movement began at the turn of the 20th century it sought to reclaim the glory of the church and to preserve the Gospel message in a culture that, they believed, threatened its very existence. Fundamentalism was a reaction to liberalism in the mainline denominations as well as a reaction to a humanist philosophy (e.g. Darwinian evolution) that challenged to destroy their traditional worldview.

“‘You are my witnesses,’ declares the LORD, ‘that I am God.’” Isaiah 43:12

One hundred years later the Emerging Church is hoping to reclaim the glory of the church, albeit with a different motive. In effect the Emerging Church is a protest against staid Evangelicalism (i.e. Fundamentalism), which it believes is out of touch with the postmodern world. The Emerging Church hopes to increase the relevance of the church to the culture of the world and thus draw more souls into union with God.

Like Fundamentalism the Emerging Church is in the Reformed tradition. The church, which is the living body of Christ, did not cease to change after the Reformation ended. The church, like every living body, is organic and thus in a state of constant reformation. When old cells die, new cells form and the body continues to live and perform unto the glory of God. Of course Satan, his demonic forces and sinful man often attempt to injure the body of Christ and they also construct false christs in an effort to lead souls towards hell fire, but that is for another post.

Today Fundamentalist Christians still hold fast to traditions established 100 years ago, which include a strict adherence to the King James Bible, an old-timey hymnbook (which, in my modest opinion, should not be abandoned, rather occasionally updated), a literal interpretation of scripture and harsh opposition to the Catholic Church.

In contrast, proponents of the Emerging Church admit a plurality of interpretations to scripture rather than an exclusively literal interpretation. Also, they affirm the church in all its forms – Orthodox, Roman Catholic and Protestant. And rather than using the term “movement” proponents of the Emerging Church use the term “conversation” to emphasize its developing and decentralized nature.

Admittedly, all Fundamentalists are not the same and neither are all members of the Emerging Church. In this post I have used the terms “Fundamentalism” and “Emerging” in their most generic context in order to flesh out the bigger picture. There are definite pros and cons to each movement. And I would neither encourage nor discourage any believer to subscribe to either faction, but would rather encourage the believer to call on the name of the Lord for discernment, search the scriptures and ask God to be led by His Holy Spirit in all things.

“Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion!
Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem!
See, your King comes to you,
righteous and having salvation,
gentle and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

“I will take away the chariots from Ephraim
and the war-horses from Jerusalem,
and the battle bow will be broken.
He will proclaim peace to the nations.
His rule will extend from sea to sea
and from the River to the ends of the earth.” Zechariah 9:9-10.