No Ordinary Thaw

Recently we heard this message from a man named Paul Washer which we thought was very, very pertinent to what is going on in the religious world today, especially in America. This man has some serious indictments against what we call “church” and unfortunately and very sadly, we do have to agree with him.

Listen to Ten Indictments by Paul Washer on MP3

Please, if you listen to this, try to “get past” the seeming “doctrinal error” of “praying Jesus into your heart” which he also roundly condemns as well. Beyond the “obvious,” try very hard to understand he’s talking about a much, much larger more universal issue than just “praying” versus “baptism.” It’s totally possible, and actually seems to happen all the time based on the observable lack of fruit and the clear holding on to valuation of the world and the world’s way of doing things, to be “baptized” and still not be truly converted over to Jesus Christ 100% in heart and end up simply being a “religious person” who tries to do mostly “good things.”

The “doctrine of regeneration” Washer speaks of, while we know of no such “term” in the Bible, is a reality however, and simply refers to the conversion of one’s heart over to and Seeing Jesus with the eyes of one’s heart before undergoing death, burial and resurrection in baptism (as Jesus said to Peter in Matthew 16:17,18) — being “cut to the heart” and agreeing with God’s verdict on both your life and the world (Matthew 11:27; Acts 2:37ff, John 1:12,13; 3:5-8; 1 John 1-2; 1 Peter 3:21 and many, many others).

His point is that we build “churches” out of much less and far lower expectations and standards than Jesus Himself requires and thereby convince ourselves (as well as others) all along the way that everything is “okay.” We hope this message penetrates and brings you closer to the Standard of Christ and to agreeing to accept nothing less than the full inheritance Jesus gave His Life for! ;-)

We’ve been watching some segments of a series on Discovery Channel called “The Toughest Race on Earth” — reality segments of a recent Iditarod race in Alaska.  One of the narrators made a comment about one of the mushers, a recovered breast-cancer victim whose “immune system” was in question during the race, and quoted her by saying:

Running the toughest race in the world is a choice for DeeDee, one she doesn’t regret…

“Being on the Iditarod trail is worth taking a risk with ‘my immune system’ if that’s [what it comes down to].  I don’t want to live ‘safe’ — I’m interested in living FULL.  A bad day on the Iditarod trail is better than a good day at home [sipping hot apple cider by the fire -- 'safe' but out of the race is the picture that came to mind as what she meant].”

There’s a lot that could be said about the kind of “race” being passed off by the religious world, which is much more like a three-legged race in a backyard at a bar-b-que where there is zero risk, zero peril, zero death and everyone drinks lemonade at the end, versus the race described in the NT which is much, much more like the Iditarod where every choice could mean the difference between finishing or freezing to death.  There’s also a lot that could be said about what it’s like for a “three-legged racer” to run into a true Iditarod musher — there’s going to be conviction.  The musher is going to rightly view a lot of “what’s the big deal?” choices a “three legged racer” makes as being foolish, selfish and just plain dumb because it’s Life threatening.  They may just have to leave you behind to freeze to death with your foolish choices…  These people were NOT “punks.”

If you see the Christian Race for what it really is, DeeDee’s attitude is the only attitude which will allow you to prevail.  It’s the attitude you will have if you are really in the Race and see it for what it is.  This is the Hebrews 11-type faith “that overcomes the world.” Such people are NOT “punks.” ;-)

One of the hardest things we’ve been able to discover, both for ourselves and for anyone else that we know, is the child-like ability to just take Jesus at His Word and the scriptures at face value, and build our lives and expectations around that, no matter what anyone else “thinks” or “explains away” as being “(im)possible” today (eg. “that was for the 1st century only,” “it can’t be done in today’s culture,” “you have to shape your message to appeal to today’s society,” etc.)

This is illustrated perfectly by a message we received from a brother in Ohio today:

George Dantzig was one of the best known mathematicians of the twentieth century. He is considered one of the three “fathers” of linear programming, a very practical tool that companies use for planning and scheduling huge manufacturing or distribution projects. An event in Dantzig’s life became the origin of a famous “urban legend” in 1939 while he was a graduate student at UC Berkeley. This legend is actually true!

“Near the beginning of a class for which Dantzig was late, professor Jerzy Neyman wrote two examples of famously unsolved statistics problems on the blackboard. When Dantzig arrived, he assumed that the two problems were a homework assignment and wrote them down. According to Dantzig, the problems ‘seemed to be a little harder than usual,’ but a few days later he handed in completed solutions for the two, still believing that they were an assignment that was overdue. Six weeks later, Dantzig received a visit from an excited professor Neyman, eager to tell him that the homework problems he had solved were two of the most famous unsolved problems in statistics and that he had prepared one of Dantzig’s solutions for publication in a mathematical journal.” Continue Reading »