What has made things so interesting? This week already I have been called upon by God to defend His name and the Orthodox teachings of His Holy Church against horrific heresies and false doctrines.
It's been a Martin Luther kinda week.
First off the bat I've had to deal with a system of theology known as "Word of Faith." This is an inherently Pentecostal system of doctrine that basically says that God wants His people to prosper in every way (money, health, reputation, etc...).
This system also goes by other names: "Prosperity Gospel," "Name it and Claim it," "Blab and Grab," and "The Health and Wellness Gospel" It is propounded by such teachers as Joel Osteen, Joyce Meyer, Kenneth Copeland, & Kenneth Hagan (among others), and (like most Penecostal Theologies) has no explicit or implicit Scriptural support.
It is a system that tells its followers "if you want something just 'claim it' in Jesus name and it's yours! Because God wants you to have the desires of your heart!"
Really? Does he really want you to have the desires of your heart? Is earthly prosperity something that is really important to God? Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't our Lord Christ teach on the evils of prosperity more than anything else?
Didn't Christ teach his people to GIVE UP every earthly treasure and follow Him? Christ has told us that anyone who isn't willing to give up parents, siblings, children, home, land, money, car, LIFE is "not worthy to be my disciple."
And yet the teaching persists that God wants us to prosper in this life? I don't think so.
This system teaches that any lack of these things is a sign of lack of faith.
Hears the problem though; JESUS DOES NOT APPEAR IN THIS THEOLOGY.
Jesus came to us as a poor, marganalized peasant. He suffered a brutal murder at the hands of ungodly men at the request of HIS OWN PEOPLE.
Christ did not prosper in this life. He counted it as having no importance.
Paul wrote that he once had all the things in life that a man could ask for, and that he counted it all as rubbish (or dung) compared to the excellency of knowing Christ. This word that we translate as "rubbish" or "dung" is actually a bit squimish in our english translations. In the greek it is actually a "cuss" word. It falls somewhere between crap and sh*t in our english venacular. He uses this strong language to get across the point that earthly pursuits and earthly gain (prosperity) mean NOTHING. They are worthless and disgusting in the eyes of God Almighty.
And remember that Christ, who is God in flesh, prayed for the will of God the Father to be done. Not the desires of His own flesh.
Remember this the next time you decide to "claim something in the name of Jesus" be it a new car, a raise, a new job, children or health. Remember that as Christians we worship a poor peasant who was murdered as a traitor.
Christ promised that "if they pursecuted me, they will pursecute you." We are called to follow His example. And while Christ did tell us that "anything you ask for in My name" you will recieve, you MUST interpret Scripture by Scripture, and realize that the same person who said this also "Thy Kingdom come, THY WILL be done."
You can ask for all you want, but if it's not the will of God you won't get it. Period.
Sometimes we have to realize that God is possibly glorified in our poverty, our sickness, our persecution, and even our death. Paul prayed that God would be glorified in His death.
How many of us are too worried about "claiming" what we want in Jesus` name, than saying to God, "Lord Thy will be done; if by my life or death, wealth or poverty, health or sickness, freedom or persecution, long life or martyrdom I can give You glory, let it be as YOU will.
The second great heresy I heard this week is the one of "gender neutrality" in the church.
I was visiting a church this weekend that practices this idea; that God is NEVER talked about using masculine pronouns (i.e; Him, His, Father etc...).
What made matters worse was that this church actually also practices using FEMININE pronouns to address God.
Someone actually told me that they will begin the Lords prayer "Our Mother, who art in Heaven."
I can't begin to understand this kind of liberalism.
It was explained to me that night that God is above the gender distinctions that we would put on Him(her?), that it was a cultural thing to address God as Father in that first century patristic culture, and that it is insensitive to women to address God as Father.
I will concede that God is above our human gender distinctions. However, Jesus has CHOSEN to reveal God to us as Father. God has chosen to reveal Himself as King (not queen), as "Himself," and as the "Father to the Fatherless." The word to discribe God throughout the Scriptures is always "Him." Not "her," "she," or even "IT."
The issue of how we address God is not one of cultural relevance, but rather one of revelation. God has revealed Himself as a Father, and that's the end of the argument.
Any further pushing of the issue only reveals our own arrogance and our thoughts that WE know better than God how to address Him and share Him with the culture.
Would you address your earthly father as "mother?" No. Because he is your dad. We simply cannot resolve ourselves to the nonsensical ramblings of Hamlet who said addressing his stepfather, "Father and mother are man and wife, man and wife are one flesh and so, good night mother."
God is God. God is Father, not because He possesses the anotomical features of a human man. But rather because that is how He has revealed Himself to us. This is the end of the argument.
God is not a God of "our many understandings" as Gene Robinson would suggest. He is a God who is.
He revealed Himself to Moses as "Eyeh asher eyeh," "I Am that I Am." In the New Testament, as well as the Septuigint the equivalent to this is found when Jesus, in Johns Gospel declares, "before Abraham was born, I AM." Here he uses the phrase "Ego Eime," literally meaning "I, I am"
It is enough that God IS. We approach God as He is, on HIS terms, or we don't approach Him at all. Period.
If you choose to approach God some other way that He has revealed as acceptable, there is a real possiblity that you are not addressing the True God at all.
We all have guidlines for how people can address us. It would not be appropriate for someone to address me as "Doctor" or "Daddy" or "Ma'am" because I am not any of these things.
Likewise it is not the least bit out of the question that God would desire to be addressed as He really is. And it is inappropriate and arrogant to attempt to address Him any other whay that what He has given us.
All I have to say to my Christian Brothers and Sisters in conclusion to all of this; read your bibles, and THINK people. The writers of the Bible say over and over again that they don't want us to be ignorant. This requires constant study, prayer and THOUGHT! We do not possess a mindless faith.
We are commanded to grow in the Knowledge of God. We are told that having eternal life is "knowing God." I beg, plead and implore all of you to KNOW the God we serve. And the way to know Him is to seek Him where he is revealed to us, in the pages of His Holy Word.
We can never fully wrap our minds around the fullness of the mystery of our God. But we are told, or rather commanded, to try anyway.
That's all I have to say tonight. I hope that you all will think about your faith, about your God, and about your thoughts and attitudes toward Him. The impression of Him that you give others is dependant upon your thoughts and attitudes toward Him.
Think on it.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit +
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be. Amen.
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