Tuesday, August 14, 2012
De ja vu all over again
In the early 1980s, while pastoring a local church and participating in the Christian Action Council’s first “Pastor’s Protest” in front of a local abortion chamber I was confronted by was friend who chastised me for not having “thought the issue through”. At that time I considered myself “pro-life” without much real thought as to the issues and implications involved.
The rebuke stung and I began to study, think, and wrestle with the issue resulting in a decision to join with those blocking the doors of abortion chambers who, at that time were mostly Roman Catholic. Since I was a Protestant pastor, my action cost me a few “friends” and generated much confusion in the minds of long-term friends.
I was naïve in thinking that if only more Pastors got involved the local Christian communities would wake up, rise up and bring a halt to this holocaust. After ten years, scores of arrests and jail sentences, even a Federal Grand Jury I “saw the light”. Only the remnant cared; the church at large cared little.
With the Federal Government’s FACE efforts and utilization of the RICOH statutes I determined, personally, to get off the sky line and wait for “another” time ( Ecclesiastes 3).
Well, years have passed and recently viewing the Introductory Video of the Abortion Matrix, my mind has been stirred, afresh.
What might God have in store for me?
View the video and ask God to enable you to "...think without confusion, clearly..."
Thursday, August 2, 2012
The Power of the Prophetic Blessing. John Hagee, Worthy Pub., 2012
Without question, John Hagee is an engaging and accomplished author. He has a wide audience in evangelical circles, most especially and I suspect, among those who might be called Christian Zionists. This is the first book of his I have read and my initial impression was, “Is he of the ‘Word of Faith’ stripe? (I don’t know.)
That he is a Christian Zionist is without question. (I only mention this in terms of wondering why he had to make this so explicit throughout the book when Zionism is a political movement organized by a secular Jew with little relationship to God’s supposed promise to Israel?)
Seems to me the title ought to have been: The Power of the Prophetic Blessing When Uttered By a Divinely Directed Individual. The biblical examples of such “prophetic blessings” cited were from the lips of those God the Spirit moved toward such utterances. To suggest believers today have warrant to make such declarations with the same assurance of fulfillment seems, to me, to require a leap of faith.
The fact certain “prophetic utterances” were made by Mr. Hagee, his father, and a few others he cites does not establish this as a norm for believers. That we, as believers, ought to pray for our children and loved ones is a given; but to assume those prayers are on the same level as “prophetic utterances” recorded in scripture appears to be a stretch.
I greatly appreciated the author’s personal testimony of answered prayer in certain instances, and that of others he relates but, none of them establish the biblical validity of a Prophetic Blessing in the era of The New Covenant.
I was personally impressed with the author’s heritage and attribute same to the grace of God. His track record and that of his family line is umpteen times better than that of any biblical character which, in my mind, is concern for pause relative to the Thesis of the book.
I would recommend this book as an insight into John Hagee with a word of caution as to the author’s theology on this subject. Prophetic pronouncements on the order of the biblical examples cited, in my mind, ended with the close of the Old Covenant.
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