Kindled

Look at the evergreen.

Surely it recognizes its cold, frosty surroundings,
But despite the current season, it appears unaffected.

Its green, waxy pines are celebrated as they pinch
Anyone that goes near.

Plugging away in the dead of winter,
While other foliage embrace the change.

Show their true colours in the fall,
Then lose their pride after the harvest.

They become naked.

Transparent
Before even those who do not have eyes.

For they hear
Not the rustling of leaves,
But the scraping of branches.

Yet the evergreen sits in the warmth of company and gifts,
Gasping for breath,
While the others roast in the fire.

Because green wood is harder to burn.

Damaging Effects of Direct Sunlight

our culture has allowed us to embrace the comfort of the world which we are presented with. we are sheltered by what mass media deems important and worthy of our attention. it, in turn, dictates our world-view and ignorance of the bigger picture. it is our tinted pair of sunglasses, transforming reflections of the sun into a more tolerable, soothing picture. not revealing the intense; painful; and, in prolonged exposure, damaging effects of direct sunlight.

we have become vulnerable. accustomed to the shade that our 'sunglasses' provide for us. even in our spiritual lives. we tackle the decoys that the devil has set for us: saving gospel music; the constitution of marriage; prayer in school; pro-life activism; religious holidays... the list goes on and on.

the Church holds on so dearly to these things. these social issues. they proclaim our pride to this great nation. all that we will stand for.

but our war is not that against flesh and blood. but in the intense; painful; and, in prolonged exposure, damaging effects of spiritual warfare (damaging to your complacency in your faith)

perhaps it is our freedom of speech that has been our biggest hinderance of all in this battle. meaning, the ability to fight for these 'rights'. i mean, by making all of our country's laws align with our biblical philosophy, will we see a country turn to God? i hope not. i would hate to attend a church that is programmed by government dictatorship.

i do not think this country will experience full-fledged revival until our freedoms have been stripped away from us. until the church is an underground movement. let them bulldoze our church buildings. let them persecute us for our world-view. let christianity become a rebellion again. then and only then will you see a true hunger. a true passion.

i'm not suggesting that we light matches to our church buildings. thank God for the freedom to build a place for gathering of christians. but i think we are afraid of the inevitable: north america as a third-world country. it is actually harder to live your faith in this westernized culture than anywhere else in the world. because our battle is not against oppression, it is against legalism. our battle is not against the social issues of our north american culture, but against the root of the problem: their world-view... largely, evolutionism. give a people no meaning for life, and you get a life with no meaning. no absolute truths. no values. no conscience. try and explain to them that the purpose for church is to make the world a better place to live... it's doomed to fail. because Jesus did not come to take over the world, but to save us from it!

let that be our mission also: to save people from the never-ending punshment for the wickedness of this world.

You are Proverbs

You are Proverbs.

Which book of the Bible are you?

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Judge a Book by its Followers (revised)

the book: The Holy Bible
its followers: Christians
the judges: ....Christians?

i've been thinking about this for a little while now. (pause for more thought) can people base an accurate preconception of a 'religion' based on its followers? should they be able to? pop-culture teaches not to judge a book by its cover. but christians do it all the time. could one, being a non-believer, tell someone what christianity is without ever reading the entire christian bible, but by judging the lives of its followers? could christians? this would require christians to learn the bible, and apply it to their daily life. i mean, this sounds somewhat absurd. to memorize 66 books of prophecy, ethics, miracles, and genealogy and practice it in your daily life.

perhaps some omissions from the bible are permittable, if we are called to "preach the gospel"... like, we could leave out all the boring stuff, cut straight to the 'meat' and hilight key references in the bible. or better yet, cut out the entire old testament. besides, Jesus never came to save the world until the new testament, right? well, there's 4 whole books about Jesus, so he must be important. maybe we could just pick one book and stick with that. let's stick with john because i think i heard he spent the most time with Jesus. but there's 21 chapters in john. still a long read. so let's boil it down to the main message of Jesus... He did say to obey God's commandments. but there's 10 of those, and i only remember a few... so what are the important ones? Jesus said that the greatest commandment was love.

we have boiled it down to one thing. love. is that it? can we settle for that? can we live that? sure! every christian will tell you that! roman catholics and protestants alike! as well as mormons! jews! muslims! hindus! buddhists! sikhs! taoists! wiccans! we can all live together in peace and harmony! isn't that the ultimate goal? is that love? i think it's more of a tolerance. this is NOT the love that Jesus was talking about. this is not being the "salt of the earth". i think we have the wrong idea about love. love is not about making sure everyone gets along nicely with eachother. love hurts. love bleeds. love intrudes. love heals...

the hippie movement was inspired by contemporary christian music artists. they wrote love songs to Jesus. they told the world that Jesus loved them. that He didn't care where they had been. that God would love them no matter what.

people liked this idea about Jesus. they could smoke a joint, fornicate in the woods, run around naked... and it would never matter, Jesus loved them! well, they LOVED this idea. don't get me wrong, i can't argue with them. the initial message is true! Jesus DOES love me. and THANK GOD for grace...

grace? okay. let's back this up. what is grace for? why do we need grace? grace was God's ultimate gift to man. THROUGH Jesus. he gave us forgiveness and a second chance. this is our second chance. a chance to make a difference. to create change. God demonstrated His love for us by intruding into our lives. sending His son to die for us. to heal us. and that hurts. and Jesus bled for us. he died for us. that is love.

so my point is, we are to be like God. is this unfair? if, to enter heaven, divine perfection is expected of us? can we judge a book by its cover? can we judge the Bible by the lives of its followers? do christians follow the Bible? do christians live bible-inspired lives? we need to stop judging eachother. we need to start loving eachother. speak love, not judgement. we need to stop tolerating eachother. we need to start holding eachother accountable for their actions. speak truth, not compromise.

Feeding the Fire

the fundamental stage... has turned into a lifestyle.

this blog, if you haven't noticed, is not your typical one. because i don't just talk about my experiences. i intend to challenge you, my brothers and sisters. so i will begin...

okay, so that was my big intro... can i get right to the meat? i hate beating around the bush. i hate intro paragraphs to be honest. they sound so phony. so insightful. this will be a blog about the church. somewhat like my last one. however, i am coming to a point where addressing the same issues people have seems futile. and let me tell ya, it will wear you down. it seems as though from the moment one christian gets a burning passion for Christ, everyone you come in contact with wants to suck you dry. and it's natural. people want what you have. they see your life heading in a direction they would aspire to.

is this so wrong? to want the fire they see in another christian? i don't think so. however, i think this is plays a big part in the fire spreading too thin and becoming extinguished. did i lose anyone with that analogy? say a christian goes to a christian youth rally for a weekend. during that time, his desire for God increases in passion to a point that will (in this analogy) be known as a "burning fire". after the weekend, he is dipped back into society and regular church meetings and inevitably, his old life. other christians see that burning fire in him, and encourage him for a little while. talk to him about God. they want what he has. but he soon realizes that his understanding of God is limited. and church is not as hyped about God as the youth rally was. so his fire dies. he is extinguished.

so often people tell me that they wish their fire could never die. they know that it will fade eventually. but even in that statement, they speak death upon that burning passion. can i tell you that it is possible, and not a foreign concept, of "feeding the fire"? and here's the good news: it doesn't mean going to a rally every weekend! heck, it doesn't even mean drinking 2 litres of red bull every day either.

somehow, the last 2 paragraphs have gone off on a wicked tangent from what i originally intended to write... but that's okay, i will continue. because this is getting interesting (at least, i think so!).

okay. so here's my ultimatum: make your time with God. make your 'quiet' time with God. daily! read His word. read books that will challenge you to live your faith provocatively. but most importantly, pray. pray for your brothers and sisters in Christ. pray for your church leadership. pray for your mentors (if you have any).

if you make this daily, you will become a solid christian. how often do we talk about the trinity? God in three parts. we know about God, we know about Jesus, but how much do we know about the Holy Spirit? throughout the new testament, you will learn about the Holy Spirit. the Holy Spirit has many purposes, and one of which is to teach us and equip us. because there is an enemy out there who seeks to destroy. to bring dissension between our brothers and sisters. to divide the Church. to tear down our leadership. TO EXTINGUISH YOUR FIRE!