DarjeelinGirl

There was a session yesterday and part 2 today on the false prophetic that has been seeping through the Church in recent history. Here are my notes from Leanne Payne and other speakers:

We can only collaborate with God - we do not create anything good on our own.

You can’t reduce the work of God to a method. You cannot package what God does.

The false prophetic is a grandiose appeal to the unaffirmed and unaware wounded.

Misuse of the gifts eliminates the Presence of God. Lowers our view of God.

We should focus on Christ, not the gifts. We need to be Presence oriented, not gifts oriented.

Jesus is His own gospel.

Rev. 19:10 - True Prophecy
The testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of prophecy.

All of us are prophetic if we are listening and walking with His Spirit.

Converstaion with God is not limited to the “elite”.

No man is to be an intermediary between God and man (only Jesus is that).

The true prophetic calls people back or to God, speaks against oppression, injustice, sin. Warns. Directs people to Hope. None of the biblical prophets were appreciated by the popular culture.

False prophetic promises peace. Speaks what people want to hear. Seeks popular acclaim. Seeks power and the spectacular. Self-assigns title of “prophet”. Promotes self. Travels to open meetings. Gives personal prophecies - divination. Offers readings for the future. Totally disregards that God is perfectly capable and fully speaks to each of His people personally Himself. Appeals to people’s egos. Does not address their true selves. Conducts experience oriented performances. Gives glory to the prophet. Makes extraordinary claims. Is anti-community.

When you are 6 years old, it’s normal and healthy to imagine yourself as a super-hero. When you’re an adult, it’s a neurosis. ~Mark Pertuit, one of the conference speakers.

Ever been to or seen clips of a service at an old mainline church complete with massive pipe organ? Now cross that with the praise of a rock concert and you have the opening of the PCM this morning. But believe you me, the cheers, raised hands, and applause weren’t directed at the organist. Boy, did His Presence ever fill the place! The only thing missing was the mosh pit. That was just the beginning.

Here are highlights from my notes from Leanne Payne:

People, specifically our culture, have lost the sense of The Transcendent - that which is beyond ourselves. We cannot choose to be holy. We can only choose to obey. He will be our holiness. All His attributes that we can name emanate from, are encapsulated in, His holiness.

Apart from His Spirit, we cannot be fully human.

Concerning our culture: we don’t warp young minds and then expect them to find it easy to live.

We must learn to Practice His Presence. In Him we find our true identity. In Him we are found and integrated. Through listening prayer (lectio divinia) He calls the real “I” forward. The true self is creative (like the Creator). The true self manifests divine creativity - the healing gifts of the Spirit.

Incarnational Reality means God with us/in us. He doesn’t just fill us, He becomes our true center.

The essence of sin binds us to our nothingness. Only Christ can break that yoke.

The whole purpose that we exist is to be taken into the life of God.

God, the Center of all that is, does not despise matter - He made it. He comes to us through it.

We live in an apostate culture. We need to read the oooooold books that were written by holy men who remember what we’ve forgotten.

If you aren’t dialoguing with God, you are dialoguing with yourself - narcissistic, introspective.

Gifts are a manifestation of the Presence of the Lord - do not look for the gifts - look for, up and out to Jesus. Any gift of the Spirit is a gift of Christ Himself.

What a ride! I’m not sure if I just need to get out of MN more often, or if I’m just a Hobbit through and through. The trip was wrought with adventure. The battle with the Subway Veggie Delite at 70mph was intense. There’s just no sure way to eat such a sandwhich and drive at the same time. I won’t be wearing that shirt again this week, but I did make it to Wheaton for the 2005 Patoral Care Ministry School.

After being prayed up and blessed by the Living Free and Running Rampant Women’s Group in the A.M., I was ready for the 7 hour trek from Mpls to Wheaton. It actually took 8.5 hours due to a thunderstorm that displayed a phenomenal show of fireworks and dumped an ocean of water. Within that time I had already driven by 3 or 4 storms and a huge white thunderheaded cloud in total sunlight tossing out lightning bolts as if Zeus himself was actually spearfishing for mortals.

The radio kept me great company. In spite of the heat, or precisely because of it, I heard two songs that reminisced of snowy winter days. I surfed through a ton of Chrisitan radio dramas. What’s with the Midwest and radio dramas? Never heard so many in one place. I stopped at one long enough to hear this line: “Bad math: a bunch of half truths will cause a whole lot of trouble.” Cheesy, but true. Then I heard this great song that sounded like it could have been an old Christian band singing about making a decision for Christ in the modern sense of the phrase. But it turned out to be Van Halen’s “Right Now”. Sigh… I really like Van Halen… And then there was Guns ‘N’ Roses singing about Patience? Someone should tell them that when you pray for patience, you get to use them - by waiting. And the Red Hot Chili Peppers… sigh. I really like the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Nonetheless, soggy, weary and mini-van-lagged, this head-banger from the 80’s made it to Wheaton College. My roommate is Sylvia, a single mom of 2 from Dayton, OH. Some of you will note the divine irony in that.

More to come as time permits in the days ahead…

Doin’ some rearrangin’ around here. Upgraded to WP 1.5. Hang in there; it’s gonna take some time to get Buzz and the gals, and all the juicy banners up again.

‘Sniff!’ I miss ‘em already…

Update: It may be a looong time…

so I took this survey for MIT. Plus, my 12 year old son has been planning to attend this school since he was 8 years old. Figured it would be a good investment toward his future…

Click the doohicky for your turn.

(fyi: Nick’s blogdominium.)

they paved paradise and put up a parking lot
~ Joni Mitchell, Big Yellow Taxi

The Supreme Court ruled that it was ok for the city of New London, CT to seize a bunch of homes that are simply in the way of their redevelopment plans that support Pfizer Pharmaceuticals $300 million plan to build a research facility nearby.

The plan called for a waterfront hotel and conference center surrounded by restaurants and stores, marinas for recreational and commercial use, 80 new residences in an urban neighborhood, office space for research and development, parking lots and other retail services. The site also includes an existing state park and space reserved for a new U.S. Coast Guard Museum.

During oral arguments before the court, it emerged that the land parcels at issue were earmarked for office space and “support” for the park or marina, possibly meaning a parking lot.

Meanwhile,

Susette Kelo, who moved into Fort Trumbull in 1997 and made major improvements to her house, which she prized for its water view…

Wilhelmina Dery, who was born in her Fort Trumbull house in 1918 and has lived in it with her husband for the past 60 years… the home, originally purchased by her grandmother, has been in her family for more than a century…

among others, are simply out on their derrieres.

Is this big bully capitalism or what? It sets a horrible precendent. These homes were not structurally condemned in any way. They were just in the way of those with more money and more power. This is just not good.

HT: Michelle Malkin

I have friends who can score higher while in a coma, but I’m learning!

Thanks, Suzanne, for the link!

postage stamps.

What would you put on yours?

I would love to see my friend’s artwork: Jamie and Jen.

Or, a picture of Cuthbert would be fun, too.

Her name is Kaise. She is 6 years old and she lives in Kenya with her mom and 2 siblings. She loves to jump rope and play games. So far we don’t know much about Kaise, but we just sent our first letter and are looking forward to getting to know her better over the years.

It is amazing what the price of a monthly cell phone bill (or a fraction of it, depending on your plan, mine is $28-$35/mo) can do for a child in another country: healthcare, school fees and supplies, clothing, food… On top of it all, Compassion works through local churches, not independently, to equip and strengthen people within their own communities.

We connected with Kaise after we met “Aunt Kate” of the Russell clan this spring. She works at Compassion’s headquarters in Colorado. The stories she can tell of the difference sponsors make and then the difference those children make in the lives of others as they learn about Christ are compelling. I can’t listen to her without weeping and wanting to adopt all of the children I see on the website! I know a lot of people who already sponsor kids through Compassion. But there are so many more kids who need help. Compassion International offers a tangible, effective way to stop global poverty. Check out the banner link above for more information.

What’s Your Personality Type?

Thanks for the link, Stacy!

Bumped into a very useful site yesterday (thanks to LaShawn Barber’s Corner). It’s called Mind & Media. Stacy of MediaSoul started it to promote films, books, and other media services through bloggers. What a way to get realisitc reviews from the general public, eh? I think it’s really cool. None of the reviewers get paid, so to speak. They do get the books for free to read, but that’s it. The whole thing is pretty new, but by the looks of it, Stacy is B U S Y ! As far as keeping free enterprise and capitalism honest and sane, the internet is the best thing that has ever happened to us (btw, that goes for politics and religion, too).

In her own words, Stacy says,

We exist to help people in the media, such as authors, filmmakers, musicians and others get their message out to a targeted audience of consumers.

Using carefully selected and trusted Bloggers to review and promote products, Mind & Media is the most affordable source of advertising online.

And guess what? I get to be one of them!

Stacy is still looking for reviewers, so if your blog fits her criteria and this is something you’d like to do, let her know!

We just said she should have had the right to live.

Schiavo autopsy shows irreversible brain damage

The Associated Press
Updated: 8:02 p.m. ET June 15, 2005

LARGO, Fla. - An autopsy on Terri Schiavo backed her husband’s contention that she was in a persistent vegetative state, finding that she had massive and irreversible brain damage and was blind, the medical examiner’s office said Wednesday.

Doesn’t that still leave room for suspicion that foul play put her in such a condition? But this article’s headline implies that people think her death was caused by foul play…

Terri Schiavo: No foul play

…Thogmartin also said she did not appear to have suffered a heart attack and there was no evidence that she was given harmful drugs or other substances prior to her death.

She died from dehydration, Thogmartin said.

Duh.

We all knew that. We all watched it happen. We all watched our country’s laws allow it to happen.

No matter how the culture of death tries to confuse the issue, Terri deserved to live. We are called to care for the weak, give to the poor, sacrifice for the needy. We have no right to demand that other people make our lives more conveeeeeeient by offering them the so-called “right to die” just because their lives aren’t pleasant or easy.

All we said was that she should have had the right to live.

Update: here’s the pdf to the autopsy
Michelle Malkin’s take with links
La Shawn Barber’s Corner with links
Mediaculpa was the blog that got me thinking here

The last time I took this test, my po-mo quotient was only 18%. But that was a couple months ago. Jen reminded me of it, so I decided to take it again. See, I was born in 1964 - no man’s land (no woman’s land, either). Too young to be a hippy, too old to be a genXer. There’s nothing culturally special about being born in 1964. Thus, I flit around the internet searching for a fit. And what do I come up with? I am Wesleyan by tradition. Only thing, though, there is no Wesleyan in my tradition, unless you count the Methodist church a block away from my parents’ house. But we only went there for the codfish dinners.

… deep contemplation…

Ohhhh… That must be it…

Anyway, my emergent/post-modern worldview has grown. Must be the people I hang out with…

You scored as Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan. You are an evangelical in the Wesleyan tradition. You believe that God’s grace enables you to choose to believe in him, even though you yourself are totally depraved. The gift of the Holy Spirit gives you assurance of your salvation, and he also enables you to live the life of obedience to which God has called us. You are influenced heavly by John Wesley and the Methodists.

But what about the hair? Does this mean I should change my hair? What's your theological worldview? created with QuizFarm.com

Chapter 14 of Holiness, Truth, and the Presence of God by Francis Frangipane, copyright 1986:

Poor and rich nations alike suppose that the Almighty Creator exists and thinks as they do. They are not serving God but the image they have of God. Yet, the Living One is not a Caucasian or a Negro.(sic) He is not a Greek or Jew, a Catholic or a Protestant. He is God!

And we’ve all heard it, He is not a Republican or a Democrat either.

We cannot train the Lord to think like an American. He is the Sovereign Creator, the Lifesource of the Universe. Although idols are “safer” for our carnal nature than the Living God, an idol cannot resurrect us, nor heal us when we are ill, nor free us from ourselves and the devil. The only reason we tolerate dead idols is [that] while they cannot help us, neither can they harm us nor convict us of sin.

What is the “gospel of the kingdom”? It is the whole message of Jesus Christ. It is more demanding, more fulfilling, more holy and more powerful that the “gospel” of typical American Christianity.

Mind you, this was published in 1986! That’s 20 years ago!

The kingdom of God is not a religion; it is an ever-expanding, all consuming relationship with Jesus Christ… If you think God is religious, always remember: there was no religion in Eden.

Our life does not come from the Bible; it comes from Jesus… If we would actually understand what they wrote, we must find who they found.

And there is so much more… So much juice in just one little 140 page book!

That is the title of Chapter 12 (caps and all) of Holiness, Truth, and the Presence of God by Francis Frangipane and its the beginning of the best part of the whole book.

Here are the jewels:

The fact is, however, that if the “god” of some of our Christian religions died, most members of those churches would be either too spiritually dead or too physically busy to notice his absence.

This lesson is not addressed to “bad people” or sinners; it is for all of us “good people” who have thought that being nice was the same essence as knowing the truth. It is not.

Subconsciously, we may actually want a dead religion so we do not have to change.

The fifth book written, you’re the third book chronologically and take place during The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. You tell the story of the humans Shasta and Aravis and the talking horses Bree and Hwin, all trying to escape from unhappy lives in Calormen to go to Narnia.

Find out which Chronicles of Narnia book you are.

Who knew? Where ever would we be without the internet and all these wonderful personality polls?

FYI, according to this quiz , I’m also 18% postmodern. (HT: Mark)

Let us ask ourselves: are we merely seeking to be “saved,” or are we seeking to be like Jesus? If our salvation does not center upon the goal of becoming Christlike, we will quicly fall into dead works and empty deception. Our salvation is a Person: the Lord Jesus Christ! And it is being conformed to His image that saves us and makes us holy.

Francis Frangipane’s introduction to Part Four of Holiness, Truth and the Presence of God reminds me of what John said the other night. I don’t remember his exact words, but it was something to the effect of, “[American Chistianity] has been teaching people how to die. We need to be teaching people how to live.”

I whole-heartedly concur. I used to be in that “fire-proof” boat.

{{{{{{shudder}}}}}}

It was safe and “controllable.” I never want to go back. I’m glad He dumped me out.

in writing and in general - Becki Snow.