After midnight, I'm going to let it all hang down. Then I'm going to shake my tambourine. Shake my tambourine. Shake my tambourine.
For those of you know are aware of the Lakeland debacle, rather, the Todd Bentley debacle, I have a word to two. For those of you who are not aware, I can't decide if I think you're lucky or deprived.
There are a couple things I've concluded.
One is, a lot of pain and suffering in this life could be avoided and completely prevented if we all heard the voice of God for ourselves--as we're supposed to.
This would cover our bases in discernment, trust, truth and love.
And there is a part of me that is a little fatalistic in that I feel that despite a person's (potential) shortcomings, if God speaks mightily through them, who the hell am I to argue or judge?
But then, Ken makes a good point--isn't that our job? To discern and weigh words against the Bible?
Then again, what did people say in David's time when he had an affair, a child and murdered a man? I'm sure they were disillusioned too. Yet, God still used him yadda yadda---but more importantly said he had a heart like his own (1 Samuel 13:13-15). Whoa. So the adulterous murderer has a heart like God? The actions have little importance to God verses matters of the heart?
Tres cool.
I guess I'm feeling disillusioned less over Todd because he's just a man, not some immune super-hero, and more in regard to my own judgement.
Who do I look up to? Why do I look up to them? Does my discernment go as far as discerning what the person besides me believes in? I'd have to say yes. Generally it does. It's rather near-sighted. And if there's anything God is not, it's near-sighted.
On a lighter, nay, fatter note--I'm...not ideal. Ew. What a way to put it. I just feel so strongly that considering my health history and the family history, to not be in shape as I approach 30 is a mistake. Especially to not establish a healthy lifestyle before it's too late or before I have kids is the biggest mistake.
On a smaller note I've moved---I'm in a 1 bedroom place just around the corner from my old place with Bek. Strangely I don't miss it in the least. I miss Bek and Gill and Ryan and being SO SO close to Ken, but overall I feel it was time and I was ready to move.
FYI I have internet and phone at my new place now, and the number is still the same.
I've had 5 weddings this summer and I have two more this fall. Exciting/terrifying!
Well--I should go track calories eaten today so I can be shocked and disgusted with myself.
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7 comments:
I miss & love you so much.
I think the key with David was his quick repentance when his sin came to light. Interesting to compare his life with Saul's, who seemed like a good choice, but was pretty quickly rejected because he was not a man after God's own heart. He made a lot of excuses, but there was never true repentance.
Re: your "fatalism," yeah, we're not God, and if He chooses to use someone with big shortcomings (or "falling shorts" as PDave once said) then Praise the Lord! If God only used perfect people, we'd all be excluded. But we do still need to weigh things that are said and taught and discern what is and what isn't in line with Scripture. And it's never an "all or nothing" deal, either, so we need to be constantly discerning. As Hebrews 5:14 says, "Solid food is for the mature, who by CONSTANT USE have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil." We don't necessarily need to be hypervigilant, but we do need to be vigilant, especially over our own hearts, since ultimately we will only be answering to God for our own lives.
Nice to have you blogging again. Maybe someday I will too. Not yet, though :)
shake it, claire! go on and SHAKE that tambourine!
i haven't read your essay yet, jess, on the stuff claire's talking about, but i'm looking forward to it...
none of this was ever about a man. and it is never our job to judge another human. i think the question should be way less about this man, and more about the move of God itself. are we going to discredit all that God did because of todd's "falling shorts"? if the answer is yes, then it shows that we never truly believed it was a move of GOD in the first place (maybe we thought it was a move of todd?! haha) (i also find it intriguing that a lot of the people most obsessed with discussing todd's falling shorts are those who have judged him from the beginning - and i don't mean "tried to discern what was going on", i mean JUDGED).
i'm not saying there's no room for feelings of disillusionment and even a type of betrayal, and most of all a sense of GRIEF over this. for SURE a HUGE sense of grief. but dwelling too much on the man is a mistake. it's God who judges the heart. we don't have a clue what's going on between God and todd right now.
but we can ask God to personally show us what was up with the massive healings, salvations etc. he poured out on the entire world through what happened in lakeland! heaven forbid we throw the baby out with the bath water! and if todd is the "bath water"... has God "thrown him out"?
i sound more opinionated than i am. i just know that mercy triumphs over judgement... i know that God searches our secret heart... and i also know he is HOLY and JEALOUS and RIGHTEOUS. so... i guess i'm not making one point as much as making the same points everyone else is making. hopefully it's not just a waste of time and space on your blog! haha!
With regard to Todd Bentley and Lakeland, the issue I struggle with is that of judgement vs. correction and discernment. I've read a lot of the negative and positive viewpoints on line. Casting aside the blatant stone-throwing commentators, their are some thoughtful voices that have raised concerns about Todd's style, theology, and the manner in which the hyper Christian media outlets thrust the revival into the forefront as the greatest and most important work of the Holy Spirit since Pentecost. Are some of these voices of critical appreciation not deserving of hearing? What bothers me somewhat is the subtle, and not so subtle, suggestion that any critique of Bentley is a critique of the Holy Spirit himself. There seems to be a prevalent notion that if someone is "annointed," then they can do no wrong. Their actions, words, style, theology, are now immune.
I think that notion is very dangerous. What I am suggesting is not "judgement" of Todd, and the revival. I do not know the state of Todd's heart, and his relationship with Christ. That is not my (our) responsibility. But as Jessica said, it is our responsibility to weigh things that are said and taught, and to discern, and even correct where need be. I think this discernment was in many cases lost in a zeal for a new work of the Lord. But as one commentator put it, we can be "so hungry that we'll eat anything."
Do I think the Lord was truly at the revival, miracles happened, and people came to repentence? Yes. But I think that is because our Lord is able to work in and through us, despite our sinfulness, and that goes for even those who have been proclaimed "annointed."
The tight rope that I am now trying to walk (and am more aware of,thanks to punkareux) is ensuring that a zeal for discernment doesn't end in hungry belly that has missed the dinner.
Really makes you think about accountability and the importance of teaching character before ministry. Although we are all capable of any sin, there are things that God has set in place to help us not to fall into temptation.
Do I speak the truth in love to my friends who are in sin? Will I be bold and take a risk even if they might get angry?
That's one of the things I had trouble with in terms of the whole T. Bentley thing. There were people around him who knew the issues in his life. They were there for the purpose of accountability and did not speak up. THEY KNEW!!!
I don't want to be like that with my friends and then just watch them go down.
This stuff has actually brought up a lot of important stuff that we as the church really need to look at.
Let's get our foundations right! Humility is essential! Love is the highest goal.
And all of these things like discernment can only be true discernment if we are connected to Jesus in close relationship, because it is the Holy Spirit in us who is the infallible discerner....and if we can't hear Him or we don't know Him, how can we trust that we are not in error ourselves?
All of this has made me want to get closer with Jesus. He sees, He knows, and He has all the answers...plus He is incredibly amazingly AWESOME!!! Who is like Him?!
As we discern, and pray and love etc. let's do it WITH Him, allowing Him to be our teacher.
Yeah.
Ooh yeah, character, so important. And humility. Other than that, I don't really know what I believe. I have been on "both sides of the coin", kind of going from one extreme to the other on this. All I know now is that God is the same, has always been the same, and will always be the same. He is not a fad. He is not defined in a Prayer of Jabez, Final Quest, Lord of the Ring, or Lakeland Revival, though he is probably present (to some degree at least) in those things. He is consistent, and all throughout the bible spoke in a still, small voice, which still had the tendency to speak volumes to those listening. I feel so much peace thinking of God's sameness, his trustworthiness. This isn't to say God doesn't ever throw us for a loop - I think he loves not letting us "get used to him", but everything he says to us and does is rooted in the same base of love and TRUTH.
annie, i love what you said!!!
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