Harold Camping Glorifies God

Harold Camping glorifies God.

I promised to myself that I would not mention him anymore, but he does glorify God in his foolishness. In fact, it is impossible for him to not glorify God because all things– they are servant of God’s. It is impossible for us to not glorify God.“By your appointment they stand this day, for all things are your servants.” (Psalms 119v.91) We are all servants, whether we are turned towards God or away from him he continues to use us. I am beginning to realise how false the attitude is that thinks that if you do not believe in God, then, you are apart from God and away from his control, but you still are.

In light of this, I am reminded to think about how little I really am–how futile it is to disobey God, how little faith I have that I am not doing what God has chosen me to do. Jonah felt the same way, he ran away from God. And still, even in his disobedience, he glorified God.

He was called by God to go and preach to the inhabitants of Nineveh. “But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went on board, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the LORD.” Jonah 1:3 (English Standard Version)

Even still while he was sleeping on the boat to run away from God, God brought a tempest.

He was glorifying God by sleeping.

His crew woke him up and they pleaded with him, to pray to his god. This was a ecumenical crew that resided on this boat–so much so that whoever would calm the storm, they were willing to listen to. Admittedly, because of the current situation at the present time, the storm was the focus of their attention, not any divine beings. All gathered on the top deck, they were all praying to their various gods filled with fear at this storm that threathened to capsize the boat at any moment.

Still God was glorified: he was sustaining the boat till Jonah came, and none of the other gods would listen.

Surely, Jonah was then tossed into the sea because it was apparent it was his disobedience that was causing the storm. After the casting of the lots, the blame fell on Jonah, and he was the one that was guilty of running away from the One True God. He was tossed into the sea, this was even after they had tried every way to get out of this predicament.

God was glorified, there was no other way but only one who was called by God to sacrifice his life for many. However disobedient he was in running away from God, He was not far from God who is in everything. On that ship, Jonah became sin for everyone on the ship in recognising his sin, and the necessity of putting His trust in God. Only when someone is born again can they seek to give their own life for many—even for these who worshipped their own gods—Jonah was the catalyst for repentance on that ship.

“So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging.”Then the men feared the LORD exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made vows.” Jonah 1:15-16 (English Standard Version)

God was glorified, in the spreading of the Gospel on that boat. No other way could the realness of God have come onto these men without the immediacy of the material calming of the storm. They were convinced this was the one true God, and this man they had tossed into the sea, He was a servant of this Most High God. Only through the sacrifice of Jonah could they have had knowledge of the One True God who made the sea and dry land. The God who created the storm and the peace afterwards–He was the reason for the storm, and also the calming of the storm.

Surely, Harold Camping glorifies God in his eternal plan in showing the folly of man without Scripture. Moreover, God is glorified in the many ways I fall short, and the times that I forget to shine the Light. I pray daily that He would continue to grant me the Holy Spirit that I may be an instrument of his grace more effectively. 

Effecting Effectual Change

“Grace is what taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved.”

These words from the famous hymn Amazing Grace  by John Newton was always a curious one for me. The concept of grace teaching our hearts to fear was one of the concepts that I am not familiar with, and something perhaps uncomfortable to modern Christians today. But I think it a lot along the lines of what needs to be relieved must first be revealed. Only when Jesus opens up our hearts to our sin only then, all the same, Jesus will be the one who calms our fears. Maybe there is a tendency for us today to focus solely on the latter, with our fears relieved today, that we forget how what insecurity we have to begin with. If we are taking away only the symptoms, then perhaps we are not curing the sickness.

I am reminded of a story from a sermon from Charles Spurgeon, that I will just recount through memory because I don’t remember the number among thousands, and the text I recall is quite lengthy. There once was a rich prince who walked through his kingdom for a pleasurable stroll. He passed through town and went through to countryside. Down the mighty river which ran through his kingdom, where he spotted a farmer squatting down by a muddy river. The farmer was slowly and carefully sifting out the dirt from the bucket of water for his flock of sheep to drink from. The prince was much agrieved by this because he led the farmer into his palace located at the top of the river. He pointed out to the young farmer, the cause of his problems: a tree fallen over the mouth of the river, dirtying everything in the river. The farmer was aghast when he realised that he had been cleaning out all the dirt from the water when the more effective way was to remove the tree from dirtying the water.

We may have control over what we see in ourselves, but sin manifests itself in a multitude of ways that we could ever imagine. One moment, we could be suffering from depression, while the next we may have the greatest pride in ourselves. There is an importance then, in moving from an abstinence from sin, to an appreciation of God and all his love for us. Because only when we can appreciate God’s extravagant love for us, can we begin to truly repent from our sins, and enjoy God more and more.

If we remove our dependency on sin, we must replace it with something else or we are merely translating our addictions to another idols. Jesus says in Matthew 6:24, “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” The context of Jesus saying this is important, the parable is concerning the interaction between earthly and heavenly things, he is talking about holding onto things of this earth, greater than the heavenly revelation that we have been given.

The idea is that if we are to remove ourselves from the world, we would need to replace the world with something else. Where we are broken away from association with earthly people, we must replace it with communion with the Church. Where we crucify our pride, we need to replace it with humility which comes from God lest we grow bitter. Where we crucify our self-esteem, we must replace it with trust in Christ lest we grow spiritually depressed. When we take our eyes aways from idols, we must turn our eyes upon Christ on the cross. Without these things, our change will only be temporary.

 

Christians and Giving (Part Two)

Frank was talking the other day about the “happy” church that he attends on occasion. They were participating in a faith promise campaign, beginning in giving out forms to complete: “for their faith promise commitment that requires the following information: name, address, total income, phone number, % of increase of last years giving, and the option to drop the donation in the offering plates or letting the church take the giving directly out of the giver’s checking account.”

Beside the fact that it seems they are breaking rules of confidentiality and some human rights as well, it doesn’t quite see any shame in asking for money from its congregation. I can’t say this would the most correct method to ask for more money, the reality is, it is one among a myriad of possible ways to ask. What method that a church asks for money is probably best measured against the Bible which prescribes that:

“Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” (2Corinthians 9v.7)

I know it’s a tried and used passage about giving, but it’s still often used too carelessly. In fact, I’m pretty sure reading the context, the verse isn’t even specifically referring to money, the passage surrounding talks of reaping what you sow and therefore, you must give generously to God because He is the author of our lives. Exactly what the passage is talking about is the refocusing of ambition towards God, cheerfulness in giving not out of compulsion or of guilt.

Previously, I argued that we cannot begin to make givers out of unsaved people. Similarly, I would argue to make cheerful givers, there needs to be understanding of the grander reality of the Kingdom. There is a unhealthy perception of church from many peoples as a boring and irrelevant place. According to what other people have thought, a lot of churches have changed and molded to what other people want the church to be. Unfortunately, the church isn’t a circus, nor is it a country club and it isn’t a Fortune 500 company either. While I find there is always room for improvement, as being part of the Church we are aiming towards the perfection of Jesus always, the people that are the problem more often than not are not the people within the church but the outside people knowledge of the people within the church.

Changing the knowledge of people outside of church is difficult. I don’t have answers to counteract the power of mass-media, and stopping the multitude of movies that are so driven for pushing down Christianity dishonestly. *cough* Easy A *cough*

Finally, on the topic of giving, all the money we have is not ours, it is all from God. How could we have this money without the grace and mercy that God has shown to us? The first premise of correct Christian giving comes not from a percentage of your total income, but from a fundamental understanding of our own poverty. Charles Spurgeon says:

“So deep are our necessities, that until we are in heaven we must not cease to pray. Do you want nothing? Then, I fear you do not know your poverty.“

God sustains us. Money does have a central role in our society, so much so, I admit sometimes it feels like a sustaining force as well. Having money is equated to having power, and celebrities are celebrated because of their wealth. If we can begin to understand how powerless money is, it cannot sustain us beyond one more breathe that God has breathed into us, only then would we be good with investing more into the Bride of Christ. If we can change the perceptions of the Church; A church not controlled by man’s thirst for power but only accountable to God, only then could we be expecting enough to sustain the church. Then, only then, will giving to the church be equated to giving to God as an instrument for His work in this fallen world.

We all should be giving 100%. Giving 100% of our money, but of our hearts and of our lives. Nothing we have is ours, but all is given and blessed onto us from God alone. How can we begin to be like Anaias and Sapphira and begin to hold some back from God? How can we be like Adam and Eve and pretend that we could run and hide away from God? The money we have is utterly worthless and we should invest more in Jesus and the Kingdom coming to reign in our hearts.

i personally love that pic. got a nice ring to it, i guess every superhero need his theme music. oh yah. this book really helped me. not. http://tinyurl.com/5s7xn8p