http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress Quickened by the Spirit Sat, 23 Feb 2013 14:39:32 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.2 Podcast dedicated to seeking truth over tradition and tackling the difficult theological topics that churches rarely discuss. Quickened by the Spirit Jacob Segerman http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/Waking-Jonah.jpghttp://wakingjonah.com/wordpress jacob, segerman, doctrine, prophecy, waking, jonah, bible, theology, scripture, church, anabaptism, nonviolence no Jacob Segerman jacob@wakingjonah.com http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/07/13/the-early-anabaptists-a-people-of-the-spirit/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/07/13/the-early-anabaptists-a-people-of-the-spirit/#comments Fri, 13 Jul 2012 19:43:52 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=8228 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/07/13/the-early-anabaptists-a-people-of-the-spirit/feed/ 1 Stuart Murray, author of the book, “The Naked Anabaptist“, discusses how the early Anabaptist movement was a Spirit-filled movement, and could even be considered an early charismatic movement. [Being a charismatic believer myself, while also holding to the Anabaptist tradition, this research really resonates with me!] Show: Church Matters Full Podcast: Episode 51: The Anabaptist Has No Clothes Date: 4/29/11 Hosts: Dan Dyck and Janet Plenert Guest: Stuart Murray Download Stuart Murray Notes: The extent to which the early Anabaptists were a people of the Spirit; They could be in part described as an early charismatic movement; It’s certainly a movement that’s paid considerable attention to being led by the Spirit as they worshiped, as they read scripture, and in any spheres of life; Those parts of the story appear to have been airbrushed out of Mennonite history Stuart Murray, author of the book, “The Naked Anabaptist“, discusses how the early Anabaptist movement was a Spirit-filled movement, and could even be considered an early charismatic movement. [Being a charismatic believer myself, while also [...] 1:31 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/06/26/jon-zens-institutional-vs-organic-church-part-14/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/06/26/jon-zens-institutional-vs-organic-church-part-14/#comments Tue, 26 Jun 2012 14:18:53 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=8215 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/06/26/jon-zens-institutional-vs-organic-church-part-14/feed/ 0 Jon Zens and Kenny Russell discuss being led by the Spirit in organic church… [Part 14 of a 14-part series] Show: Gottalife Radio Full Podcast: Capture The Moment – A Church Building Every 1/2 Mile with Jon Zens Date: 3/9/09 Host: Kenny Russell Guest: Jon Zens Download Jon Zens Notes: That’s really a huge problem, is that so many people are just close-minded… they don’t have any openness… they’re just satisfied with the status quo, and if you come along and suggest that there’s a better way and a better covenant and of all that… it’s like they think you’re from the moon or something, and they don’t really want to be challenged… they’re happy with the way things are, and that’s the way it is; That’s so dangerous because usually when people are complacent and lethargic, it’s indicative of the fact that their spiritual life isn’t really being challenged, and they’re not really growing, they’re just stagnating; 1 Cor. 2:9-16… through the Spirit, He has revealed all these things to us; We are of the Spirit… we need to live by the Spirit… the truth is revealed by the Spirit; We have to come to the place where we learn from Him… we don’t just learn of Him, but we have to learn from Him; We’re living in a very important time… things have been locked up for such a time as this, so that the plans of the Lord will be fulfilled Jon Zens and Kenny Russell discuss being led by the Spirit in organic church… [Part 14 of a 14-part series] Show: Gottalife Radio Full Podcast: Capture The Moment – A Church Building Every 1/2 Mile with Jon Zens Date: 3/9/09 [...] 3:09 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/06/25/jon-zens-institutional-vs-organic-church-part-13/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/06/25/jon-zens-institutional-vs-organic-church-part-13/#comments Mon, 25 Jun 2012 14:23:55 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=8211 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/06/25/jon-zens-institutional-vs-organic-church-part-13/feed/ 0 Jon Zens and Kenny Russell discuss the importance of having your paradigm challenged and seeking truth with a community of believers… [Part 13 of a 14-part series] Show: Gottalife Radio Full Podcast: Capture The Moment – A Church Building Every 1/2 Mile with Jon Zens Date: 3/9/09 Host: Kenny Russell Guest: Jon Zens Download Jon Zens Notes: Life; Freedom; People who come out of institutional church for a more simplistic form of church; The idea of having your paradigm challenged, and then changing your paradigm to some degree, is a very important experience for believers because what it does is it makes you realize that you don’t have all the truth, and you probably need to learn some more things as time goes on, as the Lord leads; It’s a journey, it’s not something that comes overnight; We need help, so we need to be checking ourselves with other people… that’s why it’s a corporate experience–we’re not lone rangers, we’re part of a body, so we need each other; That keeps us from going to the legalistic route, or the libertinism route, or whatever route it might be Jon Zens and Kenny Russell discuss the importance of having your paradigm challenged and seeking truth with a community of believers… [Part 13 of a 14-part series] Show: Gottalife Radio Full Podcast: Capture The Moment – A Church Building [...] 3:30 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/06/23/jon-zens-institutional-vs-organic-church-part-12/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/06/23/jon-zens-institutional-vs-organic-church-part-12/#comments Sun, 24 Jun 2012 06:06:23 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=8194 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/06/23/jon-zens-institutional-vs-organic-church-part-12/feed/ 0 Jon Zens and Kenny Russell discuss the simple, but Spirit-filled life of organic church… [Part 12 of a 14-part series] Show: Gottalife Radio Full Podcast: Capture The Moment – A Church Building Every 1/2 Mile with Jon Zens Date: 3/9/09 Host: Kenny Russell Guest: Jon Zens Download Jon Zens Notes: Organic church; We have to change that place of our dependence… from leaders, to Christ; This is about Christ-centeredness–this is the organic way, it’s the New Testament way; God is not looking for us to have our buildings anymore, He is looking for us to be the temple of God, to be living stones, and to function through Him; The early church was simple, but in that simplicity it was Spirit-led; Most people can’t handle vulnerability… it is too much for them–they want everything to be spelled out; When you come into a meeting and you don’t know what’s gonna happen, that is something that is very difficult for people, and that’s a new paradigm that people have to become comfortable with; A free and open atmosphere is so conducive to growth… but everybody knows that the worst form–the absolute worst form of communication–is a monologue, which is exactly what a sermon in; So we need a dialogue, not a monologue Jon Zens and Kenny Russell discuss the simple, but Spirit-filled life of organic church… [Part 12 of a 14-part series] Show: Gottalife Radio Full Podcast: Capture The Moment – A Church Building Every 1/2 Mile with Jon Zens Date: 3/9/09 [...] 4:32 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/06/23/jon-zens-institutional-vs-organic-church-part-11/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/06/23/jon-zens-institutional-vs-organic-church-part-11/#comments Sat, 23 Jun 2012 16:28:04 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=8184 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/06/23/jon-zens-institutional-vs-organic-church-part-11/feed/ 0 Jon Zens and Kenny Russell discuss how Paul addresses the entire body of Christ in Corinth, not just the leadership… [Part 11 of a 14-part series] Show: Gottalife Radio Full Podcast: Capture The Moment – A Church Building Every 1/2 Mile with Jon Zens Date: 3/9/09 Host: Kenny Russell Guest: Jon Zens Download Jon Zens Notes: 1 Cor. 1:4-9; The Corinthians had a boatload of problems, but still Paul acknowledges their giftedness and he gives thanks for them… so it wasn’t like they were all bad or that they were just totally wasted people, no, he had many encouraging things to say about them, but, he used that as a springboard then to approach their issues that they had; What’s very significant is that he addresses the body of Christ to deal with immorality, disputes, all those issues… he does not address the leadership, he does not fault the elders for not doing this or that… he confronts the body–Why? Because the keys of the kingdom were given to them by Jesus Christ, and they had the authority to carry out His will; With all their problems, Paul still assumed that they could deal with the issues that were in their midst by believing of the Lord and the apostolic word that was coming to them; Paul doesn’t even deal with the leadership… he deals with the body Jon Zens and Kenny Russell discuss how Paul addresses the entire body of Christ in Corinth, not just the leadership… [Part 11 of a 14-part series] Show: Gottalife Radio Full Podcast: Capture The Moment – A Church Building Every 1/2 Mile [...] 3:01 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/06/20/jon-zens-institutional-vs-organic-church-part-10/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/06/20/jon-zens-institutional-vs-organic-church-part-10/#comments Wed, 20 Jun 2012 23:18:32 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=8174 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/06/20/jon-zens-institutional-vs-organic-church-part-10/feed/ 0 Jon Zens and Kenny Russell discuss the simplicity of organic church life in the New Testament… [Part 10 of a 14-part series] Show: Gottalife Radio Full Podcast: Capture The Moment – A Church Building Every 1/2 Mile with Jon Zens Date: 3/9/09 Host: Kenny Russell Guest: Jon Zens Download Jon Zens Notes: One of the things that is happening is taking your dependence away from being force-fed every week; The greatest moves of the New Testament in Acts–the outpouring of the Holy Spirit–all of that happened and they didn’t have the big worship band, they didn’t have the big charade coming out to get you there… it was simple; There was no bureaucracy, they could get things done, they could distribute food and money to people who had needs, and all of that; They didn’t have to go through committees, and all that kind of stuff; It was simple, and yet it was dynamic; It was life, it was the life of Christ coming out of them, and so they responded to needs; That’s the beauty of simple church, is that you can respond to things without having to wait five months… when the Lord is leading, you can act Jon Zens and Kenny Russell discuss the simplicity of organic church life in the New Testament… [Part 10 of a 14-part series] Show: Gottalife Radio Full Podcast: Capture The Moment – A Church Building Every 1/2 Mile with Jon Zens [...] 2:37 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/06/20/jon-zens-institutional-vs-organic-church-part-9/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/06/20/jon-zens-institutional-vs-organic-church-part-9/#comments Wed, 20 Jun 2012 13:56:08 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=8163 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/06/20/jon-zens-institutional-vs-organic-church-part-9/feed/ 0 Jon Zens and Kenny Russell compare the accoutrements of the institutional church to the simplicity of organic church life in the New Testament… [Part 9 of a 14-part series] Show: Gottalife Radio Full Podcast: Capture The Moment – A Church Building Every 1/2 Mile with Jon Zens Date: 3/9/09 Host: Kenny Russell Guest: Jon Zens Download Jon Zens Notes: People who come out of institutional churches generally carry a lot of baggage with them; The reality is that when groups are trying to meet in a Christ-centered way, they’re gonna have to face this baggage that people have; One thing that would help people who have the baggage would be some good teaching from the Word of God where they can begin to see, “hey, there’s no emphasis on a building, there’s no emphasis on a worship band, there’s no emphasis on people up front”, and all that; So they begin to be liberated to see that all the accoutrements that they thought were so important aren’t there in the New Testament; Isn’t it striking that the most powerful period there in the book of Acts… they had none of the accoutrements that we think are so important;  What does God’s Word really teach? What has the Lord given us? What are His concerns? That’s where we should really put our emphasis Jon Zens and Kenny Russell compare the accoutrements of the institutional church to the simplicity of organic church life in the New Testament… [Part 9 of a 14-part series] Show: Gottalife Radio Full Podcast: Capture The Moment – A Church [...] 3:45 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/06/14/jon-zens-institutional-vs-organic-church-part-8/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/06/14/jon-zens-institutional-vs-organic-church-part-8/#comments Fri, 15 Jun 2012 05:12:03 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=8150 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/06/14/jon-zens-institutional-vs-organic-church-part-8/feed/ 0 Jon Zens and Kenny Russell discuss organic church and our shared life in Christ… [Part 8 of a 14-part series] Show: Gottalife Radio Full Podcast: Capture The Moment – A Church Building Every 1/2 Mile with Jon Zens Date: 3/9/09 Host: Kenny Russell Guest: Jon Zens Download Jon Zens Notes: We’re made to function together as a body; Whatever the form may take, which should be minimal, should be the result of life flowing out of people, not the result of an assumption; We are the church, we are the ekklesia, we are in Christ, we have His life; Organic means life–it’s not synthetic, it’s not something that’s unnatural–it’s something that comes from the Holy Spirit’s regenerating power in people and bringing them to life in Christ, and then that’s where things start; How Christians meet together (in light of the New Testament) should be characterized by a minimal organization–the emphasis should be on the life of the people, and whatever form there is, should be only there to enable the functioning of the people, not to stifle it or to direct it Jon Zens and Kenny Russell discuss organic church and our shared life in Christ… [Part 8 of a 14-part series] Show: Gottalife Radio Full Podcast: Capture The Moment – A Church Building Every 1/2 Mile with Jon Zens Date: 3/9/09 [...] 2:25 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/06/14/jon-zens-institutional-vs-organic-church-part-7/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/06/14/jon-zens-institutional-vs-organic-church-part-7/#comments Thu, 14 Jun 2012 07:05:45 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=8141 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/06/14/jon-zens-institutional-vs-organic-church-part-7/feed/ 0 Jon Zens and Kenny Russell discuss organic church and how we are all part of the body of Christ… [Part 7 of a 14-part series] Show: Gottalife Radio Full Podcast: Capture The Moment – A Church Building Every 1/2 Mile with Jon Zens Date: 3/9/09 Host: Kenny Russell Guest: Jon Zens Download Jon Zens Notes: There is no difference between clergy and laity–we are all called, we are all part of the body of Christ; Organic church–getting back to the New Testament; We have a spiritual DNA; Ekklesia; You start with life; What direction does our DNA take us? Jon Zens and Kenny Russell discuss organic church and how we are all part of the body of Christ… [Part 7 of a 14-part series] Show: Gottalife Radio Full Podcast: Capture The Moment – A Church Building Every 1/2 Mile with Jon Zens [...] 3:06 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/06/03/jon-zens-institutional-vs-organic-church-%e2%80%93-part-6/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/06/03/jon-zens-institutional-vs-organic-church-%e2%80%93-part-6/#comments Sun, 03 Jun 2012 15:17:00 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=8131 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/06/03/jon-zens-institutional-vs-organic-church-%e2%80%93-part-6/feed/ 0 Jon Zens and Kenny Russell discuss the changing paradigms of pastors coming out of the institutional church… [Part 6 of a 14-part series] Show: Gottalife Radio Full Podcast: Capture The Moment – A Church Building Every 1/2 Mile with Jon Zens Date: 3/9/09 Host: Kenny Russell Guest: Jon Zens Download Jon Zens Notes: When people who are church leaders begin to see that a lot of what they’ve been doing is really out of line with the kingdom of Christ, it’s very hard to change paradigms and to go in a different direction cause it has so many implications and ramifications; The Body is a body, and it needs all the parts, and [the pastor] is just one part–he has a function, but it’s not to be the function in the church, and to run everything, and manage everything, and do everything; The institution is not friendly to New Testament ekklesia–it tends to be very defensive and can often lash out with a vengeance to maintain the status quo; This is not a new teaching that we’re talking about… this is about getting back to the New Testament–getting back to the Word of God; Can we address the truth, with eyes of truth? Jon Zens and Kenny Russell discuss the changing paradigms of pastors coming out of the institutional church… [Part 6 of a 14-part series] Show: Gottalife Radio Full Podcast: Capture The Moment – A Church Building Every 1/2 Mile with Jon [...] 2:54 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/05/31/jon-zens-institutional-vs-organic-church-%e2%80%93-part-5/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/05/31/jon-zens-institutional-vs-organic-church-%e2%80%93-part-5/#comments Thu, 31 May 2012 15:00:15 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=8121 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/05/31/jon-zens-institutional-vs-organic-church-%e2%80%93-part-5/feed/ 0 Jon Zens and Kenny Russell discuss some of the ways that the institutional church has gone astray, and what to do about it. [Part 5 of a 14-part series] Show: Gottalife Radio Full Podcast: Capture The Moment – A Church Building Every 1/2 Mile with Jon Zens Date: 3/9/09 Host: Kenny Russell Guest: Jon Zens Download Jon Zens Notes: It’s a sad system… and many pastors are hurting, but they’re taught to basically just keep it to themselves; The only place they can share their burdens would be with other pastors, and so they have to go to ministers conferences…; We just create this whole system where there are all these pieces that have to fit together, and so pastors end up getting caught up in all this way of thinking; If a person really gets serious about the fact that the clergy position is not biblical and is creating more problems than it solves, they would be wise to take steps in their own life and their own ministry to… just function among the people as a brother–to step away, and begin to let the body of Christ come forth… and let others begin to function Jon Zens and Kenny Russell discuss some of the ways that the institutional church has gone astray, and what to do about it. [Part 5 of a 14-part series] Show: Gottalife Radio Full Podcast: Capture The Moment – A Church Building Every 1/2 [...] 3:35 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/05/27/jon-zens-institutional-vs-organic-church-%e2%80%93-part-4/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/05/27/jon-zens-institutional-vs-organic-church-%e2%80%93-part-4/#comments Mon, 28 May 2012 04:11:06 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=8102 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/05/27/jon-zens-institutional-vs-organic-church-%e2%80%93-part-4/feed/ 0 Jon Zens and Kenny Russell discuss some of the ways that the institutional church has gone astray… [Part 4 of a 14-part series] Show: Gottalife Radio Full Podcast: Capture The Moment – A Church Building Every 1/2 Mile with Jon Zens Date: 3/9/09 Host: Kenny Russell Guest: Jon Zens Download Jon Zens Notes: When you put that much burden on one person [the pastor], is it any wonder that they crack so often?; God never intended anybody to carry that kind of burden; Paul said in 1 Cor. 12, the body is not one part, but many… what would happen if our body tried to function with one part doing everything?; If we look at the body of Christ today and we see that for the most part, the domination of one part–is it any wonder that the body is not in health? If our physical wouldn’t operate like that, how would a spiritual body operate?; The only head–the only final leader–is Jesus… He’s the head of the church, He’s the one who is watching over the church, and He never intended for one person to be a head honcho in the church Jon Zens and Kenny Russell discuss some of the ways that the institutional church has gone astray… [Part 4 of a 14-part series] Show: Gottalife Radio Full Podcast: Capture The Moment – A Church Building Every 1/2 Mile with Jon Zens [...] 3:00 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/05/24/jon-zens-institutional-vs-organic-church-%e2%80%93-part-3/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/05/24/jon-zens-institutional-vs-organic-church-%e2%80%93-part-3/#comments Thu, 24 May 2012 15:46:10 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=8090 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/05/24/jon-zens-institutional-vs-organic-church-%e2%80%93-part-3/feed/ 0 Jon Zens and Kenny Russell discuss some of the ways that the institutional church has gone astray… [Part 3 of a 14-part series] Show: Gottalife Radio Full Podcast: Capture The Moment – A Church Building Every 1/2 Mile with Jon Zens Date: 3/9/09 Host: Kenny Russell Guest: Jon Zens Download Jon Zens Notes: Unfortunately Luther and Calvin and Zwingli and the Reformers basically maintained and continued the clergy/laity distinction–they broke with overt Catholicism, but they did not break with the basic problem of the clergy being elevated above the laity, so that Protestantism never really was reformed fully in terms of liberating the body of Christ; In terms of the priesthood of all believers really becoming a functioning thing in the reformed Reformation churches never really happened, because they just pushed the sacramental table out, and put the pulpit in its place… and so now instead of having the centrality of the mass, you now had the centrality of the preacher, and so the sermon became the climax of the Protestant meeting; Unfortunately the laity is just sitting there passively… the gifts of all the brethren are basically just lying dormant and not really doing anything, because there’s no opportunity given; The bottom line is the New Testament has a much bigger vision Jon Zens and Kenny Russell discuss some of the ways that the institutional church has gone astray… [Part 3 of a 14-part series] Show: Gottalife Radio Full Podcast: Capture The Moment – A Church Building Every 1/2 Mile with Jon Zens [...] 3:00 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/05/20/jon-zens-institutional-vs-organic-church-%e2%80%93-part-2/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/05/20/jon-zens-institutional-vs-organic-church-%e2%80%93-part-2/#comments Sun, 20 May 2012 07:14:36 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=8079 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/05/20/jon-zens-institutional-vs-organic-church-%e2%80%93-part-2/feed/ 0 Jon Zens and Kenny Russell discuss some of the ways that the institutional church has gone astray… [Part 2 of a 14-part series] Show: Gottalife Radio Full Podcast: Capture The Moment – A Church Building Every 1/2 Mile with Jon Zens Date: 3/9/09 Host: Kenny Russell Guest: Jon Zens Download Jon Zens Notes: There’s nothing more fundamentally pervasive in the religious system–all religious groups have clergy/laity in terms of mainline denominations; It’s just assumed that there are clergy and there are laity… it’s an assumption that looms behind everything that’s done; And yet when you look at the New Testament scholars from all stripes who have looked at the situation in the New Testament, they all admit that there is no clergy/laity distinction in the New Testament; You’ve got hundreds and hundreds of Christians who are just basically sitting passively in pews and singing some songs, and putting money in the plate and listening to a sermon and going home, and there’s no participation of the body–there’s no development of the gifts resident in every believer; The body of Christ is stifled by this clergy/laity distinction; It’s just basically assumed that only certain people can baptize others, only certain people can do the Lord’s Supper, only certain people can teach–there’s all these assumptions, and they’re all wrong; When you look at the New Testament, you see a totally different picture… it was a body with all the parts participating and contributing Jon Zens and Kenny Russell discuss some of the ways that the institutional church has gone astray… [Part 2 of a 14-part series] Show: Gottalife Radio Full Podcast: Capture The Moment – A Church Building Every 1/2 Mile with Jon Zens [...] 3:12 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/05/16/jon-zens-institutional-vs-organic-church-part-1/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/05/16/jon-zens-institutional-vs-organic-church-part-1/#comments Wed, 16 May 2012 07:26:04 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=8050 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/05/16/jon-zens-institutional-vs-organic-church-part-1/feed/ 0 Jon Zens and Kenny Russell discuss some of the ways in which the institutional church has gone astray… [Part 1 of a 14-part series] Show: Gottalife Radio Full Podcast: Capture The Moment – A Church Building Every 1/2 Mile with Jon Zens Date: 3/9/09 Host: Kenny Russell Guest: Jon Zens Download Jon Zens Notes: Jon Zens’ book “A Church Building Every 1/2 Mile“; Is this what Jesus died for, to create this religious bureaucracy that we have?; As you look back over church history, one of the very fundamental and key factors that caused the direction of the visible body of Christ to go astray was the development of the clergy/laity system; Since anywhere between 150-250 AD you had the development of the separation in the body of Christ of those that were ordained and those who weren’t, and we came to call that the clergy/laity distinction Jon Zens and Kenny Russell discuss some of the ways in which the institutional church has gone astray… [Part 1 of a 14-part series] Show: Gottalife Radio Full Podcast: Capture The Moment – A Church Building Every 1/2 Mile with Jon Zens Date: [...] 3:03 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/03/11/lessons-in-nonviolent-resistance-the-example-of-hans-sophie-scholl/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/03/11/lessons-in-nonviolent-resistance-the-example-of-hans-sophie-scholl/#comments Sun, 11 Mar 2012 15:41:23 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=8021 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/03/11/lessons-in-nonviolent-resistance-the-example-of-hans-sophie-scholl/feed/ 0 In this clip, Bruxy Cavey, pastor of The Meeting House church in Ontario, Canada, discusses the faithful witness of Hans and Sophie Scholl and their nonviolent resistance to Nazi Germany. Bruxy compares and contrasts Hans and Sophie Scholl’s approach with that of Dietrich Bonhoeffer and others involved in the assassination attempts against Hitler… Ministry: The Meeting House Full Podcast: But What About… (Drive Home) Date: 5/9/10 Speaker: Bruxy Cavey Download Hans & Sophie Scholl Related article: The White Rose: A Lesson in Dissent  Partial transcript: Sophie Scholl offers us an example of someone who because of her strong Christian faith–along with her brother Hans and a number of other people–launched a letter writing campaign and a public tract distribution campaign to speak against the evils of the German government, of the wars, of the Nazi regime, and to call faithful Germans away from their support of their own government; Sophie and Hans wrote faithfully from a Christian point of view… they had a wide-reaching effect on the hearts and minds of the German population; Both Sophie and Hans gave of their lives; Neither the assassination attempt [of Bonhoeffer and co-conspirators]–the way of “just violence”–nor the way of pacifism–the way of actively speaking out against and calling people to the way of Christ–both techniques led to the death of the participants… but the way of Hans and Sophie Scholl–that prophetic voice like a John the Baptist who stands up and says what needs to be said and loses his head over it (and literally that’s what happened to Sophie and Hans Scholl–they were beheaded), but they died in the way of Christ; They were not pacifists in the hypocritical sense, by being passive and doing nothing… perhaps too many German people were–they were afraid for their own lives; This is the challenge, then… the way of speaking out will probably cost you your own life under Nazi Germany, if we go back in time; The way of calling people to repentance… going on record… would be more likely to cost you your life than joining a covert assassination attempt, which, if it was successful, would hopefully topple the government and leave you still alive and safe, and maybe a hero for having assassinated Hitler; That was one of the weaknesses of the assassination attempts of Hitler… those who were planting the bombs were not willing themselves to die–they were trying to plant the bombs in a way that still allowed their own lives to be preserved, whereas Hans and Sophie Scholl were more ready to die for their cause, and this more closely emulates a Christian response in the middle of Hitler’s Germany In this clip, Bruxy Cavey, pastor of The Meeting House church in Ontario, Canada, discusses the faithful witness of Hans and Sophie Scholl and their nonviolent resistance to Nazi Germany. Bruxy compares and contrasts Hans and Sophie Scholl’s [...] 3:09 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/03/09/why-i-am-an-anabaptist-part-12/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/03/09/why-i-am-an-anabaptist-part-12/#comments Fri, 09 Mar 2012 14:31:35 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=8011 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/03/09/why-i-am-an-anabaptist-part-12/feed/ 0 Gary Bryson hosts a program about anabaptism on ABC Radio National called “The Anabaptist Vision“… [Part 12 of a 12-part series] Show: ABC Radio National Full Podcast: The Anabaptist Vision Date: 6/17/07 Host: Gary Bryson Guests: Jarrod McKenna, John Hirt, and Thorwald Lorenzen Download Transcript: Jarrod McKenna: What does it mean that we’re living in an age where Christianity is no longer the dominant religion? And while some are lamenting that, saying ‘That’s awful, and don’t you realise that this is a Christian country and that’s why only Christians should be welcome here?’ Some of us are saying, ‘Hang on a sec., maybe we were never supposed to be in control. Maybe that was never our role.’ It’s certainly not what Jesus called us to and maybe instead of responding to refugees by this kind of Christendom lens which says, we’re in control, we’ve got to make sure history turns out right, responding in a way which is faithful to Jesus, where we welcome the stranger, we welcome the outcast, we welcome the refugee, but not just the refugee, that we respond personally to those issues. Gary Bryson: Jarrod McKenna. Anabaptism it seems, not only resonates with contemporary concerns of peace and justice, but offers Christians of all denominations an opportunity to centre their faith in openness and tolerance towards others. It’s a great testament to the Anabaptist confession of faith, that despite many years of cruel persecution and withdrawal, tolerance remains one of their greatest legacies. Final words on this Encounter from John Hirt and Thorwald Lorenzen. John Hirt: What can we learn from the Anabaptist tradition as a third way today with regard to the way that the world is run? The Anabaptists were also about reconciliation. They wanted people to be reconciled to each other. Obviously for them in the beginning, this was necessary because they were getting slaughtered all over the place without a chance to express their loyalty to the things that are good and right within any given state, and so they wanted people to talk and to converse and the Swiss even say that much of their great democracy, their confederation of democracy is owed to Anabaptist beginnings. If we’re about reconciliation, then we cannot be about viewing hatred and enmity as the form of social orthodoxy, the way in which much of the world seems to be divided today, it’s us and them. [But] not according to the New Testament, not according to the Anabaptists. We are the people among whom Christ has come to reconcile us all to God. Ephesians Chapter 1, Verse 10. In the fullness of time to bring all things into unity. This is one of the texts that they love. So the way that Anabaptist theology would play out in the world today in its non-violence, it would be, how can we be reconciled to each other and how can we not begin by hating the other, or making the other into someone who is differentiated by me in terms of, they’re the evil empire, they’re the other. No, no, no, this person is my brother, this person is my sister. The Anabaptist line, ‘I would die for the right for a Jew to be a Jew or for a Turk to be a Turk’. You can’t have that kind of notion in your head and go and want to rape and plunder and declare war on someone, it’s just against the whole tradition. Thorwald Lorenzen: Where do we see the presence of Christ today? And here the Anabaptists would say, we see it first of all in our conscience, in our commitment of faith. Then we see it in the community, and then the community needs to be open in love and compassion and mission. And therefore, our commitment to each other, our commitment to Christ, naturally flows into a commitment for peace and justice in the world. But on the other hand we have to realise we cannot simply copy what they did in the 16th century to our century. We should not use radical in the sense that we need to be different, we need to be faithful to what we have [...] Gary Bryson hosts a program about anabaptism on ABC Radio National called “The Anabaptist Vision“… [Part 12 of a 12-part series] Show: ABC Radio National Full Podcast: The Anabaptist Vision Date: 6/17/07 Host: Gary Bryson [...] 3:52 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/03/09/why-i-am-an-anabaptist-part-11/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/03/09/why-i-am-an-anabaptist-part-11/#comments Fri, 09 Mar 2012 13:37:23 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=8003 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/03/09/why-i-am-an-anabaptist-part-11/feed/ 0 Gary Bryson hosts a program about anabaptism on ABC Radio National called “The Anabaptist Vision“… [Part 11 of a 12-part series] Show: ABC Radio National Full Podcast: The Anabaptist Vision Date: 6/17/07 Host: Gary Bryson Guests: Jarrod McKenna and Chris Marshall Download Transcript: Jarrod McKenna: Since the Constantinian shift in the church there has been a change in Christians’ thinking where they think that the role of the Christian in the world, be it George Bush or Tony Blair or whoever else, has been, Christians should rule, Christians should be in charge, we’re the good guys. And that’s completely foreign to the early Christians and to the Anabaptists as well. They would say that our role is not to rule the world but to be a lived-in community, a sign of a world transformed. So that’s a fascinating model. How do we stay in these places which are clearly not transformed, which clearly participate in oppression and a destruction of creation? How do we stay in those places without participating in them ourselves, even if it means we become wedged between these two worlds? These are practical nitty-gritty issues of day-to-day living that we talk about, and we discern the Spirit’s movement as communities. This has been the witness of Anabaptism, the witness of the early Friends, Quakers, the witness of the early church. And also you find it in places like the Base communities of the Catholic liberation theology on the ground level where people are opening up the scriptures and going ‘How do we live this out? What does that look like in our situations of day-to-day life’? Gary Bryson: Jarrod McKenna, one of the founders of the Peace Tree Christian Commune in Perth, and also the founder and creative director of ‘Empowering Peacemakers in Your Community’. The Anabaptist focus on post-Christendom poses a particular problem for mainstream Christianity. If Christianity is indeed no longer at the centre of power, should it continue to behave as though it is, or should it be reconceived, in Anabaptist terms, as a church that operates at the margins? Chris Marshall. Chris Marshall: In many ways Anabaptism is an idea that’s found its day. I mean if you think, what is the contemporary context of the church at this time of history in Australia and New Zealand? What is the world that we live in? Well it’s one that’s characterised I think by the demise of Christendom. Now after a 1500 year period where it was assumed that the church, state and the culture were all part of the same mix, and that one was a Christian by virtue of belonging to a Western European Christian society – that’s what we mean by Christendom – but that really has unravelled and has pretty well disappeared, certainly in the Western world. And churches that have for 1500 years assumed that reality are kind of left, spinning really, to know quite what it means to be church now in this new world. And a tradition that has always emphasised voluntary commitment and nonconformity has something to say to us in that context. We’re also in a context of growing secularisation, certainly at an institutional level in society, of growing pluralism, in terms of religious beliefs and practices, and I think in this kind of confusing pluralist relativist, secularist world that we live in where the church has been pushed to the fringes, many people are rediscovering, I think, the Anabaptist ideal of dissident communities of faith who commend the gospel to society by lifestyle as much as by theory, a lifestyle that is committed to non-violence, to justice, to peacemaking, to sharing and so on. Gary Bryson hosts a program about anabaptism on ABC Radio National called “The Anabaptist Vision“… [Part 11 of a 12-part series] Show: ABC Radio National Full Podcast: The Anabaptist Vision Date: 6/17/07 Host: Gary Bryson [...] 3:27 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/03/09/why-i-am-an-anabaptist-part-10/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/03/09/why-i-am-an-anabaptist-part-10/#comments Fri, 09 Mar 2012 12:39:05 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=7994 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/03/09/why-i-am-an-anabaptist-part-10/feed/ 0 Gary Bryson hosts a program about anabaptism on ABC Radio National called “The Anabaptist Vision“… [Part 10 of a 12-part series] Show: ABC Radio National Full Podcast: The Anabaptist Vision Date: 6/17/07 Host: Gary Bryson Guest: Jarrod McKenna Download Transcript: Gary Bryson: Jarrod McKenna is a young Christian activist involved in peace and social justice issues. He is one of the founders of the Peace Tree Christian Commune in Perth, and also the founder and creative director of ‘Empowering Peacemakers in Your Community’, or EPYC, an organisation which runs non-violence training programs for young people. For his work with EPYC, Jarrod was awarded last year’s Donald Groom Peace Prize. He’s inspired, he says, by Anabaptist ideals. Jarrod McKenna: Out of that has come lots of crazy adventures. I’ve been at Pine Gap, the US military base 20 kilometres outside of Alice Springs to being roughed up by police on national TV to my mum’s horror at Baxter Detention Centre, to being part of the catalyst for a Christian community in one of my neighbourhood’s lowest socioeconomic areas, to doing the work I do with young people. Gary Bryson: It’s fair to say that you’re part of a group of very radicalised young Christians who are taking on issues of peace and non-violence in the much more engaged ways than perhaps we’ve seen in the last few years. Jarrod McKenna: Yes, I think for us that has come out of not thinking of these things in terms of issues but thinking about it narratively in terms of what is it for us to be submerged, or baptised, as the Anabaptists would talk of in this narrative of this Jesus, this Jesus who turns over tables, this Jesus who preaches love of enemies, not bombing our enemies. And out of that has come this life; we’re daring to imagine a world transformed. Gary Bryson: How do you understand the notion of discipleship today? Jarrod McKenna: Discipleship for the early Christians and discipleship I think for this emerging church movement, which is drawing on Anabaptism, is about what it is to follow Jesus in ways that are empowering and life-giving, ways that speak of a world transformed, where we see in our lives as communities, what a world would look like turned upside down, what would a world look like where instead of power being understood as something which we lorded over them, as Jesus put it, but again, I think the Spirit is speaking a word to the church, in the world that this time in history that says, ‘Not so with you”, not so in terms of power being simply about oppressing others in terms of manipulating others, in terms of coercion, but this power that we see revealed in the resurrection of Jesus, this non-violent power that this new world has actually, this new creation has begun. Gary Bryson: So what does an Anabaptist-inspired community look like to you? Jarrod McKenna: For us, an Anabaptist-inspired community is a community that is drawing on the Anabaptist tradition, looks like living in communities together where no-one is in need, where we’re able to provide an economic alternative to the economics of greed and scarcity that surround us and the rest of society, and out of that, a generosity that with experience from God can actually provide for others as well in housing the homeless, in providing a place to stay for people who otherwise wouldn’t have a place to stay. In terms of growing our own food, in terms of living on the land in such a way where eco-spirituality no longer becomes an abstract but becomes a daily practice, of no longer simply trusting on the empire to provide our daily bread but what is it to seek our daily bread in ways that don’t participate in the oppression of other people around the world. So linking together, seeking alternatives, just very, very ordinary and yet very rare and special. Gary Bryson hosts a program about anabaptism on ABC Radio National called “The Anabaptist Vision“… [Part 10 of a 12-part series] Show: ABC Radio National Full Podcast: The Anabaptist Vision Date: 6/17/07 Host: Gary Bryson [...] 3:54 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/03/07/why-i-am-an-anabaptist-part-9/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/03/07/why-i-am-an-anabaptist-part-9/#comments Wed, 07 Mar 2012 23:31:53 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=7983 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/03/07/why-i-am-an-anabaptist-part-9/feed/ 0 Gary Bryson hosts a program about anabaptism on ABC Radio National called “The Anabaptist Vision“… [Part 9 of a 12-part series] Show: ABC Radio National Full Podcast: The Anabaptist Vision Date: 6/17/07 Host: Gary Bryson Guests: Mark Hurst, Chris Marshall, and Jarrod McKenna Download Transcript: Gary Bryson: Anabaptism is most prevalent today in North America, where the Mennonites in particular form strong church communities. But in Australia and New Zealand this kind of denominational Anabaptism is practically non-existent. What does exist in our region is a growing awareness of Anabaptist principles amongst Christians from many different traditions. As a pastoral worker for the Anabaptist Association of Australia and New Zealand, Mark Hurst is actively working towards this goal. Mark Hurst: If we go back historically, the church denominations that came to Australia and New Zealand came out of Britain, and there were no Anabaptist churches in Britain at the time of settlement in Australia and New Zealand. So historically, there are no Anabaptist denominations in Australia-New Zealand. So it’s a fairly new idea. When my wife and I came to Australia in 1990, we were sent by a Mennonite mission board, and there were some people in Sydney that wanted to start a Mennonite church, but we started meeting people all across the country who said ‘We don’t necessarily need another denomination in Australia, but we are interested in this movement, this Anabaptist movement, and what it’s about. And ever since then, even in our literature, we talk about, ‘it’s not another denomination’. In some ways we are trying to influence the broader church in Australia and New Zealand in an Anabaptist way, bringing the Anabaptist perspective into the broader church scene. Gary Bryson: Is it possible in essence to be Anglican and Anabaptist or even Catholic and Anabaptist? Chris Marshall: I don’t only think it’s possible, I think it’s desirable, [though] I wouldn’t want to be heard at any point to be saying that only the Anabaptists have true Christianity, or that the mainstream traditions have somehow completely lost the plot and we have nothing to learn from them. It is, I think, as you said, a set of ideas, a set of commitments, a set of priorities, a set of instincts almost, that can work itself out in almost any tradition. I think it’s certainly possible for these Anabaptist convictions to express themselves in a Presbyterian and an Anglican and a Catholic and for that matter, Baptist world. What I find is that people come to these sort of commitments or conclusions quite independently of any knowledge of Anabaptism. They come to them just in virtue of their own growth and journey and reading and study and so on. And then they discover there’s been a tradition around for the last 500 years that has said this sort of thing. And one of the common – in fact I’ve used it on myself before I realised this was quite common – for people from a non-Anabaptist background, which is everybody in our part of the world really, who discover Anabaptism, they feel like they’ve come home. The metaphor of coming home, of feeling that what I have come to believe as the essence of Christian commitment, there’s actually been people saying this for a long time, there’s a label I can hang on my convictions. Jarrod McKenna: This whole journey has got to do with my introduction to the Anabaptist tradition and how it kind of solidified a lot of things which used to be tensions for me. Gary Bryson hosts a program about anabaptism on ABC Radio National called “The Anabaptist Vision“… [Part 9 of a 12-part series] Show: ABC Radio National Full Podcast: The Anabaptist Vision Date: 6/17/07 Host: Gary Bryson [...] 3:13 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/03/06/why-i-am-an-anabaptist-part-8/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/03/06/why-i-am-an-anabaptist-part-8/#comments Tue, 06 Mar 2012 21:41:29 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=7970 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/03/06/why-i-am-an-anabaptist-part-8/feed/ 0 Gary Bryson hosts a program about anabaptism on ABC Radio National called “The Anabaptist Vision“… [Part 8 of a 12-part series] Show: ABC Radio National Full Podcast: The Anabaptist Vision Date: 6/17/07 Host: Gary Bryson Guests: Mark Hurst, Chris Marshall, and John Hirt Download Transcript: Gary Bryson: The over-riding authority then for Anabaptists was and is the New Testament. All scripture is interpreted according to the teachings of Jesus Christ as they understand them. Perhaps the most important consequence of this is a fervent commitment to non-violence. Peacemaking was and is in many ways one of the more radical expressions of Anabaptism, isn’t it, and it’s also one of the most controversial, and one of the other reasons that people were persecuted? Mark Hurst: Yes. The Anabaptists in the 16th century and since have refused to join military forces, often refused to join police, and this goes back to an understanding of what the church is. For many Anabaptists, in the 16th century and even today, when they look at church history and they look at Constantine, rather than seeing that as a high moment in church history, they see that as the fall of the church, and they see the introduction of Christendom as something that they were against, that linking of church and state. So from the very beginning, they said no, the church should not be linked to the state, and because of that then, as Christians they didn’t get involved in the political forces, and particularly the police and the army, that they would use lethal force to enforce their ways. Chris Marshall: When you come to the issue of violence, I think a huge cleavage opens up. As I understand the teaching of Jesus – and this is open to dispute, not everybody would agree – but as I understand the teaching of Jesus, he did reject coercive violence, he did encourage his followers to turn the other cheek, to go the second mile, not to use the sword. And when you say well, if that’s the case and we look at Christian history, why has the church been so caught up in violence? To this day the dominant Christian position on war is the ‘just war’ theory, which believes that under certain circumstances, war is all but obligatory, and that it is not inconsistent with discipleship for Christians to participate in that. And so how does that square with the teaching of Jesus? Well, we either have some way of limiting the teaching of Jesus to personal conduct or to private areas so that it is no longer an obstacle to fighting a war, or we ignore it. So to take this seriously I think is quite radical. Thorwald Lorenzen: It is very important that the church – actually all of religion, but in our setting, the church – has a clear peace witness, because we know that all over the world religion is functionalised to validate violence and war, what the state is still using as a political instrument. And here all religions are invited today, to make a clear commitment to non-violence. Chris Marshall: The commitment to peace, the commitment to non-violence flows from an understanding of the teaching of Jesus. The Anabaptist tradition by and large said, well, this means that followers of Jesus must not be involved in lethal coercion, and I guess a corollary of that is if you’re not going to be involved in war, then it’s not enough just to withdraw into a kind of separate community of pacifism, but you also need to be committed to peace-making. Thorwald Lorenzen: Today, as you know, for instance in the church’s stance with regard to the war in Iraq, there was basically a unanimous opinion of all the churches, and all the church leaders, to oppose the war. So we have reached the stage today where in light of modern military technology, most or perhaps all churches would agree that war is no longer an institution by which we need to do politics. So in a sense, the Anabaptist vision today has become ecumenical. Gary Bryson hosts a program about anabaptism on ABC Radio National called “The Anabaptist Vision“… [Part 8 of a 12-part series] Show: ABC Radio National Full Podcast: The Anabaptist Vision Date: 6/17/07 Host: Gary Bryson Guests: [...] 3:50 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/03/05/why-i-am-an-anabaptist-part-7/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/03/05/why-i-am-an-anabaptist-part-7/#comments Mon, 05 Mar 2012 13:16:42 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=7961 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/03/05/why-i-am-an-anabaptist-part-7/feed/ 0 Gary Bryson hosts a program about anabaptism on ABC Radio National called “The Anabaptist Vision“… [Part 7 of a 12-part series] Show: ABC Radio National Full Podcast: The Anabaptist Vision Date: 6/17/07 Host: Gary Bryson Guests: Chris Marshall and John Hirt Download Transcript: Gary Bryson: At the core of all this is the idea of discipleship then, isn’t it, what you might call the hermeneutics of obedience, the belief that knowing the truth of scripture is contingent upon obedience to Jesus’ call to discipleship? Chris Marshall: Well, what the Protestant Reformation rediscovered in particular was the role of faith. Luther’s personal conversion really, was a discovery of the fact that we are justified by faith, and that’s fine, there’s no problem with that. But the feature that I think the Anabaptists made more central was not faith or grace or the sacraments – I mean all of which they accepted – but what they saw as central was discipleship, was the image in the gospels of following Jesus, and not just following Jesus in terms of beliefs about Jesus, but actually following him in terms of an emulation of his lifestyle, his values, or his commitments. And so discipleship has always I think been more important in the Anabaptist tradition than theology really, than belief. Not that beliefs aren’t important, but the key issue is; is one committed to obey Jesus when he talks about these very hard things like violence. An understanding I think captured in a saying by one of the early Anabaptist leaders which was that no-one can claim to know Christ unless he follows him in life, that the knowledge of Christ really is dependent on a commitment to follow him. It’s only as one obeys the teaching of Jesus and as one is committed to obeying the teaching of Jesus does one truly understand the teaching of Jesus. Now in our own day I think in the kind of world that we live in today, that understanding, that knowledge is not something that we acquire in a purely abstract, reflective, rationalistic way, but it is actually influenced by what we do. That’s something that we are far more comfortable with in the world. I think the Anabaptists saw it 500 years ago. Gary Bryson: Another development of the time was what we today might call radical congregationalism, based on the authority of the gathered church, and the rejection of hierarchy. This was a distinctive feature of early Anabaptism, and remains so today. Chris Marshall: The Catholic church was centred around the Majesterium which is the hierarchy of the church, its theologians, its bishops, its Pope and so on. The Protestant churches to some extent broke from that, but the role of the minister or the scholar leader was still pretty important. In the Anabaptist communities it really was the gathered community of believers who saw themselves as brothers and sisters and who didn’t accept a kind of clerical limitation on ministry. This is not unique to the Anabaptists, there have been many congregational movements that have sprung up since the Reformation. But this was a novelty at the time. John Hirt: It’s problematic really. I mean you could just have the pooling of ignorance. It could be, ‘what I think is right at the time’. You end up with what people call the plain reading of the text, and at the worst, the Anabaptists’ interpretation via the gathered community could be a very literalist interpretation, and because they were a scattered as well as a gathered community – they literally were forced to live in Täuferhöhlen, ‘teufel’ in the German means devil, but they had to live in caves, and if you go in and around Zürich , you can actually go to these cave places where they were forced to live. They were pretty much peasant people who for the main were uneducated, and so, often, without wanting to aggrandise or adorn them too much, they could come up with pretty mad interpretations of the text, and they always needed, if [...] Gary Bryson hosts a program about anabaptism on ABC Radio National called “The Anabaptist Vision“… [Part 7 of a 12-part series] Show: ABC Radio National Full Podcast: The Anabaptist Vision Date: 6/17/07 Host: Gary Bryson [...] 4:01 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/03/04/why-i-am-an-anabaptist-part-6/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/03/04/why-i-am-an-anabaptist-part-6/#comments Sun, 04 Mar 2012 12:05:25 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=7950 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/03/04/why-i-am-an-anabaptist-part-6/feed/ 0 Gary Bryson hosts a program about anabaptism on ABC Radio National called “The Anabaptist Vision“… [Part 6 of a 12-part series] Show: ABC Radio National Full Podcast: The Anabaptist Vision Date: 6/17/07 Host: Gary Bryson Guests: Mark Hurst, John Hirt, and Chris Marshall Download Transcript: Mark Hurst: For many of the churches in the reform tradition, orthodoxy would be the important thing. For those in the Anabaptist tradition, orthopraxy is important, right practice, rather than right belief. The Anabaptists would have agreed with the reformers on many doctrines and many beliefs, but for the reformers, the main question was how do we get saved? And the Anabaptists agreed with most of those answers, but then they went on to say What do we do now that we are saved? What are we saved for? So that was part of what made them different than some of the other Reformation churches and Christians at that time, stressing that yes, now that we’re saved, we’re saved for a life of good works, and that means getting involved with the poor, that means getting involved with those who are marginalised, and that means living in a world without power, and joining in with those marginalised giving up that power. Gary Bryson: Mark Hurst. For Anabaptists, following Christ has practical consequences. John Hirt. John Hirt: One of the most misused books in the world is the Bible. You can make the Bible justify just about anything, but if you take the proclamatory, the charismatic heart of scripture, if you come to the interpretive key of the New Testament, you’re unable to do that. Let me illustrate. Without a doubt, the interpretive key, the hermeneutical key of the New Testament out of the Apostolic Confession is how does what you intend to do or what you say you are doing, how does it match the mind and the heart of the crucified and risen one? So how could you be a homophobe, if you are matching your life and your view of others to the mind and the heart of the crucified one? How can you declare war on people? How can you not care for the environment and for the whole world in which we live? How could you be a racist? How could you be differentiated against the poor, how could you not be in sympathy and in solidarity with our Aboriginal people because of their just cause? If your interpretive key is the same as Jesus, if you follow the way in the path of the crucified one, then life is viewed totally differently and to the Anabaptists, we owe that as a great debt. Chris Marshall: All Christian traditions are Christocentric in the sense that all Christian traditions focus on the person of Jesus Christ as being essential to what Christianity is on about. It’s Jesus that makes Christianity not Judaism if you like. That Christocentrism has often worked itself out at a kind of doctrinal level or a more abstract level that Christ is central because he achieved salvation through his death and resurrection. Or Christ is central because he’s the sort of lynchpin in God’s overall covenantal dealing with the human race. It’s been often expressed at a more abstract level. For the Anabaptists, it was expressed at a strongly ethical level which is to say that Christ is central because he shows us how we are to live, and we must seek to imitate his way of living. In fact in many Christian traditions, there’s been a real ambivalence about this idea of the imitation of Christ because people fear that it brings Christ down to the level of being merely an example, a very good human being. But in the Anabaptist tradition it’s very central, that Christ demonstrates by his own life and articulates in his own teaching, the way we too, if we follow him, should live. Gary Bryson hosts a program about anabaptism on ABC Radio National called “The Anabaptist Vision“… [Part 6 of a 12-part series] Show: ABC Radio National Full Podcast: The Anabaptist Vision Date: 6/17/07 Host: Gary Bryson [...] 3:26 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/03/03/why-i-am-an-anabaptist-part-5/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/03/03/why-i-am-an-anabaptist-part-5/#comments Sun, 04 Mar 2012 01:38:16 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=7943 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/03/03/why-i-am-an-anabaptist-part-5/feed/ 0 Gary Bryson hosts a program about anabaptism on ABC Radio National called The Anabaptist Vision… [Part 5 of a 12-part series] Show: ABC Radio National Full Podcast: The Anabaptist Vision Date: 6/17/07 Host: Gary Bryson Guests: Mark Hurst and Chris Marshall Download Transcript: Gary Bryson: The early Anabaptists were often forced to live in caves and in the wilds of mountains and forests. Many thousands died in the persecution that followed the turmoil of the Reformation. Mark Hurst: This movement very quickly became a missionary movement, and spread across Europe, and at that time where you had State churches, you didn’t need to have evangelism because everybody was a Christian, and if you had these people coming around saying ‘No, you need to convert to this’, they also then became a problem for the State authorities. Gary Bryson: The Reverend Mark Hurst is a Mennonite missionary based in Sydney. He and his wife Mary have for many years been the pastoral workers for the Anabaptist Association of Australia and New Zealand. An important figure in the development of Anabaptism was Menno Simons, the man who gave his name to the Mennonites. Mark Hurst: Menno Simons was a Catholic priest in the 1500s, and in his local area there was the Peasant Rebellion going on, and he observed that, and even in his writings he was saying that he spent most of his time drinking and playing cards and his faith hadn’t really been internalised, but when he saw people dying for their faith in the Peasant Rebellion, it caused him to look again at what he believed, and he had a conversion experience and he actually joined these Anabaptists. And then he had very pastoral gifts, and he quickly became one of the leaders in the Anabaptist movement at that time. They labelled Anabaptists as Mennoists, or Mennonites, as followers of Menno, but it was really a derogatory name given to them, just like you would have Calvinists or Lutherans, the Anabaptists that were part of the movement that Menno was involved with became called Mennonites. But Menno spent the last 25 years of his life in hiding and on the run, he had a price on his head. So he travelled around meeting with Anabaptist groups but always having to do that hiding and moving from house to house. Gary Bryson: Persecuted in Europe, many Anabaptists fled to the New World, where its various branches make up what is known today as the historic peace churches. These include Mennonites, Hutterites and the Amish, along with the Quakers, who developed their tradition separately from the Anabaptists. So how can we understand the distinctive theological features that make up Anabaptism? Well, like all Christian traditions, the Anabaptists are said to be Christocentric – focused on following the teachings and actions of Jesus Christ. For the Anabaptists though, this has both an ethical and discipleship dimension. Chris Marshall is St John’s Associate Professor in Christian Theology at the Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. Chris Marshall: As well as the kind of ethical Christocentrism, a feeling that Jesus teaches us how to live, and we must take literally what he says, also there is the kind of hermeneutical Christocentrism which is that when we read the Bible, and we try to work out what in the Bible is still God’s word for today, because the Bible’s a very diverse document and has lots of violent bits in it, how do we decide how the Bible is relevant for today, that one of the key tests is it must be consistent with the way of Christ. So what we read in Scripture that is not consistent with the way of Christ, no longer has authority for today. What we read in any part of Scripture that is consistent with the way of Christ, continues to be God’s word for today. Gary Bryson hosts a program about anabaptism on ABC Radio National called The Anabaptist Vision… [Part 5 of a 12-part series] Show: ABC Radio National Full Podcast: The Anabaptist Vision Date: 6/17/07 Host: Gary Bryson Guests: Mark [...] 3:38 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/03/02/why-i-am-an-anabaptist-part-4/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/03/02/why-i-am-an-anabaptist-part-4/#comments Sat, 03 Mar 2012 06:10:46 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=7933 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/03/02/why-i-am-an-anabaptist-part-4/feed/ 0 Gary Bryson hosts a program about anabaptism on ABC Radio National called The Anabaptist Vision… [Part 4 of a 12-part series] Show: ABC Radio National Full Podcast: The Anabaptist Vision Date: 6/17/07 Host: Gary Bryson Guests: Thorwald Lorenzen and John Hirt Download Transcript: Gary Bryson: What sort of people were they in the main? What sort of social backgrounds did they come from? John Hirt: Well they were mostly, I mean apart from their few scholars, they were just very ordinary people, particularly the first few folk, I mean in that first grouping, we now call them Swiss Brethren, so they were farmers, they were ordinary village folks around Switzerland. If they had intellectuals, they never lasted long because they were slaughtered, and that’s why the history of the Anabaptists hasn’t really been written until pretty much modern times. If it ever was written, it was only written by the power elite, by people who weren’t sympathetic to the Anabaptists. So they were ordinary folk who decided they were going to take Jesus seriously and that meant in the countryside, or wherever they were, they started to form their own worship. So this is their own church meetings. They really stressed the idea of the priesthood of all believers. They had some interesting little ways of putting this. They had three ‘no holies’. One was no holy person. So this was in reaction to the magisterial church, whether it be a bishop or the pope. There was no holy person. All people who follow Jesus are deemed to be holy, so the priesthood of all believers, this is the gathered community of faith, so no holy person was the first one. No holy time. All time, according to Anabaptist theology, is holy, there is no separation between sacred and secular. So all time is God’s time in which you are called to be obedient and faithful. There’s no holy time; well of course this had to do with the Roman Catholic view of transubstantiation that when the bell is rung, suddenly this becomes the body and blood of Christ in the time of the Eucharist. Well the Anabaptists said ‘No, all time is holy’. And their last concept was no holy thing. And of course this was to do with the wafer, the body of Christ. Well it doesn’t mean they didn’t believe that they weren’t holy elements in life, but these were reacting statements if you will, to what they understood to be the problem with particularly the Roman Catholic part of the church. So no holy thing meant again, that all of life is sacred, and that all of life, because it’s sacred, is part of what they referred to in their own way as the cruciformity of God, what one of the great contemporary theologians in Anabaptist theology, John Howard Yoder refers to as ‘the cruciformity of the cosmos’. Because Christ died for all, for all things, not just for human beings, but for all things, Christ has saved and redeemed all, and therefore he’s harkening back to this notion of the Anabaptist concept, there’s no one thing that’s holy; everything is holy, everything is valuable and precious in God’s sight. Thorwald Lorenzen: The authority question is quite clear. The authority is the Bible but not in a fundamentalist way. The Bible read through the story of Jesus. So the New Testament is given precedence over the Old Testament. This was important in regard to the reformers, because the reformers, when they have conversation with the Anabaptists, they would say ‘You must first affirm the authority of the whole scriptures, because they stood for infant baptism and for the institution of war from the Old Testament. So there was a clear commitment to the story of Jesus as it is reflected in the Bible, but since they lived in a situation of persecution, both the New Testament, and their situation, demanded an intentional commitment to each other. So the two scriptural verses which are important are the church as the gathered community, and where two or three are gathered [...] Gary Bryson hosts a program about anabaptism on ABC Radio National called The Anabaptist Vision… [Part 4 of a 12-part series] Show: ABC Radio National Full Podcast: The Anabaptist Vision Date: 6/17/07 Host: Gary Bryson [...] 3:34 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/03/01/why-i-am-an-anabaptist-part-3/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/03/01/why-i-am-an-anabaptist-part-3/#comments Thu, 01 Mar 2012 18:11:05 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=7923 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/03/01/why-i-am-an-anabaptist-part-3/feed/ 0 Gary Bryson hosts a program about anabaptism on ABC Radio National called The Anabaptist Vision… [Part 3 of a 12-part series] Show: ABC Radio National Full Podcast: The Anabaptist Vision Date: 6/17/07 Host: Gary Bryson Guests: Thorwald Lorenzen and John Hirt Download Transcript: Thorwald Lorenzen: While the reformers needed the state in order to succeed with the reformation, they would not have succeeded if they would have denied infant baptism, and would have denied the institution of war. And at this point, the Anabaptists – the word ‘Anabaptist’ means re-baptises, and it was given to them by their enemies, so the emphasis is not baptism, the emphasis is to take faith in Christ seriously, what they called ‘following Jesus’, what we may call discipleship today. And living this discipleship in an intentional community. But both discipleship and intentional community has to be a decision, and this decision was celebrated in baptism. And since the New Testament does not support infant baptism, but speaks about believer’s baptism, so they took this over to celebrate their faith in Christ. Some of the magisterial churches say infant baptism is very important because it is a symbolic representation that we are saved by grace alone. And actually, it is, you know, that’s a beautiful symbol. But the Anabaptists said grace is not just thrown at people, grace is the invitation to follow Jesus. Faith is holistic, it needs to be lived with our whole body, with our whole life. Gary Bryson: From the very beginning then, Anabaptist ideas set them irrevocably against the power of the state. They put the authority of Jesus over the authority of kings, opposed the church hierarchy or priesthood, and refused to swear oaths or fight wars. In the mood of the times, their interpretation of scripture was thus deeply political and highly suspect in the eyes of the authorities, both Catholic and Protestant. John Hirt: The Anabaptists, in saying We will not acknowledge the power of the state, were really quite remarkable champions of democracy and freedom of religion. When they were dragged before the magistrates, they would stand in court and their response to the charge of being disloyal to the state and disloyal to the church – the church and state being one and the same, no separation – in their crude Swiss-German, they would say two words: nicht Vorsteher, which literally means ‘no master’. My only master is Christ and I will die before I will believe that the world is made of two kingdoms, the kingdom of this world and then the kingdom of God. There is only one kingdom and that is the kingdom of Christ. And so they therefore became, if you like, insurgents within the society, they were viewed as dangerous, dangerous people who would create all sorts of societal instability. Gary Bryson hosts a program about anabaptism on ABC Radio National called The Anabaptist Vision… [Part 3 of a 12-part series] Show: ABC Radio National Full Podcast: The Anabaptist Vision Date: 6/17/07 Host: Gary Bryson [...] 2:48 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/02/29/why-i-am-an-anabaptist-part-2/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/02/29/why-i-am-an-anabaptist-part-2/#comments Wed, 29 Feb 2012 13:46:01 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=7912 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/02/29/why-i-am-an-anabaptist-part-2/feed/ 0 Gary Bryson hosts a program about anabaptism on ABC Radio National called The Anabaptist Vision… [Part 2 of a 12-part series] Show: ABC Radio National Full Podcast: The Anabaptist Vision Date: 6/17/07 Host: Gary Bryson Guests: Thorwald Lorenzen and John Hirt Download Transcript: Thorwald Lorenzen: Up to the fourth century, the church and Christians were pacifists. In the 4th century, with the victory of Constantine on the Milvian Bridge, just before his military victory, Constantine had a vision of Christ, and in this vision, he was asked to fight the battle under the banner of the cross, and he did this and he won. And this military victory has become a major influence of the Christian church. Under Constantine, the church began to have privileges, the clergy began to have privileges, the church was used to unify the Emperor, and ever since this marriage between church and state has determined the history of the church. In the Reformation, in theory, this history was finished, but it is still living on in the state churches in many countries today. Gary Bryson: Thorwald Lorenzen. It was a commitment to pacifism that first set the Swiss Anabaptists up against the mainstream Reformation. In Switzerland the Reformers were led by Huldrych Zwingli, one of the major Reformation figures alongside Luther and Calvin. The issue had quickly divided the country, canton against canton. But the Anabaptists resisted Zwingli’s call to arms against the Catholics. John Hirt. John Hirt: Zwingli as a Protestant reformer in the Canton of Zürich was keen to raise an army to fight against the Catholic Cantons; tragically in the history of Christianity, here’s the church at war, fighting among itself, and it was slaughter and slaughter and slaughter all over the place. Zwingli therefore, wanted to get everybody he could into his army, to fight the Catholic Cantons. He happened to have two best friends, two of his best Biblical scholars, one a Greek scholar, the other a Hebrew scholar, one was Conrad Grebel, and the other guy called Felix Manz. They were both ardent Christians, who like a lot of people at the time said that there’s something more to what Jesus says than us being behoven to the state, or to be given to killing and to that whole process of what the world expects of us. They of course were seen by Zwingli as being betrayers, and when he began to raise an army, these two allies of his, two of his best scholar friends, said to him, ‘We cannot fight because it is not lawful for us to fight. We are followers of Jesus.’ And they chastised Zwingli – he didn’t take that kindly. Then, to cut to the chase, the argument became about well, who belongs to the state and who doesn’t belong to the state? And at that point, Zwingli said, ‘If you’re baptised as an infant, you belong to the state’, and at that point the Anabaptists started to say, ‘Wait a minute, if that’s what infant baptism is about, me being behoven to the state, that’s a problem.’ And so that’s when the whole discussion really picked up. Gary Bryson hosts a program about anabaptism on ABC Radio National called The Anabaptist Vision… [Part 2 of a 12-part series] Show: ABC Radio National Full Podcast: The Anabaptist Vision Date: 6/17/07 Host: Gary Bryson [...] 2:56 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/02/27/why-i-am-an-anabaptist-part-1/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/02/27/why-i-am-an-anabaptist-part-1/#comments Mon, 27 Feb 2012 22:26:07 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=7894 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/02/27/why-i-am-an-anabaptist-part-1/feed/ 0 Gary Bryson hosts a program about anabaptism on ABC Radio National called The Anabaptist Vision… [Part 1 of a 12-part series] Show: ABC Radio National Full Podcast: The Anabaptist Vision Date: 6/17/07 Host: Gary Bryson Guests: John Hirt and Thorwald Lorenzen Download Transcript: Gary Bryson: Menno Simons was one of the leaders of the early Anabaptist movement. He was a Dutch cleric who gives his name to the best known of the Anabaptist groups today, the Mennonites. Early Anabaptists were persecuted not only by the Catholic church, but by Protestant reformers, who regarded Anabaptist beliefs as crossing the line to heresy. So what were these beliefs, why were they considered so dangerous, and why are they still important today? The core of the Anabaptist vision is found in the key ideas of the separation of church and state, adult baptism, radical discipleship, the authority of the gathered community, and a fervent belief in non-violence. As we’ll see in this program, these are ideas which are today informing a new generation of Christians committed to political and social change. Anabaptism is not a sectarian creed, but is instead a theological vision which can inform the practice and faith of Christians from many different traditions. More controversially, it is also a vision which seeks to redefine the role of the church in our everyday lives. John Hirt: Historians of the Reformation referred to the Anabaptists as the radical reformers, or the left-wing of the Reformation. Gary Bryson: The Reverend Dr John Hirt is the Uniting Church Chaplain for the University of Sydney and the University of Technology, and we’ll also hear from the Reverend Doctor Thorwald Lorenzen, Professor of Theology and principal researcher, the School of Theology at Charles Sturt University. John Hirt: They got their beginnings in 1525 in a little village called Zollikon, which is not too far from Zürich in Switzerland. And their big concern was that the reformers were not reformatory enough. When the reformers talked about reformation, the Anabaptists talked about restitution. They wanted the church to be restored right back to the New Testament faith. Thorwald Lorenzen: When we speak about Anabaptists today, we generally are speaking about the peaceful Anabaptists who were in Switzerland, in Southern Germany, and in Middle Germany and Holland. We’re not speaking about the more violent eschatological Anabaptists who were in Münster, people like Thomas Müntzer. So we have to distinguish between various Anabaptist movements. The Anabaptists which I’m talking about in Switzerland and Germany, they would agree with the major reformers like Huldrych Zwingli in Switzerland and Martin Luther in Germany, in their response to the Catholic church. They would agree with the reformers, but they felt that the reformers’ commitment to the authority of the Scriptures was not radical enough. Gary Bryson: The radical restitution demanded by the pacifist Anabaptists was a call to return to the values and precepts of the early Christian church as they saw them: pacifism, discipleship, free acceptance of the faith through adult baptism, and a separation of church and state. Gary Bryson hosts a program about anabaptism on ABC Radio National called The Anabaptist Vision… [Part 1 of a 12-part series] Show: ABC Radio National Full Podcast: The Anabaptist Vision Date: 6/17/07 Host: Gary Bryson Guests: John Hirt and [...] 3:09 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/02/13/the-constantinian-shift-part-3/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/02/13/the-constantinian-shift-part-3/#comments Tue, 14 Feb 2012 02:37:20 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=7755 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/02/13/the-constantinian-shift-part-3/feed/ 0 Bruxy Cavey, pastor of The Meeting House church in Ontario, Canada, discusses the early church’s views on pacifism, before and after Constantine… [Part 3 of a 3-part series] Ministry: The Meeting House Full Podcast: The Emperor’s New Clothes Date: 4/11/10 Speaker: Bruxy Cavey Download Bruxy Cavey Notes: Constantine wanted Christianity to flourish… but it would flourish at the demise of the Roman Empire… he had a problem that needed a solution, and some of the best minds went to work, such as Augustine; Augustine, then, started writing things like this: “War is waged to serve the peace”; Here we have within Christian circles the first time that peace as a means and peace as an ends is separated; Additional quotes from Augustine; In his writing he turns more and more to the Old Testament, and then you see another trend happening that happens within just war theory… and that is a desperate attempt to find some clue in the teaching of Jesus that might tell us He didn’t actually mean what He said and say what He meant in His very clear teaching on the way of peace; And so we see this snippet, or that parable, or this over here, and that starts to come up… that pattern still exists today… comes up often when talking with non-pacifists, and we see it begin in the writing of Augustine; Luke 14:23; It is an exercise in exegetical desperation… but we see it become the norm in Augustinian thinking and rationale Bruxy Cavey, pastor of The Meeting House church in Ontario, Canada, discusses the early church’s views on pacifism, before and after Constantine… [Part 3 of a 3-part series] Ministry: The Meeting House Full Podcast: The Emperor’s New [...] 2:59 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/02/12/the-constantinian-shift-part-2/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/02/12/the-constantinian-shift-part-2/#comments Mon, 13 Feb 2012 04:11:11 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=7742 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/02/12/the-constantinian-shift-part-2/feed/ 0 Bruxy Cavey, pastor of The Meeting House church in Ontario, Canada, discusses the early church’s views on pacifism, before and after Constantine… [Part 2 of a 3-part series] Ministry: The Meeting House Full Podcast: The Emperor’s New Clothes Date: 4/11/10 Speaker: Bruxy Cavey Download Bruxy Cavey Notes: One of the last voices before the Constantinian shift that we hear from is Lactantius, who is actually the tutor of Constantine’s son, Crispus; Quote from Lactantius; In this commandment of God, no exceptions at all ought to be made to the rule that it always wrong to kill a man, whom God has wished to be regarded as a sacrosanct creature; From Constantine on, things change, and over the centuries ahead we get a new norm; Examples of what becomes normative after Constantine; Quote from Jacques de Vitry; Now pacifism is seen as demonic; Quote from John of Mantua; What we find in much of their writings is the shift has moved from the example and teaching of Jesus to the example of other Old Testament saints, where violence is used to establish the kingdom of Israel and maintain the kingdom of Israel… and so David, Joshua, and others become the heroes of the faith, and Jesus steps to the sideline in much of their writing; Quote from Pope Innocent IV Bruxy Cavey, pastor of The Meeting House church in Ontario, Canada, discusses the early church’s views on pacifism, before and after Constantine… [Part 2 of a 3-part series] Ministry: The Meeting House Full Podcast: The Emperor’s New [...] 3:06 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/02/11/the-constantinian-shift-part-1/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/02/11/the-constantinian-shift-part-1/#comments Sat, 11 Feb 2012 23:28:52 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=7725 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/02/11/the-constantinian-shift-part-1/feed/ 0 Bruxy Cavey, pastor of The Meeting House church in Ontario, Canada, discusses the early church’s views on pacifism, before and after Constantine… [Part 1 of a 3-part series] Ministry: The Meeting House Full Podcast: The Emperor’s New Clothes Date: 4/11/10 Speaker: Bruxy Cavey Download Bruxy Cavey Notes: Pre-Constantine, the church that was associated with the Roman Empire rallied around a concept called “patientia“… it is Latin for “patience”… it meant “enduring evil so as not to commit it, rather than committing evil so as not to endure it”; They unanimously taught that we should do anything to avoid killing, because that would destroy our witness for Christ; It’s always ok to die for a cause… it’s just never ok to kill for a cause; Suffering well… dying well… loving your enemies as they extinguish your life… could be one of the greatest witnesses for the transformative nature of the kingdom of Christ at work in your heart… so why would we fight back to preserve our life?; The word “martyr”, which has now come to mean someone who dies for their faith, doesn’t actually mean that–it means a “witness”–someone who is a witness is a martyr; The early church said, well, one of the best ways you can be a witness is actually to die for your faith while you love your enemy; So to be one who dies for the faith came to be seen as the ultimate “witness”, and they were called “martyrs”; The unanimous voice of the church pre-Constantine… quotes from Origen, Tertullian, Hippolytus, Arnobius; You can agree or disagree, but this was the unanimous opinion of the church for 300 years Bruxy Cavey, pastor of The Meeting House church in Ontario, Canada, discusses the early church’s views on pacifism, before and after Constantine… [Part 1 of a 3-part series] Ministry: The Meeting House Full Podcast: The Emperor’s New [...] 3:07 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/01/16/a-demanding-love-martin-luther-king-jr/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/01/16/a-demanding-love-martin-luther-king-jr/#comments Tue, 17 Jan 2012 05:20:25 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=7370 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2012/01/16/a-demanding-love-martin-luther-king-jr/feed/ 0 Powerful words spoken by my hero, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in St. Augustine, Florida in 1964… Speaker: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Partial transcript: “It’s difficult advice and in some quarters it isn’t too popular to say it…Let us recognize that violence is not the answer. I must say to you tonight that violence is impractical…We have another method that is much more powerful and much more effective than the weapon of violence…Hate isn’t our weapon either…I am not talking now about a weak love. It would be nonsense to urge oppressed people to love their oppressors in an affectionate sense–I’m not talking about that. Too many people confuse the meaning of love when they go to criticizing the love ethic…I am talking about a love that is so strong that it becomes a demanding love. I’m talking about a love that is so strong that it organizes itself into a mass movement and says somehow ‘I am my brother’s keeper, and he is so wrong that I am willing to suffer and die if necessary to get him right and to see that he’s on the wrong road’.” Play audio in browser: Download audio Martin Luther King, Jr. Powerful words spoken by my hero, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in St. Augustine, Florida in 1964… Speaker: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Partial transcript: “It’s difficult advice and in some quarters it isn’t too popular to say it…Let us [...] 1:48 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/12/13/frank-viola-and-organic-church-part-8/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/12/13/frank-viola-and-organic-church-part-8/#comments Wed, 14 Dec 2011 02:25:17 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=7034 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/12/13/frank-viola-and-organic-church-part-8/feed/ 1 Frank Viola discusses the institutional church vs. organic church… [Part 8 of an 8-Part series] Show: Nomad Podcast Full Podcast: Nomad 8: Frank Viola and Organic Church Date: 9/10/09 Guest: Frank Viola Notes: The future of the church in the next 10-30 years; The organic expression of the church… Christians that meet in homes, do not have a clergy, do not have a modern pastoral role, where every member is functioning, where every member is taking leadership, where people are making decisions together as the church, where there is a holding strong to God’s eternal purpose, a true understanding of that and expressing it as community… will be far more widely accepted than it is today; What’s happening is what happened in the first Reformation; The first Reformation under Luther, Calvin, etc. did not change the institutional church–all it did was it created a new way of meeting and a new theology that was different from the accepted church of the day; The Catholic church didn’t go away with Reformation, it’s still as strong as ever; In 30 years, the organic expression of the church will be just as accepted as the Catholic and Protestant church Play audio in browser: Download audio Frank Viola discusses the institutional church vs. organic church… [Part 8 of an 8-Part series] Show: Nomad Podcast Full Podcast: Nomad 8: Frank Viola and Organic Church Date: 9/10/09 Guest: Frank Viola Notes: The future of the church in the [...] 3:30 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/12/12/frank-viola-and-organic-church-part-7/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/12/12/frank-viola-and-organic-church-part-7/#comments Tue, 13 Dec 2011 04:11:32 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=7030 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/12/12/frank-viola-and-organic-church-part-7/feed/ 0 Frank Viola discusses the institutional church vs. organic church… [Part 7 of an 8-Part series] Show: Nomad Podcast Full Podcast: Nomad 8: Frank Viola and Organic Church Date: 9/10/09 Guest: Frank Viola Notes: The sophists–pagan philosophers–would go around and be paid for teaching a group of people; They would sit there mesmerized by the great oratory of the greco-roman philosopher and orator, and that was brought straight into the Christian faith; That’s when you had the birth of the “one-man show”–giving the sermon and being paid for it; Then when Constantine came along, that’s when the guillotine dropped, and lots of things started happening there… clergy salaries, “sacred” buildings being gone up (“the house of the Lord”), people calling church a building (the church was never a building, it was the bride of Christ, it was the people of God); Today a lot of writers are talking about the Constantinian influence of empire, war, the whole issue of how people are being treated, and what the kingdom of God is opposed to empire, and tracing it all back to Constantine; You can find a lot of this in people like Stuart Murray, Greg Boyd, Brian McLaren, and other emerging writers… these observations about Constantinian influences are dead on, but we also need to go further and look at the Constantinian influences on the practice of the church; “Pagan Christianity?” and “Reimagining Church” are two sides to the same coin–”Pagan Christianity?” deconstructs and exposes where we got all these practices from, and raises the question, “Are they a help or are they a hindrance? And are they rooted in New Testament principles, or do they violate them?”, and then “Reimagining Church” paints a constructive picture of what the church of Jesus Christ can be and should be Play audio in browser: Download audio Frank Viola discusses the institutional church vs. organic church… [Part 7 of an 8-Part series] Show: Nomad Podcast Full Podcast: Nomad 8: Frank Viola and Organic Church Date: 9/10/09 Guest: Frank Viola Notes: The sophists–pagan [...] 3:16 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/12/11/frank-viola-and-organic-church-part-6/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/12/11/frank-viola-and-organic-church-part-6/#comments Mon, 12 Dec 2011 04:36:13 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=7027 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/12/11/frank-viola-and-organic-church-part-6/feed/ 0 Frank Viola discusses the institutional church vs. organic church… [Part 6 of an 8-Part series] Show: Nomad Podcast Full Podcast: Nomad 8: Frank Viola and Organic Church Date: 9/10/09 Guest: Frank Viola Notes: A true church that is operating the way she should–the way God has orchestrated it–you will see a microcosm of the kingdom of God there operating; This is what it was in the first and second centuries… this is why Christianity took off the way it did–the pagans would look and say “behold how they love one another”; That has been lost with the institutional church and the big megachurches and everything… it’s become a performance, a spectator sport, something you attend; Jesus Christ is still alive and He’s alive enough to be head of His own church; How did the modern church get so far from the biblical model? Where did it start going wrong?; Frank’s book “Pagan Christianity?” shows the historical development of that; It began with the death of the apostles and the men they trained… historically you had a lot of Greco-Roman philosophers and orators that came into the church with a Greco-Roman mind; Instead of being a cultural expression of the church of Jesus Christ, the culture began to take over, and you had this blending together of the Greco-Roman mind and hierarchical leadership, which comes straight out of Rome, and harkens back even to Babylon and Egypt, was being brought into the church; The church slowly began to devolve to look like the culture in ways that violated the teachings of Jesus–the hierarchical leadership structure is just one example Play audio in browser: Download audio Frank Viola discusses the institutional church vs. organic church… [Part 6 of an 8-Part series] Show: Nomad Podcast Full Podcast: Nomad 8: Frank Viola and Organic Church Date: 9/10/09 Guest: Frank Viola Notes: A true church that is operating the [...] 3:24 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/12/10/frank-viola-and-organic-church-part-5/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/12/10/frank-viola-and-organic-church-part-5/#comments Sat, 10 Dec 2011 18:46:30 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=7022 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/12/10/frank-viola-and-organic-church-part-5/feed/ 0 Frank Viola discusses the institutional church vs. organic church… [Part 5 of an 8-Part series] Show: Nomad Podcast Full Podcast: Nomad 8: Frank Viola and Organic Church Date: 9/10/09 Guest: Frank Viola Notes: A concrete example of what organic church looks like; Hebrews 10:25; 1 Corinthians 14 Play audio in browser: Download audio Frank Viola discusses the institutional church vs. organic church… [Part 5 of an 8-Part series] Show: Nomad Podcast Full Podcast: Nomad 8: Frank Viola and Organic Church Date: 9/10/09 Guest: Frank Viola Notes: A concrete example of what organic [...] 3:29 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/12/08/frank-viola-and-organic-church-part-4/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/12/08/frank-viola-and-organic-church-part-4/#comments Fri, 09 Dec 2011 06:08:33 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=7014 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/12/08/frank-viola-and-organic-church-part-4/feed/ 0 Frank Viola discusses the institutional church vs. organic church… [Part 4 of an 8-Part series] Show: Nomad Podcast Full Podcast: Nomad 8: Frank Viola and Organic Church Date: 9/10/09 Guest: Frank Viola Notes: The regular meeting of the church (Hebrews 10:25) is a meeting that is open and participatory, where every member of the body of Christ functions and shares and ministers on equal footing… and the Head of that meeting is none other than the Lord Jesus Himself; 1 Corinthians 14:26; This kind of meeting is what our spiritual instincts long for… we have a spiritual need to give out what God gives to us; What God puts in, we have to pour it out to others–that’s what the meeting of the church really is; This is pretty much unheard of in most traditional churches today Play audio in browser: Download audio Frank Viola discusses the institutional church vs. organic church… [Part 4 of an 8-Part series] Show: Nomad Podcast Full Podcast: Nomad 8: Frank Viola and Organic Church Date: 9/10/09 Guest: Frank Viola Notes: The regular meeting of the church [...] 2:15 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/12/07/frank-viola-and-organic-church-part-3/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/12/07/frank-viola-and-organic-church-part-3/#comments Wed, 07 Dec 2011 17:46:15 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=7004 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/12/07/frank-viola-and-organic-church-part-3/feed/ 0 Frank Viola discusses the institutional church vs. organic church… [Part 3 of an 8-Part series] Show: Nomad Podcast Full Podcast: Nomad 8: Frank Viola and Organic Church Date: 9/10/09 Guest: Frank Viola Notes: Frank’s book “Reimagining Church“; The leadership of the church of Jesus Christ ought never to be hierarchical; Matthew 20:25-28; John Howard Yoder, Robert Banks, and Howard Snyder have brought this out very well… you have a living, breathing, body, and there is only one Head, and it’s Jesus Christ, but you have different members that have different functions and different giftings; Those members and those functions all carry the authority from the Head; The finger doesn’t have authority over the foot, the arm doesn’t have authority over the hand, and the leg doesn’t have authority over the wrist… it all comes from the Head; The headship of Jesus Christ–not as a theory or as a doctrine–but as a living, breathing reality–as a functioning organism, something that can be experienced–is really the heartbeat of organic church Play audio in browser: Download audio Frank Viola discusses the institutional church vs. organic church… [Part 3 of an 8-Part series] Show: Nomad Podcast Full Podcast: Nomad 8: Frank Viola and Organic Church Date: 9/10/09 Guest: Frank Viola Notes: Frank’s book “Reimagining [...] 3:32 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/12/06/frank-viola-and-organic-church-part-2/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/12/06/frank-viola-and-organic-church-part-2/#comments Wed, 07 Dec 2011 05:10:57 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=7001 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/12/06/frank-viola-and-organic-church-part-2/feed/ 0 Frank Viola discusses the institutional church vs. organic church… [Part 2 of an 8-Part series] Show: Nomad Podcast Full Podcast: Nomad 8: Frank Viola and Organic Church Date: 9/10/09 Guest: Frank Viola Notes: You cannot find “going to church” in the New Testament… the New Testament Christians met together, but they did not go to a service; The institutional church doesn’t really give you a venue to minister and to share in the meeting (in the church service)… you go to receive; There is very little to no ministry that you yourself do during that meeting; A Christian does not grow unless he is functioning; There has to be an expression of church that is not only closer to the New Testament, but that maps to our spiritual instincts; The organic nature of the ekklesia Play audio in browser: Download audio Frank Viola discusses the institutional church vs. organic church… [Part 2 of an 8-Part series] Show: Nomad Podcast Full Podcast: Nomad 8: Frank Viola and Organic Church Date: 9/10/09 Guest: Frank Viola Notes: You cannot find “going to [...] 2:46 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/12/06/frank-viola-and-organic-church-part-1/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/12/06/frank-viola-and-organic-church-part-1/#comments Tue, 06 Dec 2011 07:00:19 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=6984 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/12/06/frank-viola-and-organic-church-part-1/feed/ 0 Frank Viola discusses the institutional church vs. organic church… [Part 1 of an 8-Part series] Show: Nomad Podcast Full Podcast: Nomad 8: Frank Viola and Organic Church Date: 9/10/09 Guest: Frank Viola Notes: Radical church reform; Frank’s books “Pagan Christianity?“, “Reimagining Church“, and “Finding Organic Church“; Organic/simple church; Institutional/traditional/conventional/organized church Play audio in browser: Download audio Frank Viola discusses the institutional church vs. organic church… [Part 1 of an 8-Part series] Show: Nomad Podcast Full Podcast: Nomad 8: Frank Viola and Organic Church Date: 9/10/09 Guest: Frank Viola Notes: Radical church reform; Frank’s [...] 2:42 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/11/19/greg-boyd-the-sword-and-the-cross-part-19/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/11/19/greg-boyd-the-sword-and-the-cross-part-19/#comments Sat, 19 Nov 2011 07:11:48 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=6964 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/11/19/greg-boyd-the-sword-and-the-cross-part-19/feed/ 0 Greg Boyd, pastor of Woodland Hills Church in St. Paul, MN compares the kingdom of the world to the kingdom of God… [Part 19 of a 19-Part series. Click here for Part 1.] Ministry: Woodland Hills Church Full Podcast: Be Thou My Vision Date: 5/23/04 Speaker: Greg Boyd Notes: 1 John 4:12; Ephesians 5:1-2; The difference between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of the world is as clear and as obvious as the difference between absolute ugliness and absolute beauty–the difference between Jesus and Caesar is apparent… it’s there… it’s obvious; The one thing people are supposed to see–the one thing that’s necessary to see–the one thing that God leveraged the furthering of His kingdom on–is our love; Paul says if they don’t see love, the rightness of your position, the rightness of your cause, and the stances that you take, are self-serving and they’re absolutely worthless (1 Corinthians 13) Play audio in browser: Download audio Greg Boyd Greg Boyd, pastor of Woodland Hills Church in St. Paul, MN compares the kingdom of the world to the kingdom of God… [Part 19 of a 19-Part series. Click here for Part 1.] Ministry: Woodland Hills Church Full Podcast: Be Thou My Vision Date: [...] 2:57 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/11/16/greg-boyd-the-sword-and-the-cross-part-18/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/11/16/greg-boyd-the-sword-and-the-cross-part-18/#comments Thu, 17 Nov 2011 03:52:22 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=6962 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/11/16/greg-boyd-the-sword-and-the-cross-part-18/feed/ 0 Greg Boyd, pastor of Woodland Hills Church in St. Paul, MN compares the kingdom of the world to the kingdom of God… [Part 18 of a 19-Part series. Click here for Part 1.] Ministry: Woodland Hills Church Full Podcast: Be Thou My Vision Date: 5/23/04 Speaker: Greg Boyd Notes: When you lose your life, you find your life; When you die to self, you find a truer self; There’s a dimension of joy and a dimension of peace that comes from dying to self–letting go of that retaliation game; When you die to striving for your own security, you find the supernatural security that’s found in Jesus Christ; You find something that’s more important than life itself–something that’s more important than your self-preservation; The hope of the world is not found in one nation getting a few more bombs, and a few faster bullets, and a few better strategies… it’s found in the person of Jesus Christ; When the church embodies that perfect, unconditional, unsurpassable love that is God throughout eternity, then the world sees it Play audio in browser: Download audio Greg Boyd Greg Boyd, pastor of Woodland Hills Church in St. Paul, MN compares the kingdom of the world to the kingdom of God… [Part 18 of a 19-Part series. Click here for Part 1.] Ministry: Woodland Hills Church Full Podcast: Be Thou My Vision Date: [...] 3:00 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/11/16/greg-boyd-the-sword-and-the-cross-part-17/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/11/16/greg-boyd-the-sword-and-the-cross-part-17/#comments Wed, 16 Nov 2011 20:17:41 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=6960 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/11/16/greg-boyd-the-sword-and-the-cross-part-17/feed/ 0 Greg Boyd, pastor of Woodland Hills Church in St. Paul, MN compares the kingdom of the world to the kingdom of God… [Part 17 of a 19-Part series. Click here for Part 1.] Ministry: Woodland Hills Church Full Podcast: Be Thou My Vision Date: 5/23/04 Speaker: Greg Boyd Notes: This kingdom is gonna be radically different–it’s the kingdom of God; Jesus wasn’t trying to tweak a kingdom of the world… He was planning an entirely different kind of kingdom; To enter into this kingdom you have got to crucify some of the most basic, fallen instincts of the human self–you’ve got to crucify the flesh; As kingdom people we commit to doing one thing, and one thing only, and that’s loving like Jesus loves–imitating Jesus Christ Play audio in browser: Download audio Greg Boyd Greg Boyd, pastor of Woodland Hills Church in St. Paul, MN compares the kingdom of the world to the kingdom of God… [Part 17 of a 19-Part series. Click here for Part 1.] Ministry: Woodland Hills Church Full Podcast: Be Thou My Vision Date: [...] 3:09 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/11/14/greg-boyd-the-sword-and-the-cross-part-16/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/11/14/greg-boyd-the-sword-and-the-cross-part-16/#comments Tue, 15 Nov 2011 03:03:31 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=6928 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/11/14/greg-boyd-the-sword-and-the-cross-part-16/feed/ 0 Greg Boyd, pastor of Woodland Hills Church in St. Paul, MN compares the kingdom of the world to the kingdom of God… [Part 16 of an ongoing series. Click here for Part 1.] Ministry: Woodland Hills Church Full Podcast: The Difference Between the Two Kingdoms Date: 4/25/04 Speaker: Greg Boyd Notes: Our unique role as kingdom of God people is to see through the veneer, and don’t be fooled by it; If we buy the veneer–the civic religion–as closer to the kingdom of God than the civic religion in Cambodia or anywhere else, then we lose our focus… we pollute the distinct missionary call on our lives; You are a missionary in the United States as much as if you were in Cambodia, it’s just that it’s a little more difficult to see sometimes because there’s this civic religion–this quasi-Christian sort of veneer around–which convinces people that they’re already on the inside; What needs to happen is for God to get a hold of their heart and show them that they need Jesus Christ, not just in a social appropriate kind of way, but in the core of their being–in a transforming sort of way; The kingdom of God that you are should be no different whether you’re in America, or in Cambodia, or in South Africa, or in the Soviet Union… the kingdom of God stays the same; Your opinions about how the kingdom of the world should operate will differ from place to place; 2 Timothy 2; Our job is to–towards everybody at all places and all times by every possible means–sacrifice of our life to ascribe the worth that God ascribes to them on the cross of Calvary… that’s how this mustard seed, radically alternative, very different, foolish-looking kind of kingdom of God is gonna grow Play audio in browser: Download audio Greg Boyd Greg Boyd, pastor of Woodland Hills Church in St. Paul, MN compares the kingdom of the world to the kingdom of God… [Part 16 of an ongoing series. Click here for Part 1.] Ministry: Woodland Hills Church Full Podcast: The Difference Between the [...] 3:40 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/11/13/greg-boyd-the-sword-and-the-cross-part-15/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/11/13/greg-boyd-the-sword-and-the-cross-part-15/#comments Mon, 14 Nov 2011 00:31:26 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=6925 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/11/13/greg-boyd-the-sword-and-the-cross-part-15/feed/ 0 Greg Boyd, pastor of Woodland Hills Church in St. Paul, MN compares the kingdom of the world to the kingdom of God… [Part 15 of an ongoing series. Click here for Part 1.] Ministry: Woodland Hills Church Full Podcast: The Difference Between the Two Kingdoms Date: 4/25/04 Speaker: Greg Boyd Notes: Being a missionary in Cambodia (or any other “non-Christian” nation), you’re never tempted to confuse your opinions about how the government should be run with the missionary focus that you have as a kingdom of God person; That clarity is precisely what is lacking here in America; What we’ve got here is a civic or social sort of religion, but pull back the veneer of quasi-Christian externals, and what you will find is something that is altogether pagan; You are as much a missionary in America as you would be if you were in Cambodia Play audio in browser: Download audio Greg Boyd Greg Boyd, pastor of Woodland Hills Church in St. Paul, MN compares the kingdom of the world to the kingdom of God… [Part 15 of an ongoing series. Click here for Part 1.] Ministry: Woodland Hills Church Full Podcast: The Difference Between the [...] 4:12 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/11/13/greg-boyd-the-sword-and-the-cross-part-14/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/11/13/greg-boyd-the-sword-and-the-cross-part-14/#comments Sun, 13 Nov 2011 18:52:13 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=6922 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/11/13/greg-boyd-the-sword-and-the-cross-part-14/feed/ 0 Greg Boyd, pastor of Woodland Hills Church in St. Paul, MN compares the kingdom of the world to the kingdom of God… [Part 14 of an ongoing series...] Ministry: Woodland Hills Church Full Podcast: The Difference Between the Two Kingdoms Date: 4/25/04 Speaker: Greg Boyd Notes: The main thing that God leverages the advancement of His kingdom on is when His children obey Him and repeat Calvary to others–we imitate Jesus, not Caesar… that’s how the kingdom goes forward; If we identify this as a “Christian” nation, then Caesar gets wrapped up with the word “Christian”, and now everything America does gets tagged as “what Christians do”; The best America–or any other kingdom of the world–can be is a decent power-over regime… that’s the best a nation can do; A nation can’t replicate Calvary love towards others, and when we identify a nation as “Christian”, it pollutes our distinct, unique witness to the world, upon which God leverages everything; Romans 13; 2 Peter 2; We need to keep the two kingdoms distinct; Satan uses this confusion to pollute/dilute/ruin/undermine the witness of kingdom people to the world; It is to our advantage–it’s to the advantage of the kingdom of God–to say as loudly and clearly as we can, “His kingdom is not of this world“; There is no national kingdom of God–the kingdom of God by definition occurs wherever there are people who are willing to come under others, and lay down their lives for others, and serve others, and turn the other cheek, and do that radical, foolish thing that characterizes the kingdom of God; The kingdom of God happens when people imitate Jesus, not Caesar… we’ve got to keep those two things distinct, and the idea of this as a Christian nation–or an almost Christian nation–undermines that Play audio in browser: Download audio Greg Boyd Greg Boyd, pastor of Woodland Hills Church in St. Paul, MN compares the kingdom of the world to the kingdom of God… [Part 14 of an ongoing series...] Ministry: Woodland Hills Church Full Podcast: The Difference Between the Two Kingdoms Date: [...] 3:29 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/11/11/greg-boyd-the-sword-and-the-cross-part-13/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/11/11/greg-boyd-the-sword-and-the-cross-part-13/#comments Sat, 12 Nov 2011 04:11:04 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=6919 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/11/11/greg-boyd-the-sword-and-the-cross-part-13/feed/ 0 Greg Boyd, pastor of Woodland Hills Church in St. Paul, MN compares the kingdom of the world to the kingdom of God… [Part 13 of an ongoing series...] Ministry: Woodland Hills Church Full Podcast: The Difference Between the Two Kingdoms Date: 4/25/04 Speaker: Greg Boyd Notes: We live in a version of the kingdom of the world that asks our opinion about how this version of the kingdom of the world should operate–what should be a crime in our society?; What are we called to do to further the kingdom of God?; How do we best replicate Calvary towards one another and to the outside world?; It’s precisely because our opinion is asked in this version of the kingdom of the world that we have to be particularly careful to not get sucked in to thinking that our opinions about the kingdom of the world are synonymous with the kingdom of God Play audio in browser: Download audio Greg Boyd Greg Boyd, pastor of Woodland Hills Church in St. Paul, MN compares the kingdom of the world to the kingdom of God… [Part 13 of an ongoing series...] Ministry: Woodland Hills Church Full Podcast: The Difference Between the Two Kingdoms Date: [...] 3:34 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/11/10/greg-boyd-the-sword-and-the-cross-part-12/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/11/10/greg-boyd-the-sword-and-the-cross-part-12/#comments Fri, 11 Nov 2011 03:52:54 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=6914 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/11/10/greg-boyd-the-sword-and-the-cross-part-12/feed/ 0 Greg Boyd, pastor of Woodland Hills Church in St. Paul, MN compares the kingdom of the world to the kingdom of God… [Part 12 of an ongoing series...] Ministry: Woodland Hills Church Full Podcast: The Difference Between the Two Kingdoms Date: 4/25/04 Speaker: Greg Boyd Notes: The kingdom of the world is always tribal–it’s always national, it’s us against them; There’s something intrinsic in the flesh that always wants to say that “my way is the best way“; In the kingdom of God, the perspective is universal; Jesus Christ died for every human being, so every human being has absolute worth–infinite worth–and our main job in life is to express that to them in word and in deed; From a kingdom of God perspective we would consider all body bags to be equally tragic; In the kingdom of God, we are not allowed to have any enemies–we’re forbidden to have enemies of flesh and blood; The ones who think that they are our enemies, we are commanded to love them, to serve them, to lay down our life for them; Two distinct categories–crime and sin; Some things can be a crime but not sin, and some things can be sin but not a crime Play audio in browser: Download audio Greg Boyd Greg Boyd, pastor of Woodland Hills Church in St. Paul, MN compares the kingdom of the world to the kingdom of God… [Part 12 of an ongoing series...] Ministry: Woodland Hills Church Full Podcast: The Difference Between the Two Kingdoms Date: [...] 3:07 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/11/06/greg-boyd-the-sword-and-the-cross-part-11/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/11/06/greg-boyd-the-sword-and-the-cross-part-11/#comments Sun, 06 Nov 2011 14:24:18 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=6905 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/11/06/greg-boyd-the-sword-and-the-cross-part-11/feed/ 0 Greg Boyd, pastor of Woodland Hills Church in St. Paul, MN compares the kingdom of the world to the kingdom of God… [Part 11 of an ongoing series...] Ministry: Woodland Hills Church Full Podcast: The Difference Between the Two Kingdoms Date: 4/25/04 Speaker: Greg Boyd Notes: The world of 1st century Judaism that Jesus came into was a politically hot world–there was a widespread hyper-vigilance on political matters; John Yoder’s “The Politics of Jesus“; Everything Jesus did would have been being watched by people through a political lens–everything he did was politically significant; People tried to pull him into the politics of His age, but Jesus never allows Himself to be dragged into that; The very fact that He didn’t let them define the terms of the issues that He was addressing was itself a huge political statement… He was saying–directly and indirectly–that the kingdom that He comes to bring is not of this world; What Jesus did, He did on purpose; He allowed Himself to be crucified by the kingdom of the world to establish the kingdom that is of God, and now His people are called to imitate Him Play audio in browser: Download audio Greg Boyd Greg Boyd, pastor of Woodland Hills Church in St. Paul, MN compares the kingdom of the world to the kingdom of God… [Part 11 of an ongoing series...] Ministry: Woodland Hills Church Full Podcast: The Difference Between the Two Kingdoms Date: [...] 3:09 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/11/02/greg-boyd-the-sword-and-the-cross-part-10/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/11/02/greg-boyd-the-sword-and-the-cross-part-10/#comments Thu, 03 Nov 2011 02:03:15 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=6892 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/11/02/greg-boyd-the-sword-and-the-cross-part-10/feed/ 0 Greg Boyd, pastor of Woodland Hills Church in St. Paul, MN compares the kingdom of the world to the kingdom of God… [Part 10 of an ongoing series...] Ministry: Woodland Hills Church Full Podcast: Taking America Back for God? Date: 4/18/04 Speaker: Greg Boyd Notes: The slogan “Take America Back to God“; When was the “golden age” of America when we really were a “nation under God”?; The myth that this is a Christian nation, that it ever has been a Christian nation, and that if we just tweak the laws a little bit more it will become a Christian nation, is one of the most pernicious, diabolical lies that the church has bought into, cause it completely diffuses the unique authority of the church; We are to win America for Jesus Christ, and we’re to win Iraq for Jesus Christ… and Cambodia, and Haiti, and the world for Jesus Christ; The church is to be triumphant, but the church is never to be militant; How we do it and what we trust in the process is everything; The distinctive mark of the kingdom of God is that we trust in the cross and the power of self-sacrificial love; The hope of the world does not lie in the Christian church conquering… the hope of the world lies in the Christian church imitating its Lord and Savior Play audio in browser: Download audio Greg Boyd Greg Boyd, pastor of Woodland Hills Church in St. Paul, MN compares the kingdom of the world to the kingdom of God… [Part 10 of an ongoing series...] Ministry: Woodland Hills Church Full Podcast: Taking America Back for God? Date: 4/18/04 [...] 4:23 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/11/01/greg-boyd-the-sword-and-the-cross-part-9/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/11/01/greg-boyd-the-sword-and-the-cross-part-9/#comments Tue, 01 Nov 2011 15:34:49 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=6888 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/11/01/greg-boyd-the-sword-and-the-cross-part-9/feed/ 0 Greg Boyd, pastor of Woodland Hills Church in St. Paul, MN compares the kingdom of the world to the kingdom of God… [Part 9 of an ongoing series...] Ministry: Woodland Hills Church Full Podcast: Taking America Back for God? Date: 4/18/04 Speaker: Greg Boyd Notes: The slogan “Take America Back for God” expresses a trust in the sword–in power-over; If the church is going to throw the first stone, the church better be without sin; We are called to imitate Jesus, and Jesus went to Calvary for sinners; Our one singular task in life is to ask the question, how can we express that Calvary kind of love to others?–that’s the question that we live in as kingdom of God people; Our first allegiance–bar none–is to our King and to imitate the radically counter-cultural revolutionary way that he acted to build the radical, counter-cultural, revolutionary, unique kingdom of God that He came to establish Play audio in browser: Download audio Greg Boyd Greg Boyd, pastor of Woodland Hills Church in St. Paul, MN compares the kingdom of the world to the kingdom of God… [Part 9 of an ongoing series...] Ministry: Woodland Hills Church Full Podcast: Taking America Back for God? Date: 4/18/04 Speaker: [...] 3:00 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/10/28/greg-boyd-the-sword-and-the-cross-part-8/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/10/28/greg-boyd-the-sword-and-the-cross-part-8/#comments Sat, 29 Oct 2011 04:03:42 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=6874 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/10/28/greg-boyd-the-sword-and-the-cross-part-8/feed/ 0 Greg Boyd, pastor of Woodland Hills Church in St. Paul, MN compares the kingdom of the world to the kingdom of God… [Part 8 of an ongoing series...] Ministry: Woodland Hills Church Full Podcast: Taking America Back for God? Date: 4/18/04 Speaker: Greg Boyd Notes: How could the cross and the sword become so fused together?; Just war theory is a kingdom of the world thing; As a kingdom of God person, we have to at least have enough healthy distance to ask questions that maybe others who are more sold out to the kingdom of the world would never think of asking; As a kingdom of God person, your central defining mission in life is to demonstrate Calvary-like love to the Iraqi people [and to all people]… to be willing to die for them even if they are your political enemies–to be willing to serve them, that’s our distinctive call; It should grieve us cause those souls are as precious as our souls–that’s the unique angle of the kingdom of God Play audio in browser: Download audio Greg Boyd Greg Boyd, pastor of Woodland Hills Church in St. Paul, MN compares the kingdom of the world to the kingdom of God… [Part 8 of an ongoing series...] Ministry: Woodland Hills Church Full Podcast: Taking America Back for God? Date: 4/18/04 Speaker: [...] 3:14 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/10/26/greg-boyd-the-sword-and-the-cross-part-7/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/10/26/greg-boyd-the-sword-and-the-cross-part-7/#comments Thu, 27 Oct 2011 02:59:17 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=6854 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/10/26/greg-boyd-the-sword-and-the-cross-part-7/feed/ 0 Greg Boyd, pastor of Woodland Hills Church in St. Paul, MN compares the kingdom of the world to the kingdom of God… [Part 7 of an ongoing series...] Ministry: Woodland Hills Church Full Podcast: Taking America Back for God? Date: 4/18/04 Speaker: Greg Boyd Notes: Everything hangs on our preserving the integrity and the uniqueness of the kingdom of God; Everything hangs on our willingness to hold onto the cross and not pick up the sword; Everything hangs on our imitating the crucified Messiah, not aspiring to be a conquering Caesar; Everything hangs upon our willingness to give up power over if need be in order to express power under; Everything hangs on our willingness to trust the power of the cross–the power of self-sacrificial love; When you trust in the sword, you lose the cross… and everything hangs upon hanging onto the cross; To a large degree we still have a Constantinian model of Christianity that we’re working from in America; The slogan “Taking America back for God”; The conservative church to a large degree has fused the cross and the sword Play audio in browser: Download audio Greg Boyd Greg Boyd, pastor of Woodland Hills Church in St. Paul, MN compares the kingdom of the world to the kingdom of God… [Part 7 of an ongoing series...] Ministry: Woodland Hills Church Full Podcast: Taking America Back for God? Date: 4/18/04 Speaker: [...] 2:24 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/10/25/greg-boyd-the-sword-and-the-cross-part-6/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/10/25/greg-boyd-the-sword-and-the-cross-part-6/#comments Wed, 26 Oct 2011 01:57:22 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=6851 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/10/25/greg-boyd-the-sword-and-the-cross-part-6/feed/ 0 Greg Boyd, pastor of Woodland Hills Church in St. Paul, MN compares the kingdom of the world to the kingdom of God… [Part 6 of an ongoing series...] Ministry: Woodland Hills Church Full Podcast: Taking America Back for God? Date: 4/18/04 Speaker: Greg Boyd Notes: 1 Corinthians 13; Paul says if you don’t have love, what you do have is altogether worthless… in terms of the kingdom, it is absolutely of no value–it’s a noisy gong, it’s just religious noise; Love looks like Jesus Christ; Killing people is not loving; Burning people alive is not hoping for the best in them; It’s insane that the revolutionary movement that was to be founded on the cross and on outrageous love came to this; As kingdom people we should be at the front of the line criticizing that church history in order to distance the genuine kingdom of God from anything that would do that to other people; When the church picks up the sword, it dies by the sword; When you go to bed with Constantine, you wake up as Constantine; When you put your trust in the sword, you lose the cross Play audio in browser: Download audio Greg Boyd Greg Boyd, pastor of Woodland Hills Church in St. Paul, MN compares the kingdom of the world to the kingdom of God… [Part 6 of an ongoing series...] Ministry: Woodland Hills Church Full Podcast: Taking America Back for God? Date: 4/18/04 Speaker: [...] 2:57 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/10/24/greg-boyd-the-sword-and-the-cross-part-5/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/10/24/greg-boyd-the-sword-and-the-cross-part-5/#comments Tue, 25 Oct 2011 02:47:46 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=6848 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/10/24/greg-boyd-the-sword-and-the-cross-part-5/feed/ 0 Greg Boyd, pastor of Woodland Hills Church in St. Paul, MN compares the kingdom of the world to the kingdom of God… [Part 5 of an ongoing series...] Ministry: Woodland Hills Church Full Podcast: Taking America Back for God? Date: 4/18/04 Speaker: Greg Boyd Notes: The Constantinian revolution… when the church adopted the slogan that we still have with us today: “The church militant and triumphant”; For the first four centuries, the church grew by people imitating Jesus–literally; They were persecuted, they were put to death; The word “martyr” means “witness”, but it became synonymous with one who dies for their faith, because that’s the main way that they witnessed; In the 4th Century, the Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity; Now Christians for the first time began to taste the possibility of having the power of the sword; Constantine legalized Christianity in 313 AD… in 381 Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire, and the first “infidel” was put to death in 382; What follows are centuries of some of the most barbaric bloodshed the world has ever seen… heretics were routinely put to death, unbelievers routinely put to death, the Inquisition, the Crusades, Muslims; Whole towns were slaughtered because they disagreed with the official teaching of the Holy Catholic Church of Constantine; But it continued on with the Protestant Reformation–there was no improvement there whatsoever; We’ve got to see the demonic irony in all of this… in the name of the One who taught us to turn the other cheek, the church cut off people’s heads; In the name of the One who taught us to love our enemies–to lay down our life for our enemies–the church burned enemies alive; In the name of the One who forbid taking up the sword, the church swung the sword, and swung it hard–we’ve got to see the insanity of this Play audio in browser: Download audio Greg Boyd Greg Boyd, pastor of Woodland Hills Church in St. Paul, MN compares the kingdom of the world to the kingdom of God… [Part 5 of an ongoing series...] Ministry: Woodland Hills Church Full Podcast: Taking America Back for God? Date: 4/18/04 Speaker: [...] 3:06 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/10/23/greg-boyd-the-sword-and-the-cross-part-4/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/10/23/greg-boyd-the-sword-and-the-cross-part-4/#comments Mon, 24 Oct 2011 02:05:39 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=6838 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/10/23/greg-boyd-the-sword-and-the-cross-part-4/feed/ 0 Greg Boyd, pastor of Woodland Hills Church in St. Paul, MN compares the kingdom of the world to the kingdom of God… [Part 4 of an ongoing series...] Ministry: Woodland Hills Church Full Podcast: Taking America Back for God? Date: 4/18/04 Speaker: Greg Boyd Notes: Jesus didn’t come to give us the perfect version of the kingdom of the world… He didn’t come to give us a new way of having power over–a new way of running society; He came into the power-over kingdom to establish a power-under kingdom; What He came to do was to provide a radically different alternative to all the ways of doing the kingdom of the world; The kingdom of God person has got to know that his or her ultimate allegiance–second to none, by far and away–has got to be to the kingdom of God, and never must we compromise the uniqueness of our calling as kingdom of God people for the sake of a kingdom of the world sort of agenda; 1 Peter 2; We are to see ourselves as exiles and aliens… our citizenship is in heaven; The battles we’re supposed to fight are not the battles of the kingdom of the world; Paul says that our enemies are not enemies of flesh and blood – Ephesians 6:12; As a kingdom of God person, if it’s flesh and blood, you’ve got one job… and that is to demonstrate outrageous love to them; The enemy is the principality and power of the air, and our job is to topple down his empire by imitating Jesus Christ with outrageous acts of love; Your unique authority as a kingdom of God person is defined by how you love… by how you sacrifice of your life for the sake of others… by how you imitate Jesus Christ, especially towards those that the society wants to throw away; Your unique authority is found in your willingness to trust the cross, rather than the sword Play audio in browser: Download audio Greg Boyd Greg Boyd, pastor of Woodland Hills Church in St. Paul, MN compares the kingdom of the world to the kingdom of God… [Part 4 of an ongoing series...] Ministry: Woodland Hills Church Full Podcast: Taking America Back for God? Date: 4/18/04 Speaker: [...] 3:39 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/10/23/greg-boyd-the-sword-and-the-cross-part-3/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/10/23/greg-boyd-the-sword-and-the-cross-part-3/#comments Sun, 23 Oct 2011 14:39:00 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=6827 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/10/23/greg-boyd-the-sword-and-the-cross-part-3/feed/ 0 Greg Boyd, pastor of Woodland Hills Church in St. Paul, MN compares the kingdom of the world to the kingdom of God… [Part 3 of an ongoing series...] Ministry: Woodland Hills Church Full Podcast: Taking America Back for God? Date: 4/18/04 Speaker: Greg Boyd Notes: All governments are variations of the kingdom of the world, because they all have to operate by having power over others… and they’re not altogether bad; Romans 13, 2 Peter 2; The Bible says that we’re to as much as possible live at peace with whatever kingdom (country) you find yourself in; However relatively good it may be, the kingdom of the world is not the kingdom of God; A kingdom of God person should have a healthy suspicion towards all variations of the kingdom of the world, however good they may be; 1 John 5 – the whole world lies under the power of the evil one; Satan has an influence in everything… that includes the governments of the world; John 12, 14, and 16; 2 Corinthians 4:4; Ephesians 2:2; Luke 4; Revelation 11; All the variations of the kingdom of this world are part of one kingdom, and ultimately Satan is its ruler; The kingdom of God person has always got to know that there is a corrupting influence in the kingdoms of this world, and that has to give us a healthy suspicion towards them Play audio in browser: Download audio Greg Boyd Greg Boyd, pastor of Woodland Hills Church in St. Paul, MN compares the kingdom of the world to the kingdom of God… [Part 3 of an ongoing series...] Ministry: Woodland Hills Church Full Podcast: Taking America Back for God? Date: 4/18/04 Speaker: [...] 4:00 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/10/19/greg-boyd-the-sword-and-the-cross-part-2/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/10/19/greg-boyd-the-sword-and-the-cross-part-2/#comments Thu, 20 Oct 2011 03:20:35 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=6820 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/10/19/greg-boyd-the-sword-and-the-cross-part-2/feed/ 1 Greg Boyd, pastor of Woodland Hills Church in St. Paul, MN compares the kingdom of the world to the kingdom of God… [Part 2 of an ongoing series...] Ministry: Woodland Hills Church Full Podcast: Taking America Back for God? Date: 4/18/04 Speaker: Greg Boyd Notes: We are called to imitate Jesus Christ; The word “Christian” means “Christ-like”; To be Christian is to imitate Jesus, and the kingdom of God goes forward wherever there are people who are imitating Jesus; Ephesians 5:1; As Christ loved us and gave himself up for us… mimic that–shadow that; Calvary type of love, that’s what you do… at all times and all places, as long as you’re breathing, as long as you have neurons going off in your brain, you mimic the cross towards all people at all times–even for your enemies; That’s the distinctive character of the Christian–that’s the distinctive character of the kingdom of God… where that is present, the kingdom of God is present… where that is not present, the kingdom of God is not present; Luke 14:27; The kingdom of the world is characterized by having power over others; The kingdom of God has power by coming under people–it is not concerned first-and-foremost with conformity of behavior, but rather with transformation of the heart Play audio in browser: Download audio Greg Boyd Greg Boyd, pastor of Woodland Hills Church in St. Paul, MN compares the kingdom of the world to the kingdom of God… [Part 2 of an ongoing series...] Ministry: Woodland Hills Church Full Podcast: Taking America Back for God? Date: 4/18/04 Speaker: [...] 3:07 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/10/18/greg-boyd-the-sword-and-the-cross-part-1/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/10/18/greg-boyd-the-sword-and-the-cross-part-1/#comments Wed, 19 Oct 2011 04:00:06 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=6804 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/10/18/greg-boyd-the-sword-and-the-cross-part-1/feed/ 5 Greg Boyd, pastor of Woodland Hills Church in St. Paul, MN compares the kingdom of the world to the kingdom of God… [Part 1 of an ongoing series...] Ministry: Woodland Hills Church Full Podcast: Taking America Back for God? Date: 4/18/04 Speaker: Greg Boyd Notes: Matthew 20:25-28; Jesus brings a radically unique, different kind of kingdom–it’s upside down to every form of the kingdom of the world… the first are last, the last are first… the power is found in imitating Jesus by coming under others, rather than by trying to gain the upper hand and getting authority over others; Matthew 26:50-53; Jesus demonstrated unsurpassable love towards His enemies by letting them crucify Him–that’s the unique authority and the unique character of the kingdom of God, as opposed to the kingdom of the world; John 18:36 Play audio in browser: Download audio Greg Boyd Greg Boyd, pastor of Woodland Hills Church in St. Paul, MN compares the kingdom of the world to the kingdom of God… [Part 1 of an ongoing series...] Ministry: Woodland Hills Church Full Podcast: Taking America Back for God? Date: 4/18/04 Speaker: [...] 3:30 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/09/24/the-constantinian-compromise/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/09/24/the-constantinian-compromise/#comments Sun, 25 Sep 2011 04:26:34 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=6662 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/09/24/the-constantinian-compromise/feed/ 0 Tony Campolo discusses the change in the Christian church after 300 years of nonviolent resistance/pacifism, as it first began to embrace war under the Emperor Constantine. Show: Across the Pond Full Podcast: Campolo – Repeat: Peace Movements Part II (3/26/10) Host: Tony Campolo Notes: For the first 300 years of its existence… Christians were non-belligerents (they were not in the army); Those who became Christians often left the army if they were already in the army; For the first 300 years, the Christian church preached nonviolent resistance/pacifism; Why the change?; Up until the time of the Emperor Constantine, the church had been a persecuted minority; Constantine wanted to unify the Roman Empire… one of the ways of unifying the empire was to create a common, universal religion–he chose Christianity; “In this sign, conquer”; He became a “Christian” and ordered that Christianity become the “official religion” of the empire; The Christians were thrilled… no longer were they a persecuted minority; Overnight, they had been designated as “the moral majority”; But that recognition and legitimation came at a price… if you are going to get the support of the empire, then you’re going to have to support the empire in return, which the church readily did; In supporting the empire, they had to in fact support the empire’s militarism… and that’s when it all changed; It changed under Constantine, it changed at the Council of Nicaea… from then on, the church now supported war, and it remained only for Augustine to legitimate this with just war theory; There is no historian that will argue… for the first 300 years the church was pacifist, and it supported nonviolent resistance; If you go to the ancient writings, every one of them pronounces judgment against war and says Christians cannot participate in the army; There is nothing that polluted and ruined the church more than the Constantinian Compromise Play audio in browser: Download audio Tony Campolo discusses the change in the Christian church after 300 years of nonviolent resistance/pacifism, as it first began to embrace war under the Emperor Constantine. Show: Across the Pond Full Podcast: Campolo – Repeat: Peace Movements [...] 3:55 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/04/11/freedom-from-dark-spirits-%e2%80%93-part-15/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/04/11/freedom-from-dark-spirits-%e2%80%93-part-15/#comments Tue, 12 Apr 2011 01:11:36 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=6318 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/04/11/freedom-from-dark-spirits-%e2%80%93-part-15/feed/ 1 Russ Dizdar from Preemption Broadcast discusses the authority given to us by Jesus Christ to overcome spiritual oppression and the attacks of the devil… [Part 15 of a 15-Part series. Click here for Part 1.] Show: Preemption Broadcast Full Podcast: HOW TO GET YOURSELF AND OTHERS FREE FROM DARK SPIRITS Host: Russ Dizdar Notes: Bible study leads to obedience… to the mission… to action; Ephesians 2; Not only have we been saved by grace alone through faith, but we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works that God prepared in advance for us to do; If you’re a believer that has opened a door, and there is something on an area of your life, then repent of it; Russ’s prayer; May you be clothed–filled–with the absolute fullness of Jesus Play audio in browser: Download audio Russ Dizdar Russ Dizdar from Preemption Broadcast discusses the authority given to us by Jesus Christ to overcome spiritual oppression and the attacks of the devil… [Part 15 of a 15-Part series. Click here for Part 1.] Show: Preemption Broadcast Full [...] 2:48 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/04/09/freedom-from-dark-spirits-%e2%80%93-part-14/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/04/09/freedom-from-dark-spirits-%e2%80%93-part-14/#comments Sun, 10 Apr 2011 05:39:22 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=6309 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/04/09/freedom-from-dark-spirits-%e2%80%93-part-14/feed/ 0 Russ Dizdar from Preemption Broadcast discusses the authority given to us by Jesus Christ to overcome spiritual oppression and the attacks of the devil… [Part 14 of a 15-Part series] Show: Preemption Broadcast Full Podcast: HOW TO GET YOURSELF AND OTHERS FREE FROM DARK SPIRITS Host: Russ Dizdar Notes: Jesus said of you and me… that if we’re going to be His disciple, we must deny self, take up the cross daily, and follow Him; John 12-16; The proof of our love for Jesus is if we obey Him; The proof of loving Jesus and following Jesus is putting the Word of God into action… and when you put the Word of God into action, you grow, you get stronger, you become wiser, more knowledgeable, but you also begin to bear fruit; Charismatic giftings do not negate the mission… the great mission and the reason to be clothed with the power of the Holy Spirit is for witnessing; Acts 1:8; Every Spirit-filled believer in the book of Acts was a soul-winner; Obedience is literally faith in action; Hebrews 11:6 – “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.“; You be the spark that gets the fire going in your church… you be the spark that gets the fire going in your Bible study Play audio in browser: Download audio Russ Dizdar Russ Dizdar from Preemption Broadcast discusses the authority given to us by Jesus Christ to overcome spiritual oppression and the attacks of the devil… [Part 14 of a 15-Part series] Show: Preemption Broadcast Full Podcast: HOW TO GET YOURSELF [...] 3:37 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/04/08/freedom-from-dark-spirits-%e2%80%93-part-13/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/04/08/freedom-from-dark-spirits-%e2%80%93-part-13/#comments Fri, 08 Apr 2011 17:07:46 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=6302 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/04/08/freedom-from-dark-spirits-%e2%80%93-part-13/feed/ 0 Russ Dizdar from Preemption Broadcast discusses the authority given to us by Jesus Christ to overcome spiritual oppression and the attacks of the devil… [Part 13 of a 15-Part series] Show: Preemption Broadcast Full Podcast: HOW TO GET YOURSELF AND OTHERS FREE FROM DARK SPIRITS Host: Russ Dizdar Notes: The number one issue is… win every single person to Christ you can–that is our calling; Evangelism, soul-winning, caring for lost people; The fact is that many people today are going to be demonized in certain levels; There are so many doors since the 50′s and 60′s that have been opened up–there are so many demonized individuals and so much attack; Dark Rituals Dark Powers training class; Biblical prophecy shows that more dark presence, more possessed people, more attack is going to come; Dynamic Discipleship training; In the first six months, every new believer should be taught about how to use the Word of God, be baptized, be filled with the Spirit of God, know the armor of God, know the authority of God, and grow in all kinds of aspects; Half-baked, cold believers don’t lead anybody to do anything other than do what they’re doing; You can evaluate the strength of your local church by looking into the book of Acts; We’ve been called to take up the cross and step out, and be obedient Play audio in browser: Download audio Russ Dizdar Russ Dizdar from Preemption Broadcast discusses the authority given to us by Jesus Christ to overcome spiritual oppression and the attacks of the devil… [Part 13 of a 15-Part series] Show: Preemption Broadcast Full Podcast: HOW TO GET YOURSELF [...] 2:53 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/04/06/freedom-from-dark-spirits-%e2%80%93-part-12/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/04/06/freedom-from-dark-spirits-%e2%80%93-part-12/#comments Thu, 07 Apr 2011 04:10:18 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=6294 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/04/06/freedom-from-dark-spirits-%e2%80%93-part-12/feed/ 0 Russ Dizdar from Preemption Broadcast discusses the authority given to us by Jesus Christ to overcome spiritual oppression and the attacks of the devil… [Part 12 of a 15-Part series] Show: Preemption Broadcast Full Podcast: HOW TO GET YOURSELF AND OTHERS FREE FROM DARK SPIRITS Host: Russ Dizdar Notes: Even in tough times of attack, stand your ground to the very end–as Ephesians 6 says; You won’t regret the fact that you stood boldly and exercised obedience, your faith, praise, prayer… actually, you’ll come out stronger; Command the demons to get away and do a full clearing; Surrender all to Jesus and ask Him to be refilled with the Holy Spirit; Psalm 81:10 – “Open wide your mouth, and I will fill it.“; How can any Christian open wide their life, if they know they’ve got sin that they’re holding onto?; You can’t be filled with faith and filled with fear at the same time; You can’t be filled and clothed with the Holy Spirit–and have the joy and the power and the presence of the living Christ–and at the same time have any open doors to the enemy; Jesus comes to destroy the devil’s work, from top to bottom; Luke 10:19 – “Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.” Play audio in browser: Download audio Russ Dizdar Russ Dizdar from Preemption Broadcast discusses the authority given to us by Jesus Christ to overcome spiritual oppression and the attacks of the devil… [Part 12 of a 15-Part series] Show: Preemption Broadcast Full Podcast: HOW TO GET YOURSELF [...] 3:28 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/04/04/freedom-from-dark-spirits-%e2%80%93-part-11/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/04/04/freedom-from-dark-spirits-%e2%80%93-part-11/#comments Tue, 05 Apr 2011 00:36:20 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=6286 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/04/04/freedom-from-dark-spirits-%e2%80%93-part-11/feed/ 0 Russ Dizdar from Preemption Broadcast discusses the authority given to us by Jesus Christ to overcome spiritual oppression and the attacks of the devil… [Part 11 of a 15-Part series] Show: Preemption Broadcast Full Podcast: HOW TO GET YOURSELF AND OTHERS FREE FROM DARK SPIRITS Host: Russ Dizdar Notes: When it comes to the demonic… 1) Surrender everything to Jesus; 2) Ask Jesus to deliver you, to work, to lead, and to guide; 3) Renounce all sins and any and all demons that you think may be around; 4) Command the demons to get out and not come back… in the name of Jesus; Matthew 28; You and the air around you will be completely cleared because the manifest presence of God will come through you; Put up praise–God inhabits the praise; Unleash prayer–there is power in it; Command with authority and God’s expressed authority strikes the demonic; When you quote the Word and stand boldly, the Holy Spirit will literally be filling you up–strengthening you up–as you clear the air around you, commanding the demons, and all the attack, and all the oppression, to get away Play audio in browser: Download audio Russ Dizdar Russ Dizdar from Preemption Broadcast discusses the authority given to us by Jesus Christ to overcome spiritual oppression and the attacks of the devil… [Part 11 of a 15-Part series] Show: Preemption Broadcast Full Podcast: HOW TO GET YOURSELF [...] 2:42 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/04/03/freedom-from-dark-spirits-%e2%80%93-part-10/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/04/03/freedom-from-dark-spirits-%e2%80%93-part-10/#comments Mon, 04 Apr 2011 06:22:44 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=6278 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/04/03/freedom-from-dark-spirits-%e2%80%93-part-10/feed/ 0 Russ Dizdar from Preemption Broadcast discusses the authority given to us by Jesus Christ to overcome spiritual oppression and the attacks of the devil… [Part 10 of a 15-Part series] Show: Preemption Broadcast Full Podcast: HOW TO GET YOURSELF AND OTHERS FREE FROM DARK SPIRITS Host: Russ Dizdar Notes: Call on the Lord Jesus; Psalm 34:4 – “I sought the LORD, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.“; Renounce any and all sins that the Lord makes you aware of… that includes stepping out in obedience to God; Acts 9:22 – “But Saul increased the more in strength…“; Renounce living a “spectator” Christian life; Put into practice the Word of God and you will grow experientially strong–more and more powerful–and you’ll be very able to do some great things; The Word of God becomes operative in those who put it into practice; 1 John 2 Play audio in browser: Download audio Russ Dizdar Russ Dizdar from Preemption Broadcast discusses the authority given to us by Jesus Christ to overcome spiritual oppression and the attacks of the devil… [Part 10 of a 15-Part series] Show: Preemption Broadcast Full Podcast: HOW TO GET YOURSELF [...] 3:17 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/03/30/freedom-from-dark-spirits-%e2%80%93-part-9/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/03/30/freedom-from-dark-spirits-%e2%80%93-part-9/#comments Thu, 31 Mar 2011 03:22:41 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=6271 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/03/30/freedom-from-dark-spirits-%e2%80%93-part-9/feed/ 1 Russ Dizdar from Preemption Broadcast discusses the authority given to us by Jesus Christ to overcome spiritual oppression and the attacks of the devil… [Part 9 of a 15-Part series] Show: Preemption Broadcast Full Podcast: HOW TO GET YOURSELF AND OTHERS FREE FROM DARK SPIRITS Host: Russ Dizdar Notes: Surrender everything to Jesus Christ–your whole life; Repent of any sins you know of; Ephesians 4; Take up the cross and follow Christ–if you don’t do that you’re not obeying God; Jesus said “If you love me, you’ll obey me”; We receive every bit of grace and mercy by faith, but we experience and manifest that presence and power and victory in obedience; Obedience is inseparable from real faith; Psalm 139:23-24 – “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”; Sin and non-obedience hinders the fullness of Jesus inside you; Either we are filled with the Spirit of God–which is the will of God–or we are grieving or even quenching (putting out) the Holy Spirit’s fire (1 Thess. 5); Romans 12; James 4 Play audio in browser: Download audio Russ Dizdar Russ Dizdar from Preemption Broadcast discusses the authority given to us by Jesus Christ to overcome spiritual oppression and the attacks of the devil… [Part 9 of a 15-Part series] Show: Preemption Broadcast Full Podcast: HOW TO GET YOURSELF AND [...] 3:26 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/03/28/freedom-from-dark-spirits-%e2%80%93-part-8/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/03/28/freedom-from-dark-spirits-%e2%80%93-part-8/#comments Mon, 28 Mar 2011 11:37:42 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=6260 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/03/28/freedom-from-dark-spirits-%e2%80%93-part-8/feed/ 0 Russ Dizdar from Preemption Broadcast discusses the authority given to us by Jesus Christ to overcome spiritual oppression and the attacks of the devil… [Part 8 of a 15-Part series] Show: Preemption Broadcast Full Podcast: HOW TO GET YOURSELF AND OTHERS FREE FROM DARK SPIRITS Host: Russ Dizdar Notes: Take control of the situation with the authority you have to order them [the demons] in the name of Jesus; Don’t back away, and don’t back down; Bold witnesses in Jesus are needed as never before in all of history; We’ve allowed the world to dictate how much of the kingdom that we’re going to release; Put all of the Word of God into practice, across the board; Either you’re obedient to what God says, or you’re not; It’s not about just knowledge of Scripture… knowledge is inseparable from either obedience or disobedience; In the sense of Ephesians 6, all believers must realize there’s going to be some warfare coming your way–that’s why God gave you the enormity of the armor of God… when it’s on, the full manifest presence of God will be emanating in and through you; Spirit-filled believers cannot be defeated, oppressed believers at the same time Play audio in browser: Download audio Russ Dizdar Russ Dizdar from Preemption Broadcast discusses the authority given to us by Jesus Christ to overcome spiritual oppression and the attacks of the devil… [Part 8 of a 15-Part series] Show: Preemption Broadcast Full Podcast: HOW TO GET YOURSELF AND [...] 3:52 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/03/26/freedom-from-dark-spirits-%e2%80%93-part-7/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/03/26/freedom-from-dark-spirits-%e2%80%93-part-7/#comments Sat, 26 Mar 2011 18:49:15 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=6251 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/03/26/freedom-from-dark-spirits-%e2%80%93-part-7/feed/ 0 Russ Dizdar from Preemption Broadcast discusses the authority given to us by Jesus Christ to overcome spiritual oppression and the attacks of the devil… [Part 7 of a 15-Part series] Show: Preemption Broadcast Full Podcast: HOW TO GET YOURSELF AND OTHERS FREE FROM DARK SPIRITS Host: Russ Dizdar Notes: Luke 10; Acts 16; Paul commands the demon in the name of Jesus Christ to get out of her… and it left her, and she was freed; 1 John 4:4; The authority we have is beyond the sum total of all demons; Jesus said “I have given to you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions, and to overcome all the power of the enemy, and nothing will harm you”; A Spirit-filled, growing believer is going to be able to do this with great freedom and a Holy Spirit boldness, and a growing sense of empowerment and confidence in Christ; If you encounter a demon, stand your ground, don’t get fearful… immediately command–take charge of the situation–”I command you to stop in the the name of Jesus of Nazareth”; The Holy Spirit will lead you to quote Scripture… be very strong and take control–order the demons in the name of Jesus; You have the authority… if you don’t say it or do it, the demons aren’t going to listen–they’ll do what they need to do to either get away or to cause harm Play audio in browser: Download audio Russ Dizdar Russ Dizdar from Preemption Broadcast discusses the authority given to us by Jesus Christ to overcome spiritual oppression and the attacks of the devil… [Part 7 of a 15-Part series] Show: Preemption Broadcast Full Podcast: HOW TO GET YOURSELF AND [...] 3:01 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/03/24/freedom-from-dark-spirits-%e2%80%93-part-6/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/03/24/freedom-from-dark-spirits-%e2%80%93-part-6/#comments Thu, 24 Mar 2011 19:23:26 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=6242 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/03/24/freedom-from-dark-spirits-%e2%80%93-part-6/feed/ 0 Russ Dizdar from Preemption Broadcast discusses the authority given to us by Jesus Christ to overcome spiritual oppression and the attacks of the devil… [Part 6 of a 15-Part series] Show: Preemption Broadcast Full Podcast: HOW TO GET YOURSELF AND OTHERS FREE FROM DARK SPIRITS Host: Russ Dizdar Notes: Russ Dizdar’s personal testimony; Demon possession; The demons sometimes will try to hide, because they don’t want to engage a real believer with real authority that knows what they’re doing; Luke 10; The book of Acts is the greatest current end times training manual, modeling how we should be doing it all; Demon possession could have opened up through satanic rituals, drugs, sexual transference, occultism, family blood lines, going to a psychic, new age practices, even remote viewing and astral projection; You can command anything within: “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, I command any demonic presence within to come forward, without harming the person.” Play audio in browser: Download audio Russ Dizdar Russ Dizdar from Preemption Broadcast discusses the authority given to us by Jesus Christ to overcome spiritual oppression and the attacks of the devil… [Part 6 of a 15-Part series] Show: Preemption Broadcast Full Podcast: HOW TO GET YOURSELF AND [...] 3:13 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/03/16/freedom-from-dark-spirits-%e2%80%93-part-5/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/03/16/freedom-from-dark-spirits-%e2%80%93-part-5/#comments Thu, 17 Mar 2011 03:37:18 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=6232 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/03/16/freedom-from-dark-spirits-%e2%80%93-part-5/feed/ 0 Russ Dizdar from Preemption Broadcast discusses the authority given to us by Jesus Christ to overcome spiritual oppression and the attacks of the devil… [Part 5 of a 15-Part series] Show: Preemption Broadcast Full Podcast: HOW TO GET YOURSELF AND OTHERS FREE FROM DARK SPIRITS Host: Russ Dizdar Notes: If you’ve allowed a doorway to be opened, you have to do two things: recognize what you’ve done and repent of it–it’s one thing to command the demons to get away, but you’ve got to close the door; Colossians 3 – put to death these areas of the old sin nature; Romans 8 – put to death the misdeeds of the old sin nature; It’s putting them to death, closing the door, nailing the door shut, and burning the bridges–walk away–otherwise you will end up giving the devil a foothold; 1 John 1:9 – “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”; Time doesn’t bring forgiveness, Jesus does; Proverbs 28:13 – “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.”; Hebrews 12 deals with the idea of throwing off everything that hinders you Play audio in browser: Download audio Russ Dizdar Russ Dizdar from Preemption Broadcast discusses the authority given to us by Jesus Christ to overcome spiritual oppression and the attacks of the devil… [Part 5 of a 15-Part series] Show: Preemption Broadcast Full Podcast: HOW TO GET YOURSELF AND [...] 2:27 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/03/14/freedom-from-dark-spirits-%e2%80%93-part-4/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/03/14/freedom-from-dark-spirits-%e2%80%93-part-4/#comments Tue, 15 Mar 2011 02:51:43 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=6227 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/03/14/freedom-from-dark-spirits-%e2%80%93-part-4/feed/ 0 Russ Dizdar from Preemption Broadcast discusses the authority given to us by Jesus Christ to overcome spiritual oppression and the attacks of the devil… [Part 4 of a 15-Part series] Show: Preemption Broadcast Full Podcast: HOW TO GET YOURSELF AND OTHERS FREE FROM DARK SPIRITS Host: Russ Dizdar Notes: Demonic attachment; Ephesians 4; Be angry but don’t sin… don’t let the sun go down on your anger; Anger undealt with that can turn into bitterness and resentment… that becomes a “foothold” for the devil–a legal right–a small opening to an area of your life; God tells us not to grieve the Holy Spirit and not to let sins go undealt with; If a believer gets into anger or other sin areas that are undealt with that continue and continue and continue, it’s very possible that the enemy will come and grab that area and make it a real stronghold, and bring real defeat to a believer’s life Play audio in browser: Download audio Russ Dizdar Russ Dizdar from Preemption Broadcast discusses the authority given to us by Jesus Christ to overcome spiritual oppression and the attacks of the devil… [Part 4 of a 15-Part series] Show: Preemption Broadcast Full Podcast: HOW TO GET YOURSELF AND [...] 3:19 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/03/11/freedom-from-dark-spirits-%e2%80%93-part-3/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/03/11/freedom-from-dark-spirits-%e2%80%93-part-3/#comments Sat, 12 Mar 2011 05:53:33 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=6218 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/03/11/freedom-from-dark-spirits-%e2%80%93-part-3/feed/ 0 Russ Dizdar from Preemption Broadcast discusses the authority given to us by Jesus Christ to overcome spiritual oppression and the attacks of the devil… [Part 3 of a 15-Part series] Show: Preemption Broadcast Full Podcast: HOW TO GET YOURSELF AND OTHERS FREE FROM DARK SPIRITS Host: Russ Dizdar Notes: A lot of believers go around with spiritual arrows all over them–arrows where lies are sent by the enemy, and they’ve not done anything about it; We need to realize that so many things that we experience and that some Christians accept are the lies and the doubts that the enemy has sent… that we at first had been struck as an involuntary feeling… but if you let those lies sit there long enough, they will continue to build and layer; If you’re a believer, let’s get over it… we’re going to be attacked… there are going to be times where oppression and other things are coming our way; We don’t have to just sit and take it, we need to: 1) surrender everything to Jesus–open up wide to Him, 2) ask Jesus to deliver and to even attack the enemy, 3) renounce any and all sins and doors and things that we know that we’ve given room to, or even held on to some of the lies of the enemy, 4) command it all away–clear the air, 5) say “Lord Jesus refill me with the Holy Spirit”, Psalm 81:10 Play audio in browser: Download audio Russ Dizdar Russ Dizdar from Preemption Broadcast discusses the authority given to us by Jesus Christ to overcome spiritual oppression and the attacks of the devil… [Part 3 of a 15-Part series] Show: Preemption Broadcast Full Podcast: HOW TO GET YOURSELF AND [...] 2:36 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/03/10/freedom-from-dark-spirits-%e2%80%93-part-2/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/03/10/freedom-from-dark-spirits-%e2%80%93-part-2/#comments Thu, 10 Mar 2011 19:46:37 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=6209 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/03/10/freedom-from-dark-spirits-%e2%80%93-part-2/feed/ 0 Russ Dizdar from Preemption Broadcast discusses the authority given to us by Jesus Christ to overcome spiritual oppression and the attacks of the devil… [Part 2 of a 15-Part series] Show: Preemption Broadcast Full Podcast: HOW TO GET YOURSELF AND OTHERS FREE FROM DARK SPIRITS Host: Russ Dizdar Notes: Ephesians 6 talks about lifting up the shield of faith, by which you will extinguish all the flaming arrows of the enemy–the evil one; There is a sender–demonic presence is sending those arrows; The arrows are involuntary thoughts and feelings that are sent directly by demons… think of it in terms of whispering out or speaking out of the spiritual realm, or sending a sense of a wave of feeling; Anything the enemy does in the area of sent, involuntary feelings or thoughts will always be stuff that’s going to lead you away from the will of God, lead you away from the victory, and bring suppression, doubt, and confusion; Satan is the author of confusion, God is not; Satan is the one that brings the attack; 1 Peter 5:8 – we’re to be self-controlled and alert; “Alert” means being aware of imminent spiritual danger; Your enemy, the devil, is prowling around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour; For all the involuntary thoughts sent by the enemy, in every case there is a word of God to speak against it (like Jesus did in Matthew 4); Instead of being oppressed, we need to “stand up”, be vocal about it, quote the Word of God, and speak against the involuntary feelings and thoughts that are being sent by the demonic realm Play audio in browser: Download audio Russ Dizdar Russ Dizdar from Preemption Broadcast discusses the authority given to us by Jesus Christ to overcome spiritual oppression and the attacks of the devil… [Part 2 of a 15-Part series] Show: Preemption Broadcast Full Podcast: HOW TO GET YOURSELF AND [...] 3:23 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/03/07/freedom-from-dark-spirits-part-1/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/03/07/freedom-from-dark-spirits-part-1/#comments Tue, 08 Mar 2011 02:33:43 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=6198 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/03/07/freedom-from-dark-spirits-part-1/feed/ 0 Russ Dizdar from Preemption Broadcast discusses the authority given to us by Jesus Christ to overcome spiritual oppression and the attacks of the devil… [Part 1 of a 15-Part series] Show: Preemption Broadcast Full Podcast: HOW TO GET YOURSELF AND OTHERS FREE FROM DARK SPIRITS Host: Russ Dizdar Notes: Every believer should remember Ephesians 6 about having the mighty power of God manifest in your life–put on the full armor of God; The struggle, the battle, the warfare is not against flesh and blood… it is against those rulers, principalities, powers in the heavenly realms–the full forces of darkness; This is the reason Jesus gave to us authority; Luke 10 – authority to command dark spirits out and off of individuals; Jesus said “I have given you authority to trample on the demonic realm and to overcome–have victory over–all the power of the enemy and nothing will harm you”; Four areas where we can exercise that authority and find freedom for ourselves and help others too: 1) demonic presence on the outside, 2) demonic presence on the inside, 3) demonic presence in the sense of indwelling, 4) complex possession; Demonic presence on the outside… that’s what Ephesians 6 is all about… that’s what the issue was with Peter when Jesus said “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat, but I’ve prayed for you, that your faith would not fail”; It is the outside attack–the evidence of it is when people say “I feel a cloud over me, oppression over me, oppression around me”, or oppression in a room or a house or an area–you feel oppression spiritually Play audio in browser: Download audio Russ Dizdar Russ Dizdar from Preemption Broadcast discusses the authority given to us by Jesus Christ to overcome spiritual oppression and the attacks of the devil… [Part 1 of a 15-Part series] Show: Preemption Broadcast Full Podcast: HOW TO GET YOURSELF AND [...] 3:14 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/02/27/on-prayer-part-2/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/02/27/on-prayer-part-2/#comments Mon, 28 Feb 2011 06:49:48 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=6183 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/02/27/on-prayer-part-2/feed/ 0 Chris White from Nowhere To Run reads some powerful quotations on prayer… [Part 2 of a 2-Part series] Show: Nowhere to Run Full Podcast: NTR – Prayer is Cool Date: 2/12/11 Host: Chris White Notes: E.M. Bounds, 1 John 5:14-15, Martin Luther, Charles Spurgeon, John 14:13, Oswald Chambers, Mark 11:23-24, George Mueller, Andrew Murray, 1 Timothy 2:1-2, Richard Halverson, James 1:5-6, James 4:2 Play audio in browser: Download audio Chris White from Nowhere To Run reads some powerful quotations on prayer… [Part 2 of a 2-Part series] Show: Nowhere to Run Full Podcast: NTR – Prayer is Cool Date: 2/12/11 Host: Chris White Notes: E.M. Bounds, 1 John 5:14-15, Martin Luther, [...] 3:07 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/02/26/on-prayer-part-1/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/02/26/on-prayer-part-1/#comments Sun, 27 Feb 2011 02:24:23 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=6181 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/02/26/on-prayer-part-1/feed/ 0 Chris White from Nowhere To Run reads some powerful quotations on prayer… [Part 1 of a 2-Part series] Show: Nowhere to Run Full Podcast: NTR – Prayer is Cool Date: 2/12/11 Host: Chris White Notes: S.D. Gordon, Sidlow Baxter, Matthew 6:6, Hudson Taylor, E.M. Bounds, Matthew 7:7-11, William Cowper, Matthew 18:19-20, John Bunyan, Samuel Chadwick, Matthew 21:21-22, Charles Spurgeon, Philippians 4:6-7 Play audio in browser: Download audio Chris White from Nowhere To Run reads some powerful quotations on prayer… [Part 1 of a 2-Part series] Show: Nowhere to Run Full Podcast: NTR – Prayer is Cool Date: 2/12/11 Host: Chris White Notes: S.D. Gordon, Sidlow Baxter, Matthew 6:6, Hudson [...] 3:29 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/01/27/jesus-friend-to-terrorists-part-4/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/01/27/jesus-friend-to-terrorists-part-4/#comments Fri, 28 Jan 2011 05:36:10 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=5945 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/01/27/jesus-friend-to-terrorists-part-4/feed/ 0 Dr. Future and Tom Bionic discuss the book “Jesus: Friend to Terrorists“, by Pastor Richard Wurmbrand, with Todd Nettleton, Director of Media Development for Voice of the Martyrs… [Part 4 of a 4-Part series] Show: Future Quake Full Podcast: Rev. Wurmbrand’s Appeal For Christian Love For Terrorists Today Date: 11/1/10 Hosts: Dr. Future & Tom Bionic Guest: Todd Nettleton Notes: The last line that Reverand Wurmbrand gives us in his book is “start by changing yourself“; You become more peaceful, you become more loving, and pretty soon, if all of us do that, we’ll start to have a world that is more peaceful and more loving; It’s a charge that you can’t walk away from and you can’t pass it off to somebody else… it’s on you to take the truth that you have and to start making it more a part of your life; You have to first believe that the Holy Spirit has the power in each of us to make this change one-on-one in people… it’s not necessarily a ballot box or any other power structures that are the key to win the battle, but it’s the Holy Spirit one-on-one in each one of us; You also have to acknowledge that these battles are spiritual battles, and not physical battles; When it says in the Bible that we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers and rulers in these dark places… if we’re going to have a struggle or anything regarding hatred, it should be addressed to the principalities and powers of darkness who stand condemned, rather than the human pawns that are in this physical sphere that are just a mere shadow of the spiritual battle that is truly going on; We have access to the power to change ourselves… not literally us changing ourselves, but allowing God to change us; When you see a terrorist and you see that God loves them and that God can change them, that changes your whole mindset of how you’re going to address them and interact with them, not as somebody to fear and hate, but as somebody who Jesus died for that needs to hear the message of the gospel… that’s a completely different mindset; Christians should get together and pray for these people, that God would illuminate their minds to what they’re doing, to fill them with the love of Jesus Christ, and somehow make a way that they could know about Jesus Play audio in browser: Download audio Todd Nettleton Dr. Future and Tom Bionic discuss the book “Jesus: Friend to Terrorists“, by Pastor Richard Wurmbrand, with Todd Nettleton, Director of Media Development for Voice of the Martyrs… [Part 4 of a 4-Part series] Show: Future Quake Full Podcast: [...] 4:16 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/01/27/jesus-friend-to-terrorists-part-3/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/01/27/jesus-friend-to-terrorists-part-3/#comments Thu, 27 Jan 2011 17:07:32 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=5943 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/01/27/jesus-friend-to-terrorists-part-3/feed/ 0 Dr. Future and Tom Bionic discuss the book “Jesus: Friend to Terrorists“, by Pastor Richard Wurmbrand, with Todd Nettleton, Director of Media Development for Voice of the Martyrs… [Part 3 of a 4-Part series] Show: Future Quake Full Podcast: Rev. Wurmbrand’s Appeal For Christian Love For Terrorists Today Date: 11/1/10 Hosts: Dr. Future & Tom Bionic Guest: Todd Nettleton Notes: Jesus fears and hates no one; According to Pastor Wurmbrand, the exortation “do not be afraid” is in the Bible 366 times; How should we feel about terrorists?… we should not be afraid, and we should not have hatred for them; We should see them through the eyes of Christ, and see them with His love, as somebody who has been led astray, but somebody with a soul that Jesus came and died for; Our media–even our Christian media–foster that fear and hate (or don’t fight against it); We have become the 30-second sound bite culture and you can’t have any nuance in a 30-second soundbite… so “Muslims are bad, and Christians are good”… that’s the soundbite–that’s the context of the reporting that we get; If you can get people scared about the menace, you will make them to do all sorts of things that they normally wouldn’t do; If you can convince them that if they don’t do this, they’re gonna lose family, friends, their way of life, etc., they will do stuff that is anathema to the gospel; American has just stayed in a perpetual state of emergency, and our Christian culture has stayed with that button… it has now switched gears over to Islam; It’s a lucrative position to take to keep the fans of of fear and hate; Americans will give a lot of money not to be fearful Play audio in browser: Download audio Todd Nettleton Dr. Future and Tom Bionic discuss the book “Jesus: Friend to Terrorists“, by Pastor Richard Wurmbrand, with Todd Nettleton, Director of Media Development for Voice of the Martyrs… [Part 3 of a 4-Part series] Show: Future Quake Full Podcast: [...] 3:43 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/01/26/jesus-friend-to-terrorists-part-2/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/01/26/jesus-friend-to-terrorists-part-2/#comments Wed, 26 Jan 2011 15:19:47 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=5939 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/01/26/jesus-friend-to-terrorists-part-2/feed/ 0 Dr. Future and Tom Bionic discuss the book “Jesus: Friend to Terrorists“, by Pastor Richard Wurmbrand, with Todd Nettleton, Director of Media Development for Voice of the Martyrs… [Part 2 of a 4-Part series] Show: Future Quake Full Podcast: Rev. Wurmbrand’s Appeal For Christian Love For Terrorists Today Date: 11/1/10 Hosts: Dr. Future & Tom Bionic Guest: Todd Nettleton Notes: Across the Middle East there are stories of dreams and visions of God appearing to people–of Christ coming to them personally; God is going where his people are refusing to go and is ministering to them directly; A person in Iran came forward with a hand-written book that turned out to be word-for-word the entire gospel of John, which had been dictated to them by a “man” in a white robe that came to them at night; There are many Muslims who are seeking and want to do what God wants them to do… praise the Lord that He is reaching them and calling many to go and share the message there; God loves every one of them, He does not fear them, He loves and cares about them, and He’s looking for children who will come where the fields are white unto harvest and will reflect Him; We need to tell them the good news… that their sins can be forgiven, that they can see God one day, that they can have God as their Father; A lot of the Christian leadership in America has been so consumed with fanning the flames of fear and hatred for these people, and glorifying perpetual military solutions, that we’re missing out on on being able to participate in many of those blessings; The middle road is love… we love you and don’t want to see you go to hell, so because of our love, that’s why we’ve come with the gospel; Whether the fruit is accepted or not, that’s God’s task, not ours; We can’t share the gospel with these people and hate them all at the same time Play audio in browser: Download audio Todd Nettleton Dr. Future and Tom Bionic discuss the book “Jesus: Friend to Terrorists“, by Pastor Richard Wurmbrand, with Todd Nettleton, Director of Media Development for Voice of the Martyrs… [Part 2 of a 4-Part series] Show: Future Quake Full Podcast: [...] 5:14 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/01/25/jesus-friend-to-terrorists-part-1/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/01/25/jesus-friend-to-terrorists-part-1/#comments Tue, 25 Jan 2011 21:45:58 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=5937 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2011/01/25/jesus-friend-to-terrorists-part-1/feed/ 0 Dr. Future discusses the book “Jesus: Friend to Terrorists“, by Pastor Richard Wurmbrand, with Todd Nettleton, Director of Media Development for Voice of the Martyrs… [Part 1 of a 4-Part series] Show: Future Quake Full Podcast: Rev. Wurmbrand’s Appeal For Christian Love For Terrorists Today Date: 11/1/10 Hosts: Dr. Future & Tom Bionic Guest: Todd Nettleton Notes: Paul standing by at the stoning of Stephen… he thinks he’s serving God; He believes Stephen is challenging God and that he is getting the just punishment for his actions; Paul stands there thinking, “this is a godly thing to do”; Come forward 2,000 years and think about the Islamic terrorists who think “if I die in the cause of Allah, that’s the highest achievement I could have for my life”… they believe they are doing God’s will; It should hurt our hearts that Muslims who are devout in their faith are going to stand before God and He’s going to say “depart from me, I never knew you”; They really do believe they’re doing what they’re supposed to be doing… it’s going to be a terrible wake-up call on judgment day; For those of us who know the truth and have the gospel, we have to go and tell them… we have to go and share the truth with them; We’re too busy being afraid of them and hating them to go en mass and show that kind of regard; The story of Cornelius… he who seeks finds; We can only hope and pray that those who are the true seekers that want to seek God, that God will make provision in the same way He did with Cornelius Play audio in browser: Download audio Todd Nettleton Dr. Future discusses the book “Jesus: Friend to Terrorists“, by Pastor Richard Wurmbrand, with Todd Nettleton, Director of Media Development for Voice of the Martyrs… [Part 1 of a 4-Part series] Show: Future Quake Full Podcast: Rev. [...] 4:32 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2010/10/25/jonah-god%e2%80%99s-heart-of-compassion-%e2%80%93-part-11/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2010/10/25/jonah-god%e2%80%99s-heart-of-compassion-%e2%80%93-part-11/#comments Tue, 26 Oct 2010 01:44:30 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=5480 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2010/10/25/jonah-god%e2%80%99s-heart-of-compassion-%e2%80%93-part-11/feed/ 0 Afshin Ziafat, a former Muslim who came to faith in Jesus Christ as a senior in high school, continues the story of BJ Higgins and God’s heart for the lost… [Part 11 of an 11-Part series] Ministry: Afshin Ziafat Ministries Full Podcast: Jonah: God’s Heart of Compassion Date: 8/29/10 Speaker: Afshin Ziafat Topics: The story of BJ Higgins; BJ wanted others to know the same mercy that he knew; Romans 5:8 – “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.“; Romans 10:13 – “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved“; Does the mercy we have received move us to compassion… for the enemy? For someone who has wronged us? For the spiritually blind?; We need to get out of our comfort zones to reach all the world Play audio in browser: Download audio Afshin Ziafat Afshin Ziafat, a former Muslim who came to faith in Jesus Christ as a senior in high school, continues the story of BJ Higgins and God’s heart for the lost… [Part 11 of an 11-Part series] Ministry: Afshin Ziafat Ministries Full Podcast: Jonah: [...] 3:56 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2010/10/23/jonah-god%e2%80%99s-heart-of-compassion-%e2%80%93-part-10/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2010/10/23/jonah-god%e2%80%99s-heart-of-compassion-%e2%80%93-part-10/#comments Sun, 24 Oct 2010 04:30:14 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=5470 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2010/10/23/jonah-god%e2%80%99s-heart-of-compassion-%e2%80%93-part-10/feed/ 0 Afshin Ziafat, a former Muslim who came to faith in Jesus Christ as a senior in high school, discusses the story of BJ Higgins and God’s heart for the lost… [Part 10 of an 11-Part series] Ministry: Afshin Ziafat Ministries Full Podcast: Jonah: God’s Heart of Compassion Date: 8/29/10 Speaker: Afshin Ziafat Topics: The story of BJ Higgins; The book “I Would Die for You“, by Brent and Deanna Higgins; An excerpt from BJ’s journal, written at the age of 14: “It’s time that we as professed Christians of America wake up from our sleep of lethargy and hypocrisy and stop living for Christ only on Sundays and Wednesdays and start acting as Christ says all of His disciples must act… ‘whoever does not bear his own cross cannot come after me and be my disciple’. We must die to ourselves daily, we must forget our comfort zones and our clicks of friends, and go out and share the love and rescuing truth of Jesus Christ with the lost, empty, suffering, and dying people of this world.” Play audio in browser: Download audio Afshin Ziafat Afshin Ziafat, a former Muslim who came to faith in Jesus Christ as a senior in high school, discusses the story of BJ Higgins and God’s heart for the lost… [Part 10 of an 11-Part series] Ministry: Afshin Ziafat Ministries Full Podcast: Jonah: [...] 3:49 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2010/10/23/jonah-god%e2%80%99s-heart-of-compassion-%e2%80%93-part-9/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2010/10/23/jonah-god%e2%80%99s-heart-of-compassion-%e2%80%93-part-9/#comments Sat, 23 Oct 2010 13:36:05 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=5455 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2010/10/23/jonah-god%e2%80%99s-heart-of-compassion-%e2%80%93-part-9/feed/ 0 Afshin Ziafat, a former Muslim who came to faith in Jesus Christ as a senior in high school, continues his sermon about the prophet Jonah and God’s heart for the lost… even the enemy. [Part 9 of an 11-Part series] Ministry: Afshin Ziafat Ministries Full Podcast: Jonah: God’s Heart of Compassion Date: 8/29/10 Speaker: Afshin Ziafat Topics: God loves the spiritually blind; Jonah 4:11 – “And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left“; God is saying to Jonah: “These people don’t know their right from their left. You have received the revelation of God… they haven’t“; When people who don’t know Jesus act like it, it shouldn’t appall us so badly that we’re not moved with compassion–we should expect them to act that way; Ephesians 2:5 – “even when we were dead in our trespasses, [God] made us alive together with Christ“; Jesus came to me when I was dead, and He made me alive; I was spiritually blinded to the truth of Christ, and God gave me mercy; My heart ought to beat for those who don’t know, those who are enemies, and for all the world; Those 120,000 persons were made in the image of God; God’s heart beats for all people, all races…; Jonah had to get uncomfortable, leave his comfort zone, and go to the enemy to preach God’s mercy; What’s our response to God’s heart?; Peter had to get uncomfortable and preach the gospel to the Gentile world; Ultimately Jesus is our greatest example… Philippians 2:6-7 – “though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant“; Christ left His comfort zone and came to this world… how dare we stay in our comfort zones? Play audio in browser: Download audio Afshin Ziafat Afshin Ziafat, a former Muslim who came to faith in Jesus Christ as a senior in high school, continues his sermon about the prophet Jonah and God’s heart for the lost… even the enemy. [Part 9 of an 11-Part series] Ministry: Afshin Ziafat [...] 3:57 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2010/10/21/jonah-god%e2%80%99s-heart-of-compassion-%e2%80%93-part-8/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2010/10/21/jonah-god%e2%80%99s-heart-of-compassion-%e2%80%93-part-8/#comments Fri, 22 Oct 2010 05:07:03 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=5441 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2010/10/21/jonah-god%e2%80%99s-heart-of-compassion-%e2%80%93-part-8/feed/ 0 Afshin Ziafat, a former Muslim who came to faith in Jesus Christ as a senior in high school, continues his sermon about the prophet Jonah and God’s heart for the lost… even the enemy. [Part 8 of an 11-Part series] Ministry: Afshin Ziafat Ministries Full Podcast: Jonah: God’s Heart of Compassion Date: 8/29/10 Speaker: Afshin Ziafat Topics: 2 Kings 14:23-25; God extended mercy to Israel when they were being rebellious and turning from Him; He gave the message that they were going to receive mercy through the lips of Jonah; The same man that was ready to proclaim mercy to his people is now angry when it’s extended to the enemy; Romans 5:10 – “For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life“; I wasn’t just an innocent bystander… it was my sin that put Jesus on the cross, I was an enemy of God; Forgiveness; Matthew 5:43-44 – “Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;“; That is the message of Christ–that you get mercy when you don’t even deserve it… that ought to move us with compassion for people who we think are our enemy; The most Christ-like thing we can do is forgive someone who we think doesn’t deserve our mercy and forgiveness; Matthew 5:46 – “For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?“; God loves the enemy Play audio in browser: Download audio Afshin Ziafat Afshin Ziafat, a former Muslim who came to faith in Jesus Christ as a senior in high school, continues his sermon about the prophet Jonah and God’s heart for the lost… even the enemy. [Part 8 of an 11-Part series] Ministry: Afshin Ziafat [...] 4:04 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2010/10/16/jonah-god%e2%80%99s-heart-of-compassion-%e2%80%93-part-7/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2010/10/16/jonah-god%e2%80%99s-heart-of-compassion-%e2%80%93-part-7/#comments Sat, 16 Oct 2010 15:19:40 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=5429 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2010/10/16/jonah-god%e2%80%99s-heart-of-compassion-%e2%80%93-part-7/feed/ 0 Afshin Ziafat, a former Muslim who came to faith in Jesus Christ as a senior in high school, continues his sermon about the prophet Jonah and God’s heart for the lost… even for those who are His enemies. [Part 7 of an 11-Part series] Ministry: Afshin Ziafat Ministries Full Podcast: Jonah: God’s Heart of Compassion Date: 8/29/10 Speaker: Afshin Ziafat Topics: The book of Job; Job 1:22 – “In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong“–the exact opposite of Jonah, who got on the throne and charged God with evil for what He did; Job is saying “You’re God, I’m not. You take it away, I’m still yours.”; God uses Jonah’s circumstances to show him that his heart is off; God puts storms in our life to show us that something is off in our heart and to turn us back to Him; Jonah 4:11 – “And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?“; God has a compassionate heart for the enemy… for those who we might think don’t deserve mercy; God’s heart moves for those who are His enemies, and we should thank God for that; The story of Jonah should tell all of us that our heart ought to beat for those who don’t deserve mercy… because that’s exactly the same boat we were in Play audio in browser: Download audio Afshin Ziafat Afshin Ziafat, a former Muslim who came to faith in Jesus Christ as a senior in high school, continues his sermon about the prophet Jonah and God’s heart for the lost… even for those who are His enemies. [Part 7 of an 11-Part series] Ministry: [...] 2:55 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2010/10/14/jonah-god%e2%80%99s-heart-of-compassion-%e2%80%93-part-6/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2010/10/14/jonah-god%e2%80%99s-heart-of-compassion-%e2%80%93-part-6/#comments Fri, 15 Oct 2010 04:45:24 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=5422 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2010/10/14/jonah-god%e2%80%99s-heart-of-compassion-%e2%80%93-part-6/feed/ 0 Afshin Ziafat, a former Muslim who came to faith in Jesus Christ as a senior in high school, continues his sermon about the prophet Jonah and God’s heart for the lost… [Part 6 of an 11-Part series] Ministry: Afshin Ziafat Ministries Full Podcast: Jonah: God’s Heart of Compassion Date: 8/29/10 Speaker: Afshin Ziafat Topics: Jonah 4:8-9 – “When the sun rose, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint. And he asked that he might die and said, “It is better for me to die than to live.” But God said to Jonah, “Do you do well to be angry for the plant?” And he said, ‘Yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die.‘”; Jonah thinks his heart is fine, but God is using his circumstances to show him that his heart is really off, and not fully His; Many times God takes us through circumstances to show us that we don’t fully follow Him… but that when things go bad, we bail on Him Play audio in browser: Download audio Afshin Ziafat Afshin Ziafat, a former Muslim who came to faith in Jesus Christ as a senior in high school, continues his sermon about the prophet Jonah and God’s heart for the lost… [Part 6 of an 11-Part series] Ministry: Afshin Ziafat Ministries Full [...] 2:23 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2010/10/13/jonah-god%e2%80%99s-heart-of-compassion-%e2%80%93-part-5/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2010/10/13/jonah-god%e2%80%99s-heart-of-compassion-%e2%80%93-part-5/#comments Thu, 14 Oct 2010 03:31:26 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=5413 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2010/10/13/jonah-god%e2%80%99s-heart-of-compassion-%e2%80%93-part-5/feed/ 0 Afshin Ziafat, a former Muslim who came to faith in Christ as a senior in high school, continues his sermon about the prophet Jonah, repentance, and God’s heart for the lost… [Part 5 of an 11-Part series] Ministry: Afshin Ziafat Ministries Full Podcast: Jonah: God’s Heart of Compassion Date: 8/29/10 Speaker: Afshin Ziafat Topics: Jonah’s heart is still unrepentant–he’s not truly broken over his own sin; Jonah 4:2 – “I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love“; He is quoting Exodus 34:6; The very characteristics of God that saved Jonah in the sea, he’s now angry when those same characteristics are extended to benefit someone else; Jonah 4:4 – “And the LORD said, ‘Do you do well to be angry?‘”; Many times God will ask a question to cause us to turn inwards and look at our own heart; “Let him who is without sin cast the first stone“; God takes Jonah through a series of circumstances to show him that his heart doesn’t fully belong to God; God appointed the storm, the fish, the plant, the worm, and the east wind–He is sovereign over all of these details Play audio in browser: Download audio Afshin Ziafat Afshin Ziafat, a former Muslim who came to faith in Christ as a senior in high school, continues his sermon about the prophet Jonah, repentance, and God’s heart for the lost… [Part 5 of an 11-Part series] Ministry: Afshin Ziafat Ministries Full [...] 3:04 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2010/10/12/jonah-god%e2%80%99s-heart-of-compassion-%e2%80%93-part-4/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2010/10/12/jonah-god%e2%80%99s-heart-of-compassion-%e2%80%93-part-4/#comments Wed, 13 Oct 2010 03:14:37 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=5398 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2010/10/12/jonah-god%e2%80%99s-heart-of-compassion-%e2%80%93-part-4/feed/ 0 Afshin Ziafat, a former Muslim who came to faith in Christ as a senior in high school, continues his sermon about the prophet Jonah and God’s heart for the lost… [Part 4 of an 11-Part series] Ministry: Afshin Ziafat Ministries Full Podcast: Jonah: God’s Heart of Compassion Date: 8/29/10 Speaker: Afshin Ziafat Topics: Jonah 4; Jonah’s heart–unrepentant, God’s response, God’s heart, and our response; God relented of the disaster to Nineveh; The king repented, humbled himself, confessed, and called on God–Jonah did the opposite; The king got off the throne… Jonah got on the throne and charged God with evil for what He did in not destroying Nineveh; Jonah is unrepentant–he is playing God and playing judge himself; Exodus 33:19 – “[I] will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy“; Romans 9:15 – “For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion“; It’s not up to us who receives mercy, it’s up to God; We can’t draw a line as to how far God’s mercy extends; Jonah justified his rebellion; The king confessed his sin and made no excuses for it, but Jonah is making an excuse and justifying it Play audio in browser: Download audio Afshin Ziafat Afshin Ziafat, a former Muslim who came to faith in Christ as a senior in high school, continues his sermon about the prophet Jonah and God’s heart for the lost… [Part 4 of an 11-Part series] Ministry: Afshin Ziafat Ministries Full Podcast: [...] 3:13 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2010/10/10/jonah-god%e2%80%99s-heart-of-compassion-%e2%80%93-part-3/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2010/10/10/jonah-god%e2%80%99s-heart-of-compassion-%e2%80%93-part-3/#comments Sun, 10 Oct 2010 16:44:37 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=5385 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2010/10/10/jonah-god%e2%80%99s-heart-of-compassion-%e2%80%93-part-3/feed/ 1 Afshin Ziafat, a former Muslim who came to faith in Christ as a senior in high school, continues his sermon about the prophet Jonah and God’s heart for the lost… [Part 3 of an 11-Part series] Ministry: Afshin Ziafat Ministries Full Podcast: Jonah: God’s Heart of Compassion Date: 8/29/10 Speaker: Afshin Ziafat Topics: The historicity of Jonah–Jesus Christ Himself referred to Jonah; Matthew 12:38-41 – “The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here“; In 40 days, Nineveh will be “broken”–either broken on the outside (destroyed) or broken on the inside (repentant); God is sovereign over every detail of life; 2 Peter 3:9 – “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance“; God is longsuffering and has orchestrated things in your life to draw you to Him Play audio in browser: Download audio Afshin Ziafat Afshin Ziafat, a former Muslim who came to faith in Christ as a senior in high school, continues his sermon about the prophet Jonah and God’s heart for the lost… [Part 3 of an 11-Part series] Ministry: Afshin Ziafat Ministries Full Podcast: [...] 3:44 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2010/10/08/jonah-god%e2%80%99s-heart-of-compassion-%e2%80%93-part-2/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2010/10/08/jonah-god%e2%80%99s-heart-of-compassion-%e2%80%93-part-2/#comments Fri, 08 Oct 2010 20:28:29 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=5372 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2010/10/08/jonah-god%e2%80%99s-heart-of-compassion-%e2%80%93-part-2/feed/ 0 Afshin Ziafat, a former Muslim who came to faith in Christ as a senior in high school, discusses God’s heart of compassion for the lost and broken… [Part 2 of an 11-Part series] Ministry: Afshin Ziafat Ministries Full Podcast: Jonah: God’s Heart of Compassion Date: 8/29/10 Speaker: Afshin Ziafat Topics: Jonah 3 – “Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah the second time“; Even the people that God used to deliver the message were broken people that ran from God and needed a second chance–Abraham, Moses, others; Jonah goes to Nineveh and begins to prophesy; The amazing miracle of the story of Jonah is not the fish, it’s that Jonah went one day into the city preaching five words, and the entire city repents… these gruesome, wicked people, they all turn to God; Romans 10:17 – “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God“; Jonah was running from God, and God still used him; Even Jesus points to this and says this is the amazing story of Jonah Play audio in browser: Download audio Afshin Ziafat Afshin Ziafat, a former Muslim who came to faith in Christ as a senior in high school, discusses God’s heart of compassion for the lost and broken… [Part 2 of an 11-Part series] Ministry: Afshin Ziafat Ministries Full Podcast: Jonah: God’s [...] 3:35 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2010/10/06/jonah-gods-heart-of-compassion-part-1/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2010/10/06/jonah-gods-heart-of-compassion-part-1/#comments Wed, 06 Oct 2010 19:39:39 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=5353 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2010/10/06/jonah-gods-heart-of-compassion-part-1/feed/ 0 Afshin Ziafat, a former Muslim who came to faith in Christ as a senior in high school, discusses God’s heart of compassion for the lost… even for the enemy of His very own people, the nation of Israel. [Part 1 of an 11-Part series] Ministry: Afshin Ziafat Ministries Full Podcast: Jonah: God’s Heart of Compassion Date: 8/29/10 Speaker: Afshin Ziafat Topics: Jonah 1; God tells Jonah to preach to Nineveh, the capital of Assyria; The prophet Amos has already prophesied that Assyria would one day come and conquer Israel; The Assyrians were gruesome–they were the terrorists of the day; They were evil, wicked, gruesome people, and would one day conquer Israel; This is the enemy, to whom Jonah is called to preach; Jonah gets on a ship and sails for Tarshish to get away from the presence of the Lord; He runs to the sea to flee from the presence of God, but God commands the sea and the storm; Sin causes us to want to run from the presence of God, the very One we ought to turn to; God appoints a storm and the sailors throw Jonah overboard; God appoints the fish not as His judgment, but as His mercy, saving Jonah from the depths of the sea; In the belly of the fish, Jonah makes an incredible praise of thanksgiving for God saving him – Jonah 2 (“But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the LORD“); Through the fish, God brings Jonah back to dry land; In Chapter 3, Jonah goes to Nineveh… Play audio in browser: Download audio Afshin Ziafat Afshin Ziafat, a former Muslim who came to faith in Christ as a senior in high school, discusses God’s heart of compassion for the lost… even for the enemy of His very own people, the nation of Israel. [Part 1 of an 11-Part series] Ministry: [...] 2:54 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2010/09/13/on-fighting-the-right-enemy/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2010/09/13/on-fighting-the-right-enemy/#comments Mon, 13 Sep 2010 16:23:50 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=5267 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2010/09/13/on-fighting-the-right-enemy/feed/ 0 Derek Gilbert from A View From the Bunker discusses how giving in to anger and hatred causes us to fight the wrong enemy… and lose the fight. Show: A View From The Bunker Full Podcast: VFTB Live: William Ramsey — Aleister Crowley and 9/11 Date: 9/10/10 Host: Derek Gilbert Topics: We can’t let the enemy–the powers and principalities that Paul wrote to the church at Ephesus about–drive us and provoke us into hating those with whom we disagree; By allowing ourselves to be drawn into that kind of anger, we’ve already lost; We’re fighting against the wrong enemy… we’re not wrestling against flesh and blood; By believing another person is the enemy, we have already lost the fight; Christians are simply running in a different race… or we should be Play audio in browser: Download audio Derek Gilbert from A View From the Bunker discusses how giving in to anger and hatred causes us to fight the wrong enemy… and lose the fight. Show: A View From The Bunker Full Podcast: VFTB Live: William Ramsey — Aleister Crowley and 9/11 Date: [...] 1:29 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2010/04/06/a-call-to-prayer-part-5/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2010/04/06/a-call-to-prayer-part-5/#comments Wed, 07 Apr 2010 03:19:14 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=4447 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2010/04/06/a-call-to-prayer-part-5/feed/ 0 [Part 5 of a 5-Part series] Ministry: Holy Ghost Radio Full Podcast: Podcast #38: There is a voice Date: 3/24/10 Speaker: Curtis Young Topics: Lord, teach us to pray; The art of really praying is to not “get through” until you get through; Break the barriers; Prayer is the answer Play audio in browser: Download audio Curtis Young [Part 5 of a 5-Part series] Ministry: Holy Ghost Radio Full Podcast: Podcast #38: There is a voice Date: 3/24/10 Speaker: Curtis Young Topics: Lord, teach us to pray; The art of really praying is to not “get through” until you get through; [...] 3:17 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2010/04/05/a-call-to-prayer-part-4/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2010/04/05/a-call-to-prayer-part-4/#comments Tue, 06 Apr 2010 02:40:11 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=4439 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2010/04/05/a-call-to-prayer-part-4/feed/ 0 [Part 4 of a 5-Part series] Ministry: Holy Ghost Radio Full Podcast: Podcast #38: There is a voice Date: 3/24/10 Speaker: Curtis Young Topics: Having an agenda of prayer; We should pray more than we do anything else; Prayer is not easy, it’s contrary to our human nature; We have to take dominion over our own heart and mind; Don’t cease to pray; The devil does not want us to pray; Our carnal nature does not want us to pray; God’s agenda for us is that we pray Play audio in browser: Download audio Curtis Young [Part 4 of a 5-Part series] Ministry: Holy Ghost Radio Full Podcast: Podcast #38: There is a voice Date: 3/24/10 Speaker: Curtis Young Topics: Having an agenda of prayer; We should pray more than we do anything else; Prayer is not easy, it’s [...] 3:20 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2010/04/04/a-call-to-prayer-part-3/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2010/04/04/a-call-to-prayer-part-3/#comments Sun, 04 Apr 2010 21:05:56 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=4432 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2010/04/04/a-call-to-prayer-part-3/feed/ 0 [Part 3 of a 5-Part series] Ministry: Holy Ghost Radio Full Podcast: Podcast #38: There is a voice Date: 3/24/10 Speaker: Curtis Young Topics: Psalm 65:2; James 4:2; Pray until heaven comes down; A real, old-fashioned prayer meeting will stop the devil in his tracks and give revival to God’s people; There’s no future without prayer; A prayerless church is an empty church; Do we know how to travail in prayer? Play audio in browser: Download audio Curtis Young [Part 3 of a 5-Part series] Ministry: Holy Ghost Radio Full Podcast: Podcast #38: There is a voice Date: 3/24/10 Speaker: Curtis Young Topics: Psalm 65:2; James 4:2; Pray until heaven comes down; A real, old-fashioned prayer meeting will stop the [...] 3:59 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2010/04/03/a-call-to-prayer-part-2/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2010/04/03/a-call-to-prayer-part-2/#comments Sun, 04 Apr 2010 03:56:34 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=4424 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2010/04/03/a-call-to-prayer-part-2/feed/ 0 [Part 2 of a 5-Part series] Ministry: Holy Ghost Radio Full Podcast: Podcast #38: There is a voice Date: 3/24/10 Speaker: Curtis Young Topics: 2 Chronicles 7:14; “If my people… then I will…”; The greatest sin of this day is the sin of prayerlessness; Prayer is not a one-sided ordeal, where we do all of the talking; You have not really prayed if in the process of that prayer, God has not talked to you; We must pause and wait to be overwhelmed and consumed by the presence of God; Real prayer is when your inner being reaches out and touches God, and God touches you–we’re in need of that kind of praying Play audio in browser: Download audio Curtis Young [Part 2 of a 5-Part series] Ministry: Holy Ghost Radio Full Podcast: Podcast #38: There is a voice Date: 3/24/10 Speaker: Curtis Young Topics: 2 Chronicles 7:14; “If my people… then I will…”; The greatest sin of this day is the sin of [...] 3:25 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2010/04/01/a-call-to-prayer-part-1/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2010/04/01/a-call-to-prayer-part-1/#comments Thu, 01 Apr 2010 19:59:23 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=4407 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2010/04/01/a-call-to-prayer-part-1/feed/ 0 As the days get darker, what we need more than anything else is to pray… [Part 1 of a 5-Part series] Ministry: New Life Church of Austin, TX Full Podcast: The Practice of Prayer Date: 1/13/10 Speaker: Rodney Shaw Topics: We should take the commandment to pray seriously; God invites us to intimate and deep communion with Him; Prayer moves us out of our own agenda and will and into God’s; It provides the spiritual power we need to live victoriously Play audio in browser: Download audio Rodney Shaw As the days get darker, what we need more than anything else is to pray… [Part 1 of a 5-Part series] Ministry: New Life Church of Austin, TX Full Podcast: The Practice of Prayer Date: 1/13/10 Speaker: Rodney Shaw Topics: We should take the [...] 3:25 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2009/12/31/be-filled/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2009/12/31/be-filled/#comments Fri, 01 Jan 2010 04:49:10 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=3771 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2009/12/31/be-filled/feed/ 0 Happy New Year everyone!!! May you be filled with the incomparable power of the Spirit of God in 2010… Show: Preemption Broadcast Full Podcast: Daniel Chapter 4 Host: Russ Dizdar Topics: 1 John 4 – greater is the one who lives is in you than the one who lives in the world; Ephesians 5 – be filled with the Spirit of God; Acts 1 – you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you; Luke 24 – you shall be clothed with power from on high; That should be the evidence of all believers; Just be surrendered to Jesus–ask Him to clothe you, fill you, saturate you with the power of the Spirit of God; Every single person that was “Spirit filled” in the Book of Acts was an effective soul-winner; The presence, power, radiance, love, and the fire of God was on them; Ephesians 1; Know the incomparably great power for us who believe–the same kind of power that raised Jesus from the dead; What you receive by faith can be manifested when you’re living out in obedience Play audio in browser: Download audio Russ Dizdar Happy New Year everyone!!! May you be filled with the incomparable power of the Spirit of God in 2010… Show: Preemption Broadcast Full Podcast: Daniel Chapter 4 Host: Russ Dizdar Topics: 1 John 4 – greater is the one who lives is in you than [...] 3:20 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2009/12/31/the-authority-of-jesus-overcoming-demonic-presence/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2009/12/31/the-authority-of-jesus-overcoming-demonic-presence/#comments Thu, 31 Dec 2009 19:22:00 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=3747 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2009/12/31/the-authority-of-jesus-overcoming-demonic-presence/feed/ 0 Russ Dizdar from Preemption Broadcast discusses the authority Christ has given us to overcome all the power of the enemy… Show: Preemption Broadcast Full Podcast: HOW TO USE YOUR SPIRITUAL AUTHORITY Date: 12/19/09 Host: Russ Dizdar Topics: Accept the spiritual authority of Christ to overcome all the power of the enemy; Renounce fear; The authority Jesus gives is part of mission; Luke 10:19 – “Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you.“; Deliverance is a compassionate thing; Mark 5:1-20; Authority is needed because Satan is the god of this age that we live in–he has authority over every unsaved person; Wherever anybody gives him room, he gets rights (and the demonic gets rights); There is more demonic manifestation now than ever in all of history; Even if all hell comes out on the field, believers have been given authority to trample demonic presence wherever it’s found, and to overcome Play audio in browser: Download audio Russ Dizdar Russ Dizdar from Preemption Broadcast discusses the authority Christ has given us to overcome all the power of the enemy… Show: Preemption Broadcast Full Podcast: HOW TO USE YOUR SPIRITUAL AUTHORITY Date: 12/19/09 Host: Russ Dizdar Topics: Accept [...] 3:11 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2009/12/04/unarmed-truth-and-unconditional-love/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2009/12/04/unarmed-truth-and-unconditional-love/#comments Sat, 05 Dec 2009 02:32:33 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=3264 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2009/12/04/unarmed-truth-and-unconditional-love/feed/ 0 In the audio clip below, James Corbett introduces an excerpt from Martin Luther King, Jr.‘s acceptance speech for the Nobel Peace Prize, in which King declares that “right temporarily defeated is stronger than evil triumphant“. Although not included in the audio clip itself, I found the following excerpt from his speech to be equally compelling: “Therefore, I must ask why this prize is awarded to a movement which is beleaguered and committed to unrelenting struggle; to a movement which has not won the very peace and brotherhood which is the essence of the Nobel Prize. After contemplation, I conclude that this award which I receive on behalf of that movement is a profound recognition that nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral question of our time–the need for man to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to violence and oppression. Civilization and violence are antithetical concepts.” “Negroes of the United States, following the people of India, have demonstrated that nonviolence is not sterile passivity, but a powerful moral force which makes for social transformation. Sooner or later all the people of the world will have to discover a way to live together in peace, and thereby transform this pending cosmic elegy into a creative psalm of brotherhood. If this is to be achieved, man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.” - Martin Luther King, Jr. (Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech – Dec. 10, 1964) Show: The Corbett Report Full Podcast: Episode #108 – Peace Prizes for Warmongers Date: 11/15/09 Host: James Corbett Biography: Martin Luther King, Jr. Speech: Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech Date: December 10, 1964 Location: Oslo, Norway Excerpt: “I refuse to accept the cynical notion that nation after nation must spiral down a militaristic stairway into the hell of nuclear annihilation. I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right temporarily defeated is stronger than evil triumphant.” Play audio in browser: Download audio Martin Luther King, Jr. In the audio clip below, James Corbett introduces an excerpt from Martin Luther King, Jr.‘s acceptance speech for the Nobel Peace Prize, in which King declares that “right temporarily defeated is stronger than evil triumphant“. Although not [...] http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2009/12/02/mlk-jr-a-time-to-break-silence-part-3/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2009/12/02/mlk-jr-a-time-to-break-silence-part-3/#comments Thu, 03 Dec 2009 01:07:00 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=3216 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2009/12/02/mlk-jr-a-time-to-break-silence-part-3/feed/ 0 Here’s one more clip from Martin Luther King, Jr.‘s speech “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence“, delivered on April 4th, 1967. I also came across a separate MLK, Jr. quote that I found quite remarkable… and quite biblical. It’s from the book “Strength to Love“, which is a collection of classic sermons preached by Dr. King: “To our most bitter opponents we say: ‘We shall match your capacity to inflict suffering by our capacity to endure suffering. We shall meet your physical force with soul force. Do to us what you will, and we shall continue to love you.’…. Jesus is eternally right. History is replete with the bleached bones of nations that refused to listen to him. May we in the twentieth century hear and follow his words before it is too late. May we solemnly realize that we shall never be true sons of the heavenly Father until we love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us.” - Martin Luther King, Jr., “Loving your Enemies” [Part 3 of a 3-Part series] Biography: Martin Luther King, Jr. Speech: Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence Date: April 4, 1967 Location: Riverside Church, New York City Excerpt: “This is a calling that takes me beyond national allegiances, but even if it were not present I would yet have to live with the meaning of my commitment to the ministry of Jesus Christ. To me the relationship of this ministry to the making of peace is so obvious that I sometimes marvel at those who ask me why I’m speaking against the war. Could it be that they do not know that the good news was meant for all men — for Communist and capitalist, for their children and ours, for black and for white, for revolutionary and conservative? Have they forgotten that my ministry is in obedience to the One who loved his enemies so fully that he died for them? What then can I say to the Vietcong or to Castro or to Mao as a faithful minister of this One? Can I threaten them with death or must I not share with them my life?” Related Audio: Martin Luther King, “Why I Am Opposed to the War in Vietnam” Play audio in browser: Download audio Martin Luther King, Jr. Here’s one more clip from Martin Luther King, Jr.‘s speech “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence“, delivered on April 4th, 1967. I also came across a separate MLK, Jr. quote that I found quite remarkable… and quite biblical. It’s [...] 3:00 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2009/12/01/mlk-jr-a-time-to-break-silence-part-2/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2009/12/01/mlk-jr-a-time-to-break-silence-part-2/#comments Wed, 02 Dec 2009 00:49:10 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=3202 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2009/12/01/mlk-jr-a-time-to-break-silence-part-2/feed/ 0 Here’s another clip from Martin Luther King, Jr.‘s speech “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence“, delivered at Riverside Church in New York City on April 4th, 1967. [Part 2 of a 3-Part series] Biography: Martin Luther King, Jr. Speech: Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence Date: April 4, 1967 Location: Riverside Church, New York City Excerpt: “As I have walked among the desperate, rejected, and angry young men, I have told them that Molotov cocktails and rifles would not solve their problems. I have tried to offer them my deepest compassion while maintaining my conviction that social change comes most meaningfully through nonviolent action. But they ask — and rightly so — what about Vietnam? They ask if our own nation wasn’t using massive doses of violence to solve its problems, to bring about the changes it wanted. Their questions hit home, and I knew that I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed in the ghettos without having first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today — my own government. For the sake of those boys, for the sake of this government, for the sake of the hundreds of thousands trembling under our violence, I cannot be silent.” Related Audio: Martin Luther King, “Why I Am Opposed to the War in Vietnam” Play audio in browser: Download audio Martin Luther King, Jr. Here’s another clip from Martin Luther King, Jr.‘s speech “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence“, delivered at Riverside Church in New York City on April 4th, 1967. [Part 2 of a 3-Part series] Biography: Martin Luther King, Jr. Speech: [...] 3:55 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2009/11/30/mlk-jr-a-time-to-break-silence-part-1/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2009/11/30/mlk-jr-a-time-to-break-silence-part-1/#comments Tue, 01 Dec 2009 04:08:03 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=3180 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2009/11/30/mlk-jr-a-time-to-break-silence-part-1/feed/ 0 A time comes when silence is betrayal… [Part 1 of a 3-Part series] Biography: Martin Luther King, Jr. Speech: Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence Date: April 4, 1967 Location: Riverside Church, New York City Excerpt: “A time comes when silence is betrayal. And that time has come for us in relation to Vietnam. The truth of these words is beyond doubt, but the mission to which they call us is a most difficult one. Even when pressed by the demands of inner truth, men do not easily assume the task of opposing their government’s policy, especially in time of war. Nor does the human spirit move without great difficulty against all the apathy of conformist thought within one’s own bosom and in the surrounding world. Moreover, when the issues at hand seem as perplexed as they often do in the case of this dreadful conflict, we are always on the verge of being mesmerized by uncertainty; but we must move on. And some of us who have already begun to break the silence of the night have found that the calling to speak is often a vocation of agony, but we must speak. We must speak with all the humility that is appropriate to our limited vision, but we must speak.” Related Audio: Martin Luther King, “Why I Am Opposed to the War in Vietnam” Play audio in browser: Download audio Martin Luther King, Jr. A time comes when silence is betrayal… [Part 1 of a 3-Part series] Biography: Martin Luther King, Jr. Speech: Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence Date: April 4, 1967 Location: Riverside Church, New York City Excerpt: “A time comes when [...] 3:43 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2009/11/29/mlk-jr-and-the-weapon-of-nonviolent-resistance/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2009/11/29/mlk-jr-and-the-weapon-of-nonviolent-resistance/#comments Mon, 30 Nov 2009 05:18:22 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=3150 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2009/11/29/mlk-jr-and-the-weapon-of-nonviolent-resistance/feed/ 0 James Corbett discusses the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the nonviolent, grass-roots effort that propelled Martin Luther King, Jr. and the civil rights movement into the public consciousness. Show: The Corbett Report Full Podcast: Episode #107 – Lessons in Resistance: Non-compliance Date: 11/8/09 Host: James Corbett Topics: Rosa Parks lost her case and was convicted of violating the segregated seating laws; Black leaders formed the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) as an extension of the Montgomery Bus Boycott and elected Martin Luther King, Jr. as its president; King gave a speech at a church that sparked the black residents’ collective outrage into a grass-roots movement that sustained the boycott; The bus boycott followed King’s credo of nonviolent resistance; On February 1st, 1956, the MIA filed a federal suit against bus segregation in the names of 4 black women; In June a federal court ruled segregated seating unconstitutional–it was appealed to the Supreme Court, which upheld the ruling; On December 20th, 1956, when the federal ruling took effect, an integrated group of bus boycott supporters (including King) rode the city buses; The Montgomery Bus Boycott had implications that reached far beyond the desegregation of public buses; The protest propelled the civil rights movement into national consciousness, and Martin Luther King, Jr. into the public eye; In the words of King: “We have gained a new sense of dignity and destiny. We have discovered a new and powerful weapon… nonviolent resistance.” Play audio in browser: Download audio James Corbett James Corbett discusses the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the nonviolent, grass-roots effort that propelled Martin Luther King, Jr. and the civil rights movement into the public consciousness. Show: The Corbett Report Full Podcast: Episode #107 – [...] 2:53 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2009/11/28/prepared-to-die-but-not-to-kill/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2009/11/28/prepared-to-die-but-not-to-kill/#comments Sun, 29 Nov 2009 06:39:42 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=3129 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2009/11/28/prepared-to-die-but-not-to-kill/feed/ 0 I found this clip from the movie “Gandhi” to be quite instructive, as I believe the principle of nonviolent resistance can be strongly supported from a biblical perspective. Is there a lesson here that modern American evangelicals seem to have missed in the pages of Scripture? [Click here for the YouTube video of this clip.] Show: The Corbett Report Full Podcast: Episode #107 – Lessons in Resistance: Non-compliance Date: 11/8/09 Host: James Corbett Topics: Mahatma Gandhi and peaceful non-compliance (nonviolent resistance); The 1982 Richard Attenborough movie “Gandhi” Play audio in browser: Download audio I found this clip from the movie “Gandhi” to be quite instructive, as I believe the principle of nonviolent resistance can be strongly supported from a biblical perspective. Is there a lesson here that modern American evangelicals seem to have [...] 3:54 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2009/11/27/waking-jonah-theme-song-wake-up/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2009/11/27/waking-jonah-theme-song-wake-up/#comments Sat, 28 Nov 2009 05:25:46 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=3099 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2009/11/27/waking-jonah-theme-song-wake-up/feed/ 0 I heard this song by Kristian Stanfill at my church last Sunday and thought it was the perfect song to encapsulate the message of Waking Jonah. Here are the lyrics for this short audio excerpt from “Wake Up” (*see full lyrics below): Wake up, oh sleeper, rise and awake Heaven is calling, no time to waste Eyes on the skyline, watch for the Son Over the hilltop His glory will come Wake up (4x) [Please support Kristian's ministry by purchasing his incredible music here.] Artist: Kristian Stanfill Song: Wake Up Album: Attention Release Date: April 21, 2009 Play audio in browser: Download audio Kristian Stanfill “Wake Up” lyrics: Wake up, oh sleeper, rise and awake Heaven is calling, no time to waste Eyes on the skyline, watch for the Son Over the hilltop His glory will come Wake up (4x) Wake from your slumber, see the display Glory and passion are calling your days Move to the rhythm, join in the song We’re singing of freedom, and unfailing love Wake up (4x) Wake up (Your life awaits) Wake up (Leave your wasted days) Wake up (Feel the rush of life) Wake up (Open up your eyes, wake up) I hear Your voice in the morning light You call my name, You’re calling me to rise I stand in you, Here in your perfect love I lift my voice, Because the word is out to rise and Wake up (Your life awaits) Wake up (Leave your wasted days) Wake up (Feel the rush of life) Wake up (Open up your eyes, wake up) [Repeat in background] I hear Your voice in the morning light You call my name, You’re calling me to rise I stand in you, Here in your perfect love I lift my voice, Because the word is out to rise and Wake up I heard this song by Kristian Stanfill at my church last Sunday and thought it was the perfect song to encapsulate the message of Waking Jonah. Here are the lyrics for this short audio excerpt from “Wake Up” (*see full lyrics below): Wake up, [...] 0:50 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2009/11/19/russ-dizdar-unstoppable/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2009/11/19/russ-dizdar-unstoppable/#comments Fri, 20 Nov 2009 04:16:01 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=2886 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2009/11/19/russ-dizdar-unstoppable/feed/ 0 Russ Dizdar from Preemption Broadcast discusses the unstoppable force of growing believers that are living in the supernatural power and presence of God. Show: Preemption Broadcast Full Podcast: SHOOTERS AND THE BLACK AWAKENING Date: 11/8/09 Host: Russ Dizdar Topics: The safest and most powerful place to live is in obedience to the great commission, in the power of the Spirit of God, as a growing, powerful believer; Believers in the early church seemed unstoppable; Just because darkness is rearing its head, that doesn’t mean that God’s power and promises have faded even for a moment; The real, supernatural presence of God; Are you saved?–Do you have the living Christ dwelling in your heart?; Philippians 1:6 – “He who began a good work in you, will carry it on to completion to the day of Christ“; Spiritual warfare is ramping up, but it never goes beyond the armor of God; Rid yourself of all fear–trust Christ! Play audio in browser: Download audio Russ Dizdar Russ Dizdar from Preemption Broadcast discusses the unstoppable force of growing believers that are living in the supernatural power and presence of God. Show: Preemption Broadcast Full Podcast: SHOOTERS AND THE BLACK AWAKENING Date: 11/8/09 Host: [...] 2:56 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2009/11/09/russ-dizdar-overcoming-failure/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2009/11/09/russ-dizdar-overcoming-failure/#comments Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:30:57 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=2658 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2009/11/09/russ-dizdar-overcoming-failure/feed/ 0 Russ Dizdar from Preemption Broadcast discusses how to give failure up to God and let Him exchange the lie for truth in your life… Show: Preemption Broadcast Full Podcast: DEMOLISHING STRONGHOLDS Date: 10/25/09 Host: Russ Dizdar Topics: King David, Samson, Peter, and Israel all failed–but God redeems failures; The power of God to live a new life; Exchange the lie for truth; Surrender the woundedness up to God; Ask the Lord how He wants you to respond; The devil likes to keep failure a stronghold; Philippians 3:12-14 – “I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.” Play audio in browser: Download audio Russ Dizdar Russ Dizdar from Preemption Broadcast discusses how to give failure up to God and let Him exchange the lie for truth in your life… Show: Preemption Broadcast Full Podcast: DEMOLISHING STRONGHOLDS Date: 10/25/09 Host: Russ Dizdar Topics: King [...] 3:03 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2009/10/25/victory-in-the-blood-of-jesus/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2009/10/25/victory-in-the-blood-of-jesus/#comments Sun, 25 Oct 2009 20:27:51 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=2436 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2009/10/25/victory-in-the-blood-of-jesus/feed/ 0 Russ Dizdar and Steve Quayle discuss the power of the living Christ to destroy the works of the evil one… Show: Shatter the Darkness Full Podcast: Shatter the Darkness 09-04-09 – Hour 1 Date: 9/04/09 Hosts: Russ Dizdar; Steve Quayle Topics: The term “Illuminati”; Elitist group that truly is in touch with Lucifer–engaged in the worship, reception of powers, doctrine, etc.; Everything we know of in Christ can be counterfeited by the demonic side; 1 John 3:8 – “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil“; Victory is in the blood of Jesus; The demonic world knows who the living Christ is, and they fear Him; They react to the Name, the Word, and the Blood of Christ as if something has struck them; Satan and the demons know there is a coming judgment Play audio in browser: Download audio Russ Dizdar Russ Dizdar and Steve Quayle discuss the power of the living Christ to destroy the works of the evil one… Show: Shatter the Darkness Full Podcast: Shatter the Darkness 09-04-09 – Hour 1 Date: 9/04/09 Hosts: Russ Dizdar; Steve Quayle Topics: The [...] 3:04 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2009/10/07/p-i-d-radio-faith-in-times-of-distress/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2009/10/07/p-i-d-radio-faith-in-times-of-distress/#comments Thu, 08 Oct 2009 06:28:01 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=2287 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2009/10/07/p-i-d-radio-faith-in-times-of-distress/feed/ 0 Derek & Sharon Gilbert discuss what faith looks like in the midst of great opposition. What will we do when times get tough in this country and our lives are on the line? Will we share the love of Christ at any cost, or will we make self-preservation our god? Show: P.I.D. Radio Full Podcast: P.I.D. Radio 10/4/09: The Octopus Date: 10/04/09 Hosts: Derek Gilbert, Sharon Gilbert Topics: Demonstrating the love of Christ to those in need; You can’t threaten a true Christian with death–death is our reward; Rejoice in God’s Word coming true and in Christ’s sacrifice; Even the strongest of the Old Testament prophets were subject to fear and depression at times–depend on the Lord for strength and He will carry you through Play audio in browser: Download audio Derek & Sharon Gilbert Derek & Sharon Gilbert discuss what faith looks like in the midst of great opposition. What will we do when times get tough in this country and our lives are on the line? Will we share the love of Christ at any cost, or will we make [...] http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2009/10/01/russ-dizdar-is-allah-the-prince-of-persia/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2009/10/01/russ-dizdar-is-allah-the-prince-of-persia/#comments Fri, 02 Oct 2009 03:15:16 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=2263 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2009/10/01/russ-dizdar-is-allah-the-prince-of-persia/feed/ 1 Show: Preemption Broadcast Full Podcast: WHO IS ALLAH…The prince of Persia? Date: 9/27/09 Host: Russ Dizdar Topics: Is Allah the Prince of Persia from the Book of Daniel?; Territorial demonic god that covered the entire region–he didn’t go away; Demons don’t want to have personal fellowship with you–they just want submission; God is personal–He wants to know you; I John 4:4 – “he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world”; Hundreds of thousands of Muslims have come to Christ; 1 John 2:2 – Jesus died for our sins and for the sins of the whole world–for every tribe, language, people group, Gentile, Jew, Arab, all of humanity; 1 Tim. 2:3-4 – God desires that all men would come and be saved–that is the passionate will of God Play audio in browser: Download audio Russ Dizdar Show: Preemption Broadcast Full Podcast: WHO IS ALLAH…The prince of Persia? Date: 9/27/09 Host: Russ Dizdar Topics: Is Allah the Prince of Persia from the Book of Daniel?; Territorial demonic god that covered the entire region–he didn’t go [...] http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2009/09/08/russ-dizdar-ca-huft-fearless-in-the-lord/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2009/09/08/russ-dizdar-ca-huft-fearless-in-the-lord/#comments Wed, 09 Sep 2009 02:49:01 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=1781 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2009/09/08/russ-dizdar-ca-huft-fearless-in-the-lord/feed/ 1 Russ Dizdar and C.A. Huft discuss what it means to be strong in the Lord and not give the dark side a foothold through unchecked fear… Show: Preemption Broadcast Full Podcast: KNOW THINE ENEMY Date: 8/23/09 Host: Russ Dizdar Guest: C.A. Huft (author of Know Thine Enemy: A Guide to Intelligent Deception) Topics: Does fear weaken us or give the enemy room?; Fear is a sin–we are not to fear; All the demons need is a foothold–a legal right; Fear is emotionally and physically crippling; The dark side can attach to elevated negative energies; “Dinner bell for demons”; Read your Bible for what it says and believe it; Be grounded in the Word (and in prayer); As we draw near to God, He draws near to us Play audio in browser: Download audio C.A. Huft Russ Dizdar and C.A. Huft discuss what it means to be strong in the Lord and not give the dark side a foothold through unchecked fear… Show: Preemption Broadcast Full Podcast: KNOW THINE ENEMY Date: 8/23/09 Host: Russ Dizdar Guest: C.A. Huft [...] http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2009/09/08/russ-dizdar-ca-huft-the-authority-of-christ/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2009/09/08/russ-dizdar-ca-huft-the-authority-of-christ/#comments Wed, 09 Sep 2009 00:31:38 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=1767 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2009/09/08/russ-dizdar-ca-huft-the-authority-of-christ/feed/ 0 Russ Dizdar talks with C.A. Huft, author of the book Know Thine Enemy:  A Guide to Intelligent Deception, about how believers should be using their authority in Christ to fully engage in the spiritual battle that is raging all around us. Show: Preemption Broadcast Full Podcast: KNOW THINE ENEMY Date: 8/23/09 Host: Russ Dizdar Guest: C.A. Huft Topics: Demonic presence can inspire an uncanny hatred; Well over 100,000 covens in the U.S.; Most churches have no idea what is going on; Believers should be experts in spiritual warfare; We should be studying how Jesus cast out demons and the authority he gave the disciples to do the same; We should all be using this authority in Christ today Play audio in browser: Download audio C.A. Huft Russ Dizdar talks with C.A. Huft, author of the book Know Thine Enemy:  A Guide to Intelligent Deception, about how believers should be using their authority in Christ to fully engage in the spiritual battle that is raging all around us. Show: [...] http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2009/09/08/alternative-spirituality-real-but-wrong/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2009/09/08/alternative-spirituality-real-but-wrong/#comments Tue, 08 Sep 2009 19:53:42 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=1752 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2009/09/08/alternative-spirituality-real-but-wrong/feed/ 0 Russ Dizdar from Preemption Broadcast discusses the ability of Satan and the dark spirits to give false dreams and false visions. The experiences are real, but they are deceptive. They are meant to drag you further away from the truth that is found in Jesus Christ. Show: Preemption Broadcast Full Podcast: REINCARNATION – Is this a run around? Date: 8/16/09 Host: Russ Dizdar Topics: How can “past life” memories seem so real? Satan literally showed Jesus the kingdoms of the world; Satan and the dark spirits can give false dreams and false visions; Russ experienced this in golden Buddha meditation and occultism; The spiritual experiences were real, but they were wrong; The Spirit of God speaks out and brings you to the eternal Christ; What Christ did on the cross is a bigger spiritual event than anything and everything in human history combined; Let God speak to you Play audio in browser: Download audio Russ Dizdar Russ Dizdar from Preemption Broadcast discusses the ability of Satan and the dark spirits to give false dreams and false visions. The experiences are real, but they are deceptive. They are meant to drag you further away from the truth that is found [...] http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2009/08/20/pid-radio-preaching-the-blood-of-christ/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2009/08/20/pid-radio-preaching-the-blood-of-christ/#comments Thu, 20 Aug 2009 14:08:42 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=1505 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2009/08/20/pid-radio-preaching-the-blood-of-christ/feed/ 0 In this audio clip, Derek & Sharon Gilbert from P.I.D. Radio talk about the pure blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ and the purpose for His life, death, and resurrection. It’s hard to fathom that churches today shy away from preaching the blood of Christ, when it is so central to our very salvation. Show: P.I.D. Radio Full Podcast: P.I.D. Radio 8/11/09: Bloodless Faith Date: 8/11/09 Hosts: Derek Gilbert, Sharon Gilbert Topics: The purpose of Jesus’ sinless life and death on a cross; He presented Himself as a perfect sacrifice on our behalf; If Christ didn’t die and rise from the grave, our faith is meaningless; Sin requires a blood sacrifice to be made right before God; We don’t have to understand it for it to be reality Play audio in browser: Download audio Derek & Sharon Gilbert In this audio clip, Derek & Sharon Gilbert from P.I.D. Radio talk about the pure blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ and the purpose for His life, death, and resurrection. It’s hard to fathom that churches today shy away from preaching the blood [...] http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2009/08/18/the-business-driven-church/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2009/08/18/the-business-driven-church/#comments Wed, 19 Aug 2009 06:11:42 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=1476 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2009/08/18/the-business-driven-church/feed/ 0 In this clip, Derek and Sharon Gilbert from P.I.D. Radio talk about the growing trend in the evangelical church for pastors to be more preoccupied with running a business than shepherding a flock. They also discuss Tony Blair’s one-faith ecumenical movement (Faith Foundation), including Rick Warren’s involvement as a member of the Advisory Council… Show: P.I.D. Radio Full Podcast: P.I.D. Radio 8/11/09: Bloodless Faith Date: 8/11/09 Hosts: Derek Gilbert, Sharon Gilbert Topics: Tony Blair’s Faith Foundation; Church soup; Rick Warren on the Advisory Council of Blair’s one-faith ecumenical movement; U.N. Millennium Development Goals; Willow Creek leadership conference; leadership in Christ vs. management techniques; Guest speaker Tony Blair–well known for his past New Age practices; Bono from U2; David Gergen Play audio in browser: Download audio Derek & Sharon Gilbert In this clip, Derek and Sharon Gilbert from P.I.D. Radio talk about the growing trend in the evangelical church for pastors to be more preoccupied with running a business than shepherding a flock. They also discuss Tony Blair’s one-faith [...] http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2009/08/12/the-untold-stories-of-hiroshima-and-nagasaki/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2009/08/12/the-untold-stories-of-hiroshima-and-nagasaki/#comments Wed, 12 Aug 2009 22:38:40 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=1323 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2009/08/12/the-untold-stories-of-hiroshima-and-nagasaki/feed/ 0 About a year ago I watched the HBO documentary White Light, Black Rain: The Destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Looking back on it now, I think that was about the time I started to get my soul back… I learned more from that one documentary than from all the years being taught about it in school combined. What made the difference? For the first time, I actually put myself in their shoes. I thought about my own family going through what they went through… my kids being forced to watch their parents die a tragic, horrifying death right before their eyes. I could see tears of pain streaming down their faces as they reached out for us in terror and helplessness. I thought of how tragic it would be for their innocent little bodies to be so badly burned–to stumble through the streets with no food or water, and no one to care if they lived or died. I saw the light in their eyes grow dim from the heartache of it all. And then it hit me… their children were no less innocent than my own. I was distraught that not only had my own country caused this death and destruction, but that up until that point in my life I had simply believed it was a “good thing” because it “ended the war”. At least, that’s what I’d always been taught to think. I bought into the notion that it was a “necessary evil” for the “greater good” (meaning it’s somehow ok to commit evil for the sake of good, or that the ends justify the means). But are we really so sure we have God’s favor in deciding to take another man’s life, regardless of what he has or hasn’t done? I’m having a hard time finding that one in the new covenant of Christ… “‘You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you…‘“ - Matthew 5:43-44 (ESV) “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.’ To the contrary, ‘if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.’ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.“ - Romans 12:14-21 (ESV) Lately I’ve been coming to understand that the proper way to understand Scripture is to just take it at face-value. It seems that when God writes a Book, He says what He means and means what He says. Just because we have a hard time coming to grips with it in our human understanding, that doesn’t mean we should cast it aside altogether. So how does one make the leap from “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord” to “Take matters into your own hands and kill them before they kill you“? I believe this happens when we put our faith in the wisdom of man instead of the wisdom of God. It’s an easy thing to do, because if we’re not fully engaged in the spiritual battle that is being waged over the souls of men, we lose sight of the fact that God has called us to something much greater than self-preservation. He has called us to live or die for His sake, making disciples of all nations and building His Heavenly Kingdom of which there is no end. What higher calling is there than that? “For I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance, as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ, [...] About a year ago I watched the HBO documentary White Light, Black Rain: The Destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Looking back on it now, I think that was about the time I started to get my soul back… I learned more from that one documentary [...] http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2009/06/02/pid-radio-christ-first-or-country-first/ http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2009/06/02/pid-radio-christ-first-or-country-first/#comments Wed, 03 Jun 2009 05:48:58 +0000 Jacob http://wakingjonah.com/?p=547 http://wakingjonah.com/wordpress/2009/06/02/pid-radio-christ-first-or-country-first/feed/ 0 How can you tell the difference between the wisdom of God and the wisdom of man? It’s really not as complicated as modern American evangelicals have made it out to be. First, you unplug the T.V., turn off the radio, and shut down the computer. Then you still your heart, search the Scriptures, and ask God alone to speak. You have to completely set aside any thoughts or opinions that are parroted over and over again from the government, mainstream media, friends and family, your favorite political commentators, and especially… your own mind. Listen for the Holy Spirit alone to convict you according to the Word of Truth. That is the only place you will find answers that you can truly rely upon. In regard to the torture debate, I have to ask myself one question: If the Bible and the Spirit of God were literally my only inputs (no mainstream media, government officials, political analysts, T.V. shows, newspapers, movies, Jack Bauer, or anything else), where would my convictions rest? If I put Christ above country, do I end up with torture, or something radically different? Derek and Sharon Gilbert from P.I.D Radio break down their thoughts on this topic in the 3 min., 2 sec. audio clip that follows. I must say, I completely agree with their commentary. Show: P.I.D. Radio Date: 5/22/09 Hosts: Derek Gilbert, Sharon Gilbert Topics: Torture; Discerning between what God tells us to do through His Word and what is “right for the nation”; All kingdoms of the earth under the domain of Satan (no exception for the U.S.); Is the United States truly a “Christian” nation? Related article: When Christian Love Grows Cold, Evil Flourishes Full podcast: P.I.D. Radio 5/22/09: Dodgeball Play audio in browser: Download audio Derek & Sharon Gilbert How can you tell the difference between the wisdom of God and the wisdom of man? It’s really not as complicated as modern American evangelicals have made it out to be. First, you unplug the T.V., turn off the radio, and shut down the computer. [...]