An Update On Life

Some people have been wondering where the Black Creole Reformer has been hiding as of lately, and some have been saddened by my lack of blogs since December. Truth is that I have just been taking a break from blogging and from other things and just living life and preparing to make some big decisions and moves. Right now I am preparing for graduation from seminary and ordination while deciding which country I will do a second Masters degree in......and yes I repeat that I would like to do a second Masters. I am looking to embark upon more studies in either Switzerland, Germany, Holland, or England and this second Masters will prepare me for possible Ph.D work in Europe or elsewhere. Apart from making major decisions ,I have been chilling in Europe for the past three weeks working with New Chance International Ministry`s yearly Crazy For Jesus Youth Camp in Flehingen and Gochsheim Germany. I really wish that American Christian youth were more like the Christian youth in Germany and Switzerland, because these youth actually want to learn and think critically. It was amazing to teach church history to Christian youth and have them ask qeustions and see them engage with the material, and it was amazing to see them get excited about the ancient church. Besides teaching youth, my time in Europe has been one of rest and relaxation, and the other day I went for a little mountain climbing with my precious Lal. And speaking of Lal, I have decided to pop the question when she visits me in July and it is so wonderful because we finished our last pre-engagement and marital counseling session last Thursday. While being here I made sure that all possible final doubts in my mind were erased and that I had a little more confirmation from those who know us both. Lord knows there were smiles on my faces when various folks I did not even know were saying that the approved of me and had good feelings about us.

Anyways there is a little update for everyone, and I hope to try and get back to blogging soon.

The Wonder Of The Infant Jesus: He WAS God!

As I look upon the picture to the left, I am reminded of who the infant Jesus really was and how most Christians (be they Romans Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Protestant, or "Non-Denominational") think of Him at the nativity. It seems that many of us have a "Talladega Nights" view of the infant Jesus, and we look upon Him as we look upon our own infants. Yet even as an infant He was light years away from our precious little ones, and of far greater value and more precious than the entire universe and everything within it. Christ was not born of radically depraved seed, but was born of the Spirit of God itself and being born of the Spirit He was born of perfect love and eternal glory and righteousness. Yet even more than being born of the Spirit of God was the fact that He WAS God (according to the orthodox Christian view of Jesus), and He WAS born fully God and did not "become" God (contrary to the opinions of those such as Creflo Dollar).

We must come to grips with the fact that even as a weak and feeble infant, He lived out His infancy without sin, and in doing so He redeemed infancy itself. As an infant He was still the Judge of the living and the dead, and was still the Sovereign Ruler of the universe. It was He who made the heavens and all its hosts, and established the earth on the waters. It was He who brought forth the winds out of His treasure box, He breathed unto the trees and they blossomed. It was He who caused the rain to fall upon the face of the earth, and it sprouted and gave its fruit. It was He who made humanity in His image, and His likeness that we may praise Him. Though He came to us as an infant, even as an infant He was worthy of all praises, for He WAS God and even though He could not utter a word of or give a gesture of mercy upon us, we were still in need of His mercy.

Asking To Enter Jesus' Heart

In April I will have the privilege to once again travel to Europe to assist in the Lord's work. On this particular excursion I shall be in southern Germany at Demetri's Betts' annual CRAZY FOR JESUS youth camp where I will lead a workshop on the issue of suffering, and preach on Easter Sunday as the main speaker (my precious Lal will translate for me). When I first asked about my upcoming Paschal duties, Lal told me that I was expected to give an altar call at the end of my message and upon hearing her words..........I flipped my wig LOL! She was shocked to learn that I do not do altar calls; in fact I think the altar call is unEvangelical.

The thing that makes me cringe about the altar call is that it propagates the obtuse concept of one "asking Jesus into their heart". To be honest I consider this concept to be almost perverse, because it makes regeneration in Christ look like a human work, and furthermore confuses people into believing that the physical act of "coming forward" is the spiritual act of coming to Christ. In the end altar calls inevitably lead one to base their assurance of salvation upon a one time event, and rather than walking in eternal security in Christ, it leaves them walking in the "once saved, always saved" lunacy of Free Grace Theology ("once saved, always saved" is NOT eternal security). One interesting thing to note is that the altar call did not come about until 150 years ago, and it cannot be found in Scripture or in the writings of the Holy Fathers and any other Christian writings before it was invented; therefore I hold the altar call to be unBiblical and unApostolic. Taking all these things into account one is left to wonder what this crazy Creole puts in place of the invitation for one to "ask Jesus into their heart". Well I propose that preaching the Gospel and the work of evangelism it is not an invitation for one to ask Jesus into their heart, but it is Christ' call and command for one to enter His heart.

Evangelism is a matter of giving those outside of Christ a glimpse into His sacred heart, and looking into it they see His love. But many do not know that what they see is His love, for what they first behold is His sorrowful Passion which darkened the sun. Many cannot perceive how Christ being scoffed, beat, and nailed to a cross is God's love, and out of their own misconceptions of Divine Love they deem the Passion as divine child abuse, senseless violence, and even sadomasochism. To those who misconceive Divine Love, the Passion is foolishness, and this is to be expected because their hearts of stone have not been made flesh by the work of the Holy Spirit. Yet to those whose hearts have been made flesh through the Spirit, Christ' Passion and the Cross that is its culmination are more beautiful than the most radiant of wonders in our universe. And those whose hearts have been made flesh are not those who have or will receive the invitation of an evangelist or pastor, but those whom Christ invited into His heart long before the foundations of the world. Those who have hearts of flesh do not ask Him into their hearts, but are compelled by the beauty of Divine Love conveyed through His Passion to ask if they might enter into His heart.

Apart from Christ' invitation through the work of the Holy Spirit, all that a regenerate believer can offer to the unregenerate is a glimpse into His sacred heart. And how do we do this? We live out the reality of Christ and His grace......we live as people who have accepted His invitation, entered into His heart, and have truly experienced and comprehend His marvelous love. And how do we live the reality of Christ? We live this reality through imitating Him, and as we imitate Him He unites us to Himself and conforms us to His image that He might draw others to Himself through us. But the greatest beauty of entering Christ' heart is that unlike the altar call which is a one time event, it is a daily event. Daily we are to enter into Christ heart and beholding His Passion and Holy Cross we are to suffer for His name's sake and die to our sinful selves, and after being entombed in His humility, He raises us up with Him to radiate the light of His resurrection which enlightened all of creation. The altar call, and its dangers of works righteousness and false assurance is void of all the marvelous things that are found within the sacred heart of Jesus. We fail to realize that the heart of Jesus is the best place to be, for it is the heart of God and in it is the most sufficient work, the greatest righteousness, and the truest assurance. In our daily entering the heart of Christ we are as David who was after God's own heart, and when Jesus does enter into our sinful hearts He cleanses them and beckons us to further enter into His heart.

I'm Back

Hello everyone, I have returned from the wonderful village of Seon in Argovia, Switzerland. The purpose for this trip was to assist my friend Jurg (who is a pastor in the Reformed state church) with his church's annual Gospel concert. During the trip we saw the Spirit of Lord move mightily in the lives of people of people, and we got to share the faith in most marvelous ways. I also got to see my precious Lal, and she assisted us as we ministered. Oh and to my dear friend Liz, she will be visiting the good old U.S. of A. in July (LOL!).

Pastor Jurg asked me to pray during the concerts......Lal translated for me

Lal's good friend Rebbecca and I between the last two concerts.

Lal Rebbecca and I.

Lal and I after seeing Rebbecca off.

Your's truly singing "Go Down Moses" with the choir.

Your's truly and the choir singing "Amazing Grace".

"Amazing Grace" continued.

We took it all the way back to Africa with the song "Amazaliwa".

Pastor Jurg preaching the Gospel with FIRE!

The choir singing the "Unser Vater (The Lord's Prayer)".

How Could Anyone Not Want This?

Being a tent making pastor during my days of seminary, I have found myself earning a living among mostly unregenerate people. As for the so called Christians, they tend to be a bit lax and nominal in their representation of Christ (I say this taking into account that my own representation is not perfect). Out of all of the affects of the fallen nature, the affect that leaves me the most perplexed is the one on relationships.....especially marriage.

As I have been preparing to pop the question to my precious Lal (Hindi for "Beloved"), I have found that certain coworkers of mine will slip in their radically depraved opinions like, "Screw marriage.......I say find them, use them, and leave them before they fall in love with you". It amazes me at how these guys can live with the desire for endless, empty flings; even when they are married they promote such fowl things. They live for the flings like there is no tomorrow, and when you tell them of something greater they chastise you for it. Looking upon the picture above, I can't help but wonder how anyone could not want what I have with my precious Lal? How could you not want a person who is willing to be vulnerable with you as you are vulnerable with them? How could you not want true intimacy (which means "Into Me See")? Seriously, Abba Maximos the Confessor was right when he said that people think they have what is good, when in reality they do not.

The Right Way To Do Theology Part I: The Arithmetic Method

As I have been delving into and enjoying the light of Patristics, I have gotten some interesting reflections into the process of doing theology. Sadly, much of what is modern Christendom goes about the process of understanding God as if they are doing basic arithmetic.......Something (Usually a human work) + God= A certain conclusion about God. Though this method of doing theology can produce some accurate conclusions about God, it is not the right way of doing theology. This "arithmetic method" does not even get one into the actual process of understanding God, but it uses God as a means to an intended end and furthermore it fits well with the scientific method used by those such as Richard Dawkins. The arithmetic method goes like this:

(1.) Observing a "Phenomenon" - Things such as poverty, abortion, Darwinism, war, gay marriage, drinking. These phenomenon naturally present a challenge to the Christian, and make their life uncomfortable.
(2.) Formulating a Question - How can the Christian stop the phenomenon that makes their life uncomfortable?
(3.) Creating a hypothesis (possible answer) - The Bible is seen as holding the answer to the phenomenon, but when its passages are applied it is in an eisegetical nature where one reads their own meanings into the text. But before looking to the Bible they have already concocted their own answer to the problem, and so the Bible serves as a means of divine justification for their answer. In the end they are not only eisegetical, but they resort to proof-texting......if they can find the right verses to support their hypothesis then they ultimately have God's support.
(4.) Testing the Hypothesis - With "God on their side" there is no need to actually carry out an experiment and critically think about their hypothesis, instead they deem it as the will of God. If there is any testing, it only takes place within a Christian context (usually of the person's specific theological tradition, or the movement of a certain Christian "leader") which will always result in the hypothesis being proved. In the end their experiment consists of no honest interaction between their hypothesis and true society.
(5.) Formulating the Conclusion - Since their hypothesis has been proven true and has divine justification, then it is an absolute law and objective truth.......it is God's will and God sees things as they see them. Thus if their conclusion is fundamentalist or liberal then God is a fundamentalist or liberal.

Truth is that the arithmetic method results in a God that does what we want him to do......he is predictable, we have him figured out, and thus we can wield his power. In the end the arithmetic method of doing theology is pagan, because it makes absolute magic formulas that we can apply to get our intended results; in arithmetic 2 + 2 cannot equal anything other than 4, and so we assume that SPECIFIC HUMAN ACTIONS + WHAT WE HAVE DETERMINED GOD TO BE cannot equal anything other than our intended results. It is sad to see people going about this sorry method of doing theology, because it only leads to disappointment. There are many times where people hate God because their absolute magic formula did not work, in other words they discovered that God IS NOT subject to being manipulated by their low grade witch craft. A lot of people will say that God said He would do this or that for them if they did this, and when you take them to the Word they find that He did not say it.....so not only does the arithmetic method begin with our own intentions, it also begins with a lack of truth when it comes to God's Word.

Yet this lack of truth in the arithmetic method shows us a lack of knowledge when it comes to the Word of God, and when God's people lacked knowledge in the Old Testament they perished for it (Hosea 4). The greatest danger about this method of doing theology is that it is deadly, for it begins with humanity and not God, and if it begins with humanity it is not theology at all........it is simply glorified anthropology that seeks to manipulate the divine.

I'm Not Purpose-Driven.....I'm PREDESTINED

This morning I had an excellent time with the Lord as I plumbed the depths of His Holy Word, and prayed the Lorica of St. Patrick. My precious Lal and I have been going through the book of Romans in our private and corporate devotions, and this morning I was blessed by my favorite chapter (chapter 8). I am so thankful for Romans 8 because it shows that I don't have to get on the saddle with Rick Warren to have a "purpose driven life"; all I need to do is look to the Holy Scriptures. Blessed St. Jerome of Alexandria once said that when we read the Holy Scriptures it is God speaking to us, and this morning the Lord has told me that I am NOT "purpose driven".......I am PREDESTINED. Now at this some may say that I believe in a doctrine (election) that as Wesley once put it, "makes the blood run cold", and people say this because it is always put it into a framework of going to heaven or hell. But the truth is that predestination is about more than where we go when we die, Romans 8:29 starts off by saying:

"For those whom He foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son....."

The truth is that those in Christ have been predestined for more than heaven (in fact Romans 8 makes no mention of heaven at all), we have been predestined to look like Jesus. And what is He besides the Son of God? In the Greek text of Colossians 1:15 Christ is called the "eikon tou theou" meaning "image of [the invisible] God"; Christ is the IMAGE OF GOD. When we look at the beginning of Genesis 1:26 we find God saying, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness...."; in Genesis 1 we find that Christ is not simply the image of God, but He is what God created us to be. Furthermore if Christ is what we were created to be then our understanding of what it means to be human is way off, for in fully being the image of God, Christ is the most perfect example of what it means to be human. I must confess that such thoughts have crossed my mind before, but the magnitude of them has not hit me like they have this morning. I have realized that the reason God abhors sin is not only because it is rebellion against Him; He detests sin because it is inherently inhuman. Yet it is a tragedy when we look upon our sins or the sins of others and give the classic cop-out, "Well I am/we are only human."

I pray that we no longer persists in this foolishness of making excuses for shirking the pursuit of our God ordained destiny, and I pray that we abandon this "Wesleyan cowardice" (no offense to Wesley or Wesleyan folk.....I happen to love John Wesley) of letting our blood run cold as we strive to be "purpose-driven". I pray that we would have the intestinal fortitude to let our blood boil from a Christological destiny that burns with fervent heat and courage. Let us boldly accept the reality that we are PREDESTINED, and not for some marshmallow celestial abode that never ends, but being conformed to Christ and following Him and continuing our conformation through endless ages. And if we cannot have the courage to accept such a destiny and strive for it in this life, then heaven will be hell for us, because all there will be is eternal conformation to Christ.