Our moment in history

Our moment in history
Posted: May 11, 20061:00 a.m. EasternEditor's note: The following commentary is adapted from Hans Zeiger's forthcoming new book, "Reagan's Children: Taking Back the City on the Hill" (Broadman and Holman, June 2006). Used by permission.
© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com
A generation is part of a story. The story is life, and the author is God. In all of time, our own time is the very best time that we could be alive. This is not because the era itself is superior to all others, but because the Author of history has chosen us to be alive together in this unique place and moment.
The generation that Jesus ministered to was specifically chosen by God "for the administration of the days of fulfillment – to bring everything together in the Messiah, both things in heaven and things on earth in Him" (Ephesians 1:10). That generation produced Mary and Joseph, John the Baptist, the 12 disciples, Pilate, and the specific Sanhedrin rulers. Moses led his generation with God's promise that they would be His "memorial to all generations" (Exodus 3:15, KJV).
Paul was fit for ministry to the early church, not to the church of the Middle Ages, and not to today's church. Would the genius of Augustine have been anything if not set in his dying Roman generation? Could we possibly replicate the generations that waged the Crusades, drew up the Renaissance, staged the Reformation, and fought the American Civil War and the two world wars? Who can doubt that the Founding Fathers were appointed by the divine providence on whose protection they so firmly relied to plot and prepare a nation? When else have men the likes of Hamilton, Adams, Jefferson, Franklin, Henry and Washington come together in such a pursuit? More recently, commentators have suggested that only a supernatural plan could have brought forth such leaders as Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher, Pope John Paul II, Lech Walesa and Mikhail Gorbachev to induce the fall of Soviet Communism.
Some people, events and changes that mold our world cannot be explained by mathematical patterns or chemical reactions. These mysteries of nature and geniuses and madmen and conflicts and dramas are far from mechanical and instead project a design.
Esther changed history because she was in the right place at the right time. Mordecai asked her, "Who knows, perhaps you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this" (Esther 4:14).
We are in our generation for such a time as this. We are not puppets in the story – we are sinners and saints, warriors and teachers, builders and farmers, fathers and mothers, sisters and brothers. Our relationships, our passions, and our identity – all of them are planned out by God, and in that we find our freedom. Because God is in control, it is possible to make choices that impact our moment in time. Without the design of destiny, we would be helpless and choiceless atoms borne about in the meaningless winds of an empty universe. Resist as we may the plans of God, and argue as we may the theological nature of His providence, there are certain things that stand well enough beyond our control. Our generation is one such thing.
We are born and we join the course of universal history. We are a tiny part of the universe and of history, but we are important enough to be thought of by God. Rationalists have thought the notion insulting that a being higher than man should plan and direct certain affairs of creation. The psalmist knew it to be an awesome thing. "What is man that You remember him, the son of man that You look after him? You made him little less than God and crowned him with glory and honor. You made him lord over the works of Your hands; You put everything under his feet" (Psalms 8:4–6).
The story of life is divinely inspired. And our generation, the group of people who are in this story with us, has been called into existence on this planet at this moment in history for a purpose. Only God knows the purpose entirely, but we can know enough about our generation to form one inescapable conclusion: History is going somewhere.
"Who has performed and done this, calling the generations from the beginning?" asks Isaiah 41:4. The answer is final: "I, the Lord, am the first, and with the last – I am He." The Alpha and Omega, the Creator and King of time and eternity – He has established this generation, its ancestors, and its descendents. "His kingdom is an eternal kingdom, and His dominion is from generation to generation" (Daniel 4:3).
Hans Zeiger is an Eagle Scout, president and founder of the Scout Honor Coalition and a student at Hillsdale College in Michigan. His new book, "Get Off My Honor: The Assault on the Boy Scouts of America," can be purchased from ShopNetDaily.

Toviah & Michelle Rose's daughter, Sephina, was born at 2:45 AM, today, after 60 hours-awake and in labor.

Toviah & Michelle Rose's daughter, Sephina, was born at 2:45 AM, today, after 60 hours-awake and in labor. She was delivered in the old fashioned, natural way. Weighing in at 9.9 lbs, this heavywight woke up from her first official 4 hour nap to nurse and proceded to chug for 10 minutes. Then fell asleep again for five hours.

Mom is elated and amazingingly "with it" after 1-1/2 hours sleep, and an uncountable amount of minutes of sleep between interruptions by hospital staff. Dad rested comfortably in his own bed (no WAY a human could sleep on the one provided by the hospital), for 4.75 hours -- until one of their new church interns (who was there all night with mom and dad), called him on the cell phone to ask a silly question, promting dad to ask in response, "What in the world are YOU doing AWAKE!?!?"

Would love your prayers! :)

--T0V

Some Jews see trespass in Christian Seders

The following article was posted on MSNBC and posted to my MSN Blog, but I thought a posting here might be good. It is called, "Some Jews see trespass in Christian Seders Jesus spin on Passover holiday 'sets off great anxieties' ."

I felt the need to make a couple comments:
1.Wasn't the "last supper" that Jesus celebrated a Passover Dinner? Answer: Yes.
2. Didn't he take each of the Passover items and attribute his act of redemption to each of those items? Answer: Yes
3. Didn't the early Christians up until the Council of Nicea celebrate Passover as a dual meaning holiday--the redemption of the Jewish people from Egypt AND their redemption accomplished through Jesus? Answer: Yes.

So, my point is this: The following is making a big deal about nothing. It is just Christians reclaiming a heritage they share with the Jewish people.

Here's the article:

Some Jews see trespass in Christian Seders
Jesus spin on Passover holiday 'sets off great anxieties'

The Seder meal was served before the Seder service started, instead of two-thirds of the way through.

There was dancing.

And Jesus was everywhere.

The stripes and the holes in the matzoh represented his whipped and pierced body. The wine (actually grape juice) represented his blood. The matzoh was wrapped in white cloth, symbolizing the way Jesus's body was wrapped for burial.

You don't traditionally find Jesus at a modern Seder celebrating Passover, which began last night. But this was no ordinary Seder. The 250 people at Immanuel's Church in Silver Spring on Tuesday night were holding a Christian Seder, a phenomenon that's gaining popularity across the country -- to the consternation of many in the Jewish community as well as some interfaith leaders.

Although for decades some churches have held Seders to better understand the Jewish faith, many churches, especially evangelical ones, are now giving them a markedly Christian spin.
"The Seder helps us appreciate our roots and even out the rough spots that developed through past Christian attitudes toward Jews that were not godly," said Charles Schmitt, senior pastor of Immanuel's, an evangelical church he started in his living room 24 years ago that now has 4,000 members.

Connecting to Christianity's heritageThe thinking is: Since three of the four Gospels say the Last Supper was a Passover Seder, what could be more natural than for Christians to learn more about the ritual meal Jesus shared with his apostles before he died?

"Holding a Seder is a way to connect with the heritage of our religion and to see how the practices of the ancient world are still relevant to us as Christians today," said Thom Campbell, who led a Seder for about 20 at Fairfax Presbyterian Church in Fairfax City last Saturday. It's also, he pointed out, a good family event.
But Christian Seders "set off great anxieties" in the Jewish community, says Christopher Leighton, executive director of the Institute for Christian and Jewish Studies in Baltimore. "There's this fear that well-meaning Christians will end up confiscating Jewish liturgical property."

Even more, there's the fear that evangelicals are using the Christian Seder to proselytize among Jews. Objectors point to the involvement of Messianic Jews, those who believe in Jesus Christ, and Jews for Jesus, a missionary group that seeks to bring Jews into Christianity, in the growing popularity of the ritual among evangelicals.

Harris and her husband, Michael, who led most of Immanuel's Seder, are Messianic Jews. And they readily acknowledge that the Seders are "a major evangelistic tool," Meri said. "Lots of people bring their nonbelieving Jewish friends, to give them the idea that Christianity is really connected to the Jewish people."The Jewish Seder celebrates the Israelites' exodus from Egypt. It follows a strict order -- the word "seder," in fact, means "order" -- and its symbols -- the special foods of the Seder plate and the four cups of wine drunk in the course of the meal -- bear deep meaning for Jews. The roasted shank bone, for instance, recalls the sacrificial lamb offered to God at Passover; the matzoh recalls the unleavened bread the Israelites ate in their flight.
"People should understand that it's a commandment given to the Jewish people to observe the Passover and tell the story of the Exodus," says Rabbi Stuart Weinblatt of Congregation B'nai Tzedek in Potomac. "And that it is a Jewish ritual and not something they should try to make their own."

'Downright offensive'Leighton, a Presbyterian minister, said the gradual transfiguration of the Seder in its passage from the Jewish dining room to the evangelical church hall can be "downright offensive."

"It's an underlying assumption that Jews have a rich tradition, but they don't really understand the buried treasure within," he said. "So it's up to Christians to extract the gold. It's energized by a feeling of contempt that Judaism has no spiritual integrity of its own."

Schmitt sees it differently. "It's unfortunate that some Jews view this as a threat and an infringement," he said. "I wish it were not that way, because I deplore all the horrible things that were said and done against Jews in the past."

This, in fact, is the original rationale for the church-held Seder, which Roman Catholics, Presbyterians, Methodists and others have been doing as far back as the 1960s. A quest for interfaith dialogue led Christian churches to invite rabbis to perform demonstrations of Seders, as well as Jewish families to invite Christians to their Passover celebrations.

"It seems some people did them for a number of years with the Jewish community and then decided, 'Well, we can just do them ourselves,' " said David Sandmel, a rabbi and a professor at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago.

Instructions for holding a Christian Seder are available online and in bookstores. "Let Us Break Bread Together: A Passover Haggadah for Christians," by Mike Smith, a Baptist pastor, and Rami Shapiro, a self-described "postdenominational" rabbi from Tennessee, was put out last year. (A Haggada is the text read during a Seder ceremony.) The book declares that it "does not pretend to be in any way Jewish."

Christian spinSome Catholic and mainline Protestant churches add a modicum of Christian spin at the end of the Seder "to make it relevant to the people who attend," said Fairfax Presbyterian's Campbell. But full-blown Christian Seders such as the one at Immanuel's Church play off the belief that the Jewish Seder is "full of symbolism pointing toward the Messiah," Schmitt said.

"Many things concerning Jesus were foreshadowed and prefigured in the Old Testament," he said. "Redemption in the Passover came through the blood of the lamb [sacrificed in the Temple]. Our redemption today comes through Jesus, who is our Passover lamb."
Shapiro believes the Christian Seder enriches both the Jewish and Christian faiths. "If the Jewish way is the only legitimate way of understanding a symbol, then it's a dead symbol," he said. "If it's living, then it's constantly being explored from a different angle.

"The history of religion is one of borrowing. . . . That's how we cross-pollinate, and I think that Christians have a legitimate claim to Passover, being that Jesus was Jewish."

At Immanuel's Seder, attendee Greg McDonald explained what the ceremony meant to him: "We cherish the history of the Jewish people that led to our salvation through Jesus Christ. This Seder is not a taking over of their ritual -- it's an appreciation of it."

Still, B'nai Tzedek's Weinblatt, for one, would probably be more comfortable with a little less Christian enthusiasm for all things Seder. "Ideally, I'd like for Christians to wish me a happy Passover and learn something about the holiday and its message," he says. "But it's not necessary for them to go all out and celebrate it."

Thoughts About Brian McLaren

I'm not very good about keeping up with my Blogs. I do the best I can, but the truth is there's so much going on in my life it just isn't easy to find the time to sit and write something -- even if you do type at 65+ words per minute.

That being said, I think it is time for me to speak about an issue that keeps coming up in my conversations with people when I tell them that the church we are starting is an Emergent Church. Maybe you don't know what Emergent is? I'm not going to take the time to talk about it now, but you can read a lot about Emergent by googling. You can also go here: http://www.ginkworld.net/ for some great information, articles and links related to Emergent and Emergent Culture.

Now, to the point: I don't know Brian McLaren. I have not read his books and most of what I have heard about Brian has been from his detractors and people how have been concerned about what he teaches.

Last year I was invited to participate on a nation-wide radio program to talk about the Emergent Church Movement, along with a pastor who has written a book "warning" people about the "new age" movement called "Emergent".

Most the per-screening conversation that I had with the show's host was asking me -- in one way or another -- whether or not I believed and taught the same things as Rev. Brian McLaren.

I chose not to be on the program.

The reason I chose against doing it is because the program's host made it pretty clear their position that they already believed Emergent was a "new age movement."

For the Record: I have no idea what Brian McLaren teaches. No idea what he writes about. No idea what he believes.

Now that I've said all of this, I need to say the following: I am always willing to give the benefit of the doubt to anyone. I am not one who is willing to be found guilty of judging another man's servant (Romans 14:4), and from all I can tell from browsing Mr. McLaren's website, he professes to be a follower of the same Messiah I follow.

I tell everyone who hears me, "Don't listen to this man speaking to you!"
When was the last time you heard a pastor say that?

The Bible is pretty clear about our personal responsibility when it comes to our Salvation. We are not supposed to whole-heartedly swallow what any teacher, (preacher, pastor, evangelist, etc.), says, without testing it with the Word of God and Prayer. That is why I tell everyone who listens to me teach, "Don't listen to this man speaking to you!"

The Apostle Paul made a firm statement of this fact in Phillipians, chapter 2: 12-16

"12Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. 14Do everything without complaining or arguing, 15so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe 16as you hold out the word of life—in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing"

For these Scriptural reasons I've chosen to be an encourager and NOT a critic. To be a peacemaker (Matthew 5:9), and to encourage people to Test for themselves the validity of what they hear (or read).

You know what I do when Critics start chasing my words?

Nothing at all.

I ignor them. I don't respond. I don't engage. It just isn't worth the trouble and the stress!

I am going to do what God has called me to do. I'm going to do everything He places before me with as much excellence and professionalism, grace and mercy, peace, love and compassion, as I can muster.

Maybe someday I'll have time to read one of Brian McLaren's books. Right now, God has given me so much to do I just don't have the time. I've got a Bible believing church to build, and the Emergent Church Model is the vehicle I'm using to reach people who would otherwise NEVER be reached for Jesus.

--T0V

September 11th, 2005

The Church @TheHOUSE is hosting a Bible Study: A Survey of the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible, with Chosen People Ministries, Int'l. The study will look at the structure of the Bible and how that structure itself tells the story of Redemption.

6:00 PM on the lower level of Christ Church (downstairs/basement)
12925 johnny cake ridge road, apple valley

A hard life

It really is hard trying to raise millions of $$ for a company when you have no ieda where to start raising that kind of cash.

Where do you start?

Church for Men – For Men

For Men


Note: this is an excerpt from an article that appeared in the May/June 2005 edition of New Man magazine.
Five years ago, my faith in Christ was hanging by a thread. I loved God, but I hated going to church. Sunday morning would find my body in the pews, but my heart was elsewhere. I was so desperate I began exploring alternative religions, including Islam. Did I mention I was an elder in my church?

I was not alone. Truth is, a lot faithful, churchgoing men are not all that excited come Sunday morning. Quite a few attend out of habit, surviving on the memories of victories won years ago. Others attend services simply to keep their wives happy. Most guys do nothing midweek to grow in faith. Few churches are able to sustain a viable men’s ministry.

Why are men so bored in our churches? Of course, there are the hypocrites. But even men who are born-again, Spirit-filled, longtime Christians are clamming up and dropping out. What's going on?

A business guru once said, “Your system is perfectly designed to give you the results you’re getting.” Christianity’s primary delivery system, the local church, is perfectly designed to reach women and older folks. That’s why our pews are filled with them. But this church system offers little to stir the masculine heart, so men find it dull and irrelevant. The more masculine the man, the more likely he is to dislike church.

What do I mean? Men and young adults are drawn to risk, challenge and adventure. But these things are discouraged in the local church. Instead, most congregations offer a safe, nurturing community-an oasis of stability and predictability. Studies show that women and seniors gravitate toward these things. Although our official mission is one of adventure, the actual mission of most congregations is making people feel comfortable and safe-especially longtime members.

How did Christianity, founded by a man and his 12 male disciples, become the province of women? There is a pattern of feminization in Christianity going back at least 700 years, according to Dr. Leon Podles, author of The Church Impotent: the Feminization of Christianity. But the ball really got rolling in the 1800s. With the dawning of the industrial revolution, large numbers of men sought work in mines, mills and factories, far from home and familiar parish. Women stayed behind, and began remaking the church in their image. The Victorian era saw the rise of church nurseries, Sunday schools, lay choirs, quilting circles, ladies’ teas, soup kitchens, girls’ societies, potluck dinners, etc.

Soon, the very definition of a good Christian had changed: boldness and aggression were out; passivity and receptivity were in. Christians were to be gentle, sensitive and nurturing, focused on home and family rather than accomplishment and career. Believers were not supposed to like sex, tobacco, dancing or other worldly pleasures. The godly were always calm, polite and sociable.This feminine spirituality still dominates our churches. Those of us who grew up in church hardly notice it; we can’t imagine things any other way. But a male visitor detects the feminine spirit the moment he walks in the sanctuary door. He may feel like Tom Sawyer in Aunt Polly’s parlor; he must watch his language, mind his manners and be extra polite. It’s hard for a man to be real in church because he must squeeze himself into this feminine religious mold.

Men, if you’ve felt out of place in church, it’s not your fault. If you’ve tried and failed to get a men’s ministry going in your church, it’s not your fault. If you can’t get your buddies interested in church, it’s not your fault. The church system is getting the results it’s designed to get. Until that system changes – radically – men will continue to perish, both inside and outside our congregations.

Some of you don’t know what I’m talking about. A feminized church? Some guys are happy with church just as it is, and see no need for change. Others are the sensitive type and actually like the macho-deficit. But try to see church through the eyes of a typical guy. It’s intimidating for a man to hold hands in a circle, to cry in public, or to imagine falling deeply in love with another man (even if his name is Jesus).

If we’re going to be fishers of men, we’ve got to do a better job considering men’s needs and expectations. Jesus did it; so must we.

My book, Why Men Hate Going to Church, offers more than 60 pages of practical ideas for bringing a healthy, life-giving masculine spirit to your congregation – and to your own walk with God. Get the book.

I also encourage you to visit our men’s forum. Meet guys from around the world who want to restore a healthy, life giving masculine spirit in their congregations.