Missing the Point of Eternity

 Let's start with some backstory. A few years back, some friends of mine began teaching a new doctrine (well, new to me, anyway) that offended me, and not just a little bit.

Over-simplified, they began teaching that since we (already) have eternal life, therefore eternity is in play now, and therefore (and here's where I had trouble), we don't need to physically die. Eternal life can apply to our bodies, not just to our spirits.

These were people whom I know personally (some of them pretty wel), people I have learned to trust. I couldn't just blow it off as foolishness.

I was raised in a mainline denominational church. This would have been a scandal in that context, of course.  

Then I spent a bunch of years in fundamentalist evangelical congregations. They might have used the word "heresy."

But new revelation is kind of always scandalous to the previous generation, the previous move of God.

So I set out to prove that doctrine wrong. "Everybody knows you die, and then you go to Heaven!" That was my first problem. Things that begin with "Everybody knows" are pretty often messed up, and almost never as simple as they seem.

I put several months of study, interviews, prayer into trying to prove them wrong. I failed. I have been unable to prove that doctrine wrong.

I did not, however, prove them right. So I've left this is the "We'll see" category. But I didn't let it go. So every so often, I brought it out and discussed it with Father. There was a lot of re-hashing the same questions, the same objections. He mostly just smiled and nodded, but at least we enjoyed our time together.

Then one day, I think it was the nine-hundred-and-eleventy-third time I brought it up, he spoke.

"You're missing the point here, Son." And suddently I realized that if my primary concern about Eternity is when it starts, or what the transition points are like, then I've put my attention on the wrong subjects.

We have (more to the point, I have) more important responsibilities than fussing about whether my body will grow old and die, or whether I'll pull an Enoch, or whether it'll be something else entirely. I am (we are) still charged with praying, both in word and deed, "Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven."

That's where my attention needs to be: the work of the Kingdom here and now. The Great Commission still stands, after all.

So will my body live forever? Honestly, I don't much care any more. My Dad & I have work to do here & now, and at some point (a point that he is responsible for, not me), our partnership will change perhaps both in object and location, but that's not at all my job now.

Somebody a whole lot smarter than me once said something about "So whether we live or we die, we are the Lord's." Maybe he was onto something.

Big Screen Day Priorities

 I found myself thinking about the Judgment of our works that Revelation chapter 20 talks about. I refer to this as big-screen day. I don't know why, but I suspect it's going to be public. I imagine you might be there when it's my turn to have my life displayed on the big screen.

By the way, it seems pretty clear that what we repent of is forgotten. So it would not surprise me if the only things listed in the books are the things that never needed forgiving, never needed repenting. In other words, the books might just record the things we actually did right. Just a thought.

So I was imagining big-screen day. I was imagining it was my turn to be on the screen, and I was imagining lots of people watching the strange little details of my life.

Suddenly it occurred to me how silly that was. I actually found myself saying out loud, "Guys, if it's my big-screen day, that means father is right there. Why in Heaven's name are you watching me? Get your eyes on him! He's worth watching. I'm not!"

It seems logical to me that when it is your turn to have your life displayed on the big screen, that I will be distracted by the king who has his hands on the controls. Nothing personal, I promise you. But it really is all about him!

Another Revival

I’m going to review some fairly controversial topics today. If you have trouble with God moving outside your comfort zone, you may not want to read this article. I’m serious: be careful! This may push your buttons.

We’re going to (well, I’m going to) talk about homosexual Christians, LGBT [Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender] Christians. And whatever other letters are used these days. We’re going to talk about what God is doing in this community.

This is a topic that’s going to trigger some folks. If you choose to comment, please comment on what I am actually saying, not (I repeat NOT) on what somebody else said at some other time and place. Our goal is to get OUT of the mess that religion has put us in and to see what God is doing.

The Bible is clear, Old Testament and New: the homosexual behavior going on in those cultures is sinful behavior. That's not what this is about. (Neither is this about the sinful behaviors of gossip or pride or gluttony or any of the other sins that are plaguing believers.)

This is about what God is doing.

One day, some years ago, I was with a small group, praying for some folks we knew that were stuck in homosexuality. It was one of those prayer sessions where you just know that God is hearing your prayers, even as he’s helping to shape them and encourage us in them. It was wonderful!

In the midst of that, I had a vision: I saw tens of thousands of people in the homosexual community were encountering Jesus. It was a huge movement, and God was in their midst. They were worshiping powerfully, and God was delighting in their praise. There were signs and wonders. Many were in tears, some because of His love, some because of their sin, but it wasn’t always the sin I was seeing that they were convicted of.

I began to praise God for that revival, for the many sons and daughters that were coming back to their Father, and as I did, the vision shifted and became even more real: suddenly I was in their midst as we were worshiping God. (Full disclosure: I am not gay.)

And then I realized: these people weren’t – or most of them weren’t – leaving their culture. Nearly all of them stayed in the homosexual community. And a very large number of them didn’t appear to repent of their homosexual ways as they encountered God.

Father began to gently instruct me in the midst of this vision:

1) When he calls people to himself, he does not call them to leave their culture. American Church Culture is not his goal. Relationship with Jesus is the goal. Hmm. OK. That’s true enough. American Church Culture is not God’s goal.

2) When he finally got ahold of my own life (after a longer fight than it frankly should have been), I was not sin-free. There were several sins that he took decades to put his finger on. In fact, He continued, “There are some things I haven’t pointed out to you even yet.” (Um... Yikes.)

But it’s true. If he didn’t point out– and by pointing out, give me grace to deal with – some of my sins for decades, why should I expect him to be less patient with his other sons and daughters?

3) And son, he said so very gently: these are my children, not yours. I am their Father, you are not. I am capable of raising My own children without your getting in their way. It was not (quite) a rebuke, but he was clear: he was not soliciting my opinion of how he fathers his children.

Since that experience, I’ve received reports that this is actually beginning to happen, that substantial numbers of people inside the LGBT community are discovering the Lover of their Souls!

I have received several credible testimonies from different people in different streams that describe to me a revival that is currently going on among the homosexual population. (At their request, and for their safety, I will not be releasing their identities. Some people do not respond well when God moves outside their box.)

These testimonies are from mature prophets and apostles, from people I know and trust, from mature believers who have been among some of these gatherings of gay believers – we might call them either church meetings or conferences – where the worship is powerful, where the Holy Spirit is present, where signs and wonders are in abundance, where Jesus is lifted up high. They have recognized God’s favor on the gatherings, and experienced His delight in them. Usually, it confused them the first few times, too.

I have met believers who are homosexuals, everywhere from your basic, timid churchgoers to flaming transsexuals proclaiming the gospel to their community. Some are content with their homosexuality; some want out but don’t know how; some are proud of their status, though these appear to be the primary ones who’ve taken the brunt of the church’s accusations.

I’ve said all this to arrive at this conclusion: God is moving powerfully in ways that we never expected. 

Maybe I shouldn’t speak for you: God is moving powerfully in ways that I never expected. And I have the strongest sense: Hold on to your hats, because God has more than this that he’s going to do that is way the heck outside of our box.

So how shall we respond to homosexuals that call themselves Christians?

That’s simple: we love them. Just like we’re called to love self-righteous people who call themselves Christians. Just like we're called to love everybody. We’re called to love.

We surely have no right to challenge the faith of either the gay community or the self-righteous community, or the hypocritical churchgoing community (or any other community). Frankly, we nearly always lack the right to challenge either their behavior or their culture. But we have the right to love them. We have the responsibility to love them.

I propose this: Let’s love one another, as Jesus commanded us, shall we? And let's trust our good Father to raise His children well.

And maybe we celebrate when people come to Jesus. He does.