Mark Driscoll's Valentine Interview on CNN
There was an interview on CNN between Darryl Lynn "D.L." Hughley and Mark Driscoll. Here's a frame I snapped right after Mark told a joke:
And here's a link to the interview:
A blog about some guy.
Also see:
Event horizon:
VIX (fear)
Baltic Dry Index (certainty)
TED Spread (doubt)
You are hereby required to follow me on Twitter here.
Filed under
Christology
And here's a link to the interview:
End Times Drivel
Spurgeon was cautious that
prophecy, when misused, would be a detriment to the proclamation of the
gospel; that it was foolish at best, and wicked at worst, to delve into such speculation. Yet in Spurgeon's day, like today, silly arguments over things like the number of the feasts, beast, and the identity of the anti-christ were topics of deep discussion.
During his ministry there was a great deal of prophetic
speculation that Jesus would return in the year 1866. When Christ did
not return in that year, the very thing Spurgeon feared began to
happen. Unbelievers began to ridicule all Christian preaching.
Regarding this Spurgeon stated, "I am afraid of that spirit —'where is
the promise of His coming? etc. etc.' And to pronounce 'all prophets as
liars' came to me exceedingly harsh; yea, more than that, it was
calculated, I feared, to influence thousands of minds, and lead them in
a wrong direction."
It's not that Spurgeon didn't value prophesy, quite the contrary. He just saw it as a secondary matter to the Gospel; a valuable endeavor, but one which should never "overlay the commonplaces of practical godliness," or start before "first you see to it that your children are brought to the saviour's feet."
Salvation is a theme for which I would fain enlist every holy tongue. I am greedy after witnesses for the glorious gospel of the blessed God. O that Christ crucified were the universal burden of men of God. Your guess at the number of the beast, your Napoleonic speculations, your conjectures concerning a personal Antichrist —forgive me, I count them but mere bones for dogs; while men are dying, and hell is filling, it seems to me the veriest drivel to be muttering about an Armageddon at Sebastopol or Sadowa or Sedan, and peeping between the folded leaves of destiny to discover the fate of Germany. Blessed are they who read and hear the words of the prophecy of the Revelation, but the like blessing has evidently not fallen on those who pretend to expound it, for generation after generation of them have been proven to be in error by the mere lapse of time, and the present race will follow to the same inglorious sepulcher.
Source: Spurgeon, Lectures, 100
And it goes on like that to this very day.
To me, Revelation is predominantly a book of worship. I would rather showcase the worship and basically ignore the prophesy. Like Spurgeon, I would rather be guilty of too little emphasis on the timing of the prophesy than too much.
If we Christians are to be like Jesus, then shouldn't the emphasis on certain topics follow the examples Jesus gave? For example, Jesus talked about taxes more than eschatology. So it stands to reason, especially in this day of over-taxing, we have a perfect opportunity to be biblical and speak on this topic more often than the end-times.
Please understand, none of this means Jesus' return is unimportant. I just means the timing is unimportant.
Only fools and madmen are positive in their interpretations of the Apocalypse.
Source: Spurgeon, The Sword and Trowel, review on B. C. Young's, Short Arguments about the Millennium
Comments [0]
God's Judgment on America?
If you think God is judging America by appointing Obama and plunging her into financial ruin, you don't understand a few things.
America has just as many resources as ever. The natural resources and human resources are abundant, it's the man-made financial turmoil that is making everyone wig out right now. I know it's a big deal when my pastor tells everyone they're going to see hyperinflation which will ultimately herald the anti-christ.
And, Obama is not the anti-christ. Or, if he is, I don't care. I am a Christian and my job is to point to Jesus, not some anti-jesus behind every bush.
Nowhere are believers told to watch for the appearance of the anti-christ. On the contrary, we are told to watch for Jesus Christ. In Titus 2:13 Paul says we are to live "looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus." Likewise, Peter urges us to "fix our hope completely on the grace to be brought to us at the revelation of Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 1:13). John completes the apostolic chorus by similarly urging us to "fix our hope on Him" at His appearing (1 John 3:2-3).
God has not abandoned us. He is right here in the midst of this, along side us. Our Paraclete to the end.
There is a huge transfer of wealth going on, that is true. But if we pay attention during the reconstruction, we can do some major good. If we don't give up and we avoid acting like this is some kind of prophesy, we Christians can do a great amount of good for the glory of God.
It reminds me of the Northridge (California) Earthquake in 1994. Back then, a wise man told me how God could use this earthquake to move people around. It had the net effect of placing non-believers in the same house as believers where a lot of good could happen. Hurricane Katrina has a similar effect.
This economic turmoil has been compared to a natural disaster by a great many people. It has a lot of similarities. People are being uprooted, resources are needed. People need to be loved. The fact that this turmoil has a human cause doesn't change the fact that there are innocents involved. Very few of us will encounter anyone who caused this, so we should focus on the innocent.
If you think sub-prime caused this mess, you are mistaken. Sub-prime was the proverbial "canary in the coal mine." The human heart was the cause of this mess. We are experiencing the natural consequence of unbridled greed. That greed lead to unlimited liquidity, which lead to this mess.
Another cause of this mess is lethargy. In that way, We The People are to blame. Although there were people who purposefully directed us into these problems, we sat back and expected Superman or Batman or Ron Paul to step in and fix it. They are not going to do that. They can't.
Then again, maybe I think I see lethargy because I don't have a $300k retirement account that went to $250k, then $175k. That would be pretty stressful to watch if it was happening to me, and I most certainly wouldn't be lethargic.
Even Ron Paul knows the only way out is by active participation of the people in their government. We have to take an active role and educate ourselves. Instead, we have let the government go unchecked. We have to fix that. If we expect one person or a group of people to take care of us, we'll be right back here in no time.
The only exception to what I said about not expecting one man to fix everything is Jesus. When Jesus comes back to judge the living and the dead, all bets are off. I have put my faith in that one man and I have no doubt He'll come through. But until then, we have a role to play in taking back our life, liberty, and private property. Join me.
By the way, a lot of people are confused by this rapture event. It's related to Jesus coming back to judge the living and the dead, but probably not what a lot of you've been taught. Here's a quick explanation of the rapture in less than two minutes:
America has just as many resources as ever. The natural resources and human resources are abundant, it's the man-made financial turmoil that is making everyone wig out right now. I know it's a big deal when my pastor tells everyone they're going to see hyperinflation which will ultimately herald the anti-christ.
And, Obama is not the anti-christ. Or, if he is, I don't care. I am a Christian and my job is to point to Jesus, not some anti-jesus behind every bush.
Nowhere are believers told to watch for the appearance of the anti-christ. On the contrary, we are told to watch for Jesus Christ. In Titus 2:13 Paul says we are to live "looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus." Likewise, Peter urges us to "fix our hope completely on the grace to be brought to us at the revelation of Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 1:13). John completes the apostolic chorus by similarly urging us to "fix our hope on Him" at His appearing (1 John 3:2-3).
God has not abandoned us. He is right here in the midst of this, along side us. Our Paraclete to the end.
There is a huge transfer of wealth going on, that is true. But if we pay attention during the reconstruction, we can do some major good. If we don't give up and we avoid acting like this is some kind of prophesy, we Christians can do a great amount of good for the glory of God.
It reminds me of the Northridge (California) Earthquake in 1994. Back then, a wise man told me how God could use this earthquake to move people around. It had the net effect of placing non-believers in the same house as believers where a lot of good could happen. Hurricane Katrina has a similar effect.
This economic turmoil has been compared to a natural disaster by a great many people. It has a lot of similarities. People are being uprooted, resources are needed. People need to be loved. The fact that this turmoil has a human cause doesn't change the fact that there are innocents involved. Very few of us will encounter anyone who caused this, so we should focus on the innocent.
If you think sub-prime caused this mess, you are mistaken. Sub-prime was the proverbial "canary in the coal mine." The human heart was the cause of this mess. We are experiencing the natural consequence of unbridled greed. That greed lead to unlimited liquidity, which lead to this mess.
Another cause of this mess is lethargy. In that way, We The People are to blame. Although there were people who purposefully directed us into these problems, we sat back and expected Superman or Batman or Ron Paul to step in and fix it. They are not going to do that. They can't.
Then again, maybe I think I see lethargy because I don't have a $300k retirement account that went to $250k, then $175k. That would be pretty stressful to watch if it was happening to me, and I most certainly wouldn't be lethargic.
Even Ron Paul knows the only way out is by active participation of the people in their government. We have to take an active role and educate ourselves. Instead, we have let the government go unchecked. We have to fix that. If we expect one person or a group of people to take care of us, we'll be right back here in no time.
The only exception to what I said about not expecting one man to fix everything is Jesus. When Jesus comes back to judge the living and the dead, all bets are off. I have put my faith in that one man and I have no doubt He'll come through. But until then, we have a role to play in taking back our life, liberty, and private property. Join me.
By the way, a lot of people are confused by this rapture event. It's related to Jesus coming back to judge the living and the dead, but probably not what a lot of you've been taught. Here's a quick explanation of the rapture in less than two minutes:
Comments [14]
Comments [0]