So, lately... there have been this glut of dreams and visions in the Christian world about Tsunamis, Floods, Big Waves.
Of course, this could all be a response to the Indonesian and Japanese tsunamis. Plus end of world fears and hopes. But I gotta say that when I had my vision of the terrible flood it was three weeks before the Japanese tsunami and I wasn't thinking of any floods. Plus I don't think my vision of the large rivershore (or seashore) filled with bodies and birds pecking at and eating those dead bodies had to do with Japan. So I'm thinking it still is to come.
Basically, what I'm thinking is this. The Bible often links spiritual and physical things together. For instance symbolic famine in a dream or vision often means that physical/geographical famine will arrive at the same time there is a famine for the word of God. So I'm really thinking now that these tsunami dreams are saying both, that there WILL be some big devastating physical tsunami and at the same time a devastating tsunami of false teaching in the Christian world ...and maybe a flood of trouble in the world.
Now, the Christian world is generally unprepared about how to respond to a flood of bad theology. And lately, because we humans have always been herd-minded and with the media...well...the community that influences us has gotten larger and we have found it difficult to see the Bible clearly. I mean we have Christians all thinking it's okay to talk about pre-trib, post-trib, etc... when Jesus himself told us not to start putting dates on "the gathering away." (Best to use "gathering away" because we don't know if we'll be caught up in the air or if we will be saved in a kind of Noah's Ark scenario.) And we also don't know what proportion of tribulation we will have to go through.
Anyway, back to theology and Christians not knowing their religion. Whether it's the Baptists, the Catholics, the Mormons, the Jehovah's Witnesses, the Seventh Day Adventists, the Evangelicals, the Charismatics, the Mainstream Churches, the Eastern Orthodox Churches, the Western Orthodox Churches.... or Christian television, all demonimations have incredibly bad theology. Worse, they all are followers of their traditions and their ministers who blindly follow the wrong core beliefs of their ancient founders or the trendy beliefs of new theologians. Seriously, I tried to tell someone who watches Christian TV that a lot of that theology is wrong and well, she had this confused look on her face. But the wrongness is just everywhere. Yes, yes, I know... the Mormons think they are the only true church. The SDA's think they are the only true church. But they're wrong as well.
Christians haven't learned to think. We have a very bad habit of looking at things in a kind of black and white way. This makes us very easy pray for anything that is subtle. Witness the success of the Prosperity Gospel. It's very right, Scripturally...but it is also very wrong Scripturally. And as Christians we have to begin to understand subtlety. I mean, we should not forget that Satan deceived Eve by telling her the truth, and (some think) by making her think that perhaps she had mistaken God's decrees. Are you really sure God said that? Perhaps he wants you to be like him. Well, yes, God does want us to be like him...but no, he does not.
So, yeah, we have to learn how to rightly discern, and to rightly divide the word of truth. Consider, the Christian habit of using hand-me-down platitudes is also a sign of the propensity of people to simply repeat what everyone else is saying. I'm thinking the time is now here when we will have to wake up. We are asleep. Or rather, our minds are asleep. We have to read our Bibles to be aware of the traps one can fall into. The book of Colossians, for instance, warns us about what can happen in a Christian community that goes all syncretist to match its surroundings. The historical books warn us of what happens when we mix spirituality with tribal idols (and that could be ancient gods like Baal or traditional ones like crucifixes and the Virgin Mary or modern gods such as money and modern "wisdom.")
One only has to listen to how Christians pray to see how they are more influenced by tradition than by what the Bible says. I recently told a woman that if she is fasting she shouldn't be telling everyone. She behaved as if I was nuts. Why? Because -- despite what Jesus told us about not telling that we're fasting-- the typical Christian always makes a big production of telling everyone he/she is fasting. Seriously, folks!
If we can't see through the deceptions in the modern church, how will we make it when the floods of theologican deceptions come in?
Of course, this could all be a response to the Indonesian and Japanese tsunamis. Plus end of world fears and hopes. But I gotta say that when I had my vision of the terrible flood it was three weeks before the Japanese tsunami and I wasn't thinking of any floods. Plus I don't think my vision of the large rivershore (or seashore) filled with bodies and birds pecking at and eating those dead bodies had to do with Japan. So I'm thinking it still is to come.
Basically, what I'm thinking is this. The Bible often links spiritual and physical things together. For instance symbolic famine in a dream or vision often means that physical/geographical famine will arrive at the same time there is a famine for the word of God. So I'm really thinking now that these tsunami dreams are saying both, that there WILL be some big devastating physical tsunami and at the same time a devastating tsunami of false teaching in the Christian world ...and maybe a flood of trouble in the world.
Now, the Christian world is generally unprepared about how to respond to a flood of bad theology. And lately, because we humans have always been herd-minded and with the media...well...the community that influences us has gotten larger and we have found it difficult to see the Bible clearly. I mean we have Christians all thinking it's okay to talk about pre-trib, post-trib, etc... when Jesus himself told us not to start putting dates on "the gathering away." (Best to use "gathering away" because we don't know if we'll be caught up in the air or if we will be saved in a kind of Noah's Ark scenario.) And we also don't know what proportion of tribulation we will have to go through.
Anyway, back to theology and Christians not knowing their religion. Whether it's the Baptists, the Catholics, the Mormons, the Jehovah's Witnesses, the Seventh Day Adventists, the Evangelicals, the Charismatics, the Mainstream Churches, the Eastern Orthodox Churches, the Western Orthodox Churches.... or Christian television, all demonimations have incredibly bad theology. Worse, they all are followers of their traditions and their ministers who blindly follow the wrong core beliefs of their ancient founders or the trendy beliefs of new theologians. Seriously, I tried to tell someone who watches Christian TV that a lot of that theology is wrong and well, she had this confused look on her face. But the wrongness is just everywhere. Yes, yes, I know... the Mormons think they are the only true church. The SDA's think they are the only true church. But they're wrong as well.
Christians haven't learned to think. We have a very bad habit of looking at things in a kind of black and white way. This makes us very easy pray for anything that is subtle. Witness the success of the Prosperity Gospel. It's very right, Scripturally...but it is also very wrong Scripturally. And as Christians we have to begin to understand subtlety. I mean, we should not forget that Satan deceived Eve by telling her the truth, and (some think) by making her think that perhaps she had mistaken God's decrees. Are you really sure God said that? Perhaps he wants you to be like him. Well, yes, God does want us to be like him...but no, he does not.
So, yeah, we have to learn how to rightly discern, and to rightly divide the word of truth. Consider, the Christian habit of using hand-me-down platitudes is also a sign of the propensity of people to simply repeat what everyone else is saying. I'm thinking the time is now here when we will have to wake up. We are asleep. Or rather, our minds are asleep. We have to read our Bibles to be aware of the traps one can fall into. The book of Colossians, for instance, warns us about what can happen in a Christian community that goes all syncretist to match its surroundings. The historical books warn us of what happens when we mix spirituality with tribal idols (and that could be ancient gods like Baal or traditional ones like crucifixes and the Virgin Mary or modern gods such as money and modern "wisdom.")
One only has to listen to how Christians pray to see how they are more influenced by tradition than by what the Bible says. I recently told a woman that if she is fasting she shouldn't be telling everyone. She behaved as if I was nuts. Why? Because -- despite what Jesus told us about not telling that we're fasting-- the typical Christian always makes a big production of telling everyone he/she is fasting. Seriously, folks!
If we can't see through the deceptions in the modern church, how will we make it when the floods of theologican deceptions come in?
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