Dave Kinney's Blog

Godisnowhere

2008-10-24T14:26:00.000-07:00

In 1925 teacher John Scopes was charged with a violation of the Butler Act, which according to Tennessee law, made it illegal to teach anything that differed from the Divine Creation account to university or public school students in the state of Tennessee. Clarence Darrow defended Scopes’ views on evolution. William Jennings Bryan defended the Bible…at least he tried to. We are aware of that trial’s tragic outcome. Biblical creation lost its standing in the eyes of the court, not so much because evolution was proven, but more because the Christians were not able to defend themselves…none of them, even the learned and eloquent Mr. Bryan, ever thought deeply about the truths of Scripture. They thought no one would ever dare defy Scripture.

“How do you know the Bible is true?”
“Well, because the Bible says so.”
“Then how can you believe what the Bible says?”
“Because it’s true!”

It took nearly 50 years before Christianity was able to field any team capable of offering an answer to the proponents of evolution, but by then the post modern age had begun, and humanism was well entrenched. Its influence had even infected the evangelical church. The problem this infection has produced is that so very few Christians are watching the game. So few are paying attention. The ignorance of Christians evident in 1925 still lives.

I believe it was just the week before last when Kirk Cameron (TV sitcom actor turned shallow evangelist) appeared on Night Line, along with his good buddy and Christian author whose name escapes me, to debate two atheist on the existence of God. My wife had trouble sleeping that night. She stayed up late to watch, I zonked out an hour earlier. All Cameron could come up with to argue the existence of God was that you can look at nature and see that God exists. He offered no logic. He did not ask one question to challenge the atheists. He offered no reasoning…he was insipid, and ill informed and ill prepared.

The two atheists were not impressed with anything either one of our Christian brothers said. In fact, the female pagan said, after the debate, even if God did exist, she would rather die and go to Hell than believe in the God Mr. Cameron described….hmmmm.

I AM very glad that Mr. Cameron is a believer. I AM very glad that he is using much of his personal resources in evangelism, but he hasn’t used a penny to learn anything about God!
Kirk Cameron (KC) is the EPITOME of the average IGNORANT Christian.

Brother, we can only quote the late Jimmy Durante; “I’m surrounded by incompetents!”

There is a web site that’s becoming quite popular. “God is imaginary” is very probably a good thing, IF and ONLY IF it challenges Christians to THINK DEEPLY about God and what they believe. But Christians usually DON’T do such things as THINK…or PRAY…or STUDY, or even READ. So, whenever any THINKING atheist comes along with sound questions, all we can say is that the Bible is true because it says so. (Can you tell? I’m a bit irritated.)

The “God is imaginary” web site has recorded rebuttals against Christian claims. So far, I’ve had time enough to listen to the atheist’s rebuttal against prayer. He compared praying to God and praying to a jug of milk. His summation was that it was just as effective to pray to a jug of milk as it is to pray to God. Either way, you get one of three answers; “yes,” “no,” or “wait.” His thinking was orderly, but not fully logical, because he based his argument completely on the assumption that MOST Christians base their understanding of prayer on. That is; God answers everything we ask for through prayer.

Christians WANT to believe that. They really try to believe it. And I’ll tell you something if you promise not to get mad. I’ll tell you this if you don’t let it shake your faith in God. Are you ready? Okay, here it is. The statement that God answers everything we ask for through prayer is a lie. God DOESN’T answer all our prayers. He doesn’t even hear some of them. Check out these references. (Deut 1:45, Deut 3:26, Job 35:12-13, Isa 1:13-15, Jer. 11:11, Zech. 7:13, 1 Peter 3:7, et.al.)

I’m going to be sarcastically facetious now.

Here’s how prayer works. In order to guarantee God’s answer to your prayers, you must have them presented with those wizardly wonderful magic words, “in Jesus’ name.” No,…wait, you have to say it like this: “in JEEEZUHS’ Name!” Those words work EVERY TIME….how do I know? The Bible says so. Jesus even says so.

Okay, let’s get serious…really.

One of the best books I’ve ever read about understanding God was John Piper’s The Pleasures of God. Most KC Christians won’t read it because it’s thick, it’s deep, and it makes them exercise the laziest muscle in their whole body; their brain. They would all rather be spoon fed with spiritually sugar laden clabber by preachers that are more afraid of their congregations than they are of God.

Piper’s book is full of righteous spiritual meat. He puts things on your plate that you never thought before. He makes you chew. And he makes sense. After reading it, God makes sense. After reading the book, God is no longer some pleasant grandpa who loves doling out favors. God is truly an awesome, terrible and powerful frightening eternal being who is consumed with His own glory. He passionately desires to glorify Himself. You might think that sounds selfish of God, and Piper addresses that subject thoroughly.

Ultimately, that is God’s end and purpose for existence; His own glory. And we’d better be glad of it. It is BECAUSE He is so glorified by His love and His grace that we are offered salvation. If He weren’t so preoccupied by His own glory, we probably would have been consumed by the fire of His righteous judgment long ago.

God is so consumed with the manifestation of His own glory that He has promised to hear our prayers, IF and ONLY IF they concern the fulfillment of His own ends.

God is NOT glorified when a TV preacher drives an expensive car, or flies in his own private jet airplane. God is NOT honored by churches with parking lots filled with expensive automobiles. (I think Piper even said that.) Such Christians might as well be praying to milk jugs…they are NOT praying for the advancement of the kingdom of God. That, and only that, is what Jesus meant when He told us to pray in His name. Prayers for His Kingdom, His glory, His purposes, offered by humble, penitent, obedient servants are the prayers He ALWAYS hears.

Now, in spite of ourselves, He still answers a lot of prayers for the sick and infirm, and the hurting and needy. He still answers prayers regarding genuine ministry needs. But too often, Christians pray and think God might say “yes,” or “no,” or “wait.” And once the prayer is offered any answer is acceptable (usually.) The problem is that KC Christians NEVER examine themselves to understand why God might say “no.” (James 4:3 When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.) It may not look like it, but James 4:3 IS a holy admonition to repent. Usually, if God says “no,” KC Christians go ahead and try to figure a way to get whatever they asked for by their own efforts.

God WILL lift up the humble. He dwells with the humble. But men and women who believe Jesus is there to glorify them and make them look good are POOR proof for the existence of God. They are POOR proof that He answers prayer. The bigger tragedy is this; web sites like “God is imaginary” will probably shake a lot of people’s faith, and some will turn away.

And our hearts will break as we see the fulfillment of Scripture when it said even as [professing Christians] did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient.

Dave

Personal Testimony

2008-06-08T15:30:00.001-07:00

Have you ever known anyone who experienced something new and wonderful, and embraced it as something that was meant to be? All of us expect good things to happen. In fact we believe they are supposed to happen. Every young couple in love insists that their union was meant to be. Nearly every religion and philosophy known recognizes some aspect of fate. Everyone readily accepts the good things that fate brings. However, difficult things beyond our control usually produce nothing but complaint.

I was raised in a Christian home and came to know the Lord at the age of seven. Church and worship of the Lord were central to my family, and the church’s youth ministry played an influential role during my teen years. As a graduating high-school senior I answered what I thought was God’s call to preach. After one year of college preparing for ministry, “fate” came calling. My father had a heart attack. I returned home hoping to get back in school as soon as his health improved. Instead, within a year, Dad asked me to take over part of his business. He had been my hero. I had seen him at times when he walked away from profitable business just because he was asked to compromise his integrity. My Dad loved the Lord more than money, and I admired him for that. With his health failing, the Lord seemed to be closing the door to my education. I started to work in the family business, and before long I was married with my family’s blessing. All along I was beginning to reason that it was just as acceptable to be a Christian businessman, like my father, and serve the Lord that way.

After thirteen years of marriage, “fate” visited again. My wife’s behavior became suspicious. She had begun staying out late. She was making ridiculous excuses to “visit her friends.” When I confronted her, she confessed. She was in love with another woman. She refused to go to counseling. She would not reconsider. She wanted a divorce. Attorneys' fees quickly consumed everything we had built together. The home, furniture and business were sold. I went to work for someone else. There was a great deal of anger within me. I was experiencing pent up anger toward her, toward life and worst of all, I was even angry with the Lord. All my life I thought I had been a good Christian. I thought I had been faithful enough. How could this have happened to me? Didn’t He love me? Didn’t He care?

As I re-established a home of my own, I struggled to heal, and at the same time meet financial obligations. There weren’t enough hours in the day to earn money to pay off the debts. Each time I gained a bit, something unexpected would take it away…until I couldn’t even afford to pay the rent. I was not just angry and bitter. I was desperate. I felt like I had to have it out with God. After arriving home one cold February evening, I took my electric saw and began cutting up the furniture. I turned out the lights and used the pieces of furniture as firewood, and I began to pray. God was going to tell me why! Life was not fair! The Lord hadn’t been fair! I wanted to know why. For hours I cut up furniture, feeding the fireplace piece by piece while I wept and prayed. I can’t say they were very holy prayers either.

In the early hours of the morning, as the embers from the last piece of my desk glowed in the fireplace, I was on my back on the living room floor exhausted, and without an answer. Suddenly there was a still small voice. One phrase clear and concise slew me and shamed me in an instant. “I love you no matter what. Love Me no matter what.” From my exhaustion, tears again began to flow. Suddenly I was penitent, begging forgiveness. Instantly everything was clear. The insight given through that one brief answer revealed that all of the pain and loss finally had a purpose. It never was mere fate, but His divine providence. He hadn’t abandoned me.

From that day on, life had no burden. I was in love with the Lord again. And I began to feel the call to preach that once was neglected. But how could it happen now, after all that had happened? I couldn’t afford to go to school. I had to work eighty hours a week. I gave the call back to the Lord, not in rebellion but prayerfully. If it were to happen, He would have to make it happen. Certainly, He could do anything. Perhaps Ed McMahon would come knock on my door with a big sweeps stakes check! It didn’t happen that way, but it did happen quickly. While at work one day, my left hand was amputated by my printing press. At that moment, through the pain and shock of losing that hand, my first fear was of bleeding to death, but the Lord had the ambulance and crew waiting one block away buying coffee at a convenience store. When 911 was called, the response was less than two minutes. Was that fate, was it coincidence, or was it Providence?

During the next year, God blessed tremendously. He began to restore, and it didn’t come through physical healing alone. He sent His blessing through a wedding and the love shared with a new bride. Within that year I had also been fitted with a prosthetic device and was back in school finishing undergraduate work preparing for ministry. The Lord certainly does provide, but in very unexpected ways. We all tend to avoid or reject the difficult trials in favor of easier paths. We all quickly praise God for the good things, assured that they are “meant to be,” but what about the trials? What about pain that comes our way? In a recent issue of World Magazine, one of their senior writers made reference to C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia. “Shall we not take the adventure that Aslan hands us?” As Christians, we cannot excuse unexpected, undesirable changes in life to mere fate. Nothing is unexpected with God. He will use the painful circumstances in life itself to test, chastise and correct. He wants each one of us obedient to His call. He wants each of us to love Him no matter what.

Jeremiah 29:11- 13

“For I know the plans that I have for you,” declares the LORD, “ plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.”

Prayer as a Plow

2007-02-21T14:17:00.000-08:00

Many of us don’t think about it much, but less than a century ago there were probably several mule drawn plows still in use around Russellville. Perhaps the 43 By-pass has obliterated a field that once belonged to a Mr. Hester. His harnessed mule, old Francis, who could “gee” and “haw” with the best of them, would pull that plow, while old man Hester used his weight and strength to guide the plow and make that blade dig. Together they filled that field with straight rows of fresh turned earth in preparation for spring planting. There’s a simple romantic beauty to such a memory. But I imagine when Mr. Hester’s father cleared that field and plowed it for the first time simplicity wasn’t in his vocabulary. Rocks, roots and stumps hidden under never turned earth made plowing a backbreaking chore. The best way to find all the roots and stumps and rocks was to start plowing until you hit something, and then stop long enough to clear it. Then get back behind the plow and keep on going.

Most of us have seen or heard preachers preach, teach and sell books on prayer. Many preachers have their own idea on how to make prayer work. I agree that prayer is important. It’s a vital part to our walk of faith. But I’ve discovered something that most ministers don’t tell you. Prayer is work. Prayer is a discipline that must be consistent, and regular and honest, even when it doesn’t seem fruitful. I’ve discovered that prayer is much like plowing, and the field is my spiritual life. But it isn’t as easy as using one of the modern expensive machines with an air-conditioned cab. It’s more like using Mr. Hester’s plow pulled by old Francis.

The spiritual stumps, rocks and roots I keep finding are all the weaknesses and failures God wants to help me overcome. When I pray, and life seems to get more difficult as a result, I must not think prayer is not working. I’ve only hit a spiritual stump. There’s something in my life that doesn’t belong…perhaps it’s improper pride, or bitterness, or just plain laziness. Whatever it is, it’s always something that’s dangerous to my spiritual health. It’s always something that would certainly brand me as a public hypocrite if it were known to anyone else but God and myself. It must be removed if I am ever to grow. It must be removed if my life as His disciple is ever to be blessed.

We can effectively tie two Scripture references together: “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?…First take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.” and “Pray without ceasing.”

If our prayers are to be fruitful, if they are going to be heard by God, then prayer must be like a plow. It must become a discipline of work that is consistent, and regular and honest, even when it doesn’t seem fruitful. As we remain diligent and faithful, our prayers will produce fruit. God has promised it. I know that if old man Hester had quit plowing after finding that first big rock, his family would have starved to death.

That illustrates a simple point. If prayer is ever neglected for multiple seasons in a Christian’s life, beginning the practice of prayer, or returning to prayer may not guarantee immediate “goose bump” blessings. Prayer is just like a plow. Praying can seem much like work (Mark 9:20-29). In the spiritual soil of the untilled heart, it will reveal pain, sin, weakness, and every other “unexpected surprise” one could imagine. Victory over that buried stump, or hidden stone, may seem impossible, but practice of prayer in the presence of our Lord is the only way to victory.

What goes around, comes around.

2007-02-21T07:06:00.000-08:00

Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. Galatians 6:7

While walking the dog, just the other day, I met a new neighbor who happened to be in a conversational mood. I greeted him enthusiastically, but I could tell something was bothering him. He immediately volunteered more information than I asked for. He was so flabbergasted at how rude people were to each other…especially young people being rude toward adults. He mentioned an incident he saw in the grocery store when a young boy about the age of 9 or 10 back-talked his mother using 4 letter words. The mother seemed to just ignore it. My neighbor couldn’t understand how America had fallen so far.
He soon calmed down, and seemed glad to have it off his chest, and I asked some questions in order to get better acquainted. Now, a preacher can’t help but ask the obvious questions about spiritual matters. Of course, as most people living in the buckle of the Bible belt, he believed in Jesus. And when asked where he attended church, he came back with an answer we’ve all heard more times than we can count…“I don’t go to church. The church is full of hypocrites, and I don’t want to be a hypocrite! Why, I can take my Bible and go down to the river bank and read my Bible while I’m fishin’ and be a better Christian without going to church!” After the conversation finished I was walking back home, it struck me that this man had managed to answer his own question. He had wondered how America could have fallen so far. Then he boldly testified that the authority of the church was irrelevant to him.
The Bible, even God Himself, promises that those who disobey His Word would have their sins visited upon their children to the third and forth generation (Deuteronomy 5:9). Is it possible that the lack of respect Christians have given to the church and her authority is manifested in this present generation in more visible disrespect to all authority? The Bible says that Jesus gave His Church the keys of authority to bind things and loose things on earth in such a way that they are recognized in the courts of heaven (Matthew 16:19). We have lost the meaning and implication to that authority. Church has become more of a social outlet. We may profess that the Bible is true, but we really don’t believe every word and that is manifested in the way we respond to what is taught or preached at church. Our children have watched the leaders of the church mishandle the authority, and they’ve watched mom & dad disrespect the authority of the church and the Bible. It may appear that we are getting away with it, but we are not. Why shouldn’t this generation express their disrespect similarly?
I would be among the first to agree that the church has problems. The church has been hypocritical because the church has been very lax in holding her people accountable to spiritual authority. If scripture is correct, and I certainly believe it is, the trouble we have been experiencing with our rebellious “generation gap” is the result of our own refusal to submit to authority, particularly God’s authority.

Who does God think He is?

2007-02-21T07:05:00.001-08:00

The frazzled bride doubted she’d make it through the wedding. Not because of cold feet or last minute regret, but because the rushed planning and the detailed demands of preparation had taken a heavy toll on her stamina. She was a nervous wreck. Confiding in her minister for advice, he suggested she focus on one thing at a time. “When you get ready to walk that aisle, look at the floor where you will place your next step. Focus on the aisle. Halfway down, look up to the altar. Once you reach the front of the church, look at your groom. Look at the aisle, then the altar, and then at your husband-to-be, look at him.” The bride was encouraged by that advice. As she walked the aisle, she reminded herself to focus on the aisle…the altar…then him. As she moved down the aisle, she left a wake of grins and quiet chuckles. The congregation could hear her whisper “I’ll…altar…him. I’ll…altar…him.”
The story causes us to smile a little, but it illustrates a problem many need to see. Each person’s perception of God is too often too personal. Everyone who believes in one God has a bad habit, in their own thinking, of making God easy to get along with. People who believe in Him tend to fashion Him into an agreeable deity.
The Christian church is described in Scripture as the Bride of Christ. Is it possible that this heavenly Bride thinks she may move closer to God by thinking, “I’ll altar Him?” The church is fractured into countless denominations. Some Christians would argue that God is Baptist, or Presbyterian, or Methodist.
A few weeks before last November’s election, Democrats and Republicans were literally arguing over who loved God more. Is God politically conservative of liberal?
It’s been said that Jews, Muslims and Christian’s worship the same God. So we must ask, is God Jewish? Is He Muslim? Is He Christian? We appear to be arguing among ourselves, just who does God think He is? While we argue, the atheists and skeptics watch and determine that the source to all our fighting is the common denominator…their solution is to throw out God.
We do not have a right to fashion God in our image. We have no right to altar God in order to affirm our self esteem. When we do that, we set ourselves as center of everything…we become gods. Even I need to repent of thinking of God as a Presbyterian, but then I’m faced with the challenge of finding out who God really is. And He does reward those who diligently seek Him (Hebrews 11:6).

Jeremiah 9:23-24 Thus says the LORD: "Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might, nor let the rich man glory in his riches; but let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD, exercising loving kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. for in these I delight," says the LORD.

The Secret is out.

2007-02-21T07:01:00.000-08:00

It is a common reality that the sons and daughters of pastors and ministers are often the wildest kids in the neighborhood. In the “industry” they are referred to as the “PK” or preacher’s kid. Nearly all of us have noticed them. Perhaps you’ve seen a preacher’s daughter dressed immodestly at the mall, or maybe you know a preacher’s son who was caught sleeping with a high school cheer leader. While the ministerial effort of so many pastors emphasizes clean and moral living, the lack of compliance in the lives of their own children seems to bear testimony to some “apparent” inconsistency, or even hypocrisy, within the preacher’s family. In the past, church members and neighbors, when seeing the preacher’s kid running with the wrong crowd, used to shake their heads and cluck their tongues and secretly blame the preacher, and only half way forgive him, for neglecting his own child. Has it always been the preacher’s fault and failure?

Pastors are always called shepherds, and their congregation is the flock. Scripture confirms this metaphor. When the flock gathers Sunday morning, we always see glad fellowship and singing. The shepherd feeds the flock with the spiritual nourishment of the Word of God. On the outside, everything looks good. The reality is this; sheep bite. Sheep often bite the shepherd. They are often known to complain, and gripe and fight among themselves. They tell their neighbors about their unhappiness with the church and wonder why the neighbors won't come worship with them.

If the pastor is worth his salt, he’ll bear all of this in a Christ like manner. He won’t strike back at the sheep. He’ll pray for them, and try to lead and guide and teach them. He’ll bear the scars and the hurt quietly, because that’s where Jesus, the Great Shepherd set the example. But the pastor/shepherd is human. He isn’t divine. Somewhere, he’s got to vent his own anxiety and pain. Often, it’s behind closed doors at home, with his wife while the children overhear.

So, the secret is out. Recent information posted on the website at PK International about adult children of pastors, offer some interesting insight to the problem of the wild PK. By their own testimony, many never blamed their ministerial parent for the disobedience during teen years. They blamed the flock. Watching daddy endure such pain from people who said they loved Jesus actually scared them away from the church. They decided, during their teen years that it just wasn’t worth the pain. They didn’t see any real love or joy in church life.

In the eighteenth chapter of Matthew’s gospel, Jesus warned His disciples, as He warns us; if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.

We are human. We will inevitably disagree with one another. We all can’t always be right at the same time. But within the church community, we need to be very careful how we disagree and what we say, because there is always someone else watching. It may not be the PK. It may very well be our own child. The way we respond and behave may determine the path they take.