WHY WE SHOULD ALL BE FOOLS FOR CHRIST!

I believe that all Christians should be fools for Christ. That's right. It says so in the Bible. And the way I look at it, if the Good Book says it, then it has to be true.

"Where does it say that?" you may ask. In the first letter to the Corinthians that Paul wrote. Verses 18 through 27 uses the word "foolish" several times. To be more specific, in verse 21 it says that, "...it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe." Then in verse 25 it becomes even more specific when it says, "For the foolishness of God is wiser than men..." Finally, in verse 27 it says, "But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise..."

Alright, so I don't have a Doctorate of Divinity hanging on my office wall. But, "we are fools for Christ's sake," Paul says as he writes to the Corinthians. How would you interpret what Paul says? As far as I can tell, Paul is saying that God is foolish to choose for his workers the kind of lamebrains, misfits, nit-pickers, odd ducks, stuffed shirts, pompadoured overdressed egomaniacs and closet sensualists that he has.

It also seems to me that God is foolish to send us out to speak hope to a world that plods along with the conviction that things can only get worse. He is also foolish to have us speak of loving our enemies when we have a hard enough time loving our friends and even our own kin. It seems that he is also foolish to have us talking about life to a world that seems to be so in love with violence and death. Just turn on the TV at any given time. And what about the largest majority of video games being produced? You would think that violence and death was meant to be entertaining! And finally, doesn't it seem rather foolish that God is foolish to send us out in this journey called "life" without any road maps?

Such is the foolishness of God. But then Paul says that "the foolishness of God is wiser than man." To show you how true Paul's statement was, let me take just one year, the year I was born, and show you how foolish man was that year.

Even prior to 1942, Hitler, and those following his doctrine of hatred, had methodically and relentlessly established a climate of hatred against the Jews. The years of this systematic dehumanizing process paved the way for what was known as Kristallnacht -- "Night of Broken Glass" -- the confiscation of property and the suppression of individual liberty, leading eventually to the extermination camps.

In 1942, with the entire world looking on, the Ordinance Regarding Identification of Jewish Apartments (marking them with the Star of David) began on April 17. That same day Jews were also banned from using public transportation. Now, here's where man's foolishness actually turns stupid. A month later, on May 15, Jews were banned from keeping pets. No dogs, no cats, not even a goldfish. It gets even more foolish/stupid. Before the month is up, Jews were banned from using non-Jewish hairdressers.

Before the year was over, on June 19, laws allowing for the confiscation of electric appliances, typewriters and bicycles owned by Jews were enacted, as well as laws forbidding them to purchase books (October 9). Not only were those in Hitler's camp foolish, but they were downright ignorant. Just look at any of these laws mentioned and tell me how any of the things confiscated or denied access to could have possibly been used to overthrow the Nazi party.
On July 1 of 1943, all Jews were denied protection by the courts. But by then, as far as the Jews were concerned, laws were no longer an issue.

Now remember, Paul did say that, "God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise." I have not as yet been able to figure out why God allowed Hitler and his goons to do what they did back then, so perhaps I'm with so many others who are among the "confounded wise."

On the lighter side of foolishness, which is the side I prefer, let me say that this "confounded wise" man likes to ponder such foolish things as:

* We can learn a lot from crayons: some are sharp, some are pretty, some are dull, some have weird names, and all are different colors, but they all exist in the same box. (Yes, we all have our differences.)
* You may have heard this before, but when I look in the mirror, I am so thankful that wrinkles don't hurt.

Allen Stark

Special to ASSIST News Service

LAUGH IT UP

"A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones."1

"Laughter may not be the best medicine, but it is surprisingly effective. While the idea has been around for a while, more studies are confirming the anecdotal evidence. In a study published in Diabetes Care, researchers reported that people with type II diabetes had a smaller rise in blood glucose when they watched a comedy program versus a boring lecture on television. A team at the University of Maryland found that people who laughed often and were able to see the humor in situations were less likely to develop heart disease.

"Researchers say people who laugh tend to be healthier people. In study after study, hostility and anger are associated with disease, and humor with health. This is especially true when you're laughing it up with friends. Research on support groups has shown that the effects of laughter are magnified when it takes place in a social setting."2

Amazing isn't it? It's taken modern science to discover, or at least, to confirm, what God's Word taught 3,000 years ago—that laughter/cheerfulness is a good medicine.

Interesting, too, until the time of Christopher Columbus almost everyone believed the world was flat, and yet Isaiah, one of the Old Testament prophets wrote over 2,000 years ago: "He [God] sits enthroned above the circle of the earth."3

And over 3,000 years ago God gave the ancient Israelites strict laws by which to live, many of which had to do with good health and hygiene. God promised that if they obeyed these laws, they would be protected from diseases that afflicted the Egyptians.4

If we also live according to the principles found in God's Word, the Bible, we too can have a much happier, healthier life. Naturally, we need to know what God's Word teaches if we are to live by it.

Suggested prayer: "Dear God, please give me a deep love for and a great appreciation of your Word and, like David, write it on my heart, so that it will help me to live in harmony with your will, knowing that my life will be all the richer for it. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus' name, amen.

1. Proverbs 17:22 (NIV).
2. Paul Perry, "Seven Resolutions to Keep This Year, Part 6," AH About Health, Winter 2004. Page 9. Published by McMurry publishers and South Coast Medical Center, Laguna Beach, CA. © by www.mcmurry.com.
3. Isaiah 40:22 (NIV).
4. See Exodus 15:26.

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Acts International

THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH

There are more people on this planet outside the Church than inside it. Millions have been baptised, millions have not. Millions participate in the celebration of the Lord's Supper, but millions do not.

The Church as the body of Christ, as Christ living in the world, has a larger task than to support, nurture, and guide its own members. It is also called to be a witness for the love of God made visible in Jesus. Before his death Jesus prayed for his followers, "As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world" (John 17:18). Part of the essence of being the Church is being a living witness for Christ in the world.

Henri Nouwen Society

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FOCUSING ON THE POOR

Like every human organization the Church is constantly in danger of corruption. As soon as power and wealth come to the Church, manipulation, exploitation, misuse of influence, and outright corruption are not far away.

How do we prevent corruption in the Church? The answer is clear: by focusing on the poor. The poor make the Church faithful to its vocation. When the Church is no longer a church for the poor, it loses its spiritual identity. It gets caught up in disagreements, jealousy, power games, and pettiness. Paul says, "God has composed the body so that greater dignity is given to the parts which were without it, and so that there may not be disagreements inside the body but each part may be equally concerned for all the others"(1 Corinthians 12:24-25). This is the true vision. The poor are given to the Church so that the Church as the body of Christ can be and remain a place of mutual concern, love, and peace.

Henri Nouwen Society

WHY WOULD ANYONE WANT TO BE A CHRISTIAN?

Most people don't want to be a Christian and shouldn't unless they are willing to take a radical stand, which requires a strong unshakable faith, generous spirit and a mission-oriented mind driven by agape love. Hopefully, by using the above title I have got both the Christian and non-Christian to read my opening paragraph.

In saying what I have, I am not referring to the type of religion that today perpetuates the brand of religious broadcasting that attempts to get into your pocketbooks and wallets, or the often too boring irrelevant church services that many times promote judgmentalism based on ingrained doctrines and churchisms.

Some of the things which initially kept me from wanting to associate with a church, are those within the church walls that are judgmental, arrogant, narrow-minded, bigoted, hypocritical, and brainwashed. And for quite some time I didn't want to deal with the political baggage most churches seem to deal with.

Now, I hope I haven't discouraged anyone who is seriously considering joining a church. It is not my purpose, in saying what I have, to persuade you in any one direction, other than to say I would only like to share with you some insights I have as the result of my journey so far. I have benefited from the mistakes of others and the dead ends they and I have found ourselves in. And if I can, in any way, help you to keep from making similar mistakes that is what I would like to do by way of this short epistle.

Reading the thoughts of others helped me to reduce my ignorance and put aside prejudice. In college I was able to ingest a wide variety of ideas from novels, essays and various forms of literary work. This resulted in me being able to put aside years of ignorance and prejudice instilled in me by church, school, and heavily indoctrinated minds. I was taught to not trust or associate with those from other religious beliefs for fear of losing my grasp on what I was taught to be "the light."

However, I was learning a new equation that included the elements of caring, giving, serving, and sacrificing. This new equation was not concerned with worship services, or any other forms of religiosity. What I saw was a race that was spiritually sick and in need of healing. A race that was suffering from ignorance. A race divided and violent, needing to learn kinder ways when dealing with community. And a race being oppressed by corrupt powers, systems, and governments.

So now I need to ask the question, "Based on how the majority of Christians today are conducting themselves, and their interpretations of Christianity, would Jesus want to be a Christian?" The more I understand what Jesus was attempting to accomplish here on earth, the more I'm led to believe that what we claim is Christianity today has very little to do with his life and teachings. So would Jesus want to be a Christian if he was physically here today? I don't think so.

Then, because man has always proven by his actions just how ignorantly wrong and stupid he is, Jesus came with his profound and compact sermon: "Love God with your whole heart, soul, mind, and strength. And love your neighbor asyourself."

Why am I a Christian? Because I believe that Jesus has the only solution for saving the world from itself. History has shown us that mankind has been an unforgiving, ignorant-in-the-ways-of-God people for most of this earth's history and no one can rescue us from ourselves except Jesus. We are a selfish, greedy, lustful, fearful, prejudiced, apathetic, and ignorant species. And when I refer to Jesus as Savior, I mean that he is the only one that can save us from all of that.

Jesus is working hard to restore us, to lead us out of our ignorance, and to heal our hearts from all the evil the world tries to cram into them. And because the only one I still have any real confidence in is Jesus, I want to be part of what he is doing-not only his sharing of who he is but the commitment to physical labor that goes along with it. Jesus himself told us to not be hearers only but to be doers. That means you must get out of your pews and chairs in order to be his followers.

How do I look at myself in relation to the world-at-large? I want to share the kinds of blessings with the world that God gives me. God gets me beyond myself, not allowing me to develop any prejudices, exclusionary thinking, and keeps me from having even the slightest desire to participate in religious warring. Today's 100's of Protestant variations are the result of protesting frenzy, which by the way still goes on.

The protest frenzy created a market for religion. This now competitive religious market has created a mentality where each group advertises its own unique features, seeking customers of their products and services, something akin to a "God Mart." If you tune in you will hear them proclaiming their version of Christianity to be the purest, or the deepest, the one with the most light or all of the light, the most diverse, or perhaps the simplest to understand or most relaxing.

Unfortunately the side effects of this Protestant marketing of unique features include exaggerations and distortions, not to mention arrogance by putting the others down. Arrogance, if you've never noticed, does nothing to enhance one's spiritual life.

So, is there hope that all of this protesting against each other will someday stop? One of the best examples that it can comes from an ex-Communist who became a Christian pastor in Croatia. His emphasis is on restoration and tries to encourage us to move away from protesting each other and toward pro-testifying in love. Pastor Samir says that some of his friends had developed a "remnant" mentality and began to feel as if they were elite in some respect. He says that the faithful "remnant" are the ones who are "after God's own heart." They turn their hearts outward toward their brothers and sisters, and they do it in loyalty and faithfulness to God and their neighbor.

Could Samir's definition of the "faithful remnant" help us to stop our religious warring and move toward pro-testifying? What might Christianity be like if we did? With God's help we can answer that question, not by what we say but by how we live-and especially how we love our neighbor as ourself.

I used to be somewhat embarrassed that I write at times on theological topics with very little formal training in theology (1 ˝ years in seminary). However, I'm not as embarrassed anymore by my lack of "theological credentials," because I know that God has given me his credentials to guide me in my writing. My training has been mostly in literature and language arts, which has made me more sensitive to the drama and conflicts going on in the world. So even though my formal training was mainly in syntax and semantics, it gave me the training necessary to carefully choose the text and context within which to write what God has given me to share.

Allen StarkSpecial to ASSIST News Service

ATLANTIC, IOWA (ANS)

Sunday, October 31, 2010

WHY WOULD ANYONE WANT TO BE A CHRISTIAN?

Most people don't want to be a Christian and shouldn't unless they are willing to take a radical stand, which requires a strong unshakable faith, generous spirit and a mission-oriented mind driven by agape love. Hopefully, by using the above title I have got both the Christian and non-Christian to read my opening paragraph.

In saying what I have, I am not referring to the type of religion that today perpetuates the brand of religious broadcasting that attempts to get into your pocketbooks and wallets, or the often too boring irrelevant church services that many times promote judgmentalism based on ingrained doctrines and churchisms.

Some of the things which initially kept me from wanting to associate with a church, are those within the church walls that are judgmental, arrogant, narrow-minded, bigoted, hypocritical, and brainwashed. And for quite some time I didn't want to deal with the political baggage most churches seem to deal with.

Now, I hope I haven't discouraged anyone who is seriously considering joining a church. It is not my purpose, in saying what I have, to persuade you in any one direction, other than to say I would only like to share with you some insights I have as the result of my journey so far. I have benefited from the mistakes of others and the dead ends they and I have found ourselves in. And if I can, in any way, help you to keep from making similar mistakes that is what I would like to do by way of this short epistle.

Reading the thoughts of others helped me to reduce my ignorance and put aside prejudice. In college I was able to ingest a wide variety of ideas from novels, essays and various forms of literary work. This resulted in me being able to put aside years of ignorance and prejudice instilled in me by church, school, and heavily indoctrinated minds. I was taught to not trust or associate with those from other religious beliefs for fear of losing my grasp on what I was taught to be "the light."

However, I was learning a new equation that included the elements of caring, giving, serving, and sacrificing. This new equation was not concerned with worship services, or any other forms of religiosity. What I saw was a race that was spiritually sick and in need of healing. A race that was suffering from ignorance. A race divided and violent, needing to learn kinder ways when dealing with community. And a race being oppressed by corrupt powers, systems, and governments.

So now I need to ask the question, "Based on how the majority of Christians today are conducting themselves, and their interpretations of Christianity, would Jesus want to be a Christian?" The more I understand what Jesus was attempting to accomplish here on earth, the more I'm led to believe that what we claim is Christianity today has very little to do with his life and teachings. So would Jesus want to be a Christian if he was physically here today? I don't think so.

Then, because man has always proven by his actions just how ignorantly wrong and stupid he is, Jesus came with his profound and compact sermon: "Love God with your whole heart, soul, mind, and strength. And love your neighbor asyourself."

Why am I a Christian? Because I believe that Jesus has the only solution for saving the world from itself. History has shown us that mankind has been an unforgiving, ignorant-in-the-ways-of-God people for most of this earth's history and no one can rescue us from ourselves except Jesus. We are a selfish, greedy, lustful, fearful, prejudiced, apathetic, and ignorant species. And when I refer to Jesus as Savior, I mean that he is the only one that can save us from all of that.

Jesus is working hard to restore us, to lead us out of our ignorance, and to heal our hearts from all the evil the world tries to cram into them. And because the only one I still have any real confidence in is Jesus, I want to be part of what he is doing-not only his sharing of who he is but the commitment to physical labor that goes along with it. Jesus himself told us to not be hearers only but to be doers. That means you must get out of your pews and chairs in order to be his followers.

How do I look at myself in relation to the world-at-large? I want to share the kinds of blessings with the world that God gives me. God gets me beyond myself, not allowing me to develop any prejudices, exclusionary thinking, and keeps me from having even the slightest desire to participate in religious warring. Today's 100's of Protestant variations are the result of protesting frenzy, which by the way still goes on.

The protest frenzy created a market for religion. This now competitive religious market has created a mentality where each group advertises its own unique features, seeking customers of their products and services, something akin to a "God Mart." If you tune in you will hear them proclaiming their version of Christianity to be the purest, or the deepest, the one with the most light or all of the light, the most diverse, or perhaps the simplest to understand or most relaxing.

Unfortunately the side effects of this Protestant marketing of unique features include exaggerations and distortions, not to mention arrogance by putting the others down. Arrogance, if you've never noticed, does nothing to enhance one's spiritual life.

So, is there hope that all of this protesting against each other will someday stop? One of the best examples that it can comes from an ex-Communist who became a Christian pastor in Croatia. His emphasis is on restoration and tries to encourage us to move away from protesting each other and toward pro-testifying in love. Pastor Samir says that some of his friends had developed a "remnant" mentality and began to feel as if they were elite in some respect. He says that the faithful "remnant" are the ones who are "after God's own heart." They turn their hearts outward toward their brothers and sisters, and they do it in loyalty and faithfulness to God and their neighbor.

Could Samir's definition of the "faithful remnant" help us to stop our religious warring and move toward pro-testifying? What might Christianity be like if we did? With God's help we can answer that question, not by what we say but by how we live-and especially how we love our neighbor as ourself.

I used to be somewhat embarrassed that I write at times on theological topics with very little formal training in theology (1 ˝ years in seminary). However, I'm not as embarrassed anymore by my lack of "theological credentials," because I know that God has given me his credentials to guide me in my writing. My training has been mostly in literature and language arts, which has made me more sensitive to the drama and conflicts going on in the world. So even though my formal training was mainly in syntax and semantics, it gave me the training necessary to carefully choose the text and context within which to write what God has given me to share.

Allen StarkSpecial to ASSIST News Service

ATLANTIC, IOWA (ANS)

Sunday, October 31, 2010

GOING TO THE MARGINS OF THE CHURCH

Those who are marginal in the world are central in the Church, and that is how it is supposed to be! Thus we are called as members of the Church to keep going to the margins of our society. The homeless, the starving, parentless children, people with AIDS, our emotionally disturbed brothers and sisters - they require our first attention.


We can trust that when we reach out with all our energy to the margins of our society we will discover that petty disagreements, fruitless debates, and paralysing rivalries will recede and gradually vanish. The Church will always be renewed when our attention shifts from ourselves to those who need our care. The blessing of Jesus always comes to us through the poor. The most remarkable experience of those who work with the poor is that, in the end, the poor give more than they receive. They give food to us.

Henri Nouwen Society

THREE THINGS

When I was crossing the Irish Channel one dark, starless night, I stood on the deck by the captain and asked him, “How do you know Holyhead Harbor on so dark a night as this?” He said, “You see those three lights? Those three must line up behind each other as one, and when we see them so united we know the exact position of the harbor’s mouth.”
When we want to know God’s will there are three things which always concur: the inward impulse, the Word of God, and the trend of circumstances!
God in the heart, impelling you forward;
God in His book corroborating whatever He says in the heart;
and God in circumstances, which are always indicative of His will.
Never start until these three things agree.

F. B. Meyer

EXCITING RESCUE

We all remember how the the 33 miners in Chile were entombed over 2,000 feet in the "bowels" of the earth for 69 days—17 of which were in total darkness—millions worldwide anxiously waited to see if they would be rescued. Can you imagine the terror that these men (and their loved ones) must have experienced—not knowing if they would live or die ... and how they all felt after they were rescued? Prayers around the world were offered on their behalf.


When the miners finally were in contact with the surface, Luis Urzúa, the miner who helped hold the miners together, said to the Chilean president: "Mr. President, we need you to be strong and to rescue us as soon as possible. Don't abandon us."

President Piñera said "the whole world can learn from the rescue operation. The Chilean government was committed to finding the men alive and rescuing them 'from the very first day.' He thanked the US government, the Canadian government, the Australian government, and many other governments around the world [for their help]."

"The rescue cost between $10m and $20m," Piñera said. Obviously, no cost was spared in this rescue operation!

What an exciting outpouring of love, concern, and commitment by thousands of people worldwide praying, giving, and so many working tirelessly around the clock until every miner was brought to safety and his life saved.

Thank God that they were not abandoned!

I couldn't help but compare the total commitment to the saving of these 33 miners to the lack of commitment by so many churches and Christians about the millions of people who are trapped in a far deeper canyon of sin—and doomed to a lost eternity in Hell without any hope of rescue unless there is a much greater outpouring of loving commitment, sacrifice and tireless work by churches and Christians who care enough to bring them to Jesus—their only hope of being rescued and saved—for all eternity!

Tragically, not all by any means, but so many of our churches spend $-millions on building fancy buildings that are used only for a few hours a week—a practice that no secular business could justify—and spend most of their income on programs that minister to themselves while, in comparison, such a small percentage is spent on home and overseas missions, and even less on local evangelism.

In one church where I used to be a member, our annual budget was just under a million dollars while our budget for evangelism was a paltry $1800. In another church where I was teaching on outreach, I was told that they didn't even have a budget for evangelism. In the past nine years, in my own church, I can't remember when I saw the last adult being baptized as a result of his/her coming to Christ.

In my early days of ministry I was the pastor of a small church in Michigan and had a conviction that it was part of our calling to share the gospel with every family in our area of responsibility. Come winter, summer, spring, fall, rain, snow, or freezing cold we never missed one weekly outreach visitation night. I believe the same principle applies to every local evangelical church today. With modern means of communication this task has never been simpler. If we, the Church, don't reach our communities for Christ, who will?


Will we leave it to the Muslims?

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ACTS INTERNATIONAL