Jason Russell and The Aweful Reality of this World.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last week and half, you would of seen the kony2012 video that went viral, shared your opinnion of it with friends or on a blog somewhere and probably heard the unfortunate news of Jason Russell’s very public breakdown. The kony2012 video is probably the most sucessful awareness campaign in the 21st century, using social media as the main tool to make the video go viral. Yet many people have come out and spoken against the video and the organisation ‘Invisible Children’, for all sorts of reasons and that has obviously taken its toll on Jason, the front man of the organisation.
We live in a very cruel and unforgiving world, that was made obvious to me even more so when I heard about Jason’s seriously public breakdown and no wonder he ended up losing it! The video on youtube so far has been viewed over 82 million times, I think it’s safe to say that up to 82 million people have watched this video, given their opinnion on it and not thought for a second longer about their verbal malice and how it effects people.
Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.
Proverbs 18:21
All his work and effort has come down to this video and so many have disregarded and mocked everything this video stands for. Therefore mocking all the work he has done in the last decade to make known the serious issue of child soldiers, particular in Uganda. We’ve judge him and the organisation as a manipulative group, seeking to scam us of our money, before we sought to find any evidence of that ‘truth’. The issue is not that these things arn’t true, it’s that the world would rather they be true and therefore they seek the evidence to make the their allegations true, instead of desiring the truth to come out itself. A sad reality of human nature, we don’t care for what is just.
The result of our criticism has been the destruction of a good man. And even now many continue to laugh and mock, to revel his fall. The world does not care for his wellbeing because it makes great news, it makes us feel so much better, wiser and more sensible than him. We would rather hear about a man losing his mind and acting crazy, taking joy in his great sorrow, to make us feel good, rather than hearing of a man desiring to stop child soldiers and a man spending the last 10 years to give kids a chance of having a life outside of slavery.
Dont try and draw my opinnion of the video from this post, this is not about the video but about the reaction to it. I do wish I was more discerning when I first watched it and have my own theological qualms with the video, but I need to be so careful! in the way I approach my criticism, I HAVE to be loving and caring and thoughtful in the way I question and debate. Look what happens when we argue criticise without being mindful of those things..
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
2 Corinthians 12:9
We live in an evil world and Jason has experienced the full force of that reality and that is a sad thing to witness. That is why I pray for Jason and his family, why my church prays for Jason and his family, that as a fellow brother in Christ! He will go to Jesus, that he would know that he is a dearly loved child of God and that in everything, he would know that Christ work on the cross is sufficient for him. I don’t know what happens from here, because reality is we are in a sinful world and whilst we are justified NOW and made righteous NOW, we won’t be fully restored till the day of Christ return. So one thing I know I ought to be praying and hope Jason and his family are praying is this.
Come Lord Jesus Come.
Peace only comes through Christ
Last week I had a car accident, it wasn’t a bad accident, nobody was hurt and the cars weren’t that badly damaged (mine was worse off though.) What made it bad was the fact I had no insurance and because I was at fault I had to pay for both my car’s repairs and the person’s car I hit…It feels as if my creditcard took on most of the damage haha…wait, no I suppose it literally did. It was in that instance though that I A) knew I wasn’t going to be able to afford Thailand trip anymore due to the cost of the repairs and other debt I already had and B) Needed to trust God, that he would get me through this.
I felt that life couldnt be more stressful right now with trying to figure how I’m going to pay off my creditcard debt and car loan and then afford to live etc but the accident brought about a need of reliance on God. Right now I needed to rely more than ever on him, to get me through this and it is through reading his word and devoting myself in prayer I have found peace.
“Sorrowful, yet Always Rejoicing”
2 Conrithians 6:10
You see when we come before Christ our troubles and our worries can be placed on him and it is by coming to him we see the bigger picture. That God has done everything in Jesus, so that we can experience his love and goodness and glorify him because he is our everlasting joy! And it is in his presence that we can know peace. It’s not a physical peace, yet, whilst we may get to experience such a peace on some sort of level it is not something that will be sustained for eternity until the 2nd coming. The peace we can now definitely experience is the sobering thought of our hope being assured in Christ, so that in our tears of sorrow we can cry to out to Jesus with Joy and when the worries of life come before us we can stand firm and look to Christ and the hope we have in him and keep walking with Jesus.
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition present your request to God and the peace of God, which trascends all understanding, will guard your minds and your hearts in Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 4:6-7
It’s when you expereince hardship do you really learn how much you need to rely on God and it’s not until you come before God with your problems and seek after his exaltation you see how insignificant your problems are compared to what sustains you in Christ Jesus and thats where you will find peace, for you are living for the true, living God who is more powerful than any of your problems.
My prayer is that I would continue to lay before God my worries and be reminded of his faithfulness displayed ultimately in that of Christ Jesus and seek Joy! in the fulfillment of that promise, knowing no matter my current situation I have an assured hope in Jesus.
SO my best mate is currently on exchange in Sweden! crazy! here is a link to his blog, where he will be posting awesome pictures of sights and his happenings while he is there. Im so jealous right now…
Me on Clifton beach, 10m from where we are staying.
Port Douglas, Queensland.
In theology one must simply hear, believe and firmly hold: ‘God is faithful, no matter how absurd what he says in his word may appear to our reason’
If our preaching is always expository and for edification and teaching it will produce church members who are hard and cold, and often harsh and self-satisfied. I do not know of anything that is more likely to produce a congregation of Pharisees than that.
The Landmark Forum
Anyone heard of this? My boss won’t stop plugging it to me and telling me how great it is! About how it changed his life and how it’s all about reconnecting with your family and finding purpose in this life. I was heaps skeptical at first and still am now.
Landmark, only from what I have heard, seem to teach how you can live a better life now by living for others. Thats the summary I seem to be getting, the principal is great! And the things that seem to come out of are great! But what it gives is not eternal, it cannot be trusted to provide entire fulfillment and it won’t save us from our sins.
The problem with progams like Landmark is that they seem insinuate that changing your life for good, now makes right all the wrong you have done. Once again this is insinuated not said, the fact that they encourage you to lead a better life now by facing the harshness of your own past and moving forward, is suppose to make you feel like you are tieing off the past, the past no longer has any bearing on your life. The reality is it does, it has an eternal bearing and unless Christ comes into your life and you repent, the past, no matter how much you have move forward and away from it, will always catch up to.
Becoming a good person is not a enough to pay for our sins, no one is good not even one. These programs can be lethal to the soul, only Christ can set us free, only he can justify our sin, for he has taken it upon himself and taken the punishment already. Finding life now is a matter of submitting and enjoying that freedom and grace, not demeaning it by trying to find justification else where.
Erasing Hell
If you want a book to read that combines an appropriate (not too wordy) theology and exegetical study of hell with the purpose of showing you that such a study should awaken a deep sense of urgency to tell others about Jesus, then this book is for you! If thats not what you are looking for in a book on Hell, then this book is really really really written for you!
Erasing Hell by Francis Chan, is one of those books that challenge the reader to not just think deeper on this subject, but to understand that this is a touche subject and very serious one. Where not just dealing with a doctrine, but with the lives of many who do not know Jesus and so studying hell, should lead us to not just be thinking but feeling what Hell means, which is why Francis and a friend of his launch a theological study on hell, putting to test the most recognised doctrines for hell against what scripture says on it so the reader can be assured of what the implications are for those who do end up there. If you are wondering, this is basically a direct response to Rob Bell’s book ‘Love Wins’. In which Francis does quote from and discuss.
This was definitely an inspiring read for me, a burden at times, as I was faced with having to deal with the reality of God’s ways and how he deals with those who do not repent, but such was a good for me, reigniting a sense of urgency that should be there and changing my own culture on why I read scripture.
A great read! (and not to long, took me 4 days) I recommend it.
Do you learn, because you Love?
I was watching Francis Chan preach about how it is good to ‘think hard’ on scripture but questioned are we staying humble at the same time. Francis encourage’s us that thinking hard on scripture, learning it and understanding it, should only be driven by love and he posed the question “Do you learn, because you love?” It is something I have always struggled with, l ‘love’ reading theology and growing in knowledge of God but it seems I have struggled to connect my love of learning, towards love of people, something that cannot be separated. Understanding theology should not only make us more in love in God, but as Francis quotes Paul, it should make us feel ‘unceasing anguish’ for those who do not know Christ and lead us in love for them. Many christians and I myself see only the goodness of growing as a christian reading theology, putting in lots of time to study scripture, so we can know it and be encourage by it. Not many people see as I believe Francis suggesting, the burden of knowing the gospel, the burden it is to know the truth. How can we read things like Romans 9 and not be filled with sorrow and anguish for those who do not know Christ. We in our knowledge of theology, know That this is true, if people don’t turn to Christ and repent, then they will be eternally punished and suffer. Does that not bother us? Are we not moved to action from hearing such words? Do we not suffer ourselves knowing its too late for some of our loved ones already?! “I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying, my conscience confirms it through the Holy Spirit—I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people, those of my own race” Romans 9:1-3 Paul loves People doesn’t he. We look at Paul as someone who has such an amazing, if not the greatest understanding of theology a man can have and yet that understanding has not lead him to think he is better than others, it has not lead him to being a unloving critic. Instead, a beautiful understanding of the truth has burden him to the point of ‘unceasing anguish’ that would give up his salvation for the sake of another because he loves People. There is great burden waiting for any christian who wishes to explore the theology of God, however that burden should be seen as an awakening of the reality we live in. God is holy and no one will be able to escape that. There are people I know and care about who don’t know Christ, what will I do with the great truth I know, does it puff me up and make me a proud and unloving critic, or am I so burdened with the reality and truth of theology that I will not stop at anything for my friends and loved ones to hear the gospel, because I am driven by love, I see these people and I love them, so much so, that I will risk the anguish and pain of losing them, for they might know Christ..Am I going to be like this? Are you going to be like this?
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