The Changing Culture

            Times are different from what they once were. It used to be that everyone pretty much assumed everyone had good intentions. It used to be the case that you could leave you home and not lock the door, expecting fully that everything would be just the way you left it when you returned. It used to be assumed that when you got married you stayed married. It also used to be the case that everyone believe the Bible was from God, even if they didn't follow it and accept it. These days are passed, and it's time for us to realize it.

            The largest group inside of Christendom that has realized this is a movement called the Emerging Church Movement. This movement has some major flaws and as a whole is entirely heretical (many more details forthcoming). The problem is that when they are the only people addressing this situation (the change in culture) they get to dictate the response to it. It is time for the Lord's people to step up, acknowledge the change in culture, and figure out how to keep on sounding the unchanging message to the changing culture. If we fail to do this the others who teach a Gospel of full embrace of the culture, which is not really another Gospel, will continue to set the pace for those looking towards Christianity.

            What are some ways we can better understand our culture and address it? First of all, our culture is media saturated. Don't believe me? Internet, Sattalite HDTVs, IPhones, IPods, Laptops, Desktops, TV's in the car, TV's on airplanes, everywhere you turn you are hit hard with media. Our culture suffers from media overload. There is so much information thrown out that people cannot possibly take it all in. That being the case, they surely aren't going to give material a second glance if it is not presented in such a way as to catch their attention. We must find ways to utilize media and communicate God's message through it, instead of having an attitude that media is just bad. When you get down to it, words are media. The printed page of the Bible is media. If media is inherently bad then the Bible is inherently bad – none of us are going to say that are we?

            Second, we have to start addressing the questions people are asking. People today question whether or not truth exists. They question whether Jesus was a real person. They question whether or not the Bible is really God's word, or just a bunch of man's stories. They question the very concept of exclusion. All of these fundamental questions must be addressed. We have to start putting more effort into confronting these questions so that we can lead people to the One person they desperately need – Christ.

            Your challenge is to start thinking about the culture you live in. Instead of merely being upset about it, start thinking about how to reach it. What can you do to better communicate God's message to the culture where you live? How can you cut through the media fog with the crystal clear message of Christ?

Sow the Seed,

Caleb O'Hara

I'm Back

OK... So I've been a little behind on blogging (OK... A LOT!). Let's see if I can change that a bit.

Next week I will be speaking at the West Visalia Lectures. I'm addressing two topics: Evangelism in a Postmodern World, and Church Growth God's Way. These are two subjects I've spent a lot of time in so I'm excited, and scared, to be asked to present them. So much to say in so little time. The art of preaching is figuring out what not to say.

Here is the live feed to the lectures below.




Sow the Seed,
Caleb

Are You Seeking to Become a Disciple?

For some time now I have been slowly following the Emerging Church Movement. Time and space are not sufficient here to give a thorough evaluation of what it is, and the whole movement is based on being “vague” so they hate being defined. A man by the name of Brian McLaren really is the top spokesman for this movement (whether he or anyone else would admit it).

McLaren has created lots of disciples from people who have grown up around and/or been associated with the churches of Christ. McLaren has become a keynote speaker at many of our universities and lectureships that are ran by men saying the church has to “change.” How fitting that McLaren wrote a book called, “Everything Must Change.”

I don’t believe I could do justice in explaining the wide impact that McLaren and the Emerging Church Movement have had on the Lord’s church. But there is one area that I want to address. Notice this quote from a blogger who was commenting on a lecture he heard by Brian McLaren:

“Now, notice that [McLaren’s] not calling for isolation from the ‘denominations,’ but engagement. Rather than pull up our tents, we go out into the wider Christian world and call not for a restoration of the forms of the first century church, but for a restoration of a community of people who are seeking to become disciples of Christ.” (http://jphilwilson.blogspot.com/2007/10/brian-mclaren-churches-of-christ-and.html)

The area I really want to emphasis is this, “people who are seeking to become disciples of Christ.” Phrases like we are just “seeking to become disciples of Christ,” or “we are seeking to understand the Kingdom of God” are commonly heard by the emerging church folks.

The question is where in Scripture does it ever speak of “seeking to become a disciple?” You either become a disciple of Christ or you don’t. Jesus told His disciples (were they disciples or just seeking to become them?) to go and “make disciples.” Where did he ever go and tell His disciples (were they disciples?) to go and make people to be seekers of becoming disciples of Christ? Jesus says: “If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:26-27). Did Jesus say to try and carry your own cross? Did Jesus say to seek to come after me? Did Jesus say to seek to become a disciple? What nonsense. You either are a self-denying, cross carrying, disciple of Jesus Christ or you are not.

Add to that Matthew 13:52, “And Jesus said to them, ‘Therefore every scribe who has become a disciple of the kingdom of heaven.’” Did Jesus say every scribe who is seeking to become a disciple, or every scribe who HAS become a disciple of the kingdom! This rhetoric about seeking to understand the kingdom and seeking to become a disciple just shows the shallow depths of this movement. How much further away from the teaching of Christ can you get? All this movement is is another excuse to be your own Lord and be a disciple of self!

Let me summarize it for you like this. This is the gospel according to McLaren, “Go therefore until all the world and tell the Buddhist, Muslim, and devote Pagan, to seek to become a disciple of Jesus while truly just being devout in whatever else you believe.” McLaren says, “If any Buddhist, Muslim, or Devout Pagan wishes to come after me let me seek to deny himself when we wants, take up the cross he thinks he wants to bear, when he wants to bear it, and come after me if you feel like it and to the degree you want to understand it.”

I have more respect for the Buddhist who flat out denies the deity and Lordship of Christ, than I do for these men who claim Jesus and then say that they are just “seeking to become His disciple.” It’s time to get real about this and address it. It’s time for people to stop being disciples of McLaren while trying to become disciples of Jesus, and just make the commitment and be a disciple of Jesus!

Sow the Seed,
Caleb