Thirty minutes from now, at noon at the National Press Club in Washington DC, one-hundred and twenty-five Orthodox, Catholic and Evangelical leaders will be holding a press conference on their signing of what is being called “The Manhattan Declaration.”  (I see it as today equivalent of the Barmen Declaration which was penned by Karl Barth and Dietrich Bonhoeffer in the early days of Hitler’s Germany as a statement of the Confessing Church’s opposition to the regime.)

The Manhattan Declaration, which will be online at noon today at this link, was penned by Chuck Colson and others. The 4,700-word declaration issues a clarion call to Christians to adhere to their convictions and informs civil authorities that the signers will not – under any circumstance – abandon their Christian consciences. 

Among the signers of the Manhattan Declaration scheduled to appear at the press conference are:

• Robert George, McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence, Princeton University
• Donald William Wuerl, Archbishop of Washington, Diocese of Washington, D.C.
• Harry Jackson Jr., Bishop, Hope Christian Church
• Justin Rigali, Archbishop of Philadelphia, Diocese of Philadelphia
• Timothy George, Professor, Beeson Divinity School at Samford University
• Chuck Colson, Founder, The Chuck Colson Center for Christian Worldview
• Ron Sider, Professor, Palmer Theological Seminary and Director of the Seminary’s Sider Center on Ministry & Public Policy
• George Weigel, Distinguished Senior Fellow, Ethics and Public Policy Center and Founding President of the James Madison Foundation
• Tony Perkins, President, Family Research Council
• Jim Daly, President and CEO, Focus on the Family

Excerpts from the declaration include:

• “We are Christians who have joined together across historic lines of ecclesial differences to affirm our right – and, more importantly, to embrace our obligation – to speak and act in defense of these truths.  We pledge to each other, and to our fellow believers, that no power on earth, be it cultural or political, will intimidate us into silence or acquiescence.”
• “We recognize the duty to comply with laws whether we happen to like them or not, unless the laws are gravely unjust or require those subject to them to do something unjust or otherwise immoral.”
• “. . . We will not comply with any edict that purports to compel our institutions to participate in abortions, embryo-destructive research, assisted suicide and euthanasia or any other anti-life act; nor will we bend to any rule purporting to force us to bless immoral sexual partnerships, treat them as marriage or the equivalent or refrain from proclaiming the truth, as we know it, about morality and immorality and marriage and the family.”

Here’s a clip from Chuck Colson’s Two Minute warning program where he talks about the Manhattan Declaration.

The names on Barth/Bonhoeffer’s Barmen Declaration became an early enemy hit list for the Nazis. Barth had to leave Germany immediately.

Two questions for discussion here: 1) Do you see us heading in the direction of benevolent despotism as Tocqueville prophesied for America? 2) Are we in “the days of a prelude to a totalitarian government” with religious liberty being the first freedom to be taken away?

Despite the fact that eighteen months have gone by, two weeks ago I absorbed yet another blow for refusing to join those who were critical of the Lakeland Outpouring. It’s not that I didn’t see anything about it I didn’t like – I frequently said if it was my “outpouring” I’d change about six things. But I sensed the Lord didn’t want me in the seat of scoffers. And because I stood where I stood, Todd Bentley’s sin became a black eye for me too.

With that in mind you’d think I’d hesitate to be one of the first to lend my enthusiasm to what has been transpiring at IHOP in KC since last Wednesday. And, in case you are wondering, I won’t hide my connections there. Kristen and I are from Kansas City – we enjoyed and were later hurt by things that unfolded during our time at Kansas City Fellowship in the 80’s. We left it all and came back.  We’ve paid a high price even in the last couple years for our refusal to distance ourselves from there. My son Caleb is in his second year of a four year program in the Bible school there. I’m delighted he is part of what they are now calling the IHOPU Student Awakening. He’s been deeply touched. Yesterday, at work, he led a witch to Jesus. I’m thankful, and confident he’s on the right track.

Last week, yet another letter was written criticizing Church at the Gate and my connection to IHOP. Nothing new. Nothing I haven’t heard before or that I wasn’t personally involved with in the 80’s. It was the typical stuff… I heard from a friend who has a relative who lives in Kansas City who has a friend who went to an IHOP event… And, then people who probably struggle to pray one hour a week start in criticizing a man who prays ten hours a day.

Before you jump to conclusions about IHOP-KC, think about this… just like IHOP-KC (10 yrs of 24/7 prayer), and the Moravians in Herrnhut, Germany (120 yrs of 24/7 prayer, starting in AD 1727), and the 3000 Celtic monks in Bangor, Ireland (300 years of 24/7 prayer, starting in AD 555), etc., let’s imagine that your little circle of Christians started praying twenty-four hours a day, seven-days-a-week and this went on for ten years seamlessly. Now, reflect on these questions:

1. Do you think your group would look different than it does right now?  If so, how so?
2. Do you think your group would stand out and be criticized by Christians who have no grid for what they see happening in your group?
3. Would parents of students involved have concern that their son or daughter spending four hours a day in the prayer room is cult-like?
4. Do you think your group would develop it’s own vocabulary that is foreign to those not a part of it?
5. During these extended times in God’s presence, do you think God would underscore stuff in Scripture that is outside what your circle of Christianity presently views as orthodoxy?
6. Has “evangelicalism” produced what God wants in the last fifty years? We are known by our fruits.
7. What will it look like when spiritual awakening hits our college campuses?

Remember, a fanatic is one who loves Jesus more than you.

What is happening at IHOP-KC is God. We are agreed that the level of zeal for the Lord on display there far surpasses what what is normal in evangelicalism.

Let me make my point visually. I first thought to do this cartoon a couple years ago when someone commented to me — “I hear Church at the Gate is pretty radical.” I chucked and said, “Compared to what? Compared to the Bible? Hardly. Despite my wholehearted labor these past fifteen years, the Bible calls for a far more radical devotion yet.” I titled the cartoon – Is Church at the Gate radical?

I’m going to start posting some on the IHOPU Student Awakening.  I snuck down there (Nov. 2-4) during the Global Bridegroom Fast to see my son Caleb who is a second year student at IHOPU. My drive home was one of the strongest times I’ve been with the Lord in a long time. It was hard to come home. ((I also went to KC to see my brother who has been in a battle for his eyesight. He was prayed for twice at IHOP while I was there and was delivered of a spirit of self-hatred at an IHOP Joseph Company meeting there on Saturday.))

This first post I’ll just paste the statement on the Awakening found on their website. My commentary on all of this will start in a subsequent post.  I’ll also embed a video clip of Wes Hall who gives context to what has been happening there.

On November 11, during a 9:00am class of first-year students, led by Allen Hood and Wes Hall at International House of Prayer University (IHOPU), the Spirit moved in their midst with physical healings, deliverance, and a spirit of joy. That class, on November 11, continued for more than 15 hours. The word spread quickly, and over 2,000 people spontaneously gathered in the auditorium from all over the Kansas City area, as deliverance and physical healings increased. The meeting continued well past midnight. Recognizing that the Spirit was moving, the leadership of IHOPU canceled all classes for the next few days so that we could gather to receive all that the Spirit wanted to do.

We recognize that the Holy Spirit is awakening our students and many others. In each of these meetings, many people are being set free from addictions, shame, depression, demonic activity, and every sort of emotional pain. We are also witnessing an increase of physical healings, as God is touching and restoring bodies inside the building, as well as healing people watching via the webstream. Moreover, we greatly rejoice as we are seeing lost souls being added to the kingdom of God during these meetings. We are receiving many testimonies and reports that this move of the Spirit is spreading to other churches and prayer rooms that are joining with us each night via the webstream.

It all began on November 4, on the last day of the monthly Global Bridegroom Fast at the International House of Prayer of Kansas City (IHOP–KC). A move of the Holy Spirit began to stir during the student chapel at IHOPU, as students testified about receiving deliverance from self-hatred, shame, and depression. Students began to experience supernatural joy at the revelation of God’s love for them. A powerful spirit of joy rested on many the next day at the IHOPU student-led 6:00am prayer meeting, and the Spirit continued to move throughout the week in our classes and during the faculty meetings.

What started during our IHOPU student chapel on November 4 is continuing today. Visitors are pouring in from many places, with some driving over 1,000 miles overnight to participate in these meetings. Consequently, on November 12, we moved the Prayer Room to our Forerunner School of Ministry sanctuary from 6:00pm to midnight each night, to accommodate more people. We will continue these nightly meetings as the Holy Spirit leads us. We earnestly pray that this awakening will continue, as our nation is in desperate need of another great awakening in this hour.

Throughout history, college and university campuses in our nation have been an epicenter and a catalyst for spiritual awakening. Since the 1700s, our nation has witnessed multiple moves of the Holy Spirit that have touched and awakened students on college campuses, including Princeton University, Yale University, Asbury College, Wheaton College, and more than a dozen other college campuses. These spiritual awakenings often progressed beyond the campuses and resulted in a great number of souls being added to the kingdom of God. History also attests to a strong correlation between spiritual awakening and missionary movements. We pray that this spiritual awakening that is touching IHOPU and the rest of our IHOP–KC Missions Base will break out all over our nation in different cities.

Here’s the video.

For those who are not used to seeing a grown man heave and twitch under the power of God, I’ll point you to my friend Randy Bohlender’s blog this morning where he notes this is God because that isn’t typical for Wes. In the Book of Acts, the only grid people had to process when they saw people affected by the weighty presence of God was to conclude they must be drunk.

Most of the time I keep this stuff inside and share it with God and maybe a few others. I feel like being honest here though. We picked a Sunday here in November as a 100% Sunday where we challenged each person to invite one person that day.  Deliberately (because of all the H1N1 buzz), we called it E1R1 (each one reach one) and have been building it up for a few weeks.

I heard a story about a gal who told her friend that all she wants for her birthday is for her to come to church with her. I know there are people who burn with the burden of God for this lost world.  Most however, don’t care. I’ve been asking God for a church full of people who get it – people who are radical for Jesus. We’ve been in a Keith Green season again at our home. Two plus decades ago his music cemented my wife and I on a different path than most take. Please, please listen to this song.

Do you see, do you see all the people sinking down? Don’t you care, don’t you care? Are you gonna let them drown?

How can you be so numb, not to care if they come? You close your eyes and pretend the job’s done.

“Oh bless me Lord, bless me Lord” You know it’s all I ever hear. No one aches, no one hurts. No one even sheds one tear.

But He cries, He weeps, He bleeds and He cares for your needs. And you just lay back and keep soaking it in. Oh, can’t you see it’s such a sin?

Cause He brings people to you door, and you turn them away
As you smile and say, “God bless you, be at peace” And all heaven just weeps cause Jesus came to your door You’ve left him out on the streets

Open up open up and give yourself away You see the need, you hear the cries So how can you delay

God’s calling and you’re the one But like Jonah you run
He’s told you to speak But you keep holding it in, Oh can’t you see it’s such a sin?

The world is sleeping in the dark That the church just can’t fight Cause it’s asleep in the light. How can you be so dead
when you’ve been so well fed? Jesus rose from the grave and you, you can’t even get out of bed

Oh, Jesus rose from the dead. Come on, get out of your bed

How can you be so numb not to care if they come
You close your eyes and pretend the job’s done
You close your eyes and pretend the job’s done

Don’t close your eyes
Don’t pretend the jobs done
Come away, come away, come away with Me my love,
Come away, from this mess, come away with Me, my love.

In our kids department they gave out soda pop on E1R1 Sunday to kids who brought a friend and the other departments got creative with incentives.  We talked about pizza coupons or whatever for adults who invite others.  We ended up giving out free loaves of bread from Great Harvest Bread Co. to our 150 visitors. Even so,,, honestly, I’ve been somewhat unsettled about this special weekend…

Does it really take pop and pizza to get people to obey God’s Word and be contagious with their faith?  God have mercy on us.

Also on the table is a Comedy Night maybe in February. It’s a proven outreach event other growing churches have used to connect with people who wouldn’t otherwise come on Sunday. I’ve been praying about it.

It’ll be a great event.  I can make a case that we need to enter into the joy of the Lord and that people need hope and life and the uplift.  There is enough negative out there already, people need encouragement and a nite on the lighter side may be just what the doctor ordered. But here’s what’s in my spirit— these are days for the faithful remnant to weep before the Lord in repentance, not days to laugh. I’m open to dialog here on this, however my sense is you don’t want to be laughing when the Lord isn’t laughing. Yesterday I preached from James 4:9 “Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom.” These are days to rend our hearts and return to the Lord.

We deserve judgment not pizza and God is justified in the judgments that are on the horizon. Look at the nation and the state of the church.  Look at the state of your heart.  And here we are thinking about Comedy Nights begging and cajoling overfed people to do 101-level stuff – like show up and bring  someone who doesn’t know Jesus.

Maybe this is coming off wrong – maybe you are thinking — looks like the pastor is having a hard day. No, the pastor has been in prayer all week and senses a gravity from the throne room about the hour in which we live. It’s time for the all night prayer meetings to be packed out again and for those who get it to weep before the Lord and seek his mercy. The church has gone from casseroles to pizza and the Lord is justified to dish up some judgment.

E1N1 UPDATE: E1N1 was a success at CATG. We had salvations in every service. This morning my Twitter and Facebook is littered with comments emitting zeal for what God did. Here’s a sampling…

Nate Nowak pray for r youth god is up to something last to sundays god has shown up its awesome

Amy L Prins Please pray that what was done tonight will not be snatched up by the enemy

Andrew Campbell campbells are buying goats for christmas! epic!

Caleb Hickey Just preached the gospel to a witch that called in to God TV. She got accepted the Lord! Thank you Jesus!

Jared Dupert Burn has been amazing! Bring on the explosion at Church at the Gate God. We are hungry for it!

Amy L Prins Church was amazing God worked in ways I was not expecting-I pray there was some deliverance thanks Ashley and pastor D

Tyler Carr amazing night at Youth Group

Kaitlyn Hickey Jesus is pretty freaking amazing

Liz Hansen Jesus is not the means to an end, He IS the End….Do we want God? Or do we want what He can give us? God will never give us something that will replace Him in our hearts. Thanks, Pastor Hickey, for an awesome Sunday message!!! Go God!

Caleb Hickey Things i am thankful for: renewal, that witch getting saved, a good night at NHOP, and all the tre moore vomit stories

Mary Elston Boen I’m so thankful for our church and the people who offer help w/out is asking for it! Truly grateful…

Kaitlyn Hickey is at church if you’re not well then you should be

Also, there are many many comments about the exciting day of football yesterday. Thank God for the simple pleasures too.  However, do your simple pleasures replace Him in your heart and keep/pull you from having a zeal for the house of the Lord? Reflecting on this I couldn’t resist sending out this Tweet a couple hours ago…

Did the Colts play? So I hear. God is moving- evrything else is boring, a vapor, placebo. Time2 prophesy 2packd stadiums

At lunch today I dove into my latest issue of Mission Frontiers – Mission Frontiers comes every other month from the US Center for World Mission.  I’ve read it cover to cover since the 80’s.  Today my attention was drawn to an article called “His Kingdom Come: An Integrated Approach to Discipling the Nations and Fulfilling the Great Commission.”

The article reviews a book by the same title - the book is a collection of 30 articles written by YWAM’s senior leadership team.  I LOVE reading how the 30 senior leaders of YWAM are saying the great commission is bigger than individual conversions.  After all, Jesus said “GO and make disciples of nations…” Sadly we have conveniently read that to only mean we are to disciple individuals in all the nations.  The late Dr. Ralph Winter was “ecstatic” about this current thinking at YWAM and he commented:

I am very excited about this book. It is important evidence of a major organization turning very gradually and definitely into a nation-building kingdom type of mission, in addition, of course to the ongoing stress on personal conversion.

No one is advocating downplaying personal conversion, only that we return to the mandate to disciple nations. Discipling nations is the mission of the church. It’s what the Founders of our nation did – 27 of the 56 signers of the Declaration had seminary degrees, many were ordained ministers.  These men laid a righteous foundation under our nation that we have since shifted away from. Today the nation is being discipled  by (called to follow) those who don’t know God and in fact, are hostile to him.

How do you disciple a nation with a nation of churches convinced they should stay separate from state? The leaders of YWAM are spot on – being salt isn’t about just about getting someone to say a sinner’s prayer, it’s about influencing culture and coming alongside those who shape society, including those who make laws.

I contend it’s impossible to disciple a nation and not be political. The leaven of the Kingdom must permeate every sphere of society (the loaf); media and entertainment, education, medicine, law, government, family, charity, agriculture, environment, and business.

On Sunday I shared out loud some of my latest thoughts on this… Would I rather have 700 people sitting there staring at me each weekend taking in my latest inspirational idea that will help their private faith in Christ? Or, would I rather have seven people from our church occupying seats at our state legislature or school board or city council? I know it doesn’t have to be either/or, but right now it is one and not the other - the church is disengaged.  So, how about you— in terms of discipling nations– those seven seats in the state legislature just may bring more kingdom transformation in a region than all the seats in our largest church auditoriums.

2010 will be a good year for the righteous to win elections – pastors should encourage key people in their congregations to run for office. “When the righteous rule, the people rejoice.” (Prov. 29:2) I’m sharing this not out of anger or frustration but rather out of vision. My sense is what lies ahead will require Kingdom-minded people at the table where decisions are made.  We can continue to curse the darkness or we can embody the light in our nation.

The Muslims have the momentum on the dominion of the earth right now and we don’t want that for our kids future. Some say its too late because Christianity for most amounts to not much more than sitting in church each weekend looking at the back of the head of the guy in front of you. The salt has lost it’s saltiness and we wonder why we are getting trampled.

Here is the first article for a monthly Spiritual Dimensions of Wellness column I’ve been asked to start writing for a Natural Health monthly magazine called “Home Cures That Work.”

I’m very excited about this as the audience is not church folk. Pray for this opportunity. I’ve been given full liberty to talk about Jesus, quote the Bible, give people true hope and a link will be included back to the prayer request area of our church website.

This month the focus is discouragement and depression. Next month the focus is stress and anxiety.

Discouragement and depression are directly related to hope, or the lack thereof. Hope is a belief in a positive outcome related to events and circumstances in one’s life. Those who hope in nothing outside themselves have little to grab onto to pull them out of discouragement. Even putting our hope in other people is an inconsistent source of strength because people are just people. Those who put their faith in God find they aren’t tossed about when life turns sour. Jesus spoke of trusting in him to be like building a house on a rock and those who do, find themselves standing after the storm passes.

Isolation is an enemy. People are all the time wondering what their purpose in life is or what the will of God is for their life. One thing is for certain, God made us social beings and therefore it is not God’s will that we wander through life alone. Even introverts are wired for meaningful human interaction. Studies show that babies who are touched and loved have fewer health problems than babies who lie alone in orphanage cradles. The need for others is not something we out grow. It may seem like this point fits better in an article on the social dimensions of wellness, but this is ultimately a spiritual dimension because we are created to relate to God and others.

The solutions are to find a community (a small group at a church for example) of people who share your values and beliefs and be open with them. Find a place where you don’t have to fake it. It is important to surround yourself with positive people and seek out those who emit joy. But, transparency is more important than a superficial happy-clappy environment. The Bible says “rejoice with those who rejoice and mourn with those who mourn.” In other words, whatever you are feeling at the moment is valid and we need others to be with us in those moments.

A frequent phrase in the Bible to the discouraged is “take heart.” There are encouraging things to embrace even when the chips are down. First, it is encouraging to know that even those we celebrate today as spiritual giants knew well “the dark night of the soul.” Though never fun, these are refining times intended by God to make us stronger and take us into deeper places of usefulness to him. Not one ounce of pain is wasted in God’s economy. We can take heart that what we can only see as bad, God will use for good. It’s when we reach the point of weakness that his strength is able to manifest in our lives. Really, we have to get out of the way and hitting these low points are indications we are in good position for his help.

The Book of Psalms contains the whole gamut of human emotion and many who find themselves in the up and down swings connect with psalm writers like David. In Psalm 42:5 he laments “Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me?” He speaks of being in mourning and how “deep calls to deep at the sound of thy waterfalls; all thy breakers and thy waves have rolled over me.” But each of these honest moments lead to a reality beyond what we are feeling – that God is there and God is inclined to those who are discouraged. One man in our church regularly struggles with depression and he’s tried everything and his testimony is nothing worked until he started reading and praying the Psalms each day, out loud. One a day and this thing started to lift off of him.

In the fall of 2002, my father was tragically killed in an accident on a road near my home. This sent me into a season where I couldn’t even drive at night because I’d keep imagining people in the road. I didn’t feel like smiling for the better part of a year. Every email my father sent me the last few years of his life was signed off which these two words: “Chin Up!” One day I wrote those two words on a note card with this verse written underneath: “[God is] the lifter of my head” (Psalm 3:3). Everyday it was like the voice of two fathers encouraging me. The world started to take on color again for me. For sure we all have different views of God, but this is who I have discovered him to be – the lifter of my head. A good place to start is to pray – God, reveal yourself to me as the Lifter of my Head.

Church at the Gater Annie Johnson tells the world – Jesus heals! She’s such an inspiration. (Sorry I had to resort to a link, I couldn’t get the video to load.)

KELOLAND.COM – A Story Of Survival

This is also another win for adult stem cells. There have been NO cures or benefits uncovered in ANY embryonic stem cell research EVER!

My friend of more than two decades Bob Smietana, religion reporter for the Nashville Tennesean and for Christianity Today, noted a new article and book the other day on the poverty of modern Christian funerals.  Bob made the comment that one of his favorite writers is also a funeral home director and wondered what that said about him.  He was talking about Dr. Thomas G. Long, Candler School of Theology professor, and his new book, Accompany Them With Singing: The Christian Funeral, and this accompanying article in the Christian Century. I just ordered Long’s book but haven’t yet read it.

Aside from being one who laments the lack of theological and eschatological preciseness in the church today, my interest in this topic also comes as one who deals with death and funerals in some form every month either in the church I serve or as police chaplain in our city.  And, as many of you know, I’ve recently buried my beloved grandmother and both my parents.  Also, this summer I read N.T. Wright’s excellent (but not perfect) book Surprised By Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection and the Mission of the Church. I couldn’t agree more with what is being said by both Long and Wright.  Here are some important statements from the Christian Century article by Long:

These newer rituals, for all their virtues of freedom, simplicity and seeming festivity, are finally expressions of a corrupted understanding of the Christian view of death….

If Christian funerals today are impoverished, we must look primarily to the church’s own history… The fact is that many educated Christians in the late 19th century, the forebears of today’s white suburban Protestants, lost their eschatological nerve and their vibrant faith in the afterlife, and we are their theological and liturgical heirs….

In the meantime, the seeds planted in the 19th century continue to bear weeds.

Lots to factor in – the Civil War carnage resulting in a crisis of belief; Darwinism and the belief that making the best of earth IS “heaven”; cremation and ashes to the wind (a bit of a Buddhist notion that we are released to rejoin the earth); burials several states away…

So with heaven gone and with the cemetery miles away, neither the dead nor the living had anywhere to go, and the metaphor of the journey to God collapsed.

Great article in the Birmingham News this week about Church of the Highlands and my friend Pastor Chris Hodges. In talking about his church’s remarkable growth and success in reaching people he says, “We’re discovering it’s more who you are, not what you’re doing.” There is definitely a contagious life-giving DNA in ARC churches and Chris personifies it!

And, for altogether different reasons, there is a lengthy article today in the Colorado Springs Independant on my friend Pastor Ted Haggard.  Check it out — “The Resurrection of Pastor Ted.” It’s a lengthy interview where Ted talks about “the year and a half [of his life] when the sun didn’t come up… [when] no grass was green, the birds never sang, the sky was never blue.“

The article quotes a recent Twitter update of Ted’s where he commented about a thought he had reading the Bible that morning… “Judas and Peter both sinned and repented. Judas’ suicide served the religious leaders well, Peter’s recovery exposed them.”

I really look forward to his wife Gayle’s new book which is coming out in December – Why I Stayed. Gayle embodies the faithfulness of God and mature love.

In a couple of weeks we are launching a new Sunday Night worship service!  LastCall starts October 11 at 5:30! 

LastCall will be identical to our two Sunday morning services and the plan here is to provide one more opportunity to worship before folks go back to work Monday morning.  This is perfect for those who had to work Sunday morning, felt like sleeping in or were out of town for the weekend but are back by Sunday night. Help us spread the word – word of mouth works the best!  We want people to know we are still open and there is still time to be still and know He is God!

Here’s the direct mail piece (40,000) that is going out mid-week next week. Let’s pray God uses this to reach those he’s trying to reach through us!

We had fun naming this service. The spiritual people in our midst  : ) wanted to go with the word “Still”.  However, LastCall fits the crowd we are trying to reach. Obviously we are borrowing the verbiage from the bar, and redeeming it. Sunday night services are great to see spiritually thirsty folks filled with the Holy Spirit. LastCall also makes us think of the trumpet call of God and the narrowing window of opportunity we have to respond to Him.

My friend, and fellow ARC pastor, Shaun King of Courageous Church is leading the way in Atlanta flood relief efforts. Way to go Shaun. Here’s where you can go to help. Shaun is the master of connecting with people online for Kingdom advance. You can follow his very popular blog or his bazillion Facebook updates and twitter updates. I love Shaun because he tells it how it is, like in his most recent Facebook update: “Note to Donors: Please do not donate your dirty draws & bras. I will have a scientist from GA Tech run a DNA scan & twitter your name.”

Shaun needs a 1000 volunteers tomorrow morning (Saturday 9/26) – if you are near there, load up a church van with people and supplies and get there! Or send a check!

I recently got in a little spat about whether churches should be tax-exempt – a guy referred to what we do as “taxpayer funded” churches. I had to remind him his taxes would be far higher if churches pulled out of the social support system. People have no idea. Thank God for guys like Shaun who know that government and insurance companies are not our HOPE!

UPDATE: He’s now got the Atlanta Braves on board to help – how cool is that? And he adds this line… “MOMENT OF TRUTH: We have spent every dime in our church account and every dime that has been donated to hopeATL.com for flood victims.” How many of you know this guy is on God’s radar!

UPDATE 2: Now he’s saying “Twitter/Social Media is the #1 reason why the Atlanta Flood recovery is working.”  Let’s throw some gas on this relief effort and tweet and retweet!

Kristen told me I need to put something new up here on my blog because people are tired of checking back and seeing the negative title of the last post. So, something positive… we got a new puppy. Lucy is her name. I call her Goose. Here she is guarding one of the latest picks from our garden.

I sent this pic out a few days ago via Twitter joking that we are almost ready for the third seal/black horse (famine and food shortages) and that Lucy was guarding the loot.

So, until I get going here again on the blog, enjoy this picture and feel free to discuss the reality of food shortages in America and whether or not it’s wise to store food. Anything goes.  I’ll get you thinking…. Joseph prophetically saw seven years of famine coming and was able to set aside provision so he could be a blessing to millions.  How is food storage any different than life, health, or car insurance? If we don’t provide for our family aren’t we worse than an unbeliever? The government is telling their employees in Homeland Security to have 3 months of food stored up. If they are telling their people this, what do they know that we don’t? Some tell me it shows a lack of faith in God’s provision to store food. What do you think? I think abundance now IS his provision. I have a lot to say about this but I’ll let you all discuss.

Today I woke up and decided to send out a little tweet (which quickly goes to my Facebook page) and I’m told this little tweet was a bit cryptic. So, since I’m not limited here to 140 characters, I thought I’d explain myself. But first, here’s the tweet:

WAS thinkin Urbana w/caleb insteada Onething cause KH/I, KHs dad went 80s/60s. Not goin aftr seein religusleft influence

And, here’s my explanation which I also dropped on my Facebook:

Urbana is the Intervarsity Christian Fellowship sponsored missions conference for college students that has been held every three years since 1946. It’s held in Urbana IL, thus the name. Kristen/I went there in 1984 and 1987 (Billy Graham spoke) and we were powerfully impacted. Kristen’s dad, now a retired pastor, went as a college student in 1962ish. So I thought to break from our norm (going to OneThing in KC) and take Caleb (age 19) to Urbana – figured it would be a three generation family tradition and a good way to add fuel to his fire to reach the world.

Urbana has always been about reaching the lost, aka evangelism, and the call to go into all the world with the Gospel. And I can see from the materials that is still the central thrust of Urbana. But now there is a mixture in the message. Now the gospel includes “the Mission of Healthcare” both domestic and international. And, “environmental stewardship.” Shane Claiborne is speaking.

Don’t misunderstand, creation care is vital and Biblical. And medical missions is too. But I’m not dumb, this is a chance to further hype the global warming hoax. And domestic health care? You can be sure the religious-left friends of Jim Wallis will be waxing eloquent about our “moral duty” to pass Obamacare and there will be no tolerance (or platform time) for anyone who points out the evil “details” of letting the elderly die and funding the unbridled slaughter of the unborn.

A missionary to mother nature is more welcome at Urbana now than a missionary to the unborn.

The hand of God is on OneThing. I’m not sure what has gotten hold of Urbana.

This is fresh off twitpics. I couldn’t resist sharing it. My friend Pastor Dino Rizzo of Healing Place Church in Baton Rouge is rolling out his new health care plan!! What do you think??? I love the Healing Place church logo and colors!

I love Dino’s heart to serve – it’s fully contagious – he’s such a blessing to the poor all over the Baton Rouge and new Orleans area. God used him mightily to bless tens of thousands during and after Katrina. It’s such an inspiration for me to be around him. I can see some Church at the Gate medical trucks rolling around to the needy in our state in the future. You know don’t you that God never told the government to take care of the poor. He put that mandate on those who are called by his name! God has a heart for the poor and hurting. I remember Keith Green telling it like it is twenty years ago… “if the church did it’s job we wouldn’t need a welfare system!“

On a related note, if you haven’t already seen it, check out what my friend Pastor Chris Hodges just opened up in Birmingham. Here’s the link – be sure to read the story and watch the video. These guys are knocking it out of the park!

Today I was hanging out with my good friend Pastor Gabriel Medicine Eagle – planning a major November outreach on the rez, etc – and talking with him about the fact that he is running for tribal council in the August 27 election there.

We chatted about Indian Health Care and how that version of government-run health care is working (not). And, as you’ll see, I am still having fun with my new Flip Video Camera and I got him to tell an important story that happened to a family member of his two weeks ago.

I know we need health care reform, but folks the details are important (such as not funding elective abortions (retroactive birth control) all the while letting the old and disabled die.) Watch this video clip and think about it… if the govt. can’t provide good health care for 4.5 million natives, how are they going to be able to cover 300 million more people?

Pastor Gabe laughs at the thought of more government promises to take care of us – 150 years of his family tree is a testimony to the fact that that ain’t gonna happen. I titled the video – a Sponge Bob band aid for a rattlesnake bite. Unreal.

At least once a month I consider giving up blogging all together. Every time I hit “publish” I realize I’m drawing a great big target on my back. The reason I keep doing it is because I try to focus on the 300-500 people a day who read this and the many who write me or comment to me saying what I’m writing is helpful to them in terms of thinking through what they believe. I’ve discovered it’s really a form of discipleship that didn’t exist ten years ago. For that reason I think pastors need to be blogging, and especially on controversial and relevant current event topics.

Twenty-years ago I read a book by professor and sociologist Tony Campolo called “Twenty Hot Potatoes Christians Are Afraid to Touch!” It had chapters on whether or not a Christian should own a BMW, or whether it’s okay for a Christian to put their aging mother in the county home, etc, etc. But whether or not I agreed with his conclusions (a few I don’t) what I most remember from this book is that he had the guts to write it and I resolved at that point to be a pastor who isn’t swayed by the fear of man. So pastors… blog boldly!!

In my view, blogging time for pastors is no different than Bible study leading time or visitation time. Ten years ago I’d think I only touched a couple hundred people a week. However with this venue, that number increases at least tenfold. A man in our church told me that even though I was gone this summer, he stayed “well-fed” just by digesting what I put here. Another Christian in town here recently commented how thankful they were for this blog because their church didn’t feed them on Sunday. I wish I could say to their pastor…. Pastor, your sheep are starving and you are only bringing more straw for them to lay on. Lead them into a greener pasture and deeper waters. Shepherd’s, take up the rod and staff and give the wolf a good whack!

For a couple days now I’ve been sitting on a post on the topic of “Christians and social drinking” (I’ve decided I’ll publish that shortly). I’ve been hesitant because I don’t need any more headaches. If I say I’m okay with social drinking for example, those who aren’t let me know why (and some express their disagreement by disfellowshipping! No pastor wants that!). If I say it’s wrong, another whole group is frustrated because there is freedom in the Scriptures on this matter. So most pastors say nothing. I think what conclusions pastors draw on a particular topic aren’t nearly as important as modeling the process of Biblical thinking.

I’m speaking this fall on James and I’m already thinking about how I’ll tackle the taming the tongue texts in chapter 3. I do know I’ll share my own journey these past two years in taming my keyboard - I’ve tackled the most controverisal subjects in America on my blogs and have come a long way in discerning the difference between taking cheap shots and writing with prophetic boldness.

Yesterday on my pro-life blog I made the comment, “Am I the only one who actually contemplated reporting oneself to flag@whitehouse.gov? I’m happy to be on their enemies list and go on record as a lead opposer of such systemic evil.” Pastors, God calls you to be a watchman and sound the alarm if one bearing a sword comes in to slaughter. Pastors should be key to alerting the elderly in their congregations of the impending danger. Pastors ought to be the loudest opposers of such evil (opposing medical murder – letting the elderly and the disabled die, and killing the unborn). This health care bill is really cash for clunkers in that the old and infirmed (useless eaters) are taken off the streets! And the church is quiet?? Pastors, God is looking for your name on the white house enemies list. I couldn’t agree more with my friend Randy Bohlender on this topic today – Randy, thanks for blogging boldly and taking Jim Wallis & Co. to task!

A number of times as I’ve traveled our state talking with pastors one will make a comment that they don’t talk about subjects like abortion because there are folks in the church who’ve had them and they don’t want to make them uncomfortable. I’ve started to reply to that comment by asking what other parts of the Bible they avoid because people might get uncomfortable. I talk about this stuff boldly and have women I’ve never met come up to me months later to thank me “for saving them from their own private hell.” When I ask what they are talking about they say most pastors only talk about love and God and “I didn’t want God to love me or forgive me because I thought what I did was unforgivable.” They go on to say that me addressing this and taking them to the mercy seat of God brought them into a place of healing and peace with God that sitting in the controversy-free church never did. That’s the story I’m telling these days when people want me to just stick to “preaching the gospel.” The gospel has great application to the post-abortive and the unborn! Pastor, who aren’t you reaching because you are afraid to lay the gospel over-a-top the darkest places?

Those of you following this blog this summer know I spent the bulk of the summer in Europe (among other things) visting the Reformation sites and reading a sizable stack of books about the key players in the 16th century struggle to change Christianity in one generation. I read about (and could relate to) the bloody controversies and found myself asking God: why can’t it be easier? What I’m learning is that controversy is one of the ways God gets us 1) to dig deeper into what the Scriptures really say while at the same time giving us an opportunity 2) to walk in love with those who see it differently. In my view, believers in the 16th century were successful with the former and failed miserably at the latter. I’d like to see the 21st century church succeed at both.

Thought I’d experiment and try a vblog today instead of typing this post. Let me know if you like it better than reading. If you do I will do more of them. Already I’ve learned I need to change the lighting (unless you like the glow over my head, kind of saintly I think) and that I should at least wait until my hair is dry (my best thinking is always in the shower so you can be thankful I at least waited until I got dressed before I sat down in front of the camera!). The jury is still out on whether or not this saves me time – hard to tell – loading it to youtube took forever. I’m old school in that I’m a little technology-challenged and I can type as fast as I think so right now I’m thinking the old way may still be easier for me.

Please take 5 minutes to read Winter’s short article – Reconsecration to a wartime lifestyle (pdf alert) and don’t miss this part… “we must live only on what we need and give the rest of our income where it is needed most. We call this a wartime lifestyle.” Here’s a related website also. Here’s a link to some practical suggestions on how to live a wartime lifestyle. Here’s a link to the US Center for World Mission in Pasadena and the William Carey library. This is where I get my mission biographies. (Had to laugh at seeing the book they are featuring today on the homepage – Apostolic Function in 21st Century Missions. The dreaded “A” word I was crucified over five years ago is now becoming standard in evangelical mission circles. Ha!)

I’ve not put much up on GatePost yet on what we have in the cooker for a plan to plant lots of life-giving local churches in Europe but you can contact me if you want to know more. We are starting a new mission agency called Europe Advance. We plan to launch EA at the end of September here.

Now, feedback please! Use the comment link here to a) tell me whether you like the vblog better or not and b) to discuss the call to the wartime lifestyle. I know I know I know, I still ended up typing four paragraphs.

Damn it’s early! Really, a little jet lag right now – clock says 5 AM, my body clock says it’s high noon and time for lunch. Went to bed at 9:30 PM (or 4:30 AM). You get the idea. I fell asleep last night reading the latest issue of Christianity Today. The cover story is interesting and hits a matter that I’ve been a big fan of for years – “The Case for Early Marriage: Settling down sooner than later has never made more sense. Here’s why.” You can find that online if you are interested. (Oops. I just typed “if you are interesting” instead of “interested”. Funny.) However, the story most in my head from this latest issue has to do with cussing pastors.

For those who are not aware, for a few months pastors have been talking about the subject of cussing in the pulpit. As I’ll detail below, Pastor Mark Driscoll, a popular Seattle mega-church pastor, has a famously foul mouth. In response to Driscoll and his large following of Church of Potty Mouth wannabees, Pastor Ed Young threw this clip up on youtube…

Recently I asked another pastor if he’d seen Ed’s clip on the Cussing Pastor and he said yes and I figured we’d talk for a few moments about how right on it was – instead, I got a whole deal on how it’s okay to use the words of the culture to communicate the gospel. A bit untypically of me, I just listened and nodded – he probably thinks I was in agreement with him and my nods may have even encouraged him to say more.

I don’t know why I didn’t say more, I guess I was shocked. I just can’t believe we’ve reached the point where we think we have to swear to reach people. Jesus certainly didn’t need to stoop to swearing to reach people. Maybe we ought to emulate him and not the longshoreman out on the dock or the attention-addicted sarcasts on the comedy channel. And what about this verse in James 3:10… Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. Case closed, right? Hello??

In the Christianity Today issue I was reading last night is a report on how Pastor Mark Driscoll divided the South Baptist Convention in two at their annual meeting. Mark isn’t a Southern Baptist, but they invited him to speak because, according to the math, the SBC will lose half it’s present members by 2050. Some in leadership see the decline trend and want the SBC pastors to move beyond choirs, robes, Sunday School, Sunday night services, VBS and other things like suit-wearing, tea-totaling and gospel quartets.  They notice the world has changed and the SBC hasn’t kept up in a relevant way.

So, at their annual meeting, the Southern Baptists invited Mark Driscoll to address the constituency. (Many of their younger ministers and church planters follow him closely despite the fact that Mark has a history of using risqué language, drinking alcohol and talking about sex.) After he spoke there were five motions made including one that SBC pastors cannot have any contact with Mark Driscoll or his Acts 29 Church Planting Network. Another motion was made to ban any future speaker at an SBC meeting who drinks and swears.

In January the NY Times reported that even GodTube.com can’t carry Driscoll’s sermon video clips… “with titles like “Biblical Oral Sex” and “Pleasuring Your Spouse,” his clips do not stand a chance against the site’s content filters.” The NY Times says; “he has the coolest style and foulest mouth of any preacher you’ve ever seen” and that his “Mars Hill Church is the furthest thing from a Puritan meetinghouse.” Driscoll thinks it’s funny and says he even kicks himself when he realizes at the end of a sermon that he didn’t swear and that people come to his church because they want to hear him swear. He remarks that some have left disappointed wondering if he got saved since last Sunday.

In May, my father’s former boss, Dick Bott of the Bott Radio Network (40 million listeners) pulled the plug of a broadcast in mid-air because Pastor Mark Driscoll was using explicit language to talk about the Song of Solomon. Bott followed up with a notice to his stations that Driscoll was not allowed on his stations anymore.

I don’t swear in the pulpit or in public (though, honestly, I do swear in my head on occasion). If this is confession time, I’ll admit I have to fight swearing in private – I’ve learned it’s, for me, the first first symptom that surfaces revealing I’ve been neglecting to be with Jesus. The Bible says, “out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.” My lame excuse is that I grew up around it. My drill sergeant dad spoke fluent profanity. He could call into question your gender identity, your IQ, your mother’s fidelity, your purpose on planet earth, your value as a person and your potential-in-life all in a rapid-fire ten second seamless string of obscenities. Growing up around that, even today, I’m sorry to say I often don’t even notice swearing in a movie. (Parents have asked me if a movie is okay, I say “it was great” and they come back later mad because I didn’t warn them about the profanity. Me saying, “oops, I didn’t notice” doesn’t cut it, though it’s true.

A cussing pastor is not the same as the guy, brand new to the faith, who rattles his small group because he prays out loud… “God, I’ve really -eff’d up- my life…”. Leaders are those who’ve gone out ahead of the rest and who influence others to come to where they are. In my Momentum book I list carnality, worldliness and character flaws in the leader all in the momentum stopper category. Before you point out the obvious that none of this seems to have cost Driscoll anything in the ministry momentum area (his church has 7,500 attending), just know that drawing a crowd doesn’t equal Kingdom Momentum. As I say in the book, “without holiness, no one will see God rise in their midst in any lasting way.” Craig Groeshel at Life Church says he could draw an unprecedented crowd for next weekend just by advertising free beer but that is not the growth God is looking for, nor is it what we are called to give away.

Perhaps one of the reasons pastors stoop to swearing is because most HATE IT when they are around the unchurched and the unchurched guy suddenly cleans up his speech – “oh, sorry pastor.” So they are the first to swear to sort of break the ice hoping the guy will be taken aback and view him as cool and different than most holy men. (In other words, they cease to be holy so as to not be numbered among the holy men. Holy means set apart, or pure, as in not diluted or tainted by mixture with something foreign.) God help us. Often I don’t mention to the person cutting my hair that I’m a pastor because a noticeable wave of guilt or embarrassment washes over those who are sitting in the seats on each side of me because they suddenly realize they just expounded on the raunchy stuff they did last weekend.

I write in my Sermon on the Mount book that being salt and light means your presence ought to change the environment around you. The trick however is to emulate God in such a way that you emanate God and not some air of self-righteous piety. The key verse in the entire Sermon on the Mount is in Matthew 6:8. Jesus says “do not be like them.” That means we ought not even talk like those who don’t know God.

Here’s a few verses related to this— if you struggle with swearing, write these on a card, memorize them and let the Holy Spirit do his work on your tongue. Enlist others to hold you accountable. (My cousin’s husband recently told me he has a deal worked out with his son… every time he curses, his son gets ten more Wii minutes a day. Whatever works!)

Ephesians 5:4 Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving.
Ephesians 4:29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.
Colossians 3:8 But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth.

For a couple weeks I’ve been doing the background work for a series in James I’m starting next month. I’ve thought to do a mini-series in the middle on chapter 3 – taming the tongue – because I’m convinced life or death is in the power of the tongue. Comments, please!!

It’s possible to change the world’s political architecture through prayer! The most recent (and most grossly under-reported) example of this is with regard to the fall of the Berlin Wall. This post will be the first in a series where that story gets told, including interviews with those who were in the battle behind the battle.

Kristen and I both read a great book (loaded with pictures!) recently on the Berlin Wall and it’s fall called “Check Point Charlie and the Wall” but regrettably only one sentence in the book spoke of what really took down the wall… “In the top secret document ‘MfS, ZAIG, nr. 496/89′ he confirmed the rapid increase in politically motivated meetings organized by religious institutions and the sharply higher numbers participating in open air demonstrations.” Another book I ordered and can’t wait to read also mentions what I will tell you about more fully here – that book is Voices in Times of Change : The role of Writers, Opposition Movements and the Churches the Transformation of East Germany. (The role of writers and churches?? Uh oh, perhaps this will only encourage my blogging!!!)

I know of only one book (in English, though now out of print) that is devoted to this topic, Candles Behind the Wall. Author Barbara Von Der Heydt writes… “Six candles in Leipzig did more to topple the wall than 6000 missiles in Western Europe.”

The guy behind those six candles is named Rev. Christian Fürher. It is perhaps my only regret on my six weeks this summer in Europe that a meeting between us didn’t materialize.  However, we are in communication and a meeting is pending. There are few people alive today who more encapsulate nearly all of my callings; strategic-level prayer, pastoring and politics, Bonhoeffer, the culture war and the Sermon on the Mount.  (If only he was a church planter too!)

His name, Christian Fürher, is the first curious thing about him, at least to the English speaking world. When we hear “Fürher” we think of Hitler, but in German the word simply means leader. (Two weeks before Hitler was elected, Bonhoeffer rebelliously said on German radio, “Jesus is my Fürher. “) Christian Fürher was born March 5, 1943 in Leipzig, just south of Berlin. Little did the world know that as one murderous Fürher was ascending in power, God saw to it that another was being born – Christian Fürher – his name, Christian Leader, is quite prophetic in terms of how God used him.

The Berlin Wall (1961-1989) was 65 running miles of concrete, another 79 miles of alarm-equipped electrical fence in the rural areas, 20 earthen bunkers and 302 watchtowers. Unlike other city walls throughout the centuries, the wall was built not to keep people out, but to keep people in. Over 170 people died trying to defect by crossing the wall from East Berlin to West Berlin. 

Here I am at one of the only remaining segments of the wall today.

Just as the picture was being taken I quickly recoiled away from the wall as someone had just pointed out to me that I was leaning against a bunch of chewing gum. Yuk

This pic is of a hole in the wall – I’m bummed the view on the other side is blurred. Family members on each side of the wall would gather at these types of places to talk or exchange things. When that got out of hand, even the windows of the buildings facing West Berlin were bricked shut. 

A museum and place for old ladies to die OR a grassroots counter-movement
In 1980, Rev. Fürher, started a November teaching series in his church (Nikolaikirche) in Leipzig on the theme of peacemaking. His zeal on the topic was fueled by the rising nuclear threat from proposed Soviet SS20 missiles and American Pershing Missiles. Rev. Fürher took the bold political step and opened the doors of his church to “alternative” young people who were forming protest groups for disarmament. He’s says “I suddenly realized that if we would open our doors for these types, the communists would no longer be able to say the church was a museum, a place for old ladies to die. The church could again become a grassroots counter-movement.”

In 1982, Rev. Fürher started a Monday night prayer meeting at his church – the prayer meeting lasted seven years (until the wall fell). Every Monday night at 5 p.m. a handful of people gathered, and at every meeting the Beatitudes from the Sermon on the Mount were read in unison. These prayer meetings marked a new level of engagement. The meetings were called Friedensgebate (Prayers for Peace).

In 1988, a few protesters were arrested in Berlin and Rev. Fürher dialed up the prayer resistance a notch… he held his prayer meetings daily. Rev. Fürher frequently quoted Bonhoeffer, “the church is only the church when it is there for others.” People coming to pray daily for the release of the protesters quickly reached two thousand in number.  Obviously the government was on high alert and they sent hundreds of their undercover STASI agents into the prayer meetings. Rev. Fürher began the meetings and joked about the undercover agents there – everyone laughed except the agents and everyone could easily look around identify who they were by who wasn’t smiling. (STASI secret police had over 100,000 agents and had assembled files on one-third of the East German population!!) Rev. Fürher did not mind the agents in his meetings but said “this is great that the government sent its employees to church and they were forced to listen to Jesus’ teachings!“

In September of 1989, other churches around Germany began to hold similar prayer meetings. At first that sounds like something great to report, and it is certainly. However, as one who has been in some similar battles what I see there is that Rev. Fürher had little help from other churches for six and a half of the seven years of his struggle. In his book, only available in German, he speaks of the discouragement he had to deal with of being the lone radical following the path of the Sermon on the Mount. He comments that he and his church experienced ten years of suffering and defamation prior to this point.

 In October 1989, 60,000 people gathered in and around the church which was the largest demonstration ever held in the German Democratic Republic (GDR). All the people came with candles in hand. Rev. Fürher says “the Lord reminded me of this Scripture that says, ‘It’s not by might, and not by power, but by His Spirit.’ The only successful revolution in Germany was a non-violent one. Later the police said they were prepared for everything but not for prayers and candles.” 

With two hands on a candle you can’t pick up a stone
The Berlin newspaper reported that the counter-revolution would be put down on Monday October 9 by “whatever means necessary.” Rev. Fürher reports that the day before some doctors came and visited his church to tell him that “hospital rooms had been made available for patients with bullet wound…

…So we were absolutely terrified of what might happen. The police had NOT been briefed for this possibility (candles and prayers). Had we thrown stones, they would have known what to do. They would have attacked. But the tanks had no choice but to withdraw without a single shot being fired…. we had the sense that something extraordinary had happened but we really only understood the enormity of it later… thousand of people with candles. People who have never met before, suddenly a family. They lay their candles at the feet of the armed soldiers and police. The steps of the STASI building, the organization that spied on, abused and sold people out, now awash with candles. It looks like a river of peace and light.  …When more than 2000 of us came out of the church – I will never forget the sight – tens of thousands more were waiting outside in the square. They were holding candles. When you hold a candle you need both hands. You have to guard the flame, stop it from being blown out. You can’t hold a stone or club at the same time. And then the miracle occurred. The Spirit of Jesus, a spirit of non-violence, took hold of the masses and what resulted was material, peaceful violence. The army, fighting patrols and police were drawn in, started conversations and retreated.

On Oct. 18, these prayer meetings (protests) led to the resignation of Erich Honecker, the communist East German politician later tried with crimes against humanity. Honecker was contemplating the “Chinese Solution” to shut down Rev.  Fürher’s prayer meetings – the Chinese Solution referred to the massacre at Tienanmen Square in Beijing only five months earlier. A leader in the old GDR regime said before his death… “We had planned everything. We were prepared for any eventuality. Any except for prayer and candles.”

Ronald Reagan’s famous speech at the Brandenburg Gate was June 7, 1987 – “Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.” Rev. Fürher contends that the reason Gorbachev didn’t come and tear down the wall is because the request was made “in a spirit of war.” Two more years on contending in prayer were necessary to undermine the real foundations of that wall. Rev. Fürher stood at the same wall (on the other side) and led hundreds of thousands of others to call on God to tear down the wall. God answered and the Belin Wall fell November 9, 1989. 

That’s a pic of us at the Brandenberg Gate a couple weeks ago.

The Sermon on the Mount in two words
Later when asked how he was so confident that peaceful prayer protests would work Rev. Fürher commented, “we were not in the least confident. We were afraid day and night, but we had the courage of our convictions. The Bible had taught us the power of peaceful protest and this was the only weapon we had. Resorting to violence makes us no better than our enemies, and then we are no longer blessed.” Obviously he’s strong in the flow of the Sermon on the Mount.

About the Sermon on the Mount he said; “It still moves me today to recall that in a secular country the masses condensed the Beatitudes and the Lord’s Sermon on the Mount into two words – NO VIOLENCE (KEINE GEWALT!) and they practised what they preached.” Keine Gewalt became their slogan.

In the same way this unjust system has fallen
There was a particular Saturday in 1989 about which Rev. Fuhrer writes: “Fourteen hours, uniformed men beat the defenceless people, who did not retaliate, and took them away in lorries. Hundreds of them were herded into stables in Markkleeberg.” During this period, Markus Laegel was only 13 years old. Today he heads 24-7 Germany and has written here of his memories of that time.  Later, at the fall of the wall Markus says he sensed the Spirit of God saying, “in the same way as this unjust system was fallen, so every other unjust system will fall.” He notes that the reason he is doing this 24-7 prayer thing is because he sees his generation has “merely swapped communism for consumerism and they are no more free.” 

The street and the altar

This is long enough, but it’s powerful stuff. I have a number of specific questions for Rev. Fürher and I’ll post again on this topic and include his replies. I’ll have to arrange another time/place to meet – perhaps in January. I believe that his story and testimony need to be told in the prayer movement outside of Germany. Here’s a pic of him today in his cut off jean-jacket and white spiked hair, both of which have become his signature look.  Also, here is the New York Times article which was a story about his retirement from the church last year. I’ll conclude here with his statement: “I always wanted also to move in the earthly realm. It is not the throne and the altar but the street and the altar that belong together.”

Wow– this week my blog has really turned into more of a slideshow of my pictures rather than my commentary. But, there are still more things to say and show.

Many times I’ve mentioned the privilege I had to study for three years under one of the world’s leading Bonhoeffer scholars – Dr. F. Burton Nelson. Burton died in 2004, he was a personal friend of the Bonhoeffer family. He challenged me to pick a theological companion to walk through life with, so I picked Bonhoeffer. What a treat for me to visit Bonhoeffer’s home (actually his parents home) in Berlin a few weeks ago and be given a private tour. Thank you Knut Hämmerling for that treat.  Here we are in front of the home at Marienburger Allee 43.

For those of us who’ve seen this address written in his own script, even walking up to the home is pretty cool. A couple days before he was stripped naked and hung in the concentration camp at Flossenbürg,  he wrote that script in the front of a book that he wanted returned to his parents. His body was cremated with thousands of others in the ovens and his family didn’t learn for certain of his death until months later. Bonhoeffer was killed on April 9, 1945. Hitler committed suicide twenty days later. Germany surrendered on May 7.

For a couple of hours Knut downloaded details of Bonhoeffer’s life for me and my family. I won’t take up space here introducing you to Bonhoeffer if his name is new to you. Take a couple moments and read about him here.  Here I am in Bonhoeffer’s bedroom/study. (One of the things I’ve given much thought to here is my new home office – I am borrowing a couple ideas from his here – one is the big window which I plan to install when I get home.)

At this desk he wrote what was to be his life work Ethics. He was arrested by the Gestapo in this house and did not complete Ethics. Pages of it were found ten years after his death hidden in the rafters of this home. His good friend Eberhard Bethge compiled them and that is the version of Ethics that is readily available today. Also in this house conspiratorial discussions took place which included Bonhoeffer, other family members and leaders of the resistance movement – plots to assassinate Hitler were discussed here. 

As a Sermon on the Mount junkie, I’ve always been quite dialed in on how Bonhoeffer held to the high pacifist ideal in his writings (turn the other cheek, love enemies), but compromised (and justifiably so in my view) that ideal by participating in a secret assassination plot on Hitler. His (and Karl Barth’s) view of the myth of the separation of church and state very much appeals to me. Separating the spheres, Bonhoeffer insisted, is a denial of God’s having reconciled the whole world to himself in Christ. He said the Church wasn’t just to tend the victims of society run over by the wheel, the Church has a God-mandated responsibility to shove a spoke in the wheel and stop the victimization. He said the church may not keep out of politics if the state abrogates basic human rights. He demanded the church be prepared for political resistance and he was very much alone in that opinion.

Bonhoeffer criticized Luther for two things; 1) focusing the Reformation only on the church (whereas Zwingli sought to influence – salt and light – all of society). Bonhoeffer believed Luther’s views on this set the stage for the German Church of the 1930’s to stay out of Hitler’s business. In the 1000+ plus pages of Reformation history I’ve read this month, I’ve had the sense that had Zwingli been in Germany and not in Switzerland, the Holocaust wouldn’t have happened. Bonhoeffer also was one of the earliest voices in the German Lutheran Church to renounce 2) the anti-Semitism and treatment of the Jews.

In the years prior to his arrest he organized pastor strikes, signature drives, etc. and was very much political. As the Reich/State increasing silenced pastors, even friends distanced themselves from Bonhoeffer. He experienced the loneliness of the loss of friends and reputation. Honestly, I can really relate. Had I been called to trumpet the HIVAIDS issue I would be celebrated, but those of us who recognize the humanity of the unborn and the injustice of abortion and walk in a clear call from God to stop the shedding of judicially innocent blood — we are vilified. But, to quote one of Bonhoeffer’s more famous lines… ”When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.”

Recently I was told I cut the target of those I’m called to reach in half when I get political. Hmm, half. If I was a pastor in Alabama in the 60’s I’d be marching across the bridge with my black brothers and sisters even if it meant 99% of the white folks in my town spit me out. Today we don’t question the humanity of blacks – previous Supreme Court decisions denying blacks full humanity have been reversed. Science now confirms separate and unique living human beings are the product of conception. It’s a human rights issue, a justice issue.  And, who does God have on the earth to be his “spoke” in the wheel that is running over the most vulnerable and helpless members of human society? Is it any wonder I’m the only pastor in our state to receive numerous death threats this year? I vote we apply a little Sermon on the Mount to our treatment of the unborn… let’s do to them what we’d want done to us – did you know they feel pain at 8 weeks? Wow– yet they have no voice and they use no anesthesia to dismember them while they are yet living.

For those of you interested to dive into Bonhoeffer a bit – first, buy two books. 1) Dietrich Bonhoeffer: A Spoke in the Wheel by Renate Wind. Kristen, Caleb and I read this together a few weeks ago and that made for great discussion just prior to our visit to the Bonhoeffer Haus – it’s an easy 182 pages. Next read 2) Cost of Discipleship by Bonhoeffer. This is now universally considered a Christian Classic – this is where you’ll read his ideas about “cheap grace” and the entire middle section is his commentary on the Sermon on the Mount.

After that I recommend my professor Burton Nelson’s book – really a compilation of Bonhoeffer writings - 3) A Testament to Freedom and I also recommend Bonhoeffer’s best friends biography of his life 4) Dietrich Bonhoeffer: A Biography by Eberhard Bethge. Bonhoeffer’s other works and letters are all readily available. If you are not much of a reader and just want a DVD version of his life I recommend – Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Pacifist, Nazi Resistor- which we show during the Omega Course. Those who are hard-core can join the International Bonhoeffer Society. Hope all that is helpful to somebody.