From Tabletalk, 1626 AD:

“Idolatry is all manner of seeming holiness and worshipping, let these counterfeit spiritualities shine outwardly as glorious and fair as they may; in a word, all manner of devotion in those that we would serve God without Christ the Mediator, his Word and command. In popedom it was held a work of the greatest sanctity for the monks to sit in their cells and meditate of God, [solitude] and of his wonderful works; to be kindled with zeal, kneeling on their knees, praying, and having their imaginary contemplations of celestial objects, with such supposed devotion, that they wept for joy. In these their conceits, they banished all desires and thoughts of women, and what else is temporal and evanescent. They seemed to meditate only of God, and of his wonderful works.
Yet all these seeming holy actions of devotion, which the wit and wisdom of man holds to be angelical sanctity, are nothing else but works of the flesh. All manner of religion, where people serve God without his Word and command, is simply idolatry, and the more holy and spiritual such a religion seems, the more hurtful and venomous it is; for it leads people away from the faith of Christ, and makes them rely and depend upon their own strength, works, and righteousness. In like manner, all kinds of orders of monks, fasts, prayers, hairy shirts, the austerities of the Capuchins, who in popedome are held to be the most holy of all, are mere works of the flesh; for the monks hold they are holy, and shall be saved, not through Christ, whom they view as a severe and angry judge, but through the rules of their order.”

But then, what did he know?

“I knew a man once who would not read some parts of the Word of God because they made him feel uneasy; but be you sure of this, that when you and the Word of God fall out, the Word of God has right on its side. There is something rotten in the state of Denmark when you cannot read a chapter without feeling that you wish it was not there. There is something wrong with you whenever you quarrel with the Word of God.”

My post from yesterday quoting from Doug Pagitt’s book “Church Re-Imagined” got an immediate response from him. Short; but making me aware he didn’t actually make the quote but a member of his community did; a massage therapist . However he indicated that he was in favor of her quote but did not state if he receives massages from her while he practices yoga. So Doug, I apologize for attributing the quote to you when in actuality I was quoting a quote from your book.

This did prompt me to follow my nose to a recent You Tube dialogue between Doug and Tony Jones. It was interesting to watch the camera angles (a little bouncy at times) panning the ‘church’ as ‘parishioners’? sat with arms folded viewing these two guys. At one point the camera zeroed in on a cross which hung high on a wall. What caught my eye, thouugh was not the cross but the photographs of a woman in sensual poses surrounding the cross. My mind immediately went to Exodous 32 and the story of Moses coming down from the mountain to find the children of Isreal dancing before the golden calf. It took a whole lot of begging and pleading on Moses’ part to keep God from just killing them all. Is this what “ancient-future” is all about?

The other interesting thing in this You Tube conversation was the comment by Tony Jones that the words “justice”, “love” and “gospel” mean the same thing. Now if Tony meant that the gospel was about how a perfect God could not look upon fallen man because of man’s sin and so sent his perfect, sinless Son to die in their place so justice could be done; and that this was because of God’s great love for us, then I would agree that they are the same thing. But this does not seem to be the case. He talks about “God’s justice” in the world as being the “gospel”. But the truth is that “God’s mercy” in the world is the real “good news”. The fact that I do not have to pay the penalty for my sin if I accept this free gift - that’s really good news.

“It is because Christians want something more or something different…that they often go for false teachings. One of the major reasons that they hunger for more is because they have so little. Not that there is little in the Bible, but that there is so little of the Bible in them. They do not study the Scriptures in a serious fashion. The Spirit God gave you does not need to impart truth to you that He has already given to you in the Bible! He will enlighten you to the meaning and application of the Scriptures when you are willing to spend time prayerfully digging deeply into their meaning.”36
- Jay Adams

Apparently the Hindu’s have had it with ‘Christians’ co-opting their religious practices. Unlike today’s emerging church, there is now a movement to retain the integrity of Hindu orthodoxy.

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Can you guess who said this?

“Some of my friends good-humoredly – and some a little bit severely – have called me a ‘mystic.’ Well I’d like to say this about any mysticism I may suppose to have. If an arch-angel from heaven were to come, and were to start giving me, telling me, teaching me, and giving me instruction, I’d ask him for the text. I’d say, ‘Where’s it say that in the Bible? I want to know.’ Read the rest of this entry »