Chicken Little And Barak Obama

By pastorbillwalden

If you don’t know the story of Chicken Little, here is a brief synopsis.  

The main line of the story has to do with a chicken who has an acorn fall on her head, and then proclaims “the sky is falling”.  The point that I get from the story is that the chicken over-reacts to an event, and makes more of it than what it actually is.

Among the Body of Christ, there may be some that have the Chicken Little mentality regarding the re-election of Barack Hussein Obama.  They might be believing that all is lost, that the nation is crumbling, and that the end is near.

In some ways I agree, but I am not wringing my hands this morning after America has re-elected Obama.  I did not vote for him, and I don’t like his philosophy of how to run a country.  I do believe that our nation is deteriorating on a moral level.  I would not be surprised to see a total financial collapse in my lifetime.  I would not be surprised if eventually the Church has to go under ground.

I worry about my children and grandchildren’s future.  In many ways, life may be harder for them than it has been for me.

But…none of this should surprise or undermine the faith of the Bible believing Christian.  We have been told ahead of time how things will come to a close.

1 Timothy 3:1-5a  ¹But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: ²For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, ³unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, ⁴traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, ⁵having a form of godliness but denying its power.

If you are a Bible believing Christian, you have been taught that such things will increasingly come to pass as time goes on.  Election 2012 should not shake you, if you view the results as lining up with this passage.

Dear brethren:  The church of Jesus Christ shall not fail.  Jesus said so.  Matthew 16:18 tells us, “on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it“.

Finally, I direct your hearts to this incredible passage in Ephesians.  Take time today to think on this passage.  Take it in deeply.  It is an amazing truth.

Ephesians 1:15-23  ¹⁵Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, ¹⁶do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: ¹⁷that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, ¹⁸the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, ¹⁹and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power ²⁰which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places,²¹far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.²²And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, ²³which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

May I invite you to read my sermon notes on this passage?  They can be found here.  God’s great power is working in us, His people, His church.

If, like Chicken Little, we focus on the fact that “the sky is falling”, remember that we are saved by the God who owns the heavens.

Psalm 89:11  ¹¹ The heavens are Yours, the earth also is Yours;  The world and all its fullness, You have founded them.

My hope for every Follower of Jesus is that we would not be like Chicken Little, who had nothing but a sense of doom and gloom, but that we be Believers who understand the increasing severity of the world’s situation would have more hope than anyone on the planet.

Maranatha…come Lord Jesus.

When Experience Dictates Theology

By pastorbillwalden

I spent a few hours today on another blog debating the idea of God’s direct intervention in leading His children.  The general camps were divided as follows:

1.  Yes, God still “speaks” to His children through His Word, through revelations of different sorts including prophecy, circumstances, and through the inner witness of the Holy Spirit, etc.
2. No, God gave us His Word, and we ought not to lean towards anything more than that. Love God and do as you please, and things will work out because God is sovereign, and He is good.

That is a simplification of what was said today.

I happen to believe both of those ideas, but that isn’t the point of this article.

Some of the brethren “seemed” to base their theological position upon the excesses of “the other camp”.  I won’t even mention what their positions were, or what their arguments were, because that isn’t the main point here.

The Main Point Here Is…it seems as though when we see excesses in a certain camp, it make us sure that our camp is correct, because they obviously make lots of mistakes “over there”.

When the debate started, strong convictions were given.  What was revealing though, was that instead of Scriptures leading the way in the argument, the excesses and mistakes from “those other guys” were offered up as evidence “against them” and “for us”. Let me add that none of it was done in a mean or unloving way.

When Biblical evidence was asked for, the formerly “compelling argument” became a bit less compelling, and I felt, concessions were made.

I must admit, that I was challenged in this as well. Is MY theology strongly based on Scripture, or is it equal parts of Scripture, personal experience, and the avoidance of what others do?

What is the point here? Glad that you asked.

We need to be very careful to not build a theology on…
1. Someones else’s bad experiences, or…
2. Our good experiences and comfort levels.

The truth in such topics like “How Does God Lead His Children?” are not airtight, and are not, in my opinion, essentials of the faith.

We should have an opinion on such things. We should have strong opinions.
I hope that our opinions are based more on God’s revealed Word than on experiences, whether ours or other people’s.