Thoughts on the New Age and evangelism
Posted by: Jim Driscoll in General on June 9th, 2009
A few years ago, we were running a dream interpretation booth at a street fair, and a couple of girls came over to talk to us. They returned several times, and we found out that they were working the Buddhist booth around the corner.
One of the girls had originally been a Christian. Have you ever noticed that a lot of people in the New Age come from a church background? In order for them to explore the New Age and not end up in witchcraft, their spirits have to be at least slightly awakened. These Christians, now New Agers, never understood what “knowing Jesus” meant. Instead, they were taught that God wasn’t mysterious; He was passive and familiar, and all He was interested in (and wanted them to do) was monotonous church activities. He didn’t do cool stuff anymore, and so they left Christianity in order to find a god who was more interesting.
They’re looking for light but don’t know what light is, so we need to show them that God is the God who heals and brings life. He is the One who does strange, awesome, powerful things that mystify and delight. When the stuff in the Church is weirder than the stuff outside the Church, then New Agers don’t have a problem with Jesus and Christianity, and they come in droves. They just have a problem with being told that God doesn’t do stuff.
Typically, seeker-sensitive churches attract people who think they know what they need, but true seekers have no idea what they’re looking for; they just know they need something that they don’t have right now. A lot of New Agers are true seekers, so when they come to a group of Christians and see strange things like dancing, laughing, crying, shaking, words of knowledge, etc., they say, “Hey, I don’t know what that is. Maybe that’s what I need.” They then keep coming back until they figure out who’s dancing, laughing and crying with them and what He’s saying to them.
That’s a path to evangelism. TIME Magazine was wrong when it wrote that God was dead. No, He’s alive, and He’s doing stuff, and some of the stuff He does is weird. He puts mud in people’s eyes, walks on water, and tells dead guys to come back to life — which they do. He tells people to feed thousands of other people with a little boy’s lunch — which they do. God is strange, and that’s what the New Age community needs to discover.
For years, it seemed that the point of evangelism was just to save people from hell: “Get saved and go to Heaven. Yaaaaaay.” But what good is that? If all we do is ensure that they get into Heaven someday, they (and us) are missing out on the best part: They’re missing out on Jesus now.
If we don’t get to be with Jesus on earth, little of what we do here is worth it.
Jesus is the Strange One. His mystery woos and delights and causes us to fall so hard and fast for Him that nothing else matters except being where He is and doing what He is doing.
If we can show New Agers and other seekers that God does stuff, they will turn from the world’s knockoffs and pursue Him instead.
A thought about destiny and calling dreams
Posted by: Jim Driscoll in General on May 4th, 2009
Not everything God shows you is something that you, and you specifically, are destined to do. So much in life, including destiny, revolves around Jesus’ statement in Matthew 22:14: “Many are called, but few are chosen.”
There are two types of destiny dreams: those that show us what we could do and those that show us what we need to do. The things we could do are things that might be in our bloodline or things that were never finished by others and now are waiting to be picked up by someone else. Those can influence what we dream about and also what we feel drawn to do.
The things we need to do are what God specifically created us to do. These aren’t options; they’re requirements, and when we’ve stepped into them, they give us momentum. It’s similar to a train plowing forward on the tracks. It is a powerful force, and not much can derail it.
Saying yes to the specific path God laid out for us helps protect us from the enemy. But that, of course, makes the opposite true as well. When we aren’t walking in what we were created to do, we aren’t protected as well. This isn’t because God is punishing us, but it’s because we left the tracks — the path we were created to take — and became exposed. We became more vulnerable.
So it is vital, both for us and for everyone around us, that we walk in our destiny. God gives us a lot of options that are simply that — options that we can choose to do or not. We don’t have to do them all, but we need to do what God requires us to do, or it will affect the course of our life.
Finally, if you don’t know what your destiny is or have questions about it, ask Him. As He created us to walk in our destiny, He’s very interested in helping us get there.
Premier of The Seer Course
Were you at the Seer Course this weekend? I was already pretty familiar with Stir the Water materials, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. But the class was really good, and it had a lot of new information.
They introduced new exercises. One of my favorites was one about discovering something that was causing blockage within you. (Yeah, I know. That’s the last thing you want to dive into with a bunch of strangers, right? But it somehow wasn’t embarrassing.)
Obviously, the course had a lot of information about the seer gift, what it is, how it functions, and how we can use it personally and for others. But in addition to all this, one of the biggest things this course did for me was help me realize the importance of studying the seer gifting in groups. As an introvert, I don’t really like groups, but this was a lot of fun, and it wasn’t embarrassing, even though you’re sharing things you might not normally want to share with others!
So check it out next time! It’s a great experience, and you’ll have a better understanding of who you are and how you work by the end of the weekend. Your faith will expand.
God’s Peace: The Best Medicine
Posted by: Jim Driscoll in General on March 3rd, 2009
I think that someday when we get to Heaven, we’re going to be amazed at how many things in this life were actually activities of great spiritual worth, but we thought they were just everyday, human things that God didn’t really care about.
Take playing sports, for example. My boys play football, and my elder daughter is a gymnast. When you’re engaged in a physical activity that brings His peace, that peace will roll out into your physical body and do everything exercise is supposed to do and more. It will make you healthier and happier — not just because it’s exercise but because you’re fully engaged in an activity that He enjoys.
When you do physical activities and feel the presence of God, it synchronizes you. It allows Him to come in and sustain your body. At the end of the 40 years in the wilderness, Joshua and Caleb were still leading battles and taking cities and Moses’ eyesight remained strong. They were following God physically and spiritually at the same time, and He renewed their strength.
Maybe living in His peace is why some of our biblical heroes like Enoch and Elijah had such unexplainable endings. Maybe they were at such peace with Him that He finally had to take them or end their lives Himself, or else they weren’t going to die. Isn’t that an interesting thought?
So what do you feel His peace in? Playing football? Going fishing? Walking? Dancing? Running? Maybe it’s time for you to explore that more. Next time you’re doing that activity, look for His presence and see how He meets you there.
