There is one word in today's reading that jumps out at me and it is the word distinctive. What makes me distinctive from everybody else? I humbly submit that I see a surrender to everything around us and hence we have lost our Pentecostal apostolic distinctiveness. Isn't this a part of Israel's failure when they came out of Egypt? They wanted to be like the other nations around them and God's speckled bird became unrecognizable. The apple of his eye, his chosen bride committed whoredom only because they wanted to be a part of the crowd. There is a distinctiveness worth defending and I hope we are up to it.
Pax Vobiscum <
Robert A. Stewart
Bro. Kirk wrote:
ReplyDeleteThere is this interesting book that I am reading by the German Theologian Paul Tillich… which speaks to Myshkin’s attempt to rise above the ugliness the world as the Courage To Be……which is positive self-affirmation in God “in spite of” that which tends to prevent the person from affirming the good and rejecting evil.
And he comes to the conclusion that Christian walk is an “in spite of” journey.
Kirk Barham
Elder,
ReplyDeleteWhat is missing in all of this is the teaching of what defines ‘distinctiveness’ in the Apostolic Church. As I see it, this distinctiveness was more than baptism in Jesus’ name and speaking in tongues and miracles. It was what defined the early Church to the extent that persons in the world could find true salvation (and escape) from the decadence and corruption that existed in the Roman Empire at that time. It was the love and support shown, the feeling of togetherness, the bond of friendship and kinship in the Kingdom of God, the honesty and transparency…
Of course, over time, this distinctiveness was lost as corruption and all manner of vice found root in the Church (or what the Church had become), to the extent that positions were up for sale (aka Simony).
So much has changed over the years… so much remains the same. We have new names for our issues, but the same problems exist. How do we now define distinctiveness in the 21st Century and still be relevant. The fact that expressing the beauty of Jesus (being identified with Him) is just as important a risk now as it was then during the Apostolic Church age and Reformation.
But who will risk personal injury or hurt (or death) who does not fully embrace the fullness of that object or person, which is the subject of the association. I submit that because we have so many half-truths in the Apostolic Church, we do not know whether any of the things we have been taught are worth suffering (or dying) for.
Peace,
Paul