The CNN.com headline caught my eye: "Americans not losing their religion, but changing it often." The lead story was of Ingrid Case, a 41 year old freelance writer and editor in Minneapolis, who grew up an altar girl (acolyte) in her Episcopalian church. But after college, she drifted away, uncomfortable with her church's theology, eventually meeting and falling in love with a man who himself was searching for religion. Eventually the two of them joined the Society of Friends and became Quakers. She told the reporter, "It wasn’t so much 'You people stink and I'm out of here,' as 'I like this better and this is what I want to do.'" (http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/04/27/changing.religion.study/index.html) Turns out she's not alone. According to a new survey by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life "more than half of American adults have changed religion in their lives. . . . Just under five in 10—47%—have never changed faith." According to Gregory Smith, research fellow at Pew, "You’re seeing the free market at work. If people are dissatisfied, they will leave. And if they see something they like better, they will join it." Such changing can be the result of moving to a new community, marrying someone of a different faith, not liking their minister or liking another pastor more. "The reasons people change are as diverse as the religious landscape itself," he said. And interestingly, factors you'd think would lead people to change religions, actually don't have much impact—such as sex abuse scandals in the church or science "disproving" religion, etc. Many reported that like Ingrid they simply drifted away. On the other hand, "more than half the people who are raised unaffiliated are now affiliated. More than half [of those people] say they joined their current faith in part because they felt called by God to do so." So while people who grew up in the church may leave it, it is encouraging to be reminded that people who grew up with no church at all may eventually join it. Flux obviously flows both directions. But the statistic that caught my eye was this one: "Most people who switch religions do so before they are 24." As pastor of a university community where so many are under that age, I wonder how strong the forces of change are within the young adults and teenagers who occupy our pews or who may never have at all. No wonder the jaded and aged king, brooding over his disappointing life, ended his soliloquy with the sage counsel: "Remember your Creator in the days of your youth" (Ecclesiastes 12:1). Given the compelling persuasion to change when we are young, isn't it the better part of wisdom to assist our young in defending their faith and securing their beliefs? And for those young with no faith at all (yet), aren't we who have found convincing reason to believe under moral obligation to point them to the very God and Savior we have learned to trust? After all, change is a two-way street. And with the right directions, a U-turn can be straight toward God.
Pastors' Blog
By Pioneer Pastors
"Where do they all come from?" You can't help but wonder when you drive the freeways of southern California—which we were doing last weekend for the wedding of my nephew, Vaughn Nelson. As we drove back from San Diego to my mother's home in Banning late Sunday evening, the stream of red taillights flowed ahead of us like a winding crimson river, matched only by the yellow-white streak of headlights flowing toward us on the opposite side of the night median. "Where do they all come from?" California boasts more licensed drivers (nearly 23 million) than any other state. And Sunday night half of them must have been on the highway! Makes you wonder, doesn't it? When God gazes down upon this aging planet in the night, what is it he sees? The white-laced blue-green curvature of our earth as seen by the orbiting Shuttle astronauts above us right now? Or does his sweeping eye zoom in much, much closer—beyond the wispy wide-angle shot to a telephoto deep into the dark heart of earth’s inner city thoroughfares? Calcutta, Beijing, Los Angeles, Tokyo, Mexico City, Sydney, Cairo, London, Chicago, Benton Harbor—are we a stream of headlights and taillights to him? "For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth" (II Chronicles 16:9). After all, even if we are a rebel race on the run, aren't we still his children? And if we are, then wouldn't a paternal heart of love be on the move 24/7 in hopes of finding even one—just one—runaway lost in the dark but who may be searching for the road to come home? No wonder he peers amidst the ribbons of dark and light: "The eyes of the LORD are on those whose hope is in his unfailing love" (Psalm 33:18). But how can they hope in One they do not know? And how can they know, if they do not hear? And how can they hear, if they are not told? You can't drive away from that stream of headlights without wondering if you're doing all that is in your power to tell them... at least one of them... can you?
I sat in on a conversation with His Royal Highness King Hussein of Jordan the other day. It wasn't in person, of course—audiences with a king aren't even a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. But I listened as the king and David Gregory, of NBC's Meet the Press, discussed the precarious challenges of a new Middle East peace. Jordon on one side of the river that bears the same name, and Israel on the other side. And in between and throughout both kingdoms the Palestinian people. And I try to imagine how deeply the God of the universe desires a lasting peace accord. There is a city that all the region's peoples hold sacredly to their hearts—Jerusalem, or Zion, as the Old Testament often called her. Early this morning I came across a dusty line from long ago that spoke such a profound promise for Zion, that it's become the grist for my brooding all day. For in these words I hear a pleading prayer to the God of all the earth to deliver spiritual Zion, composed of peoples not only of the Middle East, but of all the earth: "You will arise and have mercy on Zion; for the time to favor her, yes, the set time, has come" (Psalm 102:13). Hasn't the time come for God to have mercy on his community of faith—this spiritual city of the faithful the world over? I'm not thinking Jews or Muslims or Christians or even pagans right now. I'm wondering if this isn't a prayer whose time has come for all of the earth children who long for God to step in and save this planet one more time. As I travel the world and this nation, I meet them again and again—men and women, often professionals and business people the next seat over on that flight, whose minds are open to a radical spiritual paradigm shift, the very shift predicted in the Apocalypse: "Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth—to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people . . ." (Revelation 14:6). How is God going to pull off such a radical apocalyptic mission to the entire civilization without pouring out his favor and mercy upon spiritual Zion? For unless the church of Christ is dramatically revived, all the royal highnesses in the world won't be able to usher in the long-promised peace. God has chosen to commit his strategic endtime mission into the hands of a very frail and often failing community of faith. I repeat, unless the "set time" for his favor and mercy comes, Zion will muddle through the years, unable to arise to any apocalyptic closure. Could it be God awaits our pleading? Would you be willing to join me in praying the psalmist's prayer? Hasn't the time for God's favor come? Isn't it high time for the church to cast off her hankerings for this fallen culture and offer herself unabashedly to Christ? For if we aren't passionate for him, how will we ever become passionate for his mission? Our board of elders meets today in a special focus on prayer. Next week we begin a new mini-series, "The Issachar Factor," that will call us to such passion. But in the mean time, you and I can lift up this very prayer to God again and again and again. After all, it's the only audience with a King that can answer this prayer.
What do the swine flu outbreak and this year's graduating class have in common? For over a week now global news outlets have made the North American Human Influenza A (H1N1) virus their lead story! And when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta and the World Health Organization in Geneva both weigh in on the headline and declare varying states of emergency, who doesn’t take notice? Costa Rican health officials are now discouraging the traditional kiss-on-the-cheek greeting. Israeli officials are suggesting that the virus should be renamed the Mexcian flu, since the reference to pigs is offensive to Muslim and Jewish sensitivities over pork. Mexican officials aren’t responding to their suggestion, and who can blame them! After all, no one is sure yet where the virus originated. The good news is that this never-before-seen strain of influenza—a mix of pig, human and bird viruses—can apparently be contained and controlled, much like previous flu outbreaks. And a vaccine is reported to be ready by early May. So public health officials are stressing there is no need for panic. The bad news is that this new flu strain is highly contagious. And therein lies the something-in-common with the graduates of Andrews University this weekend. Not that any of you has contracted this flu (as did a Notre Dame University student this past week). But rather that the very mission of Seventh-day Adventist Christian education that Andrews University embraces is by definition intended to render all graduates contagious for Christ. Which is why our prayer here at Pioneer for all of you who embark on your new post-graduation venture is a simple one. We’ve been honored to be your spiritual home-away-from-home, and your presence here over the years has blessed us. Now we pray a special outpouring of the Spirit of Christ upon you—so that wherever you go in the journey ahead, his radical love for this world will shine through you, rendering you a contagious primetime change agent for his kingdom! Because truth be known (and it is), the most serious pandemic this civilization faces can only be remedied by the vaccine of Calvary’s sacrifice. And because you know Jesus personally, you’re the most logical person on earth (in the school or office or workplace where you’re headed) to be the contagious carrier of his life-giving grace and power. "But thanks be to God, who always leads us . . . and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of [Christ] everywhere" (II Corinthians 2:14 TNIV). So go forth and be contagious for him. We're cheering you on! Subscribe to the pastor’s blog @ www.pmchurch.tv
Paul Hawkens in his "green" book, Blessed Unrest, tells of an old rabbinical teaching that if we hear that the world is ending and the Messiah is coming, we must first plant a tree and then go and determine if the story is true or not. For Seventh-day Adventists, who champion the seventh-day Sabbath as God’s creation memorial and who celebrate the return of the Creator one day, planting a tree isn’t such a bad idea, is it—Earth Day or not? Consider for a moment this "green" declaration of Holy Scripture: "For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God. . . . We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now" (Romans 8:19, 22 NRSV). It’s true, isn’t it? For millennia now our creation has suffered deeply under the effects of our very human rebellion. Can you imagine the latent longing within the "green" natural world for the promised deliverance? But until then, how shall we live, we Sabbath-keepers of the Creator’s flame? Why not begin by "green" eating (as in "greens")? That’s right—vegetarianism would diminish the number of animals raised and killed for consumption, and thus reduce the one-fifth of earth’s greenhouse gases livestock produce! We can turn off the lights in the rooms we exit. We could inflate our tires and save two billion gallons of gas a year, some say. We could shorten our showers by two minutes, saving twelve gallons of water. We could recycle. We could save a few trees by skipping the receipts at ATMs and gas pumps, saving by one estimate 3 billion feet of paper. We could use our own thermos bottles and quit drinking bottled water, since a one liter bottle requires 5 liters of water to cool the plastic, thus resulting in six liters of water for each bottle! Lists of "green" or environmentally friendly ways to live (like these from Ashleigh Burtnett in Andrews University’s Student Movement) are all over the web, and you can make your own. The point? As Creator-worshiping, Sabbath-keeping, nature-preserving friends of Jesus, shouldn’t we be at the forefront of ecological conservation and environmental care and protection? Truth be known, God himself planted a tree once upon a time to save this creation. "To the death of Christ we owe even this earthly life. The bread [our farmland] we eat is the purchase of His broken body. The water [our rivers, streams] we drink is bought by His spilled blood. . . . The cross of Calvary is stamped on every loaf. It is reflected in every water spring" (Desire of Ages 660). Given the infinite cost of planting that tree, shouldn’t we join him in saving his creation?
Did your parents ever say to you, "Don't let the Cimex lectularius bite!" Probably not. After all, a bed bug is just a bed bug, isn't it? Not to the federal government that convened this week in Arlington, Virginia, the first-ever National Bed Bug Summit! Topics included: "Bed Bug Perspectives," "Bed Bug Basics," and "Government Response to Bed Bugs." Never mind the Somali pirates and the Afghan terrorists—apparently we're under a bed bug attack! But why all this fuss about an insect barely the size of an apple seed with a painless bite and not known to spread disease? Because it appears that though eradicated fifty years ago, the little parasite is making a debut reentry into American life. CBS radio reported this week on a New York apartment dweller who was so overrun by bedbugs he hauled his mattress out on the side walk and burned it! Tenement houses, high rise apartments—apparently these itchy, scratchy blood-sucking pests are no respecters of persons, wealth or domiciles. And they're back with a vengeance! Reminds me of another species of small, pesky, life-sucking pests—who also hide from the light and come out in the dark—and who, too, can go weeks, even months, without attacking us, only to return eventually to penetrate their miserable way back under our skin. Who doesn’t know the scratchy, painful discomfort of tiny little sins? Not the big ones, mind you—the ones that are duly castigated in our proper, spiritual circles. I’m thinking of the small sins, those some call "venial," the moral bed bugs that we can’t quite seem to eradicate: gossip, criticism, prejudice, envy, impatience, intemperance, unkindness, shadiness, stinginess, thoughtlessness, two-facedness. Ironic, isn't it, that the longest list is for our "smallest" sins (if any sin can be called small)? But, as the proverb observes, it is "the little foxes that spoil the vines" (Song of Solomon 2:15), the little bed bugs that infect our lives. So how can we fumigate our souls of these vexing parasites? Wikipedia recommends the application of hot water (120 degrees F) to the bed bug bite for relief from the itching pain. The gospel remedy for sins—both small and great—is the application of Christ's Calvary sacrifice to the infected heart: "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29). Divine pardon for our sins comes instantly when we ask him (I John 1:9). Divine power over our sins comes over a lifetime as we keep on beholding him, God's Lamb who died to take away our sins (Heb 12:1, 2). For it is in that beholding—that looking to Jesus day after day in the gospel story of Scripture—that we are imperceptibly but surely transformed by his Spirit into his likeness (II Cor 3:18). Good news (bad news) for all our afflicting "bed bugs"—heaven's Orkin Man is on our side! And because of his friendship, we don’t have to let the bed bugs bite.
As the London Guardian wryly observed, "Whatever faults Maria D'Antuono may have, wasting time is not among them." The 98-year-old woman was one of the few survivors to be pulled from the rubble of the 6.3 magnitude earthquake that struck central Italy this week. For thirty dark and interminable hours she lay trapped beneath the ruins of her home, not far from the L’Aquila epicenter. But they found her! And as the elderly woman was carried to safety amidst the cheers of the onlooking crowd, someone asked her what she had done to pass the hours while waiting and hoping for rescue. "Why, crochet, of course!" Her world comes down around her—but the 98-year-old matriarch survives with a hook, a ball of yarn and a heartful of hope. Not even an earthquake can bury hope! "There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it" (Mt 28:2). His enemies could have piled a thousand Mt Everests on top of the garden tomb of Jesus—but it would have made no difference. For not even an earthquake can bury hope. And when Christ came striding out of that quake-shattered crypt and declared over the pre-dawn rubble, "I am the resurrection and the life!" then at last humankind’s last hope was made forever secure. Death may bury us. But in the power of the risen Savior hope can still be resurrected.And is it any different for debt? Truth is that for too many debt and death are much too similar, leaving both life and hope entombed. Emotionally, financially you may feel buried right now in the rubble of this economic crisis. No way out of the collapse, no hope of rescue, no promise of resurrection. But don’t repeat the computation error of the eleven disciples, who neglected to calculate the power of divine omnipotence into their crisis. For only afterwards did they discover that no matter how heavy the stone that entombs us, the risen Christ can yet roll it away.So put your finger on this Easter promise and face your financial future with new hope: "God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams" (Eph 3:20 Message). So why not ask him . . . and crochet while you wait . . . and hope?
What's the difference between the G-20 and the A-100? The G-20 are meeting right now in London in a gathering of the leaders of the top economic powers on earth. Mission? Seek to build a global consensus strategy regarding the economic crisis that belts the planet. Probability of success? If media prognostications are indicative, the U.S. push for stimulus packages from the rest of the G-20 will be rejected by them, as will their push for the U.S. to join them in greater regulatory control of financial institutions. Bottom-line—the G-20 leaders will seek to at least agree to provide greater funding for the International Monetary Fund, in a show of unity in this time of economic uncertainty.
And the A-100? Those are the nearly one hundred nations that are represented here on the campus of Andrews University. And on this International Student Weekend we recognize the mosaic of giftedness that God has gathered here from around the globe. My friend Najeeb Nakhle, director of International Student Services here at the university, gave me a breakdown of where our 835 international students hail from. Arranged according to the thirteen divisions of our world church, they come from: East-Central Africa 39; Euro-Africa 35; Euro-Asia 12; Inter-American 199; North American 120; Northern Asia-Pacific 127; South American 80; South Pacific 11; Southern Africa-Indian Ocean 45; Southern Asia 16; Southern Asia-Pacific 28; Trans-European 37; West-Central Africa 41; citizenship not listed 45. And so today Pioneer joins in celebrating the young adults of the church who are citizens of the world!
But how different the mission of the A-100 from the G-20! True, their assignment is just as global. But how radically different their quest, as depicted in the messianic Psalm 110: “Your [Messiah] troops will be willing on your day of battle. Arrayed in holy splendor your young will come to you like dew from the morning’s womb” (v 3). I love that promise—on the day of earth’s final battle the young of the world will pour into the Messiah’s army for his endtime mission! They will be as pervasive and extensive as “dew from the morning’s womb.”
It reminds me of that prediction: “With such an army of workers as our youth, rightly trained, might furnish, how soon the message of a crucified, risen, and soon-coming Saviour might be carried to the whole world! How soon might end come—the end of suffering and sorrow and sin!” (Education 271)
So let the G-20 be about their business. International Student Sabbath today is a clarion reminder that the Father’s business is banking on the investment of these bright young scholars for Christ. Then with joy let us celebrate the God who has already called them and who is even now mobilizing the young for his final mission!
“Even now hedge fund titans rake in billions.” A friend sent me this piece that appeared in the business section of The New York Times on Wednesday. The headline would catch anybody’s eye, given the massive economic downturn that we and the rest of the world are enduring right now. The article was accompanied by a photo gallery of the top ten hedge fund managers and their estimated earnings for 2007 and 2008. While the markets were melting down, apparently the earnings of these ten men were still mounting up. The top three: James H. Simons, head of the Renaissance Technologies fund, earned $2.5 billion last year; John A. Paulson, “who rode to riches by betting against the housing market,” earned $2 billion over the same period; and George Soros, a familiar name on the wealthiest Americans lists, accumulated $1.1 billion from his hedge fund. Total take last year for the top 25 managers—$11.6 billion (half of the $22.5 billion they earned in 2007). “The managers’ compensation, which was breathtaking in the best of times, is eye-popping after a year when hedge funds lost 18 percent on average, and investors withdrew money en masse” (www.nytimes.com/2009/03/25/business/25hedge.html). The populist hue and cry this past week over the AIG bonuses, along with this report of the top hedge fund managers’ earnings, is one more reminder of the age in which we now live. In fact there is a New Testament passage, with language so strong I am choosing not to quote it here, that links what is often called the “obscene” accumulation of wealth with the meltdown of human society and the return of Christ. James 5:1-6 specifically identifies financial hegemony at the expense of the hapless laborer and the downtrodden poor. A century ago the words of James’ were prefaced with this comment: “The Scriptures describe the condition of the world just before Christ’s second coming. Of the men who by robbery and extortion are amassing great riches, it is written . . . [James 5:3-6]” (9T 13, 14). But James turns upbeat with hope for the economically disenfranchised and the socially marginalized: “Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming. . . The Judge is standing at the door!” (v 7, 9 TNIV). I.e., economic injustice between the have’s and the have-not’s will have its day in court, when the Judge returns. So how then shall you and I live—we who will never be ranked in any top ten or 25 or pick-the-number listing? With our meager finances, how shall we survive what is portending to be the coming economic earthquake? Join our new mini-series (at worship, on television, podcast and radio) with four financial secrets on how to survive these tough economic times. Come to worship. Download the podcasts. And share the promise that “my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19). After all, his hedge fund is out of this world!
“Sex discrimination is destined to continue in the scorching fires of Hell, according to a study approved by the Vatican which suggests that men are most likely to commit lustful sins whereas women are beholden to pride.” The headline to this report on the London Times website last week would catch anybody’s eye: “We’re all sinners but the gates to Hell are marked His and Hers.” Who would’ve thunk it! (www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article5755481.ece) Because our three-part miniseries, “The Truth about Hell,” ends today with “My Journey to Purgatory (and Back),” perhaps it is fitting we note this latest Vatican study, since purgatory is a trade-marked teaching of the Roman Catholic church. The Times online report goes on to quote Monsignor Wojciech Giertych, personal theologian to Pope Benedict XVI and the papal household, who told the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano that when it comes to sinning there is “no sexual equality.” And thus it is that men’s souls in hell are “pelted with fire and brimstone,” while the souls of women “are more likely to be broken on a wheel.” What does the Bible teach about hell, the most somber subject between its covers? Does the Word of God detail separate and diverse punishments inflicted by God upon men and upon women, punishments that—according to the majority report of Roman Catholic and Protestant theologians—are divinely executed upon hell’s hapless and suffering victims forever and ever (which, of course, means there will never be a full and final execution—just one interminable “almost but not quite there” pain-tortured partial execution)? In “The Truth about Hell” (now available in podcasts at this website), we have candidly examined what exactly the Holy Scriptures do teach about this much caricatured subject. Could it be that for all these years we’ve been living with a portrait of God that simply is not true? A friend and colleague of mine, Tony Bueno, has paraphrased the beloved John 3:16 to fit the dominant caricature of hell that many still embrace: “For God so hated the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever does not believe in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life . . . in Hell.” It is amazing the forced conclusions one must make if the doctrine of an eternally-burning and tormenting hell is accepted. What else should one conclude from such a doctrine, but that God hates those who do not believe in Jesus and will torture them forever in hell, thus rendering the gift of eternal life not exclusive to those who believe in him, but extended also to all who do not believe? Over and against such a notion stands the towering testimony of Calvary’s love. “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38, 39). Turns out the His and Her gates lead to him!
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