I received an email from Ian this morning asking if I had been checking Andrew Osenga's blog. I hadn't checked it recently but shortly thereafter I did. He has some wonderful posts about being a Christian but not playing 'christian' music and how difficult he has found it to find his own niche.
One of his posts...
"Hear me now: I am not ashamed to believe in Jesus. I am ashamed of Pat Robertson hijacking my faith for his crazy political agenda. I am ashamed of a President who confuses good vs. evil with “they have oil and I want it”. I am ashamed of Jerry Falwell and Benny Hinn. I called Bruce Wilkinson, author of The Prayer of Jabez, a liar and a crook to his face. I would do it again today. Because he, like these other guys, is taking what I believe and twisting it for money and for power and, in their headline-grabbing foolishness, making the truly faithful and honest believers look like idiots."
As I was skimming through the comments from his post I noticed that Shaun Groves posted. Shaun was probably the best concert that happened at Tyndale- funny, challenging, important stuff. Anyway, in response to Andrew's post he says this.
"Many from that more conservative crowd show up at a concert or read my blog and have their suppositions challenged, sometimes subtly and sometimes not so much. Pro-war folks have actually converted to pacifism, with no real debate - just music and conversation and reading the blog for a couple years. Politicos have realized that the poor and hungry and orphaned were never given to the governments of this world but to the Church and have started putting their lives behind mercy showing as a result. I’ve seen folks I don’t agree with change. And, thankfully, they’ve changed me too."
What's in bold is really why I wanted to put this up here. This is what I am working through in terms of vocation- to work with governments to change political systems of oppression or to forgo that altogether and just be/work with the poor? Or are they one and the same?
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4 comments:
The truly amusing (or ridiculous) thing about Andrew Osenga's post, which you copy, is his bashing of Bruce Wilkinson. Wilkinson made big bucks from his bestseller book and gave it all away trying to alleviate poverty and AIDS in Africa. THAT's what Andrew thinks is being a liar and a crook and unconcerned about the poor and the orphans??? Andrew not only doesn't know what he thinks he knows about other people's faith or motivations, but he tries to bolster his confidence in the betterness of his own faith by bashing the others for "embarrassing" him ... and brags about it. Bashing other Christians, it seems, doesn't qualify as a cause for embarrassment in the faith. Apparently Christian musicians who spend their lives treading water in a pool of angst are the truly legitimate standard bearers of higher-level faith and of concern for the downtrodden.
He gave it all away?
"Wilkinson had planned to build a large orphanage in Swaziland, Africa, one which according to the Wall Street Journal article would have a bed-and-breakfast, game reserve, bible college, industrial park and Disneyesque tourist destination." Wilkinson who has taught that believers can receive blessings from God by reciting Jabez's 33 word prayer had felt confident that his dream for Africa would become a reality. "
That sounds more like a Western idea of a vacation than alleviating poverty in Africa.
And maybe Andrew was referring to the voodoo-esque recitation of a prayer to get rich as the distortion of the gospel?
I'd call that a lie...
I suppose that could be what he's mad about- turning a gospel for the poor into a plane ticket to Vegas.
I did appreciate your point about bashing other Christians though... disagreement without being pompous jerks gets us every time.
lewis! whats up man?
in response to what lambie said, wilkinson DID infact plant an orphanage in africa. the ministry is called 'heart for africa' and the link is below. i know this because ian and janine maxwell are friends of mine and bruce handed control of the organization over to them just a short while ago. although i dont buy into the pray of jabez maybe it's not fair to portray wilkinson in the light that osenga did.
jt
http://www.heartforafrica.org/Default.aspx
tuffyz...is that you?
that is good to know about B-dub...thanks for sticking up for him.
I was actually just trying to put the Shaun Groves quote into context... OPPS!
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