Young Pentecostals

Young Pentecostals
I asked a friend whom I have never met personally except via the Internet to give me his impressions as an independent, objective observer of the Apostolic movement. Here was his reply:

1. Young Pentecostals are searching for an identity. They are not content.

2. The new generation wants toleration more than separation. Standards are artificial (made up) to them, not organic.

3. High school and college age kids have a catch phrase—“No one can live it.” This used to be the old Baptist cry.

4. There seems to be a general sense of “how do we know that we are right?”

5. The new generation as yet is not willing to set up the ancient landmarks again. They are Jacob, but not Israel.

My response and questions:

1) The Apostolic faith and practice, which is in line with the Word of God, provides sufficient identity—UNLESS it is identity with the world and postmodernism one is seeking. Why are some young ministers “not content”? Is someone stirring them up to stand against our traditional Pentecostal doctrines and standards? Are the “by invitation only” meetings of liberal thinkers going on around the country having an impact? Is someone telling the attendees that they should just wait and all the “old heads” will soon be gone and they will be able to make the necessary changes? Are they being told that the new generation of Pentecostals doesn’t have to adhere to the ministerial agreements and lifestyle positions we have agreed upon? Leadership down the line needs to curb such communication by simply saying, “If you don’t believe it, quit developing a fifth column in here. There is a great big world out there…go do your own thing somewhere else.” It is not time for divisiveness, but unity around the absolutes of Scripture.

2) Is it really true that the new generation wants toleration more than separation? Or is there a vocal few who are making most of the noise? Brother A. T. Morgan used to tell about a pond in Louisiana that was noisy with bullfrogs. They figured it was loaded with the nocturnal amphibians. They drained the pond and discovered that it was only two old bullfrogs doing all the croakin’. C’mon, young pastors. Stand up and be counted! Don’t let a few compromisers speak for you. Take note of where 90% of them are right now—nowhere! They are off the map. Are our standards contrived and not a natural and organic part of the body of Christ? Absolutely not. They were agreed on in conference “when we were in our right mind.” They are based on biblical principles and commandments, and relevant to our own age and current challenges we face today. Remember, Paul added “and such like” to the list of sins and activities to avoid in Galatians 5:19-21. The teaching ministry has the right and responsibility to define what “and such like” is in each generation.

3) “No one can live it!” This is a selfish cop-out and surrender to the flesh. Millions have lived it. What they mean is, “I can’t live it and do all the things I want to do.” A broader interpretation: “I don’t want to live it and this is my excuse.”

4) And “how do we know that we are right?” Those doctrines and practices that are essential to our salvation are not nebulous or indistinct. They are clear in the Scriptures. The Bible is our common denominator. All people in all generations from Pentecost until now are obligated to the same scriptural demands. Remove the authority of the Scriptures and no one will know the truth; everyone will have the same claim on being “right.” The more we diminish the authority of the Scriptures, the less we can claim to know absolute truth.

5) Is it really true that the new generation as yet is not willing to set up the ancient landmarks again? That may be true of a vocal few, and they would like to exaggerate the numbers, but I believe there are “7000 who have not bowed a knee to Baal.” Testing time will bring them out of the caves. They are Jacob, but not Israel? Have they not yet fought through the night and had their “thigh” experience? Has the fight gone out of them because some leaders have become benign and indifferent to the Apostolic message and values? That may explain the “southern direction” some have taken in recent years. As long as leaders are elected on the basis of “he’s a cool guy…his family has been around a long time…he has a household name…he seems to be open-minded about things…he is a loyal company man,” etc., rather than whether he loves the truth, stands for righteousness and the Apostolic message, and will speak out against drift, we will dilute the movement. As long as we give ministerial licenses to those who have not proved themselves to be loyal to truth and the biblical principles that our movement stands for, we can expect to see lots of Jacobs, but few Israels.

I invite young pastors to submit their own comments on the above thoughts.

I barrowed this from JR Enesy

Just an odd thught.

Campinas (IN 2005)

In Campinas , Brazil a group of friends, drunk, went to pick up a friend........
The mother, accompanied her to the car and was so worried about the
drunkenness of her friends and she said to the daughter holding her hand,
who was already seated in the car:
'My Daughter, Go With God And May He Protect You.'
She responded: 'Only If He (God) Travels In The Trunk, Cause
Inside Here.....It's Already Full
Hours later, news came by that they had been involved in a fatal accident,
everyone had died, the car could not be recognized what type of car it had been,
but surprisingly, the trunk was intact.
The police said there was no way the trunk could have remained intact. To
their surprise, inside the trunk was a crate of eggs, none was broken

We need to stop, look and think!

The following quote is said to be translated into English from an article appearing in Czechoslovakia as published in the Prager Zeitung, April 28, 2010:

“The danger to America is not Barack Obama but a citizenry capable of entrusting a man like him with the Presidency. It will be far easier to limit and undo the follies of an Obama presidency than to restore the necessary common sense and good judgment to a depraved electorate willing to have such a man for their president.

“The problem is much deeper and far more serious than Mr. Obama, who is a mere symptom of what ails America. Blaming the prince of the fools should not blind anyone to the vast confederacy of fools that made him their prince.

“The Republic can survive a Barack Obama, who is, after all, merely a fool. It is less likely to survive a multitude of fools such as those who made him their president.”

Source link;

http://forums.hannity.com/showthread.php?t=1951311

This six minuter clip is very worth of your time!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbAiyq2cspE

Mervi

I barrowed the following quote from Cal Thomas;

"One cannot simply read the Bible, like other books. One must be prepared really to enquire of it. Only thus will it reveal itself. Only if we expect from it the ultimate answer, shall we receive it."

Here is the link:
http://jewishworldreview.com/cols/thomas062210.php3

Mervi

Hope for another day!

Barrowed from a friends e-mail.

January 2013


One sunny day in January, 2013 an old man approached the White House from across Pennsylvania Avenue , where he'd been sitting on a park bench. He spoke to the U.S. Marine standing guard and said, "I would like to go in and meet with President Obama."

The Marine looked at the man and said, "Sir, Mr. Obama is no longer president and no longer resides here."
The old man said, "Okay", and walked away.

The following day, the same man approached the White House and said to the same Marine, "I would like to go in and meet with President Obama."

The Marine again told the man, "Sir, as I said yesterday, Mr. Obama is no longer president and no longer resides here."

The man thanked him and, again, just walked away.
The third day, the same man approached the White House and spoke to the very same U.S. Marine, saying "I would like to go in and meet with President Obama."

The Marine, understandably agitated at this point, looked at the man and said, "Sir, this is the third day in a row you have been here asking to speak to Mr. Obama. I've told you already that Mr. Obama is no longer the president and no longer resides here. Don't you understand?"

The old man looked at the Marine and said, "Oh, I understand. I just love hearing it."

Something to think about.

Caroline Baum has one explanation that is illustrated in the title of her column. The title is: "I Want It All, Even Better If You Pay for It." She says that you can pick up any newspaper and see a story of "someone somewhere losing a government benefit and enduring a hardship as a result." When we read the story, it tugs at our heart strings and so we ignore that we are using deficit financing to provide for a mother. Ultimately, what we are doing will be dangerous to her child's health.

She is not the only person saying this. Listen to what Douglas Elmendorf, director of the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office recently posted on his blog. "The United States faces a fundamental disconnect between the services that people expect the government to provide, particularly in the form of benefits for older Americans, and the tax revenues that people are willing to send to the government to finance those services."

I lifted the above from this web site, emphasis mine;
http://bl125w.blu125.mail.live.com/default.aspx?wa=wsignin1.0

Mervi