Today, in our quest for the right kind of revolution, we turn to our good friend Noel Paul Stookey. Noel has begun his own movement captured in the song, “Revolution 1×1.”
One of the greatest injustices we do to our young people is to ask them to be conservative. Christianity is not conservative, but revolutionary. – Francis Schaeffer
You have been strategically placed right where you are for one reason: to bring the kingdom of God to your corner of the world. It matters not where that is; it matters that you are there and you are intentional about being a carrier of Christ and a spreader of the gospel of welcome — grace turned outward — to everyone, everywhere. And if you’re not sure what that is, stick with us; we’re learning together.
We are now at a critical juncture in our cultural history as Christians in America. We are discovering that the kingdom of God has nothing to do with the kingdoms of this world, be they governmental, social or religious. We’ve had 2,000 years of making these same mistakes over and over again, but then again, we never learn from history. You cannot use any power attached to a worldly kingdom to further the kingdom of God. It has been a grave error of the last 30 years for so many to presume that political power could further the work of God in the world. Great harm has been done to America, the church and especially the gospel message as a result.
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.” Luke 4:18
Why is this a revolutionary agenda? Because it announces that God is on the side of the little people — people with issues — people on the hurting side of life, those left holding the short end of the stick. Since when are we championing the poor, the captives, the blind and the oppressed? Since Jesus came.
Religious institutions that use government power in support of themselves and force their views on persons of other faiths or of no faith undermine all our civil rights. – Thomas Jefferson
Much of the talk of Christian worldview in America is still colored by the culture wars of the 1980s where Christians see themselves as “victims” of a secular culture. Many make the assumption that this was once a Christian nation and it’s time to “take it back.” They watch carefully what happens in courts where they feel the Christian viewpoint is being discriminated against, as if the courts should be supporting biblical truth or be guardians of the Kingdom of God (which, of course, they are not).
How can I sing a new song of deliverance to those who have no hope, if, at the same time, I insist on remaining comfortable among those who do?
Okay, I keep dancing around this, but I’m not going to let it go. Blame it on my wife, Marti. She’s been saying something’s coming for some time now and I’ve been going, “Sure, sure.” But have you noticed how anyone who has either become a Christian during the Jesus Movement or experienced any kind of ministry during that time, cannot stop thinking about it? Like the scene in Close Encounters of the Third Kind, where Richard Dreyfuss builds a model of a mountain in his living room and doesn’t know why — he just had to do it? Why does the Jesus Movement sit in the living room of anyone who experienced it? This is not ho hum, time marching on. Nor is it just a bad case of nostalgia. No … something really happened, and something’s coming back, and you can think I’m nuts, you can humor me, or you can join me, but that’s where we’re going.
This was one of my most memorable Father’s Days. That comes as somewhat of a surprise because I wasn’t with my family. But I was with one of my children, so I felt like a dad. Chandler and I were in Chico, California, getting familiar with what, Lord willing, will become his home in the fall as he begins attending Butte College, about 12 miles outside of town, where a special training program sponsored by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife has caught his eye. Chandler wants to be a game warden.
by Marti Fischer
When wanting to get away with something without her husband knowing, my Mother-in-law often used to quote an old saying, “When the cats away,” she would say, “The mice will play.” Well … while John is away from his desk, let me tell you a story about an orthodox instrument of God, someone you know very well.
It will not be difficult for people who know John and his ministry to imagine how uncomfortable John is with the intersection of independent ministry and entrepreneurship.
Consider the origins of John’s ministry. John was the son of the choir director of a well-known evangelical church in southern California, destined for ministry. He grew up with that bubble of destiny about him. In 1969, with a BA in Social Sciences from Wheaton College, in Illinois, and with the album “Cold Cathedral” to his credit (the first contemporary Christian album released in the United States), John was selected for the internship program at Peninsula Bible Church, Palo Alto, California, pastored by Ray C. Stedman, and focal point of the Jesus Movement in Northern California.
[Warning: This smile has been known to light candles, so be sure and check before you leave the room that you’re not leaving a candle burning somewhere, unless it’s in your heart!]
We’ve had some wonderful responses to the idea of unorthodox “Ben”s among us. John sent us this by Jacob Nordby: “Blessed are the weird people, the poets and misfits, the artists, the writers, and music makers, the dreamers and the outsiders, for they force us to see the world differently.”
John Fischer The Catch 