How do I know if I’m called to ministry?

Lots of people do think only theologians may lead the church. they forget that the first churches in Christianity were not lead by theologians nor by very highly educated people, except the ecclesiae lead by Luke and Paul.

The followers of Christ arranged the meetings to bring and to keep people in the faith. also today it are those who have come into the faith who should arrange meetings and make the best of a service to study the Word of God and to worship God.

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Each believer should take up his or her task according the talents God has given him or her. Each person in the Christian community should remember that it is God Who calls and gives the blessings. We should be pleased with God’s election unto salvation and treat it carefully (Matt 9:13; 1 Cor 1:9; 7:18, 22; Gal 1:6, 15; 1 Thess 2:12; 1 Tim 6:12; 2 Tim 1:9).

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We do have to follow God’s call and have to pursue the mission we are required to fulfil by Jesus Christ, going out into the world proclaiming the Gospel of the coming Kingdom. Those who are married, have no excuse saying they can not be a priest, pastor or ‘theologian‘. There is no obligation of celibacy. It may be more difficult as a married person to work for God and having a family, needing to work for a living, etc. when we do feel like we should engage ourselves in the work of God we should go for it. We should make work by studying the Bible and not as much all those theological books , writing of human beings, who were themselves not the chosen ones from God. Moses, Joshua, Samuel, Ezra, Nehemiah, Mordecai David, Solomon, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Habakkkuk, Zephania, Zecchariah, Malachi, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, James, Peter and Jude were the men god has asked to write down His Words. Their writings we should take as the most important study material. Writings of others may be of help, but never may be receiving the priority, like they get at university and theology colleges.

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We always should remember that Jesus asked his disciples to proclaim the Word of God, and that is what each Christian should do. The biblical criteria for being qualified for ministry is not having a degree in theology but is most of all the will to be a servant for God. It is lowering yourself and giving yourself to take any position needed to have an ecclesia or church working and growing. To get life into an ecclesia there has first to be enough desire (1 Tim 3:1) and the right character to help all those in the group of believers. (1 Tim 3:2-7).

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God Himself has given the directions for creating, making and keeping a community of believers = an ecclesia or church. We should follow His directions and offer ourselves as a person willing to take up the necessary job in that ecclesia. Please never come with the excuse you are not a theologian, for not having to organise a bible study class, or to bring prayers in front of the community, or to lead a worship service.

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To remember

  • How do I know if I’m called to ministry? = common question posed by men + women feeling a tug to full time vocational ministry.
  • Each of us called to love our neighbor as ourselves + each of us is called to ministry of reconciliation that Paul speaks about in 2 Corinthians 5.
  • some are called to pastoral ministry as a vocation.
  • Thomas Oden’s book, Pastoral Theology, offers some very helpful + probing questions to ask yourself if you’ve received a “call” to life-long church ministry.
    • intellectual ability up to it
    • Having means of grace (worship, sacraments, Scripture) ingrained in lifestyl
    • How much willing to give up in order to serve
    • competent to lead a community of faith
    • communicate Christian message with persuasiveness and integrity
    • cultivating spiritual disciplines
    • capable of becoming competent interpreter of Scripture
  • = good gut-check

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Preceding messages

Jehovah steep rock and fortress, source of insight

Looking for True Spirituality 7 Preaching of the Good News

Missionary action paradigm for all endeavours of the church

Good Morning January 25 We are theologians

Mental Enslavement and Sins Syndrome (MESS)

Luther on Being a Theologian: Oratio, Meditatio and Tentatio

The Pastor Theologian

Theology as Discipleship

What Makes a Theologian

What Should I Preach ?

How to Choose a Bible for Preaching

 

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Additional reading

  1. To know Christ is filling life with meaning
  2. A voice and a Word given for wisdom
  3. Bible for you and for life
  4. Bric-a-brac of the Bible
  5. Necessity of a revelation of creation 10 Instructions for insight and wisdom
  6. When believing in God’s existence and His son, possessing a divine legislation
  7. Atonement And Fellowship 4/8Hope by faith and free gift
  8. Your position about materialistic desires having conquered the world
  9. Looking for a shepherd for the sheep and goats
  10. Making church
  11. Looking on what is going on and not being of it
  12. Breathing to teach
  13. Showing by the scriptures that …
  14. Perishable non theologians daring to go out to preach
  15. Different assessment criteria and a new language to be found for communicating the faith
  16. What Should I Preach ?
  17. Necessary to be known all over the earth
  18. Salvation, trust and action in Jesus #3 as a Christian
  19. A Living Faith #3 Faith put into action
  20. A Christian has to have eyes and ears and a tongue to use in good ways
  21. Proclaiming shalom, bringing good news of good things, announcing salvation
  22. Preaching Christ Is Not Enough
  23. Preaching by example
  24. Daring to speak in multicultural environment
  25. Beautiful feet of those who announce the good news
  26. Preaching to an unbelieving world
  27. Crisis man needed in this world
  28. It is Today
  29. Signs of the Last Days
  30. Many forgot how Christ should be our anchor and our focus
  31. When discouraged facing opposition
  32. Learn how to go out into the world and proclaim the Good News of the coming Kingdom
  33. Engaging the culture without losing the gospel
  34. Counting sands and stars
  35. The Big Conversation
  36. The Big Conversation – Christadelphians in the United Kingdom
  37. The Big conversation – Antagonists
  38. Trying to get the youth inspired
  39. Preachers should know and continue the task Jesus has given his followers
  40. Being Missional
  41. Theology without spirituality sterile academic exercise
  42. Let us make sure we are not stiff-necked
  43. A Synod to speak freely and to listen without reservations

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Related articles

Praxis

Slide1

This is a common question posed by men and women who are feeling a tug to full time vocational ministry. Now, I get it. In one sense we’re all called to ministry. Each of us is called to love our neighbor as ourselves and each of us is called to the ministry of reconciliation that Paul speaks about in 2 Corinthians 5. I’m all for this!

But while each of us is called to ministry in that way, I do believe some are called to pastoral ministry as a vocation. Thomas Oden, in his book, Pastoral Theology, offers some very helpful and probing questions to ask yourself if you think you’ve received a “call” to life-long church ministry.

The questions speak for themselves. They are as follows:

Is my intellectual ability up to it? Can I write complete sentences? Think critically? Spell sacrament? Speak intelligibly? Identify a leap in…

View original post 338 more words

Good Morning January 25 We are theologians

The world has gone far away from the real study of gods and God, forgetting that the Word of God should be the main guide.

Lots of theologians teaching at colleges and universities have fallen into heresy and other substantial errors on doctrine, having been themselves already formed on the false doctrine of the trinity.

It would be lovely if we could find more theologians who really desire to know the Most High Theos or the Elohim Hashem Jehovah. For them as for all of us this demands works of faith, learning more about Jehovah God, and walking with Him through all the activities of daily life.

As Pastor Irvin Stapf of the Life’s Meaning Ministry correctly notes that

“In this way all Christians are to be theologians”

all those who say they are a Christian should believe in Christ Jesus and follow his teachings. Like Jesus, who did not do his own will, they should do everything to please God.

We too should be as Jeshua’s disciples getting to know Jesus better, following him as the Way to God. It is our faith in him that also should motivate us enough to come to know the heavenly Father of Christ and to do like Christ, doing God’s Will and not ours. Reading the Scriptures and giving ourselves to God shall bring us closer to God and create better relationships between God’s creatures.

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To remember

  • lessons = not always easy
  • many of the circumstances we face in life = tools in God’s gracious hands
  • fruit of the Spirit = nature of Jesus + what God is working to form in us
  • God doesn’t do away with our personality + individuality, => works Christ’s nature into these so that we may be useful to Him and to others.

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Preceding articles:

Mental Enslavement and Sins Syndrome (MESS)

Luther on Being a Theologian: Oratio, Meditatio and Tentatio

The Pastor Theologian

Theology as Discipleship

What Makes a Theologian

 

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Additional reading

  1. Jehovah steep rock and fortress, source of insight
  2. Necessary to be known all over the earth
  3. Bible a guide – Bijbel als gids
  4. A voice and a Word given for wisdom
  5. the Bible – God’s guide for life #2 Needs in life
  6. the Bible – God’s guide for life #3 Fast food or staple diet
  7. the Bible – God’s guide for life #5 What is God like
  8. Counterfeit Gospels
  9. Al-Fatiha [The Opening] Süra 1: 4-7 Merciful Lord of the Creation to show us the right path
  10. To create a great journey
  11. Colour-blindness and road code
  12. We should use the Bible every day
  13. Feed Your Faith Daily
  14. Bric-a-brac of the Bible
  15. What Are You Seeking?
  16. Hang On!
  17. Whoopi Goldberg commandments and abortion
  18. Forbidden Fruit in the Midst of the Garden 4
  19. To know Christ is filling life with meaning
  20. Best intimate relation to look for
  21. God’s wisdom for the believer brings peace

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Life's Meaning Ministry Blog

Thinking about words. We hear the word theologian and we think of someone teaching in a seminary, or writing many scholarly books. This is true. There certainly are such people who have been of great benefit to the church. But look at the word theologian again. The first part theos means God, ology is simply the study of. A theologian is one who studies the nature of God. I consider myself a theologian, but I’m not a well read scholar. I am a parish pastor and a wood worker. You, also, are called to be a theologian, one who seeks to understand more and more about the God we worship, the God who has revealed Himself in the person of Jesus Christ.
As theologians we desire to know our Lord, learning more about Him, and walking with Him through all the activities of daily life. In this way all Christians…

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What Makes a Theologian

Oswald Bayer wrote Martin Luther’s Theology: A Contemporary Interpretation > summarizes Martin Luther’s thinking on what makes a theologian and what rules should govern the theologian.

Luther argued that a theologian is made through six things.

  1. The grace that is worked through the Holy Spirit
  2. The agonizing struggle
  3. Experience
  4. Opportunity
  5. Constant, concentrated textual study
  6. Knowledge and practice of the academic disciplines

Luther goes on to say that three rules should govern the life and task of the theologian.

  1. Prayer = Oratio (prayer)
  2. Meditation = Meditatio (meditation)
  3. Agonizing Struggle= Tentatio (affliction)

theologian = to know both sides of a theological concept: the objective + subjective

theologian = responsible to study, pray, meditate + agonize

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Preceding articles:

Mental Enslavement and Sins Syndrome (MESS)

Luther on Being a Theologian: Oratio, Meditatio and Tentatio

The Pastor Theologian

Theology as Discipleship

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Gospel & Gratitude

Oswald Bayer wrote a fine book titled Martin Luther’s Theology: A Contemporary Interpretation. In this book he summarizes Luther’s thinking on what makes a theologian and what rules should govern the theologian. Luther argued that a theologian is made through six things.

  1. The grace that is worked through the Holy Spirit
  2. The agonizing struggle
  3. Experience
  4. Opportunity
  5. Constant, concentrated textual study
  6. Knowledge and practice of the academic disciplines

Luther goes on to say that three rules should govern the life and task of the theologian.

  1. Prayer
  2. Meditation
  3. Agonizing Struggle

I love the intersection of experience, suffering and study in Luther’s thought on the development of a theologian. It takes more than books and a degree to make a solid theologian. As the quote goes, “a smooth sea never made a skillful sailor.”

One must know the roaring of a condemning conscience and the silencing power of the gospel to bring the…

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Theology as Discipleship

We should not so much focus on theological works, but concentrate on the Word of God, studying the bible itself, because that is the Word What tells everything a man should know.

There is a certain Catholic subculture among theologians today, especially those who teach at colleges and universities. This culture treats every question as if it were open to theological speculation. The terms heresy and heretic are not politically correct, regardless of how clearly a fellow theologian is rejecting Church dogma. They have excised from the Gospel message and from the example of Jesus every harsh rebuke of grave sin and sins against faith. They have reduced the number of dogmas to as few as possible. They ignore the anathemas of Ecumenical Councils. They have taken away all the sharp edges of the Gospel. {Who is qualified to write theology?}

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To remember

  • Theology is irrelevant to our life as Christians. = what many evangelicals tend to believe
  • focusing on practical things
  • theology = dangerous <= divisive + potential to confuse people about God
  • Keith Johnson in Theology as Discipleship argues that neither of these are the case. In fact, theology is vitally relevant to our lives as Christians and it actually has the ability to help us grow in Christ. Or as he himself puts it:
  • traditional goal of Christian theology = to develop a better understanding of God => can think + speak rightly about God within context of a life governed by our faith in Christ + our discipleship to him in community with other Christians.
  • theology went “wrong” (i.e. anti-intellectualized & over-academia-ized)
  • Part of theology’s purpose = to help us to know Christ + grow in our understanding of our union with Him

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Preceding articles:

Mental Enslavement and Sins Syndrome (MESS)

Luther on Being a Theologian: Oratio, Meditatio and Tentatio

The Pastor Theologian

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CWoznicki Think Out Loud

Theology is irrelevant to our life as Christians.

At least that’s what many evangelicals tend to believe. There is this thought that runs through much of evangelicalism that theology is either irrelevant because we should be focusing on practical things. There is also another line of thought that seems to believe that theology is dangerous because it is divisive, and has the potential to confuse people about God. Keith Johnson in Theology as Discipleship argues that neither of these are the case. In fact, theology is vitally relevant to our lives as Christians and it actually has the ability to help us grow in Christ. Or as he himself puts it:

The traditional goal of Christian theology is to develop a better understanding of God so that we can think and speak rightly about God within the context of a life governed by our faith in Christ and our discipleship…

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The Pastor Theologian

The first disciples of Jeshua, the Christ, were, except Luke, no scholars. It was only after Jeshua had died and was risen that an other scholar joined the disciples and became known as the great apostle Paul.

The early members of the ecclesiae of the followers of Jesus were a mix of all sorts of professions, where everybody became a partaker of the group, taking up different roles. They did not go to universities to have their degree in theology and did not have a training in the synagogues to become a priest in the ecclesia.

They were people united in the body of Christ, humbling themselves to be a worker for Christ and for God, not aiming to be the Leader, because they knew very well who had to be the leader, namely Jesus Christ should be the cornerstone of the community.

It is very nice to hear that

“At the end of the day theology is not about having more head knowledge or even about pursuing more academic degrees. It’s about getting to know the God of the Scriptures who is able to do immeasurably more than we could ever ask or imagine. And when he is made much of – that is, when he is encountered and known, the real work of ministry is done in our hearts, our communities, and the world!”

Though it is a pity that so many theologians have become blinded by human doctrines that they do not see the biblical truth any more.

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To remember

  • pastor = CEO or “leader” dominating conference scene
  • two of the Church’s finest leaders – Andy Stanley + Craig Groeschel = god-like on stage + every ear attune to their words of wisdom
  • wondering if we’ve pushed focus on leadership too far to the neglect of the study of theology
  • Gerald Hiestand + Todd Wilson in their book, The Pastor Theologian: Resurrecting an Ancient Vision, think this may be the case.
  • great chasm between study of theology and the Church
  • office of pastor + theologian not always separate
  • birth of university => divide => best + brightest minds pursued work in the academy+ those gifted with people skills became pastors in the local Church
  • Church could use some more theology while the academy could use some more pastoral wisdom.
  • all ministry leaders should prioritize study of God
  • to keep a close watch over own life and doctrine (teaching)(1 Timothy 4:16)
  • guard against false doctrine if unable to identify it
  • health of the Church + the making of disciples = both reliant on sound teaching.

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Preceding articles

Mental Enslavement and Sins Syndrome (MESS)

Luther on Being a Theologian: Oratio, Meditatio and Tentatio

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Additional reading

  1. The importance of Reading the Scriptures
  2. No other god besides Jehovah who gives all explanation
  3. God’s forgotten Word 3 Lost Lawbook 2 Modern scepticism
  4. Theologians and a promised Spirit to enlighten us
  5. Necessity of a revelation of creation 9 Searching the Scriptures

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Praxis

Thepastortheologian

We live in an age where the pastor as CEO or the pastor as “leader” dominates the conference scene. I remember attending a Catalyst One Day Conference in Chicago several years ago. One day packed full of vision casting, leadership tips, and inspirational quotes from two of the Church’s finest leaders – Andy Stanley and Craig Groeschel. I was mesmerized. They were god-like on stage and every ear was attune to their words of wisdom. I took copious notes and made it a priority to implement as much as I could into the college ministry I was leading at the time. It goes without saying that much of what leadership literature and media have to offer is valuable and necessary.

I’m just wondering if we’ve pushed the focus on leadership too far to the neglect of the study of theology. Gerald Hiestand and Todd Wilson in their book, The Pastor…

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Luther on Being a Theologian: Oratio, Meditatio and Tentatio

Augustine of Hippo (354–430), Latin theologian. His writing on free will and original sin remains influential in Western Christendom.

The world has created so called scientists in the knowledge of God. Lots of people do put all their trust in such scholars who received a degree in theology at a university.
The majority of those theologians are as most of them would consider a theologian is,

“one who is dedicated to life in Christ and the contemplation of the Holy Trinity.” {What Does It Mean To Be a Theologian; by David Russell Mosley}

For many who studied the godsThe Philokalia“, a collection of texts written between the 4th and 15th centuries by spiritual masters”, was their primary guide for what it meant to be a theologian.

We always should know that to come to know God and to worship God we do not have to be people who have a university degree in theology, but we should be people who take time to study the bible. Lots of theologians have spend more time in studying writings of other human beings instead of looking more closely at the Word of God, the Bible. When you look at the theology courses, you will notice much more time is spend at those human writings, philosophy and human doctrines than at Biblical doctrines. No wonder that there have been much more books written by trinitarian scholars than by non-trinitarian Christians, because for the latter it is evident what is written in the Bible is the truth and as such in the non-trinitarian denominations of Christianity there are not so many divisions or matters of dispute as in the trinitarian denominations of Christendom.

We should remember that each of us has to be a theologian, a person who wants to know and worships the Only One True God of gods. A knowledge of the other gods may help in this, but the main focus should be on the real True Divine Creator, the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jakob and of Jeshua, who is mostly known as Jesus Christ by English speaking countries.

Each person who claims to be a Christian should be a follower of Christ and should worship the same God Christ worshipped, namely his heavenly Father. Like Jesus prayed to his heavenly Father we also should pray to that God of Jesus, Jehovah the Most Almighty God. That Oratio (prayer) should be grounded in the Word of God.

God cannot tempted, but Jesus was and we also shall be tempted more than once. This Tentatio (affliction) is not something God uses to drive us a way from self, but is our own selfish will because we are so much busy with ourselves. In case we would be more busy with the Will of God we would not be so much and so often suffering from our wrongdoing. Then we would also be more forthcoming to God His Will and would be more able, like Christ did not his own will, not to do our own will but being happy to do God’s Will.

To avoid going astray we do need the Meditatio (meditation) which should be the continual study of the Holy Scriptures and not so much the study of the many theological works by human beings.

We should trust more the Call and the Voice of God instead the voices of so many people who call themselves theologian, whatever they may mean by that word.

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Preceding articles

Mental Enslavement and Sins Syndrome (MESS)

Some one or something to fear #7 Not afraid for Gods Name

Pascal’s Possibility

Sharing thoughts and philosophical writings

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Additional reading

  1. The importance of Reading the Scriptures
  2. No other god besides Jehovah who gives all explanation
  3. God’s forgotten Word 3 Lost Lawbook 2 Modern scepticism
  4. Theologians and a promised Spirit to enlighten us
  5. Necessity of a revelation of creation 9 Searching the Scriptures
  6. Necessity of a revelation of creation 11 Believing and obeying the gospel of the Kingdom of God
  7. Necessity of a revelation of creation 14 Searching the scriptures
  8. Missional hermeneutics 1/5
  9. Missional hermeneutics 5/5
  10. Approachers of ideas around gods, philosophers and theologians
  11. To find ways of Godly understanding
  12. Position of the Bible researcher
  13. Theology without spirituality sterile academic exercise
  14. Self-development, self-control, meditation, beliefs and spirituality
  15. Being Missional
  16. Christendom Astray The Devil Not A Personal Super-Natural Being
  17. A god who gave his people commandments and laws he knew they never could keep to it
  18. Our life depending on faith
  19. Perishable non theologians daring to go out to preach
  20. Reasons why you may not miss the opportunity to go to a Small Church
  21. Follower of Jesus part of a cult or a Christian
  22. The meek one riding on an ass
  23. Does there have to be a Holy Trinity Mystery
  24. Altered to fit a Trinity
  25. the Trinity – the Truth

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Further related writings

  1. What Hath the Church to do with the Library?
  2. Theology of Experience
  3. … 506 years ago
  4. The Calvinist ‘God’ and God
  5. Jealous God | Jealous for God
  6. So, Here Goes…
  7. The Angelic Doctor
  8. Good Morning January 25
  9. What Makes a Theologian
  10. The Pastor Theologian
  11. A Quote from St. Augustine on “The State”
  12. Theology as Discipleship
  13. 43rd of 2015.
  14. What Does It Mean To Be a Theologian
  15. What is Distinctive about Christian Analytic Theology?
  16. Pulpit Supply: Sunday School: Four Key Concepts to be a better Theologian
  17. Theologian Spotlight: Kathryn Tanner
  18. Saint Augustine
  19. Puritan John Owen – Doctrine of the Spirit and Mortification of Sin (Christian audio book)
  20. C.S. Lewis Died on This Date
  21. Albert Schweitzer
  22. Jean Guitton
  23. Biblical Christian Theology: Definition by DR. Donald E. Battle
  24. DR. Donald E. Batle: Theologian And Christology Scholar
  25. Who is qualified to write theology?
  26. What is the Recipe to Survive in the Storms of Life?
  27. Crossing Divides: Can an Atheist be a Chaplain?
  28. So Now I’m a Christian. Now What? Part 4:The Loving, Triune God
  29. Thought on the Trinity, Its Being Less than Mysterious, and the Biblical Support of an Analogy to It
  30. The Incarnation a Contradiction?
  31. 1 Corinthians 10:15 (Don’t Take My Word For It)
  32. Christ Strengthens You

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Gospel & Gratitude

In John Doberstein’s The Minister’s Prayerbook, he discusses Martin Luther’s understanding of the development of a theologian. Luther believed that the “right way to study theology” is anchored in the three rules set forth in Psalm 119: Oratio, Meditatio, Tentatio. For Luther “Everything centers around the practice of meditation, for prayer prepares for it and its results are confirmed in the experience of conflict. For Luther, meditation is the key to the study of theology. No one can become a true theologian unless he learns theology through it” (Kleinig, “The Kindred Heart”, 142). The discussion that follows is taken directly from Doberstein and explores each of the three dimensions.

  • Oratio (prayer) is grounded in the Word of the Lord. Prayer is the voice of faith. That is to say, that prayer grows out of the Word of the Lord. “The richness of the Word of God ought to determine our prayer, not…

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Mental Enslavement and Sins Syndrome (MESS)

Today we came across a blog where was spoken of the Mental Enslavement and Sins Syndrome (MESS), which we would consider concerns all people of this globe.

Pastor ucocsthdm, Founder/Senior Pastor at Universal Church of Christ Seventh Day Ministries

The blog Inward Jews’ Site for Emancipation from Mental and Spiritual Enslavement! (previously Blessupebookstore) is from Redeeming Luv,  a God-fearing Guyanese of African descent, whose name is Wilfred A. Wilson, Pastor of Universal Church of Christ Seventh Day Ministries, INC., and leader of the Inward Jew Nation in Christ (Guyana, South America, an arm of the UCOC7THDM. He came to grips with Jesus in the early 70s and felt saved by him, called and put in the ministry.

If we are right his church then belongs to over 500 Sabbath keeping Churches of all different denominations. Some of the largest Sabbath keeping Churches would be the Seventh Day Baptist, Seventh-day Adventist, Church of God and the United Church of God.

The preacher his online presence is due to the fact that because his African descendants, 177 years after their ancestors, were fully emancipated on August 1, 1838, his people, are still enslaved mentally and spiritually, and he feels he is having an inspired Word and message to deliver to his people as well as for the world in a season where souls are ready to be harvested upon hearing the true Gospel of Jesus Christ preached unto them.

He asks coloured people to take back their birthright to the kingdom of God and of Christ, His Son, for the coloured people wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. [Ephesian 5:4]

He writes

The devil got to run when we speak the Word, viz., Jesus, say it again, Jesus, and say it again, Jesus. May God Almighty richly bless you. The Spirit of God gave me a Word which will set free whosoever believes from their Mental Enslavement and Sins Syndrome. (MESS) The inspired New Testament Word is:

“…Pass the time of your sojourning here in fear: for as much as y know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers: But with the precious Blood of Christ, as of a lamb without spot.” [1Peter1:17-19] {Blogging 201: Day 8 Assignment}

Mental Enslavement for sure is something we are all chained by. Wherever we live are minds are taken in by the place where we grew up and by the people who formed us and moulded in the being we are at present in this system of things. The ‘Mental Enslavement’ the pastor considers to be a legacy of slavery. For him it is

the root cause of the current divisions among us, African descendants. {Blogging 201: Day 8 Assignment}

The white English naturalist and geologist Charles Darwin

Nelson Mandela led the ANC in the battle against South African Apartheid.

Caucasians, Asians, they too are divided by their enslavement of their spirit. It is not restricted to the African people. Neither is the Sins Syndrome as a legacy of Adam’s transgression restricted to black people. Perhaps worse, the white people took the innocent black people chained to their world of greed and of unconnectedness with nature. By the commerce of slavery many black people where taken away form their native place where their people were still connected with nature and lived in peaceful communities where there was a certain order of respect. That respect and family order was broken, the mind degraded unto that of an animal. The negro was made into a carnal man which had no rights and was considered as part of the animal world. Carnal white man saw in them an opportunity to enrich themselves and to have some element with whom they could have sex as much and how they wanted it. For many of them it was an element by which no sin could be done. And church looked at it and did nothing against it.

A European map of West Africa, 1736. Included is the archaic mapping designation of Negroland.

We may not forget they all are under the spell of the fall of man, but God did ask each individual to make up their own choice and to go away from that spell. God created the human beings with the possibility to think for themselves. Man has no excuse to point the finger to Adam and Eve. It is not because they sinned, we can not do different. If that would be so that would mean the Divine Creator created human beings who are not able to live according to the rules God gave them. Such a thing would make that God a very Cruel God.

It is true that even today there are lots of Christian preachers who say man is incapable to do good or to do the Will of God, and therefore Jesus has to be God. They are mistaken and have become enslaved to their twisted mind or to the twisted mind of generations of theologians. Those people who call themselves scientists in the knowledge of God took a lot of time to study books of other theologians. Most of their time is spend to reading and studying books of other people of this world, instead of spending more time to reading the Word of God itself, given to mankind by the Book of books.

They and their followers have come enslaved to their minds which are taken in by human doctrines. That ‘Mental enslavement’ is the root cause of the current divisions among so many people, not only for African descendants.

The blogwriter thinks his people, due to years of conditioning, have become strangers one to the other, or at least some act as though they are because of their mindset. He should know all other races are also enslaved to their world which works as a magnet drawing them in all sorts of dreams and adventures.

When you look at this world you will see that man made a big mess of it. As such that Mental Enslavement and Sins Syndrome (MESS) fits clearly our big mess.

Living in this big mess perhaps also being caught by that Mess, we do have to know we can become liberated from any form of slavery. Some two thousand years ago a man was born who proofed that it was all lies that a man could not do the Will of God. That Nazarene Jew managed not to do his own will but humbled himself and gave himself totally to this God and His creatures. That son of man showed the world that each son of man is capable to come to God and do what God wants from him or her. Those who say Jesus is God, because no man is ever able to follow God from himself or herself, are telling lies. They are misleading people and are holding them back from the real God of gods, Who is the Only One True God which all people should come to worship.

The Jew Jeshua, today better known under his falls name which gives honour to the god Zeus, Jesus  (Hail Zeus), had studied the Word of God, proclaimed it, prayed a lot to his heavenly Father and asked also his followers to pray to his heavenly Father, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jakob. That man of flesh and blood gave his body to the world, but kept his mind high up by his heavenly Father and demands us to do the same, as him coming to be united with that only One True God, being one like Jesus is one with Him.

When we do follow Jesus, who is the Way to God, we are able to change our attitude. Yes it

could be changed by the power in the blood of Christ.

How? You have to let go (MESS), and allow God to have His way in you. {Blogging 201: Day 8 Assignment}

We are not a hopeless people, who are unable to become without further sinning. It is true that all of us sin but such a condition has not to continue for ever. For there is hope, hope in the very Christ, whose precious Blood washes away our sins the moment we repent and believe the Word of God from the heart. Such act of coming into believing in Christ, the son of God, will demand work. Then shall come the most important factor to break the chains of enslavement, namely the demand of repentance. When we do not come to see what we have done wrong or what we can do wrong we shall never be liberated. We do have to see what is wrong and what is the right way. Without recognising good and bad we shall not see the light nor become free citizens under Christ.

People of all sorts of cultures should know that God is not partial and that He had sent His son for all people. For God nobody should be enslaved and be under the spell of satan, the adversary of God. People should come to believe in the sent one from God, the son of God and

Know that it is the Word that will turn your life around so that you do not have to continue being a slave to sin. and to the devil. [Romans 6:7-23]  If you have doubts about Christ, put your right hand on the region of your heart and say, Father in heaven, help my unbelief. Amen. I guarantee that God the Father will hear your prayer. Amen. {Blogging 201: Day 8 Assignment}

There are still too many Christians who do not believe what Jesus really did, not doing his own will but submitting to the Will of God and giving his body as a ransom for the sins of mankind.

Today there are still too many who prefer following human traditions and human doctrines instead of adhering to sound Biblical teaching and going for the Biblical tradition. We should come to see how everything links together. The Old Testament is inherent to the New testament. The promises given in the Garden of Eden have become a reality by Jesus being the promised Messiah.

Jesus has become the slave who managed to liberate his fellow slaves. His death made an end to the curse of death. In him we are liberated and can put away the chains leading to death. After he had gone his apostles continued doing the work Jesus ordered them to do. Philip also came to bring people as the eunuch to God.

Philip in the awesome presence of the Most High God and under His Sovereignty did not sprinkle water on him, he did not pour water on his head, he did not duck him in the water three times, he did not baptize him in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, but rather, Philip baptized our Ethiopian brother in the name of the Lord Jesus, just as He cayon-sugar-canewas guided by the Holy Spirit to do at Samaria.
It is written, “…they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.”[Acts 8:16, 2:] And for those who may have a problem with the parenthesis in this verse of scripture: Acts 2:38, says,

“Then Peter said to them, Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.”

Proof: Thus at the mouth of two genuine witnesses (the scriptures) baptism in the name of the Lord Jesus is established. Let us give Yahweh praise. {Blogging 201: Day 8 Assignment}

The highly placed person came into the faith and knew he had to do things. He was convinced that it was not enough to have been baptised, but that once having come into the faith the believer had to do works, like spreading the gospel and giving people hope.

Cush or Kush, an ancient African kingdom situated on the confluences of the Blue Nile, White Nile and River Atbara in what is now the Republic of Sudan.

Ethiopia was one of the great kingdoms of Africa, part of which is now called Abyssinia. It is frequently mentioned in Scripture under the name of Cush. But Cush comprehended a much larger region, including the southern part of Arabia, and even sometimes the countries adjacent to the Tigris and Euphrates. Ethiopia Proper lay south of Egypt, on the Nile, and was bounded north by Egypt, that is, by the cataracts near Syene; east by the Red Sea, and perhaps part by the Indian Ocean; south by unknown regions in the interior of Africa; and west by Lybia and the deserts. It comprehended the modern kingdoms of Nubia or Sennaar, and Abyssinia. The chief city in it was the ancient Meroe, situated on the island or tract of the same name, between the Nile and Ashtaborus, not far from the modern Shendi. (Robinson’s Calmet,)

The confidential officer, or counsellor of state, was a Jew, or at least a Jewish proselyte. It was customary for the Jews in foreign lands, as far as practicable, to attend the great feasts at Jerusalem. He had gone up to attend the Passover, and got fascinated by the new teachings of the followers of the Jew Jeshua and humiliated himself going down into the water to get baptised. The conversion of the Ethiopian Eunuch is a milestone in the proclamation of the gospel which spread from Jerusalem. The fact that he rode in a chariot was a demonstration of his wealth and power. One would think he would not share his faith with lower people, but he did. The eunuch “went on his way rejoicing” (Acts 8:39). He went along taking care others also came into the faith, which could spread from Arabia and Egypt to the North of Africa.

All nations should come to see how that important man welcomed the opportunity of ‘emptying himself’ by going down to baptism. He rejoiced in his appreciation of how his Saviour had emptied himself to make it possible for the eunuch, a man who was excluded from the ‘congregation of the Lord’, to draw close to God, no longer being distanced from Jehovah God by sin.

We all may be connected with one or other ‘class’ or ‘profession’, but for god we are all the same and given the same opportunities to come to God. We only should react in the right way when we hear the call.

Like the eunuch we can take the knowledge of the greatness of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ with us into our everyday lives that will provide a fitting contrast to the aspirations to greatness of those around. This can help us to follow his example of humility and rejoice that we might share the true greatness of the Lord Jesus Christ at his return to the earth.

In the meantime we may not sit still. We do have to do the works of faith. To get away from the ‘Sin Syndrome’ we have to work at our character. It will not come easy to step in the right direction and to always keep to the Word of God.

Like god in the past changed the mindset of many He is willing to change our mindset too. We should take time to see the links from the past as well as those with the future.

The past refers to Yahweh’s Visitation with our African brother (1) and when He miraculously changed His mindset, and moved Him away from those aspects of our Fathers’ tradition which are not in sync  neither Yahweh nor His Word. {Blogging 201: Day 8 Assignment}

The pastor ends

Make it a habit to trace our Biblical history and tradition back to Acts 8:26-39, and believe the Word and teach your children all the Word builds up our confidence, gives us a sense of belonging, a high self worth, and a strong feeling that we are guided by it (the Word), in our journey along a path in Christ— that has continuity.  O let us give God Praise. Amen. {Blogging 201: Day 8 Assignment}

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Preceding articles

Scripture about Creation and Creator Deity

How Many Persons Created the Heavens and the Earth?

Some one or something to fear #7 Not afraid for Gods Name

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Additional reading

  1. No other god besides Jehovah who gives all explanation
  2. God of gods
  3. Only One God
  4. God is one
  5. The faithful God
  6. God’s wisdom for the believer brings peace
  7. Necessity of a revelation of creation 9 Searching the Scriptures
  8. Necessity of a revelation of creation 11 Believing and obeying the gospel of the Kingdom of God
  9. Necessity of a revelation of creation 14 Searching the scriptures
  10. God’s forgotten Word 3 Lost Lawbook 2 Modern scepticism
  11. Theologians and a promised Spirit to enlighten us
  12. A god who gave his people commandments and laws he knew they never could keep to it
  13. Self-development, self-control, meditation, beliefs and spirituality
  14. Back from gone #4 Your inner feelings and actions
  15. Our life depending on faith – Looking at the Bible reading for January 28
  16. Faith Alone Does Not Save . . . No Matter How Many Times Protestants Say It Does
  17. January 27, 417, Pope Innocent I condemning Pelagius about Faith and Works
  18. Epicurus’ Problem of Evil
  19. A Living Faith #1 Substance of things hoped for
  20. A living faith #2 State of your faith
  21. A Living Faith #3 Faith put into action
  22. A Living Faith #4 Effort
  23. A Living Faith #5 Perseverance
  24. A Living Faith #6 Sacrifice
  25. A Living faith #7 Prayer
  26. A Living Faith #8 Change
  27. A Living Faith #9 Our Manner of Life
  28. A Living Faith #10: Our manner of Life #2
  29. A Living Faith #11 My place in the body of Christ and my ecclesia
  30. A Living Faith #12 The Love for Jesus
  31. Faith and works
  32. Not making yourselves abominable
  33. The attraction of doing something
  34. Re–forming ourselves
  35. Humbleness
  36. Wired to Connect?
  37. Bearing fruit
  38. Comments to James remarks, about Faith and works
  39. First man’s task still counting today
  40.  He who knows himself, is kind to others
  41. Luther’s misunderstanding
  42. Our life depending on faith
  43. Romans 4 and the Sacraments
  44. Is Justification a process?
  45. Letter to the Romans, chapter 3
  46. Letter to the Romans, chapter 4
  47. Additional comments to the 3rd Letter to the Romans
  48. Additional comments to the Letter to the Romans 4
  49. Missional hermeneutics 5/5
  50.  The sin of partiality
  51. Hope by faith and free gift
  52. Not bounded by labels but liberated in Christ
  53. The meek one riding on an ass
  54. Atonement And Fellowship 7/8
  55. Authority given to him To give eternal life
  56. Reasons why you may not miss the opportunity to go to a Small Church
  57. Being Religious and Spiritual 7 Transcendence to become one
  58. Preparation for unity
  59. Follower of Jesus part of a cult or a Christian
  60. Sharing thoughts and philosophical writings
  61. Looking for True Spirituality 7 Preaching of the Good News
  62. Daring to speak in multicultural environment

 

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Further related articles

  1. A man
  2. My Flesh and My Spirit
  3. What are we asking for? What do we need?
  4. Baptism of the Spirit: my testimony
  5. So, Here Goes…
  6. The Angelic Doctor
  7. Good Morning January 25
  8. Theologian Spotlight: Martin Luther
  9. What Does It Mean To Be a Theologian
  10. What Makes a Theologian
  11. Pulpit Supply: Sunday School: Four Key Concepts to be a better Theologian
  12. Luther on Being a Theologian: Oratio, Meditatio and Tentatio
  13. Who is qualified to write theology?
  14. A Quote from St. Augustine on “The State”
  15. Theology as Discipleship
  16. 43rd of 2015.
  17. No More Sunday School Answers
  18. Between A Father and Son
  19. lifted up
  20. Father, Holy Spirit, & Son: When the Trinity is Out of Order
  21. Have You Seen Jesus?
  22. What does it mean that God is the Ancient of Days?
  23. Review: The Unseen Realm

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