Starting To Take Action - My Life In Denmark (Part 6)

Pop Quiz - what did many Lutheran churches in Denmark do on October 31st?
A - Commemorate the Reformation
or
B - Celebrate Halloween
Clue - If you are a cynic then you will get the right answer!

Yes, that's right, on the 493rd anniversary of Martin Luther nailing his 95 Theses to the church door in Wittenberg, many Lutheran Priests in Denmark decided to celebrate halloween. After all, the Reformation was only the single most momentous event to ever happen in Europe. Unfortunately, irony is nothing new to the state sponsored Lutheran culture in Denmark. Luther never wanted a movement named after him but his conscience was captive to Holy Scripture. Today, in Denmark, we have a movement named after him that wants nothing to do with Holy Scripture. If you are a Lutheran Priest who fits this profile then do everyone a favor and stop masquerading as a spokesman for God (I refuse to even acknowledge female priests). If you are one of the conservative protestors of this madness then start actually making some noise as you protest. Being protestant does not mean hiding in a corner in a silent vigil of opposition!

Over the last few posts I have been lamenting/documenting the catastrophic collapse of biblical Christianity in Denmark. I say it not for the sake of complaining, but as a call of provocation! I have quickly learnt that courtesy and good manners have become a massive hindrance to people responding proactively. It's the old frog in the kettle syndrome! It has led to the point where many of the professing Christians here, actually comfort themselves in the knowledge that they attend a "church" that is less heretical than most of the others.

My discontent had become unbearable by early 2008. I drew up a battle plan taking much confidence from the fact that I was absolutely convinced of my inability to make the situation any worse. My starting point was that I knew the Gospel and as such, knew that it was not being preached anywhere (though I have since become aware of a few Lutherans who do proclaim the true biblical Gospel) in Denmark. Jehovah's Witnesses needed to beware that they were no longer going to be the only ones who witnessed to Danes. And we planned to testify about the real living Jehovah!

After extensive sniffing around and surveillance of Danish internet pages, I was able to gather a dozen people in my sunroom (a Danish oxymoron if ever there was one) and cast the vision for an evangelism network. Tilbage Til Bibelen was born that chilly night in April 2008. It was a plan to evangelize people via Gospel tracts and one-to-one witnessing, train willing Christians, and exert pressure on churches/ministries by challenging them to approve/repudiate an orthodox doctrine statement.

It was a start, but not a total solution. And I was about to find out that evangelism can be a very serious crime in the eyes of a Pentecostal pastor . . . serious enough to get me evicted from their conference site! More to come . . .

Go On To Part 7
Go Back To Part 5
Go Back To Part 1

My Obligatory Michael Jackson Post

Oh how much I fear being categorized as irrelevant. How can I possibly reach the world around me if I am not pop culture savvy? How can I relate to youth when I am largely ignorant of a 50 year old singer? I didn't know how to prove my "hipness" but then I found this . . .



Who would ever think of combining John Piper's teaching on the doctrine of depravity with the musical prowess of Michael Jackson? Is this blog now certified "relevant"?

Michael Jackson is a hot topic right now with the mystery surrounding his recent death. The blogosphere is running hot with gossip and innuendo. But the reason I am posting about Michael Jackson is that there are practical lessons for Christians to learn about the loving and biblical way to respond to tragedy, especially of the celebrity kind.

To be sure I have always found it hard to fathom why a good looking African-American man would want to alter his appearnace in that way. And I would certainly steer my children away from listening to his music because of the sexual and humanistic content. But to pretend to know whether Michael Jackson is in heaven or hell right now is both foolish and futile. Only God knows that. Though the outward evidence leaves a very bad prognosis, we can fly a flag of hope that Michael Jackson repented and trusted in Christ just prior to his untimely death. The repentant thief on the cross always shines as a torch of hope for seemingly doomed sinners. God takes no delight in the destruction of the wicked (Ezekiel 33:11) and neither should we . . . or have you forgotten about the sewer of sin that God rescued you from?? In seasons of grief we should avoid speculation, hope for the best, and be ministers of love.

A second thing we can focus on is allowing tragedy to remind us of the brevity of our own lives. That we all stand on the knife edge of eternity - always one less heartbeat away. Ask people if they know where they are going when they die and springboard into the Gospel.

The third thing to remember, and avoid, is something that is happening right now among certain professing Christians, and that is trying to claim Michael Jackson as a part of the Body of Christ with no biblical evidence to support this. I did say that we can fly a flag of hope - but it is another thing altogether to fly a flag of false hope.

From Rick Warren's Saddleback church we have the comments of David Pack who is "a Grammy winning recording artist, producer, and music director. A member of Saddleback Church, he works with Rick Warren on special projects, including the PEACE Plan and AIDS & Worship Conferences." I can scarcely believe David Pack's brazen boldness in declaring to all the world with astonishing certainty that:

If there’s anything that gives me peace during this moment of loss, it’s knowing that one of the greatest artists of our time is now moon-walking along the gold paved roads of heaven, where streets have no name, with a broad smile on his face, and a band of angels welcoming him home. Michael, my friend, rest in heavenly peace.

And what does Pack base his "divine knowledge" on?

During that special evening, I felt the need to share my faith with him, to let him know that another Christian artist was sitting next to him. So when he whispered, “How can I ever thank you for this wonderful night?” I said, “Michael, I didn’t put this together, God did!” He said, “Oh yes, I believe that with all of my heart.”

I told him I was a Christian, and he said he was, too. We talked about the first Christian song we’d both heard as children: “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. Little ones to him belong, they are weak but he is strong.” With the dinner party loudly going on around us, we both quietly leaned in and sang the song, smiling like choirboys. “Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me.” Then we gave each other a short embrace.

I knew at that moment that this sweet-spirited young genius was going to find his eternal peace in heaven.

David Pack's insight, or lack thereof, is disturbing on so many levels. How can a vague conversation like that give any indication as to a clear understanding of the Christian Gospel or outward evidence of the transforming work of the Holy Spirit? What about the HUGE question mark this leaves over Pack's grasp of the Gospel? Why would Saddleback want to give Pack a public profile when he writes such clueless and damaging nonsense? What about Michael Jackson's Jehovah's Witness background or his well publicised conversion to Islam? What about the VERY disturbing public behavior? What about the blatant sexual and humanistic themes in many of his songs? Why is it that a member of Rick Warren's church with a public profile would fail to factor all these issues into the equation? Like I said earlier, fly a flag of hope that he repented and trusted the Savior. But don't do a David Pack and try to play God!

Tragically, Pack is not alone in his recklessness. In a postmodern era where uncertainty is so strongly espoused, I am stunned by the certainty with which they know such mysteries.

God gave Michael Jackson 50 years to repent and trust the Savior. We can only hope that his final fragments of human strength were spent fleeing to the Savior who is rich in mercy and longsuffering of our wickedness.

Door Knocking the House of a Jehovah's Witness - A Bizarre Adventure in Evangelism

My extended Danish family went away for the last week to celebrate Christmas at a place with summer holiday cabins. Why we went there in winter is a good question but the kids had a blast because the centre had an indoor pool and playground. As I checked in at reception I handed the receptionist a tract and she mentioned that the majority of people staying there that week were people who don't celebrate Christmas . . . . NO WAY!! . . . you don't mean . . . . we're surrounded by Jehovah's Witnesses!!!

That's right,there was a whole row of cabins with Jehovah's Witness families staying there. It wasn't hard to tell either as they were completely devoid of any form of decoration. I spent the next day at the pool studying all the different people there and trying to work out what a stereotypical JW looks like. With my profound discerning abilities I was able to narrow down the field . . . that guys' got a tattoo - he couldn't be one; she's puffing on a smoke - no way; he's wearing speedos - couldn't possibly be; whattabout the boy playing Nintendo - nahhh. After successfully exercising my biblical worldview I zeroed in on a few families sitting together. There is nothing like employing the discrete approach in a delicate situation like this so I walked into the middle of the gathering and said "Merry Christmas!" I was greeted by stunned silence until a lady in the group informed me "we don't celebrate Christmas" - Game On!

I decided to ask a probing question and said "are you guys Jehovah's Witnesses?". A chorus of nodding heads responded. I managed to engage in a fairly lengthy conversation. A real danger with witnessing to JW's is debating many fine points of theology and going around in circles all day. It is God who does the converting and I know I have virtually no chance of persuading them to switch camps so my main focus was on the basics. Jesus Christ being fully God and fully man. Using the law to show their exceeding sinfulness and inability to please God through their own endeavors. The reasonableness of Hell. Reasoning with them over their need for a perfect atoning sacrifice that could not be anything less than God in human form. Pleading with them to seek out the truth about the translation they use which has no manuscript support. Ultimately my goal was that they might walk away pondering the possibility that their conscience was in agreement with my testimony.

Check out this page on my website for great resources on witnessing to cults which includes one sight entirely devoted to refuting the doctrines and beliefs of the JW's. It offers tremendous help for people coming out of the cult or for those witnessing to them.
http://www.onceuponacross.com/cultlinks.html

I didn't feel like eating that night. I sat down and glanced at my WWRCD bracelet (What Would Ray Comfort Do) and decided that it was time to turn the tables and go knocking on the doors of these door knockers. How would a JW respond to someone knocking on his door. I felt like I was carrying a mandate of vengeance from millions of angry home owners all around the world. But this sad truth came home to me. Why is it that so few professing Christians share the Gospel - and we have the real one (the late Bill Bright estimated it as being around 2% of all professing Christians who actually witness to others).

C'mon church goer - wake up. Why is it that the 60 year old pagan down the street has been visited by 18 Mormons, 34 JW's, and 73 people selling aluminium siding, all the while never hearing the true Gospel from a member of the mega-church down the street. Does that scenario sound a bit too familiar???

Well I did knock on all their doors, gave them a tract with the real Gospel, told them to watch out for the tower, and left. Sadly, they all seemed quite shocked that a Chrisitan would do such a thing which is a sad reflection on the passivity of many a modern church goer. One of them even saw the ironic humor in what I was doing. Nonetheless, it was very cold and I didn't want to stick around too long and besides, the snot icicle hanging from my left nostril was not a pretty sight for anybody. But I went home to my little cabin knowing that not only did I take out some revenge on those door knocking JW's, maybe I planted a seed of God's Word that won't return void (Isaiah 55:11).