The most in-depth study of Revelation EVER!
January 6, 2011 | 
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OK, so this title isn’t at all true, but it looked better than “My Random and Very Un-sure look into the book of Revelation!” I am in the middle of digging into the book to see if there is anyway to come to it with no preconceived ideas, and see what conclusions we come to. I’ll ask questions, draw conclusions, get things wrong…all while hopefully avoiding heresy. So, let’s begin with Revelation Chapter 1: (click the link to read along with me!)
The first thing I notice is this passage in 1:4 :
To the seven churches in the province of Asia.
We have to keep that idea in mind throughout the reading of this book. Right here at the first, John let’s us know who this book is written to – seven actual churches in Asia. I have seen this spiritualized to mean 1,000 different things, but I see no way that it means anything other than what it says. We must view everything else through those eyes, the eyes of those original readers in the 7 first century churches of Asia: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.
The next thing I want to point out is in verse 12:
When I turned I saw seven gold lampstands, 13and among the lampstands was One like the Son of Man,
First, the 7 lampstands seem oddly similar to the 7 churches, so i’m thinking it is representative. This is confirmed in verse 20:
20 The secret of the seven stars you saw in My right hand, and of the seven gold lampstands, is this: the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.
The One like the Son of Man referenced is none other than Jesus, which echos Daniel 7:13. I find it very interesting that Jesus here is among the churches. These churches are later shown to be quite flawed, but this is still the way Jesus shows up. Then is verse 16 you get the stars, which we already know are the angels for the 7 churches, and a two edged sword coming out of His mouth. This phrase also refers to the Word of God in Hebrews 4:12.
So that’s it for Chapter 1. The main conclusion I draw is that Revelation is a book written to 7 first century churches. Please feel free to comment, ask questions, and tell me where I am wrong. I’ll do these as often as possible, and cover a chapter each time.
The Medicine by John Mark McMillan
Being a fellow Carolina native, I heard of John Mark a few years ago. Some other worship leaders in the area were beginning to use his songs, even then, before “How He Loves” had blown up on the national scene. With Integrity Music’s release of The Medicine, McMillan’s reputation will surely be furthered, not only as a songwriter, but as a singer and worship leader, too.
This disc is different from basically any worship project you’ve heard. That’s a good thing. McMillan finds a way to sound both firmly rooted, yet new and inventive. This is NOT the U2-lite that we have come to expect from worship CD’s. I’m not even completely sure I’d label this as a worship CD. It is just good art that happens to be done in worship of Jesus. Much like you wouldn’t call Bob Marley “Rasta-music”, you wouldn’t call John Mark “Christian music”. The lyrical content is certainly Christian, unashamedly so. The music, however, is so genuine and authentic that you simply want to take it for what it is. You respect it as art, and therefore the overt Christianity in the lyrics comes across as natural and unforced. I certainly, appreciate that.
My favourite songs on the disc are “Skeleton Bones” and “Death in His Grave”. The entire disc fits together well though, calling to mind the days when an album was a work of art, before digital downloads killed that business.
If I had to throw this in with other artists, it would be like an indie Springsteen. Maybe something like fellow North Carolinian Ryan Adams. Good stuff. Earthy and artistic, this is the Christian music that the world needs to hear.
(John Mark McMillan’s The Medicine is available on I-TUNES. )
This Little Light by Christa Brown
You ever feel helpless in the face of some enormous problem? After starting to pull back the curtain on the clergy-sex abuse problem in the Southern Baptist Convention, that is how I now feel. Christa Brown has bravely laid out her case as a faithful teenager, taken advantage of by her youth minister decades ago. The evidence laid out, the depth of cover-up, and the lengths that some will go to is astounding. Makes me a little sick to my stomach. Even more troubling, Christa is not alone. I wish we could say that sex-abuse case in the SBC are few and far between, but they are all to common, and the cover-ups may even be more egregious than the abuse itself.
I will probably do a more complete write up on this book in the weeks to come, but for now, I just felt the immediate need to respond.
To my Southern Baptist family: We have to get this right. If you are a SBC minister and have a sexual relationship with ANYONE in your church that you are not married to, you are out of ministry. Is that tough? Unforgiving? Maybe, yes, but we can no longer allow our pulpits to be safe-harbours for sexual predators.
Posted in Uncategorized | 
Tags: christa brown, sbc, southern baptist, this little light | 
4 Comments »
Fallen Angel: The Outlaw Larry Norman
Fallen Angel: The Outlaw Larry Norman is an ulra-contraversial documentary by filmmaker David Di Sabatino. Early screenings around the country have caused more than just a little online dust-up between Di Sabatino and the family and followers of Larry Norman. (For a peek into Normans side check out this site: Failed Angle )
After reading all the angry discourse, I had to see the movie for myself, and I didn’t think it was too much of a hatchet job. Some of the problems addressed on the Failed Angle site aren’t even mentioned in the movie. Overall, it was a fairly even-handed telling of the story of Larry Norman.
About now, many of you are asking, “Who is Larry Norman?” Those who thought they knew Larry Norman watched the film and asked the same question. It’s the same question I asked when I had my one and only encounter with Norman around 1997 or ’98. Larry Norman was an early Christian Rocker who died in 2008. In the late ’60s he had a mainstream hit with the band People!, but left shortly thereafter and began singing songs about Jesus. He was founder of Solid Rock records which was home to lots of groundbreaking Christian artists such as Randy Stonehill, and the band Daniel Amos, both of which are interviewed in this film. Neither of which have much good to say.
There is a lot said about unpaid royalties, promises broken, and marital affairs, but possibly the largest claim is that Larry fathered a child in Australia that he subsequently abandoned, and has never publicly admitted to having. The boy is a young man now, and apparently stayed in contact with Larry through letters and e-mail, and there are pictures of Larry with the boy and his mother, but publicly, Larry never acknowledged his existence.
I think the main thrust of the movie is how God continued to use Larry Norman, even though he was so obviously flawed. This is a good lesson for us all, as it doesn’t take much looking around to find another fallen Christian. Good to know that God is in control and not dependant upon me. The movie is also a call to take our behaviour more seriously when you see the destruction and pain that Norman left in his path.
As far as the claims go, my guess is that the truth lies somewhere in the middle. I’m sure not all the bad things said about him are true, but I’m also not naive. Where there is smoke, there is usually fire. My guess is that Larry wasn’t a very good friend, so to speak.
Watch it for yourself. It’s a well made documentary, and the story is rather captivating. Not just for fans of Larry’s music either, as I’m not particularly fond of it myself. Anyway, if you can find it…I reccomend it.
Posted in Music, Uncategorized | Tags: di sabatino, documentary, failed angle, fallen angel, Larry Norman, review | No Comments »
Health Update, and stuff
I was trying to keep everyone up to date with all that was going on, but things started changing so rapidly I wasn’t able to keep up. So, here is the quick version of where we’ve been for the past month. As most of you know, I was having severe headaches several weeks ago that led to vomiting, confusion, etc. Did several tests, everything came up fine, and I was diagnosed with cluster headaches. In the last CT-a scan we did about 2 weeks ago, they found a small aneurysm. It may or may not have anything to do with the headaches, but it is a real blessing that we found it now, and not later. It is no immediate danger to me, but the doctors think it could become a danger if I let it go too long. Therefore, we will be doing endovascular brain surgery sometime in the next few months. I’ll keep you posted on exact dates. So that’s that. I’m really doing quite well, a few headaches here and there, but they are controllable by medication. I greatly appreciate all of your prayers and concern, and please don’t stop 
Now that the tests and fright have died down a little, I’ll probably be back on the blogging scene some. I’m still leading worship every Sunday morning at Patterson Springs, and I’ll try to get back to posting set lists for those of you from the choir.
Alrighty. I hope all of you have a great weekend, and worship somewhere Sunday morning. If you don’t have a church home, we’d love to have you at Patterson Springs!
Be Blessed…I know I am!
