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Blog Summary 2012
This blog was born on Pentecost Day this year, replacing my earlier English blog Power Activism, and now as its first year is coming to an end I would like to share some interesting statistics (yes, I’m a stats freak).
I hoped that this would be an international blog when I started it, and to a large extent this has been the case. People from over 100 countries have visited it the past year. Around 60% of the blog views come from the US and my home country Sweden. Other countries that are high on the list are the UK, Australia, Singapore, Canada and India. I hope that in 2013 even more people from Asia and Africa will find and enjoy this blog, and give their important perspectives in comments. Already, the most active commentator, mnw0610, lives in Singapore!
It’s always fun to check what people google to get here. The by far most popular search terms are “ravi kandal”, “ravi father of lights”, “indian guy father of lights” and the like. These googlings bring them here where they can read about how Indian prophetic evangelist Ravi Kandal leads a Hindu guru to Christ through his astonishing prophetic gift, which is documented in the Christian film Father of Lights. Other popular search terms are “John Wimber quotes” or just “John Wimber”, “power of God” and the like and “medically verified miracles.” The strangest search term is perhaps “Christian polar bear“.
What then have people been reading? The most popular post is Why Evangelicals Accuse Obama for Being Muslim, and Dismiss that Romney is a Mormon, which was published the day after the American election. Then comes the widely googled John Wimber Quotes on Poverty, Wealth and Social Justice, the climate change-related post Romney, Sandy and Haiti, the peace promoting Blessing Israel=Ignoring Gaza? and finally The Supernatural and Political Kingdom of God. The post about Ravi Kandal should also be among the most read, although it doesn’t show up in the statistics since most people who google get to a tag page instead.
But enough with statistics! I want to thank you all for reading this blog and for hopefully sharing my hunger for revival, miracles and activism. I especially want to thank Drew Gordon Meakin, who inspired me to blog more often, mnw0610, Eric Stinfield, Tim Giovanni, Josh Hoping and Justin for bringing encouragement and inspiring reflections. In the coming year I hope that this blog will continue to promote exchange and dialogue between movements like the Jesus Army, Iris Ministies, Vineyard, Pentecostals and Charismatics for Peace and Justice, Bethel Church, Jesus Radicals and various others Charismatics and Christian activists around the world, in order to combine signs and wonders with peace and justice. We love Jesus, we love revival and we love to change the world. Lord, send your fire over us!
God vs Wealth, part 3: Sharing Everything
To read other parts of the series, go here.
I wear a red cross around my neck. I got it when I visited a church called Jesus Army in the UK a couple of years ago. Many people in this church practice community of goods. They eradicate the gap between rich and poor simply through sharing all they have together in community houses called New Creation Christian Community.
This is of course very biblical. We read about the first church in Jerusalem which was led by the apostles themselves: “All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need.” (Acts 2:44-45). This should not be surprising, they simply obeyed the commands of Jesus. He clearly told all His disciples in Luke 12:33 to sell what they have and give to the poor.
It is thus misleading to think that this command was just given to one certain rich man in Matthew 19:16-22. I have heard countless rich Christians arguing that Jesus told him to sell what he had just because his money was a stumbling block to his relation with God, and thus rich Christians with a good relationship with God can ignore this command and continue to be rich. But the gospels doesn’t say that he had to sell his stuff because they affected his relationship with the Lord, the only reason Jesus gives is that the poor will get money – something they need no matter how our spiritual situation looks like. And again, He did say the same thing to all His disciples, and they all obeyed it.
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Merry Charismatic Revolutionary Christmas!
So it is Christmas, and once again we have celebrated the incarnation of Jesus Christ through destroying the climate even further with our hyper-consumption and meat eating, at least in the Western world. In the midst of shopping, Santas and stress, Christians try to remind their Facebook friends that it is Jesus who is the reason for the season. I’m convinced though that to make this message really effective, we have to split from the traditional consumerist Christmas celebration and point to the fact that the original Christmas was a revolutionary event that turned the existing political and economic structures up side down.
God Almighty became a baby. He was not born in the Holiest of Holies to the tones of choirs and harps, but among cows and hay and was laid in a food pot. Herod, the political ruler, got totally mad when he heard that the true King of Israel had been born, and so God was forced to become a political refugee. From this vulnerable and poor situation Jesus was then about to criticise the rich and privileged in His radical preaching, which His mother had prophesied about when He was laying in her womb:
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Humanitarian Relief and Supernatural Healing in the Philippines
Earlier this month the super-typhoon Bopha struck the Philippine island of Mindanao, the eighth most populated island in the world. Over 1000 people have died, 300 000 are homeless and the International Committee of the Red Cross is reporting that there is an urgent need for continuous humanitarian support in order to avoid enormous suffering.
The missionary organisation Iris Ministries gave a quick response to the disaster. They wrote on their website:
We aim to go into the shelters and partner with other relief groups on the ground to help distribute food and aid as well as pray for the sick, broken, the hurting. The team will be ready to go into the worst situations and will network with other organisations and local churches.
And four days ago they reported:
Iris Relief 1st Response Team alongside Operation Blessing were able to bring food, clothing and medical supplies to 160 families in Mangayon Barangay near Compostela. We held a children’s program and prayed for the sick.
When the Prophets Are Silent, People Turn to the Mayans
The Mayans – nice people, bad prophets
Musician and prophetic evangelist Simon Adahl once shared on Facebook how he had met a man who, after listening to Simon’s numerous miracle stories, exclaimed: “I had no idea that the church had something to do with the supernatural!” Simon was both surprised and sad when he heard this. Is the Western church so bad at representing God that people don’t realize He is a supernatural being?
I think we are. Even Pentecostal and Charismatic churches in the West often lack the abundance of signs and wonders we read about in the book of Acts. Other churches don’t even believe in it, or they are extremely careful, fearing that they would scare people away if they became “too” miraculous. They view signs and wonders as a danger and a temptation, and thus healers, prophets and wonder-workers are rare among them.
The New Age movement, on the other hand, loves miracles. And I believe that many turn to New Age because they are not satisfied with unmiraculous cultural Christendom that is being offered them in the church. Today, the Maya Calender has recieved massive attention around the world because it ends today, which according to some means that the world is doing the same. And this is not a marginal phenomenon. Around 10% of the global population thinks that there is a possibility that the world end this year because of the Mayan Calendar.
Why are all these people viewing the Mayans as a prophetic authority? Most of them do not worship Mayan gods. Most of them do not live according to Mayan culture. Still, for many the simple statement “the Mayans said so” is a sufficient argument for thinking that the apocalypse may come today, even though they have no plans about starting sacrificing animals to the serpent god Kukulkan. Thus, in order to debunk the theory, Mayan scholars have to argue why the Mayan calender did not predict the end of the world but just an epoch shift, rather than questioning why people view the calender as prophetic in the first place.
Stop the Guns, Heal the Victims, Forgive Adam Lanza
Once again, the United States has experienced a terrible school shooting. Small children were slaughtered by 20-year old Adam Lanza, whose mother had taught him to love weapons. We need to pray for the victims’ families and that these awful events will stop once and for all, in the US and elsewhere.
In the American debate, there seem to be two contradictory suggestions how to do this. Either, basically all people carry guns so that they can kill a gun murderer wherever s/he shows up. Or, basically no one carries guns so that people don’t become gun murderers in the first place. Even if the former would decrease school shootings, we know that the latter does as well (my country, Sweden, has a very strong gun control and has during this time never experienced a school shooting or another type of massacre). This of course clearly speaks in favour for gun control, since we get the sought result without spending billions on handing out killer tools to everyone.
But what debunks the violent solution even more is the fact that increased gun prevalence increases gun violence. Of course, this shouldn’t come as a surprise. The US has most guns per person in the whole world (88 per 100), while having 5% of the world’s population it has 50% of the world’s guns, and they even got the “right to be armed” in their constitution! Yet they are not experiencing peace and security but rather the Wild West with numerous school shootings and massacres. Some are arguing that these would have happened even if guns were not available, but as mentioned gun prevalence increases gun violence, and it surely makes the attacks more deadly. Coincidentally, a Chinese madman attacked children at a school with a knife three days ago, the same day as the American school shooting. Although he stabbed 22 kids, none of them died. In the American case, 20 kids died.
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God vs Wealth, part 2: Equality
To read other parts of the series, go here.
It’s not controversial to say that we should give money to the poor. The question is how much we should give. Some Christians are arguing that we should give tithe, one tenth of our income. But we can’t limit our giving to that, keeping nine tenths of our income no matter if we need it or not. The Old Testament tithe was not a maximum amount but a minimum. Deutoronomy describes how we should act towards the poor even after we’ve given tithe: if we are able to help them but are not doint it, they may call to the Lord, and we will be guilty of sin.
If the rich only give tithe, they are still rich, and the poor are still poor. We need equality. The richest 20% of th world’s population consume 80% of the world’s resources. The poorest 20% consume 2% of the resources. The latter group suffer of hunger, lack of clean water and diseases, and they don’t live very long. At the same time, the rich spend billions on entertainment, luxury and other unnecessary stuff. This is totally unjust and needs to be changed.
Pastor Pratap vs the Demons
Remember the Christian Youth Conference in Odisha, India, that my friends Joel and Steve participated in? Now, we got some video shooting from there. As you can see, the youths were desperately hungry for the Kingdom of God, and the Holy Spirit responded to their hunger. Joel, who by the way just has become co-author of this blog, was awe-struck when he came back to Sweden, and I can see why.
Joel and Steve also got the chance to interview pastor Pratap Pradhan. He is one of the regional leaders of Touching Asia, and a humble man of God. He oversees over 100 churches that they have planted over the years. They help the poor and develop communities while they heal the sick, preach the Gospel and casts out demons. In the interview, Pratap gives some examples of that:
God vs Wealth, part 1: It’s Wrong to Be Rich
To read other parts of the series, go here.
There are a lot of misconceptions and false teachings concerning wealth and poverty in the church today, so in response to that I am producing a series of approximately ten parts called “God vs Wealth”. This is the first part.
I’ve heard countless pastors, preachers and priests who say that there is no problem with being rich, as long as you don’t worship your money you can be as wealthy as you want. I’m having some serious trouble with this teaching. Why on earth did Jesus say “woe to you who are rich” if there are no problems with being rich? “Woe” is not a positive word, it’s a warning.
James, the brother of Jesus, is also warning rich people:
Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you. Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. Look! The wages you failed to pay the workers who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the innocent one, who was not opposing you. (Jam 5:1-6)
If there’s something James is not saying, it’s “There’s no problem with being rich”. He is not talking to the rich in a certain city but to all rich Christians, since his letter lack a certain adress. And his message is that need to get rid of their wealth to escape coming misery.
It’s Time for All Christians to Become Vegetarians
The COP18 Climate Negotiations in Doha resulted in an extremely weak agreement. It becomes more and more evident that the politicians constantly fail to solve the climate crisis – the leaders of the developed countries are out of touch with reality, they are more interested in short-term profit than in saving lives. Since they are the worst polluters and have the most money, this is blocking the whole process.
Christians cannot sit and wait for these slow negotiations to come somewhere, we have to take the initiative. And many churches are indeed talking a lot about climate action and some are even making plans concerning how to reduce their own emissions. This is great, of course. However, my experience that both the church and society as a whole is talking very little about one of the most effective climate actions: becoming vegetarian or vegan.
As the video clip above shows, the current Western meat consumption is wasting resources and destroys the environment. 18% of global greenhouse gas emissions come from meat and dairy production. There is nothing as effective, simple and cheap to save the climate than becoming vegetarian or vegan. This is why the UN is calling for “a global shift towards a vegan diet”, something that would also increase our health and, of course, create better lives for God’s beautiful animals.
Development Aid to the South, Revival Aid to the North
Brother Yun
A month ago I was listening to Chinese pastor and revivalist brother Yun as he was conducting some meetings in Sweden. His autobiography, The Heavenly Man, was one of the first Christian books I read, and it has impacted me a lot. Yun describes both countless miracles and unspeakable suffering, persecution as well as revival. These aspects go hand in hand, he argues, the glory of the resurrection cannot be separated from the pain of Calvary.
As a Western Christian who at that point had neither experienced revival nor persecution, Yun’s testimony opened my eyes to what Christianity really is about. Having fled from China in 2001 to Germany, he had some very interesting reflections about the state of the Western church. Based on the story about the lame man in Acts 3, he wrote prophetically: “The Western church has a lot of silver and gold. The Chinese church rises up and walks.”
Of course there are exceptions, but generally this is painfully true: churches in high-income countries are rich in money but poor in spirit, churches in middle- and low-income countries are poor in money but rich in spirit. I would say the latter group is better off, still I am constantly aware of the urgent material needs they have in order to fight poverty and nurture revival. (more…)
It’s Advent – Let’s Destroy Some Weapons!
The Triumphal Entry, African Style
Happy new year! This Advent Sunday, Christians around the world remember and celebrate when Jesus entered Jerusalem in order to transform into a cute baby and be born in Bethlehem. However, many tend to forget that this event is very political, affecting the way Christians should view war and peace.
As we know, Jesus enters Jerusalem on a donkey with his disciples accompanying him, shouting praises to Him, the son of David. When Pilate used to enter Jerusalem, he rode on a white war horse with soldiers accompanying him, shouting and singing praises to the emperor. For the earliest readers of the gospels, Jesus’ entry was a peace manifestation. In fact, the gospel writers clearly points out that it is fulfillment of the prophecy in Zechariah 9, which says:
Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion!
Shout, Daughter Jerusalem!
See, your king comes to you,
righteous and victorious,
lowly and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
I will take away the chariots from Ephraim
and the warhorses from Jerusalem,
and the battle bow will be broken.
He will proclaim peace to the nations.
His rule will extend from sea to sea
and from the River to the ends of the earth. (Zech 9:9-10)
Simon Adahl, St Matthew and Prophetic Enemy Love
Simon Adahl
Yesterday I was having dinner with rock musician and revivalist Simon Adahl. He and his close friend Orjan Armgren are two down-to-earth, humble people that experience countless miracles. I literally mean countless. I have attended four of their meetings where they share testimonies non-stop for a couple of hours. Still, Simon had so much to tell that he invited me to his house so that he could share even more.
Here are a few examples of what they have experienced:
– Once, Simon passed by a man he’d never met and suddenly said “The answer is Estonia”. The man was stunned. He explained that minutes earlier, he had prayed to the Lord “Where should my aid relief go, Estonia, Latvia or Lithuania?”
– Another time he called a man and shouted prophetically in the phone “Yes, you are My evangelist!!” Right then, the man had aimed a knife at his artery to kill himself. Now, he ended those plans and returned to God.
– A non-Christian lady came over to Simon and shared some troubles she had. Simon then suddenly said that he saw her as a young girl, running on a grass field with a kite, filled with joy. Orjan, who also was there, said “I hear the song ‘This Little Light of Mine'”. The woman immediately went down on her knees shouting “I want to be saved!” It turned out that they had pointed out her favourite activity and favourite song during the happiest time in her life.
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Fighting Climate Change Through Fighting Wealth
Today the 18th international climate negotiation conference (COP18) starts in Doha, Qatar. I don’t know how they chose host country for the conference, but since Qatar is rich on oil, owns the “best airline in the world” and has turned into one of the richest country in the world per capita, it wouldn’t have been my primary choice. To end the enormous problem with climate change, we need to dramatically decrease oil use, flying and wealth.
Scripture tells us that the love for money is the root of all evil (1 Tim 6:10), which is evident when it comes to the horrors of climate change. Of course, developing countries have a right to develop and fight poverty, I am defenitely not against that. But I’m against that rich countries, corporations and individuals keep getting richer although they know that this will result in coming catastrophies.
The climate problem has been publically known for 20 years, but global greenhouse gas emissions are still increasing. Recently the World Bank published a shocking report which said that even if all countries implement what they have promised to do, we still risk a rise of global temperature with four degrees, resulting in humanitarian disasters affecting millions. The aspirations of especially rich countries are simply far too weak. We really need to pray for miracles in Doha.
The External, Audible Voice of God
Yesterday I was visiting the Pancake Church of Kungsbacka in western Sweden. Unlike us in Uppsala who go out on the streets, these people actually had a church to serve pancakes in. Since Kungsbacka isn’t a megacity, a lot of youths knew that the church hands out free pancakes on Fridays, and since the Swedish weather isn’t tropical, many of them came yesterday to eat some pancakes, chat with us and warm themselves.
Kids gathering for worship
After a couple of hours, we had some worship together. All the kids joined us, either because they were curious or because they had nothing else to do. This was the scoring opportunity for every evangelist. Two girls from Gothenburg, Charlotte and Jennie, came to the front to preach. Their message was called “Five popular myths about God”. Myth 1: God is unreachable and far away. Myth 2: Only weak and unintelligent people choose to live with God. Myth 3: It is boring to live with God. Myth 4: God doesn’t speak today. Myth 5: I’ll be better off if I choose God the minute before I die.
It was seriously the best evangelistic sermon I’ve ever heard. Charlotte and Jennie poured out their love for Jesus and shared how exciting and wonderful it was to follow Him. They combined biblical teaching with amazing testimonies. One testimony especially astounded me: when Jennie told us how she has heard the audible voice of God.
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The author
Micael Grenholm, a Swedish charismactivist, apologist and author.
A Living Alternative
God vs Inequality
Charismactivism 