The 3rd

So, ill be done with fire in the night and home to birmingham in 2 weeks exactly. Kinda bittersweet. There's really not been a whole lot new going on the past 2 weeks or so. Ive just been getting stuff squared away with fsm and with housing for the next semester. Im real excited about being home for Christmas and seeing my family and friends. Im also real excited about getting a new guitar and playing it every day over Christmas break and trying to write and record some stuff since i havent done any of the above in 6 months, with the exception of playing a little guitar here and there for lessons. Im also excited about being involved with the prayer furnace december 19-20. Thatll be cool for sure. We're in the middle of the 7 day GBF, so they've had us in the prayer room for 10 hrs the past two nights. Its been pretty good.  Yea, so this is a way lame blog, so im gonna end it cause i have nothing meaningful to say. I just felt like it was time for an update and shouldve waited till i was a little more inspired or on a tangent of some sort...anyway i love you all and will see you in 2 weeks...(ish if your not my family cause ill prob be sleeping and fixing my schedule the first 3 days or so). 

ps. so i guess alabama might make it to the championship. Ive only watched 1 game this year, but ive found a group of bama ppl up here are im actually gonna get to watch some of the game saturday. So roll tide i guess...also i dont know if any of you are familiar with Luke Wood, but he is a worship leader here and just came out with an album called "The Sound of War" its quite amazing, and id recommend it to whoever likes folk-rock and acoustic type worship. Also if you go to forerunnermusic.com you can download a whole cd of IHOP worship music for free.

Update dos

So, since i last updated i guess a lot more has happened in our country than here per se but anyway its been a good past 2 weeks. The prayer room has been pretty good lately. I think my favorite class that im taking right now is The Excellencies of Christ. Its a Christology class, and i like it because we cover all sorts of crazy topics that all center around the person of Christ.

 

Ive also been reading a book by a guy named Richard Wurmbrand who was a pastor during the communist era in Romania. He tells the story of serving 14 yrs in a communist prison for his faith in his book "In God's Underground". There's a particular part where he was in solitary confinement for like 2 years or so. He said he would feel evil presences in his cell telling him that Jesus wasnt the messiah. Wurmbrand was Jewish and had written several pamphlets proving from the Old Testament scriptures that Jesus was the messiah. He had never questioned it. But now, sitting in a dark, cold cell all alone with no Bible, he was being attacked by demonic forces in his mind. He composed a poem which he said he quoted over and over. This poem drove these lies out of his head and seemed to bring life to him. It is quite moving and challenging. I thought id share an excerpt:

 

         "If the prophets had predicted another, I would leave them, not You. Let them produce a thousand proofs, I will keep my love for You. If I divined that You were a deceiver, I would pray for You weeping and, though I could not follow You in falsehood, it would not lessen my love... If You were a myth, I would leave reality and live with You in a dream. If they proved You did not exist, You would receive life from my love. My love is mad, without motive, as Your love is too. Lord Jesus, find some happiness here. For more I cannot give You."

 

Here's what Wurmbrand says about this poem:

        

         "When I had completed this poem, I no longer felt the nearness of Satan. He had gone. In the silence I felt the kiss of Christ, and everyone is silent when he is kissed. Quiet and joy returned."

 

I can't help but think that one day people I know might be sitting in a cell alone for their faith. He was being so bombarded in his mind by the enemy that all he had left to stand on was the fact that even if it was all proved false he would still believe the gospel of Christ. He'd fallen in love with Jesus and with His doctrine. I believe in these last days that knowing the truth will not cut it. We must love the doctrine of Jesus Christ as laid forth in the scriptures. This is what I'm trying to move towards. If my worship doesnt center around the incarnation, death, burial, resurrection, ascension, second coming, millennial reign and the major doctrines of Christianity then who am i worshipping? Am i just singing clever, written-songs to the air. There is no Jesus without these major doctrines. I think we often begin on these doctrines then slowly steer away from them as time goes along. The scary thing is that these will be the things that are the critical issues in the end times. The person of Christ and what He did 2000 years ago in Israel will be the critical issue, and 2 Thessalonians 2 says that those who do not receive the LOVE of the truth are deceived. I used to hate the word doctrine, and for my background i had good reasons. But im learning doctrine, and by that i mean the major tenants of Biblical Christianity that have to do with Jesus not petty issues like predestination vs free will, is to be loved. The apostle Paul was consumed and madly in love with the revelation of Christ that He received. It was no dry doctrine; it was the knowledge of God, and he loved it and was consumed and undone by it.Titus 3 says that by our good behavior we can adorn the doctrine of Christ. I think this is the fragrace that we diffuse from 2 Corinthians 2:14.

 I got into Wurmbrand's writings when i was in 10th grade. I've always loved his writings because they are so real. He mostly talks about the persecuted church and tells crazy stories of Christ's love shining amidst the torture, brainwashing, darkness in prisons. He started Voice of the Martyrs when he later moved to America. His only care in life was Christ. Here he shows that when fellowship, the Bible, and church is taken away only love and faith will stand. Knowing the truth, in the sense of a head type knowledge, will never be enough; we must love it. Anyway get some of his books. They're real cheap (I think you can still go to www.persecution.com and get a copy of his book "Tortured for Christ" for free), and they will challenge the western religious mindset that is ingrained in us all much deeper than we'd like to admit... Here's another random quote from an old Christian book from the 4th century called "The Pateric". Wurmbrand quotes this in his book when he's talking about his face to face encounter with true solitude that happened as he sat in a cell all alone for years:

        

         "Silence is to sit alone in your cell in wisdom and fear of God, shielding the heart from the burning arrows of thought..."

 

First Blog

So i got rid of facebook because it was swallowing up too much of my time. Its real easy to just do the ihop thing here and not actually be wholehearted before the Lord, so this is my latest attempt to update ppl through a means that isnt completely addicting like facebook. Anyway ill keep yall updated on any news or thoughts. As of now im planning on staying here for another year and a half to get more grounded and intimate with the Lord. I have no desire to continue with school or with life if im not alive on the inside and in deep love with Him. Plus, finishing school at 22 as opposed to 23 or 24 is no big to me.... I should be home december 17th for christmas break. love to hang/pray/talk about bible with any of you guys whenever i get there.