My good friend, pastor and ministry mentor Gord Whyte was speaking at New Life Church Kelowna last Sunday morning. His subject was the apostle John’s warning against antichrists – those influences that would lead Christians astray from 1 John 2:18-27. I agree with most of his message but I am taking issue with his view of the "normal" Christian life.
Gord Whyte has an anointed teaching and healing ministry that exposes deceptions (antichrists) and brings healing to people both physically, spiritually and emotionally. Visit the Healing Gate Website for more information. I have attended two Set Free to Soar Weekends and found them uplifting and strengthening for my faith and emotional well being.
Having said that I also know that Gord is open to feedback on his message. So I will raise some concerns to a portion of his teaching this past Sunday morning that could be misunderstood by his audience. You can listen to the message at the Sunday Sermons Download page at the New Life Church website. At one point in his message (14 minutes) he said,
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“Ephesians 6 says that our fight is not against the seen world. But against the rulers, the authorities, the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. So the seen world is temporary, the unseen world is eternal. The visible world is only half the picture, the invisible world is the real world. When you minister to people under the unction and the anointing of the Holy Spirit, he begins to give you eyes… you begin to see thing where after a while this world is not real, it’s fallen. This is not what God intended that you are looking at. Now here we are in our bodies, and of course he wants us to enjoy the world, etc., etc., etc… the glory of creation is for us… but when you begin to see via the Holy Spirit you see the unseen world as the real world, that’s where the action is… that’s what’s really going on… and the Lord can teach you and I how to maneuver our way through that spirit world so that you can walk with power and authority and then we do begin to see signs and wonders and miracles and healings and raise the dead and its not just some fluke that takes place on a Saturday afternoon, it’s like one cancer a day, every day. It’s the normal Christian life. But many of us, we don’t know what the normal Christian life is, because the spirit of apostasy has so inundated the world belief system and worldview that we buy in…” |
This quote was made in the context of a discussion on battling the unseen demonic forces of the antichrist. Gord’s emphasis was on the fact of the presence of demons and spirits that exercise distracting and deceptive influence on people and oppose the influence of Christ. They are just as real today as they were during the New Testament times. People need to wake up to that fact and watch out and not mess with the occult and other paranormal phenomena.
I agree with Gord on this point. We are in a spiritual war and we need to be aware of that reality. We need to "see" the unseen and walk in the Spirit's power to defeat it.
However, due to the influence of Greek thinking in our culture, the view that the seen world is only half the picture and there is an unseen world that is the full picture could be misunderstood by some to lessen the significance of the visible world in favor of the significance of the invisble world.
A biblical worldview is stated concisely in Colossians 1:15-18.
At a later point in his message (19 minute) Gord says, “ignore that world system, you were designed for heaven, right now all you need to do is spend your life worshipping Jesus Christ and spreading the good news.”
I understand the emphasis here is that the world system, its values and ideas are to be ignored; however, most Christians spend most of their time engaged in the world system, so it would be difficult for them to ignore it. The point I think Gord was making is that in Christ we have overcome the world and that we can walk in that overcoming spirit if we recognize the world system, ignoring its influence and we consciously follow Jesus by worshipping him and sharing the good news. A biblical worldview of our vocation is that we are created in the image of God to be God’s stewards over creation. (Genesis 1:26) So in fact, we are designed for earth, not for heaven, in the sense that we are embodied beings not angels.
While we need to be worshipping Jesus and spreading the good news, we have to be careful that we don’t think this is “all we need to do.” We have a Creation mandate to “keep the garden” (Genesis 2:15) which in today’s terms is fulfilled in everyday work.
Heaven and earth are both a part of God’s good creation. While the world system is fallen and passing away; the created world, (the cosmos) was created good and has a future in God’s plan of salvation.
The resurrection of Christ affirms this. Jesus was raised bodily from the grave with a body that is just as physical as the body he had before the resurrection. However, it is a new form of physicality that is a part of God’s new creation. Creation is not temporary, it is God’s good project that he intends to restore at the Second Coming of Christ. (Revelation 21-22). I have written more about this in It's Easter time and I am Passionate about the Resurrection! and Jesus is risen from the dead! Therefore our work is not in vain!
When Gord says “we are designed for heaven” I understand he means heaven in the sense of our future in God’s new world that will happen after the present world comes to an end. We are destined to live for eternity in God’s new world. This is true.
The reason I so often raise the issue of our future hope is that resurrection affirms the efforts of Christians who are trying to live their faith from moment to moment in their everyday working lives. Because there is physical continuity between this world and the world to come, there is hope that our everyday work wisely ordering God’s good creation will have eternal consequence in the resurrection.
The good thing that Gord was saying on Sunday morning is that we can anticipate that future hope in today's world by living an overcoming life. We know the end of the story and we can live in the light of that end.
With regards to living the normal Christian life, I understand that Gord has worked in the marketplace for twenty years prior to his ministry work. Gord knows how difficult it is to earn a living. He understands what it is to live a “normal” Christian life in the marketplace.
However, misunderstandings can sometimes arise if the “normal” Christian life is thought to be solely for Christians to occupy themselves with the “spirit world”. If this happens then the statement that Christians are “so heavenly minded to be of no earthly good” may become self fulfilling. By ignoring one Christian activity (everyday work) to emphasize another Christian activity (prayer for healing) you can end up discouraging Christians to live their faith in
Our calling and the purpose of our existence is to reflect God’s self giving love into this world by our daily efforts at wisely ordering our little part of creation through everyday work. This is what it means for us to pray as Jesus taught us for God’s kingdom to come “on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:9-15)
In conclusion, this is why I write the Faith at Work Blog. To encourage my fellow brothers and sisters in the Lord that their everyday work is NOT in vain. (1 Corinthians 15:58). Our work done in the Lord has eternal value and significance whether it is praying for the sick, as Gord does so well, or caring for the sick on an everyday basis as my wife, the medical doctor, does so well. For more about that check out Making Soup at a Medical Clinic - A Case Study in the New Way to Work.
