Army of Priests

Let me first say that I disagree with the fundamental premise in Walter Wink’s book, The Powers That Be: Theology for a New Millennium . According to Walker Wink, demons and angels as described in the bible are the spiritual personification of corporate entities. That is, where a country, company, church, or family exists it has its own unique culture, which includes a spiritual element (something that I can agree with). Walter asserts that the ancient Hebrews personified this spiritual element and named a culture as a “demon” or “angel” depending on whether the institution was fulfilling God’s purpose (with most cultures falling in a fuzzy area in between). This is where I disagree with Walter, as too many stories in the bible seem to represent angels and demons as individual entities, distinct from any institutional structure.

But, if you can look past this main idea, the rest of the book is on how to reform ‘the powers’ (Walter’s collective name for angels and demons) to pull them into line with God’s kingdom. The book doesn’t need its spiritual element to work as it offers solid, ‘material’ reasons for the prevalence of The Domination System (see below) and practical ways to interfere with it.

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Have you ever felt dirty for loving someone?

300+. That’s the new estimated death toll from the black Saturday bushfires in victoria. That’s 300 fathers, mothers, daughters and sons, brothers and sisters burnt to death as they tried to flee the advance march of hell. On top of this there are thousands and thousands of newly homeless families who have lost everything they own.

It makes me feel sick. I can’t stop seeing the pictures of roads filled with burnt out cars that couldn’t out run the fire. I imagine being one of the families who were never told it was coming. One moment I’m playing in the park with my fictional kids. Next minute, there’s smoke on the horizon. This doesn’t phase me until moments later flames appear… and grow, really fast. I grab the kids and head for the house, thinking I should check the news to find out what is happening. But I’m too slow. By the time I get home the street is filled with ambers. Houses are on fire. The smoke makes it impossible to breath. I grab my fictional wife and we get in my fictional 4WD. I strap my youngest kid into the child seat in the back. I drive, as fast as I can – but I can’t see, the windshield is full of ash. I open the window to stick my head out and smoke rushes into the car. The heat is unbearable.

I dodge flaming burning trees and debris from exploded houses. I make it onto a main road through the bush. I look backwards, and I see behind me the approaching wall of flame. I put my foot down, but it still gets closer. Drops of melted rubber begin to fly off my tires. My children are screaming. The fire gets closer. Damn, its fast. I look back to the road. I can’t see even a metre in front of me but still I speed. Suddenly, a log appears. I swerve. I hit a tree. The airbags go off. We’re trapped. The fire is so close….

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I don’t know if anyone from Victoria is likely to read this blog. But if you do a few of us Christians up in Brisbane would love to help in more particle ways than giving money. We’ve been looking at a few options but haven’t found too many options.

So if you have any urgent needs that we can help with, please post and let me know.

Thanks,

Adam

A few years ago a user of an internet forum was struggling to believe in God, so they wrote the following post, which I answered. My answer is not as complete as I would write today, but it was personal and adapted to match the personality to the questioner. I hope that it helps you any way it can.

I’ve been bored lately, and have probably written too much…but ahh well…

God is a mysterious creature that is either an all-everything super-force or an illusion created in the minds of men. I would love to believe the former. I would love to believe that God, the Christian God, created the universe and came in human form to earth and sacrificed himself to save all of our sins. I would love to believe the miracles in the bible, the stories and doings of Christ, and that Christ rose from the dead three days later. I don’t, and it’s not from lack of searching.

Many of my closest friends believe in God and Jesus Christ. I belong to a religious organization, CRU, and to a bible study. I enjoy worship at CRU and I love the things I learn at bible study. I want to believe. I pray and I hope, but in my heart and soul, there’s nothing. There’s no confidence and no assurance. In my heart, there is no Christ.

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