Challenged by Hell

We were a group of 20 sitting on the edges of the Monument for the Murdered Jews of Europe in downtown Berlin. It's an impressive monument made up of more than 2,000 slabs of cement and looking like a statuesque cemetery in the middle of this massive city. I was giving a group of teenagers a tour of Berlin and we were sitting there discussing what we had seen in the museum when this question came to me from a girl who was 19.

"So all those Jew went to hell, right?"

I stuttered, and my mouth went dry.  "Do you believe all of them went to hell?"

And she said, "That's why I'm asking...but I think so, yes."

I found myself irritable. "I don't think you can make that kind of black and white statement. Jesus is the judge and he will judge them based on the revelation that they had and how they lived..."

"But isn't that what we believe...that they went to hell?"

A few more comments went around and I diffused the situation by saying "We are not going to solve this quetion right now so let's move on to why we are here..." 

What shocks me is how blithely she could pronounce them in hell. It made me ill. The girl had a kind of light and blank look as though though her question went no further than some passing though she had that day...like should I eat strawberries or cherries...? Hmmmm, let's see...what do I feel like?

I know that no one comes to the Father except through Jesus. But as one good friend explained to me...that means that everyone will stand one day before Jesus. He is the door.  No one will escape the jdugement seat of Christ...even Christians.  Yes it is true, there is a hell, and we should warn people--but warmly showing them the way to life...and realizing that Jesus, and Jesus alone will judge the nations righteously. Thank God Jesus is my judge. If not...this young girl could send me to hell quite nonchalantly, as with the wave of  her hand and on a whim... cherries or strawberries... hmmm...what do I feel like..?

I was out evanglizing a few months ago when I had an amazing talk with a muslim guy. This other Albanian Christian guy, Nari and I were sitting chatting to him outside a coffee shop. The man was remarkable. He spoke German, English, Arabic. He was a translator who knew the Kouran and the bible very well. He spoke with respect and he had a very peaceful atmosphere about him. My sense about him was: this man is special.  I asked him, "Have you felt God's love for you?" and he said to me "of course." He explained to me the difference between Muslims and believers. Believers are ones who have had revelation of God... He was a believer.

After the man left, I turned to Nari and said, "It's hard for me to believe God would send this man to hell..." and Nari agreed with me... I shared my feeling with another guy there...an American, and he said, "Well, he is!"  He went on to tell me Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life...as though I didn't  know the scripture and needed some instruction.

But within me was a gnawing question:

"What if we don't see everything? What if what we think that means is not what God thinks it means..."

Donald Miller puts it very well:

"The very scary thing about religion, to me, is that people actually believe God is who they think He is. By that I mean they have him all figured out, mapped out, and as a pastor, Rick, says "dissected and put into jars on a shelf."

I confess to you, these conversations make me tired...these kinds of attitudes make me tired. I want to know the truth. But what I sense very often from Christians is that they just want the right ANSWER. That is a very different issue than a search for truth. If we are going to go on a quest for the truth and what it means for our lives, we have to have open discussion. We have to be able to ask questions without being beaten over the head with easy answers.

Can I just vent a little here?

I find it disturbing that some Christians in America assume I am a Republican.

Since when is being a Christian equated with being a Republican? I've never been a Republican, and I never want to be...

A few years ago in Kona, we had a couple of politicians on our YWAM campus...a democrat and a republican. I thought it very "progressive" of our university. The republican seemed nice enough,  but the democrat...he was shining. I was impressed with him. He told us a story about how it grieved him about a program that was being cut in his state that helps kids. So he began to fast and pray about it. Somehow, a few teachers in a local school found out about it and fasted with him... and it spread to many schools and classrooms...and they fasted and prayed with this politician! This man impacted his state with something so practical and so spiritual!  I was impressed. And God managed to use even a DEMOCRAT! Imagine that.

Why do we love boxes?

Republican  = good/conservative/Christian

Democrat:  = bad/liberal/non believing

It’s a bit naïve to assume all the things the Republicans do are driven by Godly and Kingdom values.

But we like to box ourselves as a nation in general as a Christian nation.

I was reading recently how the Pledge of Allegiance never had the words “under God” until 1954. It was a reaction to communism in America. Out of fear and a desire to make it clear that we are not communist…we put “under God” in the pledge.

Not everything we do as a country is so very "holy" though as a country we like to think we are somehow the protectors of truth, justice, and the American way...which we have assumed is God's way. Is God really on America's side? Can we always assume that?

Is it all so black and white?

I will never forget when we began the war in Iraq. I was in various prayer meetings on a YWAM base in Lausanne. It shocked me how Americans prayed. There was no doubt...God was on our side and God wanted America to win. Hmmmmm...is he now? I wasn’t sure.  I found it very presumptuous of the American Christians there although I would love that to be true. Who doesn’t  want to believe their country is good?

I would love if we could really discuss and think through the issues? Why is everyone determined to tell me what to think rather than to teach me HOW to think. That's one of the reason I really enjoyed "They Myth Of A Christian Nation" by Gregory Boyd. He wrote the book based on a series of  teachings/preachings he did in his church a few years ago. He had been encouraged by his church members to "shepherd the flock" on certain political issues and influence how his members would vote. When he refused to do this and instead did a series about his thoughts on why, he lost 20 percent of his congregation.

I loved Boyd's book because he addresses this issue of "taking back America for God". He really exposes the hypocrisy and twisted thinking of a lot of American Christians who want to assume "power over" rather than "power under" other people in America. I truly appreciated his emphasis on humility, the love of God, and kingdom thinking rather than making the United States government a Kingdom of God! :)

What I have learned to embrace in the past year especially, is that it’s ok to have more questions than answers… and that our ability to embrace that tension of different view points and perspectives is how we learn and grow and truly get to the truth.

I love Heinrick

When I left the castle last night, Heinrick was sprawled out on Cory's car.

He liked the warmth of the engine.

Heinrick is a fat, grey-stripped cat that thinks he owns this YWAM castle at Herrnhut.

I stooped down to say "hi" to Heinrick and to scratch behind his ears. I enjoy cats very much. When I went out into the meadow for a walk, Heinrick followed me. The light rain was beautiful and the night air had an inviting warm breath in spite of the rain.

I could hear my footsteps squeaking along the grass and cutting through the evening quiet. I listened and began to lose myself in my thoughts. But then I noticed another sound not far behind me... smaller paws were making sounds in the grass behind me. Heinrick was following me! I stooped again to pet him and I said out loud "Are you going to keep me company?"

Just then  I heard God speak to me very clearly: you're not alone. I immediately began to cry. I didn't realize how much I needed to hear that.

I walked along the meadow path with greater peace and confidence. God is right here, I thought to myself. God is right here, I could feel...

Heinrick walked with me for 40 minutes and I had to marvel at him. He seemed more like a faithful dog than a cat. I've never had a cat walk with me anywhere like that.

It reminded me of the time when I lived in Los Angeles. I used to go jogging in the evenings some times. I didn't always feel so safe in that neighborhood and sometimes I found myself avoiding certain parts, taking detours, or just praying fervently for protection.

One evening when I was out for a jog, a dog began running alongside me a couple minutes into my jog. I had never seen the dog before and I had no idea where he came from. He was small and cute and reminded me of the dog I had when I was little called 'peanuts'. 

I liked the company. Somehow it was a comfort having the little dog beside me. I felt safer wtih him running at my side.

The strange thing is...a couple hundred feet before I arrived at the base, the dog disappeared again. He went on his way and I jogged home.

Sometimes I wonder if God sends angels in DOG form! :)

Change the world or change me?

I like to have impact. I like to leave an indentation...a mark and an impression. I want to leave a little sign that says "Lisa was here."

No one has to know it but me...but I want to know that I did something. The big question for me is always: did I make a difference?

If I don't feel like I've changed something, I'm not happy. I want to know I have improved, refined, reformed or renovated... or CREATED something.

When I heard about Burn Berlin a few weeks ago, I knew that we should do that in Berlin. People talked about revival here in this city and changing atmospheres...and getting a movement started.  But I wasn't looking at that at all.

I was looking to something more private and personal.

The Burn Service Berlin is a 24 hour worship service that we had all day yesterday...from midnight to midnight. We worshiped God whether there were people there or not at all hours of night...worshiping and praying for the city...mixing our worship and intercession. I was there for the first six hours and came back later to participate and help a friend in some worship later.

But my thought about the Burn, from the beginning, was not "Let's change Berlin" but "This is going to change us."

I knew --if we take part in this... we will beging to rise up. We will make more room for God and God will do something new in each one that participates.

I know how worship leaders and worship times function. We plan for 20 and 30...even 45 minute blocks and we use forms that will fit our churches and audiences.

But honestly...when I'm alone with God and I worship...I rarely use those songs. And if I do...I sing part of the song and spend another 10 or 15 minutes singing my own songs...spontaneous prayers and pouring out my heart before God... 

The great thing about the Burn service is that each worship leader gets a two hour BLOCK of worship. I love that. I also love that it's not required to use a projector or slides... but to just worship with no agenda. I don't have to lead anyone. The people who come are there to worship and I don't have to bother about all those little things.

The way I worshiped at the burn is rarely how I ever worship in public. It was so much more FUN to be able to be free...to not care about the time or the place or the people. Just to lose myself in God... I loved that. I was very aware there were people there...but I wasn't so concerened about whether they came with me in the spirit.  It was just time to fly...

Christoph led the first worship block and when he finished and I came on... he said "that was my best worship time ever..." and I wasn't surprised.

It wasn't my best worship time ever but it was the closest to my own personal style of worship...it was closer to the heart of who I am.

The feedback I've heard is that people were very free to be themselves. I think that in a two hour block...you run out of music and you have to access the spirit of God. Hooking in with who God is and what He is doing releases new levels of creativity.

So what kind of impact will this have on the city? I don't know. I know there are lots of churches who have 24 hours of prayer and worship and set aside time to really seek God.  This is not new.  God is doing something in many places to bring heaven down. We are not alone in this and this is not new.

But I think if God could just get us transformed enough to believe what we say we believe...to walk in new levels of His power and his holiness... what could we do for the kingdom? Jesus took 12 men and used them to turn the world upside down.  Maybe God wants us to concern ourselves with changing ourselves... and in changing ourselves we will change the world.

Have your way, Lord. Have your way in me.

A little invitation

I was out at Leopoldplatz with the YWAM team a few weeks ago hanging out and passing out flyers to this outreach cafe "Mittendrin."

We were inviting people to come eat and hang out with us...very simple.  I saw Diab was interested so I gave him the flyer. Since we were walking over right then, I invited him to walk over with us.  We chatted and walked together. He was an easy-going guy from Israel. I talked about middle-eastern food that I liked and Diab was touched since we like some of the same food--and since he was a chef, he especially liked food.  It turns out he knows how to make one of my favorite dishes: Melfuf. I don't know how to spell it but I grew up across the street from a palestinian family and used to eat all their food...but especially stuffed zuchhini or grape leaves with rise and lamb and lemon...yummmmmmmmm. We talked about food and our experiences living in Berlin until we arrived at the cafe.

Then Diab sat in the corner reading until we were ready to eat. He sat and listened as we continued to share with him that evening...some gave testimonies and there was some worship. I prayed for Diab later...but I haven't been to the cafe since.

I just found out last night that Diab has prayed to receive Jesus and worships regularly now at the Mittendrin Cafe. I was so amazed.

Interesting how a little invitation can make the world of difference in someone's life...! God knows what he is doing and when we take a little risk to be friendly and overcome our insecurities...he can change someone's life forever.