According to a current intern, last week Ron Luce preached a message he called the “Tale of the 2 Deserters.” The sermon was Luce’s interpretation of the parable of the Prodigal Son. Based on the notes I was given, Luce’s key take away seems to be an emphasis on “not deserting God.”
There are ‘followers’ of Christ who seem like there is no way that they can desert.
– How do we make sure this doesn’t happen to us?
– How do we make sure that we don’t desert Jesus?Both sons longed for something else.
– Thought there would be a better life
– The heart went there first, somewhere it shouldn’t have. Then the actions followed.It’s not enough to simply surrender our sin – we need to surrender our CRAVING for sin.
– I want to hate the sight of sin! I want God! I want holiness and purity! I am longing for you! Let’s YEARN for God!
Your heart goes places long before you follow.
– Stop thinking immoral, impure thoughts! They will come out in you eventually!
First, I have to say it is an amazing feat to take a grace saturated story like this parable and turn it into a list of things you should not do. It really baffles me that he could interpret Jesus this way. He is basically assuming the opposite of what this story teaches us about God’s heart and character.
This story is not meant as a warning to us that says, “Don’t desert God!” It has many layers of meaning, and one of the greatest is that God loves and accepts us as His children whether we run away and sleep with the pigs or whether we act haughty because of our obedience.
Even the idea that we can somehow get rid of our “craving” for sin is problematic. We will never be completely free of the effects of our sinful nature on this side of the grave. Lucky for us, our righteousness is not in our own deeds, but in what Jesus has already done for us. It is believing in the finished work of Christ and accepting His grace that causes our desires and hearts to change. Boot-strapping in the spiritual life doesn’t work. And its anti-Gospel. The more we focus on ourselves with intensive navel-gazing at our own sin, the less we are actually looking at Jesus.
You might feel I am being too hard on Luce. After all, I did not hear this sermon for myself. However, I have heard many sermons from Luce on overcoming sin and they all have a similar theme which basically amounts to boot-strapping yourself to be a better Christian and encouraging a real obsession with your own goodness. Any current interns who heard the message, feel free to clarify anything I’ve misunderstood in the comments.
Ah! believer, it is safer always for you to be led of the Spirit into gospel liberty than to wear legal fetters. Judge yourself at what Christ is rather than what you are. Satan will try to mar your peace by reminding you of your sinfulness and imperfections: you can only meet his accusations by faithfully adhering to the Gospel and refusing to wear the yoke of bondage.
— Charles Spurgeon, Morning & Evening, September 6
And if you want a grace saturated book that delves deeply into this parable, I would suggest The Prodigal God by Tim Keller.
52 comments:
As with many others, I soaked up this type of teaching because it carried on the overall message I got growing up. Both because of the legalistic guidelines that were taught from the the church I attended and then also because these heart crippling standards were enforced at home. I didn’t recognize that this WASN’T the gospel because so far this was the gospel to me. I think this is one reason why so many youth are falling prey to this message, it isn’t any different from what they learned growing up. It looks good and it feels good (for awhile) to somehow think we are in control, that if we just do ENOUGH that we will be acceptable. Totally anti-gospel!
The walls of this ghetto gospel started to crumble around me a few years ago. I got exhausted at doing more “things” (reading more self-help books than anyone should, attending small groups, trying to change myself and my spouse…etc) to get closer to Christ and feel better about myself. It was all about ME!! I was self obsessed! Always thinking about what was wrong with me and never happy because I was obviously flawed (thank, God!). Deep inside I knew that God was trying to tell me that the way I was living and thinking WAS NOT the gospel and who he was. It grieved my heart because I felt like I had believed a lie for so long! This beautiful love and joy that people had in their walk with Christ…..I never had.
Unfortunately, I am realizing that this “anti-gospel” message is much too prevalent in the Christian community. Try harder! Dig deeper! Follow these 5 steps to overcoming! The older I get, I am seeing that this walk with God is more about hearing his voice and then relying on the the Holy Spirit to guide us, not a bunch of rules and steps. It is very difficult for me to stop this constant striving for perfection and to allow Christ to complete his work in me.
The walls are still crumbling but I am so thankful that at least now I can see through somewhat of the lies that I have believed my whole life and that were perpetuated through TM.
So glad to be on this journey with so many of you! Thanks for letting me vent. 😉
RA-LOVE the quote by Spurgeon!
Unfortunately, I am realizing that this “anti-gospel” message is much too prevalent in the Christian community. Try harder! Dig deeper! Follow these 5 steps to overcoming! The older I get, I am seeing that this walk with God is more about hearing his voice and then relying on the the Holy Spirit to guide us, not a bunch of rules and steps. It is very difficult for me to stop this constant striving for perfection and to allow Christ to complete his work in me.
February 11, 2010 10:03 AM
between beauty said…
oops, sorry for the repeat paragraph! hee hee :-O
February 11, 2010 10:05 AM
Recovering Alumni said…
beautifully put! I think a lot of us can identify with your struggle. it is so tiring to try to measure up all the time…
February 11, 2010 10:34 AM
Cesna said…
It astounds me how ANYone can take a message of God’s grace and turn it into a message about striving.
Ugg, I’m literally sick to my stomach. It makes me want to go to HA undercover or something. Eugh D:
February 11, 2010 10:52 AM
h. said…
we used to make fun of luce sermons–especially during monday night service [i think the day has changed on that one though]. other than having the battlecry talk practically memorized [yay for the MT], it was a running gag that all of ron’s sermons were the same, he just changed the examples around. typically there would be one believer who was ON FIRE FOR GODDDDDDDD [that must be read in the luce-scream for emphasis], there would be a lukewarm namby-pamby kumbayah believer, and then there would be the backslidden, heathen believer…and he would preach for the next hour about how we needed to be the first example, and how that needed to look [and what we needed to DO], and how terrible the other two were, and how judged they would be by God at the end of their lives, etc.
he always preached a “you can do it” sermon about DOING things to make you a better person [the emphasis was NEVER on what Jesus wanted to do, or who He was], and the repercussions if you didn’t get holy and passionate, fast.
does anyone else ever have regular “aha” moments when remember things that went on during their year[s]? like “ohh my gosh…i remember when that was going on, how did i not realize how horrific that is?” i was telling my best friend some details about my years that i had kind of kept hidden, and she was appalled…in those moments i find myself going “i really never realized it was that bad…” am i alone in this?
February 11, 2010 11:38 AM
Cesna said…This post has been removed by the author.
February 11, 2010 11:42 AM
Nunquam Honorablus said…
h, you are absolutely not alone. I have one of those “aha” moments at least once a week.
February 11, 2010 11:45 AM
Ex-Intern Aug 07 said…
RA – I’m actually surprised that from all the messages we didn’t have to read books like “Your Best Life Now” or “Become A Better You”! Lol!
h – yeah I have those too when I talk to people about what I went through at the HA.
I mean, it’s by grace we’re saved Amen? it’s not by works. our works can’t get us to Heaven. but it’s worth noting that they CAN keep us out of it (without true repentance)
February 11, 2010 1:11 PM
Recovering Alumni said…
007 – What do you mean when you say that our works can keep us out of heaven?
February 11, 2010 1:55 PM
Cesna said…
I presume 007 is speaking of how we can think we’re good people with our works and think that’ll get us into heaven. :p
February 11, 2010 2:19 PM
Ex-Intern Aug 07 said…
yeah Cesna got it. but i was also partly referring to Hebrews 10:26-31, without getting into a debate lol!
February 11, 2010 2:35 PM
Natalie said…
R.A.! Thank you so much for your post’s! Wow. Holy Spirit likes um! 🙂
WOW!!! It’s really real huh? Our God is a God of GRACE. He likes us in our sin and the ONLY way to get out of sin is by spending more time with Him. Not spending time perfecting ourselves so we can finally be perfect enough to learn from Him.
hahaha. He’s SO GOOD.
There is a river of living water. There really is a joy that reaches the depths of our souls, there is a peace that penetrates every fear, there is a grace that covers all sin.
He is good.
Thank you for these amazing post’s declaring the truth of who God is.
February 11, 2010 2:45 PM
Nunquam Honorablus said…
But now this begs the question: how does God so completely love us, and so completely hate sin?
That sounds like a super-basic question, I know. And I used to think I knew the answer! But now that I’m relearning EVERYTHING about God (seriously, I’m at square one here), I’m trying to figure this out. I guess it’s not really my place to figure it out, but wrath isn’t really something to be ignored.
I dunno. On one hand, it is a horrible thing to live in constant fear. Yet, I find certain aspects of intimacy with the Lord a bit irreverent. Calling God “Daddy” was ALWAYS weird to me, and Hasz cautioned against it my GI year.
So I really have no idea where the balance is.
February 11, 2010 7:04 PM
Anonymous said…
Whoever you are we love you and are praying for you. Ron l
February 11, 2010 8:08 PM
Ben said…
Nunquam: The answer is this: For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
God HATED sin and killed it on a cross. He gave it a slow, agonizing, embarrassing, tortuously painful death out of hatred for it.
And everyone who trusts in that payment Jesus made is loved like the Son of God. As much as Jesus completely became sin for us, to that same degree we become perfect righteousness to God.
Tim Keller said in that book that it’s common to hear the idea that the Father gave his grace to the runaway son without any cost, but that is simply not true. Grace is never free. Someone always pays. In the parable, it’s the elder brother who has the cost put on him unwillingly, but our True Elder Brother, Jesus, took the full cost on himself.
That’s how.
February 11, 2010 8:44 PM
Recovering Alumni said…
Nunquam – the first Scripture that comes to mind is “While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Also, in Ephesians 2 – “Like the rest we were by nature objects of wrath. BUT because of His great love for us, God who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions.”
So, that may not exactly answer your question, but shows that its possible.
Also, I find it VERY DISTURBING that Hasz said we shouldn’t call God “daddy.” My understanding is that this is what the hebrew “abba father” meant. What else can you tell us about that?
February 11, 2010 8:45 PM
Recovering Alumni said…
Anonymous – I don’t understand your comment. Who are you addressing and who are you?
February 11, 2010 8:45 PM
Nunquam Honorablus said…
Ben… thank you. I think I know what I’m going to be chewing on tonight. Wow. Who is this God of Love? 🙂 Woooow.
RA- He was talking about revering God, and how sometimes people prefer to “pal around” with God (my quote, not his) as if he’s just some guy, as opposed to the Creator of the Universe.
He said that he got concerned when he heard people pray like, “oh, Daddy, thank You for…”.
“I mean, I understand that; they’re being intimate. Just don’t get too comfortable.” is what I believe he said.
February 11, 2010 8:53 PM
z said…
Nunquam Honorablus,
Here’s an anology of how God loves us and hates sin. It’s like when you have a baby and that baby has a dirty diaper. Sure he smells bad and is covered in poop, but your feeling don’t change for him when he has a dirty diaper. You don’t ignore him or abandon him even though he is covered in poop. You pick him up, clean him off and make him fresh. It’s pretty gross changing a diaper, but you do it because you love your baby and want him to feel clean. Parents hate poopy diapers, but they love their babies.
God is like the parent, we are his children and the poop is sin.
February 11, 2010 8:53 PM
katydid said…
To z…(I guess we can’t shorten your name)…
Nice analogy…God and poopy diapers…hmmm, I wonder how Dave would react to that…
…But it is an interesting word picture to try to explain God’s love for us to someone…
February 11, 2010 11:12 PM
Anonymous said…
it was addressed to you …recovering alumni…who ever you are…and it is ron luce…i am praying for you! by the way what i preach is not a secret on wed nights it is live on the webcast…and there are a plethora of Godly authors/leaders that have taught what i have taught with much more eleoquence…ie A W Tozer
February 12, 2010 8:06 AM
Recovering Alumni said…
Hi Ron,
Thanks for stopping by and commenting. I think I speak for everyone when I say that we would love to hear more from you regarding the issues on this blog. Would you be willing to address any of the specific concerns I’ve laid out?
And Tozer is a favorite of mine. This quote from the Pursuit of God seems applicable:
It is woven of the fine threads of the self-life, those hyphenated sins of the human spirit. They are not something we do, they are something we are and therein lies both their subtlety and their power.
To be specific, the self sins are self-righteousness, self-pity, self-confidence, self-sufficiency, self-admiration, self-love and a host of others like them. They dwell too deep within us and are too much a part of our natures to come to our attention till the light of God is focused upon them. The grosser manifestations of these sins – egotism, exhibitionism, self-promotion – are strangely tolerated in Christian leaders, even in circles of impeccable orthodoxy. They are so much in evidence as actually, for many people, to become identified with the gospel. I trust it is not a cynical observation to say that they appear these days to be a requisite for popularity in some sections of the church visible. Promoting self under the guise of promoting Christ is currently so common as to excite little notice…To tell the truth, it seems actually to feed upon orthodoxy and is more at home in a Bible conference than in a tavern. Our very state of longing after God may afford it an excellent condition under which to thrive and grow.
February 12, 2010 11:51 AM
Z said…
Hi Ron!
February 12, 2010 1:02 PM
carrie said…
Ron,
I find it interesting that you chose another man’s words to counter RA’s point. And Tozer might have said that, but it doesn’t make that conclusion any more correct than when you said it.
I would really like to hear your own specific thoughts on some of the specific issues that are raised in this blog. Not a defense, not a deferment, but a dialogue.
I would also like to ask if you are willing to be wrong or incorrect, and use this blog constructively for the internship and its practices.
There is very little “ill-will” on most of our parts…we have processed, forgiven, and moved on for the most part. I hope you can proceed with Love and authenticity, and know that we ALL want what is best for us, for our kids, and for TM. That includes you, ROn.
February 12, 2010 2:11 PM
xtmwchngr said…
Dear Ron,
If it is indeed you who has responded to recovering alumni on this site, i kindly suggest you pray not only for RA, but for the hundreds of others who were negatively affected by your ministry, myself included. I also suggest truly examining some of the content of this website as it applies to your ministry, with specific focus on what is commonly understood as spiritual abuse (which is similar to emotional abuse in terms of understanding it from a psychological perspective). You have made it abundantly clear on many occasions that you came from an abusive home and I can imagine that at some point in your life, you have spent many hours overwhelmed with anger and sadness, grieving for your absent father and your neglectful mother. You also have a background in psychology, which, when coupled with your own abusive situation, is fascinating to me, considering that you allow things like ESOAL to exist as part of your realized ministry vision. Please consider the content of this letter and this website, and understand that the practices currently being carried out in your ministries name are considered abusive by a large community of people, including but not limited to: doctors, professors, therapists, parents, youth leaders, psychologists, theologians and pastors.
Sincerely,
a former intern
February 12, 2010 2:22 PM
B said…
Wow. This is awesome what is beginning here. I wish something like this had started years ago.
The amazing thing about it all, is that God is love. I believe most people come to Teen Mania because they just want God. God will not leave us to our deadly legalistic thinking. He will pursue us and pursue us in the middle of our pain and questioning and turning away from faith because of the confusion and hurt.
God’s grace and peace WILL overcome. That is my prayer for myself. For Dave, Ron and all the leaders of TM. For everyone out there who has been through the program and don’t know how to pick up their lives after. That they would be wrecked by the Grace of God.
February 12, 2010 3:14 PM
Anonymous said…
ummm we all have to understand that God speaks to people in differnt ways…and we are no one to judge others….that is what he got from the scriptures and he was just bold enough to share it. If u do not ike what he said rhen dont like it, dont recieve it but, keep your mouth shut and be wise w. the words u say. And besides we are not folower of men but of christ, Ron is not perfect and neither are we. So lets just keep our eyes set upon God. He is our only guidance.
February 25, 2010 1:04 PM
Nunquam Honorablus said…
lol irony.
Anon, I love how you’re assuming that RA isn’t keeping his eyes set upon God, because he disagrees with TM.
And, tsk tsk, Mr Hasz would be so disappointed to see your grammar! He sometimes reads emails like that aloud to the internship, to communicate his disdain for shorthand. I’d be careful if I were you.
February 25, 2010 1:36 PM
Cesna said…
I’m sorry TM has robbed you of your critical thinking skills: which were given to you by God. If he didn’t want you to have them, guess what? You WOULDN’T have them. A ministry that needs to brainwash you into forgetting that is sick from the inside out.
That being said; No. Just. No. That is NOT what this parable is about, and Ron will one day be held accountable by God himself to a higher standard, since he’s parading around as a teacher of false truth. It says in the Bible that those leading are held to higher accountability, so, big surprise, Ron’s being held accountable.
As much as it seems like he doesn’t want to be. I would love to be wrong, though.
February 25, 2010 2:31 PM
Anonymous 2.0 said…
Anonymous: by your logic…
ummm we all have to understand that God speaks to people in different ways…and we are no one to judge the individuals on this blog….that is what they got from the internship and they were just bold enough to share it. If you do not like what they said then don‘t like it, don‘t receive it but, keep your mouth shut and learn how to spell the words you say. And besides we are not followers of men but of Christ; Ron is not perfect and neither are we. So let’s just keep our eyes set upon God. He is our only guidance.
February 25, 2010 3:14 PM
Nunquam Honorablus said…
Aww, bummer, Anon 2.0; I wanted to just be a folower. 🙁
February 25, 2010 4:17 PM
mom of ex-intern said…
Anonymous 2.0–thanks for the interpretation–it was just too painful to try the decipher that person’s post…and Nunquam–you’re hilarious! (or should it be: hillereus…) lol
February 25, 2010 5:47 PM
Anonymous said…
wow ur being bitter over something that happend like 10 years ago…let it go and move one…
February 25, 2010 6:22 PM
Anonymous said…
Nunquam Honorablus said…
Anon, it’s not some”thing”. It’s an entire behavior that is repeating itself to this day.
Also,
*you’re
*happened
February 25, 2010 7:11 PM
Recovering Alumni said…
Nunquam, you forgot…
*on (not one)
February 25, 2010 7:21 PM
Nunquam Honorablus said…
Also, Anon, just because somebody types out full words and uses proper grammar does not mean that they’re being bitter. Please, address the issues brought to your attention before you use the “ur bitter” strawman.
RA- ah, but I think they addressed it in the second comment. But it still stands… if Mr Hasz himself doesn’t tolerate shorthand and grammatically grotesque comments/emails/what have you, then I don’t think he’d exactly be beaming with pride to see someone like Anonymous trying to defend the ministry.
I’m sure you have good points hun, but really… if you honestly want to be taken seriously, you’re going to have to clearly articulate.
February 25, 2010 7:28 PM
Anonymous said…
so your saying that your experience at TM took control of your behavior? but why do you feel this way?
February 25, 2010 7:29 PM
Nunquam Honorablus said…
You’re almost there! That wasn’t so hard 🙂 Now you just need to learn “your” vs. “you’re”… but in all seriousness, much better.
We still do have control over our behavior, regardless… however, when leadership tells you that they are your covering, your connection between yourself and God, and that disobeying them is disobeying the Lord… what do you expect??
Should we be critical thinkers? Of course. However, when people HAVE critically thought, and shared their concerns with their leaders, they were reprimanded or ignored, with no sign of anything changing.
February 25, 2010 7:42 PM
Anonymous said…
I am not trying to defend the ministry…I just feel that non of us including myself should have the right to judge teen mania. Ok so you had a really bad experience, what about all those interns that had a good experience? What about those upcoming interns that are reading this? You don’t think that God moves in that place? What if God has a plan for those upcoming interns….I mean who knows right? Only God does….We wouldnt want to be held accountable for those interns that are planning on coming to HA…maybe God wants to meet them there.
February 25, 2010 7:49 PM
Cesna said…
Dear Poopyhead Nunquam:
HOW DARE YOU QUESTION TEEN MANIA WHICH IS CLEARLY PERFECT IN ALL WAYS EVER AND IF YOU HAD A BAD EXPERIENCE YOU AND EVERYONE ELSE CAN JUST GET OVER IT BECAUSE YOU’RE THE PROBLEM
IT’S LIKE I ALWAYS SAY TO MY COUSIN, WHO WAS SYSTEMATICALLY RAPED FOR TEN YEARS BY HER FATHER. JUST GET OVER IT AND MOVE ON
SHE HAS NO PLACE TO KEEP HIM ACCOUNTABLE BECAUSE HE’S IN LEADERSHIP OVER HER
Exodus 12:8
That same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs, and bread made without yeast.
THIS SCRIPTURE CLEARLY STATES THAT ALL THESE TM HATERS JUST NEED TO STOP BEING BITTER AND GET OVER IT
THE BIBLE TOTALLY DOESN’T SAY ANYTHING ABOUT LEADERSHIP BEING HELD TO A HIGHER STANDARD. NOPE. YOU JUST GOTTA GET OVER IT AND TAKE IT LIKE A GOOD ELITE WARRIOR CHRISTIAN. STOP BEING A SISSY LALA
GAH
WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOU
February 25, 2010 8:03 PM
Anonymous said…
So these leaders told you this and you became upset and your still upset about it, after how many years? So you make a blog and you spend hours and hours on this thing writing about how Teen Mania is bad and not from God? Am I right and please don’t get offended. I am just trying to understand your pont of view.
February 25, 2010 8:07 PM
Anonymous said…
I am not trying to say that either gosh!!!! Sorry geesh
February 25, 2010 8:10 PM
Nunquam Honorablus said…
Anon: you know… there’s this small chance that God is BIGGER than Teen Mania. I can guarantee that anything the Lord can teach somebody in TM…. He can teach them outside of it. God’s not gonna cry and bite his nails over “oh no somebody decided to not go to the Honor Academy I’ve gotta think of something!!”
He’s waaaay bigger than that… ask me how I know. He can win with ANY hand.
Also, time is irrelevant. I believe RA has been out for a few years now, but I left mid-2009. Everything here is consistent. It’s not a matter of one offense a long time ago. It’s the fact that it’s CONTINUING over the course of SEVERAL YEARS.
Cesna: 8C
February 25, 2010 8:12 PM
Anonymous said…
Yea I see and I understand…I am very upset b/c I applied and im suppose to be going there pretty soon. And it bothers me that all this stuff is up on the web…but I just feel that even tho TM messed up we shouldnt blog about how messed up it is…why dont u try talking things out….
I dont even know where I am trying to go with this…=/
February 25, 2010 8:19 PM
Cesna said…
Okay, so you haven’t even gone there yet, and you’re already brainwashed into thinking it’s the greatest thing since Jesus died on the cross? Anon, we’re not trying to attack you here, we’re trying to EDUCATE you. Please walk into TM knowing it’s not perfect, and using the holy spirit as your guide. Please don’t let it make you into a legalistic Calvinist. For that matter, please don’t listen to the Calvinists there.
Please.
Please.
In spite of all appearances, we’re not trying to spread around bitterness, but shed light on the false doctrine that HA teaches. So that people know God for who He truly is.
February 25, 2010 8:25 PM
Nunquam Honorablus said…
Oh, Anon. Actually, knowing that you haven’t gone yet grieves me. I assumed that you were a current intern and were just defending Mr Hasz. Please forgive my presumptions.
Also, it’s for this very reason that this blog exists. RA has contacted leadership and attempted to “talk it out”… but he’s been shut down. Others have as well.
In fact, there was a meeting that happened shortly before I left, where Hasz called together the entire internship to rebuke a movement of interns who went to him with their concerns of TM preaching a false gospel.
He didn’t name names, of course, but he told us things that he heard from them and LAUGHED. And we did too. Because everything Mr Hasz said was law.
Back to the point… this blog exists, so that you don’t have to find out about the abuses of the ministry the hard way. If you really, truly feel like the Lord is calling you to the HA, then I guess there’s no stopping that.
But know both sides before you go. Please. And don’t let them shame you into doing ESOAL… I promise, it’s not worth it (though that’s a discussion for another time).
Again, I’m sorry for falsely assuming that you were a current intern.
February 25, 2010 8:29 PM
Anonymous said…
ok I shall pray and thank you…and apology accepted
February 25, 2010 8:34 PM
Recovering Alumni said…
Anon – I think its a great misconception to say that just because some good things happen at a ministry, we have no right to examine their teachings and practices. That is just not Biblical – look at the Bereans, look at the book of Galatians.
I think if you’ll look at this blog objectively, you’ll see very well-reasoned arguments born out of YEARS of processing what I went through there. This isn’t some sort of name-calling or false accusation…I would do nearly anything to prevent other young people from going through what I went through…hence, the blog.
February 25, 2010 8:46 PM
Ex-Intern Aug 07 said…
Having gone through the HA and seeing it for myself, I too can testify to what RA and Nunquam are saying – my own story of what happened to me is up on here too for people to see what I faced at the HA, and all the issues that the HA INTENTIONALLY caused after I had left them.
If you really want to go to the HA, and you really feel the Lord is calling you there for some reason then you have to be obedient to the Lord. I pray that should you choose to go that He would open your eyes to the lies and abuse that are prevalent throughout Teen Mania, and how much damage it is really doing. Don’t believe ANYTHING you are taught there unless you see for yourself that it lines up with scripture. Guard you heart against legalism and forced intrusion on your privacy and past – it will be used against you! Again, speaking from experience!
February 25, 2010 9:03 PM
Anonymous said…
Just read the post and the notes given. The story of grace for a prodigal is great, wonderful beautiful even! But isn’t it better if rebellion can be avoided in the first place? That’s what those notes were aiming for. That story was not being taken out of context according to those given notes. Knowing how to avoid a fall instead of constantly having to truck through them, and be drained belittled because of them (like the prodigal son), is wonderful wisdom. Of course, there is always grace for those who don’t grasp that concept the first time 🙂
March 26, 2010 10:30 AM
Stephanie said…
This reminds me of Ron’s final address to my class… the gist, “don’t get BV’ed from your calling.” Which is hard to do since the gifts and call of God are unrevocable. But really, we will all take strange and interesting paths through life… and sometimes we must begin again… but God never gives up on us, nor could we ever leave him… It is a relationship that does not end even if we wander…
March 29, 2010 1:53 PM