THE FOUNT OF WORSHIP

DEUTERONOMY 4: 28 There youwillworship man-made gods of wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or eat or smell. 29 But if from there you seek the LORD your God, you will find him if you look for him with all your heart and with all your soul.

Tonight's Yahoo!News featured Iceland and the closing down of the only three McDonald's in the country due to the weakening of their currency. But this blog isn't about the world's economy. I just feel fascinated with Iceland as a country and it's identification as a Christian state having a national church. In addition to being a worship pastor, I also teach worship studies and Church history adjunctively in a Bible college. Hence, the fascination.

As early as the 9th century AD, Christianity is believed to have reached the island. Some of them were monks from the British Isles seeking solitude. But a vast majority of the island's settlers coming from Norway were pagans and thus within a generation, Christianity had died-- blame celibacy (monks do not marry, remember?) and extreme solitude!

In 999, Thorvald Konradsson came to Iceland accompanied by a German Bishop (German Shepherd) named Fridrek, of whom little is known. Thorvald and Fridrek began the evangelization of Iceland. Their efforts were fruitless and they had become subject of ridicule-- what kind of a Norseman would believe a God who died on a cross anyway?

It was under King Olaf Tryggvason when the Christianization of Iceland became a serious business of the Norwegian crown. Olaf sent an iceland native Stefnir Thorgilsson to begin the work. But Stefnir had a totally different technique. He violently destroyed every altar and idol he found in Iceland. Stefnir was outlawed by the Icelandic people and was exiled back to Norway. Olaf sent a priest named Thangbrand whose missionary efforts won many to Christianity in the Faeroe Island. He was relatively successful in winning some Icelandic chieftains but he also murdered three in an effort to win everyone. Olaf took weirder measures- he banned Icelandic seafarers from Norway, and taking hostage Icelandics living in Norway, some of whom were relatives of chieftains. Olaf threatened to murder the hostages if Iceland will keep refusing Christianization!

Paganism and Christianity came to a point of rivalry in Iceland and threatened civil war. During an Althing (their primitive version of parliament), Thorgeir Thorkelsson, a pagan priest spoke and convinced the assembly that Iceland embrace Christianity as its official religion. His decision to favor of Christianity was made after a day and a night of silent meditation under a fur blanket. As an agreement, pagans could still practice their religion in private, and be Christians by name in public!

Not long after, Thorgeir took his household gods and threw them into the godafoss (waterfall of the gods). The people followed suit and within the next few weeks, the entire Icelandic population decided to be baptized.

A 10th century image of THOR, the thunder god.

Now Iceland has a national Church of the Lutheran branch of Christianity with which 80+% of the population identify and baptized into.

The Hallmigur Lutherna Church, Reykjavik, Iceland

But according to the most recent Eurobarometer Poll 2005,^[5]

• 38% of Icelandic citizens responded that "they believe there is a God".
• 48% answered that "they believe there is some sort of spirit or life force".
• 11% answered that "they do not believe there is any sort of spirit, God, or life force".
• 3% responded that they "don't know".

The worship of Christ and conversion to Christianity cannot be forced upon someone or a community. It is a personal decision of obedience to the initial call of the Holy Spirit-- conviction of sin, realizing the need for a Savior, and being gifted with faith, trusting Christ alone for salvation. That's when Christianity begins! That's the genesis of worship.

NO MORE NIGHT

Another quick note. I feel as busy as an ant!

I had been busy in fact that I realized just this morning that my grandmother's birthday (mom's mom) was last Thursday. Does it matter? Well, probably not as much when she was still living. But I want to write something about her.

She was the greatest opponent to my mom's conversion to the evangelical Christian faith. And although she never disowned my mom she had so much distaste for anything "Protestant." I remember my mom crying one morning during her devotions. She was praying for my grandma's salvation. Having felt led to make another attempt to share the Gospel with her, my mom went to visit her only to return disappointed! Another failed attempt. It was when my mom gave up when she received a phone call one afternoon. It was grandma telling my mom that she had just received Christ as Savior and Lord. My mom went to the nearest Christian bookstore, bought a Bible and gave it to grandma! It was my mom's happiest day!

My dad used to refer to my grandma as "Hitler" due to her very grumpy attitude! But Christ made a whole lot of difference in her life following her conversion. She became so positive that even in the last days of her life all she wanted was to make sure all her surviving kids know Christ. She died in 1988. My mom died in 1996. Today all her surviving children and many of her relatives are serving Christ!

My mom and grandma are both enjoying their heavenly rewards in a place where there is no more night, no more pain, no more tears, all they do is sing praises to Christ the king.

FLOODING IN METRO MANILA

I watched a movie and fell asleep on the sofa last night and woke up this morning to a flooded living room. About a quarter of an inch deep. Water from the ledge seeped into cracks overnight and all I've done all morning is sweep water into my bathroom! I went to the Condo Administration office and was told that half the residents of the 17-storey building have some form of flooding in their apartments.

When I turned the TV on, I was shocked to find others in conditions much worse than mine. I tried calling my dad and his phone was unavailable. He texted an hour later to say that he is safe but his bungalow is in waste-high flood. He was able to cross the street to his cousin Letty's house which has three floors. His worry is that his appliances will be rendered useless when the flood waters subside. I tried calling others I know and glad all of them are safe.

My friend from church, Tim and his brothers uploaded the following photos of their house in Xavierville. Their parents are out in the island of Palawan for ministry. I tried calling him but his phone cannot be reached.

Below is a home video by some girls living in the Katipunan Avenue area where Xavierville is. This is just one section of the metropolis deep in flood waters.

Tomorrow's assigned worship leader, band and team have all backed out since most of them are affected by the flooding. I will be the fallback, but that depends on how passable the road to church is. Last I heard from the condo personnel, C5 Road is a giant tub of water.

Please be in prayer for my family and friends affected by this wild tropical storm.

Below are photos of different areas by different people.

Still
Words and Music by Reuben Morgan

Hide me now
Under your wings
Cover me
within your mighty hand

When the oceans rise and thunders roar
I will soar with you above the storm
Father you are king over the flood
I will be still and know you are God

Find rest my soul
In Christ alone
Know his power
In quietness and trust

THE KING OF LOSERS

Palm Sunday marks the beginning of Holy Week, the last week of Lent, which began on Ash Wednesday over a month ago.

Jesus was welcomed into the city with accolades and praises. For Jesus things wound down pretty quickly after that, turning his parade of victory into what may be seen as a series of failures that wound up parading him right back outside of the city, up a small hill to the place of capital execution, called Golgotha. There, at the top of a wooden scaffold that held his body, a sign was tacked that read, “This is the king of the Jews,” written in three different languages, according to John’s Gospel, evidently so no one in the city could miss the irony.

Just as his title King of the Jews was nailed on his cross together with his frailed body only one of his disciples was brave enough to stand among the crowd to watch him die. All the rest went into hiding all afraid of being identified with him and thus be implicated. A criminal dying on another cross that same hour hurled insults at him. Soldiers mocked, "If you're king of the Jews save yourself." Three hours from high noon He died. He died because nothing in our lives is well. We're a bunch of losers! We're sick!

In this way, as his story becomes our story, we have less need and desire to deceive ourselves into thinking all’s well when really, all’s not well. And we learn that what we can not do for ourselves, God did on our behalf - he overcame our failure already and all we need do is let out a last gasping sigh of relief and live into the truth of it. The weight of failure lifted from us, releasing us into a new freedom.

As Paul will eventually write once he comes ‘round to the truth of it for himself, once he finds the awful weight of failure lifted from his life: “For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, ‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart’” [1 Cor.1:18-19].the

One of the reasons we know Jesus swallowed up all the failure in his story is what happened to the failed disciples afterwards. They found resurrection. From out of their failure, a great, great hope sprang forth.

Here’s the ultimate irony: turns out that the man on the cross is a true king after all. He reigns in the kingdom of humility where up is down and down is up, where first is last and last is first, and where weakness and failure become transmuted into the very power of God.

Jesus is God’s cure for what ails us.

I invite everyone in Metro Manila to come to GCF's Service of the Tenebrae on Good Friday at 1PM.

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Readings:

1. Stephen Bauman, A Cavalcade of Failure, CCNYC, 040107

2. J. Sidlow Baxter, The Master Theme of the Bible, Tyndale House 1980

3. Max Lucado, Grace for the Moment, Zondervan 1999

WHEN CHRISTIANS GET SCARED

It's strange that I received the following message eleven times today:

Calling all intercessors:
please intercede against the upcoming
national and international gathering of
satanists and witches to be held here in the Philippines,
Capiz and Siquijor. April 9-10.
Primary objective: To destroy Christian Churches.
Please Fast and Pray.
From: CCC (Campus Crusade for Christ)

Call me apathetic, but I for a number of reasons I could not even pray against the said "meeting" even as I received and read the message eleven times!

As I walked into the GCF building on a way to a meeting this afternoon, someone approached meand asked if I received the message. I smiled and said, "Well, I did, eleven times, in fact." He then continued, "Pastor, we must pray that they will not succeed against the church!" Again, I smiled and this time with an air of authority and seriousness in my voice. I told him, "Brother, I find it strange that Christians could be alarmed with such a text message/news! I will not pray for that they will succeed because long before this message spread, Christ had already spoken a word of victory! Matthew 16:18-- 'I will build my church and even the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.'"

When Christ said that, he wasn't guessing that the church might succeed, instead, it was a firm declaration of fact. Believers may fall into the enemy's snares, but we, whether individually or collectively are victors in Christ! The enemy has no power over believers! He is defeated already!

Another thing, if it were true that there is going to be a gathering of such, why would they meet on Good Friday and Black Saturday-- days that are most memorable to the devil and his demons themselves? Good Friday commemorates the death of Christ on the cross-- the death that gave way to eternal life and victory over sin and the grave!

I remember a time when I was 13 when my a 17-year-old kid came gasping for breath for my dad who had just concluded a Midweek Service sermon. The young man was sent to get my dad to help "exorcise" demonic spirits tormenting a girl named Marian. Marian was 14, who at age 9, following an accidental fall down their stairwell that left her lame since had become so strong that despite her inability to stand and walk could not be restrained by as many as 8 men!

The family had already sought the help of the local parish priest who came armed with three bottles of "holy water" which he emptied on Marian to no avail. It was strange because in a town as small as ours where the most powerful man was the parish priest ended up frustrating hundreds of people for not having exorcised the demons inside Marian.

The priest was just about hop to back into his car when my dad, together with a couple of dozen folks from our church arrived. The priest smiled at my dad rather sheepishly and said, "It's a hopeless case." When we got to Marian's house, there were countless people in the yard praying the Rosary. There was great shouting on the second floor of the house which only meant that people were restraining Marian. My dad was led upstairs together with some prayer warriors. As a curious kid, I went up with the team. I remember the horrible sickening stench that filled the house! Looking through an open door, I realized that the girl Marian was my second grade classmate who had to stop schooling because of the accident! She'd been drenched with "holy water," her eyes were red and fierce, her scream sounded like an angry man's voice!

My dad opened his Tagalog Bible and read Mark 5 aloud. After which, I remember my dad asking in Tagalog, "What is your name?" Marian spoke in a loud voice as though trying to scare and taunt my dad, "Why do you want to know my name? How dare you ask, scum!! " My dad, whom I have never seen so fearless 'til that night spoke with so much authority, "I am a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ....Do you remember Calvary?" Upon hearing that Marian screamed, she stiffened and after a few seconds went into a convulsion. My dad commanded, "In the name of Jesus Christ the risen Lord, leave Marian's body and never ever return!" Within a minute or two of violent convulsion the demons left. My mother started singing, "There is pow'r, pow'r, wonder working pow'r in the blood of the Lamb..."

In less than 30 minutes, Marian was conscious however greatly weakened by the torment she had. She was served food to eat. My dad shared the Gospel with the entire family and everyone under the sound of his voice.

Real authority rests in Jesus Christ, and according to Him, the gates of hell shall not prevail against His church! We are protected by the name of Jesus!

SOMETHING HAPPENS by Prestonwood Baptist Choir

(i don't like the photos, but the song is amazing!)