Tozer and Heavy Metal

I have been asked recently what my views are on a number of controversial subjects of the Christian faith, including eternal security, predestination and a few others. In my view A.W. Tozer said it the best.

At the Commemoration of Samuel Seabury, First Anglican Bishop in North America, 1796:

"God will not hold us responsible to understand the mysteries of election, predestination, and the divine sovereignty. The best and safest way to deal with these truths is to raise our eyes to God and in deepest reverence say, "0 Lord, Thou knowest." Those things belong to the deep and mysterious Profound of God's omniscience. Prying into them may make theologians, but it will never make saints.

Basically, the issues that are brought before us in "theological" arguments never make us better as believers. They may strengthen or weaken our own personal theological views, they may be used to break the doctrines of others or to cast brothers/sisters out of the church. None of that is really seeking God is it?

The way Tozer says it, "O Lord, Thou knowest." brings me to my knees. Why should I really invest my time and effort into sabotaging the doctrinal belief of someone who for the most part agrees with me? Or why do tons of research into a subject that really is not up to me to decipher? I am a flawed human, my understanding of Scripture is at best mediocre, and yet I like to stand up and thump my chest and declare my way is superior to anyone elses. May God grant mercy to me, for my flaws, even when I seek to point out the flaws of a brother.

Now having said all that, what does it have to do with heavy metal? I am still listening to alot of Disturbed's new CD Indestructible. On my playlist at work I have Perfect Circle Counting Bodies like Sheep, followed by Disturbed Indestructible. Besides being adrenaline filled, and getting my creativity flowing (a nice help in my line of work), I am beginning to see a pattern in my psyche and mental process. War and God. This is leading into my next calLAN Bible Study, into how I think God expects us to act. God's people are supposed to be a fighting force, a warband, a unit of spiritual devastation, serving their Lord and Master in humility and prayer. Satan certainly isn't going to play tic-tac-toe with us to see who will influence our culture, politics, outreach or even our families. We gotta play hardball just like our enemy does. We need to go toe-to-toe against the powers of darkness, starting with prayer and ending with outreach.

God doesn't really want Christianity to be a big fuzzy debate club. No, really I am serious He doesn't. So why do we insist upon acting like we are trying to win first prize in a my theology is better than yours debate? Or even a we have more people or more money or more building yelling match? Christians have degraded into a bunch of whining sissies who care more for the phsyical "church" than Christ's Bride. Do you think for a moment that the Christians being persecuted in China, Sudan, Iran or half a dozen other countries really give a crap about once saved always saved? They believe that God will be waiting on the other side of the (literal) fire for me. He will wipe the tears from my eyes, He will clothe me in new garments, my wounds and torture marks will disappear. I worry about whether or not my dog or cat will be in heaven, or if I will get my own mansion. Sheer spiritual stupidity and moronic shallowness. They just want God to hold them and keep them safe.

So lets stop the pointless and misguided arguments. Lets get back to being saints, focused on the world around us and how we can impact it in our own way and with the talents and gifts God has given me. And listen to more warlike music for once. It is very invigorating.