I have finished the Fire in the Night internship, but I'm going to be going to the Call in Nashville on 7/7/07, so I'm staying around IHOP-KC until then. I've moved in with some other IHOP folks just for about a week and a half, and until last night, I was sleeping on a mattress on the floor in one of their rooms.

When I moved in, they told me that they had seen brown recluse spiders in the house; in fact, the person that was telling me this said he had killed five of them around his bed in one night. My initial reaction was a bit of unbelief and a bit of paranoia. All I knew about brown recluses was that they had a brown violin shape on their backs and were "deadly." (ranked with black widow spiders as the two spiders that were actually dangerous) So I checked my sheets carefully before I went to bed, and I did some research the next day.

The Wikipedia article indicated that brown recluses were frequently misidentified, actual brown recluse bites were rare, and the violin pattern on the back alone is not enough to identify a brown recluse. So I felt a little better, thinking that my housemates were probably mistaken.

And then, as I was about to go to bed last night, I accidentally pulled back the bottom sheet instead of the top sheet… and something started crawling away. At close inspection, it was a small spider. I caught it in a glass and examined it – violin shape, sure enough. Still not convinced though. Decided to check the rest of my sheets thoroughly, and there was a bigger (and faster) spider was under my pillow. Caught him in a jar and examined him as closely as I could. Looks like it might be a recluse. Checked some more pictures on the Internet.

http://spiders.ucr.edu/recluseid.html

Yep, I think that's the spider that was under my pillow. He had a dark abdomen, but apparently that depends on what he's eaten recently. All of the pictures of things that have been misidentified as recluses look nothing like what was in the house.

So anyway, I've done a little crash course on brown recluses over the past few days. Here are some good facts:

• Missouri is the heartland of brown recluse territory:
  

• When one recluse is found in a house, it's very likely that there are lots more (Rick Vetter reported one Kansas family that found 2000 of them in their house in 6 months).
  
• Recluse bites are actually quite rare. (The above-mentioned family never got any bites in 8 years, even though they were finding an average of 11 spiders per day…)
  
• Recluse bites, when they do occur, are nowhere near as serious as the mythology makes them out to be. Far from being deadly, 90% of them are not medically significant, and the only reported deaths have been in young children or the elderly.
  

As of last night, I'm sleeping on a futon (off the floor). I'm still going to check my sheets before I go to bed for the next week though!

Luke 10:19-20
19 "Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. 20 Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven."

My friend Andy, one of my fellow Fire in the Night interns, has posted a good summary of the situation in America today and the reason why the Call Nashville is urgent:

Andy Blake at IHOP: The Church in America, Abortion and The Call Nashville

I'm going to piggy-back off of him and write up something that I've been intending to do for a while, which is why I'm convinced that we have a Biblical mandate to oppose abortion, even if it means "getting weird" or becoming a "single issue voter."

This post is addressed to Christians who profess to take the Bible seriously. I'm not worried about convincing anyone else at this point.

1. The Bible is absolutely authoritative

Psalm 119:128
 128 Therefore all Your precepts concerning all things
         I consider to be right;
         I hate every false way.

Psalm 119:160
 160 The entirety of Your word is truth,
         And every one of Your righteous judgments endures forever.

2. The Bible says that human life is sacred

Genesis 9:5-6 (God speaking to Noah after the Flood)
5 Surely for your lifeblood I will demand a reckoning; from the hand of every beast I will require it, and from the hand of man. From the hand of every man's brother I will require the life of man.

6 " Whoever sheds man's blood,
By man his blood shall be shed;
For in the image of God
He made man.

3. The Bible says that unborn infants are human beings

Psalm 139:13-15
 13 For You formed my inward parts;
         You covered me in my mother's womb.
 14 I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
         Marvelous are Your works,
         And that my soul knows very well.
 15 My frame was not hidden from You,
         When I was made in secret,

         And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.

(Note that the idea that human beings are a "tabula rasa" - a blank slate at birth whose experiences determine all aspects of personality - is also denied by this passage.)

4. The Bible says that murder of human beings pollutes an entire country

Numbers 35:33 (the context here is about pre-meditated murder)
33 So you shall not pollute the land where you are; for blood defiles the land, and no atonement can be made for the land, for the blood that is shed on it, except by the blood of him who shed it.

5. The Bible says that God will judge a nation that murders children

2 Kings 17:16-18
16 So they left all the commandments of the LORD their God, made for themselves a molded image and two calves, made a wooden image and worshiped all the host of heaven, and served Baal. 17 And they caused their sons and daughters to pass through the fire, practiced witchcraft and soothsaying, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke Him to anger. 18 Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel, and removed them from His sight; there was none left but the tribe of Judah alone.

("Making a child pass through the fire to Molech" was a practice of murdering infants by placing them on a red-hot metal idol and allowing them to burn to death.)

I am convinced that while there may be many other issues on which some Pro-Life politicians (e.g. George W. Bush) may be on the wrong side of Biblical justice, the Biblical mandate regarding the murder of children is one which a disciple of Christ can not ignore.

But I'm not primarily interested in trying to convince people of how to vote. How we use our votes or our dollars is important, but utterly insufficient to bring the change that we need in this nation. We need God, not human effort.

Thus, The Call in Nashville – fasting, prayer, repentance. What we need is 2 Chronicles 7:14:

14 if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

(Note that this is addressed to the people of God, not to those who are God's enemies.)

Before I close, I'm going to address a few possible objections:

1. What if the life of the mother is at stake?

These kinds of extreme-case situational ethics examples are frequently brought up to defend many kinds of immorality and unrighteous behavior. I have three comments:

1. How often is the mother's life really at stake with modern medical technology? Between C-sections and intensive care for pre-mature infants (who have been saved as much as 3 months premature or more), I have to believe that this is an extremely rare scenario.
   
2. If we accept the Biblical doctrine that the unborn child is actually a human being made in God's image, then this is identical to a situation in which the life of two adults hangs in the balance. There may come a moment (e.g. for firefighters) in which a life-and-death decisions must be made, but this decision is never made casually. Biblically, every effort must be made to save both lives first.
   
3. As disciples of Christ, we have a resource that is completely unavailable to others – the Gospel. The blood of Jesus has purchased healing for us, and inaugurated a Kingdom in which supernatural healing is not only possible, but can be asked for expectantly. The idea that a Christian's only recourse in an extreme situation like this is to murder a child, when we have been promised divine healing from the very mouth of Jesus (Mark 16:18) is simply unacceptable.
   

2. What about cases of rape and incest?

I recognize that this is extremely sensitive ground to tread, especially as a man, so I want to say the following as carefully as I can.

My answer is essentially my last point in the above. We have the Gospel. Jesus purchased healing for us on the cross. That includes healing of our bodies, healing of our emotions, renewing of our minds, and healing of our memories.

It really is possible for a rape victim to be healed from the scars of the horrible wickedness which has been committed against her. I have heard testimonies of women who have experienced precisely that. It is not easy, and it is not quick, but it is possible. The Gospel really is that powerful.

The idea that abortion is a "solution" to an experience of rape or incest is diabolically deceptive. Having an abortion is a traumatic experience in itself, which leaves its own scars years later. Convincing a wounded, shame-filled, traumatized woman to have an abortion in order to deal with her trauma is like suggesting that a veteran suffering from PTSD take up hallucinogenic drugs to get a better grip on reality.

3. Doesn't a woman have a right to do what she wants with her own body?

No. This sound-bite is simply ridiculous, and the fact that it's still continually used is a sign of the delusion of our culture and the self-deception and secrecy that shrouds the abortion industry.

Consider the implication of the statement "I have the right to do what I want with my own body." Does that include the right to fill my body with alcohol and drive my body home? Does that include the right to put my fist (a part of my body) in the nose of a police officer? Does that include the right to strap explosives to my body and blow my body up in the middle of a crowded restaurant?

My right to do what I want with my body ends where the body of another (or the law of the land) begins.

What is really meant by this kind of statement is that the unborn child is part of a woman's body, not a separate human being, and therefore, he has no rights as concerning how his mother treats him. As I've noted above, however, Biblically, this is simply false. A woman has no more right to murder the child living inside her than she does to murder the child living next door.

The Need for Compassion

While I have been rather stern in all of the above, I feel the need to end on a different note.

The sad fact is that the reason that most women have abortions is not really "convenience", but fear. Fear of lack of finances. Fear of a terrible life for the child. Fear of reprisal by family members. Fear, simply, of the unknown.

Women who are facing crisis pregnancies do not need to be rebuked. They need help. They need to know that there is another option. They need to know that there is a God who loves them, who is "slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness", and who has made a way for them to have hope and healing and a future.

A ministry that I know of that does this work well is Care Net.

But again, ultimately, the burden is on the Church. The reason why God calls the Church to humble ourselves, repent, and pray is because we are the ones who He holds responsible. The Church has the answer. Sinners in the world can only be expected to behave as sinners. They have no answer – only despair upon despair. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the answer. We need to believe the Gospel, live the Gospel, and preach the Gospel to our nation. And the only way that is going to happen is if we accept that we are utterly insufficient and have no resources in ourselves to live up to our calling.

And thus, we end up where we began. We need God!

"It is intrinsic to the doctrine of creation that human beings in sin are the supreme environmental threat."

- J. Alec Motyer, The Prophecy of Isaiah, pg. 197
(Commenting on Isaiah 24:1)

For the 40 day fast leading up to the Call on 7/7/07, I have been studying the book of Isaiah, using an excellent commentary by J. Alec Motyer. I highly recommend the commentary, but would also recommend allocating approximately six months to study the book through. I'm currently on Isaiah 25 after having studied the book approximately 2 hours a day for almost 30 days. I'm really going to have to step it up if I intend to get through Isaiah 66 by 7/7/07…

In light of 7/7/07 coming up, and amazing juxtaposition of the two stadium events taking place on that day (the Call and SOS), Motyer's commentary on Isaiah 22 jumped off the page at me when I read it last week:

"The message of the whole is solemn, that past decisions mould future experiences... And the unforgivable sin is to believe that if one cannot save oneself one cannot be saved [Is. 22:9-11] and to act as though this world were all [v13]." (Motyer, 181)

See the following post from LiveEarth.org:

"Our climate crisis affects everyone, everywhere. Only a global response can even begin to address our climate crisis. SOS asks all people to Save Our Selves because only we can."

I haven't really studied out the subject of global warming, so I don't have an opinion about that particular issue. In terms of environmental stewardship in general, there's no question that we should take care of the environment – Christians, in fact, should be in the front lines of that charge.

But the message of SOS is flat-out blasphemy. The contrast between The Call (crying out for God to save us because we cannot save ourselves) and SOS (rallying to save our selves because only we can) could not be clearer.

And this is not just coincidence. This is where the whole world is going. The 2 billion gathering or tuning into SOS in New York, London, Johannesburg, Rio de Janeiro, Shanghai, Tokyo, Sydney, or Hamburg are a foretaste of a global movement for humanity to "save our selves" from all of our problems – environmental, social, political, spiritual. It's called "MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH." (Revelation 17:5)

But the 100,000 gathering for the Call in Nashville, and the perhaps 1 million watching via the Internet or GodTV, are also a hint of things to come.

"…the people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits. 33 And those of the people who understand shall instruct many; yet for many days they shall fall by sword and flame, by captivity and plundering. 34 Now when they fall, they shall be aided with a little help; but many shall join with them by intrigue. 35 And some of those of understanding shall fall, to refine them, purify them, and make them white, until the time of the end; because it is still for the appointed time." (Daniel 11:32-35)

It seems appropriate to end with this summary from Isaiah 22:

12 And in that day the Lord GOD of hosts
Called for weeping and for mourning,
For baldness and for girding with sackcloth.
13 But instead, joy and gladness,
Slaying oxen and killing sheep,
Eating meat and drinking wine:

" Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!"
14 Then it was revealed in my hearing by the LORD of hosts,

" Surely for this iniquity there will be no atonement for you,
Even to your death," says the Lord GOD of hosts.

It's been a while since I've posted anything that's been going on here.

The 40 day fast that Lou Engle has called leading up to the Call on 7/7/07 in Nashville has become the main thing going on at IHOP right now. Mike Bickle presented a few messages over a couple of Sundays indicating that he believes that this fast is opening up both the next chapter in America's spiritual history as well as the next chapter in IHOP's prophetic history.

Mike told a pretty incredible story about the 21 day solemn assembly that they did in 1983 (it was Metro Christian Fellowship at that point – IHOP wasn't started until 1999). They had a prophetic word that God was going to answer on 28-May, the last day of the fast, but on 27-May, they got a prophetic word that the fast was going to end that night (i.e. one day early). The Holy Spirit made it clear that the fast was supposed to end early, and so they stopped. The next day everybody turned out to hear how God was going to answer, and the answer (through a prophetic word from Bob Jones) was that the spiritual drought in America was going to continue for a time because the prayer movement wasn't ready for revival yet. That was, of course, 24 years ago.

On May 28, 2007, the first day of the this fast, IHOP went live 24 hours a day on GodTV – from midnight to 6 am in every time zone. That was a fulfillment of one of the prophecies that Kansas City would have a ministry of intercession that would touch the whole world. So, it appears that God did answer on 28-May – He just didn't specify 28-May of which year…

The prophetic promises that people are praying into here are pretty amazing. For those who are interested, the Encountering Jesus CD series by Mike Bickle tells a lot of the stories.

So anyway, there's quite a bit of excitement in the air about this fast. To make things more interesting, the director of Fire in the Night felt the Lord leading him to do a speech fast (a vow of silence) for the 40 days of the fast as well. He stepped down from almost all of his teaching and delegated a lot of leadership responsibilities for that time. (he still does a fair amount of "talking" through pen and paper though…)

By way of explanation of what a speech fast is about, a lot of the interns were given a copy of Henri Nouwen's The Way of the Heart as well. A number of interns have decided to do partial speech fasts too (we're not allowed to speech fast in our classes).

I haven't committed to a speech fast for the whole duration, but the idea of a shorter speech fast is quite attractive. I really want to learn how to "guard the inner fire" in the way that Nouwen describes.

So anyway, that's what's been going on and why I've been relatively quiet on the blog and email recently. I may not post here again until after the Call on 7/7/07.

For those who are not participating in the fast, I'd strongly encourage you to check it out. It's not too late to get involved. For more information, you can check out these sites:

www.fastandpray.com

www.thecall.com