TRADITION FREE!

"Thus you have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition."
(Matthew 15:6)

". . . The phrase ‘one last shaking' means a thorough housecleaning, getting rid of all the historical and religious junk so that the unshakable essentials stand clear and uncluttered." (Hebrews 12:27 – The Message)

Today I will live in the now! I will live in the now because I have declared my independence from meaningless forms, routines and traditions in my life that are contrary to my present reality, and that make the word of God ineffective for me. I am moving past archaic and passé ways of thinking about God or life or myself. The limiting, antiquated ideas and philosophies that I have accumulated over the years are being exposed for the irrelevant relics that they are. I am free to think a new way!


Today I will not believe something just because someone told me to believe it. I will have the confidence to think for myself, and the courage to expose a lie that I have accepted when I recognize that it is, indeed, a lie. I will be able to maintain my love and respect for someone important to me, without feeling obligated to believe everything they say.


Today I will consider the word of God as the final authority on every subject.







Today I will honor the Lordship of Jesus as the highest priority in my life.









Today I will cooperate with the work of the Holy Spirit in my inner man.






Today I will reject, resist and renounce all forms of the man-made religion that exalts itself against God's true Kingdom. I will pull down strongholds in my mind that were imparted to me from the religious system that are contrary to the knowledge of God. Religion is the enemy, and I will have no part of it and its silly fables, false doctrines, and pointless works of the flesh.


Today I will enjoy the good traditions from my family, my childhood, my country, my heritage. I will benefit from sage advice – the wisdom of the ages – and from lessons learned by life experience. I will restore the old landmarks, and will be a link to the next generation by passing down what is noble and worth keeping. But I will also know how to discern the difference between healthy, foundational traditions, and the ones that are holding me in the past. In that context, today, I will be tradition-free, and today I will live in the now!

Father, help me to break free of all unnecessary tradition today. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Thursday Thoughts

As He was walking along one day, Jesus saw a man who had been blind since birth. His disciples, picking up on the object of His attention, asked Him, "Teacher, whose sin caused this man's blindness? Was his own sinfulness the source of the problem, or did he inherit some generational curse from his sinful parents?" Jesus answered them, "Why do you assume that his blindness is the direct result of sin? And even if it were the result of sin, why is it so important to you to know whose sin it was? You need to change your perspective and your priorities. When you see someone in need like this, your immediate response should be to look for a way for the works of God to be displayed in his or her life, and nothing more."
(John 9:1,2 - John In The Now

Let me get right to the point...Haiti only needs our prayers and support right now, not our smug judgment and bogus attempts at explaining the unexplainable. I don't want to mention any names...don't want to bash any ministers or televangelists...but on a day when people are devastated, and their whole life is in ruins (we have people in our church who don't even know yet if their relatives in Haiti are dead or alive), I think that it is beyond insensitive for anyone to get on TV and say that the earthquake is the result of a pact that the nation made with the devil 200 years ago! If that were the case, then why did the earthquake just now get here? And what's the reason, then, for all the other earthquakes in other parts of the world?

I'm so tired of ministers making such ridiculous claims! Katrina was not God's punishment on the "sin" of New Orleans. I was there last year and visited Bourbon Street, and I can tell you that that area of the city is just fine...virtually untouched by the hurricane. If God were going after the city because He hates Mardi Gras (as I heard a minister friend of mine claim recently), then He has terrible aim! Furthermore, if He were taking out "sinful" cities, then how did Las Vegas, San Francisco, New York, or any other city escape His wrath?

After the 911 attacks, these same ministers were on TV that night claiming that the events of the day were God's punishment on feminists and abortionists. Again, if God was punishing America for "sin", then where in the world was He during centuries of slavery? These types of ministers are also quick to say that AIDS is God's punishment on gays, to which I also ask, then why weren't there cases of the disease before 1981? There certainly were homosexuals before then.

The bottom line is that Jesus said that it rains on the just and the unjust. David said, "If You mark iniquities, then who would stand?", and "He has not dealt with us after our sin, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities...". Look, I'm not inviting debate on this, and I've read the Old Testament, so no one needs to tell me about Sodom and Gomorrah and Tyre and Sidon, et al... (get my teaching 'A Tale of Two Trees' for an explanation of those things)...

Also, when a disaster like this happens, the question always comes up about why innocent people have to suffer...why do bad things happen to good people? I have two things to say to that....first, from a natural perspective, some things just happen in the earth...earthquakes are the result of geological movement that goes on all the time...hurricanes are the result of temperature changes and winds over the ocean...they are just forces of nature. Secondly, when you try to make sense of why "good things happen to bad people" or why "bad things happen to good people", you can never come to a rational conclusion. The world never makes sense when you look at it through the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

I pray that we are entering a new season...a new generation...in which people of faith will just begin to help in times of disaster, instead of wasting time trying to explain why the disaster happened...that ministers will use their pulpits as a platform to bring about positive change, instead of exploiting them as an outlet for foisting their own agendas and prejudices on their sphere of influence. In the above passage, the disciples were preoccupied with the reason for the man's blindness...Jesus was simply focused on making him well.

Just pray for Haiti. Send some money if you can. If you can do more, do it. If your loved ones are alive and well today, then hold them close, and be grateful that you are not in the situation that the Haitians are in today. And then just be quiet...

Wednesday Wisdom

Just a quick word...first, I want to say that good things are still happening for us at CITN, and I'll tell you about some of them tonight...and I also want to remind everyone that we're going verse by verse through The Gospels In The Now on Wednesday nights, and it's a very thorough Bible study that everyone can enjoy...you'll want to have your own copy of the book to be able to follow along, so if you haven't gotten yours yet, come a little early tonight and stop by the Media Center to pick one up...we're starting Matthew, Chapter 5 this evening, and there's some really good stuff in that passage (The paradigm shift of the Sermon on the Mount)...see you tonight...

But it's really strong in my spirit today to remind you all of the importance of finding your own path...working out your own salvation with fear and trembling (or in a responsible and introspective way)...marching to a different drummer, if necessary...

David refused to attempt to fight Goliath wearing Saul's armor for a very good reason...the shepherd boy knew his own strengths, and was self-aware enough to understand that he had to play to them to be successful...

Just because you may reject the conventional wisdom of handling things in certain areas of your life, it doesn't mean that you're unteachable, or some kind of rebellious maverick...it's just that you've already killed the lion and the bear, and you did it in the way that was right for you...but when you go out to deal with your own "Goliaths", there will inevitably be people who don't or can't understand your need to find your "five smooth stones" to confront your personal giants...because they see things from a particular paradigm, they will try to impose their version of Saul's armor on you...they mean well, and they're trying to protect you...

But don't let them put it on you! Find your own rhema word...your own way...yes, there's safety in the multitude of counselors, but at the end of the day, you have to deal with your stuff in a real and authentic way that only you can understand...submit everything to God, but trust your own instincts and do what's right for you...

If the teen-aged David had clumsily gone out to face Goliath wearing Saul's clunky armor, the giant would have most likely killed him, instantly...but he insisted, instead, on going in the strength of his own peculiar and unique anointing...comfortable in his own skin...and he prevailed!

Remember, there's no one exactly like you, and your relationship with God is your secret place of the Most High...

Just thought that might be a word for someone today...

Tuesday Talk

The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of gold, as pure as transparent glass.
(Revelation 21:21)

Hey bloggers...thanks for the good reports from Sunday, and especially for the testimonies about the supernatural returns on your giving...I'll probably ask for you to share some of them in the next several services, or you may want to write something about it here...good things are still happening at CITN as we all continue to respond to the wake-up call we've recently received concerning our beloved community, and our responsibility to the preservation of it...

On a personal level, I want to reiterate some of the things I said Sunday...things like the importance of having NO REGRETS...like loving your life, and loving it as it is NOW...don't second guess anything...there's really no such thing as a "crisis" in your life...there's only "process"...your gate to the City of God is made from one PEARL...remember, the grain of sand...the thing that causes the oyster pain...is the very thing that makes it so valuable...Paul said "I prayed three times that it would be removed, but He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you'"...when you embrace it...when you embrace your thorn in the flesh...your grain of sand in the oyster shell...your streets (your path of experience) will be paved with gold...when John had this revelation, he noted that the golden streets were "transparent like glass"...transparent...real...purged of all pride and pretense...tried in the fire...

I believe that what is happening at CITN right now is much bigger than just paying the bills and keeping the doors of the building open...Jesus said your heart is where your treasure is, and we are actually in the process of creating one heart...

What do you think?

From Facebook: Well, I was going to say that the services at CITN today were surprisingly awesome, but then I re-read my blog post from yesterday and was reminded that I predicted awesomeness (but the attendance was, indeed, surprising)...what a great day (!)...thanks, everyone, for coming out to both services...even people I hadn't seen in a long time were there...