Because I love Jesus, I love His people, for God is love (I John 4:8).
Sometimes, in an attempt to proclaim the blessings of the Redeemer and to prevent the bondage of religion, I've deconstructed religious practices and traditions to the neglect of love.
I feel the need to confess my sin.
To the Christian Men Who Keep Women Subservient
I realize that you love Jesus. I comprehend that you believe the Scriptures to teach that men should lead and rule, and women should serve and submit.
In my zeal to proclaim the real truth of the Gospel, I have sometimes unintentionally framed my arguments in ways that make you out to be the enemy.
You are not my enemy. You love Jesus. You love the Scriptures.
You're my brother.
You're just wrong in your interpretation of Kingdom leadership.
You don't yet see that in the New Covenant, leadership is always based on humility, not hubris; gifting, not gender; and character, not control.
Please forgive me for my zeal, passion, and often unwise deconstruction of your platforms.
You love Jesus. I know you do. You're just misguided. You misinterpret the Scriptures, and too often, I present you as an enemy.
You are my brother in Christ.
To those Christian Ministers Who Place Personal Kingdom Above Christ's Kingdom
To those who have used the institutional church and its ministries to advance a personal need to be recognized and praised, I seek your forgiveness.
Too many times I've assumed your motives. I've seen your work. I've observed your actions. Unfortunately, too often, I've gone to motive.
Only God knows the heart.
I desire for Christ's Kingdom to be preeminent.
I dislike personal agendas, personal kingdoms, and personal insecurities that translate into "ministry" designed to produce personal praise rather than Kingdom progress.
But in my zeal for the Kingdom, I sometimes push too much.
I seek your forgiveness.
You are my brother in Christ.
To the Christian Ministries that Place Tradition above Transformation
Sometimes the "traditions of religion" become the center of my cross-hairs without consideration for the shrapnel.
Traditions are not troubling per se.
When I sense the transformation of sinners' characters taking a back seat to the traditions of saints' comforts, I sometimes come across too strong.
I seek forgiveness.
At times, I think deconstruction is needed.
At times, I think deconstruction has gone too far.
We are all on the same side.
Christ reigns.
His Kingdom rules.
We do much better joining as brothers than separating as enemies.
You are my brothers.
19 comments:
As much love and respect I have for you as Pastor, I have always had reservations in my mind for these very things you have confessed. You speak about love, and your intention I truly believe is unconditional love, but SOMETIMES the actions have shown otherwise.
This public confession is refreshing and definitely encouraging.
I am going to post this anonymously for a variety of reasons, but thank you for such honesty. It definitely opens my heart to following your counsel more as Pastor.
would be good to define 'deconstruction'
To my anonymous brother or sister in Christ-
I recommend you turn to Webster's Dictionary and read the full definition of deconstruct. :) Wade has graciously, humbly, in the Spirit of Jesus, explained his confession fully. Wade, thanks for setting an example for me to follow. May merciful God bring healing, repentance, unity, and revival to the Body of Christ, Jesus' Church! J.D.Rector
Wade,
Well old friend, before I brag on you, I’m going to let you have it with both barrels. 😊
I copied the post three times. The original took over a page and a half even though the small print was 10. I changed the print to 14 and it was over two and a half pages because between every sentence was a space as large as a horse. (exaggerated) Your book, “Happiness Doesn’t Just Happen” is the same way: very small print with large space between the lines. The main problem is you treat every sentence like it’s a new paragraph.
As a picture is better than a thousand words, this is a picture:
We’re all on the same side. Christ reigns. His Kingdom rules. We do much better joining as brothers than separating as enemies. You are my brothers.
Vs.
We are all on the same side.
Christ reigns.
His Kingdom rules.
We do much better joining as brothers than separating as enemies.
You are my brothers.
Rex Ray, I can't speak for Wade and I'm certainly not acquainted with literary styles, but here's how I perceived the format.
Each statement separated by spaces, brings emphasis. Rather than meshing them together, the reader tends to see the author's intended importance.
I find/found it very effective.
Victorious,
That was my intent, but I sure hear Rex! :)
Wade,
Your great post of love being more important than religious practices reminds me of yesterday.
I was sitting by a stranger who was Church of Christ. Though we were miles apart in our beliefs, we had a common bond of love for our friend’s funeral.
And that’s what your post is about; our love for Jesus brings us together.
Victorious,
Maybe the Bible should be written the same way, making it three times as thick and see if people buy it because they understand it better.
Rex, since there are evidently 2,023 versions produced in a total of 1,371 languages, I'm pretty certain there's one for everyone who cares to read it. If there's something that's not understood....that's where seniors/elders/teachers come in, right?
https://www.bible.com/versions
Victorious,
You’re right. And of all of those Bible scholars, teachers etc., I’ll bet not two of them agree 100% of everything in the Bible.
J.D. Rector
In order to clarify:
the suggestion for Wade to define the term in his OWN context was to prevent any misunderstanding because Wade may not know this, but the term has become a 'buzz word' associated with something unspeakable:
"Deconstruction, the radically skeptical method of literary criticism de Man developed along with his friend Jacques Derrida, scandalized academia and sent shockwaves across American culture. It became roughly synonymous with “postmodernism” — a term used more by detractors than adherents, usually to connote relativism, nihilism, and denial of objective truth. Like other European intellectual imports, it held immense allure, and attracted great opprobrium.
Today, “deconstruction” crops up now and again, with only a faint hint of its origins. One notable instance came in early 2017, when Steve Bannon, a White House strategist at the time, proclaimed that the Trump administration would undertake the “deconstruction of the administrative state.” Bannon’s invocation of this old buzzword of critical theory led to plenty of humorous Twitter takes, many linking de Man to Trump’s postmodern White House."
(Evelyn Barish)
Ken,
I think you’ve expressed the view that everyone in politics is not honest. That’s what my uncle thought also.
(Our Dad lost three times trying to get elected as County School Superintendent.)
He asked his brother if he had voted for him.
“Goodness no, Dave. I have an honest brother and I want him to stay that way.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Rayburn
The link above tells the life of an ‘HONEST POLITIICIAN’. He had a rule not to accept a gift of more than $25 to avoid any rumor of accepting bribes. When he retired, his political friends gave him a new car by keeping all donations $25. His home is four miles from here, and is open to the public as a museum. His ‘new car’ is still parked in his garage. The car was longer than his garage, so instead of making it larger, there’s a ‘hole’ large enough for the hood .
Ken, with Trump’s money, do you think he’s tempted to take bribes? I believe Americans elected Trump because they were fed up with politicians like Obama giving Iran money shown by link below.
https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/477666-obama-should-apologize-for-shameful-cash-payment-to-iran
Also, Obama’s Secretary of State, Hillary added flame to the fire by Bengasi and uranium sold to Iran. Not to mention the link below.
https://www.cnn.com/2016/02/05/politics/hillary-clinton-bill-clinton-paid-speeches/index.html
“(CNN)Hillary Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, combined to earn more than $153 million in paid speeches from 2001 until Hillary Clinton launched her presidential campaign last spring, a CNN analysis shows.”
Rex Ray, you have shared more entertaining anecdotes than a single life could hold! Now, all extra spacing aside, Wade's column is candid, conciliatory and principled. His is a voice of truth that won't (and shouldn't!) be silenced. Being an editor I notice style and content, and I see that the style of his column actually follows a pattern. Wade identifies a specific audience and makes an observation that greatly concerns him. Acknowledges a transgression he made in addressing his concern and asks forgiveness. Closes by affirming the fellowship of brothers in Christ, reminding us we all live and serve God's Kingdom versus our own. I'm glad Wade is writing this from Enid and not from the island of Patmos. Blessings!
Hi Lissa Roberson,
My niece’s name is Lissa. You must be a long-time reader and a first-time commenter.
As one commenter to another, “WELCOME ABOARD.”
I agree with your assessment of Wade, and I’ll bet he agrees he’s not writing from the island of Patmos.
After reading your background, I believe your life would make an interesting book.
“Most Bible-readers of a conservative stamp will look askance at deconstructionism. But its proposed model is in fact too close for comfort to many models implicitly adopted within (broadly speaking) the pietist tradition. The church has actually institutionalized and systematized ways of reading the Bible which are strangely similar to some strands of postmodernism. In particular, the church has lived with the gospels virtually all its life, and familiarity has bred a variety of more or less contemptible hermeneutical models. Even sometimes within those circles that claim to take the Bible most seriously—often, in fact, there above all—there is a woeful refusal to do precisely that, particularly with the gospels."
N.T. Wright
At the Senate ‘Trial of Trump’ today, ‘Shifty’ Shift spoke for four hours. I think he used Hitler’s philosophy: “Tell a lie big enough and long enough, and people will believe it. He repeated the same lies over and over so long, it wouldn’t surprise me if some went to sleep. According to him Trump’s greatest crime is his phone call to Ukraine.
This link below has the phone call between Trump and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine.
https://fm.cnbc.com/applications/cnbc.com/resources/editorialfiles/2019/11/15/CLEAN%20UKRAINE%20CALL.pdf
Trump: “I’d like to congratulate you on a job well done, and congratulations on a fantastic election.
Zelenskyy: “Good to hear from you. Thank you so very much. It’s very nice to hear from you, and I appreciate the congratulations.”
Trump: “That was an incredible election.”
Zelenskyy: “Again, thank you very much. As you can see, we tried very hard to do our best. We had you as a great example.”
Trump: “I think you will do a great job. I have many friends in Ukraine who know you and like you. I have many friends from Ukraine and they expected you to win. And it’s really an amazing thing that you’ve done. I guess in a way, I did something similar. We’re making tremendous progress in the United States. We have the most tremendous economy ever. I just wanted to congratulate you. I have no doubt you will be a fantastic president.”
Zelenskyy: Brags a long time on Trump and invites him to the inauguration.
Trump: Tells him a great representative will be there…” An incredible day for an incredible achievement.”
Zelenskyy: Says he’s looking forward a representative coming, and tells how great Ukraine is. Again, he asked Trump to come.
Trump: Asked him to visit the White House.
Zelenskyy: Accepts Trump’s invitation and asked him to come again.
This link cannot copy/paste. I took pictures and typed from my phone.
Trump said his phone call was “A perfect conversation”, and his trial was a “hoax”.
Since Shift lied to the Senate and the American people, I believe he should be ‘impeached’ to prison.
Long Story
Exhausting Walk Searching for a Red Flag by Rex Ray
In 1954, my twin brother, Hez, and I were 22 and our cousin, Claude Hicks, was 27. We decided to visit our parents who taught school to Eskimos at Quinhagak, Alaska which was a mile from the Bering Sea.
Eskimos told us bears lived on a nearby mountain. We got the fever to shoot a bear. Dad borrowed three rifles from some men, and Claude had his favorite pistol. Dad didn’t take a gun but went along for fun. Our directions were to go down a mile to the Bering Sea, turn left for a mile, and go three miles up another river to the mountain. We weren’t told the river to the mountain was hidden because it entered the Sea at a sharp angle.
We went in a heavy iron river-boat with a ten-horse motor. We added an 8-inch board to the low sides, and hoped that would keep the ocean waves from flooding the boat. Constant bailing was required because there was a small gap between the steel and the wood. The main problem was we were so heavy the boat went through waves instead of over them. That got us pretty wet and cold because it was about 40 degrees. Claude said we were in the ‘mouth’ of the river because the water on his face wasn’t salty. We couldn’t see the river and went a little past it.
We made a fire on the beach to dry-out and get warm for an hour before going back to the river. Feeling a lot better, my partners got in the boat. Since I was the only one with hip boots, I pushed the boat off the beach to water deep enough to run the motor. I pushed and pushed but gave up after fifty yards because the tide went out. In a little while, as far as our eyes could see, there was nothing but mud except for the water spreading out two inches deep from the river.
They waded in deep mud carrying their bed-rolls to the beach. I didn’t carry mine as I was elected to sleep in the boat. We had six hours for the tide to come back. In some parts of the world a tide can rush in faster than a horse can run. I worried the heavy boat might stick in the mud and not float. Those thoughts kept me awake almost until the tide came in when I was dead asleep. When Claude’s shooting failed to wake me, our Dad told him to shoot closer.
We loaded the boat and started up-river. The current was so strong, I looked at the bank to see if we were moving. We helped the motor out with some paddles. After seeing fish in the clear water, we agreed with Claude to catch some with a fishing pole. We caught enough for supper and spent our second night on the river.
The next day, there were two rivers that joined together. We took the one that looked like it came from the mountain but after six hours we knew we’d chosen wrong when the water became too sallow to run the motor. The mountain looked near, and we decided to walk to it. While getting out of the boat, Claude fell in the river. It was good he’d brought other clothes.
We knew when we returned, it would be hard to find the boat so we made a tall pole by tying paddles together and Claude tied his red bandana on top. We tied the pole so it could be seen in some bushes.
Land that has Tundra on it is hard to walk on because it’s a grass that grows in small clumps strong and tall. It’s best to lift your feet two feet over it. You can go faster walking on top of it, but you’d fall about every six feet.
We divided all our stuff to be carried. We each had a rifle except Dad. After an hour of walking, Dad said, “I don’t know why you guys are complaining about what you’re carrying, I have the heaviest load.”
I said, “I’ll trade with you.” (He had a back pack and I had a duffel bag that required walking in a leaning position.) He threw my duffel bag in the air saying, “Light as a feather!”
After six hours of walking/staggering, we stopped at 10:00 P.M. (The sun was down but still light enough to see.) Half an hour later, Dad staggered in and threw the duffel bag down saying, “What’s in this?”
We ate and went to sleep, but some strange noise woke us up. Dad asked if the rifles were loaded. Next morning, the mountain didn’t look any closer. We ate the last of our food, and started walking back to the boat. We didn’t even discuss our unanimous decision.
Claude was the first to run out of energy. He’d lay down until we were almost out of sight. When he started walking, we’d lay down exhausted until he reached us. Then we’d start walking. At each ‘meeting’, Claude used his binoculars to look for the red flag.
As the day went on, our stops got more frequent, and the distance covered got shorter and shorter. At last, Claude yelled, “I see the flag!” We became delirious happy; knowing we weren’t going to die.
Going with the current, got us to the ocean really fast. But there was nothing but mud. We pulled the boat up the bank, and left everything in it.
We walked the two miles back a lot faster on sand thinking about food. The next morning, I retrieved the boat. Without their weight, the boat went OVER the waves at high speed.
'Trump suggests arresting Adam Schiff for 'treason'
King Henry II: "WILL NO ONE RID ME OF THIS MEDDLESOME PRIEST?"
LET RIGHT BE DONE
easy to do justice, hard to do right
"Only God knows the heart.
I desire for Christ's Kingdom to be preeminent."
(Wade Burleson)
To love the honor of God above all things,
yes, this is good.
https://youtu.be/gNB3KCSiSQo
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