Of FOP and thoughts

Last night I attended the annual FOP, graced by the Father, the Son and Holy Spirit, performed by Reuben Morgan and Parachute Band and preached by Mark Connor. Overall, it was a fantastic experience, saved for the time when I was choking the seats for some brothers and sisters, which became rather unsettling as the ushers had the right to take away the seats and give it to other people who are around. Being a church usher, I'm fully aware of that and can empathise with that.

The FOP last night left me ministered but also left me with some thoughts regarding the mindset of current worshippers.

Mindset It became obvious to me that sometimes, it's not God that the worshippers are worshipping but the band which was performing. It became a bit evident last night that a lot of people are there for Reuben Morgan and his Hillsong band, rather than for the worship, though that might play a part. I heard some wolf whistling when Reuben Morgan was leading the worship. I know of people who decide to attend the event depending which band is playing. It was obvious that the people are not as engaged with Parachute Band as compared to Reuben Morgan, despite the given fact that we do know very little of Parachute songs. This makes me wonder about the spiritual mindset of worshippers nowadays, not sparing myself also. When God spoke the 2nd and 3rd commandment:

You shall have no other gods before me.

"You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand {generations} of those who love me and keep my commandments.

I wonder if Christians today realise that we are perpetually in the danger of falling into the trap of idolising more famous Christian bands. The problem with me today is that why is it when it comes to worshipping God, it has to be more contemporary songs for younger ones and more traditional hymns for the older generation, which is the normal logic for a lot of Christians? When it comes to adoration for God, shouldn't all songs be treated equal? No doubt there are some evidences in the Bible that songs in the OT period might have followed contemporary style of that time, but there is no indication (not that I know of) that these songs are not celebrated and sung to God by older and younger crowd alike. I believe Christians today have to examine our own hearts and ask ourselves if it's the heart of worshipping God, or the heart of worshipping the music. To me, the signs I saw last night have perhaps defeated the purpose and meaning of the FOP.

Biblical context and doctrine Perhaps I'm not the best person to talk about this and perhaps I'm not even qualified to talk about this in some other people's eyes. But as I read the Word and as I understand Christianity better, I came to realise that, as my pastors would have said, a lot of Christians today might be tending towards doctrines which they like, and not doctrines which God has commanded.

A passage was briefly preached last night during offering from 1 King 18.

Then Elijah said to all the people, "Come here to me." They came to him, and he repaired the altar of the LORD, which was in ruins. 31 Elijah took twelve stones, one for each of the tribes descended from Jacob, to whom the word of the LORD had come, saying, "Your name shall be Israel." 32 With the stones he built an altar in the name of the LORD, and he dug a trench around it large enough to hold two seahs [a] of seed. 33 He arranged the wood, cut the bull into pieces and laid it on the wood. Then he said to them, "Fill four large jars with water and pour it on the offering and on the wood."

34 "Do it again," he said, and they did it again.
"Do it a third time," he ordered, and they did it the third time. 35 The water ran down around the altar and even filled the trench.

36 At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: "O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. 37 Answer me, O LORD, answer me, so these people will know that you, O LORD, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again."

38 Then the fire of the LORD fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench.

39 When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, "The LORD -he is God! The LORD -he is God!"

40 Then Elijah commanded them, "Seize the prophets of Baal. Don't let anyone get away!" They seized them, and Elijah had them brought down to the Kishon Valley and slaughtered there.

41 And Elijah said to Ahab, "Go, eat and drink, for there is the sound of a heavy rain." 42 So Ahab went off to eat and drink, but Elijah climbed to the top of Carmel, bent down to the ground and put his face between his knees.

43 "Go and look toward the sea," he told his servant. And he went up and looked.
"There is nothing there," he said.
Seven times Elijah said, "Go back."

44 The seventh time the servant reported, "A cloud as small as a man's hand is rising from the sea."
So Elijah said, "Go and tell Ahab, 'Hitch up your chariot and go down before the rain stops you.' "

45 Meanwhile, the sky grew black with clouds, the wind rose, a heavy rain came on and Ahab rode off to Jezreel. 46 The power of the LORD came upon Elijah and, tucking his cloak into his belt, he ran ahead of Ahab all the way to Jezreel.

The pastor (not Mark Connor) preached that the rain only came to bring the end of the drought facing Israel at this time after they gave up the precious water that they have stored up for this drought. That is, the main blessing will only come after we give up something precious, that God will open the floodgate of blessing. Preaching this, to me as a believer, is a message that took away the context and meaning behind this particular passage. Why?

1. The drought was a result of Israel's unfaithfulness. While it's true that sometimes our dry period as a Christian is God's mean of bringing us back to His way, to use this as general principle that Christians should give to end the drought is totally out of context with regards to this passage.

2. The fire of God came to consume the offering as a sin offering. For any bible scholar, it would be obvious that when Elijah sets up the altar, it was a call to repentance for the people. Under the law of Moses, this was the way by which God cleanses the people of their sin, by blood offering - a prelude to Jesus. While it is true that the fire of God in this passage came as a result of this sin offering, it is not because the people gave, but because God, being gracious and merciful, forgave their iniquities through the offerings. By the way, for a side note, I do believe that given the context of the passage, the water was poured onto the altar to inspire trust in God, and also as a mean to demonstrate God's power.

3. The rain came as a result of Israel's repentance. Not that the rain came after the people turned their hearts back away from Baal and back to God. Again, I dun see the link between the giving and the rain in this context.

Hence, by ignoring the 3 points, I feel that it is easy to distort the original meaning of the passage. I'm not saying that the pastor has distorted the message, but I just feel that the concept of repentance is much more emphasized here than mere giving and blessing. And given the nature of the message, I wonder if people gave because they expect God to be Santa Claus, or is it because of their worship and adoration to God.

Something for us to think about as Christians....