What If
Posted on June 8th, 2007 by Reformed Pope into the Pastor Hank categoryFrank Damazio just wrapped up his sermon series titled "Windows: Heavens Treasures". As with all good sermon series these days, each one had a catchy title that began with the letter P…I am amazed at how God is constantly using alliteration to speak to today's pastors, who knew He was so clever… The 5 P's were: Provision, Presence, Providence, Preview, and Promotion. I blogged about the first few sermons here.
After listening to all 7 sermons I realized that I had heard these same ideas before, in fact I was actually able to find a video of them posted on You-Tube…check this out, it's a real short (30 second) clip and then we can continue. Btw, I just took hours of preaching and boiled it down to one 30 second commercial (I should get paid for this, but I don't. I offer it as a free service).
This is basically what PF's whole series boiled down to…What IF? In each of his sermons he told you what could happen IF you would just "throw open the Windows of Heaven" …
Quick Side Note Here: For all you CBC supporters out there, are any of you willing to come to the defense of your Pastor for the fact that he spent 7 weeks preaching on ½ of a verse? ½ of a verse? Now I don't know a ton about proper hermeneutics, but I'm pretty sure that's a no-no. He used ½ of Malachi 3:10 which, nicely enough, says exactly what it is that he wants to preach about…throwing open the windows of Heaven…He reads that part of the scripture and then goes on to tell you what HE thinks about it…for 7 weeks. Can you see why I would be concerned with this?
According to Frank, if you "throw open the Windows of Heaven:" then God will essentially bless you. But my question is How? No, not how will he bless me, how do I throw open those windows? After listening to all 7 sermons I honestly couldn't tell you. The one and only point that I can recall Frank making is to give money to the church (naturally). Other than that there wasn't any substance. He did have everyone pray that the windows would open above their life and he also had people act out opening the pretend window right above their heads (I've been learning about Word Faith teachers lately (thanks Craig) and I think PF might be one…actually he's more of a "Charade Faith" teacher…you know…with the Funnels and Tunnels and now the Windows and stuff…I'll have to think about that some more). My point is, he might as well had people running out and buying Powerball tickets…
But hey, now that a few CBC'ers are starting to come out of the woodwork, does anyone want to tell me what they got out of the series? Despite our sarcasm here, I really am curious to hear if people actually received…no… learned something (anything).
Another tangent:
Do you notice how a lot of churches push "receiving' something as opposed to "learning" something? You can "receive" a warm fuzzy feeling, but that doesn't really mean anything. My question: What did you learn?
Anyway, if anyone else wants to chime in on "What If", I'd love to hear. By the way, when I finally figure out how to "throw open the windows of heaven" I'm getting a pet elephant.
RSS feed for posts
June 8th, 2007 at 6:54 am
Does your city have a leash law?
Is there a Pooper Scooper® big enough?
June 8th, 2007 at 7:04 am
Johnpaul…if you get a pet elephant before I do I will be ticked. I’ve been asking for an elephant my entire life but I thought I first had to blow out every stupid candle on the cake (and at my age that is nearly impossible)
If an elephant comes thru your window, I’m moving in…
Greg
June 8th, 2007 at 7:37 am
You probably don’t have an elephant yet because you haven’t tithed enough.
June 8th, 2007 at 7:42 am
i actually just ran out of WD40…I nearly had that window open.
Greg, you’re welcome to move in anytime…should I get the elephant, however, he will have to bunk with you.
June 8th, 2007 at 8:05 am
Any update on Ed’s church in New York?
June 8th, 2007 at 8:06 am
Why don’t you call your cousin and find out, Fed?
June 8th, 2007 at 9:17 am
10:00am and 700 new hits nice job. Seriously City Bible should pay you guys off.
By the way, I did a search for an old friend the other
day and your blog came up…you guys are everywhere.
June 8th, 2007 at 4:44 pm
Using some skills that I learned in PBC, I researched ‘windows’ in the New Testament. I came up with 2 hits! In Acts 20:9, a brother named Eutychus was sitting on an open window sill. He listened too long to a sermon and fell 3 stories down to the street and was picked up dead. Fortunately, there are no windows at all in the CBC auditorium…if there were, they would likely have trucks circling the dome to cart off the results,ala the Calcutta body removal scheme.
The second hit was 2 Corinthians 11:33, where Paul was let down in a basket through a window in the wall in order to escape Aretas the King.
As I said, there are no windows in the CBC auditorium…..so no scriptural escape is available.
June 10th, 2007 at 8:03 am
In reference to whatHEsaid said, (heh)
Ironic, isn’t it, that PF would preach about windows in auditorium that has no windows? Maybe he just has some kind of Freudian angst regarding the fact that he can’t see outside while he’s preaching.
Somebody cut a hole in the big dome and give that man some daylight!!!
June 10th, 2007 at 9:20 am
I didn’t hear the Promotion sermon, but I did hear the Preview one. I’m still scratching my head about how PF got from Malachi 3 to getting God to give you a Personal Preview Experience.
He did make a good point that when the Lord shows you something of the future, then your faith is encouraged and you are less likely to be shaken by circumstances or opposition.
I’m not trying to nitpick on the man, truly. I listen occasionally to the sermons, hoping that there will be a change in the mindset that is the foundation of his teaching — and alas, there is not. That foundation is: A self that desires, a self that controls, and a self that is willing to use God — the word of God, the things of God, and the prerogatives of God — for one’s own gain.
For instance, he recognizes that when men received a preview of the future, it first began with an encounter with God. So his instruction is to get that encounter so that you can get the preview. It boils down to attempting to initiate what is God’s to initiate, and then using that encounter to GET something. Using God! I am beyond astonished.
I recognize that PF tells the people to pray, which is a form of asking — which is good. But what do the apostles say to pray for? What is the focus of their prayers? Is it not to know the Lord better and receive grace (divine empowerment) to obey, exhibit and spread the gospel? It’s a subtle twist of Eph 1:18 to use that verse to pray for anything other than a greater understanding of who God is and what He has done through the Cross and resurrection of His Son. To use it to justify seeking a Personal Preview Experience is a travesty.
This final point is not limited to PF, but addresses a practice that I have heard more and more in the last few years — the idea that we can decree things into the heavens. I think at the end of the Promotion sermon, the audience was instructed to decree and “call in” what they needed — a job, the salvation of a loved one, the moving of a difficult situation, etc. Again, I believe that this usurps the prerogative of the Sovereign Lord, and puts self in the position to be like God. I believe in prophecy and prayer, but this decree thing is neither — it is arrogance.
I did not hear the Promotion sermon. But the Bible is clear on the path to promotion: “Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God that He may exalt you in due time.” I would love to hear a sermon on humility, but I’m afraid that it would be used as yet another way to get something, and not as a genuine response to the revelation of the Lord.
I am not angry, hurt or whatever. I am grieved that this doctrine is being preached and thousands are being led to the satisfaction of self and not to complete surrender to a Sovereign God.
June 10th, 2007 at 7:20 pm
anna Said:
Amen to that, I pray people will hear the true Gospel and be like the 12 with Jesus when the multitudes left Jesus when He gave the “eat my flesh and drink my blood” sermon in the Gospel of John. I am afraid many who go to MFI churches are like the multitude who were following Jesus for provision, and when He gave the true Gospel…they were not interested.
June 25th, 2007 at 3:29 pm
I agree about lot of churches pushing the idea about gaining riches, “a mansion in heaven”, etc if you give, when tithes should be given out of an act of faith, to show God that what you have is His and that you are willing to let go of money.