Wanna join the Mafia?

Wanna join the Mafia? Let me know as I am looking for writers that love satire!

Be blessed,
iggy

Wanna join the Mafia?

Wanna join the Mafia? Let me know as I am looking for writers that love satire!

Be blessed,
iggy

An Open Letter to John Chisham aka Pastorboy

An Open Letter to John Chisham aka Pastorboy

John,

I just listened to Tony’s interview with you on your blog, The Down Grade and it was very revealing.

First off I want to say you seem a very nice guy and very personable… this does not always translate on the blogosphere or in the forums we both tend to travel. I appreciate that you are not as much on the attack as I had thought you were… and please as you read this realize I have a friendly smile and do so in a way that I hope is as a friend and brother in Christ and not an enemy. This is not an attack on you at all… just some observations.

Man there are some major errors in your theology! I mean that in the nicest way…

Let me explain one area for starters…

God is sovereign… I hope we agree.

Yet you state that there are some things God “cannot do” like lie.

You have created a major contradiction. For if God is sovereign, then nothing is impossible. If God cannot do something and is “bound” to it, then God is subject to the thing He is “Bound” to… God is not longer sovereign… the thing He is bound to becomes sovereign over God.

Now, it is not that God “cannot do” this or that, but “will not” do something as it is against His nature to do that thing. So you are limiting your Sovereign God and making him less than sovereign. If God is not sovereign then He cannot be just, but must bow to the justice of the thing He is bound to. God will not do some things as it is against His Character. He does things because of His Name as it is because of His character to do or to not to do. If you take away God’s will and bind Him in anyway, then He cannot be sovereign. God may limit Himself as He did in the incarnation as Jesus emptied Himself (Philippians 2:6-7) and became totally dependant on the Father by the Holy Spirit. (John 5:19)

Get that so far?

God in Truth….

God is Truth and Jesus is the Truth Incarnate. To know Truth we need to know Jesus. We do not approach God from our view of Truth but from His. Jesus states in John 5: 39-40. “You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.”

Without the Person Who is Truth Incarnate and without first having the Life that is in the Son you cannot have Truth. We may have a perception of Truth but it will only be relative to our own limited knowledge. So to say that we are to seek God in Truth is backwards… God reveals His Truth to us and we gain understanding of Truth by that revelation by what is called the “renewing of the mind”. (Romans 12:2) This is called regeneration and is the process in which we are transformed on this side of the New Creation until we receive our New Bodies in the fulfillment of the New Creation.

That is why to place regeneration ahead of salvation is a bit dangerous as it implies one has already arrived. As we are “Born of Heaven” or “Born from above” which is the literal translation of being “born again” we begin the process of regeneration that comes to its fulfillment when we are in the New Creation. (Titus 3:5) You might note in Titus 3:5 that it is “the washing” which is not the same as “having been washed” it is a process that begins and continues until we are “renewed” by the Holy Ghost at the Resurrection, as stated in verse 7 if you stay in context.

So we may agree that one need be born of heaven, yet I think that you miss the nuance of what is actually going on by the system of theology you use.

It is not as you stated. “to believe rightly”… in fact, you miss the subtle nuance of the passage in which it is that if one believes they are not condemned and in that if they do not believe they are condemned already. It is not in the “belief” but the person that one is saved. Or as Jesus stated, “so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.” (John 3 14-15) So what you have done and is done most often unintentionally is switch the focus from belief in Him to being saved by one’s “Belief” and even more narrow, a “rightly believed, belief” … and this is what Plato taught and was known as Gnosticism… to believe in our own beliefs or abstract thoughts or the immaterial … as if it was a higher reality than the material. This is dangerous as it is subtly moving salvation being based on “the Person of Jesus Christ come in the flesh” to “immaterial abstract beliefs” and as John teaches in 1 John 4: 2. “This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3. but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.” So if I was not as nice as I was I would point out that you have allowed the Spirit of anti Christ replace the Person of Jesus if you assert that it is our belief that saves us… of course I do not think you believe that, but as I listened to you talk to Tony Jones… that is exactly what you stated and I heard.

Now, “What makes a Christian” is not as important as how one is brought to and finds salvation. Often what makes a “Christian” is reduced to being religious. Jesus stated that we are to believe and do. Not just believe. So much focus is on just believing and not doing. In fact much of the doing is man made busy work… and misses the “works of God” done in and through us.

Yet here you also stated that some confess things like “baptism saves us”… and yet, there are those like Chris Rosebrough who goes to the Lutheran church… and believes just this! Yet, you are more concerned that Tony thinks that most do not “think” this way, while you ignore Chris Rosebrough teaching others what you have just condemned… http://www.blogger.com/www.extremetheology.com

I know you will then say, that you are not responsible for Chris, yet then how are you responsible for Tony or me or anyone for that matter?

I see an agenda a mile wide and in a huge steaming pile and the consistent refusal to face your “comrades in arms”. In fact as you stated you are a Cal-Minian, which is fine with me, yet Ken Silva would state flat out you are a semi-pelagian and have a man loving man based faith… and as I listen to you I would actually agree!

Now as I listen to Ingrid and Ken, Ingrid teaches a gospel of “works righteousness” as well as Ken Silva who teaches so many things that not only condemn emergents, but almost every single person who contributed to Christian History!

Again, you seem to be blind to all that… and focus on the gnat while the camel swallows you.

You are in the minority and in that minority there is a huge contradiction. You have Lutherans and Calvinists saying that we must be like them, when historical Luther did not like Calvin though Calvin liked Luther… Zwingli agreed with all points with Luther except over the Lord’s Supper and Luther refused to talk to Zwingli ever again after their meeting.

So, which tradition of man are we supposed to follow all in the name of being reformed?

Again, if someone on your “side” studied some history there might be a breakthrough… we might find common ground and actually seek real Unity in the faith.

Did you know according to Dr David Calhoun at Worldwide Theological Seminary, which is a reformed school that the teaching of Grace might have been lost if it was not for the Christian Mystics? That these men inspired Augustine, Aquinas, St Bernard, which inspired Luther, and Calvin and all the great reformers?

What we have is a huge lump of ignorance attacking others out of their ignorance…

Did you realize that the one who gave us St Anthony of the Desert also was instrumental in giving us the present canon of scripture as well as the Nicene Creed?

Again, this is how dangerous people like Ken Silva and Ingrid are…

Did you know that Ingrid pushed a form of Contemplative prayer on her own blog while attacking others for practicing it?

I mean you guys always attack the Emerging church on thing and call us to be like you, yet we look at history and wonder which “you” are we to be? It seems that you can’t even decide which one you should be… and you want us to be like you, and you claim all this certainty?

I stand here again calling you and your friends to repentance in the Name of Jesus… that you would seek Unity in the Faith in Christ and not around your man made indecisive doctrines.

The bottom line is that when I listened to you speak and noted that you are attending John MacArthur’s Masters Institute… working on a Masters degree… and you state that the emerging church or emergent are “hard to nail down” or “some squishy or untidy language being used” and I hear you contradict yourself all over and as I pointed out… I wonder what is being taught at that and other seminaries.

Again, John this is not meant to be harsh or mean or whatever, but just what I have observed and heard from your camp and from you.

Now realize we have not even gotten into your view of the atonement and how you seem to deny the finished works of Christ on the Cross by stating that God is “bound” to punish those according to the Law. In fact you contradict Jesus own words by saying that God is bound to “judge” mankind… John 5:22 flat out states the contrary to your assertion. “Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son” is what the bible teaches. In fact Jesus goes on to say that “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” (you might recongnize John 3:17 there) to condemn means that Jesus would judge it, yet scripture also states, “-those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned.” (John 5:29) but what you are missing is who and how people who do evil will be judged. “You judge by human standards; I pass judgment on no one. But if I do judge, my decisions are right, because I am not alone. I stand with the Father, who sent me. (John 8:15-16) which leads us to how one will be judged, “As for the person who hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge him. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save it. There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; that very word which I spoke will condemn him at the last day.” (John 12: 47-48)

First notice why one will be judged besides doing evil. It is because they rejected Jesus, they are not judge because God is bound by the Law… it is because they rejected Jesus.

Second, notice that it is by the Words that Jesus spoke… for as scripture states, “The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace.” (Romans 8:6). Jesus dealt with sin on the Cross and in with that we are only faced with the wages of Sin… which is death. What do dead men need most? Life! The Life is in the Son… Christ died “once for all” or as scripture states, “he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself”. Notice that last phrase, as it is very important in understanding the Cross… “to do away with sin” or as John the Baptist stated, “Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world. You confuse the propitiation of sin with salvation, for as Roman 5:10 plainly states; “For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!”

We are saved through His Life… yet you are still saying that God is bound by the Law that Jesus fulfilled and must punish mankind by that demands of the Law. This is not the proper understanding of the Law at all. The Law was to reveal sin and show that wrath was stored up for us, yet instead we find God is longsuffering and kind and gave his only Son to die in our place so that we may have new life by the power of the Resurrection. People who reject Jesus reject their own salvation. It is that simple.

There is much more John that I would love to talk about with you. I do hope this will lead you into a deeper understanding of what our great faith is about and that we share.

Be blessed,

iggy

An Open Letter to John Chisham aka Pastorboy

An Open Letter to John Chisham aka Pastorboy

John,

I just listened to Tony’s interview with you on your blog, The Down Grade and it was very revealing.

First off I want to say you seem a very nice guy and very personable… this does not always translate on the blogosphere or in the forums we both tend to travel. I appreciate that you are not as much on the attack as I had thought you were… and please as you read this realize I have a friendly smile and do so in a way that I hope is as a friend and brother in Christ and not an enemy. This is not an attack on you at all… just some observations.

Man there are some major errors in your theology! I mean that in the nicest way…

Let me explain one area for starters…

God is sovereign… I hope we agree.

Yet you state that there are some things God “cannot do” like lie.

You have created a major contradiction. For if God is sovereign, then nothing is impossible. If God cannot do something and is “bound” to it, then God is subject to the thing He is “Bound” to… God is not longer sovereign… the thing He is bound to becomes sovereign over God.

Now, it is not that God “cannot do” this or that, but “will not” do something as it is against His nature to do that thing. So you are limiting your Sovereign God and making him less than sovereign. If God is not sovereign then He cannot be just, but must bow to the justice of the thing He is bound to. God will not do some things as it is against His Character. He does things because of His Name as it is because of His character to do or to not to do. If you take away God’s will and bind Him in anyway, then He cannot be sovereign. God may limit Himself as He did in the incarnation as Jesus emptied Himself (Philippians 2:6-7) and became totally dependant on the Father by the Holy Spirit. (John 5:19)

Get that so far?

God in Truth….

God is Truth and Jesus is the Truth Incarnate. To know Truth we need to know Jesus. We do not approach God from our view of Truth but from His. Jesus states in John 5: 39-40. “You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.”

Without the Person Who is Truth Incarnate and without first having the Life that is in the Son you cannot have Truth. We may have a perception of Truth but it will only be relative to our own limited knowledge. So to say that we are to seek God in Truth is backwards… God reveals His Truth to us and we gain understanding of Truth by that revelation by what is called the “renewing of the mind”. (Romans 12:2) This is called regeneration and is the process in which we are transformed on this side of the New Creation until we receive our New Bodies in the fulfillment of the New Creation.

That is why to place regeneration ahead of salvation is a bit dangerous as it implies one has already arrived. As we are “Born of Heaven” or “Born from above” which is the literal translation of being “born again” we begin the process of regeneration that comes to its fulfillment when we are in the New Creation. (Titus 3:5) You might note in Titus 3:5 that it is “the washing” which is not the same as “having been washed” it is a process that begins and continues until we are “renewed” by the Holy Ghost at the Resurrection, as stated in verse 7 if you stay in context.

So we may agree that one need be born of heaven, yet I think that you miss the nuance of what is actually going on by the system of theology you use.

It is not as you stated. “to believe rightly”… in fact, you miss the subtle nuance of the passage in which it is that if one believes they are not condemned and in that if they do not believe they are condemned already. It is not in the “belief” but the person that one is saved. Or as Jesus stated, “so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.” (John 3 14-15) So what you have done and is done most often unintentionally is switch the focus from belief in Him to being saved by one’s “Belief” and even more narrow, a “rightly believed, belief” … and this is what Plato taught and was known as Gnosticism… to believe in our own beliefs or abstract thoughts or the immaterial … as if it was a higher reality than the material. This is dangerous as it is subtly moving salvation being based on “the Person of Jesus Christ come in the flesh” to “immaterial abstract beliefs” and as John teaches in 1 John 4: 2. “This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3. but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.” So if I was not as nice as I was I would point out that you have allowed the Spirit of anti Christ replace the Person of Jesus if you assert that it is our belief that saves us… of course I do not think you believe that, but as I listened to you talk to Tony Jones… that is exactly what you stated and I heard.

Now, “What makes a Christian” is not as important as how one is brought to and finds salvation. Often what makes a “Christian” is reduced to being religious. Jesus stated that we are to believe and do. Not just believe. So much focus is on just believing and not doing. In fact much of the doing is man made busy work… and misses the “works of God” done in and through us.

Yet here you also stated that some confess things like “baptism saves us”… and yet, there are those like Chris Rosebrough who goes to the Lutheran church… and believes just this! Yet, you are more concerned that Tony thinks that most do not “think” this way, while you ignore Chris Rosebrough teaching others what you have just condemned… http://www.blogger.com/www.extremetheology.com

I know you will then say, that you are not responsible for Chris, yet then how are you responsible for Tony or me or anyone for that matter?

I see an agenda a mile wide and in a huge steaming pile and the consistent refusal to face your “comrades in arms”. In fact as you stated you are a Cal-Minian, which is fine with me, yet Ken Silva would state flat out you are a semi-pelagian and have a man loving man based faith… and as I listen to you I would actually agree!

Now as I listen to Ingrid and Ken, Ingrid teaches a gospel of “works righteousness” as well as Ken Silva who teaches so many things that not only condemn emergents, but almost every single person who contributed to Christian History!

Again, you seem to be blind to all that… and focus on the gnat while the camel swallows you.

You are in the minority and in that minority there is a huge contradiction. You have Lutherans and Calvinists saying that we must be like them, when historical Luther did not like Calvin though Calvin liked Luther… Zwingli agreed with all points with Luther except over the Lord’s Supper and Luther refused to talk to Zwingli ever again after their meeting.

So, which tradition of man are we supposed to follow all in the name of being reformed?

Again, if someone on your “side” studied some history there might be a breakthrough… we might find common ground and actually seek real Unity in the faith.

Did you know according to Dr David Calhoun at Worldwide Theological Seminary, which is a reformed school that the teaching of Grace might have been lost if it was not for the Christian Mystics? That these men inspired Augustine, Aquinas, St Bernard, which inspired Luther, and Calvin and all the great reformers?

What we have is a huge lump of ignorance attacking others out of their ignorance…

Did you realize that the one who gave us St Anthony of the Desert also was instrumental in giving us the present canon of scripture as well as the Nicene Creed?

Again, this is how dangerous people like Ken Silva and Ingrid are…

Did you know that Ingrid pushed a form of Contemplative prayer on her own blog while attacking others for practicing it?

I mean you guys always attack the Emerging church on thing and call us to be like you, yet we look at history and wonder which “you” are we to be? It seems that you can’t even decide which one you should be… and you want us to be like you, and you claim all this certainty?

I stand here again calling you and your friends to repentance in the Name of Jesus… that you would seek Unity in the Faith in Christ and not around your man made indecisive doctrines.

The bottom line is that when I listened to you speak and noted that you are attending John MacArthur’s Masters Institute… working on a Masters degree… and you state that the emerging church or emergent are “hard to nail down” or “some squishy or untidy language being used” and I hear you contradict yourself all over and as I pointed out… I wonder what is being taught at that and other seminaries.

Again, John this is not meant to be harsh or mean or whatever, but just what I have observed and heard from your camp and from you.

Now realize we have not even gotten into your view of the atonement and how you seem to deny the finished works of Christ on the Cross by stating that God is “bound” to punish those according to the Law. In fact you contradict Jesus own words by saying that God is bound to “judge” mankind… John 5:22 flat out states the contrary to your assertion. “Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son” is what the bible teaches. In fact Jesus goes on to say that “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” (you might recongnize John 3:17 there) to condemn means that Jesus would judge it, yet scripture also states, “-those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned.” (John 5:29) but what you are missing is who and how people who do evil will be judged. “You judge by human standards; I pass judgment on no one. But if I do judge, my decisions are right, because I am not alone. I stand with the Father, who sent me. (John 8:15-16) which leads us to how one will be judged, “As for the person who hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge him. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save it. There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; that very word which I spoke will condemn him at the last day.” (John 12: 47-48)

First notice why one will be judged besides doing evil. It is because they rejected Jesus, they are not judge because God is bound by the Law… it is because they rejected Jesus.

Second, notice that it is by the Words that Jesus spoke… for as scripture states, “The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace.” (Romans 8:6). Jesus dealt with sin on the Cross and in with that we are only faced with the wages of Sin… which is death. What do dead men need most? Life! The Life is in the Son… Christ died “once for all” or as scripture states, “he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself”. Notice that last phrase, as it is very important in understanding the Cross… “to do away with sin” or as John the Baptist stated, “Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world. You confuse the propitiation of sin with salvation, for as Roman 5:10 plainly states; “For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!”

We are saved through His Life… yet you are still saying that God is bound by the Law that Jesus fulfilled and must punish mankind by that demands of the Law. This is not the proper understanding of the Law at all. The Law was to reveal sin and show that wrath was stored up for us, yet instead we find God is longsuffering and kind and gave his only Son to die in our place so that we may have new life by the power of the Resurrection. People who reject Jesus reject their own salvation. It is that simple.

There is much more John that I would love to talk about with you. I do hope this will lead you into a deeper understanding of what our great faith is about and that we share.

Be blessed,

iggy

Just for Laughs

This makes me want to become a Baptist! LOL!

Be sure to have your sound on… but if you are at work better wait till you get home!

Be Blessed,

iggy

Just for Laughs

This makes me want to become a Baptist! LOL!

Be sure to have your sound on… but if you are at work better wait till you get home!

Be Blessed,

iggy

Tozer devotional: Truth Must be Lived

Tozer Devotional

Collective Writings from the Books of A.W. Tozer

That Incredible Christian

Chapter #28

To Be Understood, Truth Must Be Lived

Being Participants in Truth

Truth cannot aid us until we become participators in it. We only possess what we experience. St. Gregory of Sinai, who lived in the fourteenth century, taught that understanding and participation were inseparable in the spiritual life. “He who seeks to understand commandments without fulfilling commandments, and to acquire such understanding through learning and reading, is like a man who takes a shadow for truth. For the understanding of truth is given to those who have become participants in truth (who have tasted it through living). Those who are not participants in truth and are not initiated therein, when they seek this understanding, draw it from a distorted wisdom. Of such men the apostle says ‘the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit,’ even though they boast of their knowledge of truth.” Here is a simple but neglected doctrine that should be restored to its rightful place in the thinking and teaching of the Church. It would work wonders.

Prayer

Lord, teach me what it means to participate in Your truth that through it I may be free.

Scripture

The Lord says: ‘These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship is made up only of rules taught by men.’
— Isaiah 29:13

Thought

Some of us measure our commitment to Christ by the truth we mouth and the rules we keep–rules which may be man-made and not from God. But truth must be tasted through living if we are to be participants in it.

Tozer devotional: Truth Must be Lived

Tozer Devotional

Collective Writings from the Books of A.W. Tozer

That Incredible Christian

Chapter #28

To Be Understood, Truth Must Be Lived

Being Participants in Truth

Truth cannot aid us until we become participators in it. We only possess what we experience. St. Gregory of Sinai, who lived in the fourteenth century, taught that understanding and participation were inseparable in the spiritual life. “He who seeks to understand commandments without fulfilling commandments, and to acquire such understanding through learning and reading, is like a man who takes a shadow for truth. For the understanding of truth is given to those who have become participants in truth (who have tasted it through living). Those who are not participants in truth and are not initiated therein, when they seek this understanding, draw it from a distorted wisdom. Of such men the apostle says ‘the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit,’ even though they boast of their knowledge of truth.” Here is a simple but neglected doctrine that should be restored to its rightful place in the thinking and teaching of the Church. It would work wonders.

Prayer

Lord, teach me what it means to participate in Your truth that through it I may be free.

Scripture

The Lord says: ‘These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship is made up only of rules taught by men.’
— Isaiah 29:13

Thought

Some of us measure our commitment to Christ by the truth we mouth and the rules we keep–rules which may be man-made and not from God. But truth must be tasted through living if we are to be participants in it.

Larry Norman April 8, 1947 – February 24, 2008

With great sorrow and yet having the comfort of know God now holds him in His arms, Larry Norman went to be with Jesus yesterday.

Here are some of Larry’s brave last words to all of us who loved him.

I feel like a prize in a box of cracker jacks with God’s hand reaching down to pick me up. I have been under medical care for months. My wounds are getting bigger. I have trouble breathing. I am ready to fly home.

My brother Charles is right, I won’t be here much longer. I can’t do anything about it. My heart is too weak. I want to say goodbye to everyone. In the past you have generously supported me with prayer and finance and we will probably still need financial help.

My plan is to be buried in a simple pine box with some flowers inside. But still it will be costly because of funeral arrangement, transportation to the gravesite, entombment, coordination, legal papers etc. However money is not really what I need, I want to say I love you.

I’d like to push back the darkness with my bravest effort. There will be a funeral posted here on the website, in case some of you want to attend. We are not sure of the date when I will die. Goodbye, farewell, we will meet again.

Goodbye, farewell, we’ll meet again

Somewhere beyond the sky.

I pray that you will stay with God

Goodbye, my friends, goodbye.

Larry

I was able to see Larry many years ago in concert and Santa Cruz Bible Church. I had been a fan for years and Larry is a major part in my feeling accepted and knowing that God loves us freaks also. He was as bizarre as usual but fun. My wife and I went to him to talk a bit after the concert. He saw my wife and almost blurted out, “You are absolutely stunning!” which shocked us both a bit… but hey she is! = )

The thing I desired the most was to let Larry know how much his music and just being who he was meant to me. Without Larry I most likely would have gone off into a different direction than to seek after Jesus. All I wanted to do was thank him for being used by God. I think that sort of shocked him. I am glad God gave me opportunity to thank him.

We met Larry’s parents and they were some of the nicest people. They invited us over to their house in San Jose, and we went to just visit and found that they were moving. We helped them do some fix it stuff… and clean up. I confess to Joe, that I had quite a few “tapes” and “bootlegs” of Larry’s music but had not actually bought any. We were standing in Joe’s garage/Larry’s recording studio for many of his records, and Joe stooped down and found a tape cover to one of Larry’s albums and simply stated, “Here, now this one is legit.”

We will miss you Larry… but God willing will see you again soon. Thank you for showing me the path that few choose.

Blessings,

iggy

Wkipedia

http://www.youtube.com/get_player

Larry Norman April 8, 1947 – February 24, 2008

With great sorrow and yet having the comfort of know God now holds him in His arms, Larry Norman went to be with Jesus yesterday.

Here are some of Larry’s brave last words to all of us who loved him.

I feel like a prize in a box of cracker jacks with God’s hand reaching down to pick me up. I have been under medical care for months. My wounds are getting bigger. I have trouble breathing. I am ready to fly home.

My brother Charles is right, I won’t be here much longer. I can’t do anything about it. My heart is too weak. I want to say goodbye to everyone. In the past you have generously supported me with prayer and finance and we will probably still need financial help.

My plan is to be buried in a simple pine box with some flowers inside. But still it will be costly because of funeral arrangement, transportation to the gravesite, entombment, coordination, legal papers etc. However money is not really what I need, I want to say I love you.

I’d like to push back the darkness with my bravest effort. There will be a funeral posted here on the website, in case some of you want to attend. We are not sure of the date when I will die. Goodbye, farewell, we will meet again.

Goodbye, farewell, we’ll meet again

Somewhere beyond the sky.

I pray that you will stay with God

Goodbye, my friends, goodbye.

Larry

I was able to see Larry many years ago in concert and Santa Cruz Bible Church. I had been a fan for years and Larry is a major part in my feeling accepted and knowing that God loves us freaks also. He was as bizarre as usual but fun. My wife and I went to him to talk a bit after the concert. He saw my wife and almost blurted out, “You are absolutely stunning!” which shocked us both a bit… but hey she is! = )

The thing I desired the most was to let Larry know how much his music and just being who he was meant to me. Without Larry I most likely would have gone off into a different direction than to seek after Jesus. All I wanted to do was thank him for being used by God. I think that sort of shocked him. I am glad God gave me opportunity to thank him.

We met Larry’s parents and they were some of the nicest people. They invited us over to their house in San Jose, and we went to just visit and found that they were moving. We helped them do some fix it stuff… and clean up. I confess to Joe, that I had quite a few “tapes” and “bootlegs” of Larry’s music but had not actually bought any. We were standing in Joe’s garage/Larry’s recording studio for many of his records, and Joe stooped down and found a tape cover to one of Larry’s albums and simply stated, “Here, now this one is legit.”

We will miss you Larry… but God willing will see you again soon. Thank you for showing me the path that few choose.

Blessings,

iggy

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