A day with Rich and memories of John

This can get confusing. I'm not talking about my brother. I'm talking about another favorite Rich. Rich Mullins.

I read a few years ago where someone said that he listened to Rich until he made himself sick of him; then he stuck the recordings in a drawer for about 6 months, then went back to OD again. That pretty much sums it up. I listen until my family nearly throws me out of the house and until I'm spouting Rich-isms in my sleep; then I relegate him to the bottom of the CD rack until I can sneak him out and bear him again, just to restart the cycle.

I have the fortune of having the last release--the posthumous one that came out last May. (This makes posthumous #3, if I remember--and that's just CDs). Listen to Brennan one day, then Here in America with all Rich's philosophy on the next and your mind is swirling with questions as to where your faith is. Good, good thoughts that no Christian should be without. Of course, at least half of the Christian population would and do declare both men infidels...

Speaking of infidels, I've spoken a lot about the itinerary of our trip, but I've essentially neglected speaking of the people. I think I may have mentioned (but maybe not) that Bart followed the missionary, John, around as much as he possibly could all nine days we were in his company. I wish I could have.

John and Dave have known each other for years. I knew that and I was expecting a carbon copy version of Dave in John. I wasn't really looking forward to this trip for that reason alone.

John did a devotional time with us several days. The first was essentially to let us know what to expect, if you can do that there. Then he spoke a lot about theology. Seems that, when you're immersed in a culture like this where Roman Catholicism meets African superstition, you have to not only look more deeply into what you believe, but you also have to learn to pick your battles. John has spent years looking into Scripture to find if he knows what he knows and, at the risk of having us pack up early, he told us. This is a nutshell of what we found out about John and, more importantly, Scripture:

1) John has found in his study of the Greek and the original texts that "baptism" does NOT mean "immerse." It means "overwhelm." In the OT, its equivalent (if I remember correctly) meant the ceremonial washings, which meant that the priests would use their hands to flick water on the crowds, similarly to what the pope may do today. (And believe me, John does not hold with the Catholic beliefs.) In his mind, I think, we're putting too much energy into the baptism debate. I tend to agree. (Question that I need to ask him: how did the disciples physically baptize 3000 people in one day? Were only 12 present or were there more? Did they physically baptize, or is this the Spiritual baptism that John talked about in his devos?)

2) Baptism does not save you. Our rebirth is spiritual. (I thought that was a "duh", but I soon found out that was not the case with one person whose name I mentioned earlier.) Of course, John went on to say something to the effect that Jesus was baptized, so what will you do? As I mentioned before, he baptized a man that Sunday. (John's words: "Our new birth is spiritual. From above. Check out Ephesians 1:13-14. Paul is writing in the aroist past tense, "having BELIEVED you were marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit..." The AROIST in the Greek means that the tense points to a particular point in time. Our English doesn't share this feature. Spanish does. The closest that we can get to illustrate this in English if I were to say, "I used to eat apples" or "I ate an apple." Both are past tenses. But only one definitively points to a particular time in the past, the other doesn't focus as well. The Greek is clear on this issue. In Ephesians 1:13 Paul points to a particular time in their past, when, upon the exercising of personal faith, when they trusted the message, at that moment they were marked with the Holy Spirit. Paul uses this tense in Galatians 3:1-5. In verse 5 he indicates their receiving of the Spirit was at the moment of belief. Romans 5:1 Paul says that we were justified when we believed (aroist past). Now, John 7:37-39 says clearly that the giving of the Spirit would be by means of belief. When we put these passages together along with the present possessive promises of Jesus (John 3:18; 36; 5:24, etc.) we see that the upon the exercising of faith we receive not only the seal or gift of the Holy Spirit, but justification and eternal life as well. Understanding these facts we need to fit Acts 2:38 into this matrix of textual truth. Alexander Campbell's view which our "brotherhood" has inherited and blindly accepts as kosher would cancel everything Christ or Paul said. Well, who will you trust? The teacher or the student? So, yes, John 3:3-7 is theologically tied to John 7:37-39 as well as Ephesians 1:13 and many other texts.")

3) Church is for fellowship and encouragement. It is not for "worship." Worship is something we should do every day of our lives, regardless of what we are doing.

There are other instances where he bucked the system and took on Campbell, but I have cited the ones that stick in my head. After one such session, Bart and I gravitated toward each other with big grins on our faces and gave each other "YES!!!" hugs. Both of us said, "Ben should be here!" I could see Ben sitting at the table, pounding his fist, going, "YES! YES!"

I do know that these people--Mary to a lesser degree than the other three--have a much more joyful, laid-back life than I do. Part of that comes, I know, from having less, but part of it, too, comes from the fact that they've learned that life should be enjoyed and the beauty around them should be cherished as one of God's many gifts. I can say that I enjoyed my time there more than I did in the Outer Banks or anywhere else I've been (except maybe Gatlinburg--still checking) because I worked hard and played harder.