Eschatology: An Introduction.

Hey everyone

After a nice discussion on Facebook, I have decided to do a series of posts on Eschatology: the study of the end.

Instead of endorsing a particular view (even though some of you have some ideas of what I believe), I'm going to do a big contextual study, and do a commentary on several texts, mainly Revelation.

I will quote from some commentaries, but the main tools I will use in breaking down Eschatology are Inductive Bible study methods.

According to the Apple Dictionary, Inductive means:

inductive |inˈdəktiv|

adjective

1 characterized by the inference of general laws from particular instances : instinct rather than inductive reasoning marked her approach to life.

Basically, Inductive study has several methods for people to get into the Bible and study it for themselves. The whole idea is context, content, and direction. It's a very logical, very accurate bible study method taught pretty much everywhere. All Bible study programs use bits of Inductive Bible study methods.

So I'm pulling together an outline of the main tools we will be using for this "unraveling" of Eschatology. They are all Inductive study tools.

The goal of this study is to see the text for what it is, and understand the context, writer, writers intent, common culture, and ultimately get application. Study should never be done without the intent of application .

Our culture of spoon fed religiosity has somewhat disarmed the church in America. It's important to never just accept what someone writes or tells you in church. Asking questions is crucially important.

The same in this study, please hold me to these two criteria for any interpretation I attempt:

1. I must prove support historically, contextually, or with inductive study methods based on reason and critical thinking.

2. An interpretation must not stretch the context or the text to fit itself in. Lets not read a particular idea into the text, rather lets let the text present it's own case.

Musicianaries

So a friend of mine invited me to lunch. When we sat down, he asked me why I came to Kona. I told him I was working on music for a year. He said God told him to talk to me.

He presented me with an enormous opportunity.

He asked me to help him pioneer a community of songwriting missionaries. (Musicianaries?)

The premise is that we would move 10 or so musicians, producers, and songwriters into a house off campus and build a recording studio. We then would all commit to live in this house for one year, doing nothing but practicing, writing, recording, producing, performing, promoting, worshipping, interceding, outreaching, and living in community.

The goal is to write amazing music written out of intercession for the world. Not in a Switchfoot sense (they are a Chrisitian Band with secular fans...) but rather as authentic, real indy musicians operating in the secular sphere, writing pop/rock/indy/electronic/whatever music to bring awareness to spiritual and social issues, shining a light for the nations and attempting to bring transformation to music industry and western society as a whole.

We would be full time missionaries with music as our mission field.

Here is an idea of how this would work. We live in community. We pray together, worship together, and make intercession together. As a community, we come together to intercede. We pray about a problem, and ask God to tell us what he thinks about it in intercession, and how to bring change. We then go and write music on what we hear from God: Totally prophetic pop music. It's a new concept.

Except that is has been done before in a sense, during the renaissance. From the renaissance came some of the greatest music ever composed. The church came together behind composers and supported them. The composers were free to write music for God, and write they did. Their music brought spiritual awakening, and the church saw millions of people added to it. Modern music as we know it is a result of this time in history.

We want to revive this model for modern spiritual transformation.

We would also be working with the producer of a documentary film about human sex trafficking in America called "Sex & Money." The producer will be living in the house with us working on editing, and they want us tow write music intercessory music about human trafficking they can use in the film, and then w man end up touring with their group later as they start a campaign to raise awareness.

The main focus of our group is Justice. We want to write prophetic songs about injustice and human trafficking and real problems, and raise awareness to make an impact on the general culture.

I told my friend I would pray about the opportunity. I asked God to give me peace about it if it was where he had called me. For 3 straight days I had people coming from everywhere telling me God told them to tell me to have peace.

I asked more than a dozen people to pray for me and hear what God said. I got lots of confirmation.

After talking about it with the leaders of my current school, and contemplating it for several weeks, I have made a decision to move forward with this project. I will be coming back to Kauai for several weeks starting April 1st (as my friend who is leading this project is teaching ex Al Qaeda members how to worship Yahweh in Nigeria for the next few weeks... a crazy story I'll blog about tomorrow)

We had a meeting with about 8 of us. Our group is full of amazing singer, songwriters, and musicians. As we sat and talked, we got to the topic of words spoken over our lives. We realized that all of us had many of the same words spoken over us, and God had called all of us to come to YWAM and work on music.

So as I come back to Kauai, I will be working to create a network and support base for this project. Following the Renaissance pattern we will be seeking support from the church (the people and the organization) and I will be looking for people who are willing to donate for the upfront costs.

So what can you do right now? Please cover us in prayer. This is an exciting opportunity to create a model we can duplicate among different nations and areas. Brad (my friend) is currently in one of the most dangerous places on earth, he needs prayer for safety. I need prayer for wisdom and prayer for fresh creativity. We all need prayer for resources and funds. We are currently putting together a media packet and filming a trailer for the project, which will be up by the end of april. We need recording equipment, help with designing a website, and as many industry connections as we can build. We plan on moving into the house on July 1st, and there is ALOT to do.

Thank you everyone, and thanks for your support and faith in me.

Alden

by which the dissonance becomes harmonious

Hello Everyone,

I came to Kona in obedience to Yahweh. I heard Him call me to something, and not just to anything, but to something specific. I heard Him call me to spend a year working on music. I heard Him call me to spend as much time as I possibly can writing, and producing, and recording, and performing music. Eat, Sleep, Breathe music.

I have had many words spoken over my life by many different people, some who know me, some who have never even met me and yet gave me a prophetic word when they saw me from across the room. Some words about the near future, some about how Yahweh views me, some encouraging, and some about long term goals and aspiration.

Nearly everyone who has given me a prophetic word in my life has mentioned the same thing: Music.

Since I was young I have loved music. I began piano lessons young and was inspired by the symphony. As I have grown and developed, so have my musical tastes expanded. A penchant for indy rock music as well as more intimate folk and Jazz have kept me burning for music for a long time. The intense creativity involved with putting down words and mathematical ideas and then transferring those ideas to a string to cause people to feel was intoxicating. I clung to music because it had the ability to make me feel and think about things in a very real practical way. Very abstract ideas become accessible when arranged with a guitar and violin or piano.

Though my life, Yahweh has always placed me into ideal places for music. Many friends growing up were musicians, and encouraged me to pick up the guitar. As I transitioned from one guitar teacher to the next, they always had the right advice to keep me alive and a guitar glued to my hands. I would sit and shirk homework and responsibilities to create litte riffs and motifs.

Then one guitar teacher began to teach me how to record myself. Very basic lessons with Pro Tools and a mac computer that I earned the money for from one of my first jobs at a coffee shop. It came quickly to me, and I began to record and arrange as much as I could. As I got better by doing live sound for churches, I slowly upgraded equipment. I had my parents full blessing to pursuit music and music production to the fullest extent I wanted to.

My parents were so supportive they helped me to build a recording studio in my house. And through a series of events, not your average home studio. A nearly professional spec'd studio with thick walls, sonic isolation, and sound proofing. Professional quality equipment slowly filled the studio, and within several months, I was hard at work on producing an album for a friend (http://www.willielanders.com/).

Next thing you know, I am doing a DTS with YWAM. I did a performing arts DTS and went to Switzerland, Greece, Turkey, Jordan, and Israel with a group of singers, dancers and actors as a sound engineer. I gained valuable practical experience and learned a lot about myself. I was able to finally process so many things from my life that were holding me back.

I knew I needed to come back to Kona, Yahweh wasn't done with me yet.

To summarize some of the recurring words spoken over me, I will say that I have had six different people tell me that God is going to start giving me songs. I had a word that I was going to help paint a new picture for people to navigate in the days ahead. Four different people (most of which didn't know me) told me God gave them a picture of me performing in front of thousands of people. I have had words that God was sending the right people for me to work with, people who would be lifelong friends. I have had words about making Prophetic music, music to inspire social change. A word came to me about being a sort of pastoral figure to fellow musicians. A word that I would be a light for people around me, and that people will come to me for guidance because of my strength. I myself normally would have been critical, except that was already evident. Many words have come, and they have been echoing in my mind and spirit as if trapped in a room full of expectation ever since they were spoken.

I came to Kona in obedience, and I came to a biblical core course focused on performing arts. But I have had the feeling like I'm waiting for the other foot to drop. A feeling that increased until a friend asked me to have lunch.

More info tomorrow....