Hey everyone. Well, it has been a couple weeks so I felt it necessary to post some thoughts. Also, considering that Freaked-Out Fellowship is in "labor pains" right about (getting ready to re-launch the ministry), I also felt compelled to give some insight into how that is going.
Well for starters something I have really wanted to vent about was the affect the Blue Man Group had on me. Gabriella and I had a weekend together (last weekend) and we went to he Holy Land Experience and The Blue Man Group @ Universal Studios. Now I personally was not a fan of the Holy Land Experience because it was very commercial. I am a fan of the concept that Jesus would hate commercial Christianity! Anyways, The Blue Man Group has the exact opposite effect.Basically the way that Blue Man Group touched all your senses with their message (which is no message at all but just relax and have a good time and be entertained), is the exact way that the people of God need to touch the world with the message of the Gospel.
I was both encouraged and discouraged the whole time. Encouraged because I have finally seen exactly what is going on in my head concerning "Freaked-Out" methods of reaching people, and discouraged because I can't believe that the Church hasnt put that much energy, creativity, and passion into the message. We must draw our inspiration from the 11 men who followed Christ, and thus draw our passion and imagination from the prophets of Israel. (Remember our 1st series for Freaked-Out Fellowship will be Prophets at the Beach, hopefully launching in September).
Lately, all my thoughts have been to the concept of Freaked-Out Fellowship (I would imagine it being because I am a freaked-out follower of Jesus and want others to journey this exciting road with me). Gabriella even confirmed this last night when she said "You get inspired by everything for ministry", awesome, isnt that they way it is suppose to be?
Ok, so where do we stand. Freaked-Out Fellowship is still is recruitment stage, looking for a minimum of 2 more local Jesus Freaks, Are you one? I am currently working on a membership concept which will explain what it means and the commitment I am looking for (or better said the commitment He is looking for). In a couple days I will be posting my letter to the Church which will explain some of the insight of a Jesus Freak.
Also, feel obligated to visit the webpage- http://www.freakedoutfellowship.weebly.com
Well, just wanted to share some thoughts and will be posting alot more in the coming days!
Love and Truth- The marks of Life,
Mike Miano
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Ramadan- A Christian Renewal Exercise
Hey, sorry for the inconvienence but since my blog is acting up and not allowing me to post as usual, please visit the following link...
http://apps.facebook.com/theblog/view/38901?ref=mf
http://apps.facebook.com/theblog/view/38901?ref=mf
Monday, August 9, 2010
Decisions..Decisions....A New Covenant Life
Greetings in Christ. As of now many have probably already heard the situation that occurred between Gabriella and I yesterday. For the confused, upset, and indifferent minds, I right this blog to explain my current understanding and way of looking at things.
Just to give a brief re-cap, Gabriella and I got into an argument about my actions that seemingly led to me being labeled a "cheater". All of this came from a situation that was blown out of proportion on her part, and poorly managed on mine. It resulted in a bit of craziness and facebook confusion to say the least.
So whats going on? Well, I am in love with Gabriella and many who are reading this have been involved in the conversations that I express this over and over, so bear with me. We have had our ups and downs through our almost 4 year relationship, been through many discussions with others, and have been labeled "un-equally yoked", "fornicators", etc... In any relationship this would be chaotic, so it has played a toll on ours.
Obviously, now is a time of decisions. Is this relationship healthy, is it going to work, can we somehow get over this, etc.. I clearly understand that these things need to be thought about, discussed, prayed about, and acted on. But what I would like to express is a clearly cohesive decision-making understanding of the New Covenant given to us through Christ Jesus.
Many people will say, "God wants you to do this...", "God made this happen for a reason", "God is telling you...", etc..and thinking through this way of thinking has spurred me to disagree. The New Covenant put an end to the "old order of things (Revelation 21:4 )". Jesus Christ has given us a way of freedom to truly freely choose what we would like to make of our lives, I don't have to wonder in fear if this relationship will keep me out of heaven or even pray for hours about God revealing a special truth to me concerning Gabriella and I. That is the blessing and the curse of the New Covenant, you are truly free to do what you want with your life and accept the consequences as they may be. We need to stop putting God into a situations He has not put Himself in. Yes, God is Sovereign over everything and that is understood from the outset, but God is not making things happen in Gabriella and my relationship, it is simply the nature of things. I value practical advice and I guess that somewhat attributes to my understanding of Christ Jesus and the ways that pleases Him.
Basically, the decision making process I propose is that we have the freedom to choose to do whatever we want with our lives- that essentially is the New Covenant. With that blessing of freedom comes the fact that our decisions will ultimately lead to consequences that none other then ourselves have brought to fruition. I don't have to fear that I am walking out of God's will either way I make the decision and that goes for most decisions, but I can trust that the divine nature of things will work that way.
What is God telling me? Well, as Hebrews chapter 1 explains that God now speaks to us through His Son, Jesus Christ which we understand to be the Word of God (John chapter 1). I am not in the Bible, but God's divine truth guides my decisions and will produce the fruit in my life that needs to be there as long as I persevere and continue to:
"Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness....(Matthew 6:33)".
Please continue to keep these matters in prayer and that I may find rest in His presence.
In Christ, seeking blessings,
Mike Miano
Sunday, August 8, 2010
The Threat of Islam?!?!?!?
First I would like to start out my greeting all my readers, it has been a while, but as many of you may know I have been busy, busy, busy with raising funds for Israel (which is very much still needed - http://www.riskybusinessforChrist.weebly.com), re-launching new ideas for Freaked-Out Fellowship, living the ups and downs of being in love with a beautiful woman, and being involved in an awesome local expression of the body of Christ (Messiahreformed.com).
` So what did you think of the title? Great! I would like to start out by defining IGNORANCE. Ignorance is the state or fact of being ignorant; lack of knowledge, education, or awareness. We see this very much in common conversation these days, when people speak on matters they don't know much about. If you read through the book of Proverbs this topic is addressed very much and thus is why as people of God we are told to watch our tongue, or just simply don't speak all that much.
The topic of Islam has always been of interest to me. Before I had come to Christ, I studied Islam under a Shiite imam, and was fascinated and still somewhat am with the devotion to Arab culture. Obviously through studies I have come to believe that Islam is false, and that Christ is the Son of God.
The way many Christians have gone about the discussion of Islam has always bothered me. I remember when I first came to Christ and would foster discussion with Muslims, I would always hear Christians have an issue with me saying allah as a term for God (allah means God in Arabic, even Arab Christians use the term), or say "be careful when reading the Quran". My immediate response to these issues has always been to question the foundation of Christian in these peoples minds, why would we as Christians be so scared of false doctrine, when our doctrine is so clear and true? I still to this day don't understand how many can have a flimsy foundation in Christ (Matthew 7:20-27).
I read and see many Christian books, movies, and discussions that speak against this scary demon of Islam and the threat they pose to us as Christians. This is just ludicrous. Islam is as false as any other religion or ideology that fails to see the truth in Christ Jesus (read through 1 and 2 Epistles of John). That would go for Jews, Buddists, Atheists, and the like. We can not be hypocritical in our approach of truth especially when we are suppose to be people marked by truth and love.
Another good example would be my up and coming renewal fast that I am participating in for Ramadan. Now Ramadan is an Islamic festival of fasting, prayer, alms giving, and study. Muslims believe that Ramadan (which will be August 11 to September 9 of 2010) is the time that the Quran was revealed to the prophet Muhammad. I do not believe that the Quran is a holy text or the prophet Muhammad proclaimed the truth of Christ but I see opportunity for a unifying factor and a time of renewal for myself and all who choose to participate. What would Jesus do? Many Christians are seemingly troubled by this idea as you can see by reading about the participation in Ramadan by Brian McLaren and other Christians he congregates with. Why not create a unifying factor with Muslims? I would love to explain more about what my Renewal and Study festival will be like.
Of, so this brings me to the reason for this blog. Just days ago I heard that "they are trying to build a mosque at Ground Zero", and the response isn't that great from many people, especially Christians. I thought the immediate aggravation I was seeing from people was crazy and decided to do some studying (Gabriella and I like to have these conversations, so always researching). As a former 9-11 Truther and being very involved into the studies around September 11, 2001, I have a heart for this topic just as I do Islam. After researching I have realized that this was once again a hyped up issue and still is, and many people are mis-informed. The Cordoba Initiative is looking to build a cultural center with emphasis on better Muslim-West relations, that does not sound like a mosque to me! The idea sounds great and would foster much needed discussion and also help the healing process and blame many have put on Islam as a religion. You can read about it here- http://www.cordobainitiative.org/?q=content/cordoba-house-new-york-city.
As Christians, we need to really develop a loving conduct for both people and truth, they are intertwined, so we must develop both. Believe it or not, in both the Bible and the Quran, Christians are marked as people devoted to love and truth, do we really live up to that title? I did some reading this morning into Muslim-Christian relations in history and you may find it quite interesting, here is the link- http://www.soundvision.com/Info/jesus/MuslimChristianRelations.asp.
Thanks for reading and I hope this fosters great discussion and study.
With love for Truth and people, in Christ Jesus,
Michael Miano
http://www.freakedoutfellowship.weebly.com
` So what did you think of the title? Great! I would like to start out by defining IGNORANCE. Ignorance is the state or fact of being ignorant; lack of knowledge, education, or awareness. We see this very much in common conversation these days, when people speak on matters they don't know much about. If you read through the book of Proverbs this topic is addressed very much and thus is why as people of God we are told to watch our tongue, or just simply don't speak all that much.
The topic of Islam has always been of interest to me. Before I had come to Christ, I studied Islam under a Shiite imam, and was fascinated and still somewhat am with the devotion to Arab culture. Obviously through studies I have come to believe that Islam is false, and that Christ is the Son of God.
The way many Christians have gone about the discussion of Islam has always bothered me. I remember when I first came to Christ and would foster discussion with Muslims, I would always hear Christians have an issue with me saying allah as a term for God (allah means God in Arabic, even Arab Christians use the term), or say "be careful when reading the Quran". My immediate response to these issues has always been to question the foundation of Christian in these peoples minds, why would we as Christians be so scared of false doctrine, when our doctrine is so clear and true? I still to this day don't understand how many can have a flimsy foundation in Christ (Matthew 7:20-27).
I read and see many Christian books, movies, and discussions that speak against this scary demon of Islam and the threat they pose to us as Christians. This is just ludicrous. Islam is as false as any other religion or ideology that fails to see the truth in Christ Jesus (read through 1 and 2 Epistles of John). That would go for Jews, Buddists, Atheists, and the like. We can not be hypocritical in our approach of truth especially when we are suppose to be people marked by truth and love.
Another good example would be my up and coming renewal fast that I am participating in for Ramadan. Now Ramadan is an Islamic festival of fasting, prayer, alms giving, and study. Muslims believe that Ramadan (which will be August 11 to September 9 of 2010) is the time that the Quran was revealed to the prophet Muhammad. I do not believe that the Quran is a holy text or the prophet Muhammad proclaimed the truth of Christ but I see opportunity for a unifying factor and a time of renewal for myself and all who choose to participate. What would Jesus do? Many Christians are seemingly troubled by this idea as you can see by reading about the participation in Ramadan by Brian McLaren and other Christians he congregates with. Why not create a unifying factor with Muslims? I would love to explain more about what my Renewal and Study festival will be like.
Of, so this brings me to the reason for this blog. Just days ago I heard that "they are trying to build a mosque at Ground Zero", and the response isn't that great from many people, especially Christians. I thought the immediate aggravation I was seeing from people was crazy and decided to do some studying (Gabriella and I like to have these conversations, so always researching). As a former 9-11 Truther and being very involved into the studies around September 11, 2001, I have a heart for this topic just as I do Islam. After researching I have realized that this was once again a hyped up issue and still is, and many people are mis-informed. The Cordoba Initiative is looking to build a cultural center with emphasis on better Muslim-West relations, that does not sound like a mosque to me! The idea sounds great and would foster much needed discussion and also help the healing process and blame many have put on Islam as a religion. You can read about it here- http://www.cordobainitiative.org/?q=content/cordoba-house-new-york-city.
As Christians, we need to really develop a loving conduct for both people and truth, they are intertwined, so we must develop both. Believe it or not, in both the Bible and the Quran, Christians are marked as people devoted to love and truth, do we really live up to that title? I did some reading this morning into Muslim-Christian relations in history and you may find it quite interesting, here is the link- http://www.soundvision.com/Info/jesus/MuslimChristianRelations.asp.
Thanks for reading and I hope this fosters great discussion and study.
With love for Truth and people, in Christ Jesus,
Michael Miano
http://www.freakedoutfellowship.weebly.com
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