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Let’s pretend you’re an astronaut flying to the moon. Pretty awesome. You’re sitting there in the chair, with your spaceman suit on, and you’re out of your mind excited to be launching into space. Naturally. The countdown begins, the thrusters roar, and the G forces pin you to your seat as you wet your pants while obscene levels of adrenaline course through your veins. The cabin violently shudders and shakes as you rip through the atmosphere at ungodly speeds creating so much pressure you feel like your skin is going to peel off of your body.
And just when you think the whole shuttle is going to explode, everything stops. Gravity is gone. You’re weightless. Floating. So you go through your checks and procedures and what not, and you phone into Houston to let them know that you’re on course to the moon.
“Things are looking good up here Command. We are on course, over?”
“Um…negative Apollo. We’ve changed your coordinates. Over?”
“Sorry, what? Over?”
“Yeah, this is Houston. We’ve…uh…decided to send you to the sun. Copy?”
“Exqueeze me? Baking powder?”
“Yeah, Apollo. We’ve got a new destination for you and we’re taking over controls. You’re going to the sun whether you like it or not. Over?”
“Uh…..... but….... you…..... AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!”
Now I want you to visualize what a space shuttle would look like flying into the sun. Disturbing huh? In this last journal entry, I’d really like to try to tackle one of the most difficult questions I’ve ever had to answer. (Wow, that sounds intimidating doesn’t it?) I grew up in Christian school and church and what have you, and over and over and over again I’ve heard the incredible news that Jesus can save you. He can save you from hell and condemnation, because you’re a sinner and you’re going to hell. But the problem was, I never really understood why. Why do I have to go to hell? And for that matter, why does hell even exist? I mean, if God is so loving and merciful like everyone insists, then what’s the big deal with my sin? Trust me, I get that I’m a sinner, no one has to convince me of that, but why can’t He just look down on me and say, “you’re forgiven?” Wouldn’t that make this whole thing a lot less confusing? Wouldn’t that have saved a whole lot of unnecessary bleeding and dying for Christ? If God is love, then just love people right? Why all this talk about hell and wrath and judgement? Doesn’t it sound like God is contradicting himself? And you know, a lot of churches and ministries or whatever you want to call them have done exactly that. They don’t really know how to explain the situation, they haven’t figured out a way to reconcile the love and wrath of God, so sadly, they just dismiss the whole hell topic altogether. Believe me, I know from personal experience.
One time, our band was silenced and asked to never come back to a camp just for bringing it up! Right during the middle of this song, “Hallelujah,” the screens started flashing, “Go immediately to your small groups!” So all the kids turned around and walked out, in the middle of the song! Shame too, because they missed the bridge, which is my favorite part. Later we asked the leadership why they told the kids to leave, and they said, “You were over your time. And for the record, we hired the speakers to speak, and the band to play. So please don’t speak any more in between the songs.” Well, we dug a little deeper and found the real issue wasn’t that I was talking, it was what I was saying. I was talking about the wrath of God. Now obviously, I know that this subject can be really touchy for people, it can make us feel a little squeamish just mentioning it. But we must be careful not to shy away from topics in the Bible that make us uncomfortable, or that are difficult to understand. We must have child like faith, not childish faith, and the Bible is their to correct us, not for us to correct it. So we must come humbly to it, because, whether we know it or not, we all bring certain cultural prejudices to the table every time we open it.
For instance, talking about a God of wrath is extremely unpopular in the west, but is cherished in the east. In western thought, we like our “Shack” God just fine. We like the idea of a buddy God who’s waiting to cuddle with us whenever we need some cheering up. We like God to coddle us and cater to us and remind us how awesome we are. We embrace mercy and forgiveness, at least, when it refers to what God should show us anyway, but we start getting really bent out of shape when judgement is spoken of. However, in eastern cultures, a God of wrath is celebrated, while a God of mercy is offensive. A God who forgives is considered weak and downright despicable, but we don’t like to think about that very often do we? We just think that other cultures are crazy and archaic and just need the enlightenment that our culture can bring. But if you think that way, it only proves how influenced you are by your own upbringing. And you know, if God is not man-made, then wouldn’t you expect him to offend every man-made culture on some level? And so he does. He offends the West with his wrath, and the East with his grace. Is this freaking you out yet? Are you pumping your fist in anger or in agreement? Well, maybe it shouldn’t be either.
Let me explain. Remember the astronauts? This is a feeble attempt to help us understand why we need saving. It’s not a question we ask often enough I think. Yeah, yeah, we’re all sinners, but that doesn’t help us understand why Christ had to die. If God wasn’t just, He didn’t have to go to all that trouble. He could have just looked down and said, “I love you. Come on up to the party.” In other words, if there is no judgement and all grace with God, then Jesus died for nothing. You see, Isaiah 33:14 describes God like this, “the sinners in Zion are afraid; trembling has seized the godless: “who among us can dwell with the consuming fire? Who among us can dwell with everlasting burnings?” Not the common perception of God in most churches today is it? But it helps us see that the first thing we must understand is that our problem is not so much that we’re so bad, it’s that God is so glorious. In Revelation, when Jesus comes back, it says that He’s going to have eyes that blaze like fire, a voice like mighty oceans, and He’ll be holding stars in his hand! Stars! The sun is one star. He’s going to have seven in his hand! And it goes on to say that people are going to be freaking out running away from Him! What? Yeah, it says that there will be two groups of people in the end. One group will be running for their lives, terrified, and diving into caves while begging for the rocks to crush them so they won’t have to stand before Jesus, while another group is going to just stand before the throne of God singing praises! Crazy huh? One group is scared out of their mind by God, while the other group is wanting more of Him! And what are they singing you might ask? “Hallelujah for the blood of the lamb that was slain.” If you can keep that spaceman analogy in your head a little longer, you’ll see that if we’re all astronauts flying to the sun, there is no hope of survival. It won’t matter if you’re the best, most talented astronaut on the ship, and it won’t matter if you huddle in the corner and cry, “I don’t believe in the sun! So this won’t affect me!” If the whole world is on a trajectory toward an encounter with the sun someday, Then either the sun will have to stop being the sun or something or someone will have to get in between us and its brilliance.
Enter Christ. By the shedding of His blood, He has made a way for us to come to God, without changing who God is. He has come in between the fury of the sun, and the depth of our depravity. The cross comes between the holiness of God and the unholiness of the astronauts on their way to meet Him. In “The Knowledge of the Holy,” A.W. Tozer says it this way, “We must hide our unholiness in the wounds of Christ as Moses hid himself in the cleft of the rock while the glory of the Lord passed by. (Exodus 33:21-23) We must take refuge from God in God.” In other words, the cross casts a shade of mercy for those who believe. It creates a super suit, if you will, made from his blood that enables us to not only withstand the holiness of God, but actually draw near and behold it. Could you imagine? What wonders would NASA report back to earth if they could stand before the sun without being consumed? And what wonders will we sing of when we gaze on God in all his beauty? Now, I know that doesn’t help us understand everything about the wrath of God, but I do think it’s a good start. Tozer also said that whatever comes into your mind when you think of God, is the most important thing about you, and I agree. We must seek to understand who God has proclaimed Himself to be, and try not to make Him into what we would like Him to be. God is love, but love is not God. Love is not all that God is. He’s terribly more complex then we’d like Him to be, and He’s considerably more terrifying than today’s culture would like to make Him.
Consider C.S. Lewis’ analogy of God in Aslan: “Safe?...Who said anything about safe? Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good.” So read for yourself what God says about His own wrath, and I think it will encourage you. Check out Ezekiel 33:11 with me, “Say to them, as I live, declares the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live, turn back, turn back, from your evil ways, for why will you die O house of Israel?” Or how about Lamentations 3:32,33? “But though he causes grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love; for he does not willingly afflict or grieve the children of men.” The good news about the wrath of God is that it breaks his heart. Which means, if we have a hard time believing it, if we have a hard time accepting it, then that means we have a God-like view of it. People who revel in and rejoice in the wrath of God without contemplating the ache of sorrow of Christ in it, do not agree with God. Jesus himself even raised his arms to Jerusalem and lamented at how He longed to bring sinners to himself like a mother hen with her chicks. God’s judgement breaks his heart as does our sin, but this actually gives us great hope in his love. Because, quite frankly, if God didn’t hate sin, if He didn’t hate the cancer that’s eating away at all of us, We would have to question his goodness. A parent who never disciplines their child is not a loving parent, and a God who looks idly on as rape, murder, and all the atrocities of humanity rage on, is not a loving God either. To be love, He must hate evil. And you know, if God wasn’t going to repay all the evil in the world someday, then it would be nearly impossible for me to not try to distribute vengeance myself.
Do you see what I’m saying here? Tim Keller, in his book ‘Reason for God’ quotes Miroslav Volf in his chapter on the wrath of God. He helped me understand this point, specifically, that if I believe in a God of non-violence, then that will actually make me more violent. Because of the sense of justice that God has put in us, we are angry at evil. Necessarily so. And if there is no judgement coming, then how will we keep from avenging sin ourselves? But, because of Christ, I can trust that justice will be paid. Either on the sinner, or on Jesus for the sinner. I no longer have to take matters into my own hands. I can forgive, and rest in the justice of God. You see, nothing demonstrates the love of God like the wrath of God. It breaks his heart, but He cannot stop being who He is. The holiness of God pushes astronaut sinners like us away, but the holiness of the blood of Christ covers us and brings us back in. Or to quote John Piper, “the wisdom of God, has ordained a way for the love of God to deliver us from the wrath of God without compromising the justice of God.” I hope this helps. I know I’m still struggling with all of this too.
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Wow, this was an amazing article. I have a whole new level of respect for you guys now; I’m glad you don’t shy away from such touchy subjects and take such a biblical view. :)
I really, really like this jornal entry. This is so very true, sadly enough, and just eye opening for some. So many people are afraid to talk about this so they just think about the good. “Oh heaven, I’ll go there because I believe in Jesus so no need to talk about hell or the end of the world.” But we NEED to talk about that. How else are we supposed to reach out to those who are not christians!? If no one talks about it, no one else will hear it. We are supposed to share the Gospel! not share bits and pieces and leave out the parts we don’t like. That’s not what God intended. If God didn’t want people to know about hell and Revelations he wouldn’t have given John that vision and told him to right the book! I’ve tried talking about the end times with some people and they tell me to stop because it scares them… and these are Christian people! How can it scare you if you are already a follower of Jesus Christ!!? I’m sure Jesus had fears to! Dying on the cross the way he did wasn’t like eating a cupcake! He suffered and I’m sure he was a bit scared before hand, but he TRUSTED God. and that’s what we as Christians need to do! Trust God and spread the WHOLE Gospel! I love the song Hallelujah and the raw truth in it.
Hi.
Now I’m no pro but in real simple terms, didn’t Jesus come to tell us the old testiment was wrong and He is the Way… which is LOVE and PEACE… basically? So, if that’s true, then God is Love and that’s all there is… the human condition is the evil and punishing ways, not God. It’s our own conscience that punishes us, not God. And when we figure that out, we realize we don’t need to punish others.They’ll do that to themselves. I lived the 1st half of my life under the old testiment punishing God and it did nothing for me except turn me away from seeking a relationship with God. When I heard it was all about the Love, I came to seek… and found that to be the Truth. That is why Jesus walked the path, to show us the rewards of Love and Peace. It was the humans that punished Him and crucified Him and God let it be because we are given free will as human beings. God does not interfere with our Free Will. He just keeps waiting for us to realize that the Love covers all and is all there is and all that ever was or will be. It was Love that raised Jesus from the dead to show us the power of Love covers all.
So, when I found the Love, I am healed and now carry the message that God is Love and not punishing. People punish. Our own conscience punishes, not God!!! That is the only explanation of why so much cruel things happen; like children being abused, rapes, wars, etc. God gave humans free will and will not interfere but will wait, with Love, for the tragedies to bring people to Him for the CURE ALL—LOVE!!! God has never punished me… ever! I did a real fine job of that myself. Why? what was my problem??? Lack of God’s LOVE because someone lied to me as a child and told me about a punishing God. I’m glad the kids didn’t have to hear about that. That has turned more people away from God for all of time. Ask people that don’t believe why they won’t. Most I’ve ever talked to said that whole concept of a punishing God pushed then away… nuf said, thanks!
God’s Love…
I went to Winter Xtreme 2010-2011 and saw you guys and i was inspired. My faviorte song is “You are More”, this song reminds me of a young girl and iv’e relized that young girl is me. Im coming back to Christ and the temptations are very hard. When i shoud feal strong i feal weak and i know i should feal strong. Im trying to do better but everytime i try im to weak to try, at least thats what i belive. But after seeing yall in concert and hearing this song again and again over and over again it makes me relize i can feal strong and i can be strong because God sent his only son Jesus Christ for our sins and i am saved we are saved and I AM STRONG!!!!
I love you guys!!!
GOD BLESS!!!!
I saw you guys for winter extream 2010-2011 and you guys playyed my faviort song “you are more”. this song reminds me of a girl. and that girl is myself im coming back to the lord but the temptations are hard and when im spoused to feal strong i feal weak. but that songs helps me to relize that i gotta keep my head up and belive that i am strong. Thanks guys yall rock and i love you guys!
GOD BLESS!!!
wow i went to your concert and you were amazing
Thanks this really lifted my heart!!! (: Praise God!!..im glad he is who he is!!!
Mike,
Thanks for sharing your point of view. This topic has been at the forefront of my heart and mind for about 2 years now. I am still asking God to give me wisdom and understanding because I want to know the truth about His character.
I have come to an interim conclusion that what we believe happened on the cross has a significant, if not definitive, impact on how we reconcile God’s love and wrath. In general, an appeasement view of the cross results in God’s wrath and judgment being presented as punishment for sin and thus sinners. This is the predominate American evangelical teaching on the cross and what I had been taught all my life.
But I have personally come to a different understanding that I believe is more scriptural, aligns with Jesus’ life and teachings more, and makes SO much more sense in my head and my heart in reconciling the complete character of God. That is that God’s wrath is not His punishment of sinners. Rather, His wrath and judgment set things right by consuming that which destroys the object of His affection. Thus God’s wrath is an expression of Himself to cleanse the destruction of sin and make a way to restore what is broken. So on the cross God’s wrath was expressed in Christ to cleanse our sins not punish them. According to Romans 8 God condemned sin in Jesus’ flesh. He was the only one able to do this because, being sinless, he was the only human who could endure the wrath of God and not be consumed by it.
In other words, I believe God’s wrath is an act of His love to cure sin so the fullness of redemption and reconciliation could be realized. And for that reason I can now see the beauty of His love in His wrath.
This goes so much deeper and wider and would take conversation to fully discuss these thoughts. But, if you care to look into it further, a book called He Loves Me had an incredible impact on me and helped me begin to see how God’s love and wrath truly do reconcile and are a beautiful thing that should not be avoided in conversation. You can buy it on Amazon or download the first edition for free here: http://lifestream.org/download.php?f=5. (Specifically pg 117-131)
I hope this is beneficial to your consideration of God’s love and wrath.
P.S. Thank you for your gospel centered music that pierces the heart by addressing real life and how God wants to walk through it with us! May God continue to bless you in that way.
Thank you so much, it never occured to me that even when i am hurting and when the wrath of God is shown that it hurts God too, i thank you for your journal entries it truly helps me understand so much because sometimes the scriptures seem and i mean this with no disrespect like jibberish, I have a hard time understanding the stories and hidden meanings in the Bible and this really helped me understand. So I thank you for helping me and God Bless you guys.
“My Story of Relational Inspiration, Not of Disillusioned Desperation”
I have a remarkably phenomenal story to share with you, but before I do I strongly feel you should keep an open mind as well as an open heart free from any discriminations you might have about my motives or seemingly illogical reasoning for my actions in this story. I hope my story will touch your heart in a way you never imagined given the extraordinary circumstances of the more appealing ideas of my story which helped define the motivation behind my feelings of sorrow regarding my brother Rick’s present predicament of incarceration, loneliness, depression, and remorse for the lack of actions I took in the past for my brother Rick when he might have needed them the most! You might not agree wholeheartedly that this is a remarkably phenomenal story, but I want you to at least consider feeling compassion for me or more importantly for Rick since my thoughts were so consumed with the best intentions for him throughout my story.
Several months ago mom and dad took another vacation to Bloomington, Indiana to see their daughter for 2-3 weeks to ease the agonizing pain of her chemotherapy treatments while catering to their grandson and son-in-law’s needs. During this time my parents made it clear to me that in order for me to drive their 2009 Ford Crown Victoria car I needed to pay the car insurance which was about $637.00 for the next 6 months or so. At the time I only had about $240.00 in my checking account. I had no idea how much was really in my savings account since I couldn’t check it until the bank statement was mailed to me within the next couple of weeks. The reason I needed to pay this car insurance immediately was I needed to drive the car to the prison to see Rick since mom and dad were out of town. I didn’t want to risk driving without insurance but I sure didn’t have enough money to pay it off. Walking to work was of no consequence to me since it only takes me 15 minutes to walk to work. Since Wednesday is my day off from work I decided to time how long it would literally take me to walk to the prison after lots of contemplated debate about whether or not this is an incredibly foolish waste of energy and time. When I got off work on Tuesday at 3:00 p.m. I went home, fed the dogs by 5:00 p.m., made sure each one went potty after they ate, and started walking to the prison at 7:15 p.m. I already knew it took me no more than 2 hours to walk to 1st Presbyterian Church since I had walked home from church a few times while my parents were visiting Rick at the prison. I had calculated in my mind that 1st Presbyterian Church was about one-fourth of the walking distance to the prison and, it shouldn’t take me any more than 6 to 7 hours to walk from my house to the prison. I was way too optimistic when it came to this calculation after I had walked it out, but at the moment of my relational inspiration I dreamed about the last two nights of seeing my brother Rick no matter what, time was not a determining factor for reaching my destination. After all, I wanted to see Rick so much regardless of the fact I couldn’t legitimately drive there myself, and I didn’t want anyone to know how incredibly embarrassed I felt at not being able to pay the car insurance I needed to obey the law. Knowing my luck I would have been pulled over by a cop only to witness a much more embarrassing reminder of my inability to pay for the car insurance. Therefore, walking was the only legal alternative to my driving dilemma with minimal knowledge that anyone else would ever misjudge my emotionally inspired motivation making me feel like a complete idiot for even thinking of walking that far. You might say this was my way of turning a bad situation of not enough money into a much more personally acceptable one for the benefiting privilege of seeing Rick in his time of great supportive need. You always hear of people acting on their emotions not realizing what they will truly result in accomplishing or not accomplishing. Well, I never felt this principle directly applied to my life until now. As it turned out my long journey to the prison came with some rather unexpected, peculiar, humbling, yet spiritually uplifting depths of character, physical stamina, as well as my Christian faith. I started out feeling highly optimistic about myself knowing I was doing my best to make Rick feel happy about seeing me. I walked 2 hours to 1st Presbyterian Church where I rested for 20 minutes while eating the snacks I brought and drinking a bottle of water. After about 4 hours of walking towards the prison my strong optimism slowly deteriorated into a progressive fatigue of regret for making such a foolish decision I originally thought would be normal for any human to make given my extraordinary circumstances of mixed emotions. Then a song popped into my head which I had sung along with numerous times over the radio in the past several months. The song was called “By Your Side” by the Christian alternative artist Tenth Avenue North. I’m not completely sure why this particular song was the one that popped into my head. All I can assume is God intended a much more personal reason for the lyrics to fill my thoughts rather than the thoughts of my physical exhaustion beginning to wear me down. Then it dawned on me after I sang the only part of the song my mind could remember at the time. I sang, “I’ll be by your side whenever you’ve fallen in the dead of night, whenever you’re calling. Please don’t fight these hands that are holding you. My hands are holding you.” As I kept singing these same words over and over again for hours I felt my deteriorating fatigue slowly subside as I allowed my mind to strongly concentrate on the powerful meaning of these words to me right now as I imagined God holding me as I was fighting to remain physically strong with each new step towards my goal of reaching the prison. Before I started singing these words I was fighting and cursing myself for making my body endure such physical agony as my leg muscles were becoming very heavy and stiff to move every step of the way. As I continued to sing this new favorite song of mine I became ever mindful of my brother Matt who had vigorously and courageously endured not only the physical agony of serving in the Marines’ boot camp training, but also endured to the best of his ability the horrendously hot climate of Iraq for 6 months which I’m sure to him felt more like 6 years of sweat dripped away from his life. Here I was on a cool 60-degree or so night. Why couldn’t I do as well if not better than Matt as if I was undergoing some kind of boot camp myself right now. This enabled me to maintain an incredibly uplifting perspective when all my rational thoughts told me I was getting too weak to continue on in my journey. Even though tears of pain were coming down, singing my song constantly made me forget why I was crying in the first place as I approached the perimeter of the prison gates. I continued to walk past the prison now that I had timed exactly how many hours it had taken me to get there. From then on I stopped timing myself as the pain grew stronger and stronger, weakening my initially determined concentration. No matter how great the pain grew inside me I knew deep down in my heart I could never think of stopping to rest for fear I would be hurt by someone else lurking in the night. As I gazed into the pitch black ahead of me I honestly didn’t know what was in front of me or behind me besides the occasional headlights of a passing car. Although I was scared by this grim realization, I focused my attention much more on singing the song “By Your Side” as I constantly gazed up at the full moon which was really bright since there were no clouds to hide the moonlight. I certainly would never recommend this course of action I took to anyone sensible enough to know better than to put his or her life at such a high risk of death as I did, but I thank God so much for being there to guide and hold me in His hands so I could sing all about His loving glory in spite of the overwhelming feeling of disillusioned desperation that flooded my mind, body, and heart!
So well said Mike! Totally love the perspective from which you said this, it actually brings me to rethink about all this. It’s so true, the wrath of God helps us better understand his love for us. Ain’t God just so wonderfully amazing?
I’m so glad I stumbled accross this- you have no idea how many lightbulbs just went off in my head. I have been struggling with many questions addressed in this journal, and some I hadn’t even articulated yet, you answered. I have a lot more to think about…guess I’ll have to read this through about 5 more times. Thanks for yet another thought provoking truth.
thank you Mike for the illuminating words , it really gives me a better understanding of the wrath of God. i thank you , God bless you and your family.
That was AMAZING i wasnt even looking to learn but i am soo glad i was looking through the website and found that! Wow:)
WoW - Well Said Mike! You are blessed with an amazing ability to communicate. Your words have put alot into perspective! I love that your message got to me and so many other people becuase God wanted to.
That was… it was something that… That was a message that made me smile! Yes, God’s wrath is scary!! Very scary, it’s just but nonetheless, terrifying. I am very thankful that thanks to my family, church, school, and friends, I know that with mercy and grace comes justification. That was definitely something that I am glad I read! It’s no amazing to me that we can just talk about, talk with, God! Even thought He is all powerful, almighty, and with all of His glory. You are such a wonderful vessel that a person can tell God is living, working through, through your words and actions. Now that I am coming to a close, I just wanted to ask, would it be okay if I printed this out or something like that for my Bible class because it’s something that I think people in my class might realize they need to hear too. Thanks for an amazing start to my day!
-Marisa
Wow. I’m so glad I stumbled across this today. It’s something I definitely needed to read! Thank you, Mike, for your journal entries.
Thanks so much!! This has really helped me feel more equipped to talk about the necessity of God’s wrath.
Well said—Not enough is said these days about the wrath of God, Judgment Day, and Hell. This subject is so important that Charles Spurgeon said, “The doctrine of judgment to come is the power by which men are to be aroused. There is another life; the Lord will come a second time; judgment will arrive; the wrath of God will be revealed. Where this is not preached, I am bold to say the gospel is not preached.”
Remember that Jesus Himself angered the people in His hometown so much that they pushed Him out of town and tried to throw Him off the cliff!
When you begin to awaken people as to the true nature of man, someone will either get angry or saved.
The Bible gives us an idea on how to awaken men as to their true state. “Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, that we may be justified by faith.” Gal. 3:24 In Roman 7:7 Paul said, “...I would not have come to know sin except through the Law…” Using the Law in evangelism helps people to realize that they are not “good people.” You’d be surprised at how many people think they are “good”. If people fail to see how miserably they have offended God, it will be difficult for them to see their need to repent and turn from their sins. And without repentance, there is no salvation.
Another deadly mistake people make is to think they are saved no matter how sinful their lives are. A careful reading of I John contradicts this popular notion. For example, I John 3:10 says, “By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother.”
There are two sermons which further expound on these principles that radically changed our lives, and they are available free at www.livingwaters.com. They are, “Hell’s Best Kept Secret” and “True and False Conversion.”
I also highly recommend Paul Washer’s “Shocking Youth Message” which is available on YouTube. And it is very shocking, but only because it is truth that has been withheld in today’s western churches.
Thank you for preaching the truth as God has commanded us to do.
I remember when you explained this while performing for my youth group in Ft. Laud. 2 yrs ago. :) I can honestly say, I was not as open to Christ back then as I am now, so I did not get it at first. But I am sure as glad I fully understand now. It is amazing what God brings us thru and his profound timing of when he wants us to grasp the things he wants us to grasp when he sees fit. I am frankly giddy I get to experience this knowledge fully understood and with a more ready heart. ‘Your words proclaim loudly the demands of the Lord.’
~ YeseH
Hi guys! I just want to start that I’ve read all of the other positive comments and I agree with them completely. I am a bit dissapointed though that you had to slam “The Shack” in this journal.
While I agree that we should not be ashamed to talk about hell or God’s hatred of sin, both your music and this book have really helped me to see the love and mercy of God that I couldn’t really understand before. For some us us who have already been raised to see the judgement of God, it is really good to know that He is also compassionate and sensitive. I think that is what the book’s author was trying to convey and I very much appreciate his message, as I’m sure others do as well.
All that to say, I still love your music and I mean this to be completely constructive. I hope that God keeps giving you the lyrics to touch people’s lives!
Thanks so much Mike! This is very well put. God Bless!
You are right; very often today God isn’t taught/preached as he is, but what we want him/more comfortable with him being. Keep up your pursuit of a better understanding of the truth and never compromise it in your music. I really enjoyed your album last night, and was refreshed reading the first few entries of your journal. Keep it up.
Nick (from philly)
“You see, nothing demonstrates the love of God like the wrath of God.” Amen.
Whoa…that’s just what I needed to read right now. My mind has been blown. Thanks, Mike D!
The analogy of the astrionaut was very helpful THANK YOU! Praise God!
Thanks for sharing the word! Gods wrath isn’t talked about enough.
I just read it for the second time (: This time with my parents. We actually had a spontaneous Bible study thanks to this :D It’s really awesome! I love reading your blogs (: It would be great if this would actually be released as a real book!
Thanks Mike (:
See, you are the deep one! Mike, thank you so much for being who you are and posting journal entries like this. Your analogy with the astronaut and us as a human race was so relateable.
I’ll be reading your posts forever. You are a light for me.
That’s my fav part of the song too:) Today is April 1st and I am so blessed to have tickets for Dayton Ohio tonite:) I am hopin to hear Hallelujah LIVE :) Ok, so my comment to this journal is just this; We beleivers SHOULD fear God. It’s easier said than done though. I personally want to fear God, I pray that he would put fear of him inside me. I’m still just on the milk of the word, I’m slowly workin my way to the meat:) God bless you all :)
That was really awesome. The way you put that was really easy to understand, insightful, and thought-provoking.
God is so great. He wouldn’t be a truly righteous, holy God without wrath. He would be a loving wimp. Who wants to put their trust in a wimpy god?!
Thank you Lord for being holy and righteous but also letting broken people like me come near your holiness and partake in the holiness of Jesus Christ through His shed blood! You are… awesome.
Just what I needed to hear… you did it again, Mike! God’s worked through Tenth Ave in my life in so many different ways. Thank you for doing what you do!
Thank you. I honestly cant say much about it because I’m just like blown away, i never really thought of God s wrath. And now a friend of mine sent me you song ‘By your side’ and I am speechless because there is so much truth in every single line, not only in this song, in everything you say and write.
I want to believe in God, I want to love God truly, but the last times it feels so unreal, I wanna feel him again. I dont know, but this helped me. I didnt understand everything, but even this little I understood helped me. God bless you, Thank you.
Hey Mike. I just seen you last night at Freedom Hall in Louisville. I met you & told you my story about cutting, addiciton and depression. You told me about the song you guys wrote about the teenage girl suffering from these things. I listened to it, ‘You Are More’. Let me just say, you are so inspirational. I write songs and alll of your alls songs have inspired me to write music even when I was down, because it was and is my escape. & When I would feel like cutting or giving up, I turned on ‘By Your side’ & everything was soooo much better. Me & My friend Hannah got through this with T.A.N’s music and God. I dont think I could EVER thank you enough on how much you have blessed me with your music and sweet words you said to me last night. You honnestly do not know what you have done for me & I love you all ! I know God will bless you in suchhh amaazing ways. Thank you ! & Please get back to me !
Much Love,
Morgan Woodrum .
Amazing. Absolutely Amazing. Thanks so much for speaking so boldly! You have a great passion for the Lord, and it shows. :)
They didn’t want you to talk?! When I saw you at my church last year, I enjoyed the parts in between songs, as much as the songs themselves. You certainly get me thinking and studying, and that can’t be a bad thing. I saw Winter jam on Friday, and was disappointed you only had 15 minutes… not much time to talk!
I love this, well said:
“A parent who never disciplines their child is not a loving parent,
and a God who looks idly on as rape, murder, and all the atrocities of humanity rage on,
is not a loving God either.
To be love, He must hate evil.”
Wow! That was very powerful. Thank you for allowing God to use you in this way. Very insightful.
I just thought you should know how big of an impact your words have on me! This journal, twitter, lyrics… such a blessing that God uses your words to speak volumes to me and others! You are a blessing :) it’s awesome to witness how God is using you to touch all of us!
I usually don’t read a lot of blogs but I was drawn to your website looking for the lyrics of one your songs Beloved. In the process I saw this and I felt the Holy Spirit leading me to read this.
I’ve been struggling for a LONG time with the reason for Christ’s sacrifice. A lot like you I understood the need for Christ and I beleive the need of him to save us. Yet, I never understood why since God is so merciful, why Christ?
In reading your blog, this all makes sense to me now, why!! I truly never considered God’s wrath. I acknowledged it but I never figured it in to the whole theme of salvation. I was truly moved by your discernement on this really great subject and I praise God for your honesty and openenss to share this with us. I pray that you and your band have further and contiuned success in the music industry. Your songs and words truly speak the truth and I’m so glad that y’all contiunally atune your ears and hearts towards God.
Donehey, I am speechless. What on earth, where did you come from (I know where). If I responded to everything that touched me in this last journal entry to this song, it would drive you all crazy, if all my comments haven’t already. All I can say is WORD and Hallelujah for the blood of the Lamb that was slain. You’re awesome Mike, from one sinna to anotha, and from the bottom of my fiery heart, I thank you my brotha. My pastor (Chris) woulda picked you up and hugged ya as his wife and kids stood and watched. He’d say “he’s got it, and if he doesn’t have it totally, he’s on his waaaayyyyy”. I know, you were one of the Wise men weren’t you. I get what you’re saying about God, not all of it, but some of it. Keep on writing Mike, keep on writing. Love you. May our GLORIOUS GOD bless you, Laurie S.
So much of what you say strikes me and helps me grow. I want you to know that your ministry with this band is magnificent and beautiful.
So thanks for letting God use you, for He uses you greatly. Not often do we get to know the extent of how we are used by God, whether we are reaching millions or just a couple. So I hope you know that God has used you to reach at least one…me.
I really enjoy reading your journals, listening to interviews about how you came to write your lyrics. Your music is really great. I absolutly love that you step out of the box and write, and talk about subjects that people really want to know about but are to uncomfortable to ask about such as sin, confession, and hell and the wrath of God. As christians it is important that we know about all aspects of christianinty. You are probably one of the only groups that truely does this and you guys have come a long way since getting kicked out of camp ....... its worked very well for you and God is using you in an amazing way keep the great music coming Can’t wait to see you guys in a concert again :)
Dude that hit me!! Man sorry yall got stopped at a camp! Man thats the truth!! Keep on saying the truth!! And I thought it was all good. Man I cant even thank Jesus enough for what He did! Thanks Mike!!! Thanks for putting this is a way that I can understand. Jesus is the GREATEST!! I LOVE JESUS!!! Man I cant even tell you how much this just changed everything! Thanks!!!!!!!!!!! ?
Just wanted to be a voice of encouragement in a world of discouragement and say, keep speaking the word of truth boldly.
God bless.
Wow! This is both brilliant and beautiful, Mike. God has blessed you with so much wisdom. Your love for God and His Word really comes through in all that you say and do. You have challenged me to love God with ALL my mind. You really make me think. Thank you for writing songs that engage my heart, soul, and mind. Did you say that this is your last journal entry? Please say it isn’t so… :) I guess that means you’re working on a book, right? :) I have thoroughly enjoyed reading all of your entries. May God continue to open many doors for you. Because of Him, Chriselda
I don’t even know what to say. Earlier today I had a nice heart-to-heart with God, thinking, “I’m all good because He’s already taken the punishment.” But honestly, this gave me a new look on everything. I don’t know how you do it, but you take the hardest things to understand and put it simply. Very wise words, Mike. Thank you. (:
Wow. That was amazing. You should write a book! (:
And I have to agree with the others - *please* come back to Michigan!
God Bless!
this was amazing mike. wonderfully written. it made a huge breakthrough for me.
it was awesome getting to talk with u for a few minutes yesterday at winter jam! u guys should come to michigan more.
god bless you and the reat of the band!
<3 jessica
Wow! This was very encouraging to read. Thank you for writing.
Wow!!! As a former NASA astronaut applicant and Christian Education Astronomy Teacher, this caught my attention and struck a chord! It is beautifully written in a way that many asking questions will understand. I posted it on my FB page with your credit to my 515 friends and am praying that God will do wonderous things through your words! Thank you for sharing and posting!!! Thanks also for posting your words on the screen at Winter Jam 2010 (Michigan), even though I knew them all, it sounded heavenly as everyone sung along with you. Tenth Avenue North and Rich Mullins are my favorite all time music! Why? Because of you depth, the words, the relationship you have with Jesus, your sincerity, your style of worship music. It takes us where we are and ushers us as we are into the presence of God so we can be better than we are through His grace!!!
Absolutley amazing. :D I truly believe you have a firm handle on this subject Mike, and in fact not just this but EVERYTHING you sing about in your music! You’re a rare band, you truly seem to understand everything that you write about. I too have been writing music, I have about 35 songs or so completed since December of 2009 when I started writing. One of the things I always struggle with in writing music is that, I almost feel like a hypocrtie writing about some things, because a lot of the time I don’t know if I BELIEVE what I’m writing about! Sometimes I do, maybe even most of the time, but sometimes I’ll write a song and just be like “Man this is great… but do I believe in this?” I wonder if you guys struggle with that too?
Here is the chorus to one of the songs I DO truly believe in, I think considering your song “Beloved” you’ll appreciate this. :D
“My child come home! My child come home! I am your Loving Father, I Love more than you know! My child come home, My child come home! I am your faithful Father, oh how I love you so! My child come home!”
Anyway… just wanted to comment on all you guys do and give you a piece of my own heart with this chorus… if you want to give feedback on it I’d love to hear what you think. :)
I saw you guys live for the first time last night at Winter Jam, great job! You know a band is good when they sound good on stage just like in the recording. I think you guys sounded very good. God Bless you for all that you do!
-Brandon
The austronaut parallel could make an awesome movie, if done right. An Armageddon type movie of a shuttle on a lost course toward the sun as the sidestory down on earth tells of the compassion of a man who sacrificed everything, drawing a clear parallel to Jesus. And eventually that man somehow dies to send the shuttle back to the moon.
But anyway, “Hallelujah” is such a powerful song, along with everything else on “Over and Underneath”! There’s nothing like great music with an incredible message behind it, and I have to say that along with Hillsong and Hillsong United (which are difficult to compare to anyone), you guys are definitely the best at that. Stay strong in Christ and keep doing what you do best, changing lives through music!
Well done, Mikey! And this dovetails nicely with our current Hebrews study! Thanks & I love you!
Wow, that’s awesome! thanks for talking so boldly about such a touchy subject.
Wonderfully written. SO sad you guys won’t be coming back to Michigan anytime soon =/
WOW…. This is amazing Mike! Thank you so much, it really gives me a good understanding of gods wrath. I really don’t see much teaching done on this subject, and I really appreciate it!
I smiled at the wonder and greatness of God while reading this.