The Clearing Podcast - Where Eagles Fly

Reintroducing Rome. 

Just as Aidan (from Iona) established the outreach to Anglo-Saxons at Lindisfarne, Rome came back into the picture in 597 A.D.  It’s first archbishop, a Benedictine monk named Augustine, set up shop at Canterbury, and challenged the Celts to accept his authority.  Lacking the one quality (humility) that would have won their allegiance, the Celtic leaders refused.

Columba and Kentigern. 

After establishing 30 houses of prayer in Ireland, and after making a pilgrimage to honor Martin at Tours, the hot-headed Columba created some serious problems in Ireland—and was banished from his homeland in the middle of the sixth century.  Founding the prayer community at Iona, Columba succeeded in bringing the Picts and Scots of Scotland to Christ.  The Welshman Kentigern established the house of prayer that came to be Glasgow, and these two men demonstrated the passion for unity in the Celtic Church by exchanging bishops’ staffs.  Both Iona and Glasgow demonstrated a passion for cross-cultural evangelism.

Patrick and the Irish.

As a teenager, Patrick was whisked away from his home in Dumbarton, Scotland, to be a slave in Ireland.  This improbable beginning set him on a journey of prayer, which God would build into one of the greatest examples of Kingdom transformation the world has ever seen—as described by Patrick himself in his Confession. What had begun in Scotland utterly transformed Ireland in one man’s lifetime by the middle of the fifth century. Slavery was eradicated.

Evagrius, Cassian and Germanus.

Evagrius of Pontus, experiencing the temptations of wealth and power in the Byzantine Church, fled to the deserts of Egypt, where he became the leader of the spiritual descendants of Anthony at Nitria.  Two men—Cassian and Germanus—attached themselves to him, then carried the teaching of the Desert Fathers into Gaul, and finally into Britain, adding fuel to the fires already started in Scotland.  Under these influences, the Celtic Church became “a house of prayer for all nations,” a complete contrast to the church at Rome.

The Early Celts.

The Desert Fathers, beginning with Anthony, continued to live by the original “by my Spirit” pattern Jesus modeled out for them.  Martin of Tours picked that up from the biography of Anthony by Athanasius, and passed it along to Ninian, who planted it in Scotland in 397 A.D.  Scotland became a matchstick of spiritual awakening for the Western world, just as the Roman Empire—and the British churches it had planted—collapsed in 411 A.D.

Power and Might.

When Constantine moved to make Christianity the official “religion” of Rome, Pope Sylvester I assumed that he was to form an alliance with the Roman emperor.  In this way—beginning in 313 A.D.—Christianity stopped being a “by my Spirit” kingdom, and began to function as a “power and might” religion. My teaching shows seven ways that “power and might” Christianity differs from the original “by my Spirit” Christianity.

By My Spirit.

Jesus fulfilled the ancient king-prophecies, but declared that His kingdom was not “of this world.”  It was not a “power and might” kingdom, but a “by my Spirit” kingdom.  My teaching articulates seven features of how His Kingdom operates—the basic patterns of real Christianity, which entered into the Roman world to transform it.

The Hope of Rome. 

The ancient Hebrew prophecies spoke of a new kingdom that God would instigate during the fourth great world empire of the ancient world: the Roman Empire.  The great promise of that empire was this: that they would civilize the surrounding “barbarian” nations by conquering them.  Caesar began the process of “civilization” by conquering the Celts to the west of Rome.  But then….

In experimental Christianity, you find something in the Bible, then you ask God to teach you how to walk in the reality of it—to walk by faith. Early on, I was confronted with the gift of tongues described in the Bible.

I give a little history of this gift, and explain why I don’t teach that “tongues is the initial evidence of the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer,” as some believe. Why then does God give this gift? The most basic reasons: to edify us, and to help us pray when we don’t know how we ought to pray for a specific situation. I finish by describing the ABC’s of faith, and how to apply these steps to the gift of tongues.

When we come together with other people, the dynamics of prayer changes dramatically. That is why it’s best to follow the pattern that Jesus gave us for together prayer. Start with worship. Then focus on the Kingdom of God—God’s will, before asking for anything for ourselves. We also clear our hearts of any residue of unforgiveness. Then we cycle back into focusing on the will and Kingdom of God. I finish by recommending prayer partnerships.