Dr. J. Michael Feazell, GCI vice-president, interviews Trinitarian theologians about the good news that God loves you, wants you, and includes you in Jesus Christ. Programs are posted every other week. Most are about 28 minutes long. For a one-page list, go to http://www.gci.org/youreincluded. If a transcript is available; the words "program transcript" will appear. To see the transcript, click on those words.
And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, Who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession—to the praise of His glory. ( Ephesians 1: 13 - 14 )
Fifteen years ago a liberated fellowship began to emerge around the truth of our adoption in Christ that Baxter was teaching. We realized then that this truth needed to be shared with others. So we formed a nonprofit corporation and hired Baxter to write, teach, travel and build relationships with people around the world. After seven books, 14 teaching trips to Australia, and trips to five other countries, hundreds of conferences, a fantastic website and blog, and relationships with thousands of leaders, the truth is getting out. Our goal is to reach the world.
There is so much more to do. Just think of the implications of the people of Africa and China and Iraq, for example, hearing that they were known and loved before the foundation of the world, and that in Jesus they have been adopted forever. A friend wrote to tell us of a woman who died with the Parable of the Dancing God in her hand. For all of her life she believed that “God was disgusted with me.” She died with joy. How many millions of people are trapped in such darkness and desperately need to know that they are included. My appeal to you is simple. If you have been blessed by the fellowship of Perichoresis, help us bless others. Your contribution of $20 or $30 or more is needed. Join us as we continue to share the truth everywhere the Lord leads.
Baxter is at work now finishing his first novel (get ready, it’s awesome), and has begun writing a book on the theology of The Shack. We are all excited. He is working out plans to be in Virginia, Canada, Australia and New Zealand this year.
Thank you, and every blessing on you in the new year.
Dirk Vanderleest
Chairman
• You can contribute by making a tax-deductible check payable to Perichoresis and by sending it to:
Perichoresis
P. O. Box 98157
Jackson, MS 39298
• You can contribute anywhere in the world through our web site (perichoresis.org). If, like me, that word is to hard too remember, visit thegreatdance.org and it will guide you to our main web site. Once there look for the word “Donate” between “Free Resources” and “Subscription,” just under the black Perichoresis banner at the top of the page. Click on “Donate.”
• In Canada send tax-deductible check payable Incarnation Ministries to:
Incarnation Ministries
P. O. Box 11168
2620-1055 West Georgia Street
Vancouver, BC V6E 3R5
Canada
(Be sure to write Perichoresis on the check memo line)
The Mission of the Fellowship of Perichoresis
• To facilitate the recovery of the Christ-centered, Trinitarian vision of the ancient Church, and understand its relevance for human life today.
• To think through the staggering implications of Jesus’ identity as the Father’s eternal Son incarnate, the One anointed in the Holy Spirit, and the One in and through and by and for whom all things were created and are sustained for all spheres of life.
• To articulate and proclaim the truth of our adoption with simplicity and personal relevance, with special emphasis on the Father’s heart, our adoption in Christ, and what Jesus’ union with us means for relationships, marriage and family, and international relations.
• To share the truth of our adoption in Jesus Christ with the widest possible audience, through relationships, publications, teaching, web site, blogs, conferences, and through equipping leaders and teachers, musicians and artists, pastors and missionaries around the world.
• To provide a Christ-centered foundation for addressing racial,. social, political and environmental issues.
• To bring the question, ‘Who is Jesus Christ?’ into discussion on theological, spiritual, religious and international levels.
• To offer a clear and compelling critique of the foundations of Western thought, with special reference to the meaning of Jesus’ death..
• To support and resource existing ministries at home and abroad.
• To establish and maintain relationships with spiritually hungry people and facilitate relationships around the gospel of our adoption in Christ.
• To encourage cross-denominational fellowship through focus upon Jesus’ identity.
• To promote dialog with scientist, counselors, lawyers, artists, writers, doctors and teachers around the implications of the incarnation.
• To establish an international center for teaching, study, spiritual guidance, and interpersonal healing.
The Ministry of the Fellowship of Perichoresis
Theology
• Recovered the Christ-centered and Trinitarian vision of the early Church
• Recovered the apostolic vision of Jesus Christ as the one in and through and by whom all things were created and are sustained.
• Provided a relational vision that reflects the union of the Triune God, the human race and all creation in Christ
• Recaptured the simplicity, accessibility and relevance of the truth in Christ for the average person
• Written and published 7 books in USA (2 in Great Britain, 4 in Australia, 1 in Brazil), 15 essays, and 75 blogs
• Exposed the philosophical and cultic trends that have seriously confused the Western gospel
• Aquatinted readers with great but neglected Christian writers
• Sponsored 13 conferences, delivered 200 hours of lectures, recorded 3 audio books
Outreach
• Established a world wide network of relationships, including over 3000 leaders, pastors and missionaries
• Reached out through relationships to touch millions of people with the truth of their belonging to the Father, Son ad Spirit
• Directly involved with 15 singer/songwriters in the USA and abroad
• Established vital relationships with YWAM (Youth with a Mission), Good News to the Poor (Ken Blue), Unconditional Love (Malcolm Smith), Paul Young, Grace Connexion (Paul Fitzgerald), and the Worldwide Church of God
• Facilitated the publication of over 80,00 copies of The Parable of the Dancing God, its translation into 4 languages, and supported its worldwide use in missions
• Taught in 15 seminaries and colleges in USA and abroad
• Preached in 150 churches, 20 denominations in 6 countries,
• Established a thriving sister ministry based in Adelaide, Australia, which shares our mission to share the truth of our adoption in Christ with the widest possible audience
• Established an annual Perichoresis Conference.
• Developed a web site regularly accessed by people in all time zones
• Developed a blog accessed over 47,000 times from over 70 countries
Dialog
• Provided a Trinitarian vision for the integration of theology and science in Jesus Christ
• Established vital dialog with scientists, counselors, medical doctors, lawyers
• Established weekly inter-denominational pastoral fellowship and discussion
• Facilitated the expression of the gospel of the Triune God in art and music and business
• Assisted other ministries in clarifying the gospel
Healing
• Worked out the implications of the Gospel of the Triune God for healing ministry and therapeutic practice
• Established regular discussions with recovery groups and counselors
• Provided a gospel vision that promotes healing for relationships, marriages and families, and international relations
• Reached out to disenfranchised and worn out Christians around the world
• Worked out a revitalizing vision that overcomes the splits between Christ and creation, the heart and the head, and the sacred and the secular
• Affirmed our humanity as the arena of participation in the Trinitarian life of God, liberating us to embrace our work, play, music, and romance, and the good gifts of the Father’s creation
• Commitment to understanding spiritual warfare and deliverance from evil
The Future of the Fellowship of Perichoresis
• Support Baxter in writing, teaching, traveling and building relationships
• Finish and see through to publication Baxter’s new novel and his book on The Shack
• Strengthen and Expand Relationships with Leaders World Wide
• Improve and Expand Web Site to Include 250 Hours of Teaching, 50 Podcasts,
Electronic Newsletter, Sermons, Quotes, Book Reviews, FAQ, Poems and Prayers, Essays and Unfinished Thoughts
• Continue Blog
• Expand Technological Outreach (we need real help here)
• Expand Relationships with Existing Christian Ministries World Wide
• Provide 2 International Leaders Retreats Annually
• Provide 3 Day Retreat for Singer/Songwriters
• Sponsor Forum for Doctors, Counselors, Teachers
• International Conference on Healing and Wholeness in Christ
• International Conference on Trinitarian Theology
• Publish Lectures on The Light of the Cosmos and The Big Picture
• Develop weeklong intensives on The Trinity and the Christian Life, Incarnation and Reconciliation, and The Gospel of John
J. B. Torrance International Study-Retreat Center
Our long term plan is to establish the J. B. Torrance International Study-Retreat Center which will feature a two hundred acre site with walking trails and a fishing lake, a central lodge, continuous teaching from leaders around the world, a substantial research library, counseling center, and an audio and video production facility.
The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge (Psalms 19:1 - 2)
Astronaut John Glenn's return to space 36 years after his awe-inspiring orbit around the earth was a reminder of the kind of heroism that makes space exploration possible - what author Tom Wolfe called the "right stuff." What you may not know however is that for many of the early astronaut heroes, the right stuff included deep religious faith.
Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin are best known as the first astronauts to land on the moon and take that "Giant leap for mankind.
But you probably don't know that before they emerged from the spaceship Aldrin pulled out a Bible, a silver chalice, and sacramental bread and wine. There on the moon his first act was to celebrate communion.
Frank Borman was commander of the first space crew to travel beyond the earth's orbit. Looking down on the earth from 250,000 miles away, Borman radioed back a message quoting Genesis 1: "In the beginning, God created the Heavens and the earth." As he later explained, "I had an enormous feeling that there had to be a Power greater than any of us - that there was a God and that there was indeed a beginning."
The late James Irwin who walked on the moon in 1971, later became an evangelical minister. He often described the lunar mission as a revelation. In his words, "I felt the power of God as I'd never felt it before."
Charles Duke who followed Irwin to the moon later became active in missionary work. As he explained, "I make speeches about walking ON the moon and walking WITH the Son."
Guy Gardner is a veteran astronaut who speaks in churches on the reality of God.
What is it about being in space that seems to spark our innate religious sense? Two centuries ago the philosopher Immanuel Kant said there are two things that "fill the mind with ever new and increasing admiration and awe: the starry heavens above me and the moral law within me." Reflecting about these things Kant wrote "Lead our minds to contemplate God Himself - the moral law revealing His goodness, the heavens revealing His power." As the Psalmist put it: "The heavens declare the glory of God."
Or as John Glenn put it as he observed the heavens and earth from the windows of Discovery: "To look out at this kind of creation and not believe in God is to me impossible. It just strengthens my faith."
Many of us have thought that science is antagonistic to faith. Yet most of the great figures who shaped the scientific enterprise from the beginning have been devout believers - people like Blaise Pascal who invented the first calculator;Isaac Newton who discovered the law of gravity; and James Maxwell who formulated the laws of electromagnetism. All were Christians who felt that the study of nature did not challenge their faith but rather strengthened it. And that's exactly what space exploration can do in the lives of those who take part in it.”
******************************************************************************************************************** "The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge." (Psalms 19:1-2)
"Lift your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name. Because of His great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing." (Isaiah 40:26)
"For this is what the Lord says - He who created the heavens, He is God; He who fashioned and made the earth, He founded it; He did not create it to be empty, but formed it to be inhabited - He says: " I am the Lord, and there is no other." (Isaiah 45:18)
"This is what God the Lord says - He who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and all that comes out of it, who gives breath to its people, and life to those who walk on it." (Isaiah 42:5)
"It is I who made the earth and created mankind upon it. My own hands stretched out the heavens; I marshalled their starry hosts." (Isaiah 45:12)
"In these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, and through whom He made the universe...The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of His being, sustaining all things by His powerful word." (Hebrews 1:2-3)
"This is what the Lord says - your Redeemer, who formed you in the womb: I am the Lord, who has made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth by Myself." (Isaiah 44:24)
"When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?." (Psalm 8:3-4)
"He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name. Great is our Lord and mighty in power; His understanding has no limit." (Psalms 147:4-5)
"The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for He founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters." (Psalms 24:1-2)
"He alone stretches out the heavens and treads on the waves of the sea. He is the Maker of the Bear and Orion, the Pleiades and the constellations of the south." (Job 9:8-9)
"Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation ? Tell Me, if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions ? Surely you know ! Who stretched a measuring line across it ? On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone ?" (Job 38:4 -6)
"By wisdom the Lord laid the earth's foundations, by understanding He set the heavens in place; by His knowledge the deeps were divided, and the clouds let drop the dew." (Proverbs 3:19 - 20)
"Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood since the earth was founded? He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to LIVE IN." (Isaiah 40:21 - 22)
"By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible." (Hebrews 11:3)
"The heavens are yours, and yours also the earth; you founded the world and all that is in it. You created the north and the south;" (Psalm 89:11 - 12)
"The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in His hands." (John 3:35)
"Bring My sons from afar and My daughters from the ends of the earth - everyone who is called by My name, whom I created for My glory, whom I formed and made." (Isaiah 43:6 - 7)
"Ah, Sovereign Lord, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you." (Jeremiah 32:17)
"The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And He is not served by human hands, as if He needed anything, because He Himself gives all men life and breath and everything else." (Acts 17:24 - 25)
"Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me."(Isaiah 46:9)
"From the creation of the world, God's invisible qualities, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly observed in what He made. As a result, people have no excuse." (Romans 1:20)
Colorful Stars Galore Inside Globular Star Cluster Omega Centauri:
Hubble snapped this panoramic view of a colorful assortment of 100,000 stars residing in the crowded core of a giant star cluster.
The image reveals a small region inside the massive globular cluster Omega Centauri, which boasts nearly 10 million stars. Globular clusters, ancient swarms of stars united by gravity, are the homesteaders of our Milky Way. The stars in Omega Centauri are between 10 billion and 12 billion years old. The cluster lies about 16,000 light-years from Earth.
Image and caption: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble SM4 ERO Team
"Lift your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name.Because of His great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing" (Isaiah 40:26)
Click on image for Hubble Deep Field in 3D
"This is what God the Lord says - He who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and all that comes out of it, who gives breath to its people, and life to those who walk on it." (Isaiah 42:5)
"It is I who made the earth and created mankind upon it. My own hands stretched out the heavens; I marshalled their starry hosts." (Isaiah 45:12)
Are you looking for a clear and systematic introduction to the basics of Trinitarian Theology? Check out our Gospel Education Series. Click Here to Begin