Stay on Target

A JEDI CAN SUCCEED IF HE STAYS FOCUSED ON THE TARGET
Remember the scene from the 1977 Star Wars movie, Episode IV: A New Hope, where the X-Wing fighters are attacking the Death Star? One of the Y-Wing fighter pilots is being attacked by an enemy fighter as he tries to launch missiles to destroy the Death Star. His comrade calmly reminds him, “Stay on target.” He again yells for help. The response is, “Stay on target.” Good guys are getting wiped out by the enemy, and the enemy is getting closer to destroying the good guys and all their fleet of ships. The phrase “Stay on target,” that target being the destruction of the Death Star and salvation of their comrades, is repeated. Finally Luke Skywalker flies in his X-Wing fighter and is attacked by enemies too. He hears his Jedi Master’s voice telling him, “Use the force, Luke,” and “let go.” Luke, in the face of enemies attacking him, time running out, and losing his wingmen, focuses on the target and succeeds in destroying it, thus defeating the enemy while saving his comrades.

Today we also need to stay on target, not wavering, in the face of very hard times. There are two commands in this passage, both warning us as Christians how not to let things of our culture knock us off target.

The first command is in Colossians 2:16. Paul commanded the Colossians not to let anyone judge them by what they ate or drank, their festivals (or lack thereof), New Moons, or Sabbaths. One person’s rules on eating and drinking do not necessarily apply to another’s. One person’s rules on festivals, celebrations, keeping the Sabbath do not necessarily apply to another’s. Max Lucado wrote “Legalism has no pity on people. Legalism makes my opinion your burden, makes my opinion your boundary, makes my opinion your obligation.”

We learn in 2:17 that those things were a mere shadow of the things to come, but “the substance belongs to Christ,” (NASB). Jesus Christ is the “body,” of the shadow that was cast in the Old Testament, and in the traditions of the Jewish people. He is the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets. He said in Matthew 5, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law and the Prophets. I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them.” When you see a shadow, shadows never stand alone. There is always a body casting that shadow. The 2 dimensional shadow is nothing compared to the 3 D body that casts it. The shadow changes, varies, depending on the direction and angle of the light. The body never does, whether a tree, rock, chair, building, car, animal, or person. The nature of that body is the same.

So the good human ideas for applying what the Bible says are good for a specific time, place, and people group. But the main thing remains the main thing. The Bible remains the Bible, Gospel remains the Gospel, sinners still need to repent or risk Hell, and people who are saved by Jesus Christ are still saved by Jesus Christ.

YOU CAN SUCCEED IF YOU STAY FOCUSED ON THE TARGET

 F. B. Meyer, famous preacher 100 years ago, once said that when we see a brother or sister in sin, there are two things we do not know: First, we do not know how hard he or she tried not to sin. And second, we do not know the power of the forces that assailed him or her. We also do not know what we would have done in the same circumstances.[1]

At a pastor’s conference in Spokane, Chuck Swindoll told of being at a California Christian camp. The first day there a man approached him and said how greatly he had looked forward to hearing Dr. Swindoll speak and his delight at now finally being able to realize that desire. That evening Swindoll noticed the man sitting near the front. But only a few minutes into the message the man was sound asleep. Swindoll thought to himself that perhaps he was tired after a long day’s drive and couldn’t help himself. But the same thing happened the next few nights, and Dr. Swindoll found his exasperation with the man growing. On the last night the man’s wife came up and apologized for her husband’s inattention to the messages. She then explained that he had recently been diagnosed as having terminal cancer and the medication he was taking to ease the pain made him extremely sleepy. But it had been one of his life-long ambitions to hear Dr. Swindoll speak before he died, and now he had fulfilled that goal.[2]

John Walvoord, last sermon at Dallas Theological Seminary. Teacher and president of the seminary for over 50 years, one of the people responsible for the great reputation that Dallas has today all over the world. He said to us, in his last chapel, “Whatever you do when you preach a sermon, include the Gospel. The Bible says the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation, but many churches today have great oratory messages without including the gospel.

If you want to hear the one message that will never change, and always reach deep into the heart of every listener, it is this story of Jesus Christ, the God who became man, the One who offered His perfect body for our sinful souls, so we might rise one day in perfect bodies with Him and spend eternity with Almighty God. You need to meet that truth and teach that truth whenever you teach the Bible, or you are teaching the shadow. Teach the Body–Jesus Christ, not the shadow.

You need to stop right now and make sure you have this salvation in Jesus Christ. It is NOT Jesus and baptism, Jesus and communion/eucharist, Jesus and confession, Jesus and giving, Jesus and penance, Jesus and hard work, Jesus starts it and I finish it, or Jesus plus anything added, or Jesus minus whatever you don’t like about Him. Colossians 2:6 says, “so then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him.”

It is all about Jesus Christ, accepting His life through accepting His death, and accepting His deity through accepting His resurrection. That is the target. Living like Jesus Christ.

So, are you on target?

YOU CAN SUCCEED IF YOU STAY FOCUSED ON THE TARGET

Another disqualifier for the Colossian Christians were those who believed they were more spiritual than others. In 2:18, the Bible tells us the second command of this passage. They were not to let those in Colossae according to the false teaching disqualify them (strong word for an umpire or official to rob an athlete of the prize), which is the same as to condemn them. In John Calvin’s commentary on Colossians, he translates this “let no one take from you the palm.” There was a custom in races of that day that the winner would receive the prize, but there was a palm that was also given, for everyone who completed the race. If you got injured or distracted, and could not complete the race, you were deprived of that palm. So the Bible warns us, let no one rob you of the Lord’s reward for running the race to the end.

Characteristics of the false teachers in Colossae, according to this passage:

First, “humility” in this case “false humility” Paul writing tongue-in-cheek. The people believed they were actually humble. They looked down on others in their “humility.”

Second, “worship of angels” worship of angels. This means focusing on creatures of heaven is not worshipping God.

Third, “vision entering into” entering into a tale at length of what one has seen in a vision.

In Colossae and other cities, some people were depriving themselves of food and sleep in order to induce visions. This is why they emphasized fasting so much. Modern medicine shows us a lack of sleep combined with a lack of protein will increase your chances of hallucinating. People were doing this in order to see either the true God or have some experience that would give them the same authority as Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, or the prophets who saw visions.

Those who practiced these things were not connected to the Head, Who is Christ. So on the one hand, the Bible warns us here not to be knocked off course by those who worship the acts of godliness over God, and on the other hand, not to be knocked off course by those seeking spirituality on their own, disconnected from the Head.

What else? Fourth, these people were “having an exaggerated self-conception” by their “mind of the flesh.”

The difference is, the prophets did not seek visions, they sought God Himself. Once again, the shadow of God is not what you should look for. You should seek God Himself—seeking Jesus Christ!

This means that even if you find someone at some other church, in some other ministry, who does or has something you admire, don’t compare that to where God has you now. Don’t get discouraged. I met a man for lunch who is a minister in the circles that practice the manifestations of the spiritual gifts more than my circles of Christianity. I felt the condescension from him, so I asked him, “Do you think you are more spiritual than me because you practice these manifestations of the Spirit–as you call them–and I do not?” He paused, and said, “I would never say that.” But he did feel that, as he nodded his head yes. I didn’t let that man rob me of my palm. Neither should you. Continue in Jesus Christ. I asked that man “Can you prove from the Bible that you are more spiritual?” He said, “I don’t know.”

If it can’t be found in the Bible, it isn’t true. We who stay on target follow Jesus, and live according to the Word of God. If you have a great, popular church growth idea but it goes against Scripture, it is not a great church growth idea at all. Stay on the target–Jesus Christ.

YOU CAN SUCCEED IF YOU STAY FOCUSED ON THE TARGET

Are you on target? Have you gotten off target? The same thing Karl Barth had said decades earlier, when asked what his greatest theological thought was, “Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so.”

What is the target we need to stay focused on? Go back to v. 6, “so then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, so live in Him.”

Review: Jesus Christ is not the shadow of Jesus Christ, and He is not a teaching that sounds kind of like Jesus Christ, and He is not the man-made buildings, programs, or books that are tools to worship Jesus Christ. Jesus is not the angels who adore Him, or the visions people have of Him. He is a real person who dwells within all of us who receive Him as Savior.

Some of you have given up. Your X-Wing is out of fuel, you don’t feel like a Jedi. You don’t even know why you get up in the morning. Life has let you down.

Read this encouraging poem, if you feel like you’ve been knocked off course.

“I’ve dreamed many dreams that never came true. I’ve seen them vanish at dawn,

But I’ve realized enough of my dreams, thank God, to make me want to dream on,

I’ve prayed many prayers when no answer came, I’ve waited patient and long;

But answers have come to enough of my prayers, to make me keep praying on.

I’ve trusted many a friend who failed, and left me to weep alone;

But I’ve found enough of my friends true-blue, to make me keep trusting on.

I’ve sown many seeds that fell by the way, for the birds to feed upon;

But I’ve held enough golden sheaves in my hand, to make me keep sowing on.

I’ve drained the cup of disappointment and pain, I’ve gone many days without song;

But I’ve sipped enough nectar from the rose of life, to make me want to live on.”

Charles Allen, The Secret of Abundant Living.

Spend time with Jesus Christ, not His shadows that fill religion. Stay in the race, on target.

[1] Taken from http://www.bible.org/illus.php?topic_id=843, at 2:09pm on 2/10/07.

[2] Bible.org

Nonconformity with an Immovable Object

I’d gone through so much other stuff
That walking down the aisle was tough
But now I know it’s not enough
I want to be a clone

I asked the Lord into my heart
They said that was the way to start
But now you’ve got to play the part
I want to be a clone

Be a clone and kiss conviction goodnight
Cloneliness is next to Godliness, right?
I’m grateful that they show the way
‘Cause I could never know the way
To serve him on my own
I want to be a clone

They told me that I’d fall away
Unless I followed what they say
Who needs the Bible anyway?
I want to be a clone

Their language it was new to me
But Christianese got through to me
Now I can speak it fluently
I want to be a clone

You’re still a babe
You have to grow
Give it twenty years or so
‘Cause if you want to be one of his
Got to act like one of us

So now I see the whole design
My church is an assembly line
The parts are there, I’m feeling fine
I want to be a clone

I’ve learned enough to stay afloat
But not so much I rock the boat
I’m glad they shoved it down my throat
I want to be a clone

Everybody must get cloned

-Steve Taylor, “I Want To Be a Clone”

Jesus is like your bro, man.

I wonder, do you think that the enemy fears “nice” Christians? I myself can’t imagine him sitting in some conference room in Hell or whatever and wringing his hands in exasperation, not knowing how he will ever deal with those uber nice trendy Christians in turtlenecks.

I don’t know for sure, mind you. But I am guessing that knowledge of bands, television shows and culture combined with an edgy fashion sense and the use of occasional curse words in a sermon to drive home points probably doesn’t much concern him.

I have been looking online at some of the ministries that are out there this morning. Not the great big ones, more like the ones who are doing well but have not broken through to rock star status just yet. And I see a pattern emerging in their style, dress and public image. It’s not like it required great sleuthing abilities or anything, the fact that they have swallowed the trendy kool-aid is fairly obvious.

I went to three different church sites and the Pastors all wore checkered button-down shirts with the cuffs rolled up just a bit, I am guessing to show everyone that they were casual and relaxed dudes on a mission. Every site featured lots of graphics, usually a big picture with small words about a sermon or event. Which can be kind of cool, I guess, just not when it is every single church site.

The Pastors were all nice guys with nice hair. They looked like college boys that grew up in church and were fully committed to making Jesus as cool now as he was in their youth group from high school.

Their delivery was pretty much the same; I didn’t see a preacher at all. They were just normal guys who were sharing thoughts on Jesus, God, culture and other stuff that their people cared about.

I guess that’s the trend and some people dig it. Not me, mind you, but some people. Of course, I have never really been one to flow with the trends. In fact, I just may turn on your trend and bludgeon it to death with a big rock. It is who I am and what I have always been. Give it a name.

This is just one of those aspects of churchian culture that gets to me. Like their fascination with cheap knock-offs of original ideas, it just irks me. I despise those t-shirts that cleverly insert Jesus stuff in a famous logo and bands that perfectly mimic a famous secular bands style. Hate it.

I would rather be dangerous than nice any day of the week. Sadly, dangerous doesn’t get you conference slots because they have no clue what you will say. It doesn’t get you many speaking dates in churches because you may just skewer something that the Pastor has said or done or offend people away from something they are trying to attract people to. And it doesn’t lead to big churches because people like to be asleep, even in church.

That being said, I think we need some dangerous preachers who may not be all that nice. We need today to be shocked at our own complacency and apathy for the lost. We need someone to roar with holy annoyance at our almost total disregard for the majesty and holiness of God. We need some generals to rouse us to war, not hipsters that pass the spiritual joint.

Looking at all of these up and coming churches, I must admit that I would rather quit completely than face a future with them as the standard. I have a hard enough time with a lot of Boomers, I simply cannot deal with Samuel the one-time leader of the “cool kids at youth group” all grown up and running the show with his rolled up casual sleeves.

I am passionate about God. And I am overwhelmed with gratitude from the grave. I have a roar in me at the empty socially relevant way that they present my God. I am emotional and passionate and aggressive. I can’t stand fakes and phonies and posers, never have been able to. I guess my target demographic is rather small but I really only want to hang out with people interested in either revival or riot.

But alas, revolutionaries are few and far between today.

A few years ago, I was asked to be the keynote speaker on the opening night of a conference. There were a bunch of “prophets” from all over the world there and little old me.

After watching how they acted like prima donnas all afternoon, I pretty much left until it was my time to speak. And I preached on merchandising the anointing of God and the apathy of the church towards real injustices as they pranced and primped and posed to one another. You know, typical JC Smith stuff, right?

Well, they were all deeply offended at me. Not the people, the preachers. I was immediately anathema, a gen-u-wine pariah at the conference. Anyway, on the last day, one of the bigger names was packing up his merchandise table to leave as I walked by. He was talking to another preacher and ordering my friend about, who was helping him load his truck. My friend was an usher at the church and an incredibly humble servant and he would have never said anything about being ordered about like he was.

I am not quite as nice.

I went over to Prophet Shinyshoes and pointed at my friend and said, “You know, a real leader would wash his feet. Jesus said that those who would be the greatest among you let them be the servant of all. How is your attitude towards him being a servant exactly?”

He looked at me for a few moments and quietly said, “You’re the real deal, aren’t you?”

And to this I replied, “What, you’re not?”

I am nothing special, not by a long shot. I am just someone that came into the church from a pretty bad background thinking that I found the answer. But what I found was something totally different than what I felt God deserved. I found a business instead of a sacred space. I found motivational speakers and life coaches rather than prophets. I found selfishness instead of charity. I found petty mudslinging and character assassination among ministries. I found territorialism and not unity. And I found people who sprayed air freshener behind homeless people that came to church.

But I love the lost and the struggling and hate religion and comfy spirituality. And so I have always been a bit out of sorts really. I expected the real deal and when I saw the reality of what it had become, I started overthrowing tables.

I think we need a serious wake up call today and it is long overdue. We need less of the nice and more of the raw because someone telling you in a nice, friendly way that you are about to topple over a cliff when you are sleepwalking simply won’t cut it.

We need revival so badly right now in America. I just wonder if anyone will have the courage it will take to commit career suicide in order to jolt the people and see it happen.

I really wonder.

I Am What I Am.

We’re gonna find out where you folks really stand.
Are there any queers in the theater tonight?
Get them up against the wall!
There’s one in the spotlight, he don’t look right to me,
Get him up against the wall!
That one looks Jewish!
And that one’s a coon!
Who let all of this riff-raff into the room?
There’s one smoking a joint,
And another with spots!
If I had my way,
I’d have all of you shot!
~Pink Floyd, In the Flesh (II)

The bake sale will be held this Friday...

Sorry if you find yourself offended at the perfectly apt Pink Floyd lyric above, if so feel free to take away my Brownie Button.

As this writing was gestating in me, that song kept going through my head because I think our churches can be a lot like that and that really bothers me. We spend so much time pointing the finger and rejecting anyone who does not conform to our standards that we can never showcase who God really is, just our own hypocrisy.

You see, recently I was noticing some Christians going about their business. It wasn’t at one of the churches that I serve, it was just somewhere around town. And as I watched them I thought about how they really seemed to have everything together, as a Christian should, I guess. They looked like Christians are supposed to look and smiled and waved and came across as very Christian. Their talk was very nice and very shallow, saying exactly what a Christian is supposed to say and not revealing any “icky-ness” whatsoever.

And it really got under my skin, if I’m being honest. Now, I know that there are people out there that are just naturally bubbly, happy, peaceful, give it a name. And I know that as a Christian, it is the conventional wisdom that you should have all of these qualities literally dripping off of you.

If you are one of those who just naturally (or supernaturally) have the perfect Christian hair, clothes, attitude, speech, past and disposition, that’s really super duper! But if you are assuming the dress, mannerisms and demeanor of someone who is naturally that way, when you really aren’t, then we have a problem.

When we subscribe to this “fake it ‘til you make it” lifestyle that is so prevalent today, we hurt ourselves, we hurt others and ultimately we hurt the church.

We hurt ourselves because even if no one else can see the truth, you know in your heart that you are a fraud. You are in good company however because being a fraud is absolutely expected of you in the American church. From the time that you first become a Christian, you are shown how to act, how to talk, how to dress and how to conduct yourself. And all of these things are taught to you in the most passive-aggressive way possible.

We quickly learn to never show anyone who or what we are inside. Because revealing the truth that does not align with the current groupthink equals rejection and judgment.

And so you soldier on, struggling with feelings of worthlessness and being convinced that there is something really wrong with you. And that something is so bad, if anyone else were to see it, they would have to come to the conclusion that you aren’t really a Christian at all.

This is a form of idolatry. Instead of allowing God to be glorified for what He has actually accomplished in you, you effectively tell God that what He has done is not enough because you do not measure up to other people’s standards.

It hurts others because what has been done to you, you are now doing to them. The same issues that have plagued you, you are causing inside of them. When we place a burden upon someone’s shoulders that we ourselves have not been capable of carrying, we take a place of honor among the Pharisees. Someone remind me again, how did Jesus react to their religious hypocrisy?

They were whitewashed tombs, appearing good on the outside but inside full of dead man’s bones and everything unclean. In fact, this religious fascism was so damaging to the work of God that he called them “Sons of Hell”.

And Jesus was never found around them, choosing to hang out with those who knew that they were sick. Who are we today? Are we those who like to show people that we have it all together and can instruct them on righteous living, or are we those who know that we still need help and offer grace to those who are as ungodly as we are, on our own?

Honestly, where you are now and where you were before is a mighty long way from one another. There have been genuine miracles that have occurred in you as God has worked on you over the years. And those miracles should shine for everyone to see. But your weakness should be seen as well because that is your testimony. That He has done something in you, not what you have managed on your own. And that gives hope to those who are still struggling.

Finally, it hurts the church both because the world is watching and also because our effectiveness is based on our confidence in God’s work.

As the church has been exposed over the last 25 years, the world has taken less and less interest in what we have to say. The fall of prominent ministers has assured them that we are all just frauds. We say what we are and our actions show the truth of it. And this is what the world can’t stand- our hypocrisy.

Catch that, please. The world doesn’t care if we are flawed and God is perfect. The fact that we need a savior does not bother them a lick. Rather, it is our pretending perfection that infuriates them. When I talk to the gay florist or the tattoo artist, the righteousness or holiness of God does not offend them. But if I display my own, they would be rightfully offended. Because no matter how much I may want to be, I am not God. I am a human who needed God’s help in order to be something better than my nature allowed me to be. This they can relate to.

Perhaps if we fostered an attitude that gave as much grace in public as we need in private, more people would pay attention to what we say. All that we can offer them is Him, alone. Truth be told, we are all jacked up on multiple levels and God has done some great things, even if other people don’t appreciate them. So how about we spend our time pointing to Him and less excluding everyone that shows a weakness.

One time I was invited to preach at a big event in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The group set up in a park and had me as the main speaker. Afterwards, as the crowd was dispersing, a young guy came up to me. He said to me, “Pastor, you said that God would accept me exactly as I am right now if I would take the step of calling on Him.” I nodded and told him that I felt exactly that way. He looked at me and said, “But I am gay”. I then spent quite a bit of time explaining my own failings and ongoing issues and that my weakness had never been a restraint to God’s grace, only my unwillingness to come to Him.

He cried for a long time and I put my arms around him and told him that there was enough love in God’s heart to cover any sin, except the sin of rejecting His Son.

Afterwards, the group that held the event came over to me and asked what all that was about. I explained what the young guy had said and what I had said back to him. They were mortified and said to me, “You did tell him that he would have to stop being gay if he was to come to church, right?” True story.

My response now is the same as it was then; if a fault is enough to keep you from attending church, we are all in trouble. Some of you are fat, gluttons really, and that is a sin. Some of you look at porn, lusting constantly and that is a sin. Most of you lie on a daily basis and that is a sin. In fact, whatever does not come from faith is sin. So, we are all equally doomed and damned.

Maybe God should just expose us all for what we are when we are alone, or in our heads. At least then we would freely give grace to others because we would finally need some ourselves from them.

So, here is my point; ‘fess up and be real. Let’s pursue holiness in the fear of God while receiving grace for ourselves and giving it to others on our way. Let’s not forget where we were, or still are and give God the glory that we aren’t there any longer.

“But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain”. –1 Corinthians 15:10

Get Saved, Get Real or Get Out.

In the clearing stands a boxer, and a fighter by his trade
And he carries the reminders of every glove that laid him down or cut him ’til he cried out in his anger and his shame
I am leaving, I am leaving, but the fighter still remains
Yes he still remains

-Simon and Garfunkel, the Boxer

Many times over the years I have walked into a church building and felt uncomfortable. There was no single source that I could point at for what I was feeling, just that feeling of discomfort and the overwhelming desire to be out of there as soon as I could.

I had a tough time putting my finger on the problem- everything seemed to be normal. The people were nice enough; there were no obvious signs of something being amiss that I could see right away; only the discomfort and the acknowledgment that for some reason, I just didn’t quite belong.

I have had this feeling in other places as well, sometimes in a home where the income level or manner of the persons living there is way beyond what I am used to. Or, maybe it was in a store or restaurant with successful businessmen in suits sitting just across the way from me in my steel-toed boots. Anyway that you look at it, it boils down to the fact that I was different somehow than my surroundings and had become painfully aware of that fact.

There must be a class somewhere that I missed. I remember missing a day in school and looking at the assignments that were handed out upon my return and thinking to myself, “I get this that was taught the day before yesterday and I understand that assignment from today. The middle one, I have no clue what that is about.” Like being the one “who should have been there” when you hear an inside joke, I have always felt a little uncomfortable around those people who made the class that I obviously missed.

I imagine that somewhere in the discipleship process, there was a workshop given detailing how to act in church. The teacher (who happens to look an awful lot like Martha Stewart) would stand very erect in front of the class, her posture speaking in great volume, teaching in proper English how to dress, how to smile just right so that you give no clue to those around you as to your real thoughts or intentions, how to emote all of the right things to all of the right people. Perhaps included in that workshop is a lecture on the art of small talk as well; I also seemed to have missed that one.

More than the way the people around me are acting though, it is the feeling of being somehow different that gets me every time. Like when I first entered ministry, I actually tried to dress up when I preached. I saved all of my money so I could buy a few cheap suits at JC Penney’s. I had a black one and a blue one. I also bought a shiny pair of shoes because all the other preachers that I saw wore shiny shoes. And I felt transformed. I had been a Skinhead, a punk rocker, and an all-around screw-up. My hairstyles ranged from the bald uniform cut of a skin to the 9-inch purple Mohawk. And now, here I was, a citizen. I wore the same clothes that they all did; I was obviously the same, right?

I couldn’t have been more wrong and I should have known that better than anyone.

You see, when I was in the world, we had a term we used quite frequently to describe someone who dressed the part but was something different than the façade they were displaying; a poser.

There were very few things worse than being named poser, honestly. Anyone who was seen to be a poser knew then that everything they were projecting about themselves was a lie. You were acting or dressing differently than the person that you really were. It was the lowest of the low. Back then who you really were inside was more important than what you appeared to be to others. Anyone could cut their hair funny or shave it off. Anyone could don the apparel and act out a role. To the real skins, punks and Goths, the outside display was just a manifestation of an inner working. And if you didn’t feel what you were doing then you just needed to go away.

So there I was with my black suit and blue suit (and shiny shoes) and I tried to do street ministry with all the “street cred” that my apparel afforded me. And I found that the ones that I identified with the most – identified with me the least. Without meaning to, I was preaching a message before saying a single word. And that message was “all that I was before I became a Christian was an act- I was just a tourist”. Needless to say, not many listened to what I had to say.

I went home dejected utterly. God finally illuminated something to my spirit that I will never forget- He did not call me out of everything that he did just so that I could be like every other Christian. I got rid of all of those things that were not really me almost immediately. I made a call that has influenced everything in my life ever since- I will be myself, be that good or bad, ugly or beautiful, right or wrong. I will never pretend to be something that I am really not in order to please you or to be seen as “safe” by the Churchian community.

So I have become an iconoclast of sorts. I am not safe to bring in to preach because I will do what God tells me regardless of how people feel about it or if I will get invited back or not. I am not safe to be friends with because I will put God first before you. I am not safe to have in your clique because I will not adhere to your rules just because everyone else does. I will reveal things about myself that are not acceptable if I feel that God wants me to because I value his approval way more than yours.

And so on and so on. But thanks be to God, I may be ugly but at least I am real.

I believe that this rampant posing has impacted the church in one area more than any other- with our men. The Word tells us that we must have our hearts circumcised and I could not agree more. That must not have been enough for the church though because we seem to have skipped right past circumcision of the heart and went right for a total neutering. The churches read books like “Wild at Heart” and then they say to themselves, “I AM wild at heart, by George! I want adventure and to be dangerous again- maybe we should make a focus group and share how we all feel inside about it.” And so the neutering is revealed even as the heart shows the slightest stirring of recapturing what was lost.

My friend once had a cat that was a real tomcat all the way. He did what he wanted, prowled the neighborhood, and picked some fights with other cats (and occasional dogs as well). He was so ornery that we had to contain him under a laundry basket sometimes because he would attack anything that came in reach. The vet told my friend that the cat needed to be neutered in order to settle him down a bit. So he took him up and got the job done on him. From that moment on, he was a different cat. All he did was sit on the windowsill and look out the window at a world that he no longer saw the adventure in.

So it is with our men in the church. Somehow after a very short time of being saved, we no longer have any fight left in us. We become little hippy Gandhi Christians, de-neutered, de-clawed, de-odored and disinfected, safe for inclusion in the white suburban neighborhood church of our choice. Like the lion at the zoo who yawns instead of roars, we have become sad shells of what God intended us to be. And this is applauded by the church, even considered to be virtuous- especially for preachers.

No wonder our young people are not lining up to take on the challenges of ministry any more. They all want to be rock stars, leading praise and worship when they start out but graduating to real Christian rock stars later on. Forget laying your future at the foot of the cross and heading out to a foreign mission field, that is not really needed anymore. Why suffer to spread the Gospel or lay your life on the line for the cause of Christ when you can be idolized by adoring fans who will listen intently as you talk about God for two minutes at the end of your hour long set?

We want to be cool, not Christ-like and it is showing in our utter failure to reach the current generation.

It is not really their fault though if we are to be honest. They are this way because when we look around for heroes of the faith we can find none among our contemporaries. When I want to get edified myself I have to find sermons preached 30 years ago from men who are dead because there are very few that I would listen to today. The mold for today’s minister is safe, funny, inoffensive and relevant to a hip 30-something society.

But that kind of man does not speak to the heart of who I am. I have a roar in me; a roar that I know is meant for the hoards of Churchians who have my savior as a hobby in their life. It is a roar that is meant for a world that mocks God and rushes headlong into an eternal hell. A roar that is sent with all of the ferocity of someone that was left beaten, robbed and raped on the side of the road of life all of those years ago, and is aimed directly at an enemy that figured that no one would take the time to rebuild what was so obviously ruined.

And though I have oftentimes tried to bury it in the past, that roar always rises to the surface because it is not my roar alone but it is the raw sound of the frustrated heart of an entire generation.

We must be ourselves, no matter what it looks like. We must learn to hate the Churchian mask with every fiber of our being. We must discover the fighter that the enemy has tried to emasculate before it is too late and the battle that we were meant for is over and the looting begins.

Find your war cry, church. Then scream it with all of your heart no matter who approves or disapproves. Cast off Saul’s armor and find your stones and run to the battle. Who cares what everyone else is doing or what is considered appropriate Christian behavior at the moment? That is nothing but a spiritual flavor of the month club and is utterly useless in real application.

We are a generation that could not see who we really were in any of the Christians that were around us and so we figured that it was us who were wrong. So we bought the clothes, the bumper stickers, donned the hairdo that we saw everyone else wear and became Christian posers. When that failed to satisfy or when the utter hypocrisy ate at us too much, we just quit.

But who you are inside is tailor made for the hell you live in today. You are God’s answer for the enemy’s advances. But the fake can never make the cut. Only the genuine heart roar has a place on the battlefield of today.

So get saved, get real or get out.

The Imminent Death of the Preacher.

There is no sore it will not heal, no pain it will not subdue...

I am sorry. I am sad to report that preparations are underway for the funeral of someone who has been, up to this point, an American mainstay: the Preacher.

I regret to inform you all that in the event of his death, there will be no open casket or even a time of visitation, as most who would have mourned his passing in the past, today would no longer much care.

For those who are unfamiliar with the preacher, his story can be found in virtually every chapter of our American history. He is seen in the first colony that landed on Plymouth Rock and you could find him shaking the windows of Philadelphia and the rest of the 13 colonies during and after the American Revolution. It was the Preacher in those days that rallied the troops and caused the swelling of national pride as he rode far and wide in the Black Regiment.

The preacher was active on both sides of the War Between the States. D.L. Moody served as a missionary on the front, finding out if dying men were saved before they perished. And in the South, the preachers would hold impromptu baptism services whenever they could, sometimes even in the midst of battle and in full view of the enemy.

America has heard the voices of A.W. Tozer and Paris Reidhead preaching a true Prophetic call. We heard the voice of Edwards, Whitefield and Ironside, Roberts and Ravenhill tell us that God was terrifying, loving and infinitely just. They would level a room with their voices expressing the holiness of God and the depravity of man. And in their voice the depraved heard the soft and tender call of the grace of God.

And yet today in America the voice of the preacher has nearly fallen silent. And I am grieved to carry to your itching ears the somber news that the voice that we need to hear now more than ever, may never be heard from again.

The American preacher, that icon of modern religion, the last of a long and noble line, has been on an unpublished endangered species list for decades. And here at the turning of the tide, at that moment when it would seem that we need him the most, his absence leaves a hole that can be felt only by the discerning heart that longs after God.

For in these days of the soft Prophet, the buddy, the encourager and the snake-oil salesman, the voice that calls you to awaken from your hyper-grace induced slumber is not welcome. Who wants to hear someone yell in a service anyway? Who in their right mind wants a return to the days of fire and brimstone when men spoke for God and called the comfortable to repentance and the lukewarm to task? Why should I repent, change, convert, awaken, give, love, serve?

Why should I give anything back in exchange for the grace that I lavish on myself, like the murderer who desperately tries to cleanse his hands under an open tap from the blood that he has just shed?

Who would want a return to those days when the church sought those who were lost, called the prodigal home and the truth searched the hearts of the un-consecrated in the sheepfold? Many eagerly await the news, it seems, that the voice of the preacher has fallen silent for good. That the one who troubled us is gone and his like shall not be seen again anymore.

But the annals of history shall reveal the terrible truth: that should we choose to let the preacher die- we choose to let the hopes of revival and indeed, the salvation of our nation die as well.

And choose it is, have no doubt about that. We choose when we do not pray for those standing between the living and the dead, calling for reinforcements in the battle of the ages. We choose when we withhold support, we choose when we do not attend meetings and we choose when we do not invite them to our churches and communities.

We choose, all of us. And that choice is to leave this nation in the spiritual hands of the mealy-mouthed purveyors of the humanistic Gospel. It is to abandon the morals of our nation to the oversight of those who will not offend the masses- so long as they continue to give. We will give over the helm to those that would abandon absolutes for post-modern questions with no answers, leadership with no authority, eternity with no certainty and doctrine with no foundation, other than the bi-polar whims of the Adonijah that stands before you.

God help us but the church has been all but usurped by businessmen who equate spiritual success with physical numbers and money. And in order to achieve that, they say nothing that may offend. When the goal is numbers and money, why stand for truth?

Who speaks for God today, the High and Holy One that does not look at crowds but individual hearts? Do we remember that He is still the One that overturned the tables of the moneychangers in the temple as they merchandized worship? The one who desires obedience and not sacrifice? The one who rejected the mammon of this world for true riches and told us that a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his goods? Will we give over the reins of the Church to those who would attempt to crown Him with those very things that He rejected, as Tozer said?

The American Preacher is not extinct, not just yet. But he is rare enough that even spotting one deserves observance. Like the nature photographer who sees a Siberian Tiger feeding in the wild; it is not impossible but neither is it expected. And how we need him today.

God, raise up prophets once again, those who cry loud and spare not. Give us those who come to the pulpits and the streets fresh from an encounter with your Spirit in prayer. Send us those who carry in their hearts and upon their lips, hot coals from the altar of God. Give us those who are beautifully broken, who do not abuse in anger, but plead in earnestness. Give us those whose passion for you far outstrips their fear of man. Send us the Reformers, the Revivalists, the Repentant who cry for repentance, the Radicals who see no value in mere money but desire justice above all else. Send us our Whitefield and Wesley, our Edwards and Luther.

Deliver us from Adonijah and Absolom, God. And glorify yourself once again in us, in our churches, in our cities and in this land.

Rediscovering Sabbath

American Christianity is weird. Now that I mention it, I have been in it quite a long time now and it seems to just be getting even more weird…

I knew that I was in for a bumpy ride within my first year as a Christian. I mean, the first month and a half of my conversion, no one spoke to me at the church that I went to.

So, I knew from the jump that I was probably not going to fit in. And sure enough, I haven’t.

Sometimes its like the church folks in America and I don’t even speak the same language. Kind of like talking to a deaf person who watches your mouth open and close like a fish trying to suck in some water when none is there.

Yeah, kind of like that.

One of the strange things about the modern church is their fascination with the error of Antinomianism.

For those of you who don’t know, Antinomianism is a cute little heresy from way back that basically says that because Christ freed us from the law and works, nothing is required of us at all. It basically is a false teaching that tells people that they are exempt from any moral law since they are under grace.

I may deal with that error in a full article at some point. Today though, I just wanted to point it out to ward off any Antinomians (like garlic for vampires) as I talk about the Sabbath. And if we aren’t speaking the same language, or you are Antinomian- that’s fine. You take the high road and I’ll take the low road and I’ll get to Dublin before ye.

This article is for those who do feel the same way and who could really use the blessing of it in their lives.

You see, this year, we decided to go ahead and break from Pennycostul tradition and celebrate Holy Week. We are doing the whole she-bang; Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday (Didache, communion), Good Friday, Holy Saturday (fasting and prayer) and a sunrise Easter service.

Anyway, included in our Holy Week plans is a fast from Friday night to Saturday night. That of course, is the traditional Sabbath. Now, I know that a lot of religious folks have misused things like the Sabbath, taking all the fun out of them, like the Pharisees did in Jesus’ day. But I am not talking about that.

I am talking about 24 hours of your week where you un-plug and focus on the things with real meaning in your life, things like relaxation, family, nature, your health and most importantly, God. See, Jesus said that the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. That means, God put the Sabbath in place so that for one day out of the week, we could get re-centered and find some balance against the other six days.

That is something seriously lacking in our world. I mean, it is go-go-go, all of the time. Then one day you wake up and you don’t know your wife because you haven’t spent any real time with her. You are roommates with benefits and that’s about it. You don’t really know your kids either. Usually because you haven’t had any real time for yourself or for you and your spouse and so you want them in bed as soon as possible. And so it goes. We hustle from one thing to the next and miss everything in between.

That’s one of the reasons I don’t care much for cities. The stimulus is just ridiculous; the flashing lights, signs, buildings, people, cars, noise, smoke. It can be overwhelming and if you are like me, I value controlled stimulus, not chaos.

So we all need a break. But most of the time we find that in TV or movies or busy music. All things that overstimulate your brain and are really not what God had in mind at all when he came up with rest.

For us, we started to un-plug by getting rid of the television as the centerpiece of the living room. We just got it out of there completely and replaced it with a bookshelf. We didn’t know if anyone would still use the space after we did it, particularly the young ones. But after we did it, I came downstairs and the two youngest were sharing an easy chair reading a book. And the room has been in constant use ever since, actually, it is used more now than before. We all talk at night, read books, whatever. And there is a sense of peace that was not there before.

Taking this whole idea one step further, we are adopting the idea of Sabbath once a week. For 24 hours, sundown to sundown, things go off. No cellphones, TV, movies, computers, video games, everything goes off. We won’t buy or sell anything during that 24 hours. And the whole idea is to reconnect to people, nature, ourselves and God.

Upon doing an internet search for the Sabbath, I found some great resources. Here is a list that I found that we are going to print and place on the fridge to help us remember what the day is about:

The 10 Principles of Sabbath
1. Avoid technology.
2. Connect with loved ones.
3. Nurture your health.
4. Get outside.
5. Avoid commerce.
6. Light candles.
7. Drink wine.
8. Eat bread.
9. Find silence.
10. Give back.

What a great list! And what a great idea from God!

So, find those “whole” things in your life and focus on them for 24 hours out of every week. Get out in a garden and get some dirt in your toes. Go for a walk in the park and get some grass between your toes. Get some wine and a loaf of fresh bread and Brie and go sit under a tree or by a river with your spouse. Let the kids ask anything they want for an hour of undivided attention.

If your life is so busy that you and the family simply cannot spare the time, then now would be a great time to sit down with everyone and discuss whether or not you are truly living. I mean, is all that stuff really worth it?

So, take God’s suggestion and get free. Blessings on you and good Sabbath!

How I left the Tea Party

**Note: I am fairly sure I will lose many of you on the Right with this article. I am equally sure that I will probably not gain many on the Left with it. But that is not my goal. I feel that what I have written here needs to be said, especially now. And I ask that you, left or right, simply read it with an open mind and open heart. We have been so polarized by the powers that be and I believe with my whole heart that many of us are feeling the same thing.

And that is my goal. Ad captandum vulgus, “To win over the crowd”. You lonely lurkers who do not fit easily into anyone’s box, may this give you direction.

Let them with ears to hear, hear.

Thanks.
J.
**

I considered myself a Tea Party member, a Republican and a Capitalist, in short, a Corporate American Christian.

I had the Gadsden flag flying and a shirt that reads, “I’d rather be waterboarding”. I watched Glenn Beck every afternoon and saw the Pinkos coming for my rights under every bush and bed.

I listened to Rush and Sean and Mark Levin and even though I knew that Corporations had done and were doing some really nasty things, I knew that we were better with them than without them. And I would certainly rather have huge corporations than a huge government.

And that was what the whole argument boiled down to for me, were Corporations better than government control?

I remember one day I was watching Fox News and there was some story on about how the unions had crippled American business. I of course knew that the unions were nothing more than Communist fronts. And so I rooted for the multinational corporation and spewed venom at the unions. But something felt strange about the whole thing, though at the time, I didn’t know what.

Just so you know, I had always hated Corporate culture, always. I hated being sold things and being subjected to what Rage Against the Machine called “in-house drive by’s”, or commercials. But here I was, rooting for Corporations. I filed it away as “growing up” but a doubt started growing inside of me.

That little doubt started to whisper questions in my ear about why the Left accused the Right of being “corporate lackeys” and the Right accused the Left of being “Communists” and why these were the only two positions available in the debate.

I mean, maybe it was true and that was all that there was to it. It was “free enterprise, the Reagan way” versus “Communist re-education and groupthink”. True-blue Americans versus the Socialist scum that are trying to destroy our way of life.

Strangely, or maybe fittingly, my questions began to really gain steam when I stumbled across a sermon by Jeremiah Wright, the “Communist, America-hating, black Nationalist” that got vivesected by Fox News. You know, Obama’s former Pastor in Chicago.

I listened to a part of one of his sermons and read some of what he wrote and I was shocked to discover that it was inspired, scriptural and passionate. A little further digging revealed that Fox had paid for thousands of dollars worth of his sermons in order to find something.

And I thought to myself, I could never survive that scrutiny. I say enough in the open that could be considered controversial, imagine if it was taken out of context…

And I began to wonder, what if the guy was railroaded? He is a Christian, taking the time to listen to him will tell you that much. Things that he said could certainly be construed as anti-American but am I member of the Kingdom of God first or America first?

I know that’s a huge can of worms for some of you so I won’t tip that sacred cow just yet. Suffice it to say, God is not an American (He’s kind of bigger than that).

But Glenn Beck said that he is into Liberation Theology, which he says is Communist and not really Christian at all. Of course, Glenn is a Mormon and so he’s probably not a great expert on Christian orthodoxy.

Regardless, Liberation Theology is not Communist. It simply tries to answer the question of what is the proper practice for proper beliefs. That if the Bible meant what it said about the widows, orphans, oppressed and poor, what is the proper Christian response in that context.

At the time, I honestly didn’t know what to believe. All of the talking heads said he was a Commie but my spirit told me otherwise.

Then one afternoon, Glenn Beck started going after other Christians, Jim Wallis and Dorothy Day in particular, whom I respected and admired. He took what Jim said about redistribution being something that Christ taught and twisted it to sound like a Communist doctrine. He said that “Social Justice” was a Communist code word. And my internal alarms started going off in a very big way.

And that’s when the lights came on for good.

I saw that the fight had become Government on the left and Corporate on the right with no middle ground. But what Beck didn’t say, and no one says is that people like Dorothy Day, (whom he called a Marxist) are not Marxists at all but Distributists. They couldn’t stand big government anymore than big corporations.

This idea was a whole lot like me and many that I know, on the left and the right. I believe in some things that are considered liberal but I am also a conservative in some things. I am not a company man, I am a human.

And I began to see in drastic contrast that the whole Tea Party and even the Christian Right have been co-opted by the Corporations.

No, let me restate; American Christianity has become Corporate.

I was a Tea Partier because initially, it was about government spending and intrusion. And it was truly neutral, we had just as much against the Democrats as we did the Republicans. We were just as angry at Corporations as we were the Government.

We wanted small government, fair taxes, personal liberty and personal responsibility. And it was good. And this must have scared the Big Government and the Big Corporations to death because they immediately set in to define our terms for us, to get us back into line.

This worked brilliantly, by the way, and soon it became only about Big Government and I found myself cheering for the very corporations that took the bail outs that I was so upset about initially.

I found myself arguing for the rich to pay less taxes because then they would be more generous to the masses. I wanted less restrictions on them so that they would make even more money and maybe one of us peasants would get lucky and get us some.

In short, the two creatures that were in bed with one another- corporate interests and government, played good cop- bad cop on us and we bought it.

We started rallying for businessmen to take office and free us from government waste and Communist infiltration by the unions. To lower corporate taxes and restrictions so that “we” would be free to prosper without government interference. In short, we wanted the foxes to straighten out that old messy henhouse for us.

One day, I was paying an electric bill when the thought came home to me full-force. What money I have is all doled out to Corporations, I live and work for their benefit and the government enacts laws that force me to do this, which is tantamount to slavery.

We must pay a mortgage to a Corporation, buy cars from corporations, get insurance from corporations, get heat and electric from corporations, buy our food from corporations, get entertained by corporations and what would have been left over has been given to the government, who collects our income taxes to pay off the Federal Reserve and taxes elsewhere for the remainder.

We are told that this is all normal. That corporations are just big small businesses and that we are all better off with Wal-Mart and Target and K-Mart supplying everything that we need, rather than a small business.

They point to low cost as proof of the goodness of the system. But like the family that lives off of Dollar meals at McDonalds because they can’t afford to eat organic, local or from scratch, can you really say that they are better off because it is cheaper?

And though they provide jobs, the money is seldom good enough for the workers to make their corporate life-payments. And so both parents are required to go to work to pay their dues and our families have fallen apart.

Are we really better off without neighborhood grocers? Are clothes made in sweat shops in India really better than someone producing them locally?

And in the midst of this corporate culture, something inside feels like it is trapped and dying. We don’t know our neighbors or produce anything for one another. And though many of us long for some simplicity, purity and freedom, we feel that there is no hope because our only options are Governmental tyranny or Corporate greed.

And many of us just want to be free. Just that, free. Free to develop the means of production and free to do things without having the dollar as the bottom line.

This is just as true for those on the Left as those on the Right. The Left tends to talk about care for the poor and disadvantaged, sustainability and indigenous business. But in today’s Left, you are told that you must look to Government to give you your rights.

The Right talks about fiscal responsibility, the family, small government and personal responsibility and in today’s Right, you are convinced to look to Corporations as your providers and saviors.

But the real truth is that we are all talking about wanting the same things.

And the answer is found not in Socialism or this Plutocracy called Capitalism, those are the options that they give us. The answer is found in the Third Way, Distributism.

But before I write about that briefly, let me qualify what I said about the Church becoming Corporate here in America, as I feel it is pivotal to this article.

God is not a Communist. But neither is God a Capitalist. God’s idea of wealth has never been dollars or Denarii, stocks or bonds. God’s wealth is the silver and the gold, the land and the livestock. This Earth is His and the fullness thereof.

The world system is built around currency, or capital. God’s system is built around the family, the community, the labor and the land.

But strangely, the Church in America has become almost totally Corporate in its methods and its mind set, even going so far as to actually encourage people to seek out that which Jesus said to avoid and turning vice into virtue, calling good evil and evil, good.

We judge church success by numbers and money. We tailor our programs in such a way that the consumers will choose our products over our competition’s. We buy and sell, acquire and promote. But none of it looks like Jesus, in fact, it is contrary to Him.

The question of the effectiveness of our two churches here is not spiritual progress, teaching, conversions, unity of the Saints or feeding the poor. The effectiveness comes down to numbers and money. We are forced to worry about numbers and money so that we can continue to do God’s work. That is just a reality, you say? I beg to differ.

A genuine Christian community would voluntarily redistribute from churches who had more to supply for those who were poor, not force the poor churches to implement corporate methods while watering down the message just to gain numbers and money.

And I double-dare you to prove me wrong when I say that the entire church has been caught up in a Wal-Mart mind set, trying to offer the most options to the most people so that you can grow the largest.

But what has been lost in all of this? Care for the poor, love for one another, community and redistribution among our numbers so that no one lacks. We have become about superstar preacher CEO’s and slick marketing campaigns that appeal to the flesh of carnal man.

And like comparing a Corporate chicken that has been mutilated and pumped full of growth hormones, (so that we can pump the product out cheaper and faster) and the taste of a free-range grass-fed chicken, the difference is immediately obvious.

And our assembly line version Christian knock-off is a pitiful excuse for the real deal. But not only is it not as good as the real thing, somehow it is killing us all.

We know it and the world knows it.

And the answer for both the church and our society is the same; we must free ourselves from our Corporate mind set and our Big Government mind set and discover God’s ways, now.

The false left-right dichotomy has ravaged both us as Christians and Americans. And we are hungry as a generation, hungry for tribe, community, locality, neighboring.

And in this artificially flavored, factory produced semi-life, who wouldn’t be?

Who among us doesn’t wish things were different? Who wouldn’t prefer getting your local meat from a local butcher? Or knowing that your tomatoes were grown down the road, free of chemicals?

Who isn’t tired of mystery meat and taking vitamins engineered to replace the minerals and nutrients that Corporations have sacrificed on the altar of convenience, just to nudge the profit margin?

Wouldn’t it be better to keep business local and have a fairer distribution of profits, so that all prosper? To share the profits with the employee-owners rather than with distant stockholders at those employee’s expense?

Would it not be possible to supply electricity locally, each community deciding whether the company is privately run and locally outfitted or to run it as a community co-op? Why must we turn everything over to the few who possess the capital rather than cooperate for the good of our community?

How about bringing back artisanship and apprentices, skilled craftsman who pass on their knowledge to someone local, who supplies a local need?

Shouldn’t we focus as a community on our roads and parks and place our schools as a top priority?

Shouldn’t education be free and the heights that you can achieve be based on your potential rather than your income? Is it really fair to saddle someone with a lifetime of corporate debt in exchange for a education?

The list goes on and on.

Some will say that the government is the people and therefore the argument is void of content.

But when was the last time that we had a President that was not a millionaire? Why are our elections based on money spent? Who would want to run for office if their life was not free of any blemish?

That’s how you end up with candidates carefully sealing off every aspect of their life, including college records.

No one is that perfect but we don’t want those who would be way more likely to have a past to actually get into office, regardless of their brilliance, leadership or current character.

I for one would really love a real leader, flawed and genuine for once.

This is true across the board, unless you live in Washington, DC where being a crackhead actually helps you get into office. Go figure.

Who trusts politicians? And for good reason, they are all “of us” until they get their hand in the cookie jar.

Many will say that it is not possible to run a society without Big Government or Big Business. But I say that this is my world, my life, my moment spent on the stage of human existence and I have the God-given right to press reset any time I choose.

And I am not alone. In fact, I think that we are the majority, though most don’t know it yet. When we end the Government-Capitalist dichotomy and begin to make our own way, freedom will come to us all.

When we stop basing the Gospel on numbers and money and corporate schemes and instead refocus on the local church and its mission, to glorify God, revival will follow.

And there is a new world waiting for us but we must realize that it is us that its waiting for. Not for the government, not for a corporation, but for just you.

The Corpse of God

“Have you not heard of that madman who lit a lantern in the bright morning hours, ran to the market place, and cried incessantly: “I am looking for God! I am looking for God!”

As many of those who did not believe in God were standing together there, he excited considerable laughter.

“Have you lost him, then?” said one. “Did he lose his way like a child?” said another. “Or is he hiding? Is he afraid of us? Has he gone on a voyage? or emigrated?”

Thus they shouted and laughed. The madman sprang into their midst and pierced them with his glances. “Where has God gone?” he cried. “I shall tell you. We have killed him – you and I. We are his murderers. But how have we done this? How were we able to drink up the sea? Who gave us the sponge to wipe away the entire horizon?

What did we do when we unchained the earth from its sun? Whither is it moving now? Whither are we moving now? Away from all suns?

Are we not perpetually falling? Backward, sideward, forward, in all directions? Is there any up or down left? Are we not straying as through an infinite nothing? Do we not feel the breath of empty space?

Has it not become colder? Is it not more and more night coming on all the time? Must not lanterns be lit in the morning? Do we not hear anything yet of the noise of the gravediggers who are burying God? Do we not smell anything yet of God’s decomposition?

Gods too decompose. God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we, murderers of all murderers, console ourselves?

It has been further related that on that same day the madman entered divers churches and there sang a requiem. Led out and quietened, he is said to have retorted each time: “What are these churches now if they are not the tombs and sepulchers of God?”

Friedrich Nietzsche
“Joyous Wisdom”

God is dead. What a frightening thought. To think that the universe spins out of control, perched delicately on an axis that He created, seconds or minutes or hours from the moment when the centrifugal force proves too much and the inevitable tumbling into oblivion takes place.

To think that he is gone, that our lives spent in loving service have been for nothing and no one except for a God who no longer exists.

We are faced every day with more proof that God is indeed dead. We watch the televisions here in America every night; see the massacres in Rwanda or the Genocide in Croatia. We see the young black men killing themselves in record numbers or hear stories of mothers tossing babies into dumpsters or selling them into child porn for a fix.

We as Christians insulate ourselves from the harshness of the world that we live in rather than deal with any of these things. We need more reality positioned about two inches from our face because that is the world we live in. Not the frilly interior designed pre-fab world that Christians surround themselves with.

Rather it is the dark dirt, the black-foaming sewer of real life that is right outside our doors.

It is the view of a world living in the reality of a dead god. And we have created that reality for them. We the Christians have killed god for all intents and purposes.

Like the movie from a few years ago called Weekend at Bernies. We show up for our Christian get-togethers lugging in tow a dead body that we try to present as alive. We kneel in church buildings when we should. We say all the right words. We have a spiritual excuse for every single wrong that happens.

Like a magician who specializes in luring the eye away from where it should be, we are common street hustlers and our hustle is religion.

We tell everyone that God is alive and well. We add to our repertoire several stories that we have heard that help to corroborate this fallacy. Then we sit back and perfect our inner spiritual journey while the world feeds on the filth of its own demise.

And we call it good.

We stand bloody-handed over the body that housed God. And then add insult to injury by painting the corpse up in some mock imitation of whatever representation we need at the moment. We carry that corpse up into whatever building we can afford and prop him up for all the world to see. Not to gaze at the awesome power of the creator, oh no. No, we instead prop him up so that everyone can tell that we have managed to tame him. We have him controlled by our dogma, our statement of faith, our by-laws and boards.

Its safe to come in with us, we cry, look how peaceful he is!

Shocking? Maybe. But it is also the truth. This world is dying everywhere around us while we compromise. The masses are herded over the cliffs of eternity while we posture. It is unbelievable to me. It is incomprehensible how some people can continue to choose to be asleep in the light while the world burns.

And yet here we are. Beyond all reason, here we are. We continue to worship the monument rather than the creator. We continue to make cheap excuses and formulas rather than dare to ask the questions. And so we have killed God.

We have killed him in the minds of the world that surrounds us. They see our blatant disregard for the tenets of the faith and stand in transfixed awe at our stupidity. We posture as if he is alive and blessing us but where is he?

When I see preachers in some churches driving overly expensive automobiles and being given sympathy cruises to the Bahamas, I hope that God is behind the blessing.

But I have gone out to the reservations to preach to the First Nation. I have worked with the homeless kids in downtowns across America. I have seen the preacher on the reservation that no one cares about, who works three jobs to provide not only for his family but for the church as well.

I have prayed with the preacher who has quietly endured a living hell so that the sheep are safe. I have hugged and loved the AIDS victim living out his last moments in a free hospice and been told that no church has ever come to see him because he is gay.

And I scream at the sheer audacity of these charlatan thieves. The world thinks God dead because we have settled for the lie. Rather than dare to live in the reality of God, we choose the safer path.

The disease of the church is systemic and real change can only come to it from outside of it. The church speaks to themselves for themselves and shine one another’s unused armor while the world burns and the graveyards fill with the bodies of those who have lived and died in a world where God was dead.

I know many of you recoil at me saying that God is dead over and over. But let me ask you, if he is not- could you tell me what he looks like?

Is God clean or dirty? Is he rich or poor? Is he beautiful or ugly? Is God a capitalist, placing money above the needs of the poor and degenerate among us? Is he a Republican or Democrat? Is he a socialist or communist, placing all power in the hands of the state and stripping people of their rights and identity? Is he middle class, upper class or lower class? What does he look like?

I used to think that God looked like a TV preacher or an ancient Greek God, high up on the mountain hurling lightning bolts.

But now I know the truth. God looks like the suffering, the broken and the wounded. God looks like the homeless man and the hopeless drunk. God looks like the one you would least expect because his heart is just not in the same place as ours is.

In the film Entertaining Angels, Dorothy Day, exhausted from a life of serving the outcast and the poor, runs to a church to pray. Looking up at a statue of Jesus, she breaks down and appeals to him in a raw, heart-wrenching way.

She says to God: “Where are you? Why don’t you answer me? I need you! These brothers and sisters of yours, the ones you want me to love, let me tell you something. They smell! They have lice and tuberculosis! Am I to find you in them?—Well, you’re ugly! You stink! You wet your pants! You vomit! How could anyone love you?”

But she did love them and by doing so, she loved Christ.

So, I have this to say, friends. God is not dead. We are. We have forgotten whose we are and whom we serve. We have been playing marbles with diamonds. And shame on us. Shame on us for what we have done.

But remember this one thing; Leonard Ravenhill said that revival is what happens when God gets so sick and tired of being misrepresented that he shows himself.

We need a revival of remembering, a revival of humility and meekness. We need a revival of the genuine selfless love of Christ. We need a revival of purity, power and hope.

We need a revival of true Christianity in an age of Laodicean compromise.

Because the world doesn’t need our churches or our programs, they need our Jesus and no one is talking about him anymore.

Our love for one another is a witness

In Johnny Cash’s song, “God’s Gonna Cut You Down,” he sings, “You can run on for a long time, run on for a long time, run on for a long time, sooner or later God’ll cut you down, sooner or later God’ll cut you down . . . Go tell that long tongue liar, go tell that midnight rider, tell the rambler, the gambler, the backbiter, tell them that God’s gonna cut ‘em down, tell ‘em that God’s gonna cut ‘em down . . .”

He gives a testimony, “O my goodness gracious let me tell ya the news, my head’s been wet with the midnight dew, I’ve been down on bended knee, talkin’ to the man from Galilee, He spoke to me in a voice so sweet, i thought I heard a shuffle of angels’ feet, He spoke to me and my heart stood still, when He said ‘Man, go do My will,’ . . . You can throw your rock, and hide your hand, workin’ in the dark against your fellow man, But sure as God made black and white, what is done in the dark will be brought to the light . . .”

This song speaks about people who do not follow God, and think they are getting away with it. In the trailer for the new movie “True Grit,” based on the 1968 book by Charles Portis, True Grit, this song is played. The message of that book is a similar message, where a man murders another man in the old west, and the story is of bringing him to justice. It is a great book, but that’s not the point.

The point has to do with what Paul wrote about in Galatians 5:13-26, where he urged the Galatians to ”walk by the Spirit, and you will not satisfy the desires of the flesh,” or “live by the Spirit,” (NIV) (for JC Smith ) Hold onto that thought . . .

. . . John 13:34-35, Jesus said “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Picture Jesus in the upper room, talking to His disciples, and he tells them a new commandment. (Sorry, couldn’t find a more manly Jesus picture–not one that was reverent. Got a better one? Send it to nswhiteside@gmail.com). He’s not replacing the First and Great Commandment, “Love the Lord Your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength;” He’s not replacing the 2nd Great Commandment “Love your neighbor as yourself,” but He’s giving them a new commandment like the other two. This should flow out of your life. This command is the new bumper sticker He wants them to wear, that marks them as people trying to be like Him. The rabbi is telling His students the school mascot: Love one another.

Go back to Galatians. Paul writes to a people much like our churches today. Whether or not you believe they were in Northern or Southern Galatia, they had the same problems we have. On one hand, they struggled with legalism, where Christians believe that if they act perfectly it is the most important part of their walk with Christ. Usually these are people who define themselves by who they’re against or what they don’t believe in, or what they don’t do. You’ve heard, “We don’t smoke, drink, chew, or hang around those that do.” Who wants to be a part of an amoeba that constantly defines itself by what others do, that it does not?

Then Galatia had the other extreme, which were the libertines, or the eccentrics carrying out their Christian liberty. A good word to describe them is irresponsible. You can spot these Christians because they believe that they prayed a prayer and now can live however they want. They do not feel guilty when they sin, or express remorse, because they think that because all sin was paid for on the cross, Jesus doesn’t care. Kind of like a multi-billionaire handing us hundreds of dollars every month and not caring how we spend it because the supply seems limitless. That is also wrong.

In this context, speaking of living their lives like Christ, Paul incorporates Jesus’ command in the sermon on the Mount and John 13 in the Upper Room discourse: Love your neighbor as yourself! Paul says it sums up the entire law! “So then, live by the Spirit . . .” In other words, “Because of this . . .” or “Having said that, I say to you . . .” In light of your need to stop biting and devouring each other, you need to live by the Spirit, and you will not satisfy the desires of the flesh. The two, he explains, are like oil and water and cannot co-exist. You must choose, and it isn’t legalism, and it isn’t irresponsible Christian hedonism, it is in the middle like Jesus. Live by the Spirit, communion with God and letting Him lead you.

Our witness is loudest in our relationships that are closest. We should be so living by the Holy Spirit that we can open our home and let people watch us argue with our spouse and see that even in our disagreements, the Holy Spirit is there and our resolution is in accordance with God the Holy Spirit. Same with our churches, so that unbelievers are awed at our love for one another. Disciples of Jesus have this. Do you? If not, are you working on it? This is something you can’t put off.

Dr. Criswell, long time pastor of First Baptist Church, Dallas, TX, described this as if we all owned two dogs, one called the sinful nature and the other represented walking by the Spirit. Whichever dog you feed is going to grow stronger. So the question is “Which of your two dogs is healthy and growing, and which of your two dogs is starving?”

Lewis Sperry Chafer, in his book, He That is Spiritual, hits this nail on the head. He said that the problem is never God’s fault (I’m paraphrasing), it is ours. It isn’t that the Spirit isn’t filling us enough, because the Holy Spirit comes into our lives completely when we are saved. The problem is us not giving Him enough of ourselves.

Don’t miss this: Paul told Christians in Galatians 5 that in order to love one another, you must be living by the Spirit. You must be godly, because you can try to love someone completely like Jesus did (remember, it is “as I have loved you,”), but unless you depend on Him, your nature is not able to love others like Jesus did. The Spirit in you–Jesus who said He would be with you always, even to the end of the age–the Spirit of Christ which is the Holy Spirit–He alone gives us the power we need to love one another. In order to love one another, we have to live by the Holy Spirit.

So, then, how does what Paul is saying relate to what Jesus said in John 13? Jesus said loving one another is our ID. Paul explained that can’t happen unless we are trying to be Godly. Godliness can’t happen unless we surrender ourselves to the Holy Spirit. So then, how do we surrender ourselves to the Holy Spirit? Read Galatians 5:22 and following, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.”

What Paul describes is like two people walking up the ladder of Godliness. As long as both people continue to climb upwards, they continue to get closer together. However, if one person decides to go down and give into the sinful nature, the two naturally grow farther apart.

Followers of the rabbi from Galilee, let’s be people of love, an inner joy, people of peace, people who have patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness in our relationships and to our call, people of gentleness, and people who demonstrate to the world what self-control looks like. Ask the Holy Spirit to enable you to do this. Focus on this, on what we do. Love one another greatly.

Lastly, my friend from India grew up a Hindu and now is a Christ-follower. It is interesting that He said the one thing that got him, that he could not stop thinking about when he met Christians, was their love for one another. It was their treatment of each other better than family, that got him. That eventually led him to investigate and discover the Gospel, and follow Jesus. Keep reading in Galatians and chapter 6 says, “Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted.” Let’s risk our lives for one another, help restore the fallen followers of Jesus, help the poor brothers and sisters (as well as the poor unbelievers), and that will be a loud witness to the world who thinks we’re irrelevant. Let’s be disciples who show love for one another.

The Ministry of the Shivering Sheep

Luk 4:18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,

Luk 4:19  To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.

It's this or lamb chops, Fluffy...

What is ministry success? Simple question, isn’t it? And no doubt the answers would roll off of our tongues readily and without much thinking involved.

But I have really had to put some thought into this lately and I am not sure where it is taking me. See, here’s the deal; we have the “Churchian Correct” answers, then there are the real answers that you may think but wouldn’t actually say out loud and then somewhere out there is the truth. I am after number three on that list; what is the truth?

For most Pastors and Itinerants (Evangelists, teachers, etc.) the Churchian Correct answer would be “To glorify God”, “To see people saved”, “To impact the world for the Kingdom”. All of those are nice answers and admirable “CC” answers as well. No one can give you the Pharisee stare over those answers, for sure. And yet, how do we really quantify success?

This is important, not only so that we can begin to view everything that we do through God’s viewpoint but also for our own sanity as the Churchians, the flesh and the enemy all jockey for position in order to be the one who takes us out of the game.

The questions that everyone has (and few ask out loud) in regards to a church or ministry are like these:

“How many people do you have coming?”

“How much money is coming in?”

“How well are you known?”

“Who do you know and who knows you?”

“What projects do you have underway?”

Here is the very bottom line for much of the American church. To glorify God, see people saved and be able to impact the world are wonderful ideals but all of those must fall at the feet of what we truly worship: American success and American exceptionalism. Numbers and money are the failsafe way of telling whether or not God is with you. The other things are nice, even noble, but what is really important are numbers and money.

Imagine if they ran Missionary Societies that way. The Society sends a couple to the Bukuvu, deep in the jungle. After awhile they start to get concerned about a lack of “fruit” and so they place a call from Headquarters:

“Hi Brother Todd, we were just calling down there to check up on you and the work, how are things going among the cannibals of the Buvuku? All of the people here are praying for you, you know.”

“Well, it’s the Bukuvu, sir, and things are going really well spiritually, we added a few headhunters and have been adapting our methods in order to really impact this region”.

“Great! How are your numbers?”

“Well, numbers aren’t high. We get some in and then don’t see them again. Then we had quite a few that came in and were involved but then they tried to eat my face off. You know, they are cannibals and biting and devouring each other is how they are used to living. That’s why we are adapting our methods. But we have some here that are wonderful stories of how God has impacted their lives…”

“Numbers aren’t high, huh? Well, how are the offerings? I mean, you haven’t been able to send much back to the home office here. We are getting a little tired of sending money down there and not seeing a real return.”

“Well, like I said, we have some that have been really impacted and we have quite a bit of hope for what God is starting to do around here. Plus there is this enemy tribe that attacks almost constantly, especially me and the family. Then we put the call out for the church to come and defend us and most of them fall asleep. So, it has been tough, you are fighting the “Eat your face off” culture on one hand and the enemies on the other.”

“Well, you need to get the cannibal attendance up and speak to them about the importance of giving as well. Remember, sheep are only good for two things: for meat and to be sheared.”

“Uhhhh…yeah… Well, something about that just doesn’t sound right to me. I was under the impression that ministry is its own reward and that we are doing this to ‘seek and save those that are lost’. And as far as the sheep go, they are coming along but I will certainly not use them just to shear or for… meat.”

“Well, that is idealism. In public we will say that these things are what are important but in reality we all know that a ministry must produce. See, it’s like a cow, if the milk production runs low, you need to kill it. Or else it’s just a waste of resources. So, we need you to produce real results or we will have to conclude that you are bad and that God doesn’t want you here.”

“Because I don’t have high numbers and we aren’t producing money?”

“Yes, those are the very best ways of determining if God is with you- numbers and money.”

Now, that seems farcical but it’s not. Why are so many church plants done in suburbs? Of course, the suburbs need saved too, we would all agree on that. What’s amazing to me is how many of us get “called” there when there are so many places that desperately need us and are ignored. What about Evangelists that you know who focus only on jails? When I have done prison ministry, there is almost a 100% rate of success. But the offerings aren’t all that high, unless you count cigarettes.

Can success be reckoned by numbers? As David Platt said in his recent book, “Radical”, Jesus was the world’s youngest Mini-Church Pastor. In fact, He seemed to go out of His way to discourage people from following Him. By John Chapter 7, he was left with a handful of people after He preached what Platt referred to as His infamous “Eat Me” sermon.

So, Jesus wasn’t exactly into numbers as a gauge of His success. For that matter, neither was Jeremiah, Paul, Ezekiel or Daniel.

All Church planters sow in tears that they may reap in joy. And most of the time, that season of reaping can seem so terribly far off that they no longer live with it before their face. When the markers for success are money and numbers, is it any wonder all of our kids want to be in Christian rock bands and not missionaries, either to the world or right here in the U.S.?

Adoniram Judson was the first missionary to India. I am including His story here to begin to give you a peek into what God deems as success:

His conversion not only saved his soul, it smashed his dreams of fame and honor for himself. His one pressing purpose became to “plan his life to please his Lord.” In 1809, the same year he joined the Congregational church, he became burdened to become a missionary. He found some friends from Williams College with the same burden and often met with them at a haystack on the college grounds to earnestly pray for the salvation of the heathen and petition God to open doors of ministry as missionaries to them. That spot has been marked as the birthplace of missions in America.

Three years later, February 19, 1812, young Adoniram Judson, and his bride of seven days, Ann Haseltine Judson, set sail for India, supported by the first American Board for Foreign Missions. But on that voyage, Judson, while doing translation work, saw the teaching of immersion as the mode of baptism in the Bible. Conscientiously and courageously, he cut off his support under the Congregational board until a Baptist board could be founded to support him!

The Judsons were rejected entrance into India to preach the Gospel to the Hindus by the East India Company and after many trying times, frustrations, fears, and failures, they finally found an open door in Rangoon, Burma.

There was not one known Christian in that land of millions. And there were no friends in that robber-infested, idolatry-infected, iniquity-filled land. A baby was born to alleviate the loneliness of the young couple, but it was to be only for a temporary time. Eight months later, Roger William Judson was buried under a great mango tree. The melancholy “tum-tum” of the death drum for the thousands claimed by cholera, and the firing cannons and beating on houses with clubs to ward off demons, tormented the sensitive, spiritual souls of that missionary couple, too.

And there were no converts. It was to be six, long, soul-crushing, heart-breaking years before the date of the first decision for Christ. Then, on June 27, 1819, Judson baptized the first Burman believer, Moung Nau. Judson jotted in his journal: “Oh, may it prove to be the beginning of a series of baptisms in the Burman empire which shall continue in uninterrupted success to the end of the age.” Converts were added slowly — a second, then three, then six, and on to eighteen.

But opposition came, also. Finally Judson was imprisoned as a British spy — an imprisonment of twenty-one months. Judson was condemned to die, but in answer to prayers to God and the incessant pleadings of his wife to officials (one of the most emotional-packed, soul-stirring stories in evangelism), Judson’s life was spared and finally British intervention freed him from imprisonment.

So, follow me here. Judson goes to India as a loose cannon. Then, amidst horrible poverty, they have a baby who dies. Six years into the work, there is not a single convert. When his church grows to 18, he is thrown in prison. This is not sounding like he was called at all. No doubt He was told to quit- unless he was having awesome offerings there in India. God was obviously not with Him, if He was, the baby wouldn’t have died, He would have seen numbers go up and the offerings would be there.

The end of the story is telling:

The work progressed and gospel power began to open blind eyes, break idolatry-shackled hearts and transform the newly-begotten converts into triumphant Christians. On April 12, 1850, at the age of 62, Judson died. Except for a few months (when he returned to America after thirty-four years from his first sailing), Judson had spent thirty-eight years in Burma. Although he had waited six years for his first convert, sometime after his death a government survey recorded 210,000 Christians, one out of every fifty-eight Burmans.

Now, one of you out there just thought to yourself, “Yeah, but that was in Heathen India, this is the U.S. of A and so it’s not the same”. So, there is an American Hell then for the lost sinner? Those in India who don’t know Jesus are more lost than an American who doesn’t?

So, what is the measure of ministry success? I have come to the conclusion that it simply cannot be either numbers or money. That fits the American mindset but not the Biblical one nor historical precedence.

I have often seen ministry as if God has this huge map up in the throne room spread out before Him. And in every place where there is a dedicated servant, He can put a push-pin there. It is covered; He has someone there to work with and to carry on Kingdom business. And what is that business? I think that Jesus’ opening salvo at Nazareth is a pretty good indicator:

Are you preaching the Gospel to the poor, helping those who cannot repay you?

Are you healing the brokenhearted? Is your ministry personal, hands-on and compassionate?

Are you preaching deliverance to the captives? Are people getting free of the world, the flesh and devil under your ministry?

Are those who cannot see, seeing for the first time?

Are those who are bruised being set free? Are the oppressed, those who are held in bondage and tyranny, coming into a new Kingdom?

Are you proclaiming Jubilee? Are debts forgiven, slaves being set free and are people coming out of the world and into God’s way of Sabbath Economics and freedom from Babylon?

All of these things are worth putting money into. Because as my co-author Nate says, we have an intangible product. We don’t produce cars or accounting papers or stocks or bonds. We are in a spiritual business and so you can’t determine the value of what we do by using physical things, like money or big numbers.

But even using those standards, we still have to embrace what I call “Endgame thinking” in our ministry efforts. At the end of your life, after all of the die have been cast and all of the changes have been made in you that God wanted to make, what are you left with?

I think that if at the end of my days, there are more Christians in our churches who have been saved, trained and sent out than there was when I began, then I am a success in the Kingdom, because I would have multiplied my talents. Those who would have known the terror of an eternal Hell are now walking along the Highway of Salvation to the Celestial City.

And what price can you place on one soul?

If there is a church there where truth is being preached, we are a success. This is true in world missions: to get a church in place and place someone there who loves Jesus. That there is any fruit at all is a vast improvement over what would have been there if there was no church at all.

And we simply must begin to adapt these same standards to what we do here in the States.

Let those churches with an excess of money redistribute that to places where money is tight. This was what they did in the book of Acts and I see no reason to change it today. We should begin to applaud church planters and support them just as we do foreign missionaries. We need to start to have a big picture approach to what we do.

The moment you being to judge Gospel effectiveness by the flesh, you will never succeed because you will forget God and compromise everything to accommodate the world system and its way of thinking.