In September of 2007 I went from working 70 to 80 hours a week to about that same amount every month.  It has gotten even worse since then.  Back when I was so busy I barely had enough time to read some news, check television schedules and pay my bills while online.  I had heard of bulletin boards, forums, blogs, and other forms of communication on the internet but had never read or participated in them.  When the work schedule changed so drastically, I started reading more but I also started stumbling across blogs and forums and such.  Sometimes I wish I had not.

One of the first things I stumbled across was a site where a lot of ministers in my own denomination hung out.  It was also right before the General Assembly which is when the Church of God votes on change of leadership and other important issues.  I learned way too much.  I read a lot of things that ministers were saying and are saying and it makes me just want to run.  I want out of my denomination, out of my church and sometimes wish I was even out of the Kingdom.  If it truly could just be about me and Jesus, all would be fine.  But it can’t.  It is about relationship, community and the mission.

What I see coming from most Christians though is that it is about them.  Or for some, it is about their denomination.  If I hear another minister say how great a man of God someone is because they have did so much for the Church of God denomination instead of for the Lord of all the Church, I think I may explode.  I love the COG, it has done so much for me, how can you not love this grand old institution; these are a few of the many types of things some, and sadly they are usually the older ministers, say to anyone that questions the corruption that is so evident from the facts.  The corruption I am speaking about is the corruption of the mission.  But there is obviously even more.

I just finished reading Forgotten Ways, The: Reactivating the Missional Church by Alan Hirsch.  He wrote the following statement in it.

“In catering to the religious needs of some (largely the insiders) it has as a consequence failed to respond to the wider spiritual hunger of not-yet-Christians.”

He is referring to the institutional church; the denominations, the buildings, the hierarchy, the dogma, and the self-righteousness of our religion in conservative American Christianity.  We do not seem to want to do much more than token mission anymore.  We do enough to feel good about ourselves and even then, we ask those that need us to come to us instead of us going to them.  My own denominations problems seem to bear Hirsch’s thoughts out exactly.  The leaders at a certain level seem to only care about themselves and the continuance of the institution that caters to their aggrandizement.

This book has opened my eyes to a lot of things that I was already seeing and feeling.  I was just too busy to notice it until about the last year and a half.  The book is about becoming missional again.  The early church was missional but some of the older people in the COG seem to think this is some new spiritual fad or something and that we just need to get back to the old ways.  They don’t know how wrong and how right they are.  They are wrong about missional being a fad and right about needing to get back to the old ways.  But the old ways are much older than they think.  They are pre-Contantinian.  The early, persecuted church had it right.  So that is pretty old ways.

I think all ministers should be required to read this book and see if it does not check their spirit.  It has my own and I am nothing but a layman.  I am just so tired of seeing the people of God the same way I saw them when I was an atheist.  And I am not forgetting that I am one of them now.  I am going to figure out a way to be the person God needs me to be in His Kingdom today.  If it means changes are in store, then that is what will happen.  I wish more would join me in this endeavor to become what God meant for us to be.

One of the first things that I wish would be gotten rid of is this almost idolatrous view of “my” church, “my” denomination, “my” leaders, “my” ministry, and anything else we are so proud of because we see it as “ours”.  All of these things belong to Jesus, if they should really even exist.

I am sorry if anyone takes offense at anything I have written.  I know there may even be repercussions if I keep on saying some of the things I am saying.  But I am more concerned with the eternal repercussions if I keep quiet.

We do seem to have forgotten that it is not about us.  It is not about our comfort, our contentedness, or even our happiness.  Church is not an institution.  Church is a living, breathing, organism that is gasping for the breath of life because that breath, the Holy Spirit, seems to be slowly being pushed away by our inward instead of an outward focus.

Get the book.  Read it.  Come back and let me know if it woke anything in you.  It certainly has in me.  And not everyone will like it.

Love you all

Tags: America, atheist, Blogs, Christian, Christians, Church, Church of God, Conservative, denomination, forum, God, Holy Spirit, Kingdom, Leadership, ministry, mission, Righteousness, Self, spiritual hunger, War

I started reading blogs not long ago when the current economic problems started decreasing the amount of work I have.  I suddenly ended up with a lot more time on my hands.  I do not think that I have anything especially new or revelatory to say, but as I made part of my blog title, there are just some things I want to say. 

There has not been a lot of response as far as commentary yet, but it is okay.  I wish more would give a little bit of themselves to this effort to discussion and one friend suggested that I just ask a question instead of writing out a whole thought.  So this is what I am going to try here.  If it works I will try to do this every Tuesday. 

I decided on Tuesday simply because according to my statistics there has been the most traffic so far on this day of the week.  And for anyone that is reading and not commenting because the few that do, seem to be acquainted with me; I invite your thoughts also.  Please feel free to state what you believe.  There is a lot of diversity in the body of Christ and I think we can probably all learn something from each other.  Anyone that is not tolerant of someone else or their beliefs, will have their comments removed, so go ahead, and say what you want to say. 

For this first open discussion I have created a scenario and will end with a question.  It is not a true scenario that I am aware of and I do not know this person.  But the idea behind this is to provide an example of the many situations where the question could possibly apply.  I’m sure you can fit your own scenario to the questions. 

Here it is.

You and Bob go to the same church, one with about 400 attending most Sundays.  You also work at the same company.  You are not close but do talk in passing.  Bob attends church most Sundays but is not active in any ministry although his wife is a worker in the children’s department.  You teach a Sunday class for teenagers with your wife. 

One of the reasons you and Bob do not talk much is because you know for a fact he is having an affair at work.  You were also told to mind your own business when you tried to talk to him about it.  So you have only been able to pray about the situation since that time. 

Bob has just came to you though, and asked to talk.  He tells you he has been told he must have surgery because he has an aneurysm.  He tells you that he knows you are living right and asks if you will pray for him. 

My questions are simple.

What do you do?

How do you pray?

What do you ask for?

And do you think it would be effective?

There are some things I want to get at by asking these questions.  Hopefully we will get to develop thought and ideas from your responses.  I do have to work, as you do, and when I do I have no access to computers.  So leave your comments and answers and I will do some responding myself when I get in.

Love you all.

Tags: Blogs, Discussion, Prayer, Townhall

Rodin - Gates of Hell

Hello all fellow soldiers in the ultimate battle.  I am new to this blog stuff and after reading many different ones over the last few months I am finally going to take the plunge.  I am no one special.  Just a warrior trying to stay engaged with the work of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  I can’t shut up talking about Him so I thought I would try to write also. 

This date seems appropriate for the theme behind my first post.  We live in a dangerous world.  But there is also an unseen world that has as much violence going on as ours does.  And I believe both of these worlds overlap and affect each other.

I am not necessarily a writer, so please bear with me, if anyone is reading this.  And I have some definite doubts about whether that will happen.  But if no one does, or is, reading this, that’s okay too.  I’m enjoying it for now. 

My intent is to just think, write, and see what happens.  I haven’t been on God’s side for long.  A little over six years.  I served the enemy for seven times that as an atheist.  And this takes me to what I want to write about on this first post. 

What I wonder is where, exactly, are those gates that Jesus said would not prevail against His church in Matthew 16:18?  

No one seems to know. 

First, one must assume from Christ’s words and everything the bible teaches us, that the enemy is a real one.  I do.  And I know he, Satan, has allies.  They are called the world and the flesh and they must be engaged in battle also.  But as far as Satan and his minions, they pretty much have free reign.  Why?

Because most of the church doesn’t believe in them or at least do not see them as a threat. 

God is at war and He has been for a long time.  We can see that all around us.  Sad people, sick people, hurting people.  Liars, cheats, thieves, murderers.  Evil of all kinds run wild in our world.  When I watch the news or read an article or even hear prayer requests at church I am reminded that the enemy is real and roaming about like a roaring lion, seeking a new person to devour. 

But this is not the way it is supposed to be. 

Jesus said the gates of hell would not prevail against His church.  But we can see the evidence that the gates are actually wide open and the enemy forces come out and do battle whenever and wherever they want. 

Jesus won the war on the cross of Calvary.  But for some mysterious reason that only God understands, Satan is not to be destroyed yet.  So we are left here to be a part of this spiritual warfare.  But we are supposed to be on the offensive, not the defensive.  Jesus left us a weapons manual, Paul taught us how to properly maintain our gear and weaponry, and the Holy Spirit is our ever present leader. 

By saying the gates would not prevail, Jesus was letting us know that because of His soon to be accomplished victory, the enemy would be contained by walls and gates but that we, the church, would be keeping it under siege.  And in the beginning of the church, I believe this was the case.

The early soldiers understood how to do warfare.  Spiritual warfare.  They knew that preaching, teaching, prayer, communion, fellowship, worship, giving, feeding, caring…LOVE, was the way to keep the enemy under siege.  Love and holiness were key.

Holiness.  Oops.  I probably just ran off all three people reading this.  Today, love is okay.  As a matter of fact it is all that is okay in most churches.  But holiness is a term that runs most off or at least turns them off.  But it shouldn’t.  Holiness is not legalism.  It is simply a total separation from the enemies’ side and an alignment with God’s side.  Remember though, the enemy is the world, the flesh and the devil.  A lot of us would say we are willing to stand against and maybe even take the offense against Satan, but we don’t realize to do this we must stand separate from his allies also.  And this we are not as willing to do. 

Those early soldiers understood this and stood for Christ against the world and the flesh.  So they were able to some degree, I think, to keep the enemy in check.  Just imagine being burned alive or hung on a cross and praising God the whole time.  Imagine seeing Jesus standing at the right side of the Father as you are being stoned.  To us these things sound horrible.  But to those soldiers of old, this was the ultimate victory in their lives.  Lives that were given to Jesus, the One who gave His life for them. 

Then the church was compromised, infiltrated as it were, by the ally of the enemy known as the world.  Constantine helped bring this about.  And I am not sure when the ally known as the flesh took over.  But thru these two allies of the main enemy, the gates were somehow thrown wide open.  The enemy was loosed again.  He is still loose.  But we, if we are willing, can chase him back and shut them again.  And we can keep them closed until our King returns. 

I am ready.  And I am calling for some to go with me.  So, if anyone knows, please, where, exactly, are those gates?

Tags: Atheism, Blogging, Blogs, Holiness, Mercy, Servant, Spiritual Warfare