Nina Simone, an American singer and civil rights activist, said it best.
“You can’t help it. An artist’s duty, as far as I’m concerned, is to reflect the times.”
An artist’s responsibility is to demonstrate to the viewer, the art gazer, the entertainment consumer that which they observe about society, structures, and individuals of their choosing. Their reflection is subjective, be it offensive, degrading, on the mark, or indecipherable. Artists have a way of communicating to us what quotidian vernacular fails to do. The final work of art is then immortalized or fetishized because of its absurdity or its striking verisimilitude to its source.
We reflect on Shakespeare’s poetic prowess concerning feudalism, assassinations, and forbidden romance in a world where Queen Elizabeth I reigned. Her rule was plagued by wars between England and France, wars concerning religion, disputes about her Protestantism in a world where Catholic doctrine was accepted as the only true faith, and lastly, she combated internal strife because she did not marry nor did she have children to further the royal bloodline into the future. William Shakespeare had his fair share of content from which to develop his perennial literature.
“Elizabeth I reigned for 45 years, from 1558 to 1603. Shakespeare, born in 1564, spent the majority of his life under her rule. The influence of the Queen, and the way in which she portrayed herself, was pervasive, and can be seen in many of Shakespeare’s plays, including The Merry Wives of Windsor. In this play, reference is made to the Queen of the Fairies, an allusion to Elizabeth.”
Let us consider Langston Hughes, a Black American poet who used his intellect as a means to portray the realities of black suffering into poetic beauty. His controversial dicta held little back about black strife, pain, lynchings, poverty, and outright depression in an era where blues music, nightclubs, and daily beatings of black bodies by white cops and lynch mobs were ubiquitous in the American Deep South. Hughes used his reality to inform his art and his artwork informed the public, better demonstrating to them what was really happening in the ghettos and how that reality was ugly but worth publishing.
“Christ is a nigger, Beaten and black: Oh, bare your back!
Mary is His mother: Mammy of the South, Silence your mouth.
God is His father: White Master above, Grant Him your love.
Most holy bastard Of the bleeding mouth. Nigger Christ On the cross of the South.”
“An artist’s duty… is to reflect the times.”
Black liberation theologian James H. Cone reflects on the sad reality that many sciences and arts have ventured to tackle the truth about black suffering in America, absent one, theology.
“At that time, sit-ins and Freedom Rides were erupting all over the South. Black and white activists were being beaten bloody, sometimes killed, for advocating the right to eat at lunch counters, ride on integrated interstate buses, or use public bathrooms. White ministers condemned their actions from their pulpits and in the media, calling such activists “outside agitators,” “communists,” “criminals,” and “thugs.” White theologians, including my advisor and his colleagues, said nothing. They taught as if nothing was happening in the streets of America. My anger had been building for days, months, even years. I felt that I should be with my brothers and sisters who were actively fighting for black freedom.”
James Cone informs us that an artist who is unaffected by his or her surroundings is no artist at all. And I will go to the length to claim that a theologian who fails to reflect the plight of his immediate community, or rather, the broader community of believers – their hopes, aspirations, their pains, their oppression – is disinterested in his craft or morally compromised and unable to produce any good fruit from his studies.
Period.
If PETs (preachers, elders, and teachers) cannot look outside of the four walls of their church buildings to bring more to their communities than systematic theology then they’re soulless individuals.
If the theology, the message, the hope that was imbued to a small body of believers two thousand years ago cannot resonate and advise the lives of modern-day Christians, then that message is corrupt and filthy.
A messenger of this gospel of hope who cannot address the problems of our society in the 21st century is no messenger at all. This person becomes a vase of regurgitated cultural intellectualism that suits the intelligentsia of yesteryear but leaves the commoner by the wayside.
If women are abandoned while books are studied and libraries are filled with volumes of theological information, then the message is corrupt. If racial minorities are forgotten in the process to advance the gospel then it isn’t the gospel, it’s racial supremacy disguised as religious edicts. If the poor are forgotten as we venture to fatten ourselves with more conferences, more exposition magazines, hermeneutical study guides then what we are worshipping is knowledge and we’re no better off than the gnostics of the fourth century.
Our God is information, our priests are professors and diplomas substitute immersive baptism. We care little for people and prove this by stepping over them as we wave our accomplishments in academia and further enrich our lords by writing about everything but that which truly matters.
Reflect the times does not mean our theology is formed, molded, influenced, and possibly distorted by our culture and time.
No.
It means our theology is timeless and fruitful enough to address every cultural-socio issue that arises without losing its integrity.
“You can’t help it. An artist’s duty, as far as I’m concerned, is to reflect the times.”
Theologians are artists, too, you know.
Not many are good ones.
Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves; ensure justice for those being crushed. – Proverbs 31:8 NLT
I launched this blog one year ago today. It began as a medium by which to better understand a craft, understand how I think and how those thoughts come out on paper (or on-screen), to better develop my prose, and practice just enough to the point where I don’t feel miserable when writing my first book.
By the way, I’m almost halfway through that first book. More to come about that in the future.
Looking back I am so happy that I started this page. It helps me think and perhaps it confuses me even more. Tackling history, church history, theology, faith, and relationships often lead the inquirer to more questions than answers.
And from time to time, that’s okay.
We were never to have all the answers all to ourselves. We learn best in a community and we grow better in a healthy community. And this blog is one of many communities.
I hope to improve my craft not only for myself but for you, dear reader, as well. Stories shape us. Great stories encourage and inspire us. I hope to inspire not just you but my girls. So that one day, when they decide to read their dad’s shenanigans they can understand the man I am, the man I was, and the man I aspire to be, through my writings.
108 posts down. Here are some of my favorite ones since Olivet Theory officially launched one year ago today!
The “Gospel+” Movement: Why Simplicity Matters
“The simpler the gospel becomes the closer we are to it. Whenever we add an idea, belief systems, a depraved ideology or rules by which to attain that which Christ has already accomplished we are lightyears away from the truth.”
MTD vs Christianity Proper
“MTD isn’t a religion, like Islam or Judaism. It is more of a disintegration of one particular faith, namely Christianity, that melts into ideals that have been spiritualized and inculcated into American religious circles.”
Marital Advice for the Uninitiated
“Far too many problems arise in marriage because people want so much to live like, behave like, be empowered by, attain the same level of status like, promote a sense of stability like and be unimaginatively in love like power couples they see on social media or in their community.”
How “Policy Over Character” Destroys Our Christian Witness
“White evangelicals within the United States have lost their witness to the world by voting for a vile and abusive bully who paid a porn star hush money to keep his affair a secret.”
Avoiding Extremes: A Word of Caution From a Former Fundamentalist
“Therefore, an extreme effort was undertaken by the male-led authoritarian ministers’ caste to shame, denounce, vilify, and destroy people into submission to modes and methods to separate the church from the world.”
Giftedness vs Fruitfulness: The Hidden Dangers of Following Gifted Church Leaders
“Check and see if what you seek, who you follow, and what you promote is reflective of the biblical Christ or if it is but a dim and dreary shadow of our savior poorly illustrated by gifted leaders.”
My Top Ten Rules for Girl Dads
“Love, be patient, listen, play, and yes, mess up from time to time so that she can see that dad is human and that dad knows how to humble himself enough and apologize for his mistakes.”
Ravi Zacharias
“We cannot allow truth to die in darkness for fear of losing influence and money. That was lost the day we decided to trust in the influence and giftedness of man over the eternally restorative and transformative power of Christ.”
A Painful Rediscovery: A Look Into Where My Heart & Mind Are Today
“Mumbling some sort of prayer up to God, not sure if I asked for forgiveness for my feelings, my words, my rage, or if what I felt was a fear of these words making their way on to the screens of the very people who had hurt me. In my fear I wanted to avoid offending them, for having offended me.”
The Burden of History & The Curse of Heritage
“It is easier to remove a commandment from the law of God than it is to distance Southern Baptists from their southern heritage of racism, hate, and evil.”
Olivet Theory’s Bad Advice Series: Chapter 3 – How to Talk About Race and Racism
“Disregard those notions. Go ahead and say what you have to say however you want to say it. Interrupt their conversation and speak as loud as possible. Do it all without the slightest urge to listen to anything they might have to add to this discussion.”
I Am A Neo-Evangelical
“I am a neo-evangelical and God has rescued me from fundamentalism and delivered me from stagnant middle-stance, middle-class centric Christianity that accomplishes much while it accomplishes nothing in mainline evangelicalism.”
Here Is Why We Left Mill Creek Christian Assembly
“t would be foolish to think that racism was the sole reason behind my family leaving a white church. It was a lack of compassion that led me to an irrevocable decision. A decision that brought me angst.”
Here’s to another year of blogging, story-telling, craft-development, book reviewing, and trouble-making!
Note: 408 days have passed since we left Mill Creek Christian Assembly. Our last day as members of that community was July 26, 2020, I first wrote this post on February 7, 2021, and I am publishing it today. It grew like a balloon in my heart, swelling with time, and today is the day I set it free.
Why write about it if it ain’t pretty?
One: It’s the truth. We left in haste and without a word so as not to tarnish a fragile structure. Many wondered why, some assumed, others spread rumors, all, in ignorance, of course. The Truth sets us free and the truth with a lower case ‘t’ helps clear the air. So get your stories straight.
Two: Racism is still a big problem in the Church. Racism is still a problem at the MCCA church. If racism is not confronted and excised from a Christian community it tarnishes that community’s Christian witness. Now that the issue of racism has been raised it is my hope that this community will venture to rectify that which went wrong. Not with me but with its own history.
Three: Start more conversations about history. Not just white-washed history that you learned in grammar school but comprehensive history. Especially the history of how the Church helped destroy so much, kill so many, enslave so many more, and has now decided to remain silent about its participation in the horrors of the past. If we cannot discuss these issues with love, empathy, and lament in the church, then they will be discussed without love, empathy, and lament, outside the church.
We cherish the MCCA community. We love its youth community which we helped rebuild and reform by God’s grace. And please understand that we harbor no grudge against this community and its members; not even toward the ones whose behaviors and comments persuaded us to leave in the first place. This is why I have redacted snippets of information from this post to protect their identity and their safety.
Olivet Theory
Curiosity, Masked Suspicion, and Possible Animosity
It would be foolish to think that racism was the sole reason behind my family leaving a white church. It was a lack of compassion that led me to an irrevocable decision. A decision that brought me angst.
“We have the privilege of having a dark handsome brother with us today.”
Those were words the assistant pastor said from the pulpit my first time in attendance.
Oh my God! Did he single me out because of the color of my skin? In front of everyone?
I did what any black person in the same situation would have in a moment of unimaginable shame, I laughed it off. I mean, it’s funny to identify your visitors by the color of their skin, isn’t it? If they’re offended by this amicable jest then they’re snowflakes.
Service came to an end, we were glad to be on our way out when the same assistant pastor greeted us at the exit.
“It’s so nice to finally have some color in this church. We’re happy to have you here.”
He was so enthused by my presence that I couldn’t help but reciprocate the same energy. I’ve never met a white brother who seemed so excited to meet a black man.
What I presumed to be an anomaly turned out to be a precedent of dated buffoonery worthy of contempt. I would endure an intermittent barrage of racially insensitive comments and gestures like these for the next three and a half years.
Interactions
The Deflection
I sparked up a conversation with a member of the praise and worship team about race, politics, and life in Canada. Here we discussed the brokenness of the world we lived in. We unraveled the polarizing effect social media has on the masses. I shared a harmful experience from my past with him. A horrible situation where a county clerk told me to return to my country. The reason for my visit to the DMV that day was to inquire about why my driver’s license was taking so long to arrive. She advised me that it was better to wait for my documents while living in the United States of America. Or I could complain from the comfort of whatever country I was from.
This gentleman’s response to this event was as ignorant as they come.
“Well, I have friends of color who haven’t experienced any form of racism in Canada.”
His deflection from the topic we were discussing was so evident I blurred out his next few sentences. It’s as if the absence of racial injustice in one part thus erases its existence elsewhere.
Lazy. Dirty. Leeches.
“They’re lazy, dirty people who love to leech off of white people.”
Those were the words out of the mouth of another brother who had returned from the Bahamas. He was none too bothered by the comment. There was an air of pride under his statement. I wanted only to greet him, ask about his trip to the tropics, and welcome him back to the fold. My curiosity about his trip was innocent and hopeful. I’ve yet to have the privilege of visiting this Caribbean paradise so I wanted to hear from him, first hand, about it.
“It was good. We got a tan. Now I almost look like you.” Nervous laughter. These belittling comments were a customary form of conversation with this particular brother. I asked him about the locals, their warm and receptive character to which he replies.
“They’re lazy, dirty people who love to leech off of white people.”
This happened right after a Sunday morning service. We were waiting in line for complimentary snacks.
Conversations
George Floyd’s lynching rekindled the fight against police brutality. Later that same year, Breonna Taylor’s murder accentuated this first cause. It was impossible to avoid public demonstrations that took root around the world. Conversations about racial injustice were unavoidable. I took the initiative to share several links on my personal social media account. Links about police reform. Stories of racial profiling. Black history through the lens of black Americans. History stemming from 1619 through to 2020. These posts allowed for restorative conversations with friends across the world. We understood each other’s pain and vowed to honor this cause.
These interactions were all helpful. Refreshing. Discussing race and injustice with friends was so therapeutic. And then June 5th hit and I checked my Facebook messages.
“I’m pretty sure that black people would have treated white people the same way as white(s) treated black (people) had they been in a position to do so.” Said one church brother who I respected.
“I’ve always thought that in Canada racism is not that much of an issue.” He continued. “At least I’ve never encountered one (issue of racism) myself.”
“I’ve been enjoying your ministry in our predominantly white church.” At which point I knew where these comments had come from. “I’ve never heard once of a single issue with racism in our church in [redacted] years I’ve been there. I guess you have brought this race-based division to us now.”
Being one of two black attendees of that church I wasn’t shocked. And I was a member of this ministry whereas the other POC was comfortable as a recurring guest. The race issue had taken a backseat in monochromatic churches for centuries. For our church, it was never a topic because it hadn’t been integrated. But here we were. Two colored persons attending a “predominantly white” church and we have race-based division.
But none of this prepared me for the statement that would come next. Sentiments that brewed underneath the surface of this church community for decades went on seemingly untouched. Unmentioned. Words that I read again, again, and again with mouth agape. Unwilling to accept that I had survived so long within a body of believers that saw my people in such a dim light.
“As to [the] hair incident or other negative emotional encounters you’ve described, knowing [the] East European culture, I can hardly see them as manifestations of racism but rather a lack of manners and insensitivity. What if I walked in a predominantly black church? Wouldn’t people stare at me with curiosity, masked suspicion, and possible animosity?”
It is convenient to reduce my hurtful experiences to a lack of manners and insensitivity. To know that the elder who pawed my hair twice was being insensitive. How a brother told me that brown people migrating into Europe would be the end of European society. When asked to elaborate he walked away. How another brother told me Obama and Muslims are what’s wrong with the United States of America. When asked for his source of information he said, “Fox News, where else?” That Bahamians are lazy, dirty, and love to leech off of white people is but lack of manners?
His concluding thought was revelatory. I’ve been a member of diverse church communities for decades. Black, white, brown, yellow, and red. I’ve been a part of well-integrated communities from birth. I’ve never looked at a person from another race with ‘curiosity, masked suspicion, and possible animosity.’ I can speak for my many communities. Confidently so. His perspective of colored people was detrimental to my well-being. It shattered my peace within this community.
Another brother contacted me in hopes of broadening my perspective.
“Police have a lot less reason to profile you here [Canada] for the same reasons why police in the USA [has] a higher legitimate reason to profile you there.”
Reassuring for sure.
I watched as another brother interacted with a popular social media activist. He was responding to a public Instagram post.
“Disappointed with all the famous Christians, pastors and worship leaders who have no idea who #BlackLivesMatter is!”
And his response.
“I’ve traveled to [redacted African nation] [a] few months ago, to love, serve, help and pray for black people…. But not falling for this insanity today. Thank you for speaking up!!!”
This person was a prominent member of our church. A board member of our church. It’s sad that traveling across the world to love, serve, help, and pray for black people was enough to appease his conscience. Enough to discredit hundreds of years of injustice on a local, national, and global scale. Enough to dismiss the calls for racial equality. Enough to discredit our cause. Enough to silence the only two persons of color within his community who dared speak about racial injustice.
His response to this statement was in keeping with how our church thought. I would find this out the following week.
Board Meeting and Final Decision
Our province dealt with the Coronavirus pandemic in an adequate manner. We experienced shutdowns, closures, and canceled services like everyone else. Restrictions had prohibited indoor gatherings in March but were eased in mid-June. Our church leadership and board scheduled a meeting to discuss our safe return to church initiative. We were to discuss safety measures, attendance numbers, sanitation, and other health-related topics. I was not a member of the board but my pastor invited me to take part because I was the youth leader. Our meetings would return to normal as well so I thought it would be prudent to attend.
Our pastor began the meeting with prayer and went into his introduction.
“Brothers, thank you for being here. Before we start I want to advise our church members who are posting about Black Lives Matter on social media to desist. There are brothers complaining about it and we want to avoid unrest. Thank you. Now let’s discuss our return to church packet.”
You can imagine my shock. One of two black people in the church. The only black person in that meeting. The only person who was discussing racial justice on social media. And personally invited to take part in this board meeting. This was how the meeting began? These were the first words out of my leader’s mouth? Now?
This meeting is about how coronavirus has affected our church gatherings. It is about how we can protect our church members who opt for in-person services. A meeting to proactively protect our vulnerable and elderly members. How to best follow provincial and federal guidelines.
But the meeting becomes a point from which our church denounces Black Lives Matter. A podium from which we halt any discussion about race on our personal social media platforms. An institution that silences the only two black voices it has left. George Floyd’s death? Silence. Breonna Taylor’s murder? Silence. The cries of my fellow colored brothers and sisters? A leftist liberal plot to take over the world.
My mind was a blur for the next thirty minutes. I felt sick to my stomach. The way the meeting started to have an effect on the members of the board. Eyes hovered my way and sat over my presence. I cannot recall what was said about safety, cleaning, limited attendance, and other topics. I cannot recall what happened next. But for thirty minutes I sat and simmered.
I have to leave this place. I no longer feel welcome here. My peace is gone.
I excused myself, got up from my chair, and walked out. That day it was decided for me that I no longer belonged there. I agreed.
Exit
A month after this meeting I had the opportunity to preach, which I did, with all my heart. After service, I handed my pastor my letter of leave. I handed a similar letter to my fellow youth leaders. I hugged them goodbye and left.
My pastor then invited me for a sit-down where we discussed these interactions, private discussions, and his meeting opener. He was sad that my family decided to leave. Sad that we felt the way we did. He didn’t believe race was the issue. He even invited me to come back and hold an open forum on race which I declined.
“Pastor, the other black member of our church is a trained professional who knows how to discuss these issues professionally. Invite him to speak and teach the church.”
He shrugged. He didn’t believe the church would listen to that individual. Mind you, that individual is a university professor, holds a doctorate in sociology, and is a published author.
When I pressed him again about how our church had a race problem he again distanced himself from the idea. That the gospel should be the focus of our efforts, not social issues.
We finished our coffee. My mind was made. He again pressed for me to stay, “What about the youth?”
I knew tactics like these were used to guilt people into staying in environments where they continue to suffer abuse.
“Christ began the work. Christ will complete the work, pastor.”
I’ve witnessed four of the fifteen youth members I served walk down the waters of baptism. Two before my leave. Two after I left. Christ will guide their faith. I believe this to be so.
Once news of us leaving the church became public I received another Facebook message.
“News broke that you are leaving MCCA. I hope the reason you’re leaving is not rooted in the theme of our above conversation. Whatever it might be, it is always sad to see a member of [the] church leave, especially a valuable one. It’s been nice to have. Your ministry has been a blessing to my family and myself. May God bless you on your spiritual journey!”
This being the same brother I respect who also said:
“The biggest enemy of [the] black community is their victim mentality and bitterness, which does breed the culture of violence. […] In my opinion, the more you raise in [a] judgemental manner the topic of racism, the more ruin, and division you’ll bring to our community. It is as offensive to us, white people, to be branded racists, as for black people to be called slaves. People will go into defensive mode, they’ll become more distant and hostile. […] When you think we mistreat you in MCCA, think about the fact [of] how quickly you rose to [a] position of respect and leadership. You preach on Sundays, you lead and teach our youth, the doors of P&W [praise and worship] group are wide open to you too. Isn’t that the manifestation of the highest degree of trust and respect our predominantly white church has shown to you? Man, I’ve been in our congregation for [REDACTED] years and I haven’t achieved half of your success.”
Progress
Seven months have passed since this last meeting. My family has found a new church family that understands the wrongs of the world around it. It doesn’t distance itself from pain. It doesn’t hide behind the Bible. Behind gospel-onlyism. It confronts individual and collective sin. It loves expository preaching. It loves social efforts. It lives for Christ.
The other person of color within the church, the professor, had a conversation with the pastor. He was more than willing to start an open forum on race. He was willing to lead this restorative discussion in hopes of mending the racial gap within the church. He was then dismissed by the leadership. His efforts were not accepted. His intellectual expertise on the subject was dismissed. A professor, nonetheless, dismissed.
He phoned me after to share with me his many run-ins with members who suffer from a lack of manners and insensitivity. Members who suffer from diarrhea of the mouth. His words. We mourned. We felt ashamed. Pain. He said he would never set foot in that place again.
I don’t blame him.
“This church is struggling with a hardness [of heart] that might stem from past trauma. National trauma that was left unresolved. It has made it hard for them to empathize with our pain.”
To which I agreed, wholeheartedly. The world struggled with the coronavirus pandemic. Our church struggled with the endemic evil of racism. An evil ignored.
I feel like I can breathe, again. As if I can be myself, again. I no longer have to repress emotions because someone reaches for my hair. No one reaches for my hair anymore. We don’t have nativist sentiments. We don’t harbor a hidden hatred for immigrants. Especially those of brown skin. We don’t harbor hatred for Muslims. Or anyone of a different faith.
My wife isn’t approached by church members inquiring about when she got pregnant. When we got married. Members who are surprised that she and I share the same faith. She isn’t approached by church members who feign shock at how dark my girls look.
My wife is white. She was born in Germany. Yes, that white. My girls are mixed. To no one’s surprise wife is more comfortable in our new diverse church community than this previous one. She is a sister in Christ. Not a lab specimen. Where her private life is subject to scrutiny because she married a black man.
Here we see people. We acknowledge their trauma. We feel their pain. We walk with them to restore that which was taken. That which was lost. We are living the way Christ called us to live again. Preaching and living the gospel.
Whoever visits our new church; no matter their skin color or walk of life, will not be a victim of curiosity, masked suspicion, and possible animosity.
“And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” Philippians 1:6
Thank Christ.
Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves; ensure justice for those being crushed. – Proverbs 31:8 NLT
Growing up in a Brazilian offshoot of the Assemblies of God taught me so much about the Bible, Biblical characters, faith, prayer, church community, developed in me a fervency for social reform, the temperance movement (anti-alcohol consumption), the holiness movement (high ethical standards and separation from what is deemed sacrilegious), the pentecostal movement (continuationist belief of spiritual gifts such as, speaking in tongues [glossolalia], new revelation [prophecies], interpretation of tongues, healings, miracles, signs, wonders, gift of discernment and etc.).
I grew up in a church of diverse people groups, both wealthy and impoverished, white and black, mixed, even. Former drug and alcohol abusers and users. Former sex trafficking victims. Former wife beaters. Former battered wives. Abuse survivors, really. Former drug kingpins and cartel leaders (some from within my family). I grew up listening to the story of one of my family members exchanging gunfire with police officers, surviving the firefight, although not unscathed as some of them would show me bullet wounds. One family member still has bullets lodged in his body, deemed non removable by surgeons lest they risk his life mid-operation.
Petterson (older brother) and me, stunting. Brazil, ca. 1994-95.
Many of the drug users and criminals within my family became laypeople. Some went on to become clergy, holding pastoral roles after kicking the drugs and crime, the life of substance abuse and homicide (probably), to become emancipators and heralds of the gospel. Reaching their impoverished and crime-ridden communities for Christ. Feeding the poor and preaching a message of holiness, hope, and societal change.
JARDIM. CAMPOS ELISEOS (SEDE DO SETOR) 2.1.01. Google image capture of my church in Campina, Sao Paulo.
I witnessed various transformations in my family and it was a sure reminder that what we believed was what everyone believed. Or at least what everyone else should have believed. Who wouldn’t want drug addicts to kick drugs after attending Christian para-ministry-funded halfway homes and rehabilitation centers? Who wouldn’t want criminals to ditch the life of drug peddling and then take on honest work to support their families? Who wouldn’t want to see a community focused on caring for the poor, gifting children with toys, homes with food, and families with sustenance?
Same Assembly of God, ca. 2016. Youth Conference.
We were part of a movement that promoted pastors into politics and politicians to the pulpit. There was no divide. Pastor so-and-so would preach at our church on Sunday and after the sermon, we would give him an offering to help his political campaign. Next Sunday we would host a politician who had a Christian bark but an adulterous bite. Men who wanted votes would sweat on stage to deliver barely substantive Christian messages of hope, love, and political party lines, for the sake of political dominance in our municipality.
Honestly, it felt as if we had monopolized morality, politics, and social work. In a way, we had. At least in my mind, we had. We looked down at Baptist denominations as spiritually dead churches. We thought of the ‘Four Square’ denominations as culturally errant because they did not dress as modest as we did. We thought Presbyterians were theologically compromised because they sipped whiskey, drank beer by the barrel, and smoked Cuban cigars or any make of cigars they could get their hands on. Little mention was made of Methodist/Wesleyan and Episcopalian denominations because our beef was primarily with interdenominational Pentecostals and majority protestant groups, namely, Baptists and Presbies. Baptists because they called us heretics for speaking in tongues and beef with Presbies because they also called us heretics for speaking in tongues but they were drunk when they did so.
We chided Catholics, priests, and nuns as non-Christians because they hailed Mary, worshipped saints, and shunned the Holy Spirit’s spiritual gifts. Not just that, but because they were Catholic and were by definition a morally depraved collective for following every beck and call of the Pope and allowing the Papacy to exist for as long as it did.
We were at war with a culture that perhaps didn’t even know the church, our church, had declared war against it in the first place. Brazil at that time was predominantly religious, most adherents attributing their faith to Catholicism and later Pentecostalism, primarily to the Assemblies of God.
Hate was never named from the pulpit but it was definitely disseminated to anyone who failed to fall in line with our perception of Christianity and holiness standards.
Granted, what the Assemblies of God had in doctrinal prowess and social reform it lacked in clarity of theological thought, compassion, and common sense. I thank this denomination for existing and evangelizing Brazil at the start of the 1900s. White men coming from the North to preach Jesus to Catholics and disenfranchised addicts and impoverished blacks in the Americas. What could go wrong with a Eurocentric theology in a predominantly colored South America?
Anywho, the Assemblies of God espoused love for God, doctrine, holiness standards, and literature. Well, as long as the literature in question was not antithetical to the Bible. Our ministry, as part of the Assemblies of God, was called Assembleia de Deus, Ministerio Belém. Assembly of God, Bethlehem Ministry.
This is where I spent most of my church life. Where I studied scripture, I met pastors who wore the robes of politicians and politicians who covered themselves in sheeps wool to pass as pastors. This is where I developed a love for theology, unaware of what kind of theology it was I was falling in love with, but, nevertheless, a love for God. Here is where I met church friends who made up most if not all of my social circles for years to come.
‘Murica – We Ventured North
Once we immigrated to the United States and settled in Florida, we began to attend church six nights a week. It was community forming and community building. People helping each other out. We spoke Portuguese only because the community was made up of Brazilians with a few scattered Latinos and the rare white American soul who ventured into the building. These Anglophonic individuals came either out of curiosity produced from the loud music we played or because they were dating one of our church members.
Stunting in front of our church in Orlando. ca. 1997-98
Either way, Brazilians in America were opening up churches and ministries for Brazilians. And, the same assiduity that was so fervent in Brazil for doctrinal purity, denominational clarity, focus on spiritual gifts of glossolalia and prophecy, and holiness standards were present in the Brazilian Assemblies of God in the United States.
The small and budding community of the Brazilian Assembly of God, Bethlehem Ministry teams were spreading like wildfire in Florida, Massachusetts, California, and beyond. (As of today, there are Bethlehem Ministry churches in Dallas, Atlanta, Jacksonville, Charlotte, Pittsburg, Columbus, and more spread throughout the United States of America. In the Pacific, there are churches in Honolulu, Kanalui, Wahiawa, Christchurch, Queenstown, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, and Rockhampton. In the European continent they can be found in Madrid, Almeria, Barcelona, Paris, Orleans, Geneva, Lausanne, Bern, Zurich, Basel, Munich, Nuremberg, Hamburg, Berlin, Cologne, Rome, Bristol, Cardiff, and London. Just to name a few spots. And in the African continent, Mozambique.) Wherever Brazilian immigrants or tourists land, there, in that city, we would open a church and rotate ministers through them so as not to develop independent churches. But the pastor rotation rodeo situation a whole different post.
But in America, (North America), we did not see as many disenfranchised souls as we did in Brazil. In the US., everyone was hyper-individualistic, unlike the community-centric vibe found in the motherland. We could not see the impoverished because we rarely ventured out of the church to evangelize and minister to our communities. And ‘evangelism’ in America simply meant reaching Brazilians in America. Not white Americans. That wasn’t our focus just yet. We wanted nothing more than to grow the Bethlehem Ministry brand by finding and dragging (nicely) as many Brazilians in Orlando, Ft. Myers, Miami, Lighthouse Point, Ft. Lauderdale, Pompano, Vero Beach, Sarasota, Kissimmee, and beyond into our churches as possible.
And we did.
Churches blossomed and swelled from ten to twenty adherents in some parts and in the hundreds and hundreds of members, yes, not just attendees and participants, but members in other parts.
My family first moved to Orlando from Campinas, São Paulo. Well, my dad first moved to Boston with a pastor/politician guy to help the ministry start a church there. When the call to restart a ministry in Orlando, Florida was made, this pastor/politician fellow decided to take my multi-talented instrumentalist dad down to Florida with him. And it is here where we are to arrive to meet up with my dad. In Orlando, we partook in a ministry that grew well and because the ministry was fond of rotating pastors from one church to another they then opened another church in Naples, Florida and that’s where we went next.
The pastor/politician fella didn’t last long in this ministry and was later moved to another church, for reasons unknown or unmentioned, I don’t know because much of it was hush-hush, as is the status quo in churches these days. But my family settled in delightful old Naples, Florida and it is there where we spent most of our time in the US.
Again, evangelistic outreach was an attempt to reach Brazilians in America (North America) for Christ. English-speaking Americans were handed little pamphlets outside of bars, clubs, and large buffets where they would later use them to wipe their nose or just throw them away. We weren’t sure what to do with English speakers other than inviting them to sit through simultaneously translated sermons. Not many members of our church community were able to wield the English language well enough to bring English speakers into our community so we didn’t focus on them that much or at all. This would change but not yet. They would show up, hang out, watch our singers sing, then our worship bands worship, in Portuguese, of course. And towards the end of the service, they would sit through a poorly translated sermon where the minister half-spoke in tongues and half-ministered about hellfire and brimstone. After service, we would have our comes e bebes (coffee, tea, food, and treats; it was a fraternization period) where English speakers were adored, welcomed, and greeted, but few were the church members who actually spent time with them or time getting to know them because we barely spoke their language and they didn’t know a lick of Portuguese. There are Americans we’re talking about here. They barely spoke English well enough.
And remember, this was initially a Brazilian pentecostal ministry in America (North America) with the sole focus of evangelizing unchurched Brazilians and heresy plagued Brazilians who had run off to worship God in pagan centers like Baptist churches.
We wanted nothing but Brazilians and that’s what we got.
Again, in Brazil, evangelism was primarily focused on the poor, disenfranchised, destitute, addicts, and socially oppressed but in North America, we saw abundance, wealth, and lucre. Of course, impoverished families were everywhere but not as visibly so as in Brazil so we had to change our strategies.
As we adapted our youth (myself included) to the culture, assimilating and learning the language, the ministry began to build up new leaders to lead and pastor bilingual church services.
Our initial success paled in comparison with this second wave of evangelistic outreach as our predominantly Brazilian-led services took on Colombian, Venezuelan, Mexican, Argentine, Bolivian, Honduran, Costa Rican, Puerto Rican clergy to lead services in both Spanish and in Portuguese. Because we lived in Florida you can imagine how our Latin American ministry blew up.
The more we integrated with the surrounding culture the more people we managed to bring into the church.
But nowhere was there a higher shift in our evangelistic outreach and ministerial identity than when we focused on the American culture surrounding our churches.
It was here that the fundamentalist aspect of our ministry peaked its head high and above the rest.
You see, American Evangelicalism, in its matured stage in the 1990s and early 2000s had become hyper-political with the rise and prominence of the Moral Majority and the religious Right. Ronald Reagan, Billy Graham, Bob Jones University, Jerry Falwell Sr., Liberty University, Fox News, and a plethora of conservative white evangelicals led us to believe that as we reached out to English-speaking North Americans we ought also to join in the culture wars of the land.
Are you an American evangelical?
Mind you, we were already involved in political power struggles in Brazil, hosting and supporting political candidates from the pulpit. But in the US, in the land of the American Dream, culture wars were nefarious, dangerously close, impending doom was imminent, and the end of our Christian witness and religious liberty was on assault on the daily, causing us to battle Leftist Liberals and theological liberalism anywhere we could.
We weren’t just attacking Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons, Catholics, Baptists, drunk Presbies, and backsliding Pentecostals. No. Now were bent on explaining to our churches (which consisted of undocumented immigrants with lapsed visas, living in the country illegally, or having entered and remained in the country illegally) that we should fight the culture wars of America.
I can recall seeing three to four flags flailing from our pulpits every single Sunday. The star-spangled banner flag was almost always center stage. Some pastors joked that if immigration officers burst through the back doors with deportation orders in hand and saw our predominantly illegal immigrant group praising the American flag then they’d turn away and leave us alone. Besides that flag, we would have the evangelical flag-waving about freely. I would later see January 6 insurrectionists bull-rushing the US Capitol waving this same flag. Little did I know, that flag was more about Christian Nationalist ideals than Christian virtues and ethics. Either way, we also carried the flag of Israel with the star of David in the middle. Being a fundamentalist meant you loved everything about Israel and hated everything Arab or Muslim. And lastly, we had the Brazilian flag. We were a Brazilian ministry in the United States of America.
Our evangelistic outreach moved from the disenfranchised people groups to political culture wars.
My evangelical development began as a neo-fundamentalist evangelical. And I was oblivious to it.
You must understand that these religious movements operate in complete invisibility to their adherents and work in frameworks that make everything outside of them or opposed to them satanic, devilish, godless, pagan, spiritually oppressive, occultic, evil, and more. This mindset in its fundamentalist rage would later help elect Donald J. Trump to office in the United States of America because he promised evangelicals religious liberty and freedom, the destruction of abortion rights, exclusive privilege in the White House, and favor toward the nation of Israel against Arab nations and Palestine. He told them he loved and served God. It was near orgasmic for North American evangelicals when Trump actually won. And also a reason for suicidal ideations when he lost. Some still think he won the 2020 election.
This same neo-fundamentalist segment of our church mentality helped the far-right Trump of the tropics, Jair Bolsonario, become the president of Brazil. He ran on the same ticket as did Trump. Hate for left and left-leaning Brazilians, he loved evangelicals and even prayed in public, attended church services. His vitriol against political opponents was unhinged in parts, making Trump sound domesticated. The man was a military lifer turned politician turned religious right hero turned president of a 211 million inhabitants nation. His downfall came through his misogynistic tropes, his islamophobia in equating Arabs with ISIS, and his disdain for liberal politics, his vitriol, and yes, just as with Trump, Covid-19. Jair Bolsonario questioned the validity of vaccines and thought they altered human DNA/mRNA thus postponing Brazil’s access to life-saving vaccines. Now that Brazil has reached well over 400,000 covid complications-related deaths, his popularity, as did Trumps, has faltered.
But how did I come to understand that I was once part of neo-fundamentalist evangelicalism?
We spent a great deal of time with the Assembly of God, Bethlehem Ministry, but once we received a recalcitrant, malcontent failed former lawyer turned pastor as a pastor of our member bleeding church, something clicked and then broke in me when the man would not stop bashing other pastors from our very denomination. Remember, bashing outsiders and apostates was acceptable but our own? It was too much even for my pharisaical heart. He had a knack for calling them monges (monks) because monks, according to him, were religious hypocrites.
He did this so often that during one of his diatribes at one of our weeknight bible studies I stopped him mid-sentence to ask him to desist from such nonsense.
I don’t believe a man of his stature and prominence had ever been confronted by a church member before. Less so a black one who was not clergy but mere laity and part-time voluntary treasurer for the ministry.
The man lambasted me for being ignorant, young, foolish, and a dunce. This all happened in front of the church. I then called him morally corrupt, immature, disqualified from ministry until he could seek reparation and reconciliation with the people he hated.
His son was present and his son said his father, the then pastor, had trouble controlling his words and tone. This poor man, the pastor’s son, even admitted that he tried time and again to correct his father’s problematic ways for years but to no avail.
This waltz of verbal assault and abuse between me and this pastor went back and forth for weeks. Every interaction we had, in front of anyone and everyone, he would call me a pejorative name and I would reciprocate. Never. Never had I had more disdain for a religious leader than I had for that man. Not because of his conduct which is normal for an unrepentant and impenitent man, but for a pastor of a holiness movement, holiness standard church to behave that way was way off for me.
Eventually, my family decided to leave the Assembly of God, Bethlehem Ministry we helped found, build, and advance in Naples, Florida.
We then joined the Assembly of God, The Vine Ministry, just a few hundred meters down the road.
Our leaving that ministry went without issue. The pastor in question and I shook hands, hugged, and said our pleasantries before parting. Whether he saw me as just another monk or not I do not know but that’s not the case here. We left as Christian brothers who knew we could not serve God in the same building anymore.
After that, none of the ministers and leaders from the Bethlehem Ministry that we had come to love, adore, and they love us and adore us ever reached out to us again.
We simply disappeared from their radar. It took nearly ten years for some of us to visit my parents place and some of them had also left the ministry.
What you have to understand is that it’s just a natural thing within the neo-fundamentalist evangelical circle to ostracize anyone who abandons not Christianity or Pentecostalism, but those who dare leave our particular ministry. Outsiders and backsliders who venture out of this Bethlehem Ministry.
So outside of this, we met new friends with The Vine Ministry, rebuilt lost or broken friendships with other Brazilian friends who had also fled the Bethlehem Ministry years earlier. People who had been traumatized by our authoritarian structure and fled for their lives. They escaped years of spiritual abuse. God bless them.
It was great to worship God and serve one another at The Vine Ministry but then my wife and I moved to Canada in search of financial stability and a future for our family.
Canada – Land of Apologies and Snow
In Canada, we joined a Slavic-Canadian pentecostal church that was stuck between modernity and early 1900s Communist Ukraine.
Having recently joined the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada the church had to shift its services from their regular hybrid of Ukrainian-Russian speaking services to English-speaking services only. This was great because I wanted to understand what in the world they were singing about in their songs.
This church, being outside of the Brazilian paradigm of poverty and social issues and outside of North American hyper-capitalist, hyper-individualistic, and culture wars framework was primarily focused on religious consistency and discipleship, more than anything else. Minor struggles and disagreements surrounded what style of worship songs we should sing, whether we should stick to hymns or play to the tune of Hillsong, Planetshakers, Jesus Culture, or Elevation music. Some members dawned jeans and t-shirts while others, the Slavic grandmas in particular, dawned head coverings and skirts from their motherland.
Evangelism here was inner-centric. More about preaching Jesus to former communists and people who had survived communism as Christians but still struggled with legalist understanding of the gospel.
We wanted to teach the bad Christianity out of ignorant Christians. And it was working. Our community grew. Our youth group developed from a bunch of kids who were at first scared to ask tough questions to a group of Christianized hooligans willing to think for themselves. They went on to lead worship and lead services, participate in plays, mission trips (not on my part but still, awesome incentive on their part), pursue baptism, get married, and more.
Because this Slavic community was so removed from the neo-fundamentalist evangelicalism I was raised within in Brazil and in America (North America) I was able to see my faith a little clearer.
Categorizing Evangelicalism
But before we proceed on how I went from neo-fundamentalist evangelicalism to neo-evangelicalism I must define and categorize evangelicalism as understood through the North American perspective. And because I’m not a scholar I will allow a scholar named Michael Graham, a writer for As In Heaven and the executive pastor at Orlando Grace Church to explain these categories for you.
In writing for Mere Orthodoxy, Graham states that there are six iterations or rather categories of evangelicalism so far. Here is Graham:
“The 6 Categories
As I have surveyed the evangelical landscape and discussed with pastors all around the country, evangelicalism seems to be fracturing into at least 6 different subgroups. Three of those groups (#s1-3) still have at least some connectivity to evangelicalism and the other three have cut ties (#s 4-6):
Neo-Fundamentalist Evangelical– Neo-fundamentalists are those who have deep concerns about both political and theological liberalism. There is some overlap and co-belligerency with Christian Nationalism (a syncretism of right wing nationalism and Christianity) but neo-fundamentalists do so with more theological vocabulary and rationality. Concerning threats within the church, they have deep worries with the church’s drift towards liberalism and the ways secular ideologies are finding homes in the church. Outside the church, they are concerned by the culture’s increasing hostility to Christianity, most prominently from mass media, social media, and the government.
Mainstream Evangelical – Historically this term has been Protestants who hold to the Bebbington Quadrilateral of conversionism, activism, biblicism, and crucicentrism. The emphasis for this group is on the fulfillment of the Great Commission. Concerning threats within the church, they share some concern for the secular right’s influence on Christinaity, including the destructive pull of Christian Nationalism, but are far more concerned by the secular left’s influence and the desire to assimilate since the world still remains so hostile. Outside the church, they are likely uncomfortable with the rhetoric Trump and other conservatives use but view this direction as the lesser of two evils.
Neo-Evangelical – People who would see themselves as “global evangelicals” and are doctrinally “Evangelicals” (w/ some philosophy of ministry differences) but no longer use the term “evangelical” in some circumstances in the American context as the term as an identifier has evolved to be more political than theological. Within the church, they are highly concerned by conservative Christianity’s acceptance of Trump and failure to engage on topics of race and sexuality in helpful ways, but they have not totally abandoned evangelical identification and likely still labor in churches with the broadest spectrum of these groups. Outside of the church, this group feels largely homeless in today’s world. There is equal concern, or slightly more either way depending on the person, at the threat the left and the right pose to Christians seeking to live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness.
Post-Evangelical – People who have fully left evangelicalism from a self-identification standpoint and reject the “evangelical” label yet are still churched and likely still agree with the Apostles Creed and Nicene Creed. They are more deconstructed than neo-evangelicals and they are more vocal in their critiques of 1s and 2s than 3s would be. Some remain firmly in Protestant circles and others have crossed over to mainline, catholic, or orthodox traditions while still holding to the basic creeds. Concerning threats within the church, they are focused on abuse, corruption, hypocrisy, Christian nationalism, and the secular right. Outside the church, they are primarily concerned with the matters of injustice, inequity, the secular right, and to a lesser extent the radical secular left. Many 4s are 4s also because their experiences with predominantly white evangelicalism have been so difficult and strained that physical distance seemed to be the only conclusion.
Note – there is likely a halfway point between 4 and 5 known as ex-vangelicals that don’t neatly fit either 4 or 5. This group is difficult to parse as the meaning that this group has taken on has evolved even this year. We did not want to exclude the group from this typology but given the evolving nature were hesitant to pin it down too precisely at this juncture. Some of these folks have actually dechurched, some have deconverted, yet some remain in the faith but are quite vocal on their critiques of the movement. In time this category might evolve and/or swallow up category 5 below or it might fizzle like other labels.
Dechurched (but with some Jesus) – People who have left the church but still hold to at least some orthodox Christian beliefs.
Dechurched and Deconverted – People who have left the church and are completely deconverted with no vestigial Christian beliefs.”
Therefore
I transitioned out of neo-fundamentalist evangelicalism in Brazil and later in the United States of America thanks to distance but I moved away from mainline evangelicalism in this Slavic community due to racism and anti-intellectualism. What do I mean? The racism I experienced in this church setting was new to me, because, remember, the Brazilian church was very racially diverse. It was ethnically one but racially, we had white ministers, black ministers, ministers with Japanese ancestry, and Latino ministers, ministers from the African continent, and so on. Racism wasn’t acceptable in our racially diverse neo-fundamentalist evangelical churches.
But racism in this mainline evangelical Slavic church? Well, what did you think would happen when a black man walked into a Euro-centric church ministry that operated in Canada… of all places?
Anywho. The racism part I am still writing about and discovering as I am still dealing with it to this day. My experiences with racism in America came from outside the church. My experience with racism in Canada came from within the church. But I’ll write more about that later.
But the anti-intellectual aspect here, and by anti-intellectual I refer to historian Mark A. Noll’s work, The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind delves into a group that is hyper-aware of intellectual works concerning construction and other vocational works but when it comes to Christian intellectual works they are limited. Quite limited. The exploration of theology, expositional preaching, exegesis, Christian church history, doctrinal history, and social issues were all lacking. Knowledge surrounding biology, archeology, anthropology, anatomy, physiology, psychology, philosophy, psychiatry, and science, in general, was lacking. No wonder there is a hyper-resistance toward vaccines and virology in the Slavic-Germanic mainline evangelical community here in Canada. Much love for God and holiness standards but a hell of a lot of ignorance surrounding the world around them. The very world God created.
During my last few weeks in membership with this mainline evangelical church, I witnessed an uptick in members spewing their support for Donald Trump. I mean, we’re in Canada, people. Canadians are too nice to support an orange man like Donald Trump. But our Slavic community tossed all brain and heart out the window and promoted pro-Trump rhetoric against immigrants, racial justice, and any issues pertaining to brown people. The irony was there but the masks had come off. I saw some of them for what they were. Racist Christians. The Christian part of their identity was debatable but their racism consumed the air around them. Around me.
It was no wonder that whenever the Black Lives Matter movement took shape in the political sphere and some accused it of Marxist ideologies our Slavic church shut its doors down on the topic. Period. There was no talking about race, racism, or harms done against black people and people of color because the unresolved trauma of Marxism was looming high and mightily in their repressed subconscious. If BLM was Marxist then everything they talked about or fought for was atheistic and diabolic. They were unwilling to consider that the fight for black equity spanned back hundreds of years. But fear triumphs over reason and they capitulated their witness on the altar of ignorance.
And short of my exit I picked up this book by professor Noll and devoured it. Strange thing is that I pulled this book from the church’s library, which no one ever frequented. I could have stolen the book and I don’t believe anyone would have noticed. But I read it, made notes, made connections between the idiocy in evangelical history to the idiocy I witnessed in my church, yes, my church because I was part of it too. And I was broken. I left not long after when the racism became too painful to deal with and far too many higher-ups from the church were spewing it for me to confront it alone.
Being one of two black people in the church stymies one’s aspirations for change, you know.
A short conversation with the pastor, an honest one, revealed just how intellectually and socially limited this environment had become or perhaps had always been.
We left and what was left behind was in fact my mainline evangelical faith.
I was comfortable there until I realized that racism and religious-political syncretism was still very much alive and well there, just not as angry as that within the neo-fundamentalist evangelical circle of my earlier years but it was still there.
Progression
I’ve since progressed to a neo-evangelical landmark. I’ve reached the precipice of evangelicalism. Behind me is a horrid trail of trauma and a history of evangelical evils and issues. And before me lies a pit of tenebrous open-theistic worldviews that have robbed Christ of His Deity.
I’m comfortable as a neo-evangelical because I’ve realized that my faith supersedes denominational lines. I can learn so much more about different philosophies without being guilted into thinking I’m a heretic for simply studying different thinkers. I appreciate the social ramifications of liberation theology and I love the fine-tuned nature of big-God/near-God orthodox theology. I love my transcendent Lord but He is also an eminent God. He strengthens my heart out of religiosity that damns the intellect and He pushes me into a wholesome religion that loves God and neighbor. I’m hostile to the idea of marrying religion and political ideologies. I hate poor theology but I love and am patient with people who are ignorant of good theology. They’re teachable you know. My most biting words are reserved for my friends who are still stuck in neo-fundamentalist evangelicalism. I’m patient with my friends who are on the wall between mainline and fundamentalist evangelicalism. You shout too loud and they’ll become extremists and if you whisper too much they’ll forever stagnate in mainline circles.
I’m comfortable being labeled a ‘global evangelical’ as I worship and serve Christ wherever I go. I’m not limited to national superpowers like the United States of America or Israel. Today I’m comfortable condemning Israeli terrorism against Palestinians. Before I would have spat at the mention of these poor souls. Today I favor a democratic society that espouses a higher ethic that values the civil rights of all people, not just Christians.
My views about abortion are the same. I’m pro-life through and through, not just pro-birth. But even there, I fall and lean on pastor Skye Jethani’s idea, preferring a world where abortion is legal but morally wrong and unwanted than a world where we repress laws and allow for the fruition of back-alley abortions to persist. A world where people risk death to seek out an abortion because birthing the child will be the end of their lives and that of the baby.
I prefer to look to the root causes in society leading women to believe they need an abortion. What leads them to that state of mind? We’re so focused on the clinical procedure, which is horrific and barbaric, but seldom do we focus on the social, financial, and mental issues that precede this decision. I’m in favor of leading a whole nation to destroy the structures that make women think they have to end their pregnancies to work, pay rent, buy groceries, be financially stable, get a job and keep it, graduate from school, apply for school, and have medical care.
Like… why aren’t pro-lifers, mainly pro-birthers from neo-fundamentalist evangelicals tackling those issues as well? They’re more in favor of a big military instead of big health care. I’ve figured that it’s because the left and left-leaning churches and groups are focusing on these issues, therefore, by affiliation, these things are wrong to even consider.
As a neo-evangelical, I still believe in the Bebbington Quadrilateral definition of evangelicalism, namely, biblicism, crucicentrism, conversionsim, and activism by which to spread the first three.
But in my biblicism, I am no longer a biblical literalist. I read the Bible with wisdom, with new tools by which to help me investigate the text, the author’s meaning, his intent, his audience, the culture it was written within, the principles, laws, and religious rules and laws of the time of writing. I consider the geo-political struggles of the time of writing, surrounding nations and their writers and philosophers. I understand metaphors, historical narrative, prophetic literature, poetic literature, wisdom literature, apocalyptic or eschatological writings, pastoral epistles, and the gospels. I rely on the Holy Spirit for clarity and trust Him when I’m told to use the many tools of study available to me. Outside of these tools, I would be a literalist and an idiot. Like the idiot I was in neo-fundamentalist evangelicalism thinking America was at the top of the world and everything around us was the Mark of the Beast and the antichrist. Putin, Hussein, Osama, North Korean dictators, and whatnot. One of them was bound to be the antichrist, I guessed.
I cursed homosexuals and chided Muslims. I damned atheists to hell and mocked them. I understood little of the difference between theistic satanism and atheistic satanism and thought they were both one and the same. This ignorance and arrogance stunted my approachability.
I’ve condemned friends to hell. I’ve ostracized friends by referencing dreams of them wallowing in hell-fire and their immediate need to convert otherwise they would be doomed for eternity. This is how conversations about faith, Jesus, and the Bible went between teenage me and my teenage friends.
I was relentless in assuming everyone’s eternal condition after five minutes of debating them online or in person. Why would I leave any room for doubt when I knew more about them than God did?
Either way, the extremist ways of neo-fundamentalist evangelicalism destroyed my intellect, heightened my fear of non-Assembly of God Bethlehem Ministry Pentecostals, and ruined so many of my friendships thus tarnishing my witness of Christ.
Mainline evangelicalism taught me that so many believers can worship Jesus with their hearts, accept Him into their soul, worship Him and pray to Him in their quiet place, and then live morally duplicitous racist lives in the church and outside the church. Even the great Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke against moderate mainline believers who spoke so highly of Christ but turned a blind eye to Christ’s creation, namely, black people during the Civil Rights era.
But in neo-evangelicalism, I can seek Christ, preach about the cross, about death, about resurrection, about sin and redemption, and the next advent of my Lord. And in neo-evangelicalism, I can confront the plight of my neighbor, assist them in their troubles, challenge structures and systems that have been set up to oppress instead of emancipate. I can challenge local bodies, both religious and secular entities, to work together, ecumenically, to help everyone everywhere.
But if you think I’m naturally progressing through Graham’s stages of evangelicalism toward post-evangelicalism or apostasy, be assured, I am not.
I have escaped neo-fundamentalist evangelicalism and walked out of mainline evangelicalism, by God’s grace, but I am nowhere close nor am I attracted to post-evangelicalism.
I follow websites and threads written by exvangelicals, post-evangelicals, and former Christians, and depending on their motivation to deconstruct evangelicalism I have found that their results are bleak. They end up destroying their faith instead of deconstructing the cultural colonization of their Christianity. It’s sad to watch people punch holes in the boat that’ll carry them across the lake. They ought to fix their sails, not tear them to shreds. Their faith compass needs recalibration but many of them are shutting their airs and trusting fate to guide them to safer shores. Some have jumped ship altogether, having lost faith in the boat’s ability to keep them above water. And this without a safety vest.
At times I have found more people leaving evangelicalism out of hurt and trauma and in other instances because they prefer to live within an antinomian framework. A framework sapped of moral attitudes and ethics. They want Christ as God of the world but not as Lord of their lives. Meaning, everything goes as far as sinful patterns inasmuch as they can read their bibles to conform it to their momentary pleasures.
In that case, I’d say some of them have moved from monotheism in Christianity to therapeutic moralistic deism. It feels good, must be right, and God or gods is out there, in the ether, somewhere, maybe watching.
Post-evangelicalism can work if one deconstructs not from faith and Christ but from cultural Christianity. Namely, Brazilian-centric or United States of America-centric Christianity. White Christianity. Euro-centric Christianity. Pan-African Christianity. Etcetera.
But if you’re moving away from biblicism, crucicentrism, conversionsim, and activism, then what are you moving towards? I ask myself that same question from time to time. If I abandon the word, the cross, regeneration, and the work that goes into disseminating this message, then what am I moving into? What have I moved away from?
Is this not the gospel? Does the gospel supersede the Bebbington Quadrilateral of evangelicalism?
Absolutely.
But does the gospel have to be post-evangelical? It can be. It was before the term was even coined and its meaning as we understand it today solidified.
But I am comfortable utilizing my brain, my soul, God’s Holy Spirit, His Word, the beauty and horror of the cross, and my giving up of myself for my family and my community.
And listen, that community is not and does not have to be a believing community.
Loving God with all my heart, soul, and mind, and my neighbor as myself does not mean that my neighbor needs to be a conservative Right-leaning Christian for me to love, serve, and possibly even die in service for them.
I Am A…
I am a neo-evangelical and God has rescued me from fundamentalism and delivered me from stagnant middle-stance, middle-class centric Christianity that accomplishes much while it accomplishes nothing in mainline evangelicalism.
Bird watching, thinking of ways to kill them. Brazil, ca. 2016.
I am not out of the clear until I reach heaven and that’s why from time to time I converse with my pastor, interacting with him about ideas, what comes next for evangelicals, what ideas, good or bad, will be sucked into the vacuum created by the absence of evangelicalism in our cultural sphere.
What happens when we remove Eurocentric theology from our schools and vernacular? What happens when we burn slave-holding Christian theology to ash? What happens when we begin to listen to the voices that have taken a backseat in literature and theology for the last five hundred years? Who are these voices? Are they white, male, wealthy, and western? Are they French, German, English, Swedish, Scottish, Irish, Dutch, or Swiss?
Are these voices evangelical at all?
These thoughts and questions plague my mind every time I venture to read scripture for my personal development and the development of my church community.
I am comforted by the continual presence of this voice of inquiry because it was absent for most of my life. I thank God for the inquisitive pull in my heart. Not the cynic and skeptic. My faith is firm and sound on the Rock of Christ but the in-betweens that have dimmed my understanding for so long are still to be discovered and challenged.
I need these thoughts and questions to dominate my headspace otherwise I’ll recrudesce to fundamentalist fearmongering and that’ll be the death of my intellect.
This cannot happen.
I am too conservative for my liberal friends and too liberal for my conservative friends. I’m politically homeless. A political vagabond moving from one political railroad car to the next, exploring the goods, acknowledging them, sharing them, and then leaving it for the next. Wherever I find errors and wrongs I attempt to address them with Christic love and when that fails I’m booted forward or backward into another car. Whither this train travels I know not but that it travels forward is without question.
The final station is of less importance to me because no matter where this train of political ideology stops it is still flawed and filled with holes, carrying broken people from one place to another, ever full and ever empty.
I love my Lord, I love my wife, I love our girls, and I love the Church of Christ. The Catholic (universal) Church of Jesus is not held nor constrained by walls and windows and doors. Nor denominational lines.
I’ve seen so much of one but desire more of the other. I’m not sure we’ll get more of it this side of heaven.
But that’s okay. It’s okay if I don’t find these answers out because I am not the keeper of the Church.
Jesus is.
And no matter how much of a dunce I become in my pursuit of historical knowledge, movements, ideas, and whatnot, I know one thing, Christ will preserve His Church.
That’s why I am an evangelical, still, but more strictly defined, a neo-evangelical.
Because I still believe that Jesus is Christ and this Church, its genesis, and its end, are in His hands.
And I am too.
Questions to Consider:
Out of the six listed categories for evangelicalism, where do you land?
Were you even aware there were so many categories for evangelicalism?
Does your church community consist more or less of neo-fundamentalists, mainline, neo-evangelicals, or post-evangelicals?
Are you not sure where you fall on this spectrum and you want to take a quick quiz to find out, hit this link. Towards the end of the page you will find the Evangelical Assessment Tool. Share your findings!
Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves; ensure justice for those being crushed. – Proverbs 31:8 NLT
Because I’m in a relationship where love abounds. Now, don’t misunderstand me when I say that love abounds and nothing else. What I mean is that in this environment of love, kindness, care, appreciation, communication, and compromise, we also experience challenges induced by fatigue, lack of sleep, poor sleep, busyness, miscommunication on things as simple as: is this plate clean or where is the soundbar remote?
These trivialities are abundant within a healthy relationship. A couple that does not disagree or perhaps does not experience friction does not spend time together at all.
I am loved where I live and where I live I give love. Love can be demonstrated in various ways. It can be received and understood in many others. From gifts to affectionate gestures, time spent together, romantic or eros, philo and friendlike, paying attention to your spouse and whatnot. Too many ways and far more ways into which these methods intertwine and intersect.
Therefore, in expressing love and giving love, you must give it in as many ways as possible and be in sync with your spouse on how you best receive it. Also, how they would like to be loved.
Loveless Communion
Living in an environment where love is absent but commitment is present is a delicate and painful compromise.
What do I mean?
There are couples, married couples, who have lived together for ten, twenty, possibly, thirty years together in holy matrimony, with multiple kids (or no kids) and careers well behind them, friendships developed around them, and a community of known-ness between them and all who know them.
But… these couples lack love. What do I mean? Is not the longevity of their marriage a sign of lovingkindness and affectionate endurance?
No. But yes. But no. (Canadian expression).
It can be, but it isn’t always.
Longevity can be accomplished by simply enduring and repeating something without much thought given to it.
Also, a marriage that subsists in this environment does so out of duty. Consider religious cultures where shame rules their community and to divorce a spouse you do not love or are not compatible with is a sure sign that you will be ostracized by that community.
Shame culture is real and it is an ugly reality. If you live and move within a shame-based culture, please, for the love of your sanity, your spouse, your children, and your friends, leave it.
But people who endure their marriage, they perform certain aspects of it out of a sense of duty, almost, honorific duty so as to gloat or find pride in their suffering through this relationship.
Sorry, not a relationship, this exchange of bodily property for (x) number of years.
But living in this environment of duty and honor instead of an environment of love, commitment, and compromise can be destructive to a person’s well-being and emotional development.
The sensual aspect of this relationship is there. Granted. It doesn’t take much for a person to merely ‘enjoy’ an activity. The enjoyment is there. But the fruition from it, the connection and chemistry developed, not just on a physical level but an interpersonal and emotional level is tantamount to a healthy love-filled relationship. Couples who simply bond over this act to exchange pleasantries rather than continually build their relational affections are engaging in business matters rather than life matters.
It’s merely transactional behavior.
What I’m trying to say is that love is not a required factor for a couple to enjoy sex.
There are plenty of miserable couples out there that have better sexual encounters than we can surmise but their interpersonal connectivity and relational development are as poor as the glass cup from which Donald Trump had to use two hands to drink.
Yikes!
I know. It’s sad.
So, if you’re in a loveless relationship, be in a serious one that might lead to marriage or in a marriage that has sailed away from the docks of single-dome years ago, understand that you are not without hope.
It all starts with communication. First, communicate to yourself that you do not feel loved. Two, discover why you cannot give love. Three, you need to share these sentiments freely and fearlessly with your significant other.
If you’re afraid of being open with your significant other then by all means understand that there are more issues surrounding this love loss than anything else.
Ask yourself when it was that your love for them faded. Was there a stressful situation at work, home, in your social sphere that halted your emotional development? Are you overwhelmed by responsibilities or depressed by your unfulfilled dreams? Open up about these things. Journal about them so your thoughts are on paper and clear, clearer to you.
Ask yourself when it was that your loved one stopped or slowed in expressing their love to you. What happened in that season. Before that season. You’re not to blame unless you know 100% that you are responsible for something. Namely, cheating, gambling family funds away, cheating emotionally, lying, being emotionally repressive or oppressive, voting for Donald J. Trump, gaslighting, abuse; physical, verbal, emotional, and spiritual. But if the blame isn’t yours, don’t allow your brain to trick you into thinking it is because then you’ll both be stuck in an emotional stalemate. Discuss these things with your partner and allow them to open up to you gradually, understanding that they may not entirely understand their own feelings yet. And even if they do understand them they might have a tough time verbalizing them. So listen up to what IS said but pay attention to what is left UNSAID.
Think About It
If you are in a loveless relationship you do not have to stay in it.
But here’s the catch. I do not mean that you have to leave it either.
What I mean is that both of you can work together to make it a love-filled relationship again.
Make Relationships Love-Filled Again!
Maybe we should throw that on a hat and make it our war cry.
MTLFA!!!
Nah.
That won’t work.
But you get what I mean.
To leave a loveless relationship does not mean you leave your partner. In fact, you both leave the loveless environment together and explore what it means to love and be loved, together, again.
P.S.
This post is not meant for individuals who are in abusive relationships. If you are in an abusive relationship, please seek professional help immediately, for your safety and the safety of those in your household.
GoodTherapy. Hit that link. Click other links. Then delete your browsing history.
If your spouse or partner is abusive, contact law enforcement as soon as possible.
You are loved by a community you do not even yet know. You are more than your abuse and your hurt and your pain. You might only understand this once you leave and are free to heal, feel, and yes, be loved and love, again.
Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves; ensure justice for those being crushed. – Proverbs 31:8 NLT
I cannot emphasize this enough therefore I will allow the words of the King to re-emphasize it for me: “’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:30-31
Fox News opinion casters have been re-demonizing Muslims and Christians from Afghanistan because there’s an unfounded theory that undocumented brown refugees will begin to flood into the United States of America because of this Taliban crisis.
Listen.
Most of the people who watch Fox News adhere to some form of a Christian or Judeo-Christian moral framework where they believe that God exists, Jesus walked this earth, that we should live by high ethical standards, sexual standards, and respect our neighbors.
Something like that.
But at the same time, these same viewers will swallow a building-sized gnat of hatred that Fox News spews against, you named it, immigrants.
And the darker their complexion the spicier the vitriol gets.
Qorokh mountain hillsides in Kabul province of Afghanistan. (Photographer)
I don’t care if you watch Fox News to further numb the dead or dying heart inside of you. I don’t mind if your soul is so dark that the only thing that brings you warmth is watching millionaires discuss their hatred for the disenfranchised, poor, colored, and immigrants but if that’s the case I hope you’re not at the same time ascribing to a worldview that espouses love, kindness, redemption, and holiness.
The crisis in Afghanistan is so complicated and the United States of America’s participation in the formation and the financial backing of the Taliban in previous proxy wars has only made things worse. The United States does not walk out of this situation with clean hands.
I understand that this crisis is more complicated than we dare admit, collectively speaking. Some of us will blame Muslims for the bloodshed. Others will blame Russia. Others yet will blame Americans. And Americans will blame the Afghani people for not developing quickly enough to defend themselves against an insurgency like the Taliban.
The blame game works itself into a wheel spin that is hard to slow down once it’s in full steam. I’m concerned with the catalysts, yes, I’m concerned about the agencies that led this nation and its surrounding communities to such dire straits. Insurgents only become insurgents because every other way of life has been taken from them by bombs dropped by other insurgencies or government agencies.
American ones included.
It’s perfectly fine to feel overwhelmed by not knowing what to do or how to do what needs to be done in a situation as problematic as this.
We’re all on the same boat when it comes to this stalemate, this uncertainty surrounding Afghani lives still in Afghanistan, who, at any moment, might be massacred for whatever reason by Taliban foot soldiers.
We’re in agreement there! We’re all worried about these vulnerable people.
But what disturbs me greatly is the ever virulent diatribe that ebbs and flows from Fox News and like-minded news stations about these unfortunate souls.
If 30 million (the actual number is somewhere around 2.5 million) Americans watch Fox News every day and they believe half of the stuff that spews out of that channel then we have 30 million Americans who have little to no compassion for immigrants seeking refuge in America, Canada, Germany, France, Italy, Sweden, Turkey, and so on.
We begin to see people as animals and from there we then view them as insects. It isn’t far fetched to then believe that their decimation and massacre at the hands of Taliban terrorists is equal to that of cockroaches under our boots.
The rhetoric surrounding immigrants, especially brown immigrants coming out of Fox News, Newsmax and One America News pundits or whatever other hyper-nationalist news stations are is a rhetoric of hate.
Hate the immigrant. Say you’re sorry for their demise. Tell them they’re not welcome in your country and then smack their backside as they move on to another humanitarian crisis camp that you will call dirty, filthy, and deserving of the people who settle there.
And then go on about your life telling everyone how much your country needs Jesus because Jesus is love, kind, just, merciful, and holy.
Love the men who are fleeing for their lives so they don’t fall under gunfire or the sword. Love the women fleeing for their lives so they do not become breeders for a terrorist organization and their sex-deprived lunatic foot soldiers. Pray for the children, boys, and girls, who are petrified and will possibly be traumatized for life because of it.
Love them. Love them because they are people.
Instead of complaining about immigrants coming into your country to take your jobs look at them, not through them, as extended family members who need rescue and help.
Canada is a nation large enough to possibly fit the population of the planet in it twice over. Just don’t send people to the North West Territories because there’s nothing up there but land, bears, moose, and the occasional horror story stalker.
But fill Canada with people who need help. The United States of America, too.
Why we’ve come to think of them as undeserving of our resources because they were not born here is insane and cruel. I understand nations have national sovereignty and borders but we’re all on the same planet, sharing the same air, eating the same foods, and drinking the same water, albeit, cleaner water in some places than others.
We’re all one race stemming from one place. People with an intrinsic value whose worth supersedes international and national borders and laws.
We need to love our neighbors and help them in their time of need. Not because one day we’ll need them; because we might, but because it’s the right thing to do.
We cannot settle for news stations whose personas non grata proclaim faith, liberty, freedom, the pursuit of happiness, humanity, love, and yes, supposedly, a Christian faith, but then say and report everything contrary to it.
Love your neighbor.
Be on the side of compassion and empathy. Gun powder and sword are great at making soldiers of children but love and compassion are better at making people of character, principle, and morals.
If we want to see fewer insurgencies then we might try and start by extending a friendly hand to our neighbors.
Even when that love isn’t reciprocated, we love them. We love them well.
P.S.
I’ve placed a few photos of Afghanistan in this post. Bucolic settings, breathing taking ones, just to remind the reader that there’s more to a land when it is not constantly bombarded with terror attacks. More to it when it isn’t portrayed as a forgotten wasteland occupied by dirty brown immigrants who worship a different god. (I’m talking about you, Fox News).
Afghanistan is an extension of our land and our land an extension of theirs. Same planet, beautifully full and fully beautiful in all of its parts.
An argument can be made that there is an unhealthy level of hypocrisy in the pro-life movement concerning its response to the COVID-19 crisis.
Now, to our western mind the portmanteau pro-life means that the person values life from conception all the way through to the grave. Conception through birth, through life, and so on.
And there’s disagreement on why some of the most adamant pro-lifers fail to appreciate life as much once the person is struggling to pay bills, find lodging, facing eviction notices, in need of healthcare, education, unemployment assistance, and whatnot.
That’s not my argument here. That hypocrisy is evident in these areas and more before all. I needn’t argue the case there.
My beef is with pro-life American and Canadian Christians who use their faith and their freedoms during the COVID-19 pandemic to promote a lifestyle that is antithetical to a God and neighbor honoring ethic. They use their faith and rights to promote unwise habits which lead to the death of others.
“The Christian motive for hygiene and sanitation does not arise in self-preservation but in an ethic of service to our neighbor. We wish to care for the afflicted, which first and foremost means not infecting the healthy. Early Christians created the first hospitals in Europe as hygienic places to provide care during times of plague, on the understanding that negligence that spread disease further was, in fact, murder.”
Again, in his words, understanding that negligence that spread disease further was, in fact, murder.
I am shocked by every news article or tabloid post that informs the general public that another Covid denier, Anti-Vaxxer, and anti-establishment extremist with a Bible in one hand and the American constitution or the Canadian charter in the other has passed away from Covid related complications.
Stone, again, reminds us of just how far Christians and their Christ-centric ethics have come through the years whenever faced with moral or natural evil:
“During plague periods in the Roman Empire, Christians made a name for themselves. Historians have suggested that the terrible Antonine Plague of the 2nd century, which might have killed off a quarter of the Roman Empire, led to the spread of Christianity, as Christians cared for the sick and offered an spiritual model whereby plagues were not the work of angry and capricious deities but the product of a broken Creation in revolt against a loving God.
But the more famous epidemic is the Plague of Cyprian, named for a bishop who gave a colorful account of this disease in his sermons. Probably a disease related to Ebola, the Plague of Cyprian helped set off the Crisis of the Third Century in the Roman world. But it did something else, too: It triggered the explosive growth of Christianity. Cyprian’s sermons told Christians not to grieve for plague victims (who live in heaven), but to redouble efforts to care for the living. His fellow bishop Dionysius described how Christians, “Heedless of danger … took charge of the sick, attending to their every need.”
Christians have often been at the forefront of disaster without the push from government entities, without the assistance of political agencies, without funds from wealthy corporations and yet they ventured past the green zone and into the circle of death to assist those most vulnerable, motivated by nothing more than love of God and neighbor.
The history of altruism found within Christian communities is so imitable. Their love for the destitute, the sick, the broken, the diseased, without much care for their own well-being was quite the example to follow. This nonpareil altruistic movement is what attracted so many, to the faith to begin with.
The difference, however, is that something has shifted our Christian witness. We have gone from petitioning for the sanctity of life to petitioning for the rights and freedoms of selfish living, which, in turn, and as a direct consequence of, has caused the spread of the coronavirus in so many communities that could have gone without it if we had been more Christ-like to begin with.
In ancient Israel, in the book of Leviticus in particular, the Jews required anyone with an infectious disease to quarantine away from the camp for seven days or more. Some, having a very infectious disease, would live outside the camp indefinitely so as to preserve the wellbeing and life of both parties.
And somehow, somewhere along with the development of the western Christian mind, this altruistic selflessness has gone out the window, and with it, compassion and empathy for neighbors.
Modern medicine has shown us how diseases work, how they spread, how they affect the body, disrupt certain bodily functions, and from there, how some of them can lead to death. We now know chemists can develop antibodies in the form of a vaccine to counteract the spread of diseases or the damage these pathogens wreak on society.
And one of the mechanisms we have developed over time and learned how to use better is the victimless tool of quarantine; which helps reduce the rate a pathogen transfers from one person to another by isolating and caring for the sick. On top of that, we have been blessed with access to masks, which have also proven to reduce the transmissibility of infectious diseases.
Social distancing and masks.
These are the two crosses we have been asked to bear by our society and even these have become steps on which we tread to cause the death of others.
Distance and face coverings are too heavy a burden for us to carry.
How does that make any sense?
In the onset of Christian monasticism, in the era in which Christian converts would disappear into the desert to seek God, and once there they would form communities that would open their doors to assist and house outcasts. It was there that many relinquished so many rights and privileges just to help their neighbor.
They would give up wealth, give up status, give up work, and yes, even safety to wander through the unknown for days and nights to reach a place where trauma existed, where abused and bruised souls needed refuge, a place where so many had lost family and friends and found a new family and new friends.
Christians for years upon years had given so much from their lives and personal comfort even if it helped someone else just a little.
However, the tides have shifted and today we’re trying to take as much for ourselves and even the little that would have gone to our neighbor and their stability in life as possible.
Had we been asked to give blood, relinquish the rights to our bank accounts, leave our jobs, turn in our citizenship and residency, face deportation and exile for the sake of Christ and the betterment of life of our neighbor we would.
But a vaccine shot, social distancing, and masks are too many steps too far.
Why?
Our pro-life stance is only pro-life when it deals with the rights of the unborn but let us not be challenged to protect the life and well-being of our neighbors who are already here.
Apostle Paul asked the first-century church in Galatia a question that I ask of our generation today:
“You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? […]” Galatians 3:1 NRSV
He confronted a church that began with the salvific gospel and ended up with traditional legalism. Paul was curious about where and who tricked them out of the gospel and seduced them into a religion of works.
I, too, ask the same question of our fellow western Christian minds today.
“You foolish Americans! You foolish Canadians! Who has bewitched you?”
Who has sapped your Christianity of empathy? Who has taught you to reduce your neighbor to a number on a board? Who has asked you to see dollar signs instead of the elderly? Who has robbed you of love for your neighbor and taught you to believe that minor inconveniences like social distancing and mask-wearing are persecutory aspects of a democratic society?
You’re living with a persecution complex in a hedonist society. You’re more in love with and entrapped by comfort and rights than you are with Christ’s character of selflessness.
If you’re asked to carry your brother’s burdens you not only refuse to lend him a hand but you castigate your brother for being in the predicament they’re in, to begin with. And, at times, you’re the direct cause of their troubles.
“Bear one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” Galatians 6:2 NRSV
We see so many people pass away from Covid and much of that spread is due to our gross negligence of brotherly and sisterly love.
Christianity has thrived through thousands of years of strife, persecution, famine, war, social ostracism, pestilence, and plagues and we have shown outsiders time and again just how much love God has placed in our hearts as we care for our neighbors.
But something happened. Something went wrong somewhere and we’re too unbothered or too preoccupied or too distracted to stop and think about what and why went wrong.
Stone compares our gross negligence in spreading a pathogen we could have helped combat and stop a year ago, saving countless lives in the process, as gross negligence equal to murder!
And I agree!
There are pro-lifers committing murder. Either as direct agents of death or co-conspirators with it.
When we fail to help our world through a time like this… through a pandemic like this one… we help kill it.
These thoughts were originally posted to Facebook years ago as I reflected on the passage of the Good Samaritan from the Gospel of St. Luke.
Why Compassion Matters
How oft we forget the care Christ showed to those destitute and cast aside by society. How oft we forget the story of a Good Samaritan; an outcast in his time, who cared for a man half dead when no one else would. The Samaritan, too, was a neighbor to the Jews. As Christians, we tend to fall prey to the ideological fallacies of politics and nationalism; as hatred and even racism festers in our hearts towards our neighbors. Be those neighbors Christians, atheists, Muslims, straight, gay or etc. add it to the list. Jesus calls wrong for what it is. But none was as friendly and caring toward the outcast as He was and is and he calls us to do the same. How are you distancing yourself from your fellow neighbor? Can you love them as you love God?
The Parable of the Good Samaritan
Just then an expert in the law stood up to test Him, saying, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
“What is written in the law?” He asked him. “How do you read it?”
He answered:
Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.
“You’ve answered correctly,” He told him. “Do this and you will live.”
But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
Jesus took up the question and said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him, beat him up, and fled, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down that road. When he saw him, he passed by on the other side. In the same way, a Levite, when he arrived at the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan on his journey came up to him, and when he saw the man, he had compassion. He went over to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on olive oil and wine. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him. When I come back I’ll reimburse you for whatever extra you spend.’
“Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?”
“The one who showed mercy to him,” he said.
Then Jesus told him, “Go and do the same.”
Who Is My Neighbor?
Jesus makes it clear that no matter who our neighbor is or whatever their background may be our duty as faithful servants of the Most High is to love God with all our being and love our neighbor as much as we love ourselves.
So then, who is your neighbor today?
Is it a Republican? A Democrat?
Is it Joe Biden and Kamala Harris? Is it Donald Trump and Mike Pence?
A white man? A black woman?
A heterosexual? A transgender?
A racist? A terrorist?
An atheist? A muslim?
An evangelical? A fundamentalist?
Whatever someones affiliation, orientation, observation or predilection, especially in a pluralistic culture, it mustn’t change our conduct nor our disposition to emulate and reflect the compassionate heart of Christ to all.
Our heart should reflect that of our Lord in showing love, compassion, forgiveness, silence in moments where silence is required, tears where required, food for the hungry, open hearts for the hopeless, a shelter for the homeless, open arms to the sojourner, and yes, forgiveness for the sinner.
Go and do the same.
Our salve should produce healing because we were healed and are still going through the process of being restored and sanctified for God’s glory, day by day.
Go and do the same.
Our words need to flow out of a place of redemption, our language needs to reflect the words of Christ, and our conduct, His, so that when people see us they see not the man or the woman but the Christ who guides us. We must be but hands and feet whereas our heart and our mind belong to the Savior.
Go and do the same.
Find the broken-hearted, the suicidal, the depressed, the anxious, the fearful, the hopeless and confused souls who have come to an end of themselves and offer the hands and feet of Christ without asking for a dollar in return.
As Jesus instructed and lived, go and do the same.
In short, they’re evangelical industrial centers that bank on high attendance numbers. They exist because we allow them to, because we are attracted to charismatic personas who make us feel good about ourselves, and because we don’t like being held accountable by moral or spiritual institutions when living duplicitous lifestyles. And lack of accountability is to a megachurch what deceit and chicanery are to politics.
For one to understand a megachurch we needn’t go far. Turn your tv on come Sunday morning and you’ll be showered by tv stations that bank on the financial fluidity of large church structures that pay millions of dollars every year to make sure their message, their stage set-up, their ministry style, their liturgical steps are followed, that their revamped culture becomes vogue and that their charismatic leader becomes the centerpiece that holds everything together for everyone to see.
But how does one know if they’re part of a megachurch?
Classification of a Megachurch
The Hartford Institute for Religion Research set off to categorize what makes a church a megachurch. They must meet these seven steps to qualify as a megachurch.
2000 or more persons in attendance at weekly worship, counting adults and children at all worship locations.
A charismatic, authoritative senior minister
A very active 7 day a week congregational community
A multitude of diverse social and outreach ministries
An intentional small group system or other structures of intimacy and accountability
Innovative and often contemporary worship format
And a complex differentiated organizational structure
According to HIRR, if your church body has fewer than two thousand weekly attendees, lacks a charismatic leader who wields his power with impunity, has fewer than seven weekly events or services, has few or no outreach ministries, does not have a dedicated small group ministry, uses hymnal books and a choir to sing them for you, and your leadership consists of no more than a handful of an under-qualified staff then congratulations, you’re part of a regular church.
And I hope you don’t take that as a dismissive attack on your numerical worth, sense I believe a church is worth more than the number of people one can fit into a building. Considering how a select few congregations can sit more visitors in their pews than a professional basketball game, that’s quite impressive but numbers for number’s sake means nothing in the Kingdom of God.
God is more focused on where your salvation stands, namely, on the person of Jesus Christ. All else becomes secondary.
But I want to give you an image of a couple of larger churches, a regular-sized one, and a megachurch and the good they’re capable of accomplishing in the name of God when they heed to God’s word and prudential judgment.
And then I’ll give you a few examples of why megachurches are complicated, lack accountability, harbor predators, produce financially irresponsible teams, and diminish the witness for Christ Jesus in their immediate community.
ABC and CNN reported a story about how a small church in Southern California managed to raise over five million dollars to wipe out medical and other debt of over 5,555 struggling families within their immediate community and beyond.
“Because of the generosity of the people at Christian Assembly Church, we are able to give a Christmas gift to the people of Los Angeles, no strings attached,” Said CAC’s co-pastor Tom Hughes.
This church does not qualify as a megachurch under Hartford Institute’s conditions for one but it sure does qualify as a church and the benefit of proper financial stewardship.
Green Acres Baptist church set off to raise funds to help pay off over $4 million dollars of medical debt for their East Texas neighbors. After joining forces with RIP Medical Debt, a non-profit that strives to help families in difficult circumstances who cannot pay their debt. RIP Medical Debt couples with local churches to raise the necessary amount of funds to alleviate such a heavy burden from middle-class communities. Green Acres Baptist Church raised $45,000 of that total $4 million dollars toward this effort. GABC’s giving initiative Kingdom 25:40 mirrors Jesus’ words to his disciples from the gospel of Matthew 25:40:
“Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”
Green Acres Baptist Church barely qualifies as a megachurch.
Freedom Life Church raises funds and sets aside materials for the destitute and less fortunate residents of Edmonton’s inner-city community. This initiative is produced by a Christ-centered mission to care for the meek, weak, and vulnerable of our communities with whatever we have and wherever we can.
FLC Edmonton does not qualify as a megachurch.
From national news to local chatter, churches that help the poor, assist those in need, are aware of local issues, and become active when called to do so are more in tune with the Great Commission positioned by Christ to his disciples towards the end of His ministry on earth.
In fact, the first church would have served as the pinnacle of community efforts because, like Luke, the physician explains to his disciple Theophilus in the Book of Acts of the Apostles that the Christian community was extremely effective and spread like the plague because of its dual approach: gospel preaching and community outreach.
“All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all that there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need.
Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means “son of encouragement”), sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles’ feet.”
Clearly, a church needn’t be mega to accomplish mighty deeds. Helping the disenfranchised, housing the homeless, caring for the widow and the orphan, paying off medical debt, preventing evictions due to loss of income, helping children with food, school supplies, clothing, and footwear are all staples of Christan communities.
Come to think about it, what helped the first-century church flourish was the life, teaching, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. What also helped the church grow was its focus on the community surrounding it because of Christ’s gospel. Their healthy understanding of God helped them understand the needs within themselves and within their proximal communities. Where the poor were strangers they become brothers, where widows were left to fend for themselves they became mothers, where prostitutes were but sex slaves they became sisters protected by the church, and children left for death after birth or possibly destined for abortion were saved and considered adopted children, part of the family.
A utopia, perhaps, was this first-century church that would later spawn hospitals, universities, orphanages, and further outreach, all in the name of Jesus for the sake of God and the benefit of man. Indeed, a church that understands that we are all created in the image of God endures sweat, tears, and blood to make sure their neighbors, believers or not, are taken care of.
As controversial as Hillsong New York has been in the past, I do give it and massive institutions like it credit for holding their leadership, no matter how high it goes, accountable for their shortcomings, whether they be innocuous or eternally damning.
Hillsong New York recently released their lead pastor, Carl Lentz, because of moral failings, which were later revealed, by pastor Lentz via his Instagram account, as extramarital relationships.
Hillsong estimates that over 12,000 people visit their churches around the world every week, (pre-pandemic) with musical ministries such as Hillsong, Hillsong United, and Hillsong Worship, all part of Australia’s mother church Hillsong, has revamped the way the church does worship, musical ministries, stage set-up, conferences, concerts, tight jeans, tattoos, and lyrical choices. From spinning hymnals and romanticizing their choruses to creating its own musical and church culture, Hillsong stands on the zenith of Christian contemporary music and culture.
Their influence is felt around the world through various languages as their songs and ministries are replicated, adjusted, translated to suit adherents in non-English speaking countries. I have their songs in Portuguese, Spanish, German and English. And those are the languages I am somewhat or completely familiar with.
Their reach is boundless and I applaud their very difficult decision to oust one of their own after his moral relapse. This is not an abandonment of a man and his family but a stance taken in a prudential and biblical form to hold men and women in ministry and in laity accountable when they do fail.
These situations are experienced in both megachurches and regular churches. What sets them apart is their focus on Christ, their surrounding communities, and accountability. Numericals are irrelevant when these three structural philosophies are centerpieces of a believer’s community as their witness shines forth whether they boast of 30,000 or 300 church members. They are assisting their communities wherever they can, with whatever they can, for as long as they exist within that community.
Contemptible Models
Now we are met by more nefarious types that have stained the image of what Christianity truly is, has been, and will be for decades to come. Whereas exemplary churches, mega or regular, stand to preach, teach, serve, assist, and hold their own accountable, these following examples are not only sad to recount but should be publicly mentioned and shunned.
I hope the reader does not see my approach as bitter, spiteful, vindictive, or slanderous, for I am not here for that. I am here to remind you, and possibly myself, that Jesus warned us of men and women who would be like wolves among sheep, seeking to devour the vulnerable and usurp the financially naive. They form circles of leaders who do not challenge their abusive nature. They create traps for people who seek to hold them accountable so that their depravity is never brought to light. They scurry behind corporate entities and law firms so as to never answer for their actions whilst amassing personal wealth through the evangelical industrial complex (megachurches), disregarding the struggles of surrounding communities, predating on the vulnerable, on married women, single women, young women, and impressionable women who are part of their staff. They deny any and all accusations of wrongdoing and denounce such allegations as demonic persecution and deem their accusers as disgruntled liberal-minded secular lunatics bent on destroying unity within the body of Christ, never admitting fault or held accountable for their moral, spiritual, financial, and social failures.
This non-denominational megachurch located in South Barrington, Illinois, northeast of Chicago, was founded in 1975 by the now-disgraced and too-late disgraced pastor Bill Hybels. Independent investigations report that Bill groomed and predated on married women who he would surround himself with and take on corporate retreats around the world, as he ministered and taught the bible to different churches.
From sexually inappropriate comments to sexual harassment, predatory behavior, intimidating staff, denigrating and discrediting them when they challenged his abusive conduct, and worst of all is when abuse survivors and victims shared their stories with the church leadership and board they, too, were discredited and called liars.
Hybels was accused of attempting to coerce a female colleague to participate in sexual intercourse after placing his hand on her abdomen and kissing her in his hotel room whilst on a church conference in Sweden. The female colleague, a married woman who was part of his senior leadership team, managed to rebuff his advances and leave the room before anything more destructive took place.
She claims he informed her, before attempting to kiss her, that he had taken an Ambien; a powerful sleep-inducing drug. He had also been drinking wine and offered her a glass. The following morning he dared ask her what took place in his room since he could not recall a thing.
Such predatory behavior and forethought to protect his actions, should anything make it into the light, and it did, is to claim that whatever he said or did was done so under the influence of drugs and alcohol, to which he could claim ignorance and a lapse in judgment as a way to distance himself from his responsibility in the matter.
Careless predatory behavior.
In fact, the destructive nature of Bill Hybels’ duplicity was already in full force.
After years of internal and external investigations, allegations, denials, public denials made by Bill, his lawyers, his closest friends, who were also in high ranking positions of leadership within Christendom, and the church board, Bill Hybels was forced to step down from his position of prominence within Willow Creek Community Church.
Thank God!
Not long after, the entire church board stepped down from leadership as they admitted their fault and failure to believe in Hybel’s victims. They recognized their ineptitude to confront a bully and predator when faced with surmounting evidence of his wrongs and brought ridicule to the name of Christ within their community.
Willow Creek has since gone through a roulette of temporary ministers, who were fired or resigned, and are still struggling to maintain a structure of leadership that upholds the fabric of Christian ethics and decency.
Since Hybel’s ousting, the co-founder of the church and long-time Bill Hybels friend and mentor Dr. Gilbert Bilezikian has also been accused of clergy sexual abuse. After another wave of allegations and denials, Bilezikian also resigned in shame and disgrace, further adding to Willow Creek’s run of charades.
MacDonald’s radio ministry Walk in the Word alone reaches millions of English-speaking Americans and Canadians via radio with ease and his former Harvest Bible Chapel church was an example of how churches should function.
Was
MacDonald also posted a video to his church website and YouTube of him disguised as a homeless man, make-up and all, as he sat outside the church he pastored to see how its adherents would react to a less fortunate man begging for food and money outside their congregation. Some passed on by, some gave alms, and others stopped to chat and pray for the would-be homeless man. Worship began inside, progressed, the band played, and when the time came for the sermon of the day, MacDonald walked from the back of the church, through the halls, and onto the pulpit where he began to remove his make-up to deliver his sermon.
The church was surprised, gasps were heard from the crowd, MacDonald smiled and then went on to preach about caring for the less fortunate and the gospel’s efficacious arm within the less fortunate community.
As I type, this video has 1.8 million views on YouTube.
James was and for that matter still is an unimaginably phenomenal bible exhorter. He captivates his audience, raises his voice on tough issues, and softens it on tender ones. His teaching series is priceless.
Priceless? So we thought.
James MacDonald was ousted from Harvest Bible Chapel after numerous reports of bullying, harassment, intimidation, verbal abuse, and his bodyguard confessing to a radio spokesperson that James had solicited his help in finding a hitman to kill his son-in-law after news of his son-in-law being involved with a woman other than his daughter was made known him.
MacDonald was biblically disqualified from pastoral leadership. Matter of fact, he was disqualified from leading anything.
This saying is trustworthy: “If anyone aspires to be an overseer, he desires a noble work.” An overseer, therefore, must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, self-controlled, sensible, respectable, hospitable, an able teacher, not addicted to wine, not a bully but gentle, not quarrelsome, not greedy— one who manages his own household competently, having his children under control with all dignity. (If anyone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of God’s church?) He must not be a new convert, or he might become conceited and fall into the condemnation of the Devil. Furthermore, he must have a good reputation among outsiders, so that he does not fall into disgrace and the Devil’s trap.
1 Timothy 3:1-7
Witnesses allege that MacDonald would fly into fits of rage, shouting at temps and secretaries at the flip of a switch and later preach against these very things.
The man lived in two worlds, a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde personality within the church.
Because of prolonged abuse, allegations of harassment, bullying, intimidation, and an allegation of wanting to hire a hitman, James was ousted from the church by the board.
One year after his ouster he began an online ministry to hopefully recoup his name and status and when that didn’t pan out the way he wanted it to he sued Harvest Bible Chapel for defamation, libel, and damages and the church settled out of court for an undisclosed amount.
MacDonald’s million-plus dollar estate was soon paid off, his abrasive persona re-elevated by credulous die-hard followers and his money-making teaching style is back on the market to capitalize on the evangelical industrial complex once again.
A church set on holy standards, braving the issues of poverty surrounding its community, and teaching God’s word faithfully was led and complicit, for a great length of time, of supporting and elevating a morally bankrupt man because of his teaching and preaching ministry made their facility millions of dollars.
They endured moral failure in leadership so they could make a buck.
“I think with gifted leaders in particular we have to be very cautious about assigning fruits to gifts so when someone is gifted we assign the fruits of the spirit to that person automatically. We connect them. And we just assume that they have love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. And so that’s why it’s so hard when one falls and we think, ‘well they were so gifted and we were thinking actually they were full of fruit.’ But giftedness and fruitfulness are two different things. And you can be an exceptionally charismatic person who leads people to Christ and then behind closed doors be ruining people’s lives.”
I believe megachurches are great when their focus is on healthy and wholesome Bible teaching, discipleship, accountability, ministerial outreach, and wary of a single person governance structure.
Anytime a megachurch or any church, for that matter, surrounds itself around a single individual or family, it runs the risk of making the message of Jesus Christ, the gospel, the Great Commission, and the second advent of our Lord only as important and as relevant as the current charismatic leader they promote.
As soon as they’re gone, retired, resigned, fired, ousted, or dead, the ministry and spiritual fervency of that church is gone with them. Or sadly, they scatter to find the next best thing.
I will list a few names that we must be aware of, not for the sake of defamation or spite, but caution because these ministries are blossoming as a result of their reach, their message, their numbers, their many dedicated tv or online programs, but what makes them stick and flourish financially is one person.
This is extremely dangerous.
The Evangelical Industrial Complex works and functions within megachurches to help them catapult themselves from local community ventures to organizations run by CEOs, not board members, pastors, and elders; CFO’s, not treasurers accountable to the body; inspirational five-minute message speakers, not bible teachers equipped with the word of God from an accredited school; charismatic heresies accepted as spiritual newness and revivalism; instead of revival spawned by biblical and divine repentance.
Please, again, take these names and ministries with a grain of salt and the entirety of the Bible so we, like many before us, may not be led astray to serve or follow ministries simply because they’re hip or because they have swelled. The problem with swelling is just that, with time, it will diminish.
Steven Furtick, Elevation Church, and Elevation Worship
Bill Johnson, Bethel House of International Prayer, and Bethel Worship
Robert Jeffress Jr., First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas
Sean Feucht, Bethel, Burn 24-7, Light A Candle, and Hold the Line ministries
Franklin Graham, Samaritan’s Purse
Jerry Falwell Jr., former president of Liberty University
James MacDonald, Home Church Network
Jim Bakker, The Jim Bakker Show
Creflo Dollar, World Changers and Creflo Dollar Ministries
Benny Hinn, Benny Hinn Ministries
Joyce Meyer, Joyce Meyer Ministries
John Hagee, John Hagee Ministries
Joel Osteen, Sharing Hope for Today and Lakewood Church
Kris Valloton, Bethel Church in Redding, California
Greg Locke, Global Vision Bible Church
Just to name a few.
These personalities named above have well over 100,000 adherents who visit their mega-centers every week (pre-pandemic) and have a reach of tens of millions worldwide.
Our focus must remain on the person of Jesus Christ, with a continuous drive for healthy Biblical exposition, discipleship, and training. Our endeavor as a church should be to confront the evil within and without, recognizing the needs of our community and sacrificing our time and money where it is required to assist, even if our returns from these ventures are minuscule or none.
There was no Apostle Paul International Ministries.
No Apostle Peter and the Church of Jerusalem Ministries.
There is no Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John Podcast International Ministries.
We do not have a Doubting Thomas’ Purse Ministries.
There’s no such thing as Timothy’s Church, led by a youthful and influential pastor that amasses wealth for the sake of self and image ministries.
There’s only one ministry, one leader, one God, one purpose, one drive, one call, one mission.
Jesus
Anything else is eternally less.
In their transformative book for leaders, Spiritual Leadership: Moving People on to God’s Agenda, Henry and Richard Blackaby tackle this issue. Whenever we intend to produce Godly work through worldly efforts, we create these conglomerates called megachurches when in reality they’re multi-million dollar recreational centers that we attend to make us feel better about ourselves and our innocuous pleasure and comfort centered faith. This church lifestyle is man’s attempt at God’s mission instead of God’s mission in our realm. The Blackaby’s confronted this notion by referencing Jesus’ apostles, James and John when they sought to destroy the Samaritans with fire from heaven when these unbelievers mistreated Jesus and were inhospitable toward his followers.
“It is telling that James and John never suggested such a drastic response to the Pharisees, even after Jesus called them children of Satan (John 8:44). The brothers may have had good motives. Perhaps they saw this as an opportunity for Jesus to demonstrate his power so that, in sacrificing one village, many others would come to believe. It could be they were acting out of misguided protectiveness. They would not stand for their Lord to be disrespected. Whatever their reasoning, Jesus rebuked them. Once again their best thinking was completely out of line with the Father’s plan.
Acts 8:14-17 provides an interesting epilogue to this event. The gospel message began to spread rapidly out from Jerusalem. Word came back to the apostles that the Samaritans were receiving the gospel, so the Jerusalem church sent Peter and John to investigate. One can only imagine what went through John’s mind as he entered Samaria this time. Perhaps he came upon the village he and James previously intended to destroy. But this time, rather than sending a deadly fire, the Holy Spirit filled the Samaritan believers. What a contrast. Human wisdom for that place would have wreaked total destruction. God’s plan produced joyful deliverance. Instead of death the villagers receive eternal life. There is perhaps no more graphic biblical depiction of the contrast between people’s best thinking and God’s way than this account. Just like James and John, every time leaders develop their own vision instead of seeking God’s will, they are giving people their best thinking instead of God’s. That is a poor exchange indeed.”
Megachurches can accomplish great deeds, actions, and tasks, financially they’re powerhouses for the benefit of the disenfranchised who surround their state of the art facilities. In God’s hands and under His Holy Spirit’s guidance they can be wielded as an arm of the church proper to enact benevolence and grace on many, but under the rulership of a charismatic persona, the guidance of a board, the megamillions under building ownership and property accumulation and land acquisition they’re just centers of commerce.
They’re just mega centers, not churches.
If I recall correctly, Jesus turned tables and cracked a whip several times because of just this kind of abhorrent idolatry of leaders and money.
Lest we forget, megachurch pastor Joel Osteen closed his 16,800 seat congregation to hurricane Harvey victims seeking shelter and refuge from the storm and subsequent flooding that proceeded the storm. The former Houston Rockets stadium turned worship center not only had the capacity to shelter hundreds of families, relieve local publicly funded bodies of help, usher those in need into stability and peace, but also use this opportunity to shine Christ’s light to so many in dire needs.
But the 600,000 square foot church was closed to outsiders because according to pastor Osteen and his leadership team, its parking lot had experienced some water damage and flooding.
I’m curious if Jesus would behave the same way.
So in closing, megachurches can be useful if they become an arm of the church proper in community assistance under God’s direction.
But the moment they become the image of a man or a woman, or vice versa, they’re fit for nothing more than money pits for money-hungry, money worshipping televangelists and their like-minded adherents.
Take these words with a grain of salt and some hot sauce.
This morning we had the privilege of attending Life Church in southeast Edmonton and it was a memorable experience. Before announcements were made, prayer offered for those who are sick, before the message, the worship team ended their ministerial session with a doxology.
Doxology: “Doxologies are an expression of praise to God. In the Christian church, we often hear them sung or chanted. They are a tradition that has meaning and importance for all Christians. Since the early church, doxologies have been a way for Christians to express their love and thankfulness for what God has done in their lives.
A doxology will be heard at the end of canticles, psalms, and hymns. They are a short hymn of praise one will find in various Christian and Jewish worship services today.”
Jesus taught His disciples to pray and the Bible teaches us to praise. We praise Him as He is, above all creatures, above every kingdom, man, tribe, and tongue. We worship and praise the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. One God, eternally existent in three persons. Praise Him.
Amen.
Pastor Mike Love, lead pastor at Life Church set off to remind congregants in attendance and those who opted for online services and watched from home that gratitude is as important to the life of a believer as is faith. He explains that like faith, gratitude is a posture of thankfulness. It must come from us to God before we see His blessings in action. Our thankfulness becomes a part of our Christlike character as we mature in our spiritual walk with God.
Context
Today’s scripture is found in the gospel of Luke.
“On the way to Jerusalem he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance and lifted up their voices, saying, ‘Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.’ When he saw them he said to them, ‘Go and show yourselves to the priests.’ And as they went they were cleansed. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus answered, ‘Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?’ And he said to him, ‘Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.’” Luke 11-19
Luke records for us a strange occurrence between Jesus and a group of lepers who happened to cross paths.
For those of us unfamiliar with leprosy, the CDC defines it this way:
“Hansen’s disease (also known as leprosy) is an infection caused by slow-growing bacteria called Mycobacterium leprae. It can affect the nerves, skin, eyes, and lining of the nose (nasal mucosa). With early diagnosis and treatment, the disease can be cured. People with Hansen’s disease can continue to work and lead an active life during and after treatment.
Leprosy was once feared as a highly contagious and devastating disease, but now we know it doesn’t spread easily and treatment is very effective. However, if left untreated, the nerve damage can result in crippling of hands and feet, paralysis, and blindness.”
And although we know today that this bacterial infection isn’t as communicable as we thought, back then, many thought it was. In fact, two thousand years ago people did not have Tylenol to relax an aching back or a Motrin or Aleve to soothe a headache. There was no penicillin, amoxicillin, or any other drug that could treat these diseases so societies and cultures would go to the extremes to separate anyone who displayed signs and symptoms of any disease. This was done to prevent pandemics from sweeping through nations and decimating their numbers.
In this case, men, women, and children who succumbed to this nefarious disease were determined unfit to live with the rest of society. They were cast out of town to live with other lepers, in squalor, where they would have to beg for food.
These individuals would become victims to some of the more grotesque forms of livelihoods as leprosy would eat away their fingers, toes, nose, and ears. Some would lose an eye or two, as the bacteria would devastate their bodies. Some would lose their feet or hands, and others their limbs. They would carry the mark of their disease on their body and the shame of it on their face.
These were outcasts. These were the untouchables of that time.
If any of them were to enter a town to beg for food or money, seeking help or relief, they would have to announce their entry at times from hundreds of feet away.
Imagine announcing your entry into a school, a Walmart, a venue as a diseased man or woman. Every time you reach for a door there are signs that say “diseased, stay away,” or “announce yourself from a distance and if we decide, we may serve you.”
It’s such a burden. A sad scene, really.
Now that the world is adjusting to the new reality of social distancing we are somewhat aware of how it feels to maintain a distance, how often we can visit someone or someplace, how many people can be in there, and how many restrictions are present to prevent the spread of a virus.
But our dignity is intact. Our personhood is there. Our decency is evident.
But lepers of antiquity were the lowliest of the low, who, if they did enter a city without announcing themselves they faced punishment, possibly death.
And if one were to, say, beat the disease and its spread halted, they would then present themselves to a priest, the highest level of government at the time, for inspection and purification.
The person was cleared from quarantine, was reinstituted into society, allowed to find lodging and work, possibly marry and raise children, revisit family they were forbidden to hug and touch for God knows how long.
You can imagine the ramifications of being a leper and never finding relief. It would not be a stretch to think some of them thought of taking their own lives.
But in the passage above, we see that Jesus is on his way to the capital city of Jerusalem and is met by ten lepers. These men had most certainly heard of Jesus, the miracle worker, and had hope that he might, just might heal them. They stood at a distance as was customary they shouted at him, pleading with him for restitution and a reversal of their misfortune. And here, many televangelists would have asked for money, money-hungry preachers would have asked for faith seeds (money) and prosperity moguls would have demanded partnerships (more money).
But Jesus tells them to do something very weird. He tells them, “Go and show yourselves to the priest.”
And as mentioned above, you know that a leper is only to show himself or herself to a priest for inspection of being, say, cured or healed of the disease. But these lepers probably looked at their hands and saw the disease present. They gazed over their feet and noticed that the disease still festered. Some looked to their missing limbs and saw no difference.
But they obeyed.
Strange, isn’t it?
If to find a cure for our disease we prod our chests out, beat our breasts with vigor, and accept any adventure necessary to accomplish the task in mind to be cured. We would climb mountains, swim through crocodile-infested swamps, we would fight a lion or even swim from one sea to another. We would fight beasts, murder men, collapse buildings if it means we attain that one thing we need most in our healing!
And here Jesus asks the lepers to present their unclean bodies to a priest to be inspected and declared clean.
Seeing how innocuous Jesus’ request was they simply went on about it.
One can even imagine one or two of the ten lepers grumbling amongst themselves, “He won’t even come closer to chat with us. Some healer he is. And now we have to go and humiliate ourselves before the priest, possibly face criminal charges or death.”
But a bizarre thing begins to take place. As the lepers head for the temple ground, their skin begins to clear up. Their fingers possibly restored. Those who limped now walk on both feet, without trouble. The man without an eye is now able to see clearly with two eyes. A man, once ashamed of his gaunt and diseased face, who at one time would hide it behind a cloth now rips the cloth off and feels the smoothness of his face. A woman who before could withstand the disfigured look of her feet now stands in awe and smiles at them.
You can imagine the jubilee, the joy, the ebullience of the ten lepers as their disease is swept away from their bodies. Their trip to the temple grounds is now one of absolute festivity compared to how hopeless their entry into the city was before.
As they make their way up, one of the ten stops to think about what just happened. Of the ten, only one looks back at Jesus and begins to shout his praises and his beatitudes.
This man at first bleated and moaned his way into cities and towns but now he faces charges of disrupting the peace for shouting with such joy.
This man fell at Jesus’ feet and gave him thanks. And Luke, the author of this gospel, makes note that this man was a Samaritan. He was an outcast because of his diseased and he was an outcast, considered of lower birth and importance in Israel, because of his nationality and ethnicity. He faced discrimination because of his illness and discrimination because of his faith, his upbringing, his geolocation, and his nationality.
But here, before Christ, he is but a man before his Maker.
Gratitude precedes blessing. It does not only proceed, comes after, but it precedes, rather, we give God thanks for things before they even happen in our lives.
Olivet Theory
And Jesus is heard saying something, say, to the credit of the Samaritan whose heart he saw through and saw integrity.
“Then Jesus answered, ‘Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?’ And he said to him, ‘Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.’”
We find in this passage that God is good. And in this passage from the gospel of Luke, we see that gratitude precedes blessing.
Gratitude precedes blessing. It does not only proceed, comes after, but it precedes, rather, we give God thanks for things before they even happen in our lives.
We are thankful to God before God blesses us, not just after.
“Listen! Obedience is better than sacrifice,” 1 Samuel 15:22 NLT
And I agree with Pastor Love’s thought that obedience leads to convenience in our walk with God because these ten lepers took a step of faith before anything had even happened for them.
They heard the voice of the Healer and they stepped forward in faith.
The only problem is that only one of them turned back and thanked the Healer for their healing.
How often do we forsake the Healer once we receive deliverance? We forsake God once we have attained and accomplished that which we set off to accomplish. We made promises and swore by our name and now that we are restored we are off to institutions, rules, regulations, and patterns instead of turning back and falling at the feet of Christ.
Words of Encouragement
“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1
Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good. His love is eternal. Give thanks to the God of gods. His love is eternal. Give thanks to the Lord of lords. His love is eternal. Psalm 136:1-3
“My heart is confident, God; I will sing; I will sing praises with the whole of my being. Wake up, harp and lyre! I will wake up the dawn. I will praise You, Lord, among the peoples; I will sing praises to You among the nations. For Your faithful love is higher than the heavens, and Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds. God, be exalted above the heavens, and let Your glory be over the whole earth. Save with Your right hand and answer me so that those You love may be rescued.” Psalm 108:1-6
“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” Colossians 3:16-17
“giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,” Ephesians 5:20
Instead of questions to consider…
Focus on the blessings that God has given you in life, the blessings that God has allowed to triumph in your present, and place your faith in the God who has foreseen tomorrow and knows that He will guide you through it.
This afternoon we had the continued privilege of praising God with Freedom Life Church and to sit under the expository preaching of pastor Rohan K. Samuels.
We were thankful to revisit the topic of grace. In fact, the title of today’s message was The Gift of Grace, based solely on a passage from Ephesians that informed a church two millennia ago about the doctrine of salvation and continues to inform and nourish the church, worldwide, to this day about the concept and practice of grace.
Let us read the passage in full.
“And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” – Ephesians 2:1-7
Again, we cannot talk about God’s gift to mankind, this undeserved mercy, and unmerited favor without discussing grace. Jesus walked this earth, sinless and pure, fulfilling in his short life the requirements of a holy life and was eventually betrayed by his friends and the religious counsel of his day where from there he was tried by a kangaroo court and sentenced to death by crucifixion.
Christ endured this vilest and cruelest execution methods imaginable because of His love for us and His willingness to submit Himself to the Father, for our sake.
GRACE
Grace is defined in the Merriam-Webster dictionary in three ways.
Unmerited divine assistance given to humans for their regeneration or sanctification
A virtue coming from God
A state of sanctification enjoyed through divine assistance
How beautiful, really, to know that this gift of salvation, regeneration, of redemption, justification, propitiation, and sanctification of sinners comes from God and God alone.
It is such a joy to know that God has accomplished the total work required for our salvation alone. He did not need our help, our strength, our effort, or our struggle to complete His redemptive story.
Rest assured, sinner, the work is done.
Pastor Rohan emphasizes the need for effective and continual theological training from the pulpit because far too many congregations and congregants have settled for a water-downed gospel which in turn leaves them with a particular teaching of Christ and His salvific mission that gives Christians and unbelievers an uneasy feeling of uncertainty regarding their own salvation.
He lists three categories that have led, at least in our western churches, to the crippling of the gospel.
Theological Illiteracy
Theology is but the study of God and God’s relation to His creation. When we fail to understand who God is, how He has communicated with His creation and why, then we resort to erroneous understandings of God, which leaves the student of scripture with a flawed perception of their Creator.
When we avoid theological training that builds our understanding of God then we are left with a man-made deity that best serves us as a butler and we are led to believe this is who God is.
We could not be further from the truth.
And what is essentially paradoxical about studying theology, or rather, studying the revealed personality of our Creator, is that the more we learn about Him the more in awe we are about Him. We actually come to know less about Him, the more we know about Him.
In trying to understand and decipher the infinite, the finite thus bows its head.
But too many church attendees find their comfort in theological illiteracy because they postulate that if it is impossible to know all of God or all about God, it is rather best to not know anything about Him at all, other than what He can give us.
Poor theology leads to poor anthropology.
Olivet Theory
This faulty understanding of our Creator and Perfector leads the congregant to a deistic understanding of God. A God who is there but too far away and too busy to care.
Theology, like understanding the basic laws of physics help an individual understand why jumping from a third-story window is a bad idea. Ignorance is only bliss when you’re freefalling but the ground eventually catches up with you.
Poor theology leads to poor anthropology.
Therapeutic Preaching
Therapeutic peaching is just that. Words and sermons delivered for the betterment of our feelings and emotions. You leave the church uplifted, emotionally, but spiritually unchanged.
There is no trace of sin, corruption of the soul, menacing thoughts, devilish influence, Satanic oppression, or perpetual damnation because these doctrinal points are too polemic to discuss in church.
Therapeutic preaching serves best in areas where people struggle with their understanding of God, their understanding of sin, their understanding of scripture, and their ultimate understanding of the gospel.
Here, people perish not just for lack of knowledge but for love of pleasure and comfort.
As you scratch their backs, in an elocutionary way, the better they feel about you and about God. But the moment you discuss or preach about sin and the need for spiritual reconciliation with God, the church has tuned you out.
This ought not to be.
Charismatic Speakers
This approach is self-explanatory.
There are far too many televangelists to list and it would be a disservice on my part to bore you or perhaps excite you with their names. I’m sure you can picture a few popular faces who have built empires of wealth around themselves under the guise of Christian living and teaching. However, these ministers of the self have done everything within their power to divert the focus away from Christ and toward themselves.
That is why, whenever one of these lucrative speakers is caught in an embarrassing scandal their church must struggle with the possibility of losing its financial stability and the followers that keep this industry moving.
Charismatic preachers do nothing for the gospel of Christ, nor do they express or explain the beauty of God’s grace demonstrated in scripture through the salvific work of Jesus Christ on the cross.
Their intention is to grow their following and amass wealth.
Healthy theology from the pulpit leads to a healthy community.
Orthodoxy leads to orthopraxy.
The Scrubs
Pastor Rohan donned dark grey scrubs this Sunday afternoon and for a moment, I thought he had either come from a shift in the emergency room or was on his way to one as soon as service came to an end.
But his intention was to demonstrate that like a physician diagnosing a condition or a disease, we, humans, have to diagnose the illness present in our hearts.
We understand that there are structures, systems, cultures, ideologies, and persons who behave in such villainous ways but we rarely pause to consider the cause of their behaviors.
Sin festers in the heart before an action is ever taken but far too often we’re combating the symptoms of sin, whereas we must address, first, the presence of sin and second, the remedy for it.
Olivet Theory
Pastor Rohan references one of these issues, namely, racism in our world. Specially how people have conducted themselves towards other people in such condemnable ways but we rarely pause to ask why they behave that way.
The human heart has a disease, a corruption inherent in the human essence and it is called sin.
Sin is the cancer that spreads from one generation to the next. Sin is the spark that ignites lust in man’s heart before he commits rape or adultery. It is the flame in a child’s heart before they set their home ablaze, killing everyone inside. It is sin that thirsts for more liquor even though the inebriate wants it not.
Sin festers in the heart before an action is ever taken but far too often we’re combating the symptoms of sin, whereas we must address, first, the presence of sin and second, the remedy for it.
We must diagnose the illness of the human heart before we can do away with the symptoms it produces.
That is why the gospel is called the Good News because before we ever receive the gospel we must inform, or, rather, remind the sinner that they have an insidious disease running through their veins; no, deeper, it lives in their soul.
Paul reminds the church of Ephesus that we were all children of wrath.
Pastor Rohan informs the church that mankind is born in this reprobate state of irreversible fallenness. He states:
The nature of the unbeliever is fallen
The unbeliever is unable to revive himself, spiritually and physically from the dead
We are all subjugated to the will of the devil
“Spiritual deadness finds its source in Satan.” Said Pastor Rohan. “Every unbeliever is spiritually dead, sons of the devil.”
Paul poetically informs us of our depraved and unregenerate state in the letter to the Romans this way:
“as it is written:
None is righteous, no, not one;
no one understands;
no one seeks for God.
All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
no one does good,
not even one.
Their throat is an open grave;
they use their tongues to deceive.
The venom of asps is under their lips.
Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.
Their feet are swift to shed blood;
in their paths are ruin and misery,
and the way of peace they have not known.
There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
Romans 3:10-18
And again:
“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”
Romans 3:23
And let the reader understand that sin is the diagnosis and the prognosis, the outcome of sin, is death.
But thanks be to God in heaven that through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and the grace which was given to us through His efficacious work on the cross, we are saved by grace through faith!
But God
You can imagine a man on top of a horse on his way to the gallows for crimes unpardonable. You can imagine the same man facing the people who once trusted him, a people he once called friends now throwing rotten vegetables at him, yelling obscenities from the top of their throats at him. He listens to the gallop of the horse he is seated on and wonders how many more steps it will take before it reaches the gallows. He looks side to side and pictures the world but the unease of his execution prevents him from fixating on anything good.
He is dismounted from his mare, forced up a set of steps where a priest is reciting strange words to either him or the crowd, he is not sure. He captures the executioner, in clad black armor, face covered by a black hood. The crowd cheers when the noose is wrapped around his neck. He hears something coming from the priest about last rites or last words but shrugs and wants nothing more than to be done with this life, this world of illness and disease, this world of pillage and murder, of prostitution and abandoned bastards. He wants nothing more than that which he has earned from his way of life. His wants and desires have led him to the very noose that now hugs his throats so dearly. His wages have merited him a speedy and all too comforting death, comforting compared to the death he dealt his victims. This man is a killer, a cold-blooded murderer who deserves nothing but the tightening of a just and fair rope around his neck as his body struggles against itself. This man deserves death.
But short of the executioner pulling the trap door mechanism, a fine hairs’ distance away from sure and complete death a trumpet blasts in the distance. A sound the townspeople know all too well. It is sounded of the arrival of royalty. The crowd makes way for a man dressed in kingly attire but it isn’t the king, it is his son, the prince. This gallant figure approaches the gallows as the crowd stands in awe, in silence, in reverence of his eminence, awaiting, perhaps, for him to adulate the execution of the criminal but he does the opposite of that. He stands, makes eye contact with the spectators, and disrobes. His body, now exposed to the elements shivers. The cool air embraces his naked body as his servants turn in shame. He approaches the priest and demands he be silent. He approaches the executioner and orders him to remove the noose from around the neck of the convicted man. Everyone gasps as both priest and executioner obey without hesitance. What happens next is the most unexpected case of all time, the prince, the son of the king of the land places the noose around his own neck. The crowd shudders, they whimper, some scream in fear, and others grab on to whoever they can. No one dares interrupt the work of the king’s son, for that, they thought, would also merit a sure death on the gallows.
The prince looks at the murderer who moments ago was a dead man and whispers something to him about forgiveness, about go and sin no more, about your sins are forgiven you, and I will see you again.
The killer, unsure of how this is happening, unable to grasp the profundity of this act of selflessness from the royal son, is brought to tears, there, at the gallows but unsure why. The hate he once felt for the world begins to dissipate and he is unsure why. He attempts to explain to the royal prince that it is his neck that should be wrapped by the noose but the prince raises a hand and the crowd and the murderer are brought to silence. A sudden and complete silence.
The prince looks to the executioner, to the priest, and to the crowd at which point he explains to them that the crimes of the man before him are unpardonable and that death by hanging was the only way this killer would leave this world. But, the prince, loving the man and the crowd so much, said he would take on the crimes of the kingdom and the crimes committed in the past, and crimes yet to be committed by his servants on to himself. If anyone was to die, he would die for them all.
At this point, he gives the executioner the command only royalty could and down his body goes and with him the guilt, crimes, ills, killings, and sins of the man he saved. No one dared lay a hand on the forgiven man for the prince, the son of the king, had taken his place on the gallows, thus giving him another chance at life.
But God…
“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved.”
Saved. Raised. Seated.
“saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,”
God has activated, He has rekindled life in our soul. Not only washing us of our sins but sending His Son, Jesus, to die for our sins. He has raised us from the wallow of sin to life everlasting when He raised His Son from the grave. And now remains for us a brighter future beyond the grave, thanks be to Christ Jesus.
Pastor Rohan informs us that not only are we awakened from a deadly spiritual state but our position before God is another. We were once distant, desolate in the soul, reprobate, and deserving of wrath but because of God’s great mercy, because of God’s gift of GRACE, we are now children of God.
We can approach our heavenly Father as little children approach their parents and rest in their embrace.
Mind you, God’s embrace is not weak. His grip over our lives, our salvation, our future, and eternal state is not feeble. He who saved us is He who maintains us in Him and He will not relent. He will not loosen His hold of His children the same way a mother does not release her grip over her babes in light of imminent danger.
“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written,
‘For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.’
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
The Creator of our universe can save you, raise you, and seat you by His feet for all eternity. His grace affords us this incomparable gift.
It’s His gift of grace to us all.
Why linger, why falter, why wander any longer, reader?
Accept His generous gift and be welcomed into the family of God with opened arms.
In light of the streaming revolution, we have seen a spike in the way companies want to brand themselves as to appeal to their audience in an attempt to make their platform better or more attractive to us than their competitors.
Apple has introduced us to Apple News+ and Apple TV+. The entertainment giant Disney released its own streaming service unimaginatively dubbed, Disney+. Nike began its Bluetooth connectivity branding software ages ago through Nike+. Hey, even Google jumped on the bandwagon with Google+ but tripped on its way on and crashed onto the ground because of privacy issues and the rest, well, the rest is history.
Adding a “+” to the end of one’s brand has worked well to garnish new interest in the product or content a company offers.
But what does that have to do with the gospel? What is the Gospel+ movement?
Before we dive into this ever-expanding abyss, I would first like to remind the reader what the gospel is from a biblical perspective.
The Gospel in Seven Easy Steps
We are all sinners and by definition, our sin not only separates us from God, it also makes us hostile to the idea of God. (Romans 3:23, Romans 8:7)
The only punishment that God has determined suitable and justifiable for sin, independent of its magnitude or its effect is death. The soul that sins must die. First, we succumb to bodily death, and secondly, we experience a perpetual separation from God. (Ezekiel 18:4, Matthew 10:28)
God loved us so much He sent His Son, Jesus, into the world to pay for our sins. Only God is worthy of dying a death great enough to pay for the sins of His creation. He was the perfect atonement. The perfect sacrifice. (John 3:16-17, Hebrews 7:27, Hebrews 10:10)
Jesus lived a sinless life, was led to the cross, was crucified, died on the cross, was placed in a tomb, and there He lay. On the third day, He arose from that tomb. This is called the resurrection. (2 Corinthians 5:21, 1 Corinthians 15:4)
He overcame the ultimate power of sin, which is death. He has rebuilt the bridge on which we can be reconciled to God. He has paved the way for us to overcome death. (1 Corinthians 15:54-57)
Salvation is attained by faith alone, through grace alone so that no man or woman may boast. It is a gift of God. (Romans 10:9-10, Ephesians 2:8-9)
And finally, Jesus has ascended to heaven, is at the right hand of the power of God, and will one day return to exact a final and total judgment on everyone who ignored the call for redemption. (2 Peter 3:1-13)
His salvation is free of charge. There is no admittance fee. Anyone who would seek forgiveness, justification, redemption, and the ability to face death without fear can attain it all by accepting Jesus into their life.
I’ve simplified sixty-six books of the bible into seven short sentences. People, please be patient with me.
So, if this is the gospel in its simplicity, what, then, is the Gospel+ movement?
It is when we add anything to the simplicity of the formula Christ has laid out for us in scripture.
Christ + faith = salvation.
VS
Christ + faith + fill in the blank = Hell in a hand basket full of horror and shame.
Whatever one adds to the complete work of Jesus on the cross or whatever one adds to the process by which someone is saved adds a “+” to the gospel and this diminishes and discredits the simplicity of the gospel message.
Let us explore:
Works + Prosperity + Word of Faith + Hedonism + Nationalism = An Ugly Mess
1. The Works Gospel
Jack Schaap, former pastor of the First Baptist Church of Hammond. | Provided Photo~Sun-Times Media
Beneficiaries: Abusive men who gain control over women and children to abuse and misuse them with impunity.
Adherents: Religious traditionalists who have not understood the simplicity of the gospel, thus they’re trapped by a works-based or merit-based relationship with their immediate leaders and their flawed understanding of God.
Their God: Control
In short, this gospel thrives in communities where men in leadership can control their adherents by the way they dress, the food and liquids they’re allowed to consume, the movies, or shows they’re allowed to watch if any at all. They deride music that is not compatible with what is traditionally sung in their circles. They express disdain for scholarly work surrounding theology, history, sociology, psychology, psychotherapy, or anything involving the use of science in medicine to assist individuals who need these avenues to become competent individuals in the real world.
Their leaders do not care for correction, they hide predators behind a cloud of mystery and condemn the victims of abuse as promiscuous prostitutes and whores who deserved the abuse they were forced to endure.
They go to lengths to hide their own sins, the sins of their family members, and sins of their fellow leaders so as to gain the utmost, total, complete and unmitigated control of their adherents.
These people do not run a church. They run concentration camps with a cross out front.
You may hear certain words like repentance, freedom, forgiveness, redemption, and salvation fall from the pulpit but in practice, the preacher wants nothing to with a change of lifestyle, wants nothing more than to dominate his adherents, forgives no one who offends him. He believes he is the god of his people.
One is never saved here. In fact, anxiety and depression fester here. Because a person is never saved by their works as they attempt to please a preacher or a community by how they live outwardly but are never able to combat their fleshly desires within. Their sins go unforgiven.
They hope their good deeds ultimately outweigh their bad deeds. This is a dangerous addition to the simplicity of the gospel because instead of a person accepting the complete work of Christ they rely on the incomplete and often flawed works of men.
2. The Prosperity Gospel
Promoters: Televangelists
Beneficiaries: Men and women who stand to profit from ministry, have no intention of informing their followers about salvific doctrine, want nothing to do with helping the poor, homeless, imprisoned, widows, or orphans. Their goals are evident by the vehicles they drive, the mansions they own, and the planes they fly in. They hoard wealth.
Adherents: Individuals who are less fortunate or stuck in the middle class who want to amass wealth and riches on earth, as they see in the life of their earthly leaders. They do not understand the gospel, they do not know how to steward their finances, and they believe that wealth on earth is equivalent to one’s good standing with God.
Their God: Money
Most of us are familiar with this gospel because we grew up watching televangelists (a portmanteau of television-evangelists) who promised watchers that if they gave a portion of their wealth to a ministry of choice they would be blessed. Financially blessed.
This gospel is no gospel at all, for it wants to rob people of their income, their salaries, their fortune, and their savings for the enrichment of the evangelist. Mind you, this evangelist does not speak of the simplicity of Jesus’ gospel, he speaks from his own gut.
Costi Hinn talks about how they would visit churches and demand a seed offering of faith of hundreds, if not thousands of dollars from church members to further expand the gospel of God throughout the world. This seems altruistic but Costi Hinn was driving a decked-out Hummer, his family members drove Bentley’s and Ferrari’s, rode on private jets that belonged to Benny Hinn’s ministry but only Benny and his posse got to ride in it. Costi speaks of lavish vacation trips they would take where certain hotel stays would cost them, or rather, their followers upwards of twenty thousand dollars a night. Yes. You read that correctly.
This idea that one can financially invest in their own salvation or well-being by handing their money to a ministry is as old as liquor and prostitution itself. Just as bad.
Money peddlers have always sunk their claws into the vulnerable, whether that be widows, the sick, the mentally unstable, the financially pressed, all in all for the promise that their seed of $100, $1000, or $10,000 will be doubled or rewarded back to them one-hundred fold in this life, not to mention how rich they will be in the afterlife.
The idea is so preposterous compared to the simplicity of the gospel because it removes Jesus from a person’s focus and places that focus on wealth, well-being, earthly favor, and comfort at the pinnacle of one’s existence.
Instead of relying solely on the complete work of Christ for our reconciliation to God, we divert our attention to momentary success.
It’s a pyramid scheme. It’s not the gospel.
The individuals who are prey to this erroneous additive think they are serving God by financially supporting God’s evangelists and prophets but they’re entrapped by a superstitious mindset.
They believe that if they fail to send the preacher money then all sorts of evil will befall them. If they’re sick it’s because they lack faith. If they’re hungry or poor it’s because they failed to cast that seed (investment into the ministry) years ago.
Everything good that happens in life is a reward for their financial faithfulness to a ministry and everything bad in life is a punishment for failing to support one. Everything surrounds money and the money goes to those with the most faith.
This teaching wants to rob the person of their ability to think for themselves. It wants to rob the person of the freedom they have in Christ. It devours the poor only to enrich one person or one ministry. If you question where the funds go you’re questioning God and this is seen as an act of disobedience and rebellion. No one dares speak ill or poorly of the man of God, or the prosperity teacher because they’ll be cursed with poverty, sickness, fall out of God’s favor, and will be an outcast in his or her community.
It’s a meritocracy. A rewards-based gospel. A capitalist gospel. It does not save, it enslaves.
3. The Word of Faith Gospel
Promoters: Self-proclaimed apostles + prophets
Beneficiaries: A select group within the church body that gains their prominence by how much of the spiritual world they believe they can command and control.
Adherents: People who have not understood the simplicity of the gospel and believe their infirmities, diseases, deformities, illnesses, and paralytic conditions will, without question, be healed. Their faulty understanding of Jesus and why He came to earth leads them to believe that all wrongs in life will be righted this side of heaven.
Their God: Fame + Status
This gospel is fairly new and by new I mean it hitchhiked into our times on the same wagon pentecostalism came into the scene in Azusa Street Revival, Los Angeles, CA, 1906.
So what does the understanding of pentecostal revivals, the urgency for repentance, the call for spiritual awakening, and social reform have to do with the word of faith gospel?
The word of faith gospel is hyper-individualistic to its core. It’s selfish. It’s all about how an individual can dominate the spiritual world for their own benefit. They bind spirits that aren’t there. They call into existence things that do not, in fact, exist. They exercise every form and manner of verbal domination over the devil, demons, principalities, and spiritual governances but they cannot control their own lusts.
Leaders within this particular movement want nothing more than to elevate their name, their brand, their status as healers, supernatural mavericks, miracle workers, and prophets. They are unable to heal anyone and their miracles are fabricated and the situations in which hundreds, if not thousands of people are healed in crusades, these supernatural events are medically unverifiable, and the prophecies they speak, as you would have guessed it, never come true.
They’re protected by a facade of spiritual ambiguity, hidden knowledge, and a caste of complicit individuals who surround them to inflate their ego and protect their brand.
Word of faith healers will never visit a children’s oncology center where children of every age suffer from and eventually succumb to cancer. They never visit trauma centers where war veterans who are incapacitated by the horrors of war need miraculous intervention to heal their minds and body. They do not visit prisoners who suffer from mental illnesses. They rarely step outside of the comfort of their air conditioned church because they understand the gospel they claim to preach has nothing to do with the simplicity of the gospel but everything to do with the deification of the self.
There is no salvation here. Just smoke, noise, and yellow glitter sprinkled from ventilation systems.
Beneficiaries: People who have an uncontrolled and warped understanding of human sexuality and want to use their adherents as pleasure centers for their depraved and perverted minds.
Adherents: People who are either born into this kind of community, people who have never been taught about the simplicity of the gospel, people who were abused or continue to suffer abuse and are afraid to leave because they have been brainwashed to believe that what their leaders are teaching and doing to them is God’s work.
Their God: Pleasure & Comfort
The hedonist (pleasure and comfort = good. Pain and discomfort = bad) gospel focuses on the well-being, comfort, and sexual gratification of the individual independent of where or how he or she may acquire it, with whom, however much, whilst ignoring whatever consequence may come from this particular frivolous lifestyle.
This system serves only as a means to gratify the flesh. And as the life of a true believer does call us to suffer, at times, for the greater good, forsaking desires that serve no other purpose than to use and abuse one another, this particular environment is the opposite of that.
There is no suffering, no waiting, no endurance for the sake of virtue visible here. The God they serve is one of pleasure and comfort.
There is no salvific message here. There is only lust, sensuality, perversion, abuse, torment, and a constant battle between sexual addiction and the tenets of false sexual liberation ethics. The problem is the individual and the community that reinforces these false-freedoms are themselves enslaved by their passions, never coming to a full understanding of the redemptive, life-transforming, all-fulfilling gospel of Christ.
You remove the passions and lusts from the individual and you will find them existentially bankrupt. Outside of pleasure and comfort, they have no other hope but suicide. For when life is summed by the pleasures and comforts it may bring and the individual is seized by cancer, pain, and disease, their purpose for living is no longer attainable and the viability of their gospel of pleasure loses its attractive features, thus displaying to them that outside of it they are doomed and within it, they are trapped.
5. The Nationalist Gospel
Promoters: Supremacists + Racists
Beneficiaries: In the west today, typically, supremacists tend to be white evangelicals. Historically, they have been white, independent of their religious affiliation. This does not mean supremacists cannot be of African, Asian, or Latino ancestry. As we stand today, the race that stands to benefit most from dominating another race is made up of white American evangelicals.
Adherents: Disenfranchised white believers who are brainwashed to believe that their way of life is threatened by an invading army of immigrants or people who do not look, think, buy, sell, drive, sing, dance, read, worship, or talk like they do. These individuals do not understand the simplicity of the gospel. They have been introduced to a geo-theo-political, economic system that serves to benefit one group of society while destroying or ignoring the destruction of another.
The prevalence of this gospel is unfortunately still present in our church communities today. In fact, it is so intertwined with certain groups that to remove a nation’s flag from a church is the same as removing Jesus from the gospels.
The message is focused primarily on the importance of those within a nation, for the benefit of those of a particular social and racial group, and whoever challenges the nationalistic tenets of this faith movement challenges God Himself.
These individuals will promote anyone to power who sounds the trumpet of God and country. They have a death grip on their bible with one hand, on a weapon with the other hand and their bodies are wrapped in a flag of their choosing. This gospel elevates a particular race, ignores the geographical and ethnical origins of the historical Jesus, and will promote, back, fund, and idolize any individual, independent of how putrid their character and conduct may be, inasmuch as they get their religion, their flag and their localized policies enacted into power.
They are consumed by power.
They are living examples of the demons and devils they see in radical, extremist Islamic terrorism. They are themselves, like the religious extremists in the middle-east, a caste of geopolitically motivated supremacists who use religious tenets to rationalize hatred, bigotry, violence, silent complicity, and a single race identity under the rulership of Jesus Christ.
They are Christian Nationalists. There is no salvation here. There is no true understanding of who God is or why He sent His Son to die on the cross. There is no love of neighbor here.
This is a self-destructive force made up of theo-political extremes that thrive under the guise of patriotism and Christian ideals and ethics.
Avoid it, at all costs.
The Gospel Does Not Need Our Help
The simpler the gospel becomes the closer we are to it. Whenever we add an idea, belief systems, a depraved ideology or rules by which to attain that which Christ has already accomplished we are lightyears away from the truth.
What Jesus endured on the cross was enough to merit us forgiveness and justification.
What Jesus overcame in the tomb was enough to merit us bodily resurrection.
What Jesus accomplished in His ascension to heaven was enough to merit us the hope that He will return for those who are His.
Anything else. Anything beyond this. Anything less than this. Anything BUT this is a “+”. An unnecessary “+” to the gospel of Jesus Christ.
“The heart of the gospel is redemption, and the essence of redemption is the substitutionary sacrifice of Christ.”
Charles H. Spurgeon
Let’s keep the Gospel gospel. Ditch the “+” from Gospel+ and get back to the basics.
And again, the simplicity of the gospel needs nothing more, nothing less, nothing other than the person of Jesus Christ.
Jesus is patiently waiting for you there.
Questions to consider:
Have you been a victim of the Gospel+ movement? Which one?
Have you ever promoted any of the listed Gospel+ movements? Why?
Can you tell the difference between the saving gospel and the broken one?
“By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” – John 13:35
“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. […] If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.” – 1 John 4:7-12, 20-21
Minister Dustin Benge, Ph.D., is a lecturer and administrative research assistant at The Andrew Fuller Center for Baptist Studies on the campus of Southern Seminary.
He has taken on the very delicate conversation of racial injustice. His advice is one that every Christian can agree on, without compromise or shame. Below he lists seven ways a believer can help fill the divide that is so prevalent in our day: racism.
“What can I do about racism?
1. Preach a reconciling gospel. 2. Identify racism as sin. 3. Love my neighbor with Christ’s love. 4. Search my own heart. 5. Open my arms in humble welcome. 6. Weep with those that weep. 7. Bow as one before Christ in worship.”
At first, the question sounds daunting, perhaps frightening as many would want to avoid discussing such a divisive issue like racism. But church history shows us that believers, clergy, and leadership ought not to avoid issues of contention but in fact confront them openly as apostle Paul did by correcting apostle Peter’s hypocrisy in front of the body of Christ.
Apostle Peter had begun disassociating himself from gentiles because he had Jewish friends, primarily those of a more conservative side of Judaism, who did not associate with Greek people. Paul made it his goal to show Peter that his heart was not in the right place for Christ has given us the freedom to love and accept believers from every nation, race, and tongue. Peter had failed in this respect and needed loving correction. Immediate correction.
One might see here, Peter’s early spirit of separation might equate to today’s spirit of segregation. Not only that of the race but also that of politics.
Our world has suffered under the sin of racism for centuries and this divide once promoted, now is disdained and hated by many. And it is only right that the church of God represents Christ on earth by sharing the gospel of redemption, reconciliation, and righteousness, all of which are by the grace of God.
In this endeavor, we must understand that being the salt of the earth, in a preservative nature, we must stymie our cultural and societal decay by denouncing behaviors, practices, policies, and laws that deride the sanctity of life and violate human rights.
The church was called to condemn the sins of the Spanish Inquisition as the state church sanctioned the brutal torture and killing of people they categorized as heretics; it was called to the condemn the sins of Crusaders who razed Europe and the middle east to the ground, burning villages and people, raping and pillaging in their attempt to retake Jerusalem from Muslims, whilst displaying the cross of Christ on their shields; it was called to condemn the sins of both the Nazi and Communist regimes, whose sole intent was to eradicate an ethnic group while the other wanted to crush an entire class of people under its iron fist.
The church is called to point people to the Most Holy God and in this pursuit, their personal lives ought to be transformed by the regeneration of their mind, heart, and soul, thus instilling in them the fruits of the Spirit which are used by God to help us love and protect our neighbors.
It was in this mindset that abolitionists in the United States and Great Britain strained and stressed, day and night to repeal, destroy, abolish and outlaw slavery in its every form and predominantly that which was based on race.
Unfortunately, our society is still coping with the ramifications of hundreds of years of racial injustice and abuse of power in the name of racial superiority.
This gives us, believers in Christ, the opportunity to demonstrate the heart of Jesus to mankind, not just redeeming their souls from sin but rescuing their body from earthly oppression.
Minister Dustin Benge’s advice to the church is not cumbersome as some would have us think. To preach the reconciliatory power of the gospel, identify an egregious sin, love our neighbor, search our hearts, welcome our hurting brothers and sisters into our arms, weep with them as Christ wept with Mary and Martha near Lazarus’ tomb, and become one body under Christ is not cumbersome at all.
These are beautiful expectations of a believer in our times but it can only be accomplished by God’s Holy Spirit working in us, strengthening us for this honorable task laid before Christ’s church.
It speaks volumes when Christ’s church is silent in the face of moral, cultural, intellectual, and spiritual decay.
I pray we take advantage of this opportunity to display Christ as He is: Glorious, Redeemer, Healer, Forgiver, Avenger, Almighty, and God with us.
Let us show the world how Jesus is the only one who can destroy racism in the mind, quicken love in the heart, and regenerate the soul of mankind.
“And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.” – 1 John 4:21
“Historian David Bebbington’s influential four-part description of evangelical essentials (the ‘Bebbington Quadrilateral’) tilts toward the theological – biblicism, crucicentrism, conversionism, and activism in spreading the first three. But separate from theology, American white evangelical Christianity has a political character that also boils down to four essential elements – Christian nationalism, Christian tribalism, political moralism, and antistatism. Call this the white evangelical political quadrilateral.”
Christians in America and it would seem also in Canada, need to distance themselves from the “either/or” fallacy of either conservatism or liberalism mindset.
The virulent and counter-productive dogma that has permeated through the western church is that all things “conservative” are Christian-based and all things “liberal” are essentially evil. This manner of thinking is incontemptible with healthy analytical reasoning. The opposite is just as damnable.
For the unbeliever, he must see us, followers of Christ, as people who transcend borders, policies, governments, and political ideologies to demonstrate the redemptive and regenerative work of Jesus Christ on earth.
We are to be representatives of God’s Son. People who seek justice, love mercy and walk humbly before their God. People who love God with all of their heart, mind, and soul and love their neighbor as much as they love themselves.
When Christianity is prey to nationalism, tribalism, political party lines, and other “isms” that diminish the person of Christ only to elevate local, federal, national ideals, it is no longer Christianity. It becomes a pseudo-theocratic institution where politicians perform the assignments of priests, political parties become religious institutions and the president becomes their prophet. And time allowing, by the power, respect, and praise ascribed to that individual leader, he or she then becomes the god and savior of that theo-political-religious identity.
Lest we forget, it was prophet Jeremiah who attempted, time and again, to turn a wayward people from their destructive ways and their response was: ‘This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD.’
They believed God would never destroy their most holy temple and city, no matter how evil they became because they had a sacred institution to fall back on. Thus enter Nebuchadnezzar. God help us if we fall prey to the same mindset and say, “This is America! This is America! This is America!”
“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.” 1 Corinthians 9:24-27
As believers we are quite aware of how our day to day conduct can amplify the name of Christ in our lives and how a failure, no matter how great or small can tarnish the very name of Christ.
In interacting with a fellow colleague I was introduced to the life of a man who worked for a particular company in town. He was focused on his work and was considered an exemplary employee to many. My colleague went on to tell me how this man was stealing funds from the company for his own gain. News reached the owners of that firm that this once exemplary employee was a thief. We can all see why this man was soon after that confronted and then terminated from that company.
What struck me as extremely odd was how my colleague finished this sad story of someone’s moral failure. She went on to say, “It’s so sad how this ended for him. I can’t understand why he did what he did because he was a devout Christian man.”
How horrific of a blemish to carry on our names for the rest of our lives. Christians, followers of the Almighty God, reduced to the moniker of thieves, liars, cheaters, and defrauders for personal gain.
In light of this I found it necessary to focus on the lives of believers who lived imperfect lives but retained a testimony of strength and humility to the very end of their days.
The Graham Witness
It was Billy Graham, the American evangelist who lived to the ripe age of 100, when invited to lunch by then, the first lady of Arkansas, Hillary Clinton, he said:
“I’d be glad to meet you for lunch, but it would be at a public place and I’ll have to have one of my associates with me, so it’s not just the two of us having lunch together.”
The Zacharias Witness
The late world-renowned apologist Ravi Zacharias on discussing public scandals and private failure in ones Christian life went on to advise us in this way:
“If you’re looking for a person without blemish, either stop looking or dive deeper into reality. Be good, be great if it’s possible, but when you fail—and you will—make sure that you do and are better.”
The Wesley Witness
It was Susan Wesley, the mother of Methodism, the irreplaceable mother of John and Charles Wesley, penned a letter to her son John on June 8, 1725, saying this:
“Whatever weakens your reason, impairs the tenderness of your conscience, obscures your sense of God, takes off your relish for spiritual things, whatever increases the authority of the body over the mind, that thing is sin to you, however innocent it may seem in itself.”
Let us honor the Lord as Billy Graham did by setting perimeters in our lives that will decrease the chances of us being at the center of a scandal. Let us, as Ravi Zacharias did, understand that at the foundation of our redemption, is Christ Jesus our Mediator. It is He who forgives us our sins. And like Susan Wesley, let us set aside the things that weaken, impair, obscure, tarnish or remove the relish for spiritual things. Let us remove the things that increase the authority of the body over that of the Spirit in our lives.
In doing so, we are, by God’s grace and mercy, able to leave behind a witness of honor that points our lives to Jesus. To be known as a man or woman of God, one demonstrates His love for all people; sharing the gospel in word and in deed is our duty. It is our calling.
That is the witness of a transformed life.
“Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.” 1 Timothy 4:16
Olivet Theory 