Razing or Resurrecting Hell?

There are a growing number of Christian writers who want a gentler, kinder Hell but can not escape or get totally away from it. Whether that be Sharon Baker's book "Razing Hell" or Rob Bell's "Love Wins," the tension of God's retributive and restorative justice and character of love and holiness are so interwoven together that these Jesus followers try to creatively or imaginatively deal with them despite the fall out from those on the right or the left.

Bell provocatiely says things like those most concerned about others going to hell seem less concerned about them going through hell on earth now. And then there are always those who are concerned for others going through earthly hells but don't seem concerned at all about the possibility of hell after death.

The context of Jesus fiery hell sermons were aimed directly at the religious establishment, not the irreligous pagan and non-believer. Something the church needs to rehear and look in the mirror first before they look out the windows at others.

But where I think Bell shines the most is on his discussion of the story of the rich man and Lazerus. Bell keeps Jesus audience so in mind (something that most ministers forget to do) that he sees Jesus point about not listening to someone who has raised from the dead as a powerful reminder of what his audience was missing in Jesus own upcoming death and resurrection. That the whole gospel message is about life over death, losing one's life to find it, and living out the kindom today so that one may experience its riches in the future.

Bell says Jesus is brilliant in the way he tells the message. Bell is also brilliant by showing in a powerful way what is often in the text but missed anyway. So maybe the issue is not to raze hell but to resurrect it in such a way that today's listeners can truly see the many ways hell comes to us in the eternal now and the eternal future. Something to think about . . .

Where are we going and does it matter?

THE WHOLE OBJECT OF TRAVEL IS NOT TO SET FOOT ON FOREIGN LAND; IT IS AT LAST TO SET FOOT ON ONE'S OWN COUNTRY AS A FOREIGN LAND - G. K. Chesterton

I continue hear a growing number of Christan prophets lament the demise of Christianity in North America while others are celebrating more diversity, tolerance, and less rigidness when it comes to the faith people profess and practice. Several of my friends suggest its the journey and not the destination that is important. Now that sounds good until you wind up in Alaska shoveling snow as one of my friend's told me after he registered for the armed services.

Is it just the ride that counts and not where one is traveling to that counts? Does it matter if one ends up in Porta Prince or Porta Rico? Where is the church going today? Does it even matter? If traveling to geographical locations matter, should it matter where one is going spiritually and ecclesially? If all churches are equal then it really does not matter. But does God care where we end up and how we arrive there? Surely we see people going opposite directions when it comes to Protestants becoming Catholics and Catholics becoming Protestants. We see people all over the map theologically and every political issue tagged with the title "Christian" on it.

Does Jesus wear designer brands or is there something more deeper that He is after when it comes to our values and allegiances? Where we end up may matter a whole lot if its not really the destination we are truly after. So maybe the next time we are doing a spiritual inventory on where we are at in the moment (like "here you are" on a map), we need to ask, "Is this close to where I really want to be?" Just asking . . .

Crazy Love

THE GOD OF THE UNIVERSE IS NOT SOMETHING WE CAN JUST ADD TO OUR LIVES AND KEEP ON AS WE DID BEFORE - Francis Chan, Crazy Love

Forget About His Will For Your Life! Isn't that what we hear people say today another way, "I just wish I knew God's will for my life?" There are few people in the Scriptures who received their life plan from God in advance.

God cares more about our response to His Spirit's leading today, in this moment, than about what we intend to do next year. In fact, the decisions we make next year will be profoundly affected by the degree to which we submit to the Spirit right now, in today's decisions.

It is easy to use the phrase "God's will for my life" as an excuse for inaction or disobedience. It's much less demanding to think about God's will for your future than it is to ask Him what He wants you to do in the next ten minutes. It's safer to commit to following him someday instead of this day.

We are scared to make mistakes, so we fret over figuring out God's will. God wants us to listen to His Spirit on a daily basis, and even throughout the day. My hope is that instead of searching for "God's will for my life," each of us would learn to seek hard after "the Spirit's leading in my life today" (excerpts from pp.191-193).

Surprised by Hope

WHAT HAPPENS TO ME AFTER DEATH IS NOT THE MAJOR, CENTRAL, FRAMING QUESTION . . . THE MAJOR, CENTRAL FRAMING QUESTION IS THAT GOD'S PURPOSE OF RESCUE AND RECREATION FOR THE WHOLE WORLD, THE ENTIRE COSMOS"
- N. T. Wright


N. T. Wright is a provocative writer and a ground breaker for the church to explore once again several biblical images that have either been ignored or needed reformulating for the 21st century.

Wright has reframed many theological issues from justification, the meaning of Israel in exile, and ultimate questions like God's kingdom breaking in the present and not just the future. Wright's theological provocations are to stir a sleeping church so that healing and transformation can happen to all of creation. So here is an example of Wright reframing the questions:

"To focus not on the question of which human beings God is going to take to heaven and how he is going to do it but on the question of how God is going to redeem and renew his creation through human beings and how is he going to rescue those humans themselves as part of the process but not as the point of it all" (p.185).

Is this not similar to what God does through Israel? Did not Israel make the mistake that many are making today to think that the point is their own personal rescue rather than seeing the larger picture in how God wanted to use Israel to rescue all the nations?

Wright does this kind of Socratic questioning where he turns the issues around for us to see something new we have possibly have not seen before or simply have long forgotten. With so much apocalyptic fervor today, Wright reminds followers of Jesus that the main point is not our escape from this world but God's future restoration of it. The point is not our going to meet Jesus somewhere else but Jesus coming back to meet us where we are at. Christians may not like to admit that they have been wrong on some of these things but doesn't Wright have a point?

Fallen

"I have met the enemy and it is me" - G. K. Chesterton

There have been several movies about fallen angels who are on earth trying to redeem themselves. Even though the biblical story suggests its these principalities and powers that are reaping destruction and havoc on our planet, Christians for the most part have ignored the possibility of redemption for fallen angels.

This reminds me of yesterdays musings. Why are some people so intent on all humans being saved in the end but not Satan and his angels? Doesn't all the justice and God needs to play fair cards thrown down apply to them as well? It seems like a certain selectivity and anthropocentric gospels have a lot more to unpack when it comes to justice, holiness, and the goodness or fairness of God.

My problem and everyone else for that matter is when we read the Bible, we read it with a fallen nature. Because of sin, it's like we have all been effected by "Satan's insidious nature." We shake our fists at God or demand that God or God's Word conform to our way of thinking and doing things. And followers of Jesus are just as guilty of doing this as those who are not following Jesus.


This has been "the year of tornadoes." What do we make of these natural forces that maim, kill, and destroy lives? Some Christians simply retreat to all suffering and bad things come from the Devil and his fallen angles and all good comes from God. But is that what we see in the Bible? Does God ever make use of these forces as agents of judgment?

And then there are so many Jesus followers who think their sole task is to point out the errors of everyone else. Is that really the gift of discernment that the Bible talks about? Everything from all revivals are not really moves of God but forms of deception to Christian mysticism is evil and really from the Devil. Really? And then there is all that Catholic bashing to even the new monasticism is bad. Probably sounds too Catholic? Do we not find ourselves calling bad what God calls good? Maybe we should try to follow G. K. Chesterton's example and look for fallenness not somewhere else, but take a really hard look in the mirror. For if we don't look for it there first, we have no right to be looking for it some place else.

Confessions of a Hypocrite

I have been reading Rob Bell's "Love Wins" and my response has been kind of a love/hate relationship. Rob Bell says some wonderful things that many Christians should affirm and there are a few things he says in regards about Hell and Salvation that will probably make them mad as well.

Bell asks a lot of challenging questions and at the end of the day, I have come to the conclusion that Rob Bell is simply stating what most of us live as followers of Jesus. So here is my rant which is trying to pull the logs out of my own eyes as I see splinters in Rob Bell's.

1. Many Christians believe in the traditional doctrine of Hell as a place of eternal punishment but they live like it really does not exist nor do they want to talk about it.

2. Which is worse, people who say they don't believe in Hell but love Jesus anyway or people who say they believe in Hell but never lift a finger to help others avoid that destination?

3. We have gone from Hell-fire Brimestone preaching to the gospel of God loves us. The gospel many of us preach every week is often more about us than God. Man has become the center in our practices even if that is not the case in our theology.

4. Every funeral most ministers preach at extends the hope of heaven. Why would people think we are not universalists because of our practices?

5. If it is all about love, why are we shocked by the lack of holiness whether that be new converts to how Christians live their lives?

6. If we can baptize and accept members into churches irregardless of people lifestyle choices, why do we try to correct people in the church later when we don't bother at the start?

7. Don't we practice a kind of once baptized, always baptized or once you said the sinners prayer, that is all that really matters when it comes to following Jesus?

Bell is simply saying out loud what many people have thought for a long time. If the basic gospel is all about 'God's love for us,' then why not love wins in the end? If it really is about US, why shouldn't God meet us on our terms?

If issues like homosexuality, divorice and remarriage is really about what is marriage, then possibly the main issues of heaven, hell and the fate of every person has to do with the question, "What is the Gospel?" Until we resolve this issue, I think many people are simply going to be talking past each other with all of our eye planks firmly intact.

Filming God

"A SKEPTIC IS SOMEONE WHO LIVES IN A BASIC STATE OF FEAR OF THE ABNORMAL"
- Darren Wilson

Darren Wilson did several movies which were documentaries on the power and love of God. His first one was called "Finger of God" and his second film title was "Furious Love." His last one which has not been completed yet is "Father of Lights." These films are moving accounts of what God is doing around the world in both surprising and shocking ways. I knew there was so much more to these films so when his book "Filming God" was released I bought it and I was not disappointed. There were so many stories that were not captured on film and Darren's humble musings are powerful reminders that God uses the humble and those who will simply say "Yes" to him. Here are a few words from his book:

"For every manipulative evangelist who is pushing people down on stage and making unsubstantiated claims of the miraculous on television, there are a hundred humble, loving pastors and individuals around the world quietly doing God's work, loving the unloved around them, and relying on God to show His love to others in miraculous ways" (p.69, Filming God)

"God loves to reveal himself to us, but it has to be on His terms . . .We are terrified, utterly horrified by the prospect of being wrong, looking foolish, and in no small way, making God look weak. We either fear man or fear a silent God. Either way, it is fear that is keeping us from a life of faith" (p.87, 93).

"And what if we prayed and nothing happened? One, God would be happy with us, because we had passed His test and shown Him that we love Him more than we love our own ego . . . in the end, we are told to weep with those who weep. Rejoice with those who rejoice. In all things praise God. In all things care for others. In all things, love and know that you are loved" (pp.176-177)

Prayer for the Nations

Dear God,
I worshipped with many nations tonight,
We sang, prayed, and worshipped together.

God does not see color,
but only our hearts.

I am humbled and amazed at your
multi-generational and multi-national church.

The nations may rage but you are making
many tribes into one family.

So Lord, maker of heaven and earth,
hear my prayer and see our hearts.

For the wisdom of man is foolishness,
and the help of man is useless.
Only in You God do we put our faith and trust.

May the fullness of your Spirit bring healing to
all the nations.

In name of your Son who reigns forevermore.
Amen.

X-Men: First Class

I love a good sci-fi movie and a great story. I have high hopes for the new prequel X-Men movie that tells the story of how Xavier and Magneto start off as close friends in saving the world but in the end, become bitter rivalries. I don't know about you but doesn't this story sound familiar? Is this not the story of God and Satan? People forget that Satan used to be a good angel working in favor of God's service. But Satan took himself too seriously, has since lost any sense of humor, and has been bringing misery and untold sadness to countless ever since he has fallen to earth from heaven (see Revelation chapter 12 for more on this).

For some time people in the church have either been operating like second class citizens and have been taking their heavenly citizenship for granted or some simply are treated like second class citizens in the church. How many horror stories do I need to hear from people who have been hurt by church leaders or their "so-called friends" in church who because they were single, divorced, re-married, or you fill in the blank, they were treated like second class citizens rather than first class citizens of God's kingdom.

Isn't it about time that the church start demonstrating some real spiritual power today? How about confident followers of Jesus (Jesus who is the real X man) who show us all how to live as men and women of faith from heaven. Isn't it time that people in the church start practicing and acting like first class citizens empowerd by God do to great things? Isn't it time for people in the church to start moving from second class up to first class where God has always been holding a spot for you if you would just come?

Another Great Adventure In Missing the Point

JESUS DIDN'T COME TO WRITE A BOOK; HE CAME TO TOUCH THE HUMAN RACE - Darren Wilson

I'm slowly reading Rob Bell's new book "Love Wins" along side of N. T. Wright "Surprised by Hope." Bell read Wright's book three years prior and I find it interesting that Wright answers many of Bell's questions but Bell chooses a different course nevertheless from Wright. Bell's book has not only caused a lot of controversy but there are many upcoming books flooding the Christian book market in the near future that feel it is important to respond to Bell's work.

I even noticed Francis Chan who I highly respect has written a book in response to Bell. I'll just be very blunt. It's one thing for people to respond to others in their books. It is quite another thing entirely when people write whole books in response to other books. Is it just me or do some of you find this kind of controversy unhealthy at times and a lot of energy that in the end, waistes more time than we have to give?

Even N. T. Wright who I admire and respect finally felt compelled by others to write a whole book in response to Piper's book which also was a response to Wright's earlier book on justification. What if Piper writes another book in response to Wright's book? And what if Wright would again return the favor? Does anyone else see the absurdity of all this? This could all go on ad nauseum to ad finitum. Is it just me or are we missing the greater point in what we can learn from others? Do we really need more books that are simply reactions and responses to other books?

Final Destination and the Twilight Zone

"YOU'RE MOVING INTO A LAND OF BOTH SHADOW AND SUBSTANCE, OF THINGS AND IDEAS. YOU'VE JUST CROSSED OVER INTO THE TWILIGHT ZONE!" - Rod Serling

Twice this week I have found myself hiding in the basement. Why? Because the forces of nature were unleashing their powerful winds in the form of a tornado. We had a young family that called us at almost eleven at night and asked if they too could hide in our basement. They waited about five minutes too long as they came running in our house with winds up to 70 and 80 miles per hour. The mother clutching her children, I saw what looked like absolute fear and sheer terror on her face. I wondered in that moment, why so much fear? Fear of what? Do we fear death that much?

What happens after we die? Is death such an enemy, especially to those who claim they follow one who overcame death? And why do people focus so much on what happens when they die when Jesus himself talked more about not that we go to him but that He is coming to us. There were several movies called 'Final Destination" which were basically about the fact that nobody can escape in the end the grim reaper. Have you ever sensed death knocking on your door?

Scripture says that God's love casts out fear (1 John 4:18). Do we really believe that? More importantly, are we living it? I am reminded of two classic twilight Zone episodes which always had moral to the story. The first one was about an old lady trying to escape death. She let no one in her home because she knew death was her enemy. She finally succumbs to compassion as she helps an injured police officer into her house. Death has a face and its Robert Redford! What this woman discovered was death came to escort her on a wonderful journey, not to be an enemy scorned but like a friend to be embraced.

The other Twilight Zone episode was about a town that thought it was being invaded from beings from another world. What they found out is they suspected everybody, let their fear run amok, and began destroying one another's lives. Again, who will win out in the end? Will it be fear or will it be love?

Thrown Under the Bus

What would you do to win a game? Would you throw a friend under the bus? Anyone who has followed Donald Trump's "The Apprentice" and more recently "Celebrity Apprentice" realize very quickly that nice people finish last whether that be the corporate world or hollywood fundraising for your favorite charity.

If there is one thing the church needs today is a different rule book than the world's that likes to throw people under the bus if they get in your way somehow. It's all about winning and not losing. Or, I will do whatever it takes to beat everyone else! On and on the mantras go . . .

But Jesus is looking for apprentices who follows his kingdom ethics of mercy, love, forgiveness, and being a servant to all rather than who gets to call the shots. Jesus believed this so well that even the religious leaders of his day threw him under the bus. Jesus still tells his followers, if you are going to follow me, you too may get thrown under a bus. Don't be surprised or caught off guard. And certainly, count the cost before you volunteer to sign up for Jesus' revolution of sacrificial love.

Last Days Prayer

It's morning,
I ask you to help me love.
Grant me Lord your love to share with the world.
Help me to love Lord,
and not miss opportunities to love others.

Lord, help me to love myself less and you more.
Help me to see you in those around me.
Father of Love, don't let anyone suffer or die
because I have stolen the love they needed to live today.

Amen.


(a prayer inspired by reflections of thoughts by Michael Quoist)

How to Look Forward to Jesus Return Without Becoming a Date-Setter

LOOKING AT THE END DETERMINES HOW WE LIVE NOW

My beautiful wife Sandy is a substitute school teacher. The joke around school is no one is going to see each other after the weekend. Why? Because a preacher by the name of Harold Camping has once again predicted that literally tommorow is the rapture. I understand their church is celebrating a rapture party. I for one will be blogging again after the weekend. Not because I don't believe Jesus is going to return some day but because it was Jesus who told us that no one knows the time of his return.

I was taught as a young Christian that its always five minutes before midnight. In other words, always be prepared for Jesus return whether it is tonight or fifty years from now or 5oo years from today. Live for Christ today so you don't have to worry about what happens tommorow. And even if Christians feel like the end is near, Jesus return is imminent, then the urgency should encourage us to bring in the harvest while there is still light because when night falls, there will be no time left. Or to put it another way, I like the way Rob Bell says it, "Eternal life doesn't start when we die; It starts now."

So the next time you hear someone tell you to drop everything because next weekend will be your last, just nod and smile and keep following Jesus today. I baptized a Mother and Daughter today. I hope to be doing such things like this the following day and the next.

Several kids were laughing today and telling me that they won't be here after tommorow. I said really, how does everyone know that they are going to be raptured tommorow if some kids are living for the Devil today? The laughter may have stopped but there was a kind of sober silence as these kids reflected on what does it mean to live for God in the world today?

Technopoly

Some years ago I read a book by Neil Postman on the good and bad of technology. Our society has become so saturated and dominated by technology that now our quiet times are often interupted by the cell phone as our young people talk and text message a friend at the same time they are supposed to be talking to us. Life is a hundred times faster with lightening speed from the computer to the microwave. Keeping busy has become a virtue and if one slows down before our fast paced culture, one may very well get run over by everyone else.

Families stay a part longer and communicate face to face less. Our lives have become monopolized by technology or what I call technopoly. It becomes less and less clear whether man controls techonology or technology controls man. One group of people I thought very peculiar and strange as a young minister were the Almish.

If some people think Christians are crazy, how about those who refuse to enter the modern world of techonology, dress in black, and ride in a buggy or horse drawn carriages? What seemed bizaare and crazy to me as a young minister seems more stunning and powerful now as an older one. The Almish sense of tight community, strong families, divorce is unheard of, and faith and life coincide together in a ways we see no where else!

Who would of ever thought that techonology can corrupt our morals and character? Wasn't techonology supposed to be nuetral? But we all bought into the lie. Because of techonology we sleep less and do more. We are only now coming to terms with a media driven world and a television dominated society. We more and more are listening to the seductive voices that use technology that tell us constantly to go to places we should not be going to, buying things we do not need, and listening to people we should not be listening to.

Even the church has transformed worship into a media form of entertainment. It is becoming more common for churches to reduce doctrine to sound bites and Christian worship transformed into a media production. If the medium is the message, what kind of faith are we passing on in our media saturated church culture? Does our media driven life contradict the gospel and at this point, do we even care?

"Hell No, We Won't Go!"

WHEN HELL BECAME AN IDEA INSTEAD OF A PLACE, IT LOST MUCH OF ITS HOLD ON FOLKS - Hugh Hewitt

I am just about to read Rob Bell's chapter on Hell but before I do, I thought I would share a few thoughts on the topic. Hell has become an embarrassment to the church. Preachers don't like preaching on it and church folks even view the word now as a swear word to be avoided and not talked about. If heaven is the most loved doctrine of the church, certaily hell is the least liked one of them all. But if Christians and other followers of Jesus are really honest. the doctrine of hell is not just offensive to people (within and without the church) but so is the doctrine of grace. It just doesn't seem fair goes the argument or it goes against our modern senses to think bad people can get into heaven in the end and people who are really good but reject Jesus don't get in at all.

At the end of the day, nobody believes they deserve hell. That alone should tell us something! We think we are fine or at least as good as everyone else around us. If there is a hell, its probably not that bad of a place any way. But it was Augustine who once said, "Anyone who thinks that such damnation is excessive or unjust clearly does not know how to measure how great was the wickedness in sinning where it was so easy not to sin." I might add, not only do we minimalize the consequences of our sin but we minimalize the greatness and awesomeness of God.

Maybe we don't really want to think about hell and all that damnation stuff. But if we really think about it, the more we may realize that everyone wants to be saved from hell, but not everyone wants to be saved from his or her sins.

When people were protesting the war and the draft, there were signs like "Hell no, we won't go." Maybe some of the protest against hell is also about people who simply don't want to sign up or be drafted in the Lord's army? Even the church needs to be reminded what C. S. Lewis once said, "Christianity is the story of how the rightful king has landed . . . in disguise, and is calling us all to take part in a great campaign of sabotage."

Following Jesus Without Embarrassing God

"GOD WANTS YOU TO SHUT UP BECAUSE YOU ARE EMBARRASSING HIM!"
- From the movie "Oh, God!"

Have you ever said or did something that makes Christians or God seem rediculous? I know sometimes I have been an absolute embarrassement to God in how I have acted or spoken rashly. Soren Kierkegaard has been one of my favorite authors for a long time. He was asked one time about how church people took offence at some young people who used the sanctuary for a dance one night. He responded, "Using a sanctuary for a dance on Saturday night is not half as bad as using it on Sunday morning to make a fool out of God."

God's Word calls us to "grow up" and "put away childish things" (1 Cor.13;11). Trying to figure out what Jesus would do (WWJD) won't work. Isn't it time we start humbling ourselves, listening for God's spiritual promptings in what we say and do, and look around and where ever we see Jesus doing something, simply join him?

Love Wins

Rob Bell's new book is causing quite the controversy. His book asks hard questions that make many people in the church squirm to being out right angry. On the issue of universal salvation or universalism, Rob Bell says he does not believe in universalism even though some are trying to stick the label on him. Bell may hope that all may be saved in the end, but he really does not know for sure. He raises the question and Rob Bell likes asking uncomfortable questions.

I am currently reading Bell's book and it seems like Bell is asking a lot of the right questions even if some of his answers miss the mark or are wrong. Christians may not always like how he uses scripture or represents a differing opinion, but Bell is a master writer who wants the church to have a new conversation on issues of Hell and Salvation. Isn't it time for the church to reexamine some issues and have some new conversations? The standard conversations of how this usually happens has run quite thin for many people. Maybe part of the the great exit people see happening in the church today is how we handle controversy in the church?. When people ask hard questions or raise their doubts and even unbelief, are they received in love or silenced by scorn?

Rob Bell is certainly right about one thing, love wins in the end. If we can not even have a friendly debate or an honest loving discussion among Christians, how are we to with the world? If we can not speak to one another in love, then should we speak at all?

Priest

My son saw the new movie "Priest." I was concerned because I could tell it had some kind of anti-Catholic mesage to it and I love and support Catholics. My son told me that it was not that big of deal and the movie was really about killing zombies! He did tell me that at the end of the movie, the big message was follow God and not the church. Hollywood has never been into either God or the church but now it seems that God is in even if the church is still out. Of course, some of the rhetoric I understand considering the bad press the church is getting these days. The church in North America is not just in decline, but so are it's morals and reputation. Discipleship has played such a low key role to almost being non-existent in the
American Church. The results of that have been horrific to say the least. What would happen if Jesus followers today really took up this role seriously of being a priest before God and one another? What would the church look like to the world then?

Naked Trust

Remember the story of "The emporer's New Clothes." The moral of the story, don't go naked anywhere, it doesn't look too good! So we are all expert dressers, hiders, and look for ways in which people will never know who we really are or what we are really going through. But in the beginning, it was not so. Adam and Eve were in the garden and they were naked and not ashamed. Can we get back to vulnerbility and sheer naked trust in God?

The answer to shame is grace and the answer to our filthy rags is an uncompromised faith and ruthless trust in God. Trust means we come to God on His terms and not on our terms. Ruthless trust means we willingly surrender everything and become absolutely empty before God Almighty. If Christian discipleship means anything, it means people exposing their weaknesses, telling the hard truth to one another, and becoming completely vulnerable so that God's light and love can truly shine through a life that is empty and transparent before God.

Will the Theologians Please Sit Down

All the statistics look bad for the North American Church. Everything from church numbers are down to moral and spiritual decay is up. The American church has more money, resources, and theologians and yet things continue to go from bad to worse. The issues are complex and legion but few seem to question how theology is done in the church today. Professional academic scholars call the shots and yet the church is moving even faster in a downward spiral.

I remember many years ago reading Soren Kierkegaard who said in his day that metaphorically speaking, we need to "kill (all) the commentators." Why? Because they are killing the church! More recently, David Bercot has gotten in on the action, an Anabaptist who says we have shifted from Godly fruit to orthodox theology as the test of Christian faithfulness. Is this what Scripture describes? Have we not moved from Jesus words of "Follow me" to now what theologians and seminaries promote, "study me?"

Here is a sample quote for us to consider from David Bercot:

"The people whom the world looks up to as brilliant generally have been the ones who have had the hardest time grasping the simple truths that Jesus and his disciples taught."

(Will the Theologians Please Sit Down, p.48)