The End of Religion?

RELIGION FOR RELIGION'S SAKE, IS IDOLATRY - Abraham Heschel

Everybody wants to write the obituary of the church but God will always have a remnant and those who are faithful. A book I just started reading is Bruxy Cavey "The End of Religion." He has a nuanced view of religion but basically Jesus coming does away with the religious system. It's no longer about rules, guilt, rituals, and tiredness but rest in Jesus. But doesn't James say there is pure religion? Maybe it's not religion in itself that is all bad but bad religion that Jesus came to abolish? Maybe there is something religious or spiritual in each of us that Jesus came to fulfill?

At the end of the day, maybe the bottom line is not whether we are religious (although Cavey makes an interesting case for being irreligious) but HOW will we be religious? Did Jesus simply challenge religion or did he want to do away with all religions?

What if God Gave a Revolution and Nobody Showed Up?

I talk with Christian leaders in our area all the time and they are saying the same things I hear from others around the country. "If we don't have a radical cultural transformation, a nation shaking revival from God, we will not recover as a nation." We like to talk about Reformation but many young radicals for Jesus speak the language of revolution. Unless we are willing to give up all for a Jesus revolution for God's kingdom to radically transform this world, nothing else will do. And when heaven invades earth, there will always be massive spiritual warfare. God's kingdom is always a threat to Satan's kingdom. Holiness is always a threat to sin. And freedom is always a threat to bondage and he many ways people are enslaved to the ways of this fallen world around us. True revolution for God is not about rebellion but total submission and surrender to God. True spiritual revolution is where our flesh is nailed to the cross.

A Prayer for the Day

Abba Father,
I want to be captured by your Spirit,
May I relinguish unspiritual things and take hold of your Spirit today.

Guard my mouth from irresponsible talk.
Keep my eyes from looking at anything that would lead me astray.
Lord of Heaven and earth, remove anything unclean or mixed that
is not pure within me.

Keep my eyes focused on you Lord and take control of every situation
I face for the day. Build faith in my heart, hope in my mind, and may
your Word be a sword in my hand. Amen.

Dog and Cat Theology

THIS IS NOT MY HOME, I AM ONLY PASSING THROUGH - words from an old gospel song

Life is a matter of perspective. I have had as pets both dogs and cats. Here is some theology to chew on. Dogs seem to say, "You feed me. You shelter me. You love me. You must be God!" Cats seem to say, "You feed me. You pet me. You shelter me. You love me. I must be God!" Some of us more think along the line of how cats see the world than dogs. We still think the universe owes us something and evolves around us. When one reads the gospels, one should be struck how far from the truth this truly is. We gain our life by losing it. We die to ourselves so that God can resurrect new life into us. We understand that sacrifice and putting others first shows God's kingdom has come into our life. We discover that the abundant life is not measured by success or material wealth but God's kingdom of love, joy, and peace filling your life to overflowing.

The Greatest Story Ever Told

THE WORLD IS MORE THAN WE KNOW - quote from the movie "Ben Hur"

I watched the movie "Ben Hur" which won eleven academy awards for best picture. One rarely sees such an epic and grand story made in today's movies. One of the main stories of this movie is where two best friends become embittered enemies. Romans and Jews historically did not have great love for each other and the tension builds and builds in this movie until one dies in a chariot race. Charleston Heston who plays the fictional character "Judah Ben Hur" is so filled with strife and hate even after his foe dies. The one man who gave Ben Hur hope was a cup of water from Jesus who dies on the cross at the end of the movie. Ben Hur is able to return the favor and watch the dramatic end of Jesus last few hours on earth as he hung suspended on a cross between heaven and earth. But a transformation of peace and love takes place in the heart of Judah Ben Hur after hearing Jesus last words on the cross says later, "And I felt his voice take the sword out of my hand." Is there still as a sword in your hand? Jesus is the only one who can take the sword of bitterness, hatred, envy, unrest from us. No matter how dark things become, the world really is more than we know.

The Alley

Most people want to talk about the decline of Christianity in America but there are signs of renewal and hope in certain segments of the church. As some people talk about church-less Christianity, one wonders how churches will respond in reaching these people who seem to want nothing to do with the institutional church? Two groups flying under the radar is the exponential growth of ethnic churches and some new church plants. People want to talk about the problem of immigration in our country when in spiritual terms, they are one of the few groups that are actually evangelizing our culture for Christ. Many immigrant churches are growing while Church attendance as a whole is in decline. Issues of spiritual growth, a sense of belonging, and equipping the saints is still at the forefront for churches that are staggering and losing ground.

A new store-front church in our area in Seymour Indiana is called "the Alley." It's actually a hard church to find and I have visited it on several occasions and I still can't figure out who you give the money to in supporting this new church work? Every Friday night, there are fifty or more people coming forward to give their lives to Christ or to surrender some form of addiction and idolatry in their life. The power of conversion alone is amazing to behold!

The Alley is actually spending their Sunday's to disciple and train new converts. Now that is something new today. If churches want to spark new life, they need to reach out and not just reach in. And isn't it time for churches to unify and join hands with other churches and celebrate what God is doing among His people? Maranatha! "Come Lord Jesus. Come!"

Passion 2012

I begun this year by going to the largest college age Christian conference gathering in Atlanta Georgia called "Passion." It was literally filled with top worship leaders like Chris Tomlin and the David Crowder Band and top speakers like Lou Giglio, Beth Moore, Francis Chan, and John Piper. The focus was on freedom while the justice issue of slavery was presented to these young, spirited, and highly motivated young people. It is still hard to imagine that there are still 27 million people involved in slavery.

These young men and women (who are mostly poor college students) gave three million dollars to end slavery around the world. As I listened to their stories, they cared about making a difference in the world for God and they cared deeply for other people who were being abused, mistreated, and oppressed by society.

I could not help but sense a stirring among these young people to live out a radical discipleship that goes both against the grain and status-quo keeping of our world around us. These young Christians are willing to give up wealth and prestige to work in the lowest and poor places to make the world a better place for others.

In my own backyard in southern Indiana, I went to a new store-front church called "The Alley." Here was another "alternative" church trying to make a difference not only in their community in reaching out to the poor and people on the streets but raising up an army of young people to do impossible and great things for God in their own neighborhoods.

Despite all the doom and gloom people hear about 2012, my heart was melted and I believe Hope is arising for those who have eyes of faith to see and ears of faith to hear.