Tuesday, May 27, 2014

A Forsaken Church

A Forsaken Church.
Revelation 3:14-22

Revelation 3:17  Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:

If we truly believed in the Bible, we would accept the Book of Revelation as the testimony of Jesus Christ, a message to the churches. This is a profound statement in itself because many religious groups no longer include the Book of Revelation in their Bible study. One reason being, this book does not present a picture of smiling masses, "dancing and prancing in the sunshine" and enjoying the sellable attributes of blessing and favor of God. The Book of Revelation depicts a time of great turmoil and Judgment It does not present the fodder for a motivational and spiritual uplifting message filled with earthly blessing that so many of us are in search.   The Book of Revelation addresses a church or organism in its final state of apathy.  The church of the Laodiceans as depicted in the Book of Revelation possessed no spiritual value, it was a church that gloried in its earthly possessions.  

Usually when I attempt to deliver a lecture on the fallibility of the church there is an attempt to dilute the message by one group that says, the church is not an organization, it is an organism.  Now the stage is set for one group to say, "He knows what he is talking about", and another group to say, "He don't know what he is talking about."   The church as defined in the Greek language is an assembly that makes up the Body or Bride of Jesus Christ.  The English interpretation provided the latitude to convert an organism into an organization.  As we well know an organization can have many different independent branches, but a body or organism cannot survive with independent branches.   The major question we should be asking is the church has morphed into an organization, how will all of this be reconciled with the Kingdom of God?

The emergence of new doctrines based upon sculptured biblical verses, surgically removed from the context in which they were spoken has allowed for the proliferation of the word of God at an alarming rate.  This type of broad interpretation allows for ministers to contradict each while each claiming to have a fresh new message from God.   There is a definite question that the indoctrinated few need to address.  As long as this question is not addressed and the knowledge of good and evil continue to increase, Christianity will find itself to be a victim of its own irrationality acts.

When asked about the Book of Revelation, the religious elite will quickly respond that it is a dated Book and John was writing to the churches that existed in his lifetime. Some even have the audacity to question the veracity of the Book, indicating that it should not have been included in the Holy Scripture.   Yet, to the simplest mind, Revelation is Jesus message to the churches and it gives us a chronological view of the church from conception to its final moments here on earth.   The acceptance of the symbolic and simple message of Revelation is often contradictive to the amplified view of man's perceived purpose and his idea of the final conclusion of things.  Revelation presents a view of Heaven that is different from many excepted ideas of Heaven.  

In the beginning of the Book of Revelation, Jesus addressed his message to the seven churches. The English word is church, in the Greek it reference a group or assembly.  Here again, we can spend a great amount of time to no avail debating the relevancy of the use of the word, "church".  It is easy to disregard these letters based upon the fact that these churches no longer exist. If we apply the symbology of the Bible, seven being God's number of completion, we would readily see that the seven churches represent the churches throughout the church age. The question that we should seek to answer through Bible Study, is what church age are we living in today?

Careful documentation has shown the progression of the church as an organism, the body of Christ, down through the ages.  The most adherent students of the Bible will conclude that the church as a body has split into many different organizations.  What was documented in the Greek has been amplified in the English forming many different organizations that lack the possibility of forming a cohesive body in Heaven or on Earth.  Thus the church as we know it today is a contradiction in its self.  Many religious scholars have concluded that we are living in the age of the church of the Laodiceans., the seventh church age. 

Revelation 3:14-22 And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

At this juncture, I like it invoke the story of, "The Emperor's New Clothes". it is a short tale by Hans Christian Andersen about two weavers who promise an Emperor a new suit of clothes that is invisible to those unfit for their positions, stupid, or incompetent. When the Emperor parades before his subjects in his new clothes, a child cries out, "But he isn't wearing anything at all!"   It was not because they were blind that they allowed themselves to be deceived.  They were more concern about being looked upon favorably by their peers.  It was their desire to be a part of the organization.  Those that were close to the Emperor did not want to appear unfit for their position.  Too often, in the church we are willing to go along with anything as long as someone says, "God said it."

In the news, natural disasters are raging, fires, storms, mudslides and even the seas are casting it did upon the beaches worldwide.  Our national leaders have instituted programs that are leading the world down a path of moral decay.  Mass murder and suicide are a steady diet in the news media.   New churches are being built, new ministers are coming forward and more people are said to be praying than ever before, and God is not answering these prayers.  Like the little boy said about the emperor, "But he isn't wearing anything at all!"   Like Jesus said to the church, "... and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: "

The foundation of the church and the Bible is becoming more and more divided. The foundation of most  ministries is how to get stuff from God.   The foundation of the Bible is the preparation for the return of Jesus and the establishment of his Kingdom.  The individual church as an organization attempt to establish itself as a sacred institution of God, yet it fails to adhere to the rules and regulations set by God.  One person in set up as the supreme ruler of God's people, a thing Jesus frown upon is the preferred order.  Men setting themselves up as rulers of God people is a travesty.  Revelation 2:6  But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

Often there are organizations within a church organization whose sole purpose is to collect money for another group higher up the pyramid.  The blessing and favors, the tools of indoctrination are used and no one dare question it.   How many people have the gall to openly state, "I ask God for a car and he didn't give it to me?"  In a pyramid scheme the individual that fail to reap the promises of the group will often blame themselves.

In a pyramid scheme, an organization or church compels individuals to make a payment and join. In exchange, the organization promises its new members a return on its money through favors and blessings. The directors of the organization or the head of the churches (those at the top of the pyramid) also receive a share of these payments. For the directors, the scheme is potentially lucrative -- whether or not they do any work, the organization's membership has a strong incentive to continue recruiting and funneling money to the top of the pyramid.  This is defined as the blessing of God.

Such organizations seldom involve sales of products or services with real value. Without creating any goods or services, the only ways for a pyramid scheme to generate revenue are to recruit more members or solicit more money from current members. Eventually, recruiting is no longer possible and the plurality of members is unable to profit from the scheme, thus the organization collapses.

Saturday, May 24, 2014

My God, My God Have You Forsaken Us

Earl Gillespie
My God, My God, Why Have You Forsaken Us

There have been times when I have prayed and prayed for God to do something for me, I have cried and cried, God will you just speak to me.  In the midst of my struggle, in the midst of my pain it seems as if God was silent.  I went to my brother, I asked my mother, I read the Holy scripture, I was assured that God was always there, but to me God was silent.  The message from the pulpit was, "God love you."  Knowing all of this did nothing to alleviate my condition of anxiety, nor did it address any of the issues that I was facing.

 There are moments when the storm is raging I am compelled to cry out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me".  I wonder if there is anybody who can relate to what I am talking about.   But when the storm has all but subsided and in the midst of death and destruction there is always the testimonies  of those who survived will proclaim that God has not forsaken us yet.   Somehow, sometime it is a little hard for me to reach out and wrap my mortal sense of thinking around that concept.

Yet, to be forsaken by God is an idea or a concept that we as Christians do not wish to entertain, but when Jesus was hanging on the cross, he was reported by Matthew and Mark as quoting from Psalm 22:1.  My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?  A simple statement, Jesus, nor David said, "I feel like you have forsaken me."  Modern Thelogicians interpret this as a moment of weakness of the flesh that caused Jesus to ask why had God forsaken him thus to many it become explainable in the context of the frailty of the natural man.  The question was first asked by David and later asked by Jesus himself seems to indicate that it is possible in the context of Job that God will forsake us for a reason and a season.  

To acknowledge the feeling of being forsaken by God is not acceptable in today's religious arena.  We are indoctrinated to feel that God is always working with us every step of our journey.  To those that escaped the storm God worked a miracle, but to those that are close to those who perished the consolation is, God knew what he was doing.  Following this line of indoctrination  has caused many to become frustrated  and run from the established religious order.   Cute cliches will no longer sustain the faith.  We might be better off looking at examples of our faith, Jesus Christ, the apostles,  Stephen, Paul and many others.  They all preached the Gospel of the Cross, of Jesus suffering and dying, of his resurrection and ascension.  All of these men, according to the scripture was full of faith, and did great miracles among the people.

Dottie Peoples rendition of, When God is silent", a song that was shunned by some religious entities, served as a pillow of support when I was struggling, she said, when God is silent, he is giving us more time to pray. This did not settle my questions and problems, but it was a start in the right direction.  In the words of the song, it was an acknowledgment that God was silent.  If we look closely at the scripture, there are many periods of time when God was silent.  According to my learned friend there is a four hundred year period of time between the prophecies of the Old testament prophecies and the fulfillment of the prophecies when God was silent.  Yes, he was silent, but he was listening.

 If we step backward in time, Exodus 12:40  Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years.  During the time of their sequester they prayed for deliverance.   No stretch of the imagination is required to know that during that time there were false messages going out, each one claiming to have a fresh new message from God.  Stepping forward to Jesus time, he warned his followers to be aware of the false prophets.

The Gospel of the Church has superseded the Gospel of the Cross.  The Gospel of the Church caters to a person in search of instant gratification.  We go to the supermarket to get our groceries, we go to church to get our blessings, in each instant we want to get what we came for and get on our way.  Fast food restaurants are doing a booming business,  we are not conditioned or indoctrinated to standing in line, at best we  prefer to drive up to the window and have it our way.  Now imagine the children of Isreal, God's chosen people begging and pleading in the slime pits of Egypt, "Lord send a deliverance".  Four hundred and thirty years passed before God honored his promise to Joseph concerning his chosen people.

Now lets look at the forty years they spent wandering in the wilderness, God was speaking but he was not delivering.  They were wandering or (lost) because they had sinned.  It is interesting to note that only two of the original cast finally entered into the promise land.  The rest  (forsaken by God) died waiting for the fulfillment of the promise.

The progress of Christianity has introduced what is known as a "God culture", God is hanging around to hand out blessings. Preachers preach all you got to do is step up and claim your blessings.  There is a constant clamor to claim a blessing from God.  Some even become belligerent and demand, "I want my blessing." There are those who are selling the concept that everything that happen God has some ulterior motive or purpose.   This is a sellable attribute of the church.   There is possible much truth in this, but we must acknowledge that much of our suffering is caused by our own action and it is not the design of God.  It was not the design of God for the child of Israel to wander in the wilderness forty years, it was the result of sinning against God.   If you can tell me how to get something for nothing, then I am interested, we will pay money for that information. 

On any given Sunday there are thousands of messages emulating from the pulpit, many claim to be a fresh word from God and many of these messages are conflicting with the true Word of God.  These messages promise wealth and happiness and in return they ask for a financial donation.  New churches are being built and  the so-called word of God is spreading.  According to the social media more people are praying and God is speaking more than he has ever done in any generation.  The masses are even paying good money to hear the Word of God.

In my struggle to hear God speak, I realized that to reap the benefits of knowing God, I do not need to hear God speak, he has already spoken.  To see God, why should I pray for a vision when all I have to do is open my eyes and see him all around me.  When the Stephen was being stoned to death God.  Wouldn't it have been nice if he had gotten a message from God saying they will not be able to lift their hands or stand against you?   Maybe our desire to hear God speak has more to do with our faith in God, rather than receiving a new message from God.  Maybe there is no fresh or new message from God, maybe God is just waiting and everything is proceeding according to the Book of Revelation.  The time of Judgment is at hand.