The Selling Of The Christ, Part #2

     On any given Sunday thousands of people will flock to churches to learn how to get what they want from God.  A message of prosperity will be preached, and they will be entertained.  They will pay their dues because God loves a cheerful giver.  The weather will play an important part in the decision to attend and be entertained.  We are taught to expect a blessing from attending the service.

     I remember when we would go to church and sit in solemn awe as the choir sung, “Some glad morning when this life is over I will fly away.”  Today we sit with rapturous expressions as the choir sing, “The Lord is blessing me right now, he woke me up this morning and started me on my way…”  The fire and brimstone messages have been shelved.   A message of peace and favors are more appropriate.  The word repent is rarely used. The Kingdom of Heaven is about enjoying yourself here on earth.  Luke 12:23, says “The life is more than meat, and the body is more than raiment”, but somehow contrary to the teaching of Jesus, the Kingdom of Heaven is now about, “meat and drink.”  To speak of the fear of God is taboo, and God has blessed us just like that. 

     The pastor and members of many churches are praying for God to do things he did not come to do.  We do no hesitate to ask God to go into the hospitals.  Some even pray for him to unlock the jail cells or to bring peace in a world of confusion.  We are always telling God to bless us with the blessing we are standing in the need of.  If God were to do what church folks asked him to do what a wonderful world we would have?  If church folks did what God has already empowered them to do, what a wonderful world we would have. 

     When I first began my journey with cancer, I would listen to a recorded message of a preacher who could really pray.  He would begin by rebuking cancer and the hands of death.  When his prayer was over, the spirit of euphoria often mistaken for the spirit of God, had overcome me and I was moved.  A sense of hope engulfed me and I felt I had the power to command and conquer death.  When the preacher died I was left in a state of confusion and the only answer was, “God know what he is doing.”

     At any given church service after the preacher have preached, there is a call for those who are sick or just needing prayer.   Most of us will admit that we all need prayer, but this act, this request once was an act of reverence now it has been turned into an act of bad showmanship by some.  Some of these after message prayers are needed and are spirit filled.  God has worked wonders through these services.  It’s the copycat bad actors that have given this service a bad name. They use this prayer service to extend a dull message thirty extra minutes by hooping and howling for God to work a wonder.  The only result is a person testifying the next Sunday of having a bad headache, and came up for prayer and when she got home the headache was gone?  Is this an accurate representation of God at work?       

     I attended a large prayer service that consisted of hundreds of people.  The conductor of the services was a young energetic man who wore loud colored clothes.  After delivering his message of hope, favors and prosperity, he continued to address the crowd. The Lord said, he began, “There is somebody in here that got a headache, the Lord says come on up here and get your healing.”  It wasn’t long before some people began to see thru this ‘shotgun approach’.  To use the word somebody in a crowd of a few, you are bound to hit somebody.  A person high on drugs can pull this act off.  These are the working of ‘bad actors’, which it is up to God to judge, but I fear they have caused many people to turn away from God. 

     The preaching and teaching of longevity has caused many people to weaken and fall by the wayside, especially if they have lost a love one at a young age.  If longevity was a part of salvation, why did John the Baptist get his head chopped off at an early age?  If prosperity was a part of salvation, why did Jesus tell the rich man to sell everything he had and give it to the poor?  If prosperity was an issue, it would have made more sense for Jesus to open up a Fish Market and preached to people when they came to buy fish?  Why did the Son of God walk the dusty roads throughout the Holy lands, rather than riding in a gold encrusted chariot drawn by the finest steeds?

     Is it necessary for a person to stand in the prayer line every Sunday to be delivered?  How does this play out to the person who faith is weak?  When Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead his prayer was, not for my sake, but for those who are standing here.  It was his hope that they might believe.  These types of services should be for the purpose of helping someone believe.  What are the preachers, the pundits, the teachers and every day lay members doing to help someone believe?  Aren’t there some people in the church who are serving God who will not be delivered from their affliction?  What about Paul, he was not delivered. Steven was killed soon after he was made a deacon. 

    Do we think some cute message or phrase is going to eliminate death, disease and destruction?  If we collect a lot of stuff is this going to stop Jesus from coming back?   
Why are we selling our birthright?  Genesis 25:29-34  And Jacob sod pottage: and Esau came from the field, and he was faint: And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage; for I am faint: therefore was his name called Edom.  And Jacob said, Sell me this day thy birthright. And Esau said, Behold, I am at the point to die: and what profit shall this birthright do to me?  And Jacob said, Swear to me this day; and he sware unto him: and he sold his birthright unto Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentiles; and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way: thus Esau despised his birthright.

     We need to go back to ‘in the beginning’ and with God’s help find out why God made us and what our mission is.  This is not hard to do, it's right there in the Bible.  Once we learn that, we will understand how powerful God is.  If we learn more about the spirituality of God and his power, maybe we would not fear the hereafter. The power of God should cause us to fear him. To fear God is the beginning of knowledge.  Bad actors do not fear God. According to the Bible, they don’t believe in God, they just want to buy and sell.