The Reinvention of God

The Reinvention of God

From

"My Search For The Real God"

Like most people my age, I grew up in a time when the message of the church was, “fear God, and keep his commandants.”  This was our duty.  Our mental vision of God was a stern face old man looking down from the sky with an upraised flaming sword in his hand, ready to strike down the wicked.  

The preachers of old had a way of preaching the gospel that implanted a certain type of fear in you, a fear that made you afraid to commit sin and cringed at the prospect of meeting God.  Preparation to meet God was like preparing to meet a grumpy old relative who you wanted to meet but was afraid or somewhat apprehensive.  The message was simple and clear, ‘the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life.’  The definition of sin was clear and/or clean-cut. Sin was anything that was contrary to the teaching of the Bible.  If you died a sinner, you were going to hell.  There was no attempt to define or explain Heaven.  If you believed in God and asked God to forgive you of your sins, then you could go to Heaven and live happily ever after.  This simple message designed and shaped our belief in God.  We feared God because he was the one who would send us to Hell.  We were more afraid of going to Hell than we were of meeting God.  The believability of God was easy because our parent taught us how to believe.  There were tools put in place to teach us how to believe.  We believed our parent would whip us if we were bad.  We believed in the tooth fairy, not because we saw her but because we got money for losing a tooth, we even believed in Santa Claus and we believed in the spirit world.  Believing was simple, there were no gray areas, you believe, or you did not believe.  If you did not believe, you were damned and people shunned you. 

We went to school to learn how to survive in the natural world, and we went to church to learn how to survive in the spiritual world.  We were not concerned about what color God was, nor were our concern about the shape of the world.  Even though the supernatural world was a mystery, we believed in God and we believed in ghosts.  We were comfortable with the idea that walking down a dark road at night, we might see a ghost, and we were comfortable with the idea that dying was to meet God.  We learned to work hard during the week, and on Sunday mornings and Sunday evenings, we went to church.  
  

Earl Gillespie

During the late 50’s and early 60’s the world’s value system changed.  With the increase of the knowledge of good and evil, we began to question things that affected us.  We even questioned the existence of God.  Armed with our superior intellect we crashed the gates of Heaven and demanded that God prove himself.   When God refused to respond to our manipulations, many concluded that nobody was home.  Then some of the enlighten minds went on national television and stated emphatically that God was dead, and when the religious pundits were no longer afraid of a lightning bolt striking them, they began the process of reinventing God.  Many God-fearing preachers, prophets and religious practitioners objected to these changes, but the voice of the faithful few was overshadowed by the hustlers, the used car salesman types and preachers in search of power. .  The demand was for a god that could be manipulated, packaged and sold for profit.  This is not the first time man has attempted to reinvent God.  The children of Israel did the same thing at the base of the Holy Mountain.  God’s people just wanted a God they could see and touch.   

The Devil had played an important part in this reshaping and reinventing process, as a matter of facts he took full charge of the operation.  He then proclaimed, “If God is a God of love, the Devil cannot exist.”  As strange as it might seems the foundation of the Devil’s argument originated in the church, a God of love would not punish his children so harshly by sending them to a place like Hell.  Gone are the days when religious leaders taught, 1st. Peter 5:8, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walking about, seeking whom he may devour.”  He still is, but he is busy convincing people that he does not exist.  He is not seeking credit   for the works of his hand, he wants us to blame God for everything that happen and leave him alone.  The Devil sealed the bargain by asking the church members to refrain from mention his name during church services. 

The reinvention process allowed God to evolve from a fire and brimstone God to a kinder and gentler God.  A God who is so busy showing love he do not have time to punish us, even if he wanted to punish us for doing wrong.  God is now a God that wants us to live a long and prosperous life.  He wants us to be rich and happy and not to focus on the return of his son.  The Devil’s has a grand plan of ‘deliberate confusion’ and its design is to keep us focused on the trip and not the destination. 

 At church, God has taken a back seat where he sits with a smile on his face and arms folded as he watches his creation dance and prance in a state of forbidden ecstasy, with their hands uplifted, and begging for a greater portion of the cattle on a thousand hills.  

The concept of much is being spoken, but very little said is played out in many pulpit arenas.  Repetitious (cookie-cutter) phrases that take the place of secular or spiritual knowledge, and spoken of as being an inspiring message is not the answer.  I am appalled at what some call a message from God.  The reality is many of these messages is nothing more than retelling the story of Moses floating down the river in a boat, or whooping, hollering and jumping to a beat.  All of this is fine for inspiration and entertainment.  We need inspiration, we need entertainment, and we need edification but there are those who want to hear a simple message of faith and hope.  My mother, my father, my brother or sister has passed on. Tell me about the Kingdom of God.  Help me understand the dying process.  Tell me about my destination.   I do not need you to tell me about longevity and prosperity.  I know that one day I am going to die. 

When I began my search to find God, I was looking for a God who would freely give my soul peace.  I was searching for a peace that I could hold on to, as I walked thru the valleys and the shadows of death.  I was not looking for a God who was in competition with the devil.  I was not looking for a God who wanted to give me everything I wanted.  When I went to church in search of God, I met a God who was trying to win my soul over with love and gifts.  The God of today had changed dramatically from the God of yesterday.  He is a God of entertainment.  The God of today wants us to have lots of money, big cars, and fine houses.  It seems as if the God I once heard about changed his mind, when he once said, “lay not your treasures upon Earth.”  Today walking in God’s favor is living the high life, and millions flock to hear the charlatan priest explain, “How to get rich working God.”

 That old Satan, the Devil stood within the portals of time and viewed thousands of people massing to attend games of sport.  He saw the players driving fancy cars, living in big houses and sinning.  He reasoned within himself if he could do the same thing for the church what a wonderful world he would have.  The Devil arrives at church on Sunday morning with his entourage of disciples.  He takes his seat in a hallowed pew, where he sings songs of love and heavenly praise and testifies of God’s amazing grace.  When it became his time to speak, he chose his words carefully.  He used the words that touch the soul and makes the heart flutter.  He speaks of God’s love and walking in God’s favor.   He says, “God says, all of this stuff will I give you, all you have to do is fall down and worship him.”  The crowd roared with exhilaration the same as the children of Israel did at the base of the mountain when Aaron presented them with the golden calf. 

Has anybody realized that the message of prosperity from the pulpit is beginning to sound like the message the Devil presented to Jesus while standing high upon the mountain? 

2nd. Corinthians 2:11 says “lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.”  The Devil’s knowledge of the word of God has allowed him to take advantage of some.  Tempted by the things the Devil acknowledges that God can do for us we blindly follow his lead.  To accommodate the wiles of the Devil required the reshaping of our believability of God.  The God can do anything concept has allowed many to follow the wrong path.  What God or a person can do is not a definitive or an acceptable definition of character, performance or capability.  I can blow up a train; this does not infer that I will or that I should.  I can do all things through Christ, does not imply that my will is in perfect harmony nor does it indicate God will perform according to my will.   He will not put more on us than we can bear do not imply we will pass every test. 

 During this remolding or reinventing process the spiritual nature of the church has taken a back seat, and the natural elements of entertainment and getting what you want has become the central focus.  If you need a car, if need a house or if you need a husband just come to church and ask God for it.  The contextual nature of the scripture is often ignored.  While speaking of natural need and wants many preachers will tell you, the Bible says, “Ask and it shall be given, seek and you shall find, knock and the door shall be open.”  To keep you strung out and looking for what is called ‘the blessings’, the use of such clichés as; “he might not come when you want him but he is always on time”, is often employed.  Some even played on our desires, by the promise that a blessing was coming our way if we planted a financial seed.  As the spirit of apathy settled in, the faith of many began to wax cold.  Some of us saw our faith in God shattered because we grew weary of waiting for the blessing, that they promise was coming our way.  They wanted us to show up every Sunday with our tithes and offering begging for a blessing.  Did we not realize that in Geneses 1:28, God had already blessed man with everything he needed to be prosperous?  The charlatan priests sanctioned the fall from grace by using the word of God to illustrate a point concerning natural greed, rather than spiritual needs.  

After examining the watered down and changing rhetoric of the religious community many of my generation became disenchanted and choose a way of life that did not include the changing and confusing religious dogma and denominational quagmire.  It was not we did not believe in God, but the teaching of religion and or Christianity was becoming too confusing.  Even the watered down messages that many preachers delivered on Sunday mornings did nothing to stem the flow of evil in the community.  The pulpit has become a means of furthering one’s own personal or political ambition.  Preaching is now a job that many preachers demand excessive payments for delivering the message of Jesus Christ.  They show up on Sundays with a beautiful crafted ‘message from God’ and stick around long enough to get a paycheck and is not seen in the church community until the following Sunday or weeknight Bible study.

This confusion, these distractions has caused a spirit of delusion to overshadow many.  God’s word is being used validate humanities sinful nature.  They have said God knew what I was going to do before I did it.  He knew I was weak, and because he is a God of love, he will forgive me.  Some have injected a scripture into the mix that I have been unable to find, it says, “There is no one perfect, no not one.”  Maybe this is a reference to, Luke 18:19, “And Jesus said unto him, why call thou me good?  None is good, save one, that is, God.”  Now the problem arises as to the meaning of Luke 19:17, “And he said unto him, Well, thou ‘good’ servant: because thou hast been faithful in a very little, have thou authority over ten cities.”  If we stumble over periods, commas, contexts, perspectives and dispensations  we can make the Bible say anything we want it to say.  We must be careful to avoid misinterpreting the Scriptures, mis-locating the Scriptures and misapplying the Scripture. 

 Do you remember when religion and Christianity was the same?  If you said you had religion, it meant you were a good Christian.  The definition of religion was an organized system of beliefs, rites, and celebrations centered on the teaching of ‘Jesus Christ’ a belief pursued with devotion and passion.  Today, the definition of religion is an organized system of beliefs, rites, and celebrations centered on a ‘supernatural being’ a belief pursued with devotion and passion.  Christianity is a believer and follower of the teaching of ‘Jesus Christ’.  Jesus Christ is a supernatural being, but to change the wording of the definitions gave the religious purist a platform to say you can have good religion but it does not mean you are a good Christian.  You might have religion but are you saved?  When we separate the word religion from Christianity, are we admitting that there is another supernatural godhead?  Did we expand the definition so that we can say there are false religions?  Did we expand the definition so that mainstream preachers, pundits and the charlatan priest can say Jesus is not the only way?  What is the point of creating this level of confusion?  This is fodder for an irrelevant message.  Even Santa Claus could have existed if we had redefined him as a spiritual manifestation of the love that exists between families and friends.  

If it seems that I have an affinity for Santa Claus, it is my way of saying, the sin hunt and the witch-hunt produce the same result.