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Then You Die

By Jeremy Myers
4 Comments

Then You Die

Scripture tells us that creation groans as it waits for for the sons of God to be revealed (Rom 8:19).

Do you know what this groaning sounds like? If you listen, you can hear it every day.

Where? On our radios. On iTunes. On CDs. On iPods.

One of the main places creation groans is through music.

Bitter Sweet SymphonyLots of Christians believe that we should only listen to “Christian music.” I sometimes wonder if this is a lie perpetuated by some in the Christian music industry so that we financially support mediocre musicians, but that’s probably too harsh. What is boils down to is that some think that non-Christian music is “evil.”

I couldn’t disagree more. It is in “non-Christian” music where we can hear the voice of our dying world, and listen to their cries for help, their search for something true, and see most clearly their longing for unconditional love.

Listen to the song below and hear the groaning.

The song is called “Bitter Sweet Symphony” by The Verve (Urban Hymns 1997). It is a song about about life, and the emptiness of living as a slave to money just so you can die. And interestingly, from the perspective of the musician, there’s nothing that can be done about it. He can’t change it. He can’t change himself. Nothing will change. You just have to keep going.

We live. We make money. We die. That’s life. There are millions of people who want others to recognize their pain, but nobody hears, and so we go back to living to make money until we can die.

Bleak? Yes. But that is what life is like for most people, despite any smile they show the world.

Maybe most ironically of all, this song led to a major lawsuit between Verve vocalist Richard Ashcroft and Keith Richards and Mick Jagger of The Rolling Stones. The Verve had licensed a sample from The Rolling Stone’s song “The Last Time,” but it was later argued that The Verve used “too much” of the sample, including some bongo drums which had not been licensed. Eventually, Richards and Jagger won the lawsuit, awarding them 100% of the royalties for this song. You can read more about it here.

It is ironic that Ashcroft wrote a song about how life is little more than a chase after money, and then other insanely rich musicians sued him for all the money from the song. The song turned out to be more bitter sweet than The Verve ever intended.

Anyway, here is the video with the lyrics down below.

LYRICS:

‘Cause it’s a bittersweet symphony, this life
Trying to make ends meet.
You’re a slave to money then you die.
I’ll take you down the only road I’ve ever been down.
You know the one that takes you to the places
where all the veins meet yeah.

No change, I can’t change
I can’t change, I can’t change.
But I’m here in my mind
I am here in my mind.
But I’m a million different people
from one day to the next.
I can’t change my mind
No, no, no, no, no, no, no,no,no,no,no,no.

Well I never pray
But tonight I’m on my knees yeah.
I need to hear some sounds that recognize the pain in me, yeah.
I let the melody shine, let it cleanse my mind, I feel free now.
But the airways are clean and there’s nobody singing to me now.

No change, I can’t change.
I can’t change, I can’t change.
But I’m here in my mind
I am here in my mind.
And I’m a million different people
from one day to the next.
I can’t change my mind
No, no, no, no, no, no, no
I can’t change
I can’t change it.

‘Cause it’s a bittersweet symphony, this life.
Trying to make ends meet
Trying to find some money then you die.
I’ll take you down the only road I’ve ever been down
You know the one that takes you to the places
where all the veins meet yeah.

You know I can’t change, I can’t change
I can’t change, I can’t change.
But I’m here in my mind
I am here in my mind.
And I’m a million different people
from one day to the next.
I can’t change my mind
No, no, no, no, no.

I can’t change my mind
no, no, no, no, no.
I can’t change.
Can’t change my body,
no, no, no.

I’ll take you down the only road I’ve ever been down.
I’ll take you down the only road I’ve ever been down.
Been down
Ever been down
Ever been down
Ever been down
Ever been down
That you’ve ever been down
That you’ve ever been down


God is Uncategorized Bible & Theology Topics: Discipleship

You should stop blogging

By Jeremy Myers
7 Comments

You should stop blogging

stop bloggingEvery so often I get an email from someone who has been reading this blog and hates it.

So they send me an email to tell me how wrong I am and how I should just do everyone a favor and stop blogging.

Here is one such email I got last week:

I’ve looked through your site and on the one hand appreciate some solid material but then I’m puzzled how you call all of it into question by stating you are NOT sure what you believe concerning some fairly basic and clear theological positions. While that may feel open minded and courageous in the today’s environment of wishy-washy watered down Christianity, the things which you cast doubt on totally undermine those things you say are true. In fact, while you give what amounts to a weak nod to a few “Jesus” things, the overall message is clear: you don’t know what you believe yet you profess to be a Christian teacher/author, a teacher of the very Bible you claim to not grasp.

You say the things about Jesus are true, but clear doctrines found in the Book His Father gave us are still in question.  It’s not a matter of interpretation… the foundational tenets of the faith are clear, concise and easily understood. You do yourself and your readers a disservice by casting doubt on them in a day and age of deception when clear and confident Shepherds are needed to guide lost and confused sheep.

By writing and teaching publicly, you declare yourself a representative of God’s Word and teacher, and as such will be held to a much greater standard by God, accountable for every word you write, every person you influence. I would beg you to reconsider your “I’m not sure what is true” approach. It doesn’t build faith, it cracks it. You are questioning things that are abundantly clear in Scripture. What you are doing is casting doubt on the entire Bible in front of a world that rejoices when some Christian teacher “courageously admits” that God’s Word can’t be plainly interpreted.

You are proclaiming your doubt about pretty clear doctrines, but that’s between you and God. The only counsel I have for you is that you might considering not teaching because God holds you accountable for whatever you teach, whatever doubt you cultivate in other Believers.

If you aren’t sure what you believe, why would you try to teach? A Shepherd is not a shepherd if they are not sure about tending the flock.

There is no reason for anything clear in Scripture not to be clear to anyone. The reason they are clear, is because they are clear.  God didn’t write a mystery we cannot discern, or words that can be interpreted (with honesty) in just any old way.

There is not a doctrine you stated on your page that you doubt that is not communicated and written in clear and unambiguous language in the Bible. Don’t let the world, politics, academics or skeptics steal the simple truth from you. Life is too short to live in doubt when God did His part by making sure His word was preserved clear and true for us to know.

This is actually one of the more gracious emails I have received. Usually the emails have more name-calling, Scripture quotations about apostasy and hell, and WRITING IN ALL CAPS AND EXCLAMATION POINTS TO GET THEIR POINT ACROSS TO ME!!!!!!!! Thankfully, this email had none of that. I will give this man credit. He showed more grace than many of the emails I get, and didn’t call me any derogatory names.

[Read more…]

God is Uncategorized Bible & Theology Topics: Blogging, Discipleship

16 Ways to Build Relationships with the Poor

By Sam Riviera
2 Comments

16 Ways to Build Relationships with the Poor

Love the PoorEven though almost every homeless person falls into the category of “poor,” there are many poor people who are not homeless. This post will focus primarily on that group of people.

Most of us don’t need to look for people living under bridges to find the poor. We probably already know them. However, they may be invisible to us, such as the fellow who mows our lawn or washes our car or the young woman who is a checker at a discount store or fast food restaurant.

The poor become visible to us when we spend the time and make the effort to get to know the people with whom we come in contact. Not all of those people are poor, but some are. When we get to know them we will discover that some of them are barely keeping a roof over their, and often their kids, heads.

My wife and I usually do not give time or money to organizations that help the poor. We prefer to get to know people, build relationships with them, learn to love them and help them in areas where we know they need help.

Lest that last sentence get lost in this series of posts, I would like to emphasize that sentence as the key sentence in not only this series, but also in living in a world filled with people. If you want to follow Jesus into the world and live your life like Jesus, then

  • Get to know people.
  • Build relationships with them.
  • Learn to love them.
  • Help them when possible.

Does It Look Like Jesus?

We find living life this way looks so much like Jesus. For those of us who follow Jesus, those of us who are his body, this is “being the church” in our world. Any person, group or organization may call themselves anything they like, but the body of Christ looks like this. If it does not, it is almost always something else.

When we have identified people who need help, we try to help them. That can look many ways in many situations, and of course one short post cannot define how that will look for each of us in every situation.

love the poorHere are 16 Things we have done to help the poor, and which you may be able to do also.

  1. Help unemployed single mothers and families find jobs.
  2. Help families find housing they can afford.
  3. Buy products and services from people you know are struggling to keep a roof over their heads. Don’t look for the “cheapest” option, but for the person or business that most needs your business.
  4. Refer people you know to a business or person who needs the business.
  5. Tip generously at restaurants, especially when you know that the person who served you really needs it. Sometimes you can tip people who don’t usually receive tips, such as the guy at the car alarm shop who repaired your car alarm.
  6. Give commendations to managers of businesses for employees who helped you, especially for employees you know really need their job.
  7. When things don’t go right in your dealings with a business, do not threaten an employee with “I’m going to get you fired,” or “You will get you in a lot of trouble.” That vicious threat can terrify someone for whom that would mean losing their only source of income, and their only way to provide food, clothes, and housing for their children.
  8. Volunteer to help. This might mean helping repair someone’s house or car (so they won’t need to pay someone to do it), taking them to the doctor (so they won’t have to pay someone to drive them), or even picking up something they need (so they won’t have to pay for the gasoline to get them there).
  9. As you walk, run, or drive around town, keep an eye out for furniture and other household items set out on driveways with “Free” signs attached. Some of these items are in excellent condition and can be given to someone who needs it.
  10. Find out what your friends need and decide if you can meet any of their needs with some of the “stuff” you have in your closets, garage, and attic.
  11. After an event where a lot of food was prepared, contact certain people who are short on food and plead for their help in “taking some of this food off our hands so we won’t have to throw it away.”
  12. Invite your friends to dinner and making sure they take plates of “extra” food home with them.
  13. If you find something at a store, garage sale, or thrift shop that you know one of your friends needs, buy it and give it to them.
  14. Remember friends on their birthdays and at Christmas. This might include flowers, a gift, or inviting them for dinner, but always includes spending time with them when possible.
  15. Pick up trash on inner city streets and alleys. This improves living conditions in several ways for the people who live there, many of whom are poor. Explaining how that works would require a post of its own.
  16. Spend time with your friends, especially when you know they need someone to sit with them, listen, hug them, weep with them, and rejoice with them.

In the comments section please share your stories, not only of how you are responding to the poor, but also for how you plan to do so in the future.

There is so much need in the world!

And YOU can help.

Fill out the form below to receive several emails about how to love and serve the poor and homeless.

(Note: If you are a member of RedeemingGod.com, login and then revisit this page to update your membership.)

God is Redeeming Life Bible & Theology Topics: Discipleship, evangelism, following Jesus, homeless, looks like Jesus, love like Jesus, ministry, missions, poor, Sam Riviera, Theology of the Church

Stop Asking Jesus Into Your Heart

By Jeremy Myers
28 Comments

Stop Asking Jesus Into Your Heart
Ask Jesus into your heart
Okay, how do I do this exactly? And if I get a heart transplant, do I need to ask Him in again?

When I was a pastor, a friend of mine gave me an article called “Seven Reasons Not to Ask Jesus Into Your Heart.” The author of the article pointed out that the Bible calls us to believe in Jesus for eternal life, not ask Jesus into your heart. He gave seven reasons why we should stop using that idea when presenting the Gospel to others.

So it was with interest that I recently read a book called Stop Asking Jesus Into Your Heart by J. D. Greear.

Overall, the book carried the same message, that if we are going to tell people about Jesus, and invite people to receive eternal life, we might as well use the terminology the Bible uses, because it is more clear and more accurate. Let’s face it, the invitation to “ask Jesus into your heart” is just plain confusing. So Greear provides some good explanation for why we should stop using this confusing term.

However, I cannot really recommend his book, because although he was clear on this issue, the rest of his book is not terribly clear. The subtitle for the book is “How to know for sure you are saved” but throughout the entire book, Greear based the assurance of salvation on good works! If we ever base the assurance of our salvation on good works, we can never, ever know for sure that we are saved.

[Read more…]

God is Uncategorized Bible & Theology Topics: Books I'm Reading

Writing 4 Books

By Jeremy Myers
5 Comments

Writing 4 Books

I am writing four booksI feel a little scatterbrained recently.

Probably for good reason.

Along with my job, my family, and regular blogging, I am trying to start two separate businesses, help a few people out with their website designs, and concurrently write four different books.

Yes, four different books all at once. I am usually reading several books at one time, but writing four books is proving to be especially challenging.

In case you are curious, the “working titles” of the four books are:

  • The Death and Resurrection of the Church
  • The Grace Commentary on Jonah
  • Nin
  • Good News for Believers

The first book will probably be about 7,000 words, but the other three look to be full-length books of 40,000 words or more.

[Read more…]

God is Uncategorized Bible & Theology Topics: Books by Jeremy Myers

Two Pastors that Give me Hope

By Jeremy Myers
9 Comments

Two Pastors that Give me Hope

Two Pastors Give Me HopeThough I used to be a pastor of a traditional/institutional church, in recent years I have been somewhat critical of Christendom and the institutional church. If it is true what I suggest in Skeleton Church, that the church is the people of God who follow Jesus into the world, then buildings and clergy and worship services are not only not necessary for being the church, but can actually obstruct the people of God following Jesus into the world.

Nevertheless, many who knew me as a pastor sometimes ask, “Jeremy, do you think you will ever become a pastor again?”

I have never said “No.”

Instead, what I have always said is, “If there is a traditional/institutional church that would hire me, I would consider it.” But it would have to be a very special, unique type of church. Usually, once a church discovers that I am in favor of selling (or at least redeeming) the church building, canceling the Sunday worship service, stopping prayer meetings and evangelism, and a host of other such changes, the church quickly discards me as a potential pastor.

And I don’t blame them. If I was in their shoes, I wouldn’t hire me either. Of course, ironically, the church wouldn’t be “hiring” me anyway, since I am not a fan of pastors getting paid. Yes, if I ever pastored a church again, my desire is to not take a salary.

[Read more…]

God is Uncategorized Bible & Theology Topics: Discipleship

One Passage Your Pastor Will NEVER Preach

By Jeremy Myers
6 Comments

One Passage Your Pastor Will NEVER Preach

One Passage pastors will not preachPaul says in 2 Timothy 3:16 that all Scripture is inspired and profitable for teaching. But there are some verses that make you wonder…

Here is one passage I have NEVER heard any pastor preach on, and doubt I ever will: Ezekiel 23:20-21. It says this in the NIV:

There she lusted after her lovers, whose genitals were like those of donkeys and whose emission was like that of horses. So you longed for the lewdness of your youth, when in Egypt your bosom was caressed and your young breasts fondled.

I just performed a quick internet search, and found two guys who wrote a fairly decent post about Ezekiel 23:20-21… Here is a colorful quote:

Allegory or not, passages like Ezekiel 23 certainly present some challenges to our social comfort levels.  Just when you think you think you’re past the slightly embarrassing awkwardness of the breast fondling, virgin bosom caressing, prostitution and exposing of oneself (starting in verse 3 and repeated numerous times thereafter), you find yourself at verse 20, which seems more like something from a National Geographic special about the wild mustangs of the American West than the inspired Word of God.

Ah yes. Anyone who says the Bible is boring has never actually read it.

[Read more…]

God is Uncategorized Bible & Theology Topics: Bible Study, Discipleship

3 Things that are NOT Persecution

By Jeremy Myers
8 Comments

3 Things that are NOT Persecution

what is persecutionWhen I was a pastor, a man came into my office one day on the verge of tears and said, “Pastor, I don’t think I can take it anymore.”

“Take what anymore?” I asked.

“The persecution,” he said. “Everybody at work hates me because I am a Christian, and I am trying to do my best to preach the Gospel and stand up for Jesus, but now it has gotten so bad that nobody wants to work with me and even my boss is threatening to fire me.”

I was alarmed to hear such a thing, for we live in a country where religious discrimination is illegal. But something about the situation didn’t seem quite right, and I knew a little bit about this man, so I decided to dig a little deeper.

It turned out that he would show up at work in the morning, and spend the first 30-40 minutes at work sitting at his desk, reading his Bible and praying. Then, everywhere he went all day, he would sing Gospel songs and quote verses to co-workers. Furthermore, whenever he saw a co-worker “fudging” a little bit on their work, he felt it was his responsibility to report that person to the office manager, and when the office manager refused to do anything about it, he reported the office manager as well.

All of this, of course, was done in the name of “ethics, truth, honesty, integrity, and being salt and light.”

And the more this man got shunned and bad-mouthed by his co-workers, the more convinced he became that he was being persecuted at work, which was further proof to him that he was doing the right thing. He quoted John 15:18 to me, saying that since he was following Jesus, it was to be expected that the world would hate him also.

Near the end of our conversation, I tried to gently tell the man that he was probably not getting “persecuted for being a Christian” but was probably getting reprimanded for being a bad employee. There are different ways of living for Jesus than taking time on the company payroll to read the Bible and pray, and then annoy all the coworkers by singing Gospel songs and quoting Scripture verses at them all day.

It might have been the way I made the suggestion, or maybe I didn’t listen to him enough, but he got very upset and accused me of trying to silence his witness at work, and said that I was not much of a pastor if I couldn’t see that he was getting persecuted for his faith. He stormed out of the office and I heard the next Sunday that he had called several people in the church to complain about my lack of spiritual leadership and how he was not sure I was fit to be a pastor.

I thought it somewhat ironic that when people at his job threatened his employment, it was “persecution” and “proof” that he was doing the right thing, but he felt no qualms whatsoever for trying to cause me to lose my job.

[Read more…]

God is Uncategorized Bible & Theology Topics: Discipleship

Are Cross-Gender Friendships Possible?

By Jeremy Myers
11 Comments

Are Cross-Gender Friendships Possible?

cross-gender relationshipsThis post is part of the February Synchroblog “Cross Gender Friendships”. I will list the links to all the contributions at the end of this post as soon as they are available.

Several years ago I attended a three-week training conference in Georgia for my job. I was warned before I went down there that it was a very “sexualized” environment. The warning was an understatement. While there, it seemed that nearly everyone in my group “hooked up” with someone else. My roommate slept with at least two different girls, and in the morning on my way down for the continental breakfast at the hotel, it was not uncommon for me to see guys coming out of girls’ rooms where they had clearly spent the night.

Due to my position at work, there were certain elements of the training I was exempt from. There was also a female in our group who was similarly exempt, but for different reasons. But we weren’t allowed to just sit around and do anything we want while the rest of our group was out getting trained. No, we had to study together for some other exams which we would take at the end of the three weeks. The instructors put the two of us in a room together for hours on end to read our textbooks, do our research, and quiz each other about what could possibly be on the exams.

At one point during these study sessions, she said, “Do you think that cross-gender friendships are possible?”

Call it sexism, patriarchism, or whatever, but I immediately answered, “No. I do not think so. While they might be possible for women, they are not possible for men.”

[Read more…]

God is Uncategorized Bible & Theology Topics: Blogging

How to Help 10,000 Poor and Homeless People

By Sam Riviera
14 Comments

How to Help 10,000 Poor and Homeless People

many poor and homelessBefore we can help poor and homeless people, we needed to learn to see them. Learning to see the poor and the homeless was the topic of a previous post.

After we started seeing poor and homeless people everywhere, we weren’t sure how to help them.

Start in Small Ways

We started helping in small ways. We want to help people, not make their lives worse by enabling them to remain in poverty or on the street.

How could we do that?

Since I had prepared lunch for the homeless, I contacted the directors of that program and offered to prepare lunch again. My wife helped me prepare and share lunch in the park and dinner in the local homeless shelter several times in the years that followed.

I also met with the people who directed other local homeless programs. They advised how they thought we could best help the homeless in our community, and also gave us advice about working with the homeless. Later in this series I will mention some of that advice.

When we shared lunch and dinner, we spent time talking to and getting to know those with whom we shared. We began building friendships and learned from our new friends what they needed most.

Food, Clothes, and More

We began a program in our church at Christmas. Following an annual church dinner that took place the first Sunday of December, we provided numerous opportunities for our congregation to provide needed items for the homeless, battered women and children, poor Native Americans who lived on the reservation, and poor in our community.

Although some people in the church had no interest in helping the poor and homeless, most wanted to help. Each Christmas we gathered a large quantity of mostly new clothing, toys, and other items and distributed them.

By accident I discovered that a family we knew had run out of money and food. Since I cooked dinner for the church once a week, I always had extra food.

Over the following months I gave them a case of steak, lots and lots of cranberry salad, and a variety of other food items. Once they got back on their feet they laughed and told me “We were embarrassed to tell anyone we were broke, but every night we had steak for dinner.”

During the following years we shared food with various families whose cupboards were literally bare.

When we began paying attention to the people in our community, we not only began seeing the poor and homeless, but we also began building relationships with them and began finding ways that we could come alongside them in their hour of need.

How Can We Help 10,000 People?

feed the hungryEventually our jobs led us to San Diego, where there are many poor and homeless, far more than there were in any place we had previously lived. Based on the annual homeless count, a day when teams attempt to count every homeless person in the city (an impossible task), most homeless organizations here believe that over 10,000 homeless people live in our city.

How can we begin to help 10,000 homeless people and many more poor people in a large city? Crawling into a warm bed, pulling the covers under our chins and trying to forget about people sleeping on sidewalks, under bridges, and even under bushes on cold nights would be so easy.

What can we do? How can we help 10,000 homeless people?

In the remaining posts in this series, we will answer that question as well as look at some of the things we do to help the homeless and poor, which will hopefully give you some ideas of ways in which you can help the poor and homeless where you live.

There is so much need in the world!

And YOU can help.

Fill out the form below to receive several emails about how to love and serve the poor and homeless.

(Note: If you are a member of RedeemingGod.com, login and then revisit this page to update your membership.)

God is Redeeming Church, Redeeming Life Bible & Theology Topics: Discipleship, evangelism, following Jesus, homeless, looks like Jesus, love like Jesus, ministry, missions, poor, Sam Riviera, Theology of the Church

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