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A liberal friend of mine gave me The Great Derangement by Matt Taibbi the other day. Being a conservative Christian, I thoroughly enjoyed the book. Yes, that’s right. Matt attacks both conservatives and Christians throughout the book, and I laughed all the way through it. Not because of how wrong he is, but because of how right. I figure that if you can’t laugh at yourself, you shouldn’t believe what you believe. And if you want to laugh, there is almost nothing funnier than his chapter “The Three Longest Days of My Life.” It was so funny I read it three times, once out loud to my wife.

The book is an odd mix of two riot-inciting topics: religion and politics. He takes us inside the inner working of Washington DC, and goes undercover into the Hallelujah-filled halls of John Hagee’s megachurch. And Matt, though he comes from a different perspective than I do, confirmed what I have always suspected: people who are not conservative or Christian think we’re crazy. And I’ll admit it; we are crazy. In fact, for several years now, I cringe at the idea of being called a conservative or a Christian. I suppose in some circles that means I’m neither.

Which brings me to my only criticism of Matt’s book. He seems to imply that all who believe in God and follow Jesus are like the tongue-speaking, demon-vomiting, gay-hating, environment-polluting Christians he encountered at Cornerstone Church. There are some of us who are more like Matt than he realizes. He can argue with me any time he wants. And I promise, I won’t try to cast demons out of him.

Pusher Pastors

By Jeremy Myers

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Have you ever noticed how it seems pastors are always trying to get you to attend church more? If you don’t come at all, then you should start coming. One you start coming, you need to be there every Sunday. Once you attend regularly, then you should also attend Sunday night. And on and on it goes, until the “most faithful” members are there Sunday morning for three hours, Sunday night, Wednesday night, Saturday morning, and teach a Tuesday night Bible study in their home.

And at first, they tell you just to attend and “enjoy” the service. But later, they want you to “get involved” and start serving. It’s like the first one is free, but after that, you better start paying for what you’re using.

Is it just me, or do pastors have a lot in common with drug pushers?

Many pastors are only too happy to allow their congregations to depend on church attendance, for attendance addictions fill the pews and the offering plates on Sunday morning. In fact, many pastors reinforce such behavior. In the minds of most church leaders, the “truly committed and faithful followers” of Jesus Christ are those who are at the church whenever the doors are open. I know that I felt this way as a pastor. I expected it of my elders.

Yet such beliefs are not only contrary to reality, they are also contrary to Scripture. There is not a single verse anywhere which says attending church is an indication of spiritual health or that God is using you in mighty ways. It’s just not there. In fact, such a mentality reveals a deep misunderstanding of the purpose and function of the church. Pastors who teach and encourage such behavior not only enable this dependence, but have even become pushers, trying to get more and more people hooked on the drug of church.

To break free, to destroy the dependence, to stop the enablement, pastors may have to do something drastic. Telling people that there is more to following church than showing up at a building for another program or Bible study is simply not enough—especially when the church offers so many programs and Bible studies. It may be that the church needs to follow the example of drug and alcohol rehab centers, and require that people go “cold turkey.” Cancel everything—Sunday services, Bible studies, programs, everything—and see what happens.

If your church cancelled all services and programs for one week, or a month, what do you think would happen?

Note: this post is based on a section from the book I am writing, Close Your Church for Good.

Agnostic Bible Study

By Jeremy Myers

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I met again yesterday with a few friends to read and discuss Matthew. This time we were in chapter 3.

And once again, I was amazed how easy it is for people to read and discuss Scripture, even when they may not know anything about it, or even believe it’s true. It’s not a magical book that requires arcane knowledge to decipher and understand. Just give people a decent translation (I recommend NKJV), and have them read and discuss it like any other book.

Matthew 3 talks about things like “repentance” and “baptism with the Holy Spirit and fire” and some other ideas that throw the Christian world into heated debates. I tried to stay out of the discussion as much as possible to see what they thought about such things.

These guys, consisting of atheists, agnostics, Buddhists, and Rastafarians, read the text, looked at the surrounding paragraphs to see what John was talking about, and came up with what (in my opinion) is a correct understanding of the passage. They didn’t really know what “repentance” meant, but they looked at the context and decided it was related to confession and meant turning away from sin. When they read about the baptism of the Holy Spirit and fire, they didn’t think about speaking in tongues or getting slain the Spirit. They didn’t think “fire” referred to hell.

All on their own, they realized that John was talking about people’s lives being renewed as they turned away from their old way of life and turned toward a new way of life following the Spirit of God. The “fire,” they thought, was a picture of this purification process.

I tell you, sometimes I wonder why I spent all that time and money going to Bible college and Seminary. If agnostics and atheists can know and understand the Bible and what it says better than many Christians I know, and even better than myself at times, who are the true “agnostics” and “atheists”? Who is it really that “doesn’t know”?

What is Mutual Edification?

By Jeremy Myers

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What is the purpose of the church when it gathers together? I have been revisiting this question through the posts by Alan Knox on his blog.

While I would personally love to see mutual edification in the form of Bible Study and encouraging one another dominate all gatherings, this is a personal preference and not something I find commands for in Scripture. Certainly, there are numerous examples that the early church did something like this in their gatherings, but just because the early church did something does not mean that we must do it also.

Two of the favorite passages trotted out to defend the idea of mutual edification as the commanded purpose for church gatherings are 1 Corinthians 14:26 and Hebrews 10:25. I’ve done extensive studies on both, and while I can’t post all the research here, let me summarize my findings.

In my commentary on 1 Corinthians, I introduced the section of 1 Corinthians 14:26-40 with this:

Paul is not providing a prescription for how all teaching in all churches must be conducted. To the contrary, when it is recognized that in Paul’s surviving letters to the Corinthians, he nowhere addresses elders, this section is best seen as a description of how a church could get it’s teaching when there are no trained and qualified elders to perform the teaching. In Paul’s other letters, when he is providing correction or instruction, he always addresses the elders, and calls upon them to lead their church in the direction he advises.

I go on to point out that this in no way limits the participation of all members of the church, but rather expands and magnifies it. Regardless, the instructions Paul gives to the Corinthian believers cannot be universally applied to all believers everywhere throughout time. It is not a universal command. His instruction is for a specific group of believers in Corinth about 2000 years ago who were dealing with some very specific issues.

So how about Hebrews 10:25? I recently made a post on this for the book I’m writing, and you can read more there, but here is the summary:

So what does Hebrews 10:25 teach? It is telling believers to fulfill their God-given purpose, and encourage others to do the same. And what is this purpose? Each person has their own unique purpose in God’s plan, but the general purpose for us all is to live life and love others like Jesus. Sitting in a building for two hours on Sunday morning may not be the best way to accomplish this purpose. This may be helpful for some, but not for all. To allow people to fulfill their purpose, we must set them free from the man-made requirement of “attending church.”

Bottom line, I’m not really arguing with Alan Knox. I have really enjoyed his posts, and I encourage all my readers to add him to their Blog Reader. Like Alan, I would personally love to see mutual edification as the main function and goal of all gatherings of believers. And I suppose it could be, depending on how you define “mutual edification.”

Is “mutual edification” happening when two believers go volunteer at the homeless shelter, or work together to raise support and awareness for human trafficking? I think so, but such things are never mentioned (that I’m aware of) in the “mutual edification” passages of Scripture. If mutual edification is happening in such mission-oriented actions, then I’m all for saying that mutual edification is the purpose of gathering as believers. If, however, mutual edification is limited to sitting around on couches (or in pews) to sing songs, pray, and study the Bible, I’m not sure if I can agree. I’m all for such things, but only as part of the purpose of gathering, not as the totality.

Maybe, if I could suggest it, Alan Knox could do a final post in his Mutual Edification series in which he defines the term. What is and is not “mutual edification?” Maybe he kind of already did in his “Principle” post.

But what do you think the term means? When you think of “mutual edification” what comes to mind?

Ever Stick a Fork in your Eye?

By Jeremy Myers

$52,000+ Raised!

By Jeremy Myers

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Once again, we want to say thank you to everyone who helped us raise money to rescue girls from sex slavery in Russia. As you know, our fund raising efforts were part of a larger campaign to raise $50,000. I am excited to report that over $52,000 was raised (See more here).

The people who helped raise funds could choose from one of three options:

Providing Food and Clean Water to Orphans in Africa.
Protecting Girls in Russia from Forced Prostitution through Ministry Centers
Providing for School Fees for Kids in Africa

While all three are important, of the $52,000 raised, almost $40,000 went to rescuing girls from sex slavery in Russia. You were part of that. Thank you.

When we receive reports that girls were rescued, we will post the news on this blog. Keep checking back.

To learn more about Human Trafficking and sex slavery, check out some of these posts:

Human Trafficking Posts

I Want to be a Prostitute

By Jeremy Myers

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Some people say that prostitutes like what they do. That they enjoy it. As my family and I have been trying to get involved with rescuing girls from the sex-slave industry, we recently read Renting Lacy by Linda Smith. It it, she has a section where she shows how ludicrous it is to think that some women want to be prostitutes. This, of course, is especially true for child sex-slaves, many of whom are 9, 10, and 11 years old.

Here is what she writes:

When I grow up, I want to be a prostitute.

I want to be used by men however they wish.

And I’ll say, “Oh baby, yes, I love it. I love everything about you.” And I’ll hold back my vomit and keep on my smiles to convince them, so they’ll stop slapping me. But because I love it, because I love the taste of everything about them, they’ll say I’m a slut, a dirty little girl who needs to be punished. They’ll burn cigarettes into my skin, jab me anyplace they like, bloody my nose, blacken my eyes, laugh at my tears, hold a gun to my head, cut me, tattoo me, as their eyes grow large and excited. I’ll scream and cry and beg because I can’t act anymore.

I don’t want to be riding a pink bicycle with a basket in the front. I hate the little girls with their hands held tightly by fathers, fathers who look at me in disgust and cover their daughters’ eyes so they don’t see me. I don’t want to be one of those girls with a decorated bedroom and frilly pillows on my bed. I don’t want to giggle and talk about whether a boy likes me or not. I don’t want to decide for myself whether to wait for marriage to have sex or remain a virgin.

When I grow up, I don’t want to attend college, consider joining a sorority, or have my own apartment. I don’t want to try different career paths or figure out who I am. I don’t wish for a wedding day in a church or on a beach with bridesmaids, a dad walking me down the isle, little flower petals beneath my feet. Who cares about baby showers or decorating a nursery? I don’t want to learn how to cook or decide between being a stay-at-home mom or a working mother. I don’t want any of those things.

Because when I grow up, I want to be a prostitute.

Can anyone believe that?

Don’t believe the lies. Prostitutes did not choose to be prostitutes. They are enslaved, in one way or another. What are you doing to end such modern day slavery?

To learn more about Human Trafficking and sex slavery, check out some of these posts:

Human Trafficking Posts

The Assembling of the Church

By Jeremy Myers

2 Comments

Alan Knox is doing a series on Mutual Edification and the Church over at his blog, The Assembling of the Church. He is asking some good questions, which are helping me think through some issues for the book I’m writing.

In one place, he writes,

It is correct for us to say that Scripture does not tell us how the church should meet together. It is completely incorrect to say that Scripture does not tell us why the church should meet together.

I don’t disagree, but I would place a different nuance on both statements. Regarding the first statement, while I suppose it is true that Scripture does not tell us how the church should meet, I think Scripture does tell us how they did meet. For the most part, they followed the example of the Jewish Synagogue. Yes, this isn’t explicitly stated, but it is implied all over the place in Acts and the Epistles. I eventually want to write a book on this too.

Regarding the second statement, he goes on to say that “Scripture indicates to us that ‘mutual edification’ is the purpose of the gathering of the church.” I would say mutual edification is a purpose, but not the purpose. The reason I say this requires a rather long explanation based on the definition of church which I won’t get into here. But the bottom line is that I’m nervous about saying that mutual edification is the purpose for the gathering of the church because this is not a far step away from saying that mutual edification is the purpose of the church, which it most definitely is not.

If you had to read that last sentence over again because it sounded like I was saying the same thing twice, you just proved my point. When you say “mutual edification is the purpose of the gathering of the church,” most people hear “mutual edification is the purpose of the church.” While the first statement might be true, the second statement is not.

So I’m excited to see what Alan writes in the next few posts. He is very good about responding to comments, so join in the conversation. I know I will. See you there!

Music and Mission

By Jeremy Myers

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I listen to all kinds of music, from country to rap. I find that music reveals the soul of culture. And when it comes to music revealing the inner emotions and feelings of people, “secular” music does a better job than a lot of “Christian” music. It seems that the vast majority of Christian music is about being “happy, happy, happy all the time.”

Secular music understands that people have a whole range of emotions and feelings, and secular artists are not afraid to give voice to these feelings. So as I seek to understand culture, and interact with people around me, it helps to listen to he music they listen to and hear the pain, longing, and desires that drive them.

And while music runs the gamut of emotions, I hear two primary themes over and over again: People feel insecure and alone. Our world is awash in people who do not know what their future holds, and who have thousands of friends but feel alone most of the time. Of course, this message is not only found in music, but in art and movies as well.

Just as an example, I heard the following song on the radio last week. It is “Torn” by Natalie Imbruglia. The song is about her longing for love, and the fact that since she doesn’t think she’ll ever find it, she lives with perpetual insecurity. She doesn’t have faith any more that her relationships will last. Watch in the video that as she loses faith in love, her world is slowly torn down.

Do you know of any other songs that reveal these twin longings for security and relationships?

How Premillennialism Destroyed the Gospel

By Jeremy Myers

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Despite what I say below, I am a premillennialist. I believe in a future, literal, 1000-year earthly reign of Jesus Christ from Jerusalem. I want to state that first and foremost.

But I also believe that Premillenialism destroyed the Gospel. Here’s how:

Premillennialism is the belief that at some future point in time, Jesus will return to earth, set all things straight, and rule over the entire earth with righteousness and justice from Jerusalem for 1000 years. Among those who hold this view, it is also a commonly held belief that things will get worse before they get better. There are biblical prophecies which seem to indicate as much.

So when people who hold these two ideas read the Gospels, and specifically the announcments of Jesus that the Kingdom of God is at hand, that it is within us, among us, and breaking in on the world, they read such statements as prophecies about the future Millennium, and therefore, any instructions for how to live as Kingdom people or spread the Kingdom are pushed off into some future time.

In other words, it is argued that since the Kingdom did not fully “arrive” with Jesus, all the kingdom principles and values can be shoved onto a generation in the future by-and-by when Jesus return and sets all things right. Until then, the earth and most of the people in it can just go to hell.

That is strongly stated, but it’s how we live. We revel in wars and rumors of wars, earthquakes, famines, and diseases because we think such things show that Jesus is about to return. And maybe it does, but that doesn’t mean that we can sit back, twiddle our thumbs, and watch it all with glee on the evening news.

In fact, I k now some Christians who actually pray for things to get worse, because the worse things get, the better off Christians are. After all, doesn’t Jesus say that He won’t return until the days become like Sodom and Gomorrah? These Christians want to read about rape, murder, and pillage, because these are signs of the end times.

And yet, all such things are completely and utterly contrary to the Gospel message of Jesus Christ. The Gospel is not just about getting people to believe in Jesus so they can get eternal life and go to heaven when they die. While that is part of the Gospel message, it is only about 1% of it.

The rest of the Gospel concerns how those who have believed in Jesus should work to make the world better. The purpose of the Gospel message is to bless the people of the world, to stop injustice, to free the slaves, to rescue the captives, to break the chains of bondage, to bring peace to war-torn areas, to restore health to the sick, to take light into the darkness, and help to the hurting.

By putting off the Kingdom of God until “the future millennial reign of Christ” we have divorced most of the message of Jesus from the Gospel of Jesus. We have gutted the Gospel of it’s significance for our lives here and now, and made it entirely about the life ever after.

Premillennialism has done this.

I’m not saying we cannot be premillennialists. We can. I think the Bible teaches it. But we must avoid the pitfall of thinking that since Jesus will return at some point in the future to fix everything, we can just sit back and wait for it to happen. That is not the Gospel. That is not following the teachings or the example of Jesus.

So this year, what are you going to do to live the Gospel? How are you planning to restore kingdom principles into your life, your family, and your community?

The Great Derangement

Pusher Pastors

Note: this post is based on a section from the book I am writing, Close Your Church for Good.

Agnostic Bible Study

What is Mutual Edification?

Ever Stick a Fork in your Eye?

$52,000+ Raised!

Human Trafficking Posts

I Want to be a Prostitute

Human Trafficking Posts

The Assembling of the Church

Music and Mission

How Premillennialism Destroyed the Gospel

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