The Amalekites are wolves

I want to introduce a thought that I've been having for a while, but haven't quite figured out how to express it. Because the thought is rather deep, I wanted to introduce it in a way that wasn't so deep. I'll first put the thought out, and then we'll go into a further explanation.

Every nation that is mentioned in the Bible is stemmed from Genesis 10. Genesis 10 is called "the Table of Nations." It gives you the lineage of the original three sons of Noah, and each of these patriarchs made a nation. From these nations in Genesis 10 come every other nation. Knowing how they are all linked back gives us a good insight into these nations for multiple reasons:

1) God still holds these nations accountable, even though they are not "technically" still around today.
2) All current nations and past nations stem from those peoples, and God sees a continuum from them to the present day.
3) Each nation has a spirit, or characteristic, that is intrinsic to that people. 

The nations mentioned in Genesis 10 have a certain characteristic about them that distinguishes them from all other nations. It isn't enough to say that they have this or that lineage, and they were named this, and so that is what makes them different. What makes them different is the spirit - the principality or power - that is ruling over that nation. We can be of a certain lineage and act quite contrary. Jesus said to the Jews that were questioning Him in John 8, "If you were Abraham's children, you would act like Abraham." They were technically Abraham's offspring by birth, but that did not count them worthy of that title. If Jesus saw it this way, then God always sees it this way. The two views are the same. 

When we dive into our Bible, we find many times that God will somehow throw out these strange phrases. An example would be when He said, "I brought you up out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of slavery. I sent Moses to lead you, also Aaron and Miriam," Micah 6:4. Was the generation that Micah spoke to the same generation that God called out of Egypt? No. This isn't wiped away by playful metaphor or rhetorical language either. God charged the people that Micah spoke to as if they were the very same generation that came out of Egypt. He saw no difference, though it were centuries later and completely different people. He sees an unbroken continuum between these generations according to character, and not according to name.

When we look at the nations in the Bible, we find that certain nations seem to be condemned with no remedy. Why? Because what God is condemning is not the people of Egypt, but the spirit of Egypt. He is condemning the spirit of Babylon. He is condemning the spirit of Tyre. When we lose this understanding, we find it excruciatingly difficult to see how it could be that God would speak such harsh things against these nations. He speaks against what they represent. Any person that would subscribe that that spirit is to receive that judgment, but anyone who subscribes to this spirit will receive of this blessing.

Lets look at the Amalekites. Who were they? We find that the Amalekites are a descendant of Esau. Esau is Jacob's brother. We read in Exodus 17 about how the Amalekites, when Israel came out of Egypt, would stay afar off behind the house of Israel and would slay the weak, the fatigued, the elderly, the children, and anyone else that could not keep up with the majority. They would hunt like wolves. They swarm the sick, the ones that are not able to defend themselves.

Jesus said of such people, "Beware." They come to you in sheep's clothing - pretending to be a descendant of your brother, or in modern language, a part of Christ's Body - but they are inwardly ravenous wolves. A wolf is one that stays away from the strong. They take the weak, the sick, the young, and any who cannot defend themselves. Wolves are cowards. They bite at the leg so that you cannot get away, and then they all come in and swarm around you gnashing their teeth.

This is exactly what the Amalekites did. Saul was charged by God to slay them. But he didn't. He was told to utterly destroy them - don't even allow for the animals to survive. Instead, Saul allowed the king and all of the best of the animals to survive. He took the animals "as an offering" unto the Lord. It was this kind of disobedience that caused the prophet Samuel to weep through the night.

What is so horrible about allowing some animals to survive? After all, they were supposed to be an offering unto the Lord.

Saul did not recognize that he was being called upon to take out the enemy of God. He was being called upon to eradicate an enemy that torments and exterminates the weak and oppressed. God was calling upon Saul to stand up for the weak, stand up for the small, stand up for the child, stand up for the elderly, and stand up for those that cannot stand up themselves. Instead, Saul took it as a bizarre sort of command, and did not take it seriously enough.

That kind of half obedience is not obedience. It caused the prophetic man who understood what they Amalekites represented to weep through the night.

Only a few chapters later we find that Saul completely and utterly destroys Nob. Nob was a town of priests. The very time of extermination that was required of Saul to kill the enemy of God, which he could not perform, was the degree of extermination that Saul was able to slay the priests of God. What would cause him to be able to exterminate the priests, but not the enemies? The priests helped out David, and therefore Saul figured they were not fit to live.

Ministers, elders, deacons, pastors, and the fathers in the faith are called to this one task: utterly destroy the Amalekites. Those that would purport to be sheep, but are inwardly ravenous wolves: kill them. There is no other option. Those that are wolves in our congregations, in our fellowships, in our friends, in our families, or any other kind of relation where they might attack the weak, we are given the command of God to protect the weak at any cost - even the cost of wolf bashing. You will offend. It takes that kind of offense to ensure the safety of those that God has entrusted to you.

Those that are rams are to guard and protect the flock. Any goat or wolf or fox that acts like a sheep, but is not a sheep, is to be opposed to the uttermost. Don't allow one to continue to stand. That spirit that was in Saul that did not equip him to destroy the Amalekites is alive and well in our leaders today. It took David to destroy them. Nothing less than a David, which is in every point and particular the spirit of Jesus, will suffice. Our leadership needs to lead in the spirit of Jesus, and never in the spirit of our own ability. "Not by strength, nor by might, but by my Spirit, says the Lord."

Every nation has a spirit that they represent. The enemies of God are to be overthrown. Many of us have not come into that Land that God has promised - which is Zion - because we have not yet began to overcome the 7 spirits that are bigger and stronger than you. It takes the power of the Spirit to overcome these nations. Nothing short of the cross and death working in our own lives will deliver them into our hands. One of the biggest battles of the book of Joshua was won because God sent hailstones down from heaven, and God killed more that day than the entire army of Israel.

This is the beginning of my thought. I haven't quite wrestled with all of the implications, but I believe that at the end of the age, Jesus will separate the nations as a Shepherd separates the sheep from the goats (Matthew 25:32). When we have been content to assume that God will judge each man according to his work, maybe the words of Jesus speak a bit more of a truth that we will all be gathered according to the nations that we represent. Each man will be judged accordingly, and I have no doubt that God is able to judge us as individuals, but maybe there is something to this nations thing. I haven't quite gotten my head around it, but I find that even in Revelation 22, when there aren't supposed to be nations, there is a mention of the nations outside of the City of God that must come up to the City and take of the fruit of the Tree of Life. This is supposed to be heaven, and yet there are nations that didn't make it into being the Bride of Christ, and at the same time are present in heaven?

Maybe our understanding is all too Greek, and we need to be taken out from that understanding and brought into a Hebraic view. I don't claim to have it. I just simply mean that what I see in the Bible seems to contradict many of our most precious views about eternity and what it means to be the people of God.

Persecution - the Heart of Davidic Worship

            When we desire to understand the heart of David’s worship, there is no better place to turn than to the Psalms. In Psalm 56 and 57 (to only examine two), we find them both starting with persecution. The one is persecution from the Philistines, and the other is persecution from Saul. In this we have symbols of persecution from the world and persecution from the backslidden Church. I find it interesting that even with both of these two very different oppressors, the first few verses in both the Psalms reference David being “trampled.”

            “Be gracious to me, O God, for man has trampled upon me; fighting all day long he oppresses me (Psalm 56:1). He will send from heaven and save me; He reproaches him who tramples upon me (Psalm 57:3).” This is the unfortunate fate of a “David.” David symbolizes the man of faith – which is ironically the one that always gets trampled upon by men of the world, whether religious or otherwise. Though in both Psalms David is being trampled, his cry is to God and God alone. He does not raise his voice against the Philistines or against Saul.

            In Psalm 56, we find that verses four and eleven repeat one another. In verse 11 we read: In God I have put my trust, I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me? In another translation it uses the word “flesh” instead of man. What is the “flesh” and who is the “me” being spoken of? We have already seen from verse one that David is being trampled upon. So obviously flesh is doing something to him. Not to mention, if David is taken, there is a lot of torture that man can do to another man. Yet David insists that man can do nothing to me.

            The “me” must mean something more than the physical body that can indeed be harmed by men.  However, what he is in God, the essential David, cannot be harmed. In this we have the basis for why we shall not fear. This is the basis for worship. Who we are in God cannot be taken from us. We are something very distinct and different from our bodies. Though we are contained within our physical bodies, the reality of who we are is not destroyed with our body. This is why in the midst of persecution we can find solace in God.

            In all of the saints of old, whether Old Testament or New Testament, we read that the glory of God is revealed in both their lives and their deaths. Martyrdom is not merely in death, but a lifestyle. When we can live as though we have already died, then we are truly living. Our lives are not our own. God is somehow in control and is bigger than our lives. Everything we do is to the glory of God. Nothing is for self.

            In this, our death is taken in a way to say, “There is something more important than self-preservation.” In order to die at the hands of persecutors and make that kind of statement through your death does not come at the end of your life. You aren’t going to somehow find the gusto to endure pain. This kind of manifestation is displayed through your life – your death is only the final enactment. Any persecution that is faced, whether to the death or we live through it, will display full well the wisdom by which we truly are governed.

            King Zedekiah was promised his life if he surrendered to Babylon. There was a problem. He feared men more than God. Because he feared what the people of Israel would say, he was brutally tortured and ultimately killed. His death was not valiant. Isaiah, tradition says, was cut in half while hanging upside down. While they hacked him asunder, he was still prophesying. Meshach, Shadrach, and Abednego took “death” (fiery furnace) without wavering. They claimed, “Even if God does not deliver us, oh king, we still will not bow down to your stupid antichrist statue!”

            When we view Acts 16, we see the story of Paul and Silas. These two men are beaten and thrown in prison unjustly. At midnight, they start singing songs of praise to God. In the midst of their worship, the prison doors swing wide open. What is it about the worship of Paul and Silas that would cause for such a phenomena? When you can give testimony of God like that to the world in the midst of adversity and trials, then you have given the ultimate witness of God that glorifies God and can be used as a witness to save the nations.

            When our worship comes from a heart that knows God’s character and that He would not allow anything to befall us if it did not glorify Him, we have stepped out of the realm of music as worship and into the realm of Davidic worship. Even in the midst of prison and death, Paul and Silas rejoiced in the God who saved them. Death could not keep them from Him. Why fear? If we die, we go to see the Lord. If we are tortured, then we should count it privilege to be found as worthy vessels to take the same torment that Christ received. Isn’t this why Peter and John rejoiced after being beaten by the Sanhedrin in Acts 5:40-42?

            Probably the greatest travesty of our age is the use of manipulation during worship to rile up the emotions and senses during the music time. True worship should be a spontaneous expression of a reality that has been obtained corporately, by a people who have been long enough and intensely enough together to obtain it. Choruses should be the expression of joy, not its substitute. Music can be a powerful thing, but when music becomes a means to feeling, we have forsaken the holy worship in Spirit and truth.

            There is a wickedness beyond human capacity, which is of the principalities and powers of the air. If we do not recognize (and wrestle) them now, then we will not recognize them during the time of persecution. We will assume that mankind is purely corrupted, and in that we will possibly lose heart. But what do we lose heart in? It is ultimately that we lose faith in God, and we therefore lose our own humanity as well.

            Our lifestyle must be born out of the real belief in a soon coming Tribulation and return of the Lord. With this, our view is properly centered to not fret with the things of this life, and to endure patiently until the end when we shall receive reward. My struggles in daily life are things to rejoice in. I know that the tougher the struggle the greater the work of sanctification it will bring. I rejoice that in pain there is comfort, in struggle there is ability to overcome, in persecution there is endurance, and in torture there is a crown.

You Will Save Many Lives...

Something that is titillating in my heart today comes from reflecting on Israel, the Church, and the last days. Let me first define my terms. By "last days," I mean that last Tribulation that the world will suffer before the coming of Christ. How do we prepare for it? What do we do now in order to not find ourselves at want in those days?

David Wilkerson gave a series of messages on this very thing. The conclusion that he continued to give was this: you live like Jesus told you to. If we have two coats, we give our brother in need one. If someone desires to sue us, we give them also our tunic (in modern language, we strip down to our underwear in front of them and allow them to also take our clothing). If someone persecutes us, we pray for them. If they curse us, we bless them. If they hate us, we love them. We do not return evil for evil. We give everything we have. If we have extra in any manner, we supply for others in need. We share all things in common with one another. Nothing is ours. We don't take money with us, but believe that God will provide for us clothes and food. Does He not give more splendor to the flowers than what even Solomon had?

I like this response. There is just one problem: what do I do now? To a certain extent, I live like Jesus told me to. I pursue that lifestyle so that when it really matters, I already have the habit of being generous. There is one other thing that is going through my heart, though. It deals with Elijah. Elijah went to a woman at Zerephath. This woman had nothing. In fact, she so had nothing that she was gathering sticks to eat her last meal with her son so that they could die together.

This woman is a representation of a religious system that is raising up children unto death. They are rejecting the religion of their mother, even while sitting in the pew with her. This son is our generation. The millennials are "leaving church." They have had enough. They have seen what they care to see. They are dying.

What was it that Elijah did when the woman's son did die? He took that child to his own bed chambers. He laid the boy upon his own bed. This, to me, speaks of taking in this generation. We bring them into our homes. We allow them to see our daily lives. They see the good, the bad, and the ugly. They see everything. We live in front of them a life that is worth living. This, of course, requires that we have that life that is worth living. We stretch ourselves upon that boy, and we seek God that He would give us something to breath into this generation.

That boy MUST live. If we allow him to die, then the widow dies too. It isn't enough to think that the millennials are leaving, and we'll get them back when they have kids. If that boy dies, the mother dies too. She won't continue on without her son. This is life and death for the church.

I am only 25 years old, but I feel as though God is granting me the heart of a father. If you don't want your kids, send them to me. If you don't want this generation, send them to me. I will take them in. I don't have much, but my God is greater than what I have. I will not stand by and watch this generation die and go to hell. There is a battle coming up on Mount Carmel where I will be required to face off with the false religious system of the day and give such a demonstration before Israel that they return to their God upon their faces crying, "The Lord - He is God! The Lord - He is God!"

Before that Tribulation comes and I take in the Jew, I need to take in that dead boy. I need to take him in, because if I don't raise that widow's son, there will be no Carmel. What we need to do as the Church is to take in this generation. We cannot put them off. Without this next generation, we will utterly fail in the ultimate purposes of God. We need them as much as they need us. They will be required to go through hell. They will be called upon to be a martyr generation, and someone needs to prepare them for it. Someone needs to reveal what martyrdom looks like. They need to know that martyrdom doesn't come at the end of life to a select few; it is a lifestyle lived out.

To the select few that do get called upon to be martyrs, the reaction they have to that call is based entirely on the life that they have lived. If their lives are still unto self, and they enjoy convenience and luxury, the end of their lives will also be lived to themselves. But there are martyrs that die silently. They die singing hymns. They die in such a way to bring glory to God, and to blow the whistle on everything the world says is truth. They display an alternate reality. What we have been living from is not truth. It is fake.

But the true martyrs are the ones that are so heavenly minded and eternally focused that they can say any suffering that they bear is momentary and light. That is what this generation needs. They need martyrs that live. They need to see in the deepest places of our being that we love not our lived even unto death. They need to see the power of the resurrection, or they won't themselves be raised from the dead. This is my call to everyone. Times are coming, and they will be difficult. What you do now will determine what you will do then. Pour yourself out like a drink offering to this generation, because that alone is what will save many lives - both physically and spiritually.

A Summary of Theocracy

It was over the weekend that I hosted a few friends. Within our discussion, we examined a multitude of things. One of the subjects that came up was Israel and the last days. I think that this topic comes up frequently when I have opportunity to talk, because it is probably one of the biggest aspects of my theology. However, As I mused upon it, I realized that it wasn't about Israel and eschatology that is really a big part of my theology, it is the Kingdom of God.

The one topic that it seems as though the entire Bible is devoted to is this subject. God's Kingdom and rule upon this earth is the focal point. It was set up in the beginning that God would rule as God by having fellowship with mankind and teaching us to be priests unto the very creation itself. We were created in His likeness to display Him unto all things - including the angelic beings.

With the fall of mankind, the kingdom of darkness was thus expressed. It had taken captive humanity. It had somehow become the authority over this fallen world, and if it can keep that authority, then it can attempt to overcome the kingdom of light. We have this saga at the heart of the Bible. Everything is a progression forward. Mankind falls, thus sin enters the world. God's promise is that He will one day punish that serpent and rid the world of that sin. We find that as the Bible progresses, the sinfulness of humanity increased. God sent a flood, and only saved 8 people.

Out of those 8 people came all nations of this earth. Some came from Ham, some from Shem, and some from Japheth. Each of these names have different significance, and we can see in the various cultures throughout the world these different names represented. We find in Genesis 10 the "table of nations." That description of where the nations come from and where they settled is referred to throughout the Bible. It is in the next chapter that we find all nations coming together to establish a one-world government system. What was their hopes in doing so? They wanted to make a tower that would ascend up to heaven.

Where does such a thought come from? If we think that mankind in their sinful state would promote such an idea, we have deceived ourselves. There is an entire kingdom behind the scenes. It promotes selfishness and exultation. The rule of this kingdom of darkness is self. For them to build a tower that would rival the heavens is a statement of deifying humanity. And this deification of humanity is not from depravity, but ultimately from the pit of hell. Satan has influenced and manipulated the whole thing. He has sway over any kind of institution, and that sway is what caused for humanity to have such antichrist thoughts.

The question that the Bible promotes is this: who will rule over this cosmos? Will God rule, or will Satan rule? It is the plan of the devil to manipulate mankind for his own devices. We are merely tools being jerked and forced into establishing his kingdom. There is no remedy from this outside of Christ. But God confused the languages of these nations, and in so doing foiled the plans of the enemy.

Now, thousands of years later, we're back at the same scenario. We have mankind coming together and striving to promote a one-world government that will somehow rival the heavens. It is the same plan that was used at the beginning. And what was God's answer to that plan at the beginning? God's answer was a man named Abram. God called Abram out of the nations to become a nation. While Satan has his own kingdom at work in the world, God has established a kingdom as well. We trace through the Bible this man Abram to the nation Israel. We find prophecies concerning that people at a specific point in time where God Himself will come to earth and rule over them, thus defeating the kingdom of darkness and promoting everlasting righteousness.

Though I agree with the theology that teaches of "the Kingdom of God within you," at least to a degree, this mentality has actually caused us to forsake the understanding of our fathers. Because we are under the impression that God's Kingdom is already established invisibly on the earth, we are not seeking for a future time that God will rule and reign. He has established very specific places where He has chosen for His government. If we do not know, or do not examine, such claims made by God, then can we truly say that we are seeking first His Kingdom?

Many times it is that we simply don't know. This isn't a question about salvation or even somehow being eternally secure. The question that I promote is whether we are truly living in a way that would expect and fully believe that there is a time coming - and soon coming - that God will rule and reign, and He will call on His people to rule and reign with Him?

This is important because the whole of the Bible, from Genesis through Revelation, seeks to establish the answer to one question: How and why is God now able to dwell on the earth? God walked with Adam in the Garden, but there was no sin. How is it that God will somehow come down and manifest Himself on this earth with sin still present? The answer, of course, is found in the man Jesus Christ. But we mustn't stop there. Yes, He came 2000 years ago, but there are still prophecies and promises that have been stated to happen that are yet to come to fruition.

The problem of eschatology (the study of the end) is to seek an understanding of how God can come, Israel can be redeemed, the Church can be united with Israel under the same Head, and we can rule and reign from Jerusalem together. That is the question at hand when studying the Kingdom of God. We know that God will rule over this earth, but how? What must take place for His Government to be established? What must happen for the cosmos to be able to embrace His coming?

In a few days, I will be joining some brethren to discuss such a topic as this. Pray for me, and pray for us all, that we might be given the understanding that God has decreed from the beginning.

Why I left Church - a follow up

In my post about why I have left church, I addressed some of the issues that I have faced personally. But I haven't left it at that. My goal was to try and also give some sort of remedy. In the last few days since I posted that, I have had people asking me a lot of questions. Some of them are easy to address, and some of them are very difficult to address. Ultimately, when you ask a question about something that seems like the whole Bible has something to say about, I'm not sure I can give a quick 1-sentence answer. But this is something that I have noticed is lacking in the questions: a reality of eternity.

Many of the questions have to do with what church would look like outside of church. Some are asking about the performance, but not everyone. A lot of the questions are more geared toward: if you don't meet together weekly, how do you function? This isn't so much a performance question as it is pertaining to questions about lifestyle, submission to authority, confession, sharing faith, evangelism, and all of the important aspects of Christian life that are difficult to understand outside of the church building context.

Let me expand a bit of what I see missing in these questions. The first century church seems to speak unwaveringly about a soon coming return of Christ. That actually might even be their most prominent topic of discussion in the New Testament epistles. There were a lot of questions in regards to church service and how we live out our lives daily, but all of the answers to those questions seem to be a way in which the writer refers back to Jesus is coming back.

I am reading a book with my wife called "True Fellowship." The author in the sixth chapter has taken up the question of apostolic lifestyle. What kind of lifestyle did the apostles have, and what was their reason for having such a lifestyle? He links their reason to their full expectation of a soon returning Jesus in order to establish His Kingdom on earth, in which we will then be partakers. Some will be found worthy of ruling over 10 cities, some over 5, and some over 2. Eternal rewards and the understanding that Jesus returns directly after great suffering and tribulation seemed to dictate the way that these people lived.

The chapter started with a statement that declares apostolic poverty is a necessity. Where do we hear such things? Why would poverty be a necessity? He later addresses that the first century Church sold their possessions and gave to the poor. Why? It was because they knew that Jesus was coming back soon, so why do we need these things? The chapter then continued in expressing all of the ways that we have been all too casual and living in luxurious manner. Our retirement funds, pension plans, "eating out," needing coffee in the morning, church budgets, hopes of building the ministry, million dollar building projects, etc are all connected to a "scoffing" at the Lord's coming. We can scoff without using words.

In our daily lives, how much is lived in an expectation that the end is soon coming? How many of our choices are predicated upon a belief that I might not live to old age? The answer to those questions should be quite revealing. If we put trust in our retirement and desire to build for ourselves a "good life," are we really believing that Jesus will return? We might subscribe to the doctrine, but how much are we truly believing that if we aren't living like we believe that?

This was a challenge for me. It caught me off guard. In a sense, I am living like I expect Jesus to return, but in another sense, I'm one of those people writing up articles about why I left church. Is that even important? Are there more important things to be occupied with?

When being asked about what it would mean to be Christian outside of church, and how are we supposed to meet together, and what about all of the details, I find that the reality of Jesus' second advent is not present. Of course, I don't expect people to ask what we're doing to prepare, but I would at least expect that if this was a living reality in our confession that the questions would be phrased and posted in a different manner. How many of the questions that come to mind are truly important, and how many are simply being asked because we want to perpetuate our Sunday culture?

This isn't an in depth blog post or even an indictment. As I've been reflecting, I just wanted to share some of my thoughts. I do have answers to the questions raised, but so many times I feel like to address the question is to somehow cheapen my stance. When asked "What is truth," Jesus said nothing in response to Pilate. That moment of silence answered the question better than any exposition could. Pilate is standing before the very man that said, "I am the Truth," and if Pilate cannot see it before his eyes, then he cannot see it at all. In the same way, I almost feel as though some of these questions and statements are merely ploys to say that there is no answer, or there is some sort of faulty ground, so that the questioner can then justify every point that I brought up.

I could be wrong, and I know that some are honestly asking. I just hope that this is not one of those times where truth is standing right in front of people, and they are so despising toward it that they look for any out they can take. The road that I have chosen to promote and strive toward is a difficult road. Jesus prayed that we would be one as He and the Father are one. Is that a reality that we can truly obtain? Can we truly be one in that same kind of relationship together? If so, I want it. Enough with our talk, enough with our egos, enough with everything that hinders us from achieving so great a calling. If it is even possible to live as Christ as lived, then I want that. If it is not possible, then the Bible is a lie. I see no way of obtaining this without community.

By community, I mean a group of believers that meet together frequently - if not daily - to share life together and pour into one another the reality of Christ that has been manifest to us. What does that look like? I can't give a formula. All I can say is that it is predicated upon the blessed hope of a soon coming Jesus to restore all things. Every aspect of life and interaction is first sought out with His Kingdom in mind. If my location is too far away to be able to frequently meet with other believers, then I'll move. If employment (which I don't have, but just to make the point) takes up much of my daily life so that I can't spend time with the brethren, then I either cut back my hours or quit my job. The focus is upon His soon coming, and His Kingdom - never upon this life and how do I survive?

About Missionaries

I was asked recently about missionaries. Specifically, “What is your thinking when it comes to missionaries? It is churches that send missionaries out and help support them in ways that they need. How would you send out missionaries in your community?” It’s a great question, and it got me thinking about it. To be quite honest, I just assumed that evangelism and missionary work was included in community living. If you aren’t affecting the society/people around you, wherever you are, then what on earth are you doing?

But to ask it directly made me to realize that I don’t know that I have it as nailed down as tight as I thought. So here is my response, which I couldn’t seem to make small enough to post on that Facebook comment…

When dealing with evangelism and missionaries I think we’re dealing with subjects deeper than sending them and supporting them. What was it that gave Paul his authority and power? Everywhere he went there was either riot or revival. The disciples after being sent out from Jesus came back and proclaimed miracles and demonic deliverance in such a way to make even the Charismatic/Pentecostal denominations seem anemic in comparison. Notice in Acts 13:1-5 and when Jesus sends out His disciples that they are sent in 2 - never alone. There is still community even when they are sent out of community. Even in being sent out, they know where they are sent from is still their community, and they are welcome home at any time.

Paul seems to indicate that even when he is out abroad that he had hopes to go back to such and such church where he could reconnect with “home.”  I guess what I’m feeling for is that maybe missionary work isn’t merely winning the lost or going to places that haven’t heard the gospel? What if missionary work is something more like apostleship in that you are sent by the word of God to proclaim the message God gives you to proclaim to the people God sends you to (Romans 10:14-15)? Maybe it is the sent word that causes faith upon hearing, because it is hearing the very word of God.

Lets not pass that so soon. What makes this word so powerful? It actually gives faith to the hearer, gives liberty to the captive, and/or causes uproar. The man who is sent out by the will of the Lord is sealed with the power and authority of the Holy Spirit. I think that maybe what actually warrants that power and authority is found in the context of community. What exactly do I mean by that word?

Community is the denial of self. It is a relation with other believers that displays the mystery of the Godhead. As Jesus was one with the Father, so are we one with each other. We sacrificially give self unreservedly for the benefit of the other believers without expectation of recompense. Because I sacrificially give myself, and my wife sacrificially gives herself, somehow we pour into each other in a way that neither of us are empty, and neither of us are weak, but we somehow strengthen each other. This is the mystery displayed in that Jesus gave Himself unreservedly for the Father, and the Father selflessly promoted the Son (gave Him a name above every name – including His own name). 

When we can display that kind of reality, of denying self for the benefit and promotion of the others in the community, and by the power of the Spirit we are transformed into being one as God is one, it is precisely at that point that we have now reached “community.” When a Church is able to live like that, then they have no issue with also giving to another community in another town, village, country, etc.

One of my wife and my initial thoughts with the question were about the distinction made between local and global church. Kim and I don’t think that we should make a distinction between local and global church. Paul addresses the whole city, not “local churches” in Ephesus. He does sometimes address churches that met in homes (typically at the end of the epistle). Because they are all connected as the Church, many times we read of how the church in such and such location has shown its faithfulness by sending someone to another location in support.

The reason this is important is because I want to make it clear that I am not against supporting missions groups. They’ve already been established, and if you know they do good, then by all means support them. The point, however, is that having a special offering for missions, or having a denominationally supported mission, is not enough. It takes the whole Church. If it weren’t for the saints throughout the world coming to Paul in his time of need, who knows what kind of condition he would have been in Rome? He told Timothy that everyone abandoned him. He then goes on to say that he is thankful for some who came to him.

I would like to suggest that maybe the idea of community is so central to the Christian faith that even missions work is not a different subject. Maybe the reason that the disciples in that first century had such power is because “when two or three are gathered in My name, there I am in their midst.” What if the whole framework of missions is held up by the global church as community – being one with each other as God is one – in that they are in communion with the same Spirit? Is it possible that by the togetherness that we truly display here and now with the other believers that we gather with actually affects our witness?

In conclusion to try and directly answer the question, to support a missionary as a community means to take up their burdens with them; even if we are absent physically we are together in spirit. I think that if you don’t have community, you don’t have church at all. And what can we call “church” if not an entity that is connected together by the Spirit with all brothers globally, which is displayed locally through a body that has torn down all walls of hostility to one another.

Why I Have Left "Church"

Dear "Church,"

With all of the recent articles and blog posts describing why "youth" are leaving the church, I thought it necessary for me to put down my own ideas. To be entirely honest, it was my wife who wanted to write out why it is that we have decided to leave "church" and never go back. After reading many of these related articles, she has decided that she doesn't want to write & address this 'nonsense' (in her own words), and so I'm taking the task.

In all honesty, I want to give reason to why I have left without giving any kind of hook or rude/offensive statement about church. There is absolutely nothing in me that desires to be mean or vicious, even though there have been many vicious articles written about me - since I am one of those "youth" that has left. This journey started a long time ago. I went to church, and I got burned. I think that this is true for many people that leave. Unlike many, however, I didn't leave because I got burned. I left because I realized that the system will only use and abuse, and will never allow someone like me to flourish.

How about I start with some basic thoughts? 

For someone that grows up in youth group, they are taught the same truth that they learned in the nursery. By the age of 13, they have exhausted the faith. By 16, they can lead Bible studies. By the time they are 20, they are probably youth leaders. Is this all that Christianity has to offer? When you have figured everything out, you go to seminary to learn original languages, what others have written, and maybe relearn everything that you already know? Is Christian life about relearning over and over again because humanity is too stupid to learn the first time?

But the truth is that this isn't even necessarily the reason that we are leaving. The whole thing is cheap, and it seems like what others are offering is so much more authentic... That isn’t to say that we need something more intellectually stimulating. The show must go on, but we aren't here for a show. We came to your "church" to hear reality. We came to hear the words of God. We came to hear what it is that God might be saying to this generation, but all that seems to protrude from the pulpits are "we can worship our way into heaven." Other times, we only hear a pre-packaged message. I have yet to be to one church that gives reality instead of falsity. By reality I mean a reiteration of the resurrection life. Falsity, therefore, is a life lived out of our own ability.

Generally, the objections that are being raised in these articles are fallacious. “Kids are just liberal. We didn't really let them "go to church." All they got were nursery and youth group hours. They think we're hypocritical, judgmental, and insincere. They think we're shallow. We're antagonistic to science.” The list goes on of things that really are surface issues.

These issues that people are writing only go to show the true problem. The real problem is that the articles describing how they out there who are leaving just don’t understand us who are here. It is completely the attitude. It is as though there is no problem with church as we know it, and the entire problem and blame lies on they youth. They are perverts and desire materialism and carnal pleasures. They want their gay friends to come and feel comfortable. They want to live like hellions and still have heaven. They want, they want, they want.

The real issue is the very core of what we call church. The system itself does not allow for truth. There is a remnant Church that has ever and always been present, but the vast majority of Christian "fellowship" is really only there as religious exercise. We don't need "hipper" worship, or more powerful sermons, or to be able to answer difficult questions. We need reality. We lack honesty and truth. The Church at the beginning met daily, going from house to house breaking bread. They lived according to their convictions. By and large, we "put faith" in our convictions, but we do not live from them.

You didn't need to tell the people in the first century to sell their possessions; they did that naturally. You didn't need to tell the people in the first century to meet daily; they did that naturally. You didn't need to tell the people in the first century to lay down their lives for their brethren; they did that naturally. The law of love that was shed abroad in their hearts caused for them to live and move and have their being in a very unique manner. Their lives were transparent before one another. Truth reigned supreme. And they engaged the culture by the reality of their lives. 

Why are the "millennials" leaving? It can only be because the "church" is seeing them go, and telling them, "Don't let the door hit you on the way out." I cannot tell you how many people I have spoken with where they start by saying, "I would love to believe, but..." Too many of these articles only seem to talk about how great we are, and how those rotten kids don't understand. They call it a "lost" generation, and they really believe it. There is no point in trying to save them, they're a lost cause. The problem is not that we need to be more relevant. We need to be more authentic.

Paul said that he was crucified with Christ - it is no longer he that lives, but Christ that lives in him. The extent that we say that this is only rhetoric and playful word games is the extent that we have forfeited the faith. We have an entire Christianity that is based off of applauding Paul for his faith, but then rejecting that anyone today can possibly achieve such a state in God today. Perhaps there are simply too few who have witnessed or seen the reality of the crucified life. 

The whole of the Christian life is to be lived out of the life of God. We do not perform out of our own ability, but instead lean not on our own understanding. The beauty of Christianity is that when we lose self (Luke 17:33), we actually obtain it. The paradox is that when we forfeit self, we find self. True humanity is the marriage of spirit and flesh, male and female, Jew and Gentile, black and white, slave and free - that they be one as God is one. 

Christianity has nothing to do with "doing," and everything to do with "being." Ultimately, the reason that I have left "church" is because there is the lack of "being." All of the things that are applauded and accepted as truth are typically displayed as symbols, metaphor, and sometimes sentiment. Sometimes you can find a "church" that tries to put these things into practice, but even in these circumstances they fall short for reasons that I'll address later. 

The majority of church-ianity has only allowed and applauded far too often the religion performed out of our own ability. We have not truly died, and therefore we have not been brought to a place of resurrection. To defer to myself instead of trusting in God - in any moment - is to fall short of the glory of God. The glory of God is eminently and always a resurrection phenomenon. 

Speaking for myself, it is the lack of that glory that has caused me to leave. When we are starving for truth, and all that is given are cheap cliches and forgeries of truth, it is time to leave. 

In conclusion, I want to say that I have not left God. I have left "church" to find God. I have left "church" to find The Church. What is desired is reality. Our lack of reality and conviction in what we say we believe is true has driven the youth away. They see through our false identity. They watch as we say that we believe the Bible, but then live lives completely contrary to that Bible. It doesn't have to be something abominable. When we set up church services so that we can be done in time to go home and watch sports, we have lied to God.

God desires that we be progressing toward an ultimate end. There is a time that He desires to call upon us, as His Church, for ultimate purposes. We cannot fulfill those ultimate purposes if we are busy playing games and singing songs. If our Christianity is known by our Sunday services, then we have become apostate. But there is a reality that the youth are searching for, and I don’t believe that the fat woman has started singing yet.

In love, wishing you grace and peace,

Tommy Comer