Starting Over

On a recent trip I met someone who I hit it off with immediately. We were talking about churches and he mentioned about starting a church, and some of the local denominations. His next sentence caught my ears. “Why not start over? It has to be better than what we have now.”

Wow, what a statement. Starting over. That tells us a lot about how denominations are perceived. And also one other thing. Long established churches. It is not uncommon to wind up with a lot of clic’s and groups that can quickly make anyone start to feel like an outsider if they are new. I addressed this in a previous blog, so I won’t go into this again.

But I do want to address the idea of starting over. Starting over in many ways can be a path to a better life.

Christianity. When you accept Jesus as your Savior, you start a new life (hopefully), leaving behind the things that caused you to stumble in your life. Some people try to pin down exactly what actions are a sin. The bible is explicit on a few, but in a world that is rapidly changing, the list can grow quite quickly. So here is the simplest way to decide if you are in doubt.

(1) If you do something that makes other people look at you as a non-believer

(2) If you say something that makes other people look at you as a non-believer

(3) If you do something that makes you feel guilty

(4) If you do or say something that makes you wonder if it is right or wrong

Well, then it’s wrong.

Problem comes in what a lot of people do next, they listen to the words of an old popular song:

“If it feels good, do it.”

You cannot always substitute the “feel good” into the above to determine if it is the right thing to do. The only checkpoint for that is the bible. There are so many things that tell you what to do and how to do in the bible.

What? You don’t know what those are? Read the bible.

“But it’s too hard. I don’t understand it.” This day and age you can find all kinds of versions of the bible. Some versions stray from the original content, but the King James Version, New King James Version, and the New International Version are the ones who track the closest to the original document.

“But Keith, you just listed the King James as a version.” Yes, it is a translation, so it is a version. It is not the original document. Unless you are fluent in Greek and Hebrew, the documents that we have from that age would be “greek” to you. (haha, I couldn’t resist!). I personally prefer the NIV translation. The writers have gone back to the original document and they have tried to keep the translation current to the meaning of the language of today.

Find a version that you can read and start reading. Some of the items that are mentioned are hard to understand, especially in the Old Testament. My suggestion is to start with the New Testament and read one of the gospels. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are the first four books that start off the New Testament. Pick one and read it, then skip to Acts and read until you get to Revelations. Stop. Go back to the Old Testament and read it carefully. If you don’t understand a term, go to Wikipedia.org or go to www.biblegateway.com and look it up. These two sites are free, and they have a ton of resources for you to read. I use both of them for my biblical studies. Plus, if you cannot afford a bible or another translation of a bible, biblegateway has many different translations for you to read. Then go back and read the rest of the gospels, and finally Revelations. Revelations can be a tricky book to read and grasp. I highly recommend a study series by Dr. David Jeremiah, “Escape The Coming Night”, which will help you understand Revelations, as well as apply it to modern times. I have attended several of his seminars, and listened to him on the radio, and he is “spot on” with his teachings and preaching.

So start over in your life.

Start over by reading the bible.

“But I’ve read it already.” Well, I don’t doubt you, but did you absorb anything that you read? Read it this time, even a chapter at a time, and then ask God to reveal to you what He wants you to learn from it.

Start over by being a “new you.”

Be someone that even you wouldn’t recognize. When you get to church and the same group gathers to start their gossip. Stand up and tell them they shouldn’t. If they still continue, walk away. Leave the room. Make a statement by doing so that you won’t be a part that does not fit with the Christian lifestyle.

Start worshipping while in church. (I’ve covered quite a bit about this in previous blogs)

Quit checking out who is doing what in the sanctuary. Shut your eyes and start your private prayer time. Start by asking God to work in your life. Ask God to help you clear your mind of everything else that is going on around you, and start praying for yourself, your family, your friends, the people who are currently in your church, the people who can’t be in your church, and the people who should be in your church.

Start to be a new employee/manager/owner

If you’re employed, go to work and be different. No gossiping. No backbiting. Start by telling someone thank you when they help, help someone when they need it, and start to be someone that others come up to you wanting to know what is different about you. PERFECT opportunity to be a witness for God in this situation.

If you do wind up in a place where you can’t be the Christian that you’re supposed to be, find a place where you can. Not all churches are Christian, though the name or denomination on the sign might indicate differently. If they need another book in addition to the bible, nope, not a Christian group. Resources that help you to understand what the bible is telling you are wonderful. But if someone wants you to study something instead of the bible, RUN FORREST RUN! Not all employers welcome a Christian environment. Employers are not allowed to discriminate on the basis of religion. Just be the example, and pray for God to change their hearts.

Start to be the spouse/(g)(b)friend that you need to be. If your “significant other” isn’t a Christian, rethink your relationship.

2 Corinthians 6:14 (NIV) says, “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?”

I’ll go more into this in a later blog series where I tackle relationships.

Be the “S O” that you need to be. Show them that you love them. Kiss them, hold their hands, do special things that cause you to have to go out of the way for them. Guys, hold the doors for the girls. And guys and girls, initiate bible study together. Have devotional time. There are plenty of resources for different types of devotions, based on what you enjoying doing and reading.

Start over in your mind. Quit being negative. God is not negative. Start to believe in what you pray for, and in what you do in your daily life so that others can be reached for Christ.

In other words, START OVER!

Pharisee, Sadducee, Denominationee

Copied from Pharisee page on Wikipedia.org

The Pharisees (lat. pharisæ|us, -i; from heb. פרושים perushim/פרוש parush, meaning "set apart")^[1] were at various times a political party, a social movement, and a school of thought among Jews during the Second Temple period under the Hasmonean dynasty (140–37 BCE) in the wake of the Maccabean Revolt.

A political party, a social movement and a “school of thought among Jews”. Wow, they couldn’t make up their minds huh?

More copied:

Conflicts between the Pharisees and the Sadducees took place in the context of much broader and longstanding social and religious conflicts among Jews dating back to the Babylonian captivity and exacerbated by the Roman conquest. One conflict was class, between the wealthy and the poor, as the Sadducees included mainly the priestly and aristocratic families.^[2][2] Another conflict was cultural, between those who favored hellenization and those who resisted it. A third was juridico-religious, between those who emphasized the importance of the Temple, and those who emphasized the importance of other Mosaic laws and prophetic values. A fourth, specifically religious, involved different interpretations of the Bible (or Tanakh), and how to apply the Torah to Jewish life, with the Sadducees recognizing only the written letter of the Tanakh or Torah and rejecting life after death, while the Pharisees held to Rabbinic interpretations additional to the written texts. Josephus indicates that the Pharisees received the backing and goodwill of the common people, apparently in contrast to the more elite Sadducees. Pharisees claimed prophetic or Mosaic authority for their interpretation^[3] of Jewish laws, while the Sadducees represented the authority of the priestly privileges and prerogatives established since the days of Solomon, when Zadok, their ancestor, officiated as High Priest.

Sadducees: Wealthy, arrogant. Pharisees: Poorer, more blue collar crowd, most likely. Fighting over what to believe in. What interpretations of the writings to believe, what to throw out.

Read the above paragraph again. Did you notice one word that was omitted? GOD. They are trying to figure out what to believe, and God is not even in the equation. Each one claiming that they are right, or have the right because of their ancestors.

I’ve seen churches like this. A small number of families that have been in the one church since it opened its doors, sometimes a hundred years ago. Each family thinking that they are privileged and should hold the highest offices because of who their great grandparents were.

Praise God that they had great grandparents who were bold enough to start the church, and then to keep it going. But just because you are of a family doesn’t give you the right to hold office or any position of authority. Even public office holders are elected, their offices are not passed down to their siblings.

And I’ve seen denominations do the very same thing. Claiming to be better or more spiritual because they speak in tongues, and the others don’t, and many other reasons. Some denominations even draw the more aristocratic and wealthy. Some try to distinguish themselves in how they dress. Growing up, you could always tell when someone went to a “Church of God” or Pentecostal denomination, especially the women. Always long dresses, beehive or extremely long hairdo’s. No makeup. Etc. etc etc.

But take away that, and could you have been able to distinguish that they were a Christian? Except for a lot of uppidiness (is that even a word, well, it oughtta be!), No.

Jesus was confronted by the Sadducees and Pharisees many times. I won’t try to list them all, but the book of Matthew records a lot of the incidences where the confrontations took place. Jesus could be rather blunt. He didn’t pull any punches. He often times scolded them for even thinking in their traditions. Many times he tried to reverse their way of thinking and get them to realize that they had things totally reversed. They never got it. It just made them madder.

Just like the guy who was hung up on denominations at my pastoral committee hearing. (see last blog). Why are denominations important? They are only important to us. There were people who tried to be “followers of John the Baptist” and some who were “followers of Jesus.” John told them upfront that Jesus was greater, and that they should be following Him. Jesus never split His followers up into groups. Or classes. Or denominations. And when you read the bible, denominations are not even mentioned. Pharisees and Sadducees are about the closest thing to a denomination that is mentioned, where they are arguing over interpretation and beliefs. As denominations, do we want to be classified with them? I DON'T THINK SO!

The book of Revelations can be a hard and tricky book to understand. Lots of events and happenings. But when you read it, look at the most important part. The groups of people and animals and other beings that are gathered in Heaven and around the throne are not divided up in any way. They are worshipping together in unison.

If we can’t worship together in unison on earth, what makes us think we’re going to be able to do it in Heaven. What are you going to do when you stand before God and the multitudes are worshipping and bowing before Him?

Will this be you:

“God, will you make them quiet down a little bit. I can’t even think. I’m trying to remember what I’m supposed to do today at my mansion. And will you make them stand up? Do you know how hard it is to get the dirt off of these robes when they have been all over this floor? I’m tired of scrubbing clothes while I do the laundry. Lord, these people beside me are too happy when they are singing. Will you make them chill out and sing in a more somber tone?”

I have news for you. If you see yourself in that paragraph above, chances are you may not even get the chance to talk to Him. He may have already told you by that time, “Depart from me.” OUCH. That one is gonna hurt, and for eternity. In Hell.

You want to be around other people who are wailing and gnashing their teeth the way you did while in church? Go to Hell. I guarantee you’ll find that and worse.

You want to find people who truly love God. Go to Heaven. I’m sure there will be many people doing many different motions and saying different things when they are around the throne. But the one thing that will be different will be that no one is noticing what anyone else is doing. Their focus will be on God, and not the people around them.

Why can’t we do that now? Shouldn’t we practice what we’re going to be doing for eternity? There are sometimes when my humility causes me to be in a somber mood when I come to Him in prayer or worship. There are sometimes when I want to dance, sing and shout. There are times when I pray, and things come out of my mouth that I have no idea where they come from, or what language it was. And I’ve had it happen around me in a church service, but I hardly noticed, as I was focused on my worship at the time.

I believe that is what Heaven will be like. No one will care who you are, what you were, how prestigious and/or rich you were. God is all that matters when we get to Heaven, so we had better start thinking that way now. If you can’t put forth the effort to do it here, why should you get a chance to do it up there? But, God is a loving God, and He will decide who truly became His disciple, and who was faking it like a catfish out of water flopping about, that can only squeak out sounds that are not understood by man.

Church, let’s become Christian again. Let’s turn Christianity upside down from what it has become, and back to what it should have been in the first place. Let’s get to where we can worship together all the time, and not just on special occasions where communities will have a joint service. Let’s get to the point where the only reason we may have more than one building in a community is because of lack of land to build a bigger one, so they are all on the same page, worshipping God. People may have to be redirected to another building in town only due to local fire codes and limits on occupancy. Let’s start now what we’ll spend a lifetime doing in Heaven.

I know this has been a lot to take in. And there are many who will still read this, get mad, and probably will not have reached this point in the blog. To those of you that did, reach out to them. Let’s all work to get on the same page. Let’s all become Christians again. Not denominations. Let’s learn to worship beside our brethren, no matter if their hands are raised and they forgot to use deodorant. Don’t let their loudness bother you. Wear earplugs. Don’t let their quiet hushed tones disturb you, take those earplugs back out. Don’t let their dancing disturb you. Wear steel toe shoes/boots.

Or just worship, and it won’t be a problem!

Denomination Abomination

I’m going to attempt a blog that will probably make a lot of people mad before they get halfway through this reading. If you’re easily angered, read the blog just before this one so that you’ll be better prepared to handle it.

Denominations. We have plenty of them in the US. Methodist, Baptist, Episcopal, Pentecostal (AOG, COG and all of the others, including IPHC). There are more, but I just wanted to point out some of the bigger ones. And there are off shoots of the ones listed above.

It seems that they have taken over Christianity. There are no open Christians walking around anymore. Just ask someone. They will tell you. I’m Baptist. I’m Methodist. So on and so on. Or I belong to Rock Springs Baptist, or Bethlehem Methodist church. How about I belong to God? How many times has someone ever told you that?

When you start out in the ministry, you have to go through a committee that reviews you and your beliefs, goals, etc. They kept asking me questions about being a Methodist, and upholding the doctrine and such. The emphasis wasn’t on my daily walk with God. The word Christian was barely mentioned, if it was at all. I don’t really recall it coming up in conversation, but I’ll give them credit for it just in case. (a dozen or so people firing questions constantly, it’s hard to remember it all.)

I told them that I was a Christian. I agreed to work in the Methodist church, and that I would teach the bible in the Methodist ways. But I was a Christian, not a Methodist.

I won’t call his name, but one guy became so inflamed that I almost thought he would come after me. He turned so red and became mad. But I held my ground. I could tell that I had visibly upset the majority of people in the room, but so be it. It didn’t upset me. Anyway, they still gave me the church to pastor. I’m hoping that it was because they reconsidered for the moment, but it didn’t last very long. I was still a target with a large bulls eye on my back. Finally, the target was hit and I was down. That is when I walked away. It was all about numbers. How much tithe was given? How much did I send to the state office? The church grew over 200 percent while I was there. Yet I was derailed because I wouldn’t kiss the right person where no one should kiss anyone. What happened to church? To preaching the word? To having people saved? To having the spirit hit so hard in a Methodist church that members were at the altar speaking in tongues. (if you ever study the Methodist church, you’ll scratch your head over that one).

That is why I am not in a denominational church at the present. I want the focus to be on God in whatever church I serve. Now, if I ever do get to go to a denominational church, whether it is to speak or to take on as pastor, I have no problem with that, as long as they understand, it’s all about God, and not the denomination.

Moreover, it’s about helping the church members and local community at home first, and then reaching out to the rest of the world. When your house is in order, then you are able to do more for others. Just ask any financial advisor.

Am I saying do not have missions? NO. If your church is successful, your members needs are taken care of, then reach out past the normal boundaries. But when you have a successful church that prospers at home, coffers will overflow and spill out to the rest.

Next blog gets tougher, so prepare your hearts, your minds and your spirits for what we need to examine next.