The Holy Spirit had me rewatch the movie God's Not Dead. It's a feel-good movie targeting Christian audiences. Its main focus is on a young college student who stands up for his faith in class. The professor is an atheist who demands his students profess in writing, "God is dead," before he commences with the class term. The student can't do that because of his faith and the professor ridicules him. Because the student stands his ground, the professor challenges the student to defend his ideas in front of the class. The student proposes the class judge the results. It's the kind of thing Christians wish would actually happen in college classrooms, but doesn't.
There are other characters in the movie who experience similar challenges. There is the foreign student who has never heard about Jesus before, the hostile reporter looking for the "gotcha interview" who learns she has cancer, the self-centered businessman who has no time for God, the Christian girlfriend who is "unequally yoked," and the Muslim daughter who secretly listens to teachings about Christianity. There are also a couple of pastors who walk around experiencing miracles and repeatedly saying, "God is good, all the time." In the end, several of them end up at a Newsboys concert and enjoy a mosh pit experience with hundreds of other concertgoers.
Once again, there was nothing about repentance in this movie. It's another "Jesus loves me" story.
Are concerts like this biblical? Is this how Jesus did things? Is this a "wide gate"?
When things are easy, they are cheap. When trouble comes there will be no root.
I attended a number of Christian concerts early in my walk, and we took our kids and their friends to some of them. We also sent them to camps where the "gospel" was preached.
That is always a feature at these events, typically near the end. The audience is led through a "sinner's prayer," or something similar, followed by some sort of altar-call or other form of commitment. That's what I was exposed to at first, and I struggled to find faith through that route. Thankfully, my early "I believe" experience planted seeds of curiosity about Scripture in me, and my persistent nature of studying things was useful to the Holy Spirit. He led me through the Biblical Gospel summarized at the top of this blog1.
Unfortunately, what we exposed our children to during their formative years was the "altar-call" stuff, and I am afraid it did not lead to faith with roots. As they go through this season of losing their mother, they are hurting terribly like me, but they seem to be turning to the world for comfort rather than God. They are running away from me and I don't know why. They won't talk to me. They seem angry, and I understand that. So am I. Anger is part of the grieving process. I am confident we will eventually get through this, however.
What concerns me most is how the Church has handled our situation. To be frank, they really haven't. Close friends and family offered some support, especially at first, but that is to be expected, even from the world. The Church is supposed to be different. I am convinced my kids see no value in the Church at this point because it has done nothing to demonstrate it is even relevant.
My grandmother died when we were part of a church group. Many from
that group came to visit my family, brought food, listened to stories
and gave hugs. That was for the funeral of someone they did not know. I remember the love they showed truly impressed people. The person who died this time was formerly one of their own, and the response has not been the same. It is very sad.
Some will say that I get no support from the Church because I have turned my back on them. My response is: That's not the Church. The various denominations and religious clubs scattered around Midland are not Jesus' Church. They are something else. God specifically pulled me out of those things and set me up in the center of town to plant a flag and demonstrate what is right. And I am standing firm because that is what Jesus has called me to do.
There is one Church in Midland, just like there was one Church in each of the cities listed in Revelation: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. Each "Church" was the assembly (ἐκκλησίας) of true Israelites in each of those communities, and the same holds true today. What visibly exists is unbiblical.
My physical needs are met. As I said previously, God is taking good care of me. What I crave is fellowship. I would like to talk about my wife, our life together, and most importantly about what God is doing. I know I am being tested, but so is the Church. Jesus' Church. Where are they? Jesus commands his disciples (apprentices) to love each other. Not the world. Each other.
Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world--the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does--comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever. (1 John 2:15-17 NIV 1984)
[To his disciples:] As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. This is my command: Love each other. (John 15:9-17 NIV)
He said it twice, so it must be important.
I tremble for those who live in my community who call themselves "the Church." I am not their judge -- Jesus is. And these are His standards...
When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
Then the King will say to those on his right, "Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me."
Then the righteous will answer him, "Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?"
The King will reply, "Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me."
Then he will say to those on his left, "Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me."
They also will answer, "Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?"
He will reply, "Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me."
Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life. (Matthew 25:31-46 NIV)
Losing a lifelong spouse is one of the most heartbreaking and awful things that can happen to a person, especially when it is sudden, unexpected, and traumatic. I've lost grandparents, a parent, and newborns. Nothing compares to this. Nothing.
My sincere hope is there are some who seek the "narrow gate" in my community who will make themselves known. I suspect some do not know what to do, and may be afraid of going outside of the established structures they are familiar with. I believe Jesus wants to help them. I will try to do the same.
All glory to God.
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UPDATE, July 13, 2021...
1This was the heading text at the top of the blog when this post was written:
I do not deserve the mercy nor the grace extended to me...
Repent and believe, be immersed in water in the Name of Jesus for the remission of your sins and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit!
This is the true Gospel.
If there is anything good in me, it is from Above.
If I have any knowledge or understanding, it is from the Holy Spirit.
If I have any confidence in myself, I am a fool.
Yeshua is my King!
UPDATE, July 26, 2022...
I believe many people confuse their "neighbors" with their "brothers and sisters." We are commanded to love both, but is there a difference between those two categories of people and should we be treating them differently? I believe the Bible gives us the answers.
Jesus teaches us about our "neighbors" by telling The Parable of the Good Samaritan. He was conversing with a religious professional. The story illustrates that loving our neighbor is showing mercy to those who are truly in need. Those in need can be anyone, even our enemy or those who are very different from us. Samaritans and Israelites did not get along with each other.
Many ministries have been set up to cater to the needs of our
neighbors, and that is fine. Sometimes those neighbors abuse the
generosity they receive. God will deal with them in his own way and in
his own time. Our job is to make sure the truly needy get help, and we
are to exhort everyone to repent. We must remember that our "neighbors"
are still of the "world." They are not yet in the Kingdom, and sadly may never be.
Jesus taught his "brothers and sisters" in private to love each other. The quotation from John 15 in the main text, above, was from his discourse during his Last Supper with his disciples. The crowds and the religious professionals did not hear any of that discussion, only his guys. Jesus was talking about a different kind of love, a love that is through the Holy Spirit and something the world cannot understand. He was talking about building each other up to be more and more like His example. All of the New Testament writings after the Book of Acts are about building up brothers and sisters to be like Jesus. Those writings are not addressed to the "world" or to "our neighbors." They are only for our fellow saints. I discussed this elsewhere (here and here).
As I said in the main text, above, we are not to love the "world." James summarized it well...
You adulterous people,[a] don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us[b]? (James 4:4-5 NIV)
The Lord said to me, “Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another man and is an adulteress. Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes.” (Hosea 3:1 NIV)
[b] Or that the spirit he caused to dwell in us envies intensely; or that the Spirit he caused to dwell in us longs jealously
I find myself being jealous for the love of my brothers and sisters in Christ. I want to spend time with them, special time. But many of them are busy serving the neighbors, and the neighbors take up a lot of their energy. I discussed that in a more recent post.
Envy and jealousy are not the same thing. Envy is wanting something that doesn't belong to me, or that I cannot have. Jealousy is wanting what is, and should be, mine. Am I jealous? You bet! And so is Jesus.
We need to discern the difference between our neighbors and our brothers/sisters, and treat them appropriately.
UPDATE, October 10, 2022...
I think "spiritual siblings" is a more precise term than "brothers/sisters." It can help us avoid becoming deceived about and entangled with false brethren.
UPDATE, December 17, 2022...
😢