Yes, your 'church' is about you - not Jesus

Ok – back to our chronological walk through the Gospels. We're seeking and finding the real Jesus as He presented Himself to us – and not in the sinful human ways those who've so long called themselves His "Church" have reinvented Him (as He warned us they would). 

As always, you can find all our previous posts in this series, going through the Gospels chronologically to find the real Jesus, here.

And as always you'll find the scriptures for today are here. (Note that you can change the human-translation version on this scripture page, as suits you. I have NO theological or other tie to the online-bible site I use for this blog – it just lists many human translations to choose from, including the NASB, KJV, The Message, and the NRSV, which are the ones mentioned by those I chat and email with.)

This week, we see Jesus back among those He grew up with – and we find them so ignorant of God's truth they not only refused to recognize God standing right in front of them, but also refused His blessing and healing. If we look, we can easily see the same thing in ourselves, and in what's most loudly called itself "The Church" through the centuries.

Now, at least partly we can understand their failure to really see who Jesus is. They had known Him when He was just a boy, watched Him grow up, known Him as part of His biological family and the social culture of this town. In some ways, it may have been harder for them to recognize who He really was and could do because they'd grown accustomed to understanding Him within a certain mold: son of Mary and Joseph, brother to His brothers and sisters, a craftsman low in social and financial status who made and sold simple, practical things of metal and wood with His family.

Indeed, when Jesus came back He was anything but the guy who used to sit in the dirt and repair plows for the local farmers. Now Jesus was a miracle worker and a wise man, far different from how they wanted to keep understanding Him. And they didn't just ignore or write Him off – they actually got offended. And as we learned last Gospel study, Jesus' healings and blessings matched what people were willing to believe about Him. Therefore, those who should have been closest to Him got almost nothing from Him at all.

Today we make huge mistakes like this all the time, with all sorts of people. We often continue to understand people in the awful ways they were before, ignoring or getting crappy if they seem to be above and beyond that now. In some ways, it's offensive to us when someone stops boozing it up, or backbiting, or stepping on others to get ahead, or rejects living the materialistic lifestyle we're taught to see as "success" (and even as "God's blessing"), if that's the thing we still want to keep doing. Like, how dare someone prove what a life of falsehood and crud I'm choosing, by choosing what's better than that!

But there's another way we do this, a way easily far more dangerous to our souls, if we've been raised in what calls itself "The Church".

For those of us who've grown up in "The Church", or who came to it later and have embraced it long enough to absorb its way of interpreting Jesus, the message of the real Jesus can seem incredibly foreign – and even threatening. We've grown up in the "hometown" of what most loudly calls itself "His Church", and we rest our whole identity on our "hometown" understanding of Jesus, certain beyond certainty that OF COURSE we understand Him better than anyone else – WE GREW UP WITH HIM!

But that understanding is just as flawed as was the understanding the people of Jesus' physical hometown had 2,000 years ago. And when we're confronted with the huge difference between the Jesus we think we know better than anyone and the real Jesus of power and wisdom, oh boy can we get offended! People of "The Church" have turned their backs on, kicked out, born false witness against, attacked, tortured, and even slaughtered people for centuries, all because these other people challenged their "hometown" understanding of Jesus Christ. Sometimes that's just been "hometown" people fighting other "hometown" people over some stupid theological doctrine that means nothing to God. But sometimes it's been "hometown" people just simply refusing to allow Jesus to be who He really is.

Why? Why would "hometown" people refuse to accept Jesus for who He really is?  

• Sometimes we refuse because we like the gilded dirt hole we've committed years of our lives and our egos to. We like the human hierarchy, the remakes of the old covenant temple, the live-in-a-box spirituality that tells us we're doing God's work even though we're not doing it, or we're passionately doing it for all the wrong reasons (which Jesus says doesn't count). Those things make us "feel spiritual" and "connected to God" – even though they are exactly opposite anything Jesus and the rest of the New Testament said to do or live. We forget or ignore that all religions make their members "feel spiritual" and "connected" – so it isn't the feeling that saves us, but following the real Jesus and doing what He says, that actually makes us real Christians.

• Sometimes we refuse because our "hometown" "church" has taught us to fear any thinking that would challenge its authority over our minds and hearts. We shake our heads when we hear of cults that have lead their members even to death – but then we follow, just like the people of 2,000 years ago, our "church" when it leads us even to spiritual death. 

• Sometimes we refuse because if we accepted the real Jesus, and did what He really said, then we'd have to give up pretending to live godly lives, while our hearts were just full of ourselves. So-called "ministers" are most guilty of this. "If I actually accept the real Jesus, then I'll have to give up the position, authority, money, retirement fund, extra-respect, and extra-honor I went to minister-school to get!" But others do this as well, "If I actually accept the real Jesus, then I'd have to give up my pride of position in church, and I'd have to stop chasing money, and I'd have to do more than just kick in a few bucks in the collection plate to be right with God." In this case, we don't "get" the real Jesus, and we even get hugely offended by Him, because our worldly goodies depend on our not "getting" Him.

This is all just another reason it is SO dangerous to just join or stay in a "church", if what we want is the real Jesus. The "Church" we see most easily around us, with its "sanctuaries" and seminary-educated "ministers" and centuries of accumulated and trumpeted doo-dads, is simply a pagan remake of the old – and by Jesus' death on the Cross cancelled – Jewish temple. So it doesn't even have the real authority and God-connection the Jewish temple had!

Instead, the "Church" we see most easily around us, and which we may have spent many years growing up in, is a purely human reinvention of God's real plan. It uses Jesus' face, and pretends to do His work with His heart, but points those who live in its "hometown" to the Jesus IT knows, and the Jesus IT isn't offended by. If you want to understand why "The Church" so easily supports and participates in war, economic oppression, sexism, racism, homophobia, materialism, and more, the answer is here: that "Church" is not and never has been about the real Jesus. Instead, it's primary function has been to enjoy, pass on, and protect its own limited and sinful understanding of Jesus.

So it's no wonder this "Church" only gets and falls for "miracles" from the devil, if it gets "miracles" at all. It's no wonder its members feel so comfortable in a "faith" no different in real substance than any other pagan faith, full of good religious feelings but completely devoid of the real Jesus Christ. "The Church" today, whether it calls itself "Roman Catholic", or "Methodist", or "Baptist", or "Nondenominational", or whatever, is no less God-rejecting and pagan than is polytheistic "Mormonism", Jesus-denying "Jehovah's Witness", Bible-twisting "Christian Science", or New Age "Ascended Masters".

The real Jesus Christ offends these "Churches" – and so the real Jesus has nothing to give them.

What about you? Where are you in moving out of the limited and sinful "hometown" mentality that finds the real Jesus something to ignore at best, and offensive at worst?

In my own life, I spent a lot of years in that "hometown". I soaked in all the teachings of the False Church, in its various manifestations in Roman Catholicism and its Protestant daughters.

First, I didn't even know enough to realize I'd been duped. I was quite comfortable in what my human elders preserved for and taught me. Sure I was living the godly life, I was most in danger of hellfire at this time – not because God wanted me there, but because, despite my insistence to the contrary, I wasn't really choosing God. I was like someone who claims to be going to Boston, but keeps insisting on traveling a road that only goes to Sacramento.

Later, God blessed me with a growing dissatisfaction with "The Church". Something was wrong, though I couldn't figure out why. Something was "missing". I wasn't as "fulfilled" any more. At first, as you might guess, I thought the answer was to become MORE in and about "The Church". I didn't just do the learning, I learned it all. I didn't just do the Roman or Protestant rituals, I did them ten times over. I didn't just pray, I prayed all day. And at first, it seemed to work – but it would always fail again and that nagging dissatisfaction came back into my heart. I prayed for God to make it go away, even to restore my "faith" - but He proved His love for me by making it grow worse and even more nagging, with each passing day and year.

It was that blessed irritation, that sanctified dissatisfaction, that slowly began to make me realize my spiritual life and heart was full of human junk – not Jesus. It was God's gift of stamina, and my willingness to go it alone at times, that helped me wander out of the gilded dirt hole of what most loudly calls itself "Christianity" so that I could seek and find the real Jesus Christ.

What about you? Are you still in the gilded dirt hole, or wishing you could be? I'd guess that if you're here, reading this blog, then you at least have a tiny bit of that blessed irritation, that sanctified dissatisfaction, that God's using to get you up out of the dirt and into Jesus' (real) arms. Otherwise, you'd be too offended by my "disrespect" for what claims most loudly to be "The Church" and its "ministers" to stay.

Are you afraid of going it alone? Of being without "a church"? Jesus said He would be with you always. He also said His real followers would have to give up even their closest relationships if those relationships block His followers from Him. Trust Jesus! And look for those others who are also wanting to be just about Jesus. They are His real church – they are your real family.

Are you still craving the religious doo-dads and goodies you get from only-faking-Jesus "Christianity"? Are you TRULY willing to trade eternal heaven with God because you like the pride, the trancing out, the rituals and do-goods you could get from participation in ANY religion (which means all your "godly" feeling is actually nothing special at all)? Jesus isn't kidding around – and neither is the devil. Drop those religious things and titles and so on like the hot hell-rocks they are, and fill yourself with the real Jesus!
If you'd like to talk more or pray about this, and you don't have a local no-junk-just-Jesus sister or brother to fellowship with, email me and let's talk. Going after the real Jesus can be a shorter walk when you don't have to find the whole way yourself without others who've already made more of the trip and can help you with the signposts along the way.

Jesus didn't come to earth and die so that we'd be stuck in fake temples and wearing Jesus-masks. He came to earth to completely shake things up – to heal people others don't believe worth healing, to put first people others think should be last, and to cancel religion and its inevitable path to forever-death.

Find and keep the real Jesus Christ.

He's waiting for you! 
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This article written by Lynne at http://NoJunkJustJesus.blogspot.com/. You can contact Lynne at NoJunkJustJesus@gmail.com.

Are you getting your just-Jesus bonus yet?

I'm doing a lot of extra Bible study this year (since the start of 2011, I mean.) Adding additional readings, additional topics of inquiry, and so on. And it's really blessing me – because I've begun reaping the harvest of many years of learning to take the Bible, but not what's culturally (or subculturally) pushed as "Christianity", seriously.

Sometimes that means gaining new insights into Jesus and what it means to be a human being in a messed up world. But sometimes it just means basking in the offered comfort of the truths I've already long since learned, or getting a new look at an old map so I can realize just how far off the Jesus-path I am, and how best to get back on it.

All this convinces me more and more all the time that Jesus wasn't kidding, about any of what He had to say or require -- or about any of the comforts and rewards He promised. And that means (among many other things), that He means for His message to make more sense and be more available to those who want Him more than they want human-based teachings that use Him.

Like, if you want Jesus, open your Bible and read with Holy Spirit eyes, preparing to lose even the "goodness" of your current spiritual understandings and political leanings. But if you just want something that looks like Jesus but is more about belonging to a fulfilling human social network, or about telling you how much you deserve even though you haven't even starting down the right road yet, or about showing off how important your religious doo-dads and titles and buildings and so on are (the ones that don't have to be part of the original version of discipleship because they're part of "holy tradition") – well, then, you can buy your carnival ticket over there.

Just because I've got to start somewhere, here are just a few of the insights and comforts and corrections I've gained over the years from the first stories (chronologically) of the New Testament – the ones where Jesus hadn't even shown up. Some of these insights came to my heart, but others came from the hearts of others who shared them with and therefore made them part of my growing-in-Jesus experience, as well. And indeed, that sharing with each other is what true Christian fellowship is all about: every person (not just the human-educated ones, or the dominant ones, or the ones who like the spotlight), regularly bringing and sharing what the Holy Spirit shared with them, so that everyone learns from everyone else.

Luke, the biggest threat to good religious values

Take a look at Luke, for example, and the start he gave to our understanding of the man Jesus Christ. Luke documented not only most of the first stories but also a good portion of the lived-lives of Jesus and those who learned firsthand from Him. But consider this even more: Luke was a despised outsider. Luke lived in a time when most who called themselves Jesus' followers hadn't really absorbed the Gospel they'd been sharing, and so were going around telling some people they couldn't be acceptable to God or part of God's family until they changed who they were and became like them. Sound familiar? Some who pushed this remake of the Gospel back then were quite aggressive about it, while others understood the truth but simply did nothing to help those who were being so spiritually attacked (we can read that in another of Luke's writings that we call "Acts", but also understand it from the letters to the Galatians and to Timothy and Titus, for example).

Luckily for Luke – and for Gays and Lesbians and all other people through the last twenty centuries – there were also people like Paul who were willing to push back with the real Gospel of Jesus Christ, willing to risk even their church fellowship and family to stand for God's truth (just as Jesus said we all must be willing to do).Those who call themselves "Christian" today but do not stand up for those other "Christians" try to remake and cut off are demonstrating a weak or false faith that needs a lot of work to be right with God.

Zechariah, one of the best examples of what religion has to offer

Zechariah was a good church man. He was also totally wrong in what He accepted about God. Oh, he did his religious duties. Those religious duties were a good portion of his entire identity, and made him one of the religious elite of the day. But when one of God's angels showed up to tell him he and Elizabeth, his wife, had been chosen to be more visible players than most in God's coming Good News, Zechariah completely disrespected the angel. Why? Well, as a good Jew, Zechariah would have certainly known that God gave a child even to the elderly Abraham and Sarah, so it wasn't like the angel was saying something unimaginable to him. No, the problem for Zechariah was that the angel's message revealed just how shallow Zechariah's faith really was. And instead of going "Oh crap!" and realizing how ridiculous his current perception of God's power was, Zechariah instead challenged the angel to make as much "sense" as Zechariah just knew he himself did. I can almost see him poking a finger in the angel's chest, saying, "You big dummy! You have no idea how God really works!"

Lucky for us, the angel was smart enough to shut Zechariah's mouth until the promised baby was born – making sure that he couldn't continue to share his "greater understanding" with his soon-pregnant wife. Perhaps we should in the same way shut our ears (since we rarely have the power to shut others' mouths) against those good church people who also fancy themselves among God's elite while trashing the whole idea that He can or should act outside what they imagine of Him!

Mary, the worthless, whoring piece of trash

The same angel went to see Mary, several months later. He gave her a similar message, but one even more spectacular: working through Mary, God was going to fulfill the promise He made to Eve (and to all women), thousands of years before: that through Eve's seed (so, the seed of women, not men, even though men always assume they're the center of everything) the Savior of the world would come. And so through Mary – someone disrespected and despised by both "God's Chosen People" and the pagans of her time, alike, for being poor, for being female, for being powerless and subjugated – through puny, disrespected her God was going to start the final stage of fixing everything that Eve and Adam (and all human beings) had previously broken.

And what was Mary's response to all this? She saw and shouted happy-joy because:

• God was completely on her side, even though she was a nothing piece of garbage fit only for breeding and drudgery, as far as the world of human beings (even the good church ones) were concerned. God today is still on the side of all those the world considers weak, foolish, trash. 

• God's mercy has always been reserved for those who respect Him enough to live His ways – which leaves out most "good church people" of Mary's day and now. Good church people always consider themselves most deserving of His rewards, even when they live counter to what He says and act in their own best interest – but Mary knew otherwise (as we should, as well).

• God's power does powerful things, including undoing and scattering the pathetic, self-serving power of the arrogant to nothing. We have things we're arrogant about, too – our spiritual beliefs, our technology, our intellectual advances. And those are also going to mean nothing, in no time at all. We're as smart as Mary when we recognize that as a good thing.

• God's actions – including those He accomplished through Mary – are always focused on reversing the way human beings think things should go. And He did that even in creating the Savior of the world. How long had the arrogant, the powerful, the rich assumed they and they alone were deserving and capable of producing and proclaiming God's goodness in the world? How much do the arrogant, the powerful, and the rich do the same, even today? But God intentionally denied  and denies them their place (which is why they still use complex theological inventions even now to erase and cover that – for them – embarrassing truth). God instead gave (and gives) it to those who don't think more highly of themselves than they should, and who have no control of anything of any consequence, and who have no material wealth. Does it matter if the world doesn't recognize that, and won't until Jesus comes again? Not one little bit. 

• God keeps His promises. God made big promises to Abraham and the Jews who followed him – and He kept them. Just as He kept His promise to Eve. Just as He keeps His promises to us.

Mary saw all of that – and so should we!

John the filthy church-rejecter

The John that we call "the Baptist" was born to Zechariah and Elizabeth. Zechariah, since he was no longer in a place to trash what God was going to do, and since he'd obviously learned his lesson, also did a happy-joy shout to God. He finally recognized the powerful way that God was acting in the world, making happen the things He said He'd do. And he was blown away at the more visible part his son would be playing in all that: actually being the prophet who announced and prepared people to get ready for the Messiah! And, yep, John the Baptist would later do all that – but never as a good church man.

Like his father, John was born to be a priest and part of the temple culture. Unlike his father, John went outside the reaches of the human makings of religion he'd been born into, and instead served God where God and His real work could still be found: in the desert, and on the ridiculed and despised outskirts of "normal" society. Once there, John never did anything the good church people could be proud of or agree with. Instead, he barked accusations at those arrogant, powerful, and rich good church people who broke God's way. John even called B.S. on the local political leader when he dumped on God's way -- even knowing that sooner or later, this would all cost him his life (and it did). And then what was his concern? Begging for mercy? Promising to never preach outside his denominational box ever again? Learning his lesson and never bothering authority figures every again? Nope. He just sent some guys to check in with God, to make sure he'd worked the right road

And wouldn't the world be a better place if we would allow ever a quarter as much courage in our own faith lives? .

So what do *I* see in these people, in what the Bible shares about Luke, Zechariah, Mary, John the Baptist (and about Eve)?

I see that God's real work goes on in our real, every-day, puny human lives. Does God work through the rich and powerful and arrogant? The Bible shows us that yes, He does – but they are simply the pawns on the chessboard, and the poor and oppressed and humble are always the queens and kings.

Remember, for example, that God also used the powerful Assyrians when it worked out like He wanted – but who are the Assyrians now? Where are their dynasty, wealth, and advances? They're in the trash heap, where they belonged all along. But the people they oppressed and used? God kept them and their spiritual and physical descendants going even to today. And He will until He's done with this part of history and brings us home.

Remember that God used Pharaoh (the richest, most powerful ruler of the day), and Pontius Pilate (who held life-and-death power over Jesus, through the most powerful empire to ever exist until the modern USA), and Caiaphas (the highest ranking good church man in an entire nation of good church people who believed he as pastor / priest / pope could make and keep them right with God) -- but they were all pawns, weren't they? They were never His actual focus. Despite their vaulted place of honor in the human world and in human history, they were just side notes in God's plan, not truly required for anything.

The whole of God's plan has always been about saving those who want to be saved. It's always been about reuniting God with those who want to be with Him, and who are willing to recognize His God-ways are better than our human-ways. (That's why the arrogant, and the powerful, and the rich so rarely make it to salvation. They aren't necessarily any more evil than the rest of us. But they won't give up their goodies, won't stop hoarding what elevates them at everyone else's expense, even when it's choking the spiritual life out of them.)

What God wants more than anything else is for you and me and all the rejects, weaklings, outsiders, weirdos, oppressed people, impoverished people, puny people, and despised people to "make it". Jesus didn't come to do anything with the good church people. He used them to teach the rest of us, but He knew they always consider themselves above being saved, and therefore can't be saved.

So, when we're ready to set aside all the good church stuff, and to pay more attention to Jesus than to good church people, then we're finally starting down the narrow Jesus-path. That's how we get our gate admission ticket: just want one, more than you want the fake carnival ticket. 

It's been a very long road for me to learn to set aside all the good church stuff. First step required being grossed out by it. Then I tried rejecting all God stuff, but that didn't work. Then I tried different versions of good church stuff, but that didn't work either. It always came down to just more junk that made me happy for a short time, and then left me empty and grossed out, all over again. I spent about 35 years figuring it out.

But now? I can't tell you how "clean" I feel, and how much sense Jesus makes, now that I'm hearing and following Him, and not some funky, self-serving image of Him projected by other human beings. I'm still making mistakes. I expect to my whole life. But even the mistakes got smaller, once I started going right to the Source.

• If you are already on this narrow Jesus-path -- even if you've just barely started, I can't begin to say how full and happy that makes my heart! I wish you God's best, and count you among my dearest spiritual siblings. 

• If you are dissatisfied with what you've had of "church" and religion before, great! Start checking out just Jesus, and see how much better He is than the knock-off reproductions others have made of Him. Take it to heart and roll it around in your head: He just wants you to set aside all the "Christian" junk, just as He required the Chosen People 2,000 years ago to set aside all the "Jewish" junk, and just be about Jesus -- because He's there to demonstrate who God really is, in a way we could actually see and hear Him. Seek out those others who are also wanting just Jesus, and learn from them even as you share your learning with them. God's on your side!

And, as always, Jesus' message is very clear: 

Do your sincere best at doing what *I* say, and keep My love in your heart, no matter what -- and that makes you Mine.

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This article written by Lynne at No Junk. Just Jesus. You can contact Lynne at NoJunkJustJesus@gmail.com.

Are you gonna follow that church leader all the way to hell?

Church leadership just keeps coming up again and again in my circle these days. No doubt because it's church leaders (or, at least those human beings count as church leaders, whether God does or not) who determine where most Christians will go in their spiritual walk. It's church leaders who describe and draw the boundaries for the various paths most Christians will follow.

And it's sorta-kinda supposed to be that way. According to the Bible, a "church leader" (also described as an "elder" and such, in the New Testament) is supposed to be someone like your football coach, or your older sister, or someone else who, yes, is also just another sinful human being like you are, but who also has real-world experience and knowledge in living as a true follower of Jesus Christ. A church leader's shared experience and wisdom, offered with corrective love and hope, is supposed to keep us all continually re-pointed back to Jesus Christ (while everything else in the world keeps trying to point us away). Their function within the Body of Christ is to help keep themselves, each other, and all their "younger siblings" on that narrow Jesus-path until Jesus comes again. 

But anyone truly paying attention to what's happened to the "Christian Church" in the last 1,900 years or so can see how quickly "church leadership" degenerated after those who'd learned firsthand from Jesus Himself died (and so were no longer around to call B.S. on nonsense) – and how "church leadership" stayed degenerated even into today. Despite the Bible's direction, even today almost all "church leaders" are only truly about Jesus Christ (and making the sacrifices and going through the trials following Him demands) when doing so does not conflict with or counter the human-created religious traditions, cultural norms, social expectations, attendance counts, and job and ego security understood as "core" of the religious organization or group they belong to. And that's just as true of "fundamentalist" churches as it is of "progressive" ones. Just as true of "evangelical" churches as it is of "emergent" ones. Just as true of "modern" churches as it is of "post-modern" ones.

We're so proud of ourselves, and we remember always to praise God -- right after we get done thinking so highly of ourselves for how much "better" we've made the religion of "Jesus" in the last 2,000 years.

And all that means if we just go along with whatever "old" or "new" church fad that tickles our fancy, or better addresses our politics or our emotional needs, then we're just wandering around a cheap carnival fun house that has Jesus' face painted on the front and some hymnals scattered around the back.

And that's because most practicing and preparing-to-become "church leaders" today have a "calling" from their own ego, or from a severe misunderstanding of Jesus' truth -- and not actually from the Holy Spirit.

For true church leaders, though, who aren't simply memorizing (and benefiting themselves from) human-crap-of-death that was based on human-crap-of-death which was itself based on human-crap-of-death all the way back to the human-crap-of-death the first disciples named as anti-Jesus, what's really God-required for church leaders to be and do is right there in the Bible. Right there for our understanding to soak in, once we pump the spiritual bilge water from our hearts and minds.

Take a look at Acts 20, for example. I'm starting at verse 17 (end about verse 35). Then look over Titus 1, reading from about Titus 1:5 to about Titus 2:1 (my text below will follow those sequences, if you want to follow along in your own Bible). Compare Paul's Holy Spirit-led, real world experience and wisdom-sharing about what church leaders are to truly do, know, and be – and then compare that to what we see today in "church leaders", whether those "church leaders" are on television or radio or internet, or in local pulpits, megachurches, "creative" churches, "house" churches, and so on.

I'm just going to grab here at the most obvious examples:

Paul says he served Jesus not only with humility, but also through all the tears and trials that came via evil plottings of "good religious people".

Discernment opportunity: Which "church leaders" today are actually the self-satisfied "good religious people" doing the evil plotting or working against those that don't conform to their own ego-boundaries or human-inspired doctrines, instead of being those grieved and suffering because of trying to be about Jesus in spite of them? 

Doesn't matter how "good" or "spiritual" or "religious" they are -- they do not have their hearts on the real Jesus -- and therefore don't qualify as God-chosen church leaders.

Paul says he never shrank from publicly testifying to everyone about (1) the need to repent to God from evil choices, (2) to keep faith in Jesus Christ, and (3) the good news of God's love even for those who've never deserved it for one millisecond. 

Discernment opportunity: Which "church leaders" ignore the need for us all to repent because telling people they're making evil choices "turns people off" (and therefore lowers the ministry's follower numbers and/or tithes) or just doesn't match how they've imagined "love" to be? Which church leaders push people to keep faith in their own particular human denominational/doctrinal/etc interpretation of Jesus Christ, as if that were the same as Jesus Christ?

Doesn't matter how "good" or "spiritual" or "religious" they are -- they do not have their hearts on the real Jesus -- and therefore don't qualify as God-chosen church leaders. 

Paul says he's innocent of causing anyone else to end up in hell, because he's taught God's whole intent and not just picked and chosen what he liked and ignored the rest. 

Discernment opportunity: Which "church leaders" – of "right" or "left", "evangelical" or "emergent", "modern" or "post-modern" – only pick and choose what they emphasize about God (like, for example, teaching that God is about hating sin without also showing from their lives God's boundless love for all humankind, or teaching that God is about nothing but love without also showing from their lives God's triumphant justice and rejection of evil?).

Doesn't matter how "good" or "spiritual" or "religious" they are -- they do not have their hearts on the real Jesus -- and therefore don't qualify as God-chosen church leaders. 

Paul says church leaders need to be on guard for themselves, each other, and for everyone God has seen fit to make them an elder-sibling over, to make sure they properly shepherd what God shed His own blood for to buy us back from destruction.

Discernment opportunity: Which "church leaders" claim to "guard the flock" but actually help fleece the flock of dollars and adoration that belong only to God, while enforcing human rules, human traditions, and human ideas as if they were from God?

Doesn't matter how "good" or "spiritual" or "religious" they are -- they do not have their hearts on the real Jesus -- and therefore don't qualify as God-chosen church leaders. 

Paul says that after he's dead, evil-minded people are going to emerge from inside churches, and are going to be ripping up and ripping off those people within them, teaching things that pervert the real Good News of Jesus Christ, and getting people to leave real fellowships and follow them instead.

Discernment opportunity: Which "church leaders" (past and present) are doing just this, while using Bible quotes and church law and appeals to tradition to "justify" it, so that people even  believe this kind of "Christianity" is "normal" and "healthy" and "godly"?

Doesn't matter how "good" or "spiritual" or "religious" they are -- they do not have their hearts on the real Jesus -- and therefore don't qualify as God-chosen church leaders. 

Paul says church leaders therefore must be on the alert, expecting these anti-Jesus wolves to show up, and tearfully warning each other of even possible slipups.

Discernment opportunity: Which "church leaders" simply "go along to get along", not "rocking the boat" in their fellowship, church, denomination, or world so things still have the appearance of being godly and cozy, even when people are being taught a false way to salvation, when children are being raped, when women are stuck in battering relationships, when the poor and oppressed are suffering, when people are being convinced God hates them, when people are being convinced that human-add-ons are requirements of the Gospel, and so on? 

Doesn't matter how "good" or "spiritual" or "religious" they are -- they do not have their hearts on the real Jesus -- and therefore don't qualify as God-chosen church leaders. 

Paul says that God Himself is able to build up church leaders, to give them what they need to be sanctified and true.

Discernment opportunity: Which "church leaders" rely on themselves, their denominational position, their theological education, their religious doo-dads, or something else besides God to "prove" them holy-living godly church leaders who should be followed or even "obeyed"?

Doesn't matter how "good" or "spiritual" or "religious" they are -- they do not have their hearts on the real Jesus -- and therefore don't qualify as God-chosen church leaders. 

Paul says as a church leader he never had a thought about gaining others' money and such, and that with his own hands he took care of his own needs and the needs of the other ministers working with him. He says that by working hard like this, church leaders can and must help those who are weak, remembering always that Jesus Himself said that it's better to give than receive.

Discernment opportunity: Which "church leaders" have made or hope to make a good career out of ministry, especially in "administration" of buildings, programs, "ministry teams", college courses, and denominational politics, as if anything like that means diddly compared to the simple Jesus-acts of personally getting someone in need a meal, hugging someone covered in filth, or teaching lost people about the Good News of Jesus Christ?

Doesn't matter how "good" or "spiritual" or "religious" they are -- they do not have their hearts on the real Jesus -- and therefore don't qualify as God-chosen church leaders. 

(Now I'm working my way through Titus 1):

Many churches (especially but not only "right-wing" ones) like to believe they've satisfied the requirements for church leadership -- but what they actually do is pick as "church leaders" people who satisfy worldly standards (like picking business people to "run" the church and its "finances"), and/or by picking church leaders who conform to their own human doctrines, traditions, cliques, biases, and politics -- but don't conform to the Gospel of Jesus Christ as it was given by Jesus Christ.

Consider:

How many "church leaders" are said to be "above reproach", but by their ugly and/or empty hearts and their "church over Jesus" belief systems they've brought tremendous shame on the Body of Christ? Well, that means they are not "above reproach" at all!

When "good religious people" are said to be in "rebellion" in the New Testament, it means they are in rebellion against God's way of doing things. So how many "church leaders" even just today are easily accused of being in "rebellion", since they put more value on religious deeds and doo-dads that only make show (even though they don't fool God, of course)? How many run "churches" and teach things in complete opposition to things Jesus taught, yet still count what they're doing as "according to God's will"? These are people in rebellion!

Do we even need to cover "prosperity preachers", "televangelists", but also all other "church leaders" who've managed to make a huge living at representing the God who said that those who have good things in this world won't get squat in the next, and who said you simply cannot have your mind and heart on God and money at the same time? These are people fond of "sordid gain", and who are stewards of their own interests, not Gods!

Paul wrote someone qualified to be a church leader will "[hold] fast the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching" passed down from Jesus to His first disciples, so the church leader is "able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict [it]." How many "church leaders" of the past nineteen centuries have even pretended to stick only with the simple Good News of Jesus Christ, as taught and commanded by God Himself, and not instead added and/or adored the human accretions layered on top of it like muddy dirt and filth on gold? How many church leaders – "right" or "left", "evangelical" or "emergent" or "catholic", "modern" or "post-modern" – won't correct or chew themselves or each other out when they're following or teaching human-crap-of-death, refusing to stand up at all costs to themselves, "their" ministry, "their" church, and so on to counter those who twist Jesus Christ and His message into their own human-shaped pretzel? These are not people faithful to God's Word.

How many "church leaders" of any brand won't even acknowledge that church people who don't do things God's way, who spout their own nonsense, who deceive people, or who obsess on only parts of the Bible message are – Paul says – supposed to be made to shut the %)#@*% up? How many "church leaders" just continue to absorb (or seek) all the bennies promised to their human church position and assignments, doing right by themselves while ignoring, passing off, or justifying the loss of all those turned away from the Gospel or otherwise hurt by "the Church" (no doubt they are "prayerfully working on the problem from within" -- for years, decades, centuries...)? These are not servants of Jesus Christ.

How many "church leaders" won't severely accuse destructive, anti-Jesus "Christians" (even though that would give them an opportunity to get their spiritual heads on right and stop hurting other people and blaspheming God)? More, how many won't call wrong wrong because they don't want to risk the political poo-storm it would cause to stir up the sleeping demons in their "church"? How many won't do this because "God is love" and therefore they are going to demonstrate "God's love" by letting the devil destroy people's lives and faith? These people reject God's way.

How many "church leaders" – instead of knowing and standing up for Jesus and doing what He said to do – actually themselves "profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed"?

As always, it all comes down to this:

Whether we count ourselves as "church leaders", or as followers of "church leaders": do we take Jesus and (real) His teachings (as given us through His first disciples) seriously, or don't we?

The fact that the vast majority of those calling themselves "Christian" do NOT take Jesus seriously is demonstrated continually in our support of politicians (republican, democrat, whatever -- all the same), religious figures (protestant, catholic, emergent, whatever -- all the same), business leaders and their various economic systems (all the same), and others (all the same) who start or continue or don't act against war, torture, oppression of the poor and minorities, falsification of the Good News of Jesus Christ, and other demonic practices.

And we learn to be "good Christians" who defy Jesus Christ to His face and happily do the exact opposite of what He says (while still expecting His praise, of course), from following and learning from "church leaders" who may be very nice people who want to love and serve the Lord but who just don't qualify according to the simple standards set out for us by God in His Bible. 

So, what's the Jesus-deal? 

The deal is: take Jesus as seriously as He takes you. And only follow and learn from those other human beings whose lives and faith lead and point you only to Him. 

• Remember, as you look for real "elder-siblings" to help you out, that they may or may not be found in actual church buildings (or even in "house churches", etc), because these days few such places have enough Jesus left in them to do anything but (at best) wear people out spiritually, and the real Body of Christ is found everywhere. Keep an eye and heart out in all the places such folks might be found: online, at your work, in a Bible study, and so on. God's been amazing in all the places He's dropped "elder-siblings" into my life. 

• Remember that nothing in the Bible says being an "elder-sibling" is supposed to be some kind of ritualized or formal relationship. That's how human beings like to do things -- not like Jesus did or does things. Look for friendships and fellowships, not someone with a title or collar or organizational position. Most of the time, it won't even be recognized as an "elder-sibling" thing at all, but as simply a neighbor-thing, or a friend-thing, or whatever. Lots of the best "elder-siblings" are found amongst the "least of these" in the world, because they've actually gone through real trials (often at the hands and hearts of the "good religous people" in their lives), and they've learned through Jesus Christ how to deal with and be better despite such things. 

• Remember that if you yourself are a "church leader", you also need God-chosen church leaders to keep YOU on the right path, because you're just as human as everyone else, and you also will for the rest of your life need to learn from and listen to only those who actually match what the Bible says qualifies someone to be an "elder-sibling". This ridiculous and shameful ego thing of pretending to be so "holy" you (unlike everyone else) no longer desperately need strong counsel and a good butt-kicking more days than not is exactly what makes so-called "ministers" into drunks, drug addicts, perverts, ego-maniacs, spiritual-masturbators, wealth-chasers, and God-trashers. If you aren't willing to be the truly humble person first in line each day for godly correction and teaching, then do the rest of the world a favor and "minister" instead in a Church of Satan, where you will at least be honest about who you're really serving. 

• Finally, always remember that having (real) "elder-siblings" in your life is a very nice thing to have, and can sometimes keep us from doing a face-plant into the thorn bushes along the narrow path -- but elder-siblings aren't required for our salvation. Only Jesus is required for that. He'll provide all the other stuff as we're willing to look and to accept them, and as He determines we need them. But in any case, He's our ultimate safety, only real Teacher, and only true Elder (pastor, priest, etc).  

Until next week -- God continue to bless and keep you, and to grow you, and to open your mind and heart in all the ways that make Him more and more your only Source, each day!

In God's love,

Lynne

---This article written by Lynne at No Junk. Just Jesus. You can contact Lynne at NoJunkJustJesus@gmail.com.

3 Do's & Don'ts for healing from painful Christianity

There are a lot of people -- and a lot of different kinds of people -- who've been hurt by "the Church" and people in "the Church". 

Many are Gay, but some are straight (divorced, had an abortion, non-comforming somehow, or just in some way "not acceptable" to "the Church"). Race doesn't matter. Socioeconomic status doesn't matter. Where you grew up doesn't matter. Nothing matters.

If the devil decided to stab you in the rump of your religion, that's a wound that can fester your whole life, if you don't heal it. 

And I mean really heal it -- not just "cover-it-up-I'm-fine" heal it.

Getting that real healing is a real journey. And there are many detours and false trails that can make us think we're getting there or even already done -- when, in fact, we're not. I certainly made my own zig-zag journey toward healing, and I've watched and helped a large number of others make theirs over the last many years..

Based on our combined experience, I offer you three Do's and Don'ts, to hopefully make your healing journey that much faster, that much easier, that much healthier:

1) Don't count on those in "the Church" to heal the hurt they are responsible for causing. Do look for those who have healed beyond "the Church" to give you guidance and support along the way.

This is a biggie, because it's a sure thing that the reason a big splat of false Christianity hit your life was because someone else was being a Church-Christian, and not a Jesus-Christian. Church-Christians can be among the nice people of the world, and some are very caring and want to help. But going to them is like asking people in a bar for help paying your hospital bills after you've been hit by a drunk driver. Church-Christians will usually admit that things are far from perfect in their church (or in Christianity in general) -- but they say and mean it as an excuse, not as an intro to getting any problem in it fixed. You'll know that's true when they say you're important, and yes your wounds shouldn't have happened -- but they won't actually take a real stand to protect you or fix the evil that caused hurt in the church.

See, the Bible never says, "Just go along to get along", or "Don't make a (real) fuss when people in the church are acting like asses or making people think 'poo' on God" (in fact, it says the opposite). But that falseness is what Church-Christians are all about. They may feel bad for you, but they will continue to side with, participate in, and go along with their "church" over you and your pain every time -- because to do something Jesus-like, like fixing or no longer participating in the problem, would actually cost them something, like their unrepentent church family (and they also don't like that part where Jesus says you have to give up even your family, if that's what's required to do as He says -- you know, like for "the least of these").

It's even worse trying to get real healing help from a pastor, priest, pope (or prophet, or church teacher, or elder, and so on). Think regular 'ole Church-Christians are hooked into their "church"? Well, those who make their living being Special Representatives doing human-inspired religious tasks God's work for their "church"/denomination, who enjoy respect and honors Jesus always rejected (and said we all were to, too), who have retirement plans and mortgages and career ladders to climb? You really think they're going to do something to risk all that? Hardly (but they'll love you while they tell you there's no need to risk it). 

What they do have to offer you, though, is a course in how to get sucked back in to "the Church". They can't offer you plain 'ole Jesus (because they gave Him up as "too primitive", "too hard", or "too supernatural" years ago). But they can offer you what they have: a path to mashing their decision about who Jesus should have been with their "church" needs ("Here's where you put your contribution to my 401k tithe, each week..") They can even make you feel all warm and fuzzy, all "belongy" and everything. And that can feel great! But it's still short the rest of Jesus that doesn't fit in their church-box. It won't get you really healed (and it will instead make it just likely you'll become a Church-Christian causing or ignoring other people hurt, yourself).

So, who can help you get truly healed? Those who've been hurt themselves, and who've managed through the grace of God to get (as you can) healed so deep into Jesus' arms that they have no room in their hearts for silly things like playing "church" (even if they are the 1 in a million still occasionally hanging out in church), any longer.

• These are the people who aren't going to stand above you, pretending to be better or more "spiritual" than you because they took college courses and were pronounced "Won't make serious waves in the organizational pool" by their denomination.
• These are the people who've been wounded themselves, and some of them have even sucked mud in the gutter before they managed to get back on their spiritual feet again. 
• These are the people who can sit down with you in the real world, and hear and understand your real pain, and even tell you more about the real Jesus -- the Jesus who stays with you and on your side long after the pastor/priest/pope, missionaries, and church workers have all gone home.

These are the people who can describe at least part of the way home to Jesus to you, because they've walked it themselves -- dodging Church-Christians and other manifestations of false Christianity the whole way. These are the people to seek out, examine, and learn from. Will they have all the answers? Of course not -- but you know better by now than to believe anyone/thing but Jesus has all the answers, right?

2) Don't let mistranslations and reinterpretations of the Bible tell you what God thinks. Do read and study to learn what God really put there for you to know and live by. 

There are a lot of different translations of the Bible out now (NIV, Message, NASB, and so on). Every single one of them contains errors -- and even outright lies and remakes of what's really there. It's only been in the last several decades that the truth has come out about God's Bible not-not-not saying He condemns Gay people. But there are also mistranslations and misinterpretations about what God wants Christians to know and live regarding violence, hierarchy, women, the poor, how "church" is to be run, the real qualifications for "church leaders", and so on. There are even rewrites about the nature of God Himself! 

Not even "experts" can be counted on to give us the real truth and nothing but the truth -- because they have their own biases and issues they want to cover up or emphasize in ways God never intended. In fact, "experts" are the ones who've mistranslated and misinterpreted the Bible for us in the first place!

What's to be done, then, if we can't just blindly accept the words some other sinful human being put on a piece of paper and stuck in a book, promising us that it matches exactly what God intended for us to know? Do we have to be geniuses or Bible scholars ourselves? No. But we do have to know the basics, and we have to do our homework.

Just like the first disciples (most of whom couldn't even read and write), we have to learn the basics of Jesus and His teachings, and work our way out from there, listening to and reading what others have to say about various scriptures -- but then, when we have a question or something seems to not "fit" somehow, we need to pray and study along with the Holy Spirit. God understands sincere ignorance -- but He has no tolerance for lazy follow-alongs who just do the minimum and follow leadership or sit in church without question as if that will get them to heaven (remember? that's exactly what the people who ignored Jesus or helped torture and kill Him did).

3) Don't let anyone get (or stay) between you and Jesus

There are two things Jesus says people need to do in this world:

1. Do what He says to do, and
2. Hang on to Him (or come back to hanging on to Him!), no matter what happens. 

Jesus fully understands that those who falsely claim to be God's people are a powerful majority -- for now. He truly "gets" that false Christians are wreaking havoc in people's lives, causing all sorts of pain, and doing it all in God's Name. Think He doesn't? Well, check this out, and hear it like the Gay, poor, female, or other despised-minority child of God Jesus said it to:

[Jesus said:] "I see what you've done. Now see what I've done. I've opened a door before you that no one can slam shut. You don't have much strength, I know that; you used what you had to keep my Word. You didn't deny me when times were rough. And watch as I take those who call themselves true believers but are nothing of the kind, pretenders whose true membership is in the club of Satan—watch as I strip off their pretensions and they're forced to acknowledge it's you that I've loved. Because you kept my Word in passionate patience, I'll keep you safe in the time of testing that will be here soon, and all over the earth, every man, woman, and child put to the test.I'm on my way; I'll be there soon. Keep a tight grip on what you have so no one distracts you and steals your crown." [Revelation 3:8-11]

Make it your mission in life to learn more and more each day about the real Jesus. Spend time with Him in prayer -- sometimes talking, sometimes listening, sometimes just sitting with Him. Laugh with Him. Read with Him. Keep Him alongside you when you go to dinner. Learn from your heart of hearts how much Jesus IS on your side, and how much He did to give you an eternity where there will never again be a tear or a pain, and where you can live right next to God, forever.

Take back your crown from those who practice crappy Christianity. Accept healing. Accept Jesus' love.

And stop sacrificing your salvation on the alter of other people's sin & bigotry.

---
This article written by Lynne at No Junk. Just Jesus. You can contact Lynne at NoJunkJustJesus@gmail.com.

2 maze lessons that work us, even if we don't work them

Not the route I took...

More than a few people have asked me in the last few days about various parts of my spiritual journey. Guess it's been awhile since I made that thing some Christians call a "testimony". ...ok, it's been years.

But the really important thing -- I think -- is not telling about my life so you can be oh-so-impressed with how spiritual my path has been or how wise or strong or faithful I am (because truly, there's no reason you should).

No, the only really important things to pass on are the two lessons I've learned (nearly always the hard way) in my getting-close-to-50-years. The kind of lesson-things hardest to learn, hardest to accept, and hardest to appreciate -- until you finally start to reap some benefits from them.

The first lesson is:

Human beings (especially, but not only, educated ones) can always-always-always be counted on to make healthy things hurt, simple things complicated, inclusive things cliquish, loving things hatefilled, and easy things hard.

 The second lesson follows the first:

...But, if in the deepest recesses of our deepest heart (where maybe even we can't see it yet), if we are even the slightest bit willing, God is always at work behind the scenes to get us where we need to go, anyway.

Let me share briefly how that worked out in my life, just to show an example.

Maze Turn # 1 - I was introduced to God through a fundamentalist church of the 1960s.

That was how I spent my childhood. So, yeah. Do I even need to detail the mess of ungodly, unbiblical, and anti-Christ ideas I absorbed from the truly very well-meaning and intensely (false)-Bible educated people in that church? Most of you will say "No. I get it." But for those who don't, let me just sum it up this way: By the time I was eight years old, I was convinced I had already been such a sinner that I deserved hell so bad even Jesus couldn't save me.

And it just didn't matter that these church people adored me (and they truly did -- all the way up to when I was an adult and they discovered I'm Gay.) They all belonged to a faith culture that takes the Good News of Jesus Christ and turns it inside out, remaking it into something fearful, painful, violent, self-centered, hypocritical -- just like their unhealed hearts. Even though I left their church when I was eleven years old (they couldn't answer my questions, and that bothered me) their false and twisted and self-serving Christianity damaged me in ways I wouldn't even begin to understand until forty years later, when I finally encountered and was healed by the true Jesus Christ.

Yet what was God doing behind the scenes with all that? He was instilling in me a love for the Bible, for one thing. Unlike my fundamentalist forebears, I use and study the Bible correctly now -- but like them, I also cling to it, and refuse to be parted from knowing its truth. 

Maze Turn # 2 - Trying to push the filth of fundamentalism out of my head, I became a tenacious, even vicious atheist by my 20th birthday.

I'd always been a huge science geek (even when I was a teeny little kid, my birthday presents were things like biology and geology books). But while before I'd understood science as just a way to study what God had created, now I started using science and logic to attack and level any and all religious belief -- including Christianity.

I meant well. I truly did. Like all my atheist buddies and mentors, I truly believed that any idea of "god" was nonsense and evil. I really believed that the only way to make the world a safe and healthy place was to eliminate all religions, and run things by logic and science, only. 

Yet what was God doing behind the scenes with all that? He was using all that atheistic insistence on logic, and that hot flame of bullheaded atheistic arrogance, to scorch the fundamentalism from my heart. It took a number of years, but when He was done? Gone. All gone. Nothing ever even tempted me to believe fundamentalism, ever again.   

Maze Turn # 3 - Once my heart no longer had to keep a door slammed against God to keep out the devil of fundamentalism, a tiny part of my heart slowly began to want God again. But the rest of me fled.

I had really done a great job convincing myself during my atheist years that God didn't exist. I now really had NO belief in Him any longer. So imagine my confusion to now all of a sudden have a sort of secret longing for God -- a God I was convinced was nothing more than a neurotic superstition. What was wrong with me??? The only conclusion I could come to for some time was that I had a mental illness of some sort. Nothing else made sense to me -- but nothing made my longing go away, either. In fact, it just got worse and worse.  

And what was God doing behind the scenes with all that? If you're a Christian, you know exactly what God was doing: He was calling me back. He'd let me fall into the flea dip of atheism to rid me of fundamentalism cooties, and now it was time to dry me off and comb me out. Was I going for that? Of course not. I'm much too bull headed for that!

Maze Turn # 4 - So I started (reluctantly) checking out other religions. At least I wouldn't fall to the disgusting depths of Christianity! (or so I swore).

Pagan stuff is big in certain areas, as you no doubt know. I tried to get in to some of that, but I kept coming back to the same thing: "If I can't go with a God, why the heck would I go with a goddess, or multiple gods, or fairies, or wood spirits, or whatever!" It just seemed a put on.

I did check out some other religions, too. But same problem: if I'm not believing it works here, why would I believe it works over there?

What was God doing behind the scenes with all that? I'm sure He was shaking His head at how stubborn I can be, and how I continued to torture myself. Here I was trying to patch my longing for Him like He was a computer virus, but at least He kept me from falling into another vat of flea dip I didn't need. His hand was there.

Maze Turn # 5 - Then, since I hated the whole idea of "God" but couldn't make myself stop wanting God, I decided maybe I could soothe my longing by getting into a religion that didn't even have a god. That was my Zen Buddhist period. And I did pretty good at it. Got real good at being able to sit and do nothing for a very long time. Even decided at one point that I would become a Zen priest. THAT would fix that nagging God-longing, I was sure! I was starting to feel good about all this, finally.

But what was God doing behind the scenes with all that? Well, He seems to have let me go for a time. Just as I did get some healing from my atheism time (but couldn't stay there), I also got some healing from my Zen time -- but couldn't stay there, either. So one day a Zen priest that I admired more than anyone else in the world told me that because of who I was I belonged back in the Christian world. I was devastated.

The Zen priest's reasons were very Zen-like, and came right out of his Asian culture and beliefs in reincarnation (etc) -- so they had nothing to do with Christianity or God. But I'd gotten the healing I could get from my time there, and God knew it was time for me to go -- or I'd probably never leave. So, mad as a wet cat, out I went.

Maze Turn # 6 - Try as I might, I found myself still just too damaged by fundamentalism to go back to anything Protestant. So I became a Roman Catholic. Getting back to Christianity of any kind was still not easy for me -- in fact, it was more painful than anything I'd ever done before, with a LOT of stops and starts, before I could finally let God start to heal the damage false Christianity had done to me. In the end it took me three times and several years to complete the Roman Catholic mumbos you have to go through to join up, but then let me tell you -- I was full bore. I've never done anything spiritual halfway, I guess, so after finally getting baptized and so on, I was one intense Pope follower. I even let the priests abuse me for being Gay (one yelled at me so loud the whole church turned to see), and I just knelt there and took it. But dang it -- I'd decided to be a Christian, and I was going to stick it out!

What was God doing behind the scenes with all that? Continuing to heal me. Teaching me. And then turning my head ever so slightly so I started seeing a new angle. So I started seeing the (really BIG) false Christianity of the Roman Church, too. Since the "newness" was no longer covering for the fact that this wasn't a place to satisfy my longing for God either, after a number of years, I started thinking maybe it was time to go "home".

Maze Turn # 7 - Except I thought "home" meant a Protestant church. In fact, I thought that through several of them over several more years. But it didn't matter: Gay churches, straight churches, mixed / "welcoming" churches, and conservative, liberal, medium churches -- all. All just inevitably got me all excited thinking this was finally going to be the place I could be whole with God. I even became a pastor and church leader, myself (would have made my grandmother proud, and maybe healed her horror of my previous Roman Catholicism). And yet every single church / denomination / fellowship was a big #)^%*@ pile of human beings, along with all the cultural "church" poo they'd decided to pack on top of God as if that made God "better" or "more accessible". True, some where more poo-filled, some less. But since all that poo covered up the fact that Jesus is supposed to just be there, in your heart, without all the human poo (even your own), nearly all these folks were just as happy to sit around making more poo and calling for new revivals or campaigns to fill in the Holy Spirit gap even they sense on some level in their churches.They were so happy-tranced on what they could do with their religious doo-dads and titles and organizations and good works that they just assumed that must be Jesus in there, making their hearts swim. I still couldn't fill my longing for God. Plus, it was all just starting to gross me out. 

And what was God doing behind the scenes with all that? Quite simply, He was doing exactly what He's been doing my whole entire life: trying to get me to let go of all the nonsense people (including me) make up about Him, and instead just sit with Him and do what He says! Doesn't mean I don't hang out with church people any longer -- I just no longer buy that they corner the market on Jesus, any longer.

CHEESE!

It's taken me nearly every decade of my life to figure out that ideas like "God is about relationship, and not (even Protestant pretend-its-not-ritual) ritual", and "Jesus was serious" are true far, far beyond the self-congratulatory platitudes we make of them when we're twisting His meanings so we still get to do what we want to do, but now feel God-approved in doing it.

I guess if my life would have a "testimony", it would be that God moves even when we're in His way. He can see even when we're blocking His light. And He can work even when we're sleeping on the job. And my ridiculous maze of a life is good proof of that. 

Thanks for taking care of all that for me God. 

---
This article written by Lynne at No Junk. Just Jesus. You can contact Lynne at NoJunkJustJesus@gmail.com.

Why church doesn't - or shouldn't - satisfy

In my life, sometimes by my choice and sometimes not, I've actively belonged to several different church denominations or communities, including (but not only) fundamentalist, roman catholic, charismatic, progressive mainstream, and emergent ones. And though I stopped "belonging" anywhere more than a few years past, in the last several months I've been off and on going along with friends who want to try new churches each week in hopes of finding a "spiritual home" -- so, my thoughts have been stoked anew regarding what's available "in church".

And I find that things just don't change very much.

Oh, what things look like, talk like, or offer changes. The music changes, what you call each other changes, what kinds of religious doo-dads are used changes (wafers vs bread, high tech vs low tech gadgets, etc), and that kind of thing. And every single new generation (yes, including mine, 30 years ago) even comes along to say that everyone who came before just doesn't get the Real Truth (tm) but THEY do, and then they put forward a Brand New Thing (tm) that's Finally Right (tm) -- except that anyone who looks discovers that all that too will in a few years be overrun and trashed by the next generation following (which will itself bad-mouth everything that came before them, and so it goes). So 'round and 'round it goes.

And like a spoon of dry sugar, or day-old fast food fries, it just doesn't satisfy.

And it shouldn't.

Because if it did or does satisfy, it means we really believe:

• "Our ways are better than God's ways." We do like human ways of being and doing better than God's ways. For example, even in churches that claim "everyone's equal" or "everyone's loved" or "everyone's right", the human heart always finds ways to draw lines between who's some kind of pastor/priest/pope and who's not, and to lay out better accommodations for those who are loved just a little bit more than others, and to give kudos to those on the "right-right" team and cut out those on the "wrong-right" team, and so on. And the more organized a group of people becomes, and the longer they've been an organized group, the more full of themselves they become (yes, even the latest "Finally Right" people of today, who are already being overrun by the next "Better Than Thou Who Came Before" generational arrogance). It takes no time at all for us to decide that since doing things our way makes us happier and is easier than God's way, and since God loves us, doing things our way is actually God's way. Bleh.

• "Our church, by pleasing God, is the center of the (or our) universe". Doesn't matter how "good" a person or church we are. Each and every one of us struggles (or should struggle!) against imagining that the godly things we can love, form, build, and do are a huge part of what's important in the scheme of our lives and the lives of others around us -- bigger even than that part of God's plan (which is actually His whole plan) that is so much bigger and greater than any pathetic little thing we could do or be as to make our stuff basically nonexistent. We're victims of our secular and religious cultures, which have taught us to feel good about being Number One, when God would have us feel good about being Number 6,890,490,454 (as of 18:33 UTC [EST+5] Dec 27, 2010). We're taught that things are going right between us and God when we feel emotionally and physically satiated, when God would have us feel things are right between us and God when we're doing what He said to do. We're taught that being loved and valued is the most important thing God can give us, when God wants us to know that being able to love and make others feel valued by God is His greatest gift to us. Because we don't truly have a real understanding of Christ's message that the only way to be on top is to love the bottom, and the only way to be first is to push everyone else ahead of us in line, we can have the most open, loving, and sacred hearts in the world -- but we're still putting ourselves above God.

• Either, "God orders us to oppress women, the poor, Gay/Lesbian people, people of Middle Eastern descent, etc -- so we do", or "Because God hates oppression, we snuggle up to everyone (even those actively harming others among us, trashing our (and God's) whole mission, or steering us away from the Gospel)." Pick one. They're both positions held in high regard by their proponents, but they are two sides of the same coin. They're both wrong -- not only in real-world practice, but also according to New Testament ways we're supposed to be and do in our lives.  

'Course, if we find any of these things to be problems, we're invited to "fix" them by getting into a "conservative" church -- or a "progressive" one. Or by changing denominations -- or becoming "nondenominational". Or by going to a straight church -- or a Gay one. Or even by joining up with one of those "OUR generation figured out the truth all you older folks were too stupid/selfish/sheep-like to come up with) things.

But those things don't fix the problem, because the problem is the rot on the inside, and not the color of the decorations on the outside. Everywhere, it always becomes or stays the same.

And that rot travels with us everywhere we church-plant or fellowship or whatever, as long as we see and understand church (even "un-church") as based in two things:

1. What we can do for God -- like our religious accomplishments, do-goods, etc. -- and,
2. What God can do for us -- like give or protect our crap, make us never have to suffer or be unhappy, put us into trancey la-la's every church meeting, etc.

That's not what being a Christian is all about. God didn't create us or come to die on the Cross so that we'd have the same relationship with Him that pagans do with earth gods and wood spirits. If we are Christians, we're supposed to be doing something different than the rest of the world. We're not supposed to be "better" -- we're just supposed to be about the real God and what He means to accomplish before this is all done.

And when our church is nothing more than a Christian-looking pagan faith?  

Then it doesn't -- or shouldn't -- satisfy. 

A lot of the time, we wail and moan if we aren't having a great church experience. I know, as I've spent enough of my years doing it, and I've sat alongside a number of you while you were doing it too.

What I've discovered, though, is that when I started understanding church, and God, and God's plan, in the way that God shares through Jesus and the Bible (as He put it in its original languages and contexts) -- and stopped obsessing on how I or other human beings would like all that to be instead -- a lot of better things started to happen in my spiritual (and emotional, and physical) life.

Examples? Here's three:

I just see one church now -- one Body of Christ -- one set of Christians. It's been awhile since I've seen lots of individual churches, or any denominations. In fact, though I don't often say anything because I don't want to be rude, at this point in my life I'm kind of embarrassed for people who are really proud of their individual little religious spots or fellowships as if they are anything more than just a little drop in a great big bucket. I'm proud to be a tiny, tiny little speck of a drop in God's great big bucket -- and I'm proud of all my other tiny, tiny brothers and sisters, too.

I also don't worry anymore about whether someone has the right "credentials" to "do ministry". Human beings use "credentials" as a way to manage power and goodies in their religious organizations, and as a way for many to avoid the responsibility God puts on every believer (Human beings buy "No, I just give money each week, and the minister takes care of feeding the hungry, telling people about Jesus, etc", but God doesn't). Today, I judge whether someone is qualified to be a minister based on what they accomplish: did they make someone feel loved or cared about? did they show up with a bag of food (not just their throwaways) for the hungry? did they pass out tracts or talk to their neighbor about Jesus? did they help their persecuted brothers and sisters in other lands, with letters of encouragement or blankets or bibles or...? did they take care of and pray for those who hurt them? are they growing in the fruit of the Holy Spirit (and not following after any spirit that will amuse them with spiritual tricks)? did they do these things making sure God got the glory and thanks, and not them? Then stamped and sealed: QUALIFIED TO MINISTER.

I don't worry about my salvation or begin to lose my faith if I'm long out of some "church". In fact, I realize now that most of my best spiritual growth in my life has either occurred while I was away from any church, or despite the church I happened to be in. That's because churches are full of people whose primary action is to get, maintain, and praise their physical church -- and not really about doing God's work of feeding, caring, loving, and healing. For example, if every Christian church in the world were to sell everything it owned and put it to helping the poor, no one would go hungry, or be without medical care or clothing or clean water or a roof over their head for dozens upon dozens of years. What a testament to God's goodness that would be! Imagine the billions of people who would turn to Christ because of that! But Christians still attached to buildings and religious doo-dads and human organizations haven't yet learned to see and be God's way in the world -- so anyone not following their lead is already potentially in a much more spiritually healthy spot!

And that's what a lot of this comes down to:

It's NOT a good thing to be satisfied with something that's crap.

It's not a good thing to enjoy smoking cigarettes. It's not a good thing to drink and drive. It's not a good thing to ignore our conscience. And it's not a good thing to be happy in a church that makes God sit quietly in a back pew somewhere, only bringing Him up front when they want Him to make someone speak in tongues or to guarantee tithes will keep coming in or to pronounce two people married.

Not satisfied in your church? Good! More time for Jesus.

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This article written by Lynne at No Junk. Just Jesus. You can contact Lynne at NoJunkJustJesus@gmail.com.

Friday Thoughts

[Since so many links are now going out over my twitter page, I don't want to duplicate efforts here. So instead I'll share something else each Friday..]

Someone once asked the Sadhu Sundar Singh if he enjoyed the honor his friends gave him as a minister of the Lord. He answered:

"When Jesus entered Jerusalem, many people spread their clothing and palm branches on the street to honor the Lord. Jesus was riding on a donkey. In this way, the feet of Jesus did not touch the street adorned with clothes and branches, but instead the donkey walked over them.

It would have been very stupid of the donkey if she imagined that she was very important. It was not for her that the people threw their clothes in the streets."

Corrie ten Boom continued:

"Stupid are those who spread the good news of Jesus and expect to receive glory themselves. The glory should go to Jesus. The more people came to this godly man after his meetings, the more the Sadhu Sundar Singh withdrew from the crowd, to be in the silence where God spoke to him. No sensation. No show. He brought them the living Word, Jesus."

With our remembering and rejoicing in Jesus coming into the world, I give thanks to God for elders like the Sadhu Sundar Singh, who point the way, but never stand in the Lord's light!
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This article written by Lynne at No Junk. Just Jesus. You can contact Lynne at NoJunkJustJesus@gmail.com.

Q: "Do I have to go to church to be a Christian?"

That's a great question, and one that troubles many Gay and straight people, alike.

Here's what we have to consider before we can answer it:

#1 – An outdated and faked temple is not God's church

Almost all Christians would define going to church as:

Going to a certain place on certain days, giving certain offerings, and participating in certain rituals that are overseen and run by certain officially credentialed individuals who perform certain religious services (including teaching and enforcing the rules), so that those who attend can be right with God.

(Try removing any of those things – like seminary educated pastors, or a church building of some sort, or even singing hymns – and see how many will still honestly call it a "church"!)

But there's something immediately wrong with that. Do you see it?

Think back to the Old Covenant – to the Mosaic Law – and to the temple that was central to that. For the ancient Hebrews living under the Old Covenant, going to temple meant:

Going to a certain place on certain days, giving certain offerings, and participating in certain rituals that are overseen and run by certain officially credentialed individuals who perform certain religious services (including teaching and enforcing the rules), so that those who attend can be right with God.

Is there any difference? Only in how things look, and not in what things are. In fact, we might think of it like comparing a 1927 Ford Model A with a 2009 Ford Explorer. The function – whether it's to get from Point A to Point B, or to perform certain required religious activities – is the same. So, what most people think of as "church" is simply a remake of the Old Covenant temple, with the same kinds of requirements for religious doo-dads and priests and rituals and so on, all intended to make us "right" with God (which is why we're told we "have to go").

Here's the problem with all that, though:

God canceled the Old Covenant (including the required "House of God" His people had to go to) over 2,000 years ago, and replaced it with the New Covenant. Completely! So it's simply not possible to be an "Old Covenant Christian" or a "temple-bound Christian" – though millions over the last many centuries have set themselves up to try and do just that! (Exodus 26:31-33; Mathew 27:51; Mark 15:38; Luke 23:45; John 4:21; Galatians 3:1-25; Colossians 2:13-23; Hebrews 9:3-12, 10:19-22)

So, telling you that you have to "go to church" to be a (good) Christian is like saying you have to be circumcised to be a (good) Christian, or you can't eat pork and be a (good) Christian, and so on. And despite any good motives we may have in trying to accommodate any part of our Christian faith to the Mosaic Law, the Bible tells us that doing so even in small ways is a rejection of Jesus Christ and our salvation through Him! (see Galatians 5:1-4).

#2 – You can't "go to" what you are

Another thing missed by those who insist on "going to church" to be right with God:

In the Old Covenant, God had His people create a temple sanctuary for His presence, so He could dwell among them (Exodus 25:8; Hebrews 9:1)

But in setting up and establishing the New Covenant, Jesus removed the need for that temple with His death on the Cross (Exodus 26:31-33; Matthew 27:51; Mark 15:38; Luke 23:45; Hebrews 9:3, 8; Hebrews 10:19-20). Another 40 or so years passed, and then God allowed the temple itself to be completely destroyed – and He's never allowed it to be rebuilt even in part, even through today.

But does that mean that God has had no dwelling place among His people in the last 2,000 years?

Absolutely not!

The Bible tells us that God does still have a "temple" – but that temple is now us! (John 2:21; 1 Corinthians 6:19). When we are filled with the Holy Spirit, our individual bodies – both physical and spiritual – now make up Christ's Body, and His church (Romans 12:5; 1 Corinthians 6:15, 12:12-27). So, calling some building a "church" is like calling your mother a "garage" - they are just not truly related, according to the Bible!

Of course, many church-holders will say to this, "Of course we're all the temple of the Holy Spirit! But that's different than having to also go to church!"

Not so. And #3 answers why:

#3 – What most call "church" is NOT what the New Testament calls church

Look, for example, at this church description from the 1st century A.D. As you read, think about how it compares to the "churches" that came after that (including those today):

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. [Acts 2:42-47]

What do we see here in these Christians?

• They were devoted to learning what the first apostles taught (the teachings we now have in the original languages of the Bible), because it was what Jesus taught. Unlike most Christians since, these first Christians were not devoted to Saint So-n-So from the 14th century, or Televangelist XYZ on TBN, or Denominational Headquarters, USA, and so on. The only truth they accepted was what had come from the mouth of God Himself! (We see that also in scriptures like Ephesians 2:19-20).

• They were devoted to each other. Not to a church building or meeting space. Not to the pastor. Not to a ministry. Not to their denomination. But to each other. That implies that they knew each other, and cared for each other, as only hearts filled with the true Holy Spirit can do. Unlike most Christians since, they didn't just smile and shake hands with the people in the pews around them each Sunday and forget about them 10 minutes later. They didn't just hang out with their "church friends" and ignore everyone else. They didn't just drop some money in the "extra collection" plate every so often to pay for anonymous needs. And they didn't just leave it to "The Minister" to minister to others in their sickness, despair, faith issues, family needs, and so on – every one of them ministered. These people had REAL "family values": they had God's family values!

• They witnessed (real) signs and wonders straight from the Holy Spirit, which was God's gift to them: His encouragement, approval, and guidance made manifest right before their eyes. They weren't like so many today that chase after and accept any "miracle" (even if it comes from someone who does not demonstrate the real Holy Spirit in their lives, even if it comes straight from the devil!), or who deny miracles as "primitive", "unscientific" fantasies. These were people with God's real power at work in their lives!

• They were all one – which is exactly what Jesus prayed for! (John 17:20-23) They weren't scattered into Bible-forbidden, heretical factions that today we respectfully call "denominations" (1 Corinthians 1:12-17). They didn’t even divide themselves into different "churches". Most Christians today see each other more as very different people interested in a similar idea, but having little else in common. But the first Christians truly understood themselves globally as one people – God's People, and the Body of Christ – who just happened to live in different cities and large geographical areas. In fact, the Bible never refers to any church smaller than a whole city (see, for example, "The Church of God in Corinth" [1 Corinthians 1:2], which included every Christian in the city of Corinth). If we truly understood our unity within Christ, there would be no "Baptists" or "Methodists" or "Pentecostals" and such, no "1st Presbyterian Church" or "Christ Evangelical Lutheran", and so on. Instead, if we lived in New York City, we would just say, "I am in the church of New York City". And if we moved from New York City to Taos, New Mexico, we'd then say, "I'm in the church of Taos". (And if we moved out into the country, far from any city, we'd simply say, for example, "I'm in the church of North Dakota").

• They didn't give a hoot about retaining any material possessions, if they could be sold to provide for someone in need, and they kept in common what they needed to get by. They didn't give money to "the church" or a "ministry" so they could get even more money back. They didn't pray for cars and houses. They didn't invest for glittery, easy financial futures. And it's a pretty fair bet that they didn't twist and remake scriptures that warn that attention to money overpowers attention to God (see, for example, Luke 16:13-14), all to justify greed and self-service!

• They had no "church building" - they met in public spaces already set up for meetings, and they shared communion, fellowshipped, and worshipped God in numerous small assemblies that fit in each others homes (see also Acts 20:7, Hebrews 2:12, and Hebrews 10:25 – often quoted as "proof" that modern churches are biblical – but which simply describe assembled believers in public meeting areas or private homes). These Christians didn't waste their money on faked Christian "temples" that require building funds and maintenance costs, and Christian "programs" that are mostly glut and glitter – they were spending their money on helping those in need, and in helping to spread and maintain the Gospel message [see for example: Acts 11:27-39; 1 Corinthians 16:1-2; 1 John 3:17].

• They didn't only see each other on a particular day of the week, or on a designated schedule. They got together for each other and for God whenever it pleased them through the Holy Spirit to do so (even daily!).

• They "enjoyed the favor of all the people". That means they weren't despised and ridiculed as hypocrites, liars, thieves, and fools, as most of today's Christians are – even by each other! (I'm reminded of an older, straight, conservative Christian businessman I heard on Christian radio the other day who said, "When I go to do business with a non-Christian, I take one witness. But when I go to do business with a Christian, I take two witnesses.")

And because of that, other people were so impressed and even overwhelmed by the first Christians that they couldn't wait to join up! Compare that to today's churches, where most "converts" are simply Christians from other churches, or Christians who've been away from the faith and wandered back for a time.

I hear Christians all over the media assuring their audiences that people don't listen to them because these non-Christian hearts are too hard to hear the Good News. Truth is, most people today don't listen because they look at what's expressed in the lives and hearts of most Christians today and go, "Ugh! No, thanks!" That just wasn't a problem for the church that God set up in the 1st century A.D. They were people who had sincere Holy-Spirit-led hearts, loved each other as a big but close family, and truly walked their – and Jesus' – talk. Who could resist the real thing!

#4 – The gates of Hell have overcome what most call "church" (so that "church" just can't be God's church!)

Jesus said that the gates of hell would never overcome His church (Matthew 16:18). And many "churches" through the last nineteen centuries have quoted that to "prove" themselves God's real church simply because their version of the "church" is still around.

Yet the New Testament's description of the kinds of things people do when they are ruled by their sinful nature (instead of by the Holy Spirit in their hearts) very closely describes almost all the "churches" that overtook Christianity after the last apostle had died. And that just proves that these "churches" have been overcome!

Even secular histories (and modern newspapers) abound with disgusting and horrifying stories of churches, church leaders, and church members who participate in and even protect each other from the consequences of doing things like:

• Making up new "rules" and then passing them off as "God's" rules (i.e., "tradition" and "new revelation" not backed up by the original Scripture languages and contexts
• Rape, sexual contact and abuse of children, fornication, orgies, prostitution, and adultery
• Cheating on God by mixing His worship with other or self worship
• Using magic, astrology, consulting spirits, and so on
• Hatred, jealousy, bickering, attacking others, raging, forming factions, murder, war, jealousy, ego-rages (and church "leaders" are too often among the worst at all these things)
• "Climbing the ladder" to the "top" of what's not supposed to have a top (aren't you also tired of those who claim to be the lowest of "servants" yet run everything as if they were royalty?)
• Remaking "church" into a religious "club" or clique of "in's" and "out's"
• Greed and materialism, gross indulgence in sense pleasures and greed
• Tranced-out "worship" that uses the same rhythm and repetition techniques seen in pagan circles (both modern and ancient)
• Drug and alcohol use and abuse
• Lying, slandering, and cheating others
• Pretending to be God's people, but having anti-Christ hearts
• Being religious for the goodies they get (being thought "righteous", being honored, getting a career out of it, etc)
• Putting themselves and their wants above God, and then teaching people that that's how God means it do be
• Making themselves completely ineligible for heaven, and then also convincing others to abandon any thought of even trying
• Obsessing on nitpicky religious things and ignoring larger (and even easily understood) New Testament requirements and ideals
• Pretending they are "above" the religious evil of their spiritual forefathers and foremothers, while practicing the same evils (or even worse!)
• Persecuting those who speak and hold to God's real truth
• "Converting" people to a level of religious evil even worse than what they themselves practiced
• And more
  

(Examples for all the above pulled from: Matthew 6:7, 15:3, 15:6-9, 23:4-38; Mark 7:6-13; Galatians 5:19-21, 1 Corinthians 6:9-10; Ephesians 5:5; Colossians 2:8; and Revelation 22:15. How many more examples can you find by continuing through the rest of the New Testament?)

Jesus tells us that we will know the real spirit of something or someone by the fruit they produce. He also tells us that if we intend to do things His real way (and therefore get into heaven), we must always be vigilant against being deceived by things or ideas or people that appear to be godly and righteous, but which are, in fact, ungodly and unrighteous (see Matthew 7:13-23 for one example).

So just doing godly things – including big godly things like casting out demons, prophesying, and performing miracles – is not in and of itself doing the will of God, and it in no way proves someone is right with or doing the will of God!

Does this mean that people aren't Christians unless they are "perfect"?

Absolutely not!

But it does mean that people who are truly part of God's real church show it in ways even pagans can recognize. Filled with the Holy Spirit, God's real people strive and become more and more like Jesus – instead of like Judas, or Herod, or Pilate, or Caiphas, or...

So, what about finding and being part of a real godly fellowship?

There is no "right" church we are supposed to "go to". But there is a church all believers belong to, as soon as we put our faith in Jesus Christ.

• No human being can kick us out of it.
• No human being even gets to make up rules for it.
• Everyone who belongs to it is an equal, and,
• the real leaders are those who make sure everyone else gets the "1st Place" ribbon, while they themselves literally come in forgotten and last.
  

That church is God's church. The one He set up from the beginning to be part of and a visible demonstration of the New Covenant.

• It requires no "priests". Just faith in Jesus Christ.
• It requires no "holy days". Just love of God and enemy.
• It requires no creeds or offerings or special religious objects or ceremonies. Just study of and adherence to God's Word (as He gave it to us).
• And it requires no other human being – but you!
  

Yet real Christianity is not a religion that can be practiced in isolation from the world. It's also not one that's easily practiced by oneself. While it can be frustrating and painful to belong to a wrongly-led or bad church, it can be lonely and even brutal to go it completely alone.

Though we have to watch for hidden pitfalls finding them, we do need good Christian brothers and sisters to help keep us out of spiritual hot water (something the devil is constantly inviting us to get into!). And that's what the writer of Hebrews was talking about when he encouraged us to keep getting together (Hebrews 10:25): it's going to be tough to go it alone, so find, keep, and lovingly care for a good, REAL Christian fellowship.

And here are my thoughts on that:

Though as a Christian you do already belong to God's global church, and to the church grouping of all Holy-Spirit-filled believers in your geographical area, you would still greatly benefit from being part of a group small enough that no one gets "lost in the shuffle". That local group could be as small as just you and one other person (that still puts you together with Jesus! [Matthew 18:20]), or as large as you and 150 other people (many people-studiers point out that any group larger than 150 people quickly loses the ability to maintain stable social relationships and such).

As part of that group, you each need to be active in ministry to every other person in the group – in humble, loving, maturity, you each need to keep each other accountable to the Lord, and you each need to encourage and support each other in your Christian walk. Those with other giftings (like prophecy, healing, pastoring, and so on) are supposed to help everyone else get to ministry work – not just do all or even most of the ministry work themselves!

You also need to work together to make sure none of you has unmet needs (and we're talking real needs here. Wanting to sponge off of others, not wanting to work for one's living as everyone else has to, somehow exaggerating a "disability" to live off the government or someone's kind heart, or just not doing one's fair share are in no way real needs. In fact, they are sin we are not to cooperate with [2 Thessalonians 3:10])

You need to meet together on a regular basis that works for all of you, sharing a simple, prayerful communion meal, remembering and honoring Jesus and worshipping together (which can be as simple as singing along with a CD), enjoying each other's company with godly manners, and so on – all without letting the devil convince you you're not a "real" church because you're not pretending to be a "Christian" version of the Old Covenant temple.

You need to share the Good News – and the opportunity to join your group – with all you meet. Be an apostle, pastor, prophet, evangelist, and teacher to everyone you meet in every part of your daily life.

You need to study the Bible together – and that means together. In the original Greek, Bible passages (like Acts 20:7) most often translated as if they justified one "expert" person talking while everyone else just passively listened, actually describe more an organized group chat where people discussed and debated others' ideas. Studying together means that everyone is to be active in sharing and learning the Bible, bring what they have to the discussion.

Use sound Bible study techniques, and tolerate no insertion of pagan ideas and such into your understanding of God's Word (allowing them in is like cheating on your spouse – not good!). Keep in mind that even those with advanced seminary degrees can be (and often are) severely wrong in their understanding of scripture because they've simply memorized other people's mistakes. Allow discussion and debate to challenge your assumptions and discover new ways the Holy Spirit may be leading you to see things. But remember that while disagreement can be confusing, even frustrating, it should never be bitter or divisive. If it is, you're doing it wrong!

You need to actively protect yourselves and each other from false and neurotic apostles, pastors, prophets, evangelists, teachers, and others who will (and I guarantee at some point they will) try to overtake and even destroy your fellowship at some point. If you do well by the Lord, the devil will show up to try to mess it up. Spend a good deal of time teaching each other not only how the Bible describes true and false ministers, but also how the Bible says to deal with them!

What if I can't find a fellowship worth attending in my geographical area?

It can happen! In fact, as we get closer and closer to Jesus' return, it will continue to get harder and harder to find truly God-centered Christians no matter where we live or who we are, because more and more will be deceived into following the False Prophet and Antichrist. And that's just as true for Gay Christians as it is for straight Christians.

If it happens that you can't find a good fellowship where you are, then consider:

• Try starting one yourself! Jesus said it takes only two people gathered in His Name for Him to be there with them (Matthew 18:20). Two! That's just you and one other person, getting together to talk about your spiritual lives, study the Bible together, share a communion meal, and so on.

• You may be tempted to join a "so-so" or even bad church or fellowship. If you think you might meet sincere others like yourself there, then it might be wise and worthwhile. But be careful that your faith in the real Gospel isn't warped by your time there!

• You must always remember that you do belong to the church – God's church – even if you can't find real fellowship in your current city. You are not alone, even if you are sometimes lonely!

• Check out the internet for fellowship resources, but keep in mind that the net isn't real life. It should never be a substitute for a local fellowship, if you have access to one. The internet alone is just never going to be what God intends you to have, but it may be what helps fill you, in the meantime.
  

• And finally, hold on to Jesus, no matter what! It isn't any church, fellowship, teacher, pastor, denomination, and so on that saves you – but only faith in Jesus Christ, and adherence to His Word!

God bless you!