As a young man, I recall going to a church camp that was far different than the current “Jesus Camp” documentary.
One of the evening chapel devotionals was “secret”.
No one announced where or when the worship would take place.
It was incumbent on all who desired to worship Jesus, to find the time & place of the devotional by asking circuitous or oblique questions of people, as we went about our day’s schedule.
The exercise was intended to demonstrate, more accurately the nature of the 1st and 2nd century disciples’ commitment to Jesus.
We learned about the catacombs and the followers of the Way.
We learned about the true development of Roman Candles.
And we also learned about the infiltration and syncretism of the pagan religious beliefs with Jesus’ teachings.
As Constantine made Christianity the state religion, the Church’s resolve to be different from the world was weakened.
Lee Camp’s book, MERE DISCIPLESHIP: RADICAL CHRISTIANITY IN A REBELLIOUS WORLD, documents this development and argues that the modern western view of Christianity is erroneously viewed through a Constantine “cataract” and is thusly flawed by worldly and carnal conventions.
I pray for the believer’s in Riyadh, Baghdad, and Pyongyang.
Yes, they have it very tough.
But, they are free of the Constantine “cataract”, to which American Christians are blinded.
No, I would not want to suffer that way.
But, if God sees me as worthy of that, then I am blessed to be so honored. (Philippians 1:29; 1 Peter 2:20ff, 3:14)
At the same time however, those believer’s will never have to question their faith, as we in the USA do. Because, ‘They know whom they have believed and are persuaded that he is able to keep that which they’ve committed unto him against that day.’ (2Tim. 1:12)
What do you think? Did God really need to know if Abraham would be willing to offer up his son Isaac? Was this test meant to prove something to Yahweh or was it meant to prove something to Abraham and Isaac?
Who, after all, lacked the knowledge? Was it the omniscient God? Or was it his servants Abraham & Issac?
After this episode Abraham & Isaac never had to question their faith.
They were oddly blessed by this apparently oppressive test. Just as the disciples in Riyadh are blessed by the oppressive nature of the Saudi government.
I do not find any admonition in the New Testament for disciples of Yahweh to ‘Go find yourself a good beating for Christ.’
But, I do find the following admonitions:
Expect suffering.
Expect persecution.
Prepare your hearts and minds in advance for the spiritual battle that will occur within the realm of your physical bodies.
Stand firm in your resolve, knowing that you are now re-created in the image of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Stand firm in your resolve, knowing that just as the Holy Spirit raised the Lord Jesus Christ from death, you too will be raised to life.
Stand firm in your resolve, knowing that no temporal power exceeds the creative, re-creative, & eternal power of Jesus Christ.
Never give-in to the temporary fears that the World encourages.
Never give-in to the pride that you are God’s arm of judgment.
Endure, in faith, the suffering that the natural will confer upon you, because pain will be healed.
Accept, in faith, the heartaches that the World threatens & delivers, because joy will replace sorrow.
To these, above listed truths, it appears almost axiomatic for American Christians to say “That’s easy for you to say…”, meaning that we should expect to compromise on some things in the “real-world.”
However, I think it is instead, far more difficult to expound these tenets, because to ‘the natural’, these admonitions fly in the face of experience, logic, & reason.
And, therein lies the truth of the attitude of too many American Christians, we are falling prey to the philosophy of the World or “the old World order.”
Christians must be ready to stand firm on these principles, otherwise they are not principles at all. They are lies and are an out-and-out humbug/fraud.
If we were given leeway to compromise on the Way of Christ, then “the Passion of Christ” should more likely be called ‘the Negotiation of Christ’.
The events of the Gospels would be far less dramatic.
And the sacrifice of the Lord would be far less noble.
We would not even be talking about the Gospel of Christ, because, when literally translated, Gospel means “the Good News” of Christ.
We would instead be referencing ‘the Good Deal’ of Christ.
This, it seems to me, is a profound difference.
If Jesus’ example, to us, were simply as a skilled negotiator, working on humankind’s behalf, between the Father and the devil, and if Jesus simply got, for us, the best bargain that he could, then the whole dynamic changes completely.
In a scenario such as this, Jesus becomes just another broker.
He is simply working for the commission.
Jesus will get a cut. The Father will get a cut. And finally, the devil will get his due.
Oh…, and humankind may find a “good deal” with Jesus behind curtain #3.
But, we should remember also that there are other brokers and other curtains in a scenario like this; Curtain #1 may have Siddhārtha Gautama, Curtain #2 may have Mohammed, etc. etc. ad infinitum, ad nauseam.
It is an interesting concept to consider, isn’t it?
We might, therefore, be wise to say “Show me the money.” Say it to academia. Say it to Hollywood. Say it to the State. Say it to Siddhārtha. Say it to Mohammed. Say it to Yahweh.
If it seems too impertinent to imagine ourselves addressing the Enlightened One, or the greatest Prophet of Allah or even the Creator himself with these words, then be reminded of this, we simply do not have to demand this, because God Almighty has already shown us the “money” when he provided the empty tomb of Jesus the messiah.
(You might notice that the attempt to discredit Jesus’, by Dan Brown’s book “The Da Vinci Code”, hit at this very point. Dan Brown’s novel stated that the empty tomb was a fraud, because Jesus purportedly absconded to France with Mary Magdalene.
Therefore, if Dan Brown is correct, God has not yet ‘shown me the money.’ We might consider Dan Brown’s novel in a future web-log.)
Nevertheless, with these things in light, we may begin to see an empirical difference between Jesus’ Way and the many religions of the World.
American Christianity becomes just another religion of the world.
Its adherents may compromise as need be, concerning all of the factory options (bells and whistles.)
With the “Bells and whistles” being roughly defined as things that ‘don’t work in the real world’ or those things that go against “common sense.”
When placed in proper perspective, if Christians make allowances for deviation from Jesus’ Way, with deference to “common sense”, then we have unavoidably admitted that the “real world” or “common sense” is over and above the Heavenly Kingdom.
This admission is utterly untenable.
War is incongruous with Jesus’ Way (Mt. 5:39 “But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.”)
The “real world” becomes a stage prop for Satan’s lie.
An ostensible Potemkin village used to trick gullible Christians into believing that there is more behind the façade of the “real world” than Jesus can offer with His unseen “Kingdom of Heaven”.
And in the WIZARD OF OZ, Dorthy was admonished to “Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.”
So, here we (Christians) are again, right back where we started from.
We must decide ‘who do we trust more?’
Is it Jesus and His offer for a Kingdom of Heaven, or Satan and his doggedness for the “common sense” “real world”?
Individual Christians will decide.
There is no way around it.
And my decision will become evident by my actions.
DSM
