Thursday, November 25, 2010

Christian Mythology - Introduction

For the next thirty-one days, I will post some extras about each chapter of my newly completed manuscript "Christian Mythology". This book began about 8-10 years ago when God woke me up. That's a phrase you don't hear much in church or Christian circles. It is a Biblical term. It applies to Christians who God wakes up from sin sleep. No big sin really. Nothing drastic or worthy of the tabloids. My life was quite like any other, normal in fact. I was just like most every other Christian. So why would I suspect that anything was wrong?

Well, apparently, a lot of Christians do think something is wrong. They just don't know what it is or why it is happening. But the result of their feelings and attitudes is a max exodus from churches across America. Christians are on the move either out of church altogether or church-hopping with greater frequency. This is all according to a Pew poll published about a year ago.

I believe the root cause of all this is sin. I knew it was true in my life. I knew it was true in the lives of two other men who were faithful brothers in the Lord. We went through the wakeup process together. Sin was at the root of it all.

God woke me up the day I read Ephesians 5:25-27. I have read this passage many times in my 25 years as a Christian. But this time for some reason the power of God was behind it and He said, "Wake up." I realized I am the Bride. I realized Jesus is coming soon. I realized I was not pure, spotless, and blameless. I realized I did not want Him to find me that way. I realized I was no better than the day Jesus saved me.

Suddenly God poured out His Word upon me in great teaching, conviction, and cleansing. I wrote it all down. I shared it with my friends. I prayed through it. I watched God produce tremendous fruit from it in our lives together. At the same time however, I became even more discouraged with church. I still felt like one of those who wanted to leave altogether or find another one.

I looked around for a while. Finally my wife convinced me that I would not find what I was looking for. There is no perfect church. This is true. Then I realized something else. I really wasn't looking for a perfect church. What I want is a perfect Church Body. I wanted Jesus and the people He has awakened. Together, we function to worship Him, witness in His Name, and make disciples who follow Him.

That's all the good stuff I wrote about in the sequel "The Remnant". All the hard stuff is in this first book "Christian Mythology". It's all about the stuff in church that we teach and believe that is false, unbiblical, and puts us to sleep. If you find that hard to believe, then read the New Testament again. The harshest words of Jesus started against the religious institutions. His words of warning at the end of the Bible were against the church - Repent!

For the next thirty days I want to encourage you to come here daily. You will find out the meaning of "stop going to church and start being the Church Body." I pray along the way that if you are in sin sleep, God will wake you up to a glorious purpose He has for you.

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