This is my first blog that’s not written for the Scriptures 1 class I was in last semester and all following blogs are outside of that class; most I think will stay to a religious theme in some respect or another.
It may come as a shock to some to know that I was once a part of a very violent gang. I won’t give names or crimes or any of the such, but suffice to say there is something inherent in them and still in me that I want to bring to the forefront for Christendom.
I can go to anyone in the gang, male or female, Blacks, Whites, Mexicans, Asians, Jews, Romanians, and Poles, and ask them of their illicit, very illegal, activities and they would point blank tell me all that they were doing and in very matter of fact language, no remorse and no holding back. For argument’s sake I could then tell them the consequences of their actions, specifically referring to jail time, or even the death penalty and with a smile or a laugh every one of them would say “I don’t care”.
Three simple, but very powerful words missing from the modern American Christian’s language; “I don’t care”. I will explain a little further on what I mean, for it is not enough to simply not care, but it is a specific absence of care to a specific thing and that is our life; our very living breathing life. The modern American Christian wants to hold onto their life so dearly as to give up even Christ for it – “Then many will fall away” (Matt. 24:10). What a sad and disturbing Christendom we live in. And gosh the rallying cry is “No one in America is hunting us (Christians) down and saying we can’t worship our God”. To that I have two very large things to say. One: I would put a very huge “YET” in that statement. Humans are very weak and evil, therefore a whole government ran by them is death waiting to happen; count on that. Two: I would harshly say that maybe no one in America is hunting Christians down because none of us are actually real Christians.
What fake Christians we are running around today. Going to church every Sunday to the grand mega church that is surely in God’s graces because they have five trillion members, then pissing it away the rest of the week. Relying on a Godless government to support everything we do and “allow” us to practice our practices, forgetting I Samuel 8 which makes it clear that the only reason God puts a government in place is to show how crappy and evil they are in comparison to how perfect and good He is; what a noble concept. We run around buying the next big thing to turn around and clamor five seconds later for the next new big thing that’s even “better”. When can we read the next Pure Get Back to Christ book that makes us feel so warm and great inside because we have finally got back to how the “first church” was; too bad we forget that a ton of the first church were killed for their beliefs, but we leave that part out, because it’s not wholesome. A watered down Christ for a gluttonous nation, raise the glasses, eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we don’t die because we did “right” and so God will reward us into luxury; health and wealth baby. It is truly sad to say that the violent members of the gang I was in are far more real than 90% of Christians I know. Is it any wonder then that none of us are willing to die for Christ, or is it any wonder why no one is hunting us down to kill us since none of us are truly living as Christians. Then we have so many denominations that unity is a word that has left the Christian vocabulary so much so that some of us are willing to condemn each other to Hell over our church name, songs, doctrines, etc. and in that case I love both Rob Bell and John Piper equally as brother’s in Christ (see recent news). I am reminded of the first parable found in Peter Rollins’ book called The Orthodox Heretic where a man is arrested for being a Christian. His bible is all marked up and he’s been seen going to church, writing all these beautiful things about God and Jesus and preaching. Except in light of all of this he is found “not guilty” of being a Christian because he did not truly live the life, because to live the life would be in defiance of the governing powers. It so lovingly conjures Matthew 7:22-23 to mind. We have been swept away by this . . . .
You do realize that to truly live as Christ is to live in direct opposition with any and all governing authorities. This is not because you are blatantly breaking laws and railing against the system, rebelling as it were. Rather it is because the human system is so evil and corrupt that when it sees Christ its only response is to put that down by killing it because such Christianity points out the sheer evils of the system and no system will put up with that for long. To truly live as Christ is to be hated by those who do not live by Christ. “Then they will hand you over to be tortured and will put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of my name” (Matt 24:9).
I take a look at history and I see that the two really major times where there were countless martyrs to the name of Christ I see one: the early church and two: the Reformation period reformers. Kind of makes you think that we really aren’t living as true Christians because no one is trying to get rid of us like in those two time periods.
I am by no means saying that being a martyr makes you a Christian or that you have to die to truly receive your salvation. What I am saying that you have to be willing to lay your life aside for Christ, including up to and not limited to torture and death for doing so. You may never be called to die, or find yourself in that situation, but if you are not willing to die then your claim as a Christian means nothing. But again if you truly live as Christ then I would guarantee that you will most certainly make someone angry enough to get rid of you.
I can look to the sea of gangs, hate mongers like the KKK, dictators, and the like and listen to them say they are so willing to die for their beliefs and willingly do so and then I look to my Christian brothers and sisters and see them cowering in the corner ready to renounce Jesus so long as they get to live. I read Polycarp, Ignatius, and Perpetua and where everyone else sees psycho people with death wishes I see beautifully set free men and women who know what they believe and are more than willing to die for Christ, because Christ died for them. You stand in the pews and pulpit saying we need to Imitate Christ in all that we do, well that includes dying. This is not a call to suicide, but a call to live as Christ did for to do so will end in death, but for us death is life, because they cannot kill our soul for it belongs to Christ and Christ alone and death for us only ends in Heaven.
So let’s live like real Christians, really and truly so, and when they come to arrest us and kill us we can rest assured that they will find us guilty of being a Christian and when they sentence us to death our only reply will be “I don’t care”.
God Bless all of those who have died for His name.
Kalos Elpis
Kelly M. Doolittle
No comments:
Post a Comment