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LOVE JESUS, HATE CHURCH |
MAY 2009
Love
Jesus, Hate Church
Jesus said, "We
must work the works of Him who sent Me as long as it is day; night is
coming when no one can work." John 9:4
 Reading
Between the Lines
Today in the mail I received the monthly
newsletter and resource offer from John MacArthur's Grace to You
Ministry. The offer is a teaching called, "When Believers Stop
Believing: Portrait of an Apostate." And, quite honestly, it
sounds good and I'm going to give it a listen.
But what intrigued me was the intro to
the letter promoting the offer. It went like this:
Dear Friend,
It grieves me to bring you sad news from within our own ministry
family about someone who has walked away from the Lord. Several months
ago, we received a shocking, heartbreaking letter. It was from a
long-time listener and supporter of Grace to You named Steve. His short
note explained in stark, simple language that he has rejected Christ,
turned his back on the church, and wants nothing further to do with our
ministry. He wrote:
Over many years I have been blessed to receive free
tapes, CDs, and books from your ministry. Thank you. At the time, I
really appreciated them.
Now I no longer believe in the God of the Bible or in Jesus Christ. Ten
years of full-time ministry proved to me that there is no God and that
the God of the Bible does not care. I now reject Christianity and have
come to peace. What was at first a great loss has now turned to joy,
peace, and freedom. I did not leave the faith because of some extreme
sin. I left because the God of the Bible, Jesus Christ, and the
Holy Spirit are all a fantasy. I'm happy I now live in the real world.
He goes on for a couple more paragraphs
stating that he feels guilty about those he led to the faith in the Lord
back when he was deceived and asked to be taken off all mailing lists,
etc. MacArthur, rightly so, then springboards into a discussion of
apostasy and ends with offering an hour-long Q & A with Phil Johnson
about the very question at hand— Why Do Believers Stop Believing?
Great question. And I can't wait to see what MacArthur has to say about
it.
But something else bothered me about Steve's letter... other than
the obvious account of a man rejecting the saving grace of our Lord. No,
there was something more. There was another question— a nagging
question, just under the surface, that needed to be answered. And not
with some theological discussion about the definition of or the
signs of apostasy.
But something simple, just one word. "Why?" Yet, the answer was so
deceptively sinister.
"What caused Steve to lose faith in the God of the Bible? Did
God somehow fail him in his time of need? Did Jesus lie to Steve,
betray Steve, ridicule Steve, or abandon Steve? Did the Holy Spirit
refuse to give Steve the gifts that He seems to give to everyone else?"
I don't think so. There must be more...
"Did Steve find errors in the Bible? You know, passages that have
been fraudulently inserted into the Scriptures by others to lead us
astray into believing that Jesus is, in fact, God? Maybe Steve found the
body of Jesus buried somewhere in the Judean countryside? Maybe he has
proof that the resurrection was staged, or that Peter and Paul were
fictional characters, or that the Gospel is nothing more than feel-good
pabulum?"
Maybe. But I still think it was something else.
Did you see what Steve said proved to him that there is no God or
the God of the Bible doesn't care? Let me show you once again.
Now I no longer believe in the God of the Bible or in
Jesus Christ. Ten years of full-time ministry proved to me that
there is no God and that the God of the Bible does not care. I now
reject Christianity and have come to peace. What was at first a great
loss has now turned to joy, peace, and freedom. I did not leave the
faith because of some extreme sin. I left because the God of the Bible,
Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit are all a fantasy. I'm happy I now
live in the real world.
That's right. It was ten years of
full-time ministry. Ten years of working in a church or para-church
organization with believers just like you and me. It was ten years of
seeing people who profess to know and love Jesus treat others so
shamefully. It was ten years of gossip, slander, backbiting, broken
promises, political intrigue and all the other hurts that take place
within the walls of ministry.
Ten years— ten long years of all the stuff Love Jesus, Hate Church
is all about.
But for Steve, his final story will most likely be Hate Jesus, Hate
Church, not because God failed, but because of the horrible, degrading
things good people do to good people— all in the name of the Lord. And
Steve concluded, probably after weeks and maybe years of agonizing
prayer, that God doesn't care. That God won't, or can't, take away
Steve's pain. That God just turns a blind eye to what takes place in
full-time ministry.
Or, that God must not exist . Because if He did, He would do something
about all the hurt and pain and disappointment Steve, and tens of
thousands just like him, suffered those ten years.
Pain, most likely caused by Christians Steve had to deal with during 10
years of ministry.
The following excerpt is from Love Jesus, Hate Church:
For most of us, the idea of church often
conjures up the image of stately red brick buildings with tall, white,
majestic steeples that point like an arrow straight into the heart of
God. For others, church gives us the warm, cozy feelings of nostalgia,
the pleasant memories of good-times long past. We fondly think of Sunday
school with its Picture Bibles, flannel graphs, warm cherry Kool-Aid,
and hard oatmeal cookies. We remember Christmas plays and living
nativities and shepherds’ costumes made from mom’s best bath towels and
dad’s favorite pale-blue robe. There was VBS and sword drills and
Tootsie Rolls and Labor Day picnics and… well, the list can go on and
on.
Church was portrayed as a place of safety and security, a living
sanctuary where Christians could take shelter from the oppressive hurt
and abuse the world tends to dish out on its inhabitants. It was a place
of worship, a place of love, of acceptance, and mutual ministry.
The Church was the one place on earth where you never feared
being hurt or mistreated or misunderstood or belittled or needlessly
offended or persecuted or slandered or wronged or berated. Why?
“Because church is just like one big ol’ happy family. Right?”
Well, not always. Not really.
Every Sunday, hidden among masses of people that dutifully file in
and out of church services across the land, there is an ever-growing
army of disgruntled and disillusioned Believers that carry with them the
battle scars they received on the frontlines of Church. This group of
walking wounded, their Purple Heart in hand, are interwoven into the
very membership fabric of our congregations. They’re disguised, cloaked,
concealed behind a well-dressed façade that smiles and says, “How are
you today? Just fine. And you?” and then moves on. They’re detached.
Wary. Reluctant to allow the pain they’ve experienced in Church be
inflicted upon them, and their families, again.
“Don’t come any closer. Stay back. I don’t want to be hurt again.”
And this group just keeps getting larger.
Church splits, moral failures, deacon’s meetings, gossip, financial
budgets, “the pastor didn’t call me when I was sick”, arguments, hymns
versus choruses, young versus old, family church dynasty versus the “new
kids on the church block”, building programs, tithing, pride, the annual
Church Business Meetings, “look, those people sat in my seat”, and King
James going one-on-one with everybody else… ah, you name it. They all
take their toll.
It’s like a young man or woman who has lost their virginity and is
desperately trying to right the wrong, trying to turn back the clock in
a futile attempt to make things like they were once before.
Well, you can’t. You can never go back to the way it was
before.
Once the bottle is broken and the innocence is spilled, you can never
put it back into the bottle again. You never move from Love
Jesus, Hate Church to Love Jesus, Love Church. There’s no round-trip
ticket. No return fare. It’s simply a one-way ride from intimacy to
disengagement, from reckless abandon to cautious reserve, from
child-like delight to disillusionment and despair— or, in other words,
from love to hate.
And every day it seems the ranks of the Love Jesus, Hate Church
army swells.*
So what do we do about the church? Nothing.
We just live our lives out the way Christ called us to and allow Him to
take care of His church.
We pledge to be different— and we do it for His glory!
Adveho quis may. Come what may.
Will you join with me? Come what may.
* From the chapter, Rescue Those Who Are
Perishing, page 94.
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Love Jesus, Hate Church
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 As a final
reminder, let me encourage you to also download some of
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Love Jesus, Hate Church
Podcasts and forward them to anyone you know who might be
encouraged or strengthened by the
Love Jesus, Hate Church message (in addition to the free
book
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Until next time,
Steve McCranie
"You know, this ain't the way church is suppose to be.
Something
must be wrong, bad wrong."
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Thank You!