Discipling the Undisciplined no. 29

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles? In the same way, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will know them by their fruits” (Matthew 7:15-20). False prophets are ravenous wolves that are known by their bad fruits. And we can recall that the fruits of the Spirit are, “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23). So, the false prophets we should be looking for are looking to devour the righteous like a ravenous wolf. The false prophets are violent and bloody looking to destroy absent of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. That sounds an awful lot like Christendom.

The church has a definite false prophet vibe these days that I am hopeful is going away with the final death throes of Christendom. The centuries of collusion between church and the powers and principalities has done a lot to broaden its reach BUT has distorted and twisted the gospel. And what I see a lot of today, what I fight a lot of today, is the result of Babylon having crept into the church. Having to explain to Christians that we shouldn’t celebrate violence and war is one example of that Christendom collusion that has tainted the Good News of the Kingdom. BUT that is not the only thing I see Christians getting wrong, I see a lot of folks that put on a good face in Christian circles of friendship and love only to post hatred and create division about others, especially those with alternative political ideologies, on their social media pages. It’s not a good look. And it is a look that makes me question my association with those sorts of people . . . BUT then I remember the mission. The goal of making disciples of even these folks that are entrenched in hatred and division, folks that are entrenched in being complicit in endorsing horrible policies all because they value politics, freedom, nationalism, mammon, or whatever idol more than the Good News that Jesus the Christ brought in the gospels. 

I guess the Good News is less important than power to those folks. I just pray for repentance. I walked that road of political answers and I know it is empty. I tried to use it to find fulfillment in life and failed. Power and mammon look really attractive from the outside BUT are the ways of death. I remember Peter asking, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:68). That is where I am looking for hope. So, maybe the false prophets are all around us today teaching something other than “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23)? Maybe the false prophets are bloody and violent known by their bad fruits of hatred and division? 

Grace and Shalom to your home. 

#DisciplingTheUndisciplined #ThinkBetter #BeBetter #NoKingButChrist #EmbraceTheWithin #SeekFirstTheKingdom #ServeOneAnotherInLove #NotMyWayYHWH

Discipling the Undsiciplined no. 28

“Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it. For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it” (Matthew 7:13-14). Being in right relationship with God and others through loving them is a narrow gate that means valuing other people more than our things and our self. The road of mammon is rather wide and easy. It’s all around us. And it is filled with folks that are living in desperation, depression, and death.

Life is being right with God which means being right with other people. The world tends to see this in a condescending way. Folks use terms like being “used” and “mistreated”. Folks have given up on love and doing right by others because of the hurt they have experienced only to experience more heart by saying no to love. Life is going to be filled with pain regardless of whether I love my neighbor or not. There is a real pain when someone comes to me with their problems and wants me to pray for them. There is a real pain of seeing folks struggling with life and the problems of this world. There is a real pain I experience when I see so much injustice and violence in the world. Being in a right relationship with God doesn’t excuse me from feeling pain. And I think lamenting those problems in our lives and in the world are important truths to share with folks. Being faithful is not all rainbows and sparkles; being faithful means opening myself up to feeling. 

It is a disservice to the state of this world to act like its problems do not affect us. As Christians, the injustice and unrighteousness of this world should bother us to work for justice and righteousness rather than create more injustice and unrighteousness. BUT too often the road of mammon and power and violence is much easier than doing right by God and my neighbor. It is much easier for things to not be my problem. It is much easier for things to be passed along. It is much easier to build walls and shut folks out. It is much easier to not love my neighbor. That road is easier and wider. BUT that road is filled with pain too. 

God called me to be faithful. And that is going to mean doing some difficult things like loving people that hurt me. That is going to mean hurting for people that I love. And that is going to mean empathy for all those other image bearers of God out there suffering from injustice and unrighteousness. It is going to mean supporting helping those people and not discarding them. I think we need to take a look at how hard the road is we travel because the road to life is difficult and some of us have it way too easy and are way too comfortable on the path to death.

Grace and Shalom to your home. 

#DisciplingTheUndisciplined #ThinkBetter #BeBetter #NoKingButChrist #EmbraceTheWithin #SeekFirstTheKingdom #ServeOneAnotherInLove #NotMyWayYHWH