“Jesus 2020” yards signs are wrong on many levels.

1. Jesus Christ / Jesus of Nazareth / the Lord Jesus Christ is NOT a citizen of the United States and is ineligible to be elected president.

2. As someone who reveres Jesus, I find these political lawn signs that say this demeaning of Jesus. I presume they put these in their yards because they love Jesus, but it is misguided. The Good Book says Jesus IS king of kings, an appointment of absolute authority and power that does not expire and cannot be voted in or out. Maybe we are going to elect a new “prince,” but Jesus does not need and does not ask for our vote. Jesus taught over and over about the kingdom of God, but all American Christians seem to muster is talk about their churches, their pastors or one or two particular ethical issues. Petty and small, a sign like these drags Jesus down to this smallness.

3. The strife of the 2020 election has sharply divided our country—again. Many significant issues are at stake that affect real people’s lives and livelihood. I don’t know how it will play out nor, honestly, do I really know how it should play out—I am not a king, kingly or even knowing about many of the complexities involved (though like everyone else I have my clear, peasant’s perspective). To someone who doesn’t know me, my ultimate trust in King Jesus may make me seem impractical, unwise or unconcerned (I hope those who know me know that not to be true, and that I am committed to acting justly and not just waiting for pie in the sky justice). But, I trust Jesus still, until the end.

4. In the last book of the Bible, there is a dramatic graphic portrayal of extreme turmoil and tumult coming on this dirt clod hung in space that we live on, BUT Jesus is sitting on a throne and the sea around his throne is calm as a mirror, as flat as a piece of glass. Another time, during his human life, Jesus was with his followers in a boat that was being swamped by the waves—and he calmed the sea. When I keep conscious, daily contact with King Jesus I know HIS calm, like an eye of the storm. And, I know he will ultimately calm this stormy sea tossing our collective boat.

I trust King Jesus, still, to the end. 

Is meeting in a church building essential?

Is meeting in a church building essential? No. But, my “why” comes from following Jesus, not a political or economic view point. “Church” is not a building, organization or denomination. For the first 400 years it was almost always groups of 10 or less. It only needs 2 or 3.

Church-as-we-know-it in America is a building-based, “come to the building” mentality. But, this is not the original understanding: no church building existed for the first 400 years of Christianity, for one simple reason: it would have been destroyed or confiscated in the many persecutions that happened. The “gatherings” (what ekklesia, “church,” means in the Greek of the time) were mostly in houses, sometimes in prison and often on the street, walking along the road.

Cupcake Christianity in America requires cushy seats, an expensive HVAC, paid professional speaker/comedian and band/singers and infotainment for the children/teens for what is essentially a religious performance wrongly called “worship,” to make the listeners feel better, be better, be “fed,” under the ruse that this is sharing the good news about Jesus. Ha! Almost everyone there has already heard the message, and they are “preaching to the choir.” It is not new news for almost anyone who hears it, just a numbing drone drowning out the heartbreak and cries of the world outside that really does need the good news of Jesus.

“Worship,” again in the Greek of the day (and made explicit in the New Testament) is not a feel-good-make-God-feel-good-by-singing-nice-things-over-and-over-about-God thing. “Worship” is being “poured” (leitourgein), as in poured out, offered up, expended. It is not something you do in a couple hours, nor could you. It is an expending of your life in service to the Lord Jesus. “Present your WHOLE self as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which IS your spiritual worship” (Romans 12:1). The next verse could apply to how we wrongly view “God in a building box worship” in America and the West: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:2). We do not have to be pressed into the church-in-a-box, church-in-a-building mode, but can have a transformed view with an mind changed by the Good Book.

“Worship” looks like Jesus dying on a cross, a life expended and given up in obedience to a loving Father’s will in a world full of horrendous evils. There is no room, really, for such suffering in Cupcake Christianity, nor for such sacrifice, dedication or fanaticism. Nope. CC is all about dumbing down the medicine, serving with a lot of sugar so it is palatable (and about counting nickels and noses). An inoculation effect has taken over so that most CCs in our country cannot even see the text of the Bible that talks about what real worship is. They only see through their building-fogged CC lenses.

I’m guessing I lost most of you much earlier in this post, so it won’t hurt to finish honestly with this: fanaticism is the only acceptable standard for Jesus-followers. Can Jesus’ execution on the cross as a central symbol of the kingdom message mean anything less? A building kinda hampers radical followers of the Cruciform and Crucified One. No buildings needed (many types of businesses are learning this also during this pandemic). COVID19 does not affect church-as-God-wants-it at all, except perhaps to make it more clear why biblical small gatherings around caring meals and simple Bible study are much more built for the world ahead, and the only way to survive persecution, since a single match or power outage or flu shuts down CC. Not to mention: a LOT of money flows away from building mortgages and maintenance and toward mission and compassion.

If someone says, “Jesus makes me happy all the time,” they have probably only been a follower of Jesus for a short time. Don’t get me wrong. I have found deep joy in following Jesus. Sometimes that joy looks like laughing, smiling happiness. But sometimes, though I feel joy, it is mixed together with the strain of circumstances or the anguish of being attacked by another. 

In the Good Book, an older follower of Jesus says to a young protege, “Everyone who wants to live seriously spiritual life in Jesus Christ will be opposed and attacked” (2 Timothy 3:12). Everyone. The “normal” Christian life is joy among sorrow, peace amidst persecution. If you want to follow Jesus, it will be a long, hard road. Full of inner peace, yes, peace that defies explanation. BUT, with side swipes, back stabbing, and full head-on collisions from the darndest people at the most inopportune times. 

The encouraging news is “the Lord [will rescue] me from all of them!” (2 Timothy 3:11). Like salmon against the current, following Jesus can feel like a grind. But “the joy of the Lord is our strength” (Nehemiah 3:10).

“Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck. I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold; I have come into deep waters, and the flood sweeps over me. I am weary with my crying; my throat is parched. My eyes grow dim with waiting for my God” (Psalm 69:1-3).

Knowing God means learning to let go of your inner control freak. None of us likes "losing control." But, if we are ever to get over our self-importance and self-centeredness, we have to get over our heads and learn that truly, deeply, really, God is in charge. Every ridable horse must be "broken." Everyone who wants to walk with God in a deep way must be broken. The path to fulfillment in the Kingdom of God involves breaking, surrender and yielded-ness.

Charles Spurgeon puts it, “It is not a curious thing that, whenever God means to make a man great, He always breaks him in pieces first?” This is the example of Jesus and his followers, and the witness of the spiritual greats who have walked the face of the earth. To yield to God’s purposes, we must have our wills broken and tamed. 

Spurgeon continues: “Have none of you ever noticed, in your own lives, that whenever God is going to give you an enlargement, and bring you out to a larger sphere of service, or a higher platform of spiritual life, you always get thrown down? That is His usual way of working; He makes you hungry before He feeds you; He strips you before He robes you; He makes nothing of you before He makes something of you. This was the way with David. He is to be King in Jerusalem; but he must go to the throne by the way of the cave. Now, are any of you here going to heaven, or going to a more heavenly state of sanctification, or going to a greater sphere of usefulness: Do not wonder if you go by the way of the cave.”

Breaking is part of the deal, and its fruit is more intimate relationship with God, more faithful obedience and clearer understanding of the deep truths of God’s Word. It doesn’t hurt any less when we realize this, but at least we can then receive what God is doing because it frees us from bondage, and makes us more like Jesus.

In Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, Christian wades into the River of Death, his last obstacle to cross on his way to Celestial City. As he goes in he cries out to Hopeful, “Help! I sink in troubled waters! All his billows go over me!” Hopeful calmly replies, “I feel the bottom, and it is good.”

The Commands of Christ

Here are all of Jesus' commands in one list. I find it very helpful to prayerfully read and ponder the list from time to time. Jesus said we will be blessed if we do what he commands, not merely "hear" them.

Commands of Christ

1. Live by God’s every word, not merely by food.
   
2. Do not put God to the test.
   
3. Worship and serve God alone.
   
4. Make my house a house of prayer for the nations and do not make it into a market or a
   den of thieves.
   
5. You must be born again.
   
6. Repent and believe the good news.
   
7. Go and learn what it means, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.”
   
8. Do not be amazed at My authority.
   
9. Rejoice when you are persecuted for My sake.
   
10. Let your good deeds bring glory to God.
    
11. Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or Prophets. I came to fulfill them.
    
12. Do not be angry with a brother.
    
13. Reconcile before you pray.
    
14. Lust is adultery. Radically protect yourself from it.
    
15. Do not divorce. Do not separate what God has joined together.
    
16. Do not swear.
    
17. Do not resist evil people who abuse you.
    
18. Give to the one who asks. Do not turn away from those who want to borrow. If someone
    takes what is yours, do not demand it back.
    
19. Love your enemies.
    
20. Take care not to do your righteous deeds in order to receive glory from men.
    
21. Pray like this...
    
22. Do not hoard treasures on earth, but in heaven.
    
23. Do not worry about your life or food or clothing but seek God’s Kingdom and
    righteousness.
    
24. Do not judge.
    
25. Deal with your own sin before judging another.
    
26. Do to others as you would have them do to you.
    
27. Enter through the narrow gate.
    
28. Beware of false prophets.
    
29. Do not give what is holy to dogs or throw your pearls to swine.
    
30. Ask, seek and knock in prayer.
    
31. Be merciful and perfect as your heavenly Father is merciful and perfect.
    
32. Forgive and you will be forgiven.
    
33. Listen! (Usually in reference to one of His teachings or parables.)
    
34. Give and it will be given to you, abundantly.
    
35. Take care what you listen to and what you do with it.
    
36. Come to me. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me.
    
37. Ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.
    
38. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, drive out demons.
    
39. Proclaim that the kingdom of God is near.
    
40. Freely you have received. Freely give.
    
41. Shake the dust off your feet where no one receives you or listens to you.
    
42. Go, I am sending you out like sheep among wolves, so be as shrewd as serpents and as
    innocent as doves.
    
43. Do not worry about your defense when you are arrested for My sake.
    
44. Do not fear man, but fear God.
    
45. What I speak to you quietly, announce loudly.
    

46. Do not think that I came to establish peace on earth.
    
47. Look up and see the fields ripe for harvest.
    
48. Do not work for food that perishes, but for food that endures eternally.
    
49. Look out for the teaching and hypocrisy of the Pharisees.
    
50. Anyone who wishes to come after Me must deny himself, take up his cross and follow
    me.
    
51. Become like children.
    
52. Do not hinder anyone just because they are not in your group.
    
53. Resist temptation radically.
    
54. Have salt in yourselves and be at peace with one another.
    
55. Deal with a brother who sins.
    
56. Forgive 70 times 7 times.
    
57. Do not judge by appearances, but judge justly.
    
58. Come to Me and drink.
    
59. Follow me and let the dead bury their own dead.
    
60. Do not rejoice at power over demons, but over eternal life.
    
61. Love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and love your neighbor as yourself.
    
62. Be generous to the poor.
    
63. Beware of all greed.
    
64. Do not fear.
    
65. Sell your possessions and give to the poor.
    
66. Be ready and watching for My return.
    
67. Humble yourself.
    
68. Exalt the humble and serve them.
    
69. Use temporal wealth for eternal purposes.
    
70. When you have done all you were asked to, say, “we are unprofitable slaves, we have
    only done our duty.”
    
71. Remember Lot’s wife and do not try to preserve your life.
    
72. Be wholesome in your speech.
    
73. Let children come to Jesus and do not despise them.
    
74. Keep the commandments.
    
75. Serve others.
    
76. Have faith in God.
    
77. Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.
    
78. Beware of the scribes and do not imitate them.
    
79. Watch out that no false Christ deceives you.
    
80. When you see signs of my return, do not be terrified, but take heart.
    
81. Be alert for My return.
    
82. Follow and serve Me.
    
83. Love each other.
    
84. Take, eat, drink. Do this in remembrance of Me.
    
85. Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God and in Me.
    
86. Believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me.
    
87. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.
    
88. Remain in Me and in My love so you can keep My commands and vice versa.
    
89. Pray in My Name.
    
90. Take courage.
    
91. Receive the Holy Spirit.
    
92. Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel.
    
93. Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them and teaching them to obey all My
    commands.
    
94. Hear what the Spirit says to the churches. 
    

"Do as you will": Are Libertarians the Anti-Christ?

Compare these two statements and see if you are not at least a little alarmed by their similarity:

      "Do as you will." This is the only ethical command in Satanism.

       "As Libertarians, we seek a world of liberty; a world in which all individuals are sovereign over their own lives and no one is forced to sacrifice his or her values for the benefit of others."

Juxtaposing these raises two questions for me: 

Is there any difference between the essence of libertarianism and this demonic command? 

Is the libertarian EXPRESSED philosophy really any different that the Democratic and Republican REALIZED philosophies of fighting to do whatever the heck they want, no matter what Da Good Book says on the subject?

One charitable response to the questions above is that libertarianism is more naive than diabolical.

Another is to reduce  "anti-christ" is some grand villain, "a Caesar, Napoleon, Lenin, Hitler types that show up regularly: one who taps into the lure of deep longings for unity, order, fruitfulness residing in the human heart. The issue then becomes the means to those ends, a kind of bait-and-switch. There's always violation in the means because the extension of power to bring about an attractive vision will violate the vulnerable outside of submission to the true Christ" (astute observations by Kyle Phillips on Facebook post).
This is a commonly held view today, and amongst the first century followers of Jesus. But Da Good Book corrects this misconception in two ways:

(1) First, 1 John 2 gives a direct correction to this thinking: "Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now MANY antichrists have arisen." As Colin Brown used to say, "If your ideas don't fit with scripture, too bad for your ideas." 

(2) Second, the antichrist is not simply a grand villain, but a "spirit": "Every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world." (1 John 4:3). The most simple rendering of the Greek "antichristo" into English, in my opinion, is "the in-place-of-Christ." With that simple translation, I think you'll easily see the connection to your teaching about idolatry: anything, good or bad, that one substitutes in place of where Jesus should be. Do you catch my meaning, or would you like examples of this? 1 John calls this a spirit and I think it is connected to things "above" and "below" the ceiling and floor of material existence, the principalities and powers that make puppets of people who walk in their own will ("flesh"). (3) I think we do a dangerous disservice to the body of Christ to think of the "devil" as a figure with a red Halloween costume: "Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness" (2 Corinthians 11:14-15). The many things we put in place of Christ are more likely to be almost-Christian looking and therefore more powerful deceptions. For example, when I run into someone who can quote all the latest, hot almost-Christian authors around the country who are hot because they are saying something edgy and controversial, not because they are standing-under the Word of God. The head game almost-Christianity we live among can be an in-place-of-Christ where one's pet theology is the source of identity, security and personal meaning instead of Jesus himself. And, then, there is the distinct possibility that church-as-we-know-it (as opposed to church-as-God-wants-it) is a substitute Jesus, if you read the bumper stickers: "Come to the first church of what's happening now! We got the best band! We got the funniest 'pastor'! We have what your kids need!" I wonder if people really understand the threat to their children. I smoked my first joint at an unsupervised youth group outing (pre-Jesus). Sex, drugs, rock-n-roll--yes, these are obvious in-place-of-christs. But what about all the people who never open their Bibles or pray or do any of the 53 one-anothers of the New Testament. 

Republicanism, too is an in-place-of-Jesus for many almost-christians. It is chic, hot, cool, and edgy to move to "do as you will"--just as Satanism itself is hip. We could lose a whole generation of almost-christian leaders to this thinking, "Do as you will." To that I answer my own question with this: Satan appears, not in a red devil's suit, but as an angel of light to deceive and destroy every single follower of Jesus, if possible. The hater of our souls is at work destroying and crushing, maiming and pillaging. As C. S. Lewis rightly warned us, materialistic almost-christians are blind to what's above the ceiling and below the floor, the upstairs principalities and powers, and the downstairs mob. They operate most freely in our land that once was free, among our nation which is all so rich yet ever poor.

When I wrote this post, I immediately began to take the log out of my own eye by posting on most the doors and every mirror in our house this A - B - A coaching sheet for Ingrid and me:

         A: Do whatever God wants, quickly, no matter what it costs. 

                B: Do NOT do whatever you want. 

         A: Do whatever God wants, quickly, no matter what - period. 


"Do not focus on what is SEEN but on what is UNSEEN. What is seen is temporary and therefore passing away. What is unseen is eternal and therefore last forever" (2 Corinthians 4). Open the eyes of our hearts that we can see You, Lord Jesus, AND the hater of our souls who seeks like a lion to maim, pillage and destroy.

Making art: pointing others to the unseen, eternal so they can take their eyes off the seen and temporary

Julia Owens​ and Jeff Rogers​, I think I had an epiphany why you and my brother AJ urged me to un-quit writing, and I saw brianjdodd.blogspot.com through fresh eyes yesterday that I'd like to talk to you about soon. I have always thought of Bible teaching in the semi-scientific terms that I was reared on in college and seminary, but only yesterday, 20 years after completing it, realized the impact that the Sheffield Ph.D. program had on me as an artist. Somehow, and I'm not sure how this is, my brain went from being a "disciplined scientist" to being an undisciplined artist. I refused to write regularly partly because of burnout from writing 5 books after the Ph.D. dissertation while keeping down a full-time job, and partly because of my self-chosen trip into the desert to detox from the religion people have made up about Jesus in our country. Julia and Jeff, you are two of the most disciplined artists I know. Julia you structure a schedule in an almost Kant-like style to make art. Jeff, you are so prolific, but you have God on your side so that is no fair: you live in Kentucky and the art you make is framing the art God made. What do I need to do to become a disciplined artist? Block the time and just do it? I am coming out of the desert and about to start writing again after a 10+ year hiatus. I'm glad I quit. I am glad you wouldn't let me quit entirely. Abraham Lincoln said, "If I had 8 hours to cut down a tree, I would spend the first 6 sharpening my saw." I've been sharpening my saw for 10+ years, and I'm about to cut me some wood, baby. I'm about to unleash a torrent of art I paint with words. I think I have 4 or 5 books left in me. Ingrid Dodd​ would like me to "go fishing" or something because I'm driving her crazy with all this gathered, pent up energy. Let the paint fly, says he. I have returned to my studio as of today. (Clifford Schroeder​ I messaged you the wrong address for my blog--correct one above; Wes Foster​ I may have given you the wrong address at Panera Seminary yesterday--see above).

When does life begin? An alternative Christian reading of Scripture summarized

Regarding the issue of life in the womb, and my reading of Scripture on this issue summarized briefly: 

(1) I will defer to the scientists on what their view of life is and is not, and when it does and does not begin. They have their presuppositions about a lot of things that color all they see, and the great weakness of the scientific approach to knowing anything, in my view, is the huge blind spot about how presuppositions (which come before any experiment or hypothesis or theory) color all they later see. If you have the presupposition, for example, that all that is real can be proven by the scientific method of falsifying a null hypothesis, then you miss out on a lot of the really good stuff in the world like love, beauty, justice, truth, Jesus--while these are all real, they do not validate their own existence under a microscope. There are other kinds of knowing. 

(2) If, for example, you presuppose that truth coheres with itself, and corresponds to experience, and that it is stranger than fiction, then you could equally believe that life begins at conception, or that my life began when my mom and dad met, or that my life began when my Spanish conquistador great grandmother married my Blackfoot-German great grandfather (by reductio ad absurdum argumentation). 

(3) All that said, my concern is different. The question is not when life (Iiving cells) begin to form (clearly, at conception), but when a living soul is born according to scripture, AND the scriptural difference between murder and killing. 

(4) With regard to when a soul is born to life in my reading of the Bible:
(a) The Hebrew word ruach and the Greek work pneuma in the Old and New Testaments are correctly interchangeable translated "breath" and "spirit." This is based on the presupposition in much (most?) of the ancient world that a human soul is born when you breathe (your spirit/breath comes into you), and it your spirit leaves when your breath leaves, because they are somehow mysteriously and inseparably tangled together, physical and spiritual. 
(b) There are numerous examples of where the Bible describes the death of a person in terms of "they gave up their spirit/stopped breathing." No one would have thought otherwise. It is never argued for in the Bible because it didn't need to be--it was so understood that the structure of various languages all support this same connection of breath with spirit with a human soul being born and then leaving to another place with the breath that leaves. 
(c) The "life begins at conception" reading of the Bible has little to go on by comparison. This reading claims "God knew me in my mother's womb" is proof that abortion is murder, but that has to overlook the writer's intent to express, "I am deeply and truly known by God from beginning to end in a way no one else knows me. And, how does this apply to the issue of murder? The Bible also says that God knew me before there was time--if we make the same application to the issue of murder as the womb scripture then we have to argue that every murder is a multiple murder like one of those time-traveling Hollywood movies: if you killed my grand-father you also killed me and so you are a multiple murderer and qualify for the death penalty in many states (don't get me started on that). 
(d) When I read the Bible, there is nowhere to be found a discussion of the issue of abortion. Jesus does not mention the issue. Nowhere in the New Testament is the issue mentioned. Best we can get to there from both sides is an argument from silence. 
(e) The attraction of the life-begins-at-conception reading of scripture--and I speak as one who had argued it most of my Christian life, but no more--is a PHILOSOPHICAL argument masquerading as a scriptural reading. And it is attractive because It is more consistent, philosophically speaking, and avoids the fatal flaws of the viability argument. 
(f) To summarize, in my reading of the Bible, a human soul is born at birth when they start breathing (the "spirit" enters into them), and human life ends when we stop breathing/give up our spirit. I don't doubt that "science" is surely right that what is in the womb is alive and growing, and there is no question that it is on its way to being a breathing human, all being well. I don't doubt that God has always known me, and has foreknowledge of me before I was born--I receive that message that I am known intimately and loved deeply, as are each and every person. 

(5) The scriptural distinction between murder and killing is reflected in every legal code since. Both killing and murder are very serious, but they are not the same. There is no question that abortion is killing. I doubt that it is murder. When someone aborts, in my view, they are killing their fetus but it does not rise to the crime of murder, because the living fetus does not yet have a human soul (that doesn't come until breath). Abortion is has serious consequences, physically, emotionally and spiritually, but it is not murder.

"I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live by the light that I have. I must stand with anybody that stands right, and stand with him while he is right, and part with him when he goes wrong." ~ Abraham Lincoln

daily mass shootings? really?

264 mass shootings in our country this year. Almost one for every day of the year. "Mass shooting" is defined as 4 or more people killed not including the gunman. We can still say "gunman" and it is not sexist. We really don't need equal opportunity in this madness. We could also say "young white gunman" and it would be almost completely accurate. What is wrong with us? A mass shooting a day by white guys. Plus all the other violent, senseless deaths. A whole lot of hurting going on. I talked to a mom the other day whose son died 9 years ago this week. It was like it was yesterday for her. Don't we see the damage being done? 

There is a policy we can all agree on: never give a monkey a pistol. Is that bipartisan enough? Can we agree on that? If so, is it really so hard to see that MONKEYS WITH GUNS kill people? We can't eliminate monkeys, but do we have to make it so easy for them to have a gun in every hand with a bag full of extra bullets in case they run out?

How We Can Make the Kingdom Come Sooner and Find the Unity We All Want

Okay, the title of this blog entry is meant to be provocative, but it comes from something I have a remembrance of that Bill Bright from Campus Crusade (may he rest in peace) said about a chapter of the New Testament. It went something like this:

"If we all practice the principles of Matthew 18, then three things will immediately happen:

1. Disloyalty in the body of Christ will cease.

2. The world will really see how we love one another.

3. The kingdom of God will immediately come on the earth."

Provocative, for sure. His predictions may not be true (and #2 surely oversimplifies and reduces love to a few behaviors), BUT his quote highlights the importance of:

(A) Forgiveness as a standard way of living with each other...over and over and over. "How many times should I forgive someone when they hurt me?" Peter asked Jesus. "Seven times?" Peter was obviously feeling Jesus on this forgiveness thing, but he had not yet grasped how radical Jesus was on this subject: "No, 70 x 7!" Forgiveness is a posture that puts us in a very vulnerable position toward the users and hurters out there. But, Jesus got that. How much more vulnerable can you be than naked and nailed up in shameful display in a public execution so that forgiveness of sins can happen?

(B) If someone wrongs us, we are to go to them one on one, just the two of us. This has two parts, and may be the most disobeyed command of Jesus by those of us who claim to follow him. The first part is that we are to go to them. Not wait for them to figure it. Not cut them off and cut them out. Proactively go to them. The second part is privately. We are not to involve someone else (or talk about it with others--gossip! slander!) until we have had a chance to work it through. A lot of times I discover in this Step 1, that I wasn't actually wronged but either that I had misinterpreted words or actions, or that what I thought had started the problem (their behavior) was actually a response to what had really started the problem: something I had done first that I was blind to.

(C) Step 2, if Step 1 fails (B above), is to take one or two others with you and all of you talk together with the person involved. This is not a tribunal or a grand jury. This is taking loving people to lovingly work out the normal friction that comes with broken people living with broken people. The log in my eye gets in the speck of your eye and irritates the heck out me :-). My log makes your speck look like a log to me. Sometimes it is your log that needs cutting out, sometimes mine. Wise, caring friends can help us sort it out. But, not always...

(D) Step 3 involves a larger group of 10 or 20: "If they won't listen, tell it to the gathering." The Greek for "church" is "gathering," and this usually happened in homes in the New Testament period, and surely did not involve the modern conception of a stage/performance/spotlights. Jesus is not talking about an auditorium where you shame and shun someone, but a living room where you have a family meeting.

(E) Step 4 needs some thoughtful application: "If they won't listen to the family gathering, treat them as you would a pagan or tax collector." Back then, Jesus' Jewish listeners would have avoided and mistrusted people who did not follow God (pagans) and those who had sided with the Roman military government (tax collectors). That is probably what Jesus is implying. Be wary and watchful of them.

All of Matthew 18 is very important and needs a lot of thinking on and acting on. I think we can all agree with at least that much about what brother Bill said.

God Uses Nobodies and Nothing: A True Story

In 2007 I flew back to Kyrgyzstan in Central Asia to visit some of the people I had baptized on a previous trip (for that story, see “What Does Your Faith Rest Upon?” @ brianjdodd.blogspot.com). Before I left the United States, I had a picture in my mind that I was to play one a guitar in the upstairs area of the Moscow Sheremetyevo airport. I thought God put the picture in my mind, and I expected all kinds of people to come and listen to me play. Ha! Anyone who has heard me play and sing knows that cats wailing have a better chance of drawing a crowd. Anyway, deluded as I was, I took out my guitar and played and sang my heart out. Nobody came except Ingrid, my wife, and Kirstie, my daughter—but they had to be there because they were traveling with me. I played and sang my heart out with all my favorite Jesus’ street rocker songs: Momma Killed a Chicken, Born to Be Unlucky, Why Don’t You Look into Jesus, I’m Feeling So Bad, Outlaw, Great American Novel and such.

No one came. Except 6-year old Eva from Denmark. She was the best audience ever. She was so into it that she got completely worn out. After listening for awhile she had to go lie down and fall asleep. Her dad, Jakob, gave me the peace sign (two fingers), took her by the hand, and led her back to their spot on the concrete a little farther down the balcony. She fell asleep on someone else’s card board/blanket makeshift pad.

A bit of time went by, and Eva’s father Jakob came walking up and held up the two-finger peace sign and said in perfect English, “Peace!” Now, I’m from California so I could have gone with hippy- surfer-dude, but my brain started to go with Matthew 10 and Luke 10—this must be a “man of peace” who opens the door for the good news about Jesus to be shared....Right? Wait. No. He said this: “My daughter is asleep on this strange woman’s bed and I have to go check on my flight. Can you watch my daughter and make sure this woman doesn’t run off with her?” Not exactly my idea of “ministry,” but I agreed, walked over and stood by the rail by Eva and the African woman sitting next to her while Jakob went to check on his flight. He came back, and I tagged off guard duty and went and sat back down. I was a little disappointed. It didn’t appear my Christian rock concert was having any effect.

Later, I looked down Jakob and Eva’s way, and there he goes again giving me the peace sign and smiling. I say to myself, “Self, this must be a man of peace. I’m going down there.” So I got myself up, went to save Jakob’s soul, sat down and tried to talk to him about God. But I couldn’t because the African woman there named Elizabeth kept interrupting me with complete religious nonsense. I looked over at her and she was surrounded by Watchtower materials that a Jehovah’s Witness had shared with her. I looked at these magazines then I looked Elizabeth in the eye and said in a very parental way, “You should not be reading these.” I cannot explain what happened next, other than to say she immediately complied. She looked down at the magazines, gathered them all up in her arms and walked over and threw them in the garbage can. She came back, and calmly listened to me tell her about Jesus and prayed out loud to submit to Jesus as her new owner and boss, and to do whatever he says. I spent some time telling her the six things every new follower of Jesus should know and gave her my Bible and all the trail mix and toothpaste we had, then we had to rush and catch our plane to Bishkek.

Oh, one more important detail. I forgot to mention that I found out Elizabeth was captive in this airport’s transit/transfer area, an international no-man’s-land. The story is still not completely clear to me, probably because she has some shame associated with it.

The part that is clear is that the guy taking her to Palestine from Germany told her that he had to take her passport outside the airport to get her ticket, and he never came back (probably sold her passport, since passports are big money on the black market).

Without a passport, she could not leave the transfer area to enter Russia, and without a ticket or a passport she couldn’t get on a plane. For 18 months, she was stuck there in that cold, heartless, inhospitable piece of concrete.

What did she do after we met? She read the Bible I gave her through many, many times. She prayed. She fasted. She waited for God to provide her food through some kind soul passing through the airport and having mercy on her. She shared Jesus with everyone who would listen and, by my count, evangelized people from at least 19 nations (nearby is a picture of the guy from Eritrea she shared Jesus with, and our co-worker in Christ Steve Hill from Canada who was one of the kind souls traveling through that airport from time to time). With the help of the United Nations’ High Commission on Refugees, we were able to get her out and back to Nigeria where she serves Jesus still.

“God has put his incredible power in cracked pots with the express purpose of demonstrating that the power is from him and not from us” (the apostle Paul, in 2 Corinthians 4).

Brian Joseph Dodd, Ph.D., Orlando, Florida, USA

brian.dodd@yahoo.com

brianjdodd.blogspot.com

Nothing or a little bit? None or two? (How Much Money and How Many People does it take to start a church?)

Everybody knows it takes a lot of money and people and a good band and a funny, smart speaker to “start a church.” Competence, training, giftedness, skill, good looks, healthy psychological profile, good health and general goodness and greatness. A beautiful wife and kids doesn’t hurt. Okay, scratch that. You absolutely need a beautiful wife and kids. Go check it out at The First Church of What’s Happening Now in your area. See for yourself. It must be true. Everybody knows it.

There are a four problems with what “everybody knows”:

1. It’s not true. “Everybody” is limited to Americans and American wannabes around the world.

2. It’s not how Jesus taught his first followers to do it.

3. It’s not how the rapidly growing Jesus-follower movements around the world are doing it today.

4. It’s not what the Bible says about the upside-down kingdom where strong is weak, weak is powerful, and poor is rich. It’s not what the Bible says about God choosing to use cracked- pots so no one will confuse his power with human effort and his glory with human arrogance.

So, I raise two questions:

How much money does it really take to start a church

How many people do you need to start a church?

Bear with me. This won’t take long. There are only two answers and they are really short and easy to figure out.

HOW MUCH MONEY DOES IT TAKE TO START A CHURCH?

The two, possible correct answers are:

$0. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. Squat. Goose egg. Bagel. Jesus doesn’t need money to rule the world and be King of the universe.

-OR-

Some. A little bit of money—whatever it took the Jesus-follower to get to where he or she was sent by Jesus to meet the person of peace (also sent to that same spot by God).

I’m not sure which answer is the correct one, but I’m pretty sure it is one of these two, and no other answer. I still crack up every time I remember hearing that one First Church of What’s Happening Now requires 50 people minimum to start a church (because that’s what you need musically to make it sound good, I think they believe). My old denominations (I was ordained in two different ones) thought you needed about 200 rich people so you could afford the needed building and salary, pension and benefits to afford a seminary-trained religious professional. Man, are they good managing pensions! I digress.

HOW MANY PEOPLE DOES IT TAKE TO START A CHURCH? 

There are also two, possible correct answers to this question:

0. Zero. No one. Nobody. Jesus is the initiator, the starter, the builder of HIS church.

-OR-

2. Two. It takes two people to start a church since, by definition, a church exists wherever two or three come together in Jesus’ name and, remember, Jesus sent them and us to go two by two, right?

This question is easier to answer with certainty than the first question. The correct answer has to be the first one: zero people are needed to start a church. Jesus said he is the starter of his church: “I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.” Two is almost right, but not quite. Jesus sent them out two by two to “teach people to obey Jesus,” not start churches. When we do our part (teach to obey), Jesus does his part (builds a church that makes hell fear). Two people together cannot start a church by themselves, since Jesus needs to bring them together and show up for it to be church at all. One person does not a church make, nor two people meeting without Jesus present through the Holy Spirit.

Brian J. Dodd, Ph.D.

brianjdodd.blogspot.com

brian.dodd@yahoo.com

From my Canadian friend, Steve Hill. Poignant and potent. If your ideas don't fit with Scripture, then too bad for your ideas. Prepare to be jarred. -Brian

"Hello Friends

Many of you can identify with my journey of beginning to question and then discard  firmly held convictions (mostly about how to do church).  Too many "Biblical principles" turned out to be cultural or institutional dogmas.  In this process I began to wonder about the early disciples and to look at the book of Acts through a big question mark-  What was their journey?

Luke writes the Acts account by simply telling the story.  He makes no value judgements.  He does not say whether something done was consistent with the teachings of Jesus or not.  He just tells the story.  We assume that everything he records the early apostles as doing was good,  but should we?  Acts begins with them asking Jesus,  "Lord will You at this time restore the Kingdom to Israel?"   They were still thinking of an earthly kingdom that would kick out the Romans and give them BMW camels.  They were still asking this question after a forty day seminar on the Kingdom of God!  They were on a learning curve and I do not think it ended with the Day of Pentecost.  

Jesus talked about building on rock or on sand.  Sand used to be rock.  Sand is bits broken from the rock.  You can choose bits of the scripture but what you build upon your favourite bits will fall.  We need to wrestle with the whole as revealed in the Rock, Jesus, if we wish to build something that will last.  The old saying  "Text without context is pretext." is accurate.  If you cut and paste, you can make the scripture say anything you like.  

Maybe the problem  is not just understanding the original historical context but seeing our own?  How much of what we see in the scriptures is because we are looking at them through the filter of  our present presuppositions and reading that back into them?  Or maybe just reading the scriptures through the lens of our own desire for significance, power, position and privilege? 

Is this what the early apostles did?  The church at Jerusalem was hugely successful but were having a problem feeding all the widows and orphans.  More accurately they were having a cultural problem in that the Jewish background widows and orphans were getting better food than those of Greek background (Acts 6). The apostles did not think it was desirable "that they should leave the Word of God and serve tables.....  but we will give ourselves continually to prayer and the ministry of the word."  so they appointed deacons to this task.   Luke says this  "Pleased the whole multitude"  but does not say if it pleased the Holy Spirit.  

These verses have been quoted over and over again in support of "full time ministry" but should we not question them?  How could the very men for whom Jesus made breakfast, the very men who heard Him say that even a cup of cold water given in His name would be rewarded, the very men who  helped Him feed the multitudes, the very men who received the  instruction that whatever was done unto the least was done unto Him.... How could these men think that serving tables was beneath them?   In appointing deacons were they forgetting the teachings and example of the Master and reflecting the privileges of the religious leadership culture all around them?

To ask questions through the book of Acts you may have to question some of your favourite bits and cultural filters.

You may have to acknowledge that you are on a journey.

You may have to question some of your security blanket convictions.

You may have to ask the Holy Spirit some questions.

Your brother

Steve

 

www.harvest-now.org"

Boss and Owner of It All (What “Lord” Means)

BEEN THERE, GOT THE T-SHIRT

We live in a nation of people who believe they are following Jesus because they go to church or their kids attend a “Christian” school, or because they listen to a Christian radio station and have the bumper sticker on the back of their car to prove it. A good portion of these same people practice serial monogamy, cheat on their taxes and have a unquenchable thirst for stuff in the face of, and in spite of, tremendous human needs all around us. Saying Jesus is “Lord” or putting a Christian bumper sticker on your car does absolutely nothing for you in eternal terms, except perhaps give you the false illusion that you are headed to heaven when you may well not be going that direction at all. 

Here’s how Jesus put it:

Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of 

        my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in 

        your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?” Then I will tell them plainly, “I never knew 

        you. Away from me, you evildoers!” (Matthew 7:21-23).

Rather than offer words of explanation here, I encourage you to re-read the three verses above again and give long pause to ponder them. It has been pointed out that in Matthew’s Gospel, whenever someone says “Lord, Lord” twice like this, it is not good. It may reflect Jesus’ ominous warning about people who act religious or seem spiritual and wrongly think that their prayers will be heard by God, “because of their many words” (Matthew 6:7).

Jesus goes on in the next verses to say this:

Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his 

        house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did 

        not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put 

        them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the 

        winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.

(Matthew 7:24-27)

Let’s face it, if a friend spoke to us like this we would call him or her bossy, arrogant, full of himself or herself. But, if we understand what “Jesus is Lord” means, then our compliance with His orders, commands and teaching determines whether Jesus is MY Lord, or just someone else’s “Lord, Lord.” 

LORD MEANS “BOSS” AND OWNER

The word “lord” in our English New Testaments is a translation of the common Greek word for master (kurios). If you grew up at the time of Jesus, just about everybody had a slave or was a slave or had been a slave. As an American, I have shameful, racially tinged and painful images in my brain associated with the words master and slave. (See my chapter, “Slave of Christ and Slaves of Christ,” in The Problem With Paul [IVP, 1996]--I’ll be glad to email it to you if send a request). But, to really get Jesus I have to push past all that and understand what it meant for Him. Jesus is not a white, antebellum plantation owner, nor is He an oppressor of black people. He is the Boss of it all and Owner of all things, white people included. If we don’t belong to Jesus--if we don’t know and act like He is our owner and boss--then He has no part of us. If Jesus is not your boss and owner, neither is He your savior.

Does Jesus really mean to communicate to us that He is some kind of royal owner and boss, and we will not go to heaven unless we act and live like it? Yes. To strengthen this observation, consider a Roman military commander’s recognition of Jesus’ authority as a master and commander like the officer himself had seen in his military service:

When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. "Lord," he said, "my servant lies 

        at home paralyzed, suffering terribly."

Jesus said to him, "Shall I come and heal him?"

The centurion replied, "Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my 

        servant will be healed. For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, 'Go,' and he 

        goes; and that one, 'Come,' and he comes. I say to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it."

When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, "Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in 

        Israel with such great faith. I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at 

        the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown 

        outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

Then Jesus said to the centurion, "Go! Let it be done just as you believed it would." And his servant was healed at 

       that moment. (Matthew 8:5-13).

Jesus calls it “great faith” to understand that He is the boss of it all. “Faith” is not merely about beliefs or spirituality or religious feelings. Faith is TRUST THAT THE BOSS KNOWS BEST. Faith trusts so much that you do what He says, when He says it, without hesitation. Much of the rest of the book of Matthew is about the difference between people who see this about Jesus and either get it or don’t get it. The people who killed him got it. If they let him live, they reasoned, he was a threat to THEIR power, control and authority. Indeed. But after they killed Him, they learned a little death and pain could not keep Him down. After He had flicked off the coffin lid, these are the first words He said to His disciples as Matthew remembers it:

“"All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” (Matthew 28:18).

Wow. Jesus IS Lord. He is a complete and total threat to whoever or whatever is in control of your life, and He will dramatically interfere with your decision-making and choices for yourself. He can and does do a better job at being God than you could ever hope to do. (Click here to read more: http://brianjdodd.blogspot.com/2010/05/ownership.html ).

HOW DID JESUS GET TO BE BOSS OF IT ALL?

It is no surprise that Jesus is not a “do as I say, not as I do” kind of boss and owner. He himself had to lay down a foundation of His own obedience to require it of us. You can’t lead someone where you have not or are not going yourself. He got to be the boss and Lord of it all by submitting to and obeying the will of God. As Paul puts it in a potent little passage:

[Jesus], being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be clung to for his own 

       advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a slave, being made in human likeness. And    

       being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death--even death on a cross.

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of 

       Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that 

      Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God. (Philippians 2:6-11).

My patient doctoral mentor, the esteemed Professor Ralph Martin, did his doctoral work on the Philippians 2:6-11 scripture above (and two other passages similar “poems” in the New Testament). He identified these as perhaps the words of a song sung by the earliest followers of Jesus. If they are a sung poem of the earliest Christians, then they give us crucial insight into their understanding of who Jesus was and is, and what it means to be devoted follower of Jesus. It is the reason I have made this Boss/Lord the first word study in this book.

The most important thing to notice if you want to know the way to heaven is the V-shape movement of Philippians 2:6-11. Down, then up. The down-stroke, first part of the V-shape of this passage is that Jesus obeys and He gets killed as a result. He lowers himself, down, down, down, lower still, eventually to dead-low. After this comes the upstroke of the V: God lifts him up from the dead, and up, up, up to the highest place and gives Jesus all this amazing authority and respect. How do we get to heaven? We must follow Jesus’ example of costly obedience. Paul’s segue into quoting this song is to tell us to “have the same mindset as Christ Jesus” (2:5). After quoting the song, he reiterates that we should obey the boss, owner and Lord of all: “If you believe what you sing, dear friends, obey Jesus!” (2:12). The earliest Christians, according to this song’s lyrics, understood being a Christian was not about merely praying a prayer but about living an obedient life, regardless of the cost. 

JESUS IS NOT YOUR SAVIOR IF HE IS NOT YOUR BOSS AND OWNER

Not all Christians today get that they must learn to die with Jesus if they want to be raised up with Him. The servant is not greater than the Master. If Jesus goes down to go up, so must we. For many, Jesus is his savior but not boss. In this watered down version of Christianity, one can get an eternal fire insurance policy to protect from hell by “praying the prayer” or “going forward” or by raising a hand. If you do that once, you are safe forever.

But read Jesus’ words themselves (in red in my New Testament):

When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the 

        nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the 

       sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

Then the King will say to those on his right, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the 

        kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was 

        thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you 

        clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.”

Then the righteous will answer him, “Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you 

        something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did 

        we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?”

The King will reply, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you 

       did for me.”

Then he will say to those on his left, “Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil 

        and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I 

        was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and 

        you did not look after me.”

They also will answer, “Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in 

        prison, and did not help you?”

He will reply, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.”

Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life. (Matthew 25:31-46)

Do you want to know what happens when you die? Do you want to know the way to heaven? Listen to Jesus. Look at Jesus. Follow his example of obedience. Hear and heed his commands. Jesus is only your savior if he is also your boss and owner.

You are not your own. You have been bought with a price. (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)

From everlasting to everlasting the Lord's love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children's children—with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts. The Lord has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all. (Psalm 103:17-19)5

  Obey me, and I will be your God and you will be my people. Walk in obedience to all I command you, that it may go well with you. (Jeremiah 7:23)