The State of the Church....Can it be done differently?

This is probably one of the most important and perhaps controversial post that I have ever written. It concerns the Church. I love the Church, but the Church just does not seem to be what it should be.

This post is for those out there that;

Know there should be more to Church.
People that are not happy with the current condition of the Church.
People that know that there needs to be a change.
People that are not happy with the status quo.
People that have still not found what they are looking for.
People that have been hurt and ostracized by the Church.
People that love the Church, but know that the Church is not just 4 walled institutions.
People that know the Church is actually you and me.

We are different. We are not of this world. We are called to do things differently. We need to do things better.

Many of our Churches are unable to do much, if anything, to reach the unsaved in our community because they are bogged down by debt, by dwindling tithes, by uncaring, by complacency, by doubt, by few to no workers, by leadership issues, being untrained. and more.

People come to our Churches. They sing a few songs, they listen to a sermon and then they go home. They go home in the same condition they were in when they walked in the door. I have heard and seen this all to often. People in the parking lots of our Churches cursing up a storm. They go inside the Church and pretend that everything is fine. After Church, they come out cursing again and all but run over the cars in front on them trying to get out of the parking lot as fast as they can.

I see married couples that argue and fight right up until they enter the doors of the Church. Then they put on their masks and pretended that the fighting never happened. They do their best to put on a good show for the duration of the service. After the service, they remove their masks and go right back to hating each others guts.

I see people that have dire needs. Needs of jobs, needs of food, needs of money to pay the bills. Needs of money to pay their mortgage or rent before they get kicked out and lose their home. People desperate for healing, prayer, and to meet the real Jesus.

I see people with hope in their hearts that know that God can meet their needs. They go into our Churches with this hope that God will show up. But to them, he never does. They leave the Church with their hope and faith squashed. They still hate their spouse, they still need a job, they still need healed, they still need money to pay bills, they still need to meet Jesus, they still need food, they still need clothing, and on and on.

I see Churches and Ministries that put endless criteria, rules and regulations on the little help that they do offer. The hoops are often so many to get this help that the people in need run away from both the Church and God convinced that both are just big bullies that offer help, but never really intend to give it.

I see Church services where people are invited to go up to the alter and pray. They do this, as they should. But it ends there. Most leave the alter with little more hope, if any, than they had when they went to the alter.

The Church is not meeting needs. Its not doing its job. Oh sure, I know there are exceptions out there. But they are few and far in-between. I personally know Churches that have flat out refused to help in the community.

They fear that they wont have enough people to do the tasks. They fear that they wont have enough resources to meet all the need. They fear that they wont have the staff to manage needs. This fear is not of God!

Most of the people in the US have heard about the Bible until they are blue in the face. They have been told over and over that Jesus loves them. They have been told that he cares. But what is the Church doing to prove it? God loves to meet needs. This is what he is all about.

Its not that God is not showing up. Its that the Church is not utilizing Him. God is not into doing everything himself. Sure, God can do this if he chooses, and does when he has to. But that's not how he prefers to work. God wants to use us. Just like in that song. "We are His hands and feet". If we don't get out there and do it, chances are that is not going to get done. God keeps waiting for the Church to get out there and start helping. But he is just left waiting at the alter.

Does Church need to be re-invented? Is it that we have just forgotten how Church should be run?

Church needs to be a place where;

There is life
There is laughter
There is joy
There is healing
There are needs met. Needs like Food, Clothes, Jobs, etc...
Marriages and relationships are healed
We reach out to those both inside and outside our 4 walls and show them Jesus
We put action to our prayers

I want to hit more on that last point. The people in the pews and chairs of our Churches are literally dying right where they sit. We feed them faith by the spoonful and bucketful. Our people want to get out there and do something with all this faith that they are fed. But very few Churches provide any outlet for this faith.

Prayer is faith. We are going to God with our requests, our belief, and our very lives. We are believing that he is going to help us and others. But there is another step to this process. Yes, prayer is supposed to be a process. If we just pray and do nothing else, we might as well have not prayed at all. Prayer must be active and acted upon.

According to James 2:14-26, and in several other places in His Word, faith without works is a dead faith. You have probably heard this before, but had no clue what is really meant. Well, Im here to tell you what it means.

It means; If you pray for someone that needs food, and you have food, you feed them.
If you pray for someone that needs clothes, and you have clothes, you clothe them
If you pray for someone that needs healing, you heal them
If you pray for someone to receive Christ, you lead them to the Lord
If you pray for food, you listen to the Lord tell you where to find it and go get it
If you pray for a job, get off your butt and go get one

In a nutshell, it means that prayer should not end at the alter with some well meaning Christian, Pastor, or other Church Leader. If that Christian, Pastor, or other Church Leader is not actively trying to figure out ways to meet your need, and following up with you to find out how God and met you need, they have not completed the process and have not done their job correctly.

To be fair, its not entirely their fault. They were probably never trained how to pray correctly. They were probably never trained that there is more to the process. Many of our Church staff are also overwhelmed and over worked.

So my idea is simple. I am willing to start a Church. I have ran away from this idea for a long long time. But I need ideas. What sort of Church would you want to see? I know how needs should be met and how prayer should be done. But there needs to be more. Church should be a place where we want to go. Church should be a place where everyone works. Church should be a place where everyone uses their faith and their actions to help those inside and outside in the community.

Church should be a place of joy and life.

Church must be an active part of the community. In earlier times, it was the community. The Community revolved around the Church. We can be that again. But we need to get started before its too late. If you have ideas on how to do this, and you want to be involved, I want to hear from you. I have developed a short survey.

If you really want to reach the world for Christ, by becoming the Church, I need to hear from you right now. I want to hear what you think a Church service and the Church should be and how it should run. Phillip@NeedsMet.us

Reimagining the Church - a book review that is past due

I read this book and wrote this review some time ago. A friend of mine recommended it. I had to go back and read my review of it to refresh my memory of the book. Many of us recognize that the current church system is broken and is missing something. Then again, many of us think that its just fine as is and if its not broke, why fix it?

This book points out the authors reasons why he feels that the current Church model is broken. I agree with most of what he says. But I have my own additional reasons why I think that the current Church model does not work. I think this book does a decent job. I just dont agree with the language that the author used. See below.

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Frank calls his vision for the Church "Organic Church."

On a side note, I don't much like the word "Organic." Have you ever gone to stores that have organic foods? These places seem to attract people that oppose Christianity. (To be fair, there are many that go to these places that just want to be healthy and select healthy foods). I'm not entirely sure why Organic and religions other than Christianity go together. Perhaps they are like Spirits. No matter the reason though, they just seem to attract the same people.

In the world of Christianity, I live by the verse; "You will know them by their fruits." In other words; if you want to determine if something, or someone, is of God, just look at the end result (What it, or they, produce). In this case; what kind of people do organic stores attract? If organic stores attract those that oppose Christianity, then we can draw the conclusion that it's not Christian. So associating the word organic with the Christian Church, just rubs me the wrong way.

Frank's book draws a line in the sand, which is his vision for how the Church should be, and dares you to cross over it. He very clearly spells out his viewpoints and defends them well. However, all that defense makes the book sound a bit desperate. It's like he is saying to the world; "Won't you please read my book so I can prove to you how wrong your way is?"

Though he stops short of saying this, Frank seems to be saying that his vision for the Church is the only way, and if you don't accept it, you are doomed. Now I have to admit that I did not read each and every page word-for-word. I just couldn't. This brings me to my next side note and rant.

Doesn't anyone use illustrations anymore? To me, a book that has nothing in it but line after line, and page after page of text, is very boring. Nice, well laid out illustrations break up this monotony, and provide you with a wealth of information. Ever heard the saying that a picture is worth a thousand words? Well, it's true. Frank... I'm drawing my line in the sand and I dare you to prove me wrong.

Frank also uses the word "Institutional Church" many times in the book. Here we go again! The word Institutional makes me think of folks that have been committed to a mental institution. I don't much like the Church being compared to a mental institution and those that attend it to mental patients.

Now in his defense, Frank does address this word in his book. He says that he could just as easily used the word "Traditional". Well, Frank...If you could have just as easily substituted the word Institutional for a less offensive word, why didn't ya?" Are you trying to make enemies of every Church going Christian in America? If not, I suggest choosing your words more carefully.

So right from the start,"Reimagining Church" sets a bad tone by its choice of words. Perhaps Frank just wanted to rile us all up. I'm not sure of his intentions and I won't try to figure them out here. I do agree with most of what this book had to say. I mainly just didn't like the way it was said, and the manner in which it was written. The book Reimagining Church was dry and lifeless and did not make me want to run out and purchase his next book, "Pagan Christianity."

Reimagining Church is all about how we have strayed from the original design that God laid out for us for the Church. In the New Testament;

* Church was held in homes
* There were no Pastors
* No hierarchical structure
* No strict division of laypeople, Pastor, clergy or staff, etc...
* No firm structures to meetings

I was intrigued by 2 things in the book that I had not thought of before. The first is that the Church should be a family. Now interestingly enough, most Churches are families, or at least were started by families. Many Churches are run by husband and wife teams, with the husband as the Pastor and the wife often the worship leader. Then the kids often join on as staff. Many Churches start out in homes, but then when they grow, they naturally think of getting a bigger building. They do this because that's just the way it has always been done. As the Church grows bigger and bigger, it becomes more and more difficult to maintain that family dynamic and eventually its lost altogether.

I love the idea of getting back to the family unit as the center of the Church. This solves the problem of husbands abandoning their families to go off to Pastor a church. Then as the Church grows, that family dynamic is maintained, because as a home Church, its maximum size is determined by the size of the home.

The other idea that I thought was mind blowing was the part about the Lords Supper. In the modern day American Church, we have reduced the Lords supper to communion. The word communion does not even appear in the Bible. Communion is a stale and sterile practice that consists of tiny wafers, or crackers, and some sort of juice.

The wafers are tiny so they are easier to pass around and hold in ones hand. Grape juice is used so we don't offend those that do not like alcohol, or those that think it sinful to drink wine. What I never understood about communion is how it became all about us. Our current Communion rituals cater to our needs, not the needs of Jesus.

In many countries, they still use real bread and real wine, which in my opinion, is the way it should be. I wonder what Mosses would have said had the Israelites used present day arguments like that.

"Oh Moses! Really? Sheep's blood! "Why Cant we use something more hygienic on the door lintels like red markers?" Don't ya know I'm allergic to sheep's blood?"

The idea that the book presents is that we should get back to the original idea and intention of "The Lords Supper." Instead of the abbreviated version, we call Communion; let's have the full meal deal. A real supper complete with real bread and real wine. The supper would be a time for sharing the good things of God with each other. A time of fellowship and getting to know each other better. We could even take turns going around the table and talking about the things God has done in our lives. A supper filled with true good will, remembering what God has done for us, and showing thankfulness and joy in that. Not some cold and somber event that last just a few minutes and is quickly forgotten.

Reimagining Church condemns the traditional Church. I do agree that home church is what God probably intended for His Church. However, I disagree that there is no place at all in this world for the more traditional building based Church. He does not actually say this, but it is implied. I read a review of his book on Amazon that I thought was very insightful.

The Pastor said that it's true that the Traditional Church model has gone astray and needs help. He pointed out though that just because it's broken, does not mean that we should throw out this model completely. It would be like throwing out the baby with the bathwater. Why not just try to fix what's broken?

Of course there is also the example we are given in the Bible of not trying to put new wine in old wine skins. So I'm not sure what the answer is. What I do know though is that the traditional Church model is probably not going to go away anytime soon and perhaps not at all.

Why cant home Churches and the more traditional building model of the Church co-exist?

This is a good book and an excellent idea, but the book itself could have been written better.

Is Church Broken? - Part 4

In the last part, we talked about Faith and why most have a dead faith. I think in this part, I want to quickly get through the other bullet points so that I can get to the good stuff.

The good stuff is how to fix the Church. But before I continue, I need to define just what makes up "The Church". The Church is not the 4 walled building that you go to on Sunday.

The Church is us. You and me. The building that we go to is nothing more than a gathering place.

A gathering, or meeting place is important. God told us not to neglect meeting together and encouraging each other. Hebrews 10:25

But somewhere along the line, the Church building became more important than the actual Church, which is us.

I want to talk briefly about ministries. I love ministries. I run one called Needs Met. Ministries exist because Churches are not doing their job.

Why Churches dont, or maybe cant, do their job is probably a question for someone smarter than I am. I have a few thoughts on it, but I dont know exactly why.

I have served in a lot of Churches in my life. Baptist Churches, Assembly of God Churches, Independent Churches, Non-Denominational Churches, and many more.

To be fair, Churches do try. Some of them, especially the smaller ones that are not bogged down by red tape, and debt, try hard to make it work. Some of them do succeed.

But there are a lot that just cant.

Some Churches are so top heavy with overpaid Pastoral staff, that they dont have the ability to get things done.

Some Churches are do weighed down by rules and regulations, that they are old and lifeless and cant get anything done.

Other Churches are plagued by fear. Fear that they will lose donations, fear that they wont be able to handle the needs, or fear that they wont have another people to meet needs. Other Churches are isolationist. They don't want to venture outside their walls.

God wants to speak to us. Why dont we let him?

This is something that I wrote a long time ago. I think it bears re-posting.

We love to talk and pray. I think most of the time, we just want to hear ourselves.

The Bible had some nasty warnings on this. Matthew 6:5

Here is an example of the problem.

Example: Rebecca and I are high school students that are going to have a conversation on the phone.

Rebecca - (calls up Phillip on the phone)
Rebecca - Hello Phillip. How are you today?
Phillip - Im …….
Rebecca - (Immediately Interrupts)
My day was horrible. I had to get up at 4 this morning. DO you believe that 4am!
Phillip - I….
Rebecca - (Immediately Interrupts)
And my English teacher hates me. What do you think about Mrs. Jennings?
Phillip - I ….
Rebecca - (Immediately Interrupts)
I met this guy that turned out to be a jerk. What do you think of Bob?
Phillip - I ….
Rebecca - (Immediately Interrupts)
Lunch in the Cafeteria was pukey. I had the Hamburger which tasted like Rubber. DO you like Rubber?
Phillip - I ….
Rebecca - (Immediately Interrupts)
I have lots of Homework to do tonight? DO you want to come over and help me with my homework tonight?
Phillip - I ….
Rebecca - (Immediately Interrupts)
I sure am tired. Why don’t you answer me Phillip? Well, Bye…

Lets use the same scenario and apply it to a prayer

Rebecca - praying
Rebecca - Father, how are you today?
God - I….
Rebecca - (Immediately Interrupts)
Father, I had a hard time at school today
God - I….
Rebecca - (Immediately Interrupts)
I wish I didn’t have so much homework. Its real hard and Im not sure that I will make it this year
God - I….
Rebecca - (Immediately Interrupts)
I met this guy God, and he’s real cute. But he didn’t notice me at all. Why don’t he notice me God?
God - I…
Rebecca - (Immediately Interrupts)
Lunch in the cafeteria was really aweful. Cant you do something about that food God. Make the school put in a Mcdonalds or something.
God - I…
Rebecca - (Immediately Interrupts)
The people at school are so mean. Why cant they just be more like me and be nice and friendly?
God - I…
Rebecca - (Immediately Interrupts)
My English teach hates me God. Cant you give her a heart attach or something? Well, maybe not a heart attach, but some really painful Gas or something like that
God - I…
Rebecca - (Immediately Interrupts)
Well, God, I gota go….In Jesus name I pray, Amen

That’s what most Christians prayer life is like.

We call up God on our spiritual prayer phone and tell God what we need, what we think, and ask God for help and then just hang up never letting God get in a word edgewise.

Is Church Broken? - Part 3

In part 1, I laid out what I thought were the issues in the current Church model.

In part 2, I said that there is a better way for Church to be done.

The better way is not anything new at all. In fact, its a very old way that has just been forgotten.

Why these methods were left behind, Im not sure.

Maybe like the religious leaders of Jesus day, church leaders feared loosing control over their Church and their people.

Maybe Church leaders fear losing donations and people if they do too much. Its hard to say exactly when and why the problem happened.

But that does not matter. Our society loves to play the blame game. We are always looking for someone to blame for what is wrong.

Most of the time, to find the problem, we only have to look in the mirror. Just like the late Michale Jackson told us.

Before I get to the answer, I want to lay more foundation by answering the bullet points I posed in Part 1. In going through these, we might even find that we have stumbled on the answer.

• When did our faith die?

In our Church services, we pray. We should certainly pray. Prayer is how things get done. Prayer activate the power of God. But we are missing a part of this process.

A part of this problem is that we dont let God talk. But Im not going to put that here. I will just link it and you can read it if you wish. Its called Let God talk too.

The part that is missing is letting God talk to. But this is also not the end of the process.

When we pray, we are having the faith that God will do something. We ask as though it was already done. That's faith.

But this is only part of Faith.

According to James 2:14-26, faith without works is dead.

In fact, this is a reoccurring theme throughout the entire Bible. What is Faith, what is not Faith, and how to have faith. I will do a study on that later. When I do, I will link it here.

In order to fulfill the requirements of faith (Have a real and genuine faith), we must put action to it. If we dont put any action (Work) to it, then according to God, its a dead faith.

A dead faith is completely worthless. Id go as far as to say that if you are not putting action to your faith, then its better not to have it all.

In fact, we have only to read another part of the Bible to confirm this principle.

Revelation 3:16 I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.

Vomiting is a very violent action. Meaning that not only will God not put up with someone that is Lukewarm, he will expel them with great violence and force.

We can easily apply this same concept to Faith. If we don't have a living, breathing, working faith, God will have nothing to do with it.

So if we put this all together, we learn that its not enough to pray. Faith requires action to that prayer. So when we pray, we have to do something.

How about a few examples?

If you are praying for someone that needs clothes, you need to find that person clothes yourself. Maybe from your very own closet, which is probably overflowing with clothes you don't wear anyway. Or you can ask someone else that has the ability to give clothes to that person.

If you are praying for someone that needs food, find that person food yourself. Maybe from your own frig, which is probably overflowing with food you dont even need. Or you can direct that person to a food bank that can help them.

If you are praying for a job for someone, you need to try to figure out a way to help that person find a job. Maybe with the place that you work at. Or you can send them to the employment office. Or you can create a resume for that person and help them mail it out to places that need people.

If you are praying for healing for someone, dont stop with just an easy prayer. You can find out more about that persons illness and find a them a good doctor. Or research the disease for them and help them understand how to deal with it Or Give them money for medicine

The bottom line to all this is that if you pray for someone, or something, the other part to the process is action (Works)

Put some action to your prayer and do something about it.

According to the Bible, if you dont put some action to your prayer, then its a dead prayer.

The bible says that if you see a need and dont have compassion, then the love of God is not in you.

Having compassion for someone is more than just a feeling. Its the same as Faith. We learned that Faith without Works is dead.

Real, living, breathing compassion also requires action to be put to that feeling. To have the compassion feeling, but do nothing with that feeling, is to be no better than the world!

Compassion requires doing something. So when God says that to see someone in need, we should have compassion for them, he was not meaning that we need only that ooey gooey mushy feeling.

If you see someone in need, and dont do anything about it (Action), the love of God is not in you!

Continue to Part 4

Is Church broken? - Part 2

In Part 1, I made some observations about the Church as far as why it is not functioning properly.

I'm not going to go back through all of Part 1, but I will point out a few highlights. I expounded on a few of the points.

I am not a prophet, but I do consider myself a watchman. A Watchman's responsibility is to keep watch and speak up when he, or she, sees trouble coming. Ezekiel 1-3

I see a problem, or as I call it, a hole in the Church.

We go to Church, sing a few songs, listen to a sermon and then go home.

We have become so used to this way of doing things, that it just seems normal. Like this is how its supposed to be.

But is the way that Church is conducted really the way that God intended it to be?

Some of you probably know what I am talking about. Even if you only feel that something is wrong, but you just cant put your finger on it.

Its like in the movie The Matrix. Morpheus is trying to explain to Neo what the Matrix is. He tells Neo that he has felt all his life like something was just not right. Like a splinter in his mind.

I grew up in the church. But something just never quite felt right. There seemed to be something missing.

Well, about 5 years ago, God gave me the vision for Needs Met. Part of the vision for Needs Met was on how Needs are not being met in our Churches.

The way that current Church services are run is just not quite there. Its like a recipe that is missing an ingredient.

A cake just would not quite taste right if it was missing eggs, or flour.

Well, our Churches are missing something and I think I know what that something is.

We go to Church, sing a few songs, then listen to a sermon and that's it. Sometimes there are a few more ingredients to a service, but that pretty much describes most every Church in America.

Whats wrong this picture?

Maybe you don't see anything missing. Its ok if you don't. We have become indoctrinated to believe that this is how Church should be.

After all, this is how Church has been done for decades. So why change it?

Well, the 1st thing Id ask is that just because a thing has always been done a certain way, does that mean that its the correct way and there is no room for change or improvement?

We lived in darkness for many years. Finally someone came along and invented Kerosene and we had light. Now people did not have to go to bed when the sun went down.

We lived that way for a long time. Then someone came along and invented the electric light bulb. Now we had more efficient light.

For years, we traveled by car and had to travel state to state this way. Then one day someone invented an airplane and we suddenly could fly!

I could go on. The point is that throughout history, there has been a way that seemed right to us and that was the way things were done.

Then someone came up with a better way and life changed.

Church has been done a certain way for a long long time. What if there was a better way?

Now Im not saying that we need to re-write the Bible or anything silly like that. In fact, what I am talking about is nothing new at all. Its simply been forgotten.

Click here to continue to Part 3

Is Church broken? - Part 1

Before I even start, I need to set the tone for this. I love the Church. Its out of this love for the Church that I have to speak out about it.

I know what I have to say is not going to be popular on many levels.

As people, we don't like being told that we are wrong. We don't like being told that we are messed up and need correction. That's human nature.

As Christians, we especially don't like being told that we are wrong. Much of this can be justified. There is so much in the Bible that seems to be negative. At least, it can be taken this way.

Being a Christian is not unlike that episode in Star Wars where Luke has just found out that his father is Darth Vader. He asks Obi Wan why he didnt tell him and why he told him that his father was dead.

ObiWan told him that what he said about his father was true. He told him that much of what the Jedi Knights believed was true from a certain point of view.

So basically ObiWan was telling Luke that he had to choose what he wanted to believe. Same thing in the movie The Matrix. The Oracle tells Neo that he has to make up his own mind what he wants to believe.

As a Christian, you need to choose what you want to believe. You can choose to see the good and positive in the Bible, or you can choose to see bad and negative.

As a Pastor, or leader in the Church, we dont want to be told that we are wrong either. In fact, Id say that this is one of the worst and toughest to overcome.

Its as if the Church thinks its untouchable and perfect. Nothing that the Church does can possibly be wrong or need fixing? And the larger the Church, the more difficult this is.

In large Churches, the senior Pastor is just about untouchable and unapproachable.

To stand up and speak out about something that the Church is doing wrong is...paramount to sacrilege.

On a side note, I tried a few years ago to get out the idea that Churches needed evaluating, just like any other business. Someone would go into a Church and submit a report of what the Church was doing right and what it was doing wrong. The idea was not well received at all. But I digress.

There are many examples in the Bible where people spoke out when things had gone awry in the Church, or with its leaders or even kings. They were called prophets. They were less than popular.

Prophets were not really known for giving much in the way of good news.

Then there is the ultimate example that we have of correction. Jesus himself!

We love to listen to all the "cute" things that Jesus had to say. Things like Love thy neighbor, and things like that. Mainly the stuff that tickles our ears.

But Jesus had some very scathing words to say about the religious leaders of the day. In our current day vernacular; He tore them a new one.

We don't like that part much because we don't want to think that the Church, even in that day, was wrong.

Now, Im not saying that I am a prophet. So don't mishear me. If anything, Id say that I am a watchman that stands on the wall and sounds the alarm when I see trouble coming.

The problem is that the Church in our day is also broken. In fact, id go so far as to say that the Church has reverted to the same problems that it had back in Jesus day.

That's a pretty bad indictment I know. But its one that our Churches need to hear.

So just what is the problem, you might ask. Or hopefully you are asking.

Well, Church has become a place where Christians go to be entertained.

We go into a Church service, which with minor differences, is pretty much the same wherever you go. We sing a few songs. Then we listen to a sermon. Then take up an offering and go home.

Maybe there are a few announcements, maybe a time for prayer, maybe a call to go down to the alter for prayer, maybe communion is held. But that's about it.

A pretty dead service if you ask me.

• When did Church Services become so dry and boring?
• Where in the Bible do we find this formula for what a Church service should be?
• Where do we find the top down structure that our modern day Churches have?
• When did our faith die?
• When did Church become just a place of Christian entertainment?
• Why are there so many ministries out there?
• What should we be doing in Church?

I didnt want to get this too long, so I decided to continue this on Part 2

The Movie Pain and Gain - Hollywood cashing on on true story of torture

Is there ever a time when its acceptable to glorify torture and death?

And even worse, make money of it?

Hollywood sure thinks there is.

Over the weekend, I saw the show 48 hours. One of the stories was called Muscle and Mayhem.

Click here to read the 48 hours true life story.

It was a true story of 2 guys that kidnapped a man and tortured him ruthlessly and horribly for 4 months in a warehouse. The torture was very very gruesome.

They got the guy to sign over all his possessions, which included his house and millions of dollars. The muscle heads moved into the guys house, spent all his money and trashed his life.

Afterwards, they took on a new target. They found a couple worth millions and killed them both brutally. I could not believe how bad this true story was.

But then it got even worse.

I found out that Hollywood could not resist making a movie from the story.

The movie is called Pain & Gain. It has just come out recently. The movie stars Mark Wahlberg and Dwayne Johnson. The movie has received very bad reviews, which I am very glad about.

Hollywood has sunk to an all new low!

How is it that we have allowed Hollywood to sink so low as to make money off the pain, torture, and death of others?

The 1st victim of these two muscle heads survived.

We need to stop Hollywood. They are out of control and think they can do anything they want.

The only way that we are going to be able to hold Hollywood accountable for movies like this is to vote with our wallets. We have a lot of power. But we can only have this power when we unite.

If even a small portion of us band together, boycotted this movie, and the actors that played in it (Mark Wahlberg & Dwayne Johnson), Hollywood would pay attention.

If the movie lost millions of dollars in revenue, Hollywood would think twice about doing something like this again.

Hollywood should be donating the proceeds of this movie toward the surviving victim and other victims like him.

So, just how to we do this?

Dont go see this movie. Tell all your friends to not go to see this movie. Send this newsletter to all your friends. And have them send it to all their friends. Ask them to send it to all their friends.

If you want to go the extra mile, you could send petitions to the producer of the movie, the actors that were in the movie & the makers of the movie.

But the best way to get Hollywood's attention is to just not go see the movie.

To be perfect, or not, that is the question.

I run a non-profit called Needs Met. Needs Met is all about meeting the needs of people. Things like Food, clothes, household items etc.

I have talked to a lot of people and Churches about the concept for Needs Met.

What I hear all the time are things like;

"Why dont you have a more clear vision?"
"Why dont you have all the details worked out?"
"Where will you get financing from?"
"Where will you get donations?"
"Where will you get a facility?"
"What kind of criteria will you have to determine who gets served and who does not and on and on."

This really bothers me. I have perfectionist tendencies. I love it when things are all worked out. All the I's are doted and the T's crossed.

I love it when I have a solid plan. Nothing left to chance! This really appeals to my humanity.

But is this really the way that God wants us to do things?

If we look at the Bible for examples of how God worked with other people, we can find lots of them.

Lets look at Moses? When God spoke to Moses at the burning bush, he did not give Moses a well laid out plan for how to deal with Pharaoh.

God told Moses to go down to Egypt and get his people out of there. Moses tried to press God for a few details.

God gave Moses a little more, but not much. God told Moses that he would bring them to a place flowing with Milk & Honey. He also told Moses that he would stretch out his hand and strike Egypt.

What! No details God? Whats up with that?

God told Moses that if would have to speak to Pharaoh and tell him to let his people go.

Moses complained to God that he was not a good speaker. This was not a good idea!

God got angry at Moses.

Can you imagine what would have happened if Moses would have asked God for a mission statement, or a game plan of exactly how God intended to convince Pharaoh to let the Israeites go?

Not to mention to huge tasks of getting all those Israelite's (Estimates of the total # are around 3 million) through the desert with very little water and food.

Then Moses needed a plan of what to do when they got to this land flowing with Milk and Honey. They would need a government, money to buy things, building materials to build houses, food and water, etc...

It was a monumental task that God was asking Moses to do. But God was being very vague with it.

God intentionally held back from Moses. Moses just didnt need to be burdened with all the details.

I think that if Moses would have known all that he was getting himself into, he would have never agreed to it. I think he would have collapsed out of fear and doubt!

And Moses is just one of many many examples just like this.

Every single time throughout the entire Bible, when God asked someone to do something, he offered very little to nothing as to details on what the task involved.

So why is it that we think that we need to know everything down to the smallest detail in order to do anything for God?

Today, most Churches have highly structured services. Even down to the second in some cases!

Worship, especially in larger Churches, is practiced and rehearsed over and over so that there is no room for mistakes.

Anyone wanting to put together a mission, group, or organization must know all the details of how everything will work, where donations will come from, what expenses will arise, and on and on.

I believe that in striving for perfection, we have left God out.

I was in a missions organization called Youth With A Mission for several years.

We performed mime dramas all over the world. I remember on some occasions, we would do our best to practice and get our performance just as perfect as we could.

This seemed right to us. We wanted to give people the best performance that we could. We thought that if we did a really good job, that people would be stirred to come up front for prayer and some would get saved.

Then there were other times that we just could not practice. We were busy traveling and doing things and just didnt find time. We thought that those would be the performances that would not see many come up for prayer.

What we found was just the opposite of what we expected. When our performance was well rehearsed and perfect, very few came forward.

When we had little, or no time, to rehearse and our performance was bad, lots of people came and got saved. This baffled us.

You see, God is not interested in our perfection. In fact, he cant work with it at all.

When we are trying to be perfect, and have all the little details worked out, there is little to no room for God to work.

We can read about this concept in God's word.

For to be sure, he was crucified in weakness, yet he lives by God's power. Likewise, we are weak in him, yet by God's power we will live with him to serve you.
2 Corinthians 13:4

To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
2 Corinthians 12:7-10

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness...
Romans 8:26

That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
2 Corinthians 12:10

We are glad whenever we are weak but you are strong; and our prayer is for your perfection.
2 Corinthians 13:9

There are many more scriptures on this, but I think you get the idea here.

We are not to try to be perfect and have it all together. We are to be weak so that God can be strong and perfect.

Its in that very time when you dont have it all together that you leave room for God and he will show up.

Hypnosis - Who should control me?

I received a comment today on a posting I wrote a long time ago. The posting was on a hypnosis session that was done to me about 30 or so years ago. At the time I had the session, I was young, foolish and did not understand the implications of what I was doing.

I am not in favor on Hypnosis. I think its very dangerous and should be avoided at all costs.

I decided not to allow this comment that is in favor of Hypnosis because its in direct conflict with both logic and the Bible.

I believe that Hypnotherapy is very dangerous. I believe that no person, Christian or not, should go under this mental knife. Many years ago, this was the mainstream thought in the Christian community. Now things have changed. Many deceived Christians now say that its ok. Its not really surprising. There are a lot of things that were once forbidden in our Churches that some have now decided are fine.

One example. We even have so-called Churches now that allow gay marriage.

But just because some have changed their minds, does not make these things right.

The mind is very powerful. God spoke the world into existence with only his words. These words came from his heart and mind. In us, the mind is also the brain. The heart, mind, and soul is who we truly are. The brain controls the entire body.

To mess with these controls is very dangerous. We know very little about the brain and its abilities. To mess with something that we know very little about is just plain crazy.

It would be like me trying to perform surgery. I know computers. I know nothing about the brain or surgery. So for me to perform surgery on a brain is ludicrous. But yet, this is what we are doing when we allow someone to work on our brain.

We are giving this Hypnotherapist control over our very being.

We are allowing someone, that knows very little about how the brain really functions, to come in and make adjustments to it.

This would be like asking a customer service person to do brain surgery on you. It makes no sense at all to allow it.

This is the logical side of my argument. What about from a Biblical stance?

Well, the Bible does not specifically address Hypnotherapy, but that does not mean that its ok. Some think that just because a thing is not mentioned by name in the Bible, its ok to do.

I find this argument to be extremely silly. I hear it all the time. 'The bible does not address Gays, Homosexuals, Hypnosis, etc.. by name, so it must be ok, right?"

This is a really poor argument. Up until about 50 years ago, or so, the word Gay simply meant someone that was happy. We changed the meaning of it.

The word Homosexual was invented in the 1800's. Since these terms were not invented yet, how can we possibly expect God to have used these terms in the bible?

Hypnotherapy, at least by that name, was also unknown in Jesus day.

In order for God to say that certain things were wrong, to an audience that knew little to nothing about such sins yet, he would need to talk about them in more general terms.

Hypnosis involves the transfer of control away from ourselves to another person. Galatians 5:22-23

We are to give over the control of our mind only to God. Romans 6:12-13

Hypnotism is often promoted as a simple way of “refocusing” ourselves and finding the answer within us. As believers in Christ, our focus is to be on our Savior, not on ourselves or anything else. Hebrews 12:2, Romans 7:18, Romans 8:2

Many of the techniques used in hypnosis are shared by mystical, philosophical, and religious systems, including the occult. The “father of hypnotism,” Franz Anton Mesmer—from whose name we get the word mesmerize—was himself a practitioner of the occult. Deuteronomy 18:9-12 tells us that we can not have anything to do with the occult.

So I think the Bible is all too clear, as does logic tell us, that we should have nothing to do with Hypnosis.

Interview with God - Do you inforce your will on us?

I decided to write this in response to a Facebook debate that I got into. If you wish to see the debate, go to my Facebook page and view it.

https://www.facebook.com/phillip.dacus/posts/317715071668064?comment_id=1517145

Here is my answer in the form of a conversation with God.

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Me - God do you directly manipulate things like presidential elections and such down on earth so that who you your will is always done? Or do you allow men to have the free will to make their own decisions and do things how they wish done so that we make our own beds and then have to lie in them?

God – Son, why do you concern yourself with such things?

Me – Because I need to know

God - (with a chuckle)
Yes, I did design you with an inherent need to know the unknowable and to question things.

Me – So how about it? How do you work?

God – Let me ask you a question. If you knew the answer, what would you do with this knowledge?

Me – I would go back, assuming you are going to send me back. You are going to send me go back, right?
Id tell everyone back there…I told ya so!

God – And what purpose would that serve?

Me – (Shuffling my feet about and feeling rather nervous that God called me out)
Well, not sure about what purpose it would really serve, but it sure would be fun.

God – So it would be fun to you to prove others wrong?

Me – uh…. well……ya know……

God - How about it?

Me – Well, they are all morons.

God – I created all those people down there in my image.

Me – (Feeling about 2” tall realizing that I just called God a moron)

God – My son, I love you, I love them all. You are all my children. You are a father. I know your little girl very very well. She is a blessing to me.

Me – (Feeling pride that God knows my daughter)

God – How do you work in your daughter’s life?

Me – What do you mean God?

God – Do you manipulate things in your daughter’s life so that her life conforms to your will? Or do you allow her to use her free will, make her own decisions and “lie in her own bed that she created?”

Me – I do both. When she was a baby, I made all of the decisions for her. She was totally dependent on me to do it all for her. She was a baby, so she could not do anything herself.

Now that she is older, she is learning to make some of her own decisions and do some things herself. But she is not able to do it all. She needs me to protect her and keep her safe from the things that she is just too naive and inexperienced to know yet.

As she grows into an adult, she will depend on me less and less. She will learn to be independent and create her own life, hopefully using what I taught her as a guide. But I will always be there when she needs me to step in and make any decisions and do anything that she needs me to.

God – Well put my Son. Do you think I would do any less for my kids?

Me – Well, no. So are you saying that both are true? How can that be?

God – Just like you do with your daughter, I work with my children as needed. There are times when I need to do everything for you. Like when you were new in me and you were just learning to walk.

There are times when I step back and allow you to make your own mistakes. But even in these times, I am always there to pick you up when you fall or protect you when you get into trouble.

Me – How can you override our free will?

God – Lets say that you are on the 2nd story of the mall. There is railing that is there to protect anyone from falling to the floor below. Your daughter decides that she wants to climb this railing to get a better view, because she saw a really cute baby on the 1st floor. Would you allow this?

Me – Of course not. I love my daughter and would protect her even if it meant my own life.

God – So you would circumvent her free will and impose your own?

Me - If it meant protecting her from death. Yeah, you bet I would!!

God – And what about other times in her life?

Me – What do you mean?

God – Are there any other times that you would not allow her to make her own decisions?

Me – Yes.
She is not always capable of making the right decision. Like the other day when she was making brownies in her Easy Bake Oven. When they were done, she was about to stick her bare hand inside the oven to take out the hot pan. We stopped her and told her to use the tool that the manufacturer provided.

God – Why would you not allow her to put her bare hand in the oven?

Me – Because I knew that it would hurt her.

God – I see. So you can circumvent her free will when you know that it is needed to prevent her from harm.

Me – Sure, there are plenty of times like this. She is only 8 ya know.

God – Yes. I created her ya know. Are there any other times that you don’t allow her to do what she wants to do?

Me – Well, sure there are.

God – Like what?

Me –Right now, she attends public school. But there will probably come a time when we will pull her from public school and either home school her or get her into one of those public schools through the internet.

God – And why would you do that?

Me – We don’t want the public school system to ram homosexuality, and evolution down her throat. We want her to know you and learn the truth about how she should be and how to world was created. Lots of junk in public schools ya know.

God – Aren’t your interfering with her life?

Me - Well... yes. But she does not know what is best for her? She does not know what school she should attend, Or what kind of education she needs. We make these decisions for her because she does not know what is best for her and we do.

God – Do you allow her to make her own decisions as well?

Me - Sure. She makes more and more decisions on her own as she gets older. She sometimes makes her own breakfast now. The other day, she even made me nachos.

God – :) I know you love your Nachos.

Me - Sometimes we even allow her to do things that we know are not going to work out very well so that she can learn that she needs to do it differently next time.

God – It sounds like you are a pretty good parent my son.

Sometimes you make decisions that will protect your daughter.
Sometimes you direct her life in the way that you know it needs to go.
Sometimes you allow her to make her own decisions.
Sometimes you allow her to make decisions that you know are mistakes because you know that it’s the only way that she will learn from them.

But in everything, you are right there beside her to keep her from harm, even willing to give your own life for her, because you love her with all your heart.

Me – Yes, but what about us?

God - Don’t you see my son? This is exactly how I work with my kids.