Mr. Johnpaul,

Excellent post man and really, really good points.  Although I'm sad to see you go, it's been a true pleasure reading all of your witty writings over the years and hearing someone say the exact same things that are in my head.  I hope you are at true peace with your decision.  And I hope you know that you've reached farther into the lives of others then you actually realize.  Finding this blog (and helping launch our church) have been the two greatest things that have happened to me in my spiritual walk because they helped set me free from years of mind altering, falsified religion. 

Job well done my friend.  Job well done. 

You will be missed!

Alex

Forgive  me for being melodramatic…I realize that no one has written on this blog for quite some time and for the most part its basically coming to an end…but I still feel like I should make this official. I'm once again quitting the blog.

I know, I know, I know, you've heard it all before but, just for fun, let me try this one last time.

There are 4 main reasons I have made this decision, and here they are (in nice numerical order for easy reading):

1. I've lost interest

There was a time when I was passionate about the writing, the joking, the studying…but now I am just not into it. I've tried to sit down and come up with interesting blogs but there is nothing there. I think this is largely due to the fact that I don't really follow what is going on at CBC anymore and don't really care what they say or do. I've clearly made my position known, I think now it's simply…Enough Said.

2. Pastor Joel Stockstill was healed (through surgery yes, but healed all the same).

I wrote a post awhile back that I did not publish about Prophecy in the Church. In that post I stated that if Joel was healed I would stop blogging and apologize to Donna Lasit and her Violin. Even though I did not post it…I meant it. So here goes:

Donna, I would like to apologize for questioning your prophetic playing of the violin over pastor Joel. I jumped at the chance to make an easy joke and didn't leave any room for God to work. Fortunately, I was completely wrong in this circumstance and, despite my negativity, God was able to heal Joel. I never should have questioned you or made fun of your violin. I was wrong and hope that you can forgive me. Truly.

3. My wife would really like me to stop.

Recently, my wonderful wife connected with old friends from CBC and they expressed to her the pain and hurt that they still felt from all the blogging that was going on. My blogging is clearly standing in the way of any possible restitution between them and, at this point, I no longer want to be the cause of any more friction. I'm sure it will take a great deal of time, but hopefully I can prove to them and everyone that I am truly not angry or bitter with CBC and furthermore that I am done bashing them on this (or any other) blog.

4. Grace and the Gospel

I talk a lot about Grace and how badly we are all in need of God's forgiveness.  Every single day I realize that I am nothing without the undeserved forgiveness from God. I am a major screw up but thankfully the Gospel of Jesus allows me to be. He has chosen to forgive me and every time I make a mistake Jesus stands in between my sins and the punishment from God that I deserve. As I grow to understand this more and more I realize that I need to try to treat others with the same level of mercy as I have been given. I'm real good at treating "sinners" with grace, but I have struggled (and continue to struggle) with giving "saints" any room to make mistakes. I will continue to work through this as I have a very long journey ahead.

At this time, I would also like to offer this public apology to Ed Schefter and the New York City Church team. In looking back I feel I went overboard in my attacks. Regardless of whether I believe what I said or not…I had no business in saying them.  This is another great struggle in my life…I like to say what I am thinking without any regard to other people's feelings.  Somehow I need to figure out how to speak my mind, but in a more sensitive manner.

I've truly enjoyed being a part of City Business Church and feel I have made tremendous growth in my understanding of God and the Bible thanks to the number of wonderful discussions that we have engaged in over the past 4+ years. Thank you all for your support and your challenges…our little group is not afraid to stand up and take any fight and I admire that to no end.  You are all amazing people…although I may not like you if I knew your real identities.

Keep the faith. Keep the questions.

-Johnpaul

Stupid Idiots writes:

You all are a bunch of sad sack idiots that need to get a life……………………………………….

Dumb asses one and all

You think that you are so import that you need a validation code, you think way to highly of your lousy self.

Well what do you know…even after all these years they still come in like this.  If I am reading my Bible correctly, Jesus didn't make the Pharisees too happy either.

Good job people, good job.

A friend of mine (who knows I'm pretty anti-megachurch) sent this article to me today and I had to post it. Although I don't agree with all the points presented here I think there is a lot of validity to what this writer is staying. He believes that the evangelical church as we know it is headed for a major collapse that will fundamentally alter the religious and cultural environment in the West, which will raise intolerance of Christianity to levels many people are not prepared for.

Here's his reasoning:

1. Evangelicals have identified their movement with the culture war and with political conservatism. This will prove to be a very costly mistake. Evangelicals will increasingly be seen as a threat to cultural progress. Public leaders will consider us bad for America, bad for education, bad for children, and bad for society.

2. We Evangelicals have failed to pass on to our young people an orthodox form of faith that can take root and survive the secular onslaught. Ironically, the billions of dollars we've spent on youth ministers, Christian music, publishing, and media has produced a culture of young Christians who know next to nothing about their own faith except how they feel about it. Our young people have deep beliefs about the culture war, but do not know why they should obey scripture, the essentials of theology, or the experience of spiritual discipline and community.

3. There are three kinds of evangelical churches today: consumer-driven megachurches, dying churches, and new churches whose future is fragile. Denominations will shrink, even vanish, while fewer and fewer evangelical churches will survive and thrive.

4. Despite some very successful developments in the past 25 years, Christian education has not produced a product that can withstand the rising tide of secularism. Evangelicalism has used its educational system primarily to staff its own needs and talk to itself.

5. The confrontation between cultural secularism and the faith at the core of evangelical efforts to "do good" is rapidly approaching. We will soon see that the good Evangelicals want to do will be viewed as bad by so many, and much of that work will not be done.

6. Even in areas where Evangelicals imagine themselves strong (like the Bible Belt), we will find a great inability to pass on to our children a vital evangelical confidence in the Bible and the importance of the faith.

7. The money will dry up.

The author goes on to describe what will be left:

Expect evangelicalism to look more like the pragmatic, therapeutic, church-growth oriented megachurches that have defined success. The emerging church will largely vanish from the evangelical landscape, becoming part of the small segment of progressive mainline Protestants that remain true to the liberal vision. Aggressively evangelistic fundamentalist churches will begin to disappear.

Lastly he considers, if all of this is all really that bad and makes a very valid point in closing:

We can rejoice that in the ruins, new forms of Christian vitality and ministry will be born. I expect to see a vital and growing house church movement. This cannot help but be good for an evangelicalism that has made buildings, numbers, and paid staff its drugs for half a century. We need new evangelicalism that learns from the past and listens more carefully to what God says about being His people in the midst of a powerful, idolatrous culture.

I do agree that many evangelicals have dug a huge grave for themselves over the last few years. With so much focus on the "celebrity" Christian leader I wouldn't be shocked to see this collapse.  I guess only time will tell if they will be buried in that grave.

David Mackin kindly sent in a copy of the letter that Creflo A. Dollar sent to senator Grassley:

It's a little ridiculous.
 

Dear Senators:

As a preliminary matter, I would like to assure you that we believe that, like every other citizen, each Christian has a religious duty to pay taxes and comply with the law. Three of the four gospels specifically emphasize Jesus’ teaching to his disciples: that we are to render unto Caesar what is due to Caesar, and to render unto God what is due to God. Matthew 22:21 - "They say unto him, Caesar's. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's." Mark 12:17 - "And Jesus answering said unto them, Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's. And they marveled at him." Luke 20:23-25 - "But he perceived their craftiness, and said unto them, Why tempt ye me? Show me a penny. Whose image and superscription hath it? They answered and said, Caesar's. And he said unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which be Caesar's, and unto God the things which be God's." We at World Changers Church believe that all of God’s people are required to pay taxes and that our Church has a scriptural mandate to comply with the tax laws. We can assure you that our Church makes every effort to comply with the requirements of section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. If the Committee on Finance has any information to the contrary, we would certainly request that you provide it to us, so that we may take appropriate action to resolve the problem immediately.

We also believe that the tithe, or 10% of our income, belongs to God, not to the government. Leviticus 27:30 - "And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord's: it is holy unto the Lord." Because the tithe does not belong to the government, we have serious concerns when the Senate Finance Committee, or any agency of the government for that matter, evaluates whether the way we use or implement the tithe is valid. The tithe is a gift from each member of our Church to the Kingdom of God and should not be the subject of review and criticism by members of the Senate. Asking this of us is no different from asking any other church in America for an itemized list of who put what amount into the collection plate at last week’s regular Sunday service.

Furthermore, our faith teaches us that our giving should be in secret in order for God to reward us openly. Matthew 6:1-4 - "Take heed that you do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.” The Bible is very clear on this—when we give in private, our Father rewards us openly, and His favor is evident to all of those around us. In conjunction with this, our Church has a duty in accordance with Jesus’ proclamation to protect the privacy rights of our friends and members and the confidences they have placed in us. Our ability to sustain this religious obligation is seriously jeopardized by an open-ended public governmental investigation like Senator Grassley’s. We believe that is no more appropriate than asking particular parishioners the substance of their prayers or confessions.

We also believe that we should give of our materials to our teacher because of his spiritual teaching. 1 Corinthians 9:11 - "If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things?” Galatians 6:6 - "Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things." The Bible teaches us that we should reward our spiritual leaders, and we have been blessed, both within our Church and in our partner churches, with truly gifted leaders. Like the members of many other religions, we feel as a congregation that we have a duty to honor our teachers.

Finally, we know that God wants us to be rich spiritually, physically and financially. 3 John 2 - “Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth." Psalms 112:3 - "Wealth and riches shall be in his house: and his righteousness endureth for ever." Proverbs 10:22 - "The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it." Deuteronomy 8:18 - "But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God; for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day." Genesis 13:2 - "And Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold." 1 Timothy 6:17 - "Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy." God wants us to succeed—not to want—after all, we are His children. Being spiritually, physically and financially healthy is an outward sign of God’s favor, and we celebrate that blessing.

Faithfully,

Creflo A. Dollar

A reader sends in this link to NYCC's promotional video. 

It's actually not that bad. It's a diverse church, with people of all race and sexual orientation. And there's no request for cash in the video.  Also, the folks that attend seem happy.

NYCC lasted longer than I thought they would. So good for them. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyvL1DsPkBk 

(The puppet section could go, though. That's kind of ridiculous.)