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.

Josh recently asked:

I hope you find joy in bashing other churches and other men and women of God all in the name of Jesus. Show me where in the Bible that it says it's okay to do such a thing.

Well Josh, let me try to list a couple scriptures that may help you understand where we are coming from.

Romans 16:17-18:

Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them. For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.

"Mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which he have learned…" That's what this blog has done…we have "MARKED THEM…". Now, I'm no fool, so I realize that you think that we are the ones that have "caused division" and so you should "mark us". Feel free to do so…but before you do, lets look at what the Bible says about False Prophets/Teachers/CBC

My personal favorite is:

For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; 2 Timothy 4:3-4

And what does it say to do to people who "will not endure sound doctrine"? Lets step back to 2 Timothy 4:2

Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage-with great patience and careful instruction.

This blog has endured many years of "great patience and careful instruction"…ok maybe we failed at that one at times. It's a work in progress for us.

Now we should step to 1 Timothy 4:1-2

 The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron.

Josh, the Spirit clearly says that some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons…I believe an example of this is the prosperity gospel.

And when we unpack 2 Peter 2:1-3 we find:

But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them-bringing swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. In their greed these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.

You see Josh, there are a lot of warnings against false teachers / doctrines in the Bible. These warnings are to people IN the church. Just because someone talks about Loving Jesus and Loving the Bible doesn't mean that they truly do. You must always hold EVERYONE accountable to teachings set forth in the Bible and by Christ.

My church is susceptible to "false teachings" and I must always be on guard against them…just as I am with my former church.

I hope this helps you out, and I am glad that you are searching out the truth. Thanks for your comments.

This is an amazing interview from a guy who grew up at the center of the Evangelical Movement and hates what it has become. Frank Schaeffer has converted to Greek Orthodox, and in November voted for a Democrat for President for the first time in his life.

In my opinion, Mr. Schaeffer is the future of Christianity. I'm not exactly sure what shape the Christian Movement will take in 20 years. But I gaurantee, it will look vastly different than it does now, and the Dobson's and Damazio's of the world won't be major players. They'll be fringe radicals, that Christians look back on with regret.

A friend of mine recently sent me this email:

 I recently had a conversation with a christian buddy of mine who somehow
had managed to remain ignorant of my political leanings. I am the sort to
usually ask a couple of questions and let people ramble. It supports the
illusion that I am a good conversationalist.

At any rate the "conversation" turned to the election as many conversations
these days are wont to do.

So far pretty normal. What shocked me, and I must say frightened me, was
not his opposition to our President-Elect, but rather his…enthusiasm…for
Obama's assasination. I literally went cold and got off the phone as
quickly as I could and erased the number from my cell. This was someone I
had previously thought misguided but on the whole rational. Now that I am
paying attention to the problem I have been hearing reports and anecdotes
that this sort of thing is somewhat widespread.

This all leads to my question. How do we as christians respond in love to
christians and others who are gleefully advocating the assasination of our
nations President? My first reaction is anger and a desire to marginalize
them to the hinterlands of civilzation but that doesn't really jive with the
message of the gospel

So what do we do?

I haven't had much time to work up a response yet, but I thought I would throw the question out to you….What Do you do?

A reader writes: 

Have you heard of the Worship Invasion group? They showed up out of the blue tonight at my school, Simon Fraser University near Vancouver and rocked for Jesus for 3 hours. My brother and I walked past the venue a few times over the course of a couple hours and they had a variety of styles going, people waving banners, there was even some kind of line dance going on stage, or so it seemed. It looked very goofy in that lovable goofy Pentecostal way, and very fun depending on what mood you're in.

I checked out their website and it it's worth a look for giggles. It's not that I want to mock what they're doing; I think it's a great idea…it's just their presentation is, well, you'll see:

http://www.worshipinvasion.com/WI_2nd_page2.htm

Check out this page for their mission statement, especially the part about "Raw and Uncut praise." It is not a joke: http://www.worshipinvasion.com/Mission.htm

I enjoy reading the blog from time to time. Keep up the good work.

A City Business regular recently had this to say:

Until leadership gets over themselves and stops taking up all of their congregations time by expecting them to be in church “every time the doors are open” things will never change. I believe there are a lot of selfless caring people in church that would gladly sacrifice their lives for others but they have been brainwashed into thinking that they are in the will of God by sacrificing their lives for the church.

I have to say, I couldn't agree more.  When I was a youth pastor/leader at a semi-connected MFI church in Portland, I spent 5 out of 7 nights a week doing church related things.  At first I was completely psyched about it.  I felt like I was truly living God's calling on my life.  But after a year or so I started to get burned out.  I was getting paid pennies, working many long days, and had very few non-christian friends.  I became claustrophobic as I was constantly surrounded by Christian things.  At that time I was too naive in my understanding of the Gospel to get what was truly wrong.  Now 10 years later I realize what it was.  I was dedicated to the external and not the internal.  I wanted to please people and not Christ.  The church had become my entire life and I had completely shut out the outside world.  I was one of those brainwashed people who sacrificed my life for the church - all in the name of living righteous, yet I was empty.

When I finally left that church and helped start The Well in NE Portland, I discovered what working for and going to church was truly about.  I only went into the office a few hours a week.  I was there for only a few hours on Sundays.  I felt little to no pressure as a leader in the congregation.  Why?  Because there was no expectations for me to be anything other then myself.  Everyone understood that the church was just our meeting place, not our final destination.  There was no ego, or pride, or attention seekers.  None of the other bull sh*t that took place at my former churches went on at my new church.  The focus was on Jesus, people, and the truth of the Gospel.  Sure we had idiots and knuckle-heads in the congregation (what church doesn't?), but funny thing was they never seemed to stay around very long.  Eventually they went back to the churches they came from because the traditional human-centered, works-based Christianity that they were seeking did not exist, and those people didn't know how to handle it.  They waited week after week for someone to acknowledge their "goodness" or put them on a pedestal as being an important member of the church and when that didn't happen, they left.

I say all that to say this.  Yes, church is a place made up of weak, sick, sinful people so there is no perfect church.  However, there are good churches that put Jesus first and foremost.  Not in words, but in actions.  These churches constantly preach the cross.  They focus not on what we can do for Him, but what He has already done for us.  They do not exists for money or attention and don't run like a business.  There are no big conferences, futuristic websites, weekly entertaining celebrity speakers, or pastors who demand the spotlight.  There's just Jesus.  And for the people who work for and attend these churches, that's all they really care about.

So if you find yourself attending a church that loves Jesus and people more then anything else, hold onto it with dear life.  There are few around.

 Brother Joel just sent this to me and I thought it was kinda funny. Anyhow, since Justin is still recovering from the Hood to Coast, this is what you get:

I am going to put this on craigslist think it will sell!!!!!!!

Autographed version of the bible - $1,000,000

I have a near-mint copy of the Bible, signed by the Big J.C. himself. According to Amazon, this is one of the better selling books of all time. I'm guessing the Prince of Peace would be happy to hear that.

This book was entrusted to me by the Knights of Templar, they borrowed it from Our Savior sometime between 28 and 32 AD and forgot to give it back. It was one of those things where they said they'd return it in a week, but then they didn't get around to reading it right away. And you know how you always feel bad returning a book you haven't read, especially when the lender asks you what you thought of it. So in trying to avoid an awkward moment with the Alpha and Omega, they hung onto it until they had more time. Well that time turned into about 2000 years, and it got mixed in with some other books and made it into a yard sale box.

At first, the King of Kings' signature wasn't worth much, but after Our Redeemer died on the cross for your sins, apparently the value skyrocketed and then rose more gradually over the next 2000 years as more people learned of the Good Shepherd's story.

Why am I selling it? I could say that I'm interested in sharing the Word of God with someone else - become a "Fisher of Men" so to speak. But the truth is I just bought a Wii and don't have room on the bookshelf for both. I'll either use the money to fight world hunger, or buy that Rock Band game I've been hankering for.

A reader writes:  

"I was attending the City Church downtown which was run by Judah Smith's father Wendell Smith. Judah ran a group called Young Professionals and I attended this group for a couple of months. I do not attend this church any more because the members and Smith are insane.

Last Saturday I listened to Smith make a remark that Islam is a religion that only focuses on converting people and is intolerant. He then declared that Christianity is the only belief system that does not do this. I'm a history major and an educated person and know that Islam is a tolerant religion. Also, when it comes to extremism, any religion can be a religion of the sword.

After the service I went and talked with another member of the City Church (not Smith), explaining that Islam is not a bad religion and that Jews, Christians, and Muslims should live together in peace. This member blew up at me and accused me of having Satan in me and that other religions living together in peace are the work of the devil. 

His father on telecasts makes these absurd claims that God has appeared to him in visions and that he has appeared to people and healed them. I was wondering if you know anyway that these people can be exposed as frauds or investigated." 

A reader recently had this to say:

I left the church and God many years ago, hurt and broken. When I finally came back to God I went back to a church that is part of the MFI organization. I now attend another MFI church out of state. In both of those churches Tithing is encouraged and I do give my 10% every payday…At my church we teach our people to give because we love. Not to get anything. If you don’t want to give, and you can’t give with a grateful heart don’t do it. What you give is between you and God…I give because he gave me everything. I go to church on Sunday because I love it. If I want to take a Sunday off, no problem. My pastor will actually tell you to take a weekend off. A very different philosophy then what I was raised with. I just want to point out….MFI church. Not all of them are bad. Just like not all people at CBC or City Church are bad. I am a mature adult. I have a strong relationship with God. I don’t do anything because someone tells me I have to. Sometime ago I grew up.

I have to agree that there are good churches within MFI and good people within CBC and The City Church.  No one denies that.  However we can't deny the reality that people are who they associate with.  That's just fact.  You can't spend a large percentage of your life apart of something and not have it affect you.  I hope readers out there can realize the error of this persons thoughts.  You cannot be apart of corruption and say that because you are not individually involved in it, that it's OK.  That's the excuse used by people who looked the other way in the 40s, 50s and 60s during racists Jim Crow laws.  A lot of people did not participate in the evil but they didn't work to stop it or fight against it either.  They can claim they were not the bad ones but they still perpetuated the cycle by not acting.  So if a church is apart of MFI, they represent the overall philosophy and doctrine of MFI, even if they don't buy into it 100%.  That church and it's members are still apart of all the bad that comes with MFI whether they participate in it or not.  If a church is really that great they would stand up against MFI and say they don't want to be apart of a corrupt system that's responsible for ruining so many lives.  But by partaking in the money, power and support of MFI they are showing that deep down, they are just as bad as everyone else.  Sold out to a wrong cause for money.  Similarly, if those people at CBC and The City Church were such good people they would say enough of this BS and walk away.  But they too stay and partake in the big and powerful because they like the image that it brings.  The only real way to bring change to these places and show them that they are wrong is to walk away from them.  If MFI only had 3 member churches and CBC only had 100 members, they would be forced to change!  But as this comment shows, a lot of people don't have the courage or the faith to say enough is enough, so they rather try to justify their presence there by claiming that they don't participate in the wrongness.  That to me, is just wrong.

Negrodamus writes:

After being apart of the City Business Church family from virtually it's inception, I like to get a little philosophical for this post, I just finished reading George Orwell's book "1984" and there was a quote that stood out to me regarding a mysterious, sinister and ubiquitous figure named "Goldstein." Orwell, speaking of this character:

… [A]lthough Goldstein was hated and despised by everybody, although every day and a thousand times a day, on platforms, on the telescreen, in newspapers, in books, his theories were refuted, smashed, ridiculed, held up to the general gaze for the pitiful rubbish that they were, in spite of all this, his influence never seemed to grow less. Always there were fresh dupes waiting to be seduced by him.

So here is the my question, Who is "Goldstein" today?