Remonstrance

(This is Part 2 of the Xenos-Cult Controversy – read Part 1 here.)

Ok, I promised to reveal the secret “insider information” that explains the Xenos-Cult controversy, since it keeps burbling in the background…

But first! Consider some other ways to explain the Xenos-Cult phenomena.

Strict Doctrines?

I ran across this “Church Discipline” Web site where the owner/moderator is trying his best to figure it out. He’s a critical thinker, and objective, but he’s working in the dark without any firsthand experience with Xenos. He ran into some bizarre stories which led him to research Xenos, and he initially finds Xenos has “a rather strict doctrine on right and wrong,” and then says:

[Xenos] publishes on its website heavily on the issue of church discipline. They make use of shunning and excommunication and are fairly strict for a mega-church. (Source: CD-Host, Breaking Away Case Study)

Naturally, I’m surprised that Xenos “publishes heavily on church discipline,” so I lookup the links he gives: one is from the Christian Principles Class (CPC), and the other is a policy paper on leadership and authority. Although he reached a more positive conclusion later (in Part 1), I just couldn’t believe Xenos was starting to get “strict” …

[Read more →]

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See ma?
You told me I’d never amount to a hill-o-beans,
and here I am on the front page of the newspaper!

They say everyone gets “15 minutes of fame” (or an hour?), and I guess this is mine. Well done. At my funeral they’ll say, “He was a GREAT cult-prophet-leader!” (Among other things.)

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I’ve been dying to blog about it for a few months, but I didn’t want to hurt anyone. Maybe it’s OK now: the dust has settled, the inflammatory tenor is abated. I’m very thankful for the experience. As I recently told J. Carney (the ABJ reporter), it opened my eyes to how meaningful this cause is: they say “Jesus Saves,” and they’re right, and that’s why He’s worth fighting for. (Read this article to get the background, if you’re lost…)

I learned what “Joy under persecution” means, and why so many people in the Bible (and in the history of Christian martyrs) all experienced joy under such adverse conditions.

I highly recommend it for every Christian—godly persecution, that is, not persecution for idiocy. I researched persecution extensively in the Bible, and from other writers during this time (but I’m surprised at the paucity of current Christian books published on persecution!) and I’ve arrived at a most-astounding, scandalous conclusion:

The people causing us trouble think “persecution” doesn’t fit us, because we’re a “cult”. But their exhaustive efforts to raise public alarm has turned us into the most well-researched, closely-examined, and certified-safe church in Ohio. Months of work with hundreds of man-hours by many outside parties ended—and we were clean. No dirt. Nothing. Their work firmly established this as a classic study in persecution: some people consider Christianity a threat. (Duh).

And that’s all they found here: Christianity on-the-move.

Numerous local Christian groups examined us too, like the Christian Missionary Alliance, Riverwood Chapel, Hudson Chapel, Akron Chapel, Campus Crusade for Christ, and even the local Catholic diocese weighed-in with an opinion: without exception, they all agreed we were receiving persecuted for our faith. They all expressed their sympathy and support!

(The people causing us trouble aren’t convinced: we bribed the ABJ reporter, the police are incompetent, the mayor is in our pocket, the high school principal is lazy, etc., etc., etc. See what I mean here >>)

Why Me, Oh Lord?

Which begs the question: why does Xenos draw the Cult-attack flack?

[Read more →]

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Tags: cult, persecution

“Think outside The Box!” they say—but crawl back “inside The Box” after brainstorming (we belong there).

How about living outside The Box instead? It’s…interesting. We’re living in a motel now while they fix our “box” — our home — after the fire. (Click to enlarge the pictures!)

Motels are a blast, especially with younger kids…

But have you ever tried to live in a motel? It isn’t all it’s cranked-up to be.

At Central Teaching Sean gave a short testimony about “joy in the midst of adversity.”

Listen to Sean’s Testimony: [display_podcast]

He went back into the burning house to get the one thing he always planned to get in a fire (“you need to plan these things, you know,” he said) and guess what it was? His study Bible! (And, secondarily, the dumb cat, which he couldn’t find.)

But Sean said he was able to rejoice through it all. (“There’s been so many nice people!” he said.) And when he saw the motel we were going to live in and the pool and surround-sound Theater Room, “If I’d known it would be like this, I would’ve set fire to the house long ago!” (“Don’t talk like that around the insurance adjuster,” I reminded him.)

But Sean doesn’t have to deal with a bustling, growing ministry, so he doesn’t appreciate the difficulties of Church Without Walls like I do:

On the other hand, I’m a temperamental complainer—even more so than Sean (half my age!)—so maybe he’s right and I’m the one with problems?

I’m not really roughing it, like when Jesus: “the son of man has nowhere to lay his head.” (Did he sleep standing up?)

Actually, we’re doing pretty good: there’s a regular traffic pattern of NeoXenos drifters streaming through the place…

We have prayer meetings in the lobby (it gets the businessmen’s attention), leaders’ meetings in the whirlpool, discipleship in my “Jesus Saves Van”, Cell Groups in the big Home Theater Room (with surround-sound), and of course High Schoolers tearing-up the swimming pool. It’s a revolution on-the-road!

Actually, I highly recommend it for any Christian cult! (Isn’t it great that “cult” article isn’t coming out now?)

And it sure beats living by a railroad track in late November like I did at age 22. (Let’s leave that alone.)

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Remember when Moses met the Burning Bush, and it turned out to be God? Well it happened again the other night in Stow, Ohio, but it was my house on fire, like the Burning Bush. And the Lord was there in a big way, too! (No joke!)

We didn’t didn’t get the dramatic opportunity to save mankind like Moses, but we did get “the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension.” (Phil.4:7). And I’m OK with that. Sean, Connor and I huddled together and watched the home burn, and we had a real sense of gratitude and peace.

Which is amazing, because a tempest swirled around us. Five fire trucks descended on our home, sirens blaring and huge spotlights blasting the bedroom windows up and down the street. (Firemen want an audience, I think; is there any other reason to use sirens at 1 am on a residential street?)

About 20 firemen brushed back and forth past our little 3-person huddle. Firemen are really aggressive, like football players. Get out of the way or get mowed-down! They jostled us, and we tried to get out of the way, but with so many running across my little front yard, it was useless–we were bumped everywhere.

Everyone has a job, so they just attacked our house like charging NFL players, but with axes, sledgehammers, chainsaws, pikes…and then, three hoses uncoiled, straightened, and blasted the flames. Oh, I was relieved, until chunks of roof flew away.  (I pictured the Civil Rights movement and those brave, poor people blasted by fire hoses.)

They squeezed the fire between two groups: one fighting down into the flames from the roof, the other fighting up into the flames from Connor’s room. Others kept bringing more tools, like spotlights or heaters, probes (?), pumps and weird things.

They chopped and ripped away the roof and ceilings, then the chimney came out of the house somehow and lay on the grass (happened so quick I missed it).

The original Burning Bush wouldn’t be fazed by their hoses, but mine died–and now it just stinks: there’s the difference between me and Moses, I guess.

• Amazing Fact #1: Jesus rescued my family at 1 am Easter morning–about the same time he resurrected from the grave, Israel time…what an Easter anniversary! Coincidence? No matter–we’re very thankful no matter what.
• Amazing Fact #2: Dar and I discuss, “How will we pay for the extra costs? How will we get such-and-such?” Prayer. Literally minutes later relief arrives: our amazing brothers and sisters showed up with clothes, emergency cash, necessities of all kind, and a bottle of vintage Bordeaux!
• Amazing Fact #3: That Saturday AM I teach about revolutionary living, like Jesus, who said, “…the son of man has nowhere to lay his head.” I show the photo below and said (jokingly), if Dar and I end up living in something like this, without a home, that’s perfectly fine. (With caveats, as stipulated below.) Less than 24 hours later, we’re living homeless, in our van!

Colors

Before dawn, two carpenters were the last to leave. We talked about Easter and our families. They told me about a house they boarded-up last week where a little boy died in the flames.

The firemen could not find the boy in time.  Little kids hide when they’re really scared, like in a fire. Our little dog Gizmo did the same thing, and I couldn’t find her, then the lieutenant yelled at me to stay out of the house. Connor was in tears about Gizmo, but when I got back in there I found her shivering in our closet, like a little kid would do.

”The atmosphere is different when someone dies like that,” one said.

It was Resurrection Sunday: Easter.

It was dark and cold, clear, and dotted stars yielded to colors stretching from the East. I cried a little, relieved, but mostly just shared things deep inside with the Lord, and speechless: so nice it is just to know him, even if Connor died in the fire.

Connor almost died, but now he was safe with Gizmo at Kyle’s apartment. I watched my barely-adult son walk away, his little brother’s hand in his grip. He inserted calm, grownup words in-between Connor’s high-pitch chattering. Connor would much rather go home with Kyle than come to a motel, he said.

Dawn: it all streamed through my heart in clipped pictures, and it was calm inside. I was ready for sleep, and it was so quiet outside. Beautiful colors. Resurrection.

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A renewal of interest in sacred space is growing  among the Gen-X and Millenial kids from Christian homes. They’re so bored with Church, and who can blame them? It seems their parents never led them into The Revolution, the way one of them tells it:

“My church tossed out windows all together. Instead the walls are grey, with strange modern designs on the canvas walls. We have chairs like those in movie theaters, minus the cup holders. The lights are typical stage lights, during the service they spot light worship leaders. In fact, the entire focus is the stage rather than the upward feel of a cathedral. It seems sometimes that everything is revolving around the stage, instead of God.” — Architecture and Faith—Photo Contest in Relevant Magazine (for Gen-X/Millenial readers).

But then she discovered The Sublime while visiting a cathedral:

“A sense of holiness hung thick in the air, my steps echoed as I walked forward. Flecks of every color caught my eye. They hung like colorful stars on the towering columns. My gaze drifted from the floor slowly upward, my neck craning. There before me was Jesus, shining in all His stained glass glory.”

Ahh! I would’ve freaked-out and run! You’re in a dark place, and suddenly, there’s “Jesus shining in all His…glory!” (But it’s only his stained-glass-glory. WHEW! Heart, settle down now...)

It isn’t nice to be so irreverent about other people’s beliefs like this, I know, I know. Well, maybe I was born that way, I’m sorry! I just can’t get to it. (And kids, whatever you do, don’t try this at home!)

Is The Sublime in any way connected to The Revolution? Does The Sublime mean anything to anyone, really? What’s the difference between The Sublime and The Sublime One worshiped in Buddhism?

Sublime means, “of such excellence, grandeur, or beauty as to inspire great admiration or awe.”  It also means something that “changes directly into vapor when heated,” but as a Chemistry term. “Changes into vapor” is a good term for the Cathedral experience.

I love art. The architecture in the picture above is absolutely stunning. I would love to own a mansion like that (maybe). But isn’t it fair to distinguish between art and spiritual life? Art is sublime, but spiritual life is Joy. Art is beautiful, and nice, but spiritual life is Revolution.

The Sublime is the product of human genius; The Revolution is God’s genius.

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• The Fountainhead, which contrasts Joy against The Sublime.
• Architecture and Faith—Photo Contest - the young lady writing about sacred space from a Gen-X perspective.

Filed under : character, folly // 8 Comments »

No doubt I’m an outspoken and brusque, sometimes-grumpy old man. Fine. I can live with that (exaggerated though it is).

In my defense, “brusque” don’t harm nobody when a ship is sinking.

And do I swear, the Christian ship is sinking. Like the Titatnic: big, bloated, supposedly unsinkable. That’s the American church. And it’s filled with an elitist clientele wining and dining on the upper decks while Leonardo De Caprio’s class (the brusque ones) live far below-deck with the rats.

There are advantages to a below-deck view: you can see the big gash along the ship’s bottom, and water is gushing in by the ton. (But nobody in the upper decks will listen…)

It’s really not a melodramatic point, because I can’t find anyone truly alarmed about the growing irrelevance of the Gospel.  Yes, many Christians are aware of the steep decline in Christian strength, effectiveness, attraction, impact, adherents, attendance, or whatever measures it. But nobody is alarmed!

In the movie Titanic, moments before certain death, the rich and powerful still wined and dined in the ballrooms, although it was a sad party…

Who is alarmed?

When someone is alarmed–like when a ship is sinking–they take action. Serious action. (Maybe they sound brusque?)

So now there’s a plethora of Christian books hitting the market that attempt to raise alarm, but they only whisper. One reviewer summarized it well:

There is no shortage of books promoting a different model of church. Think of titles like Missional Church, Purpose-Driven Church, Organic Church, Total Church, Deliberate Church, Vintage Church, Equipping Church, Not Your Grandfather’s Church, We’re Cooler Than Our Parents Church, or, a recent favorite, We Want to Be Faithful to the Gospel AND Have the World Love Us Church. — Johnathon Leerman, reviewing Vibrant Church.

Then Leerman summarizes their impact:

They don’t try to revolutionize church as we know it. They don’t talk about earthquake-sized epistemological shifts in our cultural tectonic plates, and then call for a whole new theology of ecclesial life and mission. No, they simply want to strengthen and to equip the church. That’s it.

There you go. The Titanic is sinking, and the million-dollar answer is: “strengthen and equip it!”

Why bother?

Ditch “Church”

Here’s where I’m surely outspoken, and perhaps crazy. (Or crazy like a fox!)

I say, “Jump for your lives!” Put another way, “Women and children first! There aren’t enough lifeboats!” Put another way, “Get off the Titanic! It’s sinking, foo!”

Church is the most glaring example of a word which never belonged in the Christian vocabulary. The Bible uses the Greek word Ecclesia, not Church. Ecclesia was a common term meaning “an assembly”, like a High School assembly or a town meeting.

Why stigmatize Christian gatherings with “Church” when the Bible uses “Assembly” to label our gatherings ? By choosing Ecclesia, doesn’t God mean for His people to gather in a non-threatening, common assembly (like an “ecclesia” used to mean)?

More important, “Church” carries the stench of cultural and historical baggage which we simply can’t afford to ally ourselves with anymore. (Never should’ve allied ourselves with Church history anyway–it’s the history of Europe, not Christianity!) This baggage effectively blocks large numbers of people from attending any Christian gathering.

“Hey, do you want to come to my church?” What answer would you get? “Hell NO!”

A Different Invitation

“Hey, do you wanna come to our Hangout?” Now there’s an interesting proposal. (Not sure what it means, but it is interesting!)

Truthfully, the “hangout” invitation is far more compatible with God’s invitation we read in the Bible. His intention was to name us the Ecclesia — “a gathering”, or “hangout.”

What is the advantage of the C-word anyway? Does anyone really know? Beyond stigmatizing Christian gatherings, does it do anyone any good?

But this proposal is far too radical, too revolutionary, and definitely too cool for the established Church to consider, I think. If we dropped the C-word from our vocabulary and used Hangout instead, isn’t that surefire proof we’re a cult after all? Some would agree.

These are the titles we should be seeing in Christian bookstores: Missional Hangout, Purpose-Driven Hangout, Organic Hangout, Total Hangout, Deliberate Hangout, Vintage Hangout, Equipping Hangout, Not Your Grandfather’s Hangout… (I would drop “We’re Cooler Than Our Parents Hangout, or, “We Want to Be Faithful to the Gospel AND Have the World Love Us Hangout.”)

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In the 1950s Norman Vincent Peale first championed “the Power of Positive Thinking” as the equivalent of biblical of “faith”, and he was a phenomenal hit. Unfortunately, he also contributed to the widespread misconception that blibcal faith is a “positive outlook” which transcends reality–the idea being that reality is a product of our outlook.

Then Robert Schuler built the Crystal Cathedral with “the Power of Possibility Thinking” and took over Peale’s crown as the king of positive thoughts.

Now Joel Olstein is the great apostle of positive thoughts, and people love it.

But just when it seems “Positive Possibility Thinking” might be a winner, suddenly this headline:

Man commits suicide at Crystal Cathedral altar

Now wait…that’s not supposed to happen in the Crystal Cathedral. And here’s the story:

The unidentified man walked up three steps to the altar area, knelt before a gold cross and put the gun to his head, said John Charles, director of public relations for the church.

Oops!

Bummer.

• Does this fill the Crystal Cathedral with negative vibes?
• Will the Sunday service be more negative?
• Was the suicidal guy using “Possibility Thinking”?

Interesting conundrums.

And ironically, at the time:

“We were talking actually about the suicide prevention hotline that we have here at our church and telling [the tourists] it’s opens 24 hours, seven days a week, and then just then, I heard this pop.”

Well, one thing’s for sure: a fact-based faith is better than thought-based faith (positive or negative). “Facts is facts” people say, and for good reason.

So “Them’s the facts” in this case.

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Filed under : folly // 2 Comments »

Kyle, there’s your dude “Black Keys” getting ready to play in Akron. Read the story by “MalcomX Abram”, the Beacon-Journal music writer.

For the rest of you, this guys is coincidentally J. Carney’s son, the ABJ reporter. Read about Kyle’s ironic discovery, it’s a real hooter. According to the reviewer, Black Keys is becoming more “pastorly” with their latest album release — is this a coincidence?

For Black Keys fans, Keep It Hid is not quite as much of a revelation as Attack & Release, which showed what the boys were capable of when not limiting themselves in the studio. But the album…can trade blunt force for pastoral melodies without losing the music’s power

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Sometimes those old saints just never know when to stop giving, but what a blessing it is. I’m talking, of course, about Elaine Stedman.

First, a little background: I’ve been teaching Galatians at CT, and it’s been a wild ride, for me. What a phenomenal book! It’s the “Magna Charta” of Christian freedom, and I’ve experienced such wonderful liberation and comfort studying and teaching it. [Read more →]

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To a Righteous Woman:

Dear Elaine:

I wanted to thank you personally and offer you the gratitude of many thousands of indebted children of God with whom I work regularly. Your generosity and servanthood is working miracles in people’s lives. By giving away Ray’s great library, writings, and teachings, along with your own work, you are simply overwhelming us with joy! [Read more →]

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