200 Local Churches Help Lubbock, Texas, Become a Sanctuary City for the Unborn

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May 4, 2021

The city of Lubbock, Texas, has just passed an ordinance making it a sanctuary city for the unborn and the twenty-sixth U.S. city to outlaw abortion. The ordinance was passed in large part thanks to the efforts of local churches.

“LIFE WINS! Lubbock, Texas is officially the largest Sanctuary City for the Unborn in the United States!” said Project Destiny Lubbock, a political action committee (PAC), in a Facebook post celebrating the passing of the ordinance.

“The Church of Jesus Christ banded together, stepped up to their role, their God-given role, and said we’re not going to let babies be killed in our city,” Jim Baxa of West Texas for Life told the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. “All these churches banded together. There were 200 churches in the City of Lubbock, working together to stand up for life. It’s excellent.”

After Lubbock city council members unanimously rejected the ordinance last fall, an initiating committee collected enough voter signatures to hold a special election for it. Local churches played a significant role in the efforts to collect enough signatures to bring the ordinance to a vote. On Saturday, May 1, 21,400 people voted in favor of the ordinance and 12,860 voted against it.

Mayor Dan Pope said in a statement that city council members will canvass the votes on May 11 and that the ordinance could become effective by June 1. But despite this apparent win for the unborn, some—including at least one staunch pro-life advocate—have concerns that the ordinance will ultimately be ineffective and will come at a high cost to taxpayers.

Sanctuary City: Abortion Banned in Lubbock

According to Project Destiny, Lubbock’s new ordinance supplements state laws that already make abortion a criminal act—laws that remained in effect even after Roe v. Wade. The ordinance makes an exception regarding the criminality of abortion if it is performed in order to save the life of the mother. Moreover, the ordinance targets whoever is conducting the abortion, not the mother of the child. “Under no circumstance does the ordinance allow sanctions against the mother of the unborn child which was aborted,” says Project Destiny.

On its website, the PAC assumes there is no question that Roe v. Wade will be repealed in the future. The ordinance, says Project Destiny, “Provides for the public enforcement of the ordnance [sic] when Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey are overruled by the Supreme Court.”

Public enforcement of Lubbock’s new ordinance will not be possible unless Roe v. Wade is overturned. Therefore, the only way for it to be enforced at present is privately, via the threat of lawsuits against abortion providers. Project Destiny argues that because Jonathan F. Mitchell, former Solicitor General of Texas and one of the ordinance’s co-authors, has agreed to represent the city of Lubbock at no cost, the passing of the ordinance will not require financial sacrifices from taxpayers.

Last year, Lubbock’s city council hired legal firm Olson & Olson to review the constitutionality of the ordinance and then rejected it in November on the grounds that it was unconstitutional and unenforceable. The council members listed four concerns, among them that, if passed, the ordinance would be void because it conflicts with Texas state law and that the Texas constitution prohibits cities from passing laws that conflict with state law.

Sarah Wheat with Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas issued a statement after the sanctuary city ordinance was passed, saying, “Planned Parenthood is a trusted resource for anyone in Lubbock and the surrounding communities for essential healthcare services. We want Lubbock residents to know: Our doors are open and we will continue to advocate for our patients, no matter what.”

Despite the fact that many pro-lifers are celebrating the passing of the ordinance, there are some who argue it is an ineffective strategy for fighting abortion. Dr. Joe Pojman of the Texas Alliance for Life told the Avalanche-Journal that even though he applauds the efforts of those who have fought for the ordinance, he believes it will simply lead to a lot of expense and energy until it is finally determined to be unconstitutional. “A local ordinance or a state law that bans abortions immediately is not going to stop abortions,” he said. “It has been tried many times and none of those work. We need more votes on the Supreme Court who are willing to take a fresh look at Roe v. Wade.”

UPDATE: Jerry Falwell Jr. Cancels the ‘Real’ Liberty Graduation Party at Family Farm Due to Health Concerns

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Religion News Service

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May 4, 2021

UPDATED May 4, 2021:

(RNS) — The party is over.

Former Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. has reportedly canceled a graduation party he planned to host Saturday (May 8) on his family farm, which, during a spontaneous appearance at an event last week, he called the “real Liberty graduation.”

The cancelation comes after Falwell reportedly was hospitalized over the weekend for testing related to the blood clots in his lungs he was diagnosed with last year.

“As a result, we regrettably must cancel the picnic this weekend,” he said in a statement his wife Becki Falwell provided Monday to local Lynchburg, Virginia, news station ABC13 News.

Falwell had announced the party onstage at an outdoor comedy show that was attended by Liberty students.

He later told Religion News Service he was joking about the party being the “real” Liberty graduation and called the event “my way of saying thank you” to students at the evangelical Christian school, who, he said, have supported him through the past year.

He did not comment on plans for the party at the time, though his latest statement characterizes it as a picnic.

Falwell resigned last year from Liberty — which was founded by his late father, the Rev. Jerry Falwell Sr. — as he weathered a series of controversies, including a questionable post on social media he claimed was “meant in good fun.” He also faced allegations that he and Becki Falwell had a yearslong sexual relationship with a business associate, which the Falwells have disputed.

He told RNS last week the party was on as long as his health didn’t take a turn, noting he has been receiving treatment for blood clots in his lungs, something he has said his mother also battled.

But, his statement to ABC13 News reads, “Unfortunately, this weekend I encountered another bout of symptoms resulting from the respiratory emboli that were first diagnosed last year. For the fourth time this year I was admitted to the hospital for a series of tests to address my labored breathing and other effects of the emboli.”

Falwell said in the statement that canceling the party was “a major disappointment to us since we wanted to celebrate the success of the graduating students and show them our appreciation.

“To them, our entire family extends our sincere congratulations and fond farewell,” he added.

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ChurchLeaders original article written on May 3, 2021 below.

(RNS) — Former Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr., who left the school last year in the wake of multiple scandals, made an appearance at a gathering that included students over the weekend where he invited attendees to the “real Liberty graduation” at his own house next month.

Religion News Service has obtained footage of the moment that matches a shorter video circulating on Twitter claiming to show Falwell’s invitation.

In the videos, Falwell, who resigned in 2020 as president and chancellor of the evangelical school, can be seen standing on an outdoor stage beneath handmade signs that include a cross, as a crowd attending what several people have identified as a comedy show look on. Holding a microphone, Falwell invites seniors to an event at “our farm” on May 8, saying, “We’re going to have the real Liberty graduation.”

“If you’re not a senior but you’re dating one, you can come, too,” he added, according to the video obtained by RNS.

In the longer video, Falwell said he and his wife, Becki Falwell, were out to dinner when they heard from their daughter, a junior at Liberty, that she was at the show. He had only come to extend the invitation, he said.

He noted his daughter was “probably so pissed at me right now” and encouraged students to spread the word “as fast as you can” about the event on social media.

“We gotta move quickly,” he said.

Reached by RNS on Friday (April 30), Falwell said he was joking about the party being the “real” Liberty graduation. The planned event at his 500-acre farm, where his family has lived for 33 years, is “my way of saying thank you” to the students, who he said have supported him through the past year of controversy.

“I just want to thank the students because they’ve shown me so much love through all this ordeal. Everywhere I go, they’re so forgiving. They’re so loving. And I want to reciprocate by having them out to my farm,” he said.

He said the party is on as long as his health doesn’t take a turn, noting he has been receiving treatment for blood clots, something his mother also battled. He did not comment on plans for the party.

Asked about those who have questioned whether it is appropriate for the former president of the university to host such a party, Falwell said, “I live right here, and I’ve got a big farm, and I got a bunch of students that I love and that love me, and I’m going to do it.

“I don’t care whether anybody likes it or not,” he said, laughing.

The reaction from the student body is not immediately clear. In one video, an onlooker can be heard whispering as Falwell makes the announcement, saying, “Let’s go.”

But Save71, an alumni group that has been critical of the former university president, expressed concerns about Falwell’s behavior, given past scandals involving him and his wife.

“Leaders of a university are obligated to do their best to protect students, but Liberty’s leaders have not investigated or even acknowledged allegations of sexually predatory behavior by the Falwells,” said Dustin Wahl, cofounder of Save71.

“Now Jerry Falwell Jr. is taking advantage of their inaction.”

Liberty University officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

Falwell has appeared at some recent events on Liberty’s campus, although he has since tweeted that he and Becki Falwell have been banned from campus.

He also has reappeared on social media recently after a hiatus.

Falwell had been silent while receiving medical treatment for his blood clots, he told RNS, which has included blood thinners and a trip to a New York University hospital at the advice of a doctor he said was introduced to him by conservative talk show host Sean Hannity.

But, he said, “I’m slowly getting better, and I’m ready to fight again.”

Falwell caused controversy last August by briefly posting a photo on Instagram of himself with his arm around a woman who is not his wife, their pants unzipped and midriffs bared. Though Falwell said the photo was meant “in good fun” and was taken at a costume party while on vacation, he soon took an indefinite leave of absence and later resigned.

He has faced allegations that he and Becki Falwell had a yearslong sexual relationship with a business associate, which the Falwells have disputed.

Politico also has reported allegations by a former Liberty student, who claimed he had a sexual encounter with Becki Falwell — who the student described as “the aggressor” after she allegedly continued to pursue him later — while staying at the Falwell home after band practice with the Falwells’ eldest son in 2008. Jerry and Becki Falwell responded at the time by calling the allegations “false and mean spirited lies.”

Jerry Falwell Jr., is currently being sued by the school he once ran, with Liberty’s lawyers demanding $10 million from him, citing conspiracy and breach of contract involving the recent scandals.

Falwell told RNS it was “evil what some of these people at Liberty are doing just to try to grab power.” At age 59, he said, he’s done his work and is fine if that happens.

“But the world needs to know I didn’t do anything wrong. The world needs to know it’s just a power grab,” he said.

“And I’ll probably tell that to the students.”

This article originally appeared here.

James P. Long — Longtime Editor of Outreach Magazine Has Passed From This Life to the Next

By

Paul J. Pastor

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May 4, 2021

It is with heavy hearts that we must announce that Outreach magazine’s beloved and longtime editor, James P. Long, died unexpectedly of heart failure on Friday evening, April 30th. He was 72, and is survived by his beloved wife Harriet and sons Michael and Schaun.

Besides being the award-winning author of hundreds of magazine articles and a number of books, Jim’s publishing work included significant editorial positions at WorldVenture, Campus Life magazine, CCM (Contemporary Christian Music) and Marriage Partnership, and shorter writing published widely, including in Christianity Today, Decision and the Chicago Tribune. He also served in staff ministry positions in both local and denominational roles. He deeply loved Christ and his church, and yearned for all people to know the goodness of God’s love.

I grew to know and deeply appreciate Jim during my frequent work for Outreach. As I write this, I am also writing (by my possibly imperfect count) my 40th feature-length piece for Outreach at Jim’s assignment. (I am still unable to quite believe it will be my last from him.) Jim was an editor’s editor—possessing a wonderful blend of clear vision, careful thought and real humility. He believed firmly that to understand the contributions of anyone to a philosophy or practice of ministry, we needed to know them. We needed to get “the story behind the story,” to understand their life’s larger influences, to be able to visualize who they had been before the big platform or the book—who they were in their roots, not just in their appearance.

Jim had profound respect and compassion for the challenges facing pastors and local churches. To brainstorm ideas with him was to enter a conversation about what pastors needed in order to more faithfully fulfill their calling. He trusted the organic and sometimes unpredictable process of good writing and interviewing, and committed himself to helping set great conversations free on the page. Besides these professional qualities, in my experience, he was also a man who lived in rich kindness, real wisdom, a good sense of humor and sincere love for God and others. He was, simply, a good man, in love with Jesus and his Good News. In many ways, this love of Jim’s was the story behind the story of each issue of Outreach.

In his work, Jim managed to cover trends without succumbing to them, and to carry a generous and open-minded spirit toward wildly divergent expressions of Christian ministry. In regular conversation with some of the most influential Christian leaders in America, he nonetheless delighted in giving an Outreach cover interview to names which few would recognize, regardless of reach or prestige, knowing that they had a message readers needed. He was an inspiration in his simple and selfless approach to the editorial craft—like John the Baptist, he was willing to “decrease” so that the voice that mattered most could carry farthest. It cheers me to think of the oblique impact that his work has had in thousands of churches—and surely hundreds of thousands of lives—across the world, in shaping and presenting ideas to empower, enlighten and encourage outwardly focused and inwardly rich Christian ministry.

I can’t think of a better way to end than by sharing these lovely words of Jim’s, which he once wrote as part of a short piece he titled “A Place Called Forever”:

“Time is a room in a place called Forever. We live in that room.

“But one day—and soon, I suspect—the roof will fly off, the walls will fall, the floor will dissolve beneath our feet. Time will be consumed by the Eternity that has always surrounded it.

“What will we do with the sudden brightness and the brisk winds that blow across Forever?

“I imagine some will wither under that sun, shrivel up and blow away.

“Others will feel only warmed and invigorated, as if truly alive for the first time.”

And with those beautiful words held clearly in mind, we will miss James P. Long.

Small Group Planning – How Often Should We Meet?

By

Allen White

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May 3, 2021

Pastors and group leaders often ask about the most effective meeting schedule for a small group planning. Should it meet every week or is every other week okay? Should it meet year-round, over semesters or Fall through Spring excluding Christmas? What’s better: 52 weeks per year, 36 weeks, 18 weeks? Should discipleship stop for Christian holidays? Here is some direction to navigate small group planning:

Small Group Planning:

Weekly or Bi-Weekly (or Is That Semi-Monthly)?

The frequency of group meetings really depends on the group. There are advantages to meeting weekly or meeting every other week. Groups meeting weekly tend to bond more quickly. In fact, I insist that new groups meet weekly, even if they eventually move to an every other week schedule. One of the first groups I led met every other week. It took us about nine months to start feeling like a group – we were doing a weekly meeting for six weeks when that happened, by the way.

RELATED: Helpful Planning Questions

A key disadvantage in meeting every other week is the space between meetings when a member is absent. If your group meets the first and third weeks of the month and the member misses the second meeting that month, you don’t see them again until the first meeting of next month. When you see them again, it’s been an entire month.

There is an advantage to meeting every other week. If a group absolutely cannot meet every week, it’s better for them to meet every other week than not meet at all.

Seasonal or Annual?

For the record, my group meets 52 weeks of the year. I lead a men’s group that meets at lunchtime every Wednesday. As men, we eat lunch every day regardless of the season or holidays. Now, when Christmas is on Wednesday, we will probably take a break for that one. Thanksgiving, however, will always be on Thursday. We like our group this way, but it’s not for every group.

The annual calendar has a certain ebb and flow, because even if you’re children are grown and gone, in the U.S. our lives revolve around the school calendar. School starts before Labor Day (or shortly after the fourth of July, it seems). There is two weeks for Christmas break. Spring break falls somewhere around Easter. Then, of course, there are the three big reasons for being a teacher – June, July and August.

Many churches encourage their groups to start around the time school starts. Why? Because school has a lot of demands – sports, clubs, fundraisers and so on. If a family’s weekly schedule fills up before they consider a small group, there is no day left when the music stops. You have to get the group day in there before the rest of the weekdays are taken.

10 Star Wars Quotes That (Might) Work in a Sermon

By

Jesse T. Jackson

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May 3, 2021

Star Wars quotes — Screengrab YouTube @Star Wars Soundtrack

Today is that special day of the year where Star Wars fans get to say “May the 4^th be with you” in reference to the famous Jedi blessing “May the force be with you.” I’d guess the percentage is pretty high that everyone reading this has seen at least one of the Star Wars movies, and the odds that some of you have referenced something from Star Wars in one of your sermons is…well in the words of Han Solo, “Never tell me the odds.”

There is no evidence of the Star Wars movies being based on Christian principles, but that hasn’t stopped people from wanting them to be. If you Google Star Wars + Christianity you’ll find out what I mean, including this book.

In an attempt at being relevant, we thought it’d be fun to post some of the quotes from the movies that just maybe, possibly have come from biblical principles.

Here is our list of top 10 Star Wars quotes that could potentially be over-spiritualized. Enjoy!

1. “Who’s more foolish? The fool or the fool who follows him?” — Obi-Wan

2. “The ability to speak does not make you intelligent.” — Qui-Gon Jinn

3. “Sometimes we must let go of our pride and do what is requested of us.” — Padme

4. “Always pass on what you have learned.” — Yoda

5. “Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.” — Yoda

6. “Your focus determines your reality.” — Qui-Gon Jinn

7. “In my experience there is no such thing as luck.” — Obi-Wan Kenobi

via GIPHY

12 Leadership Quotes and Lessons From Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

By

Brian Dodd

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May 3, 2021

Tonight, I attended 9th and final (we think) episode of the Star Wars saga, Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker. I have some strong opinions about the film and found 12 leadership quotes and lessons from Star Wars movie #9.

To give you a quick recap of the film, Emperor Palpatine, played by Ian McDiarmid, is not dead after all. In fact, he has been manipulating everything behind the scenes. The movie is about our heroine, Rey played by Daisy Ridley, and her love interest/arch nemesis Kylo Ren, played by Adam Driver, race to planet Exegol. There they will either unite with Palpatine for a true Evil Empire or defeat him once and for all.

The Rise Of Skywalker has what you would expect – incredible action and CGI sequences. Stunning in fact. Here’s my problem and it’s a BIG problem – there is a scene when the conquering warriors come home that is INCREDIBLY offensive. There were references to this same issue in Avengers: Endgame and they took the next step in this movie. The desensitization process completely takes away from the entire movie and there were audible gasps in the theater I was in.

I’m hoping for much better for Black Widow in May but am preparing for the worst.

The following are 12 Leadership Quotes And Lessons From Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker:

Even The Best Continually Train To Get Better – The first time we see Rey in this film is her going through an extensive Jedi training process.
Smart Leaders Know Where They Add The Most Value To Team And Do What Only They Can Do – Poe told Rey, “You’re the best fighter we have. We need you out there.”
Start With Why – A First Order dissident said, “I don’t care if you win. I need Kylo Ren to lose.”
A Basic Human Need Is For Someone To Truly Know Us. – Rey, “People keep telling me they know me. No one does.” To which Kylo Ren added, “But I do.”
When It Is All Said And Done, What We Will Remember Are Not The Long Hours, The Profit Made, Or What Was Accomplished. We Will Remember The People And Our Relationships With Them. – Poe asked C-3PO, “What are you doing there, 3PO?” To which he replied,”Taking one last look, sir. At my friends.”
There Is No Success Without Succession – Luke Skywalker said, “We’ve passed on all we know. A thousand generations live in you now. But this is your fight.”
Skywalker said, “Confronting fear is the destiny of a Jedi.” It is also the same with every leader.
Successful Leaders Focus On The Fundamentals – Skywalker said, “The force will be with you.” To which Lela replied, “Always.”
Teamwork Makes The Dreamwork – A returning Lando Calrissian, played by Billy Dee Williams, counseled, “We had each other. That’s how we win.”
Successful Leaders Respect The Process And Call Others To Do It As Well. – “A Jedi weapon deserves more respect.”
You Can’t Speak Or Preach Your Way Through Defining Moments. You Must Lead Your People Through Them. – Poe said, “Good people will fight if we lead them.”
When You Eliminate Or Neutralize The Leader, The Team Fails – Once the Resistancce learned how to take out the First Order’s command ship, the rest of the fleet were unable to move forward. The same is true for your church, business, non-profit, or athletic organization.

Just disappointing.

This article about lessons from Star Wars originally appeared here.

Neighbors Accuse Street Church of Threats, Harassment, Not Being ‘Christ-Like’

By

Jessica Lea

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May 3, 2021

Residents of the neighborhood surrounding the Street Church, led by Pastor Artur Pawlowski, are claiming that the members have been threatening and harassing them for the past several weeks. Pawlowski says that this assertion is an “absolute lie.”

“Here’s an interesting hit piece from the propaganda machinery, the Calgary Herald!” said Pawlowski in a Facebook post about a report from Postmedia Network. The report, published in the Calgary Herald, covered neighbors’ reactions to the Street Church over the past several weeks and referred to an outdoor protest held in front of the church on Saturday.

“The event was witnessed by hundreds of people that were present and seen by thousands watching live on Facebook!” said the pastor. “However, that did not stop this hateful, lying communistic propaganda Trash, the so-called newspaper, from making stuff up! We have to remember that this is what they have been paid to do! To Lie!” Pawlowski then posted a link to the protest and challenged people to watch it for themselves.

Pastor Artur Pawlowski: Today Is a Showdown

In a video introducing Saturday’s protest, Pawlowski said he and his church were “fighting the tyrants” and that “today is a showdown.” The pastor, who has been violating public health orders, recently made headlines for chasing health inspectors and police officers off his church’s property while calling them “Gestapo” and “Nazis.” He did this on Easter weekend, as well as on Saturday, April 24. “You came in your uniforms like thugs,” he told officials on the latter occasion. “That’s what you are. Brownshirts of Adolf Hitler. You are Nazi Gestapo, communists, fascists. I do not cooperate with Nazis.”

“Hopefully, I will not be arrested today,” said Pawlowski prior to Saturday’s event, adding that he has every intention to work with authorities—so long as they follow the law. “I hate corruption, and when I see them breaking the law, everything in me rises up and says ’No’ and “Get out.”

The reason the pastor expressed concern about being arrested is that Rebel News has learned there is a warrant out for his arrest. The warrant authorizes officials to “do anything necessary to carry out the arrest, including the use of as much reasonable force as may be necessary to make the arrest.” No arrest has been made as of the time of this writing.

Saturday’s rally featured loud music (including many worship songs), speeches, and prayer. One point that is clear from the video is why people who live nearby might be irritated by such a loud event being held right beside their homes.

A pastor announcing some “housekeeping” guidelines at the beginning of the protest observed that the Calgary Police Service was present. “God bless, God keep them safe,” he said. “We thank them for their service to this country, to this city.” He said that police officers and any health inspectors who might show up that day “were welcome.” He also read a legal notice recommending that all attendees follow health restrictions, including social distancing and mask-wearing. This advice drew laughs from the audience. Most of the attendees were not wearing masks, and few seemed to be practicing social distancing.

At the beginning of the event, Pawloski walked through the crowd meeting and greeting people, while those present clapped and sang along to the music. Protesters carried signs that said, “Jesus Saves,” “Freedom! Not Fascism!!” and “Open the churches!” Some carried Canadian flags, while others wore caps that said, “Make Canada Great Again” and “Make America Great Again.”

Footage also showed that a residence next to the church was displaying flags, including a pride flag. According to Postmedia, some of the church’s neighbors had set up a sort of counter-protest at the house with signs that said, “Street Church is a Hate Group” and “Love Thy Neighbour.”

Neighbors File Police Report

According to Street Church’s neighbors, the antagonism they have faced from the church’s members has been enough for some of the residents to file a police report. One of the residents, Michelle Robinson, told Postmedia, “Our neighbours here have been threatened for at least seven weeks by these anti-maskers who are violating health regulations and spreading messages of hate.” She used the word “terrorized” to describe the church’s behavior to the family that lives next door to it.

Charismatic New Standards: Unfulfilled Prophecy Requires Public Apology

By

Stephanie Martin

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May 3, 2021

In an effort to affirm the prophetic movement while correcting abuses occurring within it, dozens of Christian leaders recently released a “Prophetic Standards” document. The standards, posted in full at PropheticStandards.com, come at an “opportune moment,” according to the preamble because “there are many questions in the Body concerning the gift of prophecy and the ministry of the prophet.” Many of those questions were sparked by false prophecies about President Trump’s re-election and the refusal of some prophets to apologize when that didn’t happen.

As ChurchLeaders has reported, several prominent ministry leaders did issue apologies after Joe Biden was declared the winner of last November’s presidential election. And the new Prophetic Standards emphasize that a public mea culpa is essential for maintaining integrity and accountability. The document states that if a detailed prophecy doesn’t “come to pass as prophesied, then the one who delivered the word must be willing to take full responsibility, demonstrating genuine contrition before God and people.”

Issuing an “apology and/or explanation/clarification” isn’t “meant to be a punishment,” the document notes, “but rather a mature act of love to protect the honor of the Lord, the integrity of prophetic ministry, and the faith of those to whom the word was given.”

Michael Brown: ‘How Do We Clean Up This Mess?’

Michael Brown, president of Ask Dr. Brown Ministries, and Bishop Joseph Mattera, convenor of the U.S. Coalition of Apostolic Leaders, started drafting the standards in February. Numerous other contributors helped revise and fine-tune the document, ensuring it wouldn’t “quench the spirit of prophesy,” says Mattera.

“Prophecy is perhaps the greatest gift to the whole church to build up the body, to encourage and to build faith,” Mattera adds. “Our purpose is for the gift of prophecy to flourish. And we did our best to come up with that with the input from many national leaders, including some prophetic leaders, so that the general body of Christ could have a statement to give them discernment protocols and guidelines, so that they could operate in the gift without abuse.”

The document is the result of ministry leaders asking for guidance as well as outside criticism of the prophetic movement, says Brown. “We’ve heard from many pastors saying, ‘How do we clean up this mess?’ ” he tells Religion Unplugged. “It also gives guidelines for all believers to test what they’re hearing on the internet and TV. Hopefully, if the body of Christ can be more discerning, there can be less of a market for error.”

The hope, Brown adds, is that the document serves as “a corrective to error and an encouragement to positive expression” within the Pentecostal subset of prophecy ministry.

Walking a Diplomatic Fine Line

The “Prophetic Standards” document doesn’t name specific prophets, which researcher James Beverley calls both diplomatic and risky. Beverley, who has collected hundreds of prophecies about Trump alone, says this approach “is commendable since it provides an opportunity for various prophets to improve without being named,” yet “it runs the risk of not bringing to light those prophets who bring dishonor to the Christian world through reckless statements and false prophecies.”

The group least likely to be affected by the standards, Beverley says, are the “so-called prophets who continue to venerate Trump without limit and show no regret for false prophecies and ridiculous claims about January 6, January 20 and the future of Trump.”

Although more than 300 ministry leaders have already signed the document, most of the movement’s prophets have not. “If the chief offenders have not publicly repented, why would they sign something like this?” asks Brown.

The absence of certain names speaks loudly, he adds. In an op-ed for The Christian Post, Brown writes, “We encourage believers to send the statement to prophetic ministers whom they follow, asking for their affirmation as well.”

Restoring Prophesy’s Name

Prophecy was key throughout the Bible, Brown says, but believers also are told to test prophecies to discern falsehoods. “Today, in light of the failed Trump prophecies, which received widespread media attention and which followed on the heels of the failed end-of-Covid prophecies, prophetic ministry has a bad name,” Brown says. “Let us use this unique moment in history to cultivate sound prophetic ministry” which is “a great gift to the Church” that “should neither be neglected or abused.”

Charisma Media founder Steve Strang, who signed the document, says he doubts it will appease the movement’s critics, “some of whom have made a small industry of blasting not only the gift of prophecy but all spiritual gifts and often all Pentecostal doctrine.”

Another signer, James Goll, points to two current trouble spots within the prophetic movement: a lack of “doctrinal authority” as well as a lack of accountability, especially on social media. He tells Religion Unplugged that all Spirit-filled churches end up being lumped into “one giant pot.” And in today’s digital age, almost anyone can self-promote as a prophet, and many people end up “saying too much on the wrong platform.”

The need for guidelines had been discussed before, Goll notes, and the Apostolic Council of Prophetic Elders formed in 1999, but the movement still lacks a “central hierarchy.”

What Prophecy Is—And Isn’t

According to the standards, “prophets do not serve as spiritual fortune tellers or prognosticators, nor is their role to satisfy our curiosity about the future or reveal abstract information.” Instead, “God’s purpose in prophecy is redemptive, calling for repentance, giving supernatural guidance, bringing comfort, deliverance, restoration, and glorifying Jesus as Lord.”

To encourage accountability, the document urges “all believers to check the lives and fruit of [prophets] they follow online and also see if they are part of a local church body and have true accountability for their public ministries and personal lives.” And it urges “prophetic ministers posting unfiltered and untested words purportedly from the Lord to first submit those words to peer leaders for evaluation.”

Because of prophecy’s nature, the document acknowledges that evaluation sometimes can’t occur until after the words are delivered. “But in all situations,” it notes, people “claiming to speak for God should welcome the godly evaluation of their prophecies.”

Saved by Grace — Katie Langston Tells About Her Journey Out of Mormonism

By

AP News

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May 3, 2021

(RNS) — Katie Langston didn’t know much about Lutheranism when she enrolled in a Lutheran seminary. She only knew Mormonism, the religion of her childhood, had become wrapped up with both joy and pain, and the pain had started to be more prominent.

It hadn’t always been that way. As Langston recounts in her new memoir, ” Sealed: An Unexpected Journey Into the Heart of Grace,” there were many gifts from her Mormon childhood. Her parents were both converts who met each other after their missions and ventured to Utah for college.

“They got married and settled out there, and decided to raise their family in Zion. We were a very devout family, very conservative,” Langston told Religion News Service.

The term she uses is “quasi-fundamentalist” — not in the sense they practiced polygamy, which “fundamentalist” has become code for in Mormon circles, but in the classic sense of interpreting scripture and the counsel of general authorities in a very literal, black-and-white way.

It was a loving childhood, but Langston often experienced crippling anxiety. “I was a very sensitive kid and had a ton of religious anxiety that would later be diagnosed as scrupulosity, a religious form of OCD,” she said. In the memoir she recounts her struggles to stay “clean” as a Mormon youth, engaging in repeated patterns of doing something the church viewed as wrong and then praying desperately for forgiveness. “ Please forgive me of all my sins,” she would beg — through her childhood, her mission to Bulgaria and into her adult life.

It took a toll. “It reached a point in adulthood when I felt as if life was not worth living, to be honest. Around that time, I had a profound experience of God’s grace that I struggled to make sense of within a Mormon context. I battled with that for the better part of a decade.”

One night while she was living in Logan, Utah, she attended a lecture by a C.S. Lewis scholar who humbly and honestly spoke of his failings and about the love of God. Something shifted in Langston when she heard this accomplished man own up to his brokenness in the present tense, not as something he had successfully overcome. In the memoir she describes the import of that moment:

“That was it … I’d never known anyone to admit such a thing out loud. It was the cardinal rule of Mormon spirituality: Be ye therefore perfect, and if you couldn’t be perfect, you must do all you can to fix it. Try harder. Get absolution from priesthood leaders. Pray more. You didn’t name your brokenness. You battled it, sought to excise it with every ounce of energy you possessed. To admit powerlessness in the face of your deficiencies was to let your deficiencies win — to let Satan win.”

She allowed herself to begin wondering: What if God already loved her as she was? What if the order of things was not for her to struggle to choose God, but to accept, first and foremost, God had already chosen her?

Eventually, Langston — still a Mormon at that time, though a doubting believer — decided to enroll in seminary to study theology and become a family therapist. She did not intend to switch denominations or pursue ordained ministry. But for her very first class, she had to read a biography of the 16-century reformer Martin Luther, whom she recognized as a kindred spirit.

“I was blown away by how much I resonated with his experience,” she said. “He almost certainly would have had the diagnosis of scrupulosity if such a thing had existed. The confessors in his monastery were so sick of him coming again and again. ‘Come back when you have something real to confess!’ they would tell him. I resonated with his experience of God’s grace, and wrestling with Paul in particular, and understanding that righteousness is a gift that God gives us through Christ.”

Like Luther, who complained about the works righteousness of the medieval Catholic Church, Langston saw problems in how The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints regulated “worthiness” and seemed to stress that over holy grace.

“Ultimately, the thing I couldn’t reconcile in Mormonism was its emphasis on needing to qualify for God’s love. I spent a long time trying to. The fact that the temple is held out as a place where you receive the ordinances that are required for exaltation, but that access to that is gated with a standardized checklist of questions, was impossible to reconcile with the God of grace I had encountered.”

Langston said she “tried millions of ways” to make Mormonism work, but she eventually found peace in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and began to pursue a path toward ordination. Her parents and husband, who are all still Latter-day Saints, were supportive, she says, but “they were heartbroken.”

As of the time of her RNS interview, her parents had not yet read her memoir. “I tried to portray them, even with all the complexity that is in any family, in a gracious and loving way,” she said. “I love my parents, and I know they always did everything out of love for me. I never doubted that for a second, and I hope that comes through even if there are parts of my journey that will be hard for them to read.”

Langston has now completed seminary and is doing a required pastoral internship in which she is embedded in a church, learning how to be a pastor. After that, the training wheels will be off and she will be ready to lead a church.

But she has not forgotten her Mormon roots. She still co-hosts a semiregular podcast on Mormon faith journeys and regularly preaches a message of grace. The memoir is one part of that ministry. “If someone read and it and came away thinking ‘Mormons are bad,’ that’s not the point at all. The point is to bear witness to the experience of grace that I have had with God, and hopefully to allow others to see pieces of their story in my story.”

This article originally appeared here.

Scientists and Legislators Question Whether Religious Exemptions to Vaccines Are Really Religious

By

AP News

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May 3, 2021

Joining thousands gathered outside the State Capitol, opponents of a bill to repeal Connecticut's religious exemption for school vaccinations pray outside the Capitol before the State Senate voted on the legislation, Tuesday, April 27, 2021, in Hartford, Conn. Religious exemptions like the one eliminated by Connecticut’s new law are facing particular scrutiny amid fears of new measles outbreaks and concerns the growing number of families claiming religious exemptions for their children are opposed because of scientifically discredited claims about the dangers of vaccines. (Mark Mirko/Hartford Courant via AP)

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — A law adopted this week in Connecticut adds momentum to the push to strengthen vaccination requirements for schoolchildren, but efforts to give families more leeway are brewing in statehouses around the country in debates that go back more than a century.

The arguments over mandates, and when to allow exceptions, are expected to become more heated as authorities decide what expectations should be for COVID-19 vaccinations once they are approved for young children.

Religious exemptions like the one eliminated by Connecticut’s new law are facing particular scrutiny amid fears of new measles outbreaks and concerns the growing number of families claiming religious exemptions for their children are opposed because of scientifically discredited claims about the dangers of vaccines. Leaders of Islam, Judaism and major Christian religions say vaccination is consistent with their belief systems.

“The truth is there is no major religion that prohibits vaccinations,” said Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine. “The argument has really very little to do with religion and everything to do with the anti-vaccine, vaccine choice movement.”

Proposals to expand or limit immunization exemptions pop up every year in state legislatures, although it’s rare for any to win passage. Nationwide, the National Conference of State Legislatures, or NCSL, is currently tracking about 270 bills related to childhood immunizations.

They include a bill in West Virginia, one of the six states that ended religious exemptions, to allow students with “conscientious or personal” objections to opt out. A bill in Minnesota would add religious reasons to existing exemptions, and Vermont lawmakers have proposed a bill to end the state’s religious exemption.

The debates often do not break down along traditional political divides, according to Robert Bednarczyk, a professor at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health.

“I do think when you see vaccine refusal, it really does run across the population,” he said. “Regardless of the reason, the endpoint is always the same. It’s children that are being left unprotected from infectious diseases.”

For as long as there have been vaccination requirements, there has been pushback.

In Massachusetts, a Lutheran minister in 1902 refused to comply with a mandate by the Cambridge Board of Health for all adults to get smallpox vaccinations. The U.S. Supreme Court in 1905 upheld the state’s mandatory policy, and in 1922 upheld a school system’s power to refuse admission to students who failed to heed a vaccination order.

Gradually, statewide vaccination mandates took hold in every state. In 1966, however, as New York lawmakers were considering a vaccination requirement for schoolchildren, it became the first state to include a religious exemption in its law. Christian Scientists were among the main advocates of the exemption, arguing that the requirement violated their belief in prayer rather than medical treatment.

Other states followed New York’s example; before long there were only two states that didn’t provide a religious exemption. Some state laws said the exemptions could be claimed only by people who belonged to an organized or established religion. Other policies were looser, allowing a child to be exempt based on the individual family’s religious beliefs.

In recent years, the momentum has shifted. California decided in 2015 to get rid of its religious exemption following a measles outbreak in Disneyland. Maine and New York have taken similar steps, joining West Virginia and Mississippi. Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont, a Democrat, signed his state’s new law eliminating the religious exemption on Wednesday.

Forty-four states and the District of Columbia currently allow religious exemptions to immunizations, while 15 states also permit philosophical exemptions for children whose parents object due to personal, moral or other beliefs, according to the NCSL.

A spokesperson for the Christian Science church in Connecticut, Linda Ross, testified against the measure that scrapped the state’s exemption. She suggested the exemption could be left in place, but with stricter policies allowed temporarily for schools with worrisomely low vaccination rates.

“Christian Scientists don’t view vaccination as something to fear or get out of, but generally prefer the greater sense of health, protection and well-being they find through their Bible-based religious practice,” she said in written testimony.

Two groups that oppose the new Connecticut law are planning to challenge it in court.

“The notion that somehow the state government gets the right to cram its version of virtue down the throats of every citizen in this state is and ought to be offensive to every Connecticut resident,” said Norm Pattis, an attorney representing the organizations.

The pandemic is having an influence on the vaccine debate. In Kentucky, which already has religious and other exemptions to childhood vaccinations, state lawmakers approved a bill that would bar health officials during pandemics from requiring vaccinations for the pandemic diseases. The legislation was signed by the governor in March.

Kentucky state Sen. Mike Wilson, a Republican from Bowling Green who sponsored the bill, said his office received many phone calls and emails from constituents who were leery of the COVID-19 vaccines and didn’t want state officials to order them to get vaccinated.

“It’s enough to make you stop and say, ‘You know what? We have exemptions for other areas. We don’t have one for this,’” Wilson said. “They don’t want to be mandated to take it.”

Bednarczyk said discussions around coronavirus vaccinations for children likely will follow familiar contours.

“I don’t think it’s necessarily going to be a different set of issues or circumstances,” he said. “But I think that it probably will get a lot more attention because everything around COVD-19 has garnered more attention.”

Hundreds of Christian Worshippers Throng Jerusalem Church for Holy Fire

By

AP News

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May 3, 2021

JERUSALEM (AP) — Hundreds of Christian worshippers made use of Israel’s easing of coronavirus restrictions Saturday, packing a Jerusalem church revered as the site of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection for Holy Fire, an ancient fire ceremony a day before Orthodox Easter.

The faithful gathered at The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, waiting for clergymen to emerge with the Holy Fire from the Edicule, a chamber built on the site where Christians believe Jesus was buried and rose from the dead after being crucified.

Only a few people in the church wore masks, and there was no distancing. Entry was restricted to those who were fully vaccinated.

As bells rang and the top clerics from different Orthodox denominations appeared, the worshippers scrambled to light their candles and pass the fire on. Within a minute, the imposing walls of the old church glowed. The source of the flame is a closely guarded secret.

Greek-Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilos III led the event.

The scene at the church was a stark contrast to last year’s, when only a handful of religious leaders held the centuries-old ceremony in a near-empty setting enforced by the coronavirus pandemic.

Israel has significantly lifted most restrictions, including mask-wearing in public, after a world-leading vaccination drive. However, air travel to the country remains limited and requiring quarantine.

In normal years, Christian holidays, including Christmas and Easter, draw tens of thousands of tourists and pilgrims to holy sites in Jerusalem and Bethlehem.

Many countries will be restricting normal Orthodox Easter celebrations. Neighboring Lebanon for example went into a round-the-clock curfew to curb the spread of coronavirus, from Saturday until Tuesday morning. Churches will be allowed to hold Easter mass and prayers only at 30% capacity, and require special permits.

In Egypt, home to the Middle East’s largest Christian community, primarily of the Coptic denomination, churches were told to limit attendance to 25% or less.

Worshippers in Cairo’s Coptic cathedral wore face masks and sat a meter apart in pews to mark the start of the celebration on Saturday evening.

For them, the holiday comes at the end of a 55-day fast where no meat, fish or dairy is eaten. This year it partially overlapped with Ramadan, the month-long Muslim fast that lasts from sunup to sundown. The communal rituals and family gatherings around the holy days have sparked worries with some experts that they could lead to wider transmission of the virus.

This article originally appeared here.

UPDATE: Street Preacher Arrested for Defining Biblical Marriage Says ‘I Was Doing What My Job Description Says’

By

Jesse T. Jackson

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May 3, 2021

UPDATED May 3, 2021: Pastor John Sherwood was arrested last week for preaching from the end of Genesis as he explained the biblical definition of marriage in an open area near Uxbridge Underground Station. Sherwood was forcefully removed by police from his platform for being accused of making “homophobic statements” and arrested under the Public Order Act because they said he used ‘abusive or insulting words.’

Sherwood was released within 24 hours without any charges, and UK’s Daily Mail reports testimony he gave since the arrest saying, “I wasn’t making any homophobic comments. I was just defining marriage as a relationship between a man and a woman. I was only saying what the Bible says. I wasn’t wanting to hurt anyone or cause offense.”

Sherwood affirmed, “I was doing what my job description says which is to preach the gospel in open air as well as in a church building.”

He explained to the police that he was “exercising my religious liberty and my conscience.” He then confirmed the reports of being roughed up and said he has some injuries to his wrist and elbow after police forcefully removed the 71-year-old pastor from the area. “I do believe I was treated shamefully. It should never have happened,” he said.

The incident has been sent to the Crown Prosecution Service for further review.

ChurchLeaders original article written on April 30, 2021 below.

A pastor was roughed up and handcuffed on Friday, April 23, 2021, as he preached about biblical marriage outside of Uxbridge Underground Station in the UK. John Sherwood, the minister of a north London church, and Peter Simpson of the Penn Free Methodist Church publicly read Genesis 1 about biblical marriage. Sherwood was arrested for his preaching.

After reciting the end of Genesis, Sherwood expounded upon what he had just read, telling everyone in hearing distance that “God’s design in creating mankind was to set human beings in families, headed by a father and a mother, not by two fathers or by two mothers. The distinction within mankind of just two genders, male and female, made in the image of God, constitutes the essence of God’s created order.”

Shortly after Sherwood’s explanation of God’s design for marriage and gender, police arrived on the scene and told the pastor they had received multiple complaints of ‘alarm and distress’ about his preaching. Simpson recalled that Sherwood politely but boldly reaffirmed his belief in what he was preaching to the officers.

Police officers warned the pastors that they should avoid making any “homophobic statements” while Simpson told the officers that “to uphold God’s moral law and to speak about the dangers of sin in respect of LGBT issues implies absolutely no hatred or unpleasantness towards any individual or group of people. Indeed, it is an act of love to one’s neighbor. Nevertheless, the Bible’s description of homosexuality as sinful is plain and clear-cut.”

The police argued that public places are not areas where “homophobic statements” should be made because they offend people Simpson displeased the officers when he referred to the PRIDE parade taking place in Uxbridge that Bible-believers would find offensive and explained that there is no law against people being offended.

Eventually Sherwood resumed preaching and ignoring the police officers’ unlawful warnings. Simpson described that a lesbian bystander shouted at the street preacher, accusing him of hate speech. The officers then approached Sherwood and said he was under arrest.

The pastor who is in his early 70’s refused to come down from his step stool he was preaching from; he told the officers that no crime had been committed. Three officers then forcefully pulled him down from his platform, took his Bible from his hands, and placed handcuffs on the unwilling street preacher while leading him away.

Onlookers took video of the incident while one of the helpers from his church yelled out, “What has happened to us as a nation that a man can no longer preach from the Bible?”

Sherwood was placed in jail overnight and released the next day. He remains under investigation for simply reciting and preaching God’s Word, which UK police say caused alarm and distress to others.

Simpson said the arrest “reveals a dangerous assault upon freedom of speech and, not least, upon the freedom of Christian pastors to declare in public all that the Bible teaches” and that the State cannot decide which parts of the Bible are “no-go areas.”

The United Kingdom isn’t on Open Doors World Watch List 2021, a list that displays the top 50 countries where it is most difficult to follow Jesus.

The video of the arrest can be seen here.

This Is Hate Speech?

A similar incident that didn’t involve police or any arrests happened in Sandy, Oregon, earlier this year when a church held a rally called “Prayer, Faith & Freedom Rally to Celebrate the Natural Heterosexual Family.” The rally involved protesters calling the church’s biblical preaching as “hate speech.” One person told an interviewer “when I see Christians out here saying, spouting, like hate messages, like, ‘You’re not natural if you’re gay,’ it’s really hurtful and I just hope that we can teach our youth that, you know, Jesus loves you no matter who you are.” Although both sides remained peaceful, it shows the tension Christians need to be prepared for when choosing to remain faithful to God’s Word and not conforming to the world’s ways.

‘If You Have Eyes, Plagiarize’: When Borrowing a Sermon Goes Too Far

By

Bob Smietana

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May 3, 2021

Plagiarize — Pastor Mark Driscoll, left, uses a bow and arrow analogy in Aug. 2019. Pastor Zach Stewart, right, used the same analogy while preaching a very similar sermon to Driscoll’s in April 2021. Video screengrabs

NASHVILLE (RNS) — Colleen Reese was ticked at her preacher.

Listening to the minister’s sermon at Franklin Christian Church, south of Nashville, she took exception when he began to criticize parents for passing bad habits — and bad genes — on to their children.

He included a joke about mothers passing on mental illness to their kids. Reese, who deals with depression, thought the joke was in poor taste and had little to do with Christianity.

When Reese typed the sermon title into Google, a link to her pastor’s latest sermon series popped up. But so did a three-year-old series from a church in Kentucky. The Kentucky sermon was almost identical to the sermon her pastor had preached.

Looking further, Reese discovered that her pastor had plagiarized hundreds of sermons — which made her feel as if she had been lied to. “I had to send my children to their rooms so that I could speak to my husband about it,” she said. “Because the words that came out of my mouth were really not Jesus-like in that moment.”

For many Protestant Christians, the sermon is the central act of worship during Sunday service, a moment when God speaks to the congregation through the Bible and their pastor. The sermon also plays a key role in attracting newcomers. According to a 2016 Pew Research survey, people searching for a new place to worship want a “good sermon and warm welcome,” with 83% saying that the quality of sermons played a key role in their choice.

But as Reese discovered, pastors are not always preaching their own words. While there are no statistics on outright plagiarism — claiming someone else’s words as your own — preachers love to “borrow” from each other.

As a young staff pastor at a church in the Pacific Northwest, Jesse Holcomb said that he and his colleague would be constantly on the lookout for good ideas at other churches. They even had an inside joke about it: “If you have eyes, plagiarize.”

Other churches were doing great work, so the thinking went, “Why don’t we take these ideas and use them as our own and bless our community with them?”

Things started to go wrong, said Holcomb, when his pastor wrote a self-published book filled with other people’s ideas. “I just remember sitting there thinking, ‘man, this is what we’re doing with everything,'” he said.

Plagiarism in book form is easier to catch and has struck as recently as 2017. Abington Press withdrew a book of prayers by the Rev. Bill Shillady, Hillary Clinton’s longtime pastor, after discovering he had plagiarized passages in the book. In 2013, megachurch pastor Mark Driscoll had to apologize when plagiarized material appeared in his book “Call to Resurgence.” Driscoll blamed a research assistant for using unattributed material.

For Driscoll, the plagiarism scandal was one of the first steps that led to his 2014 resignation from Mars Hill, the Seattle-based multisite megachurch that later splintered into separate congregations and no longer exists.

The God Who Bleeds

By

Ethan Renoe

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May 3, 2021

WARNING: CONTAINS GRAPHIC VIOLENCE

Your toes are not that different from the toes which once dripped crimson blood from a Roman crucifix. All accounted for, you should have ten—five per foot—and they can all bend in one direction, curling like wild french fries beside your happy meal.

There is debate as to how exactly Roman crucifixions were carried out. Did they use nails or only rope? Did Christ carry both beams of His cross up the hill, or just the horizontal crossbeam? Were His feet pierced with one nail through the top of His feet, or the more ergonomically correct position of one foot on either side of the wood with the nail through the side of the heel?

I believe that whatever position the Messiah was in, He was affixed there for hours. In human time, in the history of the cosmos. Not in the abstract myths we often conjure up as we read the Bible—often thinking of it in terms of theological imagination more than human history and time and place and Rome and Nazareth and water and poop and blood.

These are real things.

This is the way God interacts with humans.

Jesus is not a theological quandary, but a man who, at one point in our timeline, yet forever, was/is pinned to a tree, accursed.

“Anyone hung on a tree is under God’s curse.” -God, Deuteronomy 21:32

“Forgive them, for they know not what they’re doing.” -God, being hung on a tree

I daily miss the reality of Jesus, the man, the carpenter from Galilee. I don’t spend enough time meditating on the fact that God entered INTO humanity, and the world still hasn’t recovered. We have modern-day plagues which wipe us out by the thousands, yet we ask God why He sits up in heaven, looking down on our misery.

The same God we ripped the back off of, the way you open up the hood of your car to see what’s going on inside.

“How does God work?” you could have asked the Roman centurions peeling the skin off his scapulas.

“Well,” they reply, “so far He bleeds just like every other crook.”

“We’ve cracked Him open…feel free to take a look inside.”

The scholars may piece together their theology of salvation the way a mechanic constructs a combustion engine: lots of moving parts which operate just so, and as long as each of the units follows the basic rules of physics, everything will go on swimmingly.

How does God piece together salvation? With countless meals in the homes of prostitutes, tax collectors, and ‘sinners.’

As if there were people here who are not ‘sinners.’

How does Jesus piece together salvation? With buckets of His own blood. And now we’re back to the toes of the Divine. The moment God dripped His own blood from almighty phalanges onto the dirt below, the salvific work was complete.

Yesterday a 14-year-old took his own life here in Colorado. His parents have been friends with mine for decades. What do we do with such pain? I began slamming this post through my keyboard as an attempt to figure it out, and keep coming back to nothing else but Jesus on the cross: an image to which we have become desensitized. A symbol we sling around our necks as a fashion statement, as if God Himself were not being wrenched apart; each of His molecules shuddering under the weight of His suffering.

Does God know our pain? The Bible tells me so. It tells me that I cling to a God who doesn’t just know it, but has experienced it. The way you can read a hundred books about losing a child but know nothing until it happens to you.

His skin couldn’t hold back its blood, even before the torture began. In the Garden of Gethsemane, His trepidation squeezed the blood from its capillaries hours before the flogging did.

When someone is crucified, they die of asphyxiation. They can’t breathe. Imagine being drowned in air, but not because you’re underwater, but because you can’t push yourself up—on the nails in your feet—to get a breath. And your skin has mostly been stripped away, and you’re nailed to a tree.

If the victim wouldn’t die quickly enough, Romans would either break their legs so they could no longer push themselves up, or light a fire at the foot of the cross so they suffocated in the smoke.

Eight hundred years before Jesus found Himself on Golgotha, the psalmist predicted that none of His bones would be broken. Sure enough, in 36AD, Jesus breathed His last before the guards had to come by and shatter His quivering tibias. Perhaps we’ve become too numb to the language of crucifixion, which is why I’m attempting to breathe some new air into the lungs of our imagination.

Jesus suffocated to death.

He tried to bring oxygen into His lungs, but reached a point where His body couldn’t accommodate it.

Crucifixion was such a painful way to die, in fact, that they had to coin a new term to capture it. Ex is Latin for “out of,” and cruc is Latin for “cross.” When something is excruciating, it is so painful that it could only come out of the cross.

Your stubbed toe is not excruciating.

Losing your son to suicide might be.

The tradition of carrying your own death machine (as typified in the Abrahamic story of making Isaac carry the wood for his own sacrifice up Mount Moriah) was a built-in part of the process. Not only was crucifixion painful beyond comprehension, but it was humiliating. The victim was stripped naked, flogged (skin ripped off of most of them), and then forced to carry their death machine through public areas—still naked. Then they were splayed to the beams and left to die—still naked.

Jesus was hung up to die, fully exposed, and mutilated, possibly even in the genital area, based on similar historical accounts.

Jesus was not only tortured, but humiliated. You think you are too shameful to stand in the presence of God? Fortunately for us, Jesus knows shame.

Not only did He absolve us of our sins, suffering in the place we deserved, but He absorbed our shame as well, when He was paraded nude across town and displayed before all of the onlookers. God doesn’t only meet us in our pain, but in our deepest of shames—perhaps a place harder for us to fathom finding God in. Or being found by Him.

And in the midst of these ‘evil days,’ that brings a bit of comfort: knowing we’re not alone, but surrounded by a God who works in all things, knows all things—from experience, not from reading about it—and has bled for all things.

That’s the only type of God who can truly make all things new.

This article originally appeared here.

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Sanctuary City: Abortion Banned in Lubbock

Small Group Planning:

Weekly or Bi-Weekly (or Is That Semi-Monthly)?

Seasonal or Annual?

1. “Who’s more foolish? The fool or the fool who follows him?” — Obi-Wan

2. “The ability to speak does not make you intelligent.” — Qui-Gon Jinn

3. “Sometimes we must let go of our pride and do what is requested of us.” — Padme

4. “Always pass on what you have learned.” — Yoda

5. “Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.” — Yoda

6. “Your focus determines your reality.” — Qui-Gon Jinn

7. “In my experience there is no such thing as luck.” — Obi-Wan Kenobi

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This Is Hate Speech?

Let’s start with worship.

Now on to preaching.

True life change doesn’t happen because of an emotional experience. It happens because you have principles and a strong foundation.

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