Lets Just Call This The Lead In To An Uncomfortable Story To Write
I’ll say right now I’m not sure how long I’ll keep this post up. Even now, 24 hours after completing it and considering whether to put it out there, I’m troubled by the picture. The natural mind wants to scream out protest at any thought of a man like that being redeemed.
In addition, I’m not a person highly trained in biblical doctrine. I️ carry no experience or authority to be speaking about an entire religion as if I’m a scholar. All I have is my personal experiences which lead to my beliefs. I was a man who seriously fell short in so many ways and for whatever reason, I had a moment in the early 90’s when an experience during a dark time pierced through all the crap and changed everything for me. It is that moment that leads me to look at this picture and see myself where you may see Manson. So, for the moment, I will put myself out there and share this post.
Please, please please… hear the raw passion from inside of me. My wife says a person who doesn’t know me would think I’m angry. It’s not anger at all…it’s an intense passion. I love my life! I’m blessed in so many ways. I’m in my 50’s and I’ve been rewarded with experiences that leave me feeling so fulfilled. But something within says, “Don’t stop! Don’t settle for less!” Don’t be satisfied; don’t become complacent, don’t settle for compromise on your dreams…the vision out ahead of me totally energizes me. It’s that intensity that drives me to question things; to look at things through “critical thinking”, not with a “critical attitude”.
This picture stirs me to my soul about the only thing that makes a 50-something guy totally stoked when he thinks of what’s out ahead. My Savior is radical! The faith to which I have been invited into is fierce and it’s strong, and our Savior will pursue us to the very end. He’s not swayed by public opinion; He’s not bound by man’s judgments; His love reached down into the grave, won the battle for the ages, and rescued me from an eternal separation from Love, Light, and Life.
So lets get going here…I got some things to say.
Deeply Challenged
I opened up Facebook this morning and saw the above image a day after one of the more evil men of my generation passed away after almost 50 years in prison. I found myself quite challenged by this image, and to be honest it seemed like an uncomfortable joke. As a follower of Christ, I wondered if this was in some way mocking Christianity, and making light of the idea of God’s love. However, I’ve got to say that as the seconds passed and I absorbed what I was seeing, something stirred within me in a severe manner. I saw a Gospel that desires to leave no one behind; I saw a Gospel that sees value in what we deem worthless and worthy only of being thrown away; I saw a Gospel in that picture that is filled with a fierce love for humanity.
I’ll come back to this picture toward the end, because it represents something incredibly amazing. But first, let me lay some groundwork.
An Unremarkable Gospel
The gospel most Americans experience is Sunday morning church. We sing some songs, hear stories with a moral to them and just enough humor to keep our attention, and then hurry out of the parking lot so we can get home for the game, beat the crowd to the local restaurant, or start our “ToDo” list of things to accomplish before Monday comes calling.
For those hard core believers, throw in a small group bible study sometime during the week, some Christian concerts with an anointed light show and holy smoke coming from the stage so our faith looks cool, and perhaps a marriage conference for adults and a high school/middle school retreat for the youth. Now we’re bordering on radical right?
We pray for each other, have potlucks on special occasions, and enjoy donuts and coffee before or after Sunday service to encourage building relationships and foster a connectedness within the church. Nothing wrong with any of that, but it doesn’t feel like a very amazing Gospel.
I don’t have any numbers in front of me, and why would I want to bog you down with statistics anyway right? But I’ve heard great numbers of the younger generation leave the church as soon as they leave mom and dad’s house. Why? I don’t know…perhaps church as they’ve experienced it simply isn’t very relevant. As I said in the paragraph above, perhaps the gospel they’ve experienced growing up simply isn’t amazing enough to stick around for.
Let’s Talk About “Amazing”
In church one day, this guy I’d never seen before comes walking in and goes right to the front and starts talking. He’s acting like a teacher presenting crazy ideas I’d never heard before…and to be honest, some of the things he said went right over my head. I’m listening to him for sure, but I’m also wondering if anyone else thinks this is weird so I began looking around the church to see people’s reactions. The church leaders hadn’t intervened (which was weird in itself), and the dudes who stand in the back of the church doing the security-thing weren’t responding so I’m like…”What’s going on here?”
Here’s where “Crazy” rocketed to a whole new level! Suddenly, this speaker looks at that guy in the wheelchair who always sits up near the left of the stage and the speaker says something to him. I can’t make out what is being said because the teacher-dude has lowered his voice and appears to be having a personal conversation with the guy in the wheelchair. Then it happens! The guy who couldn’t walk starts to rise up slowly out of his wheelchair. He then begins walking and walking turns into jumping. Next thing I know, this dude is running from side to side along the front of the church screaming and yelling and pumping his fist in the air violently. The crowd is both noisy and hushed at the same time, and the wheelchair-dude’s family is going nuts while his wife is both crying, laughing, and looked like she was about to pass out. I hear the guy in front of me lean over to his wife and say, “What new teaching is this, and with power?”
An Amazing Gospel
Okay, so maybe you figured it out as you were reading, but maybe you didn’t. The story I just shared came flowing out of my imagination as I sat here typing. I was taking stories from the Gospel, specifically the Book of Mark, and modernizing them to the day we are in.
I’ve been stuck on the word “Amazing” for a while. I’m reading the stories in the bible of what our faith looked like back in the day of the Disciples, and I’m questioning what exactly it is I’m doing sitting in church today. Don’t get me wrong, I like my church…but what I see going on in my church and others I’ve visited isn’t anything like what I read was going down in those crazy churches when the Disciples and the Apostle Paul carried the message. It was riot and revival all tied up into one crazy experience. People were being radically healed from sickness and disability, people were being set free; radical words combined with Power from Heaven invaded and it led to people being amazed, astounded, and marveling at what was happening before their eyes.
The people in Jesus’ day were absolutely blown away by what they heard and saw. A strange new teaching appeared through this man Jesus from the armpit of the region – Nazareth, and it came with an authority and supernatural power unlike anything seen before. The blind could see, the deaf heard, the crippled got up and walked, and people that were possessed by demonic influence were set free. The people were blown away, and the religious establishment of the day felt threatened and angered by him.
What would a Gospel like that look like today? The addict was set free, the person suffering from cancer and Alzheimer’s was instantly healed, the victim of abuse was healed and made whole immediately…what a Gospel that truly would be today! How crazy it would be to see needles and pipes being dropped at the alter as people are instantly made whole by a Gospel that is everything like what we read about in the bible.
Another Gospel
The Apostle Paul said something that has stuck with me for some years now. In a letter to the Galatians, he said in chapter 1, verse 6: “I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; which is really not another”.
The teachings of Christ were being compromised. These teachings were being mixed in with some of the old customs from different teachings. By interjecting other teachings, they watered down the message and cut the power source to this strange teaching that had come with authority and supernatural power. Basically, the people were left with arguments and debates, lacking any real power and authority. Hmmm…seems familiar to my own experiences.
So Back To Jesus and Manson
I have no idea of Manson’s fate…I don’t have the pay grade to know. I have my thoughts, but the reality is, I don’t know. For me, the picture is not at all about Manson…it’s about Jesus. The Grace and the Love demonstrated by what he did through the work of the Cross is so powerful, it can redeem the darkest of lives.
The faith is violent and it is stronger than anything we could ever imagine. The Blood shed on that Cross is so completely pure, clean and supernatural, that the darkest of the dark can be redeemed. That IS the message and the power of the Gospel (Good News). This is the Hope to which we have been called. We can accept it, or we can reject it…but the invitation is there. It’s not wishy-washy, it’s not weak, it’s not watered down, it’s a Gospel of Power, of Authority, and it radically changes those who are touched by it.
The lost find hope…
The hurting find comfort…
The lonely find a family…
So…as you look at the picture, take your eyes off Manson…we don’t have the burden of being judge anyway. Focus instead on the power of a Gospel that can save in the last moments of life before we slip into eternity… focus on a love that knows no boundary.
I guess that’s it.
Some references to an “amazing” Gospel:
Mark 1:22“And [the people in the Synagogue at Capernaum] were amazed at His teaching; for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.”
Mark 1:27 “And they were all amazed, so that they debated among themselves, saying, ‘What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him.”
Mark 2:12 “And [the paralytic] rose and immediately took up the pallet and went out in the sight of all; so that they were all amazed and were glorifying God saying, ‘We have never seen anything like this.’ ”
Mark 6:51 “And [Jesus] got into the boat with [the disciples], and the wind stopped; and they were greatly astonished.”
Mark 7:37 “And they were utterly astonished, saying, ‘He has done all things well; He makes even the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak.’ ”
Mark 11:18 “…for all the multitude was astonished at His teaching.”