So Much Wasted Time

There is a big debate raging among Christian reconstructionists over whether membership in a local church is mandatory for Christians. I’ve been thinking about the value of church attendance for a couple of years before this debate even started.

I love my pastor. He is a kind, generous, tough-as-nails guy and he’s a better man than I’ll probably ever be. That being said, I’ve been listening to him preach for about 50 minutes on Sundays about 40 weeks a year (he’s out of town sometimes and I’m out of town sometimes) for the last 11 years. I’ve also listened to him speak many times during Bible studies and Wednesdays. I’ve come to the conclusion that all of that has been a huge waste of time. I learn way more from reading a book or listening to an online sermon or podcast.

We are currently going through Genesis for the third time since I’ve been there, and I guess it’s a Calvary Chapel thing to go through a chapter per week. I’m sure he puts in a lot of time preparing the sermon, but we have these projectors in the sanctuary, and the ability to show videos, with thousands of sermons to choose from. Is my pastor the very best one to deliver a sermon on a certain chapter in Genesis, when there are many sermons to choose from on that very chapter? Like I said, he’s a great guy, but he isn’t a world-class teacher. Is his current rendition of Genesis so much better than his last rendition? Why does it have to be live? Why shouldn’t we just play a sermon from someone who is a world-class teacher?

Do you know all the fascinating topics there are to discuss in Genesis? There is so much stuff about creation, the flood, the tower of Babel. No one man can present that information, and even if he could, it would be a waste of his time to prepare a regurgitation of someone else’s content, and a waste of a perfectly good projector system.

When you’re in college, it’s the worst professors that lecture non-stop for the whole class. Not many people learn best that way. It is much better to have a professor who draws on the chalkboard or provides pictures, graphs and diagrams to illustrate the topic. Why has anyone ever thought that it would be a good idea for one guy to stand at the front of the church and drone on? Even the worst professors probably reference a textbook or something, but Christians don’t even have that luxury. But there are people who not only believe that it is a good idea for it to be done this way, and that anything else is a sin.

There are some who believe in the regulative principal of worship that think that anything out of order in the church service is a sin. But they have pulpits (not in the Bible) and they have one guy who preaches every Sunday (not in the Bible). I admit I don’t know all their arguments, but they ignore the clearest description of a worship service in the New Testament–1 Corinthians 14. There is little correlation between that chapter and their Sunday morning ritual.

I understand that the projector and access to thousands of sermons is a somewhat new phenomenon. But I don’t understand why it hasn’t dawned on anyone that we don’t have to reinvent the wheel every Sunday and Wednesday. Even before there was projectors and free content, there was VCRs and before that, cassettes and records for audio. To have access to the best teaching is a decades-old capability.

Sunday morning doesn’t have to be a waste of time, and it shouldn’t be Christianity 101 forever.

Babies Really Are Being Murdered

“Lord, we thank you that today we get to gather together with freedom…independence, O God, from the threat of tyranny or violence against us, because we are Christ followers” John Serio, pastor of Springs Journey Church, the closest church to the Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood.

This is part of the first prayer during the church service today. I have a question for Mr. Serio: Are babies in the womb free from tyranny and violence?

Shortly before praying that, he saw pictures of aborted babies, and was reminded that 60 million Americans have been murdered without receiving justice. At that same time, he threatened to call the police on us for standing on the public sidewalk with signs. He also sent a bogus cease and desist letter (on the church letterhead) threatening to sue my friend for his free speech activity.

I guess we can’t really expect him to have learned about freedom of speech, since that’s the 8743rd amendment…Oh wait, freedom of speech is in the first amendment. Never mind. He’s obviously never done any sort of street evangelism.

The purpose of AHA’s Church Repent project is to get Christians to believe that babies really are being murdered, and start acting like it. I don’t know what action that leads to, but continuing to spread government propaganda about how free we are isn’t helping the unborn. Saying that this country is free from violence and tyranny when babies are being slaughtered less than a mile from his church shows a heinous lack of love for his neighbor.

The blood of helpless babies is being shed, and Serio is helping to keep it hidden when he prays such falsehoods to God in front of his congregation. If there has ever been a church that needed to repent, to start acting like babies are really being murdered, Springs Journey Church is it.

Covetousness In Politics

The Tenth Commandment is, “You shall not covet.”

I’m starting to recognize a lot of covetousness in the public sphere. I don’t think the average Christian has a solid grasp on what covetousness is. I would define it as wanting something so badly that it is a sin, or being willing to steal something, or prompt someone else to steal it.

I went to a Planned Parenthood rally yesterday in Colorado Springs to remind them that abortion is murder with several friends. The Colorado Springs socialists showed up, and they were kind of like Antifa wannabes. One dude covered his face with a bandanna, they blocked the sidewalk, and stole signs.

They said that they want to seize the means of production so that it can be owned by the workers. One young guy said he works 40-60 hours a week for $25,000 and his eeeeevil boss makes hundreds of thousands by owning the company and exploiting him. He covets more free time and money to the point that he wants the government to steal the means of production from the current owners.

Another example of covetousness was a letter to the editor during the last election over the issue of whether the Canon City sales tax should be raised to pay for new roads. A guy wrote that he wants new roads, and the sales tax would be a way for out-of-towners to help pay for them. He revealed his sinful covetousness to the whole town.

I can’t remember the last time I heard a pastor explain this. What if Christians were taught to apply the Bible to their politics and voting? What if the guy who wrote the letter to the editor knew that Christians would immediately recognize his sinful attitude? Why does he feel no shame in expressing his sin in public? Because Christians haven’t taught God’s law.

There are enough Christians in this country that if covetousness in politics was taught to be a sin, very few tax increases would ever pass again. Is covetousness in the voting booth less of a sin than covetousness in day-to-day life?

Amazing Results

I posted the video of a 16 and 19 year old brother and sister confronting the culture of death in front of a Pennsylvania high school here. If you haven’t seen it, you should watch it.

Several big-name, conservative media sites posted the video. For example, on MRC, it was viewed over 800,000 times the last time I checked. Those calm, cool and collected teen-agers behaved well beyond their years, and had the opportunity to go on the Tucker Carlson show on Fox News. You can watch that below, but I think they did very well for the short time they had in preaching Christ, and exposing viewers to abolitionism.

While I’m sure those few minutes spent with a furious lunatic yelling at them were unpleasant, you never know what God is going to use for his purpose and in His way.

How Many Christian Parents Send Their Kids to This School?

The lamest excuse ever for sending your kids to public school is that your school is different. It’s not.

You heard what he said, right? Connor mentioned Jesus, and the principal said, “This is a public school. We don’t believe in that here.” That is one of the few true things he said. Jesus said the same thing (Matthew 12:30).

Irrational Hatred of AHA

There are guys I’ve liked and listened to a long time, that are showing an irrational hatred for AHA. Guys like James White and Tony Miano are just acting weird.

Here are some examples.

Why is James White referring to other Christians as jihadis? Because they have a different ecclesiology?

And this is just strange behavior from Tony Miano. He thanks the abolitionist girl for handing him literature, until he finds out she’s AHA and then he turns on her. Notice he doesn’t hold the guy who also interrupted him to say it’s AHA material to the same standard.

He’s sitting in a public place, and everyone is just supposed to know that he’s reading the Bible to people via the internet, and is not supposed to be interrupted?

And there’s more from Tony. His comment with the red box around it is mind blowing. He has no evidence, but that won’t stop him from bashing other Christians.

And it’s not just reformed guys. Last summer, Robert Beech with Rocky Mountain Calvary Chapel behaved much the same way as James White and Tony Miano.

I hate to criticize these guys, but they’re mistaken on this topic. And I want to make it clear that I’m with AHA. They’re not perfect, and I can disagree with them on some things, but I aspire to be as bold and courageous as them.

Here’s an example of a high-profile preacher who seems to not have an irrational hatred. I think it’s commendable that he’s heard some rumors and has some misgivings, but is willing to not jump to conclusions.

Bojidar Marinov said it best:

“The rule is this: You can be already doing tons of work which you think is enough. If it doesn’t produce fruit, you should be willing to listen to opinions of how to produce fruit. If a church is already doing a lot, great. If that church thinks that’s enough and no one should challenge it to do more, that’s not great.”

“And in general, the very idea that challenging the church to more action and more effective involvement is “damaging reputation” is so patently absurd that even the fact such argument is used is already a testimony to the moral failure of the American church. All these churchmen seeking safe spaces. I guess the next thing is gender-neutral pronouns for these same churchmen.”

There are Actually People Who Believe This?

It’s hard to believe, but there are some people, even Christians, who actually think the world is flat. I’ve run into these people making comments on Facebook, and it’s ridiculous.

They think the North Pole is the center of the earth, and Antarctica is a land mass circling the outer edge of the circle. There are tons of ways to show that this is false, but seeing the map they propose made me think of a simple way that they themselves can test the validity of their theory for themselves.

If the world looks as they propose, it would mean that to fly around the world in the Southern Hemisphere would be much farther than to fly around the world in the Northern Hemisphere. You can check flight times on travel sites. So, here is my comparison between flying around as far north as passenger planes usually travel, and as far south as planes usually travel.

London is 2669 miles from the North Pole.

The distance from London due south to the latitude of Johannesburg, South Africa (26° South) is 5339 miles.

That means if you went all the way around the world at the latitude of London, you would be going around in a circle with a radius of 2669 miles. The circumference of that circle is 2*pi*r, or 16,770 miles. (This is assuming a flat earth. That circumference would be a little bit different in reality since the earth is a sphere.)

If the earth is flat, that circle gets way bigger by the time you get to Johannesburg. Johannesburg is 5339 miles south of London, which means that on a flat earth, that circle would have a radius of approximately 8008 miles, and the circumference would be 50,315 miles.

The average speed of a 747 is 570 miles per hour. So, if the world were flat, it would take approximately 29 hours to fly around the world at the latitude of London. And, to fly around the world at the latitude of Johannesburg would require 88 hours.

However, taking flight times from real flights you can find for yourself online, here’s what I found. To fly from Vancouver, Canada to London to Tokyo back to Vancouver takes 31 hours and 30 minutes. This corresponds nicely with what we figured with the average speed of a 747.

There are fewer people in the Southern Hemisphere, so there are fewer flights to choose from, but to fly from Sao Paolo, Brazil to Johannesburg to Sydney, Australia back to near the starting point in Santiago, Chile, doesn’t take anywhere near 88 hours. It takes 35 hours and 25 minutes, which is exactly what you would expect if the earth were round.

Another simple way would be to look at the flight path of a plane traveling from Johannesburg to Sydney. On a flat earth map, the shortest route would go over India. But on a globe, the most direct route doesn’t go anywhere near the equator. I will leave that for people to look up for themselves. I’m sure there are websites where you can check flight paths.

Can We Move on to the Meat Yet?

Hebrews 6:1-2 says, “Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.”

A friend mentioned that if you search the Sermon Audio website for “baptism”, 20,000 sermons come up. Baptism is one of the elementary doctrines listed in Hebrews 6:1-2.

Keeping things dumbed down and sticking to Christianity 101 seems to me like it could be the reason for why American Christianity is in such a mess. A high percentage of Christians are stuck on basic doctrines their whole life. Those who consider themselves theology nerds never seem to move on either. They just dig ever-deeper on these elementary doctrines.

The most respected pastors are those who come up with interesting new ways to teach these basic doctrines. But it seems no one ever moves on. Not mentioned on the list of elementary doctrines, but one that, in my experience, is endlessly rehashed is how we are to respond to trying times.

At the G3 conference, where a lot of celebrity preachers are teaching this weekend, these basic doctrines are being studied again in more depth, and I’m sure it will be uploaded to Sermon Audio again. Some abortion abolitionists showed up to strike up conversations with some of the attendees in the lobby. They were kicked out and threatened with arrest.

So, what should we be doing, if not laying again the foundation of basic doctrines? We don’t continue to study first grade math. We grow up and get jobs where we’re all expected to be able to do basic math in our heads. That is, we get jobs. We work. So, working to abolish abortion would be one thing that mature Christians should be doing. But the supposedly mature G3 Christians are threatening to call the police (in violation of 1 Corinthians 6) on the abolitionists who are trying to move on to maturity. Hebrews 5:14 says that those who are mature will have the power to discern good and evil because of constant practice. That is, they will be able to make wise decisions, and point out what is good and what is evil.

I’ve heard that the reasons that the pastors in some denominations wear a robe while preaching is because in the past, Christians established courts to judge disputes between Christians. Those Christian judges were so wise that unbelievers started going to them. They were able to discern good and evil. Then, the civil government wanted to be associated with them, so they persuaded them to wear the robes of judges.

Christianity works. It is the only true worldview and when biblical principles are applied to society, it will be successful. No other worldview will function properly. They all lead to death. But rather than working to apply Christianity to every area of life, we’ve checked out of society.

Of course, new Christians need someone to help them learn about basic doctrines. But why should everyone in church have to sit through another sermon on a basic topic while a few new Christians in the room learn the basics? By this time we all ought to be teachers so that anyone of us can teach the new Christians the basics.

Here’s what RJ Rushdoony had to say about this. It is four minutes worth listening to.

Time Will Tell

On August 30, 2016, my pastor said that Christ will definitely return within 20 years. I just want to write it down somewhere so that we can all remember to check back to see whether he’s a false prophet. So mark your 2036 calendar, and we shall see.

Chuck Smith, who in Calvary Chapel fashion also set dates, like 1988, and said that he believed Jesus would return before his own death. He died in 2013.

Thank God, neither of them has lived a life consistent with their professed belief, and have endeavored to leave an inheritance for their children’s children (Proverbs 13:22).

By What Standard?

The church and Christians are guilty of many sins, but the question is this: has it followed the example of Jesus too closely or betrayed Him in committing these crimes?

By what standard do we judge the sins of the church? By our own? Then that is of no consequence. By the standards of Jesus? Then we admit his ethic is desirable. If so, then why do we not seek to follow him and confess him too?

Besides all this, whether we confess Him or not, we are not blameless ourselves.

Jim Gourlay