The End of Material Religion
Live from Salt Lake City, Utah, this is Heart of the Matter, where we do all we can to try and worship God in Spirit and in Truth. I’m your host, Shawn McCraney. Show 3 480: The End of Material Religion Part IV
In an effort to open the doors wide, we are continually reaching out to people who have a devotion to God but are generally ignored or set aside because they either don’t have a vehicle to present their message to the world or they need a little support. We’ve mentioned Breaking Bread with Warren Puckett. His tapings can be seen on hotm.tv until he has a site or channel up and running. And a few weeks ago, Seth started producing Pastor T – take a look. Like Breaking Bread, Pastor T’s work will be available on HOTM.tv until she has her own channel or site.
I figure one way we can prove that the faith is subjective is to support various believers whose approach and doctrine is very different than mine but who are nevertheless lovers of God and Christ. So whether it's Matt Slick, Bob Griffin, Warren Puckett, or Pastor T, we are going to come to a unity of the faith through love in this ministry, and this is one small way we can help knock down ugly man-made walls and open the faith up to all who love Him. Because what I firmly believe is Matt and Bob and Warren and Pastor T love the Lord.
Building Unity Through Love
Speaking of building, Bishop Earl, host of exmormonfiles, has built quite a body of interviews of people who have come out of Mormonism, and I was a recent guest. I had a wonderful time, and all three half-hour interviews are now available by either going to www.hotm.tv or www.exmormonfiles.com. Speaking of going to, let me reiterate a number of other informational sources out there to serve you.
All right, before our diversion to Bob Griffin, we were covering the contents of this Workbook which is available to you for download by going to www.hotm.tv. We started with a board presentation on the last show of 2015, then did part two on Jan 6, part three on January 13, and tonight we will conclude.
Transition From Material to Spiritual
Begin with God working through the Nation of Israel Materially. Culminated with Him sending His Only Begotten Son. Transitional from the Material to the Spiritual. Ended with God shaking everything down so that only that which “CANNOT BE SHAKEN” can remain. In the final shake-up, all the former things of the Old Economea were wiped out.
And we talked about what this should have meant – God has now written his laws upon the heart. All things that can be shaken are over. The Body of Christ is made of individual believers. No authorities in men, no priesthoods, no empire building. The church is in the hands of the Spirit!
Unfortunately, man has taken the Body of Christ (which is spiritual) and has tried to re-materialize a Kingdom in His name by building-up “shakable” institutions and have used the contents of the Bible as a new form of Law (rather than allowing it to be a tool to lead and guide individual believers).
In other words, modern religious institutions first accepted men known as “early-church Fathers” and tried to gather the Apostolic letters and form a new code of governing instructions for brick and mortar institutions – with the Catholic being first. I’ve yet to have anyone reasonably explain to me where the Bible grants itself authority to govern people today?
We didn’t have an agreed-upon “manual” for the first 250-330 years of Christian history. Instead, we allowed councils (under Constantine) to formalize beliefs and doctrinal creeds for the masses. For a thousand years, we heaped horrors upon others in Jesus' name. Additionally, the Bible was not accessible to the masses due to poverty, education, and inability to understand it. It was in the control of the institutions, the wealthy, and the literate. The masses did not even have physical access to a Bible available until 1450 with the Guttenberg Printing Press.
Finally, in the face of 1200 years of institutional failure, some brave men initiated a Reformation – Erasmus, Luther, Calvin – but the contents and translation…
The Role of Sola Scriptura and Its Impact on Christianity
Of the Bible was still not entirely agreed upon by them! Ultimately some of these men created an unauthorized stance called “Sola Scriptura” (which was an absolute fail). At this point, they used the contents of the Bible to divide the Body, create schisms, and forge denominationalism instead of doing what it was supposed to do – enlighten individuals to the nature of God and Christ, support faith, engender love. Since we have created countless “translations” (and therefore differences) of “the manual” and yet most Christians rhetorically echo sentiments that say the book is perfect and “all we need.” And in the face of all of this, we have allowed materialism to reign and to serve as a sign of success for God – because denoms must have some material measurement to prove their value. And in the end, we have for 2000 years used “material hell” and “eternal judgment” and “the eminent return of Christ,” to terrify unsuspecting people.
Attempts to Restore Lost Truths
Some people have seen the quagmire we have created and tried to step up and restore the lost truths and practices through returns to orthodoxy (like the Orthodox Presbyterians – another divisional denomination) Charles Taze Russell of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, Ellen G. White of Seventh Day Adventists, Joseph Smith of Mormon fame, and Alexander Campbell of the Church of Christ – but all of them wound up looking down on those who did not embrace their views and again doing the very thing Jesus and Heaven are NOT about – Division among believers. This leaves us with a question. If Religion is Materially Dead what does this mean to Christianity and believers in Jesus today?
The Intersection of Religion and Christianity
We are so conditioned to see organized religion and denominational affiliation as synonymous with being a Christian that most people have a very difficult time separating the two. Because we are social animals and have a need to belong and get along and fellowship it is doubtful that the masses of Christians will abandon the actual brick and mortar edifices they attend. And that is okay. It’s good to gather and fellowship in the name of the Lord. In light of this reality, I would suggest some inward changes in attitude and perspective that could actually occur that if and when they do they could lead to some external factors also falling by the wayside.
Now, before we go back to the board WHY take action or care? I think we’ve proven the premise is biblical. I think we’ve shown that the premise is historical. I think we can see that this beautiful subjective faith has been hijacked and abused for nearly 2000 years. I think that by taking action now we will enable individual believers to see what true liberty in Christ looks like, pastors to realign their priorities and relieve themselves of pressures, changes to occur that will protect the faith from continued absurdities, we will protect it from governmental sanctions, we will inevitably strengthen the faith for future generations instead of continuing to contribute to infighting, divisions, and insipid stances that are not mandatory to the faith.
So, what needs to happen? To begin, individual pastors and/or individual believers might start emphasizing that all who claim Christ begin to mentally and even physically replace “Objective Religious Demands” with “Subjective Christian Relationships.” Pastors really need to take the lead on this. It will be hard because they are in reality pushing themselves out of security (if they do it right). But the sheep typically don’t have the strength to take such action on their own. What does this actually look like? It looks like teaching and entertaining all viable approaches to doctrines and openly allowing all congregates to do the same. It means refusing to allow divisions to occur over any doctrinal or practical expression. It means doing communion when people want it, baptisms the way they want, and truly placing the informed choice on the believer themselves. It means allowing all people to seek God as they are led knowing (and teaching) that He will judge them for their choices and that our job is to look to Him in faith and to love Him and everyone else all the time. It means believers continue to preach, teach and share Jesus as “the way, truth and life.”
Contextual Spiritual Application
These things will get the ball rolling. Then it might include beginning to refuse to impose or receive any and all organizational religious demands that are currently placed upon individuals by churches today. Reject tithes, plate passing, and/or building fund requests. Support the deconstruction of endless institutional mid-week programs – “take your lives and family back.” Push for lower institutional overhead and top-heavy staffing. Liquidate material abundance and use proceeds to help either help the needy and/or to further the preaching to the unsaved and to the teaching of the saved. Try to put an end to all memberships, signed contracts, discipline counsels, boards, and anything that smacks of denominationalism or human authority. Drop the statements of faith. Teach and preach Jesus period.
Ending Christianity's Fight Against Social Evils
Put an utter and absolute end to Christianity (as a whole) fighting or protesting against social evils, including issues related to sexuality, issues related to the unborn, issues related to pornography, alcohol or substance abuse, political agendas and stances, and any other social evil issue.
A New Identity for Christians
Persuade all Christians to become individually KNOWN not only for refusing to cast a stone at the above, but for loving and receiving all people in Jesus name. Doing nothing in His name but forgiving, helping, serving, and loving. Getting along with each other, especially all who claim God or Christ. Accepting all people as they are – all the time – and letting God be their judge. And again never ever letting doctrinal differences divide those who claim Christ as Lord.
Uniting, in a concerted effort, to be collectively known around the world as a people who actually follow Christ through truly not being of this world (but however this looks for the individual), embracing humility (but lovingly accepting pride in those who are proud), rejecting religious materialism in all of its forms, serving, giving to, and loving the down and downcast, forgiving all people of all things all the time, leaving all judgment (of all things) to God, never using our faith for political gains or sway, loving sinners, helping saints, sharing Him, and suffering all things. It is my belief that these things will get the ball rolling for the Holy Spirit to really do a work.
