Category: Reformation

Celebrity Worship And True Saints – By Thomas Koester

The difference between celebrity worship and hero worship should not be confused. Yet we confuse them every day, and by doing so, we’ve come dangerously close to depriving ourselves of all real models.

“We lose sight of the men and women who do not simply seem great because they are famous but are famous because they are great. We come closer and closer to degrading all fame into notoriety.” Daniel J. Boorstin – 1914 – February 28, 2004, American Historian

We have done the same thing in the Church. We make celebrities out of ministers, authors, and musicians, and then we call them “Saints.” True Saints are birthed out of trial and suffering and not out of fame and glory.

There is no “American Idol” for Sainthood.

Saints are known only in heaven. In earth, they are despised, rejected, and ignored. Saints will never be seen at the front of the line. To them, being last is first; being invisible is visibility; being hidden is being discovered.

Outward talent and “anointing” do not confirm Saints. The Anti-Christ and his crowd disprove this theory every day.

The hidden-indwelling Spirit of God; the silent character of Christ, beneath the skin of a Jesus-disciple, is the surest mark of a true Saint.

They are not mostly heard, not mostly seen, but are camouflaged in quietness and a godly poverty. You would more than likely see them ragged and without, even confusing them as homeless and wretched. They would be despised and turned away from most houses of worship.

They may indeed have wonderful talent, but for them, the stage of such worshipful expression is a darkened closet, the solitude of a lonely trail or an alley of a forgotton city.

True Saints are sojourners, not citizens of earth, but passer-byers. There’s no time to sit and enjoy furniture, a sofa, or even a soft bed. No roof or four walls to call their own.

Their investments are not of this world. Their deposits are unseen and unknown to institutions of earth. Their only debt is love. They’re always tirelessly paying it forward from unseen resources.

True Saints are in a ceaseless love affair with Jesus. It never grows cold or just warm. Their passion for Christ grows hotter and hotter until the religious snuff them out.

True Saints are unwanted in most “churches.” Their presence is a judgment, and indictment against worldliness – There are only two ways in which a Saint will leave such a church; by divine decree or crucifixion.

True Saints don’t form clubs, ministries, or groups. Their fellowship halls are clouds of witnesses, those who’ve gone before, who cheer them on from a distant world. Two or three saints together are a crowd. Each one walks with a thousand angels – not because of who they are, but because of their nearness to Christ.

The more I write, the more I realize how rare true saints are and how far off I am. They are more likely to be born in the third world rather than in free and industrialized nations.

Lord, how we need you to birth true Saints.

As our society crumbles and our nation wains, a time is coming when Saints will reign. As darkness falls and liberty’s light grows dim, Saints will be counted, but no less than ten. For if more than ten true Saints existed in this great nation, this nation would have been greater!

Father in heaven, bring down your judgment against your worldly church. Purge her, refine her, and beautify her for Christ. Don’t listen to our petty-prayers of revival – bring rather true fire from heaven and cleanse us by the zeal of Christ and make us once again into a house of prayer and sainthood.

Forgive us for degrading Christ and his true disciples – Make us into Saints, like Saints of Old, tested by fire and prison, molded by persecution and derision.

Purge your people of worldliness and religiosity. We repent of our churchy and celebrity ways. We renounce worldly wealth, fame, fortune, and house – to pursue a better kingdom in heaven than on earth.

In Jesus’ Name and Authority, as it is in heaven, may it also be here on earth. Whatever it takes, Oh Lord, make it so. Your ends justify our suffering – Let it begin!

Rise up O’ House of God – Wake up O’ sleeper. Let your righteousness shine forth, and your saints arise from ash and cinder.

The Under Reformed Church – By Thomas Koester

“… men don’t follow titles; they follow courage.”

Is it just me, or does 21st Century Christianity need a second Reformation? Is it possible that the 16th Century Protestant Reformation didn’t go far enough?

Comparing Contemporary Christianity to Greco-Roman religious ritual of the 3rd century reveals some uncomfortable similarities. I believe it is those lingering similarities, which, to some degree, has neutered the Church’s testimony and witness to the nations.

The Under Reformed 21st Century Christianity has decentralized the message of the cross and resurrection as the focal point of preaching, teaching, and evangelism. The loss of these foundational doctrines as regular and consistent Church practice is why, for the most part, the Crucifixion has been replaced with Good Friday, the Resurrection replaced with Easter, and the Birth of Christ replaced with Christmas!

The Cross of Christ, the Resurrection, and the birth of Christ have become nothing more than religious holidays for churches to put on shows to capture new parishioners. These religious holidays are no different for Hallmark, Target, and Best Buy; they spruce up their stores and adds to attract consumers, just like many churches do.

Pastors and religious leaders may no longer be wearing long flowing robes loaded with phylacteries or the priestly liturgical vestments with golden threaded sleeves. These religious garbs were used in their day to separate the clergy from the laity to hold the learned in higher esteem than the unlearned, commoner, or laity class.

Today, the learned clergy rely on postnominals to separate themselves from the laity. Postnominals are letters placed following a person’s last name to indicate educational qualifications, the title of office, decoration, or honor. White wigs, long flowing robes, and liturgical vestments may be passe among evangelicals and fundamentalists, but postnominals are not; these letters and titles grant them hierarchy.

“Your title gives you claim to the throne of our country, but men don’t follow titles; they follow courage.” – William Wallace

Courage means action. It means to serve the interests of others. To risk. To venture. Titles separate us from one another, but courage, real courage is contagious. It makes us all brave and inspired.

Real courage and bravery is sharing Christ to a world that hates him. Being a true disciple of Jesus Christ is loaded with risk, but only outside of chapels and steeples. In reality, the call to discipleship is more like Jesus saying, “Come die with me for the sake of the Gospel and the Kingdom.” Heaven is where all things evil are vanquished and where the real potluck begins, not once a month at local Methodist Church!

“When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.” – Deitrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship

We must break free from the religious trappings of safety, comfort, and convenience.

Too much of this “tradition” of orbiting the pulpit, the building, and the alter is to the detriment of local and world evangelism. To the equipping of the laity and the average believer. To the expansion of the Kingdom of Heaven. Frankly, the high expectation of the clergy doing all of the work of ministry leaves most parishioners disengaged with their faith, their calling, and the development of their spiritual gifts.

The offices gifted to the Church from Christ were not for the clergy to do all the ministry, but that they would equip and train the laity (saints) to do the work of ministry, so that all may reach maturity in Christ. Equipping the saints is for the maximum productivity in the body of Christ and the Gospel. (Eph. 4:11-16)

Being the audience once or twice a week does not forge men, women, and children into saints; but faith put into practice and action with one’s spiritual calling and giftedness does. Far too many well-seasoned believers are simply benchwarmers or spectators of a game they have no skin in.

Brothers and sisters, we don’t reach maturity in Christ Jesus as spectators or simply being faithful to a 90-minute program. Weekly services without the exercise of spiritual gifts and calling create weak Christians.

In many churches, people run out as soon as they hear the final amen. In less than five minutes, the parking lot empties. Just like at the movie theaters, as soon as the screen fades to black and the credits roll, the theater and parking lot empties. What about fellowship, relationship, and koinonia? This proves that the service or show is more important than true fellowship and serious connectedness.

We believers must have a vital connection and role within the local fellowships, whether in commercial buildings or homes. This is why there are so many transient believers; they’re searching for belonging, meaning, and purpose.

The more risk and challenge for believers to exercise their faith and practice their spiritual gifts, the more spiritual growth and maturity will be realized. If this is allowed, edification will become mutual among the laity and not exclusively within the clergy.

For example, I moved from the Bay Area to a lake community in the Sierra Foothills. There is a substantial lack of spiritual urgency up here. It was a culture shock and frankly still is. Spiritual complacency is a real danger, and the 21 Century Western Church structure is responsible for it — sadly, it is what they are producing, spiritual complacency.

I have the privilege to speak with pastors and evangelists in India, Pakistan, and the Philippines. Do you know what they tell me?

They tell me they want to be like America’s big successful churches. This breaks my heart. We don’t risk our lives as they do, preaching the gospel or passing out bibles among Muslims and the Taliban. We aren’t threatened by Hindus, ISIS, or Boko Haram.

Here in America, we’re too scared to share the gospel with strangers, neighbors, or anyone shopping at Walmart. Our greatest threat here in America is getting jailed by Facebook, canceled by Twitter, and de-platformed or demonetized by Youtube. Our Americanized, homogenized, and pasteurized form of Christianity has been genetically modified to produce seedless fruit. We should not be in the exporting business.

I encourage them not to mimic Western Christianity and not to model their Churches and ministries after American mega-churches, TV evangelists, our wretched prosperity gospel pontificators, and the NAR movement.

I suggest they follow the authentic biblical model of Christian practice and the ecclesiastic men of Scripture. Christianity needs Indian, Pakistani, and Filipino believers and pastors to be themselves, not an Americanized version. I encourage them to study what the Holy Scriptures instruct and to listen to what the Holy Spirit is saying to their Churches. Follow Christ Jesus, not American pastors.

Perhaps the First World Churches need a Bible lesson from our brothers and sisters in the Third World. They are the courageous, bold, and faithfu onesl that we Westerners should be.

Be courageous, bold, and faithful like Jesus and bury the grave clothes of the religious order of men.