Me Too, Church Too

The Peril of Fallen Leaders

The thought is scary: the number of prominent Christian leaders who saw amazing growth in their congregations and whose charisma touched lives globally have revisited what they once believed to the point of reassessing or abandoning the faith.

I am writing this having gone down the rabbit hole of a Facebook post. The author spoke of his conservative and evangelical background, 15 years of pastoring, and then realising the people he was taught to fear were just as much flesh-and-blood good people deserving of respect, courtesy, and consideration.

This led me to a podcast, The Rise & Fall of Mars Hill, a journalistic examination of the growth of a church plant in 1996 that collapsed dramatically in 2014.

A Fall From Grace

The fall of Mars Hill was not because of pastoral impropriety, but attributed to bullying, abuse, arrogance, and elements of narcissistic personality disorder found in the public figure leading the church, who resigned in 2014.

It makes you wonder about how Lucifer, in his exalted position in the presence of Almighty God, acquired that situation declared as, "Iniquity was found in him." I have agonised over how, in such a holy setting, a creature could turn wrong and take a third of the angelic host with him. How did Lucifer convince those angels of a better place than at the throne of God?

There must have been a cult following, where focus shifted from the principal or the principle to a personality.

When Personality Eclipses Purpose

The same happens in church, at work, in school, and in politics. In the Church, the focus should always be Jesus the Christ, regardless of how the vessel is used to bring the gospel and healing to the people.

Charisma can shift focus from the important, but with that comes the facility for actions that allow leaders not to be held to account and, consequently, not to be accountable for what they do.

Those who should stand up to authority are made to plead fealty with the admonition that straying out of line will be considered insubordination, rebellion, or even heresy. The leader posits as a god amongst mortals: untouchable and unassailable, infallible and literally inerrant.

It is a dangerous place to be, but this is evident in many congregations as the flock are led as sheep to the slaughter. Worse still is that these leaders do not stand alone; they are enabled and have enablers that create the myth and mystique that allows an untenable situation to thrive.

My Own Engagement With Church

In my engagement with the church, I have studiously compartmentalised things. The congregation is a meeting of people; the leadership have an onerous responsibility to "feed my sheep" according to the exhortation Jesus gave Peter before ascending to heaven.

I have participated in help or service roles but never sought leadership, even when such positions were offered because of my commitment or my knowledge of the Word.

I have not been inclined to lead and have viewed so-called leadership classes with suspicion, knowing just how power can corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Knowing my human frailties, I have consideration of how inadequacies are faltering stumbling blocks. I depend on the grace of God, knowing the things beyond me are possible with God.

The Lure of Hero Worship

Naturally, I am not given to hero worship. I have always operated from the perspective that the only person to fear is one with two heads, and I have never met one.

Subscribing to a cult of personality probably fills a void somewhere in the psyche of the followers. I do not know for sure, but I have seen the damaging effects on the victims of such settings: from those adoring prophets in tune with familiar spirits, revealing things that imitate the word of knowledge (a gift of the Spirit given as he wills to the church), to those in unsupervised congregation settings where the leaders are now celebrity superstars worshipped by their followers.

When the structures and frameworks of these cults excusing abuse collapse, what do people have left if they had long stopped looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith?

A Call to Reflect

I can only recommend you listen to the podcast because it is as revealing as it is educational. We are all working out our salvation with fear and trembling.

This blog is hardly exhaustive on the many issues that emanate from beliefs, doctrines, allegiance, and faith. This is a contribution to the broader conversation.

A Google NotebookLM AI Audio Overview Discussion of this blog

The agreed teaching of the Anglican Communion on sexual orientation

He leads the Anglican Communion

The Archbishop of Canterbury fills four main roles in the Anglican Communion, as diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury, as the metropolitan archbishop of the Province of Canterbury, as the senior primate and chief religious figure of the Church of England, and as the spiritual leader of the Anglican Communion, though without legal authority outside England, by convention is recognised as the first amongst equals of all Anglican primates worldwide.

In that capacity, he can speak for all Anglicans in England and worldwide. The position whilst ecumenical with interfaith ramifications and political as it might appear is significant and the utterances of the Archbishop whilst well-considered are of great import to all Anglicans.

Words that dehumanise

I return to the Statement by the Archbishop of Canterbury regarding comments by the Primate of Nigeria published yesterday, to highlight a particularly forceful comment made by the Archbishop of Canterbury that I hope the Primate of Nigeria will take into consideration and reflect on deeply, if he decides to provide a public response in due course. [Archbishop of Canterbury: Statement]

“I completely disagree with and condemn this language. It is unacceptable. It dehumanises those human beings of whom the statement speaks.”

The Archbishop was unequivocal in that he disagreed, condemned, and found unacceptable what the Primate of Nigeria says clearly indicating that there can be no tolerance of the dehumanisation of other human beings, no matter what a religious leader believes or what they might think motivates them.

Baptised, believing and faithful members

Whilst the Anglican Communion may agree on matters of doctrine, the liturgy and sacraments amongst the many aspects of doctrine that governs the expression of faith, the service of the church is to humanity, to reach and to heal, to bless and to lift out of distress, to give life and humanise, to succour, and to care.

It would appear that even amongst leaders of the Anglican Communion, some might need to be reminded of that and how their use of language lacks the mind of Christ or the Christian spirit. At once, the Archbishop of Canterbury points the Primate of Nigeria to the fact that he has deviated from the agreed teaching of the Anglican Communion, that “all baptised, believing and faithful persons, regardless of sexual orientation, are full members of the Body of Christ.”

Reflect on your words

Consequently, if the Primate of Nigeria has a problem with the agreed teaching of the Anglican Communion, he might want to reflect on his position, his ministry, and what purpose he serves in the church.

For all the hurt many of us have suffered as the hands of the church and many who profess to be men of God, we are grateful to those in the church who have welcomed us to fellowship with them out of love and their humanity rather than in judgement and vitriolic un-Christlike dehumanising condemnation.

Christ the door needs no other gatekeeper

The unconditional love of God

“The mission of the church is the same in every culture and country: to demonstrate, through its actions and words, that God’s offer of unconditional love to every human being through Jesus Christ calls us to holiness and hope.” The Archbishop of Canterbury

The statement above was made by The Archbishop of Canterbury, that should be the end of any dispute regarding who belongs or not according to whatever beliefs or perceptions we might have. This statement was to address statements made by The Archbishop, Metropolitan and Primate of All Nigeria.

No other gatekeeper to the door

I am uninterested in joining issues with whatever the archbishop in Nigeria had to say, but it is necessary that the profession of Christianity, being an individual article of faith needs a place and security of expression, that when Jesus Christ professed in his own words, “I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.” [Bible Gateway: John 10:9-16 (NKJV)] He was not asking for another gatekeeper to that door.

Whatever position anyone might hold in the church, their call is to welcome not ostracise, castigate, judge, or condemn. For Jesus Christ did not die on the cross for another man to take away the benefit of that salvation from others.

Know the amazing grace of God

Even if anyone might think themselves bestowed with that power, a humble reflection on what Christ had done for them must every time lead them to fall on their knees for the grace upon them and the mercy of God that they are not consumed as they deny others the pleasure of that grace like the ungrateful servant. [Bible Gateway: Matthew 18: 21-35 (NIV)]

Obviously, there are some that might find some legalism to support the need to cast God’s creatures aside, seeking to ex-communicate, deny them the sacraments and abandoning fellowship with those they deem unworthy of the same sacrifice that brought them into the kingdom of God. That is their prerogative, that you refuse to church with me does not deny access to God.

The many people Jesus met with and bestowed amazing grace on were not the religious folk, but the apparently notorious, the obviously possessed, even the verily dead that were raised.

Full members all

The Archbishop of Canterbury goes on to affirm, “This resolution both restated a traditional view of Christian marriage and was clear in its condemnation of homophobic actions or words. It affirmed that “all baptised, believing and faithful persons, regardless of sexual orientation, are full members of the Body of Christ.” [Anglican Communion: Section I.10 - Human Sexuality]

Maybe the greatest call to understanding the unconditional love of God to the devout Christian today is to find ways to express the love of Christ to others regardless of who or what they are. If that is so difficult, then it is a cross to bear, for Christ bore a greater cross than this for the whole world, whilst we were yet miserable sinners. The call is upon us heavy as we might make the burden out of our imperfectness when humanity asks for the better of us.

President Trump and the post-Christian Evangelicals

A religious accident reported

When I first heard it, it felt like a topic for a school debate contest, but the facts that in certain circles the votes will come out in the affirmation validating it as the truth definitely means it needs to come up for some discussion, I know many will have angles on this matter, I am sharing my perspective.

“President Trump was the best thing to happen to the Christian church in America since maybe Jesus.” A guest on the Newsmax network in America.

Now, I have been trying to understand the encouragement of and bonding with Donald Trump of the grouping and cohort labelled as Evangelical Christians in America, because their apparent affinities from my appreciation of that strand of Christianity does escape me completely. Not too long ago, I had to wade through the incredulity of no seeing the fruit of the Holy Spirit in Donald Trump, addressed in the referenced blog.

Blog - And they see the fruit of the Holy Spirit in Donald Trump

God is not a voter

She was responding to the content of an article that covered an interview on the Donald Trump influence on the Evangelical movement. [Vox.com: The Trump presidency was a catastrophe for American Christianity] It puts a lot of things into context especially the desperate desire to alter the reality of the elections he handily lost. Some, even people I know thought it had been prophesied he will remain president and they held onto that belief until it became obvious someone had been blowing air in their ears.

For me, I had always been sceptical of the idea that in a democracy someone is chosen or elected by God, it is people who voted not a deity, now, someone might suggest the people were influenced by whatever means to vote a certain way by divine persuasion, that would be interesting if people equally believed the same things and were fully persuadable that way, but I am not convinced.

Man must be accountable to man

What concerns me more is the moment we attribute the election of a person to divine provenance to inadvertently take accountability out of the hands of both the electorate and man, the elected are then answerable to no one and depending on their personality and temperament, as power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely.

“The law of a theocracy is dictated without option to the people, not made by their judges and governments. The individual conscience is free to accept such dictated law, but the state, if its people are to be free, has the burdensome duty of thinking for itself.” Lord Justice Laws

Blog - The case for State law over religious guidance

It is my view that the presidency of Donald Trump tested the underpinnings of every institution of checks and balances literally to their limits, thankfully, they were robust, but no doubt, vigorously shaken.

I cut loose from them

For the many of us who took liberating Christian tutelage from some leading American Christian teachers in the Evangelical movement up to the recent past, who have now passed on, are wizened with age waiting for the Lord, or whose sons, daughters, and proteges have taken the reins of ministries they founded, Donald Trump exposed to almost unbelievable clarity the viscerally human flaws of these iron champions with clay legs and feet. All flesh and no spirit.

The church became political and sought power to protect its interests and base, they had become a tangent away and completely unrepresentative of the persecuted church of the Acts of Apostles to grew by travail and dispersal as Jesus Christ had predicted in his human walk on earth, nor did they represent the pioneering spirit of the Pilgrim fathers that landed America centuries, they looked more like the religious powerbase that John the Baptist first and then Jesus Christ railed against.

A Church not Christlike

They had unwittingly whilst forcefully become plotters against the person and gospel of Jesus Christ, whilst they paid lip service to a semblance of Christianity which was crudely Churchianity expressed in the words of Sanhedrin of chief priests and Pharisees that met to plan and instigate the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, “What are we accomplishing? Here is this man performing many signs. If we let Him go on like this, everyone will believe in Him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.” [Bible Gateway – John 11:47-48 (NIV)]

Basically, The evangelical movement is in a post-Christian phase of being unable to suffer for either Christ or the gospel, they would rather take political power, install judges, implement their fundamentalist policies to bring forward a kind of government or society, maybe kingdom itself that is a flawed, tarnished, corrupt, pastiche of the promised kingdom of God on earth. The church had become comfortably powerful and powerfully comfortable.

The cohort is lost and for a while, I have practised with deliberation one of the best lessons from those teachers of old, don’t attach yourself too close to a person or a cause that you can’t cut loose long before danger looms. I cut loose from following many of these leaders and their teachings, in the main, the movement simply followed Donald Trump all the way into the ditch, there will be casualties and fatalities, but it is my hope that all is not lost and there is much to recover of life and souls from this completely avoidable and sadly delusional catastrophe.

Thought Picnic: My Ministry

My ministry review

When I was asked this morning about my ministry, I almost felt for my dog collar, as I wondered why I was not in church earlier than that moment.

The truth is I never aspired to be a religious leader and hence do not carry either the drive or the passion of those who stand at the pulpit preaching, proclaiming, postulating or prophesying.

I do however have a ministry as I cast myself as an encounter person, ordinary because of my simplicity though made significant by the stories I have to tell by experience and by insight.

My ministry explained

My ministry is my humanity it is the heart of my being, given purpose and undergirded by principles and examples in the life of Christ.

Then again, imperfect as I am, I seek to be a Good Samaritan having the bowels of mercy and compassion equipped to minister to need with as much ease as I am blessed to offer.

More so, for the sake of circumstance and opportunity, to be engaged in conversation temporal and spiritual even if a Samaritan woman who having had five husbands is not too unworthy to be asked for a drink of water.

Yet as if possessed by Legion, constantly depressing the self-destruct button my story becomes an encounter of great testimony.

My ministry in action

My ministry is life lived in all ways and means, a never-ending tale of gratitude and thankfulness with many who have selflessly poured out of their means into my bosom.

For I have gifts, some well used and others badly wasted and as I write I seek to speak of justice, fairness, truth, compassion and hope.

My ministry is conventional, to see the least, the deprived, the different, the poor, the little, the smallest, the seeking, the asking, the anxious, the worried, the sick and many more, to love them for who they are, to accept them wholly, to appreciate them fully and to engage them as equals, talented, able and called to excellence.

My ministry of the lesser me

However, I am far from fulfilling that calling for the limitations of my humanity but I am strengthened to reach beyond myself to do things I never thought possible.

What is my ministry? To live, to tell, to voice, to care, to engage, to feel, to tell stories that with life, there are things to do and places to go.

I need no office, I need no title, I am blessed and beyond that I strive to be a blessing and that in itself takes me from day to day, through the rough and the tough, despair and hope unto the promise that each new day offers a new beginning.

The greatest ministry

We will not all be apostles, or prophets, or teachers, or pastors, or evangelists, or preachers, but we can be ordinary people, with heart, with soul, with empathy and with desire to think, to act, to help and to give succour.

In most cases that is what the other person needs, someone who is there to listen, to comfort, to encourage, to embolden, to offer a shoulder to cry on and just be human. That to me is ministry, it is the ministry we are all called to, everyday of our lives.

That is my ministry.

Homosexuality: They stood ready to cast stones

Introduction

I have consistently laid out my stall on the matter of human rights as they pertain to the way society, religion, culture, values or laws fail to protect, enshrine and pursue the primary secular tenets of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).

It is for that reason that I did not need any persuasion to put my total support behind the petition to Help stop Nigeria's anti-gay bill - SIGN NOW which I posted as a Facebook Status on my wall.

As it transpired, one of my friends who from times past earns my gratitude and respect during a time of serious life issues decided to make his views known on the matter which draws its foundation first from some radical Christian perspective and that disingenuously merges that with some concept of African values that on scrutiny are really not ones we should espouse.

Whilst, I will invite you to read the whole thread of the exchanges that ensued on my Facebook page, I have taken the parts that have written creating a blog for purposes of recording for posterity my views. The audience for this is without apology the perfect Christians who have sided on the part of accusers of other with the premise that they God either rightfully or arrogantly – A good number of them are Nigerians or fundamentalist religionists and basically, it is war against intolerance from this time on.

African values and Christian diktat

My first response went to the heart of my friend’s attack, his surprise at my stance had to be routed with a clearly addressing what informed his flawed premise, that of extreme religious piety pretending to moral untouchability and that vague but explored concept of African values in detail.

I am saddened that your stance on this reeks of bigotry and hatred that exudes what has become modern day Christianity but nothing of relevance to the gospel of Christ.

What African values are those that you so espouse and celebrate to the hurt of your fellow man because they are different?

Our land because it is yours, mine and that of homosexual Nigerians too has a right to not only protect all its citizens, it is incumbent of its leadership to raise the bar beyond the ignorance that pretends to false moral rectitude.

Misplaced priorities

The more important issues like corruption, sexual violence against women, human rights for kids that affect the majority of Nigerians are all left unsolved for an issue - gay marriage - that hardly has the hope of reality in the country but engages the idle mind in mass mob hysteria - if not for the so-called whites, we will still be killing our twins, selling our enemies off to slavery, burning our widows, using our albinos in fetishes, worshipping idols with bizarre sacrifices and eating ourselves for supper - and those were all once great African values.

I have nothing to apologise for, the law is wrong in Nigeria, in Africa and anywhere else humanity exists.

Views that promote societal discordance

In response to my niece’s question about how people become gay and in the light of the drift of the conversation, I averred.

But @Grace, how many gays in Nigeria are really thinking of marriage if we are honest at all? Even in the Netherlands, gays are not trooping down the aisle in "unholy" matrimony, the matter of commitment and love is still a strong issue regardless of pairing of sexes.

This, for me is a human rights issue, the religious slant to it excites all the agitation of the mob for blood and never for healing and reconciliation - it breeds fear, negativity, terror and hate - none of which are the core tenets of the religious decency we all assume we have.

Putting today’s Christians in context

In response to my friend’s further comments along with others that were made, it was important to home in on the core attitudes that give homophobia it’s oxygen by showing the historical parallels between the gospel times of Jesus and modern day religiosity.

I think I had already made my point at the beginning of this thread about unChrist-like Christians who like are all read up on the law, the jot and tittle but have no compassion, mercy or heart - they were the Pharisees, the Sadducees and Scribes who continually withstood Jesus at every point of His ministry.

Jesus and the notorious

They could not bear to see Jesus heal the sick on the Sabbath [they would rather follow tradition than see the relief of the oppressed] or mix with the sinners (See what was said in the NLT version of Luke 15 1-2), they were ready to cast the first stone, they would rather sacrifice humanity on the altar of their long held traditions, principles, values and what not; the same people who plotted to have Jesus killed because they feared they will lose the political power of their religious influence. (See John 11:47-48)

(Luk 15:1 NLT) Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach.

(Luk 15:2 NLT) This made the Pharisees and teachers of religious law complain that He was associating with such sinful people—even eating with them!

It is important to note that Jesus had something to say that made as it were notorious sinners draw near to listen to Him, and it is interesting to see how the religious people hated the idea – the parallel is in the fact that there are very few Christians if any who have any words to speak that can attract notorious sinners – one might conclude they have more in common with opponents of Jesus Christ in the day than they have with the Master.

(Joh 11:47 KJV) Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a council, and said, What do we? for this man doeth many miracles.

(Joh 11:48 KJV) If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him: and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation.

The parallel today is how politics and religion is used to oppress a minority whilst galvanising the majority to unfounded moral outrage – the crowd cleverly corralled under the power and spell of their leaders.

Devoid of compassion

Indeed, there is much to see in the Book of the Law [with literally impossible rules for modern day], in the Prophets [whose prophecies of doom and gloom suited theocracies than democracies] & in the Acts & Epistles [all off-shoots of the ministry of Jesus Christ] but when you return to the gospel [the story of Jesus Christ amongst men, His message, His lifestyle and His sacrifice], the greatest challenge the devout Christian faces today is to minister love to humanity like Jesus did to the vile sinners, the demon possessed, the ostracised from society as the woman with the issue of blood, the Gadarene or the lepers amongst the many miracles of Jesus.

There was need for Jesus to die, however it was facilitated by the hardness of heart of the core religious people of that day, the same core religious people would have today strung Jesus up on the cross because He most definitely would NOT have condemned the homosexual just as He did not condemn the woman caught in adultery - it is what this law does too and as much as the "holier than thou" people who fulminate on my timeline - you might be Christians but you have NOT the love of Christ in you.

Loving and hating – choose one

After this, there was a lull in activity until one came with that mantra of loving the sinner and hating the sin. To which that can only have been the following response.

‎@Ola When you produce the bible chapter and verse of “Love the sinner, hate the sin.” you will have a point.

If you are using a saying which has become the tradition of men to make the effective power of the gospel of Christ of none effect and excuse unChrist-like behaviour, then you have hated the sinner more than the sin.

(Mar 7:13 KJV) Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye.

The fact is no such reference in the holy books about loving the sinner and hating the sin, a parallel analogy would be to be complaining of the darkness in a well lit room, not only is it plain stupid, people might wonder about the sanity of the person.

However, there are many instances of colloquialisms and sayings that have become common place watering down the truth of the Scriptures for the convenience of people seeking to express the worst of their humanity in a show of contemptible piety – it is to those people and many who stray into this cachet that I address this blog.

Christmas is today, the feast of thieves

Between God and mammon

One is almost driven to distraction about the way Christmas is so yoked to retailing to the complete exclusion of the Christmas story in the United Kingdom.

Originally, as varied historians assert, what became the Christmas [1] feast was once a pagan feast, not that it so matters now, but the contemporary message of Christmas should for all intents and purposes retain a link to what gives rise to the celebration.

What I see on the English channels on my hotel television is the great lament about retailers, shopping, bargains and profits – Baby Jesus cannot seem to get in edge-ways.

Buying at every cost

Materialism has pervaded the atmosphere, even customers are rushing into the upscale Selfridges, it really makes you wonder as people queue up for shopping in the winter cold just to grab a cheaper handbag, shirt or dress.

In my view, what you cannot afford at the full price you probably should not have, the victory of a bargain or a price reduction by omission or commission rely belies a poverty of spirit that people fail to understand. However, sometimes shops have deals or promotions but we should not be waiting for the stirring of the water by angels [2] for cripples to “jump” in.

Between affordability and bargains

For instance, when I was buying my home, my unspoken prayer was to be able to afford it whenever I was ready rather than having to wait for prices to collapse before I stepped in – what if prices did not collapse but doubled, then I would never get to buy my home.

Equally, much as we live in a debt-fuelled world where the ability to pay off a debt depicts your seeming creditworthiness especially if you are middleclass, the received wisdom should be that one should not spend what you do not have in the bank to pay off – regardless of the reach of your credit cards.

But people are trapped in a hedonistic addiction to goods and the need to be able to show off, Christmas should never be a time for bargains and really, I have no sympathy for retailers who fleece their customers throughout the year and plead low till receipts at the end of the year.

Not in that demographic

If most customers were like me, retailers would have to get into better logistics to keep in the market, the competition would be so keen that only retailers with durable, sophisticated and valuable goods would remain in the marketplace.

Behind all this lament of the retailers stands the shareholders who have raked in profits like money is going out of fashion and even in these lean times, they still expect those atrocious profits – my wallet is closed because, the shoes I buy, last; the clothes I wear are durable; I am not a fashion slave, my old television still shows good pictures and I am not given to unnecessary ostentation.

The government would like the economy to recover through more consumer spending, which is a fine macro-economic idea, but customers as individuals need to be wary of situations where they are more exposed financially than they should be – thrifty is the word, regardless of the national call to spend; except where you have received a bailout from the government.

Bring Christmas back

Since Christmas is about the roots of Christianity, if the retailers are having a really tough time this Christmas without any mention of Christ, we can look at it as the proverbial overturning of the tables in the temple – then Jesus took exception to making His Father’s house a den of thieves [3], today, the climate takes exception to making a holy and religious time of celebration and reflection a trading day for cheaper tat.

Maybe one should have some sympathy for the impoverished, seeking the unaffordable but who think overpriced goods they crave are now a bargain to be had – conversely, maybe that is the real price of the goods with a little markup – we have all been had and we think we have had them.

In fact, Christmas becomes a good cloaking scam for a more sinister con, but if it costs less, it is worth less or should that be worthless?

Sources

[1] Christmas - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[2] John 5:4 For an angel of the Lord went down at certain

[3] Den of thieves