What is the church

I have a question: What is the church?

I look at the large commercial enterprises I see on many of our most prominent street corners. I say to myself: This is not it!

I will tell you a story of the ultimate in spiritual and financial abuse:

There was a preacher who pastored a "church". He was raising money to build a new church building.

One day he said to his congregation: "Everyone who wants to double your income this year, raise your hand!"

Everyone's hand flew up.

Then he said: "OK, if you want to double your income this year, double your pledge to the building fund. Because God has told us that if you will do that, God will double your income this year."

I bought this pitch. I feel pretty stupid about this right now, but I did actually double my pledge to the building fund. God did not double my income that year. In fact, I almost went broke from my giving to the "church".

I read the New Covenant, and I find a church which is:

1. Disorganized
2. Organic
3. Local
4. Spiritual
5. Impoverished

I look at the large commercial institutions and I see:

1. Highly organized
2. Sterile
3. Global
5. Wordly
6. Rich

I ask you: Is this the church? Or have we gone badly astray? I think God is grieving. I think we have strayed far, far away from what he intends for us.

Please let me know if you agree. I will post all comments to this blog.

I am the Christian Anarchist

When I decided to write this blog, I did a bit of research on Christian Anarchism. Surprising stuff. The movement began with Leo Tolstoy, author of such books as War and Peace. He believed that the words of Y'shua (I prefer this name to the name Jesus) preached a world where men were brothers and all turned the other cheek. This lead him to a position of non-violence, pacifism, and social disobedience. His writings were instrumental in the thoughts of Mathama Ghandi and eventually Martin Luther King. His concepts framed the Civil Rights movement.

As admirable as I find that, I am not that kind of Christian Anarchist. I have my own views on social justice, government, politics and the like, but that is not what I am really talking about.

I am talking about anarchism against a much more invisible, insidious, and corrupt system than government. I am talking about the institutional church.

This blog will discuss my experience with the monstrous institution, the big business, we call the evangelical church. I will tell you about how my family, my faith, and much of my life has been damaged by this thing I call the World Religious System.

If you have been hurt by religion, if your family has been rejected by the church, if you have been forced to conform to a set of standards which are arbitrary and rigid, if in short you are one of the silent majority of christians who cries out in pain against the religious system of this world set up by Satan himself to cripple and immobilize the Christian faith, then watch this blog. I will be speaking out for you.