GLENN'S PODCASTS!

TWO LASTING ILLS-
At the risk of sounding like the child of the sixties I am (old hippies r us) I have what I believe is more than what Tozer called a "religious irritation" with a couple things that seem to keep on surfacing in the Western church in general and American church in particular.

Granted, they also surface in society generally, but the issue is whether you or I as Christians (if you are a follower of Jesus) are any different.

They are in my view, perhaps the worst scourges, widely accepted- or shall I say "backslidden into"- cancers occurring with regularity among the people of God.

In no particular order of infamy, they are: religion and consumerism.

When I use the term "religion", I mean to say "quasi-spiritual inventions of humans by which they somehow feel they are somewhat connected to God, or at least god-stuff".

Through the ages there have always been individuals, even church leaders, who in truth lack a genuine relationship with God through Jesus Christ, hollow as regards actual saving faith, without any continuing sense of responsibility to lovingly obey His biblical commands. Perhaps the key fruit of actual sacrificial love to one's immediate neighbor is the most glaring result.

The verse "having a form of religion while denying the power" comes to mind. Much like true marriage, true religion is a matter of relationship, not simply information, dried ink on paper or one's place of residence.

The power of God's love in Christ is power indeed! Eternal power, spiritual life-giving power, not at all about self-importance or position or merely "feel-good" experiences.

The second "ill" is perhaps even more common in our nation that the first.

Materialism is of course, the norm now. Where it was once recognized as the empty well it is, boomers and their kids fell right (back) in as the ashes of the youth movement piled high sometime around the late seventies.

More is never enough, and more material stuff (you NEED this!!) is being served up via advertising than ever. More credit cards, debt and misery are added to the already-burdened populace daily, all due to lack of eternal values, true fulfillment in relationships with God and others, and lack of self-control needed to get off the consumerist conveyor belt. Consumerism consumes.

What a brew ferments when BOTH religion and materialism wed! One could write volumes as to how many people have re-interpreted heaven and ended up in hell due to their entrapment in such drunkenness.

Because false, self-made, self-centered "spirituality" is so common, because material things and the pleasure one might derive from having more stuff is so typically sought, few- including leadership in much of the Church- have either the conviction or the guts to call our attention to the killing joke these both are.

It is often rightly said that the core of the Christian life is about relationship to God through Jesus, not "religion". Is our current "spirituality" biblical and relational or is it often not merely a matter of trying to feel better without truly changing via loving obedience to the Holy Spirit?

Jesus said our life does not consist in the abundance of things we possess. Is that reality what most Christians model today?

Tozer also said, "Refuse to be average". Amen. God help us!