When I noticed the pastor read just 10 verses of scripture before the sermon, I began to question whether us pew warmers were getting the whole story? So I counted up all the scriptures in the Bible, divided by 10 per week and 52 weeks per year and discovered it would take nearly 60 years to read the Bible at that rate. Clearly if I wanted to know what was in the Bible, I’d have to read it for myself. Focusing in on Proverbs, it would take 1 year and 9 months at the 10 verse per week rate; however if we took it one proverb at a time which seems logical since each one is sermon worthy, Proverbs would take 17 and 1/2 years! Similarly, instead of 5 months on Ecclesiastes, it would take 4 years and 3 months. So, if we’re honest about the 10 verse per week approach, most of us would die of old age before we finished the Bible at plodding sermon speed. We might be able to bring it in under 80 years if we droned through all the begats in a single Sunday. That sounds like a good mid-summer sermon when half the congregation is out on vacation.

It wasn’t long after that, I noticed the messages were often the same whichever church I visited. Curious, I sat down with 3 years worth of church bulletins from my home church and jotted down the scriptures used. Lo and behold, the same scriptures were read in sequence year after year after year. From there I discovered church services are conducted according to the Advent calendar with sermons prepared according to a standardized Lectionary. Turns out many denominations have handbooks for conducting Occasional Services (LINK) and for Common Worship (LINK). Perhaps you’ve noticed that little book the pastor holds and reads from for weddings, baptisms and the like, right? They’re essentially scripts for religious services. Suffice to say, if it’s Spirit led ministry you’re looking for, or fresh manna made just for you (LINK), you’ll need to go to Jesus for yourself. Institutional churches serve the day old bread of history and tradition.

With my innate skepticism now off the leash (thanks, Dad!), I was free to ponder everything and began coming up with new observations and even a witticism on occasion. For example:

The church today is to historical Jesus, what museums are to dinosaurs.

That thought led me to ponder whether there would be museums for dinosaurs if they were still alive today? You know, alive, like Jesus is? So, why so many church buildings – those mostly unused museums of religious antiquity, when Jesus is alive and well and living within His people? Could it be Christians worship 2 different Jesuses? Institutional Christianity worships historical – traditional Jesus while cloistering in their man made temples (Acts 7:48)? And “The Way” as originally established by Jesus and the apostles (Acts 9:2) worship the living Jesus outside the camps of men (Hebrews 13:13)? Lest there be any doubt, look no farther than Revelation 3:20 which paints the picture of Jesus on the outside looking in on a church service where historical Jesus is worshiped and tradition is king. As for living Jesus? Jesus who is the word incarnate (John 1:1-14)? He’s been shut out. Still no room at the inn. Oof.

So how is it possible that a church shuts the door on Jesus? It’s simple, really. Jesus taught that receiving the one the master sends, is the same as receiving the master. To deny the one He sends, is to deny the master (Mat 10:40-42, John 13:20). After the resurrection, Jesus ascended to the Father and it’s there He remains (Acts 1:6-11). After ascending, He sent the Holy Spirit as His representative (John 14:26, Acts 2) to speak on His behalf (John 16:13). How can a church claim to have Jesus, when they deny the Holy Spirit whom Jesus sent? Claiming to be “non-charismatic” is just church-speak for “the Holy Spirit is not allowed to manifest here”. Want Biblical truth? To deny the Holy Spirit entry is to shut the door on Jesus. It’s that simple. And lest you think the term “non-charismatic” is innocent, the reality is such churches are “anti-charismatic” if ever they sniff out a believer in their midst with the Biblical spiritual gifts (1 Cor. 12:8-10, Rom. 12:6-8). I’ve witnessed it – I’ve experienced it – several times.

At 70 and retired from a memorable concert ministry spanning 30 years, I’ve visited a number of churches. The one thing they all had in common? The pastor does 90% of the talking. Stumbling upon 1 Corinthians 14:26-33 and the description of a lively, participatory gathering of the saints, I wondered how the silencing of the saints came to pass? Especially where Revelation says that we overcome the enemy by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony. “Hmmm”, I thought, “if our testimony is silenced, no wonder the enemy eats our lunch”. It was that inspired this cynical observation about silencing the saints:

Church services are like a man with one book who takes it to the library, stands atop a table, and reads it to all the other books, then leaves.

Does it ever occur to the man to read from any of the other books – to marvel at countless untold stories of victory – authored by Jesus in the lives of the saints? Why isn’t every gathering of the saints a veritable victory parade of believers rising to share the exploits of Jesus in their lives – to glorify God and put the devil to flight from our midst by our death-defying testimony? The end of John says, after all, “there are also many other things that Jesus did, which, if they were written one by one, I suppose not even the world itself could contain the books that would be written.”

How often I have heard ministers and their minions claim that the Bible is all there is when it comes to the word of God, yet the Bible itself mentions books – epistles – that have been omitted. Jude mentions Enoch. What happened to it? Inconvenient truth? How about the so-called Apocrypha. Catholic Bibles have it; Protestants don’t. For what purpose do men try to control what we see and read? Seems strange to me that a cadre of men poured over the body of God-breathed, God-inspired writings, discarded some or most of them, and called the remainder the “Word of God”. That leads to another favorite when I’m in the mood to ask an impertinent question:

The epistles of Paul, James, Peter, John and Jude are in the Bible. Why not the epistles of Jesus?

What are these epistles of Jesus you ask and where can I find a copy? Look in the mirror brother, for Paul writes “… you are the epistle of Christ, ministered by us, and written: not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God: not in tables of stone but in the fleshly tables of the heart” (2 Cor. 3:3 DRB). That’s God’s word, written by Christ Jesus, in you. They chronicle the continuing works of Christ Jesus in and through you. Innumerable living books (John 21:25). So why are the epistles of Christ not considered the word of God when they’re written by God’s Son? Believers whom the Bible calls “the epistles of Christ” are the single largest repository of God’s word scholars have excluded from the canon of scripture. The word of God is not just one book, the Bible – it’s many books: every believer is a book of the word of God – the wonderful epistles of Christ.

Of course if the professionally religious ever acknowledged what the Bible says about that, they’d lose control as sole proprietors of the written word. “Can’t have the Living Word getting loose among my flock! No sirree! It’s bad for business!” That’s what happens when Pastor Diotrephes seizes control of a flock (3 John 1:9-10). How does such a church get Jesus back in their midst? Is it even possible once He’s been shut out?

Do you have questions? Are you desperate enough for answers to ask Jesus? Can I suggest asking Him “Is this really what you had in mind for me, Lord? Is this all there is?”

He has such a better answer for us than what is commonly accepted as church.

Taste and see that the LORD is good. How happy is the man who takes refuge in Him! (Psalm 34:8 HCSB)