My wife and I met in our early 40’s and married after a year-long, Seattle to Chicago courtship. Typical of Christian weddings, our minister’s homily spoke of the 3-stranded cord, unity, cleaving, and becoming one flesh. To conclude the marriage ceremony, he cited the command of Jesus “what God has joined together, let man not separate” (Mark 10:9).

Twenty-five years since we lit our “unity” candle, it’s clear our guests didn’t listen to the minister’s homily nor take to heart Jesus charge not to separate us. Were it the only time any of them heard the message of marital oneness, I might understand their ignorance. But the fact is, the unity message is proclaimed at nearly every Christian wedding. Thus it begs the question how people can be so heedless as to begin competing for influence over a newly wed couple the moment they say “I do” with intent to conform them to their own selfish expectations.

Before retiring at the end of 1998, at the ripe old age of 42, I was an auditor and analyst in the aerospace industry. A successful auditor requires a well developed nose for error. Admittedly, we’re a suspicious lot, but hopefully not to the point of paranoia. A good analyst is all about the facts and data. So I suppose it was only natural that my suspicions together with my need for fact-based truth, would compel me to sit down with a large stack of church bulletins spanning several years of worship services, to inventory and analyze the many scriptures that were read before the sermon. My “gut” strongly suspected us pew-warmers weren’t getting the whole story and so I set out to confirm my suspicions.

It was quickly obvious that the same scriptures were read year after year in the weeks preceding Passover, Easter, Pentecost and Christmas, while entire books and chapters of scripture were never read at all. The first time I attempted such an investigation back in the early 1980’s, I discovered that the pastor read just 10 verses of scripture on average, before giving his sermon. A few minutes of number crunching demonstrated it would take almost 60 years to preach through the Bible at that rate, assuming no scriptures were ever repeated. Yeah, I know what you’re thinking; “how anal” and I don’t deny that. It’s just one of those things us analyst and auditor types do for fun when we’re not digging through the freezer to sort TV dinners in order of the “best used by” date. Suffice it to say, the exercise showed me IF I wanted to know what was in the Bible, I would have to read it myself.

In completing the full armor of God, Paul writes “pray in the spirit (pneuma) at all times” (Ephesians 6:18). Elsewhere in 1 Corinthians 14:14, Paul equates praying in tongues (glossa – a spiritual gift aka pneumatikos) with praying in the spirit (pneuma).

To pray in the spirit (pneuma) is to pray with the breath (pneuma) of God. Where in 1 Corinthians 14:14 Paul says his mind is not fruitful (does not comprehend) when he prays in the spirit (pneuma), is confirmation of 1 Corinthians 2:14 where Paul writes natural (carnal) man can not receive (understand) the things of the spirit (pneuma) nor understand the mind (nous) of God. Thus Paul remedies the disparity between the spirit and his mind by praying in the spirit (pneuma) and also with his own natural mind (nous).

I’ve been pondering the nature of repentance, since with every election, Christians renew the call for America to repent. Asked to elaborate, most cite abortion and homosexuality as their primary complaints. War, divorce, removing prayer from schools, and pornography are also cited, though typically with less revulsion than is reserved for abortion and homosexuality.

How I wish I could claim I’ve never been caught up in one of Christianity’s campaigns to stamp out sin in the world. Frankly, the world has every right to sin; a right granted by the Father.

As it says in Revelation 22:11, “Let the one who does what is evil continue to do what is evil. Let the filthy person continue to be filthy. Let the righteous person continue to do what is right. And let the holy person continue to be holy.”

Every 4 years, the people elect a new president. Christians, Evangelicals in particular, look for their champion to be a kind of King David archetype – slayer of Goliaths, benevolent King, and worship leader. Then there’s the neo-Apostolic-Prophetic camp and their so-called words of “prophecy” proclaiming God’s “anointed” choice – always a Republican – who will help stem the tide of sin, usher in revival and restore America to its constitutional and (ahem) Biblical roots. Often such “prophecies” carry with them a broad call for America to repent, for which “prayer warriors” and “intercessors” labor in prayer, while hedonistic Americans go right on living as if there were no God at all.

As often as we’ve managed to elect a King Saul rather than a King David, I see little point in voting for a man to rule over the people. Since 1976 when I first voted, every president has disappointed insofar as bringing peace and advancing the Kingdom of God is concerned. And yet every 4 years, regardless how poor the choices, Christians clamor to vote, admonishing one another to ignore the character of the candidate and vote the issues or party platform, all the while claiming it’s a Christian’s civic duty to vote. Frankly, I bristle at the notion that choosing between the “lesser of 2 evils” is my civic duty.

In the episode “Rebuilding the fallen tabernacle of David”, I said “Hirelings have a habit of interpreting spiritual things physically and literally to profit the flesh (1 Cor. 2:14).” A sad testament to man’s spiritual ignorance borne out by countless church buildings that squander resources, while people go hungry and ill-prepared to take the gospel to the nations. The flesh builds with brick and mortar, Christ builds His church with people. The one runs on money and sweat, the other by the Spirit and faith.

What hope do we, as physical and literal beings have for ever understanding the things of God about whom Jesus said “God is spirit” (John 4:24 ESV).

Even when Jesus explained the hidden spiritual meanings of His parables, did the disciples understand them? Or does Jesus look at them in stunned amazement after teaching them for 2 years and groan “are you still so dull” (Matthew 15:16)?

Hirelings have a habit of interpreting spiritual things physically and literally. Take for example the prophecy of Amos wherein God said “I will rebuild the fallen tabernacle of David … declares the Lord” (Amos 9:11 and Acts 15:16). In Kansas City, the International House of Prayer also known as IHOP is claimed to be a model for rebuilding the tabernacle of David. There musicians, singers, dancers and other artistic people have “worshiped” God 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, since September 19th, 1999. IHOP Kansas City in and of itself is prima facie evidence that the founders have made a literal and physical interpretation of the prophecy in Amos 9:11 and Acts 15:16.

But does their interpretation reflect a spiritual and Biblical understanding of the prophecy?

Since I first received Jesus, my outlook has changed from one of striving to do works and looking for God’s approval after the fact to one of resting in Christ and trusting the Holy Spirit to direct me in concert with God’s work. It is not unlike Peter who fished all day and caught nothing, who at the end of the day followed Jesus’ instructions and hauled in a huge catch. The former was Peter’s effort without Christ’s direction, the latter was Christ’s doing through Peter’s obedience. The lesson in that? Action without direction is fruitless.

One way I see things differently now, is through the gardening metaphor so often used in scripture. Working in my vegetable garden those scriptures come to life as I clean up a garbage pile behind the garage, kill the weeds, till the soil, fertilize, plant, water, prune, cultivate, deal with pests and finally bring in the harvest. It’s hard work, but a great way to get perspective on God’s work with us.

For nearly 18 months I applied myself to various church jobs, hoping to spark something, anything, that resembled revival. But the harder I worked, the worse it became. Finally the Lord said to me:

Get out of the way and let it fail.

His words left me stunned. In fact, I questioned whether or not it was the Lord speaking since I felt it was blasphemous to suggest the church should fail. But the Lord went on to show me the church was not a building, nor the religious institution with all its programs most people identify as the church, but simply the children of God coming together as family to live in community with God and one another. The Lord went on to speak to me about building on sand and that He is doing what He has always done: sending wind, rain and waves to test our houses for whether or not we’ve built on the Rock.