It was deeply unsettling when I first began to hear the Father’s call to come out of man’s religious system – a system I was deeply devoted to – a system I’d ministered within for many years as a performing songwriter. That same year I first heard Him call me, Warner Brothers released “The Matrix” which inspired a lot of discussion on a forum I frequented called “New Wineskins”. Thereafter members often talked about being “red-pilled” by the Holy Spirit concerning the churches they attended and how having their eyes opened, couldn’t remain and left to join Jesus “outside the camp” (Hebrews 13:13).

My own experience I likened to Jesus healing the blind man by rubbing mud in his eyes and instructing him to wash. Metaphorically, it’s like forcing someone to look at the filth of this world together with the word of God. Death and life – filth and truth – side by side – mixture – until finally comes the day we see the difference and cry out “Give me Jesus! Give me Truth!”

The topic today is deeply personal for me; one that many believers are forced to reckon with when their spouse abruptly leaves the marriage for someone else. Bearing no fault, the wronged spouse is still subjected to a kind of leper treatment by family and friends who pull back, take sides and judge harshly. If children are involved, the grandparents turn every family event into a kind of intervention to advocate for their interests. What little visitation time a court grants to the father must now be shared with grandparents. Most hurtful was missing my daughters who were daddy’s girls and wanted to live with me. But since we had been a single-income family and my ex-wife a stay-at-home mom, the court refused to upset the status-quo even if the decision meant placing the girls in a very unhealthy environment. Someone has to bear the brunt of punishment meted out in a divorce and that, was me.

Forced to endure Job-like devastation I ran to the Lord with my broken heart and crushed spirit. He made His presence known in the midst of the fire and has remained close ever since. Like Job, I can look back and see the hand of God who restored me completely, and then some. How great is He who makes all things work together for good of those who love Him and whom He calls for His purposes.

I’ve had enough.

Television lost its appeal years ago when I began to recognize the repetitive and predictable story lines. Canned laugh tracks, musical crescendos and commercial interruptions timed to stimulate viewer excitement, annoyed me even more. And the news programs so obviously crafted to influence my thoughts and monopolize my attention, grieve me deeply. What little news I take, is carefully curated from reliable internet sources. But the agendas of news web sites are no different than broadcast news.

Years ago I read this, which even today is an apt assessment:

Cable news is a cancer. It is not even news anymore. Whether it’s CNN … FOX, or MSNBC, there is almost no news. The programming is primarily designed to keep you angry and outraged and self-righteous. Cable news also manufactures an alternate reality that doesn’t exist out here in the real world — it’s a propaganda machine designed to influence opinion-makers and most especially lawmakers … Living in the cable news ecosystem completely skews your perspective away from reality and what actually matters — like jobs and security. From an article at Daily Wire ( https://www.dailywire.com/news/i-cut-cable-cord-america-whats-stopping-you-john-nolte ).

It seems like everyone is offended these days. Whether social media, talk shows, news programs or the print media, the self-appointed politically correct police are always on the lookout for someone to vilify over a slip of the tongue, or worse yet, a statement they disagree with.

So what does the Bible have to say about “offense”?

In John 6, Jesus is telling His followers a solemn truth:

“I am the living bread come down out of Heaven. If a man eats this bread, he shall live for ever. Moreover the bread which I will give is my flesh given for the life of the world.” (John 6:51 WNT)

How did the crowds react?

If ever you hear the Father’s call to come out of man’s institutional church to follow Christ alone, you’ll no doubt be accused of “forsaking the assembly of the brethren”. That’s found in Hebrews 10:25.

It reads: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the custom is with some; but encouraging one another … (Hebrews 10:25 Darby)

Ministers and church-goers assert that the Sunday morning worship service is the very “assembling” Paul wrote about. That’s preposterous of course, because when Paul wrote Hebrews, there was no such thing as a Sunday morning worship service. Rather, at the time believers assembled together in and by Christ and lived in community with one another.

Hal Lindsay’s book The Late Great Planet Earth was first published in 1970 the same year I received Jesus as Lord. It was about 10 years later I finally read the book whereupon I was gripped by tribulation-mania and the possibility of being caught up at any moment in the rapture with Jesus. How well I remember deliberating whether to renew my subscription to the Wittenburg Door Magazine for 1 or 2 years. If the rapture were imminent, renewing for 2 years would be a waste of money. Ever trying to be a good steward, I renewed for just 1 year. Thanks Hal!

It’s a silly story, but the fact is Hal Lindsey’s book and others like it, have sewn much yeast into the body of Christ. Christians fixated on the impending rise of the antichrist, the tribulation and the rapture have been rendered ineffective in the present by constantly fixing their eyes on a future escape from reality. Instead of living and rejoicing in our Savior who is here even NOW and who said “the kingdom of God is WITHIN you” (Luke 17:21), they await a future encounter with Jesus.

Lately I’ve been spending time in quiet meditation of the “come let us reason together” (Isaiah 1:18) sort, where a few scriptures have remained at the forefront of my thoughts and have proven very sobering by the questions they inspire. The scriptures are:

“I am THE Way, THE Truth, THE Life” (John 14:6)

“Walk in the light as He is in the light” (1 John 1:7)

“Obey the Spirit’s teaching, then, and remain in union with Christ.” (1 John 2:27 GNB)

My meditations are aided by the experiences God has brought me through, such as my brief foray back into an institutional church, which gave me many things to examine and the effect they had on my fellowship with Christ and others. These have helped me to see more clearly the connection between my choices, actions and involvements and my unity with Christ.

When the service ended, two men introduced themselves to Karen and me at the front of the sanctuary. They welcomed us to Cornville and then the taller of the two turned to me and said “when you live here son, you got to declare which side you’re on”. Karen grinned knowingly and turned her attention to the woman who greeted her. Panic began to set in – how could my new wife – a native Cornvillain and familiar with their strange ways, abandon me like that to these 2 grinning sod busters?

“Ugh, politics already” I thought to myself. I’d hoped by moving away from Seattle there wouldn’t be any partisan politics to contend with. Yet there it was and in church of all places! “Do you mean what political party do I belong to?” “Nah, not that. But you still got to declare.” I must have looked to them like a deer caught in the headlights. “I don’t get it” I confessed. “Red or green” he demanded. “You mean like what’s my favorite color?” His grin was replaced by a look of consternation as he blurted out “Are you daft, boy, John Deere or Case IH?”