Spiritual Splenda

Ah the wonders of modern man --

Years ago, before my broad mind and narrow waist had swapped descriptions, I was an officer in the U.S. Coast Guard.  When the ship was underway I often stood watch on the Bridge of the ship as the Officer of the Deck.  In that position, I was the senior officer awake and watching over the ship.  It was my job to see to the safety of the ship and ensure we did not get involved in an accident.  Needless to say, it was not acceptable for me either to leave the Bridge or to fall asleep on watch.  But, these watches usually followed long days of working at the routines of maintaining the ship, conducting searches for people lost at sea, or repairing aids to navigation.  Each of us junior officers was expected to keep up with the day time work of the ship, stand a watch during the daylight hours and again stand the watch during the night.  This was simply what had to be done.  It was not heroic.  It was just life on board a Coast Guard Cutter.  And, it was exhausting,

During those long night watches, one of the relished privileges of the Officer of the Deck was to ask a crew member to bring a mug of coffee to the bridge. On those long nights I needed the caffeine of the coffee to help me stay awake.  But, I also needed an energy boost - something to raise my blood sugar.  Thus, I learned to drink my coffee with plenty of milk and several spoons full of sugar.  Some years later while in law school  I was again staying up late into the night.  And again, the caffeine was essential.  But, I was married and my lovely bride pointed out to me that my waist line was expanding rapidly.  It was not rocket science to figure that all that sugar was bringing about true growth in my life.  Ah but, I had learned to like my coffee sweet.  I could not stop the coffee.  So, I started the use of Sweet and Low, a saccharine substitute for sugar.  Years later I learned that saccharine is carcinogenic.  Not wanting cancer I switched to Equal.  After a while it was rumored that Equal causes brain damage.  So, I switched to Splenda.  Splenda and Equal were especially nice because they came in packages combined with other thigs so they actually looked a lot like sugar.  I could put them in the sugar bowl on the table and noone would know the difference.

Is it not a wonderful thing ?  Based on the science of modern chemistry I could still get all the caffeine I wanted with no sacrifice.  I never was required to give up my sweet loving sense of taste.  I never was required to learn to like my coffee rich and strong and black without sweetness.  Cup after cup I can get that creamy sweetness I love without having to sacrifice anything to keep my weight under control.

During the first generation of the Church, the beloved apostle John, Jesus closest buddy during His stay on the Earth, gave us a clear warning.  He said in his 1st century letter that already there were antichrists functioning in the world.  Throughout all my early development I understood this to mean that there were people who were arguing against men believing in Jesus as Lord.  But the Lord challenged me to look again.  So I went back to the Greek and looked at the word.  Sure enough the English word antichrist was not even a translation it was a transliteration of the Greek word with the English word simply being made up of the English equivalents of the Greek letters.  So, what was God asking me to focus on ?  I went back to the Greek word, again, to find out what it came from.  It is simply two Greek words pushed together.  Anti and Christ are put together to form the word.  Well, I knew that Christ meant the anointed one and referred specifically to Jesus the anointed man, the Son of God.  It seemed to me obvious that Anti meant anti that is something that fights against or opposes.  But, the Holy Spirit insisted I look it up.  I was shocked by my discovery.

This word Anti has a somewhat different meaning.  When I looked in the Greek dictionary I discovered that the first meanings of Anti have to do with a substitute that is used instead of the other.  The more literal meaning of the word transliterated as Antichrist is substitute christ or impostor christ.  This brought about a whole new revelation for me.  I suddenly realized that part of what John was warning the Church about was this.  Even in the first generation of the Church already we were finding substitute anointed ones - substitutes for or impostors of Jesus.

Now if instead of sugar in my coffee my wife had substituted a bitter thing like strychnine I would not like it or want it.  And even if I was silly enough to drink it, anyone who watched the result would never choose to imitate me.  My sugar substitute needed to taste sweet.  And, if it was a poison, it was essential that like saccharine it work slowly over a long period of time.  Noone else could be sold something that killed me quick.  They would have to see me keep using it and appear to enjoy it.  Slow poisons are still poison but they are far less noticeable.  They remain marketable even while they do their work.

So, what looks like Jesus, tastes kind of like Jesus but, unlike the Bread of Life it has zero calories ?  It has no nutritional value at all.  What is it that masquerades as an impostor of Jesus ?  Now, to pass as an impostor it must look like folks expect Jesus to look.  It must be able to go into life's sugar bowl and look right.  And to pass as an impostor it must feel like Jesus is expected to feel.  It could not be like strychnine instead of sacchrine.  What is that ?

Is this not what every religious organization is working toward ?  Does not every group seek to give us an experience that looks and feels like we expect Jesus to look and feel ?  What is "seeker friendly" about portraying a Jesus who desires and deserves that I would give up all my personal desires and be willing to die in order to follow Him ?  Oh, many of them portray making great sacrifices, especially sacrificial giving.  But, very few portray that Jesus already made the great sacrifice and all my righteousness is as filthy rags.  Most of the "good and Godly" religions have noble codes of conduct for men to follow.  But, the conduct is in reality only practicing the form of Godliness while denying the real power of it.  Virtually all of them hold weekly meetings to which the faithful are expected to come.  In those meetings, most commonly, the faithful have an emotional experience they are taught to believe is worship.  They hear someone preach to them  a lesson that usually has no practical application in modern life.  And, they are exhorted to give their money in support of the organization.  Then they go home.  All that standing in stark contrast to the things the Bible teaches us are intended to happen when the saints meet each other. 

Now some of us have realized that the first organization we came to is really carcinogenic.  It is so far off the path of Jesus that it is giving us spiritual cancer.  What have we done ? Usually we vote with our feet, we move on to another better organization.  We go from Sweet and Low to Equal.  But, more often than not we eventually learn that the new group also is toxic somehow.  Then we move on again.  We move from Equal to Splenda.  But the problem with our new group is not that we have learned it is toxic.  It is simply that by its very design is has no real nutrition for our spirits or souls.  It makes us feel good.  We are not required to give up the sweetness we found in religion.  It all looks and feels right.  But, it just does not give us enough Spirit and Life to sustain us. 

Now, there is nothing inherently evil about most religious organizations.  They are much like other organizations (Lions Club, Rotary Club, Moose Lodge) .  They all do the best they can with the limited revelation they accept.  What is the problem then ?  It is this.  Jesus did not send us forth to build organizations and churches.  He sent us to disciple men.

Disciples walk in close knit relationships.  Disciples are close friends who trust each other.  Disciples genuinely love each other.  Disciples follow someone in whom, after very close examination, they see the real character of Jesus.  Disciple makers always have time for the disciple.  Disciple makers always have vision for the disciple.  Disciple makers never feel senior to, better than, or above the disciple.  Disciple makers never minister for the purpose of making money.  Genuine discipleship relationships are the Hallmark of the Church Jesus is building and preparing to be His Bride.

So, who are you following ? Jesus or an imposter ?  The real Bread of Life or just another pack of spiritual Splenda ?