This pastor is spot-on about the spiritual problems, which have become all to prevalent in the United States:
I am learning to have more compassion.
My parents did take my sister and me to church. That was a good thing. I am glad that I went to church, I am glad that I learned and received Jesus Christ as my Savior and Lord.
What was the problem, then? How come our family did not see life and prosperity emerge in great ways? Why was my parents' marriage troubled for so long? Why did my mother go crazy, and why did my father become so lazy and cowardly, refusing to take a stand against my abusive mother?
As I just wrote above, my parents were reading their Bibles. They went to church. In fact, I could go so far as to say that they did believe in Jesus. I don't see any reason (as of this writing) to believe that they were not believers in Christ.
What happened was that they were living under mixture.
My parents were not resting in the Grace of God. They did not see Jesus as a living Savior, in large part because they believed that they still had to do most of the living themselves. I call this "The Galatian Error," in which once they were saved by grace, they know believe that they have to live under law for sanctification, for guidance on good living.
God's Word could not be clearer about man's relationship with the Law once he is saved:
"Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God." (Romans 7:4)
and
"19For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God." (Galatians 2:19)
How much clearer can Paul the Apostle make it to the church?
And yet, to this day, I cannot tell you how many times I have heard pastors, preachers, and teachers tell us that we still need to keep the Ten Commandments, that we still need to pay attention to the Law of Moses in order to be holy before God.
That is absolute nonsense! We are dead to the law! How can anyone get this idea that we can still live according to a standard, when we are already dead to the standard!
Consider the grave consequences for those who still insist on living under law:
"20I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. 21I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain." (Galatians 2:20-21)
We frustrate the grace of God inour lives when we try to make ourselves righteous by doing. We frustrate the grace of God when we think that righteousness is something that we earn.
OK, OK, I have made my point on this.
Getting back to my parents, what was their problem? Why did they see no victory in their lives, and why in turn did they pass this cycle of defeat onto me?
They were adding to Jesus' Finished Work.
My mother was head-deep in Alcoholics Anonymous. This dangerous cult teaches people to identify with alcoholism. This dangerous cult teaches people to keep taking their inventory, i.e. keep reviewing and rehearsing their sins every day so that they can stay "one step ahead" of alcoholism coming back to haunt them.
You cannot say that you have been made the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21), then turn around and continue to call yourself an alcoholic. 2 Corinthians 5:17 indicates that we have been made a new creation in Christ, as well. We are not to identify with the old man of our sinful nature, but to see ourselves in Christ. We are to reckon ourselves dead to sin and alive in Christ (Romans 6:14)
Alcoholics Anonymous teaches people to look at their sins, and to look to their own efforts to overcome their failings. And my mother was in bondage to this cult, until the last day that I spoke with her. She insisted on taking her inventory (yet again), and I refused to go along with any of that religious self-flagellation.
As for my father, he often sought the approval and compliments of others. He was really desperate to be liked, and I do not have the whole story as to why. I do know that my father was head-deep into Scientology for a long time. Two of my other relatives reminded me of his attachment to that cult, as well. Even when I was growing up, I remember how my Dad would sprinkle in stupid ideas which he had learned from Scientology, as if any of it was true or had any relevance. If the Word of God is not good enough for someone, why allow for any kind of mixture in the first place?
For the longest time, and even now as I look back on his life, it sure seems as though he was just playing church. He was pretending to be a Christian, going through all the motions, saying the right things, engaging in the right activities, going into prayer. When times got tough, when there were serious challenges that he was facing, however, he would resort to relying on his own efforts. He did not see a Living Savior taking care of him.
Why? Because he went back into trusting his own efforts. He was mixing up what Christ did and what he still thought that he needed to do. There was so mixture, and so little time to tell the difference. How could I have known any differently? My parents believed wrong, and so did the rest of the household as a result.
I remember when my mother would drive my sister and me to school. Every morning, she would offer up a prayer for us, and we would pray along with her. After leaving the car, however, I still felt as though I was all alone on campus, that I had to take care of myself. I received no large revelation that Christ Jesus was watching out for me, taking care of me, living in and through me.
Neither did my mother and father, I guess. They went to work, they faced their several challenges, and they acted as if they were all alone in the world. What a shame. I am saddened that they did not have the wonderful, vibrant, excellent revelation of seeing Jesus alive in their own lives, in their own walk. Today, I have such a lightness of heart and soul. Everything feels so much brighter around me, as well. Indeed, I can see clearly now. The darkness is dissipating. The confusion is falling away. The world is not a scary place to me, and I am not worried about anything surprising me anymore.
My parents were talking about the right things, and they did bring my sister and me to church. We did pray, we did read our Bibles. However, what frustrated everything for my parents, and why there was no victory or success in their lives is that they were still living under law. They were living in mixture, in which they wanted to believe God AND trust their own efforts.
What people in the Body of Christ need now more than ever is not just to keeping hearing and hearing the Word of Christ (Romans 10:17), but they also need to reject all the wrong believing, the wrong thinking, the wrong views that they have grown up with, which have been pushed on them. We need to understand that it is Christ alone, by faith alone, through grace alone, in His Word alone. For too many of us, we are still adding the traditions, the teachings, the talking points which other people have given us. So much of that wrong believing needs to be dispensed with.
Jesus is enough. He is more than enough. In fact, He fulfills every need, meets every demand, and provides for us in every way. There is no need for anything else, for anyone else, and Jesus does not need the assistance of other religions, programs, or any cult.