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I love Star Wars! I am not
fanatical about it, and I don't have any collectibles or
merchandise from it, but I love watching the movies, and
watching them over and over again! Plus I was a fan of Star
Wars before it was cool to be one. I was one of the many lucky
ones (and old ones) to see the very first episode, (episode IV)
at a drive in theatre out in Wichita Kansas at the ripe age of
twenty, during the very first showing when nobody knew anything
about it.
While watching that first showing in 1977, I connected with Luke
Skywalker. We were about the same age, similar appearance, and
of course I had grand ambitions, like him as well, of being a
Jedi Knight that saves the galaxy, although my life didn't quite
turn out that way!
Then later, I went to see the prequels which had much better
special effects. Although none matched the initial excitement
and magic as the first, I enjoyed them all and love the entire
saga!
Now here's where I break into warp drive and take a dramatic
turn towards another galaxy. If you thought I was going to write
about some terrible addiction to the movies that somehow takes
from my relationship with God, you will be disappointed, that's
not what I had in mind, simply because that's not a problem! Or
maybe you thought that I was going to write on a deeper level
about the spiritual analogy of the Star Wars philosophy, based
on the occult, which has some substance, but still not what I
had in mind. Actually, if it wasn't for a God-sent grace
awakening a few years ago that shook my world and theology,
that's exactly what I would be focusing on, instead of what
follows here in this writing.
My Dysfunction
I've been a Christ-follower since I was 19 years old. All
during that time, and even before that while growing up in a
Christian home with a preacher father, I have been afflicted by
a terrible, but very hard to detect disease. It only grew
stronger and stronger the more that I grew in Bible knowledge
and experience, especially in my previous titles as "pastor",
"teacher", " theologian", "elder" and other lofty saintly names.
My disease even had a name, (a name I made up, but hope it
sticks): ADD...which is an acronym for Apostolic Dualism
Dysfunction. Now for the Star Wars link, as you probably know,
the entire Star Wars philosophy involves an invisible, powerful
force that exists from the energy of all living things. There is
both the good side, and the bad side, with both seemingly equal
in power depending on who is the channel for it's power at the
time.
This philosophy is commonly known as dualism, and has very
little in common with the kingdom of God as portrayed in the
Bible. But this philosophy called dualism is really a two sided
coin, with one side it exists as a religion and way of life for
those who reject the Bible and are not Christ followers, and the
other side, which is far more subtle, is also a religion or way
of life that exists within the Christian community and
sub-culture,
what I have chosen to call ADD...Apostolic Dualism
Dysfunction...a disease that only afflicts Christians, and is
very difficult to detect and to get out from, I know from first
hand experience!
I sincerely mean no offence to anyone suffering from
"Attention Deficit Disorder", the ADD most people are familiar
with, but sometimes it helps to use a phrase or word to identify
something that as far as I know, has never actually been labeled
with a name before as a disease.
When I write "Apostolic", I simply am referring to all things
relating to the church and Christianity within the bubble of a
large sub-culture. The scriptures make it clear that Christ
started the church, and it was built upon him as the foundation,
then along with the apostles.
I was a Star Wars Christian.....meaning that I lived, worked,
and "ministered" within a dualistic sub-culture world of the
secular/sacred. (secular being all that is of the dark side, and
sacred being all that is of the good side). One world I lived in
was apostolic and consisted of all things relating to the church.
I attended and served in church services, I both read and
studied the Bible, I listened to Christian music, read Christian
books, watched Christian TV, hung out with Christian friends,
and all the while I was always an evangelist .....talking,
singing, and writing to everyone around me about Jesus with my
motto, "You're either a missionary or a mission field"!
The other world that I also lived in consisted of all things
secular and of course was the dark side that was always out to
get me. Namely: work, play, sports, enjoying music, personal
hobbies, movies, dancing, parties, eating, sleeping, breathing,
playing with my cat, vegging in front of a re-run of Green Acres, and just about anything you can think of that didn't
directly involve the previous things relating to the church.
God.....of course.....was only involved in the sacred, good,
church side, and had very little contact with the other. This
evil secular world was to be considered a necessary evil to be
endured, but avoided at all costs! How twisted and antithetical
to scripture this was!
But I lived this dualistic life for well over twenty years! I
was not simply a Star Wars Christian....heck, I was a Jedi
knight! Forget Luke or Obi Wan , I was the master Jedi
himself...Yoda (which is strangely close to my name-Boda).
In my Yoda days, not too long ago, I over spiritualized just
about everything and kept God, not only in the "sacred world "
only, but also in a small box within that world. During those
days, nearly every song, writing or teaching that I did was
saturated with bible verses and deep theological points. Looking
back now in retrospect I believe that was done for two less than
worthy motives: 1. I wanted everyone to know how deep
spiritually and knowledgeable I was in biblical concepts, and 2.
I felt that if I wasn't preachy and full of bible verses, then
my time would be wasted, God would be dis-pleased, and I would
end up either out of fellowship with him ,or backslid and
banished to some divine woodshed, and of course all the while
feeling full of guilty and shamed for my shallowness. ( if
that sounds messed up. you're right!)
It really came down to ME being in control instead of God,
and ME thinking that somehow I could do God's work better than
Him! It also was clear evidence of a lack of faith and trust in
God. If I really trusted him......wouldn't He know better how to
evangelize the world? Wouldn't He know better how to encourage
and bless other people? Couldn't He use any method to achieve
that end, even if it seemed wrong and unorthodox to me?!
Of course the answers later came, YES...YES....and YES...but
that was only after I had my little world shattered and cut
asunder by a divine light saber!
Is there any scriptural support for these ideas?
Overwhelmingly so, I am convinced of it, more and more nearly
every day! God's grace continues to reveal the absurdity of a
dualistic sacred/secular world, and also by His grace I am never
going back to that mindset.
Back to the scriptures....yes there are multitudes of verses
and examples to bring to light, however, since these are my
"reflections" and not an in depth scripture exposition, I will
gladly refrain from probing into that for now...maybe in some
future grace note, but it will start off with a warning that it's
coming! In fact, so far in this writing I have not quoted one
verse, and I promise to go the distance (a first for me!) I am
not ashamed of the bible, but as I have stated, this is not my
intention here.
How it Began in History
( and how it got started in me)
The Christian church was only about 100 years old
when it became heavily influenced by the current brand of
dualism of that day in Greek-Roman culture...it also
had a name: Gnostism. We get our word "knowledge" from it's root, it
basically meant that knowledge was of extreme importance, the
more the better, and along with that, avoiding all contact with
all things worldly, material, or earthly, which just about
included everything in that "secular" realm! It was only the
"sacred" realm which mattered, or was even real in that mindset.
It is pretty easy to see how the early Christians would latch
on to gnostism. They were almost all Jewish, and were deeply
entrenched in an old testament mindset of compartmentalism,
where God was primarily found in the temple....in the holy of
holies....in the ark of the covenant (the original
God-in-the-box!) Under that system, only select individuals
could approach God (the high priest annually) and only select
individuals could hear from God, and teach his word (prophets,
priests and rabbi's). It was a very dualistic system which was
never intended to be the way of life and blessing in the kingdom
of God. The bible makes it very clear that the original ten
commandments were given to show us God's standard of
righteousness, and how everyone of us falls far short!
They were given to lead us into something much better, the new
covenant, which Jesus initiated, were the thick curtain dividing
the sacred from the secular was torn into by God himself within
the temple on the day Jesus died.
But due to the ever increasing influence of the Greek
dualistic ideas, the church began to morph into that kind of
thinking as well. Paul wrote the book of Galatians largely to
combat this very thing. Soon, only priests and monks and nuns
were considered to have a religious vocation. The distinction
between the sacred/secular was becoming more and more polarized
both in church teaching and writings.
One of the early church theologians, Augustine, who was
brilliant and had much to offer, nevertheless, was really one of
the leaders in this Christian dualism dysfunction with his
classic, "City of God". In it, he promotes the idea of two
worlds, or metaphorically speaking, two cities...one that is all
evil and of satan, Babylon....and one that is all good from God,
The New Jerusalem. While there is much truth to that idea, we
must be careful not to let it mold us into an us-against-them,
dualistic mindset that warps and distorts a Christian's role
within his/her culture.
The "professional" church leaders became the most
spiritual, and all else who just had common jobs were considered
"lay people" and unable to hear from God on their own. This
dangerous mindset continued for many years until God himself
broke through with a mighty grace-awakening which we call "The
Reformation
Martin Luther
One of the greatest fruits of the reformation, attributed to
Martin Luther, was simply bringing back the scriptures to the
everyday common man or women of that day. Previously, the Bible
was written and taught in Latin by the "trained" scholars,
namely the monks, priests and other "professional" church
clergy, Martin Luther translated it in the common language of the
day: German. But before the people had his German translation,
they had to seek out these self appointed heavyweights to not
only be taught the scriptures, but to even hear any of it.
What's the problem with that? Well, when you limit the people
who interpret and teach the Bible to a select few, you always
run into problems. Because then whatever interpretation that
they teach is claimed to be the one true and only Word of God. .
Following through on this thought...now what if those few
individuals interpreting and teaching the Bible start moving
down a dangerous side road of including their own ideas,
thoughts and traditions? What if these new things added to
scripture also directly contradict the other parts? First of
all, since they are the ones teaching and interpreting it, you
probably would never know the error and simply believe and trust
what they tell you. Secondly, if you were one of the few with
more Bible knowledge, or one who could read a copy in Latin
yourself, you would most likely discover the twisted theology,
but since you would suffer serious consequences if you revealed
it openly, the pressure to remain silent would be very great.
Now enter Martin Luther! He WAS one of those few who could
read Latin, and also discovered serious problems with the
theology that he had been taught, tried desperately to live by,
and was even teaching others himself. If you would like to find
out further the specific doctrines I am speaking of, there are a
great many books and on-line articles about it. It is not my
intention here to go down that path, although I have read much
on the subject and find it extremely enlightening!
This incredible work of bringing the scriptures back to the
common people was only just a part of the Reformation, which is
also commonly referred to as "The Great Awakening" or "Grace
Awakening". Another important facet of this divine work was to
realize and consider all the common people, to whom you were
bringing the scriptures to, as all holy and all in service unto
the King in the Kingdom of God ,no matter if they were in
"Christian" work or not. This idea is very Biblical with the
weight of nearly all the new testament to support it, makes me
wonder and marvel at how anyone could miss it, (including me for
about twenty years of "Christian ministry"!) It is called
"The Priesthood of all believers". Simply stated, it means that
ALL Christ-followers are holy unto God, ALL Christ-followers are
in service unto God no matter what their occupation, and ALL
Christ-followers should consider everyday and every where they
go as sacred if God the Holy Spirit lives within them. This does
not mean that we stop going to church, but rather it means that
we now understand that the church is not a place, but a term for
all Christ-followers. This also does not mean that we should
stop sending and supporting missionaries around the world, but
it does mean that God is no more pleased with a missionary, a
pastor, an elder, a deacon or any other full time paid minister,
as He is you are me as we go to our day to day mundane jobs. If
God calls someone to go across the world, fantastic! But if not,
stay where you are and live and serve the King within the sacred
kingdom all around you, the grocery store, your backyard, stuck
in traffic, in school, at work! Wow...what a new and radical
idea, right?! Well not really, here's what Paul wrote about it
almost two thousand years ago:
"So here's what I want you to do, God helping
you: Take your everyday ordinary life,"
your sleeping, eating, going to work,
and walking around life, and place it before God
as an offering. Embracing what God does
for you is the best thing you can do
Romans 12:1a The Message
Martin Luther helped break down the wall of the
sacred/secular that existed in his day to reveal that God is not
in a box! He moves freely everywhere and anywhere! Jesus likened
the Spirit, who is God's presence on earth now, to the wind. The
wind moves wherever it blows and if we ever try to catch it and
bottle it up in a shoebox, when we get home and open it up to
examine it...there's nothing there! What we thought was in there
is too elusive and free to catch and contain.
Once a shoe cobbler asked Luther what he should do now that
he has become a Christ-follower. Many of our church sub-culture
responses would be, "Quit your job and go to work for the Lord",
or "now spend all your time in church and enroll in a Christian
college to become a minister". However Luther's response was,
"Make a good shoe and sell it at a fair price!"
Why is it that many of us feel that God is only pleased with
us when we are doing something "spiritual"? We forget that Jesus
spent the majority of his earthly life both living and working
within the everyday mundane world that most of us live in, and
yet He never spent one second not being spiritual or pleasing to
God! I find it very interesting that before Jesus did any
"ministry" that we know of, God spoke right out of heaven so
everyone could hear, "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well
pleased" (spoken upon Jesus baptism by John Luke 3:22)
Another good quote from Luther is when someone asked him what
he would do if he knew Jesus was returning tomorrow....he said
that he would plant a tree. In other words, God is so pleased
with our ordinary lives as sincere Christ-followers in this
world, that Luther felt he no longer had to be found in some
"spiritual" activity like prayer or preaching upon Christ's
return to receive His blessing.
John Calvin further developed and promoted this idea of
breaking down the sacred/secular dualism mindset, however in
spite of these efforts the church never completely freed itself
from the entanglements of this dualism. The clergy/laity
distinction not only remained within most of the church, but
grew as time went by.
Fast forwarding up to the nineteenth century, the
sacred/secular
dualism mindset was further embraced and spread largely by the
great Chicago evangelist Dwight Moody. He viewed his role as
essentially to just "save souls", and he often stated, "I look
upon this world as a wrecked vessel. God has given me a lifeboat
and said; "Moody, save all you can""
He viewed this world and earthly planet as getting worse and
worse with only the return of Christ as it's only hope. Now this
mindset, which is not anti-scriptural, but very black and white
and very narrow in context of all of scripture, promotes the
idea of one becoming less and less interested in addressing the
social ills of society or contributing a Christian influence
within culture. If all your energy, time and efforts are to save
souls from a soon to be wrecked Titanic type world...then all
else pales in significance. Namely "secular " jobs,
entertainment, or simply enjoying life! Please make no mistake,
I am not against "saving souls", it is an important mandate for
all Christ-followers! But what I have a major problem with is
how to go about doing just that within a largely sacred/secular
dualism Christian sub-cultured modern church!
This theology, however sincere and noteworthy, also advocates
the idea once again that only certain people with certain
degrees and certain full time ministries can do God's work. They
are deemed more spiritual and more able to hear from God than us
common people. (many people only hear from God by proxy...Sunday
to Sunday only channeled through their pastor in church).
In this type of theology, the common lay people, (you and me)
only find significance, and/or God's blessing, either by getting
into some kind of full time Christian work...or by financially
supporting the work of God being done by others who have more
fully obeyed and gone full time! In other words, "secular" work
is only valued in as much as it contributes to the
evangelization of the soon to be wrecked world. Following in
Moody's example, many Christ-followers today continue within
the sacred/secular dualism mindset and hence are largely
ineffective in advancing the kingdom of God within culture
today.
All their hope is linked to the future and not in the here and
now. That is evidenced by the huge interest in last days
prophecy books and movies in the last thirty years and
continuing more and more each year.
"ADD"....or Apostolic Dualism Dysfunction is rampant and
widespread within every church denomination today. As God breaks
through with his grace, more and more are "coming out" and
realizing they have been in spiritual sleep as they begin to
flow as effective grace-agents with a huge influence within
today's culture like never dreamed before.
It is my prayer and hope that if you find yourself struggling
with these same things, that by God's grace, you too can find
the exit into a much larger world! A world where God is not in a
box, where He is on the loose, working and moving behind the
scenes in everywhere imaginable!
Nothing I can say here can add to the far more complete works
of John Fischer, who has done more than anyone I know of to
expose and reveal the danger of dualism and the Christian
sub-culture trap. I strongly recommend:
"Fearless Faith"
"What on Earth are we Doing?"
"Finding God Where You Least Expect Him"
Or visit his informative web site for more articles,
www.fischtank.net
How I Became Infected
As I look back now in retrospect, it seems one of the chief
things that drew me into this Star Wars Christian dualism
quicksand, was when I stopped thinking for myself. It is very
easy to simply go to church and sit in front of an intense,
charismatic, overly-spiritual, Bible answer man.....and come with
an empty mind ready to be filled up week after week. You see it
all the time, especially in charismatic/Pentecostal churches,
anything...and I mean anything the pastor says, gets row after
row of head-bopping amen's, with more heads bopping up and down
than a barrel full of apples.
I remember sitting in church, some years ago, and upon
hearing an extremely long-winded introduction to an even longer
up-coming sermon that I knew would be filled with tons of
scripture, but no clear focus or depth, I whispered to me wife,
"It's time for me to throw out my brain!".( That day was the
last service I attended there, my brain remained intact but I
threw myself out)
But my story of my infection of this disease actually goes
back much further to my early childhood. I love my dad, he is an
awesome man of God to this day, but also deeply rooted in a very
conservative church mindset.
When the Beatles first hit America, I was six years old, but
nevertheless still caught up into the excitement of their music
like millions of others. But due to my home situation, (my dad
was an ordained minister/Bible teacher/preacher/church planter),
I had to listen to them in private. I couldn't ask my mom to buy
any of their records, as that would be sinning by spending
money....obtained in Christian ministry....to advance and
support four un-Godly, heathen mop heads like the Beatles!
It is rather ironic and funny that at the time of this
writing, this upcoming Sunday, I am leading worship at our
church with a special song for the postlude to sing/play that
perfectly fits the day's theme of "Managing Conflicts". The song
we are doing is, "We Can Work It Out"....by The Beatles! Also
just a few weeks ago, myself and two others formed a special
trio to sing/play for a Saturday morning men's prayer breakfast
for our church. In addition to the couple of praise songs we
did, we did about a half hour of non-stop
breakfast-with-the-Beatles jam that was very well received! (By
now you can tell that the church I attend really has no problem
with this affliction I am writing about)
Who changed? Did God's view of this music change? No! God
does not change at all, it is only our fickle views, likes and
dislikes that change. We run into big problems when we take any
of our likes, dis-likes or views, and then transfer them into
the realm of "This is God's will", or "This is Bible doctrine".
But that is very easy to slip into, I've done it many times, and
I see others doing it as well, even well respected Bible
teachers that should know better.
But my story continues with a very sheltered childhood, no
movies, no dances, no alcohol of any kind, and lots of church
attendance. In my teen years I got into rebellion against all
kinds of authority, parents, school, and of course especially
God. But shortly out of high school I had an incredible
encounter with God that caused me to totally surrender to Him
in a dramatic conversion But I can recall the weeks leading up
to that day that started the dualism dog barking up my trail. I
was at a drug party where there was a lot of pot smoke in the
air, and some "Jesus freaks" who lived nearby, decided to come
over to try to convert us. They were very bold, (or crazy) to
attempt to evangelize us in the midst of decadence. But in a
bold move on our part, we invited them in to maybe bring us some
laughs in a boring day. But while they were preaching the
typical message of "repent or burn", I couldn't help notice a
few things; First, even though their message was very harsh and
judgmental, somehow God's grace seeped through. I knew they were
right, at least in the doctrinal truths spoken. Secondly, while
they spoke, there happened to be a curtain divider in the room I
was in, a divider separating the large room into two
parts. But this curtain happened to be transparent, so I could
see through it to the other side from where I was in. Some of
my companions were on the side with the Jesus freaks, and some,
like myself, were on the other side away from them, but we could
see them through the curtain. As I sat there. I began to think
of two distinct worlds, one filled with church....the
Bible...and all things sacred, (the side they were on), and the
other world filled with all things secular....the flesh...sinful
desires...and anything that wasn't part of the other side! I
figured that if I "accepted Christ" as they spoke of, that I
would immediately cross over into the other side and live in
that blessed, all things Christian, happy, sacred world
forevermore! Now how I figured all that out while stoned at a
party at age 19...I have no clue! Except maybe, that it had a
lot
to do with my warped conception of God that I somehow got from
my childhood upbringing, since that was all I knew at that
point, link it up with some hard line hell-fire preaching (of
whom later I discovered were part of a cult), and presto...you
have an instant legalistic Pharisee in the making!
Well, I did surrender to God soon after that day, and
although my conversion was very real, vivid, and awesome......I
was soon thrust into a world of dualism dysfunction and infected
with ADD (see my earlier definition) big time. Every church that
I was a part of further fueled my disease, with that first
cultic group being probably the worst. ( if you are curious as
to what group I am speaking of...read the book "Churches that
Abuse", they have a chapter about them under "church
authority"...or do a web search under their acronym, "COBU" and
see the survivors supports groups trying to make sense of it
all)
Twenty plus years of being a cultural Christian....instead of
being a Christian in culture which I am now by God's grace.
Twenty plus years of being the original "bubble boy, (Seinfeld)
where I lived in a neat, little comfortable, Christian bubble.
Christian comedian Mike Warnke once joked that he was probably
the armpit in the body of Christ. As I look back at my spiritual
disease, which doesn't grow outward, but inward and becomes more
bloated and infected, I was probably worse than an armpit...heck
I was a toenail in Christ's body...an ingrown toenail at that!
In the same way that it took a divine grace awakening to
unlock it's hold during the reformation, I needed one of my own
to set me free....and thank God I got it! I was the grateful
victim of a grace tornado that came and overturned my life (and
theology) and literally popped me out of my little Christian
bubble.
This writing, along with several others also posted here, are
some of the fallout of that awakening which continues to shake
me up even now. It took a divine grace awakening explosion to
unplug me from the machines of the Christian sub-culture matrix.
(A future grace note analogy coming!) The Christian sub-culture
death star has been destroyed!
In conclusion I would like to summarize and wrap things up:
1. God is on the loose! He's not in a box, and never was! He
is a lot bigger than our theology and/or minds can ever imagine
Him to be.
2. If God so loved the world....shouldn't we?
3. If you want to reach the world, you have to sit in the
smoking section
4. Jesus died to take away our sins...not our minds!
5. THINK!!!!!!!!!
To help you really think, and not get bogged down in this
mess like I did, here's one more acronym that I came up with:
THINK......(Think.....Holiness....Internalized.....Not.....Kept
here or there )
I know it's not the best one, but it may help!
"Let my people think! Ravi Zacharias
" Use your mentality....wake up to reality..." Cole Porter
from "I've got you under my skin"
Until next time...may the force of God's grace be with
you.....
Lord....save us from your followers..amen! John Boda
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