Truth About Schism

Kopp Disclosure

(John 3:19-21)

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Jesus said,

"I came into the world to bring everything into the clear light of day,

making all distinctions clear,

so that

those who have never seen will see,

and

those who made a great pretense of seeing will be exposed

as

blind."

The Message

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    "If Jesus were to come back and see what's being done in His name, He'd never stop throwing up."

    Woody Allen wrote that.

    Before pretending consternation, take a look at Revelation 3:14ff.

    I may be wrong but I don't think He sees anything much different in today's pulpiteers/pewsitters than what nauseated Him as noted in Matthew 23 and a plethora of other recordings.

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    Today's pulpiteers/pewsitters seem so remotely/scarcely/occasionally/coincidentally connected to the real Jesus of the NT.

    Confessionally, I feel like Paul in confessing I'm worse than most.

    My logs are heavy.

    But I just don't see anything in Holy Scripture suggesting personal sin is license to pretend any of us is any better or that much worse than anyone else and only remotely/scarcely/occasionally/coincidentally connected to the real Jesus of the NT.

    I see no reason not to suggest there's a lotta room for improvement in me/you/us/them.

    He was especially hard on clergy and anyone else who tried to turn a relationship with Him and His into a religion of human invention (e.g., rubrics, ritual, ceremony, collectively rites, vestments, bylaws, constitutions, and other stuff only remotely/scarcely/occasionally/coincidentally connected to...).

    Hosea 4 comes to mind.

    Really, think about it for Christ's sake as well as your own, how much of what goes on in today's church has any remote/scarce/occasional/coincidental connection to...?

    Psst.

    If I have to catalogue the illustrations, you ain't gonna get it/Him anyway.

    It probably means you're too religious to get...

    Everybody needs to exorcise every now and then.

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    If I'm reading/praying John 17 along with the end of Matthew 23 along with that plethora of parallel passages correctly, He's really, really, really put off even POed as well as saddened by posers in pulpits and pews who are too "right" and too many "other" things to hang together in fellowship, worship, sacrament, service, and so on.

    I think clergy - take a long look at Hosea 4 - really, really, really agitate Him in an Almighty God kinda way when they set the tone for segregation, separation, and schism.

    And before you invoke those isolated texts that are used to rationalize those "s" words that bring another "s" word to mind, how dare any of us tell those outside of the borders of Christendom how to get along when we are so divided over really, really, really inconsequential in the end things like...?

    Again, if I have to catalogue the illustrations...

    Shame on you/me/us/people who fence the table as if you/I/we/they owned it!

    Shame on you/me/us/people who talk about reconciliation while setting such a poor example of it/discipleship!

    Shame on you/me/us/people who make others twice as fit for...!

    Shame on you/me/us/people just looking for those specks so you/I/we/they can go your/my/our/their way in arrogance so unbecoming of anyone who really, really, really knows Him!

    Shame on you/me/us/others for being such sin-filled accomplices for too long!

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    A church changed youth directors.

    While the transition was even better than could have been imagined, a mom and dad stopped worshiping with the church because they were close to the old one.

    Forgetting their baptismal promises not to mention countless Biblical directives on proper parenting in a spiritual kinda way, they allowed their babies to stay away from the church because they were so close to the...

    Sound familiar?

    Babies and other immature disciples - posers - come in all ages.

    Anyway, think about the example being set by those parents.

    And think about the examples being set by segregating, separating, and schismatic pulpiteers who complain/banter/moan/whine about pewsitters who have learned to do the same and hop from church to...

    Where do church hoppers learn to hop around to find others smelling of their same barf?

    From those posing pulpiteers who set the examples for those "s" words that's just a bunch of...!

    Jesus was very clear about misleading children by lack of Biblical education and example!

    I don't expect segregationists, separatists, and schismatics to be familiar with, uh, Him on that or much else that doesn't suit their fancy/fraud.

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    In Forgotten God, about the Holy Spirit yet indicative of those who seem to forget His insistence on people who pretend He's Lord and Savior of all to act like it in relation to the whole family and not just the appealing parts of it, Francis Chan wrote about something that we've all experienced too much in His larger perspective.

    "A while back," he recalled, "two women from my church grew increasingly angry at each other.  The three of us sat in my office, and I listened to them passionately express the reasons for their frustration.  I lacked the wisdom to determine who was 'more in the wrong.'  I just wept."

    Continuing, "I told them I was deeply saddened because I knew how much our Father hated this."

    Concluding, "I believe that if we truly cared about the Holy Spirit's grief, there would be fewer fights, divorces, and splits in our churches....I pray for the day when believers care more about the Spirit's grief than their own."

    Stop making excuses for the increasing navel-gazing, segregating, separating, and...

    It's sin.

    "Anyone who causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble..."

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Blessings and Love!