I am sure you have gotten them, the email identifying Barak Obama as the Anti-Christ. The one I received stated that the Scriptures revealed that the antichrist would be a Muslim in his mid-forties. Not real sure where in Scripture it says that, but the email said it did. And then there is Oprah, who according to the multiple emails I have received, is starting her own religion.
I remember when Ronald Regan was the anti-Christ. Then it was Mikhail Gorbachev. Then of course Russia was the force to be feared as the army of the Tribulation and Armageddon. Then the Gulf War came and the books came pouring out about how it was the build up to Armageddon. I am pretty sure Jesus has missed His second coming at least a couple of times. I don’t know why He keeps putting it off. But according to some very reliable Christian authors He apparently is not paying very close attention.
The modern church reminds me a lot of our little dog Elvis. If a bird landed in our backyard Elvis would get “all shook up.” If a dog came into our backyard Elvis was more than ready to bark a chorus of “you ain’t nothin’ but a hound dog!” I have seen his “temperature rising” over every little thing that came along. Seriously, we had a dog named Elvis!
The church is the same way. We get so worked up over the latest current event. I remember when the judgment of God was coming because of a movie “The Last Temptation of Christ.” Then Harry Potter was going to lead all of our children into witchcraft. Then there was of course the dreaded Di Vinci Code. Dan Brown should send a tithe to the churches in his area for what the church did for his book sales. And I guess we have not yet seen the fallout from “The Golden Compass.”
If I can go totally anthropomorphic for a moment…the Trinity must be rolling Their eyes at all that we get worked up about. I am pretty sure that the Kingdom of God is not worried about the scribbling of a few mortal authors. I am also convinced that God does not breathe a sigh of relief when someone steps us to confront the latest heresy just before the church caves in and all is lost.
I am very confident that when Jesus said the “gates of Hell shall not prevail” He was not overlooking the publishing industry or the next Johnny or Jane-come-lately. Maybe we would do well to heed Gamaliel’s advice, “keep away from these men and let them alone; for if this plan or this work is from men it will come to nothing” (Acts 5:38 NKJV)
Am I suggesting that we do nothing in the face of pointed and powerful attacks against the Gospel? No, I am just saying let’s don’t replace the Gospel with the Go-spiel. The word “spiel” means “plausible superficial talk.” The church is spending way too much time and money on the plausible superficial talk instead of the Gospel, the good news. We are not to try and drown out the world with more of man’s words. We are to turn up the volume and clarify the Gospel. Instead of writing books and Bible studies about the Di Vinci Code let’s prove that the Gospel is true, that Jesus saves and that nothing can stop us if we are following God. We need not fear the New York Times best seller list! The number one selling book of all time is the Bible, more than six billion. The next one on the list has sold less than one billion.
It is time for the church to start reading the greatest book every written and start living it loud and clear in our culture. The darkness is powerless; it merely exists in the absence of light. It is time we started loving, living and sharing the gospel in our daily lives. It is time we stopped being little barking dogs of the go-spiel. We must choose to live the light of the gospel so brightly and beautifully that the darkness never has a chance.
So the next time you feel compelled to send an email or write a Bible study or preach a sermon about the wickedness of the latest publication or celebrity, take a moment. Clear your head. Say a prayer and go be Jesus to somebody. Remember we have been called to preach the good news of the Gospel, not go-spiel.
