I love the quaint little sayings that Christians have developed. Many of them are based on half-truths at worst and confusion at best. We have statements from as absurd as the “Man Upstairs” or “Cleanliness is next to Godliness.” We have others that are true but have been so overused that they are almost comical, such as “God is Good…All the time…And, All the time…God is good.” One of Christianeze’s most confusing statements is, “God is in control.” But the question we must honestly ask is, “Is He?”
I drove by a church building the other day, and the sign in front said, “Remember, God is in control.” This implies that the world is out of control, or life may be terrible for you, but that’s okay because God is in control. How does that even make sense?
Churchianity has long stated that things will get worse and worse and that the world is going to hell in a handbasket, but that is okay because God is in control. It says, my life is horrible, or everything is falling apart, but “God’s got this.”
I’m not here to argue that the world is not in a pickle. I agree that things in the world are wrong and appear to be getting worse. But when we comment stupidly that “God is in control,” we pass the blame on to Him. In other words, we hide behind religianity and pass the buck and say, “It’s God’s fault because He is in control.”
I’m afraid I have to disagree with that statement. My understanding is that God is not in control. He gave mankind control over the earth. Adam was given power, and he squandered it away. Noah was reassigned control, and it has gone awry. Jesus took back the keys of the world through his death, burial, and resurrection, but then He commanded the Body to exercise His authority on the earth. In other words, He is not in control; the Body of Christ is, and things are getting worse because the church, the Ekklesia, the Body of Christ, and the Believer are not doing anything about it.
The world may get darker, but only because the believer’s light is too dim.
Darkness cannot overpower the light.
When I was a child, our family was friends with the managers of Grand Caverns in Virginia. I made dozens of trips through the cave, walking a mile into the ground, far away from any natural light. At one point in the tour, the guide would turn out the light and display total darkness to the group. There was not one drop of natural light was present. It was total darkness, so you could almost feel it. It was impossible to see your hand in front of your face.
Then, after a few seconds of staring into the darkness, the guide would flick his Bic lighter, and in just a few seconds, there was enough light to see the outline of the cave and the people standing around. That one little candlelight illuminated the total darkness of the cave. While it wasn’t bright, I learned that darkness could not overpower light; no matter how small the light was, it was more powerful than darkness.
Churchianity, at least some flavors, loves to decry how bad the world is getting. It’s almost as if they celebrate the darkness. Their misunderstanding of our purpose on earth leads them to think that we are supposed to trudge through the muck of the world while trying to keep the mess off of us rather than go into the mess and change it.
Jesus did say, “Go into all the world,” not “Come into all the churches.”
Churchianity and Christians often celebrate how bad things are getting, not even realizing that the reason things are getting darker is partly, if not wholly, due to our lack of light shining because even one candle can make a difference in a dark room.
God is NOT in control
I know some will vehemently disagree with me, and that is their prerogative, but I don’t believe Scripture supports the idea that God is in control.
The idea that God is in control raises questions about why a good God would allow evil things. If God is in control, why is there so much crime? Why is there so much disease? Poverty? Suffering? And on and on.
Here’s a twist that most Churchians won’t like: The world is getting darker because the body of Christ is not engaging it. The church has chosen to hunker down inside its four walls, turn on its dim little light, and complain about the darkness rather than go out into the darkness and shine brightly.
I don’t believe that God is going to reward Christians for yelling at the devil, building church buildings to hide in, separating themselves from the very world it is supposed to change, and wasting trillions of dollars on sustaining the business of the church.
In the months after Jesus ascended to heaven, the Ekklesia grew from just 120 individuals into hundreds of thousands of believers, not because of vast resources, grand buildings, TV shows, or marketing strategies. It was simply because their lights burned brightly, and those lost in religianity wanted what they had.
They didn’t invite people to sit in a well-lit building and listen to an outstanding speaker. No, they went into the dark world and shined brightly for Jesus. Strangely enough, it worked.
Today, the church system is lost in religianity, arguing doctrines and complaining about the other team when, in fact, we are all supposed to be on the same team. The system is only interested in being self-sustaining and maintaining a power structure for church-system leaders to control. Who is in control?
God is not in control, but He is in charge
If you’ve read this far and havent’ had a conniption fit yet, maybe there’s hope. God is ultimately in charge of this whole thing, but that doesn’t alleviate the issue that His body is supposed to be running the show. The body is supposed to be changing the world.
Church group after church group claims to be world changers, but they haven’t made a dent beyond the block they gather on.
I recently rode by a church building in the “hood.” It was a beautiful building with a clean yard, freshly paved parking lot, nice shrubbery, and gorgeous stained glass windows. The congregation truly cared for the building. But one foot beyond the church property in any direction was dirty and rundown, covered with trash and graffiti.
That church may have had its lights on inside, but it wasn’t doing squat on the outside to affect its community for Jesus. Instead, it created a shrine to the one it says it serves without doing anything to serve the one it claims to serve.
God is in charge and will wrap things up when He decides it is complete. However, rather than sitting back on our religious laurels and waiting for the snatching away, we are called to be about the Father’s business. We are told to Go into the world. We are directed to occupy until He comes and not be preoccupied with when He comes.
God is in charge, but we are given direction to prepare things for His return. We believers are genuinely called to be world changers, not churchgoers. We are called citizens of heaven and ambassadors for Christ on earth.
The Wrong commission
Religianity has put labels on things that the scripture never did. We have headings in our Bibles that give us titles that we use that scripture doesn’t define. We use Matthew 28 as the Great Commission, but what if the Great Commission is really in Matthew 6? What if the epitome of what the Ekklesia is supposed to be doing is having His will be done on earth as it is in heaven?
If His will is being done on earth, then we are going into the world, preaching the Gospel, and making disciples of nations. But if His will is NOT being done on earth, we are only gathering in church buildings for another song and seminar and hoping our selfish flicker of light will shine a little brighter in our building.
It is time to shift from religianity and churchianity to Jesus first. It’s time to return to being Followers of the Way rather than attendees of the church.
God is not in control, but He is ultimately in charge. He gave His followers specific directions to follow. We have been given His authority to change the world. We have been placed in control of what happens. So, it’s time for His Body to wake up, exit the building, and get busy with the Father’s business.
