As I prayed before starting this writing, a phrase came to mind. It dated back to my King James days: “How long halt ye between two opinions?”
And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word.
1 Kings 18:21 KJV
Before the phrase came into my thoughts, I was pondering the current situation in the world, with wars, rumors of wars, economic issues, the devaluing of the dollar, and the like. There seems to be uncertainty no matter where you look.
For most of my life, I was taught and totally believed in an imminent rapture of the saints that could happen at any moment. It was so ingrained in me that I can still recall times when I would come home from school and find an empty house and be scared that Jesus came and left me behind.
This teaching was fueled by books and ministries pedaling their wares in bookstores and on TV during my childhood. We watched movies in church, sang songs, and even went to the movie theater (eek-gads) to watch movies about the soon-coming rapture of the church. That was almost sixty years ago.
The topic seemed to die down as I grew up until the Left Behind series appeared. Then the frenzy began again, and there was more and more discussion.
I believed it was the truth and read many books in that series. Even though the series was fictional and based on someone’s imagination, I was convinced this was the truth and the way it would happen.
As I aged, wars came and went, movies came and went, and rapture predictions came and went. While I never trusted any of the predictions for dates and times because we don’t know the day or hour, I was convinced, like many, that it had to happen soon because things were getting “worser and worser,” as the old folks would say.
As I matured in my faith and understanding, God began to direct me to question what I believed. This was not me having a crisis of faith. This was a direction from the Holy Spirit for me to define what I thought about God and see if it agreed with the Word of God.
Over many years, I began questioning everything as He guided me. I discovered many things I had learned in church, in my family, or just by watching what others did actually disagree with what was written in the Bible.
One of the biggest lessons I learned was about faith when I would hear people talking about trusting God, praying for Him to intervene, and then complaining and worrying all week about the situation. This is what I thought faith was: begging God, praying loudly, saying I was trusting Him, and then wringing my hands in fear in hopes that God would see how miserable I was and then intervene. However, I have discovered this is not faith.
This process was very similar to my first year as a music major in college. I recall being so frustrated because I wasn’t moving forward. My peers seemed to be getting more complex and advanced music, and my instructor had me playing whole and half notes. I discovered later that my entire first year of private study wasn’t learning new things. It was about unlearning the things I had learned incorrectly. Before I could progress, my musical foundation had to be corrected. Through this process, I now understand that it is often more difficult to unlearn something than to learn something new.
Much like this, before God could lead me to a new understanding of Him, I had to go through a long and tedious process of having my foundations corrected, reinforced, and, in some instances, totally demolished and reconstructed.
Two Opinions
So what are the two opinions that I seem to be halting between?
For years, I totally believed in Christ’s imminent coming to save His church from the growing darkness. However, during my discovery season, I learned that His body on earth is supposed to be the world’s light, and if the world is getting darker and darker, it is only because the church isn’t shining very brightly.
I began to realize that one of the problems is that churchianity teaches us to gather in our buildings and worship (at) God behind closed doors. Then we church-goers criticize the darkness for being dark instead of us being the light in the world that will truly brighten things up.
I realized that the churchianity model is not what Jesus intended His Ekklesia to be. His Ekklesia is supposed to be a light, changing the world. We have TV shows and songs about being world changers, but from my vantage point, I don’t see a whole lotta world changing goin’ on.
I learned that His body on earth is supposed to be the world’s light, and if the world is getting darker and darker, it is only because the church isn’t shining very brightly.
As I have gone through this process repeatedly on different subjects, I have found that, like a pendulum, I can swing too far one way and then out to the other side before I realize that the answer lies somewhere in the middle.
As I have gone through this process regarding the soon return of Christ, I realize that the viewpoint that I grew up with is flawed. It basically taught me that Believers were supposed to get saved, try to stay saved, and then wait to be saved from the coming judgment. It was the salvation gospel.
Salvation vs. Kingdom
I began to realize very few differences between the church-goers and the non-believers in the world. Churchgoers, even the staunchly disciplined ones, were only interested in having their weekly services, helping their pastor build bigger buildings, putting his sermons on more TV channels, and condemning the world’s darkness.
This wasn’t how Jesus wanted His Ekklesia to work. We were supposed to let our light shine, not condemn those without a lamp. We weren’t just supposed to save people from the coming wrath; we were supposed to bring His Kingdom to change the earth as it is in heaven.
There is a parable that Jesus gave of ten virgins. Five had oil in their lamps. Five didn’t. When the bridegroom came, the five without oil asked for help. What did the excellent, church-goin’ oil-filled lamp folk do? They said, “Go get your own oil!”
For years and years and years, I heard that message preached. Heck, I even preached it myself. The wise were praised for having plenty of oil. We were taught that we need to have plenty of oil for ourselves and that we need to be like the wise virgins–keep our oil. However, those without oil were condemned for not having oil. If I am honest, most of the preachers rejoiced at the fact that those without oil would be condemned to outer darkness. (See Matthew 25)
As I wondered about this in my spirit, I realized the five wise, what we think are the church-goin’ folk, are not called to light up a church building. They are called to light up the world. Instead of hoarding their oil, they should have cups running over with oil. We are called to be the Ekklesia, with so much oil that we deliver oil to the world–not hoard it in our buildings and say, “Wasn’t that a great church service today? The pastor was on fi-yah.”
In my zeal for this new understanding, I began to swing to the point that I thought the imminent return of Jesus would be hundreds, if not thousands, of years away. But in His Wisdom, He gently asked me a question. How long will you halt between two opinions? With that question, I realized the answer is not on the left or the right. The answer is somewhere in the middle.
For almost any denominational division, one group tends to lean left on the topic, and another tends to lean right. Each thinks they are totally right, and the other group is wrong, but how can there be over 45,000 rights and no wrong?
When I was in elementary school in the Dark Ages, I remember a science demonstration in which the teacher took a bucket of water and swung it around. The water remained in place as it spun due to the force pressing against it. Once the bucket stopped, however, the water began to splash out.
The churchianity pendulum is like that. One view swings to the far right of a position and stops. Immediately the water in their bucket begins to spill out and continues to spill until the bucket is almost empty. The same happens with any other extreme view. However, with the position in the middle, the bucket retains water.
(Before the legalistic Churchians start judging my comments here, I am not saying that there is no right or wrong, that anything goes, or that there are no absolutes. There are when the Bible is obvious; however, when there is room for interpretation and opinions, the extreme view is rarely, if ever, correct.)
One view is that Jesus is coming back soon. Get right or get left. Katie bar the door; Jesus is comin’ soon. Therefore everyone sits back and does nothing because Jesus will come and save us. Just send your money to your favorite TV preacher so they can keep telling you He’s coming back soon.
The other view is He isn’t coming back until we make things right on this earth. He’s waiting for us. We have to take over the world and usher in His kingdom.
Both have extreme views, but as I read scripture and examine today’s world, I believe the answer is in the middle.
The churchianity system is absolutely flawed. Jesus did not give His life so we could go to church, hear sermons, live pleasant lives, and argue with other Christians about why our church is the best in town. We are called to impact the nations with Jesus’ Kingdom message. In the world, we are positioned to be light, not just good people. We are supposed to influence and change the world to look more like heaven on earth.
But will it take hundreds or thousands of years? Things seem to be happening, and specific prophecies in scripture seem to be coming closer to reality. Is it closer than I thought? Maybe… Or maybe not.
So what is The Balance?
I believe Jesus will return quickly for His Bride. As scripture implies, He will come and defeat the last enemy, death. He will fully establish a Kingdom rule on earth, and those rewarded from this age will rule and reign with Him. At the same time, the Ekklesia age is not finished, and we are supposed to occupy this earth and prepare it until His return, not be preoccupied with His return.
Because He hasn’t returned yet, the Ekklesia is still in the OCCUPY UNTIL phase, and we are to be actively working, not hunkered down and waiting for a rapture!
When an army occupies a city, it takes possession in the name of its kingdom or country. Instead of empowering Believers to occupy and make a difference in our world, Churchianity seems far too content to sit back and teach people doctrine and personal theories so we can gain knowledge, point out the darkness, and condemn those who disagree with us.
I have learned that we will never change the world from inside a church building. It just doesn’t happen. For decades, millions and millions of church services have been broadcast to the globe, but the world as a whole hasn’t changed for the better.
Church meetings may positively affect a few lives, but for the vast majority of those attending a weekly church service, a majority walk out of the building the same way they walked in. Their lives weren’t impacted or empowered to do anything but to come back next week. Most likely, these individuals will not do anything to change their world, much less change THEWorld, before the next weekly church service.
It’s time to empower Believers, not just educate them. It’s time to send them out into the world to make a difference, not just try to get them to attend your weekly meetings. It’s time for the Ekklesia to arise and follow His commission to go into the world and disciple the nations.
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations,
Matthew 28:19 (NKJV)
On my journey, I came to a profound realization: the answer lies in the balance of truth. The Ekklesia, the body of Christ, is called not merely to wait passively for a heavenly deliverance but to actively occupy and transform the earth with the light of the gospel of the Kingdom. Still, that message is not simply salvation: to be saved from your sin, live a good life, and then die and go to heaven.
We, believers, must rise from the confines of churchianity and embrace the true mandate: to go forth and make disciples of all nations, not just people, but nations, systems, and the like, bearing witness to the transformative power of Christ’s love.
It’s time to stop just doing church and rise up and change the world for His Kingdom.
