The key to revealing God’s truth is whether or not you care.
Aside from the occasional run on my RedHat instructional posts, the biggest single traffic draw in recent weeks is my post criticizing Life Church as an entertainment business. There is some rumbling of media criticism against the CEO, Craig Groschel and lots of folks are visiting here from search engines. I have been contacted by some in the media regarding my comments, but nothing so far seems to reflect anything I said. Instead, people who actually have any curiosity come here more or less by accident.
Here is the primary point: I’m not selling anything, not even my name. Groschel is selling. He receives more in one week than I do all year. He can have it, that and the fame, too. The one thing disappointing to me is how few people go on to examine the deeper criticism I make of the complete absence of genuine pastoral care at Life Church. Not only that, but anyone trying to give that sort of care within his organization is shut down by the leadership. Life Church is hostile to the spiritual activity that isn’t directly controlled by Craig and his staff. I saw this happen with my own eyes, and his leaders aren’t afraid to use the most dastardly means of manipulation, such as the Delphi Technique. Thus, I make the criticism that they are friendly on the surface, but serving Satan in the background.
It doesn’t require a conscious effort to strengthen the hand of evil. It requires avoiding anything God calls you to do. Not only am I not afraid to work with pedophiles and their victims, drug addicts or people who are simply wacko of any flavor, I’m not afraid to let the Spirit of God lead the way in what I offer or don’t offer in terms of pastoral care. I also don’t worry much about secular atheists or religious pagans, or any other folks of a different mindset. The limits are in the mechanics of getting along together, not in the contents of what people bring to the table. Nor do I assume they are evil for being different. Whatever it is they carry around can’t hurt me, and I don’t have to accomplish anything at all that any human can measure. The only failure is refusing to care.
It’s not as if I can descend safely into the pits of Hell because I’m so pure and holy. I can go there because I have a divine commission; Satan is fully subject to the God who created him. I could spell out for you the obvious management and leadership stuff Groschel does. It’s the standard corporate savvy run by a very talented fellow. But as with all marketing campaigns, when the thing you sell isn’t really all that essential to life itself, the shifting sands of market trends and human fashion will eventually take away your audience. I’m not better than him; I’m not even in the market. He’s not in the same work at all. Comparisons and contrasts are entirely superficial. When I talk about him, I’m addressing myself to his claim that he is in the same business I am in. I’m simply pointing out he is surely not.
Several of his friends have contacted me to discuss, argue, etc. It’s almost as if you can see their eyes glaze over when I mention the basis of my criticism is the Hebrew biblical viewpoint versus their Western approach to reality. They understand that I am criticizing; they have no grasp whatsoever of the criticism. That’s frankly typical, and it’s why most of the folks who visit here looking for facts about Life Church aren’t likely to get much. I can’t help that, and I don’t worry about it. Groschel runs his church empire; I just feed a few folks who believe my stuff smells like food for their souls. When you see how things run at Life Church, you can tell it’s about the money and stats. I’m not arguing with their effectiveness in getting those things. I’m arguing with how it blasphemes the the name of God, and cheapens the blood sacrifice of the Cross.
I don’t believe Jesus was thinking about big budgets and big membership on the Cross, except when He cried about forgiving them for not knowing what they were doing.
