Book Review – Pagan Christianity? – by Frank Viola & George Barna

Now I must be honest in saying that the first thing that caught my attention about this book was not the controversial title, Pagan Christianity?. It was actually the name of the main author – Frank Viola. I hadn’t heard of the Frank Viola that wrote this book before. My mind immediately went to a different Viola, the pro baseball pitcher, nicknamed “Sweet Music” who played from the early 80’s to the mid 90’s! I’m glad the name caught my attention, because this book is fantastic!

I recommend that everyone read this book. However, you must be issued a warning before you start. This book will turn your Christian world upside down…in a good way of course! I’m warning you – Your response to this book will almost certainly be either wholesale disagreement and rejection of what is said, or you’ll be excited about being the church and feel liberated to do so! Viola and Barna leave little middle ground.

This book filters every major practice of Christianity through the grid of Scripture and church history. When did Christians start worshipping in buildings called churches? When did clergy start getting paid a salary? For that matter, when did the distinction of clergy and laity begin? Why does the order of worship look so familiar no matter what church you go to? Where did that order of worship come from? When did Christians start paying a tithe and why? When did the sermon take up prominence in Christian worship and why? Are any of these things Scriptural? Are any of them clearly against Scripture? Whoooo…a can of worms I tell you! This book asks these hard questions and more. You’ll be surprised, if not shocked, by the answers.

My advice to you is that you should never utter the words “We are just doing things by the Bible” with regard to church practice until you read this book. You’ll save yourself some lies (from ignorance of course). So much of what we think we are doing by the book we actually borrowed from pagan culture. If nothing else, this book should leave you with a sense of gratefulness for the mercy of God who saves us even from our own messed up religious practices that have no biblical merit whatsoever.

Christianity needs this book. I’m glad to find out it has been written. I didn’t want to be the one to write it. Besides not being nearly as good at research and writing as this tandem, I’m glad that someone else can claim ownership of such a controversial call to change! I’ll take enough heat for recommending the book, I’m sure. What Viola and Barna write in this book is not rocket science. It’s plain as day, right before our eyes in the Scriptures themselves, but we’ve missed the forest for the trees. Go ahead, read it! You know you want to (and need to)!

Fear of the Lord – The Beginning of Financial Wisdom & Blessing – Proverbs Part 1

To embark upon a financial study of Proverbs, I think it best to first say a couple words about the book itself. A quick reading seems to give a sense of numerous disjointed maxims for daily living. However, a thorough study of Proverbs seems to unify the many topics under one central idea…wisdom that results from the fear of the Lord. It is important to note that wise sayings or maxims are not necessarily intended to be the final word on any given subject that they cover. Exceptions can be found for any rule. A correct understanding of the sayings in Proverbs takes into account the fact that the truth presented is almost always true, but not necessarily true to a fault. For example, Proverbs will say a number of times that eating and drinking too much will result in poverty. For the grand majority of us consuming too much of anything will likely result in poverty. For Bill Gates or Donald Trump, they could eat to the death and still not end up in poverty! Another example says that the friends of the wealthy will disappear when the money disappears. This is generally true, however there is an occasional true friend even for the rich. Keeping this concept in mind will greatly aide our understanding of the book of Proverbs in general.

Of course there are statements in Proverbs that are always true. Very early in the book (1:7) we find one of those sayings. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” When all of Proverbs is filtered through the lens of this verse, it makes every statement much more clear. This is particularly easy to see with regard to money. Wisdom is essential for handling money. Without wisdom poor choices will be made that will almost always result in eventual poverty…or in our culture, extreme debt.

There are two kinds of wisdom: worldly wisdom and wisdom from God. Really, there is only one kind of wisdom. The wisdom of the world is actually foolishness. Wisdom from above is true wisdom. One cannot claim wisdom in any arena of life without first fearing the Lord. It’s the beginning or foundation of true wisdom. You cannot handle your money wisely if you don’t believe there is a God who is in control of all things. You won’t use your finances wisely if you don’t believe there is an eternal life after this temporary one where we will be given or denied true riches based on what we do with what the Lord gives us in this life.

Proverbs says a number of things specifically about the fear (or trust) of the Lord as it relates to wealth. In 3:5-10 we find the familiar verses (3:5-6) that tell us to trust in the Lord with all our heart, acknowledge him in everything and he’ll make the path of our lives straight. Few realize that within the flow of thought in this passage that Solomon relates the concept of trusting and acknowledging the Lord to our wealth. The Lord will provide beyond our needs when we treat our wealth as though it is His. When we use it for his purposes before our own, he will bless us. For the Old Testament believer this meant tithing (much more than 10%). For the New Testament believer it means using our money to obey Christ’s commands to care for the poor and needy, the orphans and widows, and to share with our brothers and sisters in Christ (among other things). When we do this, we are promised that our needs will always be met (see also Matt 6:25-34). Not to mention that such obedience is viewed by Christ as performing the act of kindness directly to him. Such obedience comes with the promise of an eternal reward. (Matt. 25:31-46).

Long life, being satisfied with what one has and not being affected when calamity strikes (19:23) are characteristic of those who fear God. Often the financial situation of those who fear the Lord, and therefore follow his pattern of handling worldly wealth, typically find themselves in good financial standing by the world’s standard. This is not what this passage promises, however. Though this verse does imply that God will provide for the needs of those who trust him, it is clearly stating that those who fear Him characteristically are satisfied with what they have no matter how wealthy they are. Therefore, when calamity does strike, they know they are just as okay as during times of plenty, because their trust is in the Lord and not their possessions.

“The reward for humility and fearing the Lord is riches and honor and life.” (22:4) One might be tempted to develop some sort of prosperity theology out of this verse, but I think it is impossible to do so without ignoring the rest of Scripture. This proverb assures God fearers that humble and fearful obedience to God in this life means they have their focus set on the promised life to come. Obviously, this verse does not come right out and say that in as many words, but it is an assumption we can make when we take the entire counsel of God’s Word into consideration. There was a sense that the people of Israel were promised prosperity in this life, as God’s chosen people, for fearing and obeying God. Under the new covenant we are promised that our needs will be met and we are promised reward in the life to come.

If we are to handle our finances in a God honoring way, then it starts with a correct view of God. He is a God to be feared (as in tremble in fear while lying face down on the ground for lack of strength to stand kind of fear). Though he is a merciful God his glory is too awesome to behold. Those who have seen even the reflection of his glory were either maimed, blinded, scared to death…or in fact died. We will all stand before him one day, either covered in his grace or wishing we could flee from his presence. One evidence that we are covered in his grace is that we fear him enough to obey his counsel concerning our finances.

My Wife is Amazing

I just have to brag on my wife, Kelly, a little bit. Within the span of three years, we’ve gone from assuming I’d put my nearly 10 years of education to use in a traditional church…to moving to Vegas with no idea what we are doing, but deeply desiring to use our lives to serve Christ and his kingdom. My wife has not only taken it in stride, she’s grown a great deal in the process and become and integral and indispensible part of what we are doing. Starting organic communities of house churches is no easy task, but my wife is going above and beyond the call of duty to be a team player.

She is willing to work outside the home. This is not the life she pictured at any point before 2-3 years ago. Her skills are more valuable than mine in the business world. She works to support our family financially for two very important reasons. First, so that I can take care of our daughter…as of the beginning of July we’ll also have another daughter. Second, it allows for me to not have to take a salary from the network of churches we are starting. This is absolutely monumental for what we are trying to do here in Vegas and around the world. We want to be an example of a family who uses what they have to honor God. We want to show that every Christian is a minister of Jesus Christ, not just the ones who get paid for it

Although I’m always proud of my wife for being a team player, the reason that prompted me to write this post is that I’m especially proud of her today. I am increasingly seeing a desire build within her to live out her faith…to take seriously the commands of Christ. Christ has much to say about caring for the poor. His teachings are not things he made up during his 30 or so years on this earth, but rather a reflection of what the Old Testament scriptures had been teaching all along (not ironically Scriptures he himself inspired through the Holy Spirit). When we see the poor, we are supposed to help them. I’ll write more about this in a couple “Proverbs on Finances” posts that I’ll be doing shortly, so I don’t want to go into it too much here. Let’s just say the poor are a subject Christ is not silent about.

Anyway, Kelly goes on walks during lunch. It is no understatement to say that there are LOTS of homeless people in Vegas. She sees a number of them every day. I’ve been encouraging her to help them when she sees them. Sometimes she gives them an orange, an apple or something else from her lunch. Today she called me to let me know she bought lunch for a homeless man she sees on a regular basis. I’m so proud of her obedience to Christ!

Some people might say she’s just enabling him. I say she’s loving him as Christ does. Christ doesn’t ask us to assess the situation when we see someone in need and guess as to whether or not we’re actually helping them or hindering them. He asks us to love them (read: help them by meeting their immediate needs…regardless if they deserve it or not). Period. Who knows if this guy will ever straighten his life out or get off the streets? Who knows if he will come to know Christ as Savior and Lord?

What is clear is that he is seeing Christ through my wife. That is important…both for him and for my wife. It’s important for him because the Gospel is not simply a message of fire insurance from hell…it is also a way of life that is modeled by obeying Christ’s commands to love our neighbor (Yes, loving our neighbor also means loving the homeless druggie on the corner). It’s important to her because there is clear evidence that the message of truth has been implanted within her, she has humbly welcomed it and is living it out (see James 1:18-27).

I’m proud of her and am encouraged that her faith is becoming more alive and active with each passing month. My hope and prayer is that we can cultivate a community of believers that takes Christ’s commands seriously every moment of every day, just like my wife did today.

Proverbs on Finances - Intro

The inaugural Bible study for our new house church network in Las Vegas is on finances. In it we are reading Howard Dayton’s book, Free and Clear. The book is about how to get out of debt and how to reel in your spending in general…from a Christian perspective. One of the things I did in preparing for the study was to read through the book of Proverbs and find everything it has to say about handling our finances wisely. This is also an assignment that I’ve passed on to those who are attending the study. It was an extremely valuable exercise for me and hopefully it will be helpful for them as well. I’d recommend that you try it too!

This is the first in a series of posts that I’ll discuss what I’ve learned. Much of it is review and common sense, but maybe for some people it will be eye opening or helpful in some way. In any case, keep an eye out for other posts. I’ll try to keep them coming at a clip of once every 2-4 days. This series could be as many as 14 posts long, but I haven’t decided how to break them down yet. I have 14 topics to cover, so that seems most logical. I might combine a couple of the smaller ones. We’ll see.

Here’s a list of the topics to, hopefully, perk your interest:

1. Blessings are typical for those who trust God.
2. Bribes are a shady business.
3. Faithful stewardship preferred over rapidly gained wealth.
4. Generosity is a characteristic of the godly.
5. Righteousness is preferred over riches.
6. False friends are ever-present in times of wealth.
7. Co-signing or taking on debt should be avoided at all costs.
8. Wisdom is preferred over wealth.
9. Finding security in wealth has a false bottom.
10. Satisfaction – wealth is a matter of perspective.
11. What Proverbs has to say about the poor.
12. The righteous response to the poor.
13. The false appeal (and stupidity) of unjust profit.
14. Contrasts between the diligent steward and the lazy sluggard.

I won’t necessarily cover these in this order. I tend to operate as the wind blows and time allows. I’d love your interaction throughout the series!

Blast from the Past

I need a break from all the seriousness. My friend Angee sent this link to me. It is about how playgrounds used to be vs. how they are built now. It was a nice stroll down memory lane, but also quite entertaining for someone (like me) who grew up in the 80’s and early 90’s. I can relate to much of what is said about the various pieces of playground equipment! Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.