About Me...

CHRISTIAN ANARCHY…WHAA?

Who am I? Not important…the focus is not on me. The focus here is on Jesus.

Jesus was an anarchist.

Then religion got in the way and the focus was taken away from a relationship with Jesus and it was placed on the church.

“Church” has become the focus, doing church, church leadership, church, church, church. Sounds a helluva lot like what the Pharisees imposed on Israel in the bible…anybody remember how Jesus handled them? Yeah, he flipped tables, and called the Pharisees on all their bs…

I’m here to cut the crap, break down the walls of religion and point back to relationship with Jesus.

What is this?

Well, my name is not important. Neither is my full story. I am still a part of the institution and machine of religion.

I’m not here to bash any church I have ever attended. I’m just fed up with religion, and I’m fed up with all the religious who have forced manipulated interpretations of God’s word.

I first encountered God when I was a teenager, in a mega-church. The environment was toxic, and I fell in line with the machine and hierarchy of church. After several years of falling in line, and obeying the stigma of what church is, I ran…who wouldn’t? I didn’t run because of rebellion, I didn’t run because I hated God, and I didn’t run because I was finished with God either. I ran because the institution of religion defined what God was, and who He is supposed to be in my life, and I didn’t fit with that definition. God was not someone I could have a relationship with if I am human, even though I grew up hearing that we all fall short. The culture of church told me I had to be perfect to be part of it, hide your insecurities and hide your mess, essentially-hide your humanity.

So I joined the military…and lived in the mess of the military and politics. I encountered some of the worst kind of people and I just lived life with them, and let Jesus shine through me. The craziest thing was, I saw some of the worst, morally speaking, guys I have ever encountered before in my life…getting saved…because I followed Jesus, and because I didn’t hold on to the arrogance that the corporate church has adopted as a belief.

I recently came to this conviction…because I feel that I’ve become a part of the machine that is called “the church.”

The only way I know to fight this is from the inside. I remain hidden, trying to combat religion with relationship. This is only the beginning, and it is a war. Paul states that our battle is not against flesh and blood but against the principalities and dark rulers of the world. Unfortunately, I have recognized that some of these rulers hide under the guise of religion. I believe that these rulers have also come in the form of religious worship of the media, government, economics, and entertainment. The body of Christ is torn and led by these rulers in the form of denominations. I seriously doubt that these institutionalized religious sects, or denominations, are the kind of “unity” among the body of Christ that God intended for humanity. Every denomination’s interpretation of God’s word is different, they can’t all be right, and they can’t all be wrong, but they all are guilty of manipulation in their humanity.

It becomes impossible to be human in the church today. Don’t mess up, don’t talk against your pastor, or priest, or leader, don’t disagree, and conform to the system of church.

It’s crazy to think that Jesus…both God and man…stated that we are to call no one else father, and no one other than himself priest, or pastor…don’t believe me-check out Matthew 23:9.

In context, Jesus is setting the scribes and pharisees straight, and they are charged with hypocrisy in religion. We can only judge according to outward appearance; but God searches the heart. Your father- This was the title given to eminent teachers and founders of schools, to whom the people were taught to look up rather than to God. And history is repeating itself…Institutional religion doesn’t reflect Christ, it doesn’t allow for hanging out with drunks, liars, cheats, man haters, misogynists, gays, lesbians, transexuals, porn addicts, drug dealers, or narcissists…and yet I just described every leader in a church in some way shape or another. The church doesn’t know this though…nor is it considered acceptable for them to know by the religious leaders who spew doctrine and dogma on their congregations. There is no room for grace in religion…

As for where I am today, I listened to God when He told me to enter into ministry. I don’t know how God wants me to do battle, but He inserted me into the machine that religion has created, and just like a small grain of sand can destroy an engine…I hope I am able to destroy the corporation that religion has created.

I said yes to God, I don’t entirely like it, but I know that I answered the convictions He put in me. I am at war…we are at war…We Against Religion.

I am the Christian Anarchist…I follow Jesus…not the church.

In the beginning the church was a fellowship of men and women centered on the living Christ. Then the church moved to Greece, where it became a philosophy. Then it moved to Rome, where it became an institution. Next, it moved to Europe, where it became a culture. And, finally, it moved to America, where it became an enterprise.

— Richard Halverson, former chaplain of the United States Senate

People are leaving the church and finding God.

— Lenny Bruce

Religion can be the enemy of God. It’s often what happens when God, like Elvis, has left the building. A list of instructions where there was once conviction; dogma where once people just did it; a congregation led by a man where once they were led by the Holy Spirit. Discipline replacing discipleship.

— Bono

"Dogma"

I'd like to address this thing called "dogma"

First lets take the word itself and break it down:

As defined by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, "Dogma" is defined as a belief or set of beliefs that is accepted by the members of a group without being questioned or doubted.

Within the institutional religion of America, the "church" has set ridiculous rules and regulations of what Christianity is.

Perhaps you can relate with a few of these terms; Church branding, church culture, and church hierarchy.

Why do so many religions and belief systems have these rules of what church is supposed to look like?

Why do so many churches have set rules of how you have to dress, act and respond during what is supposed to be an outward expression of the Jesus in your heart?

Coming from the background of a mega church environment, I never fit in. It wasn't because I didn't love Jesus, it was because of the way I dressed, the way I spoke, and the way I worshipped God. There was no being one way at church and another way at home. 

What blows my mind is that it is accepted in "the church" that God rules and reigns on Sunday, but Monday through Saturday no one knows how you really are. I used to hate on Sunday mornings, when for a short period of time, we meet new people, socialize with those we know, and ask questions like "how was your week." Am I the only one who answered this question honestly? 

My week has been crap!

*Gasp* 

The staff member just cussed!? What? He's actually human? 

The answer is yes, I am human. Allow me to correct you, I'm not the "youth pastor" I'm just Christian, and I am a Christian. Those two things are synonymous.

Paul describes a thorn in his flesh, and he repeatedly asks God to remove it, and yet God answers him by saying that He won't remove it, and that His grace is sufficient in Paul's weakness.

And yet as Christians within institutionalized religion, we are shunned for being human. Everything we do is judged by this underlying "Dogma" and it essentially creates a cult of unaccepting,  unaccountable, hypocritical people who claim to follow Christ, but are really just following their church, its leadership, or specific leaders in the "church."

Dogma...It has screwed Christ followers for over 2,000 years. People claiming to be Christians don't reach out to the literal poor, to the homosexuals, to the robbers, liars and cheats. Instead, they band together in hating these people, and yet I have only read the life and times of Jesus, his ministry, and those are the people he hung out with. He never hated on them, he never lashed out in anger at them, but he did lash out and show his anger towards the institutional religion of the time...

The church of the Pharisees...Jesus responded to these enforcers of the law by flipping tables and pulling their hair out.

With Jesus, there was no cookie cutter Christian model. There was no template Christian. Jesus didn't tell us to follow whatever rule that your church states you should follow. Nor did he tell us as his followers, to follow the 10 step plan of redemption and outreach. He said three things satisfy any expectation God could impose on us as His creation (which He is the only one who could but hasn't), love God, love people, and make disciples.

So, coming back to this definition of "dogma," if you disagree with your church, you get isolated and black-balled into no longer feeling safe, or welcome to be a part of the church.

There has become a box that Christianity must fit into, when it comes to the institution of religion.

As a so called "youth pastor," which is not a title I enjoy people describing me as...I am just Christian, who has a passion for maturing high school and college age Christ followers. 

I don't care what they wear, I don't care how they talk, and I don't care who they hang out with. I love Jesus, they love Jesus...alright, lets teach each other based off of scripture.

The institution of religion needs to stop imposing rules and regulations on congregations of Christ followers, and it just needs to be about Jesus. 

I smoke cigarettes, I drink many forms of alcohol. I hang out with people who didn't do so well in school. I listen to punk, metal and alternative, I can curse like the best of them, I have piercings and tattoos and Jesus doesn't give a damn about any of that...He loves me, and I love him, and I want everyone to experience this authentic unadulterated (aka not dogma saturated) relationship with God.

If you call yourself a Christian, you have to be able to own it, just like any other relationship model in this world. We own our marriages with a ring on a finger, yet we try to fit into a mold of what we're told Christianity is. We don't biblically wear His name on our hearts, or internalize Him anymore. Because Christians who belong to church dogma, just belong to a system.

What system do you belong to? Break away from it, stand for something before you fall for anything.

Jesus is who I love...Jesus is what it's about...figure it out for yourself, the institution will tell you the five steps to figuring it out, Jesus just says "follow me."