Hello Friends,

                I would like to take a moment and tell you about a book that I just finished reading, a book called The Shack.  This book is a refreshing, eye-opening look into the Heart of God:  His thoughts, His desires, His intentions.  It takes everything that organized religion has been teaching us over the years and turns it on its ear, showing us a completely different God than the one that has been presented to us by the church at large.  The story that it weaves and its portrayal of God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit is so visual, so tangible and easy to understand that it creates an experience that is bigger than life as we know it.  The truth that is held in the pages of this book is only matched by the truth held in The Bible itself.  I really believe that The Shack is a God-inspired work of literature.

                There are those that have spoken against this book, saying it is sacrilegious, heresy.  Those who say that it is demonic and misleading, that it talks of God and His Heart in a way that is absolutely contradictory to The Bible.  It seems tome that the people who take that negative stand on this book do so because they are so steeped in religion and theology that they cannot see the truth that is right in front of their face.  I make that statement not out of anger and disgust, but out of love and compassion,because those who are this heavily bogged down in their religion are missing out on a life and a joy that is infinitely bigger and more fantastic than their rules and laws can ever allow them to have. I want to see that religious mindset change to one of relationship, and I think that is the intent of this book, to free those who are bound by the Institutions and Hierarchies set in place by man in an attempt to be in control.

                This book shows us a God that desires a relationship with us, all of us, as individuals, not a God that desires to exercise power over us and bend and shatter our lives to correspond with “HisWill”.  It emphasizes the point that God does not cause pain.  And the only reason God “allows” pain is because He has granted us free will, independence.  We can accept His help and be free of pain,or we can refuse it, and in turn, He “allows” pain.  But make no mistake: the choice is always ours.  Everything does not happen for a reason.  There are things in life that are just tragedies, plain and simple.  The only explanation for them is that they are attacks from Satan, and the reason they occur so frequently is because the church at large does not know how to take hold of their inheritance as Children of God and proclaim protection and safety in all things.  To steal a line from the book: “God has never needed evil to accomplish His good purposes”.

                I am not sure why that it is easier to believe that God is a cruel vindictive judge that forces His Will upon people through suffering and pain than it is to simply know and accept that God is Love, in every sense, and that He simply wants a genuine relationship with us.  I guess maybe it’s easier because with the “God is in control” mindset, we don’t have to take responsibility for our own circumstances.  It’s God’s fault.  It’s part of His Plan.  My son/daughter/sister/brother/mother/father/husband/wife/best friend was killed because God was ready to take them on home.   I’m struggling with this debilitating disease because God is trying to teach me something, or to bring me back to Him, or to remind me that I need Him.  I’m sorry, but I simply cannot accept that kind of thinking and believe that God is Love.  It doesn’t compute.  The two cannot coexist.  God can and does take any terrible tragedy that Satan meant to break us and turn it around and make something beautiful and glorious out of it, but that does not mean that He was the author of the tragedy.

God wants to have the kind of relationship with us that we have with our husbands and wives, with our parents and children, with our best friends - A relationship that is not forced, but one that is voluntary; A relationship that we want and are delighted to be in.  God does not want to force us to do anything, including loving and accepting Him,because in forcing us to be in relationship with Him, the relationship loses all meaning.  He wants us to exercise our independent choice to be in love and relationship with Him.  Only then can the relationship and the bond be truly authentic. 

The rules and laws and requirements of organized religion have conditioned us to be naturally judgmental and exclusive. To the secular world, the title “Christian” now carries with it feelings of hatred and disdain, scorn and intolerance, a description of a people who have no desire to associate with anyone unlike themselves.  Let me just say, if anyone is offended by the term “Christian”, I will gladly allow you to call me something else.  I don’t want the meaning that people attach to that word to keep them from having a relationship with me, or me from introducing them to a relationship with God. I do not have to be called a “Christian” to be in Love with God.   The word is not what’s important.  The important thing is that I have a relationship with Jesus Christ, and it’s worth sharing.  How did we allow our message and purpose to degrade to the point that carrying the mantle of Christian became a negative reflection on our character?

It is obvious that there are a lot of things that are out of balance within the church as a whole.  As it stands right now, I know that I could go the rest of my life and never step my foot in another church, and my personal relationship with God would not be affected in the slightest.  God knows the thoughts and intents of my heart, and I do not have to dress up real nice and go to church to prove my love for Him.  I can praise and worship Him just as effectively and passionately alone or with my wife as I can in a congregation of people that don’t have a clue, if not more so.

The greatest trick Satan ever pulled was not convincing people that he doesn’t exist, it was convincing people that God is complicated.  You have to have all these rules and regulations and requirements and commandments in order to make God happy and get to Heaven. We, as the lowly, finite,  unworthy beings that we are, could never hope to understand God and His Heart.  To all of those with that mindset: How can anyone ever hope to have a meaningful relationship with someone they cannot understand?  No, God wants to be understood, and He gave us the ability to do so in His Word.  He wants us to understand Him, and to know His Will for our lives.

Things are going to have to change if we want to continue to reach people.  We are going to have to start reaching out with the right message, with the right heart.  We cannot keep beating people down with this message of death, defeat and uncertainty and labeling it “The Gospel”.  Gospel means “Good News”.  Well, the good news is that Jesus has endured all the suffering, disease, poverty, pain and death this world has to offer, so that we would not have to.  He took it all on Himself to deliver us from it.  We can and should be living in Victory and Deliverance from all pain, suffering and lack, right now.  That, my friends, is the Gospel.

The church needs to be reconciled back to this truth, so that she can start living in Victory today.  Not after the Rapture, but right now.  I believe getting this book into the hands of the masses is the first step toward that reconciliation.  It carries life and healing in its pages, and I recommend it highly to everyone.  It will totally change your life.

.. ..

Ross

“I know more joy every minute of everyday than seems appropriate, but I love the wastefulness of my Papa’s grace and presence.”