Spiritual Ministry or Merely a Sunday Job

Do you have a Sunday job fulfilling and enabling someone else’s ministry vision? Sunday jobs we call ministry are very often impatient abandonment of true spiritual callings.

When we first become a Christian there is no problem in doing blindly what we are trained to do. But then we mature and grow up! If we will allow it.

True callings are only brought about and fulfilled by a free and open community of Jesus-seekers. Communities where people are equal, who share life together …and not just communities who put on weekend sermon events. An organization without hierarchy, without one-way relationships, no celebrities here, no guilt trips, no striving for the attention of the great man in charge. No building up of status and credit in the hierarchy and with the man, for time served.

Pastor-seeking and pastor-centered organizations (which seems to be all most Christians want) and which have custom roles for people to fill like Sunday jobs. Jobs which relieve guilt, or fulfill obligations that are artificially placed upon us by those more ambitious and more influential (obligations which are NOT from the Lord).

These Sunday jobs are an abandonment of our true, collective and individual spiritual ministry and callings.

“Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter (not of obligation, not of guilt trips, not of fitting in, to some organization) but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.”‬

2 Corinthians 3:5-6

The nature of Christian ministry is not self-help advice-giving by those with speaking or leadership skills. It is not even a ministry primarily in filling heaven. Our ministry is a ministry of a new covenant and as we gather and sharpen one another, come to know the mind of Christ together. We are together made into ministers of the new covenant between humanity and our creator.

Serving in Sunday jobs might get us a social life, at best, but a social life is not important compared to pleasing Jesus and fulfilling our callings.

Sunday-job ministry attitudes kill real spiritual ministry and spiritual lives, if we allow them to. This hurts the Lord’s place in the earth, and it hurts those who otherwise the Lord might touch through us.

We feel idle and get impatient and disempowered, compared to those on stage. We question within “we’ll I got to do something… right?”

Instead just seek, just respond in obedience, just gather with Jesus followers. He will take it from there. He really will.

New Podcast Listener – Letter to Eric Metaxas

Dear Eric, I am a recent subscriber to your podcast and I love it so far.

I want to respectfully challenge/ question/ debate you about something and I think this letter is a good way to do this. Not sure if you’ll actually read this but maybe?

It is December 12, 2020 and I believe the election was stolen from Donald Trump illegally. I am praying for our government, that it will be overturned and that justice and truth and sanity will prevail in all the governments above us.

I am a 46 year old father of 6 and husband for 20 years, I’ve been a Christian since I was 18. I live in NY and work in CT and I love this nation.

My blog here http://AdamCollier.com is where I share my heart, I mostly write about Jesus Christ, who I know you love and sincerely follow. I have published a fiction book about a transformation of a small church here: From His Side: A Fresh Revealing of Jesus Christ Changes Everything https://www.amazon.com/dp/0692122796/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_x_.eu1FbD41PNSN

I am also writing a non fiction book about what I call the gospel of the state. It contrasts the gospel of the kingdom of Jesus Christ to the gospel of the state which I think most people of the world have embraced, including many Christians. The gospel of the state was best put to words by some of the founding fathers and by Karl Marx.

Been recently reading some of the writings of some of the founding fathers of the US. I see stark contrasts between their beliefs and writings and those of Jesus Christ.

You said in a recent podcast “shame on Christians who don’t fight back for our rights as Americans to vote and defend the constitution of the United States.”

I love the US and believe its been a force for the Lord in the world in many ways.

BUT, the government of the United States is not the nation, it is not the United States. The government of the United States is certainly not the ecclesia. Wicked principalities and powers connect and oppress people through governments, including our own. Therefore the government is not sacred, it is not a thing of Jesus Christ. IT is not a thing that we are to strive to control even if that is out of self-protection. It is a thing of the constitution. And the constitution is weak, it is weak in that it is easily ignored even by those who supposedly swear oaths to it. It is a 250 year old document of brilliant ideas about government. But reality shows that we collectively ignore the constitution, most of us don’t know what it even says and why it says it. And therefore it is very weak and almost irrelevant.

Voting also is weak and easily undermined by conspiring Satan followers, as what seems to have happened in PA, MI, WI, GA, and AZ, (curiously in all the swing states). If voting administrators want to cheat then the true vote becomes irrelevant. Furthermore, voting is not a good thing if voters are not lead of the holy spirit. Voting is also not a good thing if the Holy Spirit leads us not to vote at all and we do so anyhow. (as I believe he led me to this election cycle). “Of the people, by the people and for the people” is not a good thing if the people are following Satan (either intentionally or unwittingly).

In contrast to the constitution and the government, Jesus Christ is a real and living person. He is not weak in any way, he is not undermined and Satan cannot undo his government.

He personally is the government of God of today and the future. His followers are personally his “presidents”, his “senators”, his “judges” and his “representatives”. We are his ministers and ambassadors to people from another race entirely. We are the government agents to and for the fallen members of the human race and to the wicked principalities and powers in heavenly places. We are to seek the Lord and kingship of Jesus Christ not the control of human government.

THEREFORE, the Christian is not called to defend the constitution of the federal government of the US (as good as a foundation to govt as it may be). And I do believe its the best government man kind has devised.

Christians are not called to die and shed the blood of tyrants so that we can vote and so that we can live free of persecution.

The extent of our involvement with the government is to pray for it so that we can live quiet and peaceful lives. and to hold it accountable to submitting to Jesus Christ.

I do understand the desire for war and brining violence to the evil forces arrayed against us through confused men. But I believe Jesus does not want this, and never has. I believe the American Revolution could have happened without blood shed. I believe that slavery could have ended without blood shed. I even believe that Hitler could have been undone and vanquished without blood shed by the German ecclesia of the 1920’s and 1930’s.

I’d love to talk and debate more about this in person or through writing. I highly respect your opinion and am also a major fan of Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

Check out my article why I’m not voting in 2020.

Why I am Not Voting in 2020

heavenly places

Marxism 101 – The Gospel of The State

Just read the Communist Manifesto.

After reading iti realize that we here in America are much more Marxist than we are willing to admit.

In the 1830s and 40s Marx and others put to words trends that were already happening and he also made it an atheist movement.

Even supposed conservative Republicans think a lot like Marx today but would hate to admit it… they only pretend not to.

Very few have actually read Marx.

The political fights now are over who runs “the state”. Marx openly put the state in place of God.

Another word for “the state” might be “human government.” We teach human government to our kids in church first then at “public” school we make it atheist. But it’s already there, Jesus was already pushed aside on Sunday mornings by the great man up front with the mic.

I call it a gospel of the state… and satan is its foundation.

Left, right, middle terminology.
“Separation of church and state”
Public property vs private

Are all part of this Marxist ideology.

It’s a satanic plagiarism from Jesus Christ and his body. We learn it in church government forming a government separate and distinct from Jesus himself then teach our kids that God approves of our little hierarchy.

Jesus Christ leading people directly through the Spirit is the ONLY alternative to socialism/ communism/ “the state”.

Communism is a satanic plagiarism of the ecclesia.

Democrats are communist-lite.

Republicans are Democrats-lite. They just slow it down and pretend it’s not that and pretend God approves. We call it “small government”, might as well call it small statism. Small just meaning less or concealed.

Jesus himself alone replaces “the state” and puts it in its place.

The Communist Manifesto itself is a very short read, only an hour and a half on audible. but this Classics version includes a detailed commentary on the political and religious conditions surrounding the writing of the Communist Manifesto.

What has fascinated me about this book is the theological thought leading up to Marx’s Communist Manifesto. And how it almost seems that Marx took over the communist movement and made it an atheist movement. There were several brilliant theologians and philosophers working on communism and socialism, some of which derived their thoughts from Jesus Christ. But it was Marx who took the movement to another level and a level that was atheist.

Marx openly taught that the state was to be seen as an individual who was the intermediary between mankind. We were to interact with one another through the state. The state was to be seen as a person. His description of the state was akin to a description of a god. A spiritual entity that owned all things.

The Gospel of The State

It seems to me that Marx took theories of communism mostly derived from theologians and philosophers some directly from Jesus Christ and his ecclesia. He stripped God from them, replaced God with the idea of an atheist state and created a movement to redefine the governments in Europe. Communism never looked back.

I am making the case with this post that, Marxism is a gospel message. The word gospel just means good news and we get it from Roman emperors declaring their rulership and how a new day had come to a territory. Gospel messages involve rulership over territory on earth. Communist gospel messages are akin to the gospel of the kingdom of Jesus Christ. One could call Marxism the gospel of “the state.” A message about the state that makes promises and even, I believe, has good intentions with many of its adherents.

This place given to “the state” I believe was and is still communism’s downfall after the mid 1840’s. For two reasons, the first being that Jesus Christ is real and is the fabric that holds reality and mankind together. The entire universe is going to him, he is the future and when Marx made communism an atheist movement he stripped it of all power. The second reason is the place Marx gave “the state” the god-like virtuous traits. But reality dictates that states are made up of selfish, flawed and temporary human beings. Man cannot have God-like virtues apart from Jesus Christ. Another way of saying this might be that Jesus Christ is the only and real “state” as described by Marx. Only Christ is capable of filling the role of state. Marx was describing Jesus Christ when he formulated his ideas about society. I wonder if he was born in a different era and had not been exposed to the corruption of religion of his day if he would realize he is describing Christ. The life-giving spirit of Jesus Christ is the intermediary between men. Only he is capable of providing for our needs, only he is able to protect and to bind men together.

In America communism was openly rejected for the next 150 years, even up this day in 2020. However many aspects of this gospel of the state, I have recently realize that we have wholly accepted. We are taught this at a very young age, to love and be loyal to the state. Marxism is alive and well in many people in America on both sides of the aisle. We just don’t call it that. In fact we refuse to call it that. We keep our Marxist ideals quiet and concealed and give them different names.

Doctrines of “Separation of church and state” is the sure sign of this fact. I understand the good intention of the doctrine of separation of church and state. In Europe what has been known as church when it was merged with government became extremely corrupting and a horrible combination of religion and power. It was anything but a thing of Jesus Christ. The heirachical institution became a thing of satan, and it simply called itself “church”.

I suggest that there should be no separation of church and state. In that there should be no state. State as an entity should not exist. There should only be ecclesia. The idea of state power is rampant and common throughout America. There are 50 states and a federal government, all in competition, all seemingly growing in their demands and control over the lives of people. Human government, “the state” wherever it is found, is a Satanic threat to our well-being.

It’s Always Been A State

It was a state that socialist nationalist Hitler used to kill 11 million Jews Christians and minorities.

It was a state that communist Lenin used to kill tens of millions of people in Russia.

In fact looking back in history its always been a state in one form or another which has afflicted attrocities and suffering on mankind.

Humanity is incapable of statehood. Humanity must experience the death that associated with Jesus Christ to experience his kingship, his statehood over our lives. And the extent that we refuse him is the extent that we ask for satanic kingship over our lives and our nations.

“The gospel of the state” has been embraced and is proclaimed all over the world today. It can be seen in the passion it produces in its followers. The state has disciples who war with one another for control of it. One side fears another. One side competes to get its king, its strongman to protect itself from the other side. The gospel of the state teaches that we don’t need Jesus Christ to rule the earth through his people. We need a state with a great human to head it, we need a king like the evil nations have (read 1 Samuel). As when Israel demanded a king from Samuel, we demand our hero king to protect, to provide, to defend and lead us into the future.

I am convinced that the majority of conservative republicans, liberal democrats and avowed Marxists have embraced the gospel of the state in different degrees and ways. The “theology” varies but the message is the same. The beliefs are the same, that “the state” reigns supreme on the earth. At best we’ll give Jesus a fancy religious building that the state can keep its thumb upon. But other than that the church (as envisioned in the gospel of the state) is inferior to the state. The state is king, Jesus gets heaven but the state gets earth, we dont think much about the spiritual nature of the state. But the state controls the real estate of the earth.

But the truth is when we exclude and push down Jesus Christ we are promoting satan. We exalt him to stay in power. Paul mentioned Satan’s “domain of darkness”, and the “principalities and powers” in the heavenly places. Jesus is high and far above these evil powers… but not forever. The principalities and powers are “the state”. They are its source of power, they are its life-source. The state is a satanic entity, for now. But there is a coming a day when they all get cast down and Jesus rules heaven AND EARTH like he deserves.

This gospel of the state is terrifying, not because it is so compelling or evil sounding but becuase it is so deceptive and pervasive. Even private Christian schools accidentally teach it to young children, lay its foundation in 4 year old Christian kids. As someone taught to have disdain for Marxism even I, raised a conservative republican. Who supposedly is fiercely small government, had accepted what I am now calling “the gospel of the state”. And just a bit less than any East German or Russian Marxist.

Who rules the earth?

A gospel is about who rules the earth, not how to get to heaven. Most conservative Christians do not realize this. We’ve tried to redefine the word but Jesus is not ok with that. Evangelicals have emphasized going to heaven after death so much that what happens here on earth is a thing relegated to the state. The gospel of the state is bigger than the gospel of salvation in the minds of most Americans and even the Christians I know. The gospel of salvation from Jesus fits neatly inside the gospel of the state. The state allows for the gospel of salvation within the regulated 4 walls of a clergy- ruled, a clergy-qualified, a loyal to the state-clergy system that is easily manipulated with tax laws and even threat of removing its building if necessary. The gospel of the state is bigger, in the minds of most Christians. It was not bigger before Constantine but it is bigger now. And Marx and his friends put eloquent and intellectual words to this gospel. They wrapped it up, surrounded it with a dose of atheism and put Jesus in his place. Somewhere up in heaven, distant and far away from the control of the state.

But what Marx did not realize is that this Jesus Christ is still in the earth, living within his people. Jesus is also high above the earth and above his state. Marx didn’t understand the principalities and powers at work in his ideas but he described them brilliantly.

The gospel of the state is actually terrible news, not good news. Its more of the same satanic propaganda humanity has heard since Cain left Eden.

The real gospel, the real good news remains and is increasing. The cure and remedy to the gospel of the state is, as always, the gospel of the kingdom of Jesus Christ. The gospel of the kingdom of Jesus Christ makes Jesus the head of state. But its not a state that is an earthly government it is a love filled network where he teaches, provides, protects, and fills humanity. Jesus Christ is not a state but it fills the role of a state like only it can. And the ecclesia are his ambassadors, sprinkled all over the earth in the hostile territory of satanic principalities and powers. Ambassadors who are willing to suffer and give up their lives for the will of their king. Voluntarily poverty is wiped out by giving. Confusion and evil teachings are undone as the ecclesia declares the mind of Christ and gradually understand all things.

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