UNPLUGGING FROM THE WORLD

A very special friend of ours, we will call him Tony, preached a message on the very avant-garde movie “The Matrix” that almost got him relieved as Pastor. Now I am sure it was not the message, but the stony hard hearted condition of the people in his church that almost cost Tony his job. I have always known Tony to be humble, warm, and genuine, a great big teddy bear of a man full of God’s love and grace. Now I will be the first to admit “The Matrix” movie is quite bizarre and I do not endorse it, but if you have some wisdom and spiritual ability to look beyond the Hollywood theatrics there is a chilling warning for the church of today. The central theme of the movie centers around the life and death struggle of people who come to the painful awareness of how they have literally been “plugged in” and live inside a huge deceptive computer grid program that blinds them to the truth of reality. Everything they say, do, and touch is being generated by this huge computer grid program. Now this computer program, “The Matrix” has the people so “plugged in” it uses their physical bodies (as batteries) and life to power the computer that runs the program that keeps the people in darkness to the truth of who they really are in life. Sadly many Christians today, like in the matrix movie, are “plugged-in” to religious denominations and the traditions of men. The computer grid program is the denominational dogmas, sermons, and teachings that keep the people deceived to the truth of the word of God. Paul could see this deception going on even in the early church. This is why he time and time again taught the early church, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” (Romans 12:1-2) Friend we will never be able to “prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” if we are plugged into the world’s religious systems and its ways. God’s thoughts and ways are not the thoughts and ways of denominational teaching, oh no, God’s ways are far above our feeble attempts to reach Him with our emotions and talents. God’s thoughts are far above our thoughts. Our thoughts for the most part center around our needs and wants, where God’s thoughts always have an eternal purpose and intention. My friend we must unplug from the worldly religious systems so that we can come to the truth of the word of God, if not we will ever be conformed to this world, what Paul warned us about. This time of the year, what the church calls Easter is a prime example of what I am talking about. The celebration of Easter with its eggs, baskets, and chocolate bunnies, gets its roots in the pagan worship of a fertility goddess and spring-time rituals. Just do a Goggle search on the history of Easter and you will start unplugging from the religious matrix. Easter has nothing to do with Jesus coming forth from the grave with power and authority. As with almost all Christian holidays Easter has been secularized and commercialized. The dichotomous nature of Easter and its symbols, however, is not necessarily a modern fabrication. Since its conception as a holy celebration in the second century, Easter has had its non-religious side. In fact, Easter was originally a pagan festival. The ancient Saxons celebrated the return of spring with an uproarious festival commemorating their goddess of offspring and of springtime, Eastre. When the second-century Christian missionaries encountered the tribes of the north with their pagan celebrations, they attempted to convert them to Christianity. They did so, however, in a clandestine manner. It would have been suicide for the very early Christian converts to celebrate their holy days with observances that did not coincide with celebrations that already existed. To save lives, the missionaries cleverly decided to spread their religious message slowly throughout the populations by allowing them to continue to celebrate pagan feasts, but to do so in a Christian manner. As it happened, the pagan festival of Eastre occurred at the same time of year as the Christian observance of the Resurrection of Christ. It made sense, therefore, to alter the festival itself, to make it a Christian celebration as converts were slowly won over. The early name, Eastre, was eventually changed to its modern spelling, Easter. Why we even find the word, “Easter” in the Bible (Acts 12:4) to give this lie a sense and air of legitimacy, but it has nothing to do with the glorious resurrection of Jesus Christ, but means Passover. We cannot mix something of the flesh with something of the Spirit and get something of God. I do not care how many Easter musicals or sunrise services we have with Christ coming forth from the tomb, “That which is Spirit is Spirit and that which is flesh is flesh.” (John 3:6) We need no special Easter pageant or service, but need to embrace a risen Savior in truth, and in glory and then fall on our face before Him in true worship. Yes, sad but true we have been lied to all of these years and guess what the lie continues today. As I was sitting in a large denominational church looking at the older people the Holy Spirit brought this thought to my attention, “for them to really accept Jesus Christ as their personal Savior they will have to come to the realization that all of their lives they have been lied to.” Lied to by their parents, friends, Pastors, teachers, all of their lives. (I remember how stunned I was when I found out there was no Santa Claus, another cute little lie our parents often tell us) They have been lied to by everyone who has kept these religious traditions and teachings. Imagine having to deal with our parents lying to us all of our life about something that has to do with life and death? My friend this is a very heavy thing to wrestle with at any age, but when older and set in our ways it becomes a mill stone around our neck preventing us from ferreting out the truth of the word of God. This is why Paul begged us, “I beseech you therefore, brethren” not to be “conformed” or plugged into the world, but to be unplugged from the world by the Spirit of God allowing our mind to be renewed by the transforming power God. How can our mind be renewed if we are plugged into the world’s way of doing things? How can our mind be renewed if we are plugged into the traditions and religions of this world? My friend it is impossible to be transformed by God’s power if like in the matrix movie we are still plugged in and being deceived. We must allow God, through His dealings and judgments in our lives, to unplug and show us who we are in Him and what He desires for our lives. Now my friend this is a painful process in our lives as it was in the movie, but painful or not we must come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ which is much more than merely the John 3:16 salvation. Now we must have this salvation experience I am not discounting this experience, but there is so much more for us to experience and know in God. In Philippians Paul tells us, “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:” (Philippians 2:2:5) How can we put on the mind of Christ if we do not first take off or unplug our mind and heart from the world? Either we will be plugged into the world and its denominational religions or Christ, it is our choice. My friend let us not get caught up in the lies and deception of the world’s denominational religions, let us get caught up in Christ and Him alone. Written by David Stahl