I Ask Questions
I have been involved in everything “church” all of my life. As a teenager, I wasn’t rebellious toward the church or the things of God. Like many young people, I never strayed away from my relationship with Jesus or the church. I remained faithful, as much as humanly possible, even during my college years. While many were recovering from their Saturday night outings, I trekked across campus each Sunday morning to attend a local church.
As a young adult, I became active in my local congregation, serving in many areas of ministry. I helped start the first Spanish ministry in our city, became involved in missions to Nicaragua, and traveled around America, raising support for those ministries. Eventually, that travel led me to become a local church pastor for over 17 years.
I would be easily called what some refer to as Church People.
Over 20 years ago, Abba taught me about questioning things. God asked me a question during a season of searching for answers and direction.
I have learned that when God asks questions, it isn’t because He needs an answer. Sometimes it is to help us find the answer. Sometimes, as in this case, it shows us we are asking the wrong questions.
So what was His question to me? “What do you believe [about Me, scripture, doctrine, church teachings, etc.]? But more importantly, WHY do you believe it?”
During that season, I began my journey of asking questions about what I believe. As I became willing to ask the questions, I had to often admit that many things I believed were more of man’s opinions that I heard in church or from watching others and less from what I learned from God’s Word.
After over twenty years of asking myself this question over and over, I felt confident I had covered all of the important topics for Him. I believed I had answered everything and had a good grasp of what He was teaching me. Boy was I wrong.
In 2018 God began asking me about the church in particular. Not just church doctrine or theological teachings but the church in general.
During this latest question, God began teaching me that there was a huge difference between what Jesus intended to build and what man had created. The Ekklesia of Jesus was completely different from the Church of man.
- What exactly is “going to church?” Is attending church services as we know it really what Jesus had in mind for His Ekklesia?
- If Jesus never told us to build buildings, start organizations, or hold conferences, why is that the main focus of today’s church?
- Is there more to the Gospel of Jesus than we all just get to go to heaven when we die?
- Why are there tens of thousands of divisions in the Body of Christ when Jesus prayed that we, His Body, would be ONE as He and Abba were ONE?
- Why does so much of the church major on the minors and minor on the majors?
- Jesus mentioned “church” twice but spoke about the Kingdom more than 125 times. Why is the focus on the “church” and not on the “Kingdom?”
Because I ask questions, some people think I have had a crisis of faith. Some even think I have backslidden or fallen away from my walk with Jesus, but I disagree. Actually, I believe my commitment to Jesus is stronger than ever.
Years ago I was sharing my faith with a friend who was part of the JW. Whenever I brought him to a place with a legitimate question about his beliefs in JW teachings, he would shut me down. He wouldn’t or couldn’t ask questions. He chose to ignore obvious errors and accept his church teachings without question.
I often told my friend, “Jesus is not upset if we question His existence, His ways, or anything else about Him. He actually welcomes it because He can withstand any scrutiny we can throw at Him. So, why are you afraid to question what you believe?”
Martin Luther, the great initiator of the Reformation, was a questioner. When he posted his 95 theses, he questioned the obvious flaws within the church system. I’m certain he had internally questioned these things for years before nailing those theses to the door. In reality, he was asking questions and confronting concerns that no one else dared confront. He was a reformer–a questioner.
Before Martin Luther, there were two church divisions, mainly created through the division of the Roman Empire into an Eastern and Western divide. They were the Western church (Roman Catholic) and the Eastern Church (Eastern Orthodox).
Today, following the great Reformation of the church, we have over 45,000 divisions. While the first Reformation was necessary and absolutely God-ordained, today’s church desperately needs an overhaul–a reforming, or better yet, a return to the founder’s original intent.
So, who am I?
I am the voice of a questioner. I ask questions about problems that few even consider or worse, choose to ignore. I desire to confront the status quo in the church systems of the world. I seek a return to the original intent of our Founder, Jesus the Messiah.
For years I thought I was a revivalist hungry for revival in the church. Today, I realize what the church needs is more than revival. It needs a reformation of everything church. Only when it is re-formed into the image of Jesus’ Ekklesia will there be an awakening that will change the world, disciple nations, and usher in His return.
So who am I? I am a Renegade Reformer, asking the hard questions that Jesus wants to be asked so that hopefully, many eyes will be opened and the Body of Christ will become One as Jesus and the Father are One.
Renegade Reformer