King and Country’s “By Our Love.”

King and Country became one of my all time favorites, when I first saw them at a Winter Jam concert. It was not their music but their actions. See if you were a leader you got a meet and greet before the concerts. Which is always good, but I did not go to the meet and greet because I was just chaporning that night. So, I never got to meet any of the artists.

I decided that I would go warm up the van before the concert ended and as I walked out I saw them talking to fans. They were near but not at their booth. Since the venue was fairly empty I could hear some of what was being said. They were just talking and answering questions. They had a joy that I was glad to hear. I decided to buy a cd on my way out. Never speaking to the young men. I have listened and liked a bunch of their music. It speaks to me in a very powerful way and it tells what I want to scream at issues that come before me.

Last night I was listening to Pandora and their song, By Our Love came on. Now I have heard this song a lot and it hit home on a few points. Yet, last night memories came to me. Not good memories, not at all. These help answer a question I had about why I get so upset with other Christians today. Why I have a hard time buying into the message they are selling. The answer is simple I have been around so many people that are church going, Bible quoting, and soul winning that have spoken hate in my life it has marked me. Oh, I am not done with that description. No, that was to generous. What I mean is they believed what they were saying and in the process damaged what ever relationship these people had with God, and apparently mine also, since I witnessed it.

I am going to share some with you and try to recall every aspect that I can recall. There will not be any order to this, I will try to do it by chronological order, but I cannot be certain as when they happened. But I will get close.

The oldest memory I have that comes to mind first was around 1985 to 1986. I remember that my best friend had left for the US Navy and I was still going over to his parents house for a Sunday Night bible study. Most of the people were family members, and well I felt like family. They had asked a older man to come join the study and so he took them up on the offer and came. He came a few times, if I recall right. Now this Bible study was truly a multi-denominational study. The parents of my friend were Catholics that had left the church and began looking for another avenue of their faith, while the others were either current Catholics or other denominations, including pentecostal. The old man one day began ranting about the evils of the Catholic church and saying things that caught us all off guard. No one said anything bad to him, other than there were Catholics in the room. We continued on as if nothing happened, but he also never came back.

The next time I seen something that was abhorrent happened in a Baptist Church I visited on Sunday morning. A friend of mine had asked me a number of times to visit, so I did. Now let me make a full disclosure here, I currently attend a baptist church and this is not anyway downing baptist. This was one missionary and one preacher that allowed this to happen. The missionary was from the Philippines and was there to give them an update. What this man said hurt me because at the time I was attending a non-denominational church who leaned to the Pentecostal side. He first came down on the Catholic missions there and then the pentecostal missionaries. He went so far as to mock the speaking in tongues and other things that they believe. Then full on attack on the Mother Mary. Needless to say I have yet to step back into that church. It made me think real hard of even going to my current church. It was the love of the pastor that I gave it a chance.

Then at the Assembly of God church I seen even more of the same hate. Yes, I said hate. It not hate the sin and love the sinner. You can say that all you want but it comes off as hate the person. The receiving end feels as hate. I digress and will come back to this issue later. Two things happened while I attended here. Both had bearings not only on me but the church. The more I think about it it was three things, it is that just two events were done by the same person on the same night.

An evangelist came in for a revival, I believe, I could be wrong on why he was there. I do not recall on what he preached, I do remember what he left behind. His name is gone to me and that is just fine. In writing this I find contempt coming up, I forgot how this went through me more than the above ones. Honestly, I thought I had forgiven and let it go. Yet, the feeling of discuss is so bad I can taste it. Could this be the point where I began to change? Something I will have to explore.

Regardless, of my feelings now, the fact is it had an effect on people. People I knew at the time and had a close relationship with. I am not going into a lot of great detail. He first got onto the preacher for people smoking on the church grounds. While this may seem like a big deal to someone, it does not mean that the preacher should have had to be brow beaten with it. Then during alter call he went around the room and told people certain things and one that I know was how he just kept on about this one mans smoking habit. Now this man had been trying to quite, but like many he never got over that hump. Now to me this did not phase my like or dislike of my friend. His struggle was his own and I understood that it was a battle for him. He eventually took the pack of cigarettes and placed him on the alter. The next day we talked about that moment. He said, “You know had it been a full pack, I would not have done it. It was only two left and I did it to get him to shut up.” We talked about how it made him feel and how mad it made him that the guy would not leave it alone. He felt badgered. Eventually he left the church, it was not just this one instance, but it left a dirty taste in his mouth. Left a dirty taste on a number of others that were there on how they were treated.

He had lasting effect upon that church, prior to him it was growing. People were coming in, plans had been made to expand the church. It appears to me that one person brought all that to an end, I could be wrong. I left the church after my own personal problems. Yet, many of the leaders that smoked were given a choice stop smoking or give up your leadership position. I know that the pain that I felt having to lose my assistant. It was wrong now it was wrong then.

The next thing happened at a Bible study I was conducting. It went from just two or three of us to about twenty. We discussed a wide range of issues and topics. We sought truth and we sought real answers, regardless of what was being taught. We questioned everything and nothing was left off the table. Two elderly women came in and joined us. They had heard about out study and wanted to participate, even though they were not with our church. They brought up the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Many of us were ready to tackle the subject and willingly wanted to dive in. It was a very interesting exchange of thoughts, ideas and interpretation. That was until one of the ladies, said that one you had to be baptized in the Holy Spirit to be saved and as proof you had to also speak in tongues. One of my best friends said, kindly that he did not believe that to be the case. He stated his reason why and back it up with scripture. They were very adement about this to the point I eventually had to call the discussion done. I could tell people were getting upset. Not at the difference of opinion but the attitude and judgemental tone being set. This led to one person questioning even if he was saved later. It also led to the pastor telling us we could not stray from the churches teaching. That had the effect of killing the study.

Each of these events shaped me. They were not the only events, that has been burned into my soul. Nor are they the worst of them. The ones that have burned my soul that actually scared it and my heart was the attacks from Christians. That I will explore in another post.

I want to leave this question. If we treat each other and others this way, how can we be a light? Why should we be called Christians, if we act like the world? Actually, are we not acting worse?