not for the 99
People often ask me: ‘what are you?’ or ‘what do you believe in?’
I think people are more complex than any single label.
But if compelled to provide an answer; In relation to religion I would say that I am broadly atheistic.
In relation to science I would say that I am broadly agnostic.
But in relation to the Cross, I am a passionate - if utterly flawed - disciple.
What is my path through life?
I am trying, despite all the odds, despite my appalling weaknesses,
despite my fears and lack and doubt,
to take up my Cross and follow Jesus with every cell in my being;
daily, hourly, moment by moment
- by faith and blood and tears.
The whole world seems to be talking about lack of resources but if we were able to face painful reality it turns out that we don’t need a medical miracle as much as we need a spiritual one.
90% of diseases killing people in the West are preventable lifestyle conditions. And in India last year, for the first time more people died of obesity than hunger.
Amazingly, what is now most likely to instantaneously reverse the decline of our healthcare systems and quite literally heal our land is if people begin to value their health more than their need for comfort and pleasure.
We are lonely, empty and feel forgotten in a modern world that objectifies and then isolates us from all but our basest desires. And the result is that we will sacrifice our lives, millimetre by millimetre just in order to feel something other than aloneness.
Often, the more vulnerable we feel, the more we try to inflict control on the outside world - and the more that we position ourselves and others in absolute terms. We tend to demonise targets while elevating our own views in order to generate a story in which we ascend from being a confused and anxious person into a kind of avenging societal hero, in possession of the 'truth.'
In contrast, a healthy and value-led Self, is robust enough to hold in tension the endless complexity, nuance and paradox of the world.
Reality is endlessly humbling and unbearably heavy. It cannot be fully carried by any of us personally, and it is only in our recognition of this painful revelation, that we begin to approach wisdom.
There is nothing that can diminish us more than to become utterly preoccupied with all the good things we feel that we can do for God.
While God longs that we remain steadfastly focused on all the good that He has done for us.
What is the Bible?
It is a Living thing.. a Living, animate text.
Every time the Bible is opened, it becomes a Living portal; to Life or to Judgment.. to a Cross or to a Throne.. to humility and wonder - or to certainty and pride.
Because God is the Great author and designer, the Bible is written, structured and engineered in an extraordinarily astute way around the mechanism of living paradox.. and in particular, paradoxes that have been written and structured to expose the deep human nature and individual heart attitude of the reader and interpreter.
What this means is that in practice and throughout all of history, what the Bible has done, and continues to do.. is to expose the heart of a person through application.
If a human desires to live according to the Law and to use the text to be one who judges… then the Bible carefully affords them that possibility and they can use it to back their own certainty. God has designed the Word that way.
And in just the same way, if a person is determined not to judge and instead to attenuate all of their attitude towards personal responsibility and Grace; then the Bible carefully affords them that opportunity. God has designed it that way.
And He has done this so that the Bible - just as His Son was in Living incarnation - becomes an extraordinary revealer and discerner of human hearts.
Listen to a person for even a few moments as they speak about the Bible and you will be able to tell if the letter killeth, or if by the Spirit it brings Life through the responsive pride or the humility of the reader.
Whether the Word ‘drags’ them daily to a Cross; or is a means by which they build a throne to their own opinion and certainty.
When I hear someone claim to be ‘a Bible believing Christian’ I sometimes wonder how seriously they take the Bible at all. Because if one actually reads and truly believes and has experienced the power of the Spirit, one would never ever claim God’s word as a symbol of lifestyle or identity.
One would never dare.
Instead, to really believe and possess a Living faith in the word, one finds to both their simultaneous wonder and reverence, that it is actually the ultimate expose of one’s own heart before God.
And it is a great sword of limitless power, to bring Life or Death in the life of the one who reads and applies.
Because regardless of what one believes and one’s own attitude; all of us are already living our lives in the shadow of biblical truth whether we like it or not. The Grace that it offers and can be accepted freely by the humble; or the judgment that it metes out on the proud.
And that is just what God intended.
Humility can only ever be genuine in practice.
It is not so much an approach or orientation as it must be a mode of discipline.
The only true humility will manifest in habitual submission to the practise of constant deep accountability from trusted others outside of our family.
The humble soul will welcome diverse opinion, have no secrets, and will never be offended or embarrassed by criticism, because the rock on which we base identity is the Cross; and not our self-opinion and esteem.
Everything else renders us perpetually vulnerable to the numerous fragile self-delusions of ego that manifest in our feelings.
The world talks endlessly about a meaning crisis and entirely misdiagnoses our predicament - rendering the possibility of healing or genuine revelation impossible.
Indeed our hunger for more or newer meaning just reveals our abject covetous lostness; in a modern world, drowning in information and knowledge.
Our crisis is not one of meaning.
It is one of humility.
Our salvation and hope will only be found in a path away from speaking, posting, knowledge and the seeking of more meaning.
It is only prayer, fasting, quietness and humility that will draw us as individuals back toward the wisdom of conscience that is drowned out in the perpetual din of likes and subscribers that we so desperately seek as we prostitute our Spirits to the algorithm.
To paraphrase Meister Ekhart, ‘God is not found in the soul by adding anything’ even if it is the cleverest meaning making.
He is found in subtraction.
He waits quietly in the silence and the less.
And it is only when we turn away from our meaning making that we encounter His peace; that passes all understanding.
One thing that unites us as a species, is that we all share a profoundly human trait and orientation: that we just want to feel better about ourselves.
And because of this reality, the most powerful change that we can ever make in life to improve our potential, our relationships and our daily life is to with all of our heart; try to become the kind of person who decides to feel better about themselves when their weaknesses and delusions are exposed, as much as when we are comforted and praised.
Such a trait is astonishingly rare in humans. But no trait will afford us more wonder and beauty - and in fact, all other character traits combined cannot and will not bring more freedom and joy than this one incalculable gift.
It is this trait that releases our true potential in Jesus.. because it is the one that draws us closest to Him.
For He is humble and lowly in heart - and only in the sharing of this humility shall we find our burden becoming light.
In western culture, the success of others tends to induce a subtle kind of anxiety and even bitterness because the western mind can only receive the fortunes of others in relationship to how it makes them feel, how it reflects upon them and their self esteem.
But in a tribal communal culture, the success and joy of others is always shared. Another’s success is the communities success and every blessing is welcomed in a familial sense of celebration and joy
Regardless of what we believe about the world, if we are religiously minded we will divide the world and other people into two categories, good - which will be inevitably agreeing with us; and bad.. like any others - who aren't exactly like us and think in any different way.
But If we have transformative experiences and become spiritually minded, we will only divide our own heart into those two places.
Immediately, we recognise that the choice and the power is within - and that the fate of the whole universe flows through our decision to be constantly humble and curious, and to be aware of our own constant propensity for prideful delusion.
This is what it means to truly take up our Cross.
And if only we are willing to walk this narrow way, we will see miracle after miracle as the world opens up - not as a result of my rightness but as a result of Gods power made manifest in my vulnerability and humility and total dependence on Him.
When things go well and I'm fruitful and feel satisfied; God laughs heartily and says to the Angels: look what he thinks HE'S doing!
When things go badly and I lose faith God weeps over me and says to the Angels: 'look what he thinks I'M doing
Our biggest secrets are things that we have kept from ourselves.
The modern mind sees nature as something to be conquered and consumed; and yet we remain in discontent. Our restless hunger is never quenched; indeed the more we take from the world, the more it grows.
We succeed, subdue, mine and gather - and yet we are never full.
But in contrast, the ancient mind deep within our memory is wise and humble. It's experience whispers to us to quietly watch; to listen and to hear... and so comprehend that our future depends entirely on a relationship of reciprocity with our environment, in which we are never a master - but a child.
Only in this way of Ancient thinking; may we inherit the eternal joyhood of youth.
Religion vs Faith
Religion is something to teach,
Faith is something to experience
Religion is always second hand,
Faith is always first hand
Religion is based on certainty,
Faith is based on humility
Religion looks to teach,
Faith seeks to learn
Religion is based on pride,
Faith is based on vulnerability
Religion highlights failures,
Faith protects weaknesses
Religion draws lines and divides,
Faith strives for unity
Religion requires constant repetition,
Faith requires constant reflection
Religion elevates me daily,
Faith challenges me daily
Religion daily hardens,
Faith daily softens
Religion is rigid,
Faith is flexible
Religion compels my control,
Faith requires my surrender
Religion requires me to hold on,
Faith moves me to let go
Religion leads me into judgment,
Faith draws me into Grace
Religion is impatient,
Faith is long-suffering
Religion inhabits my being,
Faith transcends my being
Religion drives me,
Faith draws me
Religion weighs heavy upon me,
Faith bears me up and lifts me
Religion scares me into submission,
Faith inspires me into change
Religion fills me with fear,
Faith fills me with love
Religion is compliance,
Faith is relationship
Religion is an ego,
Faith is a Cross
Religion is what I must fight;
Faith is my weapon and my Victory
The Bible is a much better map than it is a rule book. It is meant to be applied more than it is meant to be preached.
If you want to live the adventure of the ‘New Life’ of Acts, the only way is if you are out in the hazardous and beautiful land of life - trekking onwards, forwards and upwards.
Both good and bad weather will come; and at times you will need to stop - to rest and to find shelter. The Lord will provide. You must never rush the journey. He will set the pace. Never allow yourself to be rushed.
Your conscience must be your compass, and the renewal of your energy to keep on the journey will be directly proportionate to your daily discipline.
The fruit that you see on your way will be equal to the depth of your gratefulness. You will find that either you can use your ministry to build people up, or that you will be using people to build up your ministry. Be very careful.
Most important of all:
You must only move in the great shadow of the Cross. It must be before you and behind you at all times. However good the path appears ahead, if it draws you from the shadow of the Cross you are in mortal danger - both to yourself and to all around you; whether you know it or not.
The mountains ahead of you, the ground beneath your feet and the glorious sky above your head, are Jesus. Keep looking upward, downward and to the horizon, and remember from whence you have been lifted.
Your people wait for you, they cheer and call you onward.
Go in peace.
There is so very much to be grateful for. Comparative to so many people we are so rich and blessed. Materially, in terms of choices and opportunities, we have more than any other generation or people in human history or geography. We have no reason to be ungrateful other than covetousness and delusion.
The biggest challenge of all is to be increasingly aware of our thoughts and notice the feelings that flow from them for which we are responsible and which we can, to a very great extent, control with awareness and humility. Let us be willing to gradually; little by little; one thought and word and action at a time; think and act in a way that is Godly.
One thing that is almost immeasurably toxic for your spiritual wellness and growth, is to spend time around people who are not aware of and do not readily acknowledge and talk consistently and openly about their own dark side; those without any embodied humility.
The healthiest and greatest blessing of all that one can experience in this human family, is to be mentored, challenged and encouraged by those who live daily in the revelation of their own paradoxical nature and acknowledge that they daily need both the forgiveness of a Cross and yet to also be striving towards obedience.
If you have a parent or mentor who constantly both exemplifies and challenges you to live in the tension between ongoing knowledge of one’s own failings and weakness and yet the striving towards growth and obedience to conscience, you have the greatest human blessing known to our infant mankind.
As I have travelled widely these last few years, I have noticed certain things about my thoughts and emotions that have struck me.
As soon as I return to my own country, so very quickly, my mind experiences a peculiar sense and change.
In my culture and society, it seems that the over-riding factor in my mind becomes my own opinion, my viewpoint.
I am absolutely expected to possess some way of thinking that posits the world and other people in a particular light of which I should feel certain.
Inevitably, in the hierarchy of my opinion, my own view and my tribe emerges pre-eminent.
Interestingly, the consequences of this bring about 2 psychological outcomes within me.. elements that I also notice strongly in others when I return home.
The first is that I tend to feel a growing sense of lack, of dissatisfaction with the world and with myself; with me and how things are. I quickly experience myself become covetous of and desiring that which I do not have and a huge amount of my thinking about the world and about me can become speedily preoccupied with this sense of me and my life not being enough. Because my opinion overrides all else, the consequences are always that I am left feeling that I need something that I do not possess to bring me peace and contentment.
Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, when my own opinion is pre-eminent, it seems that my feelings tend to have huge power over me. I start to experience many more emotions about myself; and whenever I find myself not in complete control, they are likely to be towards anxiety, anger or negative emotion.
If I am not careful I so quickly become controlled by what I feel about myself.
I have noticed that in other parts of the world where people have so much less, and are connected to nature and to one another - and live more closely in community; this pattern seems to be very different.
People seem to be much more oriented around curiosity, humility and just being present. Their own opinion rarely seems to be expressed or even considered and this seems to free them from these two orientations that I often feel in myself when I return home.
I have begun to wonder why we so rarely consider, in our wildly individualistic culture; that the cost of our certainty and strong personal opinions and me-centric thought processes might be our peace of mind and contentment.
Jesus invites us daily, hourly, moment by moment to give to Him the huge weight of Self. And instead, second by second, to take on His burden - which is light.
It is light He says…
…because He is humble.
In our modern enlightened times of absolute religious certainty in our own view, I wonder if this utterly overlooked part of the Gospel, might hold more power than we can possibly imagine to bring us daily peace, strength and union with His Spirit.
Prophecy for England
September 2013.
"In the next 20 years there will be a period of cumulative and intense emotional & spiritual poverty and ever-increasing suffering in the UK as my generation and those younger grow up and reach middle age. Relationship and marriage breakdown will become completely epidemic, serious sexual and physical diseases and problems will become overwhelming, people's health both mental and emotional will be corrupted and there will be intense poverty, both practically and spiritually in this nation as communities die, children are fatherless and families are destroyed. The papers will become full of stories that will lead people into debt, fear, hopelessness and apathy and a terrible disappointment and anger at what they are living in.
During this time, there will be intense challenge for the established church as the divide between their normal ministry, practices and influence and the intense and accelerating need in their communites grows at an exponential rate and it becomes painfully clear that the Church and Gospel as they are living it out and preaching and teaching it is NOT sufficient for the Redemption and wounds of their nation.
At this point, God will send prophetic words into the church, all over the country, carried in the mouths of prophets, begging the established Christian Church to repent and turn from their materialism, religion and fear that masquerades as Christianity and to move out in faith by FASTING, PRAYER AND A NEW KIND OF CHURCH BUILT ON DISCIPLESHIP AND INTIMACY. God will come strongly against the established order of things in the Church and it will be utterly exposed as being largely impotent and shallow as the country begins to bleed.....
But simultaneous to the suffering of the people and ever increasing impotence of the established and exisiting Church in the UK, AN IMMENSE HUNGER FOR SPIRITUAL REALITY AND REDEMPTION WILL SURFACE IN THE NATION, PARTICULARLY AMONGST YOUNG PEOPLE AS THEY SEE MATERIALISM, CAPITALISM, DEMOCRACY, INDIVIDUALISM AND SO-CALLED FREEDOM, EVADE THEM AND FAIL.
IF in these days the Church hears the prophetic messages to repent and change that God will make resound in music, the Arts, culture, prophetic preaching and spirit-filled conscience, then GOD WILL BRING A GREAT REVIVAL TO THIS NATION like has never been seen in history, BUT IT WILL NOT START IN CHURCH, BUT INSTEAD WILL BIRTH AS CHRISTIANS BREAK OUT OF THEIR COMFORT AND RELIGION AND FAST AND PRAY IN ACCOUNTABLE GROUPS AND THEN MOVE OUT IN FAITH TO THEIR COMMUNITIES via discipling. The young will need to turn to the old in respect and accountability in the church, and the old will need to be fully repent and let go of the past and let God change their preconceptions and then let the young lead and move out in adventure and faith."
'The matter is quite simple. The bible is very easy to understand. But we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the minute we understand, we are obliged to act accordingly.'
Soren Kierkegaard
Why Don’t We Know What Jesus is Like?
This week, I’ve been reading Bear Grylls beautiful and profound book about the life of Christ.
I strongly encourage you to buy it and read it again and again.
I am full of awe at what he has written and the depth of revelatory truth that he has communicated in these pages.
It has challenged and inspired me to think again deeply about the person of Jesus, and to try to communicate some thoughts that I hope might be of interest.
More than anything, it has made me wonder as I have so many times: Why is it that so many who claim to follow Jesus seem utterly unclear about who He really was and is; and what it means to truly walk with Him?
I’ve witnessed this puzzling reality many times over decades, and it’s one of the most staggering spiritual phenomena I know: a vibrant faith rooted in a figure so adored, yet missing the Biblical living, breathing, disruptive presence of Jesus Himself. This confusion isn’t accidental in my view; it’s part of a deeper story about how man-made religion has quietly reshaped the message and life of Christ into something far less radical, less intimate, and less freeing than what the Gospels reveal.
Let’s explore who Jesus really was, what He stood against, and why His life continues to unsettle the religious status quo.
In my twenties living in London, I had the opportunity to speak to a church youth group. These were committed young adults, fresh from working with a well-known Christian mission organisation. They were passionate, fired up, and eager to serve Jesus with their whole lives.
Curious, I asked them a simple but profound question:
“Who is Jesus to you? What is He like? What would it actually look like, in practice, to follow and serve Him?”
And then.. something astonishing happened.
Silence.
A blankness spread across the room. Genuine confusion. A few muttered vague, hesitant phrases, but the conversation quickly shifted elsewhere. The moment passed for them, but it never passed for me.
Over more than three decades, I have witnessed this again and again on my travels; a surprising phenomenon among people utterly convinced they are following Jesus:
A profound absence of Biblical revealed clarity about the real life, presence, and example of the living Christ.
I want to try to unpack this and invite you to test what I say carefully and exhaustively against Scripture.
I hope that it might be inspiring, perhaps even liberating.
John the Baptist - Announcing Wrath, Not Comfort
When John the Baptist enters the wilderness to announce Jesus’ arrival, something striking often gets overlooked.
John wears the garment of Elijah from 2 Kings - an unmistakable signal to Israel’s story.
His cry is urgent and unrelenting:
“Repent! Metanoia; think again, wake up, change your mind; because the Kingdom of Heaven is near.”
Many people respond, are baptised, and prepare.
But then, the religious leaders approach John, and his words to them are chilling:
“Who warned you to flee from the wrath that is coming?” (Matthew 3:7)
What wrath?
The wrath embodied in Christ, is not directed at the people, not at the poor or broken who are invited in.
It is a wrath reserved for religious pride itself: manifest in flesh within the Coming Christ; sent by the Father.
At His divine announcement, by His anointed one sent to prepare the way; Jesus is revealed as God’s judgment against the religious system; a divine reckoning on religion as we know it.
Without this framing, it’s easy to fall into the default assumption that Jesus came to found a new religious club for people to join. But what if the truth is the opposite?
What if Jesus came to fulfil, explode, and transform religion beyond recognition? John the Baptist makes this clear from the very beginning.
Jesus is not the founder of religion - He is its end.
Let me try to explain why.
The Birth - Outside the System
Jesus was not born in a palace or temple, not in safety or privilege.
He was born to a teenage girl in a borrowed room, surrounded by animals and dung.
The first to greet Him were shepherds - outsiders, unclean, marginalized.
God arrived not inside the religious or political machine; but outside it. And He is still outside it.
His Friends - The Wrong People
Jesus chose fishermen, zealots and tax collectors, not scribes or religious experts.
He ate with sinners, prostitutes, and the unclean; and never apologised for it. He let an unclean sex-worker massage and wash His feet with her tears. This scandalised the religious. Just as the person of Christ continues to scandalise religious purity culture based on pride.
He didn’t try to “fix” the broken. He sat at their table and lived amongst them, and then chose them.
Jesus was ready and able to call Simon Peter; the disciple who became the foundation of his church, satanic.
He was real, and he confronted evil in His own intimate community head on when it was in opposition to His total coming vulnerability and Cross.
The same Jesus disciplines five-sevenths of His Bridal church in Revelation. God is never afraid to confront and discipline His people and call out their pride in the name of the Cross, and the narrow way of humility and dependance.
And in each and every historical revival, every one is always preceded by the churches humble openness to such discipline; which Jesus says is the mark of the Father 'who loves.'
Please read and test these things in church history.
His Enemies - The Religious Authorities
Jesus’ only consistent and passionate opposition was to the religious elite.
He called them vipers, whitewashed tombs, blind guides.
He healed on the Sabbath and let His disciples “break the rules,” defending them fiercely.
He wasn’t rebelling for rebellion’s sake; He was exposing the emptiness of religion without love.
His Anger - Directed at the Temple
The one time Jesus got physically angry and violent was in the Temple, the hub of religious administration.
He overturned tables, drove out sellers, and quoted prophets.
His wrath was never against sinners, but against those who made a business out of God.
His Silence - On Religious Performance
Jesus never said: “Go to synagogue more.”
He didn’t start new rituals or institutions.
Instead, He said things like:
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“Blessed are the poor in spirit.”
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“Forgive.”
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“Love your enemy.”
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“Sell what you have.”
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“Become like a child.”
He invited people into a Kingdom based on relationship, not a religion of compliance.
His Death - Executed by Religious hatred and conspiracy.
Jesus wasn’t killed by “bad people.”
He was executed by a lethal alliance of religious leaders who saw Him as a threat to their certainty and deep pride.
He died to end the systems that crush and oppress the human soul. And those systems are still very much alive!
Are you fighting them within your heart and community in the same way that Jesus did?
Jesus and the Temptation: Satan’s Core Weapon
In the wilderness, Jesus was tempted; not just by pleasure or power; but by identity.
“If you are the Son of God…”
Satan tempted Him to see Himself as special, to prove Himself, to claim what was “rightfully His.”
This is Satan’s most productive weapon: getting people to believe that they are uniquely right and worthy.
It works just as well on Christian leaders today as it did in the desert. Believing that you have special authority, truth; and most satanic of all, that you alone and your church and people hold the 'correct' doctrine.
It is an exceedingly convenient and astonishingly effective deception; that the Devil is working in other people and their sin.
But the Bible quite clearly and repeatedly says the exact opposite: That the greatest battle is against our own pride, our certainty and our desire for significance and ministry.
Satan’s Master Strategy: Ministry Itself
When all other temptations fail, Satan offers ministry; a shortcut to success, influence, fame, and impact.
“All the kingdoms of the world I will give you, if you worship me.”
He doesn’t tempt with lust or violence here; he goes so much deeper.
And he still does this today.
Satan gladly gives succes, numbers, branding and followers, so long as it leads a person away from the intimacy of the Father.
So long as it trades love for correct doctrine, pride and performance.
But God is still the God who says to Abraham: 'I Am your Inheritance, and your exceedingly Great reward'
The Satanic Church: Pride, Judgment, and Ministry
In my reading and work, it has always stunned me that in the satanic church, the criteria for acceptance, success and leadership boil down to some crucial traits:
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Pride: believing you alone are uniquely right and judging all others.
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Judgment: believing everyone else is wrong
And most disturbingly:
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Coveting your own ministry.
Satanists fast and pray passionately for the furthering of their own ministry.
This is how spiritual power is hijacked.
Tragically, these same traits may be those most celebrated and preached in part of Christian leadership today.
Jesus: More Life Than Preacher
A staggering truth about Jesus is that He only preached publicly for about one eleventh of His life.
For the rest - ten elevenths - He lived quietly in community, with no stage, no spotlight, no sermons—just presence.
We often fixate on His miracles and teachings - but miss the revelation of His life.
He showed us how to be human - not through perfectionism - but through intimacy, humility, and vulnerability.
The Battle We Keep Ignoring
Jesus’ life tells an ongoing spiritual battle; not with Rome, but with religious pride and power.
It is impossible to follow the biblical Jesus without engaging in this spiritual warfare against institutional religion.
To deny this is to lie about Christ - and to suppress the true meaning of the Cross.
Start in Marks Gospel and test every one of these things.
Final Word: The Real Invitation
Jesus didn’t come to create a brand, doctrine, or ministry model.
He came to reveal the Father and announce a Kingdom of dependance and intimacy with Him.
To follow Him means resisting every force; especially religious ones; that steals that intimacy.
If there is one thing we can say with absolute certainty:
If we claim that we really believe the account and person of Christ in the Bible, we dare not pervert this truth:
Jesus life was wonderful news for sinners, and terrible news for religious people.
What about our lives?
How many broken people call you and I a true friend - and how many religious people fear, judge and are offended by us?
Are we really following Christ, or our feelings and flesh and opinion, and the religion that makes us feel good about ourselves?
Unpalatable and shocking right?
But the Gospel is unpalatable.
If it was fair and palatable, would you and I be accepted in and able to see ourselves as utterly pure?
And if we start to implement the True Way of Acts, it may just be be like a bomb going off in our lives.
The Offense of the Cross
I remember once hearing that John Wimber, the great preacher, used to say: If a preacher truly preaches and proclaims the biblical Cross, the clear sign is that the listeners will be offended.
CS Lewis, perhaps the greatest of all apologists, says that 'God is the Great iconoclast.' God is always destroying our fleshly idols, even when we have no idea that we have them within us and our ideology.
This “offense of the Cross,” as Paul calls it, is because the gospel clashes with human wisdom, logic, and convention.
Most of all, it offends the countless religious people who believe they can earn God’s favour through their ministry, good works and efforts.
To them, the Cross is blasphemy, because it says: You cannot earn salvation; you only receive it by grace. And you can only live it out by staying at the foot of a Cross.
Satan’s Ultimate Strategy: To Subtly Draw us Away from the Cross and into doctrine and ministry.
Our numerous nan-made Religious structures and hierarchies are toxic because they whispers the lie that you can be enough, that you can earn it. And worst of all; that you are better than other people because of what you believe and your good works.
But the only true place of safety is at the foot of the Cross, covered by HIS identity. Not ours.
Satan will do all he possibly can to draw us from this place of dependence and vulnerability, and his best weapon just as it was in the temptation of Jesus, is ministry, doctrine and our own opinion and specialness.
Countless people I have talked to describe the colossal power and miracles they saw at the time of their testimony... that they now experience hardly at all?
Why?
Is the arm of the Lord shortened, or has our 'growth' into our own doctrinal comfort and complacence quenched the Spirit who can do abundantly and exceedingly more than all we ask or think?
This is why Paul describes the enemy we should resist not like a quiet serpent but like a 'roaring Lion'.
Because as Paul knew, the most visceral and crucial attacks would be on grounds that we should know,
and see him coming - the very basics of the Gospel:
Humility, vulnerability, and a daily, hourly Cross.
But we don't.
Jesus invites us to take up and stay always at the foot of His Cross, because He is humble and lowly and it is there that the power is in our lives and ministry. Not our gifts or our own righteousness. But in HIM.
It is at the Cross that we find rest and our burden being light - in suffering and in Joy.
By the cross, with our humble Master who carries all our burdens; because, unlike us - He is lowly in heart.
The Power of Grace
Jesus doesn’t call us to prove ourselves or strive harder.
He calls us to come to Him; to find rest in His humility and grace.
It is here that true freedom and true humanity are found and where He frees us and teaches obedience through love. 'The goodness of God leading to repentance.'
Even Paul, after decades of following Jesus, confessed he was the “worst of sinners” and that obedience comes only through grace, never works.
James, the brother of Jesus and chief strategist of the early church, says to the very leaders of the church; that 'we all stumble in many ways.'
John, the most beloved disciple, says that 'if we say we have no sin, then the truth is not in us and we deceive ourselves.'
Humility, vulnerability and total dependance on a CROSS, daily, hourly moment by moment.
The Call to Fight Religion and Embrace the Cross
To follow Christ fully is to fight against religion’s promises of self-sufficiency and performance.
It is to cling to the scandalous, offensive, and life-giving Cross; where grace, humility, and rest meet.
If this resonates with you, I encourage you to go back to the Scriptures and wrestle with these truths.
May you find the courage - wherever you are in fellowship - to bravely challenge any religious spirit that weighs heavy, finding life both in community and by the Cross.
Test These Things:
Following Jesus means stepping into a spiritual battle few are willing to name.
It means rejecting the comfort of religious performance, pride, and control, and embracing instead a scandalous, grace-filled way of life marked by humility, vulnerability, and intimacy with the Father.
The true Jesus is not the figure propped up by institutions or brands, but the living God who wars against religious power and calls us to a life of radical vulnerability at the foot of the cross.
This is the invitation; and the offense; that still transforms souls today.
To truly follow Him is to fight for that freedom, every day, in every part of our lives.
I hope that you will weigh, fast and pray about these things, and seek the Spirits witness and challenge.
My prayer is that you utterly reject everything above that does not resonate with that witness.
But my belief and conviction is that if the Bible is accurate, then the main battle will always be against the religion that rises up within us,
and within our churches and communities.
May we fight it together.
It might be the battle that defines the church and indeed the world that for our children, is to come.
Daily Prayer or Meditation
1) Gratefulness: just express how grateful you are and list all the amazing things you have in your life and the people and gifts and things that God has given you.
2) Forgiveness: confess daily that you fall below Gods standard and that you know that you need a Cross and not a throne in your life. Express that your faith and identity is not in your self, your own righteousness - but in the Cross.
3) Requests: bring your needs to God and ask Him for help in 3 things each day. Lay them before Him and ask for Him to help you AND to show you where you need to let that thing go if it isn’t best for you.
4) Guidance: Confess that you DO NOT KNOW what is best for you. Ask God to protect you from your own plans and to close every door and relationship in your life that is not fruitful for you and to lead you to the people and things and path that HE has for you. Ask God to give you ears to hear and to speak to you in your dreams.
5) Ask God: What should I focus on and prioritise in myself in this season?
Give me ears to hear what i should prioritise TODAY.
Then, do not think about the past or about tomorrow. Live in that prayer TODAY, and shut off from all else.