Worshiping the Baals and Missing the Living God

I found The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill podcast thanks to someone I follow on Instagram.

Produced by Christianity Today and hosted by Mike Cosper, the podcast describes the story of the Seattle based megachurch and it’s pastor Mark Driscoll. But even more than that, it digs into the background of Mars Hill and the Christian culture of the last 40-50 years which produced the disaster that followed. They’ve only released the first two episodes, but I’m already hooked. This feels like I’m getting the missing half of the conversation that started with Kristin Kobes Du Mez’ book Jesus and John Wayne. But unlike Du Mez who seemed to be arranging facts to reach a specific conclusion, Mike Cosper just tells the story and lets the facts speak for themselves.

It’s the facts that alarm me the most. Facts that are consistent across Du Mez’ book and Cosper’s podcast.

• People have been creating the Christian culture that we know over the past few decades using power, influence, and money.
• Celebrity status connects a small circle of influential people who then decide who gets to join them and share the power.
• Although God has still managed to use this modern mess we call Christianity, much of it has been created and sustained by/for human satisfaction and fulfillment and has nothing to do with the Real Jesus.

I’m not a big fan of taking stories out of the Old Testament and then moralizing them to create formulas for today. I’d rather see them as true history of the interactions between God and the people He created. Obviously we can learn from them, but I think they often get screwed up by our applications. That said, I’m going to the Old Testament.

The people of Israel were chosen by God as His nation. They were set apart and had special interaction with Him. He rescued them from slavery in Egypt, led them through the wilderness, revealed His Presence and Law, and gave them a land of their own. God patiently protected, guided, and sustained them for hundreds of years even though they constantly turned to the worship of false gods.

Over and over again during the times of the judges and the kings we can read stories of the Israelites bringing the worship of idols into the temple of Jehovah and creating idolatrous high places around the land for these false gods — the Baals. It’s easy to look at them and judge until we realize we are doing the exact same thing.

If you do some research into the gods of the Old Testament you will discover that these deities promised the same things we are searching for today: money, power, and fame. The gods and goddesses of fertility, weather, crops and animals gave formulas to follow to get earthly success. And the Israelite people fell for it over and over.

What do broken people love more than power, recognition, and money? Maybe more of those things.

Reading Jesus and John Wayne and now listening to The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill has pushed back the curtains and given me a glimpse behind the scenes of our modern Christianity. It’s not pretty. And it unfortunately makes sense why so much of it is falling apart.

Many of our Christian organizations, movements, and churches in the last half a century have been started by and for humans. They might have slapped God’s name on there, and a number of them probably began with good intentions, but when push came to shove they cared more about the Baals than about anything else. It was about networking, creating connection with other powerful people, developing a brand, and gaining fame. It was not about the Real Jesus. Churches were built like corporations around a charismatic leader and not around Christ. Industries created Christian celebrities based on their natural talent and ability to promote themselves but not on their godly character or wisdom.

The contrast between this style of Christianity and the example of Jesus Christ while He was on earth is honestly shocking. He never sought fame; in fact Jesus consistently avoided it. He didn’t try to build a massive following but chose to focus instead on twelve disciples. Jesus wasn’t interested in wealth and never even had His own home. If Jesus showed up in our churches or organizations today would we even recognize Him? Or would we be like the religious leaders who missed God walking in front of them?

I’m broken by how often people get connected to a person, or an organization, or a community, but never actually encounter God. They never meet Jesus through a simple and clear gospel, so they are never healed and transformed by the Holy Spirit from within. Which is probably why there is such a focus on religious behaviors. It’s cyclical. The whole thing is a mess.

We have failed.

Not just the abusive, narcissistic pastors and leaders who get caught, not just the charismatic seekers of fame and fortune, but those of us who have allowed it to happen over and over again. We are content to follow dynamic celebrities, content to be spoon-fed half truths and down-right lies, and content to worship the Baals of power, money, and fame instead of looking for the Real God. I’m afraid it’s time to go Old Testament.

In his zeal for the Living God King Josiah tore down the high places used to worship the Baals and burned human bones on the altars as a defilement. I highly doubt this kind of rampage would go over well these days. In fact I’d probably be arrested. So instead I’ll use my keyboard to tell you a few things.

• Friends, we’ve missed it. We’ve missed Him. We have exchanged the Living God for cheap substitutes. And we are reaping the consequences.
• We have lost sight of the true gospel and the Real God.
• But the crazy thing is that He hasn’t missed us. Like always and forever, the Living God is pursuing His people. I can feel Him moving. He is real and He is knowable.
• And I have more good news! That discontentment you feel about the church/Christian experiences you’ve had? That’s Him. The disillusionment that grips your heart? Him! Frustration you feel? Also Him. Our cranky hearts show us that we’ve found a fake bauble, a false god. Our cranky hearts are leading us home. He is calling us.
• Deconstruction is kind of a buzz word right now and the definition can be a bit cloudy thanks to the different ways people experience it (which is why I wrote this analogy), but I want to tell you not to be afraid of it. Taking apart our beliefs while leaving the Real God in the center — doing it with the Holy Spirit — is an amazing experience. Hard, tricky, emotionally draining at times, but definitely amazing.

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