Team Sports

 If the Lord were to tarry another hundred years, there would no longer be denominations. They are dying already, most are on life support, and it seems as though they are doing everything possible to bring a swift end to their brand. That’s all they are nowadays, isn’t it? A brand so far removed from its original founder’s vision and intent that if you removed names like Wesley, Luther, Calvin, Parham, or Williams and just read their current bylaws and mission statement, you’d spend the rest of your day scratching your head and wondering where Jesus was in all this pabulum.

I didn’t even include the weird ones like Mormonism, Jehovah’s Witnesses, or the Seventh Day Adventists in the mix because they’re like the slow kids on the short but at this point. Anyone who trusts a vegetarian of the female persuasion to set up the foundations of their denomination deserves everything they get. I’m sorry, but vegetarianism? You might as well tell me I have to wear itchy undergarments all the time to remind myself of myself. Some of you didn’t get the genius of that last one, and that’s okay, but those of you that did, you’re welcome.

I speak of things I know, have studied, and understand. Let’s leave it at that.

I’m not even poking hard. It’s not like I’ve set about deconstructing Joseph Smith or Ellen G. White, yet, I guarantee this writing will get the most backlash of anything I’ve written thus far. Why? Because people are loyal to their teams, and if you dare to mock or insult them, you’re in for a tongue-lashing at best.

Believe me; I know what rabid fans look like; I live in Wisconsin, and they have the Packers and the Badgers. If you want to see someone lose it while they’re talking football and how we may go all the way this year, interject and say, “I think the 49ers have a good shot this year. That Joe Montana’s looking dialed in.”

I had someone throw an empty diet Dr. Pepper can at me for that crack once, then I laughed another five minutes because they weren’t man enough to drink regular Dr. Pepper. I guess the beard and the flannel shirt was a farce after all. In my defense, the last time I saw a football game was when Joe Montana was the quarterback for San Francisco.

Salvation is not a team sport. It is not a collective. It is as individual and personal as anything gets. The soul that sins shall die! That’s pretty self-explanatory, and there is no addendum stating unless they belong to such and such denomination, either.

You can’t sit on your couch and cheer strangers on, hoping they beat other strangers. You have to be the one on the field; you have to be the one putting in the work; you have to be the one carrying your cross, and likely not to cheers or swooning fans.

When you stand before the Almighty, he won’t ask what denomination you belonged to, nor will he give you a pass for the effort of others. Well done, good and faithful servant sounds markedly different than great teamwork, guys, or excellent job team.

When the primary Christians tried implementing a microcosm of denominationalism, Paul shot it down without allowing for debate. The believers in Corinth had started forming cliques, picking teams, following either Paul, Apollos, or Cephas, causing division among the brethren. In his letter to them, Paul makes it clear that it doesn’t matter whom you say you are of if you are not of Christ.

The question for those who still cling to denominationalism and insist on the supremacy thereof is whether or not their denomination is still of Christ if the edicts they hold to are antichrist. United Methodists, I’m looking at you! If your denomination is more permissive than the Bible, and more libertine than Christ, can it still be called Christian?

Matthew 24:24, “For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.”

Well, there you go. You just disproved your argument. It says right there, if possible! You got me now! Well done! Except you’re supposed to interpret scripture with scripture, and Christ Himself begins His discourse with ‘take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name saying ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many.’

If your argument is that the disciples were not among the elect, that’s one thing. If it’s not, then the idea that it’s impossible for believers to be deceived by false christs and false prophets is moot.

Take heed that no one deceives you! If you were beyond being deceived, or the disciples for that matter, why would Jesus have spoken these words?

With love in Christ, 

Michael Boldea, Jr. 

Shysters in the Lord

 I got a message from someone the other day that said, ‘I’m so glad you’re on our side.’ I get that it came from a good place and that she meant well, and I took all that into account before I answered back with, ‘you should be glad I fear God instead.’

Someone being on our side is not enough. Many people on our side have no qualms about using us, and by us, I mean Christians in general, as their piggy bank, there to be cracked open when the need arises. I’ve seen this time and again, when just because they call themselves a believer, an individual expects you to hire them at double the cost for half the services. And that’s if they’re willing to put in the effort.

There is another subset that believes you must never say no, no matter how absurd the request, because if you do, then you’re not loving. Maybe it’s this generation. Perhaps never having had to get their hands dirty or work a double shift prohibits them from understanding that daily bread is earned with the sweat of one’s brow. Maybe they just don’t care and believe everything comes easy, regardless of whom you hurt to get it.

It’s the worst kind of feeling when someone who calls themselves a brother asks for help, you offer them a job that pays, and they turn around and say, can’t you just help me out?

Some men’s actions aren’t in harmony with the title of believer they assign to themselves.

I’ve seen this play out in the world as well, wherein every company from roofing to concrete, to lawn care, to maid services has something relating to the armed forces in their title. It’s always something bombastic too, like Semper Fi Roofing, SEALS Pool Cleaners, or Green Beret Lawn Service, but when you take a closer look, the only armed forces the guys doing the work could have been in was the Mexican Army. Not trying to nitpick, but I think you have to be able to speak English in order to join the Green Berets.

Christians are easy marks, and the unscrupulous have caught on to this. Since Christians are the unlikeliest demographic to complain or get litigious, we are targeted with zeal and fervor. Christian is slapped in front of everything nowadays, from Christian tattoo artists to Christian podiatrists, because we tend to pay our bills on time and overlook less-than-stellar service.

Granted, there’s a difference between someone whom you’ve been going to church with for two decades and who happens to run a lawn care service and someone who has a cross on the side of their truck that’s leaving pamphlets under the windshield wipers of every car in the church parking lot.

Just as every branch is not fruitful, not everyone calling themselves a Christian is an individual of noble character or even a Christian. Usually, having character and being fruitful go hand in hand, so if you see the one, you’re likely to see the other. By the same token, if there is no fruit, then be prepared for there to be no character as well.

I’ve had pastor friends who got taken for six figures by people pretending to be believers, bidding on a job for the church, then running off with the money as soon as the check cleared. Our naïveté and credulity are endearing, but only to a certain point. Once that point is reached, all we are, are marks to be taken advantage of and abused by soulless ghouls who see easy pickings and nothing more.

This is another one of those public service sort of posts because the more desperate people will become in the coming months, the more they will search out easy scores and soft targets, which they will attempt to separate from their hard-earned savings.

May we never forget that we live in a fallen world, and there are many who say they are of the family of God, who are not. Use wisdom in all things, not just some, and you will see the danger pass you by without negatively affecting you or your household.

I get that your first instinct is to give people the benefit of the doubt, but don’t let your first instinct bypass discernment in your decision-making process.

With love in Christ, 

Michael Boldea, Jr.  

The One

 There are many paths to the same destination; unfortunately, that destination is hell. There is one God, one truth, one way, and one life, and no matter how inclusive we want to be or pretend to be, the veracity of this statement is undeniable. No man comes to the Father but through Christ!

But Oprah! I’ll see your Oprah and raise you a Jesus! Jesus said! That should end the conversation without further protestation, but that would make things too simple, and when things are simple, the unscrupulous can’t take advantage of the innocent.

Given the self-importance some men attribute to themselves, I often wonder if Jesus sent His disciples out two by two to keep any of them from thinking they were the one. Not that it did any good. They still argued among themselves as to who would be the greatest, but Jesus sorted them out with a few words and a little child.

The difference between the disciples of old, and the men of today, is that the disciples did it out of spiritual immaturity, while the men of today do it for a far more nefarious reason. Any time anyone tells you they, rather than Jesus, are the truth, and no man can attain salvation save by following their teachings, run. Run as fast as your legs and McDonald’s rich diet will allow because you’re in danger.

It takes a certain kind of hubris to stand in front of a crowd or in front of a camera and declare that you alone possess the keys to biblical knowledge. Everyone else is either ignorant of the truth or leading you astray intentionally.

There have been enough real-world examples of men with messiah complexes and the havoc they wreak to make you weary of anyone pointing to themselves rather than Christ. The fallout is always spectacular, and the best-case scenario for those in close proximity is that they get out alive. They are both physically and psychologically scarred, shattered, broken, suffering from the spiritual version of post-traumatic stress, but alive.

It’s not hyperbole. I wish it were. If you don’t believe me, ask the survivors of the Koresh compound. That’s right, all you get is glassy eyes and far-off stares, that’s if you can get one of the handfuls who survived to come out of hiding. Spiritual betrayal is one of the most difficult things to get over. Just ask any former cult member who somehow got away.

These men are so starved for attention that even though Jesus had twelve disciples, they refuse to allow anyone within the warmth and glow of the limelight. Never mind that there are a few billion more people walking around than in Christ’s time, no, these new Messiahs know what they’re doing, and all they need is an audience.

The disciples weren’t asking who would replace Jesus; they were asking who would be the greatest. Childish, perhaps, but not dangerous as the modern-day messiahs turn out to be.

Throughout the Word, every time those in leadership were referenced, it was always in the plural sense. There wasn’t one man to rule them all; there was a plurality of shepherds to guide the sheep. That alone should cause discerning people to question the entirety of the papal system. Still, discernment is painful sometimes, and they would rather not have to deal with the uncertainty of admitting they were wrong to follow a guy in a goofy hat who allows for things the Bible never did.

That’s not to say the evangelical churches get a pass when it comes to faux messiahs. There are plenty who would pretend to be the one given half a chance, and some already are but are so pitiful in their delivery that three old ladies in summer hats are the extent of their reach.

Men gifted by God don’t chase after titles or the esteem of men. The former is worthless, the latter fickle, so rather than waste time pursuing either, they hunger after God and live lives of obedience and service.

I’ve known a handful of such men, men the world thought unremarkable but that God used in remarkable ways.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.  

Enemy Mine

 I know we’re supposed to be raptured before Thanksgiving, but I went ahead and prepaid for my turkey dinner anyway. Worst case scenario, I’m out a few bucks, and someone will enjoy some sliced turkey with bourbon-glazed sweet potatoes and creamed corn on me. Then again, if I’d given away all my earthly possessions, stopped paying my bills, curbed making plans, and ceased living every time I heard a definitive date as to when we would be caught up to glory, I would have been homeless a hundred times over.

Having been in ministry for so long and having established relationships over the years, many people send me things they’ve come across with the heading, what do you think about this? Usually, if there’s a date attached, my answer is the same every time: wait until a day after the date they mentioned, then assess whether or not their prophecy was accurate. Time is the constant enemy of the date setting prognosticator.

Some in the prophetic eco-system have adopted the motto ‘if at first, you don’t succeed, try, try again’ when it comes to setting dates. We all remember the classic 88 reasons why Christ is coming in 88, followed by the sequel 89 reasons why Christ is coming in 89. One would think they could have squeezed out one more reason and put out 90 reasons why Christ is coming in 90, but maybe they made enough off the first two books that they didn’t think it worth the effort.

Harold Camping made so many predictions and set so many dates that God had to give him a stroke to shut him up. I know that sounds mean, but if you start predicting the end of the world in 1994, work yourself up to 2011, and it still hasn’t dawned on you that you may be off on your math, maybe you do need a smack upside the head.

Before you start thinking I’m making a mountain out of a molehill, and this is nothing more than a victimless spiritual crime, consider the emotional rollercoasters some believers have been on because somebody they trusted or lent their ear to set a date.

This is it, buddy! All you have to do is hang on until the day before Thanksgiving, and you’ve crossed the finish line. Then those same folks, barely hanging on by the skin of their teeth, wake up on Thanksgiving morning, not only still here but with an empty fridge, closed supermarkets, and one expired can of cranberry sauce in the cupboard. You took someone who was already in a bad situation and made it infinitely worse because you promised them something that did not come to pass.

Because they clung to your promise, they didn’t even do what they would have done had you not opened your maw, and now their kids are fighting over who’s going to scrape the bottom of the cranberry sauce can.

You go through these ups and downs often enough, and eventually, the heart begins to harden, and you find yourself walking down the street mumbling something about it all being a lie and nothing being true.

There is a marked difference between living with a sense of longing and expectation of Christ’s return and believing it will happen tomorrow by 8 pm. One instills hope in the hearts of those carrying their crosses, and the other sets an unrealistic expectation with an expiration date that will psychologically crush those who believe it.

It is in man’s moment of despair that the enemy finds his most opportune moment to attack. If, as those who were called to be wise as serpents, we would remind ourselves that not every dream is prophetic and wishful thinking isn’t a revelation, perhaps there would be fewer opportunities for the devil to shipwreck individuals.

Do some people really believe that if they just want it bad enough, it will be so regardless of God’s will? Not only is that childish, but it’s also unbiblical. If the Christ had to submit to the will of the Father, what makes you think you don’t?

Matthew 24:39, “He went a little farther and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.’”

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr. 

Off-Off-Broadway

 Way back when you were less likely to get stabbed in the face or see a fully grown human defecate in Times Square, I took my wife to a Broadway show for our anniversary. She’d always wanted to see a real honest-to-goodness show on Broadway, and since circumstances allowed, I was more than happy to facilitate her desire.

But why not the Gaithers? They put on a barn burner of a show. In my defense, I thought you had to be an AARP member to purchase tickets for the Gaithers. Is it still a prerequisite? I kid, of course, but you can’t expect people in their twenties to get down and boogie to something that septuagenarians find trend-setting.

That’s it, Martha, I’ve had it with this young whipper snapper’s insolence. He’s poking fun at the Gaithers; that’s where I draw the line.

I’m 47, no longer a young whipper snapper, and smiling won’t hurt, I promise. Sometimes we have to make allowances because not everyone likes what we like as far as entertainment is concerned.

Since I had no clue what the other shows were, I settled on Phantom of the Opera, and it was everything a night out with the one you love ought to be. The sets were beautiful, the singing was spot-on, and we left the theater not feeling like we’d wasted our time or money.

I later found out that there are also Off-Broadway shows, and Off-Off-Broadway shows, the latter being some lady with unkempt hair and smeared lipstick screaming to three empty folding chairs in her building’s laundry about her mummified womb and the evils of patriarchy. Just so we’re clear, the patriarchy didn’t force you to sacrifice love, motherhood, vibrancy, and youth for a mid-level career. That was all you, all so you could tell the folks back home in flyover country that you worked in Corporate America. To clarify, you got coffee for the people who work in Corporate America, but I digress.

Everyone wants to be a star, but not everyone has the chops for it. The good shows are worth your time, the bad ones, not so much, but whichever show you go to, you must never forget that it’s a show.

If you can afford it, see a good show. It will be more entertaining. There’s something to be said for Benny Hinn’s showmanship with the coat-throwing and bombastic iterations. The lady that finds a long-forgotten dried-up booger in a Kleenex and thinks it to be a sign from the Lord, not so entertaining.

Brother Mike, you sound like you’re mocking this sort of manifestation. Indeed, I am. As long as you can manifest glitter, oil, hand sanitizer, hair gel, or whatever other thing is being passed off as the authentic work of the Holy Spirit, but you can’t cast out an evil spirit, feel the presence of the Holy Ghost, or possess enough discernment to know something’s off, then all you’re doing is putting on a show.

As I said, some men are better at putting on a show than others, some have bigger budgets, and they can get fog machines and seizure-inducing flashing lights, but in the end, it’s just a show—man-made, man-fueled, man-performed, and man-centered.

But what about the gold dust, you doubter? The moment I see someone walk into a pawn shop with a bag of gold dust and trade it in for legal tender, we can talk. If God really did manifest the gold dust, why wouldn’t it be real gold dust? Surely, if He owns the cattle on a thousand hills, He can spare a few bucks worth of gold dust.

We say we’re hungry for the power and presence of God, but what we’re really hungry for is entertainment. We say we want to see the fire of God come down but only halfheartedly because we don’t know if it will consume us as well.

When the present-day church spends more time getting to know God than chasing after a sign, we may just make some headway. Until then, if you’re bored and have nothing to do, there are plenty of shows around, some better than others, but be forewarned, all are lacking the dunamis of God. Yes, I threw in a Greek word; it means power, get over it.

The painful truth for the show me generation is that God doesn’t have to prove Himself to me, to you, or to anyone else. If perchance, He chose to, he wouldn’t use something as hacky and cringe-worthy as gold dust or hand sanitizer. We’re not talking about the amazing Bob’s one-man show extravaganza here; we’re talking about the God who spoke the universe into being. Give Him some credit, at least.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.  

Feed Me!

 We’ve come to expect the enemy to attack via conventional means. It surprises us when he doesn’t. It shouldn’t, though, and if we’d taken the time to understand our enemy, it would not surprise us in the least that he endeavors to find our blind spot and then attack with the ferocity of a crazed beast.

When it comes to ministry, one of the most prominent blind spots is that if your vision for it is different from God’s vision for it, eventually, inevitably, it becomes an albatross of compromise around your neck.

Even the best of men are still men. They have egos, aspirations, and visions of a future not yet attained, and if adequately driven, they work toward them tirelessly. Things become problematic when their visions or aspirations are different than what God would have for them, and it’s usually the desire to be bigger rather than smaller.

If God’s desire is for your ministry to be bigger than it is, it will be. There need not be any machinations or artificial growth hormone added, it will happen organically, and in ways no brainstorming sessions would have thought of.

My youngest daughter is very proprietary. It doesn’t matter what it is; if it’s hers, it’s hers, and if anyone touches it, you’ll hear about it. The other day she got on her sister for taking her straw wrapper, which she’d blown at her because she made a bow out of it rather than return it.

“It’s mine, Victoria! Give it back.”

That’s how some men act about the ministries God entrusts into their hands. Some even put their names on it and believe it’s their sole duty to grow it like you would a baby. They won’t allow for the possibility of contraction. All they see is growth, and by golly, they’re going to put their hand to the plow and push for all they’re worth. Goober McGee Ministries Incorporated LLC is going to be talked about for eons to come! We have a five-year plan, expansion outlines, vision boards, the works!

That’s all well and good but do you still have God?

The problem with building a beast is that once you’ve built it, you have to feed it. It’s always hungry. Not a day goes by when the machine doesn’t have to grind away. If you’ve gotten ahead of God, then it’s no longer He who must tend to the feeding of it; it’s you.

Because you have no other choice, you roll up your sleeves and push for all you’re worth. Quality begins to slip, new speakers need to be found, and you let people into your ministry whom you haven’t vetted properly. Some of the things they say sound off, but you’ve got to make deadline, and people seem to enjoy the sensationalism of it all. Every iteration inches further away from the gospel, Jesus becomes an afterthought. Eventually, you find yourself selling radiation shield undergarments in preparation for the upcoming apocalypse, wondering how you got here.

When you stray from the purity of the calling, when you veer off the simple, straightforward, uncomplicated path that God has laid out for you, dark snares and ravenous beasts lie in wait.

It frustrates and exasperates my staff to no end, one in particular, that, in their estimation, I don’t take the growth of the ministry seriously enough. They may have a point in theory, but practically speaking, it’s not mine to grow. It’s not even my ministry. It belongs to God. He will do with it as He wills, and my trying to do anything other than obey would be akin to attempting to empty the ocean with a thimble.

Sometimes God speaks so abundantly that you have a hard time keeping up with taking the dictation. Other times God is silent, and the only thing you can do is be silent too. It’s as simple as that.

But doesn’t God understand that the people need a fresh word? Do they, though? Or perhaps you need the fresh word to keep the people engaged. And so, some try to nudge God along, give Him ideas, and the unscrupulous ones even put words in His mouth because, well, it could be true.

Usually, it isn’t, though, because His ways are not ours, so rather than go from victory to victory, we go from disappointment to defeat, the ever-nagging question of why God didn’t keep His word scratching at our peace like nails on a chalkboard.

Few allow for the possibility that their favorite pink-haired prophetess made it up, God didn’t say the thing she said He said, and they’ve been duped. A well-intentioned lie is still a lie. Eventually, the fruit of it will be bitter and rancid.

There is one true measure of success when it comes to ministry: whether or not you were obedient to the calling to which you were called. It’s not the size of the work, the square footage of the office space you have to lease out, or whether you own a jet or drive a beater.

Are you where God told you to be? Are you doing what He commanded you to do? Are you speaking the words He entrusted you to say? If the answer is yes, then godspeed. If the answer is no, just beware, eventually, something will give, and the beast, mad with hunger, will eat anything in its path, including you.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.  

Bait and Switch

 The bait and switch crews are the most odious of all of them. Not only do they plan to fleece those who fall into their snare like bleating sheep, but they also take the time to build up trust, know what the truth is, teach it for a season, then veer off into the desert.

The examples are too many to count, but as with every other confidence scheme, we’ve seen this a time or ten within Christendom as well.

Two things must happen to avoid falling for the bait and switch. You must first be awake; then, you must remain awake. If you were already dosing off by the time the self-titled prophet, bishop, or apostle, came along and started ‘sowing’ into your life, it will take a veritable miracle to wake you from your slumber and make you acknowledge the truth.

If you were awake, because the maneuver is called the bait and switch, you must remain awake to spot the sleight of hand and catch the switch taking place. This is where consistency comes into play. Remember that thing about consistency a few days back? Yeah, it doesn’t just reveal someone’s character; it’s a good gauge of whether they remain in the truth.

Suppose all of a sudden, the guy who’s been doing expository preaching for the past decade starts doing a series on the permissiveness of the marriage chamber, followed by ten reasons why sin isn’t as big an issue as it used to be in the olden days. In that case, you should probably increase your level of vigilance tenfold. Also, it would be wise to steel yourself for the eventuality of the other shoe-dropping and camera crews showing up in the parking lot, shoving microphones in your face, asking if you had any inkling about the ecstasy binges and massages from individuals with Adam’s apples and hairy knuckles that the pastor was involved in.

It’s a reliable indicator. If your pastor, elder, evangelist, or bishop suddenly starts exploring biblical loopholes for sin rather than rightly dividing the Word, it’s their way of dealing with their own failings and trying to justify them.

I don’t care that someone was biblical a decade ago or if you heard them give a great sermon a year ago. Are they presently biblical? Are they presently insisting upon repentance, righteousness, sanctification, and holiness? And yes, by someone, I include myself.

If at some point, for whatever reason, I go off the rails and start preaching another gospel, I expect you to be so well established in the truth that you would call me out.

Well, brother, I get that the Good Book says if anyone thinks he stands, take heed lest he falls, but that doesn’t necessarily apply to me. Are you anyone? Then it does. Nope, not going to hear you out, don’t want to know why you believe yourself to be exempt. I know you think you may be special, but I guarantee you that you’re not!

Paul understood the bait and switch well enough to warn the Galatians of its possibility and include himself as well.

Galatians 1:8, “But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed.”

Because we reject the idea of being Bereans and have offshored our spiritual needs in lieu of spending our time doing other things, it doesn’t take an angel from heaven to lead people astray, just some slick hair, a nice suit, and name recognition. Sometimes it doesn't even take that. 

I can’t even count the number of discussions I’ve had with people defending the preachers they fanboy over, when what they said was demonstrably unbiblical and indefensible. From the ever-present I know that’s what they said, but that’s not what they meant, to you just heard it wrong, to maybe you’re just jealous because he has a deeper understanding.

Sorry, no depth of understanding can justify a preacher saying taking the mark of the beast will have no ill effects or repercussions. I don’t care how circuitous and bendy your interpretation is; being told that you will drink the wine of the wrath of God if you take the mark on your forehead or hand is pretty self-explanatory. There’s also that thing about being tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, but who am I to question living legends and men who’ve appeared on CNN?

That everyone can start a race does not guarantee that everyone will finish it! We would do well to remember that.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.