of no reputation

"let this mindset be in you, which is in Jesus...who makes himself of no reputation". (Philippians)

This is such a joke. Nothing could be further from the truth in today's Body.

There's so much glamor and glitz going on these days it'll make your head spin. A vast, vast sea of Christians doing all they can to make a name for themself. Authors, pastors, evangelists, bands, writers, vocalists. So many who put on a false front of humility, yet who beneath the surface bloodlust for prestige. (And what comes with prestige and popularity? Riches, of course.)

Aren't you fed up with hearing someone who may actually have some good things to say...and yet they invariably feel they HAVE to go into plug-my-table, plug-my-website mode?

Have you noticed the swelling, puffed undertones when they miserably attempt to be demure in mentioning they "just so happen" to have a table/site to peddle their wares? Ever thought about how dainty and innocent they attempt to make all this? Ever been underwhelmed by the excuses people give to justify doing this? Ever seen right through the mask? Ever had a yellow or red flag go up inside you regarding someone that looked good, smelled good and was saying all the things that made them seem harmless and innocent?

Last year I decided to browse the website of one of the "name" Christian people. What's interesting is this person boldly states on their site that one of the things they are most vehemently and proactively opposed to is pride among today's Christian leaders.

One click away on their site is this person's bio page, which just so happens to go into grand detail about: how many thousands attend their church, how many books they have sold, how many umpteen other pastors they have taught, where all over the world this person has extensively traveled to share their message, along with tons of news-source accolades heralding this person and their church as the greatest thing since sliced bread--i.e., how influential they are, how respected they are, how big of a Movement their stuff is, and how they are quite arguably the best pastor in the land. I just went to the site (just now), and wouldn't you know everything is still right there.

I'm sorry. I can't hear what you're saying for what you're doing.


There's a couple of other things that come to mind with regard to being of no reputation.

One of them is thinking back through the years, visiting churches and seeing the lathered-on-thick manpraise going on in Christian circles. It is common in Christian arenas for people to go super-overboard in heralding how incredible and great people are.

They do this both with regard to their leader(s) and also themselves. I have visited churches who claim to be warm and loving beyond my wildest dreams...and no one said a word to me the whole time (which I didn't mind from my end, but I'm speaking of this in the context of their proclamations).

They go waaaaaayyyy too far in trying to convince me as a visitor that this person who's going to speak is really something else and I therefore should really really listen closely. It never ceases to amaze me the use of such blatant mind-bending techniques to try and convince me to pay close attention to their "great pastor", "great man of God", "man of integrity", etc.

It is not uncommon for them to also throw into the slather a laundry list of human accomplishments, which are also geared to impress me. Even if "the man" there is not renowned on a large scale, they throw in any titles and accomplishments they can to try and build credibility (so that I'll be sure and pay attention).

Some Christian groups do this by requiring their pastors obtain a doctorate degree before they are allowed to speak. Almost every pastor in these organizations must be(come) Dr. So-n-So. Have you ever noticed the unadulterated pride with which these folks make a huge prideful deal about the "Dr." in front of the name? Being a Dr. doesn't make one either good or bad. But why these circles think titles or fame make someone good or credible is a joke.

I don't give a rat's ass about laundry-list resumes and prefixes before names. I couldn't give less of a shit about someone who has great delivery or persuasion techniques.

This is because the Way is not about persuasion. I see a lot of Christianity building their entire empires and paradigms around the Way being about persuasion. It's not. This is not about persuading or convincing. (Ever stop to consider this? Look around at how much of it is going on all around us?)

The Way is not about numbers either.

Neither do I care how many publications someone has written, how many books they're selling, how sweeping their thoughts or their Movement is. None of these things, to me, indicate whether someone is of God or not. All these things are man's measuring stick, not God's.

Yet the Body is deeply deeply entrenched in these things, saying and believing these things make someone a "man of God", a "gifted teacher", a prophet or whatever other wide number of titles and attributes Christians enjoy giving themselves.

All of this is extremely frustrating to me. Adding insult to injury in this is the widespread practice of Christians giving all kinds of man-glory and pats to themselves on the back for things that aren't even remotely important to God. Things that have nothing to do with the Way. Things that have nothing to do with being Jesus.

All this gluttunous pageantry and panache going around? It is so Old Testament it's not even funny. It was OT practice for God's people to do all manner of pomp and circumstance. And from what I read, yeah, God was pretty much into that kind of thing back then.

When is Jesus ever into production, over-the-top glut or pizzazz? It is indeed awesome when he publishes the Kingdom--withered hands healed, the dead raised, the blind seeing, the condemned forgiven, demons dispelled--yet Jesus does these things without showmanship, without revelry, without making a big whoop-tee-doo. Jesus purposely averts any attempts to be prestigious. His name is spread abroad, but this does not take place via self-promotion.

He brings some amazing things of God to mankind, yet does so with no flare, no self-promotion, no overt efforts to make a name for himself. Sure, we read of large crowds surging in, yet this is their doing, not his. Rather, of Jesus we read that he frequently goes off to lonely places to be alone. We read of times where the crowds search for him, other times where they want to give him all kinds of accolades, and he is either nowhere to be found, censors them to be quiet (and not reveal Who he is) or gets the heck out of there so the crowning doesn't take place.

This is not the spirit of the body of Jesus today. Not even close. I see a helluva lot of crowning going on today among Christians. It's deeply ingrained in Christian culture.

I don't buy the tippy-toeing around our grounding. Our grounding to be the same as Jesus, who makes himself of no reputation.

There's a lot of evil continually being bred by this grounding being blatantly ignored and excused away.

It's cool to see Father beginning to chink holes in this unaberrated and widespread haughtiness. It makes a lot of folks wince, cause God doing this puts a dent in the "we're pristine, we're aligned with God" front the Body tries to portray about itself.

It's interesting to see the damage-control mode the Body goes into when God authors the ass-kicking. Straighten the tie, straighten the hair, clear the throat. Then put on that fake smile Christians are so famous for. Oh, and be sure to lay all kinds of blame on "the enemy" and whine about being persecuted.

Unbelievable. God is trying to plug some holes in the ship, cause there's a helluva lot of them, and Christians talk as though this going on is anything but God.

God would rather light people's ass up than have them continue on as they are.

Do it more, Father.