I need to begin with a true story. I recently had a conversation a local pastor who related the following personal experience. Several years ago he and his wife were involved with a small house church group in the Pacific Northwest. They were living out an ideal vision of what New Testament church should be. Things were going along swimmingly with good meetings and growing intimacy. Then it happened. The leader of the group announced that if they truly wanted to achieve genuine intimacy with God and with one another they needed to pray together . . . naked (No, I’m not kidding. You can’t make up stuff like this!). When my pastor friend objected that this was unbiblical and immoral, he was attacked and vilified and driven out (fully clothed, I assume). The group eventually fell apart, and my friend and his wife left disillusioned as their idealistic vision of New Testament church ran aground on the rocky shoals of human nature and doctrinal error. They moved to Spokane and eventually began a traditional church plant where they are now.

Welcome to gnarly, gnasty gnosticism. It’s back, 21^st century style.

The early church of the first three hundred years (prior to Constantine) faced many challenges, but there were three which threatened its very life.

The Challenge of Emperor Worship - The Roman Emperor Nero (AD 54-68) was the first Roman Emperor to systematically persecute Christians, using them as scapegoats for the burning of Rome in July of AD 64. From the time of Nero for the next 250 years Christianity was an illegal religion, the practice of which was punishable by death. People accused of being Christians were given the opportunity to recant and offer a pinch of incense at a shrine to the Emperor while declaring "Caesar is Lord." Those who refused were executed. This practice is documented in correspondence between the Emperor Trajan and Pliny, the Governor of Bythinia in Asia Minor, dating from AD 117. Since its inception, genuine Christianity has always come to eventual blows with authoritarianism on the one hand, and moral anarchy on the other. The issue of "emperor worship" challenged the supremacy of Christ in the life of the believer.

The Challenge of Judaizers & False Religion Throughout the first century there was a growing antagonism and separation between the church (ekklesia) on the one hand, and Judaism & the Synagogue on the other. Beginning in Acts 15, the Christian insistence upon the doctrine of justification by faith apart from any works of the Old Testament Law slowly drove a wedge between ekklesia and synagogue. Jewish teachers who insisted that keeping the "Laws of Moses" was necessary in addition to faith in Jesus for salvation came to be known as "Judiazers." The New Testament book of Galatians was written to refute them and their teachings. The issue of the Judaizers challenged the sufficiency of Christ in the life of the believer.

Briefly defined, Gnosticism was a doctrine of "salvation by knowledge." The name "Gnostic" comes from the Greek word gnosis, meaning "knowledge". It’s actual origins are vague, and there were various competing schools of "gnostics," each with their own unique emphases. The issue of the Gnosticism challenged the Church’s understanding of Christ and how this expressed itself in the life of the believer. The Gnostics of the first three centuries covered a lot of diverse and bad ground. Gnosticism represented a "big tent" under which many divergent streams of thought converged and shared space. But there were three fairly consistent characteristics which emerged that we can readily identify

Gnostic Characteristic # 1: Esoteric teachers who offered esoteric teaching in the form of "secret wisdom." Although different gnostic schools took differing approaches, gnosticism as a system taught that salvation came as a result of the initiate (that would be you) learning from a teacher (that would be . . . me!) certain secret truths which were not known to the unwashed masses (i.e., people not in our group who "just don’t get it"). This knowledge might consist of the names of the 23 aeons which emanated from the Eternal (the Alexandrian School), or the significance of the number 3 (the Syrian school). Gnosticism would co-opt biblical vocabulary and redefine it to fit their scheme, hence "repentance" became the undoing of the sin of material existence and the return of the individual to the "Pleroma" (Greek: "fulness" or the Gnostic term for "god"). In simplified terms, this most often manifests itself today in the teaching of what I can only describe as "esoteric catch phrases". Statements which make little or no outward sense, thereby forcing the hearer to ask, "What do you mean, O wise one?" It almost becomes a form of "I know something you don't know. And if you really want to be spiritual, you need to come to me and I'll teach you what those other people don't know". And when the answer is eventually expounded upon, the mystery only deepens. Why, because this is "deep teaching" that only a few will understand. As a friend of mine recently observed regarding a particular individual, "He seems violently opposed to writing a clear sentence." Exactly. Otherwise, you would quickly see that this would-be emperor has no clothes (oops, a slip which I will deal with shortly).

Gnostic Characteristic # 2: Minimizing or disparaging the importance of the flesh in favor of the "spirit". In gnosticism the flesh is unimportant. Only spirit matters. Therefore, as long as you are "spiritual" what you do with the flesh doesn’t matter. I’m not going to elaborate on this Characteristic, but simply observe that it INEVITABLY leads to the next one.

Gnostic Characteristic # 3: Moral laxity. Sexual innuendo pervades Gnostic writings, both then and now. Allow me to give an illustration. The Gospel of Thomas, found among the Nag Hammadi manuscripts in 1945 is an acknowledged "gnostic gospel". Here is what it says in line 37:

(37) His disciples said, "When will you become revealed to us and when shall we see you?" Jesus said, "When you disrobe without being ashamed and take up your garments and place them under your feet like little children and tread on them, then will you see the son of the living one, and you will not be afraid" The Gospel of Thomas at Line 37.

Clear enough? I could quote more, but why use several hundred words when fifty eight words can make the point. The "Baker's Dictionary of Christian Ethics" on "Gnosticism" discusses the Gnostic gospels of Thomas and Philip and makes the following observation: "These texts do use sexual imagery in describing the Gnostic ideal as the elimination of sexual differentia". The whole "worship of the divine feminine of "The Da Vinci Code" is gnosticism to the core. To bring this home, I have met several "disciples" of such gnostic teachers today who parrot the same teaching of there now being no differences between the sexes, male or female. This "sounds" biblical, a reflection of Paul’s words in Galatians 3:28: "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus." But is that what Paul is saying in this (or any other) passage? No! Paul is declaring the radical idea (radical in the world of antiquity) that when it comes to salvation, God deals with everyone, including men and women, on an equal basis. Men are still men, and women are still women (read Matthew 19:4 and Mark 10:6 in case you are in doubt). But God treats men and women EQUALLY when it comes to salvation, with the result that "you are all one in Christ Jesus." No secret, deeper teaching here about God eliminating any "sexual differentia". Just equality before God in Christ for all men . . . and women. Period. Any esoteric teaching to the contrary is dangerous in that it eventually leads to "pseudo-intimacy." I recently read an example of someone talking about the wonderful fellowship their group had as they all laid together on God's bed of love under His canopy of Love. This "pseudo-intimacy" sounds like really spiritual intimacy with Christ, but it is false and leads elsewhere. It led elsewhere for the Gnostics of the early church, and it leads elsewhere today as well. Where it will eventually lead is to sexual impurity. And a spirit of sexual uncleanness manifesting as a rumor of sexual impropriety due to this type of esoteric teaching and careless behavior will destroy the house church movement. Period! If you don’t believe me, re-read the true story I began this article with.

I have also heard this form of gnostic moral laxity applied to God’s relationship to the Church. How many times have you heard someone say, "God wants to birth something in you." One phrase that was recently passed on to me was, "You have an I.U.D. in you that is preventing God from impregnating you." This type of talk is both gnostic and dangerous, and here’s why. Apart from the Virgin Birth, which is both a miracle and a mystery, there are NO biblical examples of God impregnating anyone with anything. Indeed, the only deities of the ancient world who did that sort of thing were the baals of the Canaanite fertility cults and the Greek pantheon of gods who were notoriously immoral. In the New Testament, the Church is the betrothed bride of Jesus, the absent but returning bridegroom. But the consummation of that marriage does not take place in this present age. Therefore, to say that God has impregnated the Church with anything is literally to accuse Him of sexual impurity with the betrothed bride of Jesus, as if He were some philandering Greek god or the baal of a Canaanite fertility cult! That’s how insidious this gnostic thinking is, and why it came close to killing the early church. It is an attack upon our most basic understanding of who God is. He is Jehovah, not Jupiter.

The Apostle John is known in church history as combating the gnostic teacher Cerinthus. Many scholars believe that John was addressing the Gnostic heresy in 2 John when he wrote:

"Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house, and do not give him a greeting; for the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds." (2 John 9-11) John both meant and practiced what he wrote. Church history brings us the story that the Apostle John once entered a public bath, but upon learning that Cerinthus was inside he turned around to leave and said to some friends that were with him, "Let us, my brethren, make haste and be gone, lest the bath, wherein is Cerinthus the enemy of the Truth, should fall upon our heads."

In my review of "The Da Vinci Code" which you can read on our website in our newsletter archives I noted: "Biblical Christianity (as represented by both the Old & New Testaments) has fought a 4,000-year-long running battle against sexual impurity. From the incident with Balaam who counseled Balak, King of Moab, to destroy Israel by causing them to "play the harlot" (read Numbers 22-25), to the ritual temple prostitutes of Corinth and Ephesus which plagued the New Testament believers, to battles against sexual sin today, sexual purity has always been a hallmark characteristic of genuine biblical faith and practice." And this 21^st century version of the ancient gnostic heresy is one more attack upon the sexual and doctrinal purity of the Church. And the Apostle John would tell us today the same thing he told "the chosen lady and her children" in 2 John: "do not receive him into your house." In other words, keep it out of your house church. Why? Because it will destroy you, that’s why.

In my newsletter for May 9 (posted on our website) I talked about "The DNA of the Coming Move of God". Those three DNA traits were 1) repentance, 2) intimacy and 3) holiness. The communication of these three words has had an immense impact upon me personally. To sum it up, I believe God has spoken in bold and powerful terms that as this move of His Spirit unfolds in House Churches He wants a "clean" movement. He is saying to us all that it is time to repent, it is time to seek genuine intimacy with Him, and it is time to pursue "holiness and the fear of the Lord." I look forward to hearing what that looks like in your House Church.

A Different House Church Conference - House Church Intimacy, Communitas & Outreach 101

As I announced last week, I have invited Neil Gamble of Father's Hand Ministries to come to Spokane and lead us in pursuing intimacy with God and expressing it through outreach. We are doing this in conjunction with a neighborhood block party. Neil will be equipping us and discipling us in intimacy with God and what it means to hear God’s voice. Then we will take what we have learned and apply it in a practical ministry environment - a neighborhood block party. Think of this as a House Church Conference where all attendees will have the opportunity to become "hands on."

Date:  July 18-22 - I have invited Neil to come and meet with us on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday evenings (something like 6-to-9 each evening, maybe a potluck). We will then spend all day Saturday working the block party. This year we have also added Sunday "Worship In The Park" so there will be ministry opportunities on Sunday, too. Then, Sunday evening we will do a potluck of some kind and "debrief" on what we learned through the experience.

A "No Fee, No Registration Conferene" -  That's right. We aren't going to charge anyone anything for coming. We will take up an offering of some description and invite all who are able to contribute to offsetting the expenses, including what I hope will be a generous honorarium for Neil.

Arrangements - We really haven't made any yet. We will have a recommended hotel for those of you coming from out of town. I am also asking people in the greater Spokane area to open their homes for overnight guests. We will do evening potlucks for dinner, but you'll be on your own the rest of the time.

Schedule -  We will create a "schedule" of events soon and make it available to you. We will meet in someone’s home, and the time will be "up close and personal". I hope some of you from outside of Spokane will be able to come, and that those of you in the greater Spokane/Pacific Northwest will choose to get involved.

Block Party & Worship In The Park- You can take a look at last years block party here: http://www.parousianetwork.org/Cyber_Cafe/West_Central_Blast_2006.htm. This year is going to be, well, bigger. We are anticipating between 1,000 and 1,500 people. And we have added Sunday's Worship In The Park (led by a Christian motorcycle gang!). There will be numerous ways to serve (physical set up & tear down, games, face painting, crafts, food, etc) and an evangelistic concert with Scoob Serious, a Grammy Nominated Christian rap artist and former gang leader (which will need follow up counselors). This will be the busiest 5 days you will spend this summer, but I believe God has great blessings in store for all who come. I hope you will be among them. 

Stay Tuned For More Details.

House2House Regional Conferences

Given my brain dead condition of late, I've completely spaced the fact that our friends at House2House are sponsoring several regional conferences which you can learn more about at: http://www.house2house.net/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=79 Gale & I are acutally trying to make the Vancouver Conference in late June, but given everything that's happening this summer (including planning a last minute HC conference of our own, something we should have started two months ago!) the verdict is out as to whether or not we'll make it!

O.K., this is just hilarious. I laughed til I cried!: http://www.navone.org/Media/Movies/AlienSong_mp4.mov