The turning point in my life came in 1995.
At that time I was a 24 year-old burned out pastor of a church that had just closed.
I was a little angry, a little frustrated, and a little depressed.
As I was half-reading and half-praying, I came across a passage that I had seen hundreds of times before: "[God] has raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus" (Eph. 2:6).
That word "together" exploded upon my consciousness - together, together, TOGETHER!
I finally grasped the fact that I am in Christ, and Christ is in me.
From there, everything else fell into place.
If I am seated together with Him, then I ascended together with Him.
If I ascended together with Him, then I was resurrected together with Him.
If I was resurrected together with Him, then I died with Him.
If I died with Him, then "I was crucified with Christ" (Gal. 2:20).
I knew all those Scriptures... I had read them hundreds of times... I had taught these things for years...
But on that day, the written Word became the Living Word.
I saw Him.
I saw myself in Him - just one of the crucified, dead, buried, resurrected, ascended, and seated Branches of a crucified, dead, buried, resurrected, ascended, and seated Vine.
I saw it backwards and forwards, upside down and rightside up, from every possible angle and from every possible color. I did not realize it at the time, but that day, and the revelation that came to me that day, would mark the beginning of the end of my career as a preacher for Organized Religion. Because once I saw Christ as He truly is, I began to see the Body of Christ as it really is - and as it should be.
I began to see what a poor, miserable substitute Churchianity has created.
I realized I no longer "fit the suit."
But I still tried.
My mission from that day forward was to be the Grand Reformer, another Martin Luther who was going to take this revelation into Churchianity and turn the world upside down.
It wasn't long before my opportunity came.
The next church that extended a ministry position to me probably thought they were getting the typical Assemblies of God pastor.
What they got instead was a disaster (at least in their mind).
From my perspective, I was just speaking the truth and keeping it real.
I couldn't figure out why loving people and pointing them to Christ caused so much hate and anger.
Today, of course, I get it.
I understand the difference between being Christ-centered and Church-centered.
You see, I had always assumed that being Church-centered was pretty much the same thing as being Christ-centered.
How naïve and foolish I was in those days.
I also assumed that everyone went to church because they wanted to grow spiritually.
Another foolish assumption.
Christ-centered spiritual maturity is NOT the goal of Churchianity; the goal of Churchianity is to keep people in a perpetual state of spiritual immaturity, forever dependent upon the pastor to feed them and the worship team to entertain them.
Scriptural integrity? Only insofar as the Scriptures agree with their way of doing things.
As Jesus said, "You nullify the Word of God with your tradition."
And as God told Ezekiel, "They come and sit before you as My people, and they listen to what you say, but they won't do anything you tell them. To them you're a lovely song playing on an instrument; they enjoy listening to you, but they won't put anything you say into practice."
(That's my paraphrase of Ezekiel 33:31,32.)
Being kicked out of church was the best thing that could have happened to us.
If I had not been kicked out of church, I would still be there trying to reform it.
Trying to fix something that God never intended to be built to begin with.
continued

Occasionally someone says, "Hey Brother Chip, not all churches are bad! What about all the good pastors? What about all the precious people who still go to church? Aren't you afraid you're going to offend someone by painting all of them with such a broad brush?"
If the price of saving a few is to offend the many, then no, I'm not afraid of offending the many.
I am more afraid of not doing all I can to help people get delivered from a religion ABOUT Jesus so they can discover a relationship WITH Him.

One time, the disciples of Jesus came to him and said, "Master, don't You know the Pharisees were offended by what You just said?"
Jesus replied: "Leave them alone.  They are blind leaders of the blind, and if the blind lead the blind, they will both fall into a ditch."
But Lord, what about Nicodemus? Nicodemus was a good Pharisee who supported Jesus!  See, not all Pharisees are bad!  Oh no, Jesus might have offended Nicodemus by lumping them all together into one broad, general statement about the blind leading the blind!  Oh, the shock!
Here's what Jesus knows: Nicodemus is going to have to decide if he wants to follow Jesus or follow the Pharisees, but there is no way for him to do both at the same time.
"To him who has an ear, let him hear."
In other words, if the shoe fits, wear it.
That goes for Nicodemus and for everyone else trying to have the best of both worlds.
The School of Christ follows in the same spirit of Jesus: choose whom you will serve, because you cannot follow Christ and defend Churchianity at the same time.
If you are sold out for the Lord's purposes, you are on a head-on collision course with Churchianity.
I'm living proof of that.
Of course, you can try - as I did.
I wish you well, but that's not my battle.
My fight is for God's Purposes to be fulfilled in God's People.
I want to see God's People delivered from a Church-centered tradition so they can have a Christ-centered Faith.
I want to see God's People set free from the shackles of spiritual immaturity so they can grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus - spiritually mature, able to serve God and serve others.
I want to see God's People rightly handle the Word of God, able to handle strong meat, able to exercise discernment, able to test all things, and able to speak the truth in love without hitting people over the head with Bible verses taken out of context.
And that CANNOT happen within the narrow confines of Churchianity.
"Come out of her, My People!" (Rev. 18:4).
The opportunity is Outside the Camp, not inside it.
The Harvest is "out there" not "in here."
Let the dead bury their dead.
It's time for us to be about our Father's business.
I am your brother,
Chip Brogden
http://TheSchoolOfChrist.Org
P.S.  Did you notice that in this letter I alluded to our Three Core Values? Watch these three short videos to learn more: http://theschoolofchrist.org/about/values.html
THE SCHOOL OF CHRIST is dedicated to your spiritual growth and maturity through Christ-centered, Spirit-led, Scripture-based discipleship that focuses on relationship, not religion.
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I have included a message from Chip Brogden of The School of Christ because it rings so true of my own experience. God blessed me with an intimate relationship with Him and Jesus when I was a child. Long before I became caught up in churches as a teenager, I knew Jesus and formed a relationship with Him. As a teenager I used to go to church and hear the preacher say things that seemed wrong to me. I would go home and read my bible and not find anything to back up what they said. I would pray and ask for enlightenment, but all I would get was "you have thought correctly." If I raised this discrepancy with other people in the church I would be told I was wrong. I was told I had to believe what the preacher said because they were always right. I could not bring myself to do that. Fast forward to my adult years and I found myself on a preaching roster in a church. I would spend so long in prayer, seeking God's direction on what to say. Every word would be surrounded in prayer and much time spent reading the bible. Yet my words were rejected and I was removed from the preaching roster. This has happened several times since then. Every time I try to speak God's messages I am silenced. As an abused child I was always being silenced by my family. It seems satan has sought all my life to shut me down and stop people listening to me. Not a lot of people read this blog, but I guess some do, and I know God has asked me to do this for those who do read it. I am not going to be silenced by anyone. My faith is in God because it is God who watched over me as a child. I know Jesus held me in His lap and comforted me many times and continues to do that when I need it. I owe everything, including my life, to Jesus and I will not allow the words He asks me to speak to be silenced. So however few people read this blog, they are a multitude in heaven. We need to hear God and share His words with each other and with the world.

John 14:1-7
Before moving into this chapter, I want to talk more about John 13:34-35, because those verses are really important. Jesus’ command, a new one, love each other as He has loved us so that others may know we are His disciples. For me the most important aspect of my relationship with Jesus is reading the Bible and seeking to understand what message Jesus has for me in the verses of the Bible. Of course, every time I read a verse, the message is different, because the Bible is the living word of God. I once read that the Bible is the only book in the world where the author looks over our shoulder as we read it and points out verses to us. Our relationship with Jesus is not about fellowship with others, or attending a church, or prayer meeting, or bible study. It is about the time we spend in His company, reading His word, seeking Him in prayer and listening to Him. Yes, we frequently fail to obey this new command to love one another. We let Jesus down constantly by bickering about doctrine, accusing those attending another church of not being “saved” and being harsh and judgemental. That is not what Jesus sought to teach his disciples during this important meal the night before He was to suffer so terribly for us. He wanted us to love unconditionally as He did.
In chapter 14, Jesus firstly set out to reassure and comfort His disciples.
“Do not let your hearts be troubled”. He had told them some terrible, scary things. Now He is reassuring His disciples by reminding them to trust in God, and also in Him. He reassures them of the permanence of God by reminding them that His house has many rooms and that Jesus is going there to prepare a place for them. Not only is God trustworthy, but Jesus is not going to leave the earth and desert the disciples. He is promising that He will come back for them. This is one of the most important promises Jesus made for all believers. This is what gives us comfort as we think of our own earthly mortality. Jesus is coming to bring us to be with Him! But, says Thomas, we don’t know where you are going, how do we know how to get there?
Jesus reply was verse 6 “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (NIV). This is a difficult verse for many people. Here stated very plainly is the fact that the way to heaven is through Jesus. There is no other way. Many people stumble at this. They find it hard to accept that those who appear to have such devout faith in other gods will not be saved. Or those they love or who they think are “good people”. But Jesus’ words are very plain. He is the way, if we want to find that house with God, we need to follow Jesus. He is the truth, and his words are truth so we can’t say He didn’t mean it. He is the life, and to prove it He laid down His life on the cross and took it up again. He has said that no one can come to the Father except through Him so therefore there is no other way.

My apologies for the continuing lack of blogs. This chest infection is hanging around. My wonderful Father has instructed me to take a break for the rest of the week and recommence posts Saturday. I know that His word is forever and endless so there is always time, until the end, to contemplate His word. In the meantime, here is another post by Chip Brogden which is very inspiring.

Nan

In my previous message, I said that God has sent The School of Christ to help those who are burned out on religion, fed up with Churchianity, despised, rejected, and cut off from the Institutional Church.
If you fit into that category, my message to you is simple:
1. You are not crazy
2. You are not alone.
3. Now is the greatest opportunity of your life. 
You have been set free to serve: liberated from Churchianity, free to follow Jesus, free to love God and to love your neighbour, without being bound by the Spirit of Religion.
Or so it would appear...
Because just as the newly liberated Hebrews wandered the desert for forty years without entering the Promised Land, it is possible for newly liberated Christians to wander in the wilderness for years and never discover the purpose to which they are called.
Or like the Galatians, you can easily find yourself being set free in Christ, only to become entangled again by the yoke of bondage to Churchianity.
Our heart's desire is to help you STAND FAST in the liberty wherein Christ has made you free.
To do that, we have identified Five Critical Needs for those who have escaped Churchianity and endeavour to follow Jesus "outside the camp."
These Five Critical Needs are the conclusions we have come to after traveling thousands of miles, communicating with thousands of Christians, and observing first hand nearly every variety of church, denomination, home group, and even a few cults over nearly 30 years of ministry to people, both inside and outside of Churchianity - the good, the bad, and the ugly.
More importantly, these Five Critical Needs are the five specific areas in which we believe God is calling us to do something about.
Let's talk about the most obvious one first...
1. FELLOWSHIP
It is the #1 reason why people say they attend church.
It is the #1 reason given for why people who don't attend church should attend. 
And it is the #1 reason why some people who say God called them out of church will later change their minds and go right back into the very thing they said God set them free from.
It's a powerful force!
What is it?
Fellowship!
The need to interact with others and walk together with them is deeply rooted in every person. 
Here's the problem...
We have a "fellowship fantasy" playing around in our head about how life will be wonderful once we find fellowship. 
In real life, there is no perfect fellowship, and even if we find it, it's not as wonderful as we thought (it's actually rather messy).
Really, fellowship is EASY.
You can get fellowship at the local bar (or pub).
You can get fellowship at the country club or the football stadium.
Fellowship occurs when people are united together by a common interest.
Fellowship among Christians isn't really the difficulty; the challenge is agreeing on what the common interest is going to be.
You may have discovered that not all Christians are united together by a common interest; therefore, it is not possible to have fellowship with all Christians.
"But brother, JESUS is what unites all Christians!"
Theoretically, yes, that is what SHOULD unite all Christians.
But practically, you know as well as I do that Christians are motivated by many different things - and some of them have nothing to do with Jesus.
continued in next posting.