The Problem with Leadership's Promotion of "SEEK GOD FOR THE CITY"

Last week I received, from General Conference headquarters, my copy of the Lenten devotional, "SEEK GOD FOR THE CITY" along with the promotional material from CGGC headquarters that accompanies it.

Providentially, it arrived just as I was publishing my Thirteen Characteristics of the CGGC Brand post.  As a result, I was offended in a particularly harsh way.

Five of those 13 characteristics make the point that our General Conference higher ups have the Roman Catholic view of the church, not the Bible's view, as the point from which they jump off. (See characteristics 2, 3, 6, 7 and 12):

http://anti-flockist.blogspot.com/2013/11/thirteen-characteristics-of-cggc-brand.html

And so, as if the Lord in His sovereignty wanted to put his stamp of approval on my take on the CGGC Brand, what do our higher ups push on the body at the same time I make the point that we are being led back into Roman Catholicism?

A Lenten Devotional!

The Lord is mysterious in His ways.

 

To be fair, I've looked the Lenten devotional over and I must admit that, if I were a Roman Catholic priest leading a Roman Catholic parish, I'd love SEEK GOD FOR THE CITY!  I'm certain Pope Francis, "the Slum Pope," would love it!

The problem?  I am not a Roman Catholic priest, I don't lead a Roman Catholic parish.  However, I am ordained in a body which has committed together to the very radical mission of establishing churches on "the New Testament plan."

For those very few of us who submit to the CGGC vision and remain true to it, there is no such thing as a Lenten devotional because there is absolutely nothing in the New Testament that even faintly hints at the observance of Lent, let alone investment in a devotional book to aid in the observance of Lent.

A few thoughts inspired by the higher ups' promotion of SEEK GOD FOR THE CITY:

1. It is one more example of the insubordination of our leaders to CGGC authority to which, according to our polity, they must submit.
     As only one example, We Believe (2013) says, "We believe the Bible is the inspired, infallible authority, the Word of God, "our only rule for following Jesus in every aspect of our life." (my emphasis)  This is strong and radical language.  It is language we did not have to choose.  But, it is language that allows for observance of Lent only if the Bible creates that "rule."
     As a second example of the many authorities superior to GC staff, the General Conference in session--the highest human authority in the CGGC--approved that statement in We Believe and stamped it with an authority to which our Findlay higher ups absolutely must--but don't--submit.
2. It demonstrates the degree to which General Conference leadership is drawing the CGGC to a way of following Jesus that is rooted in Roman Catholic practices from the Middle Ages and not in the Word of God.
     I read the promotional material for the Lenten celebration our denominational higher ups are recommending.  The second sentence of the letter is blatant!  It says: "The prayers are freshly designed to help re-ignite and sustain prayer for others."
     Designed prayers?
     Question:  Where do you go to find designed prayers: The Bible or Dark Ages Roman Catholicism?
3. It brings to life the thirteenth characteristic of the CGGC Brand, "Incoherence."
     Incoherence says this:  "There is illogic and outright contradiction among the things the CGGC claims to be true about itself.  There is also lack of consistency between what it says and what it does."
     It was mere months ago, in the summer of 2013, that the CGGC's highest human authority--the delegates to General Conference session--approved the statement about the authority of the Bible in We Believe.  Now, the higher ups are promoting a Lenten devotional--something for which there is no authority in the Bible.
     Truly, "There is illogic and outright contradiction among the things the CGGC claims to be true about itself.  There is also lack of consistency between what it says and what it does."
4. It accounts for the eighth characteristic of the CGGC Brand, "Cynicism."
     Cynicism is, "An attitude of scornful or jaded negativity, especially a general distrust of the integrity or professed motives of others." 
     Can there be any question why so many in the CGGC are cynical about those who sit their fannies in comfy seats in offices in headquarters buildings?
     Conventional wisdom among the people of the CGGC is that distrust of higher ups is justified.  Indeed, how else could the people of the CGGC guard their own spirituality?

Several years ago I began to use the word macrorepentance.  I believe that the Lord gave me that word. 

To macrorepent is to change your thinking at the big picture level--i.e., to change the values from which particular (micro) thoughts come.

Based on the fruit they produce, It a well accepted value, among CGGC higher ups, that they can defy, apparently at their whim, the New Testament and, in this case, the CGGC Eldership's claim that the Bible is "our only rule for following Jesus in every aspect of our life."

The time has come for the whole CGGC to repent of fallen values and to demand that its leaders submit to the Bible.  It's time that the people of the CGGC confront higher ups who hold themselves above both the Word of God and the CGGC Eldership.

All of us must repent!