Promises Pt. 02

"Finished? I have just begun to fight!"

"What have you got against the Pentecostal church?"

"What I have against it, and what I intend to prove is; while it has adopted this 'holier than thou' attitude to the rest of the world and other Christian churches, and while it has trumpeted from the rooftops how it believes that the "Word of God' is without fault and should be obeyed totally, it does not practice what it preaches. Not only that but it proclaims strict obedience to the teachings of Jesus when the opposite is the case. That, Pastor Mayotte is what I have against the Pentecostal church, and do you know what? As you are about to find out, I can prove my case and the church cannot, and will not be able to disprove it."

There was a general buzz throughout the public gallery, the gloves were off, the gauntlet had been thrown down. Could the church rise to defeat the challenge? There were some who thought not, some who thought that the church would prevail, after all didn't it have God on its side? And the others who were just hoping.

Court was adjourned for lunch and the media scrum rushed for the phones to file their early reports and prepare their office for more of the same.

Michael checked his mobile phone for messages and found one to call his office. "Yes Chantelle?"

"Michael, the police have been going through the CCTV images from the previous night, and they have identified a vehicle leaving the scene at the time of the fire-bombing, and it belonged to a member of the Shining Light Christian Church. A white Caucasian male has been taken to the local police station and is 'assisting police with their inquiries'. Charges are expected to be laid later on today."

"Thank you Chantelle, this gives us some more ammunition to use against them." Michael decided that if the church wanted to play dirty he had two choices, to fight just as dirty, or to take the moral high ground and live in forgiveness. Dirty won for the time being, he could forgive later.

As he walked back into court he saw a reporter that he knew and called out to him. "Jerry, a word in your shell like ear." Jerry was suddenly all ears, something juicy was about to be revealed. "It would appear that the police are questioning someone about the torching of my offices. It would also appear that the person involved is a member of the Shining Light Christian Church. What do you think I should do about it?" In answer Jerry sprinted towards the door. With a satisfied smile on his face Michael walked back into court.

"Pastor Mayotte, what would you say would be the core of Jesus' teaching?"

"Obedience to God the Father." He didn't sound sure of the answer.

"No. The core of Jesus' teaching was about love, unconditional love. He said, did he not, that we were to love God with all our heart, soul and spirit, and love our neighbours as ourselves?"

"Yes, they are the Two Commandments of Jesus."

"Then why doesn't your church obey them?"

"We do."

"Really? Why is it then that my client has had to resort to this action to get his voice heard? Why is it then that instead of speaking to him to find out what his concerns are, you ostracize him in front of the whole church? Why is it that instead of holding out the hand of friendship and forgiveness to him, you have chosen to fight this in court? Where is the love in your actions?"

"It was his decision to take this to court!"

"As a course of last resort! It would not have come to this if you had shown love to my client. It would not have come to this if your church had been interested in him and his concerns, and had been prepared to discuss these issues with an open mind. But you decided that if he wasn't prepared to abide by your teachings, your rules, not God's rules, your rules, then that was his problem, and if he left your church the problem would leave with him. You decided that to prevent the revelation of your false teaching, your lies, you would kill the messenger who was about to reveal them!" Henderson lowered his voice. "Is that the way Jesus would have treated him?"

"We have to have rules, we have to set conditions."

"Did Jesus set conditions? When the Roman Centurion came to him to get healing for his servant, did Jesus say to him, 'Sorry I can't help you unless you become a Jew.'? When he met the Samaritan woman at the well and identified that she was living with a man who wasn't her husband, did he say to her, 'I'll only give you the waters of life if you leave that man and live a pure life?' And when he saved the woman from being stoned to death by telling her accusers, 'Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.' Actually this is an interesting one."

"If I may digress a little here, The common interpretation is that she was accused of adultery, that she was of loose morals, not to put too fine a point on it, she was a prostitute. This was not the case. Death by stoning was reserved for women who had sex before marriage. That is she has broken the marriage contract that stipulates that she be a virgin on her wedding day. I does not refer to a common prostitute. And when Jesus says to them 'let he who is without sin', this is a blanket reference to sin not to a specific sin."

"As with the other examples, there was no condition place on his actions, he just told her to sin no more. If you were to read the teachings of Jesus you will see that the common thread is unconditional love. He placed no conditions on his love. He placed no conditions on his healing. He placed no conditions on his blessing. How does your church demonstrate love Pastor Mayotte?"

"We live the Word of God!"

"Do you really? Did God place conditions on His love?"

"Of course He did! In John 3:16 it tells us that 'God so loved the World that He gave His only begotten son the whosoever believes in him shall not perish, but find eternal life.' That tells us that the only way that we can get to Heaven is through Jesus Christ. What do you say to that?"

"What I say is; look at this passage in a different way, don't change the wording, or the punctuation, just the emphasis. 'God so loved the World that He gave His only son that whoever believes in Him, God the giver, not Jesus the gift, shall not perish but find eternal life.' By changing the emphasis, God's love is open to all not just a few. His unconditional love is open to all."

"We believe that His love is open only to those who believe in Jesus. We believe in the truth of the Bible and only teach that truth."

"And on what do you base this belief?"

"In John 14 Jesus said, 'I am the way and the truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father except through me.' We believe that and we teach that."

"But that is only part of that teaching. What Jesus was telling his disciples was that he was the living embodiment of God and if they knew him they would also know God, if they have faith in him they will also have faith in God, if they do as he did they will do even greater things. Then he makes the most significant statement of all, he tells them; 'If you love me you will do as I command. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counsellor to be with you forever – the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.' What he was telling them was, that after he left this earth his spirit, the spirit of truth, would remain, and it was this spirit that would guide them. And what did Jesus command us to do Pastor Mayotte? He commanded us to love God with all our heart, soul and spirit and to love our neighbour as ourselves. It was about unconditional love, inclusive love, and not the exclusive love that you teach, that you practice."

"I, we, live in obedience to the word of God and the Bible tells us that the only way that you can get to heaven is if you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ! How dare you tell me otherwise! I will not sit here and listen to your heresy!"

Bang! Judge Foley brought his gavel down with such force it was in danger of breaking. "I will not countenance such outbursts in this court. Pastor Mayotte you will control your emotions." His voice carried the threat of dire consequences.

Henderson had a half smile on his face, he was getting to Mayotte. "Jesus went on to say; 'Anyone who has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him. . . . If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him and we will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.' Pastor Mayotte, what that tells me is that if I live in obedience to his teaching God will love me. Do you live in obedience to his teaching?"

"Yes! I live in obedience to all his teachings."

"Do you really? Before we move on to the next bit Pastor Mayotte, What is the first line of the Lord's Prayer?"

"Our Father, who art in Heaven." Mayotte had a puzzled look on his face, where was this going, and how could he get out of it?

"It say, 'Our Father' pastor Mayotte, not 'My Father', Jesus is telling us that we are all God's children! By saying this he is demonstrating that he is loving us as he would love himself. He is a child of God the same as us, and this is not the only time that he does this."

"You are of course aware of the Seven Woes in Matthew? I wonder if we looked at them closely whether you would be able to recognize you and your church in them? Now what is the first one?" He un-necessarily consulted his Bible, "'The teachers of the law and Pharisees sit in Moses' chair so you must obey them and do everything they tell you.' Sounds fair so far, doesn't it? Now comes the good bit; 'But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. They tie up heavy loads and put them on men's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.' Your church places the heavy load of obedience on the shoulders of its followers but do you bear that load yourself?"

"We do not ask them to do anything that we wouldn't do ourselves."

"How many people, in the life of your church, have fallen by the wayside because they have been unable to live up to the lofty ideals that you set for them? You would have no idea how many have been lost because a person who falls by the wayside is a loser and there is no place in your church for losers. So you have no conditions on membership? They, to become members, don't have to be baptized and come up out of the water speaking in tongues?"

"They are not 'born again' if they don't do it."

"Where do you find that in the Bible?"

"In John Chapter 3 is says, 'I tell you the truth, no-one can see the Kingdom of God unless he is born again.' and 'You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.' I think that is clear, to see the Kingdom of God, to be one with God, you must be born again."

"That's all well and good, but it doesn't say that to be born again one has to be submerged in water and emerge speaking in tongues, does it? Surely that is nothing more than a public demonstration of a private decision to renounce your old ways and start a new life with Jesus?"

"What if it is? What is your problem with our people having the courage to tell the world that they are Christian, that they have forsaken their wicked ways and have begun a new life in God through Jesus?"

"Because in the context of that passage, by renouncing your old ways you begin a new life in God, a new life, you are born again. This has nothing whatever to do with being baptised by full emersion and emerging speaking in tongues. That is a symbolic gesture of compliance to your rules, and just doing that and ignoring the other teachings does not necessarily get you into heaven."

"My problem," Henderson continued, "is that churches like yours make me want to mumble 'Christian' when someone asks me my religion instead of holding my head up and proudly proclaiming my Christianity. My problem also is that you view that as a condition of acceptance by your church, you do not follow the teachings of Jesus by accepting your people without that condition. God's love is without condition, you are to love without condition, without the need for compliance to your rules for acceptance. That Pastor Mayotte is my problem. Your love is not unconditional, contrary to the teachings of Jesus, your Spiritual Leader."

"The next criticism of the church leaders is; 'Everything is done for men to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; they love the place of honour at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogue; they love to be greeted in the market-places and to have men call them 'Rabbi'.' Pastor Mayotte, where do you sit in church?"

"In the front row."

"And the other occupants of the front row, they are all important people in the church?"

"Yes."

"So if I was to go to your church and take a seat in the front row, would you allow me to remain there?"

"No, those seats are reserved for Pastors and other important people."

"So I'm not important to you?"

"I didn't say that!"

"But I'm not as important as other people?"

"I didn't say that either!"

"But to be able to get a seat in the front row I would have to earn that honour by doing all of the right things over a qualifying period, is that not correct?"

"We can't have just anyone sitting in the front row."

"So there are conditions that go with that honour?"

"Yes." The trap had slammed shut.

"So to be honoured by your church I would have to earn that position, presumably by proving myself somehow more worthy of that position than the previous incumbent? Where is your unconditional love? What would the person that I displaced think about your loyalty to him? How do you think he would feel if he walked along the front row looking for his seat, only to find his name not there? Where is Jesus Christ in that?" Mayotte was about to answer but thought better of it.

"Pastor Mayotte, at the beginning of this trial I was calling you Mister Mayotte but you insisted on being addressed as 'Pastor', isn't that the same as loving to be greeted in the market place as 'Rabbi'?"

"What is wrong with being shown respect?"

"What's wrong with it? The very next line should tell you what is wrong; 'But you are not to be called 'Rabbi' for you have only one Master and you are all brothers. And do not call anyone on Earth 'father' for you have one Father, and he is in Heaven. Nor are you to be called 'teacher', for you have one Teacher, the Christ. The greatest among you will be your servant. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.' Don't you exalt yourself by insisting that you be addressed as 'Pastor'? And you are obedient to Scripture? I think not. What do you think Jesus meant by this?"

"So you think that you are better than me because you don't call yourself by your earned title, whatever that is. I serve God and Jesus, what more would you have me do?"

"I am not the person on trial here. For your information, I could insist on you calling me by my earned title which is Doctor, you see, apart from my Law degree, I have a post graduate doctorate in Theology." Mayotte and Johansson were both shocked by this revelation, they now knew the source of his knowledge of the Bible. "As to the 'what more' we'll get to that shortly. "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men's faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to. What do you think that means?"

"I don't know! We at the Shining Light Christian Church are trying to open the kingdom of heaven for all."

"What by stifling the desire among your followers to learn? By making it difficult for anyone who has a dissenting opinion over what has been taught to have a free and open discussion about it with you? By telling everyone that what is preached at your church is the true word and should not be challenged? You do not practice what you preach but if someone was to suggest that to you, that suggestion is rejected. Shall we continue?"

"If you must."

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are. What does that mean for you?"

"I don't really know. Could it mean that more effort is used attracting someone to the church that retaining them?"

"Not really, at least I don't think so. My interpretation of this passage is that a new recruit to a church will be so fired up with enthusiasm that he will, believing that this is what is expected of him, become so much more rigid in his obedience to the rules and ideology of that church that he will fall into sin over it. Sort of like the new recruits to Pentecostalism who go around saying 'Praise the Lord' and 'Hallelujah!' in every second sentence so that the world at large will know that they are 'born again', yet they show a lack of love by insisting that you are not as good as they are and to be 'Spirit filled' you have to be like them. No thanks."

"Moving on to the next one. 'Woe to you blind guides! You say, 'If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath,' You blind fools! Which is greater; the gold, or the temple that makes the gold sacred? You also say, 'if anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gift on it, he is bound by his oath.' You blind men! Which is greater; the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred? Therefore, he who swears by the altar swears by it and everything on it. And he who swears by the temple swears by it and by the one who dwells in it. And he who swears by heaven swears by God's throne and by the one who sits on it.' What are we to take from that Scripture?"

"I haven't given it a great deal of thought, perhaps you can enlighten me."

"If you so wish. In my opinion, and I'm not saying this is right, just that what this is saying to me, is that the temple and the altar represent the spiritual side of man, while the gold and the altar gifts represent the physical side, and the Pharisees were placing more importance on the physical over the spiritual, but regardless of that, an oath whether sworn in the physical or the spiritual, is an oath to be obeyed. A promise made in the physical or spiritual is a promise that should be honoured. Does that sound fair enough to you, Pastor Mayotte?"

"I guess so." Mayotte held his breath waiting for Henderson to pounce on his agreement about promises but Henderson let it slide. Mayotte was left wondering how long it would be before Henderson picked up on his opportunity to score points. That Henderson let it slide was a deliberate ploy to distract.

"Shall we move on to the next one? 'Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices - mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law - justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. You blind guides! You strain at a gnat but swallow the camel.' Enlighten me Pastor Mayotte, what does this mean?"

"That churches pay more attention to the little things in life at the expense of the bigger?"

"It's another way that Jesus said that the church was concentrating on the little things and losing sight of their real purpose. By nit picking on the little things of life they are losing sight of the big picture. They put doing church before doing God. The show called church must go on. It's another example of the importance of appearance; look at me I tithe religiously, aren't I wonderful! But you have neglected your duty to the people within and without your church. How much time do you or your church spend looking after the homeless, the sick, the alcoholics and drug addicts, those who are marginalized by today's greedy, avaricious and acquisitive society? Do you spend as much time with these people as you do with rehearsals for the warm-up concert, or worrying about your tithing? Have you not lost sight of the big picture here, the bigger issues that surround you?"