...got lysine? Becoming what God made You to Be

By David Ryser

I was at a conference in Toronto.  The speaker closed his sermon by saying, “Christians spend too much time in church, and not enough time at the movie theater.”

I was dumbfounded to hear these words spoken from a pulpit.  The speaker had been making the argument that moviemakers, musicians, and other artists are gifted by God to express His truth.  Even if they do not know God.  He had been talking specifically about how he receives revelation from God while watching movies.  I was pondering his closing statement when God spoke two words into my spirit.

“Jurassic Park.”

And then God began to speak to me about the state of the institutional Church by using the themes found in Jurassic Park (both the movie and the book).

The premise of Jurassic Park is that scientists have been able to recover the DNA of dinosaurs by finding their blood in mosquitoes that had bitten them.  The mosquitoes then had been encased in tree sap, thus preserving both the mosquito and the dinosaur blood.  Using this DNA, it was possible to recreate dinosaurs.  An entrepreneur had funded this research in the hopes that he could use the dinosaurs as the centerpiece for a theme park featuring these creatures as living exhibits in a jungle setting.

Dinosaurs as zoo animals.  Sounds dangerous.

Prior to opening the theme park, the investor/owner invites three experts to inspect the park.  This group consists of two paleontologists and a mathematician (specifically a chaos mathematician).  The paleontologists are excited by the opportunity to see and study living dinosaurs.  They are blind to the fact that these dinosaurs, while in a climate that is suitable to them, are being used in such a way (as living exhibits) that is foreign to their original design.

Malcolm, the mathematician, takes one look at the park and declares that it is a disaster waiting to happen.

There are too many variables.  The dinosaurs are a fundamental unknown.  No one really knows what they were like in the past, but it is certain they were not designed to be captive zoo animals.  No matter what safeguards are in place, something will go terribly wrong.

The owner and his staff set about to calm Malcolm’s fears.  They point out the security features of the park which include electrified fences and impassable moats.  In addition, the dinosaurs have been created female to prevent them from breeding.  The park is located on an island to prevent their escape.  Even if they do escape, there is a final failsafe:  The dinosaurs have been genetically engineered to be lysine deficient.  If they do not receive lysine (an amino acid) in their diet, they will die.  The park staff provides lysine in the diet of the dinosaurs in the form of plant food (for the herbivores) or animal product (for the carnivores).  Without it, the animals cannot live for more than a few days.

It sounds like a good plan.  Too bad the plan doesn’t work.

As the old saying goes, dinosaurs will be dinosaurs.  Before long, they begin to act like the wild animals they are and prove to be uncontrollable.  Not only do they make a mess of the park, but some of them actually manage to escape the island.  The park has to be shut down, and the damage contained by a strict quarantine of the island.  The dinosaurs that have escaped are not thought to be a threat because of their lysine deficiency.

Wrong!

The book ends with reports of sightings of strange animals in the jungle.  People and animals have odd bite marks on their bodies.  There are unidentified footprints on the jungle floor.  Along the path of the footprints, there are opened bean pods.  The beans have been eaten by whatever animal left the footprints.

The beans are rich in lysine.

So what does this have to do with the Church?  Everything.

Christians are designed to be passionate lovers of God who are aggressive co-laborers with Him, through the power of the Holy Spirit, to establish the Kingdom of God on the earth.  We are called to be soldiers in God’s army.  The job of an earthly army is to kill people and break things…and then to occupy the territory won in the war.  In God’s army, we take the light & life of God and assail the gates of the kingdom of darkness.  And we prevail against them (Matthew 16:18).

There is a violence, a wildness, an unpredictability, and an uncontrollability inherent in all of this.  This is a picture of a spiritual battlefield, not a spiritual zoo.  The local church is the training ground for God’s army.  Its job is to prepare the believer for battle.

So why does the local church more resemble a theme park where the Christians are on display for everyone to look at?

And do not think for a moment that this state of affairs is unintentional.  Every Bible College student preparing for vocational ministry takes classes such as Pastoral Theology and Church Administration to learn how to keep God’s people on the reservation.  To keep them under control in order to make them useful for nothing more than to serve as workers in the Church machine.  And we make sure that they do not learn how to hear from God and operate in His power for themselves.  Because if they did, they might do something crazy like minister God’s love and power outside of the church building and programs.

God’s people are lysine deficient, spiritually speaking.  And they are intentionally made to be that way.

Our churches typically are not about training and equipping God’s army for battle.  My friend Tim has correctly pointed out that the threefold purpose of most churches is to:  1) Propagate a message (typically not the gospel; more like an organizational sales pitch), 2) Pool resources (ostensibly for ministry, but usually for the upkeep of the physical plant and the staff), and 3) Control a congregation through a common, unifying vision (Can you say “Jurassic Park”?).

I don’t see establishing God’s kingdom anywhere on the list.  Do you?

As I saw all of this, God spoke again into my spirit:  “My people will become what I made them to be.  And they will do what I have made them to do.  They will find a way to escape the religious system that is holding them back.  And if they lack anything because it was withheld from them, I will make sure they get it.”

I can’t decide if that sounds more like a promise or a threat.  I suppose it depends upon where you fall in the battle between the religious system and the Kingdom of God.

…got lysine?

Responses to this article are welcomed.  You may contact the author at drdave1545@yahoo.com