"Pay No Attention to that Man Behind the Curtain!" (Part 3): Frivolous in Oz

By David Ryser & Ken Hornsby

Munchkin Land is a nice place to visit, but we wouldn’t want to live there.  Oz is where the action is!  Yes, Dorothy, the Emerald City is the place where a person can experience the power of God and receive an answer to prayer.  It’s Ozsome to be in Oz!

Is it?

It certainly is beautiful.  When Dorothy and her friends first lay eyes on the city from afar, they are dazzled.  They are Ozstruck.  Oz is a great city!  It’s huge!  And the architecture is breathtaking.  From all outward appearances, the city is bustling and prosperous and Ozimous.  All this, and a wizard, too!  Oh my!

Then they go inside.

Not only is the city impressive on the outside, it’s also quite a sight to behold from within the gates.  The splendor and pageantry of the place is striking.  So many people going here and there.  So much activity.  So much happiness.  So much wiz-dom.

When does so much become too much?

If you want an education, and don’t mind having your religious fantasies smashed to atoms, we recommend you attend a conference at a church that is “in revival” (or “in a move of God” or “in the river” or whatever else it’s called).  Go early and get in the line of people waiting to be admitted into the meeting.  Listen in on their conversations.

Until you can’t stand it anymore.  (Rest assured; you will come to that point.)

As it turns out, there are people who collect attendance at “Spirit-filled” conferences and revival meetings the way Boy Scouts collect merit badges.  They will tell you grand tales about where they were (what “troop” they are from and what “camp” they went to), who (what “leader” from what “troop”) was speaking and what happened (who prayed for them, what anointing or impartation they received, and what religious trinket or tape series they purchased).  But if you ask how their lives were transformed and how their relationship with God became more intimate…they will fall so silent, and so quickly, that you will fear you’ve suddenly gone deaf.

And when you look into their eyes (once they’ve stopped blinking like a lemming in an ice storm), you will swear that you can see the back of their head.

Welcome to Oz.

The people of Oz are shallow.  Their lives are frivolous.  They “laugh the day away in the merry old Land of Oz” where there is no work day.  They live a life of leisure in an opulent city, blessed and protected and highly favored (so they believe) by the wizard.  They don’t have a care in the world.

And they don’t matter.  And they don’t realize that they don’t matter.

They don’t affect or influence anyone outside of the city.  They live in blissful chaos, playing in the river of God instead of taking the life-giving water from the river and giving it to people who are dying of thirst.  They only associate with other “Ozites.”  You either have “it” or you need “it” and you’ll never fit in until you get “it.”  (“I earned mine; you’ll have to earn yours.”)  That’s the way it is in Oz.  Just ask the wizard.

They are irrelevant.  And although they claim to “keep you young and fair, and in repair,” they do nothing of the sort.  And they deal typically with their own irrelevance by keeping you irrelevant.  You are reminded of the “troop” tales, lest you falter.  Ah, frivolity and irrelevance; now there’s a life-purpose.  But this is Oz, after all.

And then they have the nerve to look down on the Munchkins.  (That’s not in the movie.  You have to experience it for yourself.  We have.)

After all, Munchkins don’t believe in the power of God.  They don’t believe in the manifestations of the Spirit (miracles, healings, prophecies, and the like).  Theological inbreeding has stunted their spiritual growth.  Just look at them!

And they don’t even have a wizard.  (Not everyone has a wizard, after all.)

The people in Oz believe in all of God’s stuff.  They don’t flow in any of it, but they believe in it.  And because they believe in it, they are superior to the Munchkins.  (And after all, they are in Oz, and they have a wizard.  The Wizard of Oz, no less.)

But when a bad witch shows up, they are no better off than Munchkins.

Because one day the Wicked Witch of the West did some skywriting over Oz.  Unlike the Munchkins, the people of Oz were not frightened by the appearance of the witch.  But they were no more able than the Munchkins to deal with the witch. And their wizard was so busy doing whatever it is that wizards do, that the people were unprepared to do whatever it was that the wizard should have taught them to do.  They just stared up at the sky like cows looking at a new gate.  But they have a wizard.

What should they do?  Then someone got the bright idea to consult the wizard.

Only the wizard wouldn’t see them.  (But how wonderful it was for them that he was even in town that day.  Being a wizard is a big deal.  A very big deal.  And how lucky for them that he is their wizard.)

Have you ever tried to see the pastor of a big-time pentecostal or charismatic church…without an appointment?  Getting an audience with the pope is probably easier.

First you have to get past an attack-receptionist who makes a rabid Rottweiler look like one of Bo-Peep’s lambs.  You submit to a screening that would make a TSA officer blush.  After getting cleaned up with “a snip, snip here and a snip, snip there” you are on your way to being presentable for a meeting with the great and powerful wizard.  Then you submit to New Oz Member’s Training Class where you learn how to approach, listen to, speak to (if allowed), and respond to the wizard and his wiz-dom.

Then you are escorted through a door that reads:  AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY (You feel neither authorized, nor like a personnel by now.), and into a maze of offices full of important people who are doing important things…or so it seems.

Jesus bled and died…for this?

Your pastor (the nurturer, protector, and equipper of your soul and gifting) doesn’t even know your name!  He has a sermon to prepare, a chapter in his upcoming book to write, and a TV show to tape.  How much can one person be expected to do? (He’s only a wizard, after all.)

Give him a break!  He has an empire to run!  He’s only a mere wizard!

And the dirty little secret is that he doesn’t have any more of an idea about what to do concerning the witches in your life as you do.  If he did, he wouldn’t have so many of them in his own life.  So you get some scriptures to read, some tapes to listen to, and some glib platitudes thrown in for no extra charge.  (And the memory of a lifetime…a moment with the wizard.)

Thanks, wizard.  Really.  Thanks.  A lot.

So you discover that living in Oz isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be.  You either adapt to that reality and get back to helping make the city a happy place, or you eventually leave the city.  But if you do decide to leave, don’t worry about the welfare of the City of Oz.  There is always someone waiting to take your place.  (Probably several will take your place). The city of Oz got along just fine before you were there, and it will get along just fine after you are gone.

And, chances are, no one will even notice you are gone…especially the wizard.

After all, in Oz, it’s never been about you…it’s always been about the wizard.

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