For Whom the Bell Tolls: Working God's Graveyard Shift

By David Ryser & Martha Paterik

Awake, you who sleep, Arise from the dead, And Christ will give you light.  (Ephesians 5;14b, NKJV)

Martha is one of my favorite people in the world.  There are a lot of reasons for this.  Martha is a passionate lover of Jesus.  She knows Him…really knows Him.  And she thinks.  I just love being around thinking Christians.

I especially appreciate them because of their scarcity.

Recently Martha shared with me a conversation she had with her mom.  Somehow they got to talking about church cemeteries.  At one time, it was common for churches to have cemeteries on their property.  This is not so usual anymore, and for a lot of reasons.  Martha suggested that the reason churches no longer have cemeteries outside of the church building is because all of the dead people are on the inside of the building.  Her mother graciously pointed out that not all of the people in the church building are dead.  Martha agreed, but noted that in the days of church cemeteries not everyone who was buried was dead either.  That’s why a string was tied to the body and attached to a bell above ground.

If the person had been buried alive, the movement of the body would cause the bell to ring.

But there’s not much point in having a ringing bell to signal life if there’s no one around to hear it ring.  So someone would stand the “graveyard shift” and listen for the ringing of the bell…just in case they had buried a live one by accident.  Upon hearing a bell ringing, the one standing by would summon assistance and reassure the one untimely buried that help was on the way.  Then the graveyard shift worker would assist in unearthing the one buried alive and set them free.

Martha’s next words exploded in my spirit.

So, Doc, how many bells will you hear…the next time you step into a church?  How many bells does God hear?  How often is Jesus calling an untimely buried person out of the tomb of church?  If you can’t resurrect the whole graveyard, then at the very least unbury the ones still alive in it.

And I was reminded of Tom.

Years ago, Tom stood the graveyard shift at a church that was renowned for its coldness and unfriendliness.  He would greet people with a smile, a kind word, and a hug.  A big hug…a squeeze-the-air-out-of-you hug.  People would stand in line to be greeted by Tom.  Several people confided to me that the only reason they attended that church was because of Tom.  He made them feel valued and loved.

When Tom finally left that church, he was greatly missed.

I typically do not attend a traditional religious service on Sunday.  This is not a secret.  So occasionally I talk with people who do attend a conventional church service, and they feel the need to explain…usually apologetically…why they do so.  Many are getting very little out of the experience, but feel God is calling them to stay.  And they don’t know why.  They are frustrated.  They want very much to leave.  As we talk further, they usually realize that they stay in their church because their friends attend there.  Or they feel compassion for the people in the church and want to minister the love of Jesus to them…like Tom.

They are working God’s graveyard shift.  And it can be hard work.

It’s hard observing people you love slowly die from exposure to the religious system week after week.  It hurts to see the light in their eyes dim and eventually extinguish.  To watch their strength and passion ebb away to nothingness.  To look on as they strain and claw for the last little bit of life on their way down to spiritual death.

But someone needs to be there to hear the bells…and to assist in unearthing those who should not be buried.

Maybe God is calling you to be that someone.

If so, then let me encourage you to be faithful to that calling without apology.  I have endured some misunderstanding and criticism for not attending a traditional church service.  Surely you can endure those who ask, “Why are you staying in that church?”

Maybe now you have an answer to their question:  “I’m listening for bells.”

And while you’re listening for bells, you may also hear Martha’s words ringing in your spirit as well:

Let it not be said of us that we walked by a ringing bell without taking notice.  Let us not be ones who left behind those to claw their last bit of life on the casket/pew.  You mentioned seeing the life slowly dying in the eyes of people trapped inside a church; the light slowly extinguishing like a candle burning away the last bit of oxygen.  What is sad is that they are in church because it is supposed to be the place the Breath of His Life is found.  So they come week after week breathing in a poisonous gas that is slowly killing them.  Is it not a more vile crime that we have tricked them with the false promise of God and delivered nothing but a slower, more insidious poison than the world was offering?

Stand the graveyard shift…stand the inglorious job of listening for life.  They are dying for life…they are dying for the Breath of His Life.

Hear the bells ring, Jesus.  The people are dying for the life that You bring.

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

Lessons from an Atheist Stand-Up Comic: A Reflection

By David Ryser

If all the world’s a stage…where does the audience sit?  (George Carlin)

When I was a young man, George Carlin was my favorite comic.  Carlin was everything I was not.  He was hip.  He was cool.  He was edgy.  He was irreverent.  He was profane.

Okay, I was irreverent and profane, but I wasn’t any of those other things.

And Carlin was hysterically funny.  And shocking.  And poignant.  Simultaneously.  He made you laugh and think at the same time.  He delighted and horrified audiences with his comic routines such as “Seven Words You can Never Say on Television.”

Carlin was also a self-described atheist.

Now let us put aside for the moment the fact that atheism is an absurdity.  Atheism is preposterous.  There is no such thing as an atheist.  An atheist is not someone who does not believe in God.  A person who does not believe in God is simply an unbeliever.  An atheist is someone who declares…as an undeniable fact…that God does not exist.  In order to be an atheist, one would need to know everything and have been everywhere; otherwise, it would be possible for God to exist outside of the “atheist’s” limited experience.  Once this possibility is admitted, the person is no longer an atheist.

If you must know everything (be omniscient) and have been everywhere (be omnipresent) in order to be an atheist, then the only person who can be a genuine atheist is God.

It may come as a surprise to many that George Carlin was raised in church.  He also was educated at a parochial/religious school.  He was taught the basic tenets of the Christian faith both at home and at school.  Carlin was not a self-described atheist because he had never heard about Jesus.  He was a self-described atheist because he had heard about Jesus.

Perhaps I should explain that.

Over the years, I’ve had the privilege to talk with a number of people who claim to be atheist.  I have found these people to be thoughtful about why they’ve concluded there is no God.  They are open about their quest for the God they could not find.  Most were genuine seekers of God at one time.

And all of them were raised in church.

Some were abused by the religious system…or by religious people…in various ways.  Some stopped believing in a God they could not please, no matter how hard they tried.  Some lost faith in a God that did not answer their cries at a time when they really needed Him.  Some could not believe in a fire-breathing tyrant who would brutally murder His own Son to prove His love for them.  Some could not grasp the concept of a loving God who is eager to cast them into hell if they misbehave or fail to appease Him in some way.  In short, they could not believe in a God that doesn’t exist.

If believing in a God that doesn’t exist is atheism, then I am an atheist.

Because I have found that these same people are very open to hearing about the Jesus of the Gospels.  They respond positively to the Jesus I know.  And I wonder if George Carlin would have wanted to meet Jesus if someone who knew Him…who represented Jesus accurately in word and deed…and knew George…would have offered to introduce them?

Our misrepresentation of God by bad theology and bad living has turned more people away from Jesus than all the demons on earth.

I am often struck by all of the scriptures in the New Testament, especially in the epistles of Paul, where the apostle encourages the people of God to live righteous lives.  Unlike the preaching in our churches, Paul does not command Christians to live uprightly so they can secure their place in heaven.  He wants them to live transformed lives so that people will see God at work in them and respond positively to Him.  When the people of God live sinful…or religious…lives, it misrepresents God.  Unbelievers get a false image of God and His work, and they reject both.

Imagine the early believers’ reaction when Paul said to them, “the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you” (Romans 2:24; cf. 1 Timothy 6:1 & Titus 2:5).

So when I saw the quote by George Carlin, my mind turned to all of these things…eventually.  Actually, my initial response was simply to answer the question:  “If all the world’s a stage…where does the audience sit?”

They sit in the pews.

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

Signs & Wonders?: I Wonder....

By David Ryser

What am I missing here?  What do [things like] feathers and gemstones have to do with the fruit that Father is looking for? The only reason I can think of is that after 50 years of the Charismatic renewal we are so bankrupt in spirit that we need the baubles to reassure us that He is really available to us.  (Mary Watkins)

A number of years ago, there was quite a stir within Pentecostal/Charismatic circles caused by a woman whose ministry featured feathers (dove’s feathers or angel’s feathers, according to whomever was relating the story) that would be found on the floor after meetings in which she was ministering.  People were excited about this “supernatural move of God.”  The woman was in much demand as a conference speaker.  This religious scam crashed to earth after a well-known evangelist exposed the fraud behind the manifestation.  It seems this woman would sprinkle feathers on the floor prior to her meetings.  Video evidence supported the evangelist’s claims, and the feathers were analyzed and determined to be goose feathers.

The evangelist who exposed the deception received numerous letters and phone calls (in the days before e-mail) from all over the country.  People were upset.  But not with the woman.  With him.  He had ruined their religious fantasy…and they were furious!

Hell hath no fury like a Christian whose religious delusion has been dashed.

Now I want to be crystal clear about one thing:  I do not have a problem with supernatural manifestations of God’s presence and power.  I do not seek them, but I’m not offended by them.  I have seen God manifest Himself mightily in awesome displays of His authority.  Undeniable miracles and healings.  Prophetic words that went to the core of a person’s life and transformed them radically.  I have been privileged to be used by God to minister all of these things.

And because I know how ministering God’s genuine power can become a snare to me, I don’t have time to worry about the fake stuff.

 That’s why I’m not particularly disturbed by phony (or even by counterfeit) manifestations.  These false things tend to sort themselves out over time.  The fruit is bad.  The fraud is ultimately exposed.  I am far more concerned about our unrighteous response to an authentic move of God where genuine signs and wonders are in evidence.

There are several examples of this principle in scripture.  A couple of them come readily to mind.

During Elijah’s last day on earth, Elisha steadfastly refused to leave his side (2 Kings 2:1-15).  As the time approached for Elijah’s departure, the old prophet asked his young apprentice what he wanted.  Elisha asked for the double portion…the inheritance of the eldest son…of the spirit that rested upon Elijah.  Elijah prophesied that this request would be granted, but only if Elisha saw him as he was leaving.

Easier said than done.

Because just prior to Elijah’s departure, there appeared to them a fiery chariot drawn by horses of fire.  They came from in front of them and passed between the two men.  And as they did, Elijah was taken up to heaven in a whirlwind.  Ignoring the fiery chariot and horses, Elisha kept his eyes steadfastly focused on Elijah and saw him as he departed…and received his mentor’s anointing.  Had he allowed himself to be distracted by the spectacular manifestation of the fiery chariot and its horses, he would have lost sight of Elijah.  And let there be no mistake:  The fiery chariot and the horses were sent by God…not by the devil.  So why did God send them?

To test Elisha’s heart.

When Jesus was on the earth, He revealed the Father through His teachings and with various signs and wonders.  These manifestations were genuine…they were from God.  The miracles and healings Jesus performed attracted the attention of Herod who sought to see Him (Luke 23:8a).  But the reason Herod wanted to see Jesus was because he wanted to see Jesus perform some spiritual tricks for him (Luke 23:8b) and not because he was seeking God.  Jesus refused even to speak with him, so Herod mocked Jesus and sent Him back to Pilate for execution.

Herod failed his heart test.

And what about the Samaritan ex-sorcerer, Simon?  (Acts 8:5-24)

When God shows up in a place, and among a people, He reveals Himself…often through miracles, signs, and wonders.  These workings of God serve to reveal who He is.  They reveal His heart.  But they also reveal our hearts.  How do we respond to what God is doing?  Do we receive these things as a love-gift from a beloved Father, or Lover?  Or do we fall in love with the gifts themselves?

My new friend, Mary, shared a vision she received from God on this subject.  The vision…and her comments on it…are worth considering.

I saw a bride dressed in an absolutely gorgeous wedding dress.  She was gorgeous herself too.  She had gems on her dress, in her hair, necklaces and bracelets and rings…all very beautiful, almost impossible to describe the beauty and glory.  I knew that she was passionately loved by the one who had given her all the stuff.

Then I saw that she was looking at all the jewels and gifts upon her and around her and had begun to admire the gifts, herself and to completely forget her lover.  I saw her lover standing off to the side, grieving, not devastated, just sad at the inner heart that had been revealed.

Then I saw the bride turn around so her back was to me.  I saw that her beautiful dress was soiled by the product of her own flesh (if you get my meaning).

Ever since then, I have been very wary of seeking or focusing on manifestations.  I passionately seek the inner miracles that help me to be more open to Him, to surrender more to Him for transformation, to become more like Him.  I know that I need more than anything else to be conformed to His image, to become more like Him, His love, His patience, His compassion, His wisdom.  I do not take my transformation for granted for a minute.  I am too aware of the lack in me.

A sober reminder, don’t you think?

I am grateful for God’s genuine signs and wonders.  But I’m also careful how I respond to them.  I allow the wonders to cause me to be in awe of the One that I love and wonder at His goodness.  And I remind myself that the signs are just that…signs.  Signs are not our destination.  Signs point to our destination…Him.  If we stop at the sign, thinking we have arrived, then of what use is the sign?  If we are duped by our response to the sign into believing that the sign is our goal…and stopping short on our journey into God’s heart…then we might have been better off without the sign to begin with.

So what can we do?

The fact is, we serve a living God.  Because He is living, He is working in the world and in the lives of people.  This includes signs, wonders, and all sorts of supernatural activity.  This is normative Christianity.  It is not without risks…especially if our hearts are bad…but God is willing to take the risk.  He continues to bless, heal, deliver, prosper, comfort, guide, and provide for us.  He loves us…passionately and relentlessly…and without regard to our worthiness, or our possible unfaithfulness.

Therefore, I have come to a decision regarding my response to signs, wonders, and all kinds of supernatural manifestations.  I have resolved to gratefully receive, embrace, experience, and enjoy all of God’s gifts…including signs and wonders…and to stay madly in love with the Giver.

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

Jail or Church: Can I Think About It?

By David Ryser

When we’ve lost a sense of belonging in God’s kingdom or the feeling of closeness to the King, we may look to religion for answers.  (Andrew Farley in God Without Religion)

I am sitting at my desk, reading a news article about a small community where criminals are given the choice between jail and church.  No kidding.  Nonviolent first-offenders have the option of being released from jail if they go to church every Sunday for a year.  The success of this program rests upon the hope that the prisoners will become “productive citizens” through church attendance.

And the inmates will need to take good notes while in church because they are required to write about the service each week.

So the alternatives are clear:  Jail or church?  Church or jail?  Jail or church?

Hmmmmm….  Tough choice.

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

The White Elephant: A Church-Inspired Fairy Tale

By David Ryser & Ralph Ray

Religion (noun):  A return to bondage.  The word is traced to the Latin re meaning “again” and ligare meaning “to bind.”  (Andrew Farley, in his book:  God Without Religion.)

Once upon a time there was a flourishing and blissful kingdom ruled by a wise and benevolent King.  The King took every opportunity to bless, nurture, protect, and provide for His people.  The people lacked for nothing and enjoyed intimate fellowship with their King.  The King loved His people…and they loved Him.

It could have gone on like this forever.

But one day an evil sorcerer came into the kingdom.  This wizard was the sworn enemy of the King and hated everything about Him.  The sorcerer despised the King, His kingdom, and everyone in the kingdom.  Seeking to grieve the King, the sorcerer used his enchantments to turn the hearts of the people against their King.  They rebelled against the King.  They rejected His lordship…and His love.

The heartbroken King reluctantly accepted the decision of His people and went into exile.

The kingdom was plunged into darkness.  The sorcerer oppressed the people and abused them unmercifully.  This once happy and prosperous kingdom became a place of misery and squalor.  The people were forced to serve the sorcerer’s every whim.  And they were cruelly punished if they failed to please him in any way.

Over time, many of the people forgot about their exiled King and the blessings of His kingdom that they had once enjoyed.

But the King had not forgotten about His beloved people.  He yearned to be reunited with them.  He frequently communicated with those…however few…in His kingdom who had not fallen under the enchantment of the evil sorcerer.   He promised that He would send a Deliverer to them.  This Deliverer would come to His people and demonstrate the King’s love for them…and for all of the people.  He would defeat the dark magic of the sorcerer and begin to turn the hearts of the people back to their King.  He would commence to reestablish the former kingdom and then turn it over to His people so that those who had once been oppressed would themselves become instruments of liberation for the rest of the people.

It was a good plan.  And it would have worked.

One day the Deliverer came into the kingdom and began to undo the sorcerer’s enchantments.  Those who loved their King received the Deliverer with open arms.  Some others…who heard the Deliverer’s words and saw His deeds…also turned their hearts back to the King they’d forgotten.  The sorcerer was incensed!  He, and those who aligned themselves with him, attempted to subvert the work of the Deliverer.  But their efforts were of no avail.  The Deliverer outmaneuvered and confounded them at every turn.

Then, having taught His people how to carry on the work of reestablishing their beloved King’s kingdom, the Deliverer left them for a time to prepare for a triumphal entry back to the kingdom upon the sorcerer’s eventual…and inevitable…defeat.

The revolution began.

The struggle was fierce.  The Deliverer’s people were badly outnumbered, but they began to turn the hearts of the people back to the King using the strategies and the methods the Deliverer had given to them.  The King aided them in their fight by providing them with what they needed to accomplish the work that the Deliverer had given them to do.

The sorcerer fought against them with all of the weapons at his disposal.  He first tried to ridicule and belittle them, but could not dispirit them.  He imprisoned and executed several of their leaders, but this strategy also proved ineffective because their leaders were not like those of the sorcerer.  Their leaders were everywhere!  The older and more mature among them would teach the others the ways of the Deliverer…with great demonstrations of power.  And they were not afraid to die.  Their blood was like seed…the more of it that fell to the ground, the more of them that were produced.

Then the sorcerer had an idea….

He offered the followers of the Deliverer a truce.  And it was so much more than just a ceasefire.  The sorcerer agreed not only to stop the opposition and persecution, he even promised to assist them with their efforts to restore the kingdom of the King.  Because the job of reestablishing a kingdom is hard work…even without opposition… the sorcerer offered to the Deliverer’s people the services of a white elephant.

What a magnificent creature!

The white elephant was big…it was huge!  And strong.  And smart.  And seemingly able to do the work of reestablishing the King’s kingdom without much effort on the part of the Deliverer’s people.  The sorcerer even supplied a large group of handlers who were trained to be experts in the care and feeding of the white elephant.  The Deliverer’s followers were only required to pay for the elephant’s upkeep…along with the salaries of the handlers…and to perform any menial tasks requested by the handlers to assist in contributing to the well-being of the white elephant.  The Deliverer’s people enthusiastically embraced the sorcerer’s proposal.

And this arrangement worked great!  For awhile.  And then it didn’t.

You see, the white elephant the sorcerer gave to the Deliverer’s people was a baby elephant.  The more the handlers fed the elephant, the larger it grew.  And the more they cared for it…and pampered it…the lazier it became.  Over time, the elephant did nothing but eat.  And grow.  And sleep.  Maintaining the white elephant required an increasing flow of resources…in time, energy, and money…from the Deliverer’s followers.  In addition, more handlers were required to oversee the feeding and coddling of the ever-expanding elephant, so the salary burden on the Deliverer’s people greatly increased as well.

It finally reached the point where all of the people’s resources went simply for the white elephant’s upkeep.

When the Deliverer’s followers questioned the handlers concerning the extreme cost of maintaining the white elephant…along with an accompanying complaint of how little, if any, work the elephant was accomplishing…the people were reminded that the handlers were the elephant experts (also known as clergy) while the people were untrained and unqualified (also known as laity) in feeding and caring for elephants.

Properly chastened, the Deliverer’s people continued… submissively…to provide for the white elephant.

So the work of reestablishing the King’s kingdom went undone.  The white elephant required an increasing supply of food and nurturing, while producing nothing.  The Deliverer’s people no longer had the resources to put toward the work of reestablishing the King’s kingdom because they were putting all they had into the maintenance of the white elephant.

There was only one thing the people could do.  They appealed to the King.

They fervently petitioned (one might say “prayed to”) the King for more provision to pay for the upkeep of the white elephant.  The King’s refusal to grant their request was communicated in a short, tersely-worded reply.

The note read:  If you had needed an elephant to reestablish My kingdom, I would have given you one.

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

The Plaster Mold: A Religious Fable

By David Ryser

And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the new wine will burst the skins, and it will be spilled out, and the skins will be ruined.  But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins.  And no one after drinking old wine wishes for new; for he says, “The old is good enough.”   (Jesus of Nazareth, Luke 5:37-39 NASB)

There once was a man who, while shopping at an Arts & Crafts store, came across a plaster mold that was on sale at a deep discount.  He examined the mold closely, but could not determine what shape the mold might produce.  Being a curious sort, the man decided to purchase the mold intending to pour hot wax into it in order to see what the result might be after the wax had cooled.

So the man bought the mold and took it home.

Taking the mold into his workshop, the man proceeded to melt some cheap wax over a low flame.  Then he poured the melted wax into the mold and waited for it to cool.  When the wax had cooled and hardened, the man popped the wax out of the mold and onto his workbench.

He looked at the formed wax…and gasped!

Staring up at him from the table was the face of a gargoyle!  It was ugly!  Hideous!  Fiendish-looking!  The man was repulsed by the wax image, so he destroyed it.  Then he began to consider how he might change the figure produced by the mold into something beautiful.

And he had an idea.

“I know what’s wrong,” he thought.  “The problem is that I used an inferior wax the first time.”  So he resolved to use a higher quality of material on his next try.  He purchased some more expensive wax, melted it over a low flame, and poured it into the mold.  As the wax cooled, the man eagerly anticipated the beautiful image that the mold would produce as a result of this effort.

The wax cooled and hardened.

The man popped the wax out of the mold.  Looking up at him from the table was the face of a gargoyle!  A gargoyle as ugly as the first!

In fact, the faces were identical.

Determined to produce a thing of beauty from the mold, the man decided to switch the material he would pour into the mold on his third try.  So he procured some inexpensive plastic, melted it over a low flame, and poured it into the mold.  The plastic cooled and hardened.  The man popped the plastic out of the mold.

Another gargoyle!  Identical to the first two!

The man was disappointed, but undaunted.  He made several more attempts to produce something beautiful from the mold…using plastics of higher quality (and greater cost) each time…but the result was always the same.  In the end, an ugly gargoyle face stared up at him from the table.

Finally the man conceded defeat.

“The materials I have been using are not good enough, not pure enough, not valuable enough,” he reasoned.  “If I would use silver or gold, the mold would produce a thing of beauty.”

And then, because the man had neither silver nor gold, he hung his head…and he wept.

The moral of the story:  It doesn’t matter what move of God you put into the religious system…the power, the people, the hearts, the anointing, and the giftings…because as soon as the move cools and hardens, what is left will look exactly like the old religious system--the system is incapable of producing anything else.

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

I Want...

by Arla Speer (used with the author's permission)

I'm torn. I want more ... and less - more relational interaction and less "church".

I love the amazing ability of Papa to flood me with the effects of His love during a worship service or during a road trip or a walk where He and I are the only ones around. I know the external setting does not determine His "appearance". For He is not just around me. He is in me.

This romance is not dependent on what I am or what I can bring to it. He is much more than that. There are layers and layers of what I do and positions that I hold but when all of that is stripped away and I am just naked, that is the me He wants to spend time with. He doesn't want all my "stuff". He just wants me. The naked me who has always been all He has ever wanted. All He has ever needed. His beautiful beloved.

I'm torn. I don't know that I want to sit in a group of hundreds of people anymore listening to someone disperse a bunch of theological information no matter how entertaining it is. I want more. I want to make an impact at the "temple" I attend. And I may actually be in a place now where I could do that by giving away what I have acquired over the last few years.

But, how? Is it possible there? What would that look like? Why am I still there? What are my options? Am I ok with not going to church? I think I am becoming more and more ok with that. No. It's actually more than that. I almost feel a release from going to church, which is freeing and a little scary at the same time only because I know Papa. The struggle is seeing all those people desperately seeking God - some of them deep in His presence and others fighting the One they are seeking in the only place they have been led to believe that He is - at church.

I want real connections. Moments in time where Papa puts His finger on situations and changes lives forever bringing life out of death.

Do I want too much?