He's
the Master of the Universe.
Women
want him. Men admire him. He's got the world on a string. He lights my fire.
He's the engine of civilization. He serves in the frontlines. And guess what.
He's not in church.
The king
of wands is a dynamic, sexy, ambitious, successful adult male. Why do you so
rarely see him in church? Maybe he'll attend services if somebody famous dies.
Other than that, no.
Why
is church attendance among Christians more of a female phenomenon than a male
phenomenon? Guess which religion attracts mostly males to its services? You got
it. Islam. Islam promises multiple wives, as many concubines as you can drag
home kicking and screaming after you murder her father, brothers, and husbands,
and conquest in the name of God.
Jihad
and misogyny are evil uses of fire. But that doesn't mean that fire itself is a
bad thing. Fire is a good thing, and we need more of it in church.
Back
in the day Christianity welcomed fiery men. Jesus drove the merchants out of the
temple. Jesus selected the "sons of thunder" as his apostles. Saint
George slew a dragon. England adopted Saint George as its patron saint. Today English
nationalists, who oppose England's rapid Islamization, have adopted the Saint
George's cross as their banner. Joan of Arc was more manly than many a man you
will find in the pews today. Not that there's anything wrong with not being a
manly man. Just observing.
Being
a king of wands isn't just about being a warrior. It can also be about being an
utterly fearless truth teller. In Acts 17 16-34, Paul debates the Greeks. In
Athens. Holy cow! That is courage. These are the folks who practically invented
public debate. Certainly every professional debater has to read Aristotle's Rhetoric. Paul schooled the Greeks,
informing them, using quotes from their own works, that the divinity they
worshipped was as yet unknown to them – he was indeed Jesus, "In him we
live and move and have our being."
We
all know that the Christian churches in the West are shrinking. Shrinkage.
Interesting word.
I ask
myself why listening to a rock and roll song is more of a pure, authentic, and
rewarding religious experience than the average contemporary Catholic sermon or
song. Rock and roll allows what is real. Rock and roll stars are rewarded for
being spontaneous and working with real life experiences and real feelings. At
times, when I listen to a sermon, I feel like I'm trying to resist the
soporific effects of a curare-tipped dart. It's as if anything spontaneous, anything
real, anything that might surprise or leave one speechless, has been drained
out of the priest's worldview. My job is merely to "pray, pay, and
obey."
I
don't have any power in any church, but if I did, I'd want to take a look at
this. At how the church has come to be more, merely, a conventional force of
societal control based on the very sorts of hierarchies, platitudes and
conformity one finds outside the church, and not a dynamic institution
promoting a community that supports real people living real lives while having living
encounters with God and his word.
There
is a Christian today who exemplifies the king of wands for me. David Wood. My
admiration for this fiery man is abundant.
Wood
is a guy. Just a guy. He dresses like a guy. He looks like a guy.
He's
a guy with a camera, a library for a brain, and the courage of a king of wands.
Wood,
for years now, has been sitting in front of his little camera and telling the
truth about Islam and about Christianity. Nowadays too many Christian churches
are too afraid, too in thrall to Politically Correct speech codes, to do just
that. Wood didn't sit around waiting for the church to get its courage, its
ethics, and its voice back. Wood, I guess, figured that he is the church, and
he is doing what needs doing. And living with death threats. And the prayers of
millions of fans.
If
you want to see raw courage at work, check out David Wood's YouTube videos at
his Acts 17 YouTube page here.
You
can read about some more "badass saints" here, at Listverse's "Top Ten
Truly Badass Saints."
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