Confessions of a Recovering Pharisee

[AP]

Gov. Sarah Palin’s church is promoting a conference that promises to convert gays into heterosexuals through the power of prayer.

“You’ll be encouraged by the power of God’s love and His desire to transform the lives of those impacted by homosexuality,” according to the insert in the bulletin of the Wasilla Bible Church, where Palin has prayed for about six years.

Palin’s conservative Christian views have energized that part of the GOP electorate, which was lukewarm to John McCain’s candidacy before he named her as his vice presidential choice. She is staunchly anti-abortion, opposing exceptions for rape and incest, and opposes gay marriage and spousal rights for gay couples.

Focus on the Family, a national Christian fundamentalist organization, is conducting the “Love Won Out” Conference in Anchorage, about 30 miles from Wasilla.

Read more here.

[From me]

So what! I agree with her church.  God can change anyone through the power of prayer. I make no apologies for telling people about Jesus and what He can do for their life.  It is who I am.  I think it is who Palin is too. The media just doesn’t like Palin.  They are looking for anything to trash her.  If Sen. Obama’s former pastor’s views didn’t matter then neither should Palin’s church.  Give me a break!

What do you think?

Probably one of my biggest pet peeves is the “CHURCH POLICE.”  What are the Church Police?  They are Church people who feel it is their God given call in life to criticize every ministry that is different than theirs. They appear differently depending on if they are attacking their own pastor or if they are attacking some other pastor.

When we started our church in Atlanta, my friend Jason Burns made an interesting observation.  He said the only people who will call you in regards to our mailings will be those who disapprove of our new church. Boy was he right!  I received dozens of calls from people wanting to know what we believed.  I finally got smart and put our statement of beliefs on our website.  I never received criticism from people outside the church.  I have always received the worst tongue lashing from those inside the church.  What happened to grace?

One man, who is probably still lurking today even though I’m not his pastor anymore actually printed out all that had said over a year on my blogs and others!  Who has that much time?  He didn’t like the fact that I read Mark Driscol or Rick Warren.  He even got a group together to try to remove me as pastor.

Probably the biggest lightning rod in the Christian church today is Rick Warren.  There is no grey area with Rick.  People either like him or hate him.  Those who hate him are in the church!  I personally like him a lot. I don’t agree with everything he says but the man has had a huge impact on my life.  He actually sent me a hand written note a few year ago and I still have it today.

There are websites, books and even messages that sole purpose is to take down Rick Warren.  I don’t get it! They claim that Rick doesn’t preach the Gospel.  There was one man comparing him to Jim Jones!  Please! The rub for me is these people are spending so much time attacking other ministries that they probably are neglecting their own ministries to the unchurched right around them! 

There are many ministries that I disagree with. One being the Health/Wealth ministers.  But I have never said they weren’t believers or devoted websites to remove them.  I just chose not to attend there.  

I wonder what it looks like to those outside the church when they see Christians attacking their own?  I’ve often found more grace from those who aren’t believers.  It is time to retire the “CHURCH POLICE” and be on mission for Christ.

What do you think?