By Angus Harley

I heard a story about Martyn Lloyd-Jones. He was asked what he thought of a new Christian magazine called ‘Buzz’. Lloyd-Jones replied, “Buzzzz off!” Kind of reminds me of Spurgeon who poured water on a perfectionist, who then reacted in anger. It’s the dismissive attitude; the unwillingness to entertain the stupid. Remember Gandalf? In Lord of the Rings, after Pippin knocked over the bucket and it clanged and clattered all the way down an almost bottomless well, Gandalf famously snarled, “Fool of a Took! Throw yourself in next time and rid us of your stupidity!” Yeah, that! Of his very own disciples, the resurrected Christ said directly to their faces, “O foolish men and slow of heart to believe”. The apostle Paul snaps at the Galatians, “You foolish Galatians”. And then barks out later, “Are you so foolish?” James, upset, states of Christian man, “you foolish fellow”.

Paul was rougher again. He called out heretics. He didn’t mince his words. No sir! “I wish that those who are troubling you would even emasculate themselves.” For Pete’s sake, put an exclamation mark on that, translations, “emasculate themselves!” Paul is angry here, as he was in Galatians 3. Paul wanted the Judaizers to cut off their own penises! What about that? Jesus slams the Pharisees as “serpents”, a “brood of vipers”, and says their father was the devil!

Why do teachers of Christian discipleship and leadership not write or talk about that stuff in their books? Why don’t we get it in their manuals, classes, and programs?

It seems to me the answer is obvious: they don’t recognize, or don’t take seriously enough, or don’t care about, the entire witness of Scripture and its relevance for today. For, the modern Christian is conditioned to ‘do’ Christianity in a super-positive, non-divisive, ‘all you need is love’, ‘we’re all on our journey’, way. Of that way I say, ‘Please get lost!’