Stushie art: A Church Divided...

...cannot stand


I'm continually praying and inwardly weeping for the PCUSA. It may be on the verge of making a foolish, irreversible, and unscriptural decision.

Sunday Devotion: Jabbing Jesus - Acts 9

Acts 9:5           "Who are you, LORD?" Saul asked. "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting," he replied.

I read an article this week about a couple who decided to have an atheist wedding. They didn’t want God mentioned in the ceremony and no clergy person to conduct it. All they wanted was an event where they could publicly pledge their love for one another and be legally married.

How sad! I wonder if in years to come they will regret making that choice. And when old age, infirmity, and serious illness come their way, what will happen to their love? Will it just be gone forever?

The number of atheists is rising, but from what I’ve read it’s more of an anti-religious movement because people have been let down by the Church. Sometimes I think that more people would become followers of Jesus if Christians didn’t get in the way.

This week, our denomination has its biennial General Assembly. I used to be very interested in the proceedings and policies, but lately I’m tired of all the decisions and divisions, ordination wars and theological fist-fights that take place every time the GA meets. I feel that Jesus is being persecuted by His own people and if the usual Presbyterian shenanigans go on, then no wonder atheism is increasing. If our politics, polities, and procedures are all that the world sees of Christianity, then we really do get in the way of Jesus.

Prayer:                        Lord Jesus, forgive us for being poor witnesses of the Gospel and half-hearted servants of Your Kingdom. Keep us from getting in Your Way by insisting on getting our own ways. Re-teach us the path of Truth and fill us with Your Holy Life. In Your Sacred Name, we pray. Amen.

John Stuart is the pastor of Erin Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. If you would like to comment on today’s message, please send him an email to pastor@erinpresbyterian.org.

Today’s image is one of John’s humorous snowman drawings. It’s called “Frosty the Vol Fan.” If you want to view a larger version of the drawing, please click on the following link: http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4096/4737362030_3014b24530_b.jpg

The Hottest New GA Game: Jesus Says!

All week long, I watched the 218th General Assembly. It astounded me how many times people stated that Jesus would do this or say that to bolster their arguments. What a load of baloney! None of us were around with Jesus in New Testament times. We have no earthly idea about what He would do or say with regard to our cultural dilemmas and ecclesiastical issues. We question the authenticity of the Gospels and the authority of the scriptures. We transfer our own cultural preferences and see our own societal prejudices in the texts that were written by the people who truly knew Him.

We are a bunch of narcissistic hypocrites looking to justify our politically correct ways and cultural orientations. We cast aside our allegiance to Christ because we don’t want to submit to Him. We change what the Bible says because we want everybody to like us. And then we get up to the microphones and tell other people what Jesus would do as if He’s our best buddy, turning Him into a theological ventriloquist’s dummy by putting words into His mouth and thoughts into His head.

Bovine manure! We are the biggest bunch of failed followers in the history of Christianity and we have so diluted the Gospel that we have deluded ourselves into shaping Jesus like play dough and making Him a bobblehead character to sit beside our PCs. Our modern Presbyterianism is a theological tacky, mood manufactured, and cheapened grace of a faith. Even the word faith is false when applied to us – we have spiritual trends, and that’s about all.

Perhaps we still have time left. Perhaps we can return to what we once were. Perhaps the Church will go through a revival, instead of cultural capitulation and doctrinal denial. Philippians 2:9-11 can be the starting point.


9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

John Stuart, aka Stushie, is the pastor of Erin Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee