This is a short overview of my journey from atheism, to my conversion to Christianity in 1978 and ultimately leaving Christianity in 2005 to become an ordinary human being and a Spirit-filled disciple of Jesus Christ.
A Challenge to God.
At fifteen, I was a militant, anti-Christian atheist. I was sick and tired of the Christian dogma being forced down our throats at the church schools I attended.
But I was searching for answers and decided to give God a challenge;
Prove to me in black and white (1) that you exist and (2) that it matters, and I will become a Christian.
Conversion experience.
In my early twenties, God, in his grace, began to answer my challenge. Over a period of two years, beginning in January 1976, God began to prepare me for an encounter with Him in March 1978.
That encounter, in March of 1978, provided the black and white proof that I had so arrogantly demanded of God; I acknowledged that He exists and that it matters ... but I wasn't convinced about Jesus, yet.
It took another five months of study before I was willing to accept that Jesus of Nazareth was the promised Messiah and Saviour of the world. It was time to honour my side of my challenge, I committed my life to Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour and became a Christian.
Challenges with Christianity.
Although I willingly became an enthusiastic disciple of Jesus Christ, I was somewhat reluctant about being a Christian; after all, I still detested the hypocrisy of Christianity, especially the sectarian divisions between Christian denominations.
Although I regularly attended an Assemblies of God fellowship, I made a point of visiting many other denominational churches. And, when I 'led someone to the Lord', I helped them to find a fellowship that suited them; I introduced them to Jesus (John 1.41), not the AOG sect.
Then, when attending various interdenominational Bible colleges, I referred to myself as a 'Neo-Pentecostal-Anglo-Charismatic-Baptist'; my way of challenging the sectarian divisions accepted as normal by the term ‘interdenominational’.
The Church of Jesus Christ is a spiritual community, a family, not a conglomeration of human human organisations. Where was the “one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all” that I read about in Ephesians 4:5-6?
Bible college was followed by various ministry opportunities in various denominations; my wife and I served as youth pastors in a charismatic Anglican congregation and later, as an anti-apartheid activist, I served as a project coordinator in communities that had been forcibly resettled by the apartheid government. I was even selected to begin training as an Anglican priest.
Being an outspoken 'Neo-Pentecostal-Anglo-Charismatic-Baptist' my views never sat well with the professional class, in most denominational circles, especially Evangelical and Pentecostal sects; the Pharisee sects.
Journey out of Christianity.
In 1987, I decided to walk away from institutional Christianity, to explore alternative forms of Christian living.
As I searched for alternatives, I began to realise that there were basically three types of Christians; “Pharisee, Sadducee and Franchisee”. I also encountered a mass of hurting humanity among former Christians like me; I coined a term for people like us, 'Christian Outsiders' (more about that another time).
It’s quite easy to spot the difference. While the Pharisees hold fast to their ‘law and traditions’ and the Sadducees love their ‘rites and rituals’, the 'Jesus Franchisees' rise above denominational divisions and get on with the business of being disciples of Jesus Christ and making more disciples (Matthew 28:19-20), not of any particular sect, but disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ himself.
Then, in April 2005, while watching the investiture of Pope Benedict, I had an epiphany;
Christianity, with all it’s divisions, doctrines and dogma, is a meaningless franchise.
The Christianity represented by the pomp and ceremony on my television screen was as far removed from Jesus of Nazareth, my Lord and Saviour, as was humanly possible.
What good is the Christian label if you have to define what kind of Christian you are?
The term Christian, has become an utterly meaningless franchise; in fact, a cause for non-Christians to blaspheme the name of God. (Romans 2.24)
Two weeks later I gave up the Christian label and became an ordinary human being.
Making the transition out of Christianity turned out to be a traumatic experience and resulted in an eighteen-year wilderness journey; eighteen years to detox from Christianity!
Every Christian doctrine and dogma that I had learned as a Christian was up for re-examination; no Shibboleths, no Christian idols and no idolatrous, holy cows.
A Disciple of Jesus Christ.
Today I consider myself an ordinary human being, a Spirit-filled disciple of Jesus Christ.
As I see it today ...
There is no orthodoxy or heresy, only truth and error; Christ is “the Way, the Truth and the Life” (John 14:6) and it is His truth that sets us free (John 8.32), not some human-engineered dogma.
The true Church of Jesus Christ is a spiritual community, a family, not a human organisation; “one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” (Ephesians 4:5-6)
The God-ordained model for the Church from the very beginning, has been the Family; “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth” (Genesis 1.27) and “a man will leave his father and mother and unite with his wife and they will become one flesh” (Genesis 2.24) and “where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am in the midst of them” (Matthew 18.20) are the foundation principles of the Christ's Church.
The Holy Spirit, “God in us”, is the ‘Custodian’ of the Church on earth; He writes the law on every disciple’s heart (Jeremiah 31.33) and He is every disciple’s Helper, Teacher and Guide (John 14;16, 14:26 and 16:13); no professional priest or pastor required (Jeremiah 31.34).
The apostles made a fundamental mistake when they failed to leave Jerusalem as instructed by Jesus (Matthew 28:19-20, Luke 24.49 and Acts 1.8) and instead began creating human organisations to address various issues in a rapidly growing church; “The Apostles Feet Financial Services Inc.” (Acts 4:34-35), to administer the financial contributions of the new believers; “The Seven Good Men Inc.” (Acts 6:3) to attend to food distribution and, worst of all, “The Twelve Apostles Ministries Inc.” (Acts 1:15 and Acts 15) as they tried to control the growing number of doctrinal controversies as they emerged in the early church.
Christianity, the conglomeration of human organisations that have dominated the earth for over fifteen centuries, is The Fifth Kingdom of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream in Daniel 2; Christianity is the divided kingdom, the feet and toes, partly of clay (laity) and iron (clergy), the usurpers of a crumbling Roman Empire, the legs of iron.
The "stone cut from a mountain without human hands” (Daniel 2.45), the everlasting kingdom that the God of heaven will set up (Daniel 2:44), is about to shatter Christianity.
As with the previous four kingdoms of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, Christianity leaves its own, unique legacy; the Bible preserved in its original languages as well as thousands of translations. Thanks to Christianity, modern technology can deliver the Bible, and its many related resources, to within reach of every human being on the planet.
The Gospel of Jesus Christ is accessible to every human being as never before.
