To Seek and to Know Which is Which

I am reading the King James’ Bible and ‘’Churchless’’ by the Barna Group, The purpose for reading them are to know if the Backsliding Christians and Unchurched Christians are one and the same and if different, how?

The term backslider I find in Proverbs 14:14, ''The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways, and a good man shall be satisfied from himself''. Churchless is only founded in the book bearing its name by Dr. Barna.blacksliding - unchurched - reading

Barna definites Churchless as no church attendance in the last six months. Backsliding is not in the book for the term is banded by most Christian as pejorative when you apply the biblical definite which is someone who takes God out of the center of his life and put self in God's place.

My forty year ministry tells me backsliding and unchurhless are one and the same. The twixt that between the two is the lifestyle of opposites. One is inside of the Church and the other is not.

Conservative Church is a GOP Supporter

"What has been will be again, what has been done will be again, there is nothing new under the sun'' (Ecclesiastes 1:9). It's all a choice.

“...Strait is the gate...narrow is the way...few find it’’ (Matthew 7:14)

Looking at corporate Israel's history you find a four-fold cycle, occurring repeatedly, in her backsliding, rebellion, retribution, repentance, and restoration which get individualize in the pew.

An alternative life’s to the church’s lifestyle has many advantages and disadvantages. I've lived both and I loved both, equally! Not being locked into that ‘' church thing’’ on Wednesdays and Sundays and have my Saturday nights available was great.

Here today gone tomorrow nothing stays the same

When the Church was in the Wilderness, the most popular term was ‘’Zanah’’ to describe the lewdness behavior of backsliding. The Old Testament writers interpreted it to mean someone who ‘’play the harlot’’ who commit fornication.

"Search the Scriptures to see if it is true"

Old Skool Preacher’s biblicism is Scripture must prove Scripture, it led me to two noteworthy books in the Old Testament, Jeremiah and Hosea.

Jeremiah along with Peter are two remarkable characters in any deep discussion of backsliding. They are poster boys for backsliding, Jeremiah in the Old and Peter in the New Testament. God loved them.

Hosea, the Old Testament Prophet's notoriety was his love for a woman, a backslider, a lady of harlotry, name Gomar, his wife and mother of his children, who played the harlot throughout their marriage.

Applying the broadest of definite and word association for backsliding such as ''perverse'', ''faithlessness'', ''stubborn'' or ''faithless'' and applying it to Jeremiah and Peter the objective reality is they quit on God.

Jeremiah quit preaching once he was thrown in prison for preaching. He said afterwards it felt ‘’like a burning fire shut-up in my bones when I did not make mention of him nor spoke anymore in his name’’ (Jeremiah 20:9).

Peter later suffered shame and humiliation from his actions during Jesus’ arrest and trial, had a crisis of confidence, said to the other ten disciples, ''I go fishing'' (John 21:3).

Peter was a fisherman and Jeremiah was from the priestly class both renounced God and went back to their former life. But God would now accept ''no'' as an answer.

The curtain is pull back

God pulls the curtian back and gives the reader an open door view of his intimancy for the unchurched by the compassion he shows to the old prophet who sought to save his marriage to Mrs. Hosea,

''And the Lord said to (the prophet), Go again, love a woman who is beloved of a paramour and is an adulteress...'' (Hosea 3:1-3)

Religion and Politics

The White Conservative Church preaches the love of God, guns and hatred for the government to its membership, no love for the ‘’others’’ or the stranger which resides within their gate.

The Church while waiting for Jesus to return has formed an alliances with greedy billionaires and corrupt corporations to influence the United State Government.

The Church praying for a Christian Theocracy and the corrupt corporations and billionaires are praying to keep their loot. Forbes reports twenty-one trillion dollars are hided in secretive offshore tax haven accounts.

The Nixon / Reagan Southern Strategy

President L B J in 1964 sacrificed the White Conservative Church in the South to sign the Civil Rights Act of 1964 it is part of Southern Folklore after he had signed the bill he turned to an aide and said, “We have lost the South for a generation’’.

The South was DixieLand, cotton was king and the Democratic Party defended the politics of slavery and segregation. The first walk away by Whites was when they formed the DixieCrats after the party inserted a civil rights plank in the party’s platform in 1948.

Nixon and Goldwater in 1960 formed what was to be called the ‘’Southern Strategy’’. Reagan builded upon it when he went to the Mississippi Neshoba County Fair in 1980and perfected it with a wink, ‘’I am for state rights’’. The right to segregate the races.

The Southern white preacher would not have a pulpit if he preached a ministry of racial reconciliation. He would be branded as a n-word lover and lose his congregation.

The last fifty years the Conservative Church in America has been caught up in the ‘’gall of bitterness and the bond of iniquity’’ toward the members of the Democratic Party instead of showing love the Church shows hate to the party especially since you have a black man president. The Church and the politicial acolyte of southern strategy cast the recipient of social services as lazy and not worthy of God’s grace because they are different than the member in its pew it.

The Koch bought Republicans budget is call a trillion dollar con it will take food aid away from 47 million with 21 million are children that is 79 million plates from the table of the need. The Church is silent because inside of the democratic partry is women who want control over their health and the men want to see the wealthy pay a fair share of the cost of government.

This allow the Church and it corporative cohorts to build a politicial infrastructure that takes voting rights away from the uninformed and give it to the learned who understanding what is good for the rich will trickle down to the poor.

Wilderness Health Care Given by Moses

The White Conservative Church preaches God, guns and hatred for the government to its membership. There is no love for the ‘’others’’ or the stranger (illegal-immigrant) within its gate.

The Church's exodus can be contributed in part to violence in the name of Christ (18%), priestly sexual abuse scandals from the pulpit (13%), attacks on the homosexual sinner’s sexual desires to the exclusion of the hetrosexual sinner’s sexual desires (15%), and politics (10%) are the reasons and the percentages for leaving the Church.

The Republican Party is for a smaller government a strong military and tax cuts for the weathy.

Christian anti-medical care crusade’’ heavily-funded by Charles and David Koch in states like Tennessee, Ohio Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, and Alaska, has driven Christians by the thousands out of the Church when states deny Medicaid expansion by preaching Moses led the Children out of the Wilderness without health care.

The Koch bought Republicans will take food aid away from 47 million with 21 million are children that is 79 million plates from the tables of the need.

The Church is silent on social justice because the Democratic Party is for equal protection under the law for all women, Gays, and minorities and for the rich to pay their fair share of taxes.

Watch Work & Wait until Christ Return

In all of the words (807,371) of the bible there is not a chapter or verse that encourages the church to go out in the world and create a theocracy or form alliances with secular forces to punish the sinners and take their liberty away.

Matter of fact Jesus said in the ‘’Wheat and the Weed (Tares) Parable (Matthew 13:24-30; 36-43) to leave things as they are (verse 30) and I will set them in order when I return.

The Conservative Church in America is caught up in apocalypticism, end-time theology which preaches Jesus is coming back soon. Soul winning suffers when political methodology is the non-spiritual strategy employed as a soulwinning technique for building a Christian organization.

The answer to the question: 'Is backsliding and unchurched the same?' is yes. The answer is based on the best avalible empirical biblical data, backsliding and churchless are one and the same. God will judge the pastor who scathers the flock. The Good Shepard loves the sheep. The shepard seeks the sheep.