Depressing thoughts overwhelmed me this morning when I woke up. Guilt consumed me. My mind was filled with memories of my worst sins. Things I did so long ago seemed like only yesterday. It made me ask myself again, ‘What qualifies you to write this Leadership Inspiration blog?’

After I sat down with my wife for breakfast and told her how I felt, she immediately recited verses to remind me of God’s love, mercy, grace and faithfulness. And then she asked what I was going to write today in my blog. When I told her I didn’t know, she said that whatever it was, Satan didn’t want me to write it. Her words brought this scripture passage to mind:

Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God,
and the authority of his Christ. For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses
them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. They overcame
him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not
love their lives so much as to shrink from death.     – Revelation 12:10-11

Did you get that?
Based on Dictionary.com’s definition of “overcame” — to conquer, defeat; to overcome the enemy — some of our Christian brothers have kicked Satan’s butt. I’m ready for some of that. He’s kicked mine for too long.

Like a sports team that talked a good game but was sorely defeated, it looks as though the gates of hell are prevailing and the Church is losing ground. We’re being defeated by an adversary that knows much more about fighting than we do, and if we don’t get back to basics, we won’t be prepared for tougher times ahead.

What are the basics of the Christian faith? Hebrews 6 refers to five “elementary teachings” about Christ:

1) Repentance from acts that lead to death;
2) Faith in God;
3) Baptisms;
4) Laying on of hands;
5) Resurrection of the dead;
6) Eternal judgment.

Paul also mentions “the powers of the coming age“ in Hebrews 6 — and I’m ready to “taste” those powers again. How about you?

No shortcuts.
Like I said, we’ll first have to get the basics down, and practice them daily, before we see the “powers” part. We can’t go on to maturity — or win any battles — without them. We must live the “elementary truths” or we’ll be totally unequipped to deal with Satan’s attacks.

Train Like the World's Best Soldiers

Many Church leaders have watered down the basic Christian message. We’ve adopted a Christian version of Thomas Harris’ self-help book I’m Okay, You’re Okay. Rather than rock the boat, we ask people to “accept Christ” and offer them a free pass to heaven with no strings attached — no repentance, no life changes, no requirements.

I mean, why cloud the picture with reality? Why tell them that if they become a genuine follower of Jesus Christ, it may cost their very lives?

Funny thing is, that’s exactly what captures the hearts of most guys. That’s why they linger over the R-rated action movies at the video store, while their wives look for chick flicks. Men are made for competition. On the one hand we’re scared to death, and on the other we love a good fight. Sadly, the church continues to serve up the Saturday Night Live church lady, while guys long for passion and adventure.

Whatever you do…
Don’t rock the boat. Don’t make waves. Remain silent. Rather than tell the truth, let’s package and market the truth so it’s more appealing. Problem is, there’s no power behind the messages being preached. Our own doubts — our own lack of faith — convinces us that we don’t have the answers, so we avoid discussing what’s required of us in order to see the powers of the coming age. We practice a theology of over-used quotations and gloss-over the vital, elementary teachings about Christ. Our justification:

“In Essentials, Unity; in Non-essentials, Liberty; in All Things, Charity.”
                         – or -
“We speak where the Bible speaks, and are silent where the Bible is silent.”

Sounds just like something Paul would say, doesn’t it? Or Jesus. Not exactly. So why do we do it? Why do we tell our listeners that the Christian life is all about our “quiet time” and “intimacy with God”? Why do we avoid discussing the war going on in the heavenlies and tell them to be nice, quiet people who shouldn’t stand up or speak out?

All the while there’s someone prowling around like a roaring lion to see who he can devour. I’m sorry, but I don’t want to be his next meal. I’d much rather know — and live — the basics of Christian combat so I won’t get blindsided again.

Tea Party Result
Rather than being coaches who insist our teams are grounded in the basics and equipped to fight the good fight, many Christian leaders take the easy route. Their lack of faith — and backbone — has left the door wide open for wolves in sheepskins to come in.  They’ve abdicated their responsibility to instruct their congregations by not covering the “controversial” basics. As a result, Christian men and women are being massacred by an enemy they don’t know how to fight.

Christians are desperately seeking someone who will speak the truth and lead them. They see their “American Dream” slipping away and they think they’re losing their Promised Land. They want to know who’s ruining their world. Is it the progressives? The liberals? Communists? Socialists?

Knight in Shining Armor
That’s what Glenn Beck believes. He’s preaching his message to conservative Christians and they’re soaking it up. But similar to his Mormon theology, Beck’s conservative political views are a poor imitation of the real thing. It looks and sounds good (who doesn’t hate communism?), but blaming Progressives misses the real issue. The battle for righteousness and truth in our government has been lost by the Church. And it won’t be won back with a tea party. It’s going to take millions of changed hearts who have heard the truth and been moved to repent.

Nationwide repentance is our only chance of winning the war that’s been going on — underground — for 2,000 years. It’s completely invisible, but incredibly powerful. It’s a war we don’t want to discuss or believe exists, let alone figure out how to fight. Sadly, it’s consuming more and more people every day.

No More Tickling Ears
My wife and I spent two years at the largest evangelical “seeker” church in our area. Several thousand people worship there every Sunday. We also spent two years at a large Catholic church with several thousand members. And we’ve spent several years at a neo-charismatic Presbyterian church. But in all the churches we have attended over the past 40 years, we seldom — if ever — heard a minister do an in-depth sermon series on the Hebrews 6 basics of the Christian faith. And it wasn’t because their congregations had a full understanding of the “elementary truths” and were already kicking Satan’s butt.

I’m personally going back over these basics in the next few days. It may be a difficult exercise. (Boot camp and basic training always are.) But I’m confident the results will be worth it. I hope you’ll join me.

Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on
to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that
lead to death, and of faith in God, instruction about baptisms, the laying
on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.  – Heb. 6:1-2

We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, in order
to make your hope sure. We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate
those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.  – Heb. 6:11-12