CFC Belfast invite Erwin McManus
Earlier this year [2006] Pastor Gary Gilley was our invited guest to
speak at a series of meetings on the subject – ‘Today’s Church is Changing:
What On Earth is Emerging?’ During his talk Pastor Gilley looked at
what have come to be known as the ‘Purpose Driven’ and ‘Emergent’ Church Movements.
When addressing the
topic of the ‘Emerging Church’ he listed a number of ‘churches’ that
would be identified with this grouping and one went under the name of ‘Mosaic’ and is pastored by Erwin McManus.
As you will see from the following advert taken from the website of the
Thursday 9 to Saturday
11 November 2006
This
visit by Erwin McManus should be a matter of grave concern to all true
believers in and disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ .
As a ministry we sound once more the warning to “Take Heed” and I am
reproducing herewith two reports supplied by the excellent ‘watchman’ ministry
of Lighthouse Trails Research Project.
Cecil Andrews – ‘Take Heed’
Ministries –
Coming From the
Lighthouse Newsletter
David Jeremiah Proposes "Major Paradigm Shift" For His Church
The
Erwin McManus' book,
The Barbarian Way
If you attended
This weekend, I will be sharing the second message in
our Fall Journey With Jesus. The title of the message
is "The Manliness of Jesus." I am praying that it will fire you up as
much as it has me. It's a major paradigm shift from our normal thoughts about
Jesus. This week, I have read a book by Erwin
McManus called THE BARBARIAN WAY.
In it, he says something that should prepare our hearts for the weekend
message.
While
the quote from the book is benign, the book is not, and if any mention of the
book is made by Jeremiah, it should be one of warning. If you have been following
Jeremiah's slip toward what we might call contemplative/emerging Christianity,
his promotion of McManus' book probably won't be too surprising…
So what exactly is this latest
book Jeremiah endorsed about? In The Barbarian Way,
McManus tells readers that the story of the Crusades "awakens within me a
primal longing that I am convinced waits to be unleashed within everyone who is
a follower of Jesus Christ." But McManus has an unusual definition of
"follower of Jesus Christ." He says: "When asked if they
[Barbarians] are Christians, their answer might surprisingly be no, they are
passionate followers of Jesus Christ." This might sound OK on the
surface, but it is part of the new
missiology and the new evangelicalism that Rick Warren and others proclaim,
"God doesn't care what religion you are, just add Jesus to what you
already have." Thus you can be a Buddhist with Jesus, a Hindu with
Jesus - that's OK. McManus clarifies this when
he states: "The greatest enemy to the movement
of Jesus Christ is Christianity." He elaborates more:
They [Barbarians - who he tries to convince readers they
should be] see Christianity as a world religion, in many ways no different from
any other religious system. Whether Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, or Christianity,
they're not about religion; they're about advancing the revolution Jesus
started two thousand years ago (p.6).
While
some may think McManus is talking about some kind of true revival, he's not,
not a revival towards the Jesus of the Bible anyway. McManus' Jesus is all
together different. And using the same lingo that
most contemplatives use (and New Agers for that matter), he tells readers that
they have been "recreated to live in a raw and primal spirituality"
that listens "to the voice of the Spirit... Barbarians are not welcome
among the civilized and are feared among the domesticated." The book
reads more like a primer to prepare for an anarchist war than instruction and
exhortation on how to live the Christian life according to the Bible. He
says: "The way of Jesus is far too savage for their sensibilities (those
who are "civilized")... Why a reckless call to awaken the barbarian
faith within us at the risk of endangering this great civilization we have come
to know as Christianity? ... It is time to hear the barbarian call, to form
a barbarian tribe, and to unleash the barbarian revolt. Let the invasion begin."
The
book is hard to read because the theology alone is so poor. McManus continually
twists things around such as saying that John the Baptist's message of
repentance (and Hell) was only for the religious leaders of the day, which
isn't true. Or when he suggests that Jesus didn't like
McManus'
use of words like barbarian, savage and other warlike terms are strange. Trying
to make this look like a book on living radically for Jesus, while belittling
anything that calls itself Christian, McManus
wraps the book up by telling readers: "We need to find the courage and
freedom to be ourselves. We need to let ourselves become the
unique individuals that God created us to be. His
exhortation is, 'When an opponent beheads one barbarian, he better be prepared,
for we will return in force....We need to move
together as God's people, a barbarian tribe ....
There's a future to be created.'"
Just
what does McManus mean by all this talk of barbarians and beheadings and a
complete rejection of Christianity? Is he
really talking about living radically for Jesus Christ? The
Jesus of the Bible? The answers to these questions can be found
throughout McManus' writings as well as his various ministries. For example, at
Bethel Theological Seminary, McManus is a professor for the Doctor
of Ministry of Emerging Leaders program. He teaches with his brother Alex
McManus (Into
the Mystic), who promotes mysticism. McManus makes his own claim for
mysticism in The Barbarian Way when he says we need to exchange reason
(doctrine) for mysticism and suggests we need to be "Mystic
Warriors." This sounds more like something out out of Star Wars or
Shamanism. In an interview
with Relevant Magazine, McManus explains what is the
"core" of The Barbarian Way:
The Barbarian Way was, in
some sense, trying to create a volatile fuel to get people to step out and act.
It's pretty hard to get a whole group of people moving together as individuals
who are stepping into a more mystical,
faith-oriented, dynamic kind of experience with
Christ. So, I think Barbarian Way was my attempt to say, 'Look, underneath what looks like invention, innovation and creativity is
really a core mysticism that hears from God, and what is
fuelling this is something really ancient.'
That's what was really the core of The Barbarian Way.
McManus'
website, Mosaic
Alliance, features some of his other works, including Awaken Humanity and
International Mentoring Network (both registered under McManus' church,
Mosaic). One of the events McManus hosts is "yelo: an awakening of the human spirit,"
which "focuses on unleashing your creativity, elevating your influence,
challenging your character, and maximizing your leadership potential." The
Origins
Project is another Mosaic creation, with "Wind, Water, Wood, Fire,
Earth" terminology. McManus uses a lot of earthy sounding words in his
writings such as ethos, organic, and cultural architect (his title for
pastor). He is quick to devalue anything that looks too traditionally
Christian for the sake of promoting his "revolution," a
revolution that is not called Christian. As Mike Oppenheimer of Let Us
Reason Ministries points out:
On McManus' web site [it says]: "McManus offers a vision of
the church taking its rightful place as an unstoppable force created to change
the world . . . a church that is active and engaged with its community ... An
apostolic ethos is the key to a New Testament movement ... To lead a church
with movement requires the ability to create and shape ethos..." Erwin
declares, "When we awaken the apostolic ethos, the heart of God begins to
pulsate through the
The concept McManus
uses in his book, Seizing Your Divine Moment
(and throughout his writings) is not a new one. The idea, seize the day (carpe
diem) or the moment, was popular in 16th and 17th century poetry and has the
connotation that life is short and you need to get all you can out of it. The
cardinal sin would be to live an ordinary life. Rick
Warren shares this concept throughout his teachings, as does Bruce Wilkinson [Comment by Cecil - author
of the unscriptural and impractical book ‘The Prayer of Jabez’]
in his teaching on "God's Dream for Your Life." In reality, this concept is anything but biblical and virtuous.
Jesus taught that we are to lay down our lives in this world, knowing we will
receive our rewards in heaven. "He that loveth his life shall lose it; and
he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal" ( John
McManus'
and Warren's theology might work to some degree with affluent young middle to
upper class single emerging "Jesus seekers." But how is it going to
work for an African man in
And
how about when Bruce Wilkinson teaches that if we believe hard enough we can
achieve our dreams if we will just dream big enough? This earthy, sensual
spirituality that Rick Warren, Erwin McManus and Bruce Wilkinson proclaim from
the rooftops is exactly that.
These
‘Christian’ leaders have missed the point. While they are selling their ideas
to an unsuspecting church, and convincing multitudes that this new awakening is
from God, believers in Christ, yes I'll call them Christians, are serving
their Lord in ministries, as missionaries, as neighbours, as parents - and
spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ, and remembering what He said:
"If
anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself,
and take up his cross, and follow Me" (Matthew
"My
peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you" (John
On
September 17th, David Jeremiah said he read McManus'
book, and he is going to use that book to help his
congregation transition toward a "major paradigm shift."
In the meantime, countless Christian leaders, publishers, seminaries and
ministries are racing towards this shift as well. It
is a shift that is indeed earthly, mystical, demonic and sensual, and it is
going to deceive a lot of people. Is this really what David
Jeremiah wants to offer his church and those who read his books? We hope the
answer is a resounding no!
Christendom is being hijacked right before our very eyes.
But while this is taking place, God is opening the eyes of discerning believers
around the world. The Bible says the gates of Hell shall not prevail against
the church. As this paradigm shift unfolds, let us
cling to that which we know to be good and true, the
biblical message of the One who is the only way to God, Jesus Christ.
And in doing so, may those who have not yet heard this message be able to hear
and be saved. The time is short - let us work while it is yet day.
Additonal
comments by Cecil – One of those mentioned in the
CFC advert is ROBIN MARK. His role is ‘worship leader’ at CFC in
Revival In Belfast
In
1999 Integrity Music came to
In
August of this year [2006] I had occasion to speak to a number of Christians in
The Christian Hordes?
A review of "The
by Erwin Raphael McManus
By Kevin Reeves
October, 2005
There is an
interesting little book on the Christian market, which, although not very well
known at the moment, has the potential to impact the Church in a mystical
sideswipe that many may not be prepared for. Written
by Erwin Raphael McManus and called The Barbarian
Way, this volume packs quite a wallop in
its 148 pages. Its compact size enables the reader to get through it in a
sitting, and the fact that the author is an international consultant and was
spotlighted in conferences put on by such mega-church groups as the Willow
Creek Association makes its wide distribution almost a foregone conclusion. The
Willow Creek Association, composed of more than 11, 000 member churches, sells
a video entitled “Leadership Summit 2003: The Barbarian Way Out
of Civilization”, so the impact of McManus’ teachings will be spread over a
wide swath of the confessing Church.
It needs to be
said at the outset that there are some good points in this book. It speaks of
an unyielding trust in God, the courage to follow Christ, and the
uncompromising stance of the genuine believer. It speaks against spiritual
complacency and ritualistic formula in the church sphere, and encourages an
intimate, personal walk with the God who saved us. It speaks quite correctly to
the need to be whom God has made us, and for us not to try to fit into a
preconceived mould that stifles our creativity, gifts, or love of life. We are
all individuals, and that is a wonderful thing. Expanding our horizons,
spiritual and otherwise, is part of the warp and woof of our human makeup. So far so good.
It needs to be
said, however, that all these things are already quite plainly spoken in the
Bible. It has always been the fashion of the laid-back believer to get most of
his spiritual sustenance from a popular “Christian” book, and these days of
“cutting-edge” authors make that route all the easier and the more tempting.
The fact is—and it is barely mentioned these days—as Christians we don’t need
any other book to tell us of spiritual living. The Scriptures are complete in
themselves, a living Word from the Living One.
“All Scripture is
inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for
training in righteousness; that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for
every good work” (1Timothy 3:16-17). There is no book on the shelf that has the
power to transform the life of everyone who takes its words to heart—except
one. The Bible alone is God-breathed, living and active (Hebrews
Having come from
a hyper-charismatic background of many years, I can well attest to having
gotten a large part of my spiritual diet from questionable and often heretical
authors. It was standard form—and indeed it is today within the
hyper-charismatic camp—to spurn actual intensive study of the Scriptures in
favour of easily-digestible anecdotes, suppositions and downright flights of
fancy by the popular “apostles, prophets and teachers” of our time. When a
serious question about doctrine inconveniently raised its head (during my
twelve years with that cultic group), we were told by our overseers to simply
read a particular book by a particular author. What that does is make a man the
final arbiter of truth. And that flies in the face of everything God in His holy
Word has told us about Himself and his written record of the Bible. While
hating to belabour the point, it is necessary to reiterate that “Man shall not
live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God”
(Matthew 4:4). And you won’t find the living Word in any other book but the one
He has given us.
It is evident from the
contents of The Barbarian Way that
McManus has a fascination for old Celtic lore.
The ways of the Celts in battle, their commitment to cause and their loyalty to
their king seem to be a recurring theme. From the beginning, this book
emphasizes the “barbarian way” of doing things and walking through life, hence
its name, and declares these ways superior by far to
traditional Christianity. McManus declares that the apostles, the early
Christians and people like the reformer Martin Luther were all of the same raw,
barbarian faith and practice, rough-edged and without the polished veneer of
civilized Christianity. Anyone reading this book would think that the Church
has really muffed it in its civilizing influence of the past two thousand years
and churned out little more than ‘cookie-cutter yes men’, wimps who really know
nothing about true spirituality or the guts to live it out.
We really need a
definition of terms here. Since barbarianism is the foundation of McManus’
book, we need to look at what the idea of barbarian really means, and the life
that was lived by these kinds of people. The essence of barbarianism, and the
true barbarian way, is certainly spiritual—but not in the way in which it is
presented in this book. McManus’ presentation, however well intentioned, is
faulty from the get-go. By linking the idea and lifestyle of the barbarian with
biblical Christianity, he redefines what “the
barbarian way” really is. It is crucial
that we understand that barbarianism is a way of life and thought rooted in
paganism. It is not merely courage, fortitude and devotion to cause. The entire foundation of a barbarian’s life is a spiritual pagan
worldview that worships the creature rather
than the creator. It is a worldview steeped in false worship, violence and
superstition, and is in no way
compatible with biblical Christianity. The two are complete opposites.
Over and over in
Paul’s epistles he makes the point that “you were like that, but now you are
like this”. Paul was the apostle to the Gentiles. He said so himself. A Gentile
in Paul’s day was anyone other than God’s chosen people. These others were
pagans, worshiping idols, engaging in sexual perversion and violence, and
completely shut out from the presence of God. Paul’s before and after contrasts
between pagans and Christians make for a lot of reading time in the Scriptures.
For McManus to try to assimilate back into the
Christian walk some of the things that comprised the pagan way is to attempt to purify that which God calls unholy. Sure, some barbarians were courageous, but some were
cowards. Yes, some were devoted to king and country, but some were opportunists
who couldn’t care less about integrity. Yes, some seized life by the throat and
lived their time the fullest they were able, but many, many others simply eked
out a starvation existence that was colourless and bound up with frustration,
worry, and an overriding sense of uselessness.
And as for a
“civilizing” Church taking the spiritual life out of Christ’s followers, it
needs to be remembered that it was largely the civilizing influence of the
Church that protected a world from a complete breakdown into chaos in the first
few centuries after the resurrection of Christ.
Wherever real Christians have taken the Gospel, conversions guaranteed
an end to the mistreatment of women and the less fortunate. Slaves were freed
by Christian masters, aid to the poor was a priority, and love toward all was a
foundation stone. On the other side, history
tells us that it was the barbarian hordes that raped, pillaged, and destroyed
the homes of simple God-fearing folk, made them slaves and railed against the
true God and His Son Jesus. They were blood-drunk, managed their affairs with
brute force, and were largely unlearned.
Not much to recommend them to the modern followers of Christ.
McManus uses many
words in reference to his barbarian way. “Primal”, “raw”, “untamed” all serve
to highlight his teaching. He enjoyed the “R” rated
movie Braveheart (page 14) and
uses it as an example in his book. Braveheart,
starring Mel Gibson, was one of the most violent films ever made. It utilizes
sexual imagery and profanity, including the “F” word. How anyone can even cite this film in reference to a
spiritual subject is beyond my understanding.
Much was made of
this movie years ago in Toronto Blessing circles, which also speaks volumes of
the spiritual discernment and understanding of holiness of this Latter Rain
group. Funny thing was—the movie was bogus. It’s
historical inaccuracy capitalized on the ignorance of the average
moviegoer…and, it would seem, of the average hyper-charismatic Christian. When
supposed born again believers go around in Scottish Highland dress and speak
with a Gaelic brogue while preaching the Gospel (or their version of it), when
they are “handed” an invisible sword and told, “You are the Bravehearts of the
world now”—both of which actually happened—then something is very, very wrong.
On page 32,
McManus tells of the “civilized” version of the gospel preached by the
contemporary Church. He states that it basically entails just believing in
Christ for salvation, and your life will be free and easy from that point on.
Well…I’ve never heard that gospel. It’s not the real one. Anyone who’s read the
first four books of the New Testament can never come away with that
interpretation. McManus does mention that some of the traditional preachers
talk about the forgiveness of sins and eternal happiness in heaven, but for the
true believer, these things do not make for complacency but overwhelming
gratitude. When I received Christ, I knew my sins were forgiven. What a relief!
I wanted to serve Christ with my whole heart. Are you kidding me? I was going
to hell and I knew it. Suddenly Jesus comes into my heart and I’m a new
creation! Now that’s something to get excited about.
On the same page McManus says that Jesus’ call is
barbaric.
On page 34, McManus
again changes definitions by saying that love and sacrificial serving of one
another is what the true barbarian way is all about. Wrong! Again, the true
barbarian way is violent, self-serving, and egotistical
On page 63,
McManus notes that a measure of insanity is inherent in the barbarian way,
and while he is certainly right, on the next page he blames this form of
madness on God! The Lord, he says, is the one who makes us “passionately”
unbalanced in the spiritual sense. McManus says on page 65 that John acted
insane. No, he didn’t! A quick check of the Bible’s hall of faith in
Hebrews 11 shows that many of God’s true servants “…went about in
sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill treated…wandering in
deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground” (Hebrews
On
page 70, he says he finds the Scriptures full of people who were “driven out of
their minds” by God. Yet, it states in the fifth chapter of Galatians that the
fruit of the Spirit is self-control.
In 1 Corinthians
14, Paul chides the Corinthian church for speaking in tongues all at once,
thereby giving the appearance to unbelievers that the whole lot of them
belonged in a padded room. Paul told them to calm down and retain self-control.
That is not insanity. I know
the world may think we’re crazy, and that is probably what McManus is really
saying, but we are in full possession of our faculties when we are in Christ.
Which
leads me to another point—an author, teacher or pastor must make himself
completely clear, both in terms of language and meaning. If he does not, the resulting confusion among those he
influences is laid squarely on his shoulders.
James said, “Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as
such we shall incur a stricter judgment” (James 3:1).
For all McManus’
references to the Celtic barbarian, he never quite gets around to telling the
reader what they were really like.
I am of pure Celtic descent. My mother was born in
The
fact is, you can’t have a barbarian heart and the
heart of Christ. The two are completely incompatible. They always have been,
and no amount of redefining one or the other will make it otherwise.
McManus is enamoured of
the word “mystical”, and uses it repeatedly in his book. Again, he changes
definitions. The word “mystic” in the Greek refers to someone who is involved
with secret rites—i.e. a hidden way to God that is only for the initiated. Now,
I understand that McManus probably does not mean this when he is speaking of a
closer walk with God and intimate communion with Him. But it is important to
use words corresponding to their actual meanings. That is what we have language
for! To call a true follower of Jesus Christ a “mystic”,
and his communion with God “mystical” is to mislead by wrong definition.
Hinduism, Buddhism, and many world religions are mystical, but following Christ
is not.
On page 100, McManus quotes Joel 2:28-29:
“I will pour out My Spirit on all
mankind;
And your sons and daughters will prophesy,
Your old men will dream dreams,
Your young men will see visions.”
He then goes on to tell the reader that, as barbarians, we
can dream big and have the courage to live them out, that the Holy Spirit puts
these dreams and visions in our hearts and empowers us to make them become
reality. But—that is not what the Scripture is saying! Remember, this Scripture
refers specifically to the last days, and on the day of Pentecost, forty days
after Jesus rose from the dead, Peter said in Acts 2:16 “…but this is what was
spoken of through the prophet Joel.”
What Peter was referring to was the supernatural dreams and
visions brought by the Holy Spirit. These are
completely different from McManus’ interpretation.
In my former church group, we often spoke of the “vision” of our lives that God
had given us, or the “dreams” we had for our life. We even spoke (and this is
as ridiculous as it sounds) of “Jesus’ vision of Himself as the Son of God.”
There is a big difference in the way those terms are used. Anyone who wants to
know what a real biblically defined dream or vision is simply needs to look at
the prophets in the Old and New Testaments. Joseph’s encounter with the angel
(Matthew 1:20 and 2:13,19), Paul’s being “caught up into heaven” (2 Corinthians
12:2-4), Peter’s “trance” (Acts 10:10), and John’s description of heaven and
the end time events chronicled in the book of Revelation all mark true biblical
visions and dreams.
Beginning on page 117, under the subheading “
For the life of me I cannot figure this one out. I have never
before heard of this kind of behaviour from a parent. Two stories is a long way
to fall. Broken legs, slipped disks, cranial injuries can easily result from
this kind of fall. It happens all the time. One pastor I know once fell only
eight feet from a ladder, resulting in a fractured shoulder that needed to be
surgically repaired. But—and this is the point—McManus was proud. He was proud
of his son’s daring, and later in the chapter equates his attitude with a
desire to let his children enter the barbarian way. No stultifying, civilized
“Christianity” for them. He won’t raise them in the “cocoon of a domesticated
faith”. He equates taking wild chances as a youngster with a faith that
is truly lived to its fullest.
I wonder if McManus would have felt the same had his child been
seriously injured. That the boy was not hurt is irrelevant. The point here is
that, by his own admission, McManus risked his son’s safety. If nothing else in
his book can persuade the “barbarian” devotee that McManus’ theology needs a
major revamping, this incident alone should.
On page 131, under the subheading “Primal
Attire”, McManus tells of being invited to a
Christian retreat in the mountains. Called “Highlander”, this retreat was also
where the unveiling of Christian manhood took place—in a most literal sense.
Prior to a tug of war, the men were divided into two opposing groups. McManus
happened to mention to his compatriots that the ancient Celts fought with their
bodies painted, and in the nude. What he meant, he says, was for the men to
cast off all doubts and uncertainties, but one of the opposite team took him
seriously…by showing up for the competition without his clothing. He thus
earned the nickname “Nature Boy”. It being a Christian retreat, he was told to
cover up, and he complied with a shirt that did grave injustice to everything
below the waist. Of course the team opposite him could see this, and jokingly
McManus was wondering what one of his more distinguished friends was thinking
while pulling a rope against a young rival who openly displayed his manhood in
the effort.
It gets even more interesting. Seeing their team-mate’s
daring, all the members of the team opposite McManus decided to strip as well,
having chosen “the barbarian way”.
Sooooo…we have a group of naked men grunting, sweating, and pulling
against another team, and eventually getting pulled into
a mud pit. We can only assume that, because the game went on after the men
removed their clothing, it was seen light-heartedly. One thing is certain—this
incident really does portray the true barbarian way. No clothes, no
inhibitions, no propriety. This incident is characterized by all these things,
and is marked as well with a glaring lack of scriptural foundation. Can you imagine the apostles or
early disciples of Christ engaging in something like
this? History records that the early Christians
routinely avoided the athletic spectator sports because wrestling and the like
were done in the nude. The followers of Jesus
knew it was indecent, shameful, and in direct violation of the scriptural
commands to maintain purity of body and heart.
But McManus goes further. In apparently attempting to justify
the incident, he quotes from 2 Samuel 6, where David danced before the LORD
with all his might. While David certainly took off his fine outer clothing, the
Bible says that as he danced he was wearing a linen ephod, a garment associated
with worship. What he did can in no way be compared to the disrobing debacle at
McManus’ retreat setting.
As a possible aside, all this fits in quite nicely with the
Toronto/Pensacola mindset. As long-time members of a Toronto Blessing-like
church [Comment
by Cecil – CFC in Belfast where Mr McManus is coming to were one of the main
‘distributors’ of the so-called ‘Toronto Blessing’], my wife and I (along with the rest
of the congregation) were continuously encouraged to spiritually think outside
the “box”, or the supposed restrictions we placed on God as to how He should
manifest in our midst. In fact, the limits, if there were any, were abandoned.
“Holy” laughter, spiritual drunkenness, indecent displays of flesh during
“carpet time” all were hallmarks of our inability and unwillingness to
distinguish between the works of God and the works of man…or worse. Carnality
was suddenly sanctified. As long as the “power” was in manifestation, it just
had to be God. Or so we believed.
The fact that it is necessary to point out the immoral
behaviour of McManus’ retreat incident demonstrates the deplorable lack of
discernment in today’s Church. How far we have fallen! How many will read this
book and be led to put into practice its contents—not just the part about
seeking God and being in close communion with Him, but the other parts that
have already been mentioned? How can the mixture of flesh and spirit be so
blatant, so unhidden, yet so easily accepted?
The bottom line is that Jesus Christ doesn’t want barbarians. The
barbarian heart is the one from which He has delivered us. That “primal”, sensual, I’ve-got-to-be-me
attitude that casts off restraint has no place in the Christian congregation.
As romantic as that distant era of warfare and wild living
might seem, we can’t go back, and we don’t really want to. There’s nothing back
there for us anymore. We need to be satisfied
with Christ alone, as He has revealed Himself in the Scriptures. That is enough, and more than we can possibly live out in
this short earthly span. The true barbarian way—brutal, self-serving, violent—needs
to remain in the deep past where it belongs, where my own Celtic forbears are
buried with their swords and superstitions.
“So let us know, let us press on to know the LORD, His going
forth is as certain as the dawn;
And He will come to us like the rain,
Like the spring rain watering the earth”
(Hosea 6:3).