Irony of Churchism (Part 1)

Morris Mtisi
IT IS my intention to move away from highly philosophical discourse and resort to very simple language and thought. I write for everyone, at least I try to, including both those who are highly schooled or learned, and readers of humble literacy levels. It is not easy I can tell you that. But I’m a believer in doing difficult things immediately. The impossible can take a little longer.

In any organised interaction regardless of the purpose of intercourse, it is important to speak the same language. Why is this so? Because it is through language that we share thought and reason both needed to make possible legitimate and wise communication and comprehension!

And here we go:

First, let me define what I mean by churchism.

By churchism I simply mean going to church. It is a habit guided by the social animal in all of us, a gregarious nature to want to belong, an instinct to socialise and be part of some big group in pursuit of a common objective or agenda. And mankind is gregarious by nature. My dictionary defines gregarious, as “liking to be with other people, existing or living in a group or groups for a common benefit or good.”

So, essentially churchism and Christianity are not synonyms. They are not the same thing and do not mean the same.

Many people who go to church think they are Christians. That is not necessarily true. While many of them are genuine Christians in word and deed, a lot of them, and God help me, I hope it is not the majority, are church-going God’s people. It is important to know the difference between God’s people and His children. I will attempt to make that distinction without sounding too evangelical or sermonising.

God’s people are all of us; all of us whom He created in His image through our ancestral parents Adam and Eve, from the father of nations Abraham through thousands of years since their days to your own biological father and mother in Chigodora, London or Harare who raised you and sent you to school. We are all God’s people. But there are His children. These are related to Him by special conditions, major among them being one with Him through spiritual DNA. Those who share the same surname with God in everything they say, do and feel. They are one family with Christ who is God’s only begotten Son, one Jesus whom He sent to literally live with us but most importantly to die so that we live. I hope this difficult philosophical arrangement, call it God’s order, is easy to comprehend and accept. For God’s divine nature and purpose is not just complex. It is amazingly puzzling. Without Him you cannot understand Him, let alone love Him.

Let me say by our own education and intelligence, we are never intelligent enough to narrow the gap of understanding and acceptance between us and Him. If the truth be told, the more we think we are learned and mentally developed, sometimes even by worldy recognition through university degrees and highly sophisticated scientific research and study, the more we distance ourselves from God. Instead of knowing better the omnipotence of God because we went to school, some of us majoring in Divinity studies and higher levels of Theology, the irony is, all this created individuals who were little divine or not divine at all. As if that was not enough, some have even developed resentment against the divine nature of life and properness of placing God in the centre of it all.

That makes one group of His people. They are too educated, too learned to share the ‘foolishness’ of Christian humility. If only they knew and appreciated that there is no higher learning in this world that is higher than knowing God and believing in His supremacy, this world would be a safer and better place.

Those of this group who go to church, and there are many of them, add to the irony of going to church which I have defined as churchism. Literally flocking to church and flooding buildings or stadia or football grounds! In search of healing and prosperity, money and stuff, not God!

Another group of Church-going fanatics are excited religious hooligans overzealous about God and Christ but are either too dull or foolish to differentiate churchism from Christianity. They cannot differentiate between being God’s person and being His child. They do not know the difference between worship and religious hooliganism, sheer religious entertainment, drama, theatre performance. They cannot read the Bible, despite reading it every day, and understand how it must be a manual for their own lives. They regard the Bible as a book that teaches and warns other people, not them. When they read or preach they are talking about other people far away from them and their families. They cannot read about Peter and learn that they could be a Peter themselves, who is fanatically hooked on to Jesus but has no depth of understanding and character to know him profoundly…and so will emulate walking on the sea when he sees Jesus do so, only to realise he is not Jesus too when he is sinking and drowning. He (Peter) will cut down a man’s ear in defense of his Jesus, not understanding the depth of the prophecy of Jesus’ death and the fulfilment of that prophecy. Until Jesus himself instructs him to put back the ear he has amputated on the man’s head! Then Peter realizes his foolish overzealousness. He swears he would never deny Jesus but when he openly does in fear of reprisal from angry Jews after the third cock crow, he weeps in painful shame.

Judas Iscariot was Jesus’ closest, perhaps warmest confidante, hence privileged and honoured to eat from the same plate with his Master. You all know what he is known for. The story is known even by those who never go to church. Today no sane parent will give the name Judas to his or her child at birth. Grammarians speak of ‘an Iscariot nature’ to keep his legacy alive as a reminder to greedy, money-loving sell-outs and conspirators of our day.

How many of these old Peters and Judas Iscariots do we have in our churches today?

They are in there, in every church service, speaking knowledgeably and ‘wisely’ about Jesus, telling everyone to be Christ-like but like the old Peter, do not understand or know who he (Jesus) is. They like Jesus and God so much that their enthusiasm becomes so shallow and limited that it becomes sheer fanaticism; miserably lacking in depth and practicality; sheer drama, sheer theatre performance. They speak nonsense every time they open their mouth to speak sense. They hurt people when they release verbal trash or missiles from their unguarded mouths. They injure hearts and souls with careless and misguided utterances. They torture people with their insipid and poisonous tongues.

Consider this. There are people with broken hearts and broken marriages and homes in the church. They come to be comforted and hooked onto their Maker, not to be mocked, ridiculed or indeed laughed at. They are not here to make you feel good about your perfect spouses and marriages. They are not here to be the control measures of your life experiences and experiments.

There are widows, many of them in church. Remember what you say to them or say about yourselves, the sinless ones who had their husbands or wives dropped at their gates or backyards by Angel Gabriel. If you brag about your husbands or wives, what do widows think and how do they feel? Thanking God about how He blessed you or favoured you with a beautiful wife or rich handsome business tycoon is not the same as boasting and showing off. Some, allow me to say too many ‘Christians’, do not know the difference.

Thanking God is humble and Godly. There are many single mothers and fathers amongst you. Never forget they are there in church with you, equally and eagerly seeking the same truth, expecting the same blessings from the same God. Don’t be foolish and speak to hurt them instead of pray for them to learn to say, “ALL IS WELL WITH ME,” even when nothing is well with them; to say “God is good,” even in their worst situation or circumstances and are not sure if He is listening.