So Super Spiritual Sally and Holy Joe Schmo have been MIA for months now. Suddenly, “Wait a minute, is that Joe?” You’re viewing Joe’s recent photos on Facebook of which he and his motley friends, eyes glazed over, are chugging down bottles of Mad Dog 20/20. “And please tell me that’s not Sally!” Someone’s camera phone caught sneaky, sexy Sally doing the “bump and grind” with Mr. wannabe Enrique Iglesias at the club. Shocked? Surprised? Not I. Who’s to blame, Joe and Sally? Not entirely. Let me explain.
I call it the “Red Planet” Effect. I borrowed this term from a movie I recently watched titled “Red Planet.” I had my spiritual epiphany during this particular part of the movie at the 5:40 mark (begin watching at 2:15 for better context).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFvnK...eature=related
For those of you too holy to view: The scene vividly shows us three desperate astronauts on the planet Mars who’ve just run out of oxygen in their suits. Two mates have already died, one choosing to suffocate alone after sustaining an injury during the landing which rendered him immobile. When precious O2 finally runs out, Kilmer releases his face shield (for whatever reason) only to discover…gasp…he can breathe! Yes, their experiment succeeded! Scientists finally figured out how to generate O2 in the atmosphere of Mars!
And what does all this have to do with wayward Pentecostal youth you say?
My friends, (if you watched the vid) you have just witnessed what happens to church goers in the spirit world when they defect from a local church assembly diseased with arrogance and spiritual lordship. This is the result of a mind that has been deceived from a teaching that tells them, “If you leave this church/doctrine/religion, ya’d better live it up and go hog wild in sin, ‘cuz the umbrella of protection has been lifted, and you’ll be headed for a devil’s Hell anyway.” This dichotomy is packaged and delivered by the ones who are supposed to be “watchers of souls.” In other words, religion=true Christianity and salvation. Personal relationship with Christ…optional.
Oh the cruelty! For you see, when religion fails them, and they wonder off in the “desert of Mars,” and commence to suffocate in their own illusion, they choke and convulse, and all the while the divine oxygen of the Spirit is poised just outside of their empty helmet of religion. Oh what tragedy! Trapped inside that stifling clunky death suit while the Spirit breathes on them and gently whispers, “Take the helmet of salvation…”
And so, there you have it, Noeticknight’s parable of the “Red Planet.” Maybe Mars is where that kooky philosophy originated from…”No life outside of these church walls…”
Threaded Mode
