A Solution So Simple No One Will Try It

 And if in spite of these things you do not listen to me, then I will continue to discipline you seven times for your sins. And I will break the pride of your strength; and I will make your heaven like iron and your land like copper. And your strength shall be consumed in vain; and your land shall not give its produce, and the land’s trees shall not give their fruit.

 (Leviticus 26:18–20, LEB)

I asked AI to write a short dialogue using the language of “Christianese.” This is where Christians string together Christian clichés like I string together banjo licks to improvise a song. In this AI dialogue, it flows and makes sense. In reality, we often get a string of clichés that leave us scratching our heads. The funny thing is AI knew what I meant and was able to produce this.

Setting: The foyer of a trendy, modern church. Brother Brad (wearing a permanent smile and a vest) bumps into Sister Sarah (holding an iced latte and a Bible journal).

Brad: “Sarah! Brother! What a absolute blessing to run into you. I was just telling the guys in my accountability group that I’ve been feeling so gravely burdened to ** fellowship** with you. How are you doing life?”

Sarah: “Oh, Brad, honestly? The enemy has been working overtime this week. It’s just been a massive spiritual attack on my peace. But I’m just trying to lean into this season of waiting and trust in God’s perfect timing.”

Brad: “Amen, preach. I hear that. You just have to remember that when He closes a door, He opens a window. Have you sought the Lord about it?”

Sarah: “Oh, continuously. The Holy Spirit really put it on my heart to just stand still. I felt so convicted about trying to control things myself. I just need to let godly people pour into me right now.”

Brad: “Wow. That is so beautiful, so profound. You are just so anointed, Sarah. Truly blessed and highly favored

. I’m actually praying a hedge of protection over your mindset right now.”

Sarah: “Thank you, Brad. I can literally feel the peace passing all understanding. By the way, are you coming to the bonfire tonight? It’s going to be some really intentional fellowship.”

Brad: “Man, I want to, but the Lord hasn’t given me a peace about it yet. I’m still waiting for a clear release from my current obligations. I’ll have to fleece the Lord on that one tonight.”

Sarah: “Totally understand. We have to guard our hearts and our calendars. Well, I’ll let you go, but I’m just so glad we could walk alongside each other in this moment!”

Brad: “Likewise! Go victoriously, Sister. Love on your family for me!”

Why do Christians talk like this with each other? I never understood this. Someone in a church setting asks a question, and the response is “amen” instead of “sure” or “yes,” like it would be in any other setting. The clichés have changed over the 50-plus years I have been around it. For example, we do not hear as many people say “praise the Lord” to show celebratory excitement about something as we did in the 80s. I think I still have the button Jim Bakker’s PTL show gave away (for a small donation) in 1977.

The so-called Hebrew Roots or Messianic movement does this too, but they use transliterated Hebrew words mixed in as their lingo. Some call this “Hebrish”, combining Hebrew words in English conversations. I guess it is just human nature to do this sort of thing. I am not condemning it obviously because I do it too. Words like Elohim, Shalom, Yeshua and Shabbat are the best representation of the Hebrew God, peace, Jesus and the sabbath. I am just pointing it out, and that this sort of thing sounds foreign to anyone not familiar with the lingo. It’s a way to differentiate your respective sect I guess.

The real problem I have personally is that a common theme in Christianity is the heaviness, discontentment, and the endless string of problems—“trials and tribulations”—that so many Christians experience, and I know the solution to make life so much better for them. However, no one is interested. I am not promising gleeful bliss, but contentment and a path forward out of the precarious situations life has delivered. It is simply to get into a rhythm of life that is in line with the instructions God gave us to successfully live on Earth and please Him. He used ancient Israel to deliver them and Jesus to explain how to use them properly.

19 Therefore repent and turn back, so that your sins may be blotted out, 20 so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and he may send the Christ appointed for you—Jesus, 21 whom heaven must receive until the times of the restoration of all things, about which God spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from earliest times. 22 Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You will listen to him in everything that he says to you.  (Acts 3:19–22, LEB)

Every church I ever attended, and there were many over 50 years and in two countries, had so much strife and dislike between congregants, leadership, and the combination of the two groups. Sometimes I was part of it, and sometimes I observed it, until one day I realized that we must be doing it wrong. I wasted 45 years of my life spiritually and thousands of dollars that could have helped feed hungry people or bought coats for children instead of “spreading the gospel.” For the most part, we were not “spreading the gospel” any more than the Clinton Foundation was building orphanages in Haiti.

165 Great peace is for those who love your law, and they do not have a cause for stumbling. 166 I hope for your salvation, O Yahweh, and do your commands.  (Psalm 119:165–166, LEB)

I found out that loving God’s law is life-changing. Not in a hyper-spiritual, feel-good way that wanes over time. It is a practical life lesson journey where one can enter into a different mode of living. It is the life Christianity promises but does not deliver. But how can that be? Paul said we are free from the law and it was nailed to the cross ! You have been deceived, and your blessing has been stolen ! Paul never said that. People say he said it, then read out-of-context verses to prove it.

10 The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. 11 For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. 12 So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.

13 Did that which is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, producing death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure. 14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. 15  (Romans 7:10–15, ESV)

“The law is spiritual” is a true statement. So when God tells Moses that something will defile a person, why do we not believe it? If the law is spiritual like Paul claims, then what if the defilement is spiritual? These are the things that cause many of the problems Christians face. It is the blessings and the curses of Leviticus 26. If you follow my instructions, you will receive blessings, and if you don’t, you will receive curses. It is so simple, yet people “Paul” it all away, listening to the deceptions about their God’s instructions from people who are repeating hundreds of years of church tradition.

I can say all of this from experience, yet it falls on deaf ears. Christians typically don’t believe me, not even enough to celebrate one feast or sit down on one Sabbath just to see if it may be true. Stop eating things that the Creator of all things specifically says will defile you if you eat them. Do it for six months like a fad diet. It will change your life. Rest on the sabbath for a few weeks. Do it even if you don’t think there is time.

15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.  (John 14:15–17, ESV)

The Spirit of truth is a real thing, but it comes from keeping His commandments. There is also a spirit of deceit. Are your prayers an abomination?

One who turns away his ear from hearing the law, Even his prayer is an abomination (Proverbs 28:9, NKJV)

This sounds so harsh, but another word used for abomination is “defiled.” So, are your prayers defiled? Are you defiled from eating things God said will defile you, and is it causing your prayers to be defiled or ineffective? Does your ground feel like copper and heaven feel like iron? The path out of this is simple, but you have been “pauled” and cannot see past the deceit holding you back.