Keeping Jesus Real is More than a Game

I’ve stayed out of all the Left Behind hoo-hah, until now. I’ve steered clear for three reasons: never read the stuff; though it’s taken me awhile to learn this, getting into pissing-matches over whose ear God’s Spirit-dove is cooing is a slippery slope to nowhere; and, I’m pretty OK with Jesus’ counsel that no one knows the day or the hour! The latter makes me inclined to believe that, on this side of the grass, if we’re not going to get the “when” right, certainty about the “who” will also elude us.

What’s got my feathers ruffled is a story in this past Wednesday’s The Indianapolis Star. Seems someone’s invented a computer game called, “Left Behind: Eternal Forces,” based on the “literature.” Notice, Bible Fans, this is just in time for Christmas. You do remember Christmas – celebrating the arrival of, among other titles: Savior of the world (cosmos in Greek); Prince of Peace; Wonderful Counselor; Emmanuel (God-With-Us); and Jesus (in Hebrew, YHWH Saves). I digress; Isaiah and Luke have those bases already covered.

The game is rated T, for teens. It offers, according to a web site quoted in the Star, “Our game includes violence, but excludes blood, decapitation, killing of police officers.” Well, so far so good. Must mean the gamers will have to wait for the prequel Calvary edition. Can you tell I’m not a gamer?

Regardless of this kind of eschatology’s (end-times) accuracy, veracity, and tenacity, apocalyptic (revelation) end-time stories rival Holy Spirit stories so far as pissing matches go. The game’s theology is thin, and the piety it promotes should be poured back into the horse.

Now, I hear, games are great fun; often wholly amusing, entertaining and sometimes educational. Some of my best friends are gamers! I confess to staying away since Miss Pac Man led me down too many blind alleys and into too many death traps. Ok, I had a brief fling with Mario but he kept robbing my purse.

Part of what saddens me is this. My dinosaur dictionary defines “virtual” as, existing or resulting in essence or effect, though not in actual fact, form or name. That’s all well and good for a computer game. It’s hardly a theology, a piety, or a spirituality, to say nothing of an attempt to portray a Deity.

You want reality? Try this. Located on the same Star edition’s editorial page are details about a Christian grandmother scheduled for trial on January 29th. She’s charged with trespassing on the grounds of the U.S. Western Hemisphere Institute for Security and Cooperation, formerly the School of the America’s, at Fort Benning in Columbus, Georgia. It’s here where the U.S. Army trains foreign soldiers, primarily from Latin America. Some alumni are from places with names like Panama, El Salvador and Nicaragua. Now folks down there could tell us all some details about end-times warriors.

Me thinks the woman wasn’t playing games, nor was she expressing a virtual theology, piety, or spirituality. Neither, it seems, is she discipling after a virtual-deity.

No matter her politics, this woman’s faith is for real, not virtual. That’s what this decorated Viet Nam veteran admires. She may have even heard of John the Baptist’s preaching in Luke 3: 9 Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire."
10 And the crowds asked him, "What then should we do?" 11 In reply he said to them, "Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise." 12 Even tax collectors came to be baptized, and they asked him, "Teacher, what should we do?" 13 He said to them, "Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you." 14 Soldiers also asked him, "And we, what should we do?" He said to them, "Do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusation, and be satisfied with your wages."

John, in the mode of Jesus, always keeps it real. The Good News, according to Jesus, was always expressed in concrete, relevant terms. For example, he did not offer to enroll the grieving widow in a support group; he raised her son’s corpse to new life – for real!

Jesus was such an inept picker-upper of John’s vitriol (winnowing fork, fire, etc.) that John himself, from prison, sent agents to be certain he and Jesus were on the same page (Luke 7). Jesus’ response: 22And he answered them, "Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have good news brought to them. 23And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me." Pretty real, huh?

In the manner of Jesus, we, too, are called to break ourselves open and pour ourselves out. This is neither a virtual privilege, nor a virtual responsibility. It’s recognizing that the grace which is ours, was, is, and always will be a costly grace. Walking the walk, even when we stumble or sin (miss-the-mark in Greek), is always preferred to, virtually, talking-the-talk.

Despite all the differences between me, Troy Lyndon, and his Left Behind Games, we do share one thing in common. The company is offering a free technical upgrade on December 24th. So are we. His is virtual. Ours is real, life-changing. It's rated E, for everyone.

We’ll be here at 7:00 P.M., to celebrate the Incarnation of our God, for real, as we gather for Candlelight Worship with Holy Communion. Losers from all over this city will be in attendance to remember and to relive the birth of the One Whose victory we share because of his willingness to spill his own, no one else’s, blood. If you're in the neighborhood, we'd be honored to have you give thanks here, too.

Therein resides, for real, all the wonder working power we need, in the precious blood of the Lamb.