Tony Woodlief is the subject of two of my posts today. It’s entirely uncommon that I post twice in a day, lately twice in a week, but I find myself having more and more to say. (I know this is techincally three posts but the first was a copy of one I posted on facebook days ago) I have a ton to talk about so there may be more posts forthcoming but I also have commitments I have to keep today so I may be limited to this post plus the previous.
Tony Woodlief published an article that presents a take on Christmas I had never considered. The article adresses a subject that has been near and dear to me since returning to the faith some seven years ago. He speaks of the blood of Christ in this piece and while not the focus it brought to mind the fact that I rarely post on my faith even though it is becoming a more central piece in my life. I plan to change that and do so starting today. The article linked above only served as the inspiration for this post but it is well worth a read and I think some of you may even find it inspiring. Now on to my main point.
When I walked away from the Word of Faith movement I also walked away from the faith as a whole. I wanted nothing to do with God or much of anything God related. Upon my return to the faith, not the WOF movement, I found myself mired in the Restoration Movement. Aside from sound doctrine I appreciated the ideals that spawned the movement even if the execution is lacking. I have remained there and likely will do so as long as they will have me. But I digress…I found that in our movement and indeed in many other churches I have attended over the years that there two things in the WOF movement that seem to not have enough emphasis. As I am not a church historian I do not know if this is historically a Protestant thing or if it something that has slowly happened to the church as a whole regardless of the schims. Actually there are three things but only one is my topic here. They are: Communion, Worship, and teaching on the blood of Christ.
All I want to delve into here is the blood of Christ. Tony’s piece mentions it and it is something that has been on mind a lot lately and even got discussed with Chris on Christmas! So I feel led to post about the lack. I am not going to go into some strange sermon mode here but rather try and simply state that I feel that simple things like talking about the blood of Christ is something that should be done more. Greek word studies are all well and good but if the basics are ignored then we have a bunch of book-smart and yet ignorant Christians who may be able to interpret Greek but miss the point.
Suffice to say that scripture backs my position on the importance of the blood of Christ. You can look for it yourself (and yes I am purposefully not posting the references as it makes people actually do the searches and more information seems to be retained that way). The hymn writers saw the importance as evidenced in the hymnbooks in the back of the pews at a lot of churches (neat segue into the worship topic but that’s Eli’s game and not mine right now). I firmly believe that the churches I have attended recently concern themselves more with actions than beliefs. An emphasis on actions is alright but if it’s the main focus your end up with the knowledge of what you should do and not why you should do it. If your beliefs are right then by necessity your actions will follow. (scripture backs that point as well, look it up!)
I challenge my friends to think about this and to take a good hard look at what you are being taught whilst warming the pews and see where the emphasis is in your church. Do your own study on the blood of Christ and its importance. Should you choose to accept my challenge I have a feeling your study will lead you in amazing directions! I don’t think any two of you will even be led down the same study path. God has this weird way of taking our study in a direction where we need it to go in spite of our intentions.
For those who have never noticed that I am a Christian. SURPISE! I am actually sorry if you never knew. I am still the same guy. Still the same music. Still the same favorite beer and small batch whiskey (maybe in smaller quantities these days). I am simply putting my faith out there. I will still go to a show and knock back a Lone Star with you any night I can get out of the house. 
I should have made this a more central piece of my life a long time ago.
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