Anatomy of a Murder

Anatomy of a Murder (1,237)

August 13th, 2011

Well, I will admit that “murder” is a little dramatic—but sometimes a title is an ornate doorway to a simpler abode. However, there is an assassination going on every day in this country. Once you start slaughtering the truth and sacrificing valuable principles on an altar of convenience, it soon creates an antipathy in the populace, because what’s the sense in getting excited about anything that may end up being fictitious in the end?

I believe the reason we have so much apathy in our world is that all of us are convinced that in some way every person we meet is a liar. It is the anatomy of a murder—a slaying of our passion because we fear becoming zealous over a bad thing.

I saw it this week in New York. Bluntly, the difference between having a spiritual encounter of quality at one of my concerts is not based on whether I am in a good mood or not. I am on the road because I have been called to be here, trained to be here, have gone through the paces to be here, have suffered slings and arrow to be here, and, with a big batch of humility, I am always questioning my worthiness to be here. What determines the success of a spiritual renewal in a congregation is whether the sponsor and the people really believe there is a chance that something could come their way that is filled with the spirit, fresh from God, sent explicitly to them—something beyond their comprehension, ushered in to enrich their lives.

If you think that everything in life is a joke, a farce or overplayed because that’s the way you live your existence, you will often miss out on the opportunities God wishes to grant—new and filled with heavenly potential.

Yes, I will say it bluntly—a sponsor who actually studies the material we send to him or her, acquaints himself with the possibilities and dares to become excited about the notion that God might be hatching a fresh egg of joy in his or her direction will pass that enthusiasm onto the congregation and community, and will always—did you hear me?—always gather a good crowd and great results.

The sponsor is responsible for who attends an event. It is neither attractive nor truthful to represent that any leader of a congregation is unable to understand his or her own community and tap the root and flow. People respond to a relevant, realistic anticipation from someone who has taken the time to prepare himself for a blessing instead of just acting like it’s “just another day with another thing.”

It makes no difference to me if there are four, forty, four hundred or four thousand people in an audience. My job is the same, my joy is the same and my journey is the same. But it does make a huge difference to the town in which I appear if the sponsor, congregation and community press fail to become enthralled with the energy of a burgeoning escapade. Yes, it is an escapade—an adventure.

Now, I am not saying that something special is going to happen because I am coming. But “special” happens first and foremost when we believe it is going to happen—because we are allowing ourselves to believe that something is special. For example, an amusement park is never fun if you’re complaining about the parking. A meal always tastes terrible if you’re fussing about the ingredients instead of enjoying the results. And even sex is rather boring without some form of foreplay. Therefore, fourteen people sitting in a church have a difficult time believing that God planned the event.

So when I run across apathy, I understand that it is a symptom of a greater disease. People are apathetic because they have been deceived. They don’t want to be cheated again, so they choose to be only partially involved. People are deceived because there is lying going on. Lying only survives when it is accepted as a viable method of communication between human beings—going both ways. In other words, liars don’t fare well among those who tell the truth. The only people that liars get along with are fellow-liars.

So let’s look at it again: apathy is traced back to deception. People who don’t want to be deceived choose to act uncaring. They choose to not care because they believe they live in a world of lies. They don’t challenge that world of lies because occasionally they want permission to do so themselves. And lacking the truth, it is impossible for us to access a belief in Jesus—who claimed he was “the way, the truth and the life.”

So we surface religion instead of embracing the Messiah.

This is where we are in our religious system—we wade through a quagmire of apathy because we believe that the world is deceptive. Our contention about the deception of the world is based on the lies we’ve heard (and also those coming out of our own mouths). This causes us to cease pursuing the truth. And since Jesus is the truth, we choose to honor the religious relics that surround him rather than following the philosophy that he embodied.

Can we change this? Absolutely. But we have to understand—the Book of Psalms says that God demands only one thing: truth on the inward parts. Flatly, I have a singular responsibility to myself and my fellow-man. I need to reveal what I am feeling in a transparent way. It doesn’t need to be right and will certainly be corrected by time and discovery. But when I lie about it, I set into motion a deception which contributes to the general apathy of an ailing people.

So here’s the truth—I loved all the people I met in New York. Some of the sponsors were deceivers and failed to perform their function, but God was faithful to do what He promised to do—provide all my need according to His riches in glory. I am able to say this without bitterness because it hasn’t fomented in my soul, but is the reality of my present sensation. Could I be wrong? Absolutely. But we are never going to discover what’s right and wrong in our country until our ministers, educators, politicians and corporate CEO’s start telling us the truth without fearing the repercussions.

Truth on the inward parts – it’s all God asks for. I will never be sin-free. I will never be perfect. I will never have language that isn’t spotted with an occasional blooper or two. But when my communication lacks veracity and the factual representation of the moment, I am asking God to depart from me … in search of one who will.