. Here\u2019s a segment of the chapter entitled \u201cUnsatisfied contentment: When does hunger become a way of life?\u201d<\/span>:
Dave pulled into his driveway, and punched his radio off. Even in the quiet, the atmosphere in the car still carried the adrenaline charge from the uncompromising words from \u201cGod\u2019s Agenda Today\u201d, the radio show to which everyone at church religiously listened. This afternoon\u2019s topic, \u201cHow Hollywood distorts the gospel\u201d, didn\u2019t even affect Dave personally. With four young kids in his household, he hadn\u2019t even seen anything other than cartoons on DVD the last few years. He didn\u2019t really know much about the movies to which GAT host Larry O\u2019Brien referred, but by the time Dave pulled into his driveway, Larry had him convinced that evil had a California zip code. <\/i><\/b><\/p>\nHis entire right arm started to throb, and he realized that his hand had been clenched into a fist the whole time he was listening to the show. <\/p>\n
He shook his hand loose as he walked into the house. The decibel level today was one setting above \u201cBoisterous\u201d. Seven year-old Matthew was slouched in a chair in the living room, holding a bag of organic frozen green beans against the side of his head. His wife Christy was in the kitchen lecturing Jesse, nearly six, and holding nine-month old Lizzie on one hip. Christy looked ten years older than she had when he left the house that morning. <\/p>\n
He kissed her on the cheek, and took Lizzie from her. \u201cLooks like you\u2019ve had a fun afternoon.\u201d <\/p>\n
She continued to glare at Jesse. \u201cWe were at the Tisdean\u2019s house for lunch today, and Matthew and Jesse ganged up on Jeremiah Tisdean, going from one fight to the next. Both of them were very rude during lunch\u2026and I could tell that Donna wasn\u2019t too happy with the chaos. I got us out of there so I could discipline them, and then when we got home\u2026\u201d <\/p>\n
Dave\u2019s mind wandered while Christy continued to give a blow by blow description of the afternoon\u2019s drama. Why did his kids always act up at the Tisdean\u2019s house? The Tisdeans were spiritual giants at Covenant Bible Chapel, and seemed to have their ideal brood functioning with an eerie military precision. When Christy took the now-fussing Lizzie from his arms, she said, \u201cSo what are you going to do about Sarah?\u201d <\/p>\n
Her question jerked him back to earth. \u201cWhat? Sarah? Why is Matthew icing his head?\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cWere you paying attention, Dave? The boys had another fight in the yard just before you came home, but that\u2019s really not the problem. I was telling you that I discovered that Sarah stole a doll from Charity Tisdean while we were there. And then she lied to me about it. She\u2019s up in her room. I told her to stay there until you got home and could deal with her.\u201d <\/p>\n
Dave found himself wishing he could steal something from the Tisdeans, too. Like a little of their perfection, maybe. \u201cGod forgive me,\u201d he whispered as he trudged up the stairs to Sarah. \u201cI don\u2019t need their perfection. I need Your wisdom.\u201d
+ + + + + + + <\/p>\n
Jerry Tisdean was really revved this morning in Sunday School. His class was the place to be at 9 AM Sunday mornings among the faithful of Covenant Bible Chapel. After a brief prayer, Jerry launched into it. \u201cDid any of you get a chance to listen to God\u2019s Agenda Today on Friday?\u201d Several men nodded. \u201cThat discussion about the way that the modern psychology movement has infiltrated the church never gets old, does it? Can\u2019t preach the good, old-fashioned gospel if they\u2019re using the world\u2019s methods. These are dark days\u2026\u201d <\/p>\n
The balance of the hour was spent rehashing the radio program\u2019s contents. Always quiet, Dave willed himself to listen to the discussion, trying not to think about the argument he and Christy had in the car on the way to church. The discussion wasn\u2019t really much of a discussion, since everyone in the class seemed to agree with every word that Jerry said. Various people weighed in with their own third-hand tidbits about the worldly tactics used by well-known parachurch ministries and churches, gleaned from the internet and various newsletters from fundamentalist \u201cdiscernment\u201d ministries. <\/p>\n
The discussion was so heated that they nearly missed the beginning of the service. Jerry\u2019s tribe filed into the dim 1960\u2019s-era sanctuary as the first flat notes of \u201cA Mighty Fortress Is Our God\u201d thundered from an ancient upright piano. No big deal if they missed worship, Dave thought. Most people at Covenant felt that the musical portion of their worship was an aural endurance course they had to run in order to get to the main course of the morning: the red meat of God\u2019s Word \u2013 the sermon. <\/p>\n
He slid into the pew next to Christy, who sang with the voice of an angel. If she was pondering the ugly words he\u2019d spoken in the van on the way to church, she wasn\u2019t showing it. She\u2019d told the bickering Matthew and Jesse, \u201cListen, boys\u2026if you don\u2019t zip it, we\u2019re going to turn around and go home.\u201d <\/p>\n
Dave had smirked, \u201cYou\u2019re scheduled for nursery duty today during Sunday School.\u201d He might as well have told the boys that they won this battle, because they understood that her nursery duty meant they wouldn\u2019t be going home, no matter how naughty they were. Christy glared icily at him, and was silent the rest of the way to church. <\/p>\n
During verse 3 of the second hymn of the morning, Dave wondered if any of the rest of them ever said stupid things on the way to church. He suspected so, but never heard many of them talk about their own failures since most of them were too busy analyzing the failures of others. Dave and Christy had always felt that that the strong opinions from the others who attended Covenant Bible Chapel were a sign of their spiritual commitment and maturity. Lately, though, he found himself asking why their \u2018maturity\u2019 made him feel like a hopeless adolescent. <\/p>\n
He reached for Christy\u2019s hand, and she squeezed his in return. It was a splash of grace, and allowed Dave to focus on the sermon. Dave had always admired Pastor Johnson\u2019s verse-by-verse teaching. He spoke today about the importance of doctrinal purity, from Philippians 1:9,10 (\u201cAnd this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment; That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ.\u201d [KJV]) By the time the sermon was over, Pastor Johnson had aimed his cannon at the ACLU, MTV, the contemporary Christian music industry, Hollywood and the Juniors department of the local Wal-Mart. <\/p>\n
Though Dave shared Pastor Johnson\u2019s concerns about purity, he wasn\u2019t quite sure how all of those offenders got roped into the sermon, especially as he pondered what the biblical text had to say. <\/p>\n
But there was no questioning that Pastor Johnson was on his game today. He had to be, every week. Dave knew that most of the armchair preachers in the congregation would analyze his message with the gusto of sports fans. Post-game sermon analysis was entertainment to them. Some of them even collected and traded sermon tapes they\u2019d obtained from fundamentalist ministers promoted by Larry O\u2019Brien of \u201cGod\u2019s Agenda Today\u201d or Pastor Johnson. It reminded Dave of the way he used to collect and trade baseball cards when he was a kid. <\/p>\n
He looked at Christy\u2019s hand, so small in his own. He couldn\u2019t shake the feeling that something was wrong somewhere. \u201cWhere are you in all of this, Lord Jesus?\u201d <\/p>\n
It was a prayer that snuck out of Dave more and more these days\u2026<\/p>\n
***
Have you ever had experience or exposure to extreme teaching? What effect has it had in your life?<\/span>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The recent news that a child\u2019s death has been blamed on the parents\u2019 adherence to the extreme fundy teachings of Michael and Debi Pearl made me think about the bombastic, insistent voices claiming to offer the perfect formula for not only raising children, but living a godly life. (As if a holy life was a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1449,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-361","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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![](\"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/d\/d7\/Bill_Gothard_03.jpg\")
<\/a><\/div>\n