Religulous

"And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 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."

I suppose there are many reasons that somebody like Bill Maher would make a movie titled Religulous, one of them being that he thinks Christians are both religious and ridiculous; hence religulous.

Religulous is Maher's new movie railing against ALL religion, including; Christianity, Judaism and Islam. Christianity seems to be his favorite target though. Maher is simply doing something that's been done for thousands of years now, and that is being a doubter, a skeptic of religion. Jesus explains why people like Bill Maher are the way they are, and that is because they "neither sees him nor knows him," referring to God's Holy Spirit.

It's God's Spirit that works in multiple ways; He is the Revealer of truth, He convicts, He convinces, and He teaches. Unfortunately and sadly, this is what Bill Maher is missing. Jesus hit the nail on the head two thousand years ago when he referred to the fact that the Holy Spirit is something "the world cannot receive."

"Religion is the easiest thing to sell because it's an invisible product," Maher recently said in an interview, and he spoke truth without knowing truth. Indeed, religion, specifically Christianity is an invisible product. The Holy Spirit is an invisible Product; the Producer of God in us.

Jesus spoke of the work of the Holy Spirit in us in John 3 when he had his encounter with Nicodemus, he said, "The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit." (John 3:8) In its essence Jesus was saying "you cannot describe the work of something you cannot see, but you can see the effects."

I received an email last week from a friend I grew up with; we haven't talked in thirty-five years. Thirty-five years! John found me on the internet, discovered I was a pastor and dropped me a line just say hello; he too is a pastor now. In his email he reminisced about several things from when we were 13 or 14 years old; playing sandlot football together and things like that, then he also mentioned "do you remember how we use to have cussing contests?" Wow! What a blast from the past; cussing contests as a kid. I guess that explains some of my preaching and teaching!

There's been Something at work in me over the past thirtysomething years that has lead me away from having cussing contest and into pursuing God's holiness. I must admit, that Something isn't me; that Something is God's Holy Spirit. These are the things, and even things much more astounding than these, that Bill Maher cannot explain, has to discount, and ultimately has to make fun of because it seems religulous (religiously ridiculous) to him.

If Maher had his way all religion would be done away with.

"'I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.'" (v18-20)

What an amazing statement Jesus makes here when he says "I will not leave you as orphans." I wonder if we see the depth of what Jesus is saying? When he uses the word "orphan" there are implications. An orphan is one who has lost his/her father or mother. In this case Jesus is revealing that He is in the Father and the Father is in him; He is One with God. Furthermore, when Jesus says "the world will see me no more, but you will see me" he is describing exactly what Bill Maher doesn't see and what believing Christians do see. Maher cannot see the invisible God, but we see the work of that same invisible God through the work of his Holy Spirit in our lives. That's how we know that the Father is in Jesus, and Jesus is in the Father and Jesus is in us.

When Maher was asked in an interview "Doesn't this documentary epitomize godless Hollywood in a way," Maher responded "I hope! If I have anything to do with it it will." In the same breath Maher wants the interviewer to believe that he respects all human beings. I guess he just respects the unreligious a little more that us religious types.

"'Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.'" (v21)

Could Jesus have ever made a more true and concise statement? If anyone DOESN'T keep Jesus' commandments, he or she cannot love God. It's true for Christians, Muslims and Jews; and, it's true for Bill Maher. Bill Maher wants a God-less Hollywood and a God-less America.

In an interview, Larry Charles, the Director of Religulous said "It would be kind of ironic if this became the next religion, wouldn't it?"

I firmly believe that Bill Maher is about to get what he wants; and for that matter, America is about to get what it wants too. We are on the verge of kicking God totally out of America; we don't want him meddling in our lives. We don't want him meddling in our self-indulgence, we don't want him meddling in our sexual practices, and we don't want him meddling in our materialism and morality.

All Christians should be reading and praying 2 Chronicles chapter 7 today.

"Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, 'Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?' Jesus answered him, 'If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father's who sent me.'" (v22-24)

Jesus was only saying the things that God wanted said.

Today, Jesus continues to say the things that God wants said; he saying it through his Holy Spirit that makes his home in us. Sadly, Bill Maher has never seen the work of the invisible God in his life, and he, like many people, keep trying to plug up that hole, that void, that is in his life and his heart with something material, like a Hollywood movie.