
What is a Shirt Pocket Christian (referred to from here on as SPC)?
The modern religious machine has created what we now call the SPC. The SPC goes to church on Sunday, pays his or her admission (offering), gets their weekly dose of Dr. Feel good, and goes home. Once the SPC has their fancy Sunday lunch in their suit and ties, dresses and high heels and fancy hair styles, they migrate back to regular life for another week of living life as they always have.
The SPC gives their money to the church every week, making obvious to the person next to them how much they gave, sitting in the arenas built by the church, for church members, with church money. Today’s modern church may have as many as 85,000 seats (Southeast Christian, Louisville KY). These modern theme parks for god are built and managed by boards of directors, and have pastors that make anywhere from $50,000.00 per year to $250,000.00 per year. Modern church pastors that run multi million dollar churches have staff that makes more than the average working man or woman, have security better than some heads of state, have drivers, maids, domestics of all types and are insured for hundreds of millions of dollars being listed as “Key Man”, as if in any large corporation.
Today’s modern church in many medium and large cities, take in millions of dollars each and every month, funding hi tech web sites that stream sermons, have activity groups, make and sell DVD’s, books, newspapers and magazines. All designed to make profit. And make a profit they do…..Of course we were discussing the SPC, not the big Casino churches so more about that later.
How often does the SPC go out in his community and give money to those who need. From what I see, and from what I have seen for the last 40 years the answer is never. The thought never comes in to the SPC’s peanut brain that all those hard earned bucks they proudly pass along to the offering plate has little chance of ever EVER getting to someone that needs real help. Offering money goes to build more, bigger better churches, better web sites, more newspapers, books and periodicals that sell the shell game of Jesus to the un educated media drowned public as they propagate their religious racism on the young, gullible youth of our time.
If the SPC of today had any sense and foresight they would indeed realize it was not only their right, but their duty to ask “Where is my money being spent”, or “Who have you helped with my offerings this week”. The poor blinded SPC has been so saturated with phony Dr. Feel goods from the church of the all mighty dollar, that they can’t seem to see the forest, for the trees. Instead, the SPC, who in many cases had a pathetic life of no purpose or meaning, that when the big shot casino church came along, the SPC found yet another social club, somewhere to have a circle of peers to hang with, a place to feel like they belong. The casino church knows that these people are in a bad time in their life, that they have a need to feel a part of something. Once the church pumps you full of false hope and dogmatic BS, they know you wallet will open to its core, and dump it’s hard earned contents in the offering plate and go so far as to feel GREATFUL, they have been allowed to give to this wonderful church. How sad.
Instead of helping the needy in the community, instead of finding people in your own town, your neighborhood, your child’s school, on your own street that need help, that need a friend but can’t afford to buy theirs at church: they sell there belongings, take from their family, do without food, or new clothes, don’t take their family on vacation and generally just struggle to survive, as long as the “church” gets their money.
My advice for the SPCs, drive in any, and I do mean ANY direction from your house or job, for a total of 10 minutes, I absolutely guarantee that if you look, you will find someone that needs your help. Help them, help them in any way you can. Buy them some groceries, pay an electric bill, take an old lady to the doctor, Cut some ones grass that doesn’t have the health ability to do it or the money to pay to have it done. Buy a kid who’s mother is a junkie, or an alcoholic, a hot lunch. What ever things you spend money for, whether it be food or gas or even your time, take the receipts with you on Sunday and put those in the offering plate. See how long you keep the fake respect of those in your church. Better yet, suggest at church that one Sunday a month the whole congregation take one Sunday and not have a service, and not take up an offering, and go out in the community and find someone to help. Watch how the pastor’s rectum gets real tight, and the church secretary chokes on her hymn. Keep up that line of thinking and see how long it is before you are no longer welcome in the house of George (Washington – ya know, the guy on the one dollar bill). These churches have the unmitigated balls to say “What would Jesus do”. If every person in any one typical large church helped one other person directly in their respective community the community, the town, the city and the world would be a much better place. THAT is what Jesus would do! As for me, each and ever time I drive past a multi million dollar church facility I hang my head is shame. If this is what the so called “good” people do, if this is how the “good” people live their life, then their definition of good and mine are very different.
So I submit to you this: Are you a Shirt Pocket Christian?
If you are the type of person that I have described here, or if you own and wear a shirt that has a bible verse on it, or a shirt that has a little fish on the pocket, or if you have a little fish on your car, then you my friend are a shirt pocket Christian. If you live your life in a way that you need a shirt with a fish, or a symbol on your car, or a WWJD bracelet, you are a SPC. If you have to tell someone that you are a God like person, then you’re not!
“Verily, verily, I say unto you. If you are a shirt pocket Christian brother, then you are no brother of mine.
The game of life is not about trying to be something you are not; it’s not about trying to find a click that you can fit into. The game of life is simply trying to figure out what you are and always have been! Break from the mold! Do unto others as you would have them to do you when you have hard times. Help your friends, your neighbors, and your community. Do not feed the Crystal Casino Church any longer, because when you loose your job, when you have hardship the church’s tax free interest earning back account will not be there for you.