The Golf Course Church

The Golf Course Church

4/9/16

What type of lifestyles do people think are represented on a golf course and what do these representations offer to the majority of the other people around them?  Golf courses stand out even from the plush and posh surroundings that they lie amongst yet even in these perfect settings many of the courses and the people who frequent them are out of touch with what is going on around their environment.  Inclusions and inductions into these courses are typically suggested and tried but in the end, the majority invited still remain outside for various reasons, mainly because these see blind similarities projected from the heart of the courses.  The Church has built herself up according to these standards and she is reflective of this type of setting which makes her blind to her mission, her Groom and the impending disaster that must accompany this choice of hers.  Make no mistake, God is still in the restoration business, but if one does not recognize the failure, how can the correction be made?

I remember a long time ago when I was granted the privilege of traveling to Africa with my dad, brother and a large group of other people to Africa.  It was for a week’s long trip and it proved to be one of the most eye-opening experiences in my life.  I wish that I could state that my heart was in the right place while I was there in that beautiful country for if it was I probably would have learned so much more of what God wanted to show me than what I allowed Him.  See, my eyes were still in the blinded stage and through my attitude that I allowed to be present clearly shadowed my experience, so much so that God had to do some pretty deep cutting in order for me to open my heart to what He was trying to get me to understand.  Even to this day, God is still showing me things about that trip back in 1997 and it is amazing to me of how He still teaches me valuable truths about His people from an event I attended so long ago.  I guess that is why I can honestly say and to proclaim to the world that while the Bible was written millennia ago, it is still the most relevant text for our lives in 2016 and beyond for it reads as a story of each one of us.

The country of Cote d’Ivoire, or Ivory Coast as most people associate it as is a country that has been through its portion of trials and tribulations.  France was its colonizer for decades and of course, the slave trade affected the lives of countless Ivorians some centuries before; then, you throw in the numerous warlord chiefs and dictators and you have the perfect recipe for a country wrapped in control and poverty.  It is obvious that when you take a personal glimpse around this country one quickly notices that the poverty issues still grip the countryside and unless things take a drastic change, this type of status will not change anytime soon.  I have mentioned before about my stay at the luxurious hotel in the small village of Yamoussoukro that had a magnificent golf course on one side of the hotel grounds.

In a country that is literally dying each day due to the untapped resources and scratching off of heads that wish to purify the land by those who desire only power, money and control, and a championship style golf course in the middle of this village is an absurdity.  While elaborate mosques, churches, and educational centers were constructed no one had the means to which attend these provisions.  The Catholic Basilica at that time was the 2^nd largest in the world and could hold over 100,000 people for a service if necessary; an average of fewer than 100 people attend each Sunday.  When the truth was told, all of these buildings and structures were created and built by a man who strictly wanted to suffice his own standard within his hometown; what a selfish reason to establish such a testament, to appeal to servants for votes and control.

I was witness to many things from God during those few days that I was in Yamoussoukro and I would not trade them for anything.  As my group stood and sat around me during the services, I watched demons manifest themselves while speakers from around the world spoke about the advancement of the Kingdom of God.  I had the opportunity to hear people praying to God in languages that I did not understand and to stand in awe as I knew in my heart that while I did not understand their prayers God had full knowledge of what they were saying.  It was an experience that still floats around my heart so many years later and one that I refer to when I wish to understand the Kingdom better.

With all the luxurious buildings that lined the paved streets of that small village, I could not help but recognize the grandeur of these empty buildings.  Even the buildings that were not considered to be for religious purposes laid dormant for the majority of the year, waiting for some group or representative to turn the lights on for some type of benefit.  The enormous United Nations buildings were only used a few days a year and even the magnificent four-lane roads abruptly ended at a certain point in the jungle.  At that moment, I had no inkling that this setting accurately describes how the Church functions and what the inside of the Church looks like to God.  We have focused so much on our outside appearance that we totally neglected the contents of what really fuels the Church, our hearts.

Even though we did not eat every one of our meals up in the fancy restaurant on the top floor of the hotel each night, the occasions in which we did seemed fascinating to me, the surrounding area and surrounding atmosphere being the most.  Being a pastor’s kid we were never rich enough to dine in these types of settings every week but I was not totally unfamiliar with what transpired in these dining atmospheres.  I have to admit that it did seem a bit odd for us to be eating in a place of this magnitude when the area itself was so abundantly impoverished.  At one of the few meals we ate in this upper restaurant I took a quick stroll around the entire floor just to look out and to observe the whole view.  While one side of the windows projected a serene setting with other soundly structured buildings the other side of the restaurant I could see the reality of the area with the red dirt roads leading to a dead end and the minuscule wooden shacks that the people of this small village called home.  The contrast was striking and it is these two views of mine that set the tone for this message from God.

The golf course naturally caught my eye because it was easy and pleasant to look at while the leaf huts and cardboard shanties were not because they reinforced the concepts that had been placed into my mind concerning Africa, stereotypically of course.  As I took the time to watch the workers mowing the golf course and how long it took them to complete such a task I really did not see too much difference in that process there than what I had observed here in the states.  The amount of the equipment on the grounds roughly corresponded with the number of workers present.  When I looked towards the “normal” areas of the village I could not imagine any of these people being able to afford their next meal much less paying for a round or golf, yet the course was less than ¼ mile from their places of inhabitance.  Like I have stated at that time my eyes were shut to what was God was trying to get me to see, and now that He has allowed me to understand what is ongoing, the comparison is almost overwhelming to my spirit. 

It does not matter where a golf course is located it will always stand out from its surroundings.  Golf courses are located in all types of climates and environments, from the middle of cities to the deserts and each one of them possess their own signature to attract people to play its course.  Some are lined with trees, some have many ponds surrounding each hole and there are even some that are located on the side of a mountain, it does not matter each has its own tempting lure about it that many cannot resist.  Stop and think for a moment about today's churches, and if one really wishes to be honest, the same type of settings are present amongst the church community of today which places it in the church categories instead of the Church category.  There is no way Jesus wanted His Church to be so irreversibly divided that she becomes ineffective in her mission, yet through human absurdities, we have made her just that.

The hotels, restaurants, churches and convention centers were not built for the common people, but as instruments of attraction to those who were deemed necessary to attend.  There was no reverence concerning the confines of that village and indeed the buildings present were magnificent they had no meaning to the real people that lived there.  I would give anything to return back to that moment in my life and to readdress the conditions of the people and to understand what God was showing me about the Church in general, it has almost been twenty years since that date my heart grieves for being so blind to what was around me.  God was actually showing the condition and the state of the heart of His Church to me and I completely missed it.  What is so eye opening now is that the people in that country represent more of a thriving Church than our own developed settings and it is painful to my heart to understand this truth today.

The convention that was on going in the soccer stadium and United Nations center was phenomenal, the teaching and preaching on spiritual warfare and how to develop God-centered churches was quite striking.  People from all over the world who had a heart for God who spoke many different languages all came together in one setting to learn about God and how to project His name to the dying world.  There were no labels being placed on people nor were there any people rejected for how they appeared when they arrived.  I was in awe when I watched a group of women literally change a woman’s appearance right before everyone’s eyes when she came forward to receive Jesus as her Savior. I later found out that she was a prostitute and was ready to commit suicide but yielded to God before she took that step.  She changed!  She did not remain the same after she came to God and the ladies of that convention helped her in every aspect of her life, inside and outside.  These ladies did not represent any type of religious golf course at all, but one of true repentance and restoration.

A golf course church will only understand and willingly participate in a surface few of truths instead of divulging themselves in the entire Word of God.  A golf course church will only allow certain issues to be addressed while attendees sip on coffee and eat donuts while the sermon is being presented.  A golf course church will shun those who have a heart for God and question the earthly order that is being presented as truth, salvation, and restoration.  The exterior of the golf course church will be magnificent in appearance but stink to high heaven on the spiritual level (interior) because of the intermingling with the world.  These types of golf course churches are is exactly what our enemy desires for us to “thrive” in because he knows that once the world is incorporated into these walls our own human divisions will one day rise up and take control of the situation and completely destroy any potential that remains within the hearts of the Church.  The golf course church is established on fleshy appearances and therefore cannot dive deep into the Word of God for if it did her foundation would be totally annihilated, which is exactly what the Word of God is supposed to do to the world and its standards.

Jesus came to this world to establish His Church so that she can be completely separate from the world and function spiritually as a complete and intact dominion.  The purity of the Church is the willingness to separate herself from the world and not to conform to its frontiers.  She cannot abide by the laws of the world and expect God to bless her deeds on a continual and blinded manner.  How dare she try to manipulate God and His ways in order to bring in the finances of the world for she was created to be an identifiable difference from what the world offers, yet she voluntarily allowed the stench of death that the world can only offer and not the abundance of eternal life that only God can provide. 

Churches should never be even remotely considered as golf course material.  Instead, they should be as one warrior standing with her Creator to fight an eternal battle for every living spirit on this planet.  Church buildings represent battlefields, not pleasure parks.  If this truth is not recognized immediately and our hearts turned back to God now, the laws of this world will tear down the walls of these buildings and therefore, because we do not understand what the Church actually represents, tear down our means of existence as well.  The spirit world cares nothing about golf courses; however, our enemy loves it when we build these types of buildings because it will be easier for him to overtake them when the time comes for him to take possession of what we have allowed him to inhabit in the first place. 

This is a war, not a game!  Do you remember that the first Christians had no elaborate buildings to worship in?  Do you remember how tough it was and how dangerous it was when these brave souls mentioned in public the name of Jesus?  I can guarantee you that if we do not stop considering our buildings to be golf course churches and start to once again unite the Church, we will in time be driven back into our homes and have come full circle with the authority of what Jesus gave to her; and you thought the early Christians had it bad.  There is a definitive break in this circle if we choose God instead of the world. 

God is calling for His Church to repent and to return back to His ways.  God cannot protect our sins and cover them if we continue to live in them willingly.  The Church is the biggest offender of this truth and she needs to repent now.  She should stop all the backbiting and bury herself into the Word of God and begin to understand what is at stake.  God love you, this is a truth but to love someone there must be obedience first!  Do not get me wrong, I like the sport of golf and I like to stroll a course every once-in-a-while but it is not my life and it is not how I can represent God to the ones who need Him.  God calls us to be rich in Him and not of the world and we must NEVER forget that there are two kingdoms that are at war for your eternal placement and it is our choice to choose one of these kingdoms for we cannot serve two masters.  It is time for us to be honest and to give up our games with our eternity.

DLB