Jesus did not come to start a religion; I doubt that he ever said to himself, “okay, now I am going to begin something called Christianity,” according to Mike Slaughter in his book Renegade Gospel: The Rebel Jesus. Instead, the rebel Jesus came with a renegade gospel to start a revolution that would be propelled by a countercultural community of people on planet earth. The book aims to describe what it means to live a revolutionary lifestyle when we get serious about the real Jesus.
Hard-hitting statements made by the author include:
- It is a heresy to value, honor and prioritize a worldly system, ideology and politics over the Kingdom of God
- Too often we allow talk-show pundits to become the genesis of our values, rather than looking to the Kingdom, will and Word of God
- When we privatize our faith we cease to be salt and light in the world
- We don’t pray to get to heaven; we actively work and pray to get the Kingdom of Heaven into earth
- Faith is acting on Jesus’ directive to follow, which means that his lifestyle becomes our lifestyle
- We act as if the narrow way belongs to the pastor, the wide way to the lost, and the middle way, somewhere between the other two, to the rest of us
- Through the ages and continuing today, the church has used the written word as an excuse or justification for not obeying the directives of Jesus
Although it is short and written in an engaging style, this is not an easy book to read, just as the lifestyle which Jesus proclaimed is not an easy one to live. Most readers are likely to find their political and theological positions challenged by the author’s forthright assertions. If you are open to having your comfortable Christianity shaken by a prophetic voice, then this might be the book for you.