“Revival Fires” is a self-professed Evangelical Christian who frequents this site, leaving a plethora of hateful, nasty comments. He does the same on social media. Revival Fires has an obsession with prison rape and anal sex. I have repeatedly tried to get him to see that his behavior is not consistent with the teachings of the Bible. By appealing to his divine “authority,” I thought he might see the error of his ways and repent. Sadly, he is incorrigible, and I have finally figured out why.
Revival Fires recently left a response to a comment by my friend Ben Berwick. Calling Ben BirdDick, here’s what he had to say:
There is no such thing as a “good Christian “. No one is good. All are depraved and in need of his grace.
In twenty-two short words, Revival Fires reveals why he behaves like he does. You see, Revival Fires ill-bred behavior is driven by his theology; particularly his warped understanding of Christian salvation and human nature.
A saved person, according to the Bible, is a new creation in Christ. II Corinthians 5:16-17 says:
From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we no longer know him in that way. So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; look, new things have come into being!
The Bible says a lot about personal holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord. In Matthew 5-7, commonly called The Sermon on the Mount, Jesus sets forth the requirements to be a Christian. Not suggestions, requirements. In the Beatitudes, found in Matthew 5:3-12, Jesus said:
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Jesus goes on to say in Matthew 5:13-16:
You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything but is thrown out and trampled under foot. You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. People do not light a lamp and put it under the bushel basket; rather, they put it on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.
These verses strongly suggest that Revival Fires is not a Christian. The Apostle Paul said in Galatians 5:
Now the works of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, debauchery, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. I am warning you, as I warned you before: those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. And those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, competing against one another, envying one another.
Paul contrasts the works of the flesh with the works of the Spirit. He states that the fruit of the Spirit is — singular, present tense. Not fruits — pick and choose — but fruit, singluar. The fruit of the Spirit is not a grand objective. No, dear followers of Jesus, Paul declares that if you have the Holy Spirit living inside of you, these behaviors will be evidenced in your life. Again, these verses make it clear that Revival Fires is not indwelt by the Holy Spirit. In other words, he is not a Christian.
Revival Fires ignores these verses, justifying his atrocious behavior by saying the Bible says that no one is good; that all of us are depraved and in need of God’s grace. In other words, God didn’t do shit for him, behavior-wise. He sees himself as a depraved sinner and behaves accordingly. Revival Fires has a warped understanding of the Christian gospel. In his mind, salvation is gained by affirming a set of propositional truths. “Believe these things and you shall live,” Revival Fires thinks. (And to be fair, I have met a lot of Evangelicals who think this way, especially Independent Fundamentalist Baptists.) Revival Fires bastardized gospel is little more than a momentary transaction at the church altar where he prayed the sinner’s prayer and Jesus saved him. Lots of IFB churches preach this corrupt gospel. Have you ever wondered why so many IFB readers think I am still a Christian? This is why. At the age of fifteen, I assented to a set of theological propositions, prayed a prayer, and Jesus gloriously saved me — forever. No matter how I live my life, I am a Christian. I could be a rapist, serial killer, or atheist and still be a Christian. Why? The Bible says nothing can separate the Christian from the love of Christ.
Revival Fires thinks he is saved, and nothing he does can revoke his ticket to Heaven. Awesome, right? Sin all you want, you are still saved. Misuse and abuse people, you are still saved. Break every law in the Bible, you are still saved. Tell me again, why, exactly, Jesus died on the cross and ressurected from the dead?
Of course, this question must be asked: If Christian salvation doesn’t change your life, what good is it?
Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
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I have known many people who are people of the Christian faith who fairly BOAST about ” walking with / having a close personal relationship with Jesus / the Lord / God, but they act like the most MISERABLE,HATEFUL,PETTY, EASILY – ANGERED, UNSYMPATHETIC, UN – EMPATHIC, UNFORGIVING, UNLOVING PEOPLE ON EARTH. At least one person in my family ( my cousin ) is like that.
If I came from some insular, isolated society that knew little about the Christian faith & someone pointed her out as a member of the faith, I would likely not want anything to do with Christianity after observing her dodgy example. The Christian faith’s BIGGEST LIABILITY is adherents who give LIP SERVICE to said faith but fail to back it up. They talk the talk somewhat convincingly but just don’t walk the walk.
I had a lot of faults as a Christian. That said, the bent of my life was towards holiness. I didn’t want to run in to people like you who would call me a hypocrite for not practicing what I preached. I wanted my life to align with what I said I believed. It’s one thing to come up short, but to revel in sinning and still believe you are a Christian? That seems foreign to the teachings of Jesus and the Apostle Paul.
As you say, there seems to be a disconnect between their talk and walk. Christian or not, all of us should desire our behavior to align with what we say we believe. This is a lifelong process. It seems RF 🔥 thinks salvation is a momentary experience; one easily discarded or ignored since it can never be lost. I suspect if Jesus were alive today that he would say, “Depart from me you worker of iniquity, I never knew you.” And off to 🔥 🔥 🔥 🔥 he goes.
Revival Fires,
The inerrant, infallible Word of the living God says in Romans 6:
What then are we to say? Should we continue in sin in order that grace may increase? By no means! How can we who died to sin go on living in it?
By all means, RF, square these verses with your contention that you depraved; that you aren’t a good Christian.
I can’t wait to read your decoder ring exegesis. 🤣🤣
Bruce Almighty, an atheist Christian 🤣
But,but Bruce..are you preaching a “works based salvation”???(gasp!). Oh my God (sorry I meant “gosh”)! Clearly you forgot the proof texts used to justify Revival Liars theology- justified by grace through faith. Works are filthy rags, believe on the name of Jesus and be saved..
Of course these few verses Trump (sorry to bring Dear Leader into this) the rest of the New Testament- St James- “Faith without works is dead”. He goes on to describe the hypocritical behavior you mention, Bruce- ignoring a poor person’s need for food and instead giving them a “blessing” while walking by. Then all the verses you quote as well.
For a lot of Christians, and not just evangelical ones, the religion becomes a filter of various sizes through which all things pass. So just like O’Brien tells Winston Smith during his torture at the Ministry of Truth in the book “1984”, 2+2 can equal 4, 5 “or sometimes all of them at once”. It just depends on what the Party needs it to equal. The same with the cafeteria that becomes using proof texting to excuse your bad behavior towards other people.
You hit the nail on the head. It is evident whether a person’s religious practice is bringing about a positive influence- how do you personally behave and treat others? If the answer is “like shit”, then you’re better off missing wide, at least according to Jesus in the Book of Revelation- cold or hot. Lukewarm gets spit out.
I’ll say when I look at my own self, I fail most of the time too. Even though I always push back on Revival Liars, I can’t say I’m perfect by any measure either. I try to be someone that leaves whoever I’m dealing with in a more positive place if I can, through my behavior and attitude. If I can’t do that, then nothing else I proclaim matters.
I perceive Revival Fires as a very lonely individual, single, probably unemployed, few friends, perhaps late middle age, possibly alcohol dependent, with a chip on his shoulder that weighs a ton. He clings to his warped views on life and takes it out on others, living in the pretence that he’s somehow endeared himself to god. In reality he’s a loser in this life but gets his revenge by attacking in as depraved a way as possible those whom he sees as having done better in life, insisting that he alone is going to be secure in the next life. It’s so sad how he wastes the one life he has on vitriolic hate, when it’s never too late to get a grip, take responsibility for yourself, and turn yourself round.
I have long looked for the right words to describe why I can’t stand the gospel of salvation, and thank you Bruce, you said it better than I ever could. According to some, and it sounds like this guy is in that camp, no matter what a person does, they’ll get into heaven so long as they ask Jesus to save them.
There are SO many problems with that, but I’ll use my own example. I am a survivor of sexual abuse, which primarily took place from ages 3-9. My perpetrator lived to be an old, happy, rich man with no consequences for his actions. Although I am definitely on the other side of the mountain with my healing – recovery IS possible – I spent my entire childhood pretty messed up and a good 20 years of the prime of my life trying to recover from what that man did. According to this ‘gospel; of blanket forgiveness, there are no consequences for him in the afterlife, either. All he had to do was accept Jesus, and poof! No punishment. I cannot worship – or even believe in – anything that handles problems that way.
Second, and I’m not in the mood to get into details, I witnessed a murder when I was 6. No one was held responsible and once again, the three men involved faced no charges and died happy, free and rich. Meanwhile, a body is still rotting somewhere near Holmes County, Ohio without a proper burial. Good Friday, ironically, is the anniversary of that (although backdating since Easter changes all the time, it was actually April 4.) So I get pretty fucked up this time of year. Jesus forgave those 3 men, too, according to this nonsense. He obviously didn’t give a damn about the person killed, and didn’t give a damn for the only living witness – me – who has been tortured with this memory my entire life. I can’t accept any deity that forgives murderers just because they pray a prayer. What. Ever!
OK, one more: according to this doctrine, stealing is as bad as murder. I stole a candy bar from a store when I was very young – I think around 3 or 4. My parents caught me and I was in huge trouble. So, I go to hell for that if I don’t accept Jesus but the murderers get into heaven free if they do? (FYI – I don’t believe in either heaven or hell.) Ridiculous. I can’t be a part of this nonsense.