Bulletins From the Front # 23
“Getting in Trouble for God”
“The Church is the invisible scaffolding that holds America together.” Alexis de Tocqueville, 1805-1859, Democracy in America
“Heave an egg out of a Pullman’s window, and you will hit a fundamentalist almost everywhere in the United States today.” H.L. Mencken, 1880-1956
I would rather get into trouble for God than be in trouble with God. As Jesus told us,
“Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” [1]
The earliest Christians knew this, believed it, and practiced it, particularly its leaders. Peter, Paul, Stephen, James, the brother of John, and many more who bravely died triumphantly with hearts full of faith. The Apostle Peter was the most surprised leader in the early church. His was a life of firsts:
He was often the first to open his mouth, sticking his foot in it, regretting it later. The first to walk on water, the first to announce that Jesus was the Christ, the first to publicly deny that Jesus was the Christ—or that he had even known him. He gave the inaugural sermon at the Feast of Pentecost, the first to be taken before the Jewish Supreme Court, the first to officially preach to the Gentiles, announcing that they would receive the Gospel just as the Jews did. Along the way, he had been persecuted, jailed, and threatened. His biggest surprise was, on the heels of this great breakthrough at the house of Cornelius, that he found himself in trouble with his own.
In trouble with god’s people
He returned to Jerusalem to deliver the news of the revolutionary breakthrough for the gospel and found himself in trouble with the church. This is a church specialty; we like to trim back any gains made by those who color outside the lines of our rules. He was criticized for several violations of church protocol. First, he had entered the home of a Gentile, and to make matters worse, ate with him. This violated several rules concerning association, which transgressed countless dietary restrictions that made a meal kosher. [2] Peter might as well have attended a pig roast and crammed its crispy hooves into his mouth and then oinked.
This reminds me of my childhood at the Northside Pilgrim Holiness Church located at 46th and Kingsley Drive in Indianapolis, Indiana. The rules were clear—no TV, no movies, no dancing, no smoking, no drinking. There were rules added for women. No makeup, no jewelry. Wear long sleeves and skirts that cover the knees. It was considered unseemly to shave, cut, or trim any hair from their bodies. They were not allowed to wear men’s clothes. Even in the hot summer, girls had to play in long-sleeved dresses. Boys were not allowed shorts unless, of course, it was me.
If a woman broke the rules, tongues would wag; it was red meat for conversation. It was easy to get into trouble with God’s people and find oneself on the wrong side of a man-made fence, unlike many religious societies today, where it is fun and kind of sporty to criticize different varieties of religious experience. Podcasts are replete with religious and philosophical debates; it is one of our favorite indoor sports, no harm, no foul.
Being in trouble with the church from the first century until the 20th century, however, proved to be deadly. Just pick up a volume of church history that catalogues millions of bodies piled high in religious wars. However, those wars over religious differences have been wars waged by nations, not churches. When the church and state were one, the church had a king, an army, and an ethnically distinct people, fighting a war over land. For example, when Constantinople fell in 1453 to the Ottomans, it began a 250-year transition from Christianity to Islam, from Constantinople to Istanbul. The Crusades was 200-year series of attempts to take control of Jerusalem. It is surprising that so many mistakenly believe that the Christians started it and won. They did not start it, and they lost. [3] When Mel Gibson, as William Wallace, fought for the first Scottish Independence against King Edward I of England, they were both Catholic. Whether it be Catholics killing Protestants, Christians fighting Muslims, or Scottish Presbyterians lopping off the heads of Anglicans, religious beliefs were somewhat incidental. Later, when Mary Queen of Scots attempted to wrestle England back into the Catholic Church, Protestant leaders such as Bishop Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley, along with Thomas Cranmer, were burned at the stake for religious reasons. It is safe to say that intramural church conflict can be everything from catastrophic and deadly to banal and trivial. It’s all there, and Peter did find himself in a bit of the banal. After some conversation, the Apostles and the congregation stopped their criticisms and started praising and thanking God. The truth is the cure for such matters. In Peter’s case, the mission proved to be paramount, and the church went forward.
What does it mean to be in trouble for God in the 21st Century?
Please allow me to provide you with a 21st Century Discipleship Starter Kit on getting into trouble for God: attend church, read your Bible, pray, give, and strive to be a faithful witness of the Good News. You don’t need to go out of your way if you mix with people. Simply speak up and speak out about the moral issues of the day—everything from everyday morality and kindness to such issues as immigration and abortion. Why not talk about the general desecration of society, such things as graffiti on buildings, gangs leading smash and grabs in local stores, the general decadence of vocabulary, and the filth and sleaze that litter society? Or take the high road and talk about beauty, the order, and magnificence of the universe? Life swirls around us, and we are not in control of very much. Lean into your strengths, what interests you, and you will find God’s truth in abundance when you know what to look for.
The air that we breathe, the cultural waters in which we swim, the earth on which we walk, is sinking slowly into decadence. It is something like the city of Venice slowly sinking, which, at certain times of the year, must employ special walkways to keep tourists’ feet dry. This is the inevitable result of a world that has forgotten God. Oh yes, there are the ceremonial churches, monasteries, and the related treasures of antiquity that provide a city like Venice with its charm. But still it sinks, and the waters are seeping up through the foundations. Another word that describes the cultural rot is desecration, an old word, but one with force and power. To desecrate is to make something holy profane. Graffiti or gang tagging on a stop sign or freeway underpass can irritate us. We would rather see beauty than a sign of our decadence. It may cause us to moan, “Oh, that’s too bad. Why don’t they paint over that?”
Seeing a political statement sprayed on the side of a courthouse brings a different response: “That is wrong. That must be painted over immediately, and those people should be arrested.” We say that because the courthouse, unlike the freeway underpass, is a secular holy place. Holy means to be separate, to be higher, different, and honored. The legal system is integral to a society’s freedoms and the rights of the citizens to be fairly judged for their actions. Ideally, we live with certain inalienable rights granted to us by our creator, such as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. This introduces the highest form of desecration.
Consider the painting of a swastika on the side of a synagogue. Nearly everyone in Western civilization recoils. We share a collective memory of the Holocaust. “Desecration” is our response. Whether it be a synagogue or a church, or religious works of art, they represent the highest aspirations of the human race. These are the spaces dedicated to kneeling, praying, confessing, and to our most important events of life—baptisms, rites of passage for people of many faiths, weddings, and funerals. When someone throws acid on the Mona Lisa or takes a chisel to The Pieta in Saint Peters it shocks the public. When one now views The Pieta, it is not up close and personal as in earlier times, but from a great distance. Mona Lisa has been damaged, or had a lucky miss, six times and is now under tight security. These holy sites, secular and religious, along with nearly everything else we hold dear, are under threat; society itself is slowly sinking, is more decadent, and the evidence is the desecration of man-made images.
The decline of the human
Here we are, followers of Jesus in the 21st Century, which is now a quarter of the way over. We can’t throw the car in reverse and do it over. As Edgar Allan Poe wrote in his masterpiece, The Raven, “nevermore.” Life is a perishable commodity, and the past is irretrievable. We all have made mistakes, and we have regrets that only forgiveness can reach into our past and cleanse. We can’t go back and change it, so the future is our only option.
The decline, the decadence, the desecration can be seen by the general public in the physical world around us. There is a spiritual decline that only the spiritually trained eye can see. As Paul wrote with such perception, “The unspiritual (soulish) person cannot receive the gifts of the Spirit of God, for they are foolish to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. For who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.” [4]
Let’s assume that you are endowed with the perception of the Holy Spirit, who will be your advocate, comforter, guide, and who will lead you through this mysterious journey called life. Don’t be fooled by all the technology and change. I just viewed C.S. Lewis giving me a ten-minute explanation of why Aristotle was right about the creation of God when he spoke of the Unmoved Mover. I only bring this up because it wasn’t real; it was A.I. But it was real in the sense that what he said was from his book, Mere Christianity. One thing has not changed; human nature has not changed—not at all! No one can understand themselves; that is why we ask God to help us sort out our lives, our motives, et al. [5] You are not imagining what you are seeing happen around you. But what are you practically going to do about it? Let us return to my original items in your 21st Century Discipleship Starter Kit.
1. Attend Church at Least Once a Week
85% of success in life is showing up. Get up, make yourself presentable, and go to a church where Christ is honored, and his Word is believed and preached. This will take care of the lion’s share of what you need. It will give you a sense of commonality with fellow disciples. You will be reminded weekly of who you are, why you are here on earth, and your mission. It will help you keep God’s story straight and will give you the courage to stand up and speak up. If you attend a church that isn’t doing this—find a better one.
2. Read Your Bible
Yes, it is important to hear the word in a public setting, but attend a study that will get you reading the Bible and asking questions like: What? Why? How? When? So What? Something supernatural takes place when God uses language, and the Holy Spirit helps you understand what you are reading. There is only one book in the world that creates this supernatural process.
3. Pray
Prayer is mysterious, personal, and a conversation with God. You only learn it by doing it. Do it with others at church or in a study, and then give it a go on your own. Remember, even when you pray alone, you are not really alone. Jesus is praying for you, the Holy Spirit helps you pray, and then of course, you are praying. [6]
4. Take Communion
This is a wonderful way to submit yourself to God with others who share the same common need for something visible and tactile that makes Christ more real. It requires you to be at peace with your fellow believers, and that makes life so much better. [7]
5. Give
The church has a tradition of giving to the poor and needy in order to remind us that the journey of life is about loving our neighbors. Start giving 10% off the top and if you do, you will never stop.
6. Witness
This simply means to tell your story and live in honesty and humility before God and others.
OK, got it.
Yours for making trouble,
Bill Hull 2026
[1] Matthew 10:28 NIV.
[2] Acts 10:28, as found in Leviticus 11. Deuteronomy 7:2-6.
[3] Rodney Stark, God’s Battalions: The Case for the Crusades, 2009. Stark argues that the Crusades were not unprovoked European colonial wars, but rather a delayed, necessary response to centuries of Islamic aggression.
[4] I Corinthians 2:14-16 RSV.
[5] Psalm 139:23,24, Jeremiah 17:9-11, John 2:21.
[6] Romans 8:24-28.
[7] I Corinthians 11, Matthew 5: 23,24.