Listening to a seminar today, in the conference that I am currently part of, I heard part of the testimony of a communist warrior who lived in the jungles of South America, fighting for his cause. Converted to Christ, he was unable to return to his group for fear of them now killing him, and could not go near the populated areas for fear of someone recognizing him as the head of this group and turning him over to the authorities. As a result, he could only remain in the jungle, alone. This was how he spent his first month as a Christian, and since somebody had given him a Bible he read it all day and night, using candles to light the words, during the entire time. Suspended in a hammock high amongst the trees, he simply read, and prayed, for that first month. Over this time of reading, of discovering the life of Jesus and his disciples, of seeing how strongly these guys held their values and beliefs, this converted warrior started to build up an idea of what this Christian church must be like. He started to conjure up images of a valiant and brave church, filled with warriors. Anxious to meet some of these amazing Christian warriors that he could imagine based on what he had read in the Bible, this ex-warrior jumped at the first opportunity that he was able to visit a church. Entering the church building, he closed his eyes, just wanting to take in the atmosphere and the amazing environment into which he was entering. They were all singing a warring song, something similar to "Onward Christian Soldiers, Marching as to War." This was similar to some of the communist war songs that he had been used to singing only one month earlier. But it wasn't long before the current state of the church started to become obvious. Apathy, laziness, discontent, judging, and more all started to loom up and show itself. This was certainly not the church that he was expecting. All of these things that the Bible asks of us, he had already lived. Self-denial was part of the communist lifestyle, as was sharing and giving to the others so that they too would have. Love had never come into the equation as a communist, but many of the principles from the Bible were present, including a commitment to the point of death. Now, here in the church, there seemed to be little of this commitment, nor much else. It was so very different from what he had ever imagined. It is really disappointing when somebody enters the church to find it in such a state of disarray. A quote I heard once sounds something like, "the problem with Christianity... is the christians," meaning that many have the name but not the form nor lifestyle of a "Little Christ" as the name implies. If you are part of the church, it certainly makes you think.