6 The Substitutions No One Noticed
Every system failure has a root cause.
Not a dramatic explosion, generally, but a quiet substitution—a tiny misalignment that compounds over time. Like the O-ring in the Space Shuttle Challenger, bad things happen when the Design and material and component is not designed for life as it exists.
Christianity’s collapse didn’t begin with heresy or rebellion.
It began with substitutions so subtle no one recognized the danger:
1. Daily ➞ Weekly
Daily relationships generate transformation; weekly meetings generate information, and welcome leaven, foreign matter, toxins that eventually kill. This is forbidden in the church, though in the world it happens. “The field is the world,” said Jesus. Not the church. Leaven is the unsaved calling themselves saved, and rebellious people with no intention of changing. Jesus forbids leaven. Remember though, “leaven in the batch” is not about “being perfect”—that isn’t happening (1Jn.1)—but about being committed to change anything in our lives that is unlike Jesus (1Jn.3). We walk in the Light as He is in the Light to have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Christ cleanses from all sin. This is the Verdict, as Jesus and John said.
2. Daily Priesthood of all Believers ➞ “Professionals”
Priests leak Life everywhere they go out of the overflow of organic impromptu intersections of relationships.
“Professional” clergymen deliver content or sacramental procedures from their medicine-men roles and office hours. None of that exists in the New Testament.
3. Family ➞ Audience
4. Spirit ➞ Structure
5. Apprenticeship ➞ Attendance
Apprenticeship forms character; attendance forms external beliefs.
6. Courage ➞ Convenience
Convenience feels safe; courage exposes everything. “This is the Verdict,” said Rabboni the Master Teacher.
7. Organic Flow ➞ Scheduled Ritual
Ritual requires no faith; flow requires constant listening.
These substitutions weren’t malicious.
They were “practical.”
They made Christianity easier to manage, easier to franchise, easier to copy from other religions.
But each substitution diluted the potency of Life.
Replace a heart with a clock, and the timing might look the same—but the organism is dead.
Replace the Ecosystem with a System, and the shape might look similar, the words familiar—but the power of Life is gone.
And this is why the System has to constantly manufacture emotion, hype, lights, retreats, and events:
Life has been substituted with simulation and stimulation.