Chances are you heard about Pastor Mike Todd’s Transformation Church Easter service in Tulsa, Oklahoma that turned into a social media frenzy.
Well, let me fill you in if you do not know about it.
I don’t make it a habit of calling out individuals in society unless I feel they cross the line in egregious ways. Well, I believe Pastor Mike Todd did just that.
I believe it is important for us to speak up when something is done that sends confusion to the body of Christ.
II Timothy 4:2 reminds us to preach the word of God. Performances are good, but that is not the instruction God left with us.
Well, Pastor Mike Todd’s creative performance took a dangerous twist on Easter. Believers and unbelievers showed up that day to hear their shepherd, who chose to create a modern dramatization of the celebration of Easter. The modern performance of the story of Jesus went too far in my opinion. The entertaining play was clearly way beyond the bounds of what anyone should do in telling the story of Jesus.
He doesn’t need any help. Last, I remember, it is the Holy Spirit who draws others to the Father. He doesn’t need help by girls in leather pants shaking their booties and talking about their booties. This was a church service…at Easter.
And, sir, what did that girl on the cross have to do with the Jesus story?
Has the Bible become boring that you had to put on this offensive performance and push the limit?
Sir, I also do not agree with you as you tried to tell us that we all should just lighten up.
I think he may have a different interpretation of sin than many of us do since he blamed the religious spirits in us if we dared take offense. Here, let me quote him as he shares of what others told him as they began to plan this Easter service.
“We are going to go the edge, and they said, pastor how far are we going? We are going to do everything short of sin.
Aww, I felt the religious people, their booties got tight right there.”
So, if you or I feel grieved by what we just witnessed, Pastor Mike Todd is telling us to relax our gluteus maximus, the true muscle that makes up our back side. He infers we are religious—rather than holy.
I don’t think this is how this works.
When he said, we will go as close to sin as if there is a visual line that everyone can see and as long as you stay back behind that line… just a little bit, you will be fine. Last time I checked the Bible says to resist the devil and he will flee from you – James 4:7
Quite different than we will go right to the line of sin, and he called it the edge. Where is that line in Pastor Mike Todd’s head.
He is talking about sin here as if one can be dabbling with sin and be fine, as long as you stay on this other side. All of this happened on Easter and the moral standard was missing…and he was defending himself by telling us a lot of people were saved that day.
Sounds a little like a Saul and Samuel moment. Remember that.
Now all of this imagery looks eerily familiar – wait, I think we’ve seen it before: Remember the Satanic ritual at the Grammy’s… that literal Satanic worship service.
Pastor, I’m not sure what message you were intending on sending, but I feel you crossed the line. Highlighting Satan’s kingdom on Easter instead of what Jesus did is plain wrong.
We are going to continue our conversation next week about his stance on the gender issue, as this debacle has allowed me to learn a few more things about what Pastor Mike Todd has said about God and the gender issue.
Friends, slippery slopes are very real in these last days. Check back next week as we talk about some of the things going on in our churches, not only the world.
