Pastor's Circle - Johnnie Moore

Rev. Johnnie Moore serves at Liberty College as the Vice President for Executive Projects and the Campus Pastor. He joined the Pastor's Circle do discuss his newest book, Honestly. Here are the "CliffsNotes" of his interview.

Does the Church have a problem with hypocrisy?

I'd say we do. Whether you talk to Christians or secular people, they'll all agree that the problem has always been that Christians say one thing and do another. I'd say this is our biggest problem.

Christianity is a religion for the not-good-enough people. That's what sets it apart. 

Jesus arrived like man, on the chance that men would believe if a man preached the truth. 

It's okay to be a hypocrite in transition. It's not okay to be a hypocrite unashamedly.

How can we overcome our hypocrisy?

It starts with honesty. We have to deal with the tough issues. People need to be able to come to the church with their doubts. 

Doubts that all Christians face aren't dealt with openly and honestly in the faith.

How can you "use disillusionment"?

You ask the questions. Jesus can handle the questions. 

It goes back to Doubting Thomas, the much-vilified apostle. He wasn't going to believe until he saw it and touched it. We always bash Thomas for not immediately believing. 

But what I find interesting is that Jesus allowed Thomas to touch his wounds. And Thomas had a strong faith afterward.

If our disillusionment and disappointment leads us to find answers to our questions, then it's a good thing. 

I think the church should be a safe place for people to express their doubts.

Another thing you say is that evil can support belief. Explain that a little bit.

I once had the opportunity to sit down with the Bishop of Rwanda, and I asked him how he had kept his faith in the face of everything he had seen. I asked him where God had been. 

He said, "I'll tell you where God was.God was with the dying children, helping them." 

We would only know what evil is if we knew what good was. What kind of God would God be if we understood everything he did? 

In the book I write about the Holocaust, and how people of faith dealt with that. 

In the end, while I don't understand everything that happens, I have enough faith to believe no matter what.

Talk to us about the "emaciated soul".

You need spiritual food as much as you need physical food. 

You have to feed your soul the Word of God. You have to feed your soul communication with God. 

When you put something in, you get something out.

How about the "distracted soul"?

Jesus had every single reason to be busy. 

But we find him going off almost every single day to be alone with God.
If I were Jesus, and I had the universe in the palm of my hand, I would've been playing soccer on the sea of Galilee, or turning my enemies into donkeys, or sneaking into Caesar's palace playing tricks on people. 

But not Jesus. He spent time alone with God.

The fifth part of your book is Mission to Vision. Is it possible to have sanctified imagination?

I don't think that God gave us the brilliance of imagination just so we could create art and movies. 

God gave us imagination so we could see what could happen in this world if we changed it.  

There's this theory that scientists have called the Butterfly Theory, that claims if a butterfly flaps its wings in Africa, it can potentially have an effect that causes a hurricane to hit the East Coast of America. 

God has intricately designed and balanced this world, so that the smallest actions can have the largest effects.

You can purchase Honestly on Amazon.com by following this link.

Pastor's Circle - Johnnie Moore

Johnnie Moore, Campus Pastor for Liberty University, has written a book about how we as Christians can really live out our faith. On the Matt Friedeman Show Johnnie talked about how to do that and why it's so important.

Apparently you have a book coming out. Honestly. 

There's a lot of buzz about it, because it addresses hypocrisy.

It's why a lot of young people get turned off by the faith. 

What are the difficult things for us to live out? 

I think we as evangelicals get caught up on the big things. We don't drink, smoke, take drugs.  But for us, the enemy's been at us in a little more deceptive way.

He's been working on us on our belief system and our self righteousness.

While we have our salvation, we need to be about everyday relationship.  If I'm not talking to my wife everyday, I don't have much of a relationship with her.

What are the things that irritate the world with what we do or don't do? 

People out there who aren't part of our Christian club find it offensive when a pastor gets caught in his indiscretions.

But what annoys them more is when, on Sunday afternoon, the churches empty out and that single working mom is working her heart out at a restaurant, but wishes she didn't after all the church people come in and we are the poorest tippers in town. 

People judge Jesus based upon on behaviors and our attitudes.

How can we regain integrity? 

Christianity for 2,000 years has been a bottom up movement.

I think the integrity of the greater church is affected by the integrity of the individual believer.

Walk across the street and befriend the guy who scowls at you everytime you walk by.

We can never be perfect, but we should be honest....and apologize for when we fail.

Is part of the problem that people see us too ensconced in our churches? 

Yeah, totally.

But that has never been the DNA of the church.  We exist best outside the church and in the world. 

We are the only light of truth in a lot of ways, but it doesn't have to be delivered harshly.

We have been loved, and so we love.

Do Millennials have a sense of integrity better than the rest of us? Or are they just talk? 

Unfortunately, the Christian church ought to be more focused on getting Christians to behave like Christians.

A lot of the Millennials are saying, "Be hot or be cold."...too many of our churches have a form of godliness without the power.

I'd say that every one of us know a young person, and the best we can do is make sure they see an authentic Christianity, an honest Christianity.

If you were to put your finger on three things that could help us live lives of integrity, what would those be? 

First of all, I would say you've got to start with the basics.

You cannot just read the Bible like an academic textbook. You have to inculcate yourself with it.

You have to be around other Christians...to struggle through your doubts about faith.

Make sure you're in a rich Christian community.

Christianity was always meant to be lived outside. It was never meant to be lived inside a bubble.

As quick as we can, we need to leave the sacred halls of the church and go out.