Why I Am A Christian And Why I Love This Church by Matt Johnson

Matt Johnson, May 4, 2025 at First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) of Albia, Iowa

Good morning! My name is Matt Johnson. I’ve been asked to speak today while Pastor John gets a much deserved vacation. When I was originally told I was to do this on May 4th, I said, aha, God is in this and telling me what to do because May 4th is Star Wars Day and I am a massive, massive, MASSIVE Star Wars NERD. 

I also want to thank everyone who complimented me on the sermon I delivered on Palm Sunday. I cannot express how much that meant to me and was life changing to get that encouragement. Today’s message will build upon my previous sermon. I hope you like it! It’s funny, I wrote this message weeks ago and didn’t show it to Pastor John. Last week he covered the same scripture and talked a bit about Karl Rahner and delivered an incredible sermon. More confirmation to me the Force is with us today! So let’s learn about the Force today! I am going to teach you some of what I know about it and give you a technique on how to use it. Actual Jedi stuff. From the Bible, of course. Ha!. I have a lot of ground I would like to cover today so if I talk a little fast, I apologize in advance. 

The Scripture for today is John Chapter 20:24-28 (NRSVue).

24 But Thomas (who was called the Twin[d]), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”

26 A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” 28 Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”  (NRSVue)

Jesus had just been killed on the cross and Thomas simply was not believing his friends who said he had risen from the dead. He demanded proof. And Jesus gave it to him. Thomas went on to do incredible things because he KNEW it was real. 

Today, I am going to give you my personal testimony of how I completely lost my faith in Christianity, went on an amazing journey and got it back. I will tell you why I am a Christian and why I love this church. By the end of this message, I hope to have provided you proof that God is real, Jesus is real, there is an Afterlife where you WILL see your loved ones again and that the Bible and going to church on Sunday still absolutely matters, why bad things happen to good people and how to pray and how to read and understand your Bible…even if you don’t believe in it. And we will learn how to use the Force. That’s right. Sounds like a tall order? Let’s dive in and see how I do. 

Some have said to me, Matt, I never go to church and I don’t plan on it, but if you are going to be speaking, I will come and see what you have to say. Some of you said, it’s been so long since I have been to church, I hope the ceiling doesn’t cave in on me or I don’t burst into flames. Let’s take a look…so far so good! I salute you for your bravery in the face of such potential disasters! And you are the main focus of this message today although I think it will be helpful for everyone that hears it. About 30% of Americans are referred to as “nones”. Not Catholic nuns, but those with no religion. None. They might be atheists or agnostics, but most of them are what is commonly referred to as “spiritual but not religious”. Perhaps that is some of you today. That certainly was me for many years. 1

In the 1950s, 50% of Americans were mainline Protestants, such as Lutherans, Episcopalians, United Methodists, Presbyterians, American Baptists, the United Church of Christ and our own denomination, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). These are often referred to as the 7 Sisters of American Protestantism. They now make up 9% to 15% of the American population. 2

So what happened? Where did everybody go? Those 7 denominations are well known for not taking the Bible literally. They approach the Bible with a more allegorical and historical approach. 

Our denomination, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) does this. It is known for being possibly the MOST open minded Christian denomination in America. We agree on the very basics of Christianity, but the interpretation is left up entirely to the individual. I like that. I went into detail on that on Palm Sunday, but basically, in our denomination we don’t make you agree to a particular explanation of what Christianity is beyond agreeing that God has been revealed to the human race through Jesus Christ. In our churches, we have very traditional Christians sitting right next to very nontraditional Christians and everyone in between. In a time when we have massive divisions in our world, that is a miracle to me. We could certainly use more of that.

Some have loved this and some hated it and went to more traditional denominations that take the Bible literally word for word. Some left because of abuse in the churches, both Protestant and Catholic and who can blame them? Others stopped believing. Why? Some of it was the pain of abuse, but a lot of it and definitely for me, it was the fact that I had taken the Bible very literally and when I found that no longer made sense to me, it all fell apart. I won’t beat that up here. There have been books upon books written on the subject. A simple google search will easily find those errors for you. 

When I found those errors, I was shattered. I had based my whole life on the Bible, specifically biblical prophecy. I found most of those prophecies to be cherry picked phrases meant to look like prophecies, but never intended to be that way. When I saw that, everything I believed in fell apart. It was heartbreaking to me and a real loss. This was nauseating to me. I cried and cried and cried. It was like a death. I decided then and there to follow the truth wherever it led me. I began looking at all sorts of things. I studied every religion big and small, deeply esoteric stuff, you name it. I tried it all. Then I stumbled upon https://near-death.com/. 3

This website was a treasure trove of information. It gave all sorts of compelling evidence

regarding the experiences of people who had near death experiences and other proofs of the afterlife . I also started reading books on the subject. Dr. Jeffrey Long, the author of “Evidence of the Afterlife”, was one of my favorites. He gives nine lines of evidence for near death experiences. He describes how survivors have “crystal-clear consciousness” even though they are clinically dead with no brainwaves, how they can accurately observe things out-of-body that they could not have known about otherwise. He reports patients with heightened senses including “several people who have been totally blind since birth who have reported highly visual near-death experiences. This is medically inexplicable.” 4

He reports “consciousness during anesthesia” showing strong evidence that NDEs are occurring completely independently from the functioning of the physical brain, perfect recall, reunions with family members in the afterlife who died years before they were born, the experiences of children too young to have been culturally conditioned, worldwide consistency even among people of different cultures and religions and dramatically changed lives after the experience. Survivors of near death experiences believe their experiences are very real. One survivor, who had ample experience with LSD and other substances, was adamant that this was nothing like those experiences at all. I also studied the work of scientists such as Dr. Raymond Moody, Dr. Ian Stevenson and Dr. Jim Tucker at the University of Virginia and Dr. Julie Beischel of the Windbridge Institute. The evidence is not anecdotal. It is beyond compelling. There is an afterlife. Period. 

This was all very compelling, but I also could never be an atheist because I had seen too much already. In my old church, we would pray for people and we believed in the Gifts of the Holy Spirit as described in the Bible which is basically a list of psychic abilities for Christians. I had seen prayers answered, dreams and visions predict things that actually happened, people get a word of wisdom about someone they had never met which was impossible to fake and was really no different than a psychic knowing about your life. Actual Jedi stuff. I saw people healed of all sorts of things that were impossible to explain. One pastor’s wife was healed of a big cancer tumor in her brain. And I knew these people. This was not some goofy televangelist tv show with big hair and all that nonsense. I knew these people. It was real. I saw people do it and I did it myself. It’s one thing to fool other people (and there are plenty of people out there who do that from fake preachers on tv to fake psychics), but you can’t fool yourself. When you know something about a total stranger, you know that there is a power, God or the Force, giving you that. It leaves no room for doubt. This stuff is absolutely real. 

Never again let an atheist or anyone else tell you there is no proof of the Afterlife. It exists and it is beyond convincing. They just have not looked at all the evidence yet. And you know who kept popping up in all this? 

Jesus! He just kept showing up. In tons of near death experiences, Jesus shows up even for people that don’t believe in him. Atheists would see Jesus in their near death experiences. Not only did Jesus keep popping up, so did the basic teachings of Christanity. The Trinity… everything seemed to be a three or three dimensional, there were angels appearing to people who sometimes were simply a grandmother who was guiding them from the Afterlife or sometimes angelic spirits just like the Bible describes, there were demons who are lost souls who refuse the light of God and refuse to be sorry for the bad things they did…basically narcissists that just won’t change even after death. And some kind of malevolent force we would call the Devil. There was Heaven and Hell, but all kinds of levels to it depending on the beliefs or hopes of the individual person. There was great love and light for anyone, regardless of religion or no religion, who asked for it and a dark Hell for those who reject love. 

There were two real religions, no matter what anyone calls them. Those two real religions were found in all places, cultures and times across history. Those two religions were love or hate. Good or Evil. Just that simple and very real. 

And the wild thing I found was that among all the religions I had studied and all this other stuff, there was nothing as divine, loving or kind as Jesus and there was no book quite like the Bible. I stopped getting hung up on all the stuff the Bible got wrong or that seemed primitive to me like slavery or killing gay people with rocks. It should not shock you that stuff is in there. It was written a long time ago by often backward people. What should amaze you is what it got RIGHT. And the Bible gets a lot of stuff right. In an allegorical fashion, it describes the Big Bang, the various stages of evolution, ideas about quantum physics and other things. How could these primitive people KNOW this stuff? That can only be from God. While getting some things wrong about history, it also gets many things right. Even atheist historians agree Jesus was a real person who lived 2000 years ago, was baptized by John the Baptist, was a popular preacher who ran afoul of the local Jewish authorities and the Roman Empire. He was then crucified under Pontius Pilate and the high priest, Caiaphus. And His followers truly believed he rose from the dead and were willing to die for that. 

But DID he do a bunch of miracles and rise from the dead? Well, as I have said before, miracluous stuff DOES happen and has been documented. I’ve seen it myself! I bet most of you have seen things you can't explain as well. The appearance of a loved one in a dream, the answered prayer. These things are real. I know I am not alone in this. Most of us have a story about spiritual things. So maybe he was the best there ever was at those sorts of things. And raise from the dead? If he really was God, why not? His disciples certainly believed he did or we would not be here. Was it as a spirit, a physical body, in their dreams…who knows. I wasn’t there. None of us were. We do know that thousands upon thousands of people with near death experiences swear they have talked to Jesus to this very day. He just keeps showing up. 

So with all this, I came to the conclusion that I was a universalist or spiritual but not religious. I believed the truth in all religions. I tried to share this information online with people to give them hope for several years. And that was fine. However, I started to get a little jaded and grumpy. I started getting annoyed with people. All this knowledge I had attained was not making me a better person or anyone else. I remembered that Paul teaches in 1 Corinthians 13 that all the mystical knowledge and power in the world is meaningless without love. 

It occurred to me, you know what Matt, you were a whole lot nicer when you were a Christian…when you were going to church, praying, reading your Bible and really trying to be like Jesus. In the past, when I would want to do something or think something wrong, I would think, ah, what would Jesus do, and then do “what would Jesus do”. He was always there to guide me toward goodness. And I thought to myself, well, in my own way, I am a Christian. I do believe Jesus is real, I know prayer works, I know the Bible has truth in it, I know the basic structure of reality is actually Christian in nature, I have learned all these things from my studies and experiments…maybe I should just start LIVING like a Christian again. 

And you know what? I did. I ended up here. And this denomination had no problem with my unique approach to Christianity. There was room for me among the Disciples. I fit right in. 

Karl Rahner is famous for having said “The Christian of the future will be a mystic or will not exist at all.” 5

If it were not for the mystical side of Christianity, the power of God as displayed right before my eyes in church through the Gifts of the Holy Spirit, I would not be here. If it were not for the deep dive I took into all things mystical, I would not be here. I am not saying this church or any church should practice those things, gifts of the Holy Spirit, during a church service. I like things the way they are. I love a traditional church service. It has dignity and power. I don’t want it to change. I am not saying anyone here has to accept anything I am saying. I am saying it is nice to have freedom to be part of the conversation and speak about these things because I think for some of you, it can really help. I am saying those gifts are very real, available to anyone who wants them and can really build and save your faith. That is what they are for. They are undeniable proof this stuff is real. 

I strongly believe that if you take the Bible too literally, it can make you into a harsh, judgemental and sometimes hateful fanatic. We have evidence of that all around us. It is why many people just do NOT go to church anymore. They are sick of it. They are sick of people pushing their religion on them. Or it will make you into an atheist who rejects the whole thing as just silly and made up. In my opinion, neither extreme is good. 

I studied and studied and kept an open mind and found God waiting for me. Here is what I think actually happened…God is everything all the time and everywhere. What came before God, nobody will ever be able to figure out. What we do know is everything began at a certain point with a blast of light…the Big Bang…let there be light…at least with our Universe, just like in the book of Genesis. From there, everying spread out and started evolving into stars, planets, etc. 

On our planet and no doubt many others, life began and evolved. First from simple creatures and then up to more complex creatures. 

Most animals seem to be unaware they will die and just live in the moment. At some point, our ancestors became self aware enough to realize they would die and created religions as a coping mechanism. Once they had this awareness, they became distinct individual personalities that would survive in the mind of God. I think anything with a name and a distinct personality has a “soul” that will survive death, not just humans, but cats, dogs, horses, etc. So you WILL see your pets again. That is my strong opinion and backed up by near death experiences.

As humans made up more and more religions, some religions were nice and comforting, but more often than not, they were used as a tool to control people with lots of made up rules. The misery of humans made an impression on God and God decided to break into history like never before with a profound message of LOVE like never before. To me, this explains Jesus. Jesus makes total sense to me this way. Jesus is the way we see God face to face. God is everything so if we looked directly at God without Jesus, it would probably blow our minds and delete us. 

The entire Bible is an ever evolving story from more primitive ways of living to more advanced ways of living, but the underlying message is always love and caring for others. And that rules change with time, place, culture, etc. We evolve. We become more open and loving. So while the Bible is incredible and a useful guide, we are not stuck with rules about food, slavery, women, gay people, etc. from 3000 years ago. Just as the New Testament evolved past the Old Testament, so does true Christianity keep evolving into a more loving, kind, advanced, sophisticated and amazing thing. We don’t ride horses anymore for the most part. We fly across the sky in amazing machines and into outer space. We still appreciate horses, but we are so beyond all that now.

The Bible is actually a very mystical document and for the most part it was never meant to be read literally. When I read the Bible, I understand it was written a long time ago and has human errors and primitive beliefs in it from another time and place. All books have that. However, I also understand those stories have guided billions of humans for thousands of years and are charged with multiple meanings and allegories I can draw wisdom from God from. I don’t get hung up on the primitive stuff. That is there to remind us where we came from, how much we have evolved. When I come across some message of love that is so beyond what any human would ever come up with, I know THAT is truly the inspired part from God and I hang onto that. It is especially true with the red letters, the teachings of Jesus. There really is no other teacher in human history like Jesus. His message of love taught in the Bible goes far beyond anything else I have ever found. 

God is love and Jesus is how we see God. The way Jesus spoke of in the Bible is love. Period. Over and over. The Bible says God desires mercy, not a sacrifice. The whole message was never meant to believe in a specific religion or burn in Hell, with the exception of love being the specific religion. It was to turn your face away from your animal nature, the dog eat dog survival of the fittest side of us and toward empathy. Toward love. LOVE. Jesus said no one comes to God but through him. He is LOVE. The only way to Heaven and the only right way to live here and now is LOVE. 

Even if Jesus was just a literary character he would still be incredible. His way of life would still make your life better even if it was not factual because it is still true. This is what I meant when I said even atheists should follow Jesus, even if you don’t believe in him, his way of life as I am describing it to you is superior and the best way for humans to live.

Love is how you get to Heaven. Period. God will not force you. People ask, why do bad things happen to good people? Well beyond that being the price of free will, the reason is because light and dark are required for reality to exist. It simply cannot be any other way. Light is creation, order, good things, love, kindness, free will, saying nice things. freedom, laughter, being together, individuality, etc. Dark is nothingness, chaos, bad things, selfishness, hate, insults, gossip. slavery, tyranny, control, oppression, sadness, conformity, being alone, etc. We may never truly understand all of it, but that is the best answer that can be given. We are the hands of God on this plane of existence when help is needed. The love in our hearts IS God. When people are in need, YOUR hands helping them ARE the hands of God. This is the true way of Christ and always was and always will be! This is what it means to be Christian…to love!

A teacher of the law came to Jesus once and said, how do I get to Heaven and Jesus told him, love God and love your neighbor. That is IT. Love has always been the path to Heaven in all religions. Even Pope Francis has said this. It’s not about having the right religion. It’s about love which IS the right religion. Love is the right and true religion. And nothing models love better than the story of Jesus. 

If you read the entire Bible, Old and New Testament, all the way through in order, the consistent and clear message is love and taking care of people in need and IF you do not, God does not accept your religion. Your sacrifices mean nothing, your profession of faith, your prayers means nothing without LOVE. 

So I believe in God, I believe in Jesus Christ, I believe the way to salvation is love and not some prayer for fire insurance but a way of life based on love, forgiveness, helping the poor, all that “what would Jesus do” stuff. Baptism is how we say to God and the world we are Christian now, the Lord’s Supper is to remind us we follow Jesus and so on. I believe in it. All of it. And I believe in going to church on Sunday. It is mentally healthy. You need to get out of the house and be with people somewhere wholesome, not just a bar (and I am not against going to the bar, but it can get out of hand sometimes). You need a community that is based on love and goodness. Too many people don’t have friends, and are terribly lonely, don’t have a purpose, are just on the Internet or their phones all the time. That’s not good or natural. A church community can be the solution to that. 

When I pray, I thank God for my life and everything in it, I ask God for protection for myself and everyone I know, this church, this town, my country, my job, health and whatever else is on my mind. I ask for guidance on difficult things knowing love, kindness and forgiveness is always the answer at the end of the day. I hear God speaking to me through stories in the Bible. 

I was a total Doubting Thomas and over time, Jesus gave me the proof I needed to believe again. Jesus never left me. Without the mystical, without scientific proof, without love, Christianity dries up and fails. Humans fail. The proof is everywhere. We see ants and bees with entire societies, beavers building dams and humans creating science, civilizations, art, stories, music and spaceships. There is plenty of reason to believe there is a Supreme Creative Intelligence far beyond us as we are from ants, what we would call God. And if that God wanted to level us up and not blow our minds, God would have to appear as one of us and the most popular example of this in history is Jesus. It’s not just a story, it’s real. It actually happened. People still see him in near death experiences, Christian or not. Christianity is the truth. Christianity is real. Jesus is real. And we need him now more than ever. Jesus does not care about your race, if you are a man, a woman, who you love, how you love, even what religion you have or do not have. Nope. None of that. He just wants you to love each other. Period. That is the timeless message that comes through. That is the true way of Christ and what it means to be a Christian. I have seen enough proof myself to give me faith to believe in the rest of it. It’s all true. 

Alright, let’s talk about the Force. 

We often hear that humans are body, soul and spirit. What does that mean? I can give you my explanation. I believe there are three levels to the Universe (yet another proof of the triune nature of God found in Christianity and other religions). There is the God level where everything is one. This is why some people think the Universe is a hologram. It is. Everything is happening in the mind of God. They will say that because of that nothing is real and maybe nothing matters. That is not true. It’s apples and oranges. At the God level, there is just God. From the mind of God emanates the level of thought and the material level. In the level of thought, there is anything you can think of…all dreams, nightmares, ideas, Heavens, Hells, all personalities of all people and animals and places that have ever existed. And then there is the material level where we are. Your body is this meat suit your soul is wearing to function on the material level and all of that is emanating from spirit, God. Body, soul and spirit. Three in one. You are made in the image of God. Even though God is everywhere and all things are flowing from the mind of God, don’t get into the idea that nothing is real or does not matter. At the level of thought or material things, it absolutely matters. The will of God is for there to be reality, variety, life and purpose. Things matter. Life matters. You matter. Other people matter. Love matters. That is the will of the Universe, the will of God. 

When people say someone who has passed is only a thought away, I believe that is literally true. That is where they are. Many of us have dreams about our loved ones. I think it’s real. I know it’s real. They watch over us along with Jesus and the angels. Hebrews chapter 11 and 12 tell us a great cloud of witnesses is watching us and there for us. 

The Force in Star Wars is a metaphor for God. As we know from my Palm Sunday message, God is love and Jesus is God manifesting as a human so we can have interaction with God. Here is a way to tap into the power of God.

When you walk into a room, love people as best you can. Encourage them. Compliment them. Smile. Say nice things. Do not judge. Put good thoughts in their head that will do battle with the bad image they might have of themselves. That is the Force, the power of God’s love flowing through you. If they are not nice, see them not as the grumpy, ugly adult they are, but as the child that was once harmed or had hateful nonsense downloaded into them since birth who is just trying to cope with life with the little bit they know. It’s not easy, but try your best. Love. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Raise their vibration this way. Tell people they are great and full of promise and that everything is going to be OK. Because even though this world can be a dark and nasty place at times, in the end, there is a place waiting for us where we will be safed and loved and immortal. There are many powers outlined in the Bible, but the greatest one is love. All of you who encouraged me after I preached on Palm Sunday, that was you using the Force. The power of God’s love flowing through you. It meant so much to me. 

God is love, Jesus is how we experience God and love is the way. I believe it’s true. All of it. 

I preach what I believe is true Christianity that is real and scientifically provable. I believe it’s real and sometimes we miss it when we forget that, most of the time, Jesus and the Bible is teaching NOT literally, but in parables, metaphors and allegories. I believe it is the true Gospel of Jesus Christ and the world needs it now more than ever. In a time of loneliness, despair, hopelessness, hate, division, with technology that is not making our lives better but creating mental illness and narcissism…just like the meme says…y’all need Jesus. Now more than ever. The real Jesus. I do, too. His way keeps us loving and kind and forgiving. It involves meeting once a week as often as we can so we are not alone anymore but have friends who are striving to be good and do good. Not perfect, but good.

If this message has resonated with you and you want to become a Christian or rededicate your life as a Christian, not a perfect person, but a loving and kind, forgiving non judgmental follower of Jesus, if you want that way of life that can give you real hope and a real purpose, bow your head, close your eyes and pray with me now.  

“God, thank you for loving me no matter what. I want to follow the way of love, the way of Jesus. I want to be a Christian. I confess I have not always lived according to your way of love. Thank you for forgiving all the things I have done that are not good and wiping the slate clean and giving me a second chance. I want to love you God and love my neighbor as myself. I understand my neighbor is everyone on planet Earth, even people I don’t like. Especially them. I believe you are real God and that Jesus is real. I know I will see my loved ones again because of your never ending, never ceasing universal love for all humans everywhere in all time, places and cultures regardless of race, creed or no creed at all. From this day forward, I declare myself to be a Christian and will follow Jesus’ way of love. I declare Jesus is my Lord and Savior. He is the Lord of my life in that he is my guide on how to live and he is my Savior because saves me from my former ways to a new way grounded in love. In Jesus Name, Amen.”

1. Gregory  A. Smith, “Religious ‘nones’ in America: Who They Are and What They Believe,” Pew Research Center, January 24, 2024, https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2024/01/24/religious-nones-in-america-who-they-are-and-what-they-believe/.

2. Richard Ostling, “What Happened to US Churches the Past 50 Years?,” Religion Unplugged, January 13, 2026, https://religionunplugged.com/news/what-happened-to-us-churches-the-past-50-years.

3. April 16, 2021, https://near-death.com/.

4. Long, Jeffrey, and Paul Perry. Evidence of the afterlife: The science of near-death experiences. New York, Enfield: HarperOne ; Publishers Group UK distributor, 2011.

5. Karl Rahner, Concern For the Church, Vol. 20: Theological Investigations (Herder and Herder, 1981).