CHRIST
In the mid-nineties the theological consideration of what is actually going on in the Christian faith gets real substance in Gerard’s practical deeds.
On one side he is still in the middle of the tradition of faith as it was set out to him from the fundamentalist view of the Full Gospel and Pentecostal movement.
On the other hand, he became more tolerant in his preaching and practical deeds as founder/director of De Schakel.
For example, smoking was no longer condemned as a sin, so the Christians of De Schakel were allowed to light a cigarette.
Gay or lesbian addicts have always been welcome to work on their addiction problem, but now they were no longer given a cold shoulder.
They were able to participate fully in the recovery program with regard to their addiction.
Also, to name just a few, they could become a practicing believer without any form of exclusion.
Addicts of Islamic origin who were included in the center were no longer forbidden to pray in their own way.
In fact a separate prayer room was created for them in De Schakel.
As is customary among Christians, here and there there were some tensions, especially among those staff members who felt that the Christian faith was being squandered, that is to say that their views on how to believe were fundamentally compromised.
The aforementioned split in Gerard’s religious thinking and actions was also expressed in his preaching.
” The split in Gerard’s religious thinking and actions was also expressed in his preaching; for example, the Bible was still portrayed as the totally infallible word of God. The meetings were completely dominated by maintaining the Christian tradition “
For example, in that period the Bible was still portrayed as the totally infallible word of God, baptism services were held every month and the Lord’s Supper was celebrated in the De Schakel church building.
These meetings were, as it were, completely dominated by maintaining the Christian tradition.
The above described changes or tolerance on the behavior of people mainly took place in the weekday program, of which the clients of De Schakel were obliged to participate in.
Gerard would no longer have the chance to completely break with this two-minded approach, the tradition and Christ, to make De Schakel a real center of Christ.
After all, in 1999 he was falsely accused of sex crimes, arms trafficking, drug trafficking, rape and turning a blind eye to prostitution.
This resulted in his arrest and a detention period of 103 days.
De Schakel would not survive the accompanying negative publicity and thus ceased to exist.
Gerard could even not finish the graduation thesis that he started writing, which he stopped during all the psychological and emotional tensions that lasted for two years, because in that period the foundation of the Free University Amsterdam changed in a completely different way, namely in an American education system.
This second milestone was then also destroyed in Gerard’s life; first De Schakel and then graduating as a Drs. (a Dutch university title).
However what was not destroyed, was and is his rock-solid trust in Christ, as well as his theological reflection of this God on earth.
” He saw and experienced with his own eyes what tradition does with the thoughts and intentions of Christ Himself. People who think differently are excluded, fellow human beings who need help are rejected “
In the course of the twenty-first century he has radically broken with the established traditions of the churches after the fourth century AD.
He has chosen to break with this tradition, on the one hand because of the bloody and cruel history of official churches throughout the ages, on the other hand because Christians, those who join a church of whatever kind, are confronted with rules and ideas which slowly but surely, consciously or unconsciously, force them to believe what the tradition in question tells them to.
Standing in one such tradition, that of the Full Gospel and Pentecostal churches, he saw and experienced with his own eyes what this does with the thoughts and intentions of Christ Himself.
Weapons are blessed, wars are declared just and fair, other churches outside the aforementioned movement are, to a greater or lesser extent, denounced what they stand for, what they believe.
People who think differently are excluded, minorities are treated as inferior people, asylum seekers are kept out, fellow human beings who need help are rejected, sexually differently oriented people are written off as sinners and lost people.
The list will be very long if all these things have to be named.
Matters, therefore, that absolutely have nothing to do at all with the life and following of Christ.
Christ is love, healing love for all people.
A love that does not exclude anyone, which is inclusive in word and deed.
Christ’s love does not destroy anything or anybody.
That love does not make war to secure its own interests.
It is a love that makes all resistance disappear.
That love is able to nip all the evil in the world in the bud.
That love of Christ is so healing that it breaks the power of money, the power of corruption, the power of wanting to rule over others.
That is Christ Himself who wants to make his home in the inner self of every human being who is open to it, no matter who, what and how you are.
” Christ is love, healing love for all people.
Christ’s love does not destroy anything or anybody. That love does not make war to secure its own interests “
Then one no longer searches for biblical texts to justify oneself, then one breaks with the misguided authority of the Bible as a whole, then one stops observing the tradition, because that is the way it should be as one has learned it.
Gerard calls on every reader to look closely at (church) history, the way the Canon functions in church communities and the practical operation of leaders and their followers in those churches.
Yes, that can be threatening, but Christ himself is not a threat.
Threatening is what people have done with Christ.
History speaks volumes about this.
Christ is covered in dust and is hardly recognizable in the world in which we live.
Christ is mixed with populism, right-wing extremism and white supremesists and therefore disappears into the sink of Christian thinking and acting.
What is left of it is an extremely moderate infusion of what Christ really stood and still stands for.
Gerard has made his choice and this has given him a lot of space to do good for all people.
