THE BIG O
By Paul Proctor
January 10, 2005
NewsWithViews.com

Have you noticed how obsessed the church has become with the letter “P” lately? It seems that everyone who professes Christ these days must be assessed for his or her P-factor. Apparently, the more Ps we possess, the more Christian we are. It’s as if P has become the new measure of all things sacred and divine, which may explain why almost every widely acclaimed ministry, message and religious product for sale these days, be it from a preacher, pastor, author, speaker, singer, celebrity, consultant, or media personality, has as its focal point, the letter “P.”

According to the enlightened experts of our day; if we wish to be productive, we must be passionate, personable, persuasive, pertinent, pithy, plausible, pleasing, polished, polite, popular, positive, powerful, practical, pretty, profitable, progressive, prolific, prosperous, purpose-driven and of course, a possibility thinker. It doesn’t hurt to have a PhD by your name either.

Anyone who’s anyone in church circles today knows the power of P. It is the new paradigm for Christian living. Suffice it to say, if you’re P-less, you’re pitiful and of little or no value to the church much less the world around you. So, according to those in the know, you’d better be a good P wrangler and start rounding up your Ps ASAP if you know what’s good for you.

It’s funny though; I don’t recall the bible ever addressing the P-factor. Certainly Christ and those who followed Him occasionally displayed one or more of the above P-traits but there were numerous times when they clearly did not. Among those written of in the Old Testament, I see even less of the P-factor present. Why then is it so important now for believers to be P-conscious?

In our persistent pursuit of all things P, could it be we have bypassed The Big O? What’s The Big O, you ask? Why, it’s that obnoxious, obscene, obscure, obsessive, obsolete, obtrusive, odious, offensive, oppressive, ordinary, out-of-date, outrageously overbearing obstacle to discovering oneself, of course. I’m talking about Obedience. Is it possible that all of this P-talk has caused us to put the cart before the horse or, if you will, the P before the O? From what I can ascertain in scripture, one can possess all of the Ps this world has to offer but without The Big O, our Ps are worthless.

In fact, I would go so far as to say that Hell is P poor and the devil is the prince of Ps. After all, who’s more passionate, personable, persuasive, pertinent, pithy, plausible, pleasing, polished, polite, popular, positive, powerful, practical, pretty, profitable, progressive, prolific, prosperous and purpose-driven than the president of perdition? Isn’t that why he’s called an angel of light? Frankly, it only stands to reason, since he does not have the authority of God, he desperately NEEDS the P- factor to successfully seduce his slaves into satanic service. It goes without saying that the one thing you won’t find in his personality profile is The Big O.

You see, The Big O is practically everywhere in the bible and almost nowhere in society or the church today. Every one of us is born with an aversion to the word “obey” and yet it is the only acceptable response to God’s commands from the least to the greatest. Without it, He cannot be pleased and none of us can enter into eternal life, regardless of how pragmatic we might be.

Why then do the pulpits preach only Ps? Is it because our P-driven pastors know that we are all P-addicts; that Ps are perfect for drawing crowds and selling product; and as long as we focus on the Ps nobody has to face The Big O? Bringing up The Big O on Sunday sure can mess up a lot of big plans around the old mega church, if you know what I mean. In fact, if we started preaching The Big O on Sunday, almost everything would change here in our “Christian nation” and a lot of P-thinkers would be forced to rethink their Big O problems.

Wouldn’t it behoove us all to take another, more discerning look at those who so shrewdly redefine the Christian life as a P thing rather than an O thing? You see, to practice the P-factor, one really doesn’t need to know all that much about God’s Word, just a lot about the flesh and its “felt needs.” If, on the other hand, one chooses to confront The Big O, then they have no choice but to read and study the scriptures intently to know what the Lord requires of them.

Maybe you’re a prolific P person in the postmodern church. If so, I would remind you that the Omniscient, Omnipotent and Omnipresent One will accept nothing less than The Big O from those of us who call Him Lord. All of those Ps we're passing around are just a diabolical distraction fashionably designed to change the subject again and again and keep you and I perpetually preoccupied from actually knowing and doing the will of God.

“Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” – Matthew 7:21-23

© 2005 Paul Proctor - All Rights Reserved