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Over the last several weeks, we’ve seen the death of some very prominent figures in our culture. I’ve been observing the scroll-sphere to observe how our world copes with the reality of death, and this post is my wish that we could get a bit further than we are.

Some of you might be surprised to learn that I’m a metal head, and the death of Ozzy Osbourne and John MacArthur represent two large spheres of my life. I joined religion at age twelve, and my new-found fundamentalism informed me that the worlds of God and rock music were incompatible. I remember trying to convince my friends that Stryper and Rez Band were as good as Sabbath and Iron Maiden, but they knew I couldn’t even convince myself. I actually broke my entire collection of KISS albums over the corner of my waterbed in a gesture which supposedly expunged Satan from my room, but only my youth pastor was proud of me.

Yes, 80’s Rock album art was replete with dark imagery, it was metal’s marketing identity. But from the Evangelical perspective, Satan spoke backwards in rock music with the goal of enticing young souls into rebellion and worship of the Devil. When Ozzy, whose nickname was “The Prince of Darkness” employed upside down crosses, pentagrams, and other Satanic imagery, I was taught to fear “dark marketing” as gateway for demonic possession.

I loved Ozzy’s music, and I also loved Jesus, but binary religion insisted I pick sides…conflated enjoying rock music with the worship of Satan. Religion was always either/or…Good or evil…Right or wrong…Jesus or Satan. It’d be years before I’d be free from this binary Hell and realize that Jesus called religion “blind guides”(Matthew 23:24, John 9:30) because they can see Satan in rock music without recognizing him in their religious industrial complex, or “Synagogue of Satan” or “hideout for thieves” as Jesus put it. I remember being fined in college for listening to Ozzy. I played it anyway and paid the fine.

Was I rebellious and demonstrating a calloused heart, or was I embodying the Spirit of Christ who also refused to be defined by his religion?

I met John MacArthur in 2004 at a local conference as he was one of my favorite bible teachers who inspired me to truly learn the scripture. I valued him so much that I sought out a local church from one of his top disciples. I later served there as executive pastor. They say, “Never meet your idols.” because the closer you get, the more human they become. As I earned my PhD in Theology & Ethics, and my hermeneutical skills sharpened, I began to see in JMac’s work a substantial amount of eisegesis (reading into scripture), to which I admit all bible students are prone. So I checked his work against other scholarship, and sure enough, they also disagreed with many of his conclusions.

How could someone so certain be so mistaken?

This isn’t a diss on John’s tremendous legacy. None of us are perfect, that’s not my problem. My issue is that we’d be hard pressed to find a single sermon, interview, or debate where he wasn’t absolutely certain of his framework. I completely accept different interpretations and perspectives and respect each pastor who teaches in fidelity to their convictions. My biggest criticism of the religious industrial complex is that its leaders know better, but refuse to change because of the economics behind fidelity to tradition. But why certainty instead of a non-dogmatic humble confidence?

Scripture doesn’t create religion…it deconstructs it.

If the Bible disagrees with JMac’s eschatology, his dispensationalism, his disdain for churches who have women pastors and elders, or his conviction that Jesus started an alternative religion to which the Gospel is an invitation to convert, then the Bible likely disagrees on his other perspectives, like homosexuality, divorce, tithing, the gifts of the Holy Spirit, ecclesiology and his doctrines of Hell. What he considered an “air tight” theology, appears like fundamentalism with no one to fact check him.

What would MacArthur have said to Ozzy had they met prior to death? If the faith of other Christian denominations weren’t sufficient for salvation according to MacArthur, how would he describe Ozzy’s faith, or that of anyone outside his theological tribe, say…a Canaanite woman, a centurion, a Samaritan? If he’d fight with Alister Begg over attending a gay wedding, then what would he say to an adulteress? How did his posture toward “others” compare to the Christ in scripture?

“If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.” (1 John 4:20)

Let’s face it, MacArthur’s gospel would insist that without conversion to the Christian religion, Ozzy is most certainly burning in an eternal Hell. In fact today’s Gospel Coalition would disqualify the faith of the Centurion, the Syrophoenician woman, the thief on the cross, not to mention that no Old Testament believers could ever have possessed a faith in Grace alone, by Faith alone, in Christ alone.

So why is evangelicalism’s gospel so different from that of John the Baptist, Jesus, or Paul ? To what would Jesus require Ozzy to convert? Paul would call today’s gospel an “anathema.”

I imagine JMac was surprised to see Ozzy in the afterlife. Maybe you are too. I can assure you that Ozzy is NOT in the Evangelical heaven, because it doesn’t exist. According to the Bible, Ozzy is in God.

I used to believe the traditional heaven and hell propaganda until I got serious about understanding my bible. Then I faced the same choice JMac and every other bible student faces: The biblical LOGOS or tradition?

So what does the Bible actually say? Heaven isn’t some distant, far away place. It’s here…now. The “coming” of Christ, same word as “appearing” isn’t a future rapture and evacuation from earth into some distant heaven, it’s the unveiling of Heaven in the midst of this world, this life, this moment. So while the tribal belief is that MacArther and Ozzy are light years away in some other dimension, the scripture reveals they haven’t really gone anywhere…we just don’t perceive them on the other side of Reality’s veil.

What do you image happened as MacArthur and Ozzy both faced judgment? Was MacArthur rewarded with heaven and Ozzy cast down to Hell? Ask your pastor what he or she believes?

The Bible tells us that Judgment Day is the eternal moment of discovering Ultimate Reality on God’s terms and not ours. The Bible tells us that who we truly are, our true being, our true name is written in the book of life (legal document), as the Beloved of God who bears God’s likeness. The book of deeds captures all our pseudonyms, all the falsehood we create based upon our works both good and bad. The moment of decision, the legal verdict (judgement) from these legal documents is this: “Which book defines you?”

The Bible reveals that this “Day of Judgment’ will be more difficult for JMac than Ozzy because MacArthur’s book of deeds will be full of many good works. Sure there will be some bad deeds in there too, but his legacy will make his book very thick. It will stand tall with goodness. And if he’s not careful, if he remains “certain” he may lay claim to all those good works, and in doing so, make God indebted to him…obligated to reward him for such a good life. If he isn’t humble, he’ll forget his true name, and define himself by his deeds. The same is true for Ozzy and his thick book of accomplishments, but Ozzy, in the light of God, will not want to identify with his tall book of deeds which labeled him the prince of darkness. Humility may be closer to him.

This is why Jesus told the religious minded:

 “Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you.” (Matthew 21:31)

The Bible tells us that in the end Hell will be emptied (Revelations 20:13) “Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them.” prior to judgment. It tells us that nothing false (pseudo) will enter the kingdom of heaven. Everything false is in the book of “erga”(works). Heaven is entered by trusting who we are in God…our name in the book of life (birth certificate), not the name we made for ourself as defined by our deeds. We aren’t human doings, but human beings. Our deeds, good and bad, are the slag which must be burnt off prior to entry.

 “nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.” (Revelation 21:27)

The bible tells us that all that is “false” about us, “that part (portion) of us” will die for a second time in the all consuming fire of God, known as the Lake of fire. (Revelation 21:8), along with death and Hell itself. The only thing that isn’t completely consumed and transformed in the eternal fire of God, is the devil and his angels, and those who take on his false identity, or worship his image. These are tormented by the immediate proximity of God with no ability to create distance from him. They remain forever unchanged in God’s immediate fire. (Revelation 14:11).

So you see, Ozzy and MacArthur both face the same decision...receive your true name, or identify with the false identity (image) derived from the beast (institutional powers). Good deeds bring on the fire of God as much as bad ones. Will the institutions of religion and Rock and Roll define these men, or will they surrender to the crucible and let the slag burn off in the fire of God? If Heaven is here in the midst of us, then so is Judgment Day…right now… who will we be? Beloved of God or an Image derived by Institutional power? Both men bore this image in their lives.

I believe as a fan and follower of both, I know their genuine hearts have been seen by the world, and when the veil parts and they see clearly, it’s unlikely either of them will value much of what they’ve done on this side of it. They’ll look at each other humbly and apologetically laugh at their own absurdity, and rest together in the presence of Christ and celebrate their life in God. This isn’t wishful thinking, its the rational conclusion to which the Bible leads us.

The question for us is: will we believe the Bible or tradition? God’s voice or that of Institutional power? Judgment day is closer to you than you think.