Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias), and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the signs he had performed by healing the sick. … After the people saw the sign Jesus performed, they began to say, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.” Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself. … Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill.” (John 6:1*–2, 14–*15, 26)

Fallen humanity has the ability to find the supernatural in the natural. Jesus did not perform miracles to gain followers. His miracles were intended solely to point people to God in a dimension beyond the mind and body, but the nature of human beings is to point the miracles back to themselves.

“Fallen humanity has the ability to find the supernatural in the natural.” #crossruptionTweet this

We love creating celebrities. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and especially YouTube thrive on the celebrity system. Through our vast media, we have established a system to create celebrities and then worship them. We take normal human beings, label them as idols, put them on a pedestal, and when we grow tired of them, push them off. Then these people are left to figure out who they actually are.

We love to become idols, we love to create idols, and we love to see our idols fall. Then we can start the process all over again.

This can also be seen in our hormonal chemistry. Oxytocin is called the love hormone. Cortisol is called the stress hormone. When we have a Sunday morning high from church and a Monday morning low at work, these effects are invariably due to oxytocin and cortisol.

“Through our vast media, we have established a system to create celebrities and then worship them.” #crossruptionTweet this

Fallen human beings can easily mistake the effects of oxytocin for spirituality. In situations when these levels are high, people will feel and behave spiritually. When circumstances change, hormonal levels drop off, and people return to their original fallen identity. Moving from high to low, they want the high again.

We go from one spiritual gathering to another, hoping to see an expression of God, not realizing that each expression is an invitation to experience Him. Frustration, disappointment, and hopelessness are growing inside and outside the church. Too many souls are disillusioned; too many of religion’s celebrities are failing. The quality of character inside and outside the church is leveling off to become the norm. Christians are trying to defend a rapidly declining system. Religious celebrities are desperately trying to defend a losing institution.