The Way of the Rogue Christian: Living a Life that Counts for Eternity

By Mike Genung

The moment you die, all that will matter will be if you knew Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and how you invested the time and resources you were given on earth.

Matthew 25:14-30 gives us the parable of the talents, where three men were given money to invest by their master, who represents God. A talent was 75 pounds of gold coins and illustrates the time and resources we're given on earth. One man was given five talents of gold (375 pounds, 10.8 million dollars in today's currency), the second was given two talents (150 pounds, worth 4.3 million dollars) and the third was given one talent, 75 pounds—2.1 million dollars' worth. The first two men doubled what they were given and heard God say, "Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master."

The man who had been given one talent addressed the Lord as "Master", which indicated he knew who God was, but his actions revealed that he neither knew nor loved God. He took the time to dig a hole wide and deep enough to bury 75 pounds of gold. He hefted it into the hole, then dug it back up when he returned it to God. It would have taken him far less time and effort to cart it off to the bank and deposit it; the interest on 2.1 million dollars would have been significant over the years. God's reply was terrifying: "…cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth" (Matthew 25:30)

The Bible tells us to invest the treasures of our time and resources in the eternal (Matthew 6:20-21), that faith without works is dead (James 2:14-26), to set our minds on the eternal (Colossians 3:2) and to persevere in good works.

"He will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury."
– Romans 2:6-7

"And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up."
– Galatians 6:9

How we spend out time and resources is a big deal to God. The fruit from our lives reveals our heart for God; the believer who understands they've been given an enormous treasure-trove of blessings will be so filled with love that they'll be eager to make their life count for eternity. Every believer goes through seasons of testing, pruning, and pain where there are days it's hard just to survive and we're momentarily barren, but God uses our suffering to produce more fruit:

"I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples."
John 15:1-8

Today, many professing Christians are wasting their lives on pleasure and comfort. Some know God's word but don't do what it says; they've spent years in Bible study and attended church but have little to show for it. James calls these believers self-deceived.

"But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. Fo

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: May 30, 2022
• ISBN: 9781732312869

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Blazing Grace Publishing

912 W. Chandler Blvd., Ste B-6

Chandler, AZ 85225

www.theroguechristian.com

The Way of the Rogue Christian: Living a Life That Counts for Eternity

©2022 by Mike Genung

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced without written permission, except for quotations less than 250 words and critical reviews. For information or reprint permissions, contact Blazing Grace Publishing at the address above.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright ©2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture marked NASB are from the New American Standard Bible®, copyright ©1960,1962,1963,1968,1971,1972,1973,1975,1977,1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

Scripture marked KJV are from The Holy Bible, King James Version. Cambridge Edition: 1769.

ISBN: 978-1-7323128-6-9

Printed in USA

More copies of this book can be ordered at www.blazinggrace.org or www.theroguechristian.com.

Table of Contents

Réamhrá: The Battle Rages On . . .

Chapter 1: The Narrow Gate

Chapter 2: The Rogue's Creed

Chapter 3: Rest of Soul

Chapter 4: Divine Discontent

Chapter 5: Rogue Theology

Chapter 6: Rogue Worship

Chapter 7: The Great Cover-Up

Chapter 8: The Quest for Holiness

Chapter 9: The Cottage of Prayer

Chapter 10: The Way of the Assyrian

Chapter 11: Warnings

Chapter 12: Are You Willing to Pay the Price?

Chapter 13: All This, and Rewards Too?

Chapter 14: Rogue Revival

Chapter 15: Onward

Bonus Section

#82: The Challenge, Part 1

#83: The Challenge Part 2

The Battle Rages On . . .

In the cover of darkness at night, Saruman’s forces of Orcs, Uruk-hai, and Dunlendings have flooded the valley of Helm’s Deep. They have blocked every escape route, scaled the walls, and breached the gate. They are advancing, killing all they encounter. There will be no prisoners. The men of Rohan are falling back. Their women, children, and elderly have retreated deep into the mountain in the fragile hope that they will find safety.

The forces of evil are advancing at will. All seems lost.

The morning sun breaks through the ridge opposite Helm’s Deep, revealing Gandalf the White seated on Shadowfax, the great Mearas horse that is said to run faster than the wind. Gandalf is accompanied by a thousand warriors and an army of Huorns, tree-shaped beings who seek vengeance on Saruman’s army for the atrocities committed on their race. This unusual alliance of men and tree-­warriors charges into the fray and routs Saruman’s forces.

The people of Rohan are saved . . . for the moment.

An even greater battle lies ahead . . .

Chapter 1

The Narrow Gate

Christianity asserts that every individual human being is going to live for ever, and this must be either true or false. Now there are a good many things which would not be worth bothering about if I were going to live only seventy years, but which I had better bother about very seriously if I am going to live for ever.

—C. S. Lewis

Satan’s greatest success is in making people think they have plenty of time before they die to consider their eternal welfare.

—John Owen

There’s not a single thing on offer in this all-too-temporary world for which you should ever sell your soul.

—Alan Keyes

The awful importance of this life is that it determines eternity.

—William Barclay

It is better to go to the house of mourning

than to go to the house of feasting,

for this is the end of all mankind,

and the living will lay it to heart.

Sorrow is better than laughter,

for by sadness of face the heart is made glad.

The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning,

but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.

—Ecclesiastes 7:2–4

Edward Lodewijk Van Halen was born in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, on January 26, 1955, to Jan Van Halen, a Dutch native, and Eugenia, an Indonesian from the Dutch Indies. In 1962, after experiencing racial prejudice due to Jan and Eugenia’s mixed-race marriage, the family migrated to the United States and settled in Pasadena, California.

Jan Van Halen was a gifted jazz pianist and had his sons Eddie and Alex take piano lessons when Eddie was six. Eddie had music coursing through his veins. He began learning the guitar by watching established musicians perform recitals of Bach and Mozart. In spite of their parents’ wish that they become classical musicians, the boys gravitated to rock ‘n’ roll. Alex took up the drums, and Eddie threw himself into mastering the electric guitar by playing for hours alone in his room.

In 1972, the brothers formed the rock band that would become known as Van Halen. After Van Halen played several years in clubs and other venues in Los Angeles, Warner Records offered them a recording contract in 1977. Their debut album, Van Halen, debuted in 1978 and included songs such as Runnin’ with the Devil and Ain’t Talkin’ ’Bout Love. They were an overnight success.

I grew up in Southern California in the 1970s and remember when Van Halen came out with their first album. Their concerts had a reputation for being high-energy events and sold out within hours. The band also had a reputation for partying as hard as they played. The backside of one of their albums showed the bassist holding a marijuana cigarette (joint), and at one concert in San Bernardino, the lead singer showed up drunk on stage.

Eddie was an innovator with the electric guitar. He made his own guitars from custom parts and was granted three patents. He christened his red and white striped guitar the Frankenstrat, a guitar he was often seen with in the early years. Eddie popularized tapping, a technique of using both hands to tap the guitar on the neck. He also designed an accessory that facilitated the use of tapping and received a patent for it.

Van Halen achieved worldwide success in the 1970s and 1980s and then faded in the 1990s. As of 2019, it is estimated the group had sold 100 million records. They had 13 number-one hits and a Grammy nomination and were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

Eddie’s personal life reflected the typical lifestyle of a rock star. He started drinking alcohol at the age of 12. As Eddie put it, I was smoking and doing a lot of drugs and a lot of everything.¹ In 1981 Eddie married Valerie Bertinelli, a popular actress of that era. Their marriage lasted until 2005 when Bertinelli filed for divorce. Three years later, Eddie entered rehab to deal with alcoholism and was reportedly able to stay sober the rest of his life.

Eddie Van Halen passed into eternity on October 6, 2020, after succumbing to tongue, throat, and lung cancer. He was 65. At the time of his death, he had an estimated net worth of $100 million, worldwide fame and adulation, women, and whatever pleasures he wanted. But the moment Edward Lodewijk Van Halen stepped into eternity, the only thing that mattered was whether or not he had a salvation-based relationship with God. If he didn’t know Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior, he is now in a place the Bible describes as a place of outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matt. 8:12) and a lake of fire and sulfur where . . . they will be tormented day and night forever and ever (Rev. 20:10). He has no second chance.

I don’t know where Edward Van Halen is today. I haven’t heard any reports that he accepted Christ before he expired, so that doesn’t bode well. If he’s in a place of eternal torment, he would surely give anything to have lived his life differently.

Scripture shows us what happens to those who live solely for the pleasures of this world.

There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried, and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. And he called out, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame. But Abraham said, Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us. And he said, Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father’s house—for I have five brothers—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment. But Abraham said, They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them. And he said, No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent. He said to him, If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.

—Luke 16:19–31

I want to cry just writing this. The idea of someone trapped in a place of torment with no way out is horrifying. I don’t want to picture anyone, especially my loved ones, in the lake of fire with no reprieve.

Keith Gordon Green was born on October 21, 1953, in New York. When Keith was three, his parents moved to the San Fernando Valley near Hollywood, California. Like Eddie Van Halen, Keith was a musical prodigy who picked up the piano quickly. At the age of six, he began writing and singing his own songs. Five years later, he signed a recording contract with Decca Records. His picture made it into teen magazines, and he appeared on several TV shows, but his adolescent career fizzled quickly.

Keith ran away from home when he turned 15 and began a spiritual journey that included drugs, Eastern mysticism, and free love. But at the age of 21, he found Jesus Christ and threw himself all the way into the Christian life. He and his young wife, Melody, offered themselves and their home to anyone who needed help, including unwed mothers, prostitutes, drug addicts, and the homeless. After they filled their home, the Greens bought the house next door and then rented five more houses in the neighborhood. At one point, there were 75 people living in their houses.

Keith signed a recording contract with Sparrow Records and in 1977 released his first album, For Him Who Has Ears to Hear, which shot to the top of the Christian charts. Keith’s songs reflected his spiritual intensity as well as his brokenness with refreshing, gut-level honesty. Keith’s song I Can’t Wait to Get to Heaven reveals the heart of a man who was living, even yearning for eternity.

Keith spoke in churches and held concerts, many just him and a piano. His concerts were as intense as his music as he challenged his audiences to a life of uncompromising holiness and commitment to Jesus. With his thick hair and beard, he was often called a modern-day John the Baptist.

If you praise and worship Jesus with your mouth, and your life does not praise and worship him, there’s something wrong!

—Keith Green

During his career, Keith led thousands to Christ through his altar calls, with similar numbers of Christians recommitting their lives to the Lord through his exhortations. Near the end of his ministry, he started challenging Christians to go out to the mission field, and thousands left the comfort of home to make a difference on the mission field.

In 1978 Keith and Melody founded Last Days Ministries, which continues today. Their Last Days Newsletter was mailed to 500,000 subscribers worldwide, a huge number for a Christian organization at the time. The news­letter included Keith’s writings along with those of David Wilkerson, Leonard Ravenhill, and others from the past such as Charles Finney, John Wesley, and William Booth.

In 1979, Keith and Melody moved with Last Days Ministries to a 140-acre ranch in Garden Valley, Texas. The ministry also leased a small, two-engine plane and had its own airstrip. By the summer of 1982, Keith and Melody were the parents of three children, with one on the way.

On July 29, 1982, at the age of 28, Keith Green died with 11 others when their Cessna 414 crashed after takeoff. Two of Keith’s children, three-year old Josiah and two-year-old Bethany, who were with him on the plane also died, leaving Melody alone with their one-year-old daughter, Rebekah. Melody gave birth to Rachel in March 1983.

Most of us are somewhere between Eddie Van Halen who was all-in with the world and Keith Green who went all-out with God. The Christian who attempts to live for both worlds treads on dangerous ground.

And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: "The words of the Amen, the faithful and true ­witness, the beginning of God’s creation. I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are ­lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. For you say, I am rich, I have ­prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and