A few thoughts of my own at the end of this short article.



A new survey conducted by the research division of LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention looks at reasons why adults leave evangelical Christian churches.

This past summer LifeWay Research polled 469 adults who once attended church regularly in an effort to find out why they stopped going -- and also to discover what it would take to bring them back. According to the study, 59 percent of formerly churched adults say they left because of changes in their life situation. The top two specific life situations cited were schedules that became too hectic to allow for church attendance, and family responsibilities at home that prevented church attendance.

Brad Waggoner, president of LifeWay Research, says the recent survey shows how radically American culture has changed. "It used to be that Sunday was protected as a day of worship," he notes. "It's not good news that people are finding lots of competition with the church."

On the other hand, Waggoner observes, "I guess there's a little bit of good news that at least people are being honest that it's their lives that are out of whack." However, he points out, other reasons people gave for leaving church included feeling that other church members were hypocritical or judgmental, or the perception that their former church was run by a clique that discouraged involvement.

In regards to that last reason, Ruth and I have experienced this phenomena bigtime.
One of the last churches that we were involved in had an attitude that went something like this. You are welcome here, come sing songs with us, put money in the offering, lots of it, we'll smile at you and we may even shake your hand before you go out the door, but don't expect to get involved because we have a clique here and unless you have been with us from the beginning don't expect more than a cold handshake and weak smile brother because that's as close as you'll ever get.

You may think that I am exaggerating, but this is the philosophy in many churches and we wonder why people drop out.

Here is my definition of a clique, it is the sound when you pull the trigger of a gun and you have no cartridge in the chamber, just the hollow sound of "CLICK". What can be accomplished with an empty gun, not much.

Let's let the scripture comment on this by reading 1st John 3:10 "This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; neither is anyone who does not love his brother."

What is the acid test of what the real Church of Jesus Christ is about, "Do they love the brethren?"

Have you ever wondered where "In the World" the church is headed? Read the following quote and you will see.



"I don't think anything has been done in the name of Christ and under the banner of Christianity that has proven more destructive to human personality and hence counterproductive to the evangelistic enterprise than the unchristian, uncouth strategy of attempting to make people aware of their lost and sinful condition. Classical reformed theology has erred in its insistence that theology be God centered not man centered."


"Sin is any act or thought that robs myself or another human being of his or her self-esteem."

"Classical theology defines sin as 'rebellion against God.' The answer is not incorrect as much as it is shallow and insulting to the human being."

"do not say that the central core of the human soul is wickedness. If this were so, then truly, the human being is totally depraved. But positive Christianity does not hold to human depravity, but to human inability."

-Self-Esteem: The New Reformation by Robert Schuller

Is the contemporary Gospel "Another Gospel"?







Are we really to believe that within 12 months of being saved, under the sound preaching of the Holy Spirit empowered Biblical gospel, 95.2% of the 'converts' (over a quarter of a million people) had become 'backsliders'?

by Michael J. Penfold

Central to every genuine spiritual revival, has been the public preaching of the gospel. Directly through this means (Titus 1:3) the Holy Spirit has awakened multitudes to a proper sense of the dreadfulness of their sin against heaven. They have been stripped of all self-righteousness, broken in repentance and have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, who satisfied God's demands against their sin at Calvary. Sadly, in the evangelical scene today, such true and lasting manifestations of the convicting and converting power of the Holy Spirit are now rarely seen. So where did it all go wrong?

During the 20th century, there were two major developments in relation to gospel preaching. Up until World War 2, practically all evangelical churches held two preaching services every Sunday; one aimed at edifying the church; the other at converting sinners. The first move was to jettison the gospel service (with its accompanying prayer meeting), in favour of another study teaching session for Christians. The indoor evangelistic service was not replaced with a 'street meeting'. It was simply dropped. Secondly, there was a fundamental change in the content (not just the style) of the gospel message itself. Several major features of the historically tried and tested gospel sermon were abandoned. Thus, if you compare the sermons preached by Peter and Paul in the book of Acts, along with those preached during genuine revivals since that time (by men like Nettleton, Edwards, Wesley, Whitefield, McCheyne, North, Spurgeon, Torrey, Moody, Rea, Marshall, Laidlaw and Frank Knox) with the contemporary gospel, you will find a world of difference.

All of this has serious consequences, because the contemporary gospel produces altogether different results to the historic Biblical gospel. For example, in 1991, a major 'evangelical' denomination in the USA - consisting of 11,000 churches - launched a huge push in evangelism. After securing 294,000 'decisions for Christ' in 12 months (26.73 per church), only 14,000 new members came 'into fellowship' (1.27 per church). Are we really to believe that within 12 months of being saved, under the sound preaching of the Holy Spirit empowered Biblical gospel, 95.2% of the 'converts' (over a quarter of a million people) had become 'backsliders'? And what of the general membership of contemporary 'evangelical' churches? Where have all the serious Bible students gone? Where is the clear line of demarcation between today's Christians and the secular world - in language, entertainment, music, dress, associations, ambition, interest and outlook? These are symptoms of a root problem, namely the abandonment of public gospel preaching and the alteration of the content of the Biblical gospel message. But what is the true gospel? Let us examine four essential elements which are missing from most of today's evangelical sermons, gospel tracts and 'introduction to Christianity' courses.

1. THE BIBLICAL GOSPEL BEGINS AND ENDS WITH GOD.

Firstly, the Biblical gospel begins and ends with God, whereas the contemporary gospel begins and ends with man. Here, in abbreviated form, is how it runs. "People today are suffering from feelings of emptiness, loneliness and low self-esteem. However, the aching 'God shaped vacuum' within you can be filled, when you say sorry for your sins and commit your life to Jesus. God has a wonderful plan for your life and wants you to be personally fulfilled and have a real feeling of happiness and satisfaction. You matter to God - that's why Jesus paid for your sins on the cross. He loves you and wants you to ask Him into your life today You cannot save yourself, that's why you really need God in your life. You have tried everything else - so why not give Jesus a try too? All you have to do is ask Jesus to be your personal Saviour and you will be saved. Why not pray this prayer after me...

Writers like George Barna, Bill Hybels, Lee Strobel and Rick Warren, tell us that our churches will only be 'seeker-friendly' when we start addressing the needs of '21st century unchurched Harry and Mary' (the 'me' generation). Thus the contemporary message has moved away from the New Testament God-centred pattern, and tailored itself to appeal to the self-centred generation of secular relativists who dominate our society. By contrast, the Biblical gospel begins and ends with God. When Paul preached to the Gentiles in Lystra, he opened by saying, "We...preach unto you that you should turn from these vanities unto the living God, who made heaven... earth... sea and all things that are in them" (Acts 14:15). He began by laying a foundation of a 'creator God' who is sovereign, good and patient. Again, when preaching to the Gentile philosophers in Athens he stated, "...God, who made the world and everything in it.. since He is Lord of heaven and earth.. now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained." (Acts 17:22-31). This was always Paul's approach when preaching to pagans. His message to Felix was the same. He told him about God's righteousness, his own lack of self-control and judgment to come (Acts 24:25).

Since repentance is a change of mind towards God, how can a sinner repent until he has a true concept of God? Many 21st Century Westerners imagine that there are two Gods; the God of the Old Testament - harsh and unmerciful - and the God of the New Testament - loving and forgiving. Such is their fatal misconception. Or again, the average Westerner thinks that God, if He exists at all, is a most unfair God. He argues; "If there's a God why is there all the suffering in the world?" How foolish are his thoughts. Until he truly understands the good and holy nature of the God against whom he has grievously rebelled, he will never be saved. Thus, unless the 'true God' is clearly preached, all that will be produced is a multitude of false converts, who have never so much as caught one glimpse of the holiness, goodness and sovereignty of their almighty creator, "For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen" (Rom 11:36).

2. THE BIBLICAL GOSPEL MAKES A PROPER USE OF THE LAW OF GOD.

Secondly, the Biblical Gospel makes proper use of the law of God. A sinner must understand the gospel to be saved (Matt 13:15,19, 23, Acts 8:30-31, Rom 3:11). But before a sinner can understand the mercy of a loving God, he must understand the requirements of a righteous God. Now, the law is not the gospel and the gospel is not the law; but the gospel establishes the law (Rom 3:31). That law which the Gentiles have in their hearts by nature (Rom 2:15), Israel also had written on stone - and the purpose of this law is clearly stated by Paul: "by the law is the knowledge of sin" (Rom 3:20). Paul further states that he would never have known he was a guilty sinner without the law (Rom 7:7). Since no one can be saved without repentance (Luke 13:5) and no one can repent unless they know they are guilty, the true Biblical gospel must make proper use of the law, the chief end of which is to convince the whole world of its guilt (Rom 3:19).

The book of Romans contains the only systematic setting forth of the gospel in the whole Bible. Paul uses the word 'law' 38 times before he mentions the word 'love'. From Romans 1:17-3:19, Paul sets forth the case against the sinner. It is a sorry tale of condemnation, wrath and guilt. Finally, in chapter 5:8, Paul states that God commends his love towards sinners. Why does Paul present the gospel in this order? Because the gospel will not make any real sense to the sinner until he realizes he is guilty of rebellion against the law of a holy God. If we start by telling the typical Westerner "God loves you", he will puff out his chest and say in his heart "Why shouldn't He; I'm a good person?"

Preachers of the old school believed that a man would not grab a spiritual lifebelt, until he was convinced he was drowning; nor submit to medical treatment until was sure he had a disease - so they never set the remedy of the gospel before the sinner's mind until thoroughly convincing him of his sin. But the contemporary gospel knows better. It uses the carrot of 'benefits' instead of the stick of the law. It says, "If you come to Jesus you will be happy, fulfilled, be part of a loving family and spend eternity in a golden mansion - if you would like to have all of this, just say sorry for your sins and ask Jesus into your heart to be your Saviour." If only this were an unfair caricature or a straw man -but it is not. This is exactly how it is presented universally today in print and in the pulpit. The net result is that sinners 'come to Christ' with a false motive. Then when persecution and pressure come their way, they discover that they were not told the whole story. They are offended and quickly disillusioned. However, they have now been vaccinated against true salvation. After all, they tried Jesus and He failed.

As we seek to restore the true Biblical gospel we must remember that the issue is righteousness not happiness. True peace and joy are the fruits of salvation, but they are never to be presented in Biblical sermons as a draw card, to encourage sinners to 'make their decision for Christ'. We must understand that simply quoting "All have sinned", followed by a quick "But the good news is..."1 will never awaken anyone. Sinners must be faced with the fact that covetousness (the love of things) is idolatry (Col 3:5), hate is murder (1 John 3:15) and lust is adultery (Matt 5:28). Driving down the motorway, there are a number of excuses one can think of to justify going at 85 mph. ..until the law enters. When you see a Police car on the side of the road, your foot hits the brakes. By the law is the knowledge of sin. That is what will make a man, rushing headlong down the highway of life to hell, sit up and listen. He simply must see his precarious position or he will never repent.

Presented with a choice of either diamonds or a glass of water, who would not choose the diamonds? But take a man who has been lost for four days in the Sahara desert with nothing to drink and present him with the same choice. He takes the water. What has changed? The inherent value of the goods on offer? No. His perception of need. And so, let a man be utterly convinced from scripture, by the Holy Spirit, that he is lost, guilty and helpless and he will cry out, "What must I do to be saved?"

The proper initial reaction to the gospel on the part of the sinner is conviction of sin (John 16:8, Acts 2:37). But what is conviction of sin? It is more than just the ordinary smiting of the conscience (Rom 2:15). It is more than mere fear of hell. Simply being scared of the consequences of sin is not true Holy Spirit conviction. Nor is conviction 'admitting you are a sinner'. Balaam, Pharoah, Judas and many others admitted "I have sinned", but went to hell. Nor is conviction a mere head knowledge of the doctrine of the fall of Adam. Conviction is 'a proper sense of the dreadfulness of my sin against God'. Have you ever realized this? All sinners must echo David's realization in Psalm 51:4 when he said "Against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Thy sight." Conviction of sin is vertical, not horizontal.

We must return to the true Biblical gospel and preach that men are sinners by nature and practice (Eph 2:1-2); that their very best endeavours are like filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6) and that they are utterly helpless to save themselves (Eph 2:8). As a sinner acknowledges that he is condemned, unclean and guilty, he draws near to salvation, for "The LORD is near to those who have a broken heart; and saves such as have a contrite spirit" (Psalm 34:18).

3. THE BIBLICAL GOSPEL SOUNDS A CLEAR NOTE OF REPENTANCE.

Thirdly, the Biblical Gospel sounds a clear note of repentance. Summarizing 3 years of ministry in Ephesus, Paul stated that he had preached "repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ" (Acts 20:21). Summarizing his whole life, he stated that he had preached that men should "repent and turn to God, and do works" answering to that repentance (Acts 26:20). Nowhere in the Bible did any apostle or evangelist preach that, "all you need to do is accept that Jesus died and rose again, ask Him to be your Saviour and you will go to heaven." Why? Because the Lord Jesus had commissioned them to preach three things: firstly, Christ died; secondly, He rose again; and, thirdly, repentance for the remissible of sins (Luke 24:45). Would we be happy with a cross-less gospel or a resurrection-less gospel? How then can we be content to preach a repentance-less gospel?

Contrary to contemporary thinking, salvation is not just mental assent or a mere nodding of the head to the death and resurrection of Christ. There is no saving faith without repentance. If you are a stranger to conviction, you are a stranger to repentance and therefore a stranger to salvation, for no one ever truly believed without repenting and vice versa. The first sentence the Lord Jesus uttered in His public ministry was, "Repent and believe the gospel " (Mark 1:15); and He continued to repeatedly warn that unless sinners repent they will perish. Jesus said "believe or perish" (John 3:16) and "repent or perish" (Luke 13:3. See also 2 Pet 3:9). All that will matter a million years from today is, did I repent and believe the gospel?

Only one sentence in the Bible states that God loves the world (John 3:16). A handful of other verses speak of God's love for undeserving sinners. Yet this precious and sublime truth is cheapened today, by its overemphasis at the expense of repentance, a subject which is mentioned 58 times in the New Testament alone. That is the reason why there is little or no true convicting power and blessing in the preaching of the gospel today. The Holy Spirit will not endue with power a message He has not authorized. A gospel without a clear note of repentance is another (false) gospel that brings God's curse on those who preach it (Gal 1:6-10). Why would God curse a 'preacher of the gospel' (one who adds or takes away from the essence of the true message)? Because his repentance-less message is damning souls, corrupting local churches and hindering revival.

But what is repentance? It is not penance or restitution (Judas paid the money back - he regretted, but never repented, Matt 27:3). It is not merely tears, fear of judgment (Felix trembled) or sorrow for sin (godly sorrow may lead to repentance, but is not the same as repentance, 2 Cor 7:10). It is not mere confession or admission of sin. The Greek word for repentance is metanoia (from meta, 'after', and nous, 'mind'). It means a complete change of mind - involving turning from sin to God, which resuIts in a change of life. It is illustrated by David in Psalm 51 and the Prodigal Son in Luke 15. It is defined in the following text: "Let the wicked for-sake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him" (Isaiah 55:7). Let us be sure to sound a clear note of repentance every time we preach the gospel.

4. THE BIBLICAL GOSPEL PRESENTS A WHOLE CHRIST FOR THE WHOLE MAN.

Fourthly, and finally, the Biblical Gospel presents a whole Christ for the whole man. The object of faith is not 'the fact of the atonement' but the person of Christ. Paul did not tell the jailor to just believe the 'facts about Calvary'. He was told, "Believe on the LORD JESUS CHRIST" - Master, Saviour and promised anointed Messiah (Acts 16:31). But belief never simply means mental assent. It is trust, reliance on and commitment to Christ as Lord and Saviour. This is not the 'cool buddy Saviour only Jesus' of the contemporary gospel, who says "Come as you are and stay as you are". How solemn to see a large number who call Jesus Lord, shut out of the kingdom, despite their many religious works (Matt 7:21).

'Evangelical' churches are full of people who do not exhibit the fruits of salvation, but who are not embarrassed to say they are Christians. But if a man says he has faith and has not works, can that faith save him (James 2:14)? God saves people so that they will do good works (Acts 26:20) and live as His bond slaves (1 Thess 1:9). Therefore, any salvation experience that does not turn a rebel sinner into a basically obedient servant is spurious. "Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance.. every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast in to the fire" (Matt 3:8).

Liberal theologians have filled churches and preached a blood-less gospel and a deity-less Christ. Now, evangelicals have filled churches with a gospel that lacks a call to repentance. Which is worse? The net result is the same. Let us ensure that our sermons, our gospel tracts and the missionary endeavours we support present every aspect of the true Biblical gospel.

Available as a pamphlet from Penfold Book & Bible House Ltd.
www.penfoldbooks.com
Box 26, Bicester, Oxon, 0X26 4GL Phone

A step in the right direction

What is the answer to school violence? Many solutions are suggested from metal detectors to armed teachers, but could there be something that our schools have lost some time ago.

In Mathew 24 verse 12 Jesus gives a prophetic account of one of the things that will happen at the end of the age. It reads, "Because of the increase in wickedness, the love of many will grow cold."

With a little digging you will find that this verse really reads, "the agape of many will grow cold." As wickedness increases people's desire to lay down their lives for others decreases.

My mind goes back to my teaching days in Southern California where I was teaching in an elementary school. Our school was an integrated school in that students from the inner city were bussed out to the suburbs and integrated into the white schools. We had a quite a mix of colors in our school and not a few trouble makers.

I taught in that school for four years and during that time I watched some of those trouble makers work their way up through the grades. I had a sixth grade homeroom so I knew that eventually I would inherit some of these problems. I had a stradegy and that was while out on the playground when I saw some undesirable behavior from one of the troubled kids, I would go up to him and put my arm around him and gently explain the disadvantages of their behavior. What I was doing was building relationships with these boys. I would tell them when they were in the fifth grade that I was going to have them in my homeroom next year and they were going to be one of my boys.

As a homeroom teacher I worked hard to build a atmosphere of having a sense of belonging to a group, (a family) who sticks up for one another and is proud of one another and you had better not mess with one of Burton's kids or you will have the whole bunch to contend with.

I still remember a big Mexican boy coming up through the grades who was a real problem for his teaches as he worked his way into the fifth grade. One day I walked up to him and looked up into his eyes and said, "Next year you are going to be in my homeroom." His reply was "All right." He said it loud enough so nearly everyone on the playground could hear him.

Could it be possible for us teachers to single out some of those "Loners" and "Misfits" and "Troublemakers" and plow a little of our lives into theirs.

I can still remember Ronnie's mother coming to school to see me one day and thanking me for the extra attention that I had paid to her son for he had no father.

Is this something that could be encouraged for our teachers to work on or does the "Sign of the times" prevail as Jesus' prediction said it would.

I would love to hear any comments.

jim@burtonia.com

They don't get it

A while back I was talking to the school administrator and a school board member of large school district near where I live. The high school has about 2000 students. Both of these folks know about my lifestyle of serving in various places around the world these past 25 years. The board member turned to the superintendant and said that she would like to have me speak to the students in an assembly telling of my Christian service work and Christian commitment. While the board member was talking I saw a look on the face of the superintendent that told me that what I might have to say was completely irrelivant and it would never happen.

Does this recent experience have anything to do with the CBS News article that I read recently?

freeSpeech: Brian Rohrbough
Dad Of A Columbine Victim Asks "Why Did This Happen?"

Oct. 2, 2006 (CBS)QUOTE Sadly, our schools are not safe.
(CBS) "I'm saddened and shaken by the shooting at an Amish school today, and last week's school murders. When my son Dan was murdered on the sidewalk at Columbine High School on April 20, 1999, I hoped that would be the last school shooting. Since that day, I've tried to answer the question, "Why did this happen?" This country is in a moral free-fall. For over two generations, the public school system has taught in a moral vacuum, expelling God from the school and from the government, replacing him with evolution, where the strong kill the weak, without moral consequences and life has no inherent value. We teach there are no absolutes, no right or wrong. And I assure you the murder of innocent children is always wrong, including by abortion. Abortion has diminished the value of children. Suicide has become an acceptable action and has further emboldened these criminals. And we are seeing an epidemic increase in murder-suicide attacks on our children. Sadly, our schools are not safe. In fact, we now witness that within our schools. Our children have become a target of terrorists from within. "

An old idea that works

I read a recent article in the New York Times about corporal punishment in public schools. I thought that it was banished long ago, but some folks are finding that maybe we lost something when our modern society trashed this archaic practice.

I'll give a link to the article at the end of my blog.

I was reminded of my teaching days back in the late sixties when I was teaching Eskimo kids in Nome, Alaska.

I was teaching math in the high school and I had a couple of classes comprised of low achievers. Some of them were cut-ups and enjoyed giving their teachers trouble. About two weeks after school started in the fall one boy by the name of Henry came to me and said, "Mr. Burton I know what you need." About two days later Henry walked into my classroom with a smile on his face and an oak board about 3/8" thick by 2" wide by 24" long and writen on it with black ink were the words, "Board of Education."

I hung the board on the wall and about two days later I had to ask Henry to step out into the hall where I asked him to bend over. I then applied the "Board of Education" to the seat of learning. We walked back into the "Very Quiet" room and commenced the learning of Mathematics.

I used that "Board of Education" no more than a half dozen times and hung it on the wall for the rest of the year. I remember talking with other teachers about this group of students and hearing remarks like, "I can't do anything with them," or "That bunch is terrible." I remember saying one time, "That's odd, I don't have any problem with them, they are a great bunch of kids." I remember them looking at me with a look that said, "Yeah, right."

But I was truthful, I didn't have any problem with them and I really enjoyed those classes. As a matter of fact the guidance counselor asked me one day what my secret was for the sucess that I was having with my classes. I remember another occasion when I overheard the principal remarking that no one in her school used corporal punishment. Apparently no one voiced any complaints, students or parents.

Isn't it too bad that our modern society has evolved to such a high state of sophistication where the "Board of Education" has been replaced with such things as "Time Out?"

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/30/education/30punish.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin

Great quotes for today's church

"Christians don't tell lies - they just go to church and sing them."
--A.W. Tozer


"It is perilously easy to have amazing sympathy with God's truth and remain in sin." -- Oswald Chambers


"The vague and tenuous hope that God is too kind to punish the ungodly has become a deadly opiate for the consciences of millions." -- A.W. Tozer


"Get rid of this bunkum about the 'carnal Christian'. Forget it! If you're carnal, you're not saved." -- Leonard Ravenhill

"An unholy church! it is useless to the world, and of no esteem among men. It is an abomination, hell's laughter, heaven's abhorrence. The worst evils which have ever come upon the world have been brought upon her by an unholy church." -C.H. Spurgeon


"I am not afraid that the people called Methodists should ever cease to exist either in Europe or America. But I am afraid lest they should only exist as a dead sect, having the form of religion without the power. And this undoubtedly will be the case unless they hold fast both the doctrine, spirit, and discipline with which they first set out." John Wesley

The slippery slide of liberalism

Commissioned to personally study every seminary in the country that had had ended up liberal, just take a look at Dr. Martin's description of what happens the moment a church or a denomination moved away from the inerrancy of Scripture:

Every major theological seminary that has turned from orthodox Christianity began with disbelief of Biblical doctrine. There wasn't a single exception. This corrupt Bibliology then lead them to the next step. Their Theology began to be touched by it, their view of the Cross, the Virgin Birth were both immediately questioned; then came the miracles of Christ. And finally they had emptied the Gospel of all its content; they were simply using the outward shell so that they go on collecting money from the people and the churches; because they knew that if the people in the pew knew that they were apostate, they'd throw them out. So the strategy was hang on to the trust funds; hang on to the money we've got; hang on the properties we control, and we will gradually educate the laymen into this new approach to theology.

And then finally we will take control of everything. The gradual process of feeding you theological poison until you become immunized enough so that you don't know what's happening to you. And when you wake up to what's happening to you, it's too late they've got everything. That is not a baseless charge, I stand prepared to prove that the Cult of Liberal Theology in the United States has deliberately and consistently followed this methodology to entrap, control and dominate the denominations and the churches of the United States and our educational institutions. The study with Mr. Pugh confirmed the fact that once the Theology became corrupt, gradually then the view of Christ Himself underwent change.

An interesting read, a little long ,but well worth the time

PASTOR HIDES BEHIND SKIRTDISMISSAL OF GRANDMOTHER SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHER

By Frederick Meekins

Though one does not want to unduly interfere with the affairs of an autonomous church and though I am ambivalent about lady preachers, I can't help but feel that a 81 year old Sunday school teacher dismissed in large part because she is a woman has somehow gotten a raw deal.What makes this case most vexing is not so much that the church in question forbade women from the get-go from ascending to positions of dogmatic instruction but that this lady was relieved of her duties after fifty years of service.So why was it OK for her to be teaching all this time then all of a sudden her classroom ministrations transfigured into an ecclesiastical outrage that could no longer be countenanced?Though I cannot be absolutely certain, methinks I catch a whiff of Purpose Driven Warrenism in the air or at least the stench of the church growth movement.

On the August 24, 2006 edition of The Albert Mohler Program, listeners learned that the pastor came to the First Baptist Church of Watertown, New York in 2004. If female Sunday school teachers were such an abomination to this minister but were permitted by this church, shouldn't he have done the chivalrous thing and not accepted this particular pastorate to begin with?

The pastor claims that, after his arrival, the church began to experience a period of growth and this ruffled the feathers of some longstanding members. If this follows the pattern of this phenomena taking place in other churches across the country, this means rock music and jungle rhythms were probably introduced to attract a bunch of tattooed and possibly lice-infected young people more interested in dancing and carousing than actually worshipping God.

According to the Syracuse Post Standard, much of the stink stems from opposition to the pastor's removal of a stain glass window and crosses in the church (can't exactly have those scruffy hooligans feeling guilty about their sins, now can we, since that would hamper their self esteem). Part of church growth operational policy is that a church should not look like a church but rather like a rec center or a pub (and probably a brothel in a few years if the seeker sensitive trend continues much longer).

Standard Purpose Driven strategy in such a situation would be to neutralize the resisters by getting those whose egos have been stroked with the offer of ecclesiastical offices and honors to swear allegiance to the pastor and purge from membership those retaining their integrity through no unquestioning loyalty to no one but King Jesus. Makes you wonder if the problem with a lady Sunday school teacher in her 80's is not so much that she's a lady but that she's in her 80's and not led around as easily with a ring in her nose as someone considerably younger.

According to one witticism popular among Purpose Driven theorists open to different interpretations is that the pillars hold up the church.Though he was reluctant to discuss the matter in initial press accounts, the pastor of the First Baptist Church of Watertown was finally man enough to admit on the Albert Mohler Program that more than the teacher's plumbing was taken into account in this personnel matter. She was also let go since she was deemed not sufficiently submissive to the pastor and his cronies.This matter of whether or not a woman should be allowed into positions of doctrinal authority within the church is indeed a serious matter.

However, are all the other ducks in a row at this church as well?Is the pastor going to take a similar hardline position against those whose divorces were acquired under less than Biblical guidelines? Given that the First Baptist Church of Watertown is a member of the American Baptist Churches USA, one would think this pastor would have weightier matters to consider like whether or not a pastor so concerned about a literalist interpretation of Scripture should even be a part of that particular denomination, convention, association, or however else you want to classify it.

For you see, the American Baptist Churches USA is involved with a number of matters that make the scandal of a lady Sunday school teacher seem quaint by comparison. For starters, the American Baptist Churches USA is a member of the National Council of Churches, a group of borderline Communists cutthroats in clerical collars that make the rogues in the bar scene from Star Wars look ethical. Furthermore, a number of American Baptist USA congregations just about endorse homosexuality.

It is not like heresy is anything new to the American Baptist Churches USA and struck the leadership of the First Baptist of Watertown unaware. After all, one of that denomination's foremost personalities was none other than Martin Luther King, Jr.

While Martin Luther King might have done a commendable job for the cause of civil rights, he was hardly a font of orthodox Christian doctrine. According to columnist and pastor Chuck Baldwin, King denied essential Christian doctrines such as Christ's deity, the Virgin Birth, and the physical resurrection (in other words, those very things that make Christianity worth messing with in the first place). Furthermore, King's association with reported Communists and similar subversives has been well documented.

I wonder if the Pastor of First Baptist of Watertown would have the courage to put the smackdown on Dr. King or is that just something he does to old ladies? After all, unlike denominational bigwigs and assorted pressure groups, little elderly grandmother-types don't have much ability to yank the purse strings shut or block access to the other niceties of positions those deriving their livelihoods from emolumented parsonships often crave.

Though this debate within the church makes for an interesting back and forth, probably even more disturbing is the response coming from the town mayor. Since the pastor also sits on the town council, the mayor felt it was his place to weigh in on the debate with the following comments: "If what's said in that letter reflects the councilman's views, those are disturbing remarks in this day and age. Maybe they wouldn't have been disturbing 500 years ago, but they are now."

Since this community apparently employ part time alderman, does the mayor speak out on personnel disagreements taking place at the day jobs of the others sitting on the council? More importantly, does the major plan to speak out against other religious organizations and groups that do not allow women to assume the highest levels of authority?

Since the mayor thinks he is some kind of equal opportunity crusader by kicking around the pastor of the local Baptist church, does he have the guts to take on the local Catholic church or is he just too afraid to take on the Vatican? Better yet, is he big and bad enough to take on the Muslims when they come to town as many times in that religion women aren't only banned from positions of authority but also barred from the very act of public worship. They only thing the mayor should be worried about is whether or not the church is in compliance with the fire code or if members take over too many parking spaces on the street.

The pastor claims that God intended men and women to fulfill different roles within the church, and for the most part he is correct. But as my grandmother Louise Schwartz use to say, the man might be the head but the woman can sure twist his neck. So the next time he calls upon the ladies of the congregation to prepare the pancake supper or whatever else the gastronomically carefree gorge themselves on at such functions these days, perhaps these women of conscience should flat-out refuse pointing out it is not their place to cook promiscuously for all kinds of men to whom they are not married.

For if we are to adhere to such an airtight interpretation of Holy Writ, does it not say women are to be keepers at home? There is not one word there about being the kitchen scullions of the church. And if the pastor does not like it, tell him to take it up with the disgruntled husbands that are no doubt sick and tired these days of all these extraneous groups and Purpose Driven this study and Purpose Driven that study that act like they are more entitled to the labor of these women than the men to which such women are married.

Martin Niemoller

An early supporter of Hitler, by 1934 Niemöller had come to oppose the Nazis, and it was largely his high connections to influential and wealthy businessmen that saved him until 1937, after which he was imprisoned, eventually at Sachsenhausen and Dachau concentration camps. He survived to be a leading voice of penance and reconciliation for the German people after World War II. His poem is well-known, frequently quoted, and is a popular model for describing the phenomenon of social chaos, as it often begins with specific and targeted fear and hatred which soon escalates out of control.


When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.

When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.

When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.

When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.

Dr. Walter Martin (1928-1989)

"I was baptized an Episcopalian, educated in Roman Catholic schools, converted as a an agnostic, trained under a Presbyterian, was ordained a Baptist, pastored a Lutheran church and teach in a non-denominational seminary. I don't think I've missed anything all along the way. And the one thing I have learned - let me tell you something that I have learned - I know the liberals, I know them well. I was one of them."

"And they are the most dangerous, insidious and all-pervading cult that's loose in the United States right at this moment. They make the Jehovah's Witnesses and the Mormons and all of the mind sciences and the occult look like Sunday school teachers. Do you know why? Because these other people are outside the Church and these devils are in it! And they are doing it in Jesus' name!"

How far is too far?

An evangelical church in Philadelphia distributed a brochure giving ten reasons to visit their Sunday evening service:

The air conditioning feels great.

Coffee and goodies for everyone after every service.

The music is upbeat and easy to sing.

You get to meet some really neat people.

The sermon is always relevant to everyday life.

You can sleep in on Sundays and still make it to church on time.

Child care and children's church are provided.

Free parking!

You can go to the shore for the weekend and still make it to church on Sunday night.

You will discover an awesome God who cares about you.
When I saw that I was reminded of an advertising brochure I had come across some years before. See if you can guess what is being described. This brochure was printed in full color with pictures of attractive people, and the cover read:
"This Is Where It's At." Inside it had headings like these:
It's about family.

It's about style.

It's about giving.

It's about fun.

It's about the best way to please everybody.

It's about caring.

Actually, the brochure was an advertisement for the Liberty Tree Mall in Danvers, Massachusetts. But its appeal is virtually undistinguishable from that of the churches I am describing.

-- James Boice, Whatever Happened to the Gospel of Grace?

Thinking of giving up?

Those who find themselves in compromised churches might consider discarding the idea of going to a church altogether. In this Reformation21 article, David Wells has some good advice, if you find yourself thinking along those lines:

This last year, there was a brief media buzz leading up to Christmas over the fact that many megachurches cancelled Christmas day worship services. (What sense could a Martian have made of the fact that in America, many Christians, on the one hand, were arguing for the freedom at Christmas time to place religious symbols in public places while, on the other hand, other Christians in the megachurches were closing the doors of their churches, on Christmas day no less, closing the doors on the most visible religious symbols in our society?!) The reasons given for this were that Christmas day is family time, that it was unnecessary to worship on Christmas day because many would have been to pre-Christmas services and, further, that it would be unnecessary because people were being supplied with videos for that day.

Skipping church on Christmas day is not the unforgiveable sin. Let us be clear about that. Nevertheless, this magachurch disposition was symptomatic of an attitude. It spoke to the fact that many people were not going to allow the church to inconvenience them on this day. Their decision also said something about their understanding of family - as if we have to choose between "family time" and worship! I thought that, from a biblical perspective, worship is what FAMILIES did together and so it is central to "family time," not something which interferes with it! And this matter of videos tells us that we are now in great danger of privatizing our faith in its entirety. If this becomes a habit, all Christians will have to do each week is to visit a (Christian) video store some time in the week to pick up their sermon for that weekend and then, in the privacy of their home, viewing it when the time is convenient. The local church would then become entirely unnecessary!

This attitude which diminishes the significance of being in church and which will not tolerate any inconvenience has had a strange incarnation overseas, if I can use that word. American missiologists like Ralph Winter have been strenuously advocating "churchless Christianity" as a new and exciting strategy. Their thought is that believers in other religious contexts need not separate themselves from those contexts but can remain in them as private believers, thereby preserving themselves from any kind of harm.

This, of course, is easier to do in a Hindu context in which one is allowed to choose one's own god from among the many that are worshipped. Christians, quietly and privately, are simply choosing to worship Jesus and ignoring the other gods and goddesses in the temple. They are never baptized, never make a public declaration of their faith, and never become part of a church. This arrangement is, of course, much harder to carry off in Islam. Nevertheless, Winter and others now estimate that there are millions of these "churchless" believers concealed in other religions. And is this not where American evangelicalism is headed? In fact, there are already millions of believers concealed in their own living rooms whose only "church" experience is what is had from one of the television preachers. Is it really a coincidence, then, that it is American evangelicals who are energetically arguing for the wisdom of a comparable strategy in the mission field in respect to their religious contexts? I think not!

Here we have an unholy alliance between raw pragmatism, a Christianity without doctrinal shape, one that in fact separates between having Christ as savior and Christ as Lord (an option that the N.T. never holds out to us!), and a lost understanding of the necessary role which the local church should have.

If we would but read our Bibles from the beginning, we would notice that from the beginning there was always an inescapable corporate dimension to believing. There were never "private" believers in Israel, nor should there be today. The reason is that there are vital aspects of the Christian experience which simply cannot be had alone, disconnected from the people of God.

Avoiding Self-Help Evangelism

In many ways, Christianity doesn't work. It has ruined some crafty businessmen like Zacchaeus, who, by becoming a Christian, ended up giving half his estate to the poor and paying back those he had cheated four times the amount he had stolen....

I'm not even sure that Christianity works if the goal is happiness. There are deeply satisfying feelings I have of being secure, at peace, close to God. But there are also deeply troubling feelings. There are deeply disturbing times of wrestling with a God who reveals himself as someone other than the God I would like to worship. And there are times when the gospel's implications force me to enter a period of intense internal struggle.

I remember hearing preachers say that non-Christians are unhappy and unfulfilled, while Christians are "victorious" and "happy in the Lord." But that isn't always true.
I know non-Christians who are very happy. In fact, it is their contentedness which leads them to avoid discussions of religion. They don't think they need it.

If we seek to justify Christianity on pragmatic grounds, ours will continue to be just another
self-help, self-improvement program.

--Michael Horton, Made in America

A great article by Albert Mohler

What If There Are No Adults?


The transition to adulthood used to be one of the main goals of the young. Adulthood was seen to be a status worth achieving and was understood to be a set of responsibilities worth fulfilling. At least, that's the way it used to be. Now, an entire generation seems to be finding itself locked in the grip of eternal youth, unwilling or unable to grow up.

Concern about this phenomenon has been building for some time. Baby-boomer parents are perplexed when their adult-age children move back home, fail to find a job, and appear to be in no hurry to marry. Though the current generation of young adults includes some spectacular exceptions who have quickly moved into the fullness of adult responsibility, the generation as a whole seems to be waiting for something--but who knows what?--to happen.

Frederica Mathewes-Green sees the same phenomenon. In her brilliant essay published in the August/September 2005 edition of First Things, Mathewes-Green describes this new reality with striking clarity.

She begins with the movies. Describing herself as a fan of the old black-and-white classics from the 1930s and 1940s, Mathewes-Green remembers how young actors customarily played the part of mature adults. Actresses like Claudette Colbert and Jean Harlowe were "poised and elegant" onscreen. She notes, "Today even people much older don't have that kind of presence." She then compares Cary Grant with Hugh Grant. The first Grant was "poised and debonair" while the more recent Grant "portrayed a boyish, floppy-haired ditherer till he was forty." She cites reviewer Michael Atkinson, who dubbed today's immature male actors as "toddler-men." As Atkinson describes the distinction, "The conscious contrast between baby-faced, teen-voiced toddler-men movie actors and the Golden Age's grownups is unavoidable."

As Mathewes-Green explains, "Characters in these older movies appear to be an age nobody ever gets to be today. This isn't an observation about the actors themselves (who may have behaved in very juvenile ways privately); rather, it is about the way audiences expected grownups to act." Fast-forwarding to today's Hollywood culture, she observes: "Nobody has that old-style confident authority anymore. We've forgotten how to act like grownups."

Frederica Mathewes-Green is surely correct in seeing this contrast. Gladly, she not only depicts the reality as we now face it--she goes on to explain how we have arrived at such a state of institutionalized immaturity.

As she sees it, "The Baby Boomers fought adulthood every step of the way." In other words, Mathewes-Green points to the parents of this current generation of young adults as the locus of the problem. Speaking of her own generation, she remembers: "We turned blue jeans and T-shirts into the generational uniform. We stopped remembering the names of world political leaders and started remembering the names of movie stars' ex-boyfriends. We stopped participating in fraternal service organizations and started playing video games. We Boomers identified so strongly with being 'the younger generation' that now, paunchy and gray, we're bewildered. We have no idea how to be the older generation. We'll just have to go on being a cranky, creaky appendix to the younger one."

Mathewes-Green's analysis pushes back even further than the baby boomers. She blames the parents of the baby boomers for trying to protect that generation from the realities of a cruel world and a hard life. Having fought and survived the great trial of World War II, they wanted to protect their own young children. "They wanted their little ones never to experience the things they had," Mathewes-Green explains, "never to see such awful sights. Above all, they wanted to protect their children's innocence."

Mathewes-Green is a writer of great ability. Her picturesque imagery makes her point with poetic force. She describes the days "when large families lived together in very small houses" and when "paralyzed or senile family members were cared for at home." When the realities of life were not hidden away, institutionalized, and sanitized, children grew up understanding that life itself is a trial and that adulthood requires a willingness to grow up, take responsibility, fend for oneself, and fight for one's own.

In summary, Mathewes-Green believes that the parents of the 1950s "confused vulnerability with moral innocence. They failed to understand that children who were always encouraged to be childish would jump at the chance and turn childishness into a lifelong project. These parents were unprepared to respond when their children acquired the bodies of young adults and behaved with selfishness, defiance, and hedonism."

In her historical analysis, the parents of the baby boomers attempted to separate childhood and adulthood into two completely separate compartments of life. Childhood would be marked by innocence and adulthood by responsibility. As Mathewes-Green warns: "Be careful what you wish for." Missing from this picture is a period of urgent transition that would turn the child into an adult. What we face now is a generation of children in the bodies of adults.

Understanding the reality of the problem is a first step towards recovery. Nevertheless, mere description is insufficient as an answer to this crisis.

In days gone by, children learned how to be adults by living, working, and playing at the parents' side. The onset of age twelve or thirteen meant that time was running out on childhood. Traditional ceremonies like the Jewish Bar Mitzvah announced that adulthood was dawning. This point would be clearly understood by the young boy undergoing the Bar Mitzvah. "By the time his body was fully formed, he would be expected to do a full day's work. He could expect to enter the ranks of full-fledged grownups soon after and marry in his late teens. Childhood was a swift passageway to adulthood, and adulthood was a much-desired state of authority and respect."

Today's patterns of schooling do not, in the main, appear to produce a similar result. Instead, the educational process continues to coddle, reassure, and affirm young people without regard to their assumption of adult responsibilities. This approach, Mathewes-Green explains, prepares children "for a life that doesn't exist."

When a generation is continuously told that its options are limitless, its abilities are boundless, and its happiness is central, why should we be surprised that reality comes as such a difficult concept?

Mathewes-Green points to the delay of marriage as the most interesting indicator of what is happening. As she notes, the average first marriage now unites a bride age 25 with a groom age 27. "I'm intrigued by how patently unnatural that is," Mathewes-Green observes. "God designed our bodies to desire to mate much earlier, and through most of history cultures have accommodated that desire by enabling people to wed by their late teens or early twenties. People would postpone marriage until their late twenties only in cases of economic disaster or famine--times when people had to save up in order to marry."

Is the current generation of young adults too immature to marry? Mathewes-Green insists that if this is the case, it is only because the older generation has been telling them they are too immature to marry. Does early marriage lead to disaster? Mathewes-Green is ready to prescribe a dose of reality. "Fifty years ago, when the average bride was twenty, the divorce rate was half what it is now, because the culture encouraged and sustained marriage."

Look carefully at how she describes the personal impact produced by this pattern of delayed marriage: "During those lingering years of unmarried adulthood, young people may not be getting married, but they're still falling in love. They fall in love, and break up, and undergo terrible pain, but find that with time they get over it. This is true even if they remain chaste. By the time these young people marry, they may have had many opportunities to learn how to walk away from a promise. They've been training for divorce."

Rarely does one article contain so much common sense, moral wisdom, and promise. The way to recovery surely must start with a rediscovery of what adulthood means and a reaffirmation of why it is so important--both for the society and for individuals. Adulthood must be tied to actual, meaningful, and mature responsibilities--most importantly, marriage.

There is reason for hope. Many in this new generation demonstrate a willingness to buck the trend. They are the new pioneers of adulthood, and they will be uniquely qualified to influence their own peers and to reshape our own culture. Taking marriage seriously as a life-long commitment, they will be more inclined to raise children who will understand what it will take to live as adults in our time of confusion. They will understand that eternal youth is not a blessing, but a curse.



This article originally appeared on August 19, 2005. For further reading, see Dr. Mohler's commentaries, "The Generation That Won't Grow Up," and "Looking Back at 'The Mystery of Marriage,'" Parts One and Two. Audio of "The Mystery of Marriage" address is available here.

A quote that hits home

"Isn't it staggering when you think that one sermon on the day of Pentecost produced 3000 Christian people? And we had some cities yesterday where 3000 sermons were preached and nobody was saved. And it doesn't even faze us. The church used to be a lightning bolt, now it's a cruise ship. We are not marching to Zion - we are sailing there with ease. In the apostolic church it says they were all amazed - And now in our churches everybody wants to be amused. The church began in the upper room with a bunch of men agonizing, and it's ending in the supper room with a bunch of people organizing. We mistake rattle for revival, and commotion for creation, and action for unction. Look, I think this is a critical hour in history, the most critical hour in history; the Middle East is ready to blow up... the prestige of this nation we love has gone down ... As someone said, "We live in a theater of the absurd...
When did you last tiptoe out of the sanctuary when you dare not say a word? The church has to rediscover two things. One, the majesty and the Holiness of God, and the other, the sinfulness of sin."

Leonard Ravenhill

Fellow workers

The last half of 1992 found Ruth and I living on an orphanage in Central America. We were sent there by an organization that had been helping this orphanage. We went there with the idea of staying long term but shortly after arriving we found that the deck was stacked against us. Other couples had preceded us and had lasted only a short time, one couple being close relatives to the American couple who actually owned the property.

We put our hearts and souls into the work but realized that we were being held at arms length. It was hard to pin down what was happening, constant remarks kept puzzling us until after a few months it was obvious that these people considered themselves martyrs, having left the comforts of the US to live in the third world and because of this great sacrifice, they we up for a special reward and it seemed to us that they weren't going to share any of the "Glory."

Now I realize that we will all stand before the Judgement Seat of Christ someday to be judged according to our works, but I think what these folks didn't realize was that this orphanage was the Lord's work and that no one could put a single claim on it or any of it's accomplishments.

Ruth and I have been in churches where this same spirit prevails. We were welcome to attend and give money, but that was a far as we were to go.

I keep going back to Romans chapter 12 which starts out by saying we are to present, or offer our bodies as living sacrifices, but then it goes on to say that we are only one part of a larger body and that each member belongs to all of the others. When our giftedness is blended with the giftedness of all of the others, the body becomes whole, balanced, effective, and it functions as it was designed to function.

ICor. 3:9 tells us, "For we are God's fellow workers, you are God's field, you are God's building."

If we are His fellow worker, we certainly are expected to be a Lone Ranger.

See you next week.

Liberal Protestantism is doomed

I live in a community not unlike most communities in the US where most of those who attend church attend a liberal denominational church where attendance is decreasing and many churches are closing their doors as the aged membership eventually die off.

Statistics tell us that the liberal denominations are loosing millions of members each year, not so much from members dying, millions are simply walking away.

I hear many people asking the obvious question, "Why is attendance down?"

One author hit the nail on the head when he wrote, "Americans are vacating progressive pews and flocking to churches that offer more traditional versions of Christianity," Shiflett asserts. This author is not subtle, and he gets right to the point: "Most people go to church to get something they cannot get elsewhere. This consuming public--people who already believe, or who are attempting to believe, who want their children to believe--go to church to learn about the mysterious Truth on which the Christian religion is built. They want the Good News, not the minister's political views or intellectual coaching. The latter creates sprawling vacancies in the pews. Indeed, those empty pews can be considered the earthly reward for abandoning heaven, traditionally understood."

In this case, seminarian Andy Ferguson, who had questioned the anti-supernaturalistic claims of his seminary professors, was confronted by a fellow seminary student who said, "We've been talking about you. We know you're having a rough time, and we've finally figured out what your problem is . . . . You're the only one here who believes in God." Andy Ferguson decided that his fellow student was right. "They believed in things like the redemptive power of the universe, but I was the last one there who wanted to defend the biblical God--the God who makes claims on us, who said we should do some things and not do others, and who put each one of us here for a purpose."

In the end, Andy Ferguson left the liberal seminary, converted to Catholicism, and went into the business world. He told Dave Shiflett that liberal Protestantism is doomed. "Mainline Protestantism will reach a certain point where it will appeal only to Wiccans, vegetarians, sandal-wearers, and people who play the recorder. No one will feel at home there if they believe in God."

Man, does that last quote speak volumes to me.

SERIOUS STUFF

I have found myself spending considerable time reading the "Sermon on the Mount" lately, Mathew 5,6, &7.

It includes some serious teachings on how to live the Christian life. It seems to me that most preachers and teachers fail to give these teachings much time these days, I wonder why?

Last week while on vacation a couple of states west of where we live, I delivered a message to a church on Sunday morning on one of Jesus' tough teachings, forgiveness.

We find that his teaching on this subject is quite clear in the prayer that he taught his followers that we call the Lord's Prayer. We can rattle this prayer off so easily we don't even have to think about the words.

Mathew 6:7-13 includes the Lord's Prayer but verse 7 warns us against babbling words that we aren't serious about.

Verse 12 petitions the Father to forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.

What Jesus is really saying here is that our Father will forgive us our sins to the same extent that we forgive others when they sin against us.

In the start of Mathew 7 Jesus gives a similar teaching when he says that we are not to judge others.

What Jesus is teaching here is that if we find a tiny fault with our brother, in the words of Jesus a tiny speck of sawdust in his eye, we are able to see this speck in our brother's eye only because we have a similar fault, or in Jesus' words, a huge plank in our own eye.

If I can find a fault in my brother's life, it is because I have the same fault only several times bigger in my own.

Serious stuff.

See you next week!

A Win-Win situation

Occasionally, I like to remind my self of a story that I heard several years ago.

Blaise Pascal lived during the middle 1600's in France. He was a brilliant mathematician as well as a scientist.

He had a conversion experience late in his teen years that changed his life. He has been know for his faith as well as his brilliant mind, but you probably won't hear of this first attribute in most university mathematics studies, I never did.

There is a wonderful story about a discussion that he had with one of his learned colleagues that I have used many times when speaking to groups.

Pascal opens the discussion by asking his colleague what he believed would happen to him after he dies. The colleague responds by saying, "I believe that I will cease to exist." Pascal's next question was similar, "What do you believe will happen to me after I die?" The response was the same, "You will cease to exist."

The learned man then asks Pascal, "What do you believe will happen to you after you die?" Pascal's response was, "Since I am a Christian I will go to Heaven and live in eternal glory." The gentleman then asked, "What do you believe will happen to me after I die?" Pascal's response was, "Since you by admission are not a Christian, you will go to Hell where you will spend eternity suffering the torments of Hell."

Now Pascal cuts to the chase by saying, "Let me summarize this discussion. If you are right we will both cease to exist upon our deaths, but, if I am right, I will spend eternity in Heaven with all its glory and majesty, but you will spend eternity suffering the torments of Hell."

"Now, as I see it, no matter who is right, you can't win and I can't loose."

If you are a Christian today, you too can say what Pascal said, but if you are not I am afraid that you have little hope, the only shred of hope being to become a Christian. I can help you with that today, just ask.

jim@burtonia.com

See you in a week or so, I am going fishing for a few days, for fish as well as men.

Are you called of God?

Sometime ago I wrote an article about "The good life." The good life involves giving your life away to serve others.

This week I want to look at an incident that Isaiah writes about in Chapter 6 and verse 8.

"I heard the voice of the Lord saying: ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?' Then I said, ‘Here am I! Send me'"

I don't believe that this is an incident where God is speaking to Isaiah specifically. It is more like Isaiah overhears God asking generally, "Whom shall I send or who will respond to my call?"

I believe that God is looking out over the Earth and asking who will respond to His call, it's as if He is asking, who out there is listening to my call?"

We hear people say things like, "God has called me to do such and such." Others say, "I have never heard God call me to do anything."

The problem is not in the call; the problem lies in our hearing, because He has called us all.

In Matthew 22 Jesus is giving a teaching about the wedding feast in which the ones He invited refused to come so He extends His invitation to everyone in the whole world.

At the end of His teaching in verse 14 Jesus says, "for many are called, but few are chosen."

Not being a Calvinist, I believe that the choosing is on our part. How many of us have been listening to the call and then chosen to respond?

The chosen path is narrow my friends and not many choose to walk it.

Jesus tells us in Matthew 7 verses 13 and 14 that we should, "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow is the road that leads to life, and only a few find it." Can I add, "Few choose to find it?"

Have you chosen to listen to God's call for your life and if you heard His call, have you chosen to walk His path in the company of the few?

I overheard one O'l boy in Louisiana say, "See y'all later, and if I don't see y'all later, I'll see y'all in Heaven, and if I don't see y'all in Heaven, you in a heap of trouble."

See y'all next week.

My email addres is:

jim@burtonia.com

How shall we pray?

During the fall of 1988 I had been praying for the Lord's guidance as to where we should spend the winter working for Him. My prayers went something like this, "Lord somewhere in the World someone is praying and asking you to send someone with my gifts and talents to come and help them. Lord, I want to be the answer to someone's prayer." If we pray like that I don't think that we can miss God.

I wrote three letters to three different mission bases regarding needs that I knew they had and I received three letters stating that if I were to come it would be an answer to their prayers. Now, what do I do? I kept praying. About this time I heard of a need in the country of Zimbabwe, southern Africa. After checking on the cost of the airfare, I wrote this one off because we didn't have the means, "Oh man of little faith."

This need in Zimbabwe kept rolling through my mind and one night in November I couldn't sleep because of this reoccurring thought. I finally got up about 1:00 PM and made a call to the mission base in Harare, the capital city of Zimbabwe.

When the phone rang in the mission house the director was just walking out of the morning staff prayer meeting. When I asked him how they were praying for the need I had heard about he responded by saying, "We have been praying for over three years for someone to come and build this building for us and no one has come." I responded by saying, "I will be there."

Within a week or so someone in the church donated the amount that we were short.

In the three months that we were there I built and completed a men's and women's toilet and shower facility for a Christian retreat center, plus I got the walls up on a guest cottage.

As I hear the news coming out of Zimbabwe today, I can't help but wonder how those Christians are doing. I know that the white farmers that we knew are gone; their farms have been confiscated and given to the henchmen of the president. I also know that the people are hard pressed for food.

When we were there in 1989 the exchange rate was one US dollar for one Zimbabwean dollar. Today, due to the rape of the country by the president and his henchmen, the exchange rate is one US dollar to 200,000 Zimbabwean dollars. Their smallest bank note is for 500 Z. dollars and that will buy one sheet from a roll of toilet paper. What the government should do is print larger $500 bills, save a lot of trouble wouldn't it?

The farms can no longer feed the population and the government continues to print large amounts of paper money causing the inflation rate to rise over 100% per month.

In a crises situation where there is seemingly no hope, but, there is hope if you are a Christian.

In the eight chapter of Romans we are told, starting with verse 35, "Who shall separate us from the love of God? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? Verse 37 says, "No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us."

This has not caught the church in Zimbabwe by surprise, because when we were there over 15 years ago the church was preparing for hard times ahead. As we visited the churches and listened with discerning ears, we could hear in the worship and messages that God was telling His people to expect hard times in the future.

Is the Lord preparing the American church for hard times ahead? I think if we listen with discerning ears, we too will hear the subtle hints that He is dropping.

See you next weekend

My email address is
jim@burtonia.com

Child-like faith

Sometimes a part of my carnal nature wants to flex its tired muscles and say, "Why can't I be like other people?"

They put in their 60 minutes on Sunday morning and consider their spiritual obligation fulfilled for the week.

Why do I have to pray everyday, read the Bible everyday, take those long mission trips every year with the long plane rides living under less than desirable conditions for months at a time? Haven't I done enough for one lifetime, where does a Christian go to sign up for retirement?

These 65-year-old muscles are less flexible than they used to be and ask the above questions with more frequency. I don't think that it's the years as much as the miles.

The paradox is that I cherish His fellowship more and more these days even though the burden seems heavy at times.

In Mathew chapter 11 and verses29 and 30, Jesus tells me, "Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle, and you will find rest for your soul. For my yoke fits perfectly and the burden I give you is light."

Herein lies the answer to those nagging questions. He tells me that there is help available; I don't have to carry the load alone.

The kind of yoke He is talking about here is a yoke that a pair of oxen would have on their necks which is attached to the load they are pulling.

Jesus is telling me that He is offering to get alongside of me and carry part of the load and the good news is that He is willing to carry the heaviest part and He offers me the lightest part.

I wonder if the whining Christians that I hear are trying to carry the whole load by themselves?

I have also seen Christians who seem to be carrying no load at all. Do you suppose that the joy that they get from the Lord is their strength?

If I allow God to put His burden on me, it will produce fruit in my life and as the burden squeezes down on me, the grapes, (fruit) will produce sweet wine and if I let God carry his part of the load the result will be beautiful tasting wine, not whine.

Isn't that the difference between wine and whine, one is sweet and one is bitter.

I am going to keep pressing on.

See you next weekend.

Dare we dream big dreams?

As we go through life we dream about things that we would like to do. Dreams fall into categories; some are easily attainable, others fall into another category we label, "Wouldn't it be wonderful if" and some are just so far out that they fall into a category like "going to the Moon.

I have had several "Wouldn't it be wonderful if," dreams fulfilled. I have thought for years how I would love to preach to an all black church someday. I believe that the Lord must have dropped that dream into my heart one day because for a country boy who never even had any aspirations to preach, it isn't likely that I came up with that one all by myself.

Well, that one came true when a few years back when Ruth and I were invited to travel to West Kenya, Africa to speak in a church. We were teaching in a Bible school at the time and one of our students invited us to his home church.

Ruth taught a ladies seminar on Saturday afternoon with 350 in attendance. One 87 years old woman walked 3 miles to hear her. She was the first white woman to be in that church.

Sunday morning I was to be the speaker. I had wrestled over what kind of a message to give and finally settled on a message on "repentance."

As I walked to the church on Sunday morning I noticed something unusual upon entering the churchyard. I asked the pastor, "Why are there cars in the yard?" In rural Africa very few people own cars, the people walk to church, some of them several miles rain or shine.


The pastor replied, "The news has spread that there will be a white man speaking this morning and several governmental people have come to hear you." Sure enough, when I entered the building there they were off to the side sitting together in a group.

I gave a strong message on the need of repentance and when I concluded I asked the congregation to join me on our knees as we repented of our sins and asked forgiveness.

There were about 1000 people in the building that morning and they all went to their knees, yes I glanced over to the officials and they too were on their knees.

After about 15 minutes my wife Ruth took the microphone and told the people, "now that we have repented of our sins, let's thank the Lord for what he has done for us."

Wow, was I glad that we were on the platform because it got a little wild in that place. They were shouting, dancing, and some were jumping with joy, and yes, even those officials were joining in the excitement.

Ruth and I have been to other African churches where some of the young people had never seen a white person.

Now, that is above and beyond anything that I could have dreamed when I wished, "wouldn't it be wonderful if I could preach to an all black church someday."

See you next weekend.

Don't touch that stone!

Last week I mentioned the teaching in Mathew where Jesus warns us to enter through the narrow gate, which leads to eternal life.

I have observed a sad practice occurring in the church over the years. It is best described in Proverbs 22 and verse 28, which warns, "Do not move an ancient boundary stone set up by your forefathers."

In the old days property boundaries were designated by boundary stones set on the corners of the property.

A dishonest person could steal some of his neighbor's land by moving the stone. Now, one wouldn't move a stone a lot or it would be noticed, but if he just moved it a foot or so each year, it would go undetected and a foot or two each year would amount to a fair amount of stolen land after a few years.

I see the same thing happening in the church. The ancient boundaries set up by our forefathers are slowly being moved.

What I see happening is that our culture, as well as our spiritual leaders, are slowly chiseling away at the narrow gate that leads to eternal life.

Our apostate theologians are using their intellectual hammers and chisels to chip away at the narrow gate to make it accessible to more people.

There are some issues that God takes very seriously and yet we don't hear many warnings about them from our leaders.

One of these issues is forgiveness. We hear a lot of teachings about the unconditional love of God, and that's good, because His love has been shed abroad on all of us in equal measure.

Listen, forgiveness is not available to us unconditionally, there is a basic condition and we qualify for it as we forgive others. It's in the Lord's Prayer, right?

Jesus also teaches on this in his Sermon on the Mount. He says that if we don't forgive our fellow man his offenses against us, our Heavenly Father WILL NOT forgive us our sins. SERIOUS STUFF!

The seriousness of the problem is shown in Mathew 18 with the parable of the ungrateful servant. In this story a man owed the King a lot of money, the debt was so large that it was impossible to be repaid, as much as all the money in the whole world. The King forgave him his debt after the servant begged his forgiveness, but the servant would not forgive his fellow servant the debt of only a few dollars. The King heard about it and threw the ungrateful servant in prison until he could pay the debt, which was forever since it was impossible to repay.

We owe God a huge debt; our debt of sin is so huge that it is impossible to pay; yet God paid it for us by dying on the cross to cancel our debt.

One of the problems that I see with the breakdown of the family, which leads to divorce, is that divorce usually takes place because of unforgiveness.

One or both of the marital partners offends the other or thinks that they have been offended and it soon turns into contempt, which leads to hatred. Hatred says that you owe me and I am not going to forgive you. Sound familiar?

If unforgiveness is the primary cause that leads to divorce, what does the Bible have to say about people who hang on to this expensive baggage?

In IITimothy chapter 3 and verses 1-3 Paul warns Timothy that in the days just before Jesus returns people will be unloving and unforgiving, among other things. They will act and look religious but will lack the power of God. You can read it for yourselves.

Here is what these verses tell me. People who carry unforgiveness as baggage in their lives may look and act like Christians, but it is only on the outside because they have rejected the power to make them Godly.

What is the power that can transform them? Repentance!

Mathew chapter 5 and verses 23 and 24 instructs us, "So if you are standing before the altar in the temple, offering a sacrifice to God, and you suddenly remember that someone has something against you, [or if I may add, you have something against someone] leave your sacrifice there beside the altar. Go and be reconciled to that person. Then come and offer your sacrifice to God."

If we won't forgive our fellowman their offenses against us, it's our pride that keeps us from doing that, our Heavenly Father will not forgive us our sins and the eternal condition of our souls is very bleak.

Remember the narrow gate? Modern theology is trying to widen it by teaching that God's love is so big that there is room for all of us to pass through.

I am afraid that it is indeed too narrow for anyone to pass through it with the baggage of unforgiveness strapped tightly to our backs.

See you next weekend with another, but lighter blog.

What is the good life?

I can still remember to this day the first time that I tasted cotton candy. It looked so good. The big, puffy mound of pink silk wrapped around a paper cone begged to be indulged in.

At the first bite, I found that all I had was a minute taste of sugar left in my mouth, only a slight taste. Where was the promise of the mouthful of ecstasy? It had vanished like a fleeting vapor.

Life is like that. An ever illusive promise that once the carrot at the end of the stick is grasped, it either turns sour in your mouth or fails to deliver the satisfaction it promised.

So what is the good life that the preprogrammed hole in every man's heart longs for?

When I first became a Christian, I found a verse in the book of John. John 10 verse 10 reads, "The thief's purpose (The devil) is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose (Jesus speaking) is to give life in all of its fullness."

Now THAT is what I was looking for, life in all its fullness. For that matter, isn't everyone?

Now to get on with the question, how do I find this life, this abundant life?

In the book of Mathew, Jesus is giving a marathon-teaching lesson. He has several thousand people seated on a hillside listening to him teach on the important issues of life.

Near the end of His teaching He inserts a sad statistic. Let's listen in to this subtle truth in Chapter seven, verse 13. He says, "You can enter God's Kingdom only through the narrow gate, the highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose the easy way. But the gateway to life is small, and the road is narrow, and only a few find it."

Jesus tells us that the "good life is so illusive that only a few find it. Now, I realize that He is talking about eternal life here in these verses, but doesn't eternal life start when one becomes a Christian? He is saying that few Christians ever find what He calls the abundant life, or live life to its fullest.

In another of His teachings in Mathew 16, verse 25, we find the key to this full life that so few ever find. "If you try to keep your life for yourself, you will lose it." Isn't that the broad highway that multitudes are racing down? He then zeros in on the answer. "But if you give up your life for me, you will find true life."

There it is, the narrow gate that leads to the true, good, abundant life. We must give our lives away.

He also tells us in Mathew chapter 20 and verse 26 that if we want to be great in God's kingdom, we must be the servant of all.

We must realize that when we were created, we were given a peculiar personality along with special gifts so we could bless other people. These special gifts were not given to us so we could bless only ourselves, but they were given to us so we could bless others as well.

In the book of I Peter, chapter 4 and verse 10, we are told, "God has given special gifts to each of you from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Manage them well so that God's generosity can flow through you." Doesn't this say that God wants to use us to be the conduit to bless others?

A modern translation of Galatians chapter 6 and verse 10 says, "Never pass up the opportunity to do good to everyone, especially your Christian brothers and sisters.

And in one more verse we wrap up the truth. I John 3:16 says, "We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. And so we also ought to give up our lives for our Christian brothers and sisters."

Now we see why the path that leads to the narrow gate, that opens up to the good life is so sparsely traveled.

One thing is certain. Life is precious to all of us, we will go to great lengths to preserve our lives. The ironic thing is that if we aren't willing to give our precious lives away, we will lose them.

It is like the big puffy mound of cotton candy. We think we are biting into something that will give our taste buds a real treat only to find we took a huge bite of sugar flavored air.

There is so much talk these days about leaving a legacy after we are gone.

The legacy that I want to leave behind is to have it said of me, "There was a man who not only found, but took a big bite and tasted the GOOD LIFE."

See you again next weekend with another post.

How could she do such a thing?

Have you ever walked by an older car and looked at its rusted holes and beat up fenders? Maybe you have seen a junkyard with its acres and acres of abandoned cars.

Sometimes I stop and look at one of these disgraceful looking cars and try to imagine what it must have looked like when it was new. I try to image what the new owner must have felt like the day that he drove it home from the dealership. It's hard to imagine that at one time this beat up piece of junk was once polished and pampered by its proud owner.

Everyone has watched TV and seen the sad faces and emaciated bodies of children who are hungry, sick, homeless, or dying. They look so old and worn out, but they too were once, and for some not too long ago, newborns with proud owners, most of them anyway.

There was someone who had high expectations for them and now they are like that neglected and discarded automobile.

I want to tell the story of four beautiful children and how they got to a place where they were homeless and destitute. The characters in this story are true. I have tried to put together the events leading up to their abandonment as best I could based on what the children told of their past lives. They were abandoned by their mother in the market. It is hard to imagine what would cause a mother to abandon her children, but it isn't hard to imagine the anguish and heartache that led up to and following the event.

As I ride the crowded bus to the market, my mind goes back to when my son Dennis was born. It was eight years ago, it seems like only yesterday. Then, a year later, Elmer came along. His father was more caring then Dennis' father. I used to see him regularly. He would come around quite often. It seemed like he wanted to have a family and family life. After the two girls were born I saw less and less of him. With four kids to feed, clothe, and take care of it is getting harder and harder to come up with the money.
We are a family, but it has gotten to the place where I can't keep them anymore, especially with the new friend that I have now, and the threats that he makes. Why does he have to be so mean to them? I remember the last time that I tried to take them to the market and leave them. When I got there, I just couldn't go through with it. Do I have the strength to go through with it this time? When we get into the crowd, I will quickly slip away and leave them. They will be all right. Someone will find them and take care of them.

They are all over there looking at the toys on that table, I'll just sneak behind this booth and it will be all over.

As I sit on the bus riding back to the house my mind is racing with all kinds of thoughts. Where are they now? Little Jenny is only two, she can hardly walk. Her big brother Dennis will take care of her. I wonder if I should go back and try to find them. No, I have been through this thing a thousand times. It is the best thing for them. I can't bear to seen him abusing my children anymore and with there being no food in the house, well…

As I get home, the house seems so empty. Little Jenny isn't here to hang unto my legs. Becky isn't here to help me fix the meals. The laughter of the boys is absent. Oh God, I wonder if they are all right.

As I lie in bed trying to go to sleep, the tears run down my cheeks. It is the first time in how many years that I have been alone? Where are they tonight? It is so dark out there. Did they have something to eat tonight? So many questions and I have no answers.

As I ride to the market on the bus, my mind is flooded with all kinds of questions. Will they still be there? Oh, how I want to see them again. Will they still be there? Has someone found them and abused them? Have the police found them? Have they been getting something to eat? It has been nine terrible days and nine tormenting nights since I have seen my babies. I ask people in the market if they have seen four children. They tell me that they have seen many children. What am I going to do? If I find them and take them home, what will he do to them? If I can't find them, how can I live with myself?

It would seem that after all these weeks without them the pain would ease, but it doesn't. I ask myself, what kind of a mother would abandon her children after raising them all of these years? I miss Dennis and his sense of humor. He is so intelligent. I was hoping that he would be able to go to school and be somebody, and Elmer, so sensitive. Those two beautiful daughters, those big dark beautiful eyes. What am I going to do without them? How can I go on?

The epilog to this story is that after living on the street for eight days and nights, living off banana peelings and garbage, they were found by the police. The judge assigned them to the orphanage where Ruth and I were working. If you were to visit the orphanage and see these children, your life would never be the same because part of your heart would remain with them.


Becky, Dennis, Little Jeny




My class, Dennis in green shirt, Elmer behind and to his right.

I don't need to apologize for God

While working in Southern Louisiana this past winter rebuilding houses that had been destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, it was part of my job purchase supplies. Some days would find me making 5 or 6 trips to either Home Depot or Lowes.

I usually start my day by asking the Lord to orchestrate my steps so as to be a blessing to Him that day.

Upon my first visit to Home Depot one morning I was standing in the checkout line waiting my turn when I noticed that the checkout girl was not having a good day. Her back was hurting her so much that she couldn't even bend over. When it was my turn to check out, I asked her about her back. She replied, "It's killing me."

After I checked out, I was walking across the parking lot toward my truck when the Lord spoke to me. He asked me, "Why didn't you pray for that lady?"

I offered no explanation and then He, anticipating what I might have said, added, "you don't have to apologize for me if I don't heal her, all you need to do is to pray, I am the one who does the healing."

A couple of hours later I was standing in a different checkout line at Home Depot when the same woman walked by me. She walked around a corner to talk to another employee.

Not wanting to disappoint the Lord, I walked over to her and asked if I could pray for her back. Her response was, "Please do."

I put my hand on her back and asked the Lord to touch her and make her whole. That's all, short and sweet.

Two days later I was back in Home Depot, but this time I was in the return line. When I looked at the desk I saw that it was the same lady I had prayed for two days before.

When it was my turn to be waited on she looked over to me and pointed at me while shouting, "There is that guy, the one who prayed for me." She turned to the woman next to her and said, "He prayed for my back."

I asked her, "How is your back?" She answered, "It is great."

As I think back on this story, it is interesting to see how the Lord orchestrated this woman's work schedule and mine so she would get prayed for.

He then made it possible for our paths to cross so she could testify to her healing.

I am not going to hesitate again about praying for someone that the Lord puts in my path. If they are touched, "Praise God." If not, that is none of my business.

It really comes down to our perspective on the book of Acts in the Bible. Is it a history book, or is it an instructional manual?

A small lesson learned

There is a saying that goes something like this, "A man is only as good as his word."

There is a portion of scripture in Jeremiah that I have known about for several years and it always keeps me on the narrow road, hopefully.

Jeremiah 5:1-5 "Run up and down every street in Jerusalem, says the Lord. Look high and low; search throughout the city! If you can find even one person who is just and honest, I will not destroy the city. Even when they are under oath, saying, As surely as the Lord lives, they all tell lies!

Lord, you are searching for honesty. You struck your people, but they paid no attention. You crushed them, but they refused to turn from sin. They are determined, with faces set like stone; they have refused to repent.

Then I said, But what can we expect from the poor and ignorant? They don't know the ways fo the Lord. They don't understand what God expects of them. I will go and speak to their leaders. Surely they will know the Lord's ways and what God requires of them. But the leaders, too, had utterly rejected their God." NEW LIVING TRANSLATION

A very sad and humbling portion of scripture. Can this be said about the Christian church? I surely hope not, and I certainly don't want this to be said about me.

The first part of Jamurary I went and looked at a mobile home that had a tree lying on it. The owner was 84 years old and had no insurance. He was not a Christian. I told him before I left that day, "I will return and repair your roof for you." As the weeks passed I couldn't get anyone to go and repair the roof. The teams are placed by the assistant pastor of the church we are working with and there just weren't any spare people to do the job.
Not a day passed when I didn't think about the promise I have made. That promise kept nagging at me, and it seemed that I would have to go home not having fulfilled my commitment.
A couple of weeks ago the assistant pastor was away for a few days and I was left in charge of the teams. I was free to place them where I felt they could be used effectively. A team from Indiana had a couple of carpenters on it and the first job on Monday morning I sent them to do that repair job.
When they returned home having completed the job, with a very positive reaction from the owner, it felt like I had just been relieved of a huge debt.
In one of Robert Service's poems, "The Creamation of Sam McGee," there is a line that says, "A promise made is a debt unpaid."
Incidently if you go up on the net and get that poem, I think that you will enjoy it.

Praise the Lord, I have not made any other promises lately that are not in my power to keep, and I surely won't in the future. There is too much riding on "My word" to throw it around loosely.