Church Discipline
Republished February 18, 2010 (first published August 3, 2006) (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) -
The term church discipline might sound harsh and cruel to the ears of this pampered, self-esteem mad generation, but true discipline is neither. Church discipline is a matter of love--love for God, love for holiness, love for the truth, love for Christ’s testimony in the church, love for the brethren, and love for the unsaved who are observing the church’s testimony and who might stumble and be offended and therefore not get saved if sin is not disciplined. “So long as the churches fail to preserve a pure membership, so long as they refuse to purge out the obvious leaven, so long as they fail to seek to reconcile those who may have been excluded, there is little hope for any improvement in the condition of the churches, and good reason to expect the churches to move in the opposite direction” (Davis Huckabee, The Constitution of the Church).
Read More...Early Baptists Required Faithful Church Attendance
Republished February 4, 2010 (first published July 10, 2001) (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) -
Church members today often display an amazingly cavalier attitude toward church attendance. It is not uncommon for churches that run 200 in attendance on Sunday mornings to have only half of that number back on Sunday night and even fewer for the mid-week service. Church membership was treated much more seriously in Baptist churches four hundred years ago.
The following is from Adam Taylor’s The History of the English General Baptists [London: 1818], Volume I:
The general Baptists of the 16th and 17th centuries so respected the nature and importance of assemblies for public worship that the wilful neglect of them was considered as disorderly conduct, which called for the censure of the church. A constant inspection was exercised over the attendance of the members: persons were appointed to take down the names of the absentees, and report them to the elders; and nothing but reasons of obvious importance were admitted as a sufficient apology for their non-attendance. Read More...
Church Membership
From time to time I receive questions about church membership such as the following:
“I’ve tried to do some research about working in a church before being a member and I have heard a lot about ‘you should be a member before working in the church,’ so I was just wanting to know if you could help me to understand where the Bible talks about that topic.”
BROTHER CLOUD’S REPLY ABOUT CHURCH MEMBERSHIP
The doctrine of church membership is found in the book of Acts, beginning with the first church.
In Acts 1:15 we see that the names of the members were kept.
In Acts 2:41, those that were saved on the day of Pentecost were “added unto them.” This means that they were added to those already mentioned in verse 15.
Those who were saved and baptized were added to the church. That is church membership.
There are four reasons why we need church membership:
Church membership is a matter of practicality, like many other things in the assembly. If a church does not have membership, how can it know who is in the church and who is out? Read More...
SEVEN KEYS TO FRUITFUL CHURCH MEMBERSHIP
[The first edition of the following article appeared in O Timothy magazine in 1993 under the title “The Other Side of Separation.” We later published an updated edition under the title “Grace and Authority in the Church.” In 1999, we changed the title to “Keys to Fruitful Church Membership,” and this edition is a rewriting and enlargement of the latter.]
A few years ago, I received a letter from a young couple who exhorted me as follows: “Your book on separation is very good, but you may want to add a caveat that a person must have a better church to separate to before he separates from a church. We were shocked at the liberal doctrines held by the fundamental churches in our city.”
Later they wrote to me and shared with me more detail about these things. Following are specific things that they mentioned:
(1) Their former pastor did not teach that women should not work outside the home, and the wife of the associate pastor worked. (2) The church held parties or fellowships on Valentines Day, Halloween, and Christmas. (3) The pastor allowed a divorced person to work in the bus ministry. (4) The pastor failed to correct publicly certain erroneous statements which were given during testimony times and certain (supposed) erroneous statements which were made by visiting preachers. (5) The pastor failed to do anything about missionaries who joked and told stories in the pulpit. (6) Though the church took a stand for the KJV, this man did not think there was sufficient teaching on the subject of Bible versions. (7) The pastor “used humor to break the tension” in his preaching, whereas this one felt that sober- mindedness required that such levity in the pulpit cease. (8) The pastor seemed to prefer to let God change people about such things as appearance (long hair, ear rings on men, etc.) rather than approach them directly.
Read More...HOW TO CONDUCT YOURSELF DURING PREACHING
“But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth” (1 Timothy 3:15).
1. SIT RESPECTFULLY AND ALERTLY
Examples of what not to do: leaning on your elbows with your head down and chewing gum. Such things send signals that you are not interested in what the preacher is saying. Remember that others are watching you. Your attitude and very bodily posture affects the preacher, those sitting around you, and the entire atmosphere of the service
2. DON’T DISTRACT OTHERS
Examples of things that distract others are talking and writing notes back and forth between persons, making noise (i.e., cracking your fingers), playing with babies, and children looking at the people behind them. Parents need to be aware of what their children are doing and make certain that they are not distracting someone. Read More...
RECOMMENDED MATERIALS FOR CHURCH BOOKSTORES
The following is a work in progress. I plan to add to it as I have opportunity, though I will not necessarily try to keep the contact information contained herein up to date. Phone numbers and web site addresses change frequently and we do not have the personnel to try to keep up with that type of thing.
A well-run Christian bookstore can be a powerful and important ministry, and I believe that it is nearly essential today that churches set up their own bookstores. Even if there is a Christian bookstore in the area, it is more than probable that it contains many books that are doctrinally unsound. Further, it probably sells “Christian” rock. I have often said that one of the most dangerous places today for a Bible-believing Christian is the average bookstore. (See “Dangers in Christian Bookstores”).
The Lord Jesus Christ commissioned the churches with thoroughly discipling every member. He said to teach them “to observe ALL things whatsoever I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:20). That is part of the ministry of the Great Commission. Further, the churches are tasked with protecting the believers from false teachers. Read More...
HOW TO KILL A CHURCH
The following is by the late Davis Huckabee:
New Testament churches do not naturally die; they are so constituted that they cannot die a natural death. They may, however, be killed, but even in this, they can hardly be killed by outsiders except by the annihilation of the entire membership. Churches are most often killed from the inside; their own members kill them. A church is not just an organization; it is also an organism -- a living thing, and as such, it has the potential of either growing and thriving, or of languishing and dying. The Lord promised that His church, considered as an institution, would not die, (Matthew 16:18), but this only means that there will be a continuity of churches like the Jerusalem church until His return; it does not guarantee the continued existence of any individual church.
How then may a church be killed?
I. BY STAYING AWAY FROM IT
The Scriptures liken church members to the members of a physical body, (I Cor.12:12ff), and just as certain organs of the human body cannot be removed without death coming to the body, so it is with the church, the body of Christ. When the members of the church start staying away from it, this soon leads to its death. Read More...
VISITOR CONSCIOUSNESS
Most church members are not very conscious of visitors. It is natural to get involved with one’s friends and acquaintances and to be busy with the assigned tasks and to forget to minister to the visitors. I have noticed even in churches that have a hand shaking time during the service, that most of the members merely shake hands with each other and make no attempt to identify and befriend visitors.
We brought my wife’s unsaved stepfather to church with us several times one winter, and
Read More...
QUESTIONS ABOUT THE HOME CHURCH MOVEMENT
Recently I received the following question from a reader:
Sir,
How would one refute the home church movement that I see around me? I understand local church doctrine but some of their defense I have no answer for, such as the following:
-- Wherever 2 or 3 are gathered together I am in the midst.
-- You are the Temple of the Holy Ghost if saved.
-- No building is required.
-- Compromise and weakness in the churches.
-- Come out from them and be separate.
-- Didn’t the true church survive underground and in homes while under persecution? Read More...
I AM NOT YOUR PASTOR: AN EXHORTATION TO MY READERS TO ACT WISELY IN THE CHURCHES
Updated May 14, 2009 (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) –
The following are some truths that I consider very important and that I would like for all of my readers to take to heart. Please keep in mind the fact that I am not your pastor. I hope to be a helper in Christ, but I am not your pastor. And I want to give an exhortation about how to act wisely in the churches.
The vast majority of you knows and lives these things, but sometimes I hear things from pastors and others that cause me to realize that some of my readers might need this exhortation. At the same time, I don’t have any particular case in mind, so there is no need to write and try to explain yourself to me. Rather, let us be doers of the word and not hearers only.
WHAT IF THERE IS NO SOUND CHURCH?
The following is a reply we sent to a reader who asked us what to do if there is no good church to attend or if the church they are currently attending is deeply compromised and there is no better choice in the community. Many write about this, so we are publishing our answer:
_______________________
Hello:
I am replying to your question about the church situation. Obviously it is a difficult matter, and only the Lord can lead you. You described your church this way:
“I am attending a church of small size, with a pastor who says he is fundamental, but in actual practice, he is new-evangelical. He does not name the names of false teachers. He won’t correct any parishioners in error. He will sound no alarm about ecumenism, apostasy, etc.”
You said that in your estimation only two or three of the families in the church care anything about a fundamentalist position and about separation from the world and apostasy, and those “cannot speak freely the whole counsel of God” because the leaders won’t allow it. You said this is the best church within your area, that there are two churches 40 miles away that claim to be fundamentalist but promote Dobson-style psychology and other things that a true fundamentalist cannot countenance.
Obviously that is not a good situation. It would appear to me that you have four options. Read More...
WAS THERE SOME SORT OF COMMUNISM PRACTICED IN THE EARLY CHURCHES?
January 20, 2009 (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org)
The following is from the Advanced Bible Studies Series “The Book of Acts,” which is available from Way of Life Literature.
“And all that believed were together, and had all things common; And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need” (Acts 2:44-45).
Does Acts 2 describe some sort of communism or communalism in the early churches?
First, we observe that it was not coerced but was done of their own free will. Compare Acts 5:4, where Peter said to Ananias and Sapphira of their possessions, “Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power?...”
CHARISMATIC SOUTHERN BAPTISTS
The charismatic movement is a part of the Southern Baptist religious melting pot. Though a few churches and individual missionaries have been put out of the Convention for charismatic doctrine and practice, many others remain, and the number appears to be increasing.
In Christianity Today, May 16, 1986, Pastor Don LeMaster of the West Lauderdale Baptist Church in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, estimated that five percent of SBC congregations were openly charismatic at that time. That number has probably increased during the past years.
Charisma magazine, March 1999, contained a report entitled “Shaking Southern Baptist Tradition,” which gave many examples of charismatic Southern Baptist congregations.
A 2008 report in the Associated Baptist Press estimated that 500 SBC churches are charismatic (“Charismatic Southern Baptists See Themselves Open to Spiritual Gifts,” ABP, Nov. 20, 2008).
In 1995, two professors at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, told Baptist Press that Southern Baptists shouldn’t fear the charismatic movement. “We shouldn’t feel defensive or threatened by an alternative experience, perspective or insights about the Holy Spirit,” said William Hendricks, director of Southern’s doctoral studies program. Churches should not be making a big issue of the movement, he added, because “you could be fighting what is a legitimate experience of the Spirit.” Tim Weber, professor of church history, agreed: “Most charismatics take the Bible as seriously as Southern Baptists, although they read it differently,” he said. The professors also said Southern Baptists shouldn’t divide charismatics into a separate “camp,” since their influence has touched the 15 million-member Southern Baptist Convention. ... The professors believe the time has arrived for a more reasoned approach to charismatics and dialogue with them (Charisma, April 1995, p. 79).
Read More...
FAITHFULNESS TO THE CHURCH
“Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;) And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?” (Hebrews 10:23-29)
The “assembling of ourselves together” in Hebrews 10:25 is clearly a reference to the New Testament church of which every believer is to be a faithful member. This is the example that is given throughout the book of Acts, beginning with Acts 2:41-42. The church is the pillar and ground of the truth (1 Tim. 3:15) and has been commissioned to fulfill the Great Commission (Mat. 28:18-20; Acts 1:8). The Commission was given to the apostles, who were the representatives of the churches.
Such a great and glorious work requires faithful workers, and those who neglect the church are neglecting their spiritual duty. No human institution can be successful apart from committed and faithful members. This is true for a business, a football team, or a government agency. And it is equally true for the church. “Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful” (1 Cor. 4:2). “As spiritual declension sets in, one of the first things to fade is faithfulness to the assembly of the local church. Observe that even then, wavering Christians were sporadic in attendance to their local churches” (David Sorenson).
Why the believer needs to be faithful to the church: Read More...
WHAT WILL BE ILLEGAL WHEN HOMOSEXUALITY IS LEGAL
Updated December 15, 2008 (first published August 5, 2008) (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) -
If homosexuality is fully legalized and homosexual activists are given every right they demand, citizens in western nations will be robbed of many liberties they have heretofore enjoyed. This is not a guess; it is a judgment based on current facts. The right to free speech and the right to the free exercise of religion, in particular, will be effectively destroyed.
WHEN HOMOSEXUALITY IS FULLY LEGAL, YOU WON’T BE ABLE TO SAY ANYTHING THAT MIGHT APPEAR BIASED AGAINST HOMOSEXUALITY.
In 1997 Jo Ann Knight was fired by the Connecticut Department of Public Health after she counseled a homosexual couple from the Bible about salvation and about the necessity of repenting of sin. Knight’s job was to supervise the provision of medical services by Medicare agencies to home health care patients, and in that capacity she interviewed patients. The homosexuals filed a complaint with the Commission on Human Rights. A district court upheld Knight’s dismissal, claiming that her religious speech caused her clients distress and interfered with the performance of her duties.
In 2000 Evelyn Bodett was fired by CoxCom Cable for expressing her biblical views against homosexuality to a lesbian subordinate. They claimed that she was thereby “coercing and harassing” the lesbian contrary to company policy. The lesbian, Kelley Carson, had sought Bodett’s advice in regard to a recent breakup with her homosexual partner, and Bodett gave her biblical counsel that homosexuality is a sin. Carson complained about the matter to a supervisor. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Bodett’s religious discrimination suit.
In 2001 Richard Peterson was fired by Hewlett-Packard after he posted Bible verses condemning homosexuality. Peterson, who had worked for HP for nearly 21 years, posted the verses in response to the company’s diversity policy that requires acceptance of homosexuality. The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in 2004 that Peterson was not discriminated against because of his religious beliefs. Commenting on the case, Stephen Crampton, chief counsel for the American Family Association’s Center for Law & Policy, said: “The new rule in the workplace seems to be: The Bible is out; diversity is in” (“Using Caesar’s Sword,” AgapePress, March 19, 2004).
In 2002 homosexual activists tried to get the Ferndale City Council in Michigan to fire volunteer police chaplain Tom Hansen for stating his biblical views against homosexuality. The organization Soulforce claimed that Hansen, the pastor of a Baptist church, was committing “spiritual violence” against homosexuals by saying that it is sinful. The divided city council opted not to dismiss the pastor, but it did issue a resolution condemning him for his “anti-gay” views.
In 2002 Rolf Szabo was fired by Eastman Kodak for objecting to the company’s diversity policy. The program, which is called “Winning & Inclusive Culture,” allows no “negative comments” toward “gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgendered” employees. After the company sent out an email memo in October 2002 announcing “coming out” day for homosexual employees and demanding that they be given full acceptance and encouragement, Rolf replied to the same mailing list (1,000 employees), “Please do not send this type of information to me anymore, as I find it disgusting and offensive. Thank you.” For refusing to apologize and submit to diversity sensitivity training, Rolf was fired. He had worked for Kodak for 23 years.
In 2002 in Saskatchewan, Canada, the StarPhoenix newspaper of Saskatoon and Hugh Owens were ordered to pay $1,500 to three homosexual activists for publishing an ad in the newspaper in 1997 quoting Bible verses regarding homosexuality. The advertisement displayed references to four Bible passages (Romans 1, Leviticus 18:22, Leviticus 20:13 and 1 Corinthians 6:9-10) on the left side. An equal sign (=) was situated in the middle, with a symbol on the right side comprised of two males holding hands with the universal sign of a red circle with a diagonal bar superimposed over the top. Owens bought the ad and the StarPhoenix merely printed it. The Human Rights Commission’s ruling was appealed to the courts. In February 2003 the Court of Queen’s Bench in Saskatchewan refused to overturn it, with Justice J. Barclay saying the advertisement was an incitement to hatred. But in April 2006 the ruling was overturned by the Saskatchewan Court of Appeals (“Court Reverses Ruling,” WorldNetDaily, April 14, 2006).
In 2003 the city of Oakland, California, labeled a flier posted on a workplace bulletin board as “homophobic” because it used the terms “the natural family and marriage” (Suit to Decide Workplace ‘Hate Speech,’” The Washington Times, June 11, 2007). The flier, which was posted by Regina Rederford and Robin Christy, was removed after a lesbian complained to the city attorney’s office that it made her feel “excluded.” When Rederford and Christy sued the city, claiming their First Amendment rights had been violated, they lost at the local, state, and federal level, with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling against them. The case has been appealed to the Supreme Court.
In June 2004 Pentecostal Pastor Ake Green in Sweden became the first pastor in the European Union to be charged under hate crimes. He was convicted for denouncing homosexuality as “abnormal,” “something sick,” and “a deep cancerous tumor in the body of society” and sentenced to one month in jail. The conviction was overturned by an appeals court.
In October 2004 eleven Christians with the Repent America organization who were protesting a homosexual “Outfest” in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, were arrested and charged with a laundry list of crimes. In February 2005 four members of the group stood trial on three felony and five misdemeanor counts and the judge dismissed all charges. Common Pleas Court Judge Pamela Dembe said, “We cannot stifle speech because we don’t want to hear it, or we don’t want to hear it now” (“Judge Drops Charges,” Baptist Press, Feb. 18, 2005). (Homosexual activists claim that the group was disrupting their program and refusing police requests to move, but the judge ruled that they did nothing illegal.)
In 2005 in Alberta Fred Henry, Roman Catholic bishop of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, was subject to two complaints before the Alberta Human Rights Commission after publishing a pastoral letter defending the traditional definition of marriage earlier that same year. (“Canada’s Human Rights Beef with Catholics,” Zenit, Feb. 5, 2008). Bishop Henry told Zenit: “The social climate right now is that we’re into a new form of censorship and thought control, and the commissions are being used as thought police.”
In January 2006, Catholic city councilman John Decicco of Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada, was fined $1,000 and required to apologize for saying that homosexuality is “not normal or natural” (LifeSiteNews, Jan. 19, 2007). In his remarks, which were made in a city council meeting, DeCicco was expressing the official doctrine of his church. The fine goes to two homosexual activists who brought the complaint. DeCicco was also forced to issue a public statement that his comments were “inappropriate and hurtful to some.” DeCiccco told LifeSiteNews, “I’m not against lesbian and gay people, but I don’t agree that I should have to endorse it.”
After he preached against homosexuality at a fellow officer’s funeral in September 2006, Sgt. Eric Holyfield of the Los Angeles Police Department was removed from his position in community relations, moved back to patrol duty, and passed over for promotions and pay raises (“Police Office Sues LAPD and Los Angeles, Alleging Religious Discrimination,” Los Angeles Times, July 2, 2008). In his euology, Holyfield, who is also a pastor, quoted Bible verses proving that homosexuality is an abomination before God and said that one must repent or be condemned to hell. Holyfield’s commanding officer, Charlie Beck, who was present at the funeral, filed a formal complaint against him.
In February 2007 complaints were brought before the Human Rights Commission in Canada targeting Catholic Insight magazine and priest Alphonse De Valk, a well-known pro-life activist, for quoting from the Bible and church documents to refute “same-sex marriage.” The complaint was brought by homosexual activist Rob Wells, a member of the Gay, Lesbian and Transgendered Pride Center of Edmonton. He accuses the magazine of promoting “extreme hatred and contempt” against homosexuals. De Valk says, “The basic view of the Church is that homosexual acts are a sin, but we love the sinner,” adding that opposing same-sex marriage is not the same as rejecting homosexuals as persons (“Canada’s Human Rights Beef with Catholics,” Zenit, Feb. 5, 2008).
In 2007 the Christian Heritage Party of Canada and its leader Ron Gray were investigated by the Canadian Human Rights Commission (CHRC) after a homosexual activist complained that he was offended by material on the party’s web site. The activist, Rob Wells, has also launched complaints against Craig Chandler in Alberta and Alphonse de Valk and Catholic Insight magazine. One of the articles that Wells complained about was an April 29, 2002, report published by WorldNetDaily in America citing a study that found that pedophilia is more common among homosexuals (http://wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=27431). Another article, written by Ron Gray, protested Canada’s bill to legalize same-sex marriage. Gray told LifeSiteNews: “Christians are probably the best friends homosexuals have in the world because we want to see them delivered from an addiction that will shorten their lives in this world and condemn them in the next. I’m not motivated by hate at all. I would guess that very few if any real Christians are motivated by hate in their response to these issues. It’s a question of compassion. Who truly loves you, someone who tells you the truth even when it hurts, or someone who will tell you you’re okay even when you’re headed down the wrong road. The Scripture says, ‘Faithful are the wounds of a friend, and deceitful are the kisses of an enemy’” (“Christian Political Party before Human Rights Commission,” LifeSiteNews, Nov. 27, 2007). He added: “I really think this is a crucial case because if an agency of the government, which the CHRC is, can tell a political party what it may and may not include in its political statements we have gone way down the road to totalitarianism.” In June 2007 a coalition of protestant churches in Brazil was ordered to halt their campaign “In Defense of the Family” and to remove billboards that said, “Homosexuality: God made them man and woman, and saw that it was good!” “A court order decreed the removal of the billboards and the cancellation of a public event scheduled by the coalition to further the defense of family values, claiming that it was ‘homophobic’” (“Brazil Attacks against Family Defenders,” LifeSiteNews, July 30, 2007).
In June 2008 Stephen Boisson, an evangelical youth pastor, was banned from expressing opposition to homosexuality in any public forum and ordered to pay $7,000 “damages for pain and suffering” to the homosexual activist who brought the complaint. The trouble began in 2002 when Boisson wrote a letter to the editor of the Red Deer Advocate newspaper in Alberta and denounced the advance of homosexual activism in the schools. Printed under the heading “Homosexual Agenda Wicked,” the letter said: “Children as young as five and six years of age are being subjected to psychologically and physiologically damaging pro-homosexual literature and guidance in the public school system; all under the fraudulent guise of equal rights.” This offended a homosexual teacher named Darren Lund who complained to the Alberta Human Rights Tribunal.
In May 2008, Crystal Dixon was fired as associate vice president of human resources at the University of Toledo after she wrote an editorial to the Toledo Free Press expressing her views on homosexuality. She disagreed that “gay rights” can be compared to the civil rights struggles of black Americans. She wrote: “As a Black woman, I take great I take great umbrage at the notion that those choosing the homosexual lifestyle are 'civil rights victims.' Here's why. I cannot wake up tomorrow and not be a black woman. I am genetically and biologically a black woman and very pleased to be so as my Creator intended” (“Homosexuality Editorial Puts 1st Amendment on Trial,” WorldNetDaily, Dec. 2, 2008). Dixon was fired by the university president, Lloyd Jacobs, who condemned her statements. Robert Gagnon, author of “Homosexuality and the Bible: Two Views,” condemned the university, saying that such actions “come out of the Stalinistic, Soviet state. This is the kind of elimination of any expression of differences of opinion.”
In July 2008 Marcia Walden was fired from her counseling job with Computer Sciences Corporation after she referred a homosexual patient to another counselor for same-sex relationship advice (“Counselor Fired over Christian Beliefs,” OneNewsNow, July 18, 2008).
In December 2008 the Advertising Standards Authority in Ireland banned a newspaper ad by a Belfast church, claiming that it was offensive and indecent. The ad, entitled “The Word of God against Sodomy,” was run by the Sandown Free Presbyterian Church to coincide with Belfast’s Gay Pride parade. “The Advertising Standards Authority upheld complaints from seven members of the public who felt the ad was homophobic, ruling that it had ‘caused serious offense to some readers’” (“Church Ad Banned,” Christian Post, Dec. 3, 2008). This government agency has therefore ruled that the Bible is offensive and indecent and that its statements can be banned if they cause “offense” to some.
Also in December 2008, Graham Cogman was fired from the police force in Norfolk, England, for sending e-mails to colleagues quoting Bible verses and “suggesting that homosexual sex was sinful” (“Office Force to Quit after 15 Years,” Daily Mail, Dec. 6, 2008). Cogman, 50, had been on the force for fifteen years and had three commendations. He told the Daily Mail: “In the service in general there is a feeling of fear. There is a definite bias against faith--any faith--if it takes a critical view of homosexual sex. The easy option for me would have been to keep quiet but when there is such prejudice towards one point of view, how can that be right? That doesn’t sound like equality and diversity to me. I don’t have any worries with what people do in their private lives--if they are gay, that’s fine. I haven’t gone after anyone maliciously.” He is appealing the verdict.
WHEN HOMOSEXUALITY IS FULLY LEGAL, YOU WON’T BE ABLE TO CONDUCT MINISTRIES TO HELP HOMOSEXUALS LEAVE THAT LIFESTYLE
The following is excerpted from “Now It’s EX-‘gays’ getting pummeled,” WorldNetDaily, May 28, 2008:
“Regina Griggs, the executive director of Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays, said her organization and staff members repeatedly have been attacked simply because of their message: that there are such individuals as former homosexuals. Some attacks have been physical, such as the 2007 incident at the Arlington County Fair. ...
“Griggs said at the time, ‘The gays became infuriated when our ex-gay volunteers testified about leaving homosexuality. … One gay man went so far as to hit our ex-gay volunteer because he refused to recant his ex-gay testimony.’
“The fair was one of the events to which PFOX was admitted. Several other major influences in America today, including the National Education Association, and the Parent-Teachers Association, simply refuse to allow PFOX to appear at their events.
“Those who condemn homosexuality also face electronic badgering. When Sally Kern, an Oklahoma lawmaker, vocally rejected the homosexual lifestyle choice as a threat, she was inundated with tens of thousands of e-mails in a coordinated attack on her beliefs. Some of the e-mails threatened her. ...
“Griggs told WND the movement is becoming more aggressive in teaching that homosexuality is something people are born with, not something they choose for whatever reasons.
“‘We have a school board teaching homosexuality is innate. We have judges ruling schools are not required to teach fact-based [sex education] information. Basically they are silencing anyone who holds a different opinion. Their sole concern is about advancing that homosexuality is normal, natural and healthy and should have all the equal benefits of marriage. If you come at it from a Christian perspective, that makes you a homophobe,’ she said, citing the case of a University of Toledo administrator who was fired for expressing her personal Christian testimony regarding homosexuality. ‘They're not seeking equality; they're seeking total control,’ she said. ...
“‘Each year thousands of men and women with same-sex attractions make the personal decision to leave homosexuality by means of reparative therapy, ex-gay ministry or group counseling. Their choice is one only they can make. However, there are others who refuse to respect that choice, and endeavor to attack the ex-gay community. Consequently, ex-gays are subject to an increasingly hostile environment where they are reviled or attacked as perpetrators of hate and discrimination simply because they dare to exist,’ Griggs said.”
In Brazil, where the homosexual rights movement is very advanced, the Association of Gays, Lesbians, Bisexuals, and Transgender People (ABGLT) filed a suit against Rozangela Alves Justino, a psychologist who offers therapy to homosexuals who want to change their orientation (“Flurry of Lawsuits,” LifeSiteNews, Aug. 29, 2007).
WHEN HOMOSEXUALITY IS FULLY LEGAL YOU WON’T BE ABLE TO USE THE TERMS FATHER/MOTHER, HUSBAND/WIFE
The legalization of homosexuality is already beginning to destroy the concept of father and mother, husband and wife.
The new marriage licenses in California replace “husband and wife” with “Party A and Party B.”
In Scotland, teachers in some major cities have banned Father’s Day cards this year so as not to offend students who live with single mothers and lesbians. The London Telegraph reports, “The politically correct policy was quietly adopted at schools ‘in the interests of sensitivity’ over the growing number of lone-parent and same-sex households” (“Father’s Day Cards Banned,” June 20, 2008).
Last year Scotland’s National Health Service approved a policy for hospital workers mis-titled “Fair For All.” In fact, the policy is “fair” for no one, because it destroys the right of free speech and forbids the use of historic and biblical terms such as “mother” and “father” (since some patients might have two mothers or two fathers) and “husband” and “wife,” labeling this “homophobic language.” Such terms must be replaced with “partner” or “they/them” (Ed Vitagliano, “There is only one acceptable way to talk about homosexuality -- SILENCE!” OneNewsNow.com, May 31, 2007). The policy is to be strictly enforced.
In May 2007 the California state senate passed bill SB 777. If approved by the state assembly and signed by the governor, it will ban any speech in the public school system that “reflects or promotes bias against” homosexuality, transgenders, bisexuals, or those who “perceived” gender issues. The ban would apply even to discussions. Randy Thomasson of the Campaign for Children and Families warns that references to “mother” and “father” would probably be banned if this idiotic policy becomes law (“Lawmakers Pass Redefinition of ‘Sex,” The Berean Call, June 8, 2007).
WHEN HOMOSEXUALITY IS FULLY LEGAL, YOU WON’T BE ABLE TO REFUSE TO SERVE HOMOSEXUALS IN YOUR BUSINESS.
In 2001 in Toronto, Ontario, printer Scott Brockie was fined $5,000 for refusing to print homosexual-themed stationery for the Canadian Gay and Lesbian Archives. The human rights commissioner in this case was Heather MacNaughton.
In 2001 a Christian gynecologist at the North Coast Women’s Care Medical Group in Vista, California, was sued by a lesbian for refusing to provide in vitro fertilization treatment due to his religious convictions. Dr. Christine Brody has religious objections to pregnancy and childbirth outside of marriage, but a fellow physician referred Benitez to an outside specialist and the clinic agreed to pay any cost involved in the fact that the specialist was not covered by the lesbian’s health insurance (“Another Type of Conscientious Objector,” American Civil Rights Union Blog, April 30, 2007). In spite of that and in spite of the fact that she became pregnant and bore a healthy son, Guadalupe Benitez sued. In May 2008 the California Supreme Court heard oral arguments on the case. “Legal experts believe that the woman’s right to medical treatment will trump the doctor’s religious beliefs. One justice suggested that the doctors take up a different line of business” (“When Gay Rights and Religious Liberties Clash,” National Public Radio, June 13, 2008).
In 2005 a British Columbia Knights of Columbus council was ordered to pay $2,000 to two lesbians, plus their legal costs, for refusing to allow its facility to be used for their “wedding.” The human rights commissioner in this case was Heather MacNaughton.
In 2007, after a Methodist organization in New Jersey refused to rent its facility to a lesbian couple for their civil union ceremony, a complaint was filed with the state Division of Civil Rights. It ruled against the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association, saying that since the property was open for public use, it could not discriminate against homosexuals. The state revoked their tax exemption for the property. Pastor Scott Hoffman, administrator for the Association, says they refused to rent the facility because of the theological principle that marriage is between a man and a woman. They are appealing to the state court system. The complaint came soon after New Jersey legalized same sex civil unions.
In April 2008 the New Mexico Human Rights Commission fined a Christian photography studio $6,600 for discriminating against homosexuals. Elaine Huguenin and her husband Jon, co-owners of Elane Photography in Albuquerque, politely refused to photograph a lesbian couple’s “commitment ceremony.” One of the lesbians, Vanessa Willock, filed a complaint with the New Mexico Human Rights Commission claiming the Huguenins discriminated against her because of her “sexual orientation.” Jordan Lorence, a lawyer with the Alliance Defense Fund that is representing the Huguenins, said: “This decision is a stunning disregard for religious liberty and First Amendment freedoms of people of faith, of Christians, and those who believe in traditional marriage defined as one man and one woman. This shows the very disconcerting, authoritarian face of the homosexual activists, who are using these non-discrimination laws as weapons against Christians in the business world and Christians in their churches” (“New Mexico Commission Orders Fine,” OneNewsNow, April 11, 2008). Lorence believes the Huguenins will win an appeal of the decision, but he warns this is how similar laws in 19 other states, and the proposed federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act, can be misused to silence biblical beliefs.
Due to civil rights complains and lawsuits brought by homosexuals, the eHarmony online dating service was forced to establish a same-sex service and pay heavy financial penalties. A settlement with the New Jersey Division on Civil Rights requires the company to establish a matching service for homosexuals, give the first 10,000 registrants a free six-month subscription, advertise the new service, and pay $5,000 to the homosexual who brought the complaint and $50,000 to the state for legal expenses (Christian News, Nov. 19, 2008). This does not include the hundreds of thousands of dollars that the company spent to defend itself against the unjust charges over a three-year period. You would think that the homosexuals would be satisfied, but that is far from the case. They want to bleed the company even more, and the confused judges in the state of California are their abettors. The Los Angeles Superior Court ruled on November 20 that a class action lawsuit against eHarmony can go forward. Thus, every “gay, lesbian, and bisexual individual” that has attempted to use eHarmony since May 2004 can seek damages, and Judge Victoria Chaney said they do not need to demonstrate actual injury. They only have to assert that they visited the company’s web site to see a same-sex match and were turned away (“Class Action Lawsuit,” Online Dating Magazine, Nov. 20, 2008).
WHEN HOMOSEXUALITY IS FULLY LEGAL, YOU WON’T BE ABLE TO TURN DOWN A HOMOSEXUAL FOR A JOB.
In January 2002 the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal levied a fine of $7500 against the Vancouver Rape Relief Society for its refusal to allow a male-to-female “transsexual” named Kimberly Dawn to train as a rape and abuse hotline counsellor. In an article at its web site dated April 16, 2000, the society argued that it operates as a women-only society and that it is not wrong to exclude an individual who has grown up as a man and who its clients might not accept as a woman. The original complaint was brought in 1995. The tribunal commissioner who imposed the heavy-fisted sentence was Heather MacNaughton.
In July 2007 a homosexual man won a job discrimination claim against the Church of England. After John Reaney was turned down for a youth worker’s post in Cardiff, Wales, he complained to the government that he was being unlawfully discriminated against on the basis of his sexual orientation. The employment tribunal agreed. Homosexual activists rejoiced at the ruling. One said that the “church must learn that denying people jobs on the ground of their sexuality is no longer acceptable” (“Gay Christian Wins Job Tribunal against Church of England,” Daily Mail, July 18, 2007).
WHEN HOMOSEXUALITY IS FULLY LEGAL, YOU WON’T BE ABLE TO ENFORCE PUBLIC NUDITY LAWS.
In June 2008 transgender activists removed their clothing in a public rally in Northampton, Massachusetts. The chose Northampton, because it is one of three cities in Massachusetts that have ordinances forbidding discrimination against transsexuals. Amy Contrada, a leader in the pro-family movement MassResistance, explained:
“With anti-discrimination ordinances in place, there’s no way a policeman would arrest a woman for being shirtless, because she could say she’s not a woman, and under the ordinance, she gets to determine whether she’s female or not” (“Transgender Activists Remove Clothing in Public,” WorldNetDaily, June 17, 2008).
Already in some American cities the public nudity laws are overlooked during homosexual fests. This is happening in San Francisco, for example. There are acts not only of public nudity but also of public sex during the annual Folsom Street Fair and other “gay pride” festivals, and the police simply stand by and observe.
“Nude men engaged in multiple instances of public sex on a municipal street while police officers, on foot and bicycle, congregated nearby making no attempt to enforce public indecency regulations, according to a report on the latest homosexual-fest in San Francisco.
“The behavior was documented in photographs of an event called ‘Up Your Alley,’ which is sponsored by the same group that organizes the city’s fall ‘gay’-fest, the Folsom Street Fair, on which WND has reported.
“‘Consider how liberal government authorities like Mayor [Gavin] Newsom have corrupted the men in blue by stipulating that police not prosecute public nudity and indecency at homosexual festivals,’ said a report from Americans for Truth on the graphic activities documented at the event.
“‘What honor can there be in protecting the public practice of heinous perversions and nudity in the city's streets? The shame of pandering politicians is transferred to the cops who were intended to be guardians of the law and public order," said the organizer's chief, Peter LaBarbera” (“San Francisco Fest Features Public Sex with No Arrests,” WorldNetDaily, Aug. 7, 2008).
WHEN HOMOSEXUALITY IS FULLY LEGAL, YOU WON’T BE ABLE TO TELL THE TRUTH ABOUT THE MORAL DEGRADATION OF HOMOSEXUALS
The Brazilian Association of Gays, Lesbians, Bisexuals, and Transgender People (ABGLT) filed a flurry of lawsuits against websites that exposed the fact that the leader of Brazil’s homosexual movement, Luiz Mott, is a promoter of pedophilia and pederasty (“Flurry of Lawsuits,” LifeSiteNews, Aug. 30, 2007). “The sites, Media Without a Mask, the Christian Apologetics Research Center, and Jesussite, are accused of ‘charlatanism, infamy, defamation, and calumny,’ for having quoted Mott’s numerous statements endorsing sex with children and adolescents. The Association is asking for criminal prosecution as well as monetary damages.”
WHEN HOMOSEXUALITY IS FULLY LEGAL, YOU WON’T BE ABLE TO HAVE WOMEN ONLY PUBLIC RESTROOMS.
In June 2008 Gov. Bill Ritter of Colorado signed a law making it illegal to deny a person access to public accommodations, including restrooms and locker rooms, based on gender identity or even the “PERCEPTION” of gender identity (“Biblical Message Now Criminalized,” WorldNetDaily, June 12, 2008). James Dobson said: “Who would have believed that the Colorado state legislature and its governor would have made it fully legal for men to enter and use women’s restrooms and locker-room facilities without notice or explanation? Henceforth, every woman and little girl will have to fear that a predator, bisexual, cross-dresser or even a homosexual or heterosexual male might walk in and relieve himself in their presence.”
This type of thing is already happening in Massachusetts. Consider the public hearing at the State House on March 4, 2008. The hearing was of the Joint Committee of the Judiciary on the “transgender rights and hate crimes bill” and it was dominated by homosexual activists. MassResistance reported: “We watched as a parade of men dressed as women going into the State House ladies’ restroom, and women into the men’s room--while inside the hearing the activists were unusually honest about their belief that transgender ‘rights’ will trump the public’s comfort with their behavior” (“When the Wicked Seize a State,” http://www.sliceoflaodicea.com).
WHEN HOMOSEXUALITY IS FULLY LEGAL, YOU WON’T BE ABLE TO REFUSE TO PLACE CHILDREN WITH HOMOSEXUAL COUPLES.
“Catholic Charities in Massachusetts refused to place children with same-sex couples as required by Massachusetts law. After a legislative struggle--during which the Senate president said he could not support a bill ‘condoning discrimination.’ Catholic Charities pulled out of the adoption business in 2006” (“When Gay Rights and Religious Liberties Clash,” National Public Radio, June 13, 2008).
“A same-sex couple in California applied to Adoption Profiles, an Internet service in Arizona that matches adoptive parents with newborns. The couple’s application was denied based on the religious beliefs of the company’s owners. The couple sued in federal district court in San Francisco. The two sides settled after the adoption company said it will no longer do business in California” (National Public Radio, June 13, 2008).
WHEN HOMOSEXUALITY IS FULLY LEGAL, YOU WON’T BE ABLE TO STOP HOMOSEXUALS FROM HAVING PUBLIC SEX.
When the mayor of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, proposed in July 2007 that the city spend $250,000 on robotic toilets for the beach to curb homosexual sex in public restrooms and parks, homosexual activists were up in arms. (The doors of the toilets automatically open after a certain period.) The homosexuals accused Mayor Jim Naugle of “hatred” and demanded an apology.
In response he did apologize, but not to the homosexuals. He said: “I was not aware of how serious the problem was of the sexual activity that’s taking place in bathrooms and public places and parks in Broward County and particularly the city of Fort Lauderdale. I’ve been educated on that, and I want to apologize to the parents and the children of our community for not being aware of the problem. This to me is totally unacceptable. I don’t think that in the name of being inclusive or tolerant any of us in the community should tolerate this” (“Fort Lauderdale Mayor Criticized,” Florida Baptist Witness, Aug. 2, 2007).
This further enraged the homosexuals, and they held a rally at city hall. Matt Foreman of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force called the mayor a “bigot” and said he should be “shunned everywhere he goes and not allowed at any gathering where decent people are.” City Commissioner Carlton Moore shouted, “We as a community must unite against hatred.”
Some public parks are listed on homosexual websites as recommended locations for immoral liaisons. In June 2008 Pennsylvania state park rangers arrested three men at such a park and accused them of lewd acts (“PA Park Rangers Crack Down,” OneNewsNow.com, June 18, 2008).
If homosexual activists get their way, and homosexuals are given license to act out their
“lifestyle” as they please, the response given by the Fort Lauderdale mayor and the actions of the park rangers will be illegal.
CONCLUSION
In a nutshell, the thing that will be illegal when homosexuality is fully legal is Bible-believing Christianity, but none of this is surprising to the Bible believer. The Lord Jesus Christ likened the last days to that of Sodom and Gomorrah (Luke 17:28-30). And the apostle Paul prophesied:
“This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away” (2 Timothy 3:1-5).
We are not surprised at the wickedness that is sweeping across the world, but it is our responsibility to take a stand for God’s Word until Jesus comes.
If we take freedom of speech and religion for granted and do not use it to proclaim God’s Word, we don’t deserve it.
And no matter how evil the hour is, we must not despair. We have all of the glorious promises of a God that cannot lie. Any trouble we face in this life is very brief and fleeting. Eternity is what matters.
“I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:1-4).
“But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed” (Luke 17:29-30).
“Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity. For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb. Trust in the LORD, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass. And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday. Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass. Cease from anger, and forsake wrath: fret not thyself in any wise to do evil. For evildoers shall be cut off: but those that wait upon the LORD, they shall inherit the earth. For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be: yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be. But the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace. The wicked plotteth against the just, and gnasheth upon him with his teeth. The Lord shall laugh at him: for he seeth that his day is coming. The wicked have drawn out the sword, and have bent their bow, to cast down the poor and needy, and to slay such as be of upright conversation. Their sword shall enter into their own heart, and their bows shall be broken. A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked” (Psalms 37:1-16).
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WHAT WILL BE ILLEGAL WHEN HOMOSEXUALITY IS LEGAL
Updated November 26, 2008 (first published August 5, 2008) (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) -
If homosexuality is fully legalized and homosexual activists are given every right they demand, citizens in western nations will be robbed of many liberties they have heretofore enjoyed. This is not a guess; it is a judgment based on current facts. The right to free speech and the right to the free exercise of religion, in particular, will be effectively destroyed.
WHEN HOMOSEXUALITY IS FULLY LEGAL, YOU WON’T BE ABLE TO SAY ANYTHING THAT MIGHT APPEAR BIASED AGAINST HOMOSEXUALITY.
In 1997 Jo Ann Knight was fired by the Connecticut Department of Public Health after she counseled a homosexual couple from the Bible about salvation and about the necessity of repenting of sin. Knight’s job was to supervise the provision of medical services by Medicare agencies to home health care patients, and in that capacity she interviewed patients. The homosexuals filed a complaint with the Commission on Human Rights. A district court upheld Knight’s dismissal, claiming that her religious speech caused her clients distress and interfered with the performance of her duties.
In 2000 Evelyn Bodett was fired by CoxCom Cable for expressing her biblical views against homosexuality to a lesbian subordinate. They claimed that she was thereby “coercing and harassing” the lesbian contrary to company policy. The lesbian, Kelley Carson, had sought Bodett’s advice in regard to a recent breakup with her homosexual partner, and Bodett gave her biblical counsel that homosexuality is a sin. Carson complained about the matter to a supervisor. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Bodett’s religious discrimination suit.
In 2001 Richard Peterson was fired by Hewlett-Packard after he posted Bible verses condemning homosexuality. Peterson, who had worked for HP for nearly 21 years, posted the verses in response to the company’s diversity policy that requires acceptance of homosexuality. The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in 2004 that Peterson was not discriminated against because of his religious beliefs. Commenting on the case, Stephen Crampton, chief counsel for the American Family Association’s Center for Law & Policy, said: “The new rule in the workplace seems to be: The Bible is out; diversity is in” (“Using Caesar’s Sword,” AgapePress, March 19, 2004).
In 2002 homosexual activists tried to get the Ferndale City Council in Michigan to fire volunteer police chaplain Tom Hansen for stating his biblical views against homosexuality. The organization Soulforce claimed that Hansen, the pastor of a Baptist church, was committing “spiritual violence” against homosexuals by saying that it is sinful. The divided city council opted not to dismiss the pastor, but it did issue a resolution condemning him for his “anti-gay” views.
In 2002 Rolf Szabo was fired by Eastman Kodak for objecting to the company’s diversity policy. The program, which is called “Winning & Inclusive Culture,” allows no “negative comments” toward “gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgendered” employees. After the company sent out an email memo in October 2002 announcing “coming out” day for homosexual employees and demanding that they be given full acceptance and encouragement, Rolf replied to the same mailing list (1,000 employees), “Please do not send this type of information to me anymore, as I find it disgusting and offensive. Thank you.” For refusing to apologize and submit to diversity sensitivity training, Rolf was fired. He had worked for Kodak for 23 years.
In 2002 in Saskatchewan, Canada, the StarPhoenix newspaper of Saskatoon and Hugh Owens were ordered to pay $1,500 to three homosexual activists for publishing an ad in the newspaper in 1997 quoting Bible verses regarding homosexuality. The advertisement displayed references to four Bible passages (Romans 1, Leviticus 18:22, Leviticus 20:13 and 1 Corinthians 6:9-10) on the left side. An equal sign (=) was situated in the middle, with a symbol on the right side comprised of two males holding hands with the universal sign of a red circle with a diagonal bar superimposed over the top. Owens bought the ad and the StarPhoenix merely printed it. The Human Rights Commission’s ruling was appealed to the courts. In February 2003 the Court of Queen’s Bench in Saskatchewan refused to overturn it, with Justice J. Barclay saying the advertisement was an incitement to hatred. But in April 2006 the ruling was overturned by the Saskatchewan Court of Appeals (“Court Reverses Ruling,” WorldNetDaily, April 14, 2006).
In 2003 the city of Oakland, California, labeled a flier posted on a workplace bulletin board as “homophobic” because it used the terms “the natural family and marriage” (Suit to Decide Workplace ‘Hate Speech,’” The Washington Times, June 11, 2007). The flier, which was posted by Regina Rederford and Robin Christy, was removed after a lesbian complained to the city attorney’s office that it made her feel “excluded.” When Rederford and Christy sued the city, claiming their First Amendment rights had been violated, they lost at the local, state, and federal level, with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling against them. The case has been appealed to the Supreme Court.
In June 2004 Pentecostal Pastor Ake Green in Sweden became the first pastor in the European Union to be charged under hate crimes. He was convicted for denouncing homosexuality as “abnormal,” “something sick,” and “a deep cancerous tumor in the body of society” and sentenced to one month in jail. The conviction was overturned by an appeals court.
In October 2004 eleven Christians with the Repent America organization who were protesting a homosexual “Outfest” in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, were arrested and charged with a laundry list of crimes. In February 2005 four members of the group stood trial on three felony and five misdemeanor counts and the judge dismissed all charges. Common Pleas Court Judge Pamela Dembe said, “We cannot stifle speech because we don’t want to hear it, or we don’t want to hear it now” (“Judge Drops Charges,” Baptist Press, Feb. 18, 2005). (Homosexual activists claim that the group was disrupting their program and refusing police requests to move, but the judge ruled that they did nothing illegal.) Repent America uses placards such as “God Abhors You.”
In 2005 in Alberta Fred Henry, Roman Catholic bishop of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, was subject to two complaints before the Alberta Human Rights Commission after publishing a pastoral letter defending the traditional definition of marriage earlier that same year. (“Canada’s Human Rights Beef with Catholics,” Zenit, Feb. 5, 2008). Bishop Henry told Zenit: “The social climate right now is that we’re into a new form of censorship and thought control, and the commissions are being used as thought police.”
In January 2006, Catholic city councilman John Decicco of Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada, was fined $1,000 and required to apologize for saying that homosexuality is “not normal or natural” (LifeSiteNews, Jan. 19, 2007). In his remarks, which were made in a city council meeting, DeCicco was expressing the official doctrine of his church. The fine goes to two homosexual activists who brought the complaint. DeCicco was also forced to issue a public statement that his comments were “inappropriate and hurtful to some.” DeCiccco told LifeSiteNews, “I’m not against lesbian and gay people, but I don’t agree that I should have to endorse it.”
After he preached against homosexuality at a fellow officer’s funeral in September 2006, Sgt. Eric Holyfield of the Los Angeles Police Department was removed from his position in community relations, moved back to patrol duty, and passed over for promotions and pay raises (“Police Office Sues LAPD and Los Angeles, Alleging Religious Discrimination,” Los Angeles Times, July 2, 2008). In his euology, Holyfield, who is also a pastor, quoted Bible verses proving that homosexuality is an abomination before God and said that one must repent or be condemned to hell. Holyfield’s commanding officer, Charlie Beck, who was present at the funeral, filed a formal complaint against him.
In February 2007 complaints were brought before the Human Rights Commission in Canada targeting Catholic Insight magazine and priest Alphonse De Valk, a well-known pro-life activist, for quoting from the Bible and church documents to refute “same-sex marriage.” The complaint was brought by homosexual activist Rob Wells, a member of the Gay, Lesbian and Transgendered Pride Center of Edmonton. He accuses the magazine of promoting “extreme hatred and contempt” against homosexuals. De Valk says, “The basic view of the Church is that homosexual acts are a sin, but we love the sinner,” adding that opposing same-sex marriage is not the same as rejecting homosexuals as persons (“Canada’s Human Rights Beef with Catholics,” Zenit, Feb. 5, 2008).
In 2007 the Christian Heritage Party of Canada and its leader Ron Gray were investigated by the Canadian Human Rights Commission (CHRC) after a homosexual activist complained that he was offended by material on the party’s web site. The activist, Rob Wells, has also launched complaints against Craig Chandler in Alberta and Alphonse de Valk and Catholic Insight magazine. One of the articles that Wells complained about was an April 29, 2002, report published by WorldNetDaily in America citing a study that found that pedophilia is more common among homosexuals (http://wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=27431). Another article, written by Ron Gray, protested Canada’s bill to legalize same-sex marriage. Gray told LifeSiteNews: “Christians are probably the best friends homosexuals have in the world because we want to see them delivered from an addiction that will shorten their lives in this world and condemn them in the next. I’m not motivated by hate at all. I would guess that very few if any real Christians are motivated by hate in their response to these issues. It’s a question of compassion. Who truly loves you, someone who tells you the truth even when it hurts, or someone who will tell you you’re okay even when you’re headed down the wrong road. The Scripture says, ‘Faithful are the wounds of a friend, and deceitful are the kisses of an enemy’” (“Christian Political Party before Human Rights Commission,” LifeSiteNews, Nov. 27, 2007). He added: “I really think this is a crucial case because if an agency of the government, which the CHRC is, can tell a political party what it may and may not include in its political statements we have gone way down the road to totalitarianism.” In June 2007 a coalition of protestant churches in Brazil was ordered to halt their campaign “In Defense of the Family” and to remove billboards that said, “Homosexuality: God made them man and woman, and saw that it was good!” “A court order decreed the removal of the billboards and the cancellation of a public event scheduled by the coalition to further the defense of family values, claiming that it was ‘homophobic’” (“Brazil Attacks against Family Defenders,” LifeSiteNews, July 30, 2007).
In June 2008 Stephen Boisson, an evangelical youth pastor, was banned from expressing opposition to homosexuality in any public forum and ordered to pay $7,000 “damages for pain and suffering” to the homosexual activist who brought the complaint. The trouble began in 2002 when Boisson wrote a letter to the editor of the Red Deer Advocate newspaper in Alberta and denounced the advance of homosexual activism in the schools. Printed under the heading “Homosexual Agenda Wicked,” the letter said: “Children as young as five and six years of age are being subjected to psychologically and physiologically damaging pro-homosexual literature and guidance in the public school system; all under the fraudulent guise of equal rights.” This offended a homosexual teacher named Darren Lund who complained to the Alberta Human Rights Tribunal.
In July 2008 Marcia Walden was fired from her counseling job with Computer Sciences Corporation after she referred a homosexual patient to another counselor for same-sex relationship advice (“Counselor Fired over Christian Beliefs,” OneNewsNow, July 18, 2008)>
WHEN HOMOSEXUALITY IS FULLY LEGAL, YOU WON’T BE ABLE TO CONDUCT MINISTRIES TO HELP HOMOSEXUALS LEAVE THAT LIFESTYLE
The following is excerpted from “Now It’s EX-‘gays’ getting pummeled,” WorldNetDaily, May 28, 2008:
“Regina Griggs, the executive director of Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays, said her organization and staff members repeatedly have been attacked simply because of their message: that there are such individuals as former homosexuals. Some attacks have been physical, such as the 2007 incident at the Arlington County Fair. ...
“Griggs said at the time, ‘The gays became infuriated when our ex-gay volunteers testified about leaving homosexuality. … One gay man went so far as to hit our ex-gay volunteer because he refused to recant his ex-gay testimony.’
“The fair was one of the events to which PFOX was admitted. Several other major influences in America today, including the National Education Association, and the Parent-Teachers Association, simply refuse to allow PFOX to appear at their events.
“Those who condemn homosexuality also face electronic badgering. When Sally Kern, an Oklahoma lawmaker, vocally rejected the homosexual lifestyle choice as a threat, she was inundated with tens of thousands of e-mails in a coordinated attack on her beliefs. Some of the e-mails threatened her. ...
“Griggs told WND the movement is becoming more aggressive in teaching that homosexuality is something people are born with, not something they choose for whatever reasons.
“‘We have a school board teaching homosexuality is innate. We have judges ruling schools are not required to teach fact-based [sex education] information. Basically they are silencing anyone who holds a different opinion. Their sole concern is about advancing that homosexuality is normal, natural and healthy and should have all the equal benefits of marriage. If you come at it from a Christian perspective, that makes you a homophobe,’ she said, citing the case of a University of Toledo administrator who was fired for expressing her personal Christian testimony regarding homosexuality. ‘They're not seeking equality; they're seeking total control,’ she said. ...
“‘Each year thousands of men and women with same-sex attractions make the personal decision to leave homosexuality by means of reparative therapy, ex-gay ministry or group counseling. Their choice is one only they can make. However, there are others who refuse to respect that choice, and endeavor to attack the ex-gay community. Consequently, ex-gays are subject to an increasingly hostile environment where they are reviled or attacked as perpetrators of hate and discrimination simply because they dare to exist,’ Griggs said.”
WHEN HOMOSEXUALITY IS FULLY LEGAL YOU WON’T BE ABLE TO USE THE TERMS FATHER/MOTHER, HUSBAND/WIFE
The legalization of homosexuality is already beginning to destroy the concept of father and mother, husband and wife.
The new marriage licenses in California replace “husband and wife” with “Party A and Party B.”
In Scotland, teachers in some major cities have banned Father’s Day cards this year so as not to offend students who live with single mothers and lesbians. The London Telegraph reports, “The politically correct policy was quietly adopted at schools ‘in the interests of sensitivity’ over the growing number of lone-parent and same-sex households” (“Father’s Day Cards Banned,” June 20, 2008).
Last year Scotland’s National Health Service approved a policy for hospital workers mis-titled “Fair For All.” In fact, the policy is “fair” for no one, because it destroys the right of free speech and forbids the use of historic and biblical terms such as “mother” and “father” (since some patients might have two mothers or two fathers) and “husband” and “wife,” labeling this “homophobic language.” Such terms must be replaced with “partner” or “they/them” (Ed Vitagliano, “There is only one acceptable way to talk about homosexuality -- SILENCE!” OneNewsNow.com, May 31, 2007). The policy is to be strictly enforced.
In May 2007 the California state senate passed bill SB 777. If approved by the state assembly and signed by the governor, it will ban any speech in the public school system that “reflects or promotes bias against” homosexuality, transgenders, bisexuals, or those who “perceived” gender issues. The ban would apply even to discussions. Randy Thomasson of the Campaign for Children and Families warns that references to “mother” and “father” would probably be banned if this idiotic policy becomes law (“Lawmakers Pass Redefinition of ‘Sex,” The Berean Call, June 8, 2007).
WHEN HOMOSEXUALITY IS FULLY LEGAL, YOU WON’T BE ABLE TO REFUSE TO SERVE HOMOSEXUALS IN YOUR BUSINESS.
In 2001 in Toronto, Ontario, printer Scott Brockie was fined $5,000 for refusing to print homosexual-themed stationery for the Canadian Gay and Lesbian Archives. The human rights commissioner in this case was Heather MacNaughton.
In 2001 a Christian gynecologist at the North Coast Women’s Care Medical Group in Vista, California, was sued by a lesbian for refusing to provide in vitro fertilization treatment due to his religious convictions. Dr. Christine Brody has religious objections to pregnancy and childbirth outside of marriage, but a fellow physician referred Benitez to an outside specialist and the clinic agreed to pay any cost involved in the fact that the specialist was not covered by the lesbian’s health insurance (“Another Type of Conscientious Objector,” American Civil Rights Union Blog, April 30, 2007). In spite of that and in spite of the fact that she became pregnant and bore a healthy son, Guadalupe Benitez sued. In May 2008 the California Supreme Court heard oral arguments on the case. “Legal experts believe that the woman’s right to medical treatment will trump the doctor’s religious beliefs. One justice suggested that the doctors take up a different line of business” (“When Gay Rights and Religious Liberties Clash,” National Public Radio, June 13, 2008).
In 2005 a British Columbia Knights of Columbus council was ordered to pay $2,000 to two lesbians, plus their legal costs, for refusing to allow its facility to be used for their “wedding.” The human rights commissioner in this case was Heather MacNaughton.
In 2007, after a Methodist organization in New Jersey refused to rent its facility to a lesbian couple for their civil union ceremony, a complaint was filed with the state Division of Civil Rights. It ruled against the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association, saying that since the property was open for public use, it could not discriminate against homosexuals. The state revoked their tax exemption for the property. Pastor Scott Hoffman, administrator for the Association, says they refused to rent the facility because of the theological principle that marriage is between a man and a woman. They are appealing to the state court system. The complaint came soon after New Jersey legalized same sex civil unions.
In April 2008 the New Mexico Human Rights Commission fined a Christian photography studio $6,600 for discriminating against homosexuals. Elaine Huguenin and her husband Jon, co-owners of Elane Photography in Albuquerque, politely refused to photograph a lesbian couple’s “commitment ceremony.” One of the lesbians, Vanessa Willock, filed a complaint with the New Mexico Human Rights Commission claiming the Huguenins discriminated against her because of her “sexual orientation.” Jordan Lorence, a lawyer with the Alliance Defense Fund that is representing the Huguenins, said: “This decision is a stunning disregard for religious liberty and First Amendment freedoms of people of faith, of Christians, and those who believe in traditional marriage defined as one man and one woman. This shows the very disconcerting, authoritarian face of the homosexual activists, who are using these non-discrimination laws as weapons against Christians in the business world and Christians in their churches” (“New Mexico Commission Orders Fine,” OneNewsNow, April 11, 2008). Lorence believes the Huguenins will win an appeal of the decision, but he warns this is how similar laws in 19 other states, and the proposed federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act, can be misused to silence biblical beliefs.
WHEN HOMOSEXUALITY IS FULLY LEGAL, YOU WON’T BE ABLE TO TURN DOWN A HOMOSEXUAL FOR A JOB.
In January 2002 the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal levied a fine of $7500 against the Vancouver Rape Relief Society for its refusal to allow a male-to-female “transsexual” named Kimberly Dawn to train as a rape and abuse hotline counsellor. In an article at its web site dated April 16, 2000, the society argued that it operates as a women-only society and that it is not wrong to exclude an individual who has grown up as a man and who its clients might not accept as a woman. The original complaint was brought in 1995. The tribunal commissioner who imposed the heavy-fisted sentence was Heather MacNaughton.
In July 2007 a homosexual man won a job discrimination claim against the Church of England. After John Reaney was turned down for a youth worker’s post in Cardiff, Wales, he complained to the government that he was being unlawfully discriminated against on the basis of his sexual orientation. The employment tribunal agreed. Homosexual activists rejoiced at the ruling. One said that the “church must learn that denying people jobs on the ground of their sexuality is no longer acceptable” (“Gay Christian Wins Job Tribunal against Church of England,” Daily Mail, July 18, 2007).
WHEN HOMOSEXUALITY IS FULLY LEGAL, YOU WON’T BE ABLE TO ENFORCE PUBLIC NUDITY LAWS.
In June 2008 transgender activists removed their clothing in a public rally in Northampton, Massachusetts. The chose Northampton, because it is one of three cities in Massachusetts that have ordinances forbidding discrimination against transsexuals. Amy Contrada, a leader in the pro-family movement MassResistance, explained:
“With anti-discrimination ordinances in place, there’s no way a policeman would arrest a woman for being shirtless, because she could say she’s not a woman, and under the ordinance, she gets to determine whether she’s female or not” (“Transgender Activists Remove Clothing in Public,” WorldNetDaily, June 17, 2008).
Already in some American cities the public nudity laws are overlooked during homosexual fests. This is happening in San Francisco, for example. There are acts not only of public nudity but also of public sex during the annual Folsom Street Fair and other “gay pride” festivals, and the police simply stand by and observe.
“Nude men engaged in multiple instances of public sex on a municipal street while police officers, on foot and bicycle, congregated nearby making no attempt to enforce public indecency regulations, according to a report on the latest homosexual-fest in San Francisco.
“The behavior was documented in photographs of an event called ‘Up Your Alley,’ which is sponsored by the same group that organizes the city’s fall ‘gay’-fest, the Folsom Street Fair, on which WND has reported.
“‘Consider how liberal government authorities like Mayor [Gavin] Newsom have corrupted the men in blue by stipulating that police not prosecute public nudity and indecency at homosexual festivals,’ said a report from Americans for Truth on the graphic activities documented at the event.
“‘What honor can there be in protecting the public practice of heinous perversions and nudity in the city's streets? The shame of pandering politicians is transferred to the cops who were intended to be guardians of the law and public order," said the organizer's chief, Peter LaBarbera” (“San Francisco Fest Features Public Sex with No Arrests,” WorldNetDaily, Aug. 7, 2008).
WHEN HOMOSEXUALITY IS FULLY LEGAL, YOU WON’T BE ABLE TO HAVE WOMEN ONLY PUBLIC RESTROOMS.
In June 2008 Gov. Bill Ritter of Colorado signed a law making it illegal to deny a person access to public accommodations, including restrooms and locker rooms, based on gender identity or even the “PERCEPTION” of gender identity (“Biblical Message Now Criminalized,” WorldNetDaily, June 12, 2008). James Dobson said: “Who would have believed that the Colorado state legislature and its governor would have made it fully legal for men to enter and use women’s restrooms and locker-room facilities without notice or explanation? Henceforth, every woman and little girl will have to fear that a predator, bisexual, cross-dresser or even a homosexual or heterosexual male might walk in and relieve himself in their presence.”
This type of thing is already happening in Massachusetts. Consider the public hearing at the State House on March 4, 2008. The hearing was of the Joint Committee of the Judiciary on the “transgender rights and hate crimes bill” and it was dominated by homosexual activists. MassResistance reported: “We watched as a parade of men dressed as women going into the State House ladies’ restroom, and women into the men’s room--while inside the hearing the activists were unusually honest about their belief that transgender ‘rights’ will trump the public’s comfort with their behavior” (“When the Wicked Seize a State,” http://www.sliceoflaodicea.com).
WHEN HOMOSEXUALITY IS FULLY LEGAL, YOU WON’T BE ABLE TO REFUSE TO PLACE CHILDREN WITH HOMOSEXUAL COUPLES.
“Catholic Charities in Massachusetts refused to place children with same-sex couples as required by Massachusetts law. After a legislative struggle--during which the Senate president said he could not support a bill ‘condoning discrimination.’ Catholic Charities pulled out of the adoption business in 2006” (“When Gay Rights and Religious Liberties Clash,” National Public Radio, June 13, 2008).
“A same-sex couple in California applied to Adoption Profiles, an Internet service in Arizona that matches adoptive parents with newborns. The couple’s application was denied based on the religious beliefs of the company’s owners. The couple sued in federal district court in San Francisco. The two sides settled after the adoption company said it will no longer do business in California” (National Public Radio, June 13, 2008).
WHEN HOMOSEXUALITY IS FULLY LEGAL, YOU WON’T BE ABLE TO STOP HOMOSEXUALS FROM HAVING PUBLIC SEX.
When the mayor of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, proposed in July 2007 that the city spend $250,000 on robotic toilets for the beach to curb homosexual sex in public restrooms and parks, homosexual activists were up in arms. (The doors of the toilets automatically open after a certain period.) The homosexuals accused Mayor Jim Naugle of “hatred” and demanded an apology.
In response he did apologize, but not to the homosexuals. He said: “I was not aware of how serious the problem was of the sexual activity that’s taking place in bathrooms and public places and parks in Broward County and particularly the city of Fort Lauderdale. I’ve been educated on that, and I want to apologize to the parents and the children of our community for not being aware of the problem. This to me is totally unacceptable. I don’t think that in the name of being inclusive or tolerant any of us in the community should tolerate this” (“Fort Lauderdale Mayor Criticized,” Florida Baptist Witness, Aug. 2, 2007).
This further enraged the homosexuals, and they held a rally at city hall. Matt Foreman of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force called the mayor a “bigot” and said he should be “shunned everywhere he goes and not allowed at any gathering where decent people are.” City Commissioner Carlton Moore shouted, “We as a community must unite against hatred.”
Some public parks are listed on homosexual websites as recommended locations for immoral liaisons. In June 2008 Pennsylvania state park rangers arrested three men at such a park and accused them of lewd acts (“PA Park Rangers Crack Down,” OneNewsNow.com, June 18, 2008).
If homosexual activists get their way, and homosexuals are given license to act out their
“lifestyle” as they please, the response given by the Fort Lauderdale mayor and the actions of the park rangers will be illegal.
CONCLUSION
In a nutshell, the thing that will be illegal when homosexuality is fully legal is Bible-believing Christianity, but none of this is surprising to the Bible believer. The Lord Jesus Christ likened the last days to Sodom and Gomorrah (Luke 17:28-30). And the apostle Paul prophesied:
“This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away” (2 Timothy 3:1-5).
We are not surprised at the wickedness that is sweeping across the world, but it is our responsibility to take a stand for God’s Word until Jesus comes.
If we take freedom of speech and religion for granted and do not use it to proclaim God’s Word, we don’t deserve it.
And no matter how evil the hour is, we must not despair. We have all of the glorious promises of a God that cannot lie.
“I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:1-4).
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PASTORS SHARE THEIR PROBLEMS AND CONCERNS
PASTORS SHARE THEIR PROBLEMS AND CONCERNS
November 19, 2008 (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) -
On July 24, 2008, I sent out an announcement to the Fundamental Baptist Information Service mailing list asking pastors to share with our readers their troubles and concerns. I said:
“I think it would be very helpful if we could put together a report that describes the problems pastors face. It would help pastors and it would help the people. If you are a pastor of a fundamentalist Baptist or Bible church I urge you to write and share your greatest problems and heartaches. It doesn’t have to be long. Just list them and perhaps give an illustration or two.”
In response we received the following informative statements:
1. Most church members do not attend or come very late to Sunday School.
2. Most church members do not come back for the Sunday afternoon service.
3. Most church members do not attend prayer meeting.
4. One of the greatest heartaches is for young men to promise God to be a pastor upon high school graduation, and then not fulfil it. I paid the tuition fee of one young man for one year (whom I trained singing, song leading, and preaching) because he said, ‘I want to be a pastor.’ But when he graduated, he did not enroll. Now he just stays in their home doing nothing. Another talented young man I supported (by giving allowance) for one year on his first year in Bible College. On his second year, he quit. One more young man gave a testimony of his desire to enroll in Bible school and be a pastor. Our church promised him support. When he graduated high school, he did not enroll Bible school but worked in a computer game station.
5. Although this is no longer the case in our church, one of the ‘greatest’ problems in the fundamental Baptist churches in our area is that pastors seem to be ‘expected’ to be poor and to sacrifice for the church members. Since the pastors are not to be hirelings, the churches don’t give them a salary. So the problem of pastors is how to communicate and educate their church members about this matter of support.
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I suppose my problem, or perhaps my heartache, is a seeming lack of understanding my church has of spiritual things, even those things I have taught on. For instance, we recently did a study of the book of Revelation; we spent about four months on it, going through it chapter by chapter, verse by verse. We do it in a somewhat informal setting, to allow for questions and further explanations in difficult areas, (which is, I guess, about all of it). To help, I illustrated many things to give a visual aspect for further understanding, as well as lots of hand-outs to take home, and so forth. At the end of the study, I decided to see how well the information sunk in, so I gave a 12 question quiz. Sadly, not one could even tell me how long the Great Tribulation period would be, with answers ranging from 10-1,000 years. My questions were very basic, nothing hard: Who are the 144,000? How long is the Millennial reign of Christ, (some got this one right)? What do the four horsemen represent? Things like this, that we went over and over.
Brother Cloud, some of these folks have been in church for 50 years! What are they doing when the teaching is going on? They come, they sit, they open their Bibles, but nothing seems to get in. Sometimes I wonder why I spend the time when no one hears or responds. Hence, my heartache. Can't even get them to read their Bibles on their own.
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Thanks for the opportunity to air the gripes, concerns and problems of being a pastor.
In addition to the problem of women's dress---rather, the lack of it, there is the unavailability of those who say, ‘I’m here to help,’ or ‘I'm behind you 100%.’
And the problem of being the last one to hear--‘I thought you already knew.’ If we’re not specifically told, just how are we to know? All too often the pastor is the last one to know of a problem or need in the community or in the lives of his people.
All in all, through some fifty-two years of ministry, I find the Lord has blessed me so much---in that I haven’t felt the problems many pastors experience. I’ve had my share of threats, but few of the problems I hear of.
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After 27 years of full-time ministry, the thing that troubles me the most is that I have come to the place where I know better than to trust anybody. Eventually, they all will turn on you, even if it is only for a short time, and even if they get right with you afterward. You cannot really rely on anyone. The only thing I trust everyone to do is to eventually betray my trust.
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There are several things that I find as problematic in ministry as I pastor an Independent, Fundamental Baptist Church. To name what has become the norm in the culture of this day and age, I would say, of course, worldliness in general creates many problems. The lack of knowledge of God’s Word and ways causes many heartaches and disagreements. The misunderstanding of the proper biblical definition of ‘forgiveness’ allows bitterness to become rampant in our churches. All of these are maladies which harm the bodies of Christ which seek to glorify Him and serve Him.
However, one of the biggest problems I have seen in my years of ministry is the response of church members as well as ‘Christians’ in general toward the authority of the local church and pastors in their lives. Now, I understand that churches and pastors realistically have only the level of respect and authority in the life of an individual which that person allows them. What grieves me is that many church going folk desire only a preacher or someone to take care of the business of the church while not allowing that man to be a shepherd in their life...not allowing him to watch over them...to protect them...to provide the spiritual food and direction they and their family needs.
I have found there are many who love to come to church. They apparently love the Lord. They will even love the pastor. However, they stop short of allowing the man of God to serve them by leading them in a biblical understanding of the Bible and an obedient walk with the Lord. They pretty much feel that they know their Bible...their doctrine...what is right and wrong...and so, ‘preacher, you just preach, teach, administrate...but leave the living to me.’
I am not proposing a heartless, legalistic, authoritative, power-mongering form of leadership. What I am suggesting is a biblical, spirit-filled, Christ-honoring, compassionate spiritual authority which the Bible commands the pastor to represent. I know there is a segment of pastors within the IFB ranks who have abused the pastorate. However, there is also a spirit of rebellion among the membership. It is not necessarily an open movement; yet, it is a very present problem in our churches which leaches the true power of the spirit from our assemblies because of undealt with sin and impure or unsurrendered lifestyles.
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Spiritual blindness ... related to modesty and many, many other issues.
And along with that lethargy -- just a general ho hum attitude toward spiritual things. Boredom toward the services and messages.
Youth ... a tremendous battle to keep our youth from either going into sin or leaving straight and narrow churches and going into more contemporary ones.
Music is an ongoing problem. My perception is that even in churches where the music is still good in the church, that families, and maybe especially the younger ones, are listening to CCM (and rock-n-roll) and they develop an appetite for it and eventually it shows up in our churches.
Pervasiveness of wickedness. I am often amazed at what God's people (and sometimes other pastors) talk of watching on television ... or even going to the Hollywood movie house.
I am distressed and dismayed over the lack of spiritual hunger and thirst, the lack of spiritual understanding of the times in which we live. How I long and pray for a true Holy Spirit revival among God's people.
Not to say that I am defeated, for I rejoice to serve a sovereign God!!!
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In our case we have a ‘Big Mouth’ woman who comes to business meetings held on Wednesday nights on a quarterly basis who has ideas she brings to the floor, and usually they're opposes to the pastor’s. On non-essential matters, those present usually side with her. I am convinced she calls others beforehand and tries to influence them for her causes. Ironically, she usually doesn't support the cause anyway!
For example, our church celebrated our anniversary this month. I and our deacons thought we should scale down the celebration and focus on other pressing matters. She influenced those present at the business meeting to go ‘gung ho’ for the anniversary. So, when our banquet time came, we had about 130 attendees, who paid $50.00 each, but she did not show up for the banquet which she pushed in the first place! I'm hoping others see her hypocrisy. To compound the matter, she NEVER comes to prayer meeting on Wed. nights, NEVER comes to Sunday School, nor does she EVER attend the Sunday PM meeting! She only comes Wednesday nights to the quarterly meeting. Anyway, I am at my wit's end and am praying for discernment regarding discipline and considering how to ban her from these meetings, although our constitution is vague.
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A pastor friend once said that the difference between the church member that loves you the most and the one that hates you the most is ...... 10 years.
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Here are some problems that I have encountered as a Pastor. I think most of these you have addressed at some point or another.
1. Lack of commitment to the local church. There seems to be a lack of commitment these days to the work of the local church. People will come to hear the preaching of the word BUT do NOT want to get involved in the work. They will NOT take the first step to commitment and that is joining the local church. We have two believers in our church that have been with us for over 6 years, they come almost every Sunday to the services but have not joined. There are some believers that come to church and love our stand against apostasy, the charismatic movement, worldliness, Calvinism, ecumenism and new evangelicalism. They ‘seem’ to be fundamentalist through and through but after months and months of coming to our church they still fail to join. As a pastor, I can’t put them in positions of teaching and service. The work of the ministry either doesn't get done or it gets "piled on" the faithful few.
2. Working instead of Coming to Church. Another problem that is becoming more prevalent is believers (notice I didn’t say lost folks) who work on Sunday and miss the church services. Many times they are NOT just missing one Sunday service but BOTH. Even worse as far as numbers are believers who miss the midweek service because of work. Although it is preached from the pulpit, these believers just can't seem to take steps of faith which would free up their Sundays and midweek so they could attend ALL the services of the church. I'm not against folks NOT attending some special Saturday fellowship or Monday night get together. I understand there must be some grace in this area. I'm not against someone having to work a shift because of some emergency. It’s the folks in the restaurant business, in retail business, in construction or in mining that are missing church. Some of these people take jobs without finding out if they will have to work Sundays or during the midweek service. BUT some take jobs knowing full well that they will have to work during the regular services of the church.
3. House Church Movement. Another problem pastors find is the house church movement. This seems to be more prevalent among homeschool families. People are so over protective of their families to the point that there is no church ‘good enough for them.’ So they decide to stay home and listen to tapes or watch videos.
4. Bitterness. This has to be one of the main problems in a church between active members. Satan has a way of taking away the effectiveness of a church and uses bitterness so often. I’ve heard of brothers who were mad at each other for years while trying to effectively serve in their church. Yet their service bore little fruit. They did get right in the end and had wonderful ministries to their church and to other churches as well. Bitterness against the pastor or pastor's wife takes a great toll on the church.
5. Lack of Willingness to follow church leadership. Another problem found in the church is a lack of willingness to follow church leadership. Many want to hear the preaching of the word BUT don’t want to fall under pastoral leadership. This may be the underlying reason people don't want to join the church. Practically, some of believers in the church have a radio preacher, TV preacher or even a video preacher as their pastor. Some people have a deceased preacher as their pastor. For example, in practice, some believers follow Jack Hyles, Vernon McGee, Lester Roloff , Charles Finney, Martin Lloyd Jones or A.W. Pink. I've had people in our church who could say NO wrong about some of these deceased preachers but would be constantly criticizing their own Pastor. These folks wouldn’t get behind the ministries of their local church and try to get their own pastor to pattern themselves after these deceased preachers. They are comparing their pastor to these preachers and when their own pastor comes short they fail to follow their own pastor’s leading.
NOTE: The problems that are of least concern are the problems with lost folks outside the church. A Pastor doesn't even loose a wink of sleep over these problems. I’ve had angry neighbors leave messages on my answering machine calling the church down. BUT these never amount to much and never hurt the church. The greatest problems are with believers in the church.
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We are a very small start-up church, but very active in personal evangelism in this city. Our greatest frustration is two-fold: 1. There are probably only about 25 Christians in this city/area of 250,000 who are active in Scriptural personal evangelism -- namely, preaching sin, judgment, repentance, the Gospel, and the new birth to include a changed life to serve the Lord Jesus Christ. 2. Multitudes are religiously lost, including many who profess a new birth, but whose lives profess their lost condition.
The two issues are coupled because most of the people to whom we preach the Gospel have no other Scriptural influence on them. Most Christians experience conversion after multiple evangelistic encounters, challenges, etc. (some say 7 or 8 serious encounters). In short, we'd like to do more reaping in the midst of sowing.
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Concerning my greatest problems, three top the list and these are in no specific order.
1. Young people that I and the Church have poured our hearts, time, prayers and resources into only to see them make a conscious decision to rebel against everything that they were taught when they reach the upper teen ages. Although they have heard the warnings against rebellion, they seem to want to find out for themselves and in the process cause themselves much pain and heartbreak.
2. Many parents of these teens that rebel continue to raise their other children in a way that will only promote rebellion in their lives. They don't seem to learn from the first child. Many moms and dads and grandparents in this Church are heartbroken because none of their children or grandchildren are serving the Lord.
3. Christians that are only 1 or 2 issue Christians and seem indifferent to other doctrinal matters. Some are very strong on standards but neglect soulwinning. They’ve memorized several verses on their pet doctrine and will amen when that 1 doctrine is preached on, but they neglect much of what they need to mature as a Christian.
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Thank you for asking for input concerning the problems we face as pastors. I will try to answer as best I can and I hope I understand what you are looking for.
1. When it comes to pastoring the church the problems that constantly are being dealt with are separation type issues. I believe the modesty issue is paramount and music. I have to walk guard and deal with these two more than any other. Liberalism and worldliness are always seeking a way in. I have found in church planting that people do not mind my preaching on those subjects, in fact, they will even ‘Amen’ the points of the message. But, when it comes to enforcing the standard taught from the Scriptures some really take offense.
Another issue is the taking up of offenses. People will misread a situation because they do not know all the facts and draw wrong conclusions. A pastor most of the time cannot defend his handling of the matter because it would mean giving up a confidence or sharing information that is not for public knowledge.
2. Someone said, ‘The person that gives me the most trouble is the one I shave in the morning.’ I have to say that probably I am the one I have to deal with the most. I want to walk with God and truly feed the flock and yet I feel stretched at times to be all that God wants me to be and feed the people on the best pasture possible.
3. I must say that I am privileged to be in ministry. I believe that a major part of my life is to deal with problems. It is a thrill to go to the Lord and find help and strength for myself and then be able to help others (2 Corinthians 1:3-5). To be able to see and pass on the sufficiency of Christ as found in the Word of God is truly an opportunity for which I thank God that He allows me to do.
Yes, there are many problems, but I would not trade the opportunity to serve Christ this way than any other work I could be engaged in.
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Certainly there are challenges involved with being a pastor. If I were to point to one problem, I would say that it is the lack of morality of many church members. I don’t mean that I have a church full of liars and thieves, but I have seen over the last few years that many Christians seem to have no morals at all. Below are a few examples:
Some believers have a problem with telling the truth. I have had people flat out lie to me as if they thought I could not see the truth. I once asked a family if they were coming to a special holiday service, and the answer was, ‘We like to stay in and have a quiet evening.’ It turns out that they went to an extended family outing which had already been planned. We learned about what happened because the children did not know enough to lie to me and told all about the party.
Some believers think that once they get mad at you and leave the church, they can renege on any obligations. I had a man once do that and decide that he did not have to repay a personal loan. It sounds an awful lot like stealing to me.
I have seen pastors show a lack of ethics as well. Whenever someone gets mad and leaves (and refuses to talk to me about what happened), his new pastor welcomes the whole family in without calling me for my side of what happened. In another case, the ex-pastor of my church took the side of the person mentioned above who took my money and ran (they were very close friends).
I have had people decide to skip church (and their responsibilities in certain activities) because they decided that a church day was a great day to make home improvements. There was no phone call to us; just a failure to show up, causing us to scramble to cover for them.
Please don't think that I am sour on Christianity because I do know some wonderful Christians, and it is still true that we serve a great God. The problem people are gone and ‘blessing’ some other church (or staying home watching TV).
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I’m an independent Baptist pastor from New Hampshire. I’ll list the top three problems that I have in the church.
1. Faithful SS, AM, PM, WED Church Attendance. I have dealt with this from the pulpit numerous times biblically. There is such a casual attitude about attending. If an event (i.e., child’s ball game, family reunion, big ball game) or inconvenience (i.e., tired from work, just got back YESTERDAY from vacation, headache) comes up there will be several families that are out. It is such a discouragement to me and other members of the body (even some who are guilty of it themselves are the ones who complain about ‘where is so and so?’ [I say ‘complain’ not concerned about the spiritual welfare of that one on purpose]).
2. Spiritual gifts. There is a great lack of knowledge of and naturally then exercising of one's spiritual gift in the body. Too many pew sitters. Sideline Christians. I have to take personal responsibility for the lack of knowledge (Eph. 4), and this will be a focus of my preaching in about three months.
3. Faithful MEN. We have a disproportionate number of faithful wives to faithful husbands. It rears its ugly head in every area: Leadership in the home, taking the lead in prayer, service in the church, etc. God give us faithful men. Men of convictions. Men of integrity. Men who can pray. Men who will stand with the Pastor. Men that I can invest my life and time in that will in turn do the same with other faithful men here in our church (2 Tim. 2:2).
With all of this being said, I do have several wonderful families that the above are not true of. The need for today is as old as the church. ‘Make disciples!’ I'm convinced that our churches are bursting with families that have been saved for many years and lived in rebellion against God and the Bible and just hop from one church to the next that they actually harm the church by destroying the spirit of a NT assembly. I am very careful about allowing ‘seasoned Christians’ from the area to join our church now as a result. I have determined now that I will not allow them to join (some exceptions) until they have proven themselves faithful over a six month period. I have a family of believers attending right now that have been faithful every Sunday morning for about nine months that want to join but I will not let them because they will not come on Sunday PM or Wed night or Sunday School. This has caused some in our church to be anxious and at times frustrated with me. But it’s the Lord's church not mine!
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I am a pastor in New Zealand and will soon be celebrating my 10th anniversary in the ministry. The church was started by a missionary from Australia approximately in 1990. As the congregation is small I have secular work as well as being pastor. We letter box, street preach, have all-age Sunday school, Morning Service, Evening Service, Prayer Meeting on Wednesday evenings, Advanced Bible Studies on alternate Thursday evenings, Young Peoples activity and Bible study every second week. All this makes us quite busy. We are, what would seem on the outside, an active church and the people like to have an active church but they themselves will only go to the activities if it suits them. Our congregation has gone from a median 24 in 1996 to a median 37 in 2002 to a median of 21 this year.
I will tell you why. It is because our church does not have enough people! When visitors come they might stay a while but leave because our numbers are too small. I ask them how are our numbers going to get any bigger when people leave because we do not have enough people? We are ‘between a rock and a hard place.’ We can't grow because we do not have enough people and we cannot get more people because we do not have enough people.
As you will no doubt know that if you are in a small church there is more expectation to put the hand to the plough, but people do not want that. They want the activities, but they want to be able to slip into a church service and not feel guilty about not doing anything. So they compromise on doctrine and charismaticism and go to another church. Christians today (generalising) do not want to work. This then leads to the work being left up to the pastor his family and a few faithful others. This is discouraging. I have just learnt that a US missionary-pastor in the next town has resigned from his church because of discouragement (he has been there for three years). This too is discouraging for me as we need contact to encourage each other and when they leave then where is the encouragement for me to continue on?
Over the years I have searched my heart and prayed about my discouragement, asking the question, ‘Is it me?’ The Lord led me to the conclusion, ‘Think of Noah! Only his family was saved. Only his family was present at the evening service only his family was present at the prayer meeting.’ Although we have been at that stage, praise the Lord we are not at that stage now, but we may one day get to that stage again if people get discouraged because our numbers are not growing.
I have told them that we do not want numbers for numbers sake we want numbers that are willing to serve the Lord with us. We want spiritual growth. But it is still discouraging.
But what can you expect in a time of history that we live in--lukewarmness is in the church? Romans 13:11, ‘And that, knowing the time, that now [it is] high time to awake out of sleep: for now [is] our salvation nearer than when we believed.’ But the church members continue to sleep on. It may sound like I’m feeling sorry for myself but that is not what is intended as we will continue to ‘earnestly contend for the faith.’
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I find as a pastor here in South Africa that as living in a sinful, complicated world becomes more difficult people tend to focus on ‘here and now solutions’. They focus entirely a) on their problem/s; b) on other people who are the cause of it or c) the ‘unfair’ society they live in. All this...as long as they do not have to hold themselves responsible and accountable (just like Adam and Eve in their blame-shifting). The MAIN problem these people have is the way they think and the influence of the humanistic, warped world around them make them think. In a world which becomes more and more bent on quick-fixes, they are solution orientated for selfish reasons (‘I don’t need all of this in my complicated life’) instead of the urge to solve things a) for the glory of the Lord and b) to be an effective witness in this world. The VITAL answer is: zooming in on the real solution with the right motives and to be willing to practice ‘owning up’ and recognising: I am at fault because of my sinful, unholy life; I need the Solution (spelled with a capital ‘S’), and His Name is Christ Jesus who is holy and commands me to crucify self, repent of my sins and to break with sin. This requires humbling myself, to be self-critical and attaining Christ’s love in my heart so that I will love and forgive (as Christ Himself did) and make right with others whom I have a problem with (Rom. 15:7).
If these pointers are not followed people are wasting precious time in the pastor's study. The answer is to SPEEDILY in counseling move to these. Things are not ‘talked’ right, but MADE right, and it starts here and now and at the foot of the cross.
[Distributed by Way of Life Literature's Fundamental Baptist Information Service, an e-mail listing for Fundamental Baptists and other fundamentalist, Bible-believing Christians. OUR GOAL IN THIS PARTICULAR ASPECT OF OUR MINISTRY IS NOT DEVOTIONAL BUT IS TO PROVIDE INFORMATION TO ASSIST PREACHERS IN THE PROTECTION OF THE CHURCHES IN THIS APOSTATE HOUR. This material is sent only to those who personally subscribe to the list. If somehow you have subscribed unintentionally, following are the instructions for removal. The Fundamental Baptist Information Service mailing list is automated. To SUBSCRIBE or to UNSUBSCRIBE or to CHANGE ADDRESSES or to RE-SUBSCRIBE UNDER A NEW ADDRESS, go to http://www.wayoflife.org/fbis/subscribe.html. If you have any trouble with this, please let us know. And please be patient with us. We do not ignore any unsubscribe request, but we cannot always get to your request immediately as each person involved with maintaining the Way of Life web site does this only on a very part time basis and is busy with many other major activities, such as pastoring and missionary work. We take up a quarterly offering to fund this ministry, and those who use the materials are expected to participate (Galatians 6:6) if they can. Some of the articles are from O Timothy magazine, which is in its 25th year of publication. Way of Life publishes many helpful books. The catalog is located at the web site: http://wayoflife.org/catalog/catalog.htm Way of Life Literature, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061. 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org. We do not solicit funds from those who do not agree with our preaching and who are not helped by these publications, but from those who are. OFFERINGS can be made at http://www.wayoflife.org/fbns/offering.html. PAYPAL offerings can be made to https://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=dcloud%40wayoflife.org]
LESSONS FROM HEBREWS 13: OBEYING CHURCH RULERS
November 12, 2008 (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) -
“Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation.” Hebrews 13:7
“Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.” Hebrews 13:17
1. Two times in this chapter the writer of Hebrews admonishes his readers to heed their spiritual rulers. Two obligations are given: remember them (v. 7) and obey them (v. 17).
To remember one’s elders means to remember that one has spiritual leaders and therefore that one has an obligation to them. It means to “know them which labour among you and are over you in the Lord” (1 Th. 5:12). It means to support them properly (1 Tim. 5:17-18). It means to think about them so as to be an encouragement to them.
To obey them is to submit to their teaching and follow their example. “Christians must submit to be instructed by their ministers, and not think themselves too wise, too good, or too great, to learn from them; and, when they find that ministerial instructions are agreeable to the written word, they must obey them” (Matthew Henry).
Obedience to pastoral authority is something that is enjoined upon every believer and it must be performed as an act of the will. The Spirit of God says, “Submit yourselves.” Obedience to human rulers is always a difficult matter for a sinner, even a saved one, because he is rebellious and stubborn by nature. Furthermore, elders are far from perfect. One is always tempted to think, “Who is that man to tell me what to do! He is no better than I am; he isn’t so very perfect himself; I know that he has made mistakes. Anyway, I have the Spirit of God just as he does.” Obedience even to the most respectable human authority, therefore, is an act of self sacrifice. Submit yourselves. It is an act of the will. I submit to those that God has put over me as unto the Lord and not merely as unto a man. That is how a wife can submit herself to her husband. “Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord” (Eph. 5:22). She doesn’t surrender her will to a man only; she surrenders it to the Lord through that man. Obedience to pastoral authority is a serious matter and cannot be ignored without consequences. Pastors are one of God’s gifts to churches (Eph. 4:11-12). Many professing Christians have the idea that they don’t need pastors and elders, that God is their ruler and they don’t need men, but this philosophy flies in the face of Hebrews 13. Every believer should ask himself, “Who has the rule over me spirituality under God?” because two times in Hebrews 13 we are told how to relate to those who “rule over you.” It is certain that pastoral authority has been abused at times, but that is no reason to discard or discount it altogether. Every kind of authority has been abused in this sinful world, but that does not mean that we are free to ignore it. Churches should be governed by a combination of pastor-elder and people rule. This is what we see in Acts 6. The elders gave the standards for the deacons, the people selected them, and the elders ordained them (Acts 6:3-6). This is a model of a church properly and scripturally governed.
Obedience to pastoral authority is not absolute, of course. Bible believers do not blindly follow their spiritual leaders. Pastors are not popes. God’s people are to follow their leaders as they follow Christ and as they follow the Word of God. We see in Hebrews 13:7 that “the word of God” is the absolute standard and as long as the leaders are speaking the Word of God, they should be obeyed. “They are not to make laws of their own, but to interpret the laws of God; nor is their interpretation to be immediately received without examination, but the people must search the scriptures, and so far as the instructions of their minister are according to that rule they ought to receive them” (Matthew Henry).
Pastors have real authority but it is not a lordly authority; it is a shepherd’s authority. “Neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being ensamples to the flock” (1 Pet. 5:3). We see this in Hebrews 13:17, where the ruler’s role is described in terms of watching for the souls of the believers. See also Mk. 10:42-45; 1 Cor. 3:5; 2 Cor. 1:24; 3 Jn. 9-10. The pastor’s job is to watch over the spiritual. He watches for men’s souls. In contrast, some pastors have attempted to lord it over every aspect of people’s lives, interfering with their every decision, forbidding them to do things that are not forbidden in Scripture, and putting obligations upon them that go beyond the bounds of Scripture. “It is for your own good that they do this [‘for they watch for your souls’], and you should, therefore, submit to these arrangements. And this shows, also, the true principle on which authority should be exercised in a church. It should be in such a way as to promote the salvation of the people; and all the arrangements should be with that end. The measures adopted, therefore, and the obedience enjoined, should not be arbitrary, oppressive, or severe, but should be such as will really promote salvation” (Barnes).
2. Even though the book of Hebrews is not written to a particular church, as most of Paul’s epistles were, we see that the church is never out of sight. In Hebrews 10:25 we are reminded of the importance of the assembly and in chapter 13 we are reminded of the necessity of obeying church leaders. From the very beginning of this dispensation God’s people have been taught to organize themselves into New Testament assemblies. Christ said He would build His church (Mat. 16:18). From the day of Pentecost, the church has been the focal point of God’s people (Acts 2:41-42). The apostles established the first churches and left this as the pattern for the rest of the age (Acts 14:23; Titus 1:5). It is the church that is the pillar and ground of the truth (1 Tim. 3:15). Much of the New Testament is written directly to individual churches.
3. The two broad standards for church leaders are given in Hebrews 13:7, which reminds us again that God’s people are not to blindly follow men but are to submit to those who give clear evidence of a divine call and who are scripturally qualified and are living what they preach.
They are sound in doctrine and practice (“who have spoken unto you the word of God,” Heb. 13:7). This refers to their teaching. They are men described in Titus 1:9 -- “Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers.”
They have strong faith and a good manner of life (“whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation” Heb. 13:7). This standard is described in detail in 1 Timothy 3:1-7 and Titus 1:5-9. Godly living is a necessary qualification for pastors and elders because the character of the church depends upon it. God’s people are exhorted to follow the faith and example of their leaders. If the pastors’ lives are not right the people will not have the proper example to follow and God’s work on earth will be seriously hindered. Therefore, pastors must have the right kind of personal testimony and family life. How often in this age have pastors failed to maintain the biblical teaching and practice and how often and grievously God’s work has suffered as a result!
4. Pastors watch for the souls of the brethren and must give account for them (Heb. 13:17). Pastors are given watchcare over the Lord’s flock and they have the responsibility to present it back to Him in good shape. The flock is not their own; it is loaned to them for safekeeping. If they do not feed the sheep properly and do not protect them from the wolves and do not go after the wayward they will be judged by the Great Shepherd. The pastor will give account for his teaching, for his pastoring, for his example, for his decisions, for everything. Therefore James says, “My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation” (Jam. 3:1).
5. Believers must give account for how they relate to their church leaders (Heb. 13:17). The Bible indicates that it is “unprofitable” for brethren to be a grief to their pastors (apart from a clear scriptural basis, of course, which might require them to resist false teaching or sinful living) because of their rebellion or stubbornness or laziness or carnality. Unless the pastor is teaching or living contrary to the Word of God in such a manner that I must resist him in order to be faithful to Christ, he should have joy from my life and service in the church. He should be encouraged at how I love and heed the Word of God, at how I am growing in Christ, at how I am diligently serving the Lord, at how I am supporting the cause of Christ with my finances, at my faithfulness, at my zeal, at my compassion, at my holiness.
It is good for every believer to ask himself, “What kind of account would the pastor give of me if he were to stand before Christ this very day? What can I change so that the pastor has more joy when he gives this account?”
See also the following articles:
“The Pastor’s Authority and the Church Member’s Responsibility” - http://www.wayoflife.org/fbns/pastoral.htm
“Unquestioning Loyalty to Pastoral Leadership the Mark of a Cult” - http://www.wayoflife.org/fbns/unquestioningloyalty.htm
[Distributed by Way of Life Literature's Fundamental Baptist Information Service, an e-mail listing for Fundamental Baptists and other fundamentalist, Bible-believing Christians. OUR GOAL IN THIS PARTICULAR ASPECT OF OUR MINISTRY IS NOT DEVOTIONAL BUT IS TO PROVIDE INFORMATION TO ASSIST PREACHERS IN THE PROTECTION OF THE CHURCHES IN THIS APOSTATE HOUR. This material is sent only to those who personally subscribe to the list. If somehow you have subscribed unintentionally, following are the instructions for removal. The Fundamental Baptist Information Service mailing list is automated. To SUBSCRIBE or to UNSUBSCRIBE or to CHANGE ADDRESSES or to RE-SUBSCRIBE UNDER A NEW ADDRESS, go to http://www.wayoflife.org/fbis/subscribe.html. If you have any trouble with this, please let us know. And please be patient with us. We do not ignore any unsubscribe request, but we cannot always get to your request immediately as each person involved with maintaining the Way of Life web site does this only on a very part time basis and is busy with many other major activities, such as pastoring and missionary work. We take up a quarterly offering to fund this ministry, and those who use the materials are expected to participate (Galatians 6:6) if they can. Some of the articles are from O Timothy magazine, which is in its 25th year of publication. Way of Life publishes many helpful books. The catalog is located at the web site: http://wayoflife.org/catalog/catalog.htm Way of Life Literature, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061. 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org. We do not solicit funds from those who do not agree with our preaching and who are not helped by these publications, but from those who are. OFFERINGS can be made at http://www.wayoflife.org/fbns/offering.html. PAYPAL offerings can be made to https://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=dcloud%40wayoflife.org]
CHURCH PLACEMENT LIST
November 11, 2008 (Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) -
We would like to inform our readers that For the Love of the Family Ministries has set up a church placement list.
The following information is from Terry Coomer, director of For Love of the Family Ministries and pastor of Elwood Bible Baptist Church of Elwood, Indiana.
Way of Life Literature does not have any part in the maintenance of this list, and all questions and submissions must be sent directly to For the Love of the Family Ministries.
_____________________
Dear Friends of For the Love of the Family,
On a regular basis we receive inquiries from churches that are looking for a pastor asking if we can recommend people to them. We also receive many inquiries from pastors looking for positions in churches.
I have always found it wise not to recommend anyone I do not know. However, since we receive several inquiries from both sides, we have decided to maintain a list of churches that are looking for a pastor and pastors who are looking for churches. Several pastors and churches have already found each other through the list.
We do this with the following criteria:
1. The church or pastor must be an Independent-Fundamental Baptist, KJV.
2. We will keep your church or name on the list for 4 months and it will be dated when it is put on.
3. The list is not a recommendation. It is only a contact point for both sides.
4. Pastor, do not send me a resume. All I need is your contact information: Name, address, telephone, and e-mail address. Note if you are looking to be a pastor, assistant, or youth pastor etc.
5. Churches, please send the following information: Name of church, address, name of contact person, telephone number, e-mail address, and Sunday morning attendance.
Our desire is to help folks in finding God’s man and God’s place. Please remember this is not a recommendation of the church or the pastor.
Serving the God of Answers,
Terry L. Coomer
Pastor, Elwood Bible Baptist Church
Director, For the Love of the Family Ministries
www.fortheloveofthefamily.com
drtlcoomer@comcast.net
[Distributed by Way of Life Literature's Fundamental Baptist Information Service, an e-mail listing for Fundamental Baptists and other fundamentalist, Bible-believing Christians. OUR GOAL IN THIS PARTICULAR ASPECT OF OUR MINISTRY IS NOT DEVOTIONAL BUT IS TO PROVIDE INFORMATION TO ASSIST PREACHERS IN THE PROTECTION OF THE CHURCHES IN THIS APOSTATE HOUR. This material is sent only to those who personally subscribe to the list. If somehow you have subscribed unintentionally, following are the instructions for removal. The Fundamental Baptist Information Service mailing list is automated. To SUBSCRIBE or to UNSUBSCRIBE or to CHANGE ADDRESSES or to RE-SUBSCRIBE UNDER A NEW ADDRESS, go to http://www.wayoflife.org/fbis/subscribe.html. If you have any trouble with this, please let us know. And please be patient with us. We do not ignore any unsubscribe request, but we cannot always get to your request immediately as each person involved with maintaining the Way of Life web site does this only on a very part time basis and is busy with many other major activities, such as pastoring and missionary work. We take up a quarterly offering to fund this ministry, and those who use the materials are expected to participate (Galatians 6:6) if they can. Some of the articles are from O Timothy magazine, which is in its 25th year of publication. Way of Life publishes many helpful books. The catalog is located at the web site: http://wayoflife.org/catalog/catalog.htm Way of Life Literature, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061. 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org. We do not solicit funds from those who do not agree with our preaching and who are not helped by these publications, but from those who are. OFFERINGS can be made at http://www.wayoflife.org/fbns/offering.html. PAYPAL offerings can be made to https://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=dcloud%40wayoflife.org]
NEGLECTED CHURCH DISCIPLINE
Republished November 10, 2008 (first published December 28, 1997) (Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) -
The following is one chapter of the book New Testament Church Discipline by the late James W. Crumpton. Dr. Crumpton was the pastor of Westside Baptist Church, Natchez, Mississippi, and president of Maranatha Baptist Mission. Though we don't agree with every jot and tittle of it, this book on church discipline is one of the best we have ever seen, and we are thankful for his permission to put it at our web site. The chapter titles include the following: Constructive Church Discipline, Personal Church Discipline, Corrective Church Discipline, Punitive Church Discipline, and Foot Washing: Church Ordinance or Church Discipline? The book can be viewed on the web at the Way of Life Literature site under Church section of the End Times Apostasy Online Database.
NEGLECTED CHURCH DISCIPLINE
By Pastor James Crumpton
"And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; I know thy works, that thou are neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou are wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and write raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and him with me. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches" (Revelation 3:14-22).
In our other chapters, we have looked at church discipline from several viewpoints: Constructive, Personal, Corrective, Punitive, and Local. Now in this chapter we want to consider how church discipline has and is being neglected and some of the tragic results.
Our Scripture passage gives not only the command of our Lord that we exercise church discipline, but also the trend of the churches to neglect it during the time since our Saviour returned to the right hand of the Father after His death, burial, and resurrection.
There is not much true love -- God's kind of love -- known and practiced today. There is not a lot of sentimental selfishness that is passed off as love. I might illustrate what I am talking about by referring to the pastors who "cut corners" and compromise when it comes to preaching the whole counsel of God (and that would include church discipline). They claim to love their people and cannot press for these points that reprove and rebuke. But the truth is that they so love themselves they fear the criticism which Satan would foster against them, if they were true to the teachings of our Lord, if they really loved their people, they would teach them and lead them to practice what our Lord taught. Certainly, He loves the people and knows what is best and a necessity for all. It is never right to do wrong to make an opportunity to do right, and love -- real love -- true love -- always constrains us to do right.
The loss of respect by many unsaved people for the churches goes right back to the spineless position, sentimental selfishness, unscriptural promotion, and numbers racket that exists in some of our churches today.
"And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; these things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God" (Revelation 3:14).
The word "angel" means messenger or pastor. So, the letter is addressed to the pastor, and the message is for him and for his flock. It is the church at Laodicea. Laodicea means "the rights of the people" or "the rule of the people." In other words, it means "democracy." Could any other term more aptly set forth the condition of the present-day church affairs? It is the mistaken idea that the voice of the people is the voice of God; the age of anarchy is almost upon us. Someone has said that we once fought a war to save the world for democracy, but that the day will come when we will have to fight to save the world from democracy.
The Bible nowhere teaches that the New Testament Churches are democracies; it does teach that they are theocracies. Baptists have been as guilty, if not more guilty, than other groups in this matter. What is a theocracy? It is government by the immediate direction of God; yes, it is government by priests, servants, and kings as representatives of God. Who are the priests, servants, and kings in the New Testament church? Every believer is a priest, servant, and king. Therefore every individual member is under obligation to find God's will in the policies, and methods followed in His church. And then when the church votes, there will never be divisions. He will not lead two people in the same congregation two different ways on the same subject. We have no right to vote and do as we please. We do have the right to vote and do as He pleases. So, New Testament churches are theocracies operated on democratic principles. He is the one "to run" the church as He speaks through us: His priest, servants, and kings! Most churches are far more concerned now about what will please the people than they are about what He wants. It is characteristic of the church that neglects discipline as ordained by our Lord.
The remainder of the verse states that this message comes to the Laodiceans from "the Amen," "the faithful and true witness," "the beginning of the creation of God." When our Lord is spoken of as "the Adam," It means that He is the truth. He could be the truth without uttering a word, but the expression, "the faithful and true witness" means that He is not only the truth but that He faithfully proclaims, manifests, and makes known the truth to us. What He says will be exactly true because He is in Himself absolute truth, and there is nothing beyond Him in all the realm of truth. He is the faithful and true witness of God. When He speaks there is no exaggeration and no minimizing. When It says that He is "the beginning of the creation of God," it is referring to His deity. The Lord Jesus is God, and thus He speaks to this church at Laodicea.
"I know thy works, that thou are neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth" (Revelation 3:15-16).
The meaning of hot is seen in Romans 12:11, where the same Greek word is used -- fervent (burning) in spirit. The word translated cold is used in Matthew 10:42, "a cup of cold water" and "as cold waters to a thirsty soul... " (Proverbs 25:25). The church at Laodicea was neither cold nor hot, but lukewarm. Some would lead us to believe the hot means the saved, the cold means the lost, and the lukewarm means the saved who are out of fellowship. Such an interpretation is not acceptable. The hot and the cold could both be applied to the saved who were doing something for Him. Some burning hot in His service -- some doing little things that will also be rewarded -- as those giving a cup of cold water in His Name. Certain things are good whether hot or cold -- tea for example -- but nothing that is lukewarm is good to the taste. This church was neither hot nor cold -- nothing was good -- it was a church filled with unsaved members. The Lord spoke of it as such a disgusting situation that He was about to spue (vomit) them out of His mouth.
"Because thou sayest, I am rich, ands increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou are wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see" (Revelation 3:17-18).
These people had no consciousness of any need. They considered themselves rich. We see the same all around us today; churches so often measure themselves by the size of their offerings, membership, and buildings. And many of them from that materialistic viewpoint have need of nothing. But Jesus said that they were wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. Jesus said that they were miserable; it means pitiable. His heart was moved in pity toward them; He had no congratulations to offer them. When He said that they were poor, He meant that from His standpoint they were possessing nothing worth having. Then He used the word "blind" to describe them; it is the word "nearsighted" which most accurately expresses the thought -- lacking in vision, lacking light, devoid of the sense of the far distances, confined within narrow limits. Then again, He says that they are naked; yes, they were nude, stripped of the clothing of glory and beauty that ought to adorn the church as the Bride of Christ. They were lost people who needed to be clothed in the garment of His imputed righteousness.
The Lord Jesus counsels them to get "gold tried in the fire," "white raiment," and to "anoint thine eyes with eyesalve." "The gold tried in the fire" would make them rich; it is divine righteousness -- that which is imputed to helpless sinners when they receive our Lord Jesus Christ as personal Saviour. The "white raiment" would give them clothing; this is referring to practical righteousness. It is the bride's trousseau, that she may be properly clothed; yea, it is practical righteousness produced in the life of the saint by the Holy Spirit, when the individual surrenders to Him. The "eyesalve" for the eyes is the anointing of the Holy Spirit. John in the second chapter of his first epistle tells us what is ours through this anointing. Let us read verses 20 and 27, "But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things. But the anointing which ye have received of Him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him."
"As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent" (Revelation 3:19).
Here our Lord makes it clear that these stinging words of rebuke from Him come because He loves them. He then challenges them to repent. And that is Christ's last word to the churches -- "repent." Today the way so many leaders talk you would think that His last word is "go," evangelize. But it is not! Evangelism comes as a result of revival. Revival comes when men repent. So, to get to the bottom of our troubles, we need repentance. He said "go" before His ascension. The churches were not going now; so, this time His Word is "repent."
"Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me" (Revelation 3:20).
Here our Lord stands outside the local church seeking entrance. Think of it -- Jesus shut out of a church which claims to be His. What a tragedy! But after all, the church which "cuts out," ignores, and refuses to practice some sections of His Word that displeases the members is shutting Christ out. We cannot refuse His Word and have Him!
"To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the spirit saith unto the churches" (Revelation 3:21-22).
Our Lord certainly knows that many local churches as such in these last days will never open the door to Him. Yet, some are so stupid as to teach that the whole world will be converted. And when He is not even wanted in so many churches! Yet, our Lord does plead with any and every individual who will heed. He also mentions the special reward for those who do heed and who overcome.
NEGLECT OF CHURCH DISCIPLINE IS REBELLION AGAINST GOD'S AUTHORITY
The fact that man is sinfully depraved makes him rebellious against authority. And the Word makes it clear that this rebellion will wax more and more evident as we approach the second coming of Christ. Today we see as never before rebellion against authority in the home, school, government, and churches. Is there any wonder so many fight against the Bible as being verbally inspired? They desire to excuse themselves from accepting the authority of the Word.
Yes, the Laodicean age is upon us. There is much talk that illustrates it: "The majority is right" -- "The people don't like it" -- "The voice of the people is the voice of God" -- "You should not preach like that; people won't like it" -- "I believe in going along with the boys" -- "Everybody does it; it must be all right."
In neglecting the Word of God and its teachings concerning church discipline, we are simply showing how we are rebelling against God's authority. We prefer our ways and will to God's Way and Will. The natural man is that way, but God expects us to be different because He saved us. He expects us to submit to His authority. Could it be that the big trouble today is the same as it was at Laodicea -- church members who need to be saved?
NEGLECT OF CHURCH DISCIPLINE LEADS TO BOASTING IN THE FLESH
The church at Laodicea was actually boasting that she had no needs. These folk felt that they "had arrived." Churches with big buildings, offerings, and memberships often do the same and class folk as "of brand," and "fanatical" who emphasize the need of not compromising the Word, living a separated life, and walking in the Spirit.
Paul said, in the second verse of the fifth chapter of First Corinthians, that the church at Corinth was all puffed up. Look at the verse, "And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you." They were boasting of how liberal they were in having a man in the church guilty of this gross sin of fornication or adultery. You see, they did not want to be accused of being narrow-minded; so, they boasted (and surely such boasting was in the flesh) that they permitted such a man to retain his membership with them. Does it not remind us of such boasting today?
Could you imagine one in the leadership of the Holy Spirit boasting that his or her church condoned immorality? But the Laodiceans believe that what pleases the people is right; they believe the voice of the people is the voice of God. Their own will is their authority, not the Word of God. They follow their own desires and defy those who would in any way cross them.
NEGLECT OF CHURCH DISCIPLINE CONDONES IMMORALITY
As Paul wrote to the brethren at the church of Corinth, he reminded them that to neglect dealing with the case of immorality in their midst would affect the whole congregation. He put it this way, "Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth" (1 Corinthians 5:6-8). Surely as members of the same local church of our Lord Jesus Christ, we are our brother's keeper. And not to do something to help our brother who has gone into gross sin that needs to be dealt with by the church makes us guilty before God.
To ignore sin that should be dealt with in our local congregations is to condone it. Today many people remain in good standing in their churches even though they are drunkards, harlots, murderers, adulterers, adulteresses, gamblers, dope addicts, etc. We know that there are unsaved people who will always be critical of the churches, but they certainly have a right to be so, when churches so operate as to condone immorality.
NEGLECT OF CHURCH DISCIPLINE EVENTUALLY OMITS THE GOSPEL
Practically all churches who neglect the practice of church discipline do so because it displeases the people. It is so clear how the erroneous idea of the churches of Jesus Christ being democracies instead of theocracies leads to the doing of what human nature likes instead of what God commands.
The average church begins by saying that she is opposed to drinking, adultery, gambling, etc., but that she can not, or will not, go so far as to take any action against it. You know, it is like being against a rattlesnake coming into your house, but certainly not being so drastic as to put it out should it come in anyway. THIS SPIRIT OF COMPROMISE GROWS LIKE CREEPING PARALYSIS. AND BEFORE ONE REALIZES IT, THE CHURCHES SPEAK OUT SO WEAKLY AGAINST ANY SIN THAT IT CAN BARELY BE HEARD, AND CERTAINLY THEY WOULD NEVER TAKE ACTION OF ANY KIND. THEY JUST SIT TRYING TO BE PLEASING TO EVERYBODY UTTERING A FEW PIOUS MEANINGLESS PLATITUDES.
And, of course, when the churches get to this point, they cannot afford to preach the Gospel, telling people that they are hopelessly lost unless they get born again and washed in the blood of Christ. They are already so filled with unregenerate members that the voice of the people, which they suppose is the voice of God, would not allow such preaching or teaching. It would be all right to brag on buildings, offerings, membership, etc., but to preach on Hell, Sin, or Regeneration would be unthinkable. They need nothing, in their estimation, not even the Gospel!
NEGLECT OF CHURCH DISCIPLINE LEAVES CHURCHES NO MORE THAN SOCIAL CLUBS
When a church is what Christ teaches her to be, she is as attractive as a very beautiful woman, but wrong doing is as out of place in her presence as immorality is with a real lady! But today because of rebellion against God's authority, holy living, and an uncompromising stand for right and against wrong, the average church is no more than a social club. In fact with the eating programs, athletic programs, and forms of amusement programs you would think that most of them ARE social clubs. If an Elijah, Moses, Amos, Paul, John the Baptist, or our Lord Jesus Christ should come to preach in the average church today, they would declare them fools and fanatics who were so crude that they should not be permitted to speak in polite (?) society. You can join the average church today, and then, never attend, never give, and do everything to destroy that church's influence for 40 years and still be in good standing. The average social club is not that lenient. What a shame and a tragedy for a church of the Lord Jesus Christ to command less respect than a social club, all because of an effort to appease the sinful flesh.
NEGLECT OF CHURCH DISCIPLINE CAUSES A LOSS OF SPIRITUAL VALUES
The church at Laodicea was thinking altogether in terms of the materialistic: money, buildings, crowds, popularity, etc. They had no place for the message of salvation and finding of God's Will for Christian lives. Today we see the same things. Some are more concerned to have a good report at the close of the year than to reach the lost, build up the saved, and walk with Him. Some are more concerned to build fine buildings than to send out missionaries, claiming that they will send out missionaries after they get well fixed at home. Do you suppose they ever realize that it may be to late then? Most of them forget about missionaries when they get their fine buildings. They feel like the people at Laodicea -- they are in need of nothing.
Oh, how temporal and materialistic churches can become. How easy it is for spiritual values to be lost in the debris of the desires of the flesh. How they find themselves trying to appeal to and please the material man who knows not Christ. Yet from this standpoint Christ was a perfect failure, and so will these churches be when they follow His steps.
NEGLECT OF CHURCH DISCIPLINE MAKES CHURCH MEMBERSHIP MEAN LITTLE IF ANYTHING
How many members of the average church could die and it would make no difference, as far as the work of our Lord is concerned? Can one honestly say that his or her church membership really means something, if the church would have to close her doors if all the members were like that individual? Church membership reports are the highest ever in our nation and so is crime. Does being a church member really mean something today, or is it a sort of badge of respectability or even a "cover-up?"
If churches respected the authority of Christ and His Word instead of rebelling against them, it would be a different matter. Church membership would then mean something. I had rather be a member of a church of Jesus Christ than any other organization on earth. But many prize membership in lodges, clubs, and societies above that of membership in a church. They prove it by the small place they give the church in their lives. And this all goes back to our churches neglecting to do what our Lord Jesus taught them. What a price has been paid to please people! How foolish to believe that the voice of the people is the voice of God!
CONCLUSIONS
1. The churches as a whole are doomed because they are listening to and will continue to listen to the voice of people as though it were the voice of God. Jesus made it clear such would be the case.
2. New Testament churches are theocracies and not democracies.
3. Churches cannot please unregenerate men, if they follow their Christ.
4. Many preachers today find where their churches want them to go and follow along instead of finding out where Christ wants them to go and teaching and leading them in His way.
5. Most churches had rather be popular with men than popular with Christ.
6. The measure of greatness by most local churches today is money, members, and buildings, not devoted faithful servants of God.
7. The historical Christ and His message are just as unpopular today as when He lived here on earth some 1900 years ago.
8. The supreme need now is for saints who will follow Christ regardless!
The previous is one chapter of the book New Testament Church Discipline by the late Pastor James W. Crumpton of Westside Baptist Church, Natchez, Mississippi.
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I AM NOT YOUR PASTOR: AN EXHORTATION TO MY READERS TO ACT WISELY IN THE CHURCHES
I AM NOT YOUR PASTOR: AN EXHORTATION TO MY READERS TO ACT WISELY IN THE CHURCHES
September 24, 2008 (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) –
The following are some truths that I consider very important and that I would like for all of my readers to take to heart. Please keep in mind the fact that I am not your pastor. I hope to be a helper in Christ, but I am not your pastor. And I want to give an exhortation about how to act wisely in the churches.
Most of you know these things and live these things, but sometimes I hear things from pastors and others that cause me to realize that some of my readers need this exhortation. At the same time, I don’t have any particular case in mind, so there is no need to write and try to explain yourself to me. Rather, let us be doers of the word and not hearers only.
I DO NOT SUPPORT THOSE WHO SEPARATE FROM ALL CHURCHES TODAY.
Let me make this very clear: I do not support those who separate themselves from all churches today. While I believe that God’s people must be discerning and cautious and not overlook error, at the same time we are to be patient and faithful to God’s ordained institution, the church, and to God-ordained pastoral authority, and I believe we should strive as much as possible for unity and not disunity among true believers. Both things are emphasized in Scripture, though it is not always a simple matter to obey both of them at one time.
If you think that you are justified to separate from all churches today because of David Cloud’s writings, you are mistaken. I do not preach that and I am not pleased when people do that.
In some cases there might not be a sound, spiritually-healthy, Bible-believing church within commuting distance, and I do not expect God’s people to attend a church that would undermine their faith or hinder their spiritual lives or that of their children.
But my recommendation in such cases has always been to find a way either to help start a good church or to move to a place where there is one. It is said that “where there is a will there is a way,” and that is usually true. Paul said, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me” (Phil. 4:13). When God tells us to do something, He provides a way, and the church is God’s program for this age. It is mentioned more than 100 times in Scripture. Most of the New Testament is written to churches. We are commanded not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together (Heb. 10:25) and to obey them that have the rule over us (Heb. 13:17). Those Scriptures take for granted that we will be in a church. The first believers continued steadfastly in the fellowship, prayers, and breaking of bread in the church (Acts 2:42). Paul commended Phebe to the church at Rome, and she was a servant of the church at Cenchrea (Rom. 16:1). That is the example that is put before us in Scripture.
I have been saved for 35 years and I have always found a way to be faithful to a sound New Testament church, and there have been times when I have had to attend a church that I wasn’t very excited about, to say the least, but in light of the Bible’s emphasis on the church, I am not going to neglect God’s program, and I exhort all of my readers to follow this example!
Folks, sheep need sheepfolds and shepherds, and that is what God has provided in the church.
BE WISE AND CAUTIOUS AND PATIENT IN DEALING WITH PROBLEMS AND ERRORS IN CHURCHES.
It grieves me when I hear that readers of Way of Life materials are causing trouble UNWISELY in good Bible-believing churches and are doing it in my name!
Please observe that I DID NOT say that it grieves me to hear that readers of Way of Life materials are causing trouble in churches. Sometimes trouble is godly. There are churches that urgently need some of the members to step up the plate and try to bring godly change. In no way do I want to discourage the hearts of God’s people who are trying to stand uncompromisingly for truth and righteousness in this evil generation, but there is a right and wrong way to do things.
One man wrote to me and said, “Your medicine is strong and needful; it just needs to be administered carefully.” I agree with that 100%.
That man told me about some people he has known who have tried to change the soul winning program in some churches to bring in an emphasis on repentance and to turn the churches away from what I call “quick prayerism” (quick to lead people in a sinner’s prayer whether there is any obvious conviction or even much interest, quick to pronounce people saved even when there is no evidence thereof, quick to announce “salvation” statistics even when a large percentage of them are bogus). This man claimed that these people just ended up causing trouble for the churches and not accomplishing anything good. Since I am not personally familiar with those situations, I don’t know if he is giving an accurate picture, but I asked him what exactly was wrong in those particular cases, in his estimation. He answered as follows:
“They were not working from the top down and were being too strong/dogmatic. I’m right; you’re wrong. One can be right and not be righteous about it and thus make of none effect the desired change. This one talks to that one and causes a division prior to the matter getting to the pastor. Now he has a compounded problem with division in the church. We need to work from the top down with humility and grace, knowing that it takes time to change the course of a ship. With the strong medicine we need to also teach the tact to administer it so that it gives the greatest benefit and least harm. Hopefully we won’t look back and say, ‘The operation was a success; we cut out all the cancer; too bad the patient died’! Your well done biblical work has shaped many of the things I do and believe. It is profitable and needful. We just need it at the right dosages to be the most effective.”
I agree with these thoughts and I have written about this type of thing many times. The articles “Keys to Fruitful Church Membership” and “The Pastor’s Authority and the Church Member’s Responsibility” deal with this, for example. I have written a lot about the importance of the church and how to conduct oneself as a member.
One suggestion I would make is this: it is important that we not just criticize what is in place in the church, but that we have a positive plan for something better. Consider, again, the soul winning issue. I believe an example of the right way to try to bring this type of change to a church is contained in the following e-mail:
“Right now, my wife and I are in a church where we have seen a pastor shift his thinking on this important issue. A good friend and I are regulars on Thursday night, and just through gentle conversation and asking innocent questions, there’s been a total turnaround in soulwinning methodology here.
“Instead of merely inviting lost people to ‘worship’ with us, our entire Thursday night soulwinning is Gospel-focused. It has been a singular joy to see everyone come to life on the doorstep! We now seek to present the Gospel at every door, and plow the soil on sin, judgment, and repentance. Instead of slammed doors, we find that a compassionate explanation of sin in concrete terms makes judgment seem reasonable, opening the door for the Gospel. Following with repentance and faith just feels biblical and powerful. Number of ‘prayers’ is down, but we can all see that we're reaching a much deeper sense of clarity with each contact.
“No longer are we stuck with nowhere to go when someone says, ‘Oh, I asked Jesus into my heart when I was little.’ Many have, but never repented. With that person, it is so important to have an understanding of biblical soteriology -- that it’s not enough to pray the prayer. They may still be lost, and we find it’s typically easy to uncover that with only a few more questions. By our unscientific numbers, maybe 60% of people have made some commitment to Jesus, but 90% of those have no convincing evidence that the Author of faith is finishing anything in them. The easy-prayerist checks these off their list and implicitly endorses false conversions!
“Thanks for advancing these very biblical ideas in our fundamental Baptist culture. We are nearly overrun with people who say, ‘Well, at least they’ll be in heaven, even if they won't have any fruit.’ Enough of that!”
To that I say amen! In this case the problem was approached in a wise manner and the fruit has been good.
There is no simple one-two-three list of suggestions I could give that would solve the problem of how to correct errors in churches. It is never easy, and it is largely a matter of spiritual maturity and attaining and applying godly wisdom under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Paul said to the church at Rome: “And I myself also am persuaded of you, my brethren, that ye also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another” (Rom. 15:14).
Thus, to be able to admonish others in a fruitful manner requires that we be filled with goodness and filled with knowledge. This refers to spiritual maturity and a solid foundation of Bible knowledge. If I try to “straighten out a church” without these two things, I will not only fail, I will cause more harm than good!
New Christians, in particular, must be very cautious about trying to exhort others, especially his spiritual leaders. New Christians are often very zealous, and I don’t want to dampen that zeal, but zeal must be tempered with godly wisdom and new Christians simply don’t have much of that. They are called babes in Christ in God’s Word, and they are exhorted to drink milk and grow to maturity (1 Pet. 2:2). That is what a babe in Christ needs to focus his attention on, rather than trying to straighten out other people!
Once I almost split a church, and it is one of the things that I regret the most in my Christian life. It was a long time ago, and I was young in the Lord. I was zealous, as I have always been by God’s grace, but I was lacking in experience and maturity. I got it into my mind that my pastor at the time was unqualified, because he didn’t study enough, to my way of thinking, and his preaching ministry wasn’t strong and solid enough, to my way of thinking. I was measuring him by myself. My strong suit is study, so why shouldn’t every preacher be just like me! The church wasn’t very old and the dear pastor was a personal friend who had done a lot for me, but I unwisely talked to a couple of the key church members about the matter. I talked to him, too, but I was dead wrong in trying to stir up the people against him. He was deeply offended at my action, of course, and though I was sorrowful and realized that I had been wrong, the damage was done. Our friendship was ruined (he wasn’t very forgiving!) and I moved my membership to another church. The problem was that I was just too young and immature and inexperienced in the Lord to have tried to bring change to that particular situation. It’s true that the pastor wasn’t a great student, but he had other important pastoral qualifications that I was overlooking.
Again, I want to emphasize that I am not trying to discourage God’s people who are trying to take a stand against error in a godly manner. I know many people who have tried to do this in the right manner and they were wrongly branded as trouble-makers and treated with a great lack of respect by the pastors and churches in question. It is never an easy matter to challenge the church leaders, and it is a sad fact that leaders who have chosen a path of error rarely turn back from it.
There is a great problem among fundamental Baptist and fundamentalist Bible churches today, in that so many that were once sound are moving in the direction of New Evangelicalism and the contemporary church growth philosophies. They are bringing in the modern Bibles and modern music and modern dress standards. They are allowing women to lead in ways the Bible forbids. They are creating worldly youth ministries that pamper and entertain the flesh rather than challenge the young people to true biblical discipleship. When God’s people rise up against these things, more often than not they are despised and discarded.
So please do not misunderstand what I am trying to say in this article. I DO NOT want to discourage or hinder God’s people in taking a scriptural and wise stand for truth in this wicked day. I am just trying to urge wisdom.
IT IS SCRIPTURAL AND RIGHT TO QUESTION ONE’S PASTOR ABOUT ISSUES IN THE CHURCH, BUT THERE IS ALSO A RIGHT WAY TO DO IT.
If the pastor won’t listen and doesn’t want to be challenged about things, and if he requires “unquestioning loyalty,” I would strongly suggest that you leave that church. Such a man is a Diotrephes, and staying in that church will cripple your spiritual life and turn you into something like a cult member. (At the Way of Life web site see the articles “Unquestioning Loyalty to Pastoral Leadership the Mark of a Cult” and “Another Warning about Unquestioning Loyalty.”)
If, on the other hand, you have godly, humble pastor(s) who are qualified by God’s standards and open to challenges from their people, be very patient with them. You must always remember that you are not the pastor. He, not you, will be held accountable for the church before God. He, not you, has to bear the burden of the ministry, and I can assure you that there is probably not a more difficult job in the world than leading a church and dealing with PEOPLE! He, not you, has the call of God to make the major decisions about the church’s ministry.
I advise that you always give pastors the benefit of the doubt. Not every issue that comes up in the church is as black and white as we might think. God gives pastors wisdom. They understand the overall picture of the condition and needs of the church in a way that you do not. At the same time, pastors are just sinners saved (hopefully) by grace. They are learning and growing like the rest of God’s people. God lets us make mistakes to teach us lessons; shouldn’t we give the same freedom to pastors to some wise degree? I am not talking here about clear biblical error and heresy or the type of sin that calls for church discipline. I am talking about things like allowing music that you think might be borderline, and perhaps being too “patient” with new converts about cleaning up their lives, and not dealing with issues as much as I think he should, and bringing in preachers that I don’t like, and having or not having a youth ministry, and assigning people to jobs that I don’t think they should be assigned to, and not having the soul winning program exactly to my suiting, and doing things at Christmas that I wish the church would not do, and not emphasizing enough about the King James Bible and maybe even giving a better or different rendering once in a while, etc.
A qualification for the pastor is that he not be self-willed (Titus 1:7). This means that he is to rule the church by God’s will and not his own will, by God’s Word not by his own thinking. The self-willed man wants to run over other people and control them. It is a matter of the heart’s attitude. It is a matter of pride and lack of compassion and godly patience.
At the same time, the church members also should not be self-willed. If God has not called me to be a pastor, I should not try to rule the church! I am not saying that the church member should not have complete liberty to express his opinion about things. I am not saying that the church is not a body and that each member should be treated with godly consideration. I am simply saying that the church member needs to check himself and make sure that he is not trying to be something in the church that God has not called him to be.
“For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith” (Romans 12:3).
Women must be doubly careful about this matter, because God’s Word forbids them to teach or to usurp authority over the man (1 Timothy 2:12). The woman might be more spiritual than the men and might know more, but God has not given her the liberty to teach men. She thus has to be patient and submissive and be a great prayer warrior in order to move the heart of God to intervene THROUGH THE MEN when there are errors and problems.
This does not mean that a woman cannot go to her pastor and other church leaders if she has questions and issues, but she simply is not allowed by God to become their teacher. She can recommend materials so that the men can learn from other men, if they are willing to look into the issue, but she cannot become their teacher.
I realize this is a very sensitive matter, and many women have written to exhort and teach and rebuke me, but they are out of bounds, regardless of how much they think they know and how right and how close to God they think they are.
What I am trying to say here, and what I am trying to exhort my readers to do, is to be very wise and godly and patient in dealing with church leaders.
“For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another. This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh” (Galatians 5:14-16).
God has given pastors authority (Heb. 13:7, 17). Some of them have abused their authority, but pastoral authority is God-ordained, nonetheless. Not everyone in the church has the same authority. This does not mean that we overlook things that we believe are wrong. Pastors are not popes and do not have unlimited authority; their authority is limited by the Bible; and churches must not follow pastors into error. But as a church member, I must always remember that the pastor has authority that I do not have and that he, not me, will give an answer to God for pastoral decisions.
THERE IS A TIME TO LEAVE A CHURCH WHEN IT IS COMMITTED TO A PATH OF SERIOUS ERROR, BUT THERE IS ALSO A RIGHT WAY TO LEAVE.
There is a proper time to leave a church, if it is not following God’s Word, but there is a proper way to leave and many times people leave churches for carnal reasons and in a carnal manner.
If someone leaves a church for biblical and spiritual reasons, the fruit will be characterized by the description in James 3:17-18--purity, peaceableness, gentleness, easy to be entreated, mercy, without partiality, without hypocrisy. Someone leaving in this mode will speak the truth in love. He leaves because he is convinced it is God’s will, but he does so in a peaceable and godly manner. He is respectful of the leaders even if he doesn’t agree with them, and he harbors no ill will toward the leaders or the church.
But if someone leaves a church for carnal reasons the fruit will be characterized by the description in James 3:14-16--bitterness, envy, strife, confusion, and other evil works. This is not of God! Many times I have observed this. People get upset at something and they leave a church, but they do not do so in a godly manner. They cause all sorts of trouble and try to hurt the church, both before they leave and after. Many times they won’t even talk about the matter with the leaders in a gracious, open manner. They are not “easy to be entreated.” All of the love they once had for the church and its leaders disappears. They deal deceitfully. They go behind the pastor’s back and despise his position.
I realize that compromised Christians can be quite vicious and can tell lies about men and women who try to correct error. They have told lies about me countless times, but we must be careful that we do not give occasion to the flesh and fight error in an unspiritual and unwise manner.
If you have to leave a church, do so in a godly manner and leave a good testimony “as much as lieth in you.” And if you feel that you have to leave, do your best to find a better church. It makes no sense when people claim they are leaving a church because of error, but they join a worse church.
DO NOT THINK THAT THE CHURCH SHOULD BE LIKE WAY OF LIFE LITERATURE.
A part of my ministry, the warning part, is somewhat unbalanced of necessity. That is the nature of the Fundamental Baptist Information Service and of O Timothy magazine. I have no intention of trying to be completely “balanced” with that part of my ministry. Those are voices of warning and exhortation. There are plenty of “positive, encouraging” ministries out there. That part of the equation is very well taken care of today. But there is little by way of serious and pointed warning.
As I say in the footer to each Fundamental Baptist Information Service article: “Our goal in this particular aspect of our ministry is not devotional but is to provide information to assist preachers in the protection of the churches in this apostate hour.”
O Timothy magazine, which we began publishing 25 years ago, has exactly the same objective. The magazine’s title, taken from 1 Timothy 6:20, describes the burden of the magazine, which is urging men in these last days to keep the faith once delivered to the saints and to avoid the error which is on every hand. “O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called.” Paul’s burden for Timothy was that he keep the old paths and avoid error. That is our burden through O Timothy magazine. The aim is to help protect churches from end-time apostasy through doctrinal preaching and carefully researched and well-documented reports.
Therefore, the Fundamental Baptist Information Service and O Timothy magazine are geared for PREACHERS and for WARNING. These are not Christian family publications. They are not devotionals. They are not general interest materials. They are geared to providing information that preachers can use to protect their churches in an hour of deep apostasy and subtle compromise.
The name of Way of Life Literature came from my Bible reading one day about 31 years ago, when I read the words in Proverbs 6:23: “For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life.” I thought, that is what we need more of today; we need more reproofs of instruction, and, praise God, such reproofs are the way of life. If done in a godly manner, reproof is not destructive but is edifying and life giving. To warn people of danger is to help them, if they will receive it.
Thus, a part of my ministry is quite “negative” and focuses on pointing out error, exhorting to separation, and such things.
At the same time, I would not want to be in a church that focused on these things. And I would not want to see anyone try to make the Fundamental Baptist Information Service their “church.” Please understand, I am not your pastor! In fact, I am not anybody’s pastor. I am a missionary church planter, but I am not a pastor.
A church should most definitely preach against error plainly and warn about things, and most churches today fall short of doing what they should in this area. I am convinced that each church should make literature such as O Timothy and the Way of Life books available to their people so they will be properly educated and protected. But dealing with such things is certainly not all that a church should be doing or even mostly what it should be doing. Ecclesiastical separation is a necessity, but separation in and of itself is nothing. Separation is merely the wall of protection that we put around the Lord’s work, but having separated, we must busy ourselves with that work itself, which is described particularly in Matthew 28:18-20; Mark 16:15; Luke 24:46-48; Acts 1:8, but also in all the rest of the New Testament Scriptures!
When I preach in the churches we have started in South Asia, I don’t preach very often on the type of things that appear in the Fundamental Baptist Information Service. Only rarely do I preach on “issue” type things, such as the charismatic movement or contemporary Christian music or the ecumenical movement or Roman Catholicism or the emerging church or contemplative mysticism or the New Age movement, though I do intermingle brief warnings about some of these things into the messages by way of application.
The overwhelming majority of my week-by-week preaching in our churches involves exegesis of books of the Bible. I am just finishing up a series of about 30 messages from the book of Ephesians, for example. And the topical messages are about such things as prayer, love for Christ, communion with Christ, holiness, separation from the world, evangelism, church planting, faithfulness to the Lord’s work, and sound Bible doctrine.
Even in my writing ministry, I do not focus exclusively on warning. The Way of Life Encyclopedia of the Bible & Christianity and Things Hard to Be Understood and the Way of Life Advanced Bible Studies Series, for example, took more time to produce than probably all of the other things I have written combined, and they are tools for Bible study and general Christian living. Thus, even my writing ministry is by no means strictly a warning ministry.
The 19 Advanced Bible Studies Series courses deal with such things as “How to Study the Bible,” “Bible Prophecy,” “Bible Doctrine,” “Church History,” and “The History and Geography of the Bible.” These courses have been written over the past five years and total over 5,200 pages.
It should be obvious that as a preacher a large percentage of my time is spent on things other than exposing and warning of error.
Do you see what I am saying? Every church should warn plainly about error, but a church is not merely a warning station. Please don’t measure your church by the Fundamental Baptist Information Service or O Timothy magazine in the sense of thinking that your pastor should be like Brother Cloud. In that particular aspect of my ministry I am not a pastor; rather, I am exercising, I believe, a “prophetic” type ministry (not referring to prophecy as fore-telling, of course, but as forth-telling).
My aim and desire is to be a help and blessing to pastors in providing them well-researched information to assist their ministries, knowing at the same time that there is much more to their ministries than warning about error.
LASTLY, I DO NOT WANT MY READERS TO THINK THAT I AM ANYTHING.
I have no desire to create a following of any sort. I hope there are no Cloudites! I do not consider myself better than anyone. In fact, I am confident that some of the people that I warn about are better Christians than I am in some areas of their lives and ministries. I am a big failure in many ways. I own no Christian perfection of any sort. I am just a man who was saved by God’s undeserving grace and called to preach His Word.
When some people from Africa wrote to me years ago and said they were going to start a David Cloud church, I was not impressed, to say the least!
I am convinced that God called me to this difficult ministry and I intend to accomplish it by His grace and I do think that I have exercised some zeal for it and am biblically qualified for it, but I was a nothing when God called me and I am a nothing today apart from His grace.
I do not preach myself and I have no intention of doing so; I preach God’s Word. I do not measure things by my puny standard, but by that of God’s Word. At least that is my desire and intention. I want to measure myself by the same standard, and I invite my readers to measure me and other men by that same rule. “Prove all things; hold fast that which is good” (1 Thess. 5:21). John the Baptist was wise and godly when he said, “I must decrease.” That is what every preacher needs to say and mean from the bottom of his heart.
The apostle Paul said, “Follow me as I also follow Christ,” and we can and should say that; but we must also acknowledge that we are not apostles today. The only infallible authority is the Scriptures. There is no infallible preacher.
[Distributed by Way of Life Literature's Fundamental Baptist Information Service, an e-mail listing for Fundamental Baptists and other fundamentalist, Bible-believing Christians. OUR GOAL IN THIS PARTICULAR ASPECT OF OUR MINISTRY IS NOT DEVOTIONAL BUT IS TO PROVIDE INFORMATION TO ASSIST PREACHERS IN THE PROTECTION OF THE CHURCHES IN THIS APOSTATE HOUR. This material is sent only to those who personally subscribe to the list. If somehow you have subscribed unintentionally, following are the instructions for removal. The Fundamental Baptist Information Service mailing list is automated. To SUBSCRIBE or to UNSUBSCRIBE or to CHANGE ADDRESSES or to RE-SUBSCRIBE UNDER A NEW ADDRESS, go to http://www.wayoflife.org/fbis/subscribe.html. If you have any trouble with this, please let us know. And please be patient with us. We do not ignore any unsubscribe request, but we cannot always get to your request immediately as each person involved with maintaining the Way of Life web site does this only on a very part time basis and is busy with many other major activities, such as pastoring and missionary work. We take up a quarterly offering to fund this ministry, and those who use the materials are expected to participate (Galatians 6:6) if they can. Some of the articles are from O Timothy magazine, which is in its 23rd year of publication. Way of Life publishes many helpful books. The catalog is located at the web site: http://www.wayoflife.org/catalog/catalog.htm Way of Life Literature, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061. 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org. We do not solicit funds from those who do not agree with our preaching and who are not helped by these publications, but from those who are. OFFERINGS can be made at http://www.wayoflife.org/fbns/offering.html. PAYPAL offerings can be made to https://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=dcloud%40wayoflife.org ]
I AM NOT YOUR PASTOR
I AM NOT YOUR PASTOR: AN EXHORTATION TO MY READERS TO ACT WISELY IN THE CHURCHES
September 24, 2008 (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) –
The following are some truths that I consider very important and that I would like for all of my readers to take to heart. Please keep in mind the fact that I am not your pastor. I hope to be a helper in Christ, but I am not your pastor. And I want to give an exhortation about how to act wisely in the churches.
Most of you know these things and live these things, but sometimes I hear things from pastors and others that cause me to realize that some of my readers need this exhortation. At the same time, I don’t have any particular case in mind, so there is no need to write and try to explain yourself to me. Rather, let us be doers of the word and not hearers only.
I DO NOT SUPPORT THOSE WHO SEPARATE FROM ALL CHURCHES TODAY.
Let me make this very clear: I do not support those who separate themselves from all churches today. While I believe that God’s people must be discerning and cautious and not overlook error, at the same time we are to be patient and faithful to God’s ordained institution, the church, and to God-ordained pastoral authority, and I believe we should strive as much as possible for unity and not disunity among true believers. Both things are emphasized in Scripture, though it is not always a simple matter to obey both of them at one time.
If you think that you are justified to separate from all churches today because of David Cloud’s writings, you are mistaken. I do not preach that and I am not pleased when people do that.
In some cases there might not be a sound, spiritually-healthy, Bible-believing church within commuting distance, and I do not expect God’s people to attend a church that would undermine their faith or hinder their spiritual lives or that of their children.
But my recommendation in such cases has always been to find a way either to help start a good church or to move to a place where there is one. It is said that “where there is a will there is a way,” and that is usually true. Paul said, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me” (Phil. 4:13). When God tells us to do something, He provides a way, and the church is God’s program for this age. It is mentioned more than 100 times in Scripture. Most of the New Testament is written to churches. We are commanded not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together (Heb. 10:25) and to obey them that have the rule over us (Heb. 13:17). Those Scriptures take for granted that we will be in a church. The first believers continued steadfastly in the fellowship, prayers, and breaking of bread in the church (Acts 2:42). Paul commended Phebe to the church at Rome, and she was a servant of the church at Cenchrea (Rom. 16:1). That is the example that is put before us in Scripture.
I have been saved for 35 years and I have always found a way to be faithful to a sound New Testament church, and there have been times when I have had to attend a church that I wasn’t very excited about, to say the least, but in light of the Bible’s emphasis on the church, I am not going to neglect God’s program, and I exhort all of my readers to follow this example!
Folks, sheep need sheepfolds and shepherds, and that is what God has provided in the church.
BE WISE AND CAUTIOUS AND PATIENT IN DEALING WITH PROBLEMS AND ERRORS IN CHURCHES.
It grieves me when I hear that readers of Way of Life materials are causing trouble UNWISELY in good Bible-believing churches and are doing it in my name!
Please observe that I DID NOT say that it grieves me to hear that readers of Way of Life materials are causing trouble in churches. Sometimes trouble is godly. There are churches that urgently need some of the members to step up the plate and try to bring godly change. In no way do I want to discourage the hearts of God’s people who are trying to stand uncompromisingly for truth and righteousness in this evil generation, but there is a right and wrong way to do things.
One man wrote to me and said, “Your medicine is strong and needful; it just needs to be administered carefully.” I agree with that 100%.
That man told me about some people he has known who have tried to change the soul winning program in some churches to bring in an emphasis on repentance and to turn the churches away from what I call “quick prayerism” (quick to lead people in a sinner’s prayer whether there is any obvious conviction or even much interest, quick to pronounce people saved even when there is no evidence thereof, quick to announce “salvation” statistics even when a large percentage of them are bogus). This man claimed that these people just ended up causing trouble for the churches and not accomplishing anything good. Since I am not personally familiar with those situations, I don’t know if he is giving an accurate picture, but I asked him what exactly was wrong in those particular cases, in his estimation. He answered as follows:
“They were not working from the top down and were being too strong/dogmatic. I’m right; you’re wrong. One can be right and not be righteous about it and thus make of none effect the desired change. This one talks to that one and causes a division prior to the matter getting to the pastor. Now he has a compounded problem with division in the church. We need to work from the top down with humility and grace, knowing that it takes time to change the course of a ship. With the strong medicine we need to also teach the tact to administer it so that it gives the greatest benefit and least harm. Hopefully we won’t look back and say, ‘The operation was a success; we cut out all the cancer; too bad the patient died’! Your well done biblical work has shaped many of the things I do and believe. It is profitable and needful. We just need it at the right dosages to be the most effective.”
I agree with these thoughts and I have written about this type of thing many times. The articles “Keys to Fruitful Church Membership” and “The Pastor’s Authority and the Church Member’s Responsibility” deal with this, for example. I have written a lot about the importance of the church and how to conduct oneself as a member.
One suggestion I would make is this: it is important that we not just criticize what is in place in the church, but that we have a positive plan for something better. Consider, again, the soul winning issue. I believe an example of the right way to try to bring this type of change to a church is contained in the following e-mail:
“Right now, my wife and I are in a church where we have seen a pastor shift his thinking on this important issue. A good friend and I are regulars on Thursday night, and just through gentle conversation and asking innocent questions, there’s been a total turnaround in soulwinning methodology here.
“Instead of merely inviting lost people to ‘worship’ with us, our entire Thursday night soulwinning is Gospel-focused. It has been a singular joy to see everyone come to life on the doorstep! We now seek to present the Gospel at every door, and plow the soil on sin, judgment, and repentance. Instead of slammed doors, we find that a compassionate explanation of sin in concrete terms makes judgment seem reasonable, opening the door for the Gospel. Following with repentance and faith just feels biblical and powerful. Number of ‘prayers’ is down, but we can all see that we're reaching a much deeper sense of clarity with each contact.
“No longer are we stuck with nowhere to go when someone says, ‘Oh, I asked Jesus into my heart when I was little.’ Many have, but never repented. With that person, it is so important to have an understanding of biblical soteriology -- that it’s not enough to pray the prayer. They may still be lost, and we find it’s typically easy to uncover that with only a few more questions. By our unscientific numbers, maybe 60% of people have made some commitment to Jesus, but 90% of those have no convincing evidence that the Author of faith is finishing anything in them. The easy-prayerist checks these off their list and implicitly endorses false conversions!
“Thanks for advancing these very biblical ideas in our fundamental Baptist culture. We are nearly overrun with people who say, ‘Well, at least they’ll be in heaven, even if they won't have any fruit.’ Enough of that!”
To that I say amen! In this case the problem was approached in a wise manner and the fruit has been good.
There is no simple one-two-three list of suggestions I could give that would solve the problem of how to correct errors in churches. It is never easy, and it is largely a matter of spiritual maturity and attaining and applying godly wisdom under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Paul said to the church at Rome: “And I myself also am persuaded of you, my brethren, that ye also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another” (Rom. 15:14).
Thus, to be able to admonish others in a fruitful manner requires that we be filled with goodness and filled with knowledge. This refers to spiritual maturity and a solid foundation of Bible knowledge. If I try to “straighten out a church” without these two things, I will not only fail, I will cause more harm than good!
New Christians, in particular, must be very cautious about trying to exhort others, especially his spiritual leaders. New Christians are often very zealous, and I don’t want to dampen that zeal, but zeal must be tempered with godly wisdom and new Christians simply don’t have much of that. They are called babes in Christ in God’s Word, and they are exhorted to drink milk and grow to maturity (1 Pet. 2:2). That is what a babe in Christ needs to focus his attention on, rather than trying to straighten out other people!
Once I almost split a church, and it is one of the things that I regret the most in my Christian life. It was a long time ago, and I was young in the Lord. I was zealous, as I have always been by God’s grace, but I was lacking in experience and maturity. I got it into my mind that my pastor at the time was unqualified, because he didn’t study enough, to my way of thinking, and his preaching ministry wasn’t strong and solid enough, to my way of thinking. I was measuring him by myself. My strong suit is study, so why shouldn’t every preacher be just like me! The church wasn’t very old and the dear pastor was a personal friend who had done a lot for me, but I unwisely talked to a couple of the key church members about the matter. I talked to him, too, but I was dead wrong in trying to stir up the people against him. He was deeply offended at my action, of course, and though I was sorrowful and realized that I had been wrong, the damage was done. Our friendship was ruined (he wasn’t very forgiving!) and I moved my membership to another church. The problem was that I was just too young and immature and inexperienced in the Lord to have tried to bring change to that particular situation. It’s true that the pastor wasn’t a great student, but he had other important pastoral qualifications that I was overlooking.
Again, I want to emphasize that I am not trying to discourage God’s people who are trying to take a stand against error in a godly manner. I know many people who have tried to do this in the right manner and they were wrongly branded as trouble-makers and treated with a great lack of respect by the pastors and churches in question. It is never an easy matter to challenge the church leaders, and it is a sad fact that leaders who have chosen a path of error rarely turn back from it.
There is a great problem among fundamental Baptist and fundamentalist Bible churches today, in that so many that were once sound are moving in the direction of New Evangelicalism and the contemporary church growth philosophies. They are bringing in the modern Bibles and modern music and modern dress standards. They are allowing women to lead in ways the Bible forbids. They are creating worldly youth ministries that pamper and entertain the flesh rather than challenge the young people to true biblical discipleship. When God’s people rise up against these things, more often than not they are despised and discarded.
So please do not misunderstand what I am trying to say in this article. I DO NOT want to discourage or hinder God’s people in taking a scriptural and wise stand for truth in this wicked day. I am just trying to urge wisdom.
IT IS SCRIPTURAL AND RIGHT TO QUESTION ONE’S PASTOR ABOUT ISSUES IN THE CHURCH, BUT THERE IS ALSO A RIGHT WAY TO DO IT.
If the pastor won’t listen and doesn’t want to be challenged about things, and if he requires “unquestioning loyalty,” I would strongly suggest that you leave that church. Such a man is a Diotrephes, and staying in that church will cripple your spiritual life and turn you into something like a cult member. (At the Way of Life web site see the articles “Unquestioning Loyalty to Pastoral Leadership the Mark of a Cult” and “Another Warning about Unquestioning Loyalty.”)
If, on the other hand, you have godly, humble pastor(s) who are qualified by God’s standards and open to challenges from their people, be very patient with them. You must always remember that you are not the pastor. He, not you, will be held accountable for the church before God. He, not you, has to bear the burden of the ministry, and I can assure you that there is probably not a more difficult job in the world than leading a church and dealing with PEOPLE! He, not you, has the call of God to make the major decisions about the church’s ministry.
I advise that you always give pastors the benefit of the doubt. Not every issue that comes up in the church is as black and white as we might think. God gives pastors wisdom. They understand the overall picture of the condition and needs of the church in a way that you do not. At the same time, pastors are just sinners saved (hopefully) by grace. They are learning and growing like the rest of God’s people. God lets us make mistakes to teach us lessons; shouldn’t we give the same freedom to pastors to some wise degree? I am not talking here about clear biblical error and heresy or the type of sin that calls for church discipline. I am talking about things like allowing music that you think might be borderline, and perhaps being too “patient” with new converts about cleaning up their lives, and not dealing with issues as much as I think he should, and bringing in preachers that I don’t like, and having or not having a youth ministry, and assigning people to jobs that I don’t think they should be assigned to, and not having the soul winning program exactly to my suiting, and doing things at Christmas that I wish the church would not do, and not emphasizing enough about the King James Bible and maybe even giving a better or different rendering once in a while, etc.
A qualification for the pastor is that he not be self-willed (Titus 1:7). This means that he is to rule the church by God’s will and not his own will, by God’s Word not by his own thinking. The self-willed man wants to run over other people and control them. It is a matter of the heart’s attitude. It is a matter of pride and lack of compassion and godly patience.
At the same time, the church members also should not be self-willed. If God has not called me to be a pastor, I should not try to rule the church! I am not saying that the church member should not have complete liberty to express his opinion about things. I am not saying that the church is not a body and that each member should be treated with godly consideration. I am simply saying that the church member needs to check himself and make sure that he is not trying to be something in the church that God has not called him to be.
“For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith” (Romans 12:3).
Women must be doubly careful about this matter, because God’s Word forbids them to teach or to usurp authority over the man (1 Timothy 2:12). The woman might be more spiritual than the men and might know more, but God has not given her the liberty to teach men. She thus has to be patient and submissive and be a great prayer warrior in order to move the heart of God to intervene THROUGH THE MEN when there are errors and problems.
This does not mean that a woman cannot go to her pastor and other church leaders if she has questions and issues, but she simply is not allowed by God to become their teacher. She can recommend materials so that the men can learn from other men, if they are willing to look into the issue, but she cannot become their teacher.
I realize this is a very sensitive matter, and many women have written to exhort and teach and rebuke me, but they are out of bounds, regardless of how much they think they know and how right and how close to God they think they are.
What I am trying to say here, and what I am trying to exhort my readers to do, is to be very wise and godly and patient in dealing with church leaders.
“For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another. This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh” (Galatians 5:14-16).
God has given pastors authority (Heb. 13:7, 17). Some of them have abused their authority, but pastoral authority is God-ordained, nonetheless. Not everyone in the church has the same authority. This does not mean that we overlook things that we believe are wrong. Pastors are not popes and do not have unlimited authority; their authority is limited by the Bible; and churches must not follow pastors into error. But as a church member, I must always remember that the pastor has authority that I do not have and that he, not me, will give an answer to God for pastoral decisions.
THERE IS A TIME TO LEAVE A CHURCH WHEN IT IS COMMITTED TO A PATH OF SERIOUS ERROR, BUT THERE IS ALSO A RIGHT WAY TO LEAVE.
There is a proper time to leave a church, if it is not following God’s Word, but there is a proper way to leave and many times people leave churches for carnal reasons and in a carnal manner.
If someone leaves a church for biblical and spiritual reasons, the fruit will be characterized by the description in James 3:17-18--purity, peaceableness, gentleness, easy to be entreated, mercy, without partiality, without hypocrisy. Someone leaving in this mode will speak the truth in love. He leaves because he is convinced it is God’s will, but he does so in a peaceable and godly manner. He is respectful of the leaders even if he doesn’t agree with them, and he harbors no ill will toward the leaders or the church.
But if someone leaves a church for carnal reasons the fruit will be characterized by the description in James 3:14-16--bitterness, envy, strife, confusion, and other evil works. This is not of God! Many times I have observed this. People get upset at something and they leave a church, but they do not do so in a godly manner. They cause all sorts of trouble and try to hurt the church, both before they leave and after. Many times they won’t even talk about the matter with the leaders in a gracious, open manner. They are not “easy to be entreated.” All of the love they once had for the church and its leaders disappears. They deal deceitfully. They go behind the pastor’s back and despise his position.
I realize that compromised Christians can be quite vicious and can tell lies about men and women who try to correct error. They have told lies about me countless times, but we must be careful that we do not give occasion to the flesh and fight error in an unspiritual and unwise manner.
If you have to leave a church, do so in a godly manner and leave a good testimony “as much as lieth in you.” And if you feel that you have to leave, do your best to find a better church. It makes no sense when people claim they are leaving a church because of error, but they join a worse church.
DO NOT THINK THAT THE CHURCH SHOULD BE LIKE WAY OF LIFE LITERATURE.
A part of my ministry, the warning part, is somewhat unbalanced of necessity. That is the nature of the Fundamental Baptist Information Service and of O Timothy magazine. I have no intention of trying to be completely “balanced” with that part of my ministry. Those are voices of warning and exhortation. There are plenty of “positive, encouraging” ministries out there. That part of the equation is very well taken care of today. But there is little by way of serious and pointed warning.
As I say in the footer to each Fundamental Baptist Information Service article: “Our goal in this particular aspect of our ministry is not devotional but is to provide information to assist preachers in the protection of the churches in this apostate hour.”
O Timothy magazine, which we began publishing 25 years ago, has exactly the same objective. The magazine’s title, taken from 1 Timothy 6:20, describes the burden of the magazine, which is urging men in these last days to keep the faith once delivered to the saints and to avoid the error which is on every hand. “O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called.” Paul’s burden for Timothy was that he keep the old paths and avoid error. That is our burden through O Timothy magazine. The aim is to help protect churches from end-time apostasy through doctrinal preaching and carefully researched and well-documented reports.
Therefore, the Fundamental Baptist Information Service and O Timothy magazine are geared for PREACHERS and for WARNING. These are not Christian family publications. They are not devotionals. They are not general interest materials. They are geared to providing information that preachers can use to protect their churches in an hour of deep apostasy and subtle compromise.
The name of Way of Life Literature came from my Bible reading one day about 31 years ago, when I read the words in Proverbs 6:23: “For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life.” I thought, that is what we need more of today; we need more reproofs of instruction, and, praise God, such reproofs are the way of life. If done in a godly manner, reproof is not destructive but is edifying and life giving. To warn people of danger is to help them, if they will receive it.
Thus, a part of my ministry is quite “negative” and focuses on pointing out error, exhorting to separation, and such things.
At the same time, I would not want to be in a church that focused on these things. And I would not want to see anyone try to make the Fundamental Baptist Information Service their “church.” Please understand, I am not your pastor! In fact, I am not anybody’s pastor. I am a missionary church planter, but I am not a pastor.
A church should most definitely preach against error plainly and warn about things, and most churches today fall short of doing what they should in this area. I am convinced that each church should make literature such as O Timothy and the Way of Life books available to their people so they will be properly educated and protected. But dealing with such things is certainly not all that a church should be doing or even mostly what it should be doing. Ecclesiastical separation is a necessity, but separation in and of itself is nothing. Separation is merely the wall of protection that we put around the Lord’s work, but having separated, we must busy ourselves with that work itself, which is described particularly in Matthew 28:18-20; Mark 16:15; Luke 24:46-48; Acts 1:8, but also in all the rest of the New Testament Scriptures!
When I preach in the churches we have started in South Asia, I don’t preach very often on the type of things that appear in the Fundamental Baptist Information Service. Only rarely do I preach on “issue” type things, such as the charismatic movement or contemporary Christian music or the ecumenical movement or Roman Catholicism or the emerging church or contemplative mysticism or the New Age movement, though I do intermingle brief warnings about some of these things into the messages by way of application.
The overwhelming majority of my week-by-week preaching in our churches involves exegesis of books of the Bible. I am just finishing up a series of about 30 messages from the book of Ephesians, for example. And the topical messages are about such things as prayer, love for Christ, communion with Christ, holiness, separation from the world, evangelism, church planting, faithfulness to the Lord’s work, and sound Bible doctrine.
Even in my writing ministry, I do not focus exclusively on warning. The Way of Life Encyclopedia of the Bible & Christianity and Things Hard to Be Understood and the Way of Life Advanced Bible Studies Series, for example, took more time to produce than probably all of the other things I have written combined, and they are tools for Bible study and general Christian living. Thus, even my writing ministry is by no means strictly a warning ministry.
The 19 Advanced Bible Studies Series courses deal with such things as “How to Study the Bible,” “Bible Prophecy,” “Bible Doctrine,” “Church History,” and “The History and Geography of the Bible.” These courses have been written over the past five years and total over 5,200 pages.
It should be obvious that as a preacher a large percentage of my time is spent on things other than exposing and warning of error.
Do you see what I am saying? Every church should warn plainly about error, but a church is not merely a warning station. Please don’t measure your church by the Fundamental Baptist Information Service or O Timothy magazine in the sense of thinking that your pastor should be like Brother Cloud. In that particular aspect of my ministry I am not a pastor; rather, I am exercising, I believe, a “prophetic” type ministry (not referring to prophecy as fore-telling, of course, but as forth-telling).
My aim and desire is to be a help and blessing to pastors in providing them well-researched information to assist their ministries, knowing at the same time that there is much more to their ministries than warning about error.
LASTLY, I DO NOT WANT MY READERS TO THINK THAT I AM ANYTHING.
I have no desire to create a following of any sort. I hope there are no Cloudites! I do not consider myself better than anyone. In fact, I am confident that some of the people that I warn about are better Christians than I am in some areas of their lives and ministries. I am a big failure in many ways. I own no Christian perfection of any sort. I am just a man who was saved by God’s undeserving grace and called to preach His Word.
When some people from Africa wrote to me years ago and said they were going to start a David Cloud church, I was not impressed, to say the least!
I am convinced that God called me to this difficult ministry and I intend to accomplish it by His grace and I do think that I have exercised some zeal for it and am biblically qualified for it, but I was a nothing when God called me and I am a nothing today apart from His grace.
I do not preach myself and I have no intention of doing so; I preach God’s Word. I do not measure things by my puny standard, but by that of God’s Word. At least that is my desire and intention. I want to measure myself by the same standard, and I invite my readers to measure me and other men by that same rule. “Prove all things; hold fast that which is good” (1 Thess. 5:21). John the Baptist was wise and godly when he said, “I must decrease.” That is what every preacher needs to say and mean from the bottom of his heart.
The apostle Paul said, “Follow me as I also follow Christ,” and we can and should say that; but we must also acknowledge that we are not apostles today. The only infallible authority is the Scriptures. There is no infallible preacher.
[Distributed by Way of Life Literature's Fundamental Baptist Information Service, an e-mail listing for Fundamental Baptists and other fundamentalist, Bible-believing Christians. OUR GOAL IN THIS PARTICULAR ASPECT OF OUR MINISTRY IS NOT DEVOTIONAL BUT IS TO PROVIDE INFORMATION TO ASSIST PREACHERS IN THE PROTECTION OF THE CHURCHES IN THIS APOSTATE HOUR. This material is sent only to those who personally subscribe to the list. If somehow you have subscribed unintentionally, following are the instructions for removal. The Fundamental Baptist Information Service mailing list is automated. To SUBSCRIBE or to UNSUBSCRIBE or to CHANGE ADDRESSES or to RE-SUBSCRIBE UNDER A NEW ADDRESS, go to http://www.wayoflife.org/fbis/subscribe.html. If you have any trouble with this, please let us know. And please be patient with us. We do not ignore any unsubscribe request, but we cannot always get to your request immediately as each person involved with maintaining the Way of Life web site does this only on a very part time basis and is busy with many other major activities, such as pastoring and missionary work. We take up a quarterly offering to fund this ministry, and those who use the materials are expected to participate (Galatians 6:6) if they can. Some of the articles are from O Timothy magazine, which is in its 23rd year of publication. Way of Life publishes many helpful books. The catalog is located at the web site: http://www.wayoflife.org/catalog/catalog.htm Way of Life Literature, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061. 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org. We do not solicit funds from those who do not agree with our preaching and who are not helped by these publications, but from those who are. OFFERINGS can be made at http://www.wayoflife.org/fbns/offering.html. PAYPAL offerings can be made to https://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=dcloud%40wayoflife.org ]
GOING THROUGH THE MOTIONS: TEMPTATIONS YOUNG PEOPLE FACE GROWING UP IN THE CHURCH
GOING THROUGH THE MOTIONS: TEMPTATIONS YOUNG PEOPLE FACE GROWING UP IN THE CHURCH
September 18, 2008 (Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) -
The following is by Dave Crowe, an Australian missionary to Papua New Guinea. It was sent to us by Buddy Smith, pastor of Grace Baptist Church, Malanda, Queensland, Australia
“Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD, neither was the word of the LORD yet revealed unto him” (1 Samuel 3:7).
“Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial; they knew not the LORD” (1 Samuel 2:12).
The 23rd of March this year was the 25th anniversary of my Salvation. As far as I know, I was the first of a long line of unbelieving ancestors to call upon the name of the Lord. I am a first generation believer. As such, some might not consider me qualified to deal with the subject matter of this article. That could quite well be so, if it were not for the fact that over the course of the last 15 years my wife and I have had the privilege of rearing five reasonably normal and healthy children, all of whom profess to be Christians, second-generation Christians.
Through an amazing work of Providence, on the 23rd of March this year our son Samuel who is now 15, was also saved. Samuel was not saved from a life of drugs, drunkenness, and debauchery as were his parents, but rather from a life of religiosity and ritual, a life of outward appearances and conformity to a creed he knew well, but loved little.
This is the issue upon which this short article is based.
Samuel is a Home Schooled MK (Missionary Kid). Samuel arrived on the mission field at seven months old (in his mother’s womb). Samuel was born early Thursday Morning on the 17th December 1992, and was in church on Sunday, not yet three days old. Probably the first time Samuel ever heard his father’s voice loud enough to be recognised was from the pulpit in the local Baptist Church.
We could count, probably, on one hand the number of Sundays Samuel has missed since that day. Samuel will be 16 in December this year. At a conservative estimate, Samuel has been in church well over 3,000 times since he was born. If you count up Sundays, morning and evening, for 15 years, that brings you up to a total of 1,560 sermons, add to that the weekly prayer meetings, 780 of them, not to mention Sunday Schools, 780 of them as well.
A text from 2 Timothy 3:15 comes to mind when I think of my son Samuel. “And that from a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures.” Samuel, like thousands of other kids growing up in Christian homes, has from a child been immersed in the Word of God. Besides his regular church attendance, Samuel has been home schooled from day one. He has memorised hundreds of Bible verses; he knows most of the major stories by heart, as do his four sisters, the youngest of whom is Hadassah, who is now 8. Hadassah can recite numerous lengthy portions of Scripture almost word perfect. All of our children are the same. They all attend church and youth group weekly; we have family devotions most days. If the Lord tarries, Hadassah, like Samuel, would have heard over 3,000 sermons by the time she is 15.
Does all of that make my children Christians? No, sadly not. In fact, despite all those sermons, my children can remain hardened sinners, too proud to see their real need to repent. Not even fifteen years on the mission field and 3000 sermons can make a child acceptable to God and ready for Heaven. No, according to John 3:3, they, like everyone else in the world, “must be born again.”
As we have found out by personal experience within our own family circle, it is possible for children to sit through, and endure thousands of hours of religious instruction, and still be none the better for it. “For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.” Until such a time as a child is truly and powerfully saved by a miracle of God’s Grace, even something as wholesome as sound Biblical preaching and the fellowship of the local church can become a source of temptation and a snare to him.
Boredom, Unthankfulness, Apathy, Indifference, Cynicism, Scepticism, Duplicity, Hypocrisy, Hardness of heart, even outright Atheism and Rebellion are only a few of the nasty and eternally destructive fruits that can grow almost undetected, right on the front row of our Sunday School Classes. How can that be?
Though my children are privileged and certainly blessed to have been raised in a Christian home, taught by their own loving mother, and exposed to sound and wholesome Bible preaching all of their lives, they are not exempt from temptation. Far from it! In fact, they are actually subject to some very serious and destructive religious temptations children from unsaved homes never face.
Temptation for my children is quite different than it was (and is) for me. I have struggled in my life with the seedier side of the flesh; my children face more subtle temptations, like Nicodemus or young Samuel in the Old Testament. I was an irreligious and naughty child; my children are mostly moral and good. I was corrupted very early in life; and to my great detriment and lasting regret, I became wise concerning the things that are evil. My children, on the other hand, are mostly innocent and, thankfully, quite naïve concerning evil, but they face a host of temptations that in some ways are just as dangerous and harder to discern and much more subtle.
It is important for us here to understand a very important Biblical precept.
“But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man” (1 Corinthians 2:14-15).
“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17).
There is a great difference between being religious and good and being a new creature in Christ. Nicodemus was a good man, but he certainly wasn’t a new man. Samuel in the Old Testament was a religious lad, a very polite and respectful boy, “but he didn’t yet know the Lord” (1 Samuel 3:7). Eli's sons served the Tabernacle but they were “sons of Belial; they knew not the LORD.”
God recognised something about Samuel and the sons of Eli that few Christian parents discern today. They were in the right place, but not in a right spirit. Nicodemus in the New Testament was a good man, but a natural man still. His religion was based solely on the natural light of his ritual and outward form of religion, but there was no illumination. Samuel was the same.
Nicodemus knew the Scriptures by heart; he was a Doctor of the law, a ruler of the Jews, but he was unregenerate. The things of the spirit were foolishness unto him, and “he could not know them because they are spiritually discerned.”
Young Samuel heard the voice of the Lord three times and thought it was Eli; he hadn't yet had his heart opened by the Spirit of God.
So it is, I believe, with many of our children. They hear the voice of God and think it is the preacher or only their parents.
Most children in Christian homes profess faith at an early age. Our Samuel called on the Lord the first time when he was about six. We did our utmost to encourage his walk with the Lord, but over the course of the years it became quite evident to us that though Samuel was a good lad, he wasn’t a “new creature.” Like Samuel of old, “he didn't yet know the Lord.”
As he entered into his teenage years we began to detect a definite resistance to and disliking of spiritual truth. This greatly concerned us and because of that we challenged him a number of times concerning his salvation.
I have been impressed more and more over the years that the phrase “if any man be in Christ” in 2 Corinthians 5:17 also applies to children. It wasn’t only the Apostle Paul who used that phrase, The Lord Jesus also said in Luke 9:23, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.”
In actual fact, if you will look closely, you will notice that the word “man” in Luke 9:23 is not in the original. Jesus said, “If any will come after me let him deny himself...” That certainly includes children born into Christian homes. Why do we expect others to manifest a new life, but not our own children?
We ought not to be congratulating ourselves that our children are good kids and that at least they are in church. No, that position comes far short of Bible salvation. We ought to search out the matter and make diligent inquiry as to whether our precious children are truly born again; are they regenerate? Can we see Biblical evidence of a New Creature? Or are they just, going through the motions?
Children are creatures of habit. They can very easily adapt to their environment, especially if it’s the only one they have ever known. “Christian” children become experts at duplicity; they know all the right words to say at the most appropriate times. They can say their verses and get their awards. They know how to dot all their i's and cross all their spiritual t's, and all the while many of them are complete strangers to the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven.
Often it’s not all their fault. Many Christian parents, even pastors and teachers, take much too much for granted when it comes to the souls of their children. There seems to me to be a great lack of discernment in hanging all of our hopes for our children’s eternal destiny upon some long gone profession of faith that has absolutely no bearing or impact on the general course of their present day lives. Salvation is a today issue.
Don’t ever forget that our children’s sinful natures will only be restrained for a time under the heavy yoke of the Christian home and church culture. Many Christian children in church are just doing what kids do naturally, conforming to the majority mindset around them. They are just going through the motions. That’s all fine and well whilst they are youngsters, but once the hormones begin to kick in and old Adam begins to assert his authority, Mum and Dad look out!
If children continually chafe, complain, and defy and even despise and rebel against the authority of the Scriptures and their parents, it is quite as likely as not that we are dealing with unregenerate offspring. This ought to challenge us, as it is quite obvious in Scripture that the Biblical criterion for salvation is not an empty profession of faith, but rather a new creature. If you doubt that read again Galatians 6:15, “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.”
If we take the Scriptures seriously we will understand that our children, just like adults, are sinners that need repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. If there is genuine repentance, there ought to be genuine fruit. If after a Biblical evaluation of our children’s lives and testimonies we fail to see the evidences of a new creature overcoming the old, we need not despair. No, we need to go to prayer.
We prayed for Samuel his whole life, but we never really took up the matter of his salvation seriously, even unto fasting, until a few years ago. As I mentioned, as Samuel began to enter his early teenage years, old Adam began to make his presence known and it wasn't pleasant.
This was not the normal flesh/spirit conflict of the true Christian mentioned in Romans 7 and Galatians 5:17. We saw this very different spiritual conflict in our daughter Lydia, who was very clearly saved in the year 2000 whilst we were on furlough. She was only six at the time, but we have had no cause since then to doubt her decision, again because we have very clearly seen the “new creature.”
In Samuel we hadn't seen the new creature until just recently. Since Samuel was saved on the 23rd of March this year (he had no idea at the time that it was my spiritual birthday as well), we have seen a definite change. He himself has confessed Christ openly on a number of occasions; he has told me he now understands and gets fed from what he reads in Scripture. He is also experiencing the conflict with his old nature. He desires to be baptised and has expressed a very clear desire to go back to the mission field.
“If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature...”
Don’t settle for less. By making excuses for worldly-minded, unspiritual children, we are giving place to the devil and also encouraging deceit and hypocrisy. Look for the tell tale signs of dead religious observance, and pray against it for all your worth. Your child’s eternal well being could well depend on you being discerning enough to see it for what it is, unregenerate flesh.
“He that is spiritual judgeth (discerns) all things” (1 Corinthians 2:15).
[Distributed by Way of Life Literature's Fundamental Baptist Information Service, an e-mail listing for Fundamental Baptists and other fundamentalist, Bible-believing Christians. OUR GOAL IN THIS PARTICULAR ASPECT OF OUR MINISTRY IS NOT DEVOTIONAL BUT IS TO PROVIDE INFORMATION TO ASSIST PREACHERS IN THE PROTECTION OF THE CHURCHES IN THIS APOSTATE HOUR. This material is sent only to those who personally subscribe to the list. If somehow you have subscribed unintentionally, following are the instructions for removal. The Fundamental Baptist Information Service mailing list is automated. To SUBSCRIBE or to UNSUBSCRIBE or to CHANGE ADDRESSES or to RE-SUBSCRIBE UNDER A NEW ADDRESS, go to http://www.wayoflife.org/fbis/subscribe.html. If you have any trouble with this, please let us know. And please be patient with us. We do not ignore any unsubscribe request, but we cannot always get to your request immediately as each person involved with maintaining the Way of Life web site does this only on a very part time basis and is busy with many other major activities, such as pastoring and missionary work. We take up a quarterly offering to fund this ministry, and those who use the materials are expected to participate (Galatians 6:6) if they can. Some of the articles are from O Timothy magazine, which is in its 25th year of publication. Way of Life publishes many helpful books. The catalog is located at the web site: http://wayoflife.org/catalog/catalog.htm Way of Life Literature, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061. 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org. We do not solicit funds from those who do not agree with our preaching and who are not helped by these publications, but from those who are. OFFERINGS can be made at http://www.wayoflife.org/fbns/offering.html. PAYPAL offerings can be made to https://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=dcloud%40wayoflife.org]
A WARNING ABOUT MICHAEL PEARL’S NO GREATER JOY MINISTRY
Updated June 17, 2008 (first published September 5, 2005) (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) -
See also “Michael Pearl’s Duplicity” -- http://www.wayoflife.org/fbns/michael-pearls-duplicity.html
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Over the past few years a number of people have asked me about Greater Joy Ministries operated by Michael and Debi Pearl, and as I have traveled on preaching trips I have found that many families in good fundamental Baptist churches are using their materials.
The following is a report on my investigation into this ministry. I have read two of Michael’s books as well as issues of No Great Joy magazine, and I have looked carefully through the material available at their web site.
There is much to praise in Greater Joy Ministries. The Pearl’s book To Train up a Child contains many very helpful things (though it often goes beyond clear biblical precepts and enters into a legalistic “Pearlosophy,” which is presented as dogmatically as the parts that are supported directly by Scripture, such as some of his teaching about education and other things that almost require an Amish-like lifestyle). The Pearls rightly avoid “Christian” psychology. They promote godly husband-wife relationships. They teach parents how to reach the child’s heart rather than enforcing mere externals. They focus on how crucial it is for the parents to live what they preach, to avoid hypocrisy. They teach a biblical approach to corporal punishment without apology. They teach parents how to jealously and carefully protect their children from evil influences. They give some excellent and timely warnings about the danger of the average church youth group that throws young people together in a secular fashion and thus allows strong but worldly personalities to corrupt heretofore innocent youth (which is exactly what happened to me as I grew up in a Southern Baptist congregation). They are clear about parental responsibility, that the “buck stops here” with Christian parents in regard to child training.
I am sure that the Pearls are genuine salt-of-the-earth people who try to practice what they preach, but I want to mention some serious errors that those who use their materials should be aware of.
THE ERROR OF EXALTING THE FAMILY BEYOND A SCRIPTURAL BOUND AND RELEGATING THE CHURCH TO A LESSER REALM OF IMPORTANCE
No Greater Joy has some excellent practical teaching on the family, but I do not believe that it is presented within a scriptural balance and framework in regard to the church. In the topics listed at the No Greater Joy web site, “The Church” is glaringly absent. When Michael Pearl speaks about the church it is almost always in a negative context.
While the family is the foundational unit in the church and society and is very, very important, I believe it is possible to turn the family into an idol, when it is emphasized beyond biblical bounds and when it becomes an end unto itself.
I don’t believe the Pearls themselves have made an idol of the home, but I believe that many associated with the home schooling movement have, and the Pearls should do more to resist this error. Debi Pearl wisely says: “Do not get caught up in pouring your life into a good cause--even the rearing of a large family. Pour your life into knowing and serving the Savior and desiring that every life you touch be touched with the knowledge of forgiveness in the shed blood of Jesus. We are called to be soldiers in the army of the living God. Raising up young new recruits is exciting” (To Train up a Child, fifteenth printing, 2004, p. 119).
The problem is that this is only a brief postscript in their book on child training, and it is not something that seems to be properly emphasized. In the dozens of articles I have read by the Pearls, this is the only time I have seen that type of emphasis. The Pearls have 150,000 on their mailing list and their book To Train up a Child has sold more than 400,000 copies. They therefore have a vast influence among home schoolers.
Christ’s Great Commission is to preach the gospel to the ends of the earth and to plant churches that are discipleship centers, the pillar and ground of the truth, where believers are trained in the service of God and in the work of world evangelism (Matthew 28:18-20; Mark 16:17; Luke 24:46-48; Acts 1:8). This is what we see lived out in the book of Acts and it is a program that is to be perpetuated until Christ returns.
Parents who are committed to Christ will have this Great Commission before them at all times as they raise their children.
To raise wholesome, talented, law-abiding, hard-working citizens is not enough, because it falls short of what Christ commanded.
I believe home schooling is by far the best way to educate children. That is how our own children were educated, but within some home schooling circles there is neglect toward and misunderstanding of the New Testament church.
For example, on my last preaching trip to Australia I met some godly families in one of the churches. The children play various musical instruments; they have a wide variety of interests and talents; they have serious goals in life; they are getting a wonderful education; they are separated from the wicked things of the world. There is nothing wrong with any of this, of course. It is a great blessing to see close and godly families in this wicked age. The problem is with the emphasis and balance. These families do not place the church and the Great Commission in a Scriptural priority. They attend services only once service a week, forsaking the other services for “family time,” in direct contradiction to Acts 2:42 and Hebrews 10:25. They brazenly neglected the special services that the church was hosting and thus gained no benefit from the visiting preacher. Their lives could have been challenged by that preaching, but other things were more important to them.
These parents are teaching their children many good things, but they are wrong in teaching them to slight the church.
My friends, the Bible plainly states that it is the church that is the pillar and ground of the truth (1 Tim. 3:15). Why doesn’t it say that the home is the pillar and ground of the truth? And this is not some vague “universal” church. The context is a scripturally organized assembly that has pastors and deacons (1 Tim. 3:1-14). The believer’s service to the Lord is to be in and through such a church, in submission to God-ordained pastors and elders (1 Thessalonians 5:12-13; Hebrews 13:7, 17).
Any family that is not in proper relationship with and submission to God-ordained church authority is not in the will of God (unless, of course, no such church exists in the area). I say this on the authority of the Scriptures. I would ask such a family, “Who has the rule over you?” If the reply is, “God does,” I would rejoin that God Himself says that church elders are to have the rule over us (Heb. 13:17), not as lords over us but as under-shepherds who must, in turn, give account to the Great Shepherd (1 Pet. 5:1-4).
I understand all too well that pastoral authority has been abused at times and that this is an hour of great compromise in churches, but that is no excuse to reject it. Husbands and fathers have abused their authority at least as much as pastors have abused theirs, but that does not mean that we are free to reject them. The Lord Jesus Christ said, “I will build my church” (Mat. 16:18). It is His plan and program, and it is not to be despised.
There is nothing wrong with a “house church” as such, if that church is scripturally organized, but a loose knit gathering in a home is not necessarily a church, and a father of a family is not a pastor unless he is qualified and called and ordained (1 Timothy 3:1-7; Titus 1:5-11; Acts 14:23).
Paul wrote to Titus and informed him that he was to “set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city” (Titus 1:5). The thing that was wanting, or lacking, was for the new converts to be organized into proper New Testament assemblies, and this required the ordination of qualified, God-called elders (Titus 1:6-16).
This is the pattern that we see in the first missionary journey. After Paul and Barnabas had preached in many places, they returned to each place and organized the new groups of believers into churches and ordained elders in each one (Acts 14:23).
A home Bible study, a home prayer meeting, a loose knit group of home schoolers, is not in itself a proper New Testament church and has no scriptural authority to replace such a church.
If Michael Pearl agrees with us on the importance of the New Testament church, he should be very careful to preach about this, as it is an essential part of “all the counsel of God” (Acts 20:27). He should also speak out plainly against the practice of many today who neglect and discount the value of the house of God (1 Tim. 3:16). We would expect to see such a warning prominently given at his web site, since his ministry is attractive to such people.
Such teaching and warning is lacking, though. In fact, in his article “Sanctuary” (March 2005) he refers sympathetically to “several families” who have “traded church attendance for a DVD player,” and he does not explain that this is unscriptural.
Pearl complains that “church today is not a sanctuary from the world nor is it a ‘holy’ place.”
While I agree that too many churches are worldly from top to bottom, meaning that even the leaders and workers are worldly, it is equally true that a scriptural New Testament church will never be completely holy. If a church is reaching the world for Christ as it should, there will always be unsaved and newly saved people in attendance who are not very holy, to say the least. In fact, if we were to be honest with our own hearts, we would admit that there is plenty of unholiness in the most mature of saints, as even the apostle Paul lamented in regard to his own life. “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not” (Rom. 7:18). And the apostle John added his Amen to this when he said, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:9).
The New Testament church can never be a complete sanctuary from the world or a perfectly holy place for the simple fact that it is made up of sinners who are in the business of reaching sinners. Paul referred to the unsaved who attended the meetings of the church at Corinth, and said nothing to discourage the church from having the unsaved in attendance but rather encouraged them to live in such a way that they would reach the unsaved for Christ (1 Cor. 14:23-25).
A church that is busy reaching the unsaved will not only have the unsaved in attendance at services and events but will have new believers in attendance, as well, and these will be far from “entirely sanctified” and separated from the world.
I remember when I was first saved and joined a fundamental Baptist church in central Florida. I was saved; I knew the Lord; I had truly repented; but I was still a mess! I still had hair down to my shoulders; I still smoked and listened to rock & roll and attended worldly movies. Yet the church members were so patient and kind to me, opening their homes to me, spending time with me, discipling me; and it was this that helped me to grow and to begin shedding the things of the flesh and the world and putting on Christ.
The man that led me to Jesus Christ had the same attitude. He was not ashamed to spend four or so days traveling with me, living with me, enduring my foul language and disgusting habits and vain arguments against the truth.
The apostolic churches that are described in the New Testament scriptures were far from sinlessly perfect. Consider the seven churches of Asia Minor addressed in Revelation 2-3. Most of these apostolic churches had serious problems. The church at Ephesus had left its first love. The church at Pergamos allowed false teachers in their midst, including the false doctrine of Balaam that was associated with idolatry and fornication. The church at Thyatira allowed a false prophetess to teach worldly heresies. The church at Sardis had a name that it lived but was dead. The church at Laodicea was so lukewarm that Christ warned them that He would spew them out of His mouth.
Consider the apostolic church at Corinth. This church was established by the apostle Paul himself, but it was a genuine mess! The members were carnal and divided (1 Cor. 1-3); they did not discipline even the most glaring sins (1 Cor. 5); they took one another to court (1 Cor. 6); they fellowshipped with idols (1 Cor. 10); they grossly misused the spiritual gifts (1 Cor. 14); they allowed false teachers in their midst, even those who preached false christs and gospels (2 Cor. 11:3-4) and denied the resurrection (1 Cor. 15:12).
The church at Philippi was an excellent church, but two women in the congregation were so at odds with one another that they had to be corrected by Paul in a public letter (Phil. 4:2).
The apostle Peter played the hypocrite and Paul had to rebuke him publicly (Gal. 2:11-14).
Even Paul and Barnabas had such a “sharp contention” that they could no longer work together (Acts 15:36-40).
None of this is an excuse to think that it does not matter what type of church we attend or how we live, but it is a fact of Christian living and church life that we must understand and learn to deal with.
This is not something that Michael Pearl preaches properly. In his article “Sanctuary” (March 2005) he does advise someone, “Don’t leave the church, anymore than a missionary would leave the field because there are sinners there,” but having read two of his books and dozens of his articles, I am convinced that the message to exchange the church for a DVD player and to look lightly upon one’s responsibility to the church is louder than the message to stay in the church and be a faithful, fruitful member thereof.
For more on this subject see “Seven Keys to Fruitful Church Membership” at http://www.wayoflife.org/fbns/sevenkeys.htm.
THE ERROR OF SINLESS PERFECTIONISM
The most grievous error that I found in No Greater Joy ministries is the heresy of sinless perfectionism or “entire” sanctification. We see this in the article “Living Parallel Lives in the Same Space” from the Jan.-Feb. 2005 issue of No Greater Joy.
The doctrine of perfectionism is first of all clear from what Michael Pearl plainly states. He has entitled his teaching “Sin No More” (p. 21).
He says the doctrine of sanctification does not consist of “principles for you to apply” (p. 11), meaning there is nothing to do to achieve sinless sanctification but to understand and accept one’s position in Christ.
He speaks of “the gospel of sanctification” (p. 11) and refers to the gospel of justification through grace as “half of the gospel” (p. 20). Yet the Bible nowhere refers to such a “gospel.” There is only one true gospel and that is gospel of the grace of Christ (Gal. 1:5-9). That one true gospel is defined by Paul as follows: “For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures” (1 Cor. 15:3-4). This is the gospel that Paul preached, nothing more and nothing less. Notice that this gospel does not consist of sanctification, though it results in sanctification. Holiness and godly Christian living is an important doctrine of the New Testament, but it is not the gospel and it is very dangerous to use such terminology.
This reminds us of the Pentecostal “full gospel” or “four square gospel” terminology, which is just as unscriptural. To add anything to the gospel of the grace of Christ, whether it is tongues or healing or holy living or Spirit baptism, is to corrupt the gospel of grace alone by Christ alone through faith alone. Holy Christian living is not the gospel; it follows the gospel (Eph. 2:8-10; Phil. 1:27).
Pearl’s heresy of sinless perfectionism is perhaps why he is comfortable preaching in Assemblies of God congregations. He is scheduled to conduct a seminar at the First Assembly of God in Searcy, Arkansas, September 10, 2005.
Michael Pearl actually claims that he is living in sinless sanctification:
“WE SHOULD AND CAN SIN NO MORE! ... I have been preaching AND LIVING this gospel of sanctification for many years. It is not a theory. It is practical, Scriptural reality” (“Living Parallel Lives in the Same Space” No Greater Joy, Jan.-Feb. 2005, p. 21).
He says we should and can sin no more and in the same context claims that he has been “living this gospel of sanctification for many years.” The natural meaning of such words is that Michael Pearl has been living in complete, sinless victory for years. If this were true, it would mean that he has continually performed every biblical commandment and duty with a perfect heart.
The advertisement for Pearl’s Bible Study Series entitled “Sin No More” is as follows: “We receive many letters seeking advice. The source of most problems is personal sin, but you already know that. The big question is: ‘So how do I stop sinning?’ ... I assure you, God not only saves his children from the penalty of sin but he saves them from its power as well. YOU CAN STOP SINNING. If you want to know the Bible doctrine of Sanctification by Faith, you will hear THE COMPLETE GOSPEL in this series of messages by Michael Pearl."
My friends, any believer who would make a claim to be walking in entire sinless sanctification is either deceived or is a deceiver or he has significantly lowered the definition of sin.
Michael also says that his preaching has caused others to live in complete sanctification:
“I preach it in the prisons, and it works on men who have lived lives of total addiction and enslavement. They come unto me all the time, bubbling over with joy, and TELL ME THAT THEY ARE NOW FREE FROM ALL SIN. ... walking in complete victory over sin and self” (“Living Parallel Lives in the Same Space” No Greater Joy, Jan.-Feb. 2005, p. 21).
I can say on the authority of the Bible, that this is a deception (1 John 1:8-10).
Pearl’s doctrine of perfectionism is also clear from what he fails to mention. In the aforementioned issue of his magazine he is counseling a mother who wrote to him and described her struggle with sin. In his reply he did not mention any of the following important biblical truths:
There is nothing in Pearl’s reply about the indwelling sin nature or the struggle with the flesh that Paul describes so plainly (Rom. 7:18; Gal. 5:16-17).
There is nothing in Pearl’s reply about confessing sin and walking in the light (1 Jn. 1:6-10). (In fact, in his booklet “1 John 1:9--The Protestant Confessional,” he wrongly believes that this verse is about salvation, that one confesses sin for salvation but that to confess sins after salvation is wrong. The truth is that the context of the first chapter of 1 John plainly refers to “fellowship” and to how we “walk” or live (see 1 John 1:3, 6, 7), rather than to salvation.
There is nothing in Pearl’s reply about spiritual growth and progress, that sanctification is not a matter of a one-time experience but of gradual change (2 Pet. 3:18).
There is nothing in Pearl’s reply about the fact that the Christian life is described as an active warfare against sin and not merely believing in a position. There was nothing in his reply about yielding (Rom. 6:16), walking in (Gal. 5:16), putting off and putting on (Eph. 4:22-24), putting away (Eph. 4:31), mortifying (Col. 3:5), fleeing (2 Tim. 2:22), laying aside (Heb. 12:1; 1 Pet. 2:1)
False teaching is often characterized by the neglect of part of the truth, and this is the case here.
My maternal grandmother was a very godly woman, a prayer warrior, a saint who prayed and fasted and saw serious answers to prayer (such as the dramatic conversion of her wayward “hippie” grandson David Cloud in 1973 at age 23). After I had been saved about a year and was struggling with many things in my new Christian life I visited my grandmother and asked her about sin in the believer’s life. I said, “Grandma, do you still have any problems with sin in your life?” She was probably the godliest person I knew at that time (that was before I met my wonderful wife!), the person I most looked up to spiritually. She was about 78 years old then, and I was hoping she would reply (as Michael Pearl teaches), “Well, Dave, I used to have some struggles with sin but that is long over, praise God! I am walking in sinlessness!” Instead, she replied: “Dave, I still have struggles with sin every day. I do still sin, though it grieves me and I look forward to that day when I will sin no more.”
That elderly saint expressed more solid biblical truth to me that day than you will find in all of Michael Pearl’s muddled teaching on sanctification.
I have written to Michael Pearl twice, but he has refused to reply to my questions and concerns. I did not ask for a long drawn out reply. I simply asked, “Do the following statements from your magazine truly reflect your doctrine? Do you live sinlessly?”
A simple “yes” or “no” would have sufficed.
My friends, the error with Michael Pearl’s ministry is subtle but I believe it is dangerous.
In the October 2007 edition of No Greater Joy, two years after I published my article, Pearl finally addressed my concerns, but in doing so he only proved that he is duplicitous. I was very sad when I read his reply, because it demonstrated a serious level of dishonesty, and I am pretty sure that dishonesty is not a reflection of sinless living!
First, he was duplicitous in not giving his readers my name and telling them where they could read my report about him. He only identified me as “my accuser.” On the other hand, I gave exact quotes from Pearl’s writings and told my readers where they could check my statements.
Second, he was duplicitous in not telling his readers that I tried to communicate with him personally TWO TIMES and that he refused to answer. I did not ask for a long drawn out reply. I simply asked: “Do the following statements from your magazine truly reflect your doctrine? Do you live sinlessly?” I was trying to make sure that I had not misunderstood the man, but he didn’t have the courtesy to answer me. He could have taken a moment to answer me personally or could have instructed his secretary or someone else to answer me, but he did not. This is a very important fact that he hid from his readers.
Third, he was duplicitous in not telling his readers that I prefaced my report by saying that there is much to praise in Greater Joy Ministries, that they have some excellent practical teaching on the family (I described eight of these in particular), and that “I am sure that the Pearls are genuine salt-of-the-earth people who try to practice what they preach.” Those are not the words of someone who is out to slander a man by taking a cheap shot at him, but that is exactly how Pearl tried to characterize me.
Fourth, he was duplicitous in saying: “I have never said I am sinless.”
In “Living Parallel Lives in the Same Space,” No Greater Joy, Jan.-Feb. 2005, Pearl says: “WE SHOULD AND CAN SIN NO MORE! ... I have been preaching AND LIVING this gospel of sanctification for many years.”
If that is not a statement of sinless living, I don’t know what it is.
Further, in the same article Pearl claims that prisoners that he ministers to “come to me all the time, bubbling over with joy, and tell me that they are now FREE FROM ALL SIN” (p. 21).
If those words don’t mean what they appear to mean, he should admit that he has been sloppy in his published statements and should correct them and thank me for pointing out this matter.
Fifth, he was duplicitous in making the following claim: “I have never used the terms ‘sinless perfection’ or ‘entire sanctification,’ nor have I taught anything that is remotely similar. All one need do is search the web, or a good church history book, to determine the specifics of that heresy in history. The doctrine of sinless perfection is the belief that believers can have a second work of grace whereby the old nature is eradicated, making it impossible for them to sin again. There is nothing in my teaching that is similar in any way.”
I never said that he taught a second work of grace or the eradication of the sin nature, but regardless of what terms he uses, he does teach sinless perfection and I proved this from his own writings. His pretty little smokescreen changes nothing.
Sixth, Pearl was duplicitous in saying: “Either he has not familiarized himself with my teaching, or he has another agenda that provokes him to deliberately slander my Biblical doctrine. What could prompt a man to attack a ministry on such false premises?”
Here he gives his readers the impression that I am either a careless and ignorant man or a wicked one who is simply out to hurt him. But that I have familiarized myself with his teaching is evident from my article in the quotes I gave from his writings, and to speak the truth about a man is NOT slander. There is nothing slanderous or false about my premise.
Seventh, Pearl was duplicitous in saying: “My accuser admits in his diatribe against me that it is the name of the series that led him to conclude that I taught the old Salvation Army doctrine of ‘sinless perfection.’”
I “admit” no such thing. It was his own statements in print that caused me to understand that he teaches a form of sinless perfection, and I quoted those statements. Further, I did not say anything about the Salvation Army doctrine.
Eighth, Pearl was duplicitous in saying: “My teaching on ceasing to sin is exactly what Baptists and other Bible-believing Christians have taught for 1900 years.”
In fact, his teaching is not exactly what Baptists have taught for 1900 years. I have a large private library on Baptist history and Pearl’s statement is simply ridiculous. There has never been “one standard Baptist doctrine” on sanctification, but most Baptists have not taught that the believer can live a sinless life. We agree that Pearl’s teaching is not new and we never said that it is, but it is heretical.
Ninth, Pearl was duplicitous in saying: “If my material is read and understood, the only thing you could accuse me of is helping people to stop sinning. So what is the problem? The women whose husbands have ceased pornography or adultery are not complaining about their husbands listening to the series ‘Sin No More.’ ... It is people who are comfortable with the modern belief and practice that we are all slaves to sin and cannot overcome temptations in this life, who are hasty to draw false conclusions about what I teach, simply based on the title of an audio message.”
This makes it sound as if I am opposed to holy living and do not believe in victory over the flesh, which is a lie. My preaching has helped many of God’s people to have victory in Christ. I do not believe that the believer has to be a slave to sin or that he is unable to overcome temptation, but that is not the same as claiming that he can stop sinning and be free from all sin. Pearl is using the old bait and switch tactic here.
THE ERROR THAT JESUS BECAME A SINNER
In the articles entitled “God Made Jesus to Be Sin” and “Imputed Righteousness” Michael Pearl teaches the heresy that Jesus became a sinner. Consider the following statements:
“God was willing to see Jesus as a sinner that He might be permitted to see us as righteousness. Jesus became what we are that we might become what He is. By the imputing act of God, HE BECAME A SINFUL SON OF MAN so we could become sinless sons of God. It was a trade. He traded His righteousness for our sin” (Pearl, “God Made Jesus to be Sin”).
“The God who ‘calleth those things which be not as though they were’ called His Son something He wasn’t--A SINNER--so that He could call us something we are not--righteous” (Pearl, “God Made Jesus to be Sin”).
“Jesus became what we are, A SINNER--no, more than that, He became sin itself, “...that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” God was willing to see Jesus as a sinner, so He could see us as righteousness. Jesus became what we are, so we can become what he is. HE BECAME A SINFUL SON OF MAN, so we could become sinless sons of God” (Pearl, “Imputed Righteousness”).
It is blessedly true that the Lord Jesus bore man’s sin on the cross and He died to pay the price for our sin, but He was never a sinner and He never became a sinful son of man.
2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin...” Thus, though Jesus was made to be sin in our place, he still knew no sin. When Christ bore our sin, He did not do so by actually becoming a sinner; rather, He bore our sin in that God put that sin to His account and He bled and died to satisfy the Law’s requirement. Likewise, when a sinner puts his faith in Christ God applies Christ’s righteousness to that sinner’s account and declares him righteous. This is the doctrine of justification.
Note the following comments on 2 Corinthians 5:21 which give the sound view of Christ’s atonement:
“He hath made him to be sin; not made him a sinner, but a sin-offering, a sacrifice for sin. Made; that is, ordained a sacrifice to expiate sin, and to bear the punishment due to sinners” (William Burkitt).
“He was made sin; not a sinner, but sin, that is, a sin-offering, a sacrifice for sin” (Matthew Henry).
“A sinner, not in himself, but by imputation of the guilt of all our sins to him” (Geneva Bible).
“... not a sinful person, which would be untrue, and would require in the antithesis ‘righteous men,’ not ‘righteousness’; but ‘sin,’ that is, the representative Sin-bearer (vicariously) of the aggregate sin of all men past, present, and future” (Jamieson, Fausset, Brown).
“... but now that this may appear to be only by imputation, and that none may conclude from hence that he was really and actually a sinner, or in himself so, it is said he was ‘made sin’; he did not become sin, or a sinner, through any sinful act of his own, but through his Father’s act of imputation, to which he agreed” (John Gill).
TESTIMONIES
I conclude with comments from readers who replied to me after reading the first edition of this article:
“I have just read your article about ‘A WARNING ABOUT MICHAEL PEARL’S NO GREATER JOY MINISTRY.’ I just wanted to write to you to provide a brief testimony and to further emphasize your warning regarding this subject. Please take full liberty to print this email.
“Approximately a year ago our church had the misfortune of losing at the time a dear member to the ‘Sinless Perfectionism’ preached by Michael Pearl. He was called to preach and was active in our church and outspoken against sin in people’s lives. Unfortunately his love for the Word of God and the Saviour was small in comparison for his love of man and vain doctrines.
“I want to illustrate the importance of folks following the leadership of the local pastor of your local New Testament Church. Our Pastor made every attempt to correct this individual on a number of occasions but the man’s heart had been stolen. He might have been saved except for his association with a friend of his from our sponsoring church who was feeding him lies along with the Michael Pearl heresy. He is now part of a cult and took a couple of families with him from our sponsoring church. I agree with you 100% that this is a very dangerous doctrine and exhort anyone who is reading his books to examine the doctrine carefully or to go one step further and just throw them out.”
________________________
“Thank you for your helpful information regarding the Pearls and their Bible teaching. I am a pastor’s wife, and I have received their newsletters for several years and have also recommended their materials to others. I recently stumbled across a website that is hosted by their oldest daughter, Rebekah Pearl Anast, called ‘Dreaming Awake.’ Although Rebekah uses a penname (Ruby Archuletta, which she says comes from a movie) on the site, she also identifies herself within the site. The website is dedicated to recording her dreams, and she also categorizes them as ‘Assignment Dreams,’
‘Teaching Dreams,’ ‘War and Apocalyptic Dreams,’ etc. Although I have not seen any that are indecent to read about, they are very bizarre. ... You also pointed out that they tend to be negative about the church. There is another web site which is being started by Rebekah’s husband, Gabriel Anast, which he has billed as a ‘church’ being started on the internet.”
________________________
“Bro. Cloud, I checked out Rebekah Pearl Anast’s website, www.dreaming-awake.com. At the very least, it is bizarre and very misleading. They record dreams that the family has had and they apply them to their lives Biblically just as the dreams that were told of in the Bible. I don't believe God works in dreams to tell his people how they should live or what they should do because we have the Holy Spirit and the Word for that. Not saying He couldn’t if He decides to but I don’t believe God uses dreams and visions today. I also checked out the online church that was mentioned, www.7xsunday.net. They don’t have the whole site built yet but they do have forums. And, as with any online forum, it is full of confusion and confused people bantering back and forth about ‘spiritual’ matters. I did not look at every thread but I had looked at enough to tell that, for the most part, people would not be edified or strengthened by this, only bewildered. Thanks for posting the warning. We have subscribed to No Greater Joy for a few years and have enjoyed some of the home schooling articles but it has bothered me for quite some time that Michael Pearl’s teaching is dangerous and, in some cases, heretical. After examining these other websites, I realized that we can’t try to ignore the bad while trying to glean the good because the bad will seep in some way or other. Satan is very clever and he will get to God’s people in any subtle way he can.”
________________________
“Bro Cloud, thank you so much for your work for the Lord. Just a quick testimony about this article. I am in one of your supporting churches. It is a very strong church. Our pastor is great and preaches the Bible. About 5 years ago, the Pearl’s materials started circulating in our church. I have to admit that as a mother of five I eagerly read it all, often using their advice on child training. The Bible training CDs made it into the church bookroom and I decided to listen to the study of the book of Romans by Michael Pearl. After listening to it, my husband and I asked the pastor about it because he preached that a husband could have one wife at a time (not husband of one wife) and many other odd teachings that didn’t line up with our church or the Bible. The pastor agreed and eventually threw out all the Pearl things. To make a long story short, about 4 or 5 families have since left the church, all having their own excuses, but they have their home Bible studies and other ‘Pearl study things.’ These families were the type of families that you would think of being strong in the Lord. It was hard for me to see them leave. Since then, most of them have lost their standards, and all are going to different churches, but only on Sunday mornings and getting together Sunday nights for their private Bible studies. One other odd thing. My close friend went to one of his seminars on the teaching of Hebrews. She said that at the end Pearl turned off the taping and preached from the Bible on life before Adam and Eve, that there was another earth and that there is other life out there. And now she is convinced of it. Very weird. Thank you again for your work and your articles.”
________________________
“What a wonderful and accurate article! I pastor a small church in Nashua, NH, and I have seen numerous of these ‘good families’ (and I agree with you they are good families that love the Lord and their family) that minimize the local church greatly. The local church is seen as secondary to the family, and yes they do view the family unit as ‘the pillar and ground of the truth.’ We have lost some families over this, because I do believe the Bible’s teaching on the local church and that it is ‘the pillar and ground of the truth’ and that the Great Commission was given to the Lord’s churches.”
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FOLLOW-UP ABOUT THE GIRL AND THE PANTS AND THE CHURCH DISCIPLINE
FOLLOW-UP ABOUT THE GIRL AND THE PANTS AND THE CHURCH DISCIPLINE
August 15, 2008 (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the enf of the article) -
On August 14, I sent out a notice to the pastors on the FBIS mailing list asking the following question:
I have a problem that you can help me with. All I ask is that you write and let me know what you would say to the following situation. It might even sound humorous to you, but I can assure you that it is a serious matter. There is a teenage girl in a church. The church teaches that pants are not the most appropriate and modest attire for women. The girl is from a very poor family (six people living in one room), but she was the first member of her family to come to Christ about three years ago. She has been growing in the Lord and is faithful to church and prayer meetings. Recently she got a scholarship to a school that requires the female students to wear loose pants. Though someone from the church approached the school leaders and asked them to make an exception for her, they refused. Since the girl has decided to attend the school anyway, the church won’t allow her to teach Sunday School because she will no longer meet the standards for workers. But there is a prominent person in the church who is not content with this. He thinks she should be disciplined after the fashion of 1 Corinthians 5 and she should not be allowed to take the Lord’s Supper. What do you think?
______________________
I have received a deluge of responses to this, and I am thankful for each one who took the time to write. Most of the responses expressed a great deal of Christian wisdom and compassion, and it has been a blessing to read them.
I want to make the following comments in order to clarify the situation a bit. In hindsight I realize that I didn’t give enough information.
First, the church in question is a missionary church in South Asia. The school the girl is planning to attend is a high school operated by Hindus. There are no Christian ones.
Second, though the girl is from a poor family, the issue in question has nothing to do with an inability to afford a certain kind of clothing. The church would be more than happy to purchase any clothes the church members might need, but that is not the issue.
Third, the church has no intention of disciplining the girl. By God’s grace, they are going to continue to love her and teach her and encourage her and be patient with her and hopefully see her grow up to be a strong Christian woman who will be a bright light in that dark place.
Fourth, the “prominent man” is not a church leader and is not representative of the rest of the church, though he has been trying to promote his opinion to some of the members. His thinking is legalistic and grossly lacking in the love of Christ, and we wanted to show him that the pastors with whom we are in fellowship will not agree with him on this issue. Generally speaking, my readers doubtless represent the stricter side of fundamentalism; yet we do not lack in compassion and godly wisdom. In spite of what our detractors presume, we are not mean-spirited Pharisees. The e-mail responses demonstrated this.
Fifth, a few of those who replied used this as a soapbox to take a swipe at standards in general and at dress standards in particular and at the issue of pants on women even more particularly, but that is to be expected. This is a very touchy issue, and some people persist in making their opinions known even when no one cares to hear!
FOLLOWING ARE SOME OF THE COMMENTS WE RECEIVED FROM READERS
“The prominent person in the church has no Scripture for such an action. Her difficulty is already extremely hard on her and he would make it even worse. This would be cruel treatment and something the Lord would not do. I recommend someone discipline the prominent member.” [Note from Bro. Cloud: I put this one first, because I like it the best. Amen.]
“I would allow the girl to teach as long as she only wore the pants required at school and dresses or skirts the rest of the time, and I would discipline the Pharisee that wants her disciplined for being a cruel, callused, graceless boor.”
“The grace of God does not break fellowship and throw a teenage girl out of a church for wearing loose fitting pants to a school that she can’t afford to go to but chose to because she got a scholarship. I believe in standards and I believe in convictions BUT I don’t believe in extremes that do this. Maybe this church member should go read 1 Corinthians 13 and examine how much he cares for others. Where would any of us be if it weren’t for God’s grace in our lives AFTER we accept Christ?”
“I would say, from what you told me, that the GIRL wants to do right and the CHURCH wants to do right. ... I would certainly not discipline her further. It sounds like she has a heart to do right and needs to be encouraged, not further discouraged.”
“The standards for workers and decision to remove a person from a place of ministry sounds right and just. But 1 Corinthians 5 is dealing with fornication. I’d have to educate that ‘prominent person.’ If that prominent person does not receive instruction but pushes the issue (Prov. 30:33) then he would be sowing discord and find grounds to have himself separated.”
“From what I understand from the information you listed, I think church discipline is a bit extreme in this matter. If the church standards are such that a teacher cannot wear pants at any time, then that is their standard. I have standards in our church for staff and workers, also, and I think it is prudent to do so. If she violates that standard then I guess they can go ahead and not let her teach. As far as not taking the Lord's table, I think that is too far. In this instance, it doesn’t sound as though this young lady is rebellious or stubborn. The church contacted the school, and they have their dress standards also. I also assume this may be the only opportunity this young lady has at the present time to go to school because of her family and financial situation. It seems clear that most, if not all of this, is not under her control. The only choices she seems to have is to follow the school’s standards of dress, or not to attend the school. Is that the choice the young lady must face? That seems to be the root of the matter to me. A time in serious prayer by the pastor seeking the Lord’s will is the best solution. Pastors have to make tough decisions, but once bathed in prayer and led by the Lord those decisions are better made. It is easy to sit on the sideline and coach this one; it isn’t in my church. But in summary, I believe church discipline is not proper in this case.”
“1 Corinthians 11: 24-34 teaches that a person is to examine themselves before partaking of the Lord’s Supper. This is a self examination. ... As a pastor of a church all we can do at this point is teach the proper way to observe the Lord’s Supper and that individual has to examine his/her self to see if they are partaking of it worthily. This has nothing to do with dress, but our reflection and remembrance of the suffering of Christ. With the information provided below, I see nothing that should keep this lady from teaching her Sunday school class as long as she is modestly dressed, spiritually minded, faithful, and prepared to teach. Neither do I see anything here that should warrant discipline from the church. I would encourage the prominent individual to study the mentioned scriptures and pray for understanding.”
“Obviously the Word of God is the final authority. Let’s talk consistency and favoritism. EVERY person should then be held to the same form of discipline. This is extremely hard to do. Since SIN is SIN and in God’s eyes one sin is not greater than another, this form of discipline could be administered evenly across the board. What if the tithing records were made public? Failing to tithe is sin. Could it be reason to forbid participation in the Lord’s Supper?”
“Nowhere in scripture we will find that our Lord will have us sin in order to conform to the world’s ‘rules.’ It is not our Lord’s will for us to attend ANY school that demands of us to follow unscriptural beliefs. Almighty God has a perfect plan for this young lady and for each and every one of us.”
“Seems to me that ‘standards for workers’ is a different thing than ‘standards for attendees.’ I would advise the girl to graciously submit to no longer being qualified to teach in the church AND to go ahead and attend the school. As she continues to grow in the Lord, she will develop her own convictions based upon her understanding of Scripture ... Concerning the prominent person in the church, is his name Diotrephes? Perhaps he should be disciplined because of his insensitivity to the growth rate of babes in the Lord. If the girl wants to be an attendee rather than a worker, that is her business. The prominent person in the church is the real problem--not the spiritually growing girl who appears to be walking in the light. If we offend or anger anyone, let’s offend and anger the prominent person--not the babe in Christ.”
“I can see why the church would not allow her to teach in Sunday School, since not wearing pants at all is the churches policy or standard. I do not, however, see the gross immorality as 1 Corinthians deals with. She should be disciplined no further by the church. It seems to me that this ‘prominent person’ in the church is taking it a bit too far, especially for a young person who needs to be nurtured. Also, I would consider her unsaved family. Great care should be observed. To go to such an extreme as to turn her out of the church or withdraw fellowship could have a drastic effect on them. Though I agree with the standard of the church or its pastor, wearing loose pants is not on the list of 1 Corinthians 5:11. As to not allowing her to partake of the Lord’s Supper, as I understand the Bible the only way anyone can eat or drink ‘worthily’ is to be saved by the grace of God. Washed in His precious blood. Who is worthy to partake of any of God’s blessings outside of salvation? None of us should be able to partake of the Lord's Supper, if sinless perfection is a prerequisite.”
“This situation is unfortunate, but there are a few Scriptural considerations here. First, and I think the over-riding concern for INDIVIDUAL members is that whatever course of action is followed the members’ response must be based on love for this girl and a desire to see her become more like Christ. We know that Christ said the mark of true disciples is their love for one another. Also, Christ give the 2 greatest commandments, both of which center on love. I believe it is important to maintain standards of righteousness, but failure to do so in a spirit of love fails the test of Scripture. Perhaps some pastoral instruction on the proper attitude towards restoring an errant brother might be in order for the ‘influential’ member (Gal. 6:1). Second, I agree with you on the issue of biblical modesty. Your description of the pants in question seems to indicate that they are ‘relatively’ modest for pants; though I will not dispute they are still pants and not the best choice. Unfortunately, the school will not bend and the decision from this child’s perspective is almost impossible. ... Our partners on the field have taken an instructive approach, dealing with the subject of modesty regularly and allowing time for the Holy Spirit to convict on these issues. They have seen a great deal of success, but as new believers enter the fellowship, they require the same instruction, so he has a number of women in his church plants who wear pants at any given time, each of whom require the same instruction. As for this particular situation, I agree that if she fails to follow the church’s standards for dress she may not hold a teaching position in the church, but I find the idea of church discipline to be overkill. It may be, in time, she will grow spiritually to the point that the decision becomes easier, but until that time, a bit of Christian charity, while not endorsing her decision, will go a long way to helping her grow spiritually.”
“As to the ‘prominent person’ in the church who is calling for church discipline, such an action could possibly destroy this girl’s faith, not only in the church, but in Christians as a whole. Aside from that, what kind of a testimony would it send to this girl’s family, whom, I’m sure, the church is endeavoring to win to the Lord? I believe that a bit of grace might be extended here. Thank God for His amazing grace which He gives to us each and every day! I Corinthians 13.”
“If the issue as you described it happened for us, the person would be removed from leadership because of failing to meet the Leadership Standards. However, putting the person under church discipline seems to be harsh. I would sit down with the person and explain that we cannot use them any more in a leadership capacity. I would also make sure to explain scripturally why we are taking that position. I would also seek to find out why she is choosing to attend a school that will take her out of a leadership position in the Lord’s house. ... At the moment, I would think she has done nothing worthy of church discipline. Although there seems to be a desire to go in a wrong direction spiritually, she needs to rethink the schooling situation and encouraged to do so. What does God really want for your life? To honor and glorify Him, 1 Corinthians 6:19-20. Sometimes schooling in a wrong place leads to many other problems. I would probably discuss church discipline with the prominent member scripturally and seek to help him understand why this is not a church discipline issue. I would let him know we will keep an eye on it and we will monitor the situation and take appropriate action as needed.”
“If the young girl came home and immediately changed into the ‘proper’ attire then her heart is right, If the school has asked for this dress code for some form of ‘moral’ issues and or it is freezing cold in the middle of winter and snow is 3 ft deep then the ‘church’ and this particular member is unfair and unyielding to her plight and no Christ like love, understanding is being shown to her.”
“I would not use church discipline. We allow people of all kinds of backgrounds and levels of their Christian growth to attend. Lost folks, baby believers, backslidden believers, struggling believers. If she insists on leadership then a line must be drawn. But I would not discipline because she or her family have not grown enough spiritually to match others convictions. While I do not know her or all details you must decide if it is real rebellion or a growth issue.”
“Church discipline is for very serious transgressions. While we do hold modesty up as very important in our churches and concerning our members and leadership, the girl was already disciplined by losing her teaching position. I hardly think the Lord would have you give her over to the devil for the destruction of the flesh over such an issue as this. I see no sexual explicit thing this girl has done to warrant such behaviour from this prominent man in the ministry. Seems to me that this man though wanting to make sure there is purity in the church is somewhat stretching this out to a big ordeal. I am not sure that we have authority to forbid her in such cases from the Lord’s Table. She does have individual soul liberty to make decisions that she feels are best for her life and if her testimony is strong than he should give her time to grow and not cut her off at the knees. Besides the Pastor is the one to make such choices in the ministry; he is the overseer and that man is out of bounds, I believe. She will not put a mark of embarrassment on the ministry if she does not represent them as a teacher. We have to be careful not to get Papal in such matters. This by no means excuses the fact that we believe she is wrong, but it is her choice to make. We are not puritans and should not attempt to ‘burn her at the stake.’”
“Said ‘prominent’ person is not exhibiting anything remotely close to the love and wisdom of Christ, but rather has the spirit of a Pharisee. The term Pharisee gets overused, but it is applicable here. I hate religious spirits. I hate ‘religion,’ i.e. that of the ‘prominent’ person, when said religion is without the Spirit.”
“I do not agree with the wearing of pants by women unless they are loose enough to not emphasize the body parts that men are attracted to. At the same time, I have never found the issue of pants wearing to be an issue to which the Scriptures speak in regard to her ability to teach Sunday School. It certainly does not fall into the category of a gross immorality such as 1 Corinthians 5 requires to be disciplined. ... [Churches] can hold to convictions about women not wearing pants (and I think they would be right), but they must show mercy, too.”
“The real thing that matters, on all sides, is to have the right spiritual attitude and walk in true fellowship with God. To put a godly girl out of fellowship because she (has to) wear(s) pants, is absurd. This is legalism to the max. How can one equate the evil of 1 Corinthians 5 with this girl’s situation!”
“As to the matter of the prominent person in the church thinking that the girl should be banned from partaking of the Lord’s Supper, that is not what the Bible teaches. The Bible does not teach that the church is to ‘police’ the Lord’s Supper. The Bible teaches that the preacher is to clearly preach the warnings about partaking of the Lord’s Supper unworthily, and then let God will do the ‘policing’ (1 Corinthians 11:17-34). ... Paul describes a very carnal scene in Corinth in regard to partaking of the Lord’s Supper (divisions, heresies, selfishness, drunkenness, etc.), but not once does he name a name in regard to the problem, and tell them to be banned from the Lord’s Supper. Church leaders are never told to ‘police’ the Lord’s Supper -- that is clearly left to the Lord to do. The preacher is to warn the whole congregation as to the seriousness of the matter, and then it is to be left between the person and God. This is where the fear of the Lord must be preached, and then leave the matter with God. ... The church in question has a case in regard to removing the young lady from teaching a Sunday School class, but the church has no business saying that the girl cannot partake of the Lord’s Supper.”
“As far as the individual that thinks she should be disciplined after the fashion of 1 Corinthians 5 and she should not be allowed to take the Lord’s Supper, I DO NOT agree with that.”
“My suggestion is that the man who wants to impose church discipline pay for her schooling at another institution which would NOT require the wearing of pants.”
“My question is on what scripture is this prominent person basing that this fits the matter of church discipline? As a matter of fact, I am curious as to how other churches that practice discipline determine the criteria for such action beyond immorality, doctrinal heresy, or other blatant disobedience. Where does it get into secondary issues or preferences? I do believe in discipline. I am solidly fundamental and conservative, KJB, etc. But this matter of this young lady concerns me that there is a violation of the spirit of God’s Word in this area. We must remember the whole purpose of discipline is not what we do to get rid of those we do not like or who are trouble makers, but the goal is reconciliation.”
“First of all I Corinthians 5 is talking about fornicators that were rampant in Corinth and had gotten into the church. I believe Jesus condemned Pharisaistic attitudes as I’m afraid this dear brother has. ‘[Jesus] unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.’ It seems the dear brother has no compassion for her. ... If I run everyone that does not do as I say out of the church I would have to quit preaching and close the doors. Oh, how many souls would be lost because one of Christ’s churches strained at a gnat and swallowed a camel. Leave her alone and pray for her, and thank God for another witness at a college.”
“This attitude is what has driven many good people away from the church and even from the Lord. May God help us to realize there are many other problems to face that a young lady being force to wear pants. I dare say the man casting the stones at this young lady has issues in his life that someone could judge him for also.”
“It sounds like someone is making things harder than it needs to be for this young lady. Unfortunately, this type of behavior by mature Christians is just what Satan loves to instigate in trying to discourage young believers in being dedicated to their faith.”
“We are faced with this more now than ever. We have adopted the avenue of when an individual comes into our church, not blasting them or being brutal (I have known churches to be this way.) (Instead we have tried to get them close to another godly lady who builds a confidence in the person’s heart and then we do three things. First, we instruct as to why ladies need to dress modestly at God’s house and not just at God’s house but everywhere. Second, we purchase clothes for them if they have not the means to do so. Concerning the member who is influential and disagrees, approach him about purchasing her clothes. We have no right to condemn something we ourselves are not trying to correct. Third, we exercise patience to allow God to change people’s hearts. How many times I have witnessed this happening in our church and they have become great Christians and great members of our congregation.”
“She should attend the school suitably attired. If they remove her from school, that is their prerogative. By bowing to school rules contrary to biblical rules she is making decisions on how she lives.”
“Can the church help this girl with money to attend a school that will not undermine the standards of the girl or the church? Sure it will be a sacrifice but this may be what the church ought to do. We have tried helping people at times who even had some resources so that we could show in a positive way that we were for them and wanted to help them make the right decision. It sounds like this is a good girl who wants to do right. We ought to do all we can to help her. I believe there are options available to help and church discipline, which we practice and believe in, is too stringent in this case from the details that I have been given.”
“If the church has made a decision about the matter, this other ‘prominent person’ ought to submit to the leadership and leave it in God’s hands. This ‘prominent person’ seems to be in the wrong. Hebrews 13:17 Humbly submitted.”
“I believe that church discipline in this situation is going a little too far. I am a strong believer in church discipline but I also believe we had better be careful in our administration of it. As for the Lord’s Supper that young lady needs to be made aware of the danger of partaking with known sin in her life, but I don’t believe that the church can stop her from partaking.”
“I believe 1 Corinthians 5 type of discipline is reserved for false doctrine, immorality, or disorderly behavior. In my opinion, although I do not believe a woman ought to wear pants, the wearing of pants does not fit into either of those categories. The dismissal from the SS teaching position (a matter of Christian service standards as set by the local church) is sufficient discipline.”
“Church discipline in this matter is way out of bounds.”
“I would have the following questions for the fellow causing the disturbance. Is he ready to declare the wearing of pants by a girl to be equivalent to any sin in the list of heinous crimes cataloged in 1 Corinthians 5:11? I would ask the gentleman to provide a complete list of his convictions that would cause the censure of I Corinthians 5. Movie-theater attendance, card-playing, hair shorter than shoulder length on a lady or touching a man’s ears or collar? How about computer solitaire? Use of Nyquil? While we all hold our own convictions and standards, and all draw the line somewhere on each of these, with some room for disagreement on exactly where that line is, the lines drawn in Scripture are plain and clear and obvious to anyone who is honest with the text. Does the gentleman believe that if every member of his church were to make a list of their convictions, that he would be squeaky clean with no violations? Which convictions would rise to the level of a shunning offense, and which would be a matter of Christian liberty? And who gets to decide that? We are wise to stick with what the Scripture plainly says when it comes to a matter of church action.”
“It seems to me that bringing this girl before the church for discipline is overkill at the highest level. This young lady has been in Christ for three years. Praise the Lord for her growth, but when churches start making issues like this akin with blasphemy, heresy, and immorality, I think they have gone way overboard. And BTW, neither my wife nor my daughters wear pants. Don’t misunderstand me. I believe the issue of modest apparel is an important one. Is this good church going to bring every lady in the church that wear pants before the congregation? It just seems mighty extreme to me.”
“I am only an old grandma, but here is my reply. This is unbelievable! ... Keeping her from taking the Lord’s Supper sends a terrible message to the rest of her family.”
“If the church has standards then it is justified to not allow the young lady to teach but to bring her before the church in discipline is really ridiculous. I would suspect (with my thirty years as pastor of the church I founded) that the man wanting to do so needs to look into his own self and allow the Holy Spirit to make the decision; besides, this is the pastor's decision, anyhow.”
“I would tell the ‘prominent member’ in the church to mind his own business. 1Th 4:11 ‘And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you.’”
“I would be in full agreement that if the church has modest clothing as a requirement for Sunday School teachers, the young lady has disqualified herself to remain as a teacher. She, of course, should be told in the spirit of love, complete with an explanation. I would be in total disagreement with the man in the church who wants her disciplined for this issue. As I understand the scriptures, church discipline is reserved for certain types of issues which bring great reproach on the individual and the church, if allowed to continue. This is also spelled out in 1 Corinthians 5:11. It is this type of attitude that gives our Fundamental, Independent, Baptist Churches a bad name, a name for harshness. While I strongly agree that church discipline is necessary within the parameters of the Scripture, the type of issue dealt with here would only create a ‘witch hunt’ within the church. Of course, I do not know the man in question, I would dare say that he may also struggle in some areas of his life as well. In the lesser issues, not covered in 1 Cor 5:11, mercy and prayer is often the answer. I am so thankful for the mercy of God in my life, as I often fail Him and come short of His glory. Lu 6:36 Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful. Jas 2:13 For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment. Wisdom and discernment come from Christian growth. This young lady has not been saved very long and needs to be commended for the growth she has experienced and encouraged to continue to grow in the Lord.”
“Since she does not meet the standard, fine; don’t let her teach, but church discipline over that? I think is going a bit too far. Is she being immodest or seductive? We do not have a practice of wearing pants in our home but does this mean she is living in sin? I am all for separation and standards but this seems to be making mountain out of a mole hill sort of speaking. Does she need to be delivered unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh? Or according to verse 13 is she really a wicked person because she is wearing trousers? I think it is simply going beyond the bounds of Scripture.”
“I feel this teenager girl needs guidance, love and understanding, not persecution. Compassion for our brethren should be paramount!”
“Since when do the beliefs of a ‘prominent person’ usurp the authority of the church? I understand about ‘prominent people’ and puffed-up arrogance and their willingness to wield their influence over God’s flock, but a church is not governed by an oligarchy. ... If she has agreed to ‘standards for workers’ and now cannot fulfill those, then she should not teach in a Bible Class/Sunday School, but Church Discipline...over pants???”
“The verse about causing a little one to stumble comes to mind. I spent seven years away from the Lord because I was judged harshly by people like him, when all I wanted was to serve and please the Lord.”
“It is the best example I have heard of transitioning from the ridiculous to the sublime. It is the epitome of legalism!”
“How many of us have sin in our lives? Let him who is without sin amongst us cast the first stone.”
“The prominent member of the church should be shown the door not the girl.”
“Since when are a pants on women issue the criteria for partaking in the LORD’S supper? No, I'm not in favor of men's clothing on (Christian) women, including pants. My wife and two girls don’t own any pants. However, all new believers must be taught from the Word of God (i.e. The LORD) that women should maintain themselves as women, and not to wear that which pertaineth to a man. The (new)
believer must be dealt with in much patience, to say the least. The LORD I believe has ‘no problem’ molding a teachable Christian who is going to lovingly obey the LORD in all areas of life.”
“I think the prominent person in the church should be disciplined and not allowed to take the Lord's Supper for his harsh spirit until he repents. And by the way I don't feel pants are modest.”
“I would also suggest that the prominent person in the church that is seeking to have the young lady excluded from the Lord's Supper restore her by paying her way to school or organizing a joint effort to pay her way through school so that she would not need the scholarship and therefore not be obligated to follow the rule that he finds so offensive.”
“That she has been barred from teaching Sunday School seems sufficient a measure. In such a case as this, the men need not think they would compromise their zeal by exercising sweet moderation. ‘Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand’ (Philippians 4:5). W.E. Vines defines the word translated moderation thus: ‘equitable, fair, moderate, forbearing, not insisting on the letter of the law’; it expresses that considerateness that looks ‘humanely and reasonably at the facts of a case.’ May the Lord give us wisdom (James 3:17).”
“It seems to me that if she is saved then she is saved and she is well and truly in the Lord's will. The next step is to decide if we adopt the Regulative or the Normative principle of worship. If we are of the Regulative side then we will do as the Bible alone teaches. If of the normative -- well you can do what you want. 1 Corinthians 5 refers to fornication and this is not what the girl is about so she should not be judged from that perspective unless the person desiring it is wishing to persecute her. You can't do anything about her work commitments but she should not wear them at church if the church has a dress code. Perhaps enforce the dress code and ask her not to take Sunday school until she wears a skirt or whatever. As a born again Christian she has a perfect right to partake of communion and should NOT be refused because of something like this. Be careful that your molehill does not become mountainous and put you all in the shade. Do any or the other women wear lipstick, heavy makeup, have bright shiny jewelry, wear up to date fashion? Maybe they should be spoken to as well...”
“Woe to the one who by bitter harshness destroys her faith.”
“This teenager needs love to help her on her Christ walk and to cement a brick into her calling.”
“In all seriousness, this member should be approached by the pastor to back off. The pastor has an obligation to tend to the weak in his flock (if she is even truly a weak Christian. She seems to be coming to church for all the RIGHT reasons. This is not an issue to remove the girl over. It doesn’t sound like an obtuse girl or a girl in rebellion. Also, it sounds like the prominent member could be a thorn in the pastor’s side. I will be praying for the pastor. ... I cannot believe that Paul intended 1 Cor. 5 to be interpreted and used in the case as you described it. She is a fornicator? ... Someone ought to follow the prominent man around like a hawk and scrutinize his every move. Scan his computer drive! The man beating this drum, as described is probably guilty of one of the sins listed in 1 Cor. 5. I would spend my time analyzing his life. Some people will never be happy unless they can execute judgment. How about, since it is a sensitive/serious issue, pray and allow the Lord to work in the girl’s heart about the whole thing? How about the prominent member exercise FAITH that God can fix whatever may ail the young girl. I realize all cannot be fixed in this manner, but I have pastored long enough to realize that some things the Lord is better at handling without some folks’ personal involvement. My final vote is to vote out the prominent member!”
“I'm all for the girls and women not wearing pants. My wife and our girls don’t wear pants at all, and our church knows our stand, but on the other hand I’m not going to stop them from coming. I will let God deal with them (I just preach the word). As far as the Lord’s Supper I think that is taking it too far. ...This is a big delicate concern. You don’t want to lose her, and at the same time we have to keep the standards high.”
“In my opinion this is a difficult case because we do want to maintain Biblical dress standards in a world that is always working against Biblical values. I think the church discipline already implemented in removing her from her S.S. class is as strong of an action as should be taken. The opinion of the man who wants to keep her from the Lord’s Supper is, I think, unwise & uncharitable. I think this church should stand with the girl as she attends school by lovingly caring to see her grow in grace. A spiritual lady in the church should become a very close friend to her. That would be very important. If there is no sign of rebellion in this girl, I would stand with her as she goes through her education experience. If there is a rebellious spirit present, she may well be lost to the world and her new opportunities for an education. Obviously, standards that are based on the word of God are very important. But love, grace, and mercy are also important to be exercised by those in authority when there is a genuine desire in a young believer to walk pleasing to God. May God help this church to be led by the Spirit in all aspects of God’s Word.”
“She’s caught in a battle between standards, those of the school and those of the church. Either way she decides to go, it makes things difficult for her. If they side with the ‘prominent person’ simply because of his status, they've blown it because of their failure to heed James 2:1-4. Brother Cloud says that man is prominent, but does not say he is spiritual. Even a marginal Christian could try to force such an issue. He does however say that the girl’s growing in the Lord and faithful to the services, including prayer meeting. It seems they're at risk of causing her to stagnate in her faith rather than continue growth. And being they say that her wearing pants is a part of the school dress code, and not her disregard of Christian church standards (it says nothing of her wearing pants to the services, or while teaching Sunday School), I believe they've caused more harm than good. That prominent member used 1 Corinthians 5 as his justification for seeing her disciplined. Yet in that chapter, Paul writes of sins of rebellion. Verse 13 tells us, ‘But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.’ I hardly see her as wicked. When the writer notes the school’s standards are ‘loose pants,’ it’s my belief he’s noting pants that may be baggy, not those that are form-fitting, taking away from her modesty. Nor am I led to believe that they’re low, showing anything they should not. Surely we must be of good testimony among those that are unsaved to have them see Christ in us. Likewise, also show that same testimony among the saved, lest we cause someone to stumble. But to force her to wear something not beyond the pale of decent clothing while not in a church setting seems at best dictatorial, not something that would be helpful to the young lady, nor to the other members of the church.”
“It is a classic example of ‘straining at a gnat and swallowing a camel.’ The ‘prominent person’ sounds like Diotrephes of III John 9 & 10.”
“It seems to me that the brother who would enact further discipline is the kind who would bring the world’s accusatory of ‘self-righteous Christian’ upon all our heads.”
“There were prominent people in Christ's time called Pharisees whom Christ dealt harshly with because their heart was not right. Outwardly they looked the part but inwardly they were full of dead bones, Matt 23. Discipline done right with a heart of love seeks to draw back a person, not to destroy or run off from our membership or flock. In dealing with this problem, try to mimic Christ and how he worked with patience John 8: 3-11, not the attitude of Pharisees.”
“Sounds like Diothrepes to me. Church discipline is surely not for these infractions of dress. What does the Pharisee’s wife or daughters wear when not at church? ... Thanks for listening to my rant. I’ve been preaching for almost 40 years and these things surely gripe me.”
“I would almost say that the prominent person if not careful could be brought up for church discipline for causing discord among the brethren. I think perhaps the key problem is the ‘prominent person.’”
“If the man is the only dissenting voice in the assembly, this needs to be pointed out to him as well, along with Scripture that speaks of the danger of schismatic and divisive persons within the body. Maybe he is the one that needs to be disciplined. Finally, maybe someone can suggest that this ‘prominent’ man undertake to finance the destitute young lady’s secondary education in its entirety at another institution more to his preference.”
“With reference to the Lord’s supper, 1 Corinthians 11:28 reads, ‘But let a man examine HIMSELF, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.’ We are told by scripture to judge ourselves, and we can infer from this verse that we should not be a judge of others when it comes to the Lord’s supper. That prominent person has no liberty to judge or determine the girl’s eligibility or ineligibility to partake of the Lord’s supper. Let’s hypothetically turn the tables and, say, the Lord decides to publicly reveal every thought from the heart of that man on a large screen in his church. If that man were totally honest, I’m pretty sure he would judge and disqualify himself from taking part in the Lord’s supper, too. Matthew 7:3, ‘And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?’”
[Distributed by Way of Life Literature's Fundamental Baptist Information Service, an e-mail listing for Fundamental Baptists and other fundamentalist, Bible-believing Christians. OUR GOAL IN THIS PARTICULAR ASPECT OF OUR MINISTRY IS NOT DEVOTIONAL BUT IS TO PROVIDE INFORMATION TO ASSIST PREACHERS IN THE PROTECTION OF THE CHURCHES IN THIS APOSTATE HOUR. This material is sent only to those who personally subscribe to the list. If somehow you have subscribed unintentionally, following are the instructions for removal. The Fundamental Baptist Information Service mailing list is automated. To SUBSCRIBE or to UNSUBSCRIBE or to CHANGE ADDRESSES or to RE-SUBSCRIBE UNDER A NEW ADDRESS, go to http://www.wayoflife.org/fbis/subscribe.html. If you have any trouble with this, please let us know. And please be patient with us. We do not ignore any unsubscribe request, but we cannot always get to your request immediately as each person involved with maintaining the Way of Life web site does this only on a very part time basis and is busy with many other major activities, such as pastoring and missionary work. We take up a quarterly offering to fund this ministry, and those who use the materials are expected to participate (Galatians 6:6) if they can. Some of the articles are from O Timothy magazine, which is in its 25th year of publication. Way of Life publishes many helpful books. The catalog is located at the web site: http://wayoflife.org/catalog/catalog.htm Way of Life Literature, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061. 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org. We do not solicit funds from those who do not agree with our preaching and who are not helped by these publications, but from those who are. OFFERINGS can be made at http://www.wayoflife.org/fbns/offering.html. PAYPAL offerings can be made to https://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=dcloud%40wayoflife.org]
PASTORS, TELL US ABOUT YOUR PROBLEMS
PASTORS, TELL US ABOUT YOUR PROBLEMS
Updated October 2, 2008 (first published July 24, 2008) (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) -
I first mailed this out on July 24, and I received several interesting and helpful replies. I hope some more of you pastors will take the time to write and describe the problems you face.
It will help other pastors and it will help the people.
If you are a pastor of a fundamentalist Baptist or separatist baptistic Bible church I urge you to write and share your greatest problems and heartaches. It doesn’t have to be long. Just list them and perhaps give an illustration or two.
If we get enough feedback to print a report, we won’t use any names.
Thank you so much for this help.
In Christ,
Brother Cloud
[Distributed by Way of Life Literature's Fundamental Baptist Information Service, an e-mail listing for Fundamental Baptists and other fundamentalist, Bible-believing Christians. OUR GOAL IN THIS PARTICULAR ASPECT OF OUR MINISTRY IS NOT DEVOTIONAL BUT IS TO PROVIDE INFORMATION TO ASSIST PREACHERS IN THE PROTECTION OF THE CHURCHES IN THIS APOSTATE HOUR. This material is sent only to those who personally subscribe to the list. If somehow you have subscribed unintentionally, following are the instructions for removal. The Fundamental Baptist Information Service mailing list is automated. To SUBSCRIBE or to UNSUBSCRIBE or to CHANGE ADDRESSES or to RE-SUBSCRIBE UNDER A NEW ADDRESS, go to http://www.wayoflife.org/fbis/subscribe.html. If you have any trouble with this, please let us know. And please be patient with us. We do not ignore any unsubscribe request, but we cannot always get to your request immediately as each person involved with maintaining the Way of Life web site does this only on a very part time basis and is busy with many other major activities, such as pastoring and missionary work. We take up a quarterly offering to fund this ministry, and those who use the materials are expected to participate (Galatians 6:6) if they can. Some of the articles are from O Timothy magazine, which is in its 25th year of publication. Way of Life publishes many helpful books. The catalog is located at the web site: http://wayoflife.org/catalog/catalog.htm Way of Life Literature, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061. 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org. We do not solicit funds from those who do not agree with our preaching and who are not helped by these publications, but from those who are. OFFERINGS can be made at http://www.wayoflife.org/fbns/offering.html. PAYPAL offerings can be made to https://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=dcloud%40wayoflife.org]
RECOMMENDED MATERIALS FOR CHURCH BOOKSTORES
Updated July 4, 2008 (first published May 22, 2008) (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) -
The following is a work in progress. I plan to add to it as I have opportunity, though I will not necessarily try to keep the contact information contained herein up to date. Phone numbers and web site addresses change frequently and we do not have the personnel to try to keep up with that type of thing.
A well-run Christian bookstore can be a powerful and important ministry, and I believe that it is nearly essential today that churches set up their own bookstores. Even if there is a Christian bookstore in the area, it is more than probable that it contains many books that are doctrinally unsound. Further, it probably sells “Christian” rock. I have often said that one of the most dangerous places today for a Bible-believing Christian is the average bookstore. (See “Dangers in Christian Bookstores,” http://www.wayoflife.org/fbns/dangers-in-christianbookstores.html).
The Lord Jesus Christ commissioned the churches with thoroughly discipling every member. He said to teach them “to observe ALL things whatsoever I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:20). That is part of the ministry of the Great Commission. Further, the churches are tasked with protecting the believers from false teachers.
What was true in the prophet Hosea’s day is true in our day. “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge” (Hosea 4:6). Too many members of Independent Baptist churches lack an effective and foundational knowledge of the Bible and are ill-equipped to deal with the slew of heresies that we are facing in these last days.
A well-run, well-stocked, well-promoted bookstore can go a long way toward correcting this problem.
SUGGESTIONS
1. An effective bookstore requires support from the church’s leaders and a strong commitment from the church. It should be supported financially to get it off the ground. The objective should not be to make money for the church’s coffers but to provide doctrinally sound material for the edification of the people and the salvation of souls. It is best if the church puts all of the profit back into the bookstore ministry so that the stock can grow and the number of titles increased.
2. It is important to appoint the right person to oversee the bookstore. At the very least a well-grounded preacher should be in charge of selecting the books. In too many cases the stocking of books is left up to a woman or someone who is not properly informed of the issues and who does not have the knowledge or spiritual discernment necessary to choose the right materials.
3. Keep the books well stocked. If the books are allowed to run out of stock it will discourage potential customers.
4. Keep the number of titles growing. A bookstore that has the same books on display month after month will not stir up the kind of enthusiasm that is necessary to make this ministry a success.
5. The bookstore needs to be advertised from the pulpit and by any other means available, such as a church paper. The people must be informed about what is available and reminded regularly. By this means the people will know what is available and will have that in mind when the need arises, such as when they are confronted by false doctrine.
RECOMMENDED PUBLISHERS
The following are some of the books that we recommend for church bookstores. Obviously we cannot recommend every title published by the following publishers nor can we recommend every jot and tittle in the titles we do list, but we believe the following materials are very helpful for Bible-believing Christians.
BEREAN CALL, P.O. Box 7019, Bend, OR 97708, http://www.thebereancall.org/
-- Many helpful books by Dave Hunt. We recommend Judgment Day: Islam, Israel and the Nations, What Love Is This (Calvinism), A Woman Rides the Beast (Roman Catholicism), Fast Facts on Jehovah’s Witnesses, Fast Facts on the Masonic Lodge, Fast Facts on the Middle East, The Seduction of Christianity, The Godmakers, When Will Jesus Come?
BETHEL BAPTIST PRINT MINISTRY, 4212 Campbell St. London, Ontario, Canada N6P 1A6
http://www.bethelbaptist.ca/contact.htm, 519-652-2619, info@bethelbaptist.ca
-- They publish books by Bruce Lackey and many others. I recommend the following books by Bruce Lackey: Repentance Is More Than a Change of Mind, Proverbs for the Family, Ten Ways to Study Your Bible, What the Bible Teaches about Drinking Wine, Cremation, Divorce, and Other Matters, Why I Believe the Old King James Bible. I also recommend Baptist History by J.M. Cramp, Bible Doctrines Affected by Modern Versions by Paul Freeman, Bible Wines or the Laws or Fermentation by William Patton, Boys and Girls Who Became Great Missionaries by John Mueller, Except Ye Repent by H.A. Ironside, The History of the Christian Church by William Jones, Israel and the Churches by James Brookes, The Life and Works of Charles Spurgeon by Henry Northrop, Me a Widow? (by a pastor’s wife), Must Purity Be Sacrificed on the Altar of Unity by Bert Esselink, Prayer by John Bunyan, The Fear of God by Bunyan, Scripture Memorization by John Charlton, Prayer by D.L. Moody, After C.T. Studd by Norman Grubb, The Weapon of Prayer by E.M. Bounds, Heroes of Faith on Pioneer Trails by E. Myers Harrison.
BIBLE FOR TODAY, 900 Park Ave., Collingswood, NJ 08108
www.BibleForToday.org, 800-564-6109
-- They carry all the books by D.A. Waite, Jack Moorman, Edward F. Hills, John Burgon, and most of the other authors in defense of the King James Bible and the Received Greek text.
BIBLE TRUTH PUBLISHERS, P.O. Box 649, Addison, IL 60101, 630-543-1441, BTPorders@cs.com, BPPonline.org
-- This is a Brethren publisher and we do not recommend their writings on the church, but their books on prophecy and many other subjects are excellent. Some of the books from this publisher that we recommend are the writings and commentaries of H.A. Ironside and William Kelly, as well as The Bible Promise Book, Concise Bible Dictionary, A Defense of Dispensationalism, Hades and Eternal Punishment, Holiness: The False and the True, Miller’s Church History (though written from a Protestant perspective it is still very helpful), Outline of Prophetic Events, Self-Esteem: A Scriptural Analysis, Things Which Must Shortly Come to Pass, Types and Symbols of Scripture, The Tabernacle, Priesthood, and Offerings, and What They Believe (Cults).
THE BOOK HEAVEN, Lehigh Valley Baptist Church, 4207 Colebrook Ave., Emmaus, PA 18049, 800-893-9586, www.baptist-books.com
-- Lehigh Valley Baptist Church purchased Challenge Press from M.L. Moser, Jr., a few years ago and incorporated it into its own publishing ministry called The Book Haven. Some of the Challenge Press books present a Baptist Brider type position, which we do not recommend, but most of their books do not have this problem. We recommend 2 Timothy Outlines, Betrothal from Principle to Practice (DVD), Bible Revelations of Jesus the Christ, Bible Stories from the Children’s Nook, The Blight of Bitterness, Capital Punishment, Ephesians: Expository Notes, Galatians: Studies in, Good News for Modern Man: The Devil’s Masterpiece, Hell, Helpmeets in the Old Testament, Holy Spirit Series, Hymn Studies that Stir the Heart, Is Jesus a Fraud?, Isaiah: Study Guide, Jude: Expository Notes, Modern Science and the Third Day of Creation, Luke, Numbers, Open Windows for Catholics, Revelation: Study Guide, Ruth, Salvation Bible Basics, The Independence of the Local Church, Seven Steps of Bible Study, and Under Northern Lights: Missionary Adventures in Alaska. Challenge Press reprints many of the late Chester Tulga’s insightful books, including The Case against Neo-Orthodoxy, The Case against the Social Gospel, The Case against the World Council of Churches, The Case for Separation in These Times, The Case for the Atonement of Christ, The Case for the Virgin Birth of Christ, The Doctrine of Holiness in These Times, and The Doctrine of Right and Wrong in These Times. The Book Haven also carries a wide variety of books by other publishers.
CHRISTIAN BOOK GALLERY, 9066 Knickerbocker, St. John, IN 46373, http://www.4gospel.com/Christian_Book_Gallery_Larry_Harrison_s/74.htm
-- Larry Harrison re-prints a number of old books, including biographies of Peter Cartwright, John Jasper, Bud Robinson, Mordecai Ham, Billy Sunday, and D.L.Moody. The book “How on Earth Can I Be Spiritual” by C. Sumner Wemp is particularly excellent.
FUNDAMENTAL BAPTIST MINISTRIES, P.O. Box 489, West Branch, MI 48661. 989-873-4778, www.fundamentalbaptistministries.com.
-- Don Jasmin’s book Why Do Fundamental Schools Go Apostate? is excellent. He traces the spiritual downfall of two schools founded by D.L. Moody in the late 19th century, and applies the principles to things that are happening in evangelical and fundamentalist schools today.
FUNDAMENTAL EVANGELISTIC ASSOCIATION, 1476 W. Herndon, Suite 104 Fresno, CA, 559-438-0080, http://www.feasite.org/Info/fbcprice.htm
-- They publish Foundation magazine and some helpful booklets and tracts. I recommend An Analysis of Rick Warren’s Purpose Driven Life, Biblical Basics for Believers, The Blood of Jesus, God’s Song, The Humanist Manifesto 2000, The New Evangelicalism, What About the Church Growth Movement, and The World Council of Churches.
GLORY TO GLORY MINISTRIES, 1813 E. 45th St., Ashtabula, OH 44004, 440-998-1209, www.glorytogloryministries.com, terry@glorytogloryministries.com
-- The First 2,000 Years of Baptist History by Terry Lee Hamilton is a helpful 100-page curriculum on Baptist history and distinctives
HERALD OF HOPE, P.O. Box 4216, Marayong, NSW 2148, Australia, editor@heraldofhope.org.au
-- Some excellent materials on Bible prophecy. We recommend The Bible Prophecy Handbook, the Keys to Bible Prophecy booklet series, Amillennialism Weighed and Found Wanting.
HERE I STAND BOOKS, 536 Greenside Drive Painesville, OH 44077, 440-354-7725, http://www.hereistand.com/homepage.htm, ashbrook@hereistand.com
-- New Neutralism II” Exposing the Gray of Compromise by John Ashbrook is one of the best books exposing the danger of New Evangelicalism. Axioms of Separation is also a good book. They also publish Family Fundamentals: Getting Back to Basics in a World That Has Lost Its Biblical Family Values.
LIGHTHOUSE TRAILS, P.O. Box 958 Silverton, OR 97381, 866/876-3910, http://www.lighthousetrails.com/
-- Many helpful books exposing the error of contemplative spirituality, the emerging church, and the New Age, Roman Catholicism, etc. I recommend A Time of Departing and For Many Shall Come in My Name by Ray Yungen, Faith Undone by Roger Oakland, Far From God Near to Rome, and Messages from Heaven (DVD). They also publish biographies and some interesting and challenging accounts of resistance to Hitler in World War II.
NICHOLSON, WILLIAM, P.O. Box 180, Suncook, NH 03275
-- Nicholson’s 70-page booklet Clothing: The Universal Language is very good.
NORTHSTAR MINISTRIES, 1820 W. Morgan St., Duluth, MN 55811, 218-726-0209, www.northstarministries.com, dhs.northstar@charter.net
-- Dave Sorenson publishes several excellent books, including Touch Not the Unclean Thing on the Bible version issue, Moral Failure: Its Cause and Prevention, and Training Your Children to Turn out Right. He also has a good whole Bible commentary set called Understanding the Bible.
PLAIN PATHS PUBLISHERS, P.O. Box 830, Columbus, NC 28722
Gary Maldaner, http://www.plainpath.org, 828-863-2736, plain@juno.com
-- Maldaner publishes materials for youth and home schooling, including Christian Manhood (practical study to help boys grow toward godly manhood), Christian Character (helping young people develop habits that will lead to godly character), Christian Leadership (a guide for young people, emphasizing a servant’s heart, obedience, Christlike character, and missions), Polite Moments (old-fashioned manners for children of all ages), Ancient Landmarks (devotions for teens and young adults), What Saith the Scripture (training children at home, scriptural advice for parents), The Prodigal Son and His Elder Brother (drawings and text to teach repentance to young people), Rooted In Christ (a discipleship course by Pastor Horst Trojahn). Plain Paths Publishers also publishes “Modern Bibles--The Dark Secret” by Jack Moorman, which is the best small book on that subject in my estimation.
PLEASANT VIEW BAPTIST PRESS, www.pleasantview.org
-- This new church publisher has four titles at present, and we recommend The Exceptional Man and The Life of an Ambassador.
PRAIRIE FIRE PRESS, 3705 Telegraph Road, Arnold, MO 63010, 314-606-7326, http://www.21tnt.com/pfp/
-- America in Crimson Red: The Baptist History of America by James Beller is excellent. They also publish other helpful materials, such as The Collegiate Baptist History Workbook, The History of American Liberty (DVD). Beller is a graduate of Hyles Anderson College and speaks there occasionally and we cannot therefore recommend his associations, but his historical research is very helpful.
PSYCHOHERESY AWARENESS MINISTRIES, 4137 Primavera Rd., Santa Barbara, CA 93110, http://www.pamweb.org/mainpage.html,
-- Book exposing the error of Christian psychology by Martin and Deidre Bobgan, such as 12 Steps to Destruction: Codependency/Recovery Heresies; Christ Centered Ministry vs. Problem Centered Counseling; Four Temperaments, Astrology, and Personality Testing; Hypnosis: Medical, Scientific, or Occultic; James Dobson’s Gospel of Self-Esteem; Manufacturing Victims: What the Psychology Industry Is Doing to People; and PsychoHeresy: The Psychological Seduction of Christianity.
REGULAR BAPTIST PRESS, 888-588-1600, http://www.rbpstore.org/index.cfm
-- I don’t recommend a wide variety of Regular Baptist Press materials, but I do recommend the following: Biblical Separation: The Struggle for a Pure Church by Ernest Pickering, Baptism: Who Needs It by Robert Barnett, The New Answers Book by Ken Ham, Ultimate Questions by John Blanchard, Dispensationalism by Charles Ryrie, and I Left the Lodge by Dale Byers.
REVIVAL LITERATURE, 800-252-8896, http://www.revivallit.org/
-- This publish is strongly Calvinistic and we cannot recommend everything they publish, but we do recommend the books by the late evangelist James Stewart such as Evangelism, Evangelicals and the World Council of Churches, I Must Tell, My Queenly Mother, and Our Beloved Jock. We also recommend I Will Fear No Evil: The Biography of Vlado Fajfr by Ruth Fajfr, A Stone Made Smooth by Wong Ming-Dao, A Light Shines in Poland by R. K. Mazierski, Daniel Nash: Prevailing Prince of Prayer, From Catholicism to Christ by Ralph Filiccia, King of the Cannibals: The Story of John G. Paton, and Praying Hyde. They also publish an English-Russian Parallel Bible.
SUMNERWEMP.COM, www.sumnerwemp.com/books/index.htm
-- The book How on Earth Can I Be Spiritual by C. Sumner Wemp is an excellent and very practical study on the Holy Spirit in the believer’s life. We also recommend his book Teaching the Tabernacle.
SWORD OF THE LORD, Post Office Box 1099 Murfreesboro, TN 37133, 615-893-6700, 800-247-9673, http://www.swordofthelord.com/
-- The Sword publishes many helpful books. We do not recommend the booklet “Repentance” by Curtis Hutson, nor do we recommend any books by Jack Hyles. I would also warn, sadly, that most of the Sword materials on the subject of evangelism promote the Quick Prayerism method of soul winning. See our article on this at http://www.wayoflife.org/fbns/fundamentalbaptists.htm. We do recommend the following: Bible Facts about Heaven, Courtship and the Dangers of Petting, Blinded by Benny Hinn by Greg Locke, The Christian and War by Robert Moyer, Cowboy Boots in Darkest Africa by Bill Rice, Fence Straddlers by T. De Witt Talmage, Legalism: A Smokescreen by Mike Allison, Life and Works of Charles Spurgeon, Living in an Imperfect World by R.B. Ouellette, Loving My Wife Back to Health by Tom Williams, Never Alone, Prophecy Proves the Bible Reliable, R.A. Torrey: Apostle of Certainty, SBC Conservative Take-over Not a Make-over by Shelton Smith, Sunday or Sabbath, Ten Commandments for Teens by Raymond Barber, Thrilling Western Stories by Bill Rice, Unmasking the New Age Movement by Clarence Sexton, Was Peter the First Pope by Robert Moyer, What Is a Jehovah’s Witness by John Wimbish. We particularly like the books by Hugh Pyle -- The Truth about Mormonism, The Truth about the Church of Christ, Truth about Tongues and the Charismatic Movement, The Good Ship Courtship, How to Cope with Your Parents, How to Quit Smoking, Stick to Your Standards, The Taming of the Toddler, and Our Children and Sexual Temptation.
TRUTH PUBLISHERS, P.O. Box 1525, Taylors, SC 29687, http://www.truthpublisher.com/index.php?main_page=index
-- Peril of Islam: Telling the Truth by Gene Gurganus, who was a missionary to a Muslim nation for 17 years, is excellent.
WAY OF LIFE LITERATURE, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143 (toll free), fbns@wayoflife.org, http://www.wayoflife.org; in Canada contact 4212 Campbell St. N., London, Ont. N6P 1A6, 519-652-2619, 866-295-4143 (toll free), 519-652-0056 (fax).
-- Some of the titles are Answering the Myths on the Bible Version Debate, Avoiding the Snare of Seventh-day Adventism, The Bible’s Amazing Story, The Bible Version Question-Answer Database, Billy Graham and Rome, The Calvinism Debate, The Concise King James Bible Dictionary, Contemporary Christian Music: Some Questions Answered and Some Warnings Given, Dressing for the Lord, Faith vs. the Modern Bible Versions: A 10-Fold Defense of the King James Bible, The Glorious Heritage of the King James Bible, In the Footsteps of Bible Translators, Issues Facing the Churches DVDs (on subjects such as the Charismatic Movement and New Evangelicalism), Judge Not: Is It Legalism to Judge Sin and Error? The Modern Bible Version Hall of Shame, The New Age Tower of Babel, New Evangelicalism: Its History, Charismatics and Fruit, The Pentecostal-Charismatic Movements: The History and the Error, Purpose Driven or Scripture Driven: A Warning about Rick Warren and the Purpose Driven Philosophy, Repentance and Soul Winning, Roman Catholicism: Past & Present, Things Hard to Be Understood: A Handbook of Biblical Difficulties, Way of Life Advanced Bible Studies Series (19 courses covering Acts, Bible History and Geography, The Bible Version Issue, The Church, Church History, Defense of the Faith, Doctrine, First Corinthians, The Four Gospels, Genesis, Hebrews, How to Study the Bible, Job, Pastoral Epistles, Prophecy, Proverbs, Psalms, Revelation, and Romans), Way of Life Encyclopedia of the Bible & Christianity, What Is the Emerging Church?
SEE ALSO THE FOLLOWING LISTS OF RECOMMENDED MATERIALS ON VARIOUS TOPICS
“Helpful Music Resources” http://www.wayoflife.org/fbns/helpful.htm
“A Basic Bible Version Library” http://www.wayoflife.org/fbns/basic-biblevers-lib.html
“Bible Commentaries” http://www.wayoflife.org/fbns/bible-commentaries.html
“Baptist History Material” http://www.wayoflife.org/fbns/soundbaptist.htm
“Gospel Tracts” http://www.wayoflife.org/fbns/tracts.htm
“Creation Science Video Presentations” http://www.wayoflife.org/fbns/creationscience-videos.html
[Distributed by Way of Life Literature's Fundamental Baptist Information Service, an e-mail listing for Fundamental Baptists and other fundamentalist, Bible-believing Christians. OUR GOAL IN THIS PARTICULAR ASPECT OF OUR MINISTRY IS NOT DEVOTIONAL BUT IS TO PROVIDE INFORMATION TO ASSIST PREACHERS IN THE PROTECTION OF THE CHURCHES IN THIS APOSTATE HOUR. This material is sent only to those who personally subscribe to the list. If somehow you have subscribed unintentionally, following are the instructions for removal. The Fundamental Baptist Information Service mailing list is automated. To SUBSCRIBE or to UNSUBSCRIBE or to CHANGE ADDRESSES or to RE-SUBSCRIBE UNDER A NEW ADDRESS, go to http://www.wayoflife.org/fbis/subscribe.html. If you have any trouble with this, please let us know. And please be patient with us. We do not ignore any unsubscribe request, but we cannot always get to your request immediately as each person involved with maintaining the Way of Life web site does this only on a very part time basis and is busy with many other major activities, such as pastoring and missionary work. We take up a quarterly offering to fund this ministry, and those who use the materials are expected to participate (Galatians 6:6) if they can. Some of the articles are from O Timothy magazine, which is in its 25th year of publication. Way of Life publishes many helpful books. The catalog is located at the web site: http://wayoflife.org/catalog/catalog.htm Way of Life Literature, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061. 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org. We do not solicit funds from those who do not agree with our preaching and who are not helped by these publications, but from those who are. OFFERINGS can be made at http://www.wayoflife.org/fbns/offering.html. PAYPAL offerings can be made to https://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=dcloud%40wayoflife.org]
FAMILIES THAT NEGLECT THE CHURCH AND THE GREAT COMMISSION
July 1, 2008 (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) –
“But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth” (1 Timothy 3:15).
While the family is the foundational unit in the church and society and is very, very important, I believe it is possible to turn it into an idol when it is emphasized beyond biblical bounds and when it becomes an end unto itself.
Christ’s Great Commission is to preach the gospel to the ends of the earth and to plant churches that are discipleship centers, the pillar and ground of the truth, where believers are trained in the service of God and in the work of world evangelism (Matthew 28:18-20; Mark 16:17; Luke 24:46-48; Acts 1:8). This is what we see lived out in the book of Acts and it is a program that is to be perpetuated until Christ returns.
Parents who are committed to Christ will have this Great Commission before them at all times as they raise their children.
To raise wholesome, talented, law-abiding, hard-working citizens is not enough, because it falls short of what Christ commanded.
I believe home schooling is by far the best way to educate children. That is how our own children were educated, but within some home schooling circles there is neglect toward and misunderstanding of the New Testament church.
For example, on my last preaching trip to Australia I met some godly families in one of the churches. The children play various musical instruments; they have a wide variety of interests and talents; they have serious goals in life; they are getting a wonderful education; they are separated from the wicked things of the world. There is nothing wrong with any of this, of course. It is a great blessing to see close and godly families in this wicked age. The problem is with the emphasis and balance. These families do not place the church and the Great Commission in a Scriptural priority. They attend services only once service a week, forsaking the other services for “family time,” in direct contradiction to Acts 2:42 and Hebrews 10:25. They brazenly neglected the special services that the church was hosting and thus gained no benefit from the visiting preacher. Their lives could have been challenged by that preaching, but other things were more important to them.
These parents are teaching their children many good things, but they are wrong in teaching them to slight the church.
My friends, the Bible plainly states that it is the church that is the pillar and ground of the truth (1 Tim. 3:15). Why doesn’t it say that the home is the pillar and ground of the truth? And this is not some vague “universal” church. The context is a scripturally organized assembly that has pastors and deacons (1 Tim. 3:1-14). The believer’s service to the Lord is to be in and through such a church, in submission to God-ordained pastors and elders (1 Thessalonians 5:12-13; Hebrews 13:7, 17).
Any family that is not in proper relationship with and submission to God-ordained church authority is not in the will of God (unless, of course, no such church exists in the area). I say this on the authority of the Scriptures. I would ask such a family, “Who has the rule over you?” If the reply is, “God does,” I would rejoin that God Himself says that church elders are to have the rule over us (Heb. 13:17), not as lords over us but as under-shepherds who must, in turn, give account to the Great Shepherd (1 Pet. 5:1-4).
I understand all too well that pastoral authority has been abused at times and that this is an hour of great compromise in churches, but that is no excuse to reject it. Husbands and fathers have abused their authority at least as much as pastors have abused theirs, but that does not mean that we are free to reject them. The Lord Jesus Christ said, “I will build my church” (Mat. 16:18). It is His plan and program, and it is not to be despised.
There is nothing wrong with a “house church” as such, if that church is scripturally organized, but a loose knit gathering in a home is not necessarily a church, and a father of a family is not a pastor unless he is qualified and called and ordained (1 Timothy 3:1-7; Titus 1:5-11; Acts 14:23).
Paul wrote to Titus and informed him that he was to “set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city” (Titus 1:5). The thing that was wanting, or lacking, was for the new converts to be organized into proper New Testament assemblies, and this required the ordination of qualified, God-called elders (Titus 1:6-16).
This is the pattern that we see in the first missionary journey. After Paul and Barnabas had preached in many places, they returned to each place and organized the new groups of believers into churches and ordained elders in each one (Acts 14:23).
A home Bible study, a home prayer meeting, a loose knit group of home schoolers, is not in itself a proper New Testament church and has no scriptural authority to replace such a church.
Some complain that “church today is not a sanctuary from the world nor is it a ‘holy’ place.”
While I agree that too many churches are worldly from top to bottom, meaning that even the leaders and workers are worldly, it is equally true that a scriptural New Testament church will never be completely holy. If a church is reaching the world for Christ as it should, there will always be unsaved and newly saved people in attendance who are not very holy, to say the least. In fact, if we were to be honest with our own hearts, we would admit that there is plenty of unholiness in the most mature of saints, as even the apostle Paul lamented in regard to his own life. “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not” (Rom. 7:18). And the apostle John added his Amen to this when he said, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:9).
The New Testament church can never be a complete sanctuary from the world or a perfectly holy place for the simple fact that it is made up of sinners who are in the business of reaching sinners. Paul referred to the unsaved who attended the meetings of the church at Corinth, and said nothing to discourage the church from having the unsaved in attendance but rather encouraged them to live in such a way that they would reach the unsaved for Christ (1 Cor. 14:23-25).
A church that is busy reaching the unsaved will not only have the unsaved in attendance at services and events but will have new believers in attendance, as well, and these will be far from “entirely sanctified” and separated from the world.
I remember when I was first saved and joined a fundamental Baptist church in central Florida. I was saved; I knew the Lord; I had truly repented; but I was still a mess! I still had hair down to my shoulders; I still smoked and listened to rock & roll and attended worldly movies. Yet the church members were so patient and kind to me, opening their homes to me, spending time with me, discipling me; and it was this that helped me to grow and to begin shedding the things of the flesh and the world and putting on Christ.
The man that led me to Jesus Christ had the same attitude. He was not ashamed to spend four or so days traveling with me, living with me, enduring my foul language and disgusting habits and vain arguments against the truth.
The apostolic churches that are described in the New Testament scriptures were far from sinlessly perfect. Consider the seven churches of Asia Minor addressed in Revelation 2-3. Most of these apostolic churches had serious problems. The church at Ephesus had left its first love. The church at Pergamos allowed false teachers in their midst, including the false doctrine of Balaam that was associated with idolatry and fornication. The church at Thyatira allowed a false prophetess to teach worldly heresies. The church at Sardis had a name that it lived but was dead. The church at Laodicea was so lukewarm that Christ warned them that He would spew them out of His mouth.
Consider the apostolic church at Corinth. This church was established by the apostle Paul himself, but it was a genuine mess! The members were carnal and divided (1 Cor. 1-3); they did not discipline even the most glaring sins (1 Cor. 5); they took one another to court (1 Cor. 6); they fellowshipped with idols (1 Cor. 10); they grossly misused the spiritual gifts (1 Cor. 14); they allowed false teachers in their midst, even those who preached false christs and gospels (2 Cor. 11:3-4) and denied the resurrection (1 Cor. 15:12).
The church at Philippi was an excellent church, but two women in the congregation were so at odds with one another that they had to be corrected by Paul in a public letter (Phil. 4:2).
The apostle Peter played the hypocrite and Paul had to rebuke him publicly (Gal. 2:11-14).
Even Paul and Barnabas had such a “sharp contention” that they could no longer work together (Acts 15:36-40).
None of this is an excuse to think that it does not matter what type of church we attend or how we live, but it is a fact of Christian living and church life that we must understand and learn to deal with.
For more on this subject see “Seven Keys to Fruitful Church Membership” at http://www.wayoflife.org/fbns/sevenkeys.htm.
[Distributed by Way of Life Literature's Fundamental Baptist Information Service, an e-mail listing for Fundamental Baptists and other fundamentalist, Bible-believing Christians. OUR GOAL IN THIS PARTICULAR ASPECT OF OUR MINISTRY IS NOT DEVOTIONAL BUT IS TO PROVIDE INFORMATION TO ASSIST PREACHERS IN THE PROTECTION OF THE CHURCHES IN THIS APOSTATE HOUR. This material is sent only to those who personally subscribe to the list. If somehow you have subscribed unintentionally, following are the instructions for removal. The Fundamental Baptist Information Service mailing list is automated. To SUBSCRIBE or to UNSUBSCRIBE or to CHANGE ADDRESSES or to RE-SUBSCRIBE UNDER A NEW ADDRESS, go to http://www.wayoflife.org/fbis/subscribe.html. If you have any trouble with this, please let us know. And please be patient with us. We do not ignore any unsubscribe request, but we cannot always get to your request immediately as each person involved with maintaining the Way of Life web site does this only on a very part time basis and is busy with many other major activities, such as pastoring and missionary work. We take up a quarterly offering to fund this ministry, and those who use the materials are expected to participate (Galatians 6:6) if they can. Some of the articles are from O Timothy magazine, which is in its 25th year of publication. Way of Life publishes many helpful books. The catalog is located at the web site: http://wayoflife.org/catalog/catalog.htm Way of Life Literature, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061. 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org. We do not solicit funds from those who do not agree with our preaching and who are not helped by these publications, but from those who are. OFFERINGS can be made at http://www.wayoflife.org/fbns/offering.html. PAYPAL offerings can be made to https://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=dcloud%40wayoflife.org]
CONTEMPORARY MUSIC BRINGS GREAT CHANGES TO CHURCHES
Republished June 30, 2008 (first published August 11, 2003) (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) -
Contemporary Christian Worship music is spreading across all denominational lines, and when it enters a church it brings more than a change in music. It brings a worldly philosophy of Christianity and a gradual lowering of all standards of morality and doctrine.
The late Gordon Sears, who had an evangelistic music ministry for many years and ministered with Rudy Atwood, was saddened before his death by the dramatic change that was occurring in many fundamental Baptist churches. He warned: “When the standard of music is lowered, then the standard of dress is also lowered. When the standard of dress is lowered, then the standard of conduct is also lowered. When the standard of conduct is lowered, then the sense of value in God’s truth is lowered.”
Frank Garlock of Majesty Music warns, “If a church starts using CCM it will eventually lose all other standards” (Garlock, Bob Jones University Chapel, March 12, 2001).
The late Ernest Pickering gave a similar warning: “Perhaps nothing precipitates a slide toward New Evangelicalism more than the introduction of Contemporary Christian Music. This inevitably leads toward a gradual slide in other areas as well until the entire church is infiltrated by ideas and programs alien to the original position of the church.”
We can see the fulfillment of these warnings on every hand. Consider these examples:
LIBERTY BAPTIST CHURCH, LYNCHBURG, VIRGINIA
The most prominent example of the changes that accompany the adoption of contemporary Christian music is Jerry Falwell and the Thomas Road Baptist Church of Lynchburg, Virginia. In the 1960s and ‘70s, Falwell featured traditional Christian music in his church and on the Old Time Gospel Hour program. He was an independent Baptist aligned with the Baptist Bible Fellowship International.
By the 1980s, Falwell had adopted the “music is neutral” position. Speaking at Word of Life in New York, he said, “Other than Heavy Metal and vulgar lyrics, it’s all a matter of taste and has nothing to do with Christianity.”
In 1985 the name of his school was changed from Liberty Baptist College to Liberty University.
By the 1980s, Falwell’s Moral Majority was made up of at least 30% Roman Catholics and in his 1987 autobiography, Strength for the Journey, Falwell called them “my Catholic brothers and sisters” (p. 371).
In 1987, Falwell took over the leadership of the sleazy charismatic PTL ministry, claiming that it was “certainly worth saving” (Strength for the Journey, p. 442).
In 1992, Falwell endorsed Chuck Colson’s book The Body, which urges Evangelicals to join forces with Catholics and Charismatics and which looks upon the Roman Catholic Church as a part of the “body of Christ.”
In October 1995, Falwell praised Billy Graham for his “long and faithful ministry” and did not have one word of warning for Graham’s great compromise, his yoking together with Rome, his praise of blaspheming modernists, etc. In 1997, Billy Graham was the commencement speaker at Liberty University.
In 1995 Falwell hosted a Promise Keepers conference. That same year a Catholic priest spoke at a PK meeting in Plainview, Texas. One of the PK directors was a Roman Catholic.
In April 1996 hard rocking dc Talk drew the largest concert crowd in the history of Falwell’s university.
In 1996 Falwell joined the SBC, and in 1999 Liberty University was formally approved as an SBC school. (Falwell is also still a part of the Baptist Bible Fellowship and speaks at their meetings.)
By 1997 Falwell was yoked with the charismatic Integrity Music to train worship leaders at Liberty.
When Catholic Cardinal John O’Conner died in May 2000, Falwell praised him: “I am grateful that John O’Connor -- a man of courageous faith -- had such a profound influence on the Catholic Church through his fifty-five years of ministry. I pray that another pro-life, pro-family minister can be found to fill his significant and substantial shoes.” Falwell said nothing about the fact that O’Conner’s false gospel has sent multitudes to eternal hell. When the Apostle Paul was asked what he thought of those who preach a false gospel, his reply was quite different from Falwell’s. Paul replied, “Let him be accursed” (Gal. 1:8-9).
In 2001 Falwell identified himself as a “contemporary fundamentalist,” defined as “conservative in doctrine, moderate in attitude, progressive in methodology, and liberal in spirit.”
That sounds impressive and doubtless plays well to the “progressive” crowd, but in reality, he is careless about doctrine (i.e., he allowed evolution to be taught at Liberty in order to obtain accreditation), moderate rather than strict in attitude toward apostasy, progressive rather than scriptural in methodology, and liberal in spirit toward many of God’s enemies.
LANDMARK BAPTIST CHURCH, CINCINNATI, OHIO
Landmark Baptist Church, Cincinnati, Ohio, used to be an old-fashioned Baptist church with old-fashioned standards of music and dress and a commitment to the old English Bible.
In the 1990s the church took at turn away from its roots and at the heart of this change was music. In 1996 the church brought in a Campus Crusade band playing “high energy ‘50s and ‘60s rock and roll.”
In 2001, Mat Holman became the pastor. The church web site says, “Being a firm believer that church should be fun and on the edge, Matt puts all his energy into making Landmark a place where everyone belongs.”
The church now features a teen ministry called EnterRuption. “The purpose of EnterRuption is to create a relevant environment for students to bring their friends. We utilize a live band (secular and Christian music), dramas, skits and a relevant message.” I wonder if Paul’s message on Mars Hill, in which he boldly rebuked his listeners’ idolatry and demanded repentance, was “relevant”? I have a sneaking suspicion that the messages presented at EnterRuption aren’t exactly Acts 17 in nature. Somehow, such a message doesn’t fit an atmosphere geared toward “fun” and bathed in rock and roll.
The pop group Jump5 performed at Landmark Baptist Church on Dec. 6, 2003. “The music of the Nashville-based group is thoroughly modern pop, high-spirited and 100% fun.”
BETHLEHEM BAPTIST CHURCH, FAIRFAX, VIRGINIA
This church illustrates the changes that contemporary music brings. At one time this church was an old-fashioned Baptist church that believed in separation and was committed to the King James Bible, but for many years the church has been moving ever more gradually in a contemporary direction. By the time the 2002 Baptist Bible Fellowship International conference was held here the contemporary “worship team” was led by four women.
Today the Bethlehem Baptist Church has much gone about as far as you can go away from its roots in the matter of standards. In a letter dated July 3, 2003, Pastor David Stokes said: “With regard to dress and modesty issues, we enforce NO RULE on our folks. … apparel issues are really of NO CONCERN to us” (emphasis added).
If the pastor really means what he says, then it would be fitting for a Sunday School teacher to come in her bikini! Of course, he probably wouldn’t allow that, which proves that what he really means is that he has rejected the OLD strict conservative Bible standards and has replaced them with his NEW loose worldly standards. All churches draw lines in dress, but while some draw them using biblical principles, others draw them using the world’s principles. Of course, the latter group consistently labels the first group mean-spirited legalists.
Stokes also led the church to drop its “King James Only” clause from the by-laws and he now preaches from the New American Standard Version and the New Living Translation, among others.
Recently the church’s name was changed from Bethlehem Baptist Church to Fair Oaks Church.
One of the church’s ministries is Skate Night, which is sponsored by secular skateboarding companies. Thus the church is blatantly yoking together with unbelievers in open defiance of Scripture (2 Cor. 6). A description of Skate Night was given by a local newspaper: “CHRISTIAN ROCK THROBS inside the small gymnasium off West Ox Road in Fairfax, just a few decibels louder than the clacking of wheels. ... It’s Sunday night and more than 170 teenagers and young adults -- all but one of them male -- line the walls of the Bethlehem Baptist Church gym, waiting their turn to grind and swoop and dive over a maze of makeshift ramps and rails” (Washington Post, April 4, 2001).
The church testifies that it is using rock music and skateboarding to win young people to Christ, but the Skate Night web site’s gospel presentation is so weak as to be almost meaningless:
“We’re not talking about religion; we’re talking about a relationship. It’s about recognizing that you are not perfect. We’ve all made mistakes. From pimping and drug abuse to telling a little white lie, we are all in need of a Savior. He doesn’t care what you look like, what bad things you have done, or even how good you may think you are. He just wants you to know Him!”
That is not the gospel message that we see in the New Testament. There is no clear explanation of man’s sin problem. There is nothing about God’s holiness and justice, nothing about what Jesus did to become our Saviour, nothing about His death, burial, and resurrection. Nothing about the blood. There is nothing whatsoever about repentance or turning. And as for God not caring how good a person might think he is, He most certainly does. If a person thinks of himself as good in any sense, he cannot be saved. Someone might get saved through Fair Oaks Church’s Skate Night ministry, but it would be in spite of its gospel presentation and not because of it.
The Bethlehem Baptist Church paper in 2002 featured a photo of the church’s new Youth Pastor, Rob Hoerr. Bedecked with a goatee, an earring, and a P.O.D. T-shirt, this independent Baptist youth director is proudly promoting the Christian rock lifestyle.
P.O.D. is a rock band. The initials are supposed to stand for Payable On Death. The tattoo-covered band members curse in interviews, smoke, watch R-rated movies, and criticize kids “who want to segregate themselves from the world.” The group’s leader said, “Jesus was the first rebel. He was the first punk rocker going against all the rest of it” (Sonny of P.O.D., www.shoutweb.com/interviews/pod0700.phtml). In another interview, P.O.D. said, “We’re not passing out pamphlets saying ‘Get your life straight or you’re gonna burn in hell” (Sonny, Guitar World, Oct 2000, p. 78). Sonny says, “I like Slayer. I like Manson. I like music and this dark imagery” (2001 interview with Theresa McKeon of Shoutweb titled “P.O.D. The Fundamental Elements of God Rock”). He is talking about the antichrist rocker Marilyn Manson. P.O.D. guitarist Marcos says, “You know, everyone is free to rock ---. When we go on stage we go crazy. We are like four guys you should put in a mental hospital” (interview with Hwee Hwee Tan of Singapore, October 2002).
Is that the example you want your young people to follow, dear parents? I say woe unto the worldly youth directors who are leading young people in such paths, and woe unto those pastors who appoint such youth directors!
Thus we can see that Bethlehem Baptist Church has gone a long way down the road from its roots as a conservative, fundamentalist Baptist church, and music is at the very heart of the changes.
TEMPLE BAPTIST CHURCH OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN
Another example is Temple Baptist Church of Detroit, Michigan. This church was pastored by J. Frank Norris from 1935 to 1950 and by G. Beauchamp Vick from 1950 to 1975. In past days, it was the most prominent church in the Baptist Bible Fellowship International (BBFI). Vick was one of the founders of the BBFI in 1950 and was president of Baptist Bible College. It was a conservative fundamental Baptist church that eschewed ecumenism, preached strong Bible doctrine, and promoted holy living and separation from the world. It also used only the King James Bible. Preaching in 1975 at the 25th anniversary of the founding of the BBFI, G.B. Vick said:
“It’s become fashionable to use many different versions of the Bible today. ... Listen! This King James Version, our English Bible, the Bible of our fathers and mothers, is the one that has come floating down to us upon the blood of Christian martyrs, our forefathers. It has been, I say, the one text of the Baptist Bible College, and it will be as long as I have anything to do with this school! [loud amens and applause] ... Let’s stick to the old Book.”
In those days at Temple Baptist Church it was the old Book and the old Paths, but that changed in the 1990s.
In 1990 the church got a young new pastor named Brad Powell, and he began to lead the church into a contemporary direction.
The church’s music today is described at its web site: “The PRAISE BANDS provide music for all services. The Praise Bands consist of the piano, synthesizer, acoustic and electric guitar, bass guitar, and drums.”
The church began having CCM concerts in the early 1990s, starting out with the softer rock groups. In September 1993, for example, they had Steve Camp. By October 1996, they featured Michael Card, who is radically ecumenical, working with Roman Catholic John Michael Talbot (who prays to Mary) and claiming that denominational distinctives are not important.
In February 2000 Temple Baptist Church changed its name to Northridge Church of Plymouth, Michigan, after taking a survey of the community and finding out that most people don’t like the name Baptist.
The music style of the CCM groups at Northridge Church has gotten ever harder. In September 2003, the church hosted Sonic Flood, and Charlie Hall was scheduled to be there in October. In September 2003, the church was scheduled to host Darlene Zschech (pronounced check), who promotes ecumenism and unscriptural charismatic doctrines and practices.
SOUTHSIDE BAPTIST CHURCH, GREENVILLE, SOUTH CAROLINA
Consider the example of Southside Baptist Church, Greenville, South Carolina. This church was founded in September 1946. From 1965 to 1996 it was pastored by Walt Handford. His wife Elizabeth is one of the daughters of the famous evangelist John R. Rice, founder of the Sword of the Lord. It was long associated with the Southwide Baptist Fellowship. It was an old-fashioned fundamental Baptist church until the 1990s.
Elizabeth Rice Handford is editorial consultant of Joyful Woman magazine, which in the 1990s began to feature ecumenical personalities such as James Dobson and Elisabeth Elliot, both of whom have close affiliations with the Roman Catholic Church.
In September 1993, the church hosted Ray Boltz for a CCM concert.
In 1993 Southside gave up the King James Bible in favor of the NIV. In support of this move, the speaker at Southside for the Sunday evening service, September 12, 1993, was Kenneth Barker, chairman of the New International Version translation committee.
By 1994 the church had a staff member who was also employed by the extremely ecumenical Campus Crusade for Christ. In an interview with Charisma magazine in 2001, Campus Crusade founder Bill Bright described his philosophy: “I have felt that God led me many years ago to build bridges. I’m a Presbyterian . . . and yet I work with everybody who loves Jesus, whether they be charismatic or Catholic, Orthodox or mainliners. ... I’m not an evangelical. I’m not a fundamentalist.”
In 1996, Charles Boyd became pastor of Southside Baptist Church. He is a graduate of Dallas Theological Seminary and of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, both of which are New Evangelical to the core.
Southside Baptist Church recently changed its name to Southside Fellowship.
ARE THESE MERELY STYLE CHANGES OR ARE THEY DOCTRINAL?
It is good that these churches are changing their names, because they are certainly changing their philosophy of Christianity. In each case, they will profess that they have not changed anything important. Brad Powell of Northridge (formerly Temple Baptist of Detroit) claims that by following church growth guru Bill Hybels of Willowcreek, he has not changed anything of significance. For those who have eyes to see, this subterfuge won’t fly. If Temple Baptist Church was right and scriptural in its early days, Northridge Church is wrong today, and if Northridge Church is right and scriptural today, the old Temple Baptist was wrong. The doctrine and practice and philosophy of the old church and the new are not compatible. For the Bible believer, the choice between the contemporary church growth philosophy and the old traditional fundamentalist philosophy is not “both and,” it is “either or.”
The pastors who follow the contemporary church growth principles claim that they are not changing doctrine, only style. That is simply not true. Many of the so-called “style” changes are doctrinal. To allow church members to dress immodestly like the world without any reproof or correction is a doctrinal issue. To borrow the music that the world uses for sexual pleasure and to incorporate that very music into the church program is a doctrinal issue. To claim that music is neutral is a doctrinal issue. To yoke ecumenically with charismatics and such is a doctrinal issue. To say that preaching should focus on the positive is a doctrinal issue. To take Matthew 7:1 and Romans 14:4 out of context to approve a non-judgmental, doctrinally non-controversial approach to the Christian ministry is a doctrinal issue. To use community surveys for planning church policy is a doctrinal issue. To adopt a New Evangelical philosophy is a doctrinal issue.
When a church changes its “style” in these areas, it is undergoing a radical doctrinal change; and continual boasting to the contrary is mere noise without meaning and only deceives the willfully blind. There is little doubt that J. Frank Norris and G. Beauchamp Vick would consider the current “style” at Northridge doctrinal issues.
CONCLUSION
We believe Gordon Sears was right when he said: “When the standard of music is lowered, then the standard of dress is also lowered. When the standard of dress is lowered, then the standard of conduct is also lowered. When the standard of conduct is lowered, then the sense of value in God’s truth is lowered.”
And Frank Garlock is correct when he observes, “If a church starts using CCM it will eventually lose all other standards” (Garlock, Bob Jones University Chapel, March 12, 2001).
A word to the wise is sufficient. “A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump” (1 Cor. 5:6; Gal. 5:6).
[Distributed by Way of Life Literature's Fundamental Baptist Information Service, an e-mail listing for Fundamental Baptists and other fundamentalist, Bible-believing Christians. OUR GOAL IN THIS PARTICULAR ASPECT OF OUR MINISTRY IS NOT DEVOTIONAL BUT IS TO PROVIDE INFORMATION TO ASSIST PREACHERS IN THE PROTECTION OF THE CHURCHES IN THIS APOSTATE HOUR. This material is sent only to those who personally subscribe to the list. If somehow you have subscribed unintentionally, following are the instructions for removal. The Fundamental Baptist Information Service mailing list is automated. To SUBSCRIBE or to UNSUBSCRIBE or to CHANGE ADDRESSES or to RE-SUBSCRIBE UNDER A NEW ADDRESS, go to http://www.wayoflife.org/fbis/subscribe.html. If you have any trouble with this, please let us know. And please be patient with us. We do not ignore any unsubscribe request, but we cannot always get to your request immediately as each person involved with maintaining the Way of Life web site does this only on a very part time basis and is busy with many other major activities, such as pastoring and missionary work. We take up a quarterly offering to fund this ministry, and those who use the materials are expected to participate (Galatians 6:6) if they can. Some of the articles are from O Timothy magazine, which is in its 25th year of publication. Way of Life publishes many helpful books. The catalog is located at the web site: http://wayoflife.org/catalog/catalog.htm Way of Life Literature, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061. 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org. We do not solicit funds from those who do not agree with our preaching and who are not helped by these publications, but from those who are. OFFERINGS can be made at http://www.wayoflife.org/fbns/offering.html. PAYPAL offerings can be made to https://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=dcloud%40wayoflife.org]
THE HERESY OF SEPARATION
Updated and enlarged May 28, 2008 (first published December 11, 1996) (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) -
“Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them” (Romans 16:17).
“Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness” (2 Corinthians 6:14).
“Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us” (2 Thessalonians 3:6).
“If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness ... from such withdraw thyself. (1 Timothy 6:3-5).
“Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away” (2 Timothy 3:5).
“Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints” (Jude 3).
The entire world, secular and religious, is crying out today against separation. The Biblicist Christian who seeks to obey the Bible’s commands to separate from false teaching is mocked and slandered on every hand. With each passing year, the hue and cry against the doctrine of separation grows louder.
Let’s take a brief survey:
SEPARATION IS CALLED HERESY BY THE NEW AGERS AND BY THE WORLD
New Age is not merely a religious movement or cult; it is a spirit and philosophy that is permeating the secular and religious world in these end-times. New Age teaches that separation on the basis of religion, theology, etc., is an evil thing that hinders the evolution of the world. They teach that such separation is the opposite of love. Those who love will not practice separation, and those who separate are not loving. The December 1996 issue of “Emergence Online,” a publication of the Tara Center, Benjamin Creme’s New Age organization, contained the following statement:
“REMOVE THE WALL -- Each one of us has a wall around himself: a wall of resistance, of fear and anxiety. ... We know very well what takes place when there is a wall -- then we have resistance, conflict, everlasting battle and pain, because ANY SEPARATIVE MOVEMENT, ANY SELF-CENTERED ACTIVITY, DOES BREED CONFLICT AND PAIN. ... When we remove the division between the ‘me’ and the ‘you’, the ‘we’ and the ‘they’, what happens? ONLY THEN AND NOT BEFORE, CAN ONE PERHAPS USE THE WORD ‘LOVE’. And love is that most extraordinary thing that takes place when there is no ‘me’ with its circle or wall” (J. Krishnamurti, ‘You Are the World’, quoted in Emergence Online, December 1996).
Global oneness and breaking down every barrier that separates people is a theme that is repeatedly heard in the world today. Rock singers proclaim “We are the world.” Disney theme parks proclaim “It’s a small, small world.” The United Nations seeks to break down national barriers. International news organizations glorify global unity. All of this is a cry against separation.
SEPARATION IS CALLED HERESY BY ROME
The Pope, of course, has always considered separation heresy. The Waldenses, Albigenses, Lollards and other Anabaptist and separatist Christian groups through the centuries were charged as heretics. Force was frequently used to bring the separatists into the fold, and Rome’s attitude has not changed. It still considers itself the only true church in which the fullness of Christ and truth abide. It claims to be the “mother church.” Those who are separated from Rome are being wooed into the fold today through ecumenical gestures. In November 1964, during the Vatican II Council, Pope Paul VI issued the “Decree on Ecumenism,” which launched Rome’s direct and open participation in the modern ecumenical movement. Vatican II had also declared that the Roman Catholic Church is the only true church:
“THIS IS THE SOLE CHURCH OF CHRIST which in the Creed we profess to be one, holy, catholic and apostolic, which our Saviour, after his resurrection, entrusted to Peter’s pastoral care. ... This Church, constituted and organized as a society in the present world, SUBSISTS IN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH, WHICH IS GOVERNED BY THE SUCCESSOR OF PETER AND BY THE BISHOPS IN COMMUNION WITH HIM” (Vatican II, “Dogmatic Constitution on the Church,” chap. 1, 8, p. 329).
Having reiterated its dogma that the Catholic Church is the sole church of Christ, Rome then stated its ecumenical policy:
“The Church established by Christ the Lord is, indeed, one and unique. Yet many Christian communions present themselves to men as the true heritage of Jesus Christ. To be sure, all proclaim themselves to be disciples of the Lord, but their convictions clash and their paths diverge, as though Christ himself were divided. WITHOUT DOUBT, THIS DISCORD OPENLY CONTRADICTS THE WILL OF CHRIST, PROVIDES A STUMBLING BLOCK TO THE WORLD, INFLICTS DAMAGE ON THE MOST HOLY CAUSE OF PROCLAIMING THE GOOD NEWS TO EVERY CREATURE” (Vatican II, “Decree on Ecumenism”).
Rome has been very plain about its ecumenical position. It has only one goal, and that is to bring every church and denomination into its fold. It considers separation from itself to be contrary to the will of Christ. Pope John Paul II dedicated himself untiringly to the task of bringing the “separated brethren” back into his fold. He often spoke of “THE INTOLERABLE SCANDAL OF DIVISION BETWEEN CHRISTIANS.”
At an ecumenical service conducted at the Vatican in 1985, the Pope embraced the three non-Catholic observers and said, “DIVISIONS AMONG CHRISTIANS ARE CONTRARY TO THE PLAN OF GOD.”
SEPARATION IS CALLED HERESY BY THE LIBERAL PROTESTANT ECUMENISTS
The liberal ecumenical denominations (such as United Church of Christ, Episcopal Church, United Methodist, Presbyterian Church U.S.A., United Church of Canada, The Church of England, the Uniting Church in Australia, and others associated with the World Council of Churches) boast of their broadmindedness. They can smile at practically any attack upon the Word of God or the Lord Jesus Christ. If a “clergyman” or “clergywoman” denies or questions Christ’s virgin birth or resurrection, that is tolerated. If he or she claims the Bible is filled with myths, that is tolerated. If he or she is an adulterer or a practicing homosexual, that is tolerated. There is one “heresy,” though, which is not tolerated, and that is the “heresy” of a dogmatic fundamentalist faith in the Word of God and the “heresy” of biblical separation.
In the early 1950s World Council of Churches’ leader Lesslie Newbigin (a bishop in the Church of South India who helped form the WCC) published The Household of God (SCM, London, 1953). He divided Christianity into Roman Catholic, Protestant, and Pentecostal. Newbigin called on Pentecostals to discard their separatist stance and join hands with the liberal ecumenical crowd:
“We must therefore assure our brethren of our willingness to learn from them in the fellowship of the ecumenical movement. ... We must tell them that in order to enter into the ecumenical conversation with us it is not necessary for them to abandon any of their distinctive convictions, but only to recognize us as fellow Christians sharing with them -- even though we be in error -- the same Spirit. WE MUST ASK THEM TO CONSIDER WHETHER BY DENYING ALL FELLOWSHIP WITH US, THEY DO NOT SIN AGAINST THE HOLY SPIRIT WHO IS IN THEM, AND WHETHER FAITHFULNESS TO THEIR LORD AND OURS DOES NOT ABSOLUTELY REQUIRE US TO SEEK UNITY WITH ONE ANOTHER.”
In June 1984, World Council of Churches leaders received Pope John Paul II to the WCC headquarters in Geneva. They conducted an “ACT OF PENITENCE,” SEEKING PARDON FOR “OUR DIVISIONS and for our failure to overcome them” (Evangelical Press Service, June 16-20, 1984). WCC General Secretary Philip Potter initiated the meeting with a prayer that it “be for all of us a step forward in our search for the unity of the church.”
In 1987 the National Council of Churches in America welcomed John Paul II to their nation with these words: “We join Pope John Paul’s conviction that CHRISTIAN DIVISIONS ARE “AN INTOLERABLE SCANDAL which hinders the proclamation of the Good News in Jesus Christ.”
This attitude toward separation among liberal ecumenists was illustrated when Episcopalians and Roman Catholics in Minnesota formed local ecumenical ties. A covenant was signed by representatives of both denominations, affirming the things they hold in common, and pledging members of the denominations to “ASK GOD’S FORGIVENESS FOR OUR SINFULNESS IN FOSTERING THE DIVISION OF THE CHURCH” (Episcopal News Service, Nov. 7, 1996). The covenant was signed by Episcopal Bishop James Jelinek and Roman Catholic Archbishop Harry Flynn in a solemn ceremony at the Cathedral Church of St. Mark in Minneapolis.
SEPARATION IS CALLED HERESY BY MANY EVANGELICALS
From our files we could pull hundreds of statements by Evangelical leaders who claim that biblical separation is wrong. The Promise Keepers movement was founded upon this philosophy. In an interview on the national radio program Promise Keepers This Week (August 31, 1996), PK Founder Bill McCartney said:
“Promise Keepers is going to have to understand that more and more Catholics are going to participate. And what every guy needs to do is, STOP LOOKING AT PEOPLE’S LABELS, and ask this question: ‘Does this guy know Jesus? Does he love Jesus with all his heart? Has he been born of the Spirit of God?’ And if you see that fruit, then QUIT MAKING JUDGMENTS. ... So LET’S NOT START CATEGORIZING PEOPLE. Let’s just allow God to be God and he can bless who He chooses to bless. And that’s how Promise Keepers is going to grow.”
McCartney does not believe we should make judgments and separate on the basis of doctrine, at least that is what he repeatedly states. As long as someone “loves Jesus,” we are to accept him and work with and fellowship with him.
The National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) promotes the same philosophy. The 54th Annual NAE Convention in Minneapolis, Minnesota, March 3-5, 1996, had the theme: “Reaching America: ONE VOICE IN UNITY.” Speaking before this convention, Joseph Stowell, president of Moody Bible Institute, used John 17 as his text, “That they may be one.” Stowell said:
“GOD NEVER INTENDED THAT OUR DIFFERENCES WOULD DIVIDE US. We belong to Christ so our mission and purpose are the same. If you belong to Christ you are lifted above the differences, and all else becomes secondary. Promise Keepers Clergy Conference in Atlanta showed the unity that is possible. ... WE MUST REPENT OF OUR ATTITUDES as I did in Atlanta. I WENT TO A MAN WHO HELD DIFFERENT DOCTRINES THAN I HELD AND APOLOGIZED because I never cared about him. Our differences are not that big, and we must realize this is what will build trust. Revival happens when God’s people network together. The world shall know we are one by our love” (“A Report on the 54th Annual Convention of the NAE,” Ralph Colas, American Council of Christian Churches).
Robert Webber, long-time Wheaton College professor and influential voice in the contemplative movement and the emerging church, says:
“We evangelicals need to turn our backs on the old separatist model” (Ancient-Future Faith, p. 86).
SEPARATION IS CALLED HERESY BY MANY CHARISMATICS
The Charismatic movement is the neo-Pentecostal movement. Old-line Pentecostal denominations such as the Assemblies of God were separated from other groups on the basis of doctrine until recent decades. The Charismatic movement, on the other hand, has, from its inception in the 1960s, been extremely ecumenical and inter-denominational. It has been one of the chief instruments in these last days for breaking down doctrinal divisions and creating of a one-world church. The attitude toward doctrinal divisions that permeates the Charismatic movement was illustrated in 1975 at the Fifth International Lutheran Conference of the Holy Spirit. A Catholic cardinal and a Lutheran pastor publicly embraced before the 12,000 in attendance and asked for mutual forgiveness. Lutheran Pastor Donald Pfotenhauer asked Cardinal Leo Suenens to forgive Lutherans for their sins against Roman Catholics, “so the Lord may release His Spirit upon us” (F.E.A. News & Views, Fundamental Evangelistic Association, November-December 1976).
At the 1975 Atlantic City Conference, a Roman Catholic charismatic meeting which included many non-Catholics, Catholic priest John Bertolucci led in prayers for the healing of church divisions. The scene that followed is described by a participant:
“Protestants were asked to stand and Catholics who were next to them were asked to seek forgiveness from their Protestant brothers and sisters for all the pain and hurt caused by their church’s office over the past 400 years. We Protestants did the same ... This night became, for all of us, the time when the Lord chose to heal 400 years of hurt, pain and division between the Catholic and Protestant churches” (Thomas Twitchell, That They May Be One, Logos, 1978, pp. 137-138).
Twitchell ended his book with the exhortation to “hold our leaders, shepherds and ourselves accountable to do all we can to bring together the body of Christ -- today” (Ibid., p. 216).”
Influential Episcopalian Charismatic leader Michael Harper, writing in 1978 of Christ’s return, stated: “THE CHURCH MUST FIRST BE UNITED. It is as inconceivable to think of Jesus returning for a disunited Church as it is to an unevangelized world” (Christian Life, August 1978). In his book The Three Sisters, Harper called for the unity of Evangelicals, Charismatics, and Roman Catholics. “I must confess to a deep longing to see these sisters reconciled to each other; to see them openly united in Christ and the Spirit; learning from each other and humbly listening to each other” (The Three Sisters, p. 11).
SEPARATION IS CALLED HERESY BY MANY NEO-FUNDAMENTALISTS
A new generation of fundamentalists has arisen which has rejected the militancy of its forebears. These neo-fundamentalists still claim to be fundamentalists but they sound like and they act like New-Evangelicals. Two key examples of this phenomenon are Jerry Falwell and his Liberty University among independent Baptists and Cornerstone College and many of the other schools and missions associated with the General Association of Regular Baptist Churches.
Interestingly, the belligerence of the Neo-Fundamentalist toward the old-line fundamental separatist is even more vicious than that of some of the other groups. Consider a statement that appeared in Jerry Falwell’s now defunct and misnamed publication “The Fundamentalist Journal.” The author labels the old-line fundamentalist who seeks to practice separation from error and compromise a “pseudo-fundamentalist” --
“Pseudo-Fundamentalists craft their doctrines and rules carefully. THEY BUILD MASSIVE WALLS OF SEPARATION AROUND THEMSELVES and take great pride in standing ‘all alone,’ besieged by wickedness from without and compromise from within. They set themselves as the ultimate standard of orthodoxy and stand prepared to cross swords with any who attempt to breach the walls. ... What should we do? We must take the whole armor of God, and IN HIS MIGHT COMMAND THAT THE WALLS BE BROKEN DOWN, and walk through into the light of day. Fundamental Christianity, strong and robust as ever, must not succumb to these modern-day Pharisees who find contentment only when they effectively mute God’s church” (Daniel R. Mitchell, “The Siege Mentality of Pseudo-Fundamentalism,” The Fundamentalist Journal, February 1987, p. 59).
The hour is very late. The end-times spirit that will produce the one-world Harlot church described in Revelation 17 is moving powerfully. The pressure to “give up and join in” with the ecumenical movement is increasing with each passing year. Great numbers of men who once stood firm against ecumenism are weakening. There is less forthrightness in the preaching, less clarity in the identification of error.
May God give us boldness to stand! The man who has the mindset and testimony of the sweet Psalmist of Israel will not be able to join hands with anyone who errs from the Word of God: “Therefore I esteem ALL thy precepts concerning ALL things to be right; and I hate EVERY false way” (Psalm 119:128). Biblical love requires biblical hate. Biblical unity requires biblical separation. A wise pastor once said, “I you refuse to limit your message, you will be required to limit your fellowship.”
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IS THE BIBLE THE SOLE AUTHORITY FOR FAITH AND PRACTICE?
Updated February 20, 2008 (first published March 5, 1999) (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) –
Is the Bible the sole authority for faith and practice? The Roman Catholic Church says it is not. The Vatican II Council affirmed that “both Scripture and Tradition must be accepted and honoured with equal feelings of devotion and reverence” (Vatican II documents, “Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation,” Chap. 2, 9, p. 682).
Thus, Rome has boldly exalted its traditions to a status equal with Holy Scripture.
I frequently receive letters and e-mails from Catholics who challenge me about the authority of the Bible. They know that they cannot defend Catholic doctrine strictly from the Bible. If the Bible alone is the authority for faith and practice, it can easily be demonstrated from Scripture that the Catholic Church is false. The authority of the Bible is therefore at the heart of the difference between Roman Catholicism and churches that base their doctrine and practice strictly upon the Holy Scriptures.
Following is an example of the many challenges I have received:
“I haven’t found anything in the Bible that says it should be used as the only authority. It seems to me that the Bible itself is a sort of tradition, as it wasn’t even considered complete in its present form for many years after the death of all of the apostles. We had to trust somebody for its authenticity and completeness. I have found in the scriptures the exhortation to follow proper traditions, whether written or spoken. Of course, I understand that ‘traditions of men’ are wrong to follow” (e-mail from a Catholic who found Way of Life articles on the Internet, March 2, 1999).
REPLY FROM BROTHER CLOUD:
You tell me you haven’t found anything in the Bible that says it should be used as the only authority. I can only say that you must not have read the Bible very carefully.
FIRST, 2 TIMOTHY 3:16-17 TEACHES THAT THE SCRIPTURE IS SUFFICIENT FOR FAITH AND PRACTICE.
“All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be PERFECT, THOROUGHLY FURNISHED UNTO ALL GOOD WORKS.”
The Scripture alone is given by inspiration of God and is able to make the man of God perfect. Obviously nothing else is needed, then, beyond the Scripture.
Catholic tradition is not Holy Scripture, is not therefore inspired by God, and is not therefore necessary to make the man of God perfect. I say this on the authority of 2 Timothy 3:16-17.
This one passage alone refutes Rome’s teaching that its tradition is equal to Scripture. Only Scripture can be equal to Scripture, because only Holy Scripture is inspired of God.
Paul contrasts the word of men with the word of God.
“For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when YE RECEIVED THE WORD OF GOD WHICH YE HEARD OF US, YE RECEIVED IT NOT AS THE WORD OF MEN, BUT AS IT IS IN TRUTH, THE WORD OF GOD, which effectually worketh also in you that believe” (1 Thessalonians 2:13).
We must continue to make this crucial distinction today. If a teaching is not the word of God, it is the word of men. Rome’s traditions are not the Word of God. Rome does not even claim that its traditions are the Word of God. Thus, they are the word of men and are not to be followed. The Word of God, the Scripture, is all the believer needs, because it is able to make him perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.
SECOND, WE KNOW THE BIBLE IS THE COMPLETE WORD OF GOD BECAUSE WE ARE TOLD THE FAITH WAS ONCE DELIVERED TO THE SAINTS.
“Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for THE FAITH WHICH WAS ONCE DELIVERED UNTO THE SAINTS” (Jude 3).
“The faith” refers to the body of New Testament truth delivered by the apostles through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The term “once delivered” tells us that this body of truth was given during one particular period of time and was completed. It refers to the New Testament Scriptures that was completed during the days of the apostles.
Jude 3 singularly refutes the idea that the Christian faith has been progressively given through the Roman Catholic Church.
THIRD, A SEAL WAS PLACED ON THE FINAL CHAPTER OF THE FINAL BOOK OF THE BIBLE, SIGNIFYING ITS COMPLETION AND WARNING EVERY MAN NOT TO ADD TO OR SUBTRACT FROM IT.
“For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book” (Rev. 22:18,19).
Those who claim to have a new revelation or a tradition equal to the Bible fall under the judgment described in this passage. The book of Revelation concludes and completes the Holy Scripture. Nothing is to be added or removed.
FOURTH, THE COMPLETED CANON OF SCRIPTURE WAS RECOGNIZED IN THE SECOND CENTURY, LONG BEFORE THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH EXISTED.
Christian leaders in the second century recognized the canon of the New Testament and accepted the apostolic writings as Holy Scripture on equal authority with the Old Testament. God gave them wisdom in this process and they did not need to wait for the statements of councils that came centuries later (Jn. 16:13; 17:8; 1 Thess. 2:13; 1 Jn. 2:20).
Irenaeus (125-192), for example, in his extant writings, made 1,800 quotations from the New Testament books and used them “in such a way as to imply that they had for some time been considered as of unquestioned authority” (Herbert Miller, General Biblical Introduction, p. 140). Irenaeus accepted the four Gospels, and four only, as Scripture.
Clement of Alexandria (150-217) quoted from and acknowledged the four Gospels and most other New Testament books, calling them “divine Scriptures.”
Tertullian (150-220) made 7,200 citations from the New Testament books and accepted them as Scripture.
The Latin Itala translation, which was probably made in the second century, “contained all the books that now make up the New Testament” (John Hentz, History of the Lutheran Version, p. 59).
A list of New Testament Scriptures dating to the latter half of the second century was discovered in the Ambrosian Library in Milan, Italy, in 1740. This second-century list contains all of the 27 books of the New Testament canon (Hentz, p. 60).
Thus the completed New Testament Scriptures were being circulated and accepted by God’s people under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Many of the modernistic textual scholars who write today about these early centuries deny, or totally overlook, the working of the Holy Spirit in the inspiration and canonicity of the New Testament. The Apostles were not left to their own devices to transcribe the record of Christ, nor were the early Christians left to their own devices to recognize which writings were Scripture (1 Thess. 2:13). The words of the New Testament are the words of the Lord Jesus Christ through divine inspiration, and the Lord’s sheep know the voice of their Good Shepherd and can discern His voice from false shepherds (John 10:4, 5, 27).
FIFTH, PASSAGES THAT URGE CHRISTIANS TO FOLLOW TRADITION REFER TO THE INSPIRED TRADITION GIVEN BY THE APOSTLES, NOT TO THE UNINSPIRED TRADITIONS OF MEN WHO HAVE COME AFTER THEM.
The term “tradition” is used in two ways in the New Testament. First it refers to apostolic doctrine given by divine inspiration (2 Thess. 2:15; 3:6). The churches are bound to obey this tradition as it is supernaturally recorded in the New Testament Scripture. Second, tradition refers to uninspired teachings that religious teachers attempt to add to the Scripture and by which they attempt to bind the lives of men (Matt. 15:1-6; Mk. 7:9-13; Col. 2:8). In this sense, tradition is condemned, as we see in the following references:
“But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” (Matthew 15:9).
“Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye” (Mark 7:13).
“Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ” (Colossians 2:8).
We are thankful that the Lord that has given us a complete and sufficient Revelation and that we are not dependent upon extra-biblical prophecies, visions, voices, tongues, or traditions. In the Bible we have everything the churches need for faith and practice.
Therefore, though it is true that “the Bible itself is a sort of tradition” this does not mean that it is merely another of various authoritative traditions. The Bible alone