======================================================================== WRITINGS OF JOHN EDMISTON - VOLUME 1 by John Edmiston ======================================================================== A collection of theological writings, sermons, and essays by John Edmiston (Volume 1), compiled for study and devotional reading. Chapters: 99 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ TABLE OF CONTENTS ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. 00.00. Edminston, John - Library 2. 01.00.1. Articles on Cybermissions 3. 01.01. Overview of Cybermissions Journal Article 4. 01.02. How Internet Evangelism and Cybermissions will affect the Way We Do Missions ... 5. 01.03. Ten Ways the Internet is changing Mission and Evangelism 6. 01.04. How to Have a Big Ministry on a Small Budget 7. 01.05. The Internet Missionary Society Of 2020 8. 01.06. Strategies in Cybermissions 9. 01.07. The Edges of Cyberspace 10. 01.08. Cybermissions – Where to Start? 11. 01.09. How a Local Church Can Have A Global Presence Through Cybermissions 12. 01.10. Online-Offline Synergies That Dramatically Increase Evangelistic Effectiveness 13. 01.11. Paul vs. John – Information Security Then and Now 14. 01.12. Proposal For A Postgraduate Course in Cyber-Missions and Internet Evangelism 15. 01.13. Socio-Technical Humanity: 16. 01.14. Can You Really Have an Internet Church? 17. 01.15. The Need for Cybermissions Partnership 18. 01.16. Cybermissions Reading List 19. 01.17. Techno-Spiritual Quotes 20. 02.01. Beyond Denomination – The Networked Church 21. 02.02. Chapter Two – Local Area Networks 22. 02.03. Chapter Three – Task Focused Christian Organisations 23. 02.04. Chapter 4 – Implementation – General Principles 24. 02.05. Chapter Five – Implementation – Practical Considerations 25. 02.06. Chapter Six – Getting from Here To There 26. 02.07. The New Apostolic Reformation 27. 02.08. Apostles And Church Discipline 28. 03.00.1. Beyond Personal Salvation 29. 03.00.2. Introduction 30. 03.01. Romans 9:1-5 Agonizing Over The Lost 31. 03.02. Romans 9:6-8 Children of Promise 32. 03.03. Romans 9:9-18 Election 33. 03.04. Romans 9:19-26 The Potter's Hand 34. 03.05. Romans 9:27-33 The Holy Remnant 35. 03.06. Romans 10:1-4 A Zeal For God Is Not Good Enough 36. 03.07. Romans 10:5-8 All Our Spiritual Huffing And Puffing 37. 03.08. Romans 10:9-13 The Requirements For Salvation 38. 03.09. Romans 10:14-17 Faith Comes By Hearing 39. 03.10. Romans 10:18-21 But...Have They Not Heard? 40. 03.11. Romans 11:1-5 Israel Has Not Been Rejected 41. 03.12. Romans 11:5-10 God Gave Them..... 42. 03.13. Romans 11:11-15 Life From The Dead 43. 03.14. Romans 11:16-24 The Olive Tree Of God 44. 03.15. Romans 11:25-28 The Fullness Of The Nations / Gentiles 45. 03.16. Romans 11:28-36 The Mercy Of God 46. 03.17. Romans 12:1,2 Personal Sanctification 47. 03.18. Romans 12:3 A Humble Mind Is A Sane Mind 48. 03.19. Romans 12:4-8 Spiritual Gifts 49. 03.20. Romans 12:9-13 Christian Actions In Community 50. 03.21. Romans 12:14-21 The Christian Response To Evil 51. 03.22. Romans 13:1-7 Submitting to Governments 52. 03.23. Romans 13:8-10 The Debt of Love 53. 03.24. Romans 13:11-14 Christians Are Not Party Animals 54. 03.25. Romans 14:1-4 Doubtful Issues 55. 03.26. Romans 14:5-8 Living To The Lord 56. 03.27. Romans 14:9 The Universal Rule Of Christ 57. 03.28. Romans 14:10-13 Do Not Judge One Another 58. 03.29. Romans 14:14-17 The Nature Of The Kingdom 59. 03.30. Romans 14:18-23 Stumbling One's Brother 60. 03.31. Romans 15:1-3 Building Up Our Neighbor 61. 03.32. Romans 15:4 Hope From The Bible 62. 03.33. Romans 15:5-7 Being Like-Minded 63. 03.34. Romans 15:8-12 The Salvation Of The Gentiles 64. 03.35. Romans 15:13 The God Of Hope 65. 03.36. Romans 15:14 Lay Leadership 66. 03.37. Romans 15:15-19 A Fulfilled Ministry 67. 03.38. Romans 15:20-24 When Is The Job Done? 68. 03.39. Romans 15:20-29 A Huge Mistake 69. 03.40. Romans 15:30-33 An Unanswered Prayer 70. 03.41. Romans 16:1-16 Greetings 71. 03.42. Romans 16:17-27 Final Notes 72. 04.00.1. Christian Starter Kit 73. 04.01. How To Become A Christian 74. 04.02. How To Be Sure That You Really Are A Christian 75. 04.03. How To Read The Bible 76. 04.04. Daily Bible Reading Program 77. 04.05. What Is The Best Bible To Use? 78. 04.06. How To Pray 79. 04.07. What Is God Like? 80. 04.08. What Has Happened To Me? 81. 04.09. Meeting God's People 82. 04.10. Breaking Free From Sin 83. 04.11. What About Heaven And Hell 84. 04.12. What About My Non-Christian Friends? 85. 04.13. Loving Your Neighbor 86. 04.14. How To Release The Holy Spirit Into Your Life 87. 05.00.1. CULTS 88. 05.00.2. Table of Contents 89. 05.01. Marks of a Cult 90. 05.02. How Cults Convert People 91. 05.03. Cults and Crazy Thinking 92. 05.04. Understanding Those Caught in Cults 93. 05.05. When a Church Goes Wrong 94. 05.06. Classic Cults 95. 05.07. Commercial Cults 96. 05.08. Demons Defeated 97. 05.08. Mystical and New Age Cults 98. 05.09. Spiritual Warfare 99. 05.10. Discerning Good from Evil ======================================================================== CHAPTER 1: 00.00. EDMINSTON, JOHN - LIBRARY ======================================================================== Edminston, John - Library Edmiston, John - Articles on Cybermissions Edmiston, John - Beyond Denomination Edmiston, John - Beyond Personal Salvation Edmiston, John - Chrisitan Starter Kit Edmiston, John - Cults Edmiston, John - Healing Edmiston, John - Heavenly Realms Edmiston, John - How to Know the Will of God Edmiston, John - Jesus the Messiah Edmiston, John - Life in Christ Edmiston, John - Living in Christ Edmiston, John - Prayer Edmiston, John - Prayer 101 Edmiston, John - Solution-Focused Faith Edmiston, John - Spiritual Warfare Edmiston, John - St. John’s Passion Edmiston, John - Temples and Tithes Edmiston, John - The Gospel of John Edmiston, John - The Importance of Love Edmiston, John - The Jesus Manifesto Edmiston, John - The Kingdom of Heaven Edmiston, John - The Market, The Kingdom, and The Terrorists Edmiston, John - The Righteousness That Is By Faith! Edmiston, John - Titus Edmiston, John - Walking in the Spirit (4 Vol) Edmiston, John - What the Bible Says About Sex Edmiston, John - Zephaniah ======================================================================== CHAPTER 2: 01.00.1. ARTICLES ON CYBERMISSIONS ======================================================================== Articles on Cybermissions John Edmiston This book – Articles on Cybermissions is © Copyright AIBI-International 2008 This article may be freely reproduced for non-profit ministry purposes but may not be sold in any way and must be reproduced “as is” without alteration. Just e-mail us at johned@aibi.ph ======================================================================== CHAPTER 3: 01.01. OVERVIEW OF CYBERMISSIONS JOURNAL ARTICLE ======================================================================== Missions in Cyberspace: The Strategic Front-Line Use of the Internet in Missions Introduction Frontier mission is always an adventure and a calling, in the words of William Carey, to “use means” for the completion of the Great Commission. One of these means is the use of the Internet. And one of the most exhilarating frontiers of mission today is cyber-missions; the frontline use of IT to evangelize and disciple the nations. In this article we will keep the focus on cross-cultural mission web sites and strategic approaches to ministry online such as web-evangelism, email discipleship, web-based TEE and icafes as a church-planting strategy. This paper will review the potential, the actual uses and the successful implementation of Internet-based missionary outreach and put the case for missionary societies to have an Internet evangelism department headed by a Field Director – Cyberspace. I have intentionally excluded the traditional uses of computing in missions or the use of the Internet for mono-cultural ministry as this has already been extensively reviewed elsewhere (for instance in the work of Leonard Sweet). Some Statistics Worldwide Internet Population: 445.9 million (eMarketer) 533 million (Computer Industry Almanac) Projection for 2004: 709.1 million (eMarketer) 945 million (Computer Industry Almanac) Online Language Populations (September 2002) English 36.5%; Chinese 10.9%, Japanese 9.7%, Spanish 7.2%, German 6.7%, Korean 4.5%, Italian 3.8%, French 3.5%, Portuguese 3.0%, Russian 2.9%, Dutch 2.0% (Source: Global Reach) From the above statistics it is clear that the Internet is no longer predominantly an English speaking medium and that Asian languages such as Chinese, Japanese and Korean now occupy a significant portion of cyber-space along with major European languages such as Spanish., Portuguese and French. There are over 275 million Internet searches each day and 80% of all Internet sessions begin at a search engine (Internetstatistics.com). Religion is one of the main topics people search for. Pew Internet surveys found that 28 million Americans get religion information online, that three million do so daily and that 25 % of net users search for religion-related topics. Barna Research estimates that up to 50 million Americans may worship solely over the Internet by 2010. There is every indication that the Internet is a major source of religious information where people of many cultures and languages collect their spiritual facts and opinions in private. Thus it’s a place where missionaries must be. Part One - The Concept, Opportunities And Strategic Use of Cyber-Missions Despite the obvious potential for online evangelism mission computing is still largely seen as mission databases, accounting, fund-raising, email and publicity. Large “computing in missions” conferences debate security issues and networking but do not touch on how the IT staff can plant churches and reach unreached people groups for Jesus. That is left to “real missionaries”! This paper is about how geeks can spread the gospel and how cyber-missionaries can go places where conventional missionaries cannot. It will cover how the Internet is being used for theological education by extension, how chat rooms are being used for online evangelism in creative access countries, and how Internet cafes are proving a useful strategy in reaching unreached people groups. This paper presents the radical idea of IT as a frontline pioneer church-planting and evangelistic ministry. Personal Involvement My personal involvement with computers and mission began in 1988 with an ancient Microbee personal computer that did not even have a hard drive! By 1991 I had helped start Australian BibleNet, which was part of the old FidoNet bulletin board groups. In early 1994 as the web was just starting, I set up one of the first Christian websites “The Prayer Page”, the first site to allow people to put their prayer points online and give lessons on how to pray. This eventually developed (in mid 1994) into Eternity Online Magazine, which ran until the end of 1998 when funding ceased. At its peak in 1997 Eternity Online Magazine had over one million readers and around five hundred people per year wrote in reporting they had found Christ through its pages. In late 2001 I took up the challenge of the Asian Internet Bible Institute (www.aibi.ph), which runs twelve free online courses including the 21 module Harvestime church-planting course, in an effort to equip (via icafes and church computers) the 70% of Asian pastors who have no formal ministry training. In combination with key missionaries I am currently also working on a strategy of planting internet cafes, staffed by Filipino missionaries, in unreached people groups in Asia. The Word in Cyber-Space Cyber-surfers mainly do just two things, read words and write words. Despite the graphics and sound bites of the WWW, the Internet is still mainly a text-based medium, and this is especially so in the developing world. But is this adequate? Can text transform the world? The answer is yes, people can be, and are often, changed by the written word addressing a real spiritual or personal need. The Internet simply places such material in an environment where people, who are interested in it, can easily access it through hyper-links and search engines. As I sleep or work, people read an article and are changed, or they go to the “How to Become a Christian” page and make a real commitment to Christ while sitting at their computer. They are transformed by the written word quite apart from my presence, appearance or charm. Thus cyber-ministry is far less dependent on personality, location, buildings, clothing or cultural cues than most missionary activity. Cyber-ministry however is highly dependent on writing and counseling skills, extensive networking between sites and on clarity and ease of use. The idea is to get the seeking person to the word that can transform their life (within three or four clicks of the mouse) and then to facilitate and follow up the encounter between the seeker and the Word of God and to build such people into encouraging online communities. Understanding the WWW Ok so you want to be a cyber-missionary? This requires a deep and intimate knowledge of the nature of cyberspace and particularly these four foundational concepts: Firstly - the WWW is not a broadcast medium. When content is placed on the WWW it is not “sent out”. The content stays where it is, on the computer it was put on and visitors arrive at that content via a vast web of interconnections. In fact the WWW can be private, semi-public or public. It is not like a radio station, that anyone can listen in on. Content can be restricted to people with passwords or put on obscure and unlisted pages that ‘robots’ and search engines are prevented from finding and web pages can even be encrypted. Thus the WWW is not designed to send out general information to a random audience, but to draw selected people to specific information. The difference is critical. There is no automatic audience. Unless you understand how to draw people through the network of links to your website you can end up with zero visitors. Secondly, in drawing people to the gospel on the Internet it is essential to understand how people navigate their way to a web site. The WWW is actually most like a vast library and generally surfers do not visit web pages by accident any more than they take out a library book by accident. They mainly arrive at a web page on the basis of a relevant, particular and specific interest, via a search engine or a link from a related web page or an email. The Internet is not passive like listening to radio, rather the surfer is always active, clicking, searching, reading, browsing and intentionally navigating through cyber-space. Thus the web surfer is a self-directed seeker driven by curiosity traveling through a community of hyper-links. So you have somehow to be connected to where that person is now if they are ever to reach you. The idea is to position your website within one or two clicks of millions of people. You need to be part of the network, woven into cyberspace so people “bump into” links to your site in all sorts of places. You also must be able to offer them a reason to go to your page. Surfers are mainly in search of two things: human contact and relevant information. Curiosity and community are the driving forces of the WWW and cyber-ministries need to harness the power of these forces if they are to succeed. Thirdly, the WWW was designed for scientists and military personnel to share data and is designed to share highly specific information with a widely dispersed audience. Thus, in a counter-intuitive way, the more specific your information, the more visitors your mission website will get! If your site is on a broad topic like “Christianity’ or “the gospel” you will find that it is one among millions – and yours is number 34,218 in the search engine. So your site will get very few visitors. My most specific and unusual articles, such as articles on human cloning, Theophostic counseling, or blessings and curses attract more visitors than articles on general discipleship topics. You can also see this principle operating in the commercial websites. General shopping sites on the Internet have failed by the thousands - while rare booksellers; antique shops, vintage wine and art sales have flourished. The trick is to have up-to-date topics that are highly specific. So when Dolly the sheep was cloned – I immediately wrote a Christian view of human cloning. It was about the only Christian article on the topic (in cyberspace) that week and was a huge success. Thus, to draw people to a cyber-ministry it is important to build on your special knowledge and specific strengths. Forget about appealing to all, instead be relevant, be unique and be specific. Fourthly, the WWW is more about relevance to needs than it is about image. Content is King. So have good content that meets real needs. People will come even to a really ugly website if it offers free software that they want. The key “click factor” that causes people to decide to follow a link is the visitor’s perception of the site’s relevance to their immediate needs. Mainly these are relational and informational needs. Clicks are made “site unseen”. Visitors have not seen your site when they click on a link to it. So your graphics don’t matter a hoot. The decision (to click) is made, and can only be made, on the basis of information about the site’s content – not its appearance. Thus “cool” is not as important as connection, content, and clarity. Yahoo is one of the largest Internet portals yet it is quite ordinary in its layout. Some of the most visited sites on the web are just plain text. However all successful web sites have great content, are fast, useful, clear and easy to use and navigate. Great websites “connect” with and meet the needs of their target audience. So an effective ministry web page is relevant, unique, clear, fast loading, useful, easily searched, interactive and full of highly specific information and resources that draw people in to use, re-use and explore the website. The Internet in Creative Access Countries A recent Chinese government decision to block access to Google shows that governments can and do censor the Internet and they generally block websites for political reasons. Governments generally seem to be less concerned about religious websites that are politically neutral. The AIBI has students in many creative access countries and there is no sign of interference so far. Though an Internet ministry will only reach a small percentage of people in creative access countries, these tend to be businessmen or leaders. These leaders can download training material that they can then share with others. This is what I call the “tunnel and blast” strategy in that you “tunnel into” a creative access country and find a person who is widely networked who then organizes others and the ministry spreads. While caution needs to be exercised it is quite possible to minister effectively even in countries like Myanmar which has severe restrictions on the Internet. It is important for websites hoping to minister in creative access countries to be politically neutral, culturally sensitive, free of damaging information and cautious about the image that is presented and the terms used. Also bandwidth needs to be conserved (as connections are frequently slow and sometimes people pay per MB for downloads and surfing) and the use of large graphics, sound or video needs to be carefully thought through. With these caveats the Internet is a great means of praying for, encouraging and training isolated Christian believers in creative access countries. The “how to” of this will unfold later in this paper. Internet Evangelism in the Missions Context Evangelism can effectively take place in chat rooms, by email, through friendship evangelism in email discussion groups, and through the gospel presented on web pages and in dozens of other online avenues. Tony Whittaker of web-evangelism.com has extensive resources and his web-evangelism guide can be found at http://www.aibi.ph/articles/webguide.htm. The use of anonymous or pseudonymous email addresses makes web evangelism possible even in creative access countries. Follow-up can be done by sending lessons through email and enabling converts to download a bible and discipleship resources. (see http://www.aibi.ph/articles/gospel1.htm). As with all evangelism, integrity is a must. “Spamming”, aggressive pop-ups, and other approaches are unappreciated by most visitors and should not be part of web-evangelism. The unique thing about web-evangelism is how specific and focused it can be. Years ago I heard a statistic that, at any one moment in time, generally two-percent of any audience is at the point of conversion and ready to receive Jesus. I have found this true in my own evangelistic preaching and recently found that same two percent holds for Billy Graham crusades as well. Now two-percent of the Internet is a LOT of people. That means that on any given day ten million people online are at the point of conversion. By the strategic use of the self-selecting nature of Internet audiences you can reach just this “two-percent”. By titling your page so that it only appeals to people who want to make a decision and making sure it comes up well in the search engines you can communicate solely to those about to make a decision for Jesus. My evangelism page is simply called “How to Become a Christian” and targets those who want to become a Christian but don’t know how. It is read by thousands of people each year who have typed “how to become a Christian” in a search engine and dozens give their life to Jesus (in 1997-98, 500 people a year made decisions for Christ on this simple web page). You can even target very specific groups e.g. with a web page in Hindi with a testimony and a specific title that will show up in the search engines and attract those on the point of conversion. The Internet has also begun to be much more supportive of non-English scripts such as Tamil, Japanese and Chinese. It is quite possible to be a full-time and very productive Internet-based personal evangelist working solely with “ready to convert” enquirers after the gospel! The Internet as Missions Exposure Do you want to safely expose some bible college students to dialogue with Muslim clerics? Give them an anonymous email address and let them loose on the sites run by Muslim apologists. Do you want to teach tact in witnessing? Put your students in chat rooms. Do you want a youth group to dig into the Scriptures? Set them the task of answering questions online and they will be forced into doing the research for the answers. On the Internet missions candidates and bible college students can be involved with people from all cultures and belief systems and get exposure to both the friendly and the hostile with little risk of actual physical harm and in an environment where the mistakes won’t ruin the ministry. Like all forms of mission exposure it needs to be supervised by an experienced missionary and planned in advance. It can also be integrated into traditional mission exposure trips as part of the preparation before arriving in the foreign country. Study Cells, Email Groups and Online Communities of Interest One of the great challenges of cyber-ministry is to bring people out of individual isolation into online groups and eventually into face-to-face communities of faith. Students at the Asian Internet Bible Institute are encouraged to find other students in their area and to form study cells discussing the material together and praying for each other. Generally one individual will be the facilitator and motivator in gathering the others together. Communities can be intentionally formed through online discussion such as YahooGroups. Such discussion groups can be used for a wide variety of purposes such as theological discussion, personal sharing and prayer points, a discipleship group, online classrooms, coordinating a geographically dispersed project or team, sharing information among churches in a local area, community organizing around a cause, policy formation, etc. Most successful online communities have between 40 members and 600 members. Below 40 members discussion tends to be occasional. Beyond 600 members the traffic is so large that people start unsubscribing. Good communities are managed by “moderators” who are tactful and wise and know how to start, guide and terminate discussions. There are many testimonies to how such online discussion groups have proved an enormous source of support and encouragement to isolated missionaries, lonely clergy and busy believers. [Technical notes: By using CGI and Perl scripts it is quite easy to set up guestbooks, chat rooms, discussion boards. Reliable secure scripts can be found at: http://nms-cgi.sourceforge.net. The latest community trend is the weblog commonly known as “Blogs” see www.blogger.com. If you really get into blogs you can Use Movable Type for a dynamic weblog experience. For larger communities Xoops (xoops.org) is a free, easy to install PHP/MySQL web portal system that has proved very useful for the AIBI Student Center). ] Online TEE and Pastor Training Theological education by extension has been around for many years in the missions context, in correspondence schools like ICI and through missionary radio follow-up from FEBC and HJCB. The logical next step is to create online bible colleges. This is what I am doing with the Asian Internet Bible Institute (www.aibi.ph). The proliferation of Internet cafes in the developing nations means that web-based training is now accessible by pastors in practically every small town in Asia, without them having to own a computer. Compressing study material into zip files and ebooks can minimize the cost of using icafes. This enables a 300-page training module to be downloaded in five minutes or less. Study materials can be printed out in the icafe or just read offline on the computer screen. The AIBI produces a CD of the materials as well as distributing them online. AIBI students seem to fall into a number of categories: pastors in remote areas who cannot access conventional forms of training, small denominations needing a low-cost training option they can easily implement, busy Christians who want to study at their own pace and time and who are comfortable with the Internet and bible students using AIBI material to supplement their studies. Another category is also emerging, Christians who simply don’t want to fight the traffic in Manila for two hours to get to a conventional classroom! This is an increasing reality in Asia’s mega-cities. Cyber-learning is still relatively new and many are cautious or fearful of the technology but it has the potential to provide a low-cost and very practical educational alternative for Christians, particularly in developing nations. The challenges of web-based TEE are student management, databases, and making effective use of online classrooms. Good database programmers, and a web-savvy Christian educator are the essential parts of the team. Networking Missions Specialists Missions specialists and project teams can be coordinated using email lists, discussion groups, groupware and web-portal software. For example a linguist in Pakistan can co-ordinate with a printer in Hong Kong and a funding church in the USA to produce a gospel tract in a tribal language. Discussions can be held among dispersed members of a team with each member receiving a copy of the emails that fly back and forth, so that highly specialized personnel can consult on numerous projects without leaving home. These technologies can be made secure through strict membership criteria and in some cases, by encryption of emails. I have used these technologies to coordinate prayer cover and to facilitate partnerships such as in the evangelization of a certain UPG. Task groups can be coordinated by using an online calendar with project events and deadlines. [Technical note: If you don’t like CGI calendar scripts try using www.calendars.net. TUTOS at www.sourceforge.net is a good free groupware package.] Email groups are particularly useful when they are focused on a specific topic e.g. “missionary member care” or a specific project, “reaching the XYZ tribe”. Successful lists have a very clear purpose, are factual and concise and have a positive tone, which is set by a committed team coordinator. In addition to email groups there are numerous networking and resource sites for missions that can be of enormous help in finding partners, information, and even funding for initiatives. Brigada is perhaps the best known of these (http://www.brigada.org). Online Mentoring, Counseling And Discipleship The power of IT to connect people with common interests assists in mentoring missionaries and pastors and in online counseling and discipleship. A young missionary in a remote area can develop an email mentoring friendship with a more senior missionary, which can be a significant boost to the pastoral care of that missionary. Online leadership development has been attempted by organizations such as mentorlink.org amongst others. My observation is that in cyber-space more informal mentoring takes place, than formal structured mentoring, and mentoring tends to emerge out of a rapport that develops between two people online and then this extends into a deeper and more structured relationship. Online counseling and discipleship has been a controversial issue with some saying it should not even be attempted. Proponents of brief therapy, solution-focused therapy and cognitive therapy seem to be open to the possibilities; while more talk-intensive psychotherapies remain generally opposed to online counseling. Various New Age therapies, personal coaching and motivational seminar speakers have adopted the Internet, even offering individual spiritual mentoring online. One coaching and training email list has over 1700 members. Career counseling has made extensive use of computers and online testing and counseling and is probably the most computerized segment of the counseling profession. Myers-Briggs and other personality tests can be administered online and thus staff selection procedures can be streamlined. In the missions context a missionary can raise a personal issue with the mission counselor and get some online advice, and then, if needed, arrange for a visit to or from the counselor. Thus email access to competent counselors can help a missionary to deal with issues and irritations without accumulating the stress until a face-to-face meeting at the next staff conference. This is very valuable in and of itself. The mentoring functions can be used in leadership development programs, pastoral training and in discipling new converts in creative access countries. Cyber-counseling is not a full replacement for face-to-face counseling but in many situations it will be a much welcome relief and better than no counseling or support at all. Christian Community Internet Cafes The community Internet café is gaining acceptance as a mission strategy and a form of holistic development ministry in bridging the digital divide. Andrew Sears of AC4 and Dr. Josias Conradie of WIN International are known as innovators in this area. The Association of Christian Community Computer Centers (http://www.ac4.org) is an organization founded to assist in the use of icafes by churches and missions, among others. In missions, icafes have been used as outreaches and teaching centers with considerable success in creative access countries where they provide community Internet access and teach English and various computer courses. This strategy seems to work best in small to mid-sized urban communities in remote areas where there are enough people to keep the icafe busy and yet where the icafe is still novel enough to be a welcome addition to their infrastructure. I am attempting to take this one step further and use icafes as a self-funding sending strategy for teams of Asian missionaries going into Asian UPG’s. An Internet café of twenty computers can support between 4-6 Asian missionaries at an acceptable living standard for their area of ministry ($200 a month). Donated second-hand computers will be used to set up three such icafes initially with a further 27 icafes envisaged over a five year period, Lord willing and providing. The icafe provides a point of community contact, a venue for web-based distance education and income for the team (as in Asia support levels from traditional sources are often inconsistent). All members of the team are expected to be computer-literate but only one will be an actual IT specialist looking after the computers. The others will be church planters, community workers and educators. This requires team based, on-field decision-making structures which will be outlined later in this paper. Further information can be obtained by emailing johned@aibi.ph . Other Applications There are numerous other applications being explored. These include distributing Palm PC’s, loaded with development and educational material to remote communities (p3internet.org), justice and community organizing via email, mercy ministries and relief efforts coordinated through a web-site, computer distribution to bridge the digital divide, online church consulting and so forth. The fertile imaginations of mission-minded Great Commission Christians are finding innumerable ways to minister to the nations using computers. Part Two - Moving Into Cyber-Missions What then should a missionary society do to take advantage of the strategic opportunities and low-cost advantages of cyber-ministry? This next section is how I think cyber-missions can best be implemented within the operating procedures of a contemporary missionary society. Integrating Cyber-Missions With Conventional Missions Cyber-mission works best when it is in active synergy with more conventional forms of mission. For instance, a convert via web evangelism can be referred to a church in his or her area, or a student at the AIBI may want to articulate into a local bible college. Taking care of these transition points is a critical part of the task of the cyber-missionary. The best way this synergy can happen is if cyber-ministries are a department of a larger mission and are headed by a Field Director-Cyberspace. Since the Internet has its own unique working conditions, sub-culture and approach to ministry it should be considered as a separate field for front-line ministry. It is granted that it is possible that cyber-missionaries could simply be incorporated into existing teams. A team reaching Thailand could contain a cyber-missionary doing web-evangelism in Thai. But this would probably lead to much unnecessary duplication with each field area setting up its own computers and cyber-outreach. Thus cyber-mission is probably best organized as a separate department within the mission, but with extensive links to all the more traditional fields. Cyber-ministry also defies traditional boundaries and definitions of whose field is whose. An evangelistic website may deal with people from Kenya, Myanmar and Brazil all on the same day. Except for websites in a particular local language, it is almost impossible to geographically confine such a ministry. Hyperlinks create partners, and alliances are formed on the Internet that would seldom exist on the field. Thus the Cyber-Missions Department will be the “fuzzy boundary” of the organization and the place where many of its possible linkages to other churches and missions may well first develop. A Cyber-Missions department does not just need computer technicians. It also needs passionate evangelists, careful bible teachers and sensitive prayer warriors. The Internet is simply a medium for the expression of all the gifts of the Spirit not a “gift” itself. That said, the WWW is a unique ministry space with a unique sub-culture and conditions of service. Cyber-missionaries need a definite calling and the ability to sit in front of a computer eight hours a day, three hundred days a year. Cyber-ministry looks easy at first but few people last more than three months in “full-time service” online. The requirements on human concentration and patience are immense and discouragements and weariness abound. Results rarely come as quickly as initially expected and people occasionally disparage cyber-ministry saying, “you aren’t a real missionary, you just play with computers”. The online environment can be emotionally hostile, and there are technical breakdowns. In fact it is just like any other form of missionary service! I advise cyber-missionaries to have some face-to-face ministry as well, as the lack of warm human contact can also be a very draining part of the challenge, especially for extroverts. A Cyber-Missions team should contain, or have access to, a computer technician and a database programmer. Most of the other staff should be computer literate ministry personnel whose primary calling is non-technical (evangelism, teaching, mercy). The Cyber-Missions Team should have its own goals, budget, vision statement, and planning and be semi-autonomous. Where possible it should have its own physical space and be sufficiently separate so it is not invaded by other staff wanting their computers repaired. I spend a lot of time saying to people “No, I don’t fix computers” and this needs almost to be a sign outside the door! Cyber-mission should not be set up as part of the administration department handling donor databases etc. While administration and cyber-mission both use computers they have little else in common and are very different in ethos and vision. Ministry in cyberspace needs its own space and recognition as a pioneer frontline ministry. Staff should be selected carefully and should be biblically trained pioneer missionaries and have at least two years of extensive experience with the Internet. A note of caution: There is some danger in the Cyber-Missions department being portrayed as the “glamour team”.Firstly, glamour tends to attract people who are there for the image, and who leave after a few months when reality sets in. Secondly, it will tend to develop jealousies among other mission staff, who may believe that money spent on technology is wasted. This tension can be minimized by getting donated equipment (and letting people know it’s donated) and also by giving cyber-missions the flavor of a vigorous pioneer ministry with a spiritual and evangelistic emphasis that serves the real needs of the field. What about the alternative of making the entire mission a cyber-mission? At the moment there are certain disadvantages to this especially in applying for funding and in recognition among peers as cyber-mission has not yet been validated and accepted. I think cyber-missions are best nurtured inside conventional missionary societies for another five years or so before cyber-missionary societies are formed on a wider scale. Specialist cyber-missions can be set up just like there are specialist radio ministries and specialist tract distribution societies. It is a valid way forward. However anyone setting up such a mission should be passionate about networking the ministry into other efforts in the Kingdom or much of its effectiveness will be lost. Implication For Mission Structures The connected, egalitarian, self-navigating world of the WWW creates a culture that is highly independent, so most cyber-missionaries will not fit easily into a traditional missions bureaucracy. On the other hand, cyber-missions is technical, somewhat fixed in a physical place where the computers are, and demands continuous steady daily application to the task. You can spend a day looking for a missing comma in a script that runs the website. Cyber-mission is a free wheeling pizza and coffee world that keeps strange hours, but it is also a technical and precise world. It is too unconventional for the administrative types and too nerdy for the gung-ho radicals and thus falls somewhere between the two main types of mission structures today. Good cyber-missionaries tend to be highly independent, focused, disciplined, intelligent, technically minded and sometimes quite nerdy. They tend to be the NT type category of the Myers-Briggs test – particularly the INTJs. They have their own wavelength and when this is respected, by giving them freedom and acknowledging their unique gifts and needs, they can be built into exciting and highly productive teams. Because of the current popularity of the Internet there is the possibility for a structure involving hundreds of volunteers coordinated by a central team of permanent staff. The central staff team would strategize and direct the cyber-ministry as a core group, other missionaries in the same mission who were interested could do “some Internet ministry” and perhaps lead a bible class online, and a large team of volunteers could do web graphics, man chat rooms, help with translation and answer enquiry emails, forwarding more complex matters to mission staff. I envisage a Cyber-Missions Department looking a bit like the following flow-chart: The above structure is also well adapted to the Two-Thirds World context and the sending of national missionaries. Here in Asia missionary applicants sometimes find themselves alienated by the traditional selection process, with its devastating possibility of personal rejection. With a large pool of volunteers the cyber-missions team can operate by invitation, rather than by “selection”. Volunteers who prove their mettle would be invited to further responsibility and finally onto full-time staff as colleagues in the ministry. Operating by invitation is more relational and accepting and generally more suited to the Asian context. Thus the ideal structure for a cyber-missions department would be a semi-autonomous team, consisting of full-time staff, part-time contributors and numerous volunteers, and operating by invitation on a relational basis, with its own budget, vision statement and planning. But who should lead such an enterprise? The Field Director – Cyberspace The Field Director – Cyberspace should be a mature missionary with high-level leadership and networking skills and a good technical and theological background. He or she should be able to keep the team together and focused on the task, not lost in making minor technological improvements or absorbed in online theological disputes. He or she would also be a champion for cyber-ministry in the organization. The Field Director-Cyberspace has to have a detailed on-the-ground awareness of conditions in the area of ministry and the needs of the local churches. This enables the most relevant and useful online materials to be developed ensuring that the Cyber-Missions department is a servant of the national church. This requirement for local knowledge means that an ideal location for a cyber-mission would be in Singapore or a similarly well-wired city in Asia. In such a location field conditions and local culture are more immediately obvious. If the team were located in the USA, with easy broadband access, first-world assumptions and a culture of having to acquire the latest technology, there would tend to be pressure to be a high-end, high-band-width ministry that would gradually become alienated from the reality of conditions on the field and the technological challenges of the recipients. It is not absolutely necessary for the Field Director-Cyberspace to have a computing degree, as that is more the province of the technical staff. First and foremost, the Field Director-Cyberspace must be a visionary with a huge missionary heart and the ability to manage, delegate to, and receive advice from field missionaries and IT experts. Finally, the Field Director needs to be focused on the church, and on the unreached, not on the Internet. The people visiting the website have a face and a culture and are Tibetans or Sikhs or Malay Muslims and it is these people who are the object of the ministry – not the technology. The Field Director needs to see the role as not just running a computer department – but being a pioneer missionary to unreached people groups. Conclusion Cyber-mission is going to happen. In fact it has begun to happen in the far-flung corners and on the innovative edges of mission. The mustard-seed has been planted. How then can it grow best? I would like to see a consultation held among missions on how to best structure, fund, plan and implement cyber-missions as a form of front-line pioneer ministry. Out of that conference I would like the major missions to set up cyber-missions departments, linked and networked to each other with high-levels of external and internal cooperation. Also specialist cyber-missions should be set up and take their place along with the other specialist missionary societies and hopefully in cooperation with other church and mission agencies. Cyber-missions is an adventure, and like all real adventure it has an uncertain outcome, and lots of risks, challenges and question marks. But the Internet is a great way to share the gospel, is incredibly effective and astonishingly inexpensive. Cyber-mission is complex, but it can be done and is being done successfully. Cyber-mission delivers results, and it can deliver those results in places where we cannot get any by conventional means. To use a saying from solution-focused brief therapy: “If it works – do more of it! “. Biographical John Edmiston is Field Director-Philippines of Frontier Servants and the President of the Asian Internet Bible Institute. He has been in Internet ministry since 1989 and was formerly editor of Eternity Online Magazine. He is an Australian and lives in Manila with his wife Minda who is a botanist. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 4: 01.02. HOW INTERNET EVANGELISM AND CYBERMISSIONS WILL AFFECT THE WAY WE DO MISSIONS ... ======================================================================== Introduction William Carey wrote his famous tract about the need to “use means” for the fulfillment of the Great Commission, one such means in the 21st century is information technology. The changes in this area are so rapid and so profound that major thinkers such as Ray Kurzweil and Francis Fukuyama are saying that we stand at the verge of a major change in human nature, as vast increases in processing power propel us into a world of artificial intelligence, and a “post-human future” where many people are cyborgs with computers inputting directly into their brains or with body parts augmented by computer chips and other technological aids. The rate of change is so great that it is predicted that by 2013 a super-computer will have achieved a human level of intelligence, by 2023 that such a computer will cost only $1000 and that by 2049 there will be a $1000 computer with the processing power of the entire human race (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljbI-363A2Q). This is due to Moore’s Law, named after computer scientist Gordon Moore who said that computing power / processing power will double about every eighteen months. Moore’s Law has held true for over fifty years as technologies have changed from valves, to transistors to printed circuit boards and now to dual core and multiple core processors. There is no sign that Moore’s Law is coming to an end and in fact processing power per $1000 is doubling every year or so (which is even faster than Moore’s Law predicted). Missionary work is going to be profoundly changed by this (and is being changed even as I write). The Internet has become one of the main places that people ask their spiritual questions and is the natural place people go to seek private and personal information (such as medical, financial, sexual and spiritual information). With the use of hand-held devices such as PDA’s, cellphones and Ipods the possibility for distribution of the gospel has become immense. The 3 billion mark for cellphone subscribers was passed on July 1, 2007, by the year’s end it is expected to be 3.4 billion plus. The 1.1 billion regular Internet users of today is expected to reach 3.3 billion by 2010 (just three years) as cellphone use spreads and people access the web, email and music online using their cellphones and not just their personal computers. In 2010 a single Christian website, optimized for cellphone use, will potentially be able to reach over half the world’s population. The missionary on a bicycle could become the missionary on the computer. The rise in the use of English and of the top ten trade languages means that 81% of Internet communication is in just ten main languages: English, Chinese, Spanish, Japanese, German, French, Portuguese, Korean, Italian and Arabic (http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats7.htm). Other major world languages include Hindi/Urdu, Bengali, Russian, Punjabi, Javanese, Vietnamese, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Turkish, Persian, Gujarati, Polish, Ukranian, Malayalam, Kannada, Oriya, Burmese, Thai, Tagalog, and Swahili. The improvement in handling non-English scripts and in translation software will make it relatively easy for a single missions agency to communicate the gospel on a one-to-one basis with the vast majority of the world’s population. This is also being driven by the demands of trade and the human need to inter-connect. The rush to learn English means that China will be the world’s largest English-speaking country in the fairly near future (2010 – 2015) though many may not speak it that well! India has a long history of the use of the English language and will also be accessible to English based attempts to communicate the gospel in cyberspace. The vast increase in available bandwidth has made audio podcasts and video clips (as in www.youtube.com) part of the gospel armory. By 2010 (or before) we will be streaming full length movies to millions of the unreached. By 2015, at the latest, a camel driver in the remotest part of Uzbekistan will be able to open up a personal hand-held device, view the Jesus film, send in a response, and get an answer to his spiritual questions, in the Uzbek language, in seconds. In fact I am part of a Silicon Valley based group of Christians working on such a system at the moment. And this response can be to a text message, phone call, email, letter or fax – multiple methods of input and output will be available. The Bible, the plan of salvation, the basics of the Christian life, and standard theological works will be universally available in digital form. With improvements in printing technology and e-paper they will also be universally available in print. Many people will seek their religious information online, make their decisions for Christ online and be followed up online. Some will baptize themselves (as happened with Muslim background believers), others will join cyber-churches, some will join online and offline bible studies, or worship in small groups with their families. For billions of folk the cellphone or PDA will be their main means of finding out about God. In this emerging information age the power of databases has become immense. A friend of mine who lives in England went to shop online for the first time at Tesco (a major supermarket chain where he normally bought his groceries). After logging in on this first occasion “Peter” was presented with a tab called My Favorites. When he clicked on it he did not find it empty - instead found a complete list of all the things he normally bought at the store. Tesco had tracked his every purchase for years and so they knew what he wanted and when he would want it and had arranged his “favorites” for him as soon as he generated an online account. The power of databases means that missions agencies will be able to track millions of individual Christian enquirers and precisely meet their needs for spiritual information. The job of the missionary will necessarily move from proclaimer / communicator mentor/discipler as the purely informational needs are being increasingly met by the Internet. Information is only part of the equation of spiritual growth. Prayer, encouragement, and the impartation of anointing and power in ministry come through loving, interested relationships. The missionary of the future will be both high tech and high touch. I am not saying that there is no validity in the “missionary on a bicycle” approach, just that new means of communicating the gospel have become available and that this new means are powerful even beyond our wildest imaginations. According to my sources in Muslim ministry more Muslims are coming to Christ online than by any other method, and Campus Crusade predicts that by 2010 Internet evangelism will be responsible for the majority of its indicated decisions for Christ. The use of video and audio will mean that even non-literate or semi-literate people may now be able to hear the gospel in cyberspace, via their cellphones. Why 21st Century Mission Agencies Need To Adopt Technology The primary reason that 21st century mission agencies need to adopt technology is because the people they are trying to reach will have adopted technology and it will be their (the target group’s) primary form of communication. As Prensky says (Prensky: 2001) people born after 1985 or so are ’digital natives’ who naturally communicate with other via technology. When they talk to someone it is on a cellphone. When they watch someone it is on YouTube. When they write someone it is a text message or instant message (even email is now “old hat”). A large portion of their communication is technology-mediated communication, and with the inclusion of powerful processors on cellphones this communication is becoming computer-mediated communication or CMC. For digital natives a video game is part of the real world and having a presence in a multi-player role-playing community such as Second Life is perfectly natural. This is particularly true in some parts of Asia. As John Naughton from the Observer wrote: Just to put that in perspective, today’s 21-year-olds were born in 1985. The internet was two years old in January that year, the same year as Nintendo launched ’Super Mario Brothers’, the first blockbuster game. When these young people were going to primary school in 1990, Tim Berners-Lee was busy inventing the World Wide Web. The Palm Pilot was launched in 1996, when they were heading for secondary school. Around that time, pay-as-you-go mobile phone tariffs arrived, enabling teenagers to have phones. Napster and Blogger.com launched in 1999, just when they were doing GCSEs. The iPod and the early social networking services appeared in 2002, when they were doing A-levels. Skype launched in 2003, just as they were heading for university, and YouTube launched in 2005, as they were heading towards graduation. Sure there are still 49% of people who ’only occasionally’ use communications technology and prefer watching TV instead. For them technology is ’just too complicated’ and they just want to push a button and see a movie. Yet in soon foreseeable future their wide-screen TV is going to be connected to the Internet and made interactive. They may not become content producers, but they will become content consumers and so the Internet will eventually reach everyone. The people who we want to share the gospel with, will be connected to the Internet and be using it either actively or passively, as a communications device. So if you want to reach “Fred Smith” - he is going to be online in some way or form (computer, phone, personal communication device, Internet enabled TV etc.). In 2001 in the Philippines I tried to strike up a conversation with some college-aged nieces and nephews. But they were ’just too busy’ – they were texting each other and they were all in the same room! One young lady was even texting her sister who was standing right next to her! The room was silent except for the clicking of keypads. ’Texting’ was mediating speech even under normal circumstances! They were ’technology natives’ and for them the most natural form of communication involves the use of technology. For many people actual ’face-to-face’ conversation is seen as socially difficult. Now one cannot extrapolate too far from this one personal incident but it is illustrative of what many observers of socio-technological trends are saying. The corollary is also that if you get on a bicycle and go down Main Street with a bunch of tracts hardly anyone will talk to you. Indeed in most developed countries it is no longer socially acceptable to knock on doors with a tract, or to take a bullhorn and preach outside the local cinema. The lost generally do not want to be personally approached by a zealous evangelist. Even inviting folk to a high quality Christian rock concert has its limitations, and very few will ever walk into a church! (And if they do no one talks to them). The lost are now increasingly immune to traditional forms of evangelism. The old means of missionary communication are effectively reaching less and less people, while the new media are becoming the sole means by which people receive communication that they deem to be credible. To get the message of the gospel into the world of the unsaved you will have to get into their computer, their cellphone, or their iPod – in other words you will have to engage in Internet Evangelism and Cybermissions! So the main reason why missions agencies MUST develop an understanding of cyberspace is that the Internet and the devices connected to it will soon become the dominant means of personal communication on planet Earth. It is imperative that we grasp this. Other Reasons 1. Lower cost – cost per online decision for Christ is generally less than $5 per decision for Christ and often less than $1 per decision for Christ (this is based in my own experience and that of campus Crusade and other members of the Internet Evangelism Coalition). There is also a far lower barrier to entry and cost of entry and many of the main software tools are free or inexpensive and web hosting itself (at sites such as Dreamhost and 1and1.com) is now almost ridiculously cheap. 2. Lower Risk – this is especially true when it comes to reaching Muslims and other groups that are hostile to the gospel. While online ministry is not perfectly secure it is still more secure than almost any other kind of ministry. 3. Wide geographical reach – the Internet is not restricted to a local area (such as a church), broadcast radius (such as radio, TV), or a satellite footprint. In fact for a few dollars a month a missionary can minister in dozens, if not hundreds of countries. 4. Both one-to-many and one-to-one – Cyberspace enable both one-to-many communication such as a web page, video clip or podcast, and one-to-one communication such as chat, email, and instant messaging, and can also freely move between these. For instance a one-to-many web page can have a one-to-one email response form. Thus the gospel can be proclaimed in a one-to-many format and get individual one-to-one responses which can be properly followed up. 5. Multiple formats – other media are limited to one format, radio to audio, TV to video, print publication to text and graphics and so on. The Internet allows the missionary to use all media types – audio, video, text, graphics, animation, games, interactive forums, role playing games, imaginary worlds and so forth. The Internet can also connect with other communication devices such as telephone (via VOIP), SMS (online free SMS services), and fax (online fax sending and receiving services). So an Internet ministry has a much wider spectrum of means available to it with which to communicate Christ. 6. Can reach entire language groups – the Internet is post-geographical - where you are does not matter – only the language you are communicating in matters. A Spanish speaking evangelist can thus touch lives in Spain, the USA, Peru, Ecuador and so forth simultaneously. In fact our courses in Spanish are in a dozen countries and are coordinated by an Argentinian living in Townsville, Australia! 7. Asynchronous communication - the Internet is always ’on’ - a YouTube video can be viewed at any time of day – not just on a certain TV channel at a certain time. Email can be read at the person’s convenience. A conversation can take place on a bulletin board among different people in different time zones posting at hours that suit them. Communication does not have to be synchronous – radio programs, TV programs , face to face communication, and telephone calls require us to be ’in-sync’ with each other. The Internet removes this requirement. A missionary can post an article on a website one day and go to sleep – while it is then read elsewhere by people at the time of their choice. 8. Archived communication – the Internet archives and preserves communication. Articles I wrote in 1995 are still being read and replied to today. This is unlike radio and TV programs which are generally not accessible after transmission. It is even better than most magazines and newspapers as few of these have their articles read ten years later. Thus a sermon that is preached in 2007 and is then uploaded to the Internet could still be touching lives in 2027. 9. The power of collaborative networks of volunteers – Major websites such as Wikipedia are run by large collaborative networks of volunteer contributors. This model can unleash the gifts of Christians who can go online and share Christ, teach Scriptures and so forth. In a large church only a very small percentage may get to ’do anything spiritual’ but online nearly everyone can use their spiritual gift to some extent. Intercessors can pray for prayer points sent in, teachers can upload bible studies and teach online classes, evangelists can go into chat rooms and share Christ, and they can do this from home, in their spare time and be a blessing as part of a network of volunteers on a Christian website. Missions agencies can use their retired missionaries who know the language and culture (and are perhaps back home for medical reasons) as coordinators so one missionary has a team of say 20 volunteers who work on sharing Christ with a particular UPG. 10. The power of peer to peer ministry - the Internet allows peer to peer ministry with enquirers or believers grouped into online discussion groups, bulletin boards, egroups and chat rooms. This takes a lot of the pressure off the missionary who can act as a facilitator for believers who may be scattered over a wide geographical area. The believers share their questions, answers and prayer points with each other. This is particularly effective with young people. 11. The power of building knowledge in community for strategic purposes – the Internet allows geographically dispersed experts to share knowledge and contribute to a strategic missions project. This gains leverage and allows good projects to be done more efficiently. 12. Seeker driven - the Internet is an ideal medium for people with questions as search engines such as Google make it easy for users to find highly specific information in answer to a query. A religion seeker cannot expect to get a timely answer to his or her specific personal question from a print publication, or radio or TV station but they can find an answer, in a few seconds or so, online. When people want information about sensitive issues such as health, sexuality, religion and politics they turn to the Internet. Religion seekers tend to go online as part of their searching process and we should be there to interact with them. Therefore the Internet is the medium of choice for seekers with questions and we should be online to help them. 13. Ability to target particular niches – as the Internet becomes far more sophisticated it has become possible to target people in specific areas (by zip code) with Google advertisements (for your church, your outreach or your website) or to design websites that target a particular demographic (e.g. Portuguese speaking 14-18 year olds, or German speaking seniors) and then to promote it with great accuracy to that group. This means that highly relevant gospel messages can be sent to those most likely to be interested in them. 14. Tunnel and blast – in countries with little Internet infrastructure the Internet can reach a handful of believers, who can then print out the material and share it with their friends locally. This tactic is being used to set up bible colleges in churches and prisons, with the curriculum being downloaded from the Internet and then shared locally. Several tract ministries are also putting their tracts online in numerous languages so they can be downloaded by pastors and shared in that church’s community. This ability to get quality print materials to people, for almost zero cost cannot be matched by radio, TV or other methods. It can also be used to distribute audio and video. 15. The ability to explain complex concepts – The Internet was originally designed for the impartation of scientific and defense information and this is still what it does best. The web can present complex text, graphics, charts and videos to explain a medical procedure, a science experiment, and data from outer space. It can also help explain complex theological problems and illustrate optimal techniques in church planting, holistic ministry, and aid and development. It is an ideal training medium and online theological training is now blossoming. Because the Internet has inexpensive feedback and collaborative possibilities it can enhance a purely informational presentation (such as a sermon, book, tape or DVD) with live online discussion. It has become commonplace for TV programs to say ’for further information see our website’. The website allows a much more in-depth look at the idea presented on the TV program. So churches, missionaries and pastors can refer during the sermon, to information presented online and thus develop concepts such as the Trinity, eschatology or ontology that may not be able to explained easily from the pulpit or even face to face. 16. Non-profit giving is increasingly online – even US presidential hopefuls are finding out that online donations and PayPal are now a major part of their funding strategy. In fact many nonprofits such as World Vision receive a large portion of their funding from massive online responses to crisis situations such as the Asian tsunami. Missions agencies, which are finding it more and more difficult to get into churches, may find online giving by individual Christians to be a major source of funding. 17. Less licensing needed - the Internet does not need government licensing in the same way that a radio or TV station does or, as a newspaper may need. It is the most restriction-free form of mass communication and thus is one that missions agencies can with relative ease. 18. Does not require the missionary to be in a certain fixed location – a missionary who cannot be on the field because of health problems or visa difficulties can still reach his or her people group via the Internet. Also missionaries who travel extensively can still maintain a website. 19. Very useful for pre-field preparation - a missionary can chat with connected members of his or her people group online prior to going to that country. This can build useful relationships prior to arrival. Also a missionary can engage anonymously (online) with Muslims, Buddhists or Hindus to gain real experience of their viewpoint, and do so in relative safety, so that the missionary learns to handle many of the common arguments, objections and sensitive cultural issues prior to arrival on the field. This helped me a great deal prior to arriving in Mindanao in the southern Philippines. It could also be useful for helping short-term missionaries become more culturally aware prior to deployment. 20. Enhanced credibility - digital competence is a sign of personal and organizational credibility and is essential if ’digital natives’ are going to respect the missionary or missions organization. 21. Bypasses traditional denominational restrictions – Many online practitioners started a website because they could not use their gift (teaching, preaching, cult ministry, evangelism) in a local church or denominational setting where the good positions are often tied up in an ’old boys’ network’ or in complex ordination requirements. Missions is often on the periphery of denominational concerns and certain issues such as training for Two-Thirds World pastors is often woefully neglected. Internet ministry has given people a chance to use their gifts and to solve problems that were not being (and perhaps would never have been) addressed by more traditional forms of ministry. Effective 21st century missions agencies will develop vigorous and well-funded departments of Internet Evangelism and Cybermissions that will their main avenue for sharing Christ with the unreached and for following up enquirers and new believers. These departments will synergize with the other departments involved in worship, prayer, pastoral ministry and holistic ministry. Agencies that fail to do this will find themselves less and less able to communicate Christ to the non-Christian world as the global population shifts to digital devices as the primary means of credible personal communication. The Implications For Missions In The 21st Century The traditional missionary will always have a place but will have to work alongside colleagues who are engaged in Internet Evangelism and Cybermissions. Increasingly the impartation of information will occur online and on personal communication devices connected to the Internet. Offline ministry will involve dynamic worship, the administration of the sacraments, healing ministry, spiritual warfare, discipleship pastoral problem solving, and community engagement. The missional church will be able to engage its members between services by sending material to their personal communication devices and encouraging discussion on forums located on the church website. Giving can be via digital means as well as ’in the plate’. One approach to blending online and offline aspects of ministry is ’multiple location’ or ’multiple presence’ churches such as www.lifechurch.tv which has 20,000 members meeting in 11 different locations around the USA. Each church receives the same message, broadcast from the senior pastor, while having local worship team and pastoral care. Here is how it explains itself: All experiences at LifeChurch.tv are comprised of the two primary elements: powerful worship and a life-changing message. Worship at LifeChurch.tv is led by a worship pastor along with a talented live band and the style is consistent with today’s culture. All LifeChurch.tv campuses receive the same dynamic and relevant teaching messages each week via satellite broadcast from Senior Pastor Craig Groeschel or a LifeChurch.tv teaching pastor. A weekend experience lasts for one hour – you can always expect them to start and end on time. In addition, the local campus team will spend time engaging, connecting and doing ministry with the church body throughout the week. The Rev. Yonggi Cho of Yoido Full Gospel Church in Korea uses a similar approach utilizing Korea’s very fast broadband to the home, to broadcast services into home groups and house churches with donations being made online by credit card/ PayPal. And Menlo Park Presbyterian Church is aiming to invest some $20 million in multiple location technology to solve their space problem and bring their minister’s preaching (Rev. John Ortberg) to more folk in the Silicon Valley area. These approaches all blend sophisticated digital input with personal care and small group ministry. This allows the church to have both the small church feel - and the big church pastor. This combination of high tech and high touch will also apply to missions. Internet enabled house churches, simple churches, cell churches and small groups is one such option. Church growth advocates are often enthusiastic about simple church models as allowing rapid multiplication by removing the barriers to growth associated with a physical structure (such as obtaining government licenses and raising building program expenses). However simple churches have a long track record of doctrinal variance and leadership problems and they often lack resources in areas such as women’s ministry and children’s ministry. A centralized website for a house church network can provide pastoral networking and encouragement, leadership development, doctrinal consistency, teaching outlines, videos, and ministry resources and allow people with gifts throughout the network to contribute ideas, information and resources to the network as a whole. Thus many of the advantages of a formal denominational structure can be provided, yet without the onerous administrative overhead. The website provides the sophisticated informational tools while the small group / house church structure enables deeper relationships, better discipleship and the development and practice of the spiritual gifts in a relatively safe environment. I am beginning to develop such an approach at www.eternitychristian.com A similar approach can also be applied to holistic ministry and to small scale aid and development in the Two-Thirds World. There is often a considerable amount of duplication and ’re-inventing of the wheel’ in such efforts which could be prevented by online sharing of global best practices in each area. The information and wisdom of many different organizations would allow each organization to operate optimally while preserving the efficiencies, cultural adaptability and close to the community feel of smaller grass-roots efforts. Information alone seldom accomplishes much in the way of community transformation. However information connected to vibrant small group structures does have the potential to be transformative. This principle of informed networks of small groups bringing transformation is seen in the dynamics of the early church, in Wesley and the development of Methodist cell groups, and in the blossoming of the student missions movement through campus bible studies and prayer groups. Thus Internet enabled simple churches and mutually informed grass-roots NGOs may become a vital part of the cutting edges of 21st century missions efforts. Disintermediation is defined as: The removal of an intermediary, or middleman, from a transaction or communication. An example is the option for a business to sell its product directly to consumers as opposed to retailers. The Internet is a powerful force that will disintermediate much of what is seen as standard in modern missions, for instance the traditional missions agency is removed as the middleman when: 1. Sending churches in the West communicate directly with churches and missionaries in the developing world rather than solely via the missions agency. 2. Donors give directly to national churches and aid projects that they have learned about online. 3. National pastors get their theological education online (without leaving their church and often for free) rather than at the approved seminary run by the missions agency. 4. A Christian wanting to reach the lost in ’country X’ simply switches on their computer, finds people in that country, and shares Christ with them online rather than going through a long and arduous missionary selection process. 5. Prayer needs from the field are sent directly to intercessors without being vetted by the missions agency and prayer letters are sent directly to supporters by email without being typed up and mailed by the missions agency. 6. Visa applications and other government paperwork are done by the independent missionary online rather than through an approved in-country missionary agency representative usually assigned to do such things. Travel arrangements, health insurance and other administrative tasks (even finding housing) is also increasingly done online reducing the requirement of belonging to a missions agency in order to do such things in the target country. 7. Missionaries receive funds instantly directly from supporters via PayPal rather receiving funds than months later once they have passed through mission agency accounting and had an (often sizable) percentage extracted. 8. Projects tend more and more to be inter-agency efforts networked through an egroup than intra-agency efforts managed solely by standard in-house communication. 9. Missionaries independently select the group they work with based on information obtained online at websites such as the Joshua Project rather than being assigned their field of service by the missions agency. 10. Pastoral care and support of missionaries is done by the home church using VOIP (Skype), email and annual personal visits and often exceeds the pastoral care given by most missions agencies to their staff. 11. Bible translation is done by a person from that language group located in the USA or other Western country and is field tested directly on a website with comments from missionaries and national leaders in the target country - thus simplifying the need for expensive in-country bible translation programs managed by a traditional missions agency. 12. A large part of missionary orientation can be done online, including language learning and chatting with members of the ethnic group under consideration (see page 11 above). Thus the Internet is empowering independent missionaries and small missions agencies and disempowering and dis-intermediating the larger agencies with their huge administrative overheads. It is also allowing the rapid rise of smaller indigenous missions agencies in the developing world. This is slowly but surely going to change the entire face of missions during the next ten years as Great Commission Christians realize they simply do not need to join a traditional missions agency in order to share the gospel cross-culturally in an effective manner. Fewer and fewer missionary candidates will line up to go out full-time with the major missions agencies. Instead fully committed Great Commission Christians will go as independent missionaries, or as missionaries sent by their local church or with ’mustard-seed’ style small mission agencies consisting of a few friends with a common vision. A considerable number will catch the vision of Internet evangelism and share Christ from home, just using their broadband connection, combined with trips of just a few weeks long to make face to face connections on the field. Fundraising will be a major challenge for these smaller agencies and various tentmaking and business-as-mission approaches will be developed to assist with this need. Numerous indigenous missions agencies are arising and will arise and be empowered by the new technology. Internet Cafes In Unreached People Groups One example of how technology is impacting models of mission in the 21st century is the use of Internet cafes as self-supporting missions bases in unreached people groups (UPGs). An Internet café consisting of some 20 client computers is established in a suitable and secure location (such as the second floor of a building near a school, college or business district) and run by 2 or 3 indigenous missionaries who receive income from the operation of the Internet cafe as a legitimate small business. Relationships with non-Christians are established as clients come in regularly to check their email or surf the web. Additional services are also offered such as VOIP, webcams, CD duplication, computer classes and photocopying. The witness is low-key and aims to bring customers to faith in Christ and incorporate them in a local church, bible study or house church. These icafes can economically set-up using a good server, donated recycled computers and thin-client technology which makes the older computers able to run applications from the server very quickly. The indigenous missionaries are thus able to establish themselves as a legitimate part of the business community and have a platform that enables them to come in contact with 100 or more local non- Christians each day for thirty minutes or more each. When these Internet cafes are properly run they have considerably boosted the development of church-planting movements among certain unreached people groups. Numerous missions agencies are now looking at Internet cafes as viable missions platforms and developing both non-profit educational computer centers as well as for-profit self-sustaining ventures. A micro-franchise model for Internet cafes is being actively developed by a group out of Regent University to help ensure the financial sustainability of this model. This illustrates how technology can empower the development of indigenous missions and how business-as-mission plus technology can have a powerful role in the future of global missions in the 21st century. Part of the equation here is that many developing nations have numerous people (including local believers) with very good IT skills who unfortunately have no outlet for employment. Thus the IT sector has great potential for mission agencies wanting to set up businesses in the developing world. Computers And Evangelistic Persuasion The recent book by B.J. Fogg Persuasive Technology: Using Computers to Change What We Think And Do argues that computers have six advantages over humans when it comes to the art of persuasion, they can: 1. Be more persistent than human beings 2. Offer greater anonymity 3. Manage huge volumes of data 4. Use many modalities to influence 5. Scale easily 6. Go where humans cannot go or may not be welcome Dr. Fogg works at the Persuasive Technology Laboratory at Stanford University and focuses on how computers can be used to change human behavior in areas as diverse as quitting smoking, avoiding teenage pregnancy and personal hygiene monitoring. This has a fairly obvious application to online evangelism! If computers are (or can be made to be) more persuasive than human beings could they be better evangelists? Could a computer scan a sophisticated database, decide exactly how an individual should be approached, then approach them to make a secure anonymous response to the gospel in the privacy of their own home, using text, video, and audio, and touching hundreds of lives simultaneously, in a nation that has strict laws forbidding conventional missionary activity? To really ’jump the shark’ and be controversial – could a computer generated personality known as an ’avatar’ be the ultimate personal evangelist? (I think we are at least a decade away from the computing power needed to do that at reasonable cost, but I could be wrong). If we think 50 years out, to say 2057, Lord tarrying, could computer-generated avatars have become a major asset to global evangelization? There is even an interesting hint in Scripture that artificially intelligent personalities may exist in the Tribulation and be used as part of the worship of the Beast: Rev 13:15 MKJV And there was given to it to give a spirit to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast might both speak, and might cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed. It is impossible to predict the methods we will be using for evangelism at the end of the 21st century and it may even sound foolish to try. However the mere exercise of doing so gets us to realize that many of the current methods of evangelism will be irrelevant by the time the children born today graduate from seminary - and that even the seminarian of today may be in for a mid-life crisis! Immediate Technical Challenges For 21st Century Missions Agencies It is not envisaged that missions agencies will design or manufacture communications technology or that they will even be involved in major software projects (such as automated translation software). What is envisaged is that missionaries and their organizations will become very savvy users of technology. Missionaries and their organizations will strategically deploy communications technology and the Internet to achieve the Great Commission. The following immediate technical challenges include some areas where the problem has been solved but has simply not been implemented effectively and at scale in the Christian world: 1. Evangelistic presentations for mobile devices (cellphones, PDAs, etc.) 2. Short (5 minute or less) video clips for YouTube that present Christ clearly 3. Evangelistic audio clips (5 minutes to twenty minutes) and online tracts 4. A mission-friendly CMS (content management system) perhaps based on Joomla or Drupal 5. High quality production facilities for evangelistic podcasting & video-casting 6. A high-bandwidth secure server cluster dedicated to serving missions media 7. Improving Linux Thin Server Protocol for Internet cafes & icafe management software 8. Secure evangelistic response and follow-up systems capable of coping with non-ASCII characters and with large numbers of respondents. 9. Good, open-source, text (SMS) to email gateway applications for crusade follow-up (an enquirer texts a question or response from their cell phone, this gets turned into an email that a pastor answers and the answer is then sent back to the enquirer’s phone.) 10. A website that lets ministries create their own Christian Internet radio station 11. Better online bible colleges and e-learning systems especially those that can handle Arabic and Asian languages and which allow much higher levels of user interaction and feedback. 12. Web-enabled house church and simple church networks and leadership training 13. Sophisticated websites devoted to facilitating holistic ministry and Christian aid and development. 14. The widespread adoption of effective online evangelism, particularly by local churches. 15. Far deeper and better contextualization of websites aimed at sharing Christ cross-culturally (not just translating a tract but putting it in the worldview and culture of the target group). Organizational Challenges The adoption of technology which transforms and disintermediates global missions is going to result in a new set of challenges for traditional mission agency structures. These will range from the incorporation of a department for Internet Evangelism and Cybermissions to the development of new criteria for measuring conversions, follow-up, discipleship, and the transformation of a people group. How will supporters react to possible statements such as: ABC mission established 5 cyber-churches in Hindi, Bengali, Urdu, Pashtun and Bhojpuri language groups with 80,000 indicated decisions for Christ and 158,000 regularly attending online video worship services? It is currently extremely difficult to raise funds for cyber-ministry and it may take twenty years or more for many missions supporters to be comfortable with the notion of online decisions and cyberchurches. While cyber-ministry will be having a huge strategic impact, nonetheless it will probably not be well-funded. This will slow down adoption as missions agencies, while wanting to get better results, will not want to commit financial suicide and so will focus their efforts on more traditional ministries which have greater appeal to supporters. Hints of this are seen in many missions websites today which can be little more than ’web brochures’ extolling the agency, with a large “Donate Now By PayPal” button in a prominent location. The development of serious, well-funded and missiologically informed cyber-outreaches is an urgent priority. Some ninety organizations are doing high-quality Internet evangelism in the Muslim world because face-to-face evangelism carries so many risks. The fruit is already evident, and by many accounts the majority of Muslims making decisions for Christ are doing so online. Similar efforts need to be done for the other major religious blocks and cultural groupings. Internet Evangelism and Cybermissions has not yet entered the mainstream curriculum. Only four courses exist and I am involved with three of them – lecturing in an online MAGL course in Internet Evangelism and Cybermissions at Fuller, running my own online course at Cybermissions.Org, and revamping the free Internet Evangelism Coalition course at webevangelism.com. The Billy Graham Center at Wheaton runs the only other course in this topic. If this area is to be taught in bible colleges and seminaries a textbook will be required, possibly as a joint effort by leading experts in the field. A handful of very large organizations (such as Campus Crusade and various radio ministries) have begun to adopt Internet evangelism strategies and there are a host of small operators and lone website builders. Still others have adopted a certain aspect of information technology such as Elearning or multiple location churches. The full realization of the impact of the Internet of 21st century missions is yet to be felt and very few denominations or major agencies are planning to have an Internet Evangelism department. Tony Whittaker and the Internet Evangelism Coalition sponsor an Internet Evangelism Day in May each year and this is a small but valuable effort towards creating awareness. The fact that Internet Evangelism and Cybermissions is not happening in major missions agencies does not mean that it will not happen at all. There is a low barrier to entry and Christians, moved by the Holy Spirit, will start going online and sharing Jesus - and thousands are already doing so. Christians are ’gossiping the gospel’ all over the Internet! Thus the proclamation of the gospel in the 21st century may well move away from the corporate giants of the evangelical world and into the hands of inter-connected independent small bands of believers who create gospel presentations in their own languages and then share them on the web, in chat rooms, and by video and audio and also developing presentations for the world of increasingly sophisticated mobile devices. I am not proclaiming the end of the corporate giants of the evangelical world, but I am saying that with the technology, tools and information available today the task of the Great Commission will increasingly move into the hands of indigenous believers equipped with broadband Internet connections. References http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part1.pdf - From On the Horizon (NCB University Press, Vol. 9 No. 5, October 2001) © 2001 Marc Prensky It’s the ’digital natives’ versus the ’immigrants’ as kids go to work John Naughton Sunday October 1, 2006 http://observer.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,,1884740,00.html Did You Know: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljbI-363A2Q Created by Karl Fisch, and modified by Scott McLeod; Globalization and The Information Age Fogg, B.J. Persuasive Technology: Using Computers to Change What We Think And Do, 2003, Morgan Kauffman, Boston ======================================================================== CHAPTER 5: 01.03. TEN WAYS THE INTERNET IS CHANGING MISSION AND EVANGELISM ======================================================================== There are currently 1.7 billion active Internet users, another 3 billion active Internet users are expected to be added in the next five years or so. The developing world will soon go online as cellphones become smartphones and as cheap digital devices such as netbooks and e-readers proliferate. The roll-out of fiber-optic cable in Africa and massive satellite communications projects will also mean that bandwidth availability and reach will increase. Within five years at least half the globe should be online, and within fifteen years Internet reach should be almost universal. Global proclamation will soon be within the reach of any Christian with a computer. The changes are not only quantitative, they are also qualitative. The very nature and dynamics of Christian ministry are being fundamentally altered due to the new possibilities for relationship, connectivity and information delivery that the Internet has brought about. The very heart of how we minister is being changed forever in at least ten significant areas: 1. Information: The Internet is bringing an enormous amount of timely strategic information into the hands of even the smallest church or mission agency. These include religious and cultural statistics, demographics, compilations such as Operation World, and research websites such as Joshua Project, Caleb Project, and StrategicNetwork. This is allowing us to see the big picture better than before and even to drill down to the small details that affect how we implement our evangelism strategies. 2. Ratiocination: People “think aloud” in cyberspace. The theology and practice (including ecclesiology and missiology) of most Christians is now mainly formed as a peer-to-peer online process with occasional expert input. There is less and less reference to decisions promulgated by the central governing ecclesiastical bodies of the major world religions. People do their own thinking, and they do so increasingly online - through sources such as Wikipedia, old out-of-copyright commentaries, and through browsing various websites, egroups and postings on social networks. Those ministries who wish to influence opinion need to start doing so in cyberspace because that is where Christian opinion is largely now being formed. 3. Exploration: People do their private, personal and controversial thinking online. If a person wants to find out about a suspected medical matter or investigate a forbidden political opinion they first check it out online. A Muslim wishing to find out about Christianity is not going to ask their family or their imam, rather he or she will look at Christian websites. About a quarter of all Internet users make regular queries about religious matters. They are exploring their own and other faiths. The Church needs to have an evangelistic, apologetic and missionary presence in this new global marketplace of ideas. 4. Collaboration: The Internet is facilitating collaboration across denominational boundaries, and across national borders. Experts and now able to link up with other experts in fields such as church-planting and theological education. This collaboration is making the denomination almost obsolete. Most Christian workers now operate in networks rather than in denominational silos. People are now partnering with like-minded specialists in their area of interest rather than with people who totally agree with their formal belief system. 5. Validation: People use the Internet to check things out. This applies to everything from a “too good to be true” investment scam to the local church they plan to attend when they move to a new city. One oft-quoted statistic is that 85% of young people check out a church’s website before deciding whether or not to even visit that church in the first place. They won’t even walk through your door until they have clicked through your website! Churches and organizations that are easy to validate online have a huge competitive advantage. This includes having a clear statement of faith and making your ethos, programs, times of meetings, address, contact information, operating principles and finances clear and above board to the honest online enquirer. 6. Allocation of Resources: The Internet is allowing donors, foundations and churches to efficiently assess projects and receive applications for funding across national boundaries. Groups such as JIMI (the Joint Information Management Initiative of the WEA-MC) and the Global Missions Fund are trying to refine this process of allocation so that the ministries who are most worthy are most funded. A big part of this is having trusted mission information facilitators who regularly supply quality information in a secure format so that it can be used for resource allocation purposes. 7. Proclamation: The gospel is being proclaimed on websites, in chat rooms, on YouTube, on cellphones and on numerous Internet-connected devices. Evangelistic crusades are using the internet both as a decision mechanism and as a follow-up mechanism. Organizations such as Global Media Outreach, Jesus Central, TopChretien and GodRev specialize in purely online outreach while many churches and organizations use the Internet as an augmentation of existing outreach strategies. The Internet is an economical means of proclamation and Internet missionaries do not need visas! 8. Education: Online education has been a huge success and has revitalized TEE and distance education. Groups such as MAF Learning technologies are working at developing highly effective Internet based pedagogy. Many masters and Ph.D. Programs are now partly or wholly via Internet-based distance education. 9. Mobilization: The Internet facilitates making the connections and the imparting of the information and motivation necessary for effective mobilization of pastors, evangelists and missionaries into the global harvest. ChristianVolunteering.org matches tens of thousands of volunteers with Christian agencies. A ministry without an online presence will soon find it very challenging to gain new recruits since for many people the ministry simply will “not exist”. 10. Multiplication: The Internet brings leverage to networks and enables contacts to be made for the multiplication of house and cell churches, church-planting movements and small TEE based bible colleges that are resourced via an Internet-based curriculum. People start searching for a new church by going online, people first start their search for information about God online, and people start forming their theology online. Missionaries deciding which organization they will serve with, or students deciding on which bible college to attend - will use online information to narrow down their choices. The Internet is not the be all and end all of ministry. But it is quickly becoming the starting point for all ministry. And without the starting point there are not many other points! I used to think of the Internet as a tool for outreach, much like having your own radio program. Now I see the internet as an ocean in which we must sink or swim. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 6: 01.04. HOW TO HAVE A BIG MINISTRY ON A SMALL BUDGET ======================================================================== Pray – Get God’s Ideas First Pray - and ask the Lord what sort of Internet ministry He wants. Ask Him about: The Timing The Spiritual Tone The Target group The Technology The Name The Branding Find Your Spiritual Passion What would Jesus do with your website? How would Jesus treat visitors to the website? Does the website convey a sense of the sacred? Does it reach out and welcome people? Does it extend God’s Kingdom in some way? Does it meet a need that Jesus would want to have met? Have you got a word from God about it? Put Ministry First See your website as a ministry that changes lives and NOT just as a brochure that advertises a church or a corporation. Put the ministry aspects first and foremost. Give people a way to be transformed. What changes do you want to make? Salvation, education, sanctification etc. Tell stories. Touch hearts and touch minds. Think outreach - remember the seeking non-Christian, jargon free. Be Specific As Possible The more specific the focus the more people will visit your website! (Look at the Alexa top 500 to see this) Very general websites get lost in Google (e.g. a website about “God”) Unique specific websites rise to the top of the search engines for their keywords Unsuccessful: Buying groceries online Successful: Buying vintage wines online The power of ‘the long tail’ Plan – Do a SWOT Analysis Strengths – internal assets and strengths Weaknesses – internal liabilities and weaknesses Opportunities – external openings and opportunities Threats – external competitors, physical, legal and technological threats. Plan – 5 W’s and H Who? What? When? Where? Why? How? The Learning Curve Allow 3 – 6 months of trial and error to learn about the technology and the market. You will probably completely redesign the website at the end of this time. No sacred cows. If it works do more of it. If it does not work, then stop doing it. Learn WHO really wants what you are offering. Learn HOW they want it delivered to them. Learn WHAT things need to change in your website design and structure. Make no major investments during the learning phase. Be Realistic Unrealistic: To be the next Christian MySpace (unless you have a few million dollars to spend on a server farm and bandwidth). Realistic: To have an online ministry to thousands of NFL fans. Specific Unique Under Your Control Low Bandwidth Demands Not Requiring An Army of Volunteers / Staff Low Legal / Administrative Burdens Low Fixed Costs Where Many Folks Fail Sites requiring lots of other people to do some work: Wikis, MySpace clones, large specialized forums. Sites requiring constant moderation and legal alertness e.g. youth discussion sites, chat rooms, video upload sites. Sites requiring video or audio streaming or any complex technology that can go AWOL at 2 am in the morning. Sites requiring their own dedicated server – a server is a lot of hard work. Keep It Simple Stupid Simple for your users to use and for you to maintain. Simple and clear in its concept (not too big and fuzzy). Simple in the amount of work that needs to be done by users if it is to be a success. Simple in its structure so it can grow without becoming ‘messy’. Simple and clear in its ‘ethos’ so that you do not have conflicting groups at war with each other. Outsourcing High-Cost Services Minimize technical load, bandwidth cost and legal responsibility by ‘outsourcing’ to free or low-cost services. Use a web-hosting service so you do not have to manage your own servers e.g. 1and1.com. Use Yahoo groups for your egroups. Use Gmail and Google Apps For Your Domain rather than being responsible for people’s email. Put your video content on YouTube and let them pay the bandwidth fees and just link to it. Don’t Re-invent the Wheel 9.9% of the time the service or application that you require has already been done and is out there somewhere - and is often available for free. It is better to spend 3 hours searching on Google than 3 months writing code. Go to forums and ask other people what they use to do X (the task / function you want done). Sometimes you can add two products together to get the result that you want. Effectiveness is more important than uniqueness. Start Lean Start with just a few services on your website and then add others as traffic grows. Focus people on to the main things. No one now comes to a website because it has so many bells and whistles, instead they are confused and distracted rather than impressed. People leave websites that they see have many unused forums, etc. Undisciplined areas full of spam posts look terrible. Do what you can easily maintain, moderate and keep active and professional looking. Zero Cost Online Ministry Chat room ministry (in existing chat rooms). Newsgroup ministry. Blogging –Blogger.com or Wordpress.com. Writing articles for ezines. Running an egroup such as a Yahoo group. Volunteering as a moderator on someone else’s website. Uploading Christian videos to YouTube. Uploading ebooks to Christian ebook collections. You produce the content and let someone else host it! Low Cost Online Ministry Get a low-cost web hosting provider such as www.1and1.com ($4.95 a month). Get a domain name from a reseller such as godaddy.com, enom.com, or 1and1.com. Get a LINUX website. Use LAMP (Linux, Apache, MYSQL, PHP) software which is often Open source, free, and powerful. Get images from everystockphoto.com. Media on the Cheap Use Audacity for podcasting. Use other people’s bandwidth for free / low cost. Upload to hosting sites (do not host your own). Get a virtual server if you have a lot of media. Host your media on Gospelcom media server! (Some cost recovery) Stages for a Website Prayer Planning Web hosting package Register Domain name Branding Initial site design Upload content Search engine optimization Advertising & Free Publicity Visitors Arrive Get Feedback / Web Statistics Evaluation & Improvement Redesign Getting Ready Web Hosting: http://webhostinggeeks.com/ Bluehost, Yahoo, 1and1.com are OK Domain names: enom.com , godaddy.com, tucows.com, Register.com Get a domain name that is easy to remember even if it is a bit long. www.crocodilesarecute.com is better than www.xcfgt.com Branding Don’t try to appeal to everyone Decide on a ‘look’ that reflects your core mission and purpose Be instantly recognizable to your key demographic so they say ‘Yes that’s me.!’ Decide of a color combination and a simple logo Avoid kitsch – flashing gifs, Amazing Grace, video clips of the Passion – unless you audience likes kitsch. Initial Site Design www.cybermissions.org Keep it simple, easy to navigate and use. Put only what is working well on the site when you start off Simple but credible. Contact details, usage policy, privacy policy, statement of beliefs etc. Always have a How To Become A Christian link somewhere. Go easy on commercialism. Uploading Content Use a FTP client such as FileZilla. Upload your files to the www/html/ directory on your server. The main page should be called index.html. The pages should be arranged in a hierarchy with the index page at the top of the tree. The hierarchy should only go three or four layers deep at most. The index page should have the key links to the most important material on the website. Plan the structure well at the start as it is very hard to change later on as other people, and search engines will link to your content. Short directory names, all lower case, and eight letters or less, are helpful. Getting Known WebCEo – great FREE search engine optimization software – submits your URL to hundreds of search engines http://webceo.com/ . Put URL on email signature, business cards, etc. Advertise (tactfully) in appropriate egroups and newsgroups. Have a ‘recommend to others’ button on your website. Email campaigns to opt-in recipients. Feedback and Interactivity Invite people to comment, feedback, leave prayer points etc. Forms Guestbooks Forums Message Boards Surveys / Polls Email Us… Live Chat (only if you have a LOT of traffic) http://www.resourceindex.com/ (has heaps of good website add-ons) Web Statistics Your web host will probably give you some statistics. Or you can use a package such as Awstats. Hits is not as important as unique visitors, length of time on the website and what pages they are mainly looking at. Country is important if you are trying to reach a particular region. Saving on Software www.1computerbargains.com (for 501c3 organizations) www.openoffice.org – free substitute for Microsoft Office The GIMP – replacement for Photoshop - http://www.gimp.org/ Open Source Software – www.sourceforge.net List of free HTML editors: http://www.thefreecountry.com/webmaster/htmleditors.shtml Volunteers Students Interns Retirees People with at least 2 hours a week to spare Clearly defined task. Sense of the overall mission and its importance. Some autonomy / respect Fun – pizza, coffee Relationship Equipment that works for them. Funding PayPal: www.paypal.com Ikobo: www.ikobo.com Have a good ministry plan and funding proposal Relationship based fundraising / Friend-Raising Do not expect a salary during the first year (keep your day job) Try www.gobignetwork.com for venture capital Try Generous Giving Marketplace for grants: http://www.generousgiving.org/marketplace/ Marketing Make your own business cards and brochures. Do press releases for local papers desperate for news & to Christian news services e.g. ANS. Send faxes to new outlets with big bold headings. Try your denominational magazine. Have a clear newsworthy concept that you communicate over and over again. Show who you are helping and how you are helping them. Get some books & articles on how to get free publicity. Conclusion A small ministry can have a big impact for Christ if it is well-thought out and tightly targeted. It is possible to greatly reduce costs and start-up can be done on even as little as $100 a year. Use the power of other people: networks, free advice, volunteers, free online services, free press releases, etc. Cover everything in prayer – God is your greatest ally and can multiply your ministry! ======================================================================== CHAPTER 7: 01.05. THE INTERNET MISSIONARY SOCIETY OF 2020 ======================================================================== The Internet began to affect our lives in 1994 with the creation of the World Wide Web and the Mosaic web browser. Shortly after that Christians began to share their faith with others in cyberspace and Internet evangelism and cybermissions was born. In this article I would like to jump another thirteen years down the track and look at what Internet evangelism and cybermissions might look like in the year 2020. The Internet is rapidly moving from the personal computer to the cellphone and it is predicted that the number of Internet users will go from the current 1.14 billion to over 3 billion by 2010 (just three years away) mainly due to this growth of Internet-capable hand-held devices (e.g. cellphones, PDA’s and the Blackberry). Indeed Microsoft has just announced Phone+ - an initiative to bring TV (as well as everything else) to your cellphone. Hand-held devices will soon have really useful screen sizes. The latest Popular Science magazine (May 2007) showcases a five-inch Polymer Vision flexible screen that “rolls-up” inside the unit. By 2010 this flexible screen will be larger, in color and be capable of handling web browsing and video. Of course your hand-held device will also dock with your wide-screen digital TV, your laptop or any other viewing platform. The included video camera will be augmented by higher processing power and bandwidth to enable quality video conferencing from your lounge room. So we see that highly sophisticated content will be downloadable to 3 billion personal handheld devices by 2010. The personal communication device will be how people interact with friends, family and colleagues and the first place they turn to find out information about the gospel. It will be the main way people accept information into their lives and therefore the main way that we will have to communicate the gospel. The hand-held device would allow streaming video (or text or audio) of gospel presentations. Enquirers would be able to contact the mission agency on the Internet, or by SMS (text), email, fax, VOIP (voice over internet protocol e.g. Vonage, Skype) or by normal mobile or landline voice call. Progress in information technology is exponential. The famous formulation of this known as Moore’s Law is named after Gordon Moore of Intel who observed (in 1965) that the number of transistors on an integrated circuit for minimum component cost was doubling every two years. This has largely held true since then and processing power per thousand dollars is now doubling every twelve to eighteen months. If this continues all the way to 2020 (thirteen years from now) the first glimpses of artificial intelligence will be taking hold in our lives. Tech guru Ray Kurzweil (inventor and author of books such as The Age Of Spiritual Machines and The Singularity Is Near) uses this exponential curve to predict that a super-computer will emulate human intelligence sometime around the year 2013 and that a $1000 computer will emulate human intelligence in 2029. Previously difficult problems such as image recognition, speech recognition, handwriting analysis and language translation are rapidly being solved. A prototype of a translating telephone that automatically translates between English, French and German was unveiled in San Francisco in April 2007 and a DARPA software project translated between English and Arabic at the level of professional translators. Some have predicted that before 2015 cellphones will contain automatic translation software (probably at first in a dozen or so major languages) and that soon after we will be able to use our personal communication device to talk to practically anyone in the world. This of course will revolutionize the task of missions! Highly specialized artificial intelligence programs (called “narrow AI”) will be able to do common customer service functions and sophisticated computer generated personalities known as ‘avatars’ will interact with users and act as a type of virtual salesperson. These avatars are capable of being programmed with the hundred (or more) most common questions that enquirers ask. They will be endowed with a patient and understanding artificial personality and be able to lead enquirers through the plan of salvation and even through some basic pre-baptismal follow-up lessons. We are on the verge of it already in communities like Second Life where believers are already witnessing to Christ - as their computer-generated avatars. Sitepal.com already provides customizable avatars for websites, and the Genesys IP Contact Center is already using avatars to handle customer service queries for CartaSi - the Italian credit card company. By using avatars and information technology our Internet missions agency could reach tens of millions of enquirers annually with the plan of salvation and then connect them with local churches in their area. So the evangelism department of our missionary society in 2020 may well consist of six geeks, a server farm and four hundred of these computer generated avatars! Each avatar may well share the gospel with a different cluster of unreached people groups. Of course there will still be plenty of room for face-to-face missionary activity such as worship, baptism, communion, counseling, exorcism, small group bible study and the use of spiritual gifts. The rise in technology will also mean that average users can become sophisticated content creators who can make their own video, audio and text presentations of the gospel. Thus proclamation will become many-to-many as new believers excitedly share their testimonies and experiences of Christ. As video-conferencing becomes commonplace these believers will naturally bring each other together into small groups and virtual churches online. Distance education and TEE (Theological Education by Extension) will be revolutionized and technology will allow a missionary to inexpensively conduct large-scale training by video while being simultaneously translated into dozens of different languages. Pastors and community leaders will be able to be trained without being removed from their ministry context. Touch interfaces with symbols, voice recognition and improved interface usability will make it easy for non-literates to use technology and to benefit from it. The power of technology to proclaim and inform needs to be matched with the power of the local church to disciple and mature individual believers. Hopefully technology will augment the process of discipleship and free many Christian workers to focus on being one-to-one mentors. The gospel will of course remain the same but how it is delivered, who is communicating it, and the means of responding to it will be profoundly changed. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 8: 01.06. STRATEGIES IN CYBERMISSIONS ======================================================================== The purpose of this article is use broad-brush statistics to help us to do some first-order prioritization for Internet evangelism and Cybermissions. The assumption is that Internet evangelism is best used when: the harvest is plentiful, the conventional laborers are ‘few’, and yet Internet penetration is adequate. For the initial part of this article I have drawn extensively on research by my friend Chris Maynard, a British information manager and missions supporter. The first question we need to ask is ‘where is the Harvest Field, that is where are all the non-Christians? Diagram by Chris Maynard using data from Operation World 2000 So we can see that 50% of the non-Christians are in just two nations – India and China. Both India and China have reasonable Internet connectivity in many of their urban areas. Other nations with large numbers of non-Christians and significant connectivity include: Indonesia, Pakistan, Japan, Turkey, and Thailand. The second question we need to ask is: ‘Where are all the Internet users and how do they overlap with the Harvest Field?’ The following four diagrams are from Internet World Statistics website (www.internetworldstats.com). They indicate significant and large numbers of Internet users in the key areas that we want to evangelize (such as China and India). They also indicate strong Internet penetration among areas where there are large numbers of evangelicals (such as the USA) who can become online workers in the harvest. For instance a Chinese-speaking American evangelical could go online to help evangelize China, or an Urdu-speaking Australian evangelical could go online to witness to Pakistan. So we see a fairly high degree of overlap between where the non-Christians are and where the Internet is growing fastest. The next question must be – where are all the laborers for the Harvest Field? Where are all the Christians? And in particular do these laborers speak any of the Big Three languages of the Internet (English, Chinese and Spanish)? Diagram by Christ Maynard using data from Operation World 2000 We see large numbers of laborers in the USA, Brazil, Mexico, China, Russia, the Philippines and India! So perhaps the Christians in China can use the Internet to reach other Chinese Christians; and the Indian Christians can use the Internet to reach India for Christ; and the Mexican evangelicals can use the Internet to reach the Latin world; and the Brazilian Christians can reach the Portuguese-speaking Internet; and the German Christians can use cyberspace to reach the German-speaking Internet and so on. Thus the strategy in many situations becomes: training and enabling the national church in how to use the Internet to reach its own people, and also in how to reach unreached people groups who speak the same language (as that national church). Chris Maynard then took the data one step further by then asking – what are the priority harvest fields where the harvest are plentiful and the laborers are few. His next diagram is below: Diagram by Christ Maynard using data from Operation World 2000 Please note that the scales are logarithmic! The 38 countries include: ALL six countries in the world with more than 100 million non-Christians ALL 13 sizeable countries where there are more than a hundred non-Christians to every Christian. (Maldives and Comoros are the smaller ones not included) ALL 26 countries of the world where there are more than 10 million non-Christians AND more than 10 non-Christians to every Christian All 38 countries are in the 10/40 Window, although not all countries in the window are on the chart. More than 80% of the non-Christians in the world are found in these 38 countries – which are less than 20% of countries. The chart excludes for example: Russia with 64 Million non-Christians because there are more Christians than non-Christians (the harvest is plentiful, but there should be plenty of workers available) Palestinian Authority with 51 non-Christians to every Christian, because there are less than 4 Million non-Christians in total (the workers are few, but the harvest is relatively small) (Note: the definition of Christian in Operation World is fairly generic and may not necessarily mean evangelical Christian) The table below takes the 38 countries above, re-includes Russia (my personal decision in light of the low percentage of evangelicals there) and then sorts them by Internet penetration and suitability for Internet evangelism. The result is that we find 20 countries where the harvest is plentiful, the laborers are few, but they are suitable for Internet evangelism. Internet figures are from March-April 2009 Internet World Statistics (broadband penetration) and from the ITU when up-to-date IWS statistics were not available Country Internet Users Penetration Possible Strategies Israel 5,263,146 74.00% Messianic Jewish websites Japan 94,000,000 73.80% Manga, comics, technology bridge sites Malaysia 15,868,000 62.80% Malay, English languages, train Malaysian church in IE Iran 23,000,000 34.90% Farsi, websites, chat rooms, security conscious evangelism Russia 38,000,000 27.00% Addiction counseling Saudi Arabia 6,380,000 22.70% security conscious online evangelism, Skype, etc. China 298,000,000 22.40% equip Chinese church to engage in IE Turkey 21,000,000 21.10% direct evangelism online Taiwan 4,505,800 19.60% Chinese language evangelism, dealing w. relationships, magic Jordan 1,126,700 18.20% Arabic, chat rooms, websites , Skype Tunisia 1,765,430 17.00% As above Egypt 10,532,400 12.90% As above Thailand 8,473,000 12.60% Thai, equip Thai church to witness online Syria 2,132,000 10.80% Arabic, chat rooms, websites , Skype Indonesia 25,000,000 10.50% Equip Indonesian church to witness online Algeria 3,500,000 10.40% Arabic, chat rooms, websites , Skype Mongolia 268,300 10.30% Mongolian church is in revival, equip to witness online Pakistan 17,500,000 10.10% Encourage and strengthen Pakistani church leaders India 81,000,000 7.10% Train Indian Christians in online ministry Uzbekistan 1,745,000 6.60% Direct evangelism online Bhutan 40,000 5.90% Difficult, few online, rare language Libya 260,000 4.20% Security concerns Sri Lanka 771,700 3.70% Train Sri Lankan church to witness online Afghanistan 500,000 1.50% direct evangelism online Laos 100,000 1.50% Low percentage, Strict surveillance Yemen 320,000 1.40% Arabic, chat rooms, websites , Skype Morocco 390,800 1.30% Arabic, chat rooms, websites , Skype Nepal 250,000 1.00% Difficult, train Nepali church to witness online Iraq 275,000 1.00% Arabic, chat rooms, websites , Skype Somalia 98,000 1.00% Arabic, chat rooms, websites , Skype Mauritania 30,000 1.00% French-speaking, few Internet users Mali 100,000 0.80% French-speaking, few Internet users Vietnam 516,600 0.60% Equip Vietnamese Christians in USA to witness online Cambodia 70,000 0.50% Difficult, few users, maybe using French… Bangladesh 500,000 0.30% Low percentage but large number and they will be leaders Niger 40,000 0.30% French-speaking, few Internet users Tajikistan 19,500 0.30% Very small base of users Myanmar 50,000 0.10% Low percentage, Strict surveillance North Korea Data not available 0% Inaccessible Conclusions So Far So we see that there are 20 high-priority nations in the 10/40 Window, where Internet evangelism could be a very useful strategy: China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Pakistan, Iran, Uzbekistan, Egypt, Thailand, Syria, Taiwan, Jordan, Malaysia, Tunisia, Algeria, Mongolia, and Israel. Most of these nations place total or partial restriction on conventional missionary activity among their ethnic majority (for instance Malaysia and Indonesia forbid conversion of Malays and proselytizing of Jews is forbidden in Israel) or they have strict ‘anti-blasphemy laws’ such as Iran & Pakistan. Japan, while permitting missionary activity has been a ‘graveyard’ for conventional missions. However it is open to Cybermissions see: www.internetevangelismday.com/japan-web-evangelism.php These 20 countries contain respectively well over two-thirds of the world’s non-Christians. Six major trade languages will be most useful in reaching these nations; English, Arabic, Russian, Chinese, Japanese and Bahasa Indonesia. English language Internet evangelism will have some impact in Malaysia, Pakistan, India and Israel and to a lesser extent in Japan. Arabic language Internet evangelism will help reach Israeli Arabs, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Tunisia, Egypt, Syria and Algeria. Russian IE will reach Russia, Uzbekistan and Mongolia as well as Russian-speakers in the ex-Soviet Union. The Chinese language will reach China, Taiwan, and a significant percentage of Malaysia and Indonesia as well as the huge Chinese Diaspora. Bahasa Indonesia is spoken by 300 million Indonesians and is understood (in a slightly different dialect) across Malaysia. Japanese will reach the hundreds of millions of high-tech Japanese. Finally French is a good candidate for a seventh language as it will reach French-speaking colonies in Africa (such as Mali) or in Asia (such as Vietnam) – most of these French speaking nations are in the ‘marginal’ IE list (marked in brown above) Of course we will need a lot more than these seven major ‘trade languages’! We will also need Farsi, Urdu, Hindi, Thai, Hebrew and Turkish at least. Most of these languages will require special characters known as Unicode or UTF-8; happily this is becoming increasingly easy these days. Teams using these languages can be located anywhere in the world, e.g. here in Los Angeles. In fact most large churches would have people in the congregation who are fluent native speakers of these major languages and who are looking for an opportunity to engage in meaningful ministry of some sort. Some Caveats These statistics are ‘at the 36,000 foot level’ and do not go down to specific regional levels or to people group levels. And some significant realities are missed. For instance Afghanistan has a low average Internet penetration at 1.5%, possibly because of its geography. One would estimate that most of its 500,000 users would be in and around Kabul while very few users would be in Taliban-held areas. So Internet evangelism would not be a good strategy for reaching the Taliban! But it might be a great strategy for reaching residents of Kabul! These statistics are also not exact. Where possible I have used the monthly reports used by Internet World Statistics which are generally based on Nielsen ratings of broadband penetration. Where such statistics have not been available I have used ITU (International Telecommunications Union) statistics for ‘numbers of Internet users’ in a country. In countries like Sri Lanka where Internet cafes are common, the broadband penetration might be low (it is only 3.7% in Sri Lanka) but the actual number of people who use Internet cafes may be many times that number. You would have to count the Sri Lankan users of email to guess at how many actual users there are. Despite the above caveats a clear picture is beginning to emerge – that we have at least twenty nations that are high-priority (large harvest / few workers), and most of which place restrictions on conventional missionary activity – but which are open to Internet evangelism and Cybermissions. The Mobile Platform to the Rescue: There are 16 highly strategic countries where the penetration of the ‘landline Internet’ is minimal (the ones highlighted in brown above: Bhutan, Libya, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Yemen, Morocco, Nepal, Iraq, Somali, Mauritania, Mali, Vietnam, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Niger, and Tajikistan However digital media can still reach a large percentage of people in these nations via the cellphone, here are some statistics showing the growth of cellphone usage in Africa: The Africa Mobile Fact Book 2008 says that 3G (mobile broadband) networks are becoming increasingly available, even in Africa and will constitute 18.6% of mobile phone subscribers by 2011. What is true in Africa is even more so in Asia – Hong Kong has a cellphone adoption rate of 163% and even Bangladesh is seeing a 67% year on year growth in cellphone adoption adding 34.3 million new subscribers in 2008! Dave Hackett’s mobile evangelism wiki: http://mobilev.pbworks.com/ has a good list of all the various approaches to using mobile phones for digital evangelism including SMS messaging, short video clips, MP3 files, ebooks, mobile-friendly websites and so on. Tony Whittaker’s Web Evangelism Day site also has a great section on mobile evangelism at: www.internetevangelismday.com/mobile-outreach.php The cellphone is also a highly persuasive and personal delivery platform and Professor B.J. Fogg of Stanford’s Persuasive Technology Laboratory has said that the mobile phone is the most persuasive of all current technologies and that we are more likely to read SMS messages than email or ‘snail mail’ (conventional mail via the letterbox). Given that the mobile phone is ubiquitous among those we are most trying to reach, and has a high potential for persuasion and influence of the culture, it should be among the first tools adopted by prospective digital evangelists. Cellphones have some major hurdles though among them – small screen real estate, multiple incompatible operating systems, and the often painful task of converting pervious web content so that it works properly in the mobile world. The Netbooks Then along came the netbook! In particular the tablet PC /netbook combination is starting to take off globally and prices are dropping fast - from around $250 - $400, the price of a good cellphone. The netbook is a basic affordable personal computer capable of web browsing, word-processing and basic office functions. The netbook can access 3G networks with a plug in module, and has standard wireless and LAN connectivity. They do not have the processing power to run Vista and so tend to run either Linux or Windows XP. Netbooks use the ‘conventional Internet’ which makes content delivery much easier than writing specific code for the multitudes of different mobile phone operating systems (iPhone, Google Android, Symbian (Nokia), Palm Os, RIM (Blackberry), Windows Mobile, and Linux) . The following quote based on data from research firm IDC shows netbooks are rapidly invading the space for conventional laptops and mobile platforms: In Q4 2008, 3.6 million units were sold which represents 20 percent of total laptop sales and 30 percent of consumer laptops sold during that period. In other words, the netbook market is worth nearly two third of the business laptop market in terms of units sold. Netbooks (or as IDC calls them mini notebooks) have been one of the most sought-after items in Christmas season last year and represented more than four fifths of the sales volumes in Western Europe. My personal observation is that the netbook has taken off among middle-class Asians and that the two device model (netbook and cellphone) will be with us for some time. Netbooks also often come equipped with Linux which is the operating system of choice in some African nations. It is too early to tell whether the netbook will be adopted at a fast enough rate to be a major platform for reaching the nations via digital evangelism. My guess is that unless cellphones get much easier to use (and to develop for) that people will vastly prefer to browse the web and do their work on a netbook than on even the coolest 3G cellphone. Netbooks also have the potential to be a major educational tool (such as the One Laptop Per Child project) with a vast penetration of the youth market which is often the easiest to evangelize via media. Low-priced netbooks also increase the economic viability of Internet cafes, which are major point of information delivery in the developing world. Between netbooks and 3G cellphones in Africa and Asia we will see a rapid growth in the numbers of people coming online between now and 2012. The Internet may well grow from the current 1.6 billion users to double in size to 3.2. To do this we need to overcome a limited and dated view of evangelism - that says that you just present the gospel online (the 4 Points, or whatever) - rather than using all sorts of culturally relevant ‘bridge strategies’ to drill down to where the non-seeking non-Christians are. There is a desperate need for highly contextualized online ministry. Where We Go From Here? We train the nations to reach the nations using digital evangelism, with an initial emphasis on the twenty countries and seven main trade languages mentioned earlier. We raise up the Chinese to reach China, the Indians to reach India, the Arab Christians to reach the Arab world and the Indonesian Christians to use computers and the Internet to facilitate the Great Commission among the islands of Indonesia. We do so prayerfully and carefully, with proper regard to both the spiritual dimension and the need for proper cyber-security – because we are in an End Times battle zone in which our technology is only a tool and where the power is from God. Finally we pay great attention to issues of contextualization so that the message is communicated with optimal relevance to each culture in cyberspace, without undue confusion. We move under the wise guidance of the Holy Spirit to reach the least reached with the gospel using computers, mobile phones, netbooks, radio and various forms of digital media – all for the glory of God! ======================================================================== CHAPTER 9: 01.07. THE EDGES OF CYBERSPACE ======================================================================== And How To Share Christ There… The Traditional Internet Has Peak The traditional Internet = desktop PC + landline (or cable) in a home or workplace The number of traditional Internet subscribers is now very close to the number of landlines Landline growth has stalled. Growing the Edges Now the logistical task is to get Internet access to people who do not have landline or cable and who may be earning $500 a month or less The spiritual task is to share the gospel with these new users ‘on the edge of cyberspace’. Many of these are in developing nations such as China, India and the Middle East –where gospel proclamation is most needed The ‘next billion’ will come online in the next two to three years and the Internet will DOUBLE in size!!! Things May Be Different The next billion Internet users will not be Westerners The next billion Internet users will not have computers connected to landlines They will not speak English as their first language Most of them will not come from Christian religious backgrounds The God they seek may be very different from what we expect… First let’s look at the technology they will be using….. Stages of the Internet Pre-1993 – Bulletin boards, email 1994-1997 Early HTML 1997-2002 HTML plus widgets 2002 - 2005 Web 2.0 2005 – 2007 Death of Web 2.0, emergence of the media driven web 2007 -2010 - The mobile Internet & the developing world Internet The Mobile Internet In July 2007 global mobile phone subscribers surpassed the 3 billion mark…. 3.25 billion by year’s end… Soon many of these phones will be Internet capable – but will offer a different ‘kind’ of Internet – how can we reach them? In Japan, Korea and China mobile users regularly access the Internet Google’s CEO Eric Schmidt, says the future of the internet is mobile. Larger and More Flexible Screen Mobile screen technology is rapidly advancing A 7” x 5” mobile screen that rolls out was recently announced Large flexible screens that roll out (like a bible scroll) Some are like ‘bricks’ that click together to form a larger screen (Brix phone illustration) Starting in Mobile Flat-form Evangelism http://www.internetevangelismday.com/mobile-outreach.php - the mobile evangelism page on the Internet Evangelism Day website http://mobilev.pbwiki.com/FrontPage MobileEV - a mobile evangelism wiki http://mobileministrymagazine.com/ Mobile Ministry Magazine SMS In the Muslim world SMS messages are the PREFERRED method of responding to the gospel Text 2 Email gateways are now becoming a critical part of evangelism! Soon crusades will have a number you can text to indicate a decision to follow Jesus. A URL for follow-up can be sent by return SMS http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS_gateways Podcast and Audio Blogging http://www.internetevangelismday.com/podcasting.php - outreach potential of podcasting www.itunes.com/podcasts/ - iTunes podcast directory http://www.podcastalley.com/ - Podcast Alley - thousands of podcasts... http://www.christiantuner.com/ - ChristianTuner.com - Christian Internet radio stations Short audio clips (under ten minutes, preferably under 3 minutes) can be a powerful witness Audio is personal and persuasive Audio better than video in low bandwidth areas. Can be streamed as Internet radio Testimonies, gospel presentations, music, prayers etc. WebTV Short videos YouTube popularized it GodTV – Christian version: http://us.god.tv/ www.blogtv.com Blog TV www.videochurch.org Video Church Has great evangelistic potential if done really well. Bandwidth limitations RSS Feed RSS is Really Simple Syndication and is slowly changing the Internet from a ‘pull’ medium driven by search engines to a ‘push’ medium driven by RSS subscriptions RSS plus mobile devices RSS plus podcasts and video pods RSS plus news feeds, weather info etc. Evangelistic content needs to be linked to an RSS feed Second Life / Virtual Worlds Virtual worlds are rapidly growing Second Life has gone from 1 million subscribers to 10 million subscribers in just over 12 months. Internet is now participative and experiential not just informational Churches in Second Life Internet Cafes Internet cafes can be found in most cities in the developing world They are and will continue to be a main source of the Internet for many They often have restricted bandwidth How can we reach their users for Jesus? Extreme Locations VHF store and forward (single-side band COBAN radios) Stored Internet (on a local area network) plus email, as hard-drives approach 1TB storage capacity this becomes quite feasible Satellite and microwave links Technological advances are allowing detection of weaker signals and increased range WiMAX WiMAX is Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access Crudely put it is a long-range version of WiFi It can use both licensed and unlicensed spectrum WiMAX towers are becoming popular in developing nations Meraki Routers Meraki routers are powerful wireless routers that can ‘mesh’ together to cover a large area. One access point, plus a bunch of Meraki routers can blanket a whole village with WiFI The routers cover 100-250 meter radius each (compared to 10-30 meters for a normal router) They are weatherproof Say Goodbye to Privacy The Internet is being watched Keystroke loggers Splitting of fibre-optic cables Download monitoring Rapid ‘reading’ and storing of website content by computers Any mention of politics or local organizing will get you instantly banned in over a dozen countries Wisdom is essential The Next Billion Internet Users Average income will be $2000 - $5000 a year Many will live in urban slums and be using Internet cafes They will want HOPE They will want practical information as well as entertainment About 20 major languages will cover 95% of them…. The Next Billion – Logistics They have cell phones and TVs but not cars or computers or telephone lines The Internet will be on a cell phone or icafe They will probably want an SMS response They will be highly family centered and 80% will be under 30 Many will NOT be very postmodern Many will be single The Next Billion – Aspirational They will be highly aspirational & tech hungry Want employment and business opportunities (business as mission) Online business plans and online business mentoring as ministry? Online Christian franchises and micro-franchises and micro-finance? The Next Billion – Holistic Holistic approach to life and ministry Want to know ‘how to’ do a wide range of community development tasks as part of ministry HIV / AIDS Education Water purification Simple church construction How to set up a Christian pre-school The Next Billion – Independent Proud of their own culture and own way of doing things Will not appreciate our denominations, “Christian culture” or national politics Want equal partnership (not Western ownership) Want to make the on-the-ground decisions Have alternative church structures The Next Billion – Ministry House church movements Will often be Pentecostal Christians Seekers from animistic backgrounds who need deliverance Extended families Shame based cultures Converts from Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism Pastors with little formal training needing mentoring Prosperity teaching very popular Questions about corruption, poverty, and injustice: ‘why are we so poor’ Coping – Technology Interactive Participative Experiential Non-computer based (cellphones!!) Non-literate – verbal / audio Brief & Compressed Holistic Tagged / RSS Multiple languages & cultures Multiple bandwidth versions Coping – Design Internationalize Clarity Reduce idiomatic expressions Be hopeful and aspirational Explain, explain, explain… We will have on billion ‘newbies’ online within the next three years! It will be the total re-birth of the Internet and of web page design Offer a helpful handshake to the new Netizens… Coping – Attitude Scripture rather than culture Spirit rather than method Compassion rather than just content Trustful connection rather than just ‘customer service’ ‘Come into our community’ rather than just ‘pray the prayer and go away please’ Engaged with the whole of life rather than cerebral, engaged with a ‘bunch of concepts’ Coping – Love Newbies If the user is made to feel dumb they just go away If their problems are ignored they will resent you But if people feel they are helped quickly they will become loyal If the user feels empowered they build enthusiasm If a user feels ‘’hey I am cool I can do this’ they build pride and tell others Coping – WWJD What would Jesus do? Sure these changes are hard but how many people will they help us reach? But I like the Internet the way it is!! Why can’t they just be like us? This is way too complicated? Get help Build teams Let God guide you Coping – Local Networks Develop in-country networks Cultivate local leaders Pay for translation, use locals, use the translation process to build relationships Give people an aspirational career pathway within your ministry Volunteer – Senior Volunteer – Part-Time Paid – Full-Time Paid Delegate real authority and the right to contextualize your ministry Coping – Be First to Market Be first to ‘market’ – be one of the first in a particular language group This gives you great prestige and influence It also introduces you to early adopters and to leaders in that culture Partner with missions agencies and churches overseas Coping – Calling Home There are huge international connections between migrants working overseas and their home communities They ‘call home’ for news and in return can share the gospel The next billion Internet users will have friends and relatives in America We can recruit these people as volunteers Ethne To Ethne – those people with the gospel reaching those without the gospel - via the Internet Coping – Partnering Sharing translation resources Sharing follow-up systems Sharing strategic information on people groups Sharing good podcasts and other content Partnering for on-the-ground church planting and holistic ministry efforts resulting from cyber-ministry Coping – Prayer The next billion will be a spiritual warfare context Ministering to animists, Hindus, Muslims and Buddhists will require much prayer and intercession Your computer will break down if you don’t pray! You will break down if you don’t pray! Conclusion The Internet will double in the next three years as cellphones become Internet capable The next billion users will be ‘newbies’ from the developing world These are people for whom Christ died and that missionaries long to reach If you get on board early you can be part of completing the Great Commission ======================================================================== CHAPTER 10: 01.08. CYBERMISSIONS – WHERE TO START? ======================================================================== The following forty-three nations may represent good opportunities for cyber-missions as a main mission strategy because: They are hard to reach by conventional means because of remoteness, war, kidnapping, or because of prohibitions on evangelism. They have sufficient Internet access to permit the development of a church-planting movement. Only a few thousand users are needed if the tunnel and blast strategy is used of "tunneling in" to find "man of peace" online then supplying that person with information about Christ and working through training and equipping that person to start a church-planting movement which becomes the ’blast" of the gospel. Note - A few easy to reach nations are included because they have a very high ratio of internet users to general population and other efforts at mission have not succeeded that well (e.g. Israel, Thailand, Japan) China has 45.8 million internet users and is a huge harvest-field just waiting to happen. If you are a Chinese church in the West please consider forming a cyber-mission team with half a dozen young people under the general supervision of the pastor. Other excellent starting points include: India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, Vietnam, Turkey, Russia, Japan, Oman, Cuba, Thailand and Bahrain, Egypt, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Saudi Arabia. See also articles that will help you understand some of the setting up, ideas and techniques in cybermissions and Tony Whittaker’s excellent web evangelism guide PRAY for God’s guidance as to where to start. Then make a start! Get going, try anything! Start sharing the gospel and be open to the Holy Spirit’s leading as you go along. Learn by doing! If you need web space try YourChristianWebHost which hosts the AIBI and has given us reliable affordable service for years. Table Of The Most Strategic Nations For Cybermissions Nation Population (millions) Number with Internet access (thousands) Comment Azerbaijan 7.8 25 Islamic Bahrain 0.656 140 Islamic Bangladesh 133.3 150 Islamic Belarus 10.44 422 Partly Islamic, kidnapping Bhutan 2.1 2.5 Buddhist, closed Brunei 0.35 35 Islamic Burma 42 10 Buddhist, closed China 1,300 45,800 Communist, huge potential for cybermissions Cuba 11.2 120 Communist Djibouti 0.472 3.3 Islamic Egypt 70.7 600 Islamic Georgia 4.96 25 Partly Islamic, unstable India 1000 7000 Hindu - potential Indonesia 231 4,400 Islamic Iran 66.6 420 Islamic Iraq 24 12.5 Islamic Israel 6.0 1,900 Jewish, restricts evangelism Japan 127 56,000 Buddhist, Shinto Jordan 5.3 212 Islamic Kazakhstan 16.7 100 Islamic Kyrgyzstan 4.8 51.6 Islamic Libya 5.2 7.5 Islamic Malaysia 22.6 5,700 Islamic Mali 11.34 30 Islamic Mongolia 2.7 40 Communist & Islamic Nepal 25.87 60 Hindu Niger 10.6 12 Islamic Oman 2.7 120 Islamic Pakistan 147.6 1,200 Islamic Qatar 0.793 75 Islamic Russia 145 18,000 Restricts evangelism Saudi Arabia 23.5 570 Islamic Senegal 10.589 100 Islamic Sudan 37 56 Islamic Syria 17.15 60 Islamic Tajikistan 6.7 5 Islamic Thailand 61.8 4,600 Buddhist Tunisia 9.81 400 Islamic Turkey 67.308 2,500 Islamic Turkmenistan 4.6 2 Islamic Uzbekistan 25.563 100 Islamic Vietnam 81.098 400 Communist/Buddhist Yemen 18.7 17 Islamic ======================================================================== CHAPTER 11: 01.09. HOW A LOCAL CHURCH CAN HAVE A GLOBAL PRESENCE THROUGH CYBERMISSIONS ======================================================================== Summary: How your church can have a volunteer team of cyber-missionaries that can minister cross-culturally to unreached peoples at a total cost of between $1000 and $5000 a year and see between 100 and 1100 decisions for Christ in that people group. Cybermissions - is the front-line use of the Internet for cross-cultural evangelism, discipleship, church-planting and training. Some Statistics Worldwide Internet Population: 445.9 million (eMarketer) 533 million (Computer Industry Almanac) Projection for 2004: 709.1 million (eMarketer) 945 million (Computer Industry Almanac) Online Language Populations (September 2002) English 36.5%; Chinese 10.9%, Japanese 9.7%, Spanish 7.2%, German 6.7%, Korean 4.5%, Italian 3.8%, French 3.5%, Portuguese 3.0%, Russian 2.9%, Dutch 2.0% (Source: Global Reach) From the above statistics it is clear that the Internet is no longer predominantly an English speaking medium and that Asian languages such as Chinese, Japanese and Korean now occupy a significant portion of cyber-space along with major European languages such as Spanish., Portuguese and French. There are over 275 million Internet searches each day and 80% of all Internet sessions begin at a search engine (Internetstatistics.com). Religion is one of the main topics people search for. Pew Internet surveys found that 28 million Americans get religion information online, that three million do so daily, and that 25 % of net users search for religion-related topics. Barna Research estimates that up to 50 million Americans may worship solely over the Internet by 2010. There is every indication that the Internet is a major source of religious information where people of many cultures and languages collect their spiritual facts and opinions in private. Thus it’s a place where missionaries must be. What Is The Role Of A Local Church? Local churches can create a Cybermissions Project Team (CPT) that uses the church website, chat rooms and email to reach a specific ethnic group for Christ. A well-run cybermissions website can see three people a day or about 1100 people a year make commitments to Jesus as Lord and Savior. This is because the website is a “perpetual evangelist” that works away 24/7 witnessing to seekers about Christ. The Internet is seeker-driven. People using the Internet are seeking information via search engines and links on other sites. When people arrive at your website it’s not an accident. They have typed a query into a search engine and arrived there. People not interested in God simply don’t arrive at your church website – they end up somewhere else, reading the weather or the news. So virtually 100% of the people you minister to will already have some level of interest. This makes evangelism so much easier! You can witness, via the Internet 24/7 to people who are already interested in finding out about God! OK... how do I start? 1. Form a small group of say 6 to 8 people which should include a few “techie” computer types, a few “bible” types and someone with enthusiasm for missions. The pastor does not need to lead the group, he/she can just give it some guidelines and get a monthly report. The group should be led by someone with a passion for missions on the Internet. The group can fit into the church structure in a similar way to creative ministry teams. 2. Read the articles on cybermissions at http://www.aibi.ph/missions/ for some ideas to get you started. 3. Get some web space. You need a domain name “yourchurch.com” and some space on a server. We use ChristianWebHost.com and have found them to be both affordable and reliable. 4. Pray about what people group you should be ministering to. For a list of the 43 nations most suitable for a cybermissions strategy click here. Then go to our mission links site and do some research on your chosen nation at any of the mission portal sites listed there e.g. strategicnetwork.org. 5. Decide on an initial strategy (you can tweak it later) and start designing the website. Use the articles in point 2 above for some ideas. 6. Spend at least four hours a week working on the website and improving it. 7. Reply to the emails that come in promptly and start ministering to people in your target group. 8. Become a member of Cybermissions.Org and hang out with other people doing the same thing - it’s free. (Cybermissions.Org will open officially on 12th August 2003 as a web portal for cybermissionaries.) How Much Does Running A Cybermissions Project Team Cost? You will probably pay around $19.95 a year for the domain name. Then around $10 a month for reliable ad-free hosting and $29.95 a month for broadband access at your home or church office. ($480 per annum) Then work on replacing a computer every two years so - $1000 p.a. Then maybe you want some expensive software - $1500 a year And you do some online advertising at $150 a month - $1800 Total costs = $4800 per annum. Or around $5000 per annum for a well-equipped active evangelistic outreach that may well bring between 100 and 1100 people to Christ. On A Shoe-String Budget? You can start for$1000 per annum, $500 for the basics, (website, domain name, broadband) and $500 for extras. For good free open-source software go to http://www.sourceforge.net What Sort Of Things Can The CPT Do? Share testimonies in the target group’s language. Have a chat room/bulletin board Have a pen-pals page Have a “pray for healing” page so they can ask the church to pray for sick relatives. Have cross-over articles say on an area of secular interest (say camel-racing if you want to reach Saudi Arabia) then tag a short Christian message at the end or a link to an evangelistic page. Address the spiritual questions they have: demon-possession, sacrifices to idols, magic, how to endure suffering, who is really God, etc. Online artwork that is culturally appropriate. Christian songs in their national language. Recipes for the favorite foods of the target people group. Have a “personal advice” column and articles on family life, relationships, loneliness etc. Share bible portions, tracts and brief evangelistic sermons. Have news and weather of that country. Have a membership section so they keep coming back. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 12: 01.10. ONLINE-OFFLINE SYNERGIES THAT DRAMATICALLY INCREASE EVANGELISTIC EFFECTIVENESS ======================================================================== Online-offline synergy is when "offline" activities such as an outreach or a crusade are closely coordinated with a website or vice-versa. It is the intentional connecting of the online and offline worlds. It is the nexus between physical incarnation and "presence" - and information and explanation and community and forums online. In the Philippines a Catholic charismatic ministry sends worship teams into Catholic schools - where they are often restricted from teaching about being born-again. But the worship team of fun young people heavily promotes their "Genrev" website and it is there that the kids convert to Christ are followed up in the forums and eventually come to the Tuesday night meeting. With 2 million hits a month and hundreds of conversions it is a great example of online-offline synergy. Joepix is a major event outreach that send photographers around to do group photos for free. The photos are put on a website and the people in the photo are given a key they can use to log on - and invite friends to the website. The website presents the gospel. Non-Christians and inviting other non-Christians to a Christian website to view their photos! It’s tough to present the gospel in some Catholic schools, and nearly impossible to get it through in a five-minute photo shoot without looking really weird. The ministries above build the RELATIONSHIP off-line - and deliver the INFORMATION online. Let’s play this out a bit more, say your church sends 45 young people in a bus to Mexico for a 3 day outreach. They have a great time, make many friends and come home excited and sad. It wasn’t really long enough for effective ministry - or was it? What if they were encouraged to make email pen-pals? Or gave out literature to a Spanish language Christian website? What if the church got some of its Hispanic members to have an evangelistic web page in Spanish with photos of the weekend and lots of friendly faces? Or if there were forums using PHPBB2 or similar software to answer questions? Or even just a blog about the weekend? The possibilities are endless and the Mexican young people can go into a nearby Internet cafe and keep in touch with their American friends and get their questions answered about being born-again. The new converts could be effectively followed up and the seekers led to the Lord. The spiritual results could be doubled! The Introduction is made "offline", the gospel or other Information is presented "online" and questions are answered in cyberspace and relationship are built, then the Invitation happens as the website advertises another event, and finally Inclusion happens as they become part of both the online and offline communities. Then more Introductions are made and so on... Introduction - offline -outreach event Information - online - website /forums, gospel presentation, questions answered Invitation - online - invited to another event, church service etc. Inclusion - both offline and online - becomes part of the community Introduction - new members in turn introduce others...and around it goes A common mistake is to expect the website to do the initial introduction. People don’t trust the internet enough for that yet. In the main they still need a smiling face. The gospel still has to be incarnated in flesh and blood. However people are very happy to find information online or be an email pen-pal with someone they already know from the real world. So do the introduction and initial relationship building offline, and leave presenting the information to the website. This also takes a lot of the pressure off the relationship. POINTS TO PONDER: How can you build relationships offline that lead to information online? How can you build a website to back-up an outreach effort? How can you use the Internet to answer common questions that arise during face-to-face ministry? How can a website help do the evangelizing for you? ======================================================================== CHAPTER 13: 01.11. PAUL VS. JOHN – INFORMATION SECURITY THEN AND NOW ======================================================================== (Why Paul Got More Press But John Lived Longer) Differing approaches to missionary security go back as least as far as the New Testament. On one hand we have Paul, whose incredible boldness caused concern to others and who had to be rescued from rioting mobs on numerous occasions. Paul attaches long lists of names to his epistles, freely discloses his travel plans and is ’completely out in the open’ as far as information security goes. He even goes to Jerusalem despite the warnings of close friends, prophets such as Agabus - and to the obvious discomfort of James and the brethren. For Paul security was simply not a major concern. On the other hand we have the apostle John. His brother James is beheaded by Herod (Acts 12:1-2); next, his good friend Peter is arrested and put in jail, awaiting execution. At this point John is the only ’free’ member of the three apostles who were closest with Jesus (Peter, James and John), and so John ’vanishes’ from the record of Acts, and even from the greetings at the end of Paul’s epistles - which is rather strange considering both men ministered in Ephesus! For forty-five years or so we hear nothing of John until his gospel, epistles and Revelation appear in the eighties and nineties AD. And when they do appear they are coded and cryptic, they do not have long lists of names and personal greetings nor do they give detailed travel plans. They say things such as: 3Jn 1:13-14 MKJV I had many things to write, but I will not write to you with pen and ink, but I trust I shall shortly see you, and we shall speak face to face. Peace be to you. The friends greet you. Greet the friends by name. John seems to have been much more security conscious than Paul – and yet both were undeniably apostles and very great men of God who helped shaped both the Scriptures and the Church. As one wit remarked when I pointed this out, ‘Paul got more press, but John lived longer!’ Undoubtedly personality, theology and temperament had a lot to do with their approaches, but the type of persecution each faced was significantly different. Paul’s early experiences of persecution were from bands of Jewish agitators who had limited ability to intercept his letters to the churches. There is no N.T. record of systematic, government-level persecution of Paul (who seems to have easily made friends with Roman officials). For Paul, standing up to the agitators who were trying to silence both him and the gospel was the correct thing to do. Paul also had the context of being single (1Co 7:8) and thus did not have to consider protecting his family. In contrast, John’s experience of persecution was at a government level – first the insane Herod, and later the persecution of Diocletian where any misspoken phrase or loose scrap of paper could lead to someone being burned alive. For John, keeping the Church safe from inadvertent catastrophe was the priority. John was also probably married (1Co 9:5), and that would have been a contributing factor to his security-consciousness. Both approaches to security are found in missions work today –sometimes in the same organization, and this can result in some very significant tensions. This may be going a bit far, but I think the very different approaches that Paul and John had to information security largely prevented their networks from working together, even when in the same city (such as Ephesus). John’s network leaders would simply have felt unsafe around Paul and his disciples. While they would have preached the same Christ, they would have had different leadership structures, different house churches and baptism policies (Paul baptized on the spot, but there is much evidence that in other areas there was a long testing period to weed out false disciples first) and different methods of operation. In time Paul’s networks combined with Peter’s and coalesced into the Western or Roman church, while John’s network remained distinct and became the Orthodox Church of today. Differing approaches to security may also have been part of the reason for the historic WEC/UFM split towards the end of the life of missionary pioneer C.T. Studd. Even today there are tensions both within and between agencies. Trust is broken easily and takes a long time to build. A head office wire transfer containing too much detail e.g. ’for Bibles’ can alienate the field staff whom it impacts. And a single foolish mistake by an unwise youthon a short-term missions trip can result in that whole agency being ’blacklisted’ by other agencies working in the same country. In the rest of this article I will focus on ’information security’ – that is, how we separate out the information we keep secure from that which we keep out in the open for all the world to see. And I will also ask the question: “How do we create a culture of caring about the consequences of communication?” Because, as the WW2 poster used to say, “Loose lips sink ships.’ What Is Information Security? Information security, computer security and information assurance are closely related but different terms. Information security is wider than computer security and deals with information as a whole and so may concern something written by hand or even oral communication. Information security will include the terms and language you use, as well as all the communication media – landlines, mobile phones, Skype, laptops, PCs and various hand-held devices. Information security experts use terms such as confidentiality, integrity, authenticity, possession, utility and availability of information. I will boil all this down to the identification, separation and preservation of confidential information that could potentially compromise your ministry. Identification means you have policies that help people accurately identify what is confidential (finances and specifics such as names, places, and meeting venues) and what is not confidential (general publicly available information about your agency). Confidential information is any specific, real-time information (in contrast to general statements) that can form a basis for action by an enemy. Separation means you wall the information off so that (supposedly) only those who should see it, do see it. A safe or an encrypted hard drive is a simple form of such separation as is a locked file cabinet or an old briefcase used just for confidential papers. Preservation means that the information is kept intact and can be retrieved in an intelligible format. This includes such things as backups, decryption keys, virus-scanning to prevent data corruption, and checking of physical media to ensure that data is not scrambled. What Missions Are Currently Doing In This Area I did some research into this issue in the form of an online survey that was answered by 62 people (full survey analysis available upon request). In brief, the most security conscious were listed as being: a) Western missionaries, b) the IT staff and c) those in creative access ministries. Those who were least security conscious were listed as being: a) older missionaries, b) head office bureaucrats, c)those who preferred to ’just trust the Lord’, d) those whose work computer was also their home computer, e) supporters back home, f) partner ministries that use inappropriate stories in publications and g) some national missionaries. Many of the responses indicated a high level of emotion among many of the survey participants with some ’us vs. them’ polarization occurring between the most security conscious and least security conscious groups due to their differing age, as well as their cultural and theological perspectives. People reported anger and confusion around the implementation of information security policies and people divided between ’we trust God and pray’ and those who want absolutely every possible security contingency covered (which is not practicable). The following question was asked about the kind of security policies that were in place: Do you have specific policies for security in regard to: (tick all that apply) (Statistics were only taken from completed responses) Email - 71% Viruses, malware, phishing, scams - 58% Server network security - 50% Web browsing - 47% Laptop security -42% Use of Internet cafes - 37% Hard-drive encryption - 26% USB / Thumb drives - 26% Other - please specify - 24% I have no idea of what policies we may or may not have - 16% We do not have any information security policies - 11% I found it remarkable that over a quarter (27%) either had no information security policies or had no idea of what such security policies were. Email, viruses and server security seem to be the main concern of the security policies that did exist. Covenanting To Keep Each Other Safe Because of the Internet, links between missionaries in different agencies are now very extensive, and missionaries in an agency with good security practices may be compromised by a missionary in another agency with very poor security practices. Security is only as good as the weakest link, and the weakest link is often in the publicity department at mission HQ! The dramatic stories that are good for fund-raising are also the material that can cause serious problems on the field. We have to covenant to keep one another safe. At a recent large missions gathering in Thailand, the story was told of people visiting a certain closed country on a short-term missions trip, who were expressly told not to hand out tracts. On the way home one woman felt it was her duty to start throwing tracts out the bus window. They were soon arrested and taken for interrogation by the secret police. Within twenty minutes they were crying on the floor and within thirty minutes they had divulged the names of the local pastors and Christian leaders. We have to do better than that! We have to care deeply about those who may be affected by our actions, and that should give us a ’holy restraint’ that stops us doing things like throwing tracts out bus windows in closed countries! That is why I advocate for organization-wide policies that are understood and signed off on by everyone from the board chairman to the bus driver on the short-term mission trip. Detailed information security policies need to be created by each mission organization to suit its own particular requirements. These policies should be contained in a single concise document that should be personally reviewed and signed off on by all staff in each organization, including the leadership. Of course, everything must be held in balance. There are good missionaries who recognize their lack of understanding, and are trusting the Lord to provide needed protection. They would love to act on the basis of more understanding... yet one thing was stated quite strongly: the basis of our security is Christ, not policy. No policy can be allowed to determine what we will or will not do. How do we then proceed, given that in many contexts some increase in information security is desirable? First, information security practices might need to be greatly simplified to make them more user friendly. As far as possible, information security should be ’automatic’ and built into the software, email systems and server systems used by missionaries. While it is acknowledged that perfect information security is impossible, greater security can be achieved by the thoughtful development of simple yet effective information security processes. Some of these simplified information security practices could include: BASIC SECURITY (All missionaries everywhere, even in free countries) Using free firewall software such as ZoneAlarm, and free anti-virus software such as AVG or Avira antivirus and free spyware and root-kit detectors such as Spybot Search & Destroy and AdAware – and regularly updating them. Use CCleaner to remove cookies, browser history and general compromising ’junk’ from your computer. Give some consideration to using a non-Windows operating system such as Apple OSX, Ubuntu Linux, FreeBSD, or OpenSolaris. You can still run your Windows programs by using a ’virtual machine’ such as VMWare and they will run quite quickly. These non-Windows operating systems are generally quite secure and are far less targeted by hackers and virus writers. The use of encrypted PDF files (for example PDFCreator for free software that does this easily) to store confidential information - especially when sending attachments. Having to use simple passwords to open files reminds the reader that they are confidential. For further security the ability to print, or to copy, cut or paste can be turned off in a PDF file. Use strong passwords – longer than 12 characters and involving uppercase letters, lower case letters, numbers and punctuation. The more scrambled up the better. For instance get a bible verse and take the numbers and jumble them up between the letters and add some punctuation on the end to get at least 12 characters - so John3:16 might become J3o:h1n6!?@> a much stronger password. Do not get the ’latest and greatest’ - wait at least six months until the security issues have been found and patches fixed. For new releases of MS Windows or Microsoft Office, wait one year. The use of the same free / low-cost ’seamless’ encrypted email across all members of the organization (it is then as pain-free as sending a normal email). The regular use of Google and other search engines to check what is ’out there’ in cyberspace about the ministry - and even to ask people to remove confidential information from a website. It may also be wise to Google for any sensitive email addresses. Training all staff and partners in the difference between what is ’confidential’ and what can be shared freely, especially when fund-raising or in newsletters. Merge with your context. For instance, using Linux in Africa or China is fine because it has a strong following in those places but in some other countries it may look ’geeky’ and attract attention. Also, selecting unusual hardware or software means that a typical user is a) less likely to understand how it works; b) less likely to have a community of friends who can help them use their technology well; c) more likely to be identified as an "outlier" simply on the basis of the unusual tools they use. It’s worth considering the selection of tools that fit in well with those in the neighborhood (whatever that may mean). This applies not only to OS but also to email practices. Stay away from politics in all publications and communications both on-field and at HQ, as it is often a brochure with a strong political statement that alerts a government to commence surveillance of the organization. Do not publish sensitive conversion statistics, particularly of Hindus or Muslims, as this will cause them to defend their religion - by finding and persecuting the converts in that area. Do not keep any confidential information of any sort on servers connected to the Internet. Use a high-quality shredder for all financial and confidential paperwork. MODERATE SECURITY (Most missionaries in the 10/40 Window, occasional light surveillance) “Need to know’ basis for information sharing. This includes yourself. Evaluate whether you really need to know a particular piece of information. Be ’semi-paranoid’ and make people earn your trust. Do not use Skype. It has been compromised by most governments. Do not use Internet cafes - not only a high virus infection risk but key-stroke loggers are common and can record everything you type and send it to those watching you. Do secure web browsing using Sandboxie, Green Border or multiple proxy servers. Do not use cellphones in some countries, particularly in police states, as mobile phones can not only be listened in on, but their microphones and cameras can be turned on remotely. Removing the battery is the only safe way to prevent this. A forest is a great place for a sensitive conversation. It is very hard for others to listen undetected, even using wireless electronics (which do not work well in greenery). The use of free software such as TrueCrypt as a way to create encrypted hard-drives or encrypted ’file containers’ within hard-drives – and the use of these encrypted partitions for all highly confidential data. It just takes a little practice. Generate as little confidential information as possible. Do not ask for specifics (such as full names addresses, etc.) that might compromise people. Keep a low profile, be useful, friendly and non-annoying. Take care with financial transactions so that no one is ever burned or gets a grudge against you (and thus has a motive to betray you). Do not have large, obvious meetings. Do not have all the converts or church leaders in one place at one time (so they can all be arrested at once). Train your memory so that records of appointments and other compromising information does not have to be kept on paper in sensitive situations. Use a "split messages" policy. If you need to share a confidential message, break it apart and send via different paths. You might send one element (e.g. date or location) by email, then make a phone call or fax to send the rest. Appoint someone in your team to be your ’security consultant’ who updates computers regularly and who does the necessary nagging that is required to keep people secure. HIGH SECURITY (Really tough places, extensive government-level surveillance) There are no effective technical counter-measures that a missionary can take to counter determined government surveillance. The missionary must carefully evaluate whether God has called them to such a situation and the risk they may pose to themselves, their family and the national church. Western missionaries can unfortunately draw unwanted attention to those that they meet with in such countries. A wise, consistent respectful, God-honoring lifestyle is generally good security anywhere. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 14: 01.12. PROPOSAL FOR A POSTGRADUATE COURSE IN CYBER-MISSIONS AND INTERNET EVANGELISM ======================================================================== Proposal: To equip leaders for mission and evangelism in an ever-changing world through a degree program in “Cyber-Missions and Internet Evangelism”. With the growth of the Internet and web ministries, the Christian educational establishment needs to provide global-level leadership in this developing area of missiology. Although formal programs exist for communication, radio evangelism, writing, journalism, and media-strategy, no curriculum exists covering this emerging ministry field. Definitions Cyber-Missions refers to the front-line use of the Internet in missions – for networking, team-building, counseling and education. Internet Evangelism is the specific application of the Web for outreach, through evangelistic websites, church pages, chat rooms, and email. It has great potential both in the West and the 10-40 Window. Internet Evangelism is an effective method of reaching unreached people groups in the 10-40 Window, and can also target very specific groups in the Western world. There two disciplines overlap, and terms may be used interchangeably in this document. Distance learning? Although the curriculum outlined here could be taught within a residential establishment, the developments in online education would enable such a course to be offered online, though validated and overseen by a recognized educational center. Advantages: Low cost Students can be located anywhere in the world Course can be self-paced, and studied on a part-time/evening basis There are a limited number of qualified practitioners qualified to be the faculty teachers and supervisors for this course, and they are in a range of locations around the world. Online education has come of age with many of the software, security and pedagogical issues being ironed out over the last two years. Discussion in online forums and the use of email between student and supervisor have proven practical and useful in facilitating graduate degree courses requiring reflection on practice. It is therefore the optimal method of delivery for many subjects. This is especially true for a discipline focused on the online environment and where the participants may be dispersed geographically with many prospective students living internationally. Prospective Students Current practitioners in cyber-missions and web-evangelism and those wishing to enter this area, as well as field-missionaries seeking new methods to evangelize and disciple unreached people groups. Is This A Needed Area Of Study? Internet evangelism and cyber-missions are rapidly emerging areas of missions. Even though there are relatively few full-time practitioners, Internet ministries are gaining acceptance in the missions community. Cyber-missions departments in major missions organizations are developing. In Web Evangelism, some post-modern churches find most new members coming in through their websites. The Internet has enormous potential for reaching closed countries, for targeting unreached people groups, for training of lay leaders and for evangelizing those who cannot or will not approach a local church. As the potential of this discipline becomes recognized, trained and equipped leaders will be needed, who can in turn train and envision others. What Is The Size Of The Potential Student Population For This Course? Formal research does not exist at this time, however this is an emerging area and journal articles on cyber-missions and Internet evangelism have a high level of interest. The concept of such a post-graduate course was considered by some Internet Evangelism Coalition leaders recently and generated a high level of enthusiasm. What Other Courses Such as This Exist? IEC (Internet Evangelism Coalition) and Campus Crusade both offer brief non-formal courses. Some courses on post-modernism address the Internet extensively as a cultural medium. However there do not seem to be any regionally-accredited graduate level course designed to equip full-time practitioners and strategists in cyber-missions and Internet evangelism. Are There Any Text-Books Available? Many textbooks have been published exploring sociological aspects of the Internet and general evangelistic and missionary communication. Andrew Careaga and others have written on E-vangelism and Tony Whitaker has compiled an online resource web-evangelism.com which includes study questions. Many secular books and online resources cover technical, design, and usability issues. Who Would Comprise the Faculty? There are perhaps 50 key people available in this area at the moment with perhaps a dozen of these having suitable doctorates and about the same number with M.Div. / M.A. degrees and extensive online experience. The originator of this course proposal, John Edmiston, is available to be a course administrator, and has contacts with many other potential faculty. What About The Technical Aspects? Students could develop an emphasis on content, or on the technological aspects, but all students would be required to know something of both sides of the discipline. Issues such as accessibility, online security, types of websites, the strategic use of web databases, bandwidth limitations and designing with the end-user in mind should be part of the training of all students. Why Now? The areas of cyber-missions and Internet evangelism have so far evolved in an ad hoc fashion. Practitioners have now accumulated a sizable body of common practice and knowledge. As this field grows, there is a clear need for formal training and for systematization. Any Christian establishment developing such a course now will have the opportunity to pioneer formal training in an emerging ministry field. Overheads Minimal as classes would be online. Scholarship Fund Could possibly be funded by tapping into the Christian business and technology community. Anticipated Course Structure Preferably an entirely online course using adult-learning strategies. Local proctoring of tests by an on-the-spot supervisor can ensure student work integrity. Much of the course will be on a practical project-learning basis. If some residency is required, this may be able to be achieved with regional residency programs. The course would accept both M.Div. and M.S. (and other suitable) graduates. M.Div. graduates would be required to acquire some I.T. competencies and M.S. graduates some theological and missiological understandings. The modules would include topics such as: Research Methodologies, Dissertation Writing, A Theology of Cyber-Space, Ministry-Focused Website Construction, Cross-cultural Communication and Cultural Sensitivity, Online Communication, Approaches To Internet Evangelism, Targeting Special Interest/Affinity Groups by the Bridge Strategy, Website Architecture and Usability, Understanding HTML and CSS, Effective Graphic Design, Content Management, Reaching Members of World Religions, Overview of Cyber-Missions, Database Construction and Management, Virtual Teams, Reaching Post-Moderns Via The Internet, Counseling In Cyber-Space, Website Promotion Strategies, Building Online Community, The Construction and Funding of Christian Community Internet Cafes, Issues in Cyber-Ethics, Catering For Accessibility, Poverty and the Digital Divide, Developing A Cyber-Missions/Internet Evangelism Department In Your Organization, Email/Web Security for Missions. Dissertation – either research-based or project-based. Cyber-Missions dissertations would be expected to have a strong missiological and developing world emphasis. As an online course it could be taught using adjunct faculty within USA and the West. Implications For Missions/Evangelism As a Whole Development of an M.A./Ph.D. qualification in this emerging area of missions would help to both validate and systematize the areas of Cyber-Missions and Internet Evangelism. It would produce a group of highly trained leaders who could implement Cyber-Missions departments in mission agencies and Internet Evangelism departments within mega-churches and denominational evangelism divisions. This unleashing of the power of the Internet to serve the Gospel would enable a major leap forward to be made in the achievement of the Great Commission. Final Thoughts This paper is a brief overview and a starting point for further discussion and reflection, rather than a final formulation. Its originator, John Edmiston, and other qualified commentators, are very happy to enter into dialogue to develop an optimal course structure. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 15: 01.13. SOCIO-TECHNICAL HUMANITY: ======================================================================== Technology As Part Of the Image Of God And Task Of the Church (A Christian perspective on how we can integrate technology and spirituality.) Technology and The Image of God God is a highly competent technician. He created wing structures, eyes, chemical factories like the liver, lightning bolts and even nuclear furnaces called stars –long before man was there to advise Him. He even created and designed the human brain – a self-replicating, fuzzy logic, multi-media, self-programming, organic computer. If we are to be in the image of God then we will share His excellence in design, invention and implementation. The notion that technology is alien to spirituality is false. Technology is the expression of spirituality. Technology and spirituality are integrated with each other, technology is our means of expression of the image of God within us. Eze 1:19-21, Eze 1:25-28 BBE And when the living beings went on, the wheels went by their side; and when the living beings were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up.Wherever the spirit was to go they went; and the wheels were lifted up by their side: for the spirit of the living beings was in the wheels.When these went on, the others went; and when these came to rest, the others came to rest; and when these were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up by their side: for the spirit of the living beings was in the wheels…… And there was a voice from the expanse which was over their heads, in their standing still, and they let down their wings.And from above the expanse that was over their heads was a likeness like a sapphire stone, the likeness of a throne. And on the likeness of the throne was a likeness looking like a man on it from above.And I saw Him looking like the color of polished bronze, looking like fire all around within it. From the likeness of His loins even upward, and from the likeness of His loins even downward, I saw Him, looking like fire, and it had brightness all around.As the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain looks, so the brightness all around looked. This was how the likeness of the glory of Jehovah looked. And I saw. And I fell on my face, and I heard a voice of One speaking. In Ezekiel’s vision the throne of God is being carried by four living beings on a chariot of fire with four immense wheels. These wheels are directed by the spirit of the living beings “for the spirit of the living beings was in the wheels”.This living being-wheels-throne-expanse of crystal arrangement was full of energy and fire. It was a high-powered, mobile, spiritual-technological complex that carried the very Presence and authority of God. Thus God was not separated from technology – but rather was enthroned upon it. And the technology was not separate from the spiritual world – but indwelt by it. This integration of spiritual indwelling and technical excellence is evident in the first passage in Scripture that tells us about being filled with the Holy Spirit. As Bezalel is filled with God’s Spirit the result is technical excellence and fine craftsmanship. Exo 31:1-5 ASVAnd Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying,See, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah:and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship,to devise skilful works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass,and in cutting of stones for setting, and in carving of wood, to work in all manner of workmanship. The Spirit is often associated with fire - the main symbol of technology and power and His indwelling teaches us and give us wisdom in all things including technology. (1Co 2:9-16, 1Jn 2:20, 1Jn 2:22) Indeed the prophet Isaiah tells us to pay close attention to God’s wisdom and teachings which even include practical details of farming life: Isa 28:23-29 MKJVGive ear and hear my voice; listen, and hear my speech.Does the plowman plow all day to sow? Does he open and break the clods of his ground?When he has made the face of it level, does he not cast out the dill and scatter the cummin, and throw in the choice wheat and the chosen barley and the spelt in its border?For his God instructs him to do right; his God teaches him. For the dill is not threshed with a threshing instrument, nor is a cart wheel turned on cummin; but the dill is beaten out with a staff and the cummin with a rod.Bread grain is crushed, but not always does one thresh it with threshing. And he drives the wheel of his cart; and his horses do not beat it small.This also comes out from Jehovah of Hosts, who is wonderful in wisdom, making sound wisdom great. The point of Isaiah’s statement is that God’s wisdom is not just some esoteric morality or irrelevant philosophy but covers all of life including farming and the technology needed for earning of our daily bread. God’s wisdom penetrates into all the details of everyday life – including showing the farmer the best way to thresh cummin. Jesus – who is always our model, was a carpenter – a user of tools and technology (Mark 6:3). He was not an ascetic philosopher who just read books and taught. He was not ‘so spiritual’ that He floated around unable to fix a light bulb or wash dishes. The image of God in Christ, the perfect image was of a practical tool-using man. For Jesus, who is the very image of God, there was no split between spirituality and technology. Peter, James and John were fishermen, Paul was a tent-maker, they were all people who used technology. The Christian model does not involve a retreat from technology. Christianity sees practicality as a positive human attribute. Technical excellence is desirable and is part of the wisdom God imparts and part of being fully in the image of God. Socio-Technical Humanity But technology is not ultimate - Jesus left His workshop and Peter left his nets – to preach the gospel. Technology is a means not an end -and there are times when we have a good practical reason to leave the toolshed and go preach a sermon. The aim of the Christian life is the development of the human character in love, not the development of technology. Yet technology helps us express our love. If you love a sick person you want the best possible diagnosis and treatment. This may involve the development of X-Ray machines, MRI, better scalpels, or better disinfectants – all because we want to love, heal and help sick people.The technology takes the loving impulse and turns it into a practical reality. All the loving impulses in the world cannot make up for an inaccurate diagnosis, a blunt scalpel or an unhygienic ward. If love is to achieve its aims it needs to use technology to do so. Thus technology is a means, not an end, technology is the means by which we express our love and incarnate it in the world of tangible things. Thus we are socio-technical beings. That is we are social beings who express themselves through technology. This is no accident of culture or a sudden invention of the last few years. For, as we saw in Ezekiel, God Himself is a socio-technical being, a loving Trinity enthroned on an awesome chariot of fire. The construction of the Temple gives us some idea of what Spirit-indwelt technology can look like. The Temple was the construction of human craftsmen inspired by God working to a construction plan given to David by the Holy Spirit (1Ch 28:11-19). Here technology is clearly in the service of God for the glory of God and its result ends up being personally indwelt by God. Many bible commentators have noticed that humanity starts in a Garden but ends up in a city – the city of God. Living in a city involves roads and buildings and communications. The city, the place of technology, is our final home because there we will use the technical skills given to us by God and be inventive, artistic and creative. We don’t go back to a garden, we have outgrown Eden, we have now mastered fire and steel and music and art and we are socio-technical beings who will dwell in a socio-technical city indwelt by God. (Rev 21:1-27, Rev 22:1-21) The Spirit Of The Living Beings Was In The Wheels In the Ezekiel passage above it says "for the spirit of the living beings was in the wheels". This says two things - firstly that technology can be indwelt by God, or by other spiritual beings, and secondly that our "spirit" our culture can be expressed in our artifacts and technology. God can "dwell" in a Temple. And our cultural spirit has its temples - shopping malls, B2 bombers, racing cars and skyscrapers. These technological constructions express the spirit of the nation or culture. From the Gogodala canoe race with its chanting and spells to the elegance of the Concorde we feel our technology captures our spirit and expresses it. So what has happened to the spirit of a nation that builds too many malls or suddenly wants to build nuclear bombs? Or when a nation builds great skyscrapers and commercial buildings while its poor go without housing? Greed and violence have entered in and compassion has left. But the changes can be positive! In London after the great revivals pubs closed down, the slums were made attractive, and technical colleges and schools went up. When a revival affects construction work - then it has truly taken hold! And what does it say when we see a nation taking environmentalism to heart and building recycling plants and creating natural parks, museums and works of art? Our technology expresses both the best and the worst of our spirit. Biblically there is one artifact of the spirit that keeps recurring - the ark! The Ark: Technology and Salvation Noah saved the world by building an ark. Technological skill in the construction of large vessels was needed and God gave a design to Noah which apparently is along the same proportions of the oil tankers of today (the ark would have carried around 50,000 tons). Gen 6:12-19 MKJVAnd God looked upon the earth. And, behold, it was corrupted! For all flesh had corrupted its way upon the earth.And God said to Noah, The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them. And, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.Make an ark of cyprus timbers. You shall make rooms in the ark. And you shall pitch it inside and outside with pitch.And this is the way you shall make it. The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it shall be fifty cubits and its height thirty cubits.You shall make a window in the ark, and you shall finish it above to a cubit. And you shall set the door of the ark in the side of it. You shall make it with lower, second and third stories.And behold! I, even I, am bringing a flood of waters upon the earth in order to destroy all flesh (in which is the breath of life) from under the heavens. Everything which is in the earth shall die.But I will establish My covenant with you. And you shall come into the ark, you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you.And you shall bring into the ark two of every kind, of every living thing of all flesh, to keep them alive with you. They shall be male and female. The “constructed ark” and salvation theme returns later in the ark that saved Moses: Exo 2:3 MKJVBut when she could no longer hide him, she took an ark of papyrus for him, and daubed it with bitumen and with pitch, and put the child in it. And she laid it in the reeds by the river’s edge. The ark is also the theme of the ornate “ark of the covenant” which was the centerpiece of the tabernacle. Exo 25:10-13 MKJVAnd they shall make an ark of acacia-wood. Two and a half cubits long and a cubit and a half wide and a cubit and a half high.And you shall overlay it with pure gold. You shall overlay it inside and out, and shall make on it a crown of gold all around.And you shall cast four rings of gold for it, and shall put it on its four feet. And two rings shall be in the one side of it, and two rings in the other side of it.And you shall make staves of acacia-wood, and overlay them with gold. This ark of the covenant was Spirit-indwelt power technology where God and man met. Exo 25:22 MKJVAnd I will meet with you there, and I will talk with you from above the mercy-seat, from between the two cherubs on the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give you in commandment to the sons of Israel. But the ark was also holy, powerful and dangerous: 2Sa 6:6-7 MKJVAnd when they came to Nachon’s threshing-floor, Uzzah reached out to the ark of God, and took hold of it; for the oxen upset it.And the anger of Jehovah was kindled against Uzzah. And God struck him there for the error. And he died there by the ark of God. Spirit-indwelt high-power technology is not to be taken lightly. The technology that saves can be the technology that kills. Yet technology is part of the salvation story, either in its perfection in the Ark of the Covenant or in its death and twisting in the Cross. The Cross: The Death of Technology The cross is the simplest possible construction – two straight sticks nailed together. The cross is inelegant, rough, crude, the very opposite of the artistry of the Ark of the Covenant. It’s not efficient like a guillotine or merciful like a lethal injection. The cross is technology brutalized, technology used for cruelty, technology subverted and made primitive, ugly and dead. From the cruel whip of thongs the soldiers used, to the rod Jesus was beaten with to the crown of thorns -we see the technology of torture, brutality and cruelty. Technology in the hands of sadists in the service of Satan. Inventing instruments of torture and cruelty is the work of sick minds and it is the death of technology. God does not sit on His throne thinking about how best to torment people. In fact such cruelties do not enter His mind at all. Jer 7:31 ASVAnd they have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I commanded not, neither came it into my mind. Technology employed for the purpose of cruelty is technology in the service of the Devil, not of God. Napalm, torture chambers, sweat-shops, inhuman working conditions, Satanic ritual abuse, death camps, the gas chambers in Auschwitz, and the Nazi experimentation on people are all demonic uses of technology. They are dark, evil, the perversion of human inventiveness and a twisting of the image of God. Idols: The Worship Of The Wrong Spiritual Technology Technology is also distorted from its God-given purpose when it is used for idolatry. Lev 26:1 ASVYe shall make you no idols, neither shall ye rear you up a graven image, or a pillar, neither shall ye place any figured stone in your land, to bow down unto it: for I am Jehovah your God. An idol is spirit-indwelt power technology of the wrong kind!Its technology indwelt by demons. 1Co 10:19-21 ASVWhat say I then? that a thing sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything?But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have communion with demons.Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of demons: ye cannot partake of the table of the Lord, and of the table of demons. However powerful idolatry may be it is far less powerful than God as is illustrated by the clash between the Philistine idol Dagon and YHWH.: 1Sa 5:1-4 ASVNow the Philistines had taken the ark of God, and they brought it from Eben-ezer unto Ashdod.And the Philistines took the ark of God, and brought it into the house of Dagon, and set it by Dagon.And when they of Ashdod arose early on the morrow, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of Jehovah. And they took Dagon, and set him in his place again.And when they arose early on the morrow morning, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of Jehovah; and the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands lay cut off upon the threshold; only the stump of Dagon was left to him. When technology becomes clearly idolatrous God will humble it and cause it to fall down before Him. Then if it does not get the message it will be amputated! Pressing the Pause Button: The Sabbath Technology should not be not allowed to drive us relentlessly. There must be some sacred space in our culture. Days off, holy days, green belts, places of rest and recreation. There must be some areas beyond the intrusiveness of "work", the Market, and high speed 24/7 "always on" technological madness. In the Bible both people and the land were to have Sabbaths. The people, once very seven days, the land once every seven years. During the Sabbath people were not to work or use technology - it was "tools down" time. During the Sabbath on the land it was not to feel then plow but rather it was to be left fallow. Exo 20:10-11 ASV but the seventh day is a sabbath unto Jehovah thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: for in six days Jehovah made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore Jehovah blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. Lev 25:3-5 ASV Six years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard, and gather in the fruits thereof; but in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a sabbath unto Jehovah: thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard. That which groweth of itself of thy harvest thou shalt not reap, and the grapes of thy undressed vine thou shalt not gather: it shall be a year of solemn rest for the land. Six days we can use our technology - then we need to give ourselves and our environment a break. Even God rested from His creative labors on the seventh day. Part of being a socio-technical being is knowing when to let go of the need to work and to simply rest and enjoy relationships. We need to create Sabbath spaces when we, our culture and our technology "slow down" and our full humanity can be refreshed. Technology Redeemed: The Technology of Worship Music is the use of technology to produce harmony – whether it is a harp, a pipe organ or a computer that produces the sound. Skill with the instrument is an essential part of musical ability and of contributing to worship: 2Ch 34:12 DarbyAnd the men did the work faithfully. And over them were appointed Jahath and Obadiah, Levites, of the children of Merari, and Zechariah and Meshullam, of the children of the Kohathites, for the oversight; and all these Levites were skilled in instruments of music. The Psalms list large numbers of musical instruments used in worship such as harps, lyres, viols, drums, trumpets and cymbals (Psa 150:1-6) and King David is credited with being an inventor of musical instruments. (Amo 6:5) In worship the technology is secondary and the worship of the Lord is primary. Technology takes its place as a servant of the glory of God. In worship music the technology brings people together as one and unites them in thought and spirit. The musical instrument well played, in humble service to God is a key element in experiencing the presence of God. In worship we are socio-technical beings giving glory to God both in our social relationships and with our musical instruments. Similarly we are to integrate our modern worship technology - our sound systems, PowerPoint presentations, and lighting – into a seamless harmonious whole that gives glory to God and does not draw attention to the technology per se. Technology And Evangelism There has always been an adopting of technology by those interested in evangelism. The technology can be as simple as the printing of tracts and bibles or using a megaphone, as expensive as radio and TV evangelism or as far-reaching as satellite broadcasts and cybermissions. The power is in the gospel, in the proclaimed word of God, not in the technology (Rom 1:16). However the technology allows the proclamation to reach more and more people and for it to be translated into languages and formats they understand – such as Braille. By teaching on the Internet I reach 4000 students a month- far more than I would teach in most bible colleges. Not only that but the web site is “teaching” them when I am asleep, traveling or even on holiday! Technology even enables me to teach people in over 25 countries simultaneously! Technology does not increase the truth of what I say or its power to save (which is Christ’s alone) but it does make it cheaper and more accessible to those who seek it. It only costs me about $5 per year per full-time student at the AIBI! (www.aibi.ph). Paul varied his missionary approach so that he might “by all means save some”: 1Co 9:22 MKJV To the weak I became as the weak, so that I might gain the weak. I am made all things to all men, so that I might by all means save some. Thus the means adopted are to be tailored to those needing salvation – Braille bibles for the blind, hand-cranked tape players for remote rural villages, Internet chat rooms for the wired post-modern generation. The technology is only glorious if it is appropriate for getting those particular people saved and discipled. Conclusion We are socio-technical beings made in the image of God who are to use technology to love one another and carry out the Great Commission with wisdom and effectiveness. Technology can be Spirit-indwelt and powerful and an intrinsic part of the glory of God – such as the ark of the covenant or the wheels of Ezekiel. Technology is a means not an end and is not to be subverted into idolatry or used in inhuman and cruel ways. Neither is technology to be used to relentlessly drive us but rather is to be restrained by "Sabbath spaces’ of rest that we create in the culture. Technology is to be harnessed for serving one another, for worship and as part of the expression of the spiritual wisdom of God as it is incarnate in the physical world. Spirit-filled Christians will be “skilled craftsmen” and technologically competent as well as of good Christian character. This wisdom will cause them to be able to dwell in the city of God, the perfect God-indwelt socio-technical community. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 16: 01.14. CAN YOU REALLY HAVE AN INTERNET CHURCH? ======================================================================== Provocative Thoughts 50% of American Christians will worship solely online by 2010?? (Barna Research) Churches will go the way the same way as the retail shopping world. The local “mom and pop” general grocery store (local church) will be replaced by: Mega-churches (Big Box) House churches, ethnic churches, niche churches (Boutique / specialty stores) Cyberchurches (Internet commerce) The Unchurched Church Many Christians are drifting around without regular participation in a local church Disillusioned – those burned by church Disabled – those physically unable to get there Disobedient – avoiding God Discarded – rejected by churches, unable to cope with large groups socially etc. Some of these actively seek fellowship online We need to help these people find a spiritual home where they can (online) Will this be adequate…? Can it help them at all? Heresy! The Rev. Ian Paisley condemned Mel Gibson’s “The Passion” saying: “the gospel should only be preached from the Bible, in a registered local church and by an ordained minister”. Many people think that the gospel should be not be proclaimed online Cyberchurch is seen as a threat to “real church” which is seen as the neighborhood (parish) church alone. The Cyberchurch is the Constant Church People do not leave the neighborhood church for a cyberchurch. People ADD the cyberchurch to their neighborhood church Christian experience. Then they move, or change churches, or fall ill and thus leave the parish church. The cyberchurch remains constant while the neighborhood church changes. CLF has been a “constant” in my life since 1995 – through three different countries and five different churches. Part 1: The Nature of the Church in Cyberspace What is a Church? From Wayne Grudem “Systematic Theology”, the Church is the community of all true believers for all time. (p.853) We may conclude that the group of God’s people considered at any level from local to universal may rightly be called a “church”. We should not make the mistake of saying that only a church meeting in houses expresses the true nature of the church, or only a church meeting at a city-wide level can rightly be called a church, or only the church universal can rightly be called by the name “church”. Rather the community of God’s people meeting at any level can be rightly called a church. (p. 857) What is an Online Community? “Virtual communities are social aggregations that emerge from the Net when enough people carry on those public discussions long enough, with sufficient human feeling, to forms webs of personal relationships in cyberspace. (Howard Rheingold, The Virtual Community) (revised ed.) What is a Cyberchurch? A church on the Internet emerges when a number of true Christian believers meet online in Christ’s name, for long enough, and with sufficient human feeling, to forms webs of sanctified personal relationships in cyberspace that reflect the common presence of the Holy Spirit. Emerges… Church arises out of real human connections. It is not identical to a particular web site, online forum or e-group. It takes time. It takes persistence in discussion. There needs to be “sufficient human feeling”. There needs to be a sense of “in Christ’s name”. The group recognizes that “something has emerged” from their interactions. A Called-Out Gathering The church is an ekklesia (a term originally used for a Greek democratic political assembly) which means “called out” as in “assembled by the call of the town crier”. The church members are called out of the “world” (sinful areas of cyberspace?) into fellowship with one another. They are also specifically “gathered” around Christ. It is a sanctified gathering – dedicated to God, and separated from worldliness and idolatry. But What About... Worship Baptism Communion The Laying On Of Hands Tithes and Offerings Healing & Exorcism Footwashing Hospitality Marriages Funerals Degrees of Community The fullest expression of community was between Jesus and the Twelve and later in the Jerusalem Church (Acts 1:1-26, Acts 2:1-47, Acts 3:1-26, Acts 4:1-37, Acts 5:1-42, Acts 6:1-15, Acts 7:1-60, Acts 8:1-40). Since then the degree of genuine Christian community in the local church has varied greatly (almost from zero to infinity) but it has still been “the church”. A good cyber-church should aim to also meet physically from time to time to enhance Christian community. Such meetings (perhaps quarterly) could share communion, have baptisms, etc. Gathered... Is a person in the back row of a megachurch who comes and goes each week with no personal interaction with other Christians “gathered”? Is someone watching a TV evangelist “gathered” in community? [No – because they cannot interact with others] “Gathering” involves being able to practice some of the “one another” commands of the NT – love one another, encourage one another, etc. Gathering In Cyberspace Christians in an active online community can: Encourage one another. Exhort one another. Pray for one another. Edify one another. Teach one another. Rebuke one another. Love one another. Give to one another. …And sometimes they do these things MORE often than in a face to face fellowship. Cyber - Equivalents? Is a YouTube video of a sermon equivalent to listening to one “in church”? What about a written sermon? Is the Bible read online “the same as” the Bible read in Church? Can you have communion together online? Can you have Internet clergy? In The Beginning Was the Word Salvation is via an encounter with the Living Word of God, in Christ, in His Scriptures, and through the Holy Spirit, or, through the prophets. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation, not our personalities, systems, or even our technology. The Location Of The Word Jesus showed that the Word could encountered outside of the Temple, outside of the priestly hierarchy and outside of the social boundaries of Judaism. Jesus showed the Word was active and living among ordinary people in fishing boats, weddings, mountainsides, and the wilderness, even in homes of tax-collectors, and among lepers, demoniacs, Samaritans and Syrophoenicians. The Word in Cyberspace So God’s Word can be living and active in cyberspace. Salvation can and does occur in cyberspace. The Internet liberates God’s Word to act outside of normal ecclesiastical structures. Thus the Internet may produce non-conventional forms of Church. The Internet allows God’s Word to reach many people who would never encounter it by normal means. Prayerful Internet ministry brings about encounters between religious surfers and the living, active Word of God. This is more than just sharing Bible verses. The Seeker and The Word People searching for religious information will often start by entering a query in the search engine. The search engine connects the religious seeker with information that promises to answer exactly that query. So when someone arrives at a Christian website they are expecting an answer to their query that they typed in the search engine. It is at this point that we must help them to encounter Christ the Living Word. The web is designed to assist people seeking information – including religious information and we must be there for these people! The Word Forms Community The early Christian communities were the result of apostolic preaching. The Church is formed by the Word. Online communities form around a certain specialized ’message’ – whether it be Star Trek fans or computer security geeks. To form community we need to have a clear declared message. Communities Form Beliefs Most of our beliefs are formed in us by the communities that we belong to: Family School Church University Military Seminary Political Party Cyberchurches are places of shared stories, ideas and the formation of Christian beliefs. Emerging From The Word Cyber-churches need to be online spiritual communities which emerge out of living encounters with God’s Word online and which are centered around a gospel which is the power of God unto salvation. Liberated In Order To Emerge God has liberated the gospel in cyberspace so that it might create new communities of faith which will emerge from the gospel’s proclamation outside of the normal ecclesiastical structures and channels. Communities vs. Converts In Acts we see the apostles creating new communities of faith and appointing leaders for them. The gospel creates communities of faith, not just individual converts. We need to BOTH. a) Get people saved online. b) Form them into living, active, Spirit-filled cyber-communities of grace. Cyberchurch to Neighborhood Church Can people converted online be channeled into local neighborhood churches? Not a matter of “either/or” but rather is “both/and”. People can belong to both a cyberchurch and a neighborhood church. Churches need to have websites that appeal to those seeking a neighborhood church experience Web-Enabled House Churches House churches linked to a central website that provides teaching material, resources, discussion forums, etc. House church members can contribute to the website. Enables house churches to benefit from a wider range of gifted people. Intimacy of wide-ranging theological discussion online. Intimacy of worship and personal ministry in house churches. Part 2: Cyberchurches – Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats Strength – Specialization The Internet allows geographically dispersed specialists to consult with one another. Communities can be built around a single narrow topic e.g. Missionary work in a certain UPG (unreached people group). Cyberchurches can cater to specialized and neglected cultural and sub-cultural groups e.g. Filipinos working overseas, or people with a certain disability. Strength - Lack of Forms People enjoy cyberchurch because they do not have to dress a certain way or act a certain way. People are not judged by how they look but by how they interact with others. Age, race and gender issues are far less prominent. Strength – A synchronicity You do not have to meet all at the same time and in the same place. Shift workers can answer their emails when it suits them. People can take time to think about an answer or response. Church is “always on”. Strength – Anonymity / Security It is much easier to arrest a group meeting in a building than to round up twenty people known only as joe1234@yahoo.com. While the Internet is never perfectly secure, it is more secure than practically any other alternative. China, North Korea, and Saudi Arabia may be exceptions to this rule. Strength – Seeker Driven Because most people who will arrive at your cyberchurch website will get there through a search engine they will be already somewhat interested. Thus you can tailor a cyberchurch to a very specific interest and rely on search engines to bring you people who seek that specific thing. In fact the more unique and specific you are, in general, the more visitors you will receive. When this works it produces homogeneous groups of interested and motivated people. Strength - Good Content A cyberchurch can have an enormous amount of high quality content available in articles, podcasts and videos. Content can be created by all members not just a single minister. People can access high quality content outside of “Sunday morning and Wednesday night”. The content can be discussed all week long. Weaknesses – Lack of Commitment Few people are as committed to life in a cyberchurch as they are to life in a neighbourhood church. At this point the cyberchurch is still “virtual” and is “not really real” for most people. Weakness – The Word Is Not Made Flesh “The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us...full of grace and truth...” This “word made flesh” aspect does not happen in a pure virtual cyberchurch. No one hugs you, anoints you with oil, baptizes you, or lays hands upon you in prayer. Weakness – Lack of Accountability Cyberchurches cannot hold members accountable for their lifestyles. There are few mechanisms for effective church discipline. Cyber-Christians can effectively hide sinful and embarrassing parts of their lives from others. Accountability can be very helpful to Christian growth and is generally absent in cyberspace. Weakness – Corporate Worship Cyberchurches lack the corporate worship experience, sitting at the computer listening to an MP3 it is not quite the same as singing “How Great Thou Art” with hundreds of other believers! Dealing with the Weaknesses Cyberchurches can hold quarterly “gatherings” or arrange neighborhood cell groups / house churches to bring the incarnational, personal, “one another” elements of the Christian faith. Cyberchurches can encourage people to become prayer partners by phone / Skype to encourage sharing and accountability. Opportunities: Mission A cyberchurch can reach out to people in many countries of the world, sharing the gospel in a peer-to-peer manner without the encumbrance of having to get air tickets, visas, worry about diseases and security etc. A cyber-ministry can reach places closed to more traditional forms of mission. Can disciple people who otherwise could not be discipled: Muslim nations, remote areas, shut-ins, introverts, skeptics, etc. Opportunities: Seniors Those seniors who do use the Internet tend to spend more hours in cyberspace than anyone else - over twice the time of young people who “dive in and dive out”. Many of these seniors do not have good health and do not enjoy going to a neighborhood church but have much wisdom and love the Lord. Opportunities: The Unchurched Church Many Christians have left the institutional church – for a wide variety of reasons and now “float around” seeking spiritual nourishment here and there. Unchurched Christians can benefit greatly from a friendly and accepting cyberchurch which can help them to rebuild their trust in the Christian community. Opportunities: Micro-Churches The Internet can draw together small groups of people around very specific doctrinal or practical interests. You could set up an Internet church for HIV+ people, or for folk with a hearing disability. Opportunities: Social Networking Christian social networking Christian alternatives to MySpace Bringing friends together to meet Christ and enter into salvation together www.boc.org www.mypraize.com www.mybattlecry.com www.storyspot.com www.meetfish.com Opportunities: New Technologies Podcasting Videocasting Cell phones Ebooks / Downloads Injecting web based content into normal Christian community Opportunities: Web to Local Databases of local churches “Find A Church” Google local – church plus zip code Connect web communities to neighborhood churches that respect that paradigm Church based face to face events for web communities Opportunities: Game Communities Game communities - meet in the game, then form into Christian community Christian gaming communities Christian sub-communities in Second Life etc. Use the game to teach values – teaching by participation Threats: Technological A cyberchurch depends on reliable Internet access and people having computers to access it. If the server goes down, the church goes down. A cyberchurch can be hacked or spied on by malicious parties Some high-bandwidth applications (e.g. video streaming) may not be accessible to members using dialup or in developing nations. VOIP e.g. Skype is illegal in some countries Threats - Fakes, Impostors and Heretics Fakes / Infiltrators: It can be difficult to ascertain that someone is “really a Christian” online? (This is vital in Muslim countries) Impostors: For instance someone who claims to be one gender but is really another e.g. a man pretending to be a woman? Heretics / Cults: Those who enter the group to argue or to “draw away disciples after themselves” Threats: Scam Artists & Online Predators People who enter Christian groups because they are “so trusting” and peddle multi-level marketing, HYIPs (High Yield Investment Portfolios = Ponzi schemes) etc. People who try to ensnare youth, lonely people etc. into sexual relationships Teach discernment skills Have an alert moderator Threats: Internal and External Conflict If moderation is too laissez-faire then internal conflict can tear the cyberchurch apart If moderation is too strict, many people will quietly (and sometimes loudly) leave Cyberchurches have the potential to cause resentment from other forms of ministry and can thus generate external conflict Cyberchurches can occasionally be accused of the same sorts of things that social networking sites are accused of Have a clear, written code of conduct Have a usage policy and copyright policy Have fair and firm moderation Part 3: Building Christian Community Online Focus An online community needs a central focus e.g. “Red Hat Linux User Group”, or “Christian Bee-Keepers Association of Northern Alberta”. The site policy document should reflect this focus and help people to stick within it For instance a Christian HIV+ recovery group may wish to include some people and exclude others and this should be plainly stated at sign-up. Forty to Four Hundred 40 is the “magic number” of members at which an online community starts to “come alive”. 400 members is approximately the number at which an online community begins to get too many messages and becomes “too large” for most people. Try and get 40 interested folk (or as close to it as possible) before you start your cyberchurch, divide the community at 400 or earlier. Facilitated Keep it simple and intuitive, write for outsiders not insiders, remember the non-techie. Have help that is easy to access. Reminder emails each month. If people are made to feel dumb they will stop participating. If people are made to feel clever and cool they will tell others. If people feel they are helped quickly they will be loyal. If their problems are ignored they will resent you. Faith A cyberchurch that is spiritually encouraging and full of faith will grow through the work of the Holy Spirit among its members Encourage positive Scriptural faith and simple Christian joy Use scriptures to encourage people and assure people that they are being prayed for Fervent Prayer All ministry rises or falls on prayer – even cyberministry. There is an enormous amount of spiritual warfare that happens in online ministry .especially those that are breaking into territory once held by Satan. Pray daily for your online ministry and have it “covered” by some good intercessors. Have a separate e-group of prayer partners and send them weekly updates. Fast & Friendly Fast responses from a friendly moderator really help to build online community. If a moderator can respond within 2-3 hours of most messages being posted it gives a sense of immediacy which encourages sharing. Moderators should aim to “prime the pump” rather than dominate the discussion. Fairness The moderation team (and it is best if it is a team of say 3-5 mature Christians) should be scrupulously fair when dealing with online disputes. Cliques and favorites can develop online, just as they do offline and they are perhaps even more damaging. Impartiality brings stability to online community. Fire Extinguishers! “Flames” are insults, aspersions and verbal assaults which occur in online debates. If the “flames” are allowed to spread then the Christian community can be damaged It can be tempting to react angrily to someone who “flames” you – which only adds fuel to the fire. The goal is not to “win” but to preserve community. Forbearance and turning the other cheek are essential. Moderators should privately email those in the flame war and tell them to stop. Freebies People will join an online community that has regular freebies – that relate to the group’s purpose. This can be as simple as a link to a useful piece of free software or to a bible search tool or other item: “This week’s useful freebie: check out E-Sword’s new module on...” Or it can be a “free tip” on Christian living or a free devotional. Once they join they then can slowly become part of the other activities of the cyberchurch. Fine Folk People want to be around “fine folk who are just like them”. This is the homogenous unit principle of Donald McGavran. People do not want to have to cross cultural, linguistic or social barriers to receive the gospel. Since an online community can only contain about 400 people out of all Creation it can legitimately be limited to a certain demographic. Features Have enough site features to encourage folk to participate in ways that suit them e.g. discussion boards, e-groups, instant messenger, photo gallery, notices, downloads, sermons, prayer whiteboard etc. Do not have so many features that they are underutilized and the site seems dead. Add features by member demand, e.g. live chat is only suitable for very large groups. Few Irritants If a cyberchurch is full of irritants such as: Spam, Multi-level marketing Large attachments Flashing gifs Blatant advertising Financial appeals and “Pass-it-on” emails Then people will reach a certain limit of patience and either unsubscribe or cease participating in other ways. Finesse The most long-lived communities such as The Well have a certain “finesse” about them. Develop a sense of poise and power and maintain it. Don’t be thrown by quiet spots or by a few members leaving. Communicate a dynamic sense of “why you are there”. Follies (To Avoid) False intimacy / rushing to commitment/ “gushiness”. Intolerance of legitimate diversity. Expecting too much, too soon from the cyberchurch. Asking people to “do stuff” or to give financially before they are ready to do so. Part 4: Free Or Low Cost Software For Building Christian Communities Online Content Management Systems E107 Drupal CivicSpace Are database driven content management systems using PHP/MySQL and generally running on Linux/Apache servers. They have forums, blogs, email to members and many other features. They take some configuration but it is now getting much easier to install and configure them. Try them out at: http://www.opensourcecms.com/. Compare them at: http://www.cmsmatrix.org/. Forums Simple Machines Forum http://www.simplemachines.org/ Do NOT use PHPBB as it has serious security issues. It is wise NOT to turn on HTML for posts (with most forum software) Have clear forum rules. Check the forum each day to ensure that inappropriate material is not being posted. Blogs Blog is the contraction universally used for weblog, a type of website where entries are made (such as in a journal or diary), displayed in a reverse chronological order. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, web pages, and other media related to its topic. Some focus on photographs (photoblog), videos (vlog), or audio (podcasting), and are part of a wider network of social media. Programs: WordPress, MovableType, Greymatter, Typepad Hosted Blogs: Blogger, Xanga, LiveJournal. About.com list of free blog software and blog hosts. Dealing With “Blogspam” “Blogspam” has become so common that it is making running a hosted blog (e.g. a Wordpress blog) very difficult. If you do run a blog then run some “spam karma” software to catch comment spam and trackback spam. Wikipedia has a good article on defeating spam in blogs: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spam_in _blogs IM, VOIP & Internet radio Scatterchat – secure IM client based on GAIM compatible with AOL, YM, ICQ etc. http://www.scatterchat.com/ Skype: www.skype.com PalTalk: http://www.paltalk.com/ How to set up an Internet radio station: About.Com article WinAmp article Microsoft article Education Moodle - www.moodle.org Interact – hosted at Sourceforge http://sourceforge.net/projects/cce-interact Spaghetti Learning: www.spaghtettilearning.com UNESCO- Free and Open Software Portal - Courseware General Software Sourceforge - www.sourceforge.net Open source software repository PHP Resource Index http://php.resourceindex.com/ Add functionality to your website 46 Best Freeware Utilities www.techsupportalert.com/best_46_free_utilities.htm CSS Play: http://www.cssplay.co.uk/menus/ CSS style sheets so you can look cool! Christian Stuff E—Sword: www.e-sword.net Net Bible: http://www.bible.org/ Bible with extensive study notes Bible Gateway http://www.biblegateway.com/ Ebible (World English Bible) http://www.ebible.org/ Thom Tapp – Christian cartoons http://www.thomtapp.com/ ======================================================================== CHAPTER 17: 01.15. THE NEED FOR CYBERMISSIONS PARTNERSHIP ======================================================================== At the moment cybermissions tends to be done by a few visionary organizations and individuals with some cross-pollination through online forums. There is much re-inventing of the wheel and struggling with finances and to some extent with technology. There are also a lot of websites build and abandoned by those who tried and failed. There is a need for more nurturing structures, for validation, encouragement and sharing of ideas, technologies and resources. At the moment there is networking through groups such as the Internet Evangelism Coalition, IEC Global Forum, ICCM, ICTA-AU, MAF-XC, AC4 and Cybermissions.Org. People are gradually coming in contact and sharing ideas and opinions, and that is good. However these groups (while they are very valuable) do not construct strategic plans, make agreements or share resources. For that to happen true partnerships are needed. Partnerships are relatively permanent structures that have a focus in a mutually agreed group task or objective. They often have a partnership agreement and a loose committee of some sort. The individual agencies agree to pursue the partnership objectives and yet each defines the amount that they are willing to contribute towards the process. (The principles of partnership exploration, formation and operation can be found at http://www.interdev.org) 4 Kinds I foresee four kinds of partnerships that will arise to address these needs: National partnerships of cybermissions agencies in say Malaysia, Australia or Canada along the lines of and perhaps within the auspices of organizations like the Evangelical Alliance. People group specific partnerships where the cybermissionaries trying to target a groups such as post-modern Americans, Thai Buddhists or Iranian Muslims combine resources and develop a strategic plan to which they all work. (InterDev style for those familiar with this model) City-wide partnerships where the churches in a city combine to use the Internet strategically to network among each other and to reach groups within the city such as students and young people. A city-church website could even be developed such as “where to go to church in Tuscaloosa” with links to all the local church websites. Technology and task-based partnerships which could be focused around a specific aspect of cybermissions such as Christian graphic artists, computer techs, Linux buffs and security gurus and could work on a project such as developing a particular piece of software. Each of these four kinds of partnerships has a quite different dynamic suited for their different objectives. National partnerships might have an annual conference as the main partnership dynamic and emerge with a national strategic plan and set of standards. UPG cybermission partnerships might seldom meet face to face but would share knowledge, translation facilities and perhaps organize a joint short-term missions trip to the area. City-wide partnerships could meet bi-monthly and have pizza. Technology based partnership might be focused around a SlashDot/SourceForge like forum that brings code snippets and comments together in an asynchronous fashion. And each of these types of partnerships are needed if we are to do the task effectively, it’s not either/or but all four! Forming and Finding Partnerships Firstly, a partnership may already exist. A few times I have gone to form a partnership to find that there was one already operating! If there is one and it’s functional – then join in and help. Do a thorough Internet search and ask around a bit before deciding to start a cybermissions partnership. Secondly, don’t try and start with “everyone”. Let people hang around the edges for a while as they check you out and ask questions. Some may never join - that’s Ok too. Just move with the movers. Thirdly – focus on the things, which unite, such as Jesus, the Great Commission, the vision, the need, and the technology and not on things that divide such as pet doctrines and personal opinions. Fourthly, decide on your limits of inclusion (for the partnership) before you start and stick to them. My personal limits of inclusion are “bible-believing, born-again Trinitarian Christians”. Anywhere along that spectrum for evangelical to Pentecostal is fine with me but I don’t want to work with skeptical liberals or with people that are not born-again. For me that is being unequally yoked and when I have tried it – it has never worked. Fifthly, decide on the type of partnership you wish to form and its crystal clear purpose. People find it hard to join a vague notion. And partnership for partnership sake nearly always fails. Sixthly, read the material InterDev has developed on partnership formation (www.Interdev.org) and learn as much as you can about them. Seventhly, pray without ceasing for blessing, unity, discernmentand wisdom. This inevitable leads to another question – how can we motivate people to get involved? Fifteen Ways To Motivate People To Engage in Cybermissions Create a climate of permission - make it permissible to engage in Internet missions and validate it as "real ministry". Tell stories of success, salvation and transformation. Show the needs, the opportunities and the possibilities and how cybermissions can meet them. Reassure people they are unlikely to be hacked, spied on or threatened by “online monsters”. Start small. Show that a highly effective, low cost, low risk cyber-ministry can even be done from home. Get pastors on board by using phrases such "How a local church can have a global outreach through cybermissions." Read the following article about local churches and cybermissions: http://www.cybermissions.org/articles/localchurch.htm Tie the cybermissions emphasis in with existing missions emphasis for instance if the church has Thai Buddhists as a target group then show how they can learn about, meet and witness to Thai Buddhists online. Create a small group of prayed up, fired up visionaries. Work mainly with businessmen and other energetic positive folk. Flow around the obstacles. Just ignore the critics and work with the people who have caught the vision. Give participants a meaningful role according to their gifting. (Don’t hog all the good bits) Don’t try to “own” people or groups or the area of cybermissions. Don’t hit people with strict rules and high demands and expectations. Give away control and give away the glory. Let people feel free to contribute on their own terms. Honor first efforts. Many “newbie” church websites are easy to pick apart and criticize. Remember that we were all once “newbies” and proud of our animated gifs. Honor these efforts and gently nudge them towards better strategies and design. Sharp criticism early on is discouraging and if you engage in it you will lose such folk and all that they could have developed into. Create community, have fun, let people enjoy the experience. Don’t be too serious! Keep Christ central. Unity around Christ is far more binding and powerful than unity around “missions”, a UPG or a technology. Soak the whole deal in prayer and let God the Holy Spirit do the deep work in their hearts and minds. Final Thoughts Unless we form focused, task-oriented cybermissions partnerships we will all die from caffeine poisoning and pizza overdoses in front of our PC’s and Macs. Cybermissions is tough exhausting work and there has to be a smart way to spread the load, to avoid duplication and to use our various giftings. Partnership is the obvious answer but the Devil will fight tooth and nail to stop such partnerships forming and to render them ineffective. We need to come to the Lord of the Harvest in prayer and ask for laborers – and especially for co-laborers who can work together, in unity to do the work of God. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 18: 01.16. CYBERMISSIONS READING LIST ======================================================================== Careaga, Andrew. 1999 E-Vangelism: Sharing the Gospel In Cyberspace. Lafayette, LA: Huntington House Publishers Careaga, Andrew. 2001 E-Ministry: Connecting with the Net Generation. Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications Dawson, Lorne L. (ed.) Cowan, Douglas E. (ed) 2004 Religion Online: Finding Faith on the Internet New York, Routledge Follman Jeanne M. 2001 Getting the Web: Understanding the Nature & Meaning of the Internet Duomo Press (an introduction for non-technical folk) Herman, Andrew (ed.). Swiss, Thomas 9ed.) 2000 The World Wide Web and Contemporary Cultural Theory : Magic, Metaphor, Power New York /London , Routledge Hesselgrave, David J. 1991 Communicating Christ Cross-Culturally (2nd edition). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Jewell John P. Jr. 2002 New Tools for a New Century: First Steps in Equipping Your Church for the Digital Revolution. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press Jewell John P. 2004 Wired for Ministry: How the Internet, Visual Media, and Other New Technologies Can Serve Your Church. Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press (Div. of Baker) Preece, Jennifer Online Communities: Designing Usability and Supporting Sociability Chichester, England, John Wiley & Sons Reid, Alvin L. 2000 The Net, Evangelism For The 21st Century: Mentor Handbook. Alpharetta, GA: North American Mission Board, Southern Baptist Convention. Renninger. K Ann. (Ed.) 2002 Building Virtual Communities : Learning and Change in Cyberspace (Learning in Doing: Social, Cognitive & Computational Perspectives) Cambridge UK, Cambridge University Press Rheingold, Howard 2000 The Virtual Community: Homesteading on the Electronic Frontier, revised edition Boston, MIT Press Rheingold, Howard 2003 Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution Cambridge MA, Basic Books Smith, Marc A (ed); Kollock Peter (ed) 1998 Communities In Cyberspace New York /London , Routledge Suler, John 2004 Psychology of Cyberspace (an online book) http://www.rider.edu/~suler/psycyber/psycyber.html Sweet, Leonard. 2003 Church in Emerging Culture: Five Perspectives. El Cajon, CA: EmergentYS books published by Zondervan Wallace, Patricia 2001 The Psychology Of The Internet Cambridge, Cambridge University Press Whittaker, Tony. Web Evangelism Guide. – http://www.gospelcom.net/guide/ April, 2005 Wilson, Len. 1999 The Wired Church: Making Media Ministry. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press Wilson, Walter P. 2004 The Internet Church. Nashville, TN: W. Publishing Group (Div. of Thomas Nelson) Winter, Ralph; Hawthorne Steven C. 1999. Perspectives On The World Christian Movement (3rd. ed.). Pasadena, CA: William Carey Lib ======================================================================== CHAPTER 19: 01.17. TECHNO-SPIRITUAL QUOTES ======================================================================== Collected By Jeremy S. Gluck (from Cybersoc.com) Jeremy S Gluck is the founder of Spiritech UK, an association that strongly believes not only the function of technology as a mirror of human consciousness but in the eventual unfolding of an original machine consciousness that will be a partner to humankind. At our request, he selected a number of thoughtful quotes concerning the relation between technology and spirituality. Michel Bauwens ***** "There is no answer outside the human being. The machine’s hidden agenda turns out to be our own agenda...There is no capability of the computer that can’t be made to look good in one light and bad in another. Which light should we choose? Only the light -- and the darkness -- emanating from the human heart. At the end of the twentieth century it scarcely seems possible to stand in this light and this darkness without worrying deeply about the terms of our inner pact with the computer." - Stephen L. Talbott (Author of ’The Future Does not Compute") ***** "I do believe we are in the midst of a transition - intimated by the Internet - towards a more collective thinking, where the individual psyche becomes a component of a larger group mind.” "This doesn’t mean we stop existing as individuals, but it could mean we become more fully aware of every other living being, much in the way a coral reef’s individual organisms respond to one another as if they were part of the same, single body." - Douglas Rushkoff (Author of ’Cyberia’) ***** "Technology is part of nature. It’s an extension of human consciousness. Ironically the portals that technology opens to us are generally portals that we could open without technology, if we knew how. I think that we are fully capable as human beings of having a global brain and of communicating with each other as parts of a single great organism. But either we really haven’t developed those skills, or else we’ve lost the ability to use them. Back in tribal days, people didn’t see themselves as individuals; they saw themselves as parts of a little organism. Well, being one part of an eight-billion part organism is much harder to come to grips with. In a way, technology is a test run." - Douglas Rushkoff ***** "Late twentieth-century machines have made thoroughly ambiguous the difference between natural and artificial, mind and body, self-developing and externally designed, and many other distinctions that used to apply to organisms and machines. Our machines are disturbingly lively, and we ourselves frighteningly inert." -- Donna Haraway (Author of ’The Cyborg Manifesto’) ***** "(David) Chalmers thinks it quite possible that AI research may someday generate-- may now be generating--new spheres of consciousness unsensed by the rest of us. Strange as it may seem, the prospect that we are creating a new species of sentient life is now being taken seriously in philosophy. "Though (Alan) Turing generally shied away from such metaphysical questions, his 1950 paper did touch briefly on this issue. Some people, he noted, might complain that to create true thinking machines would be to create souls, and thus exercise powers reserved for God. Turing disagreed. "In attempting to construct such machines we should not be irreverently usurping his power of creating souls, any more than we are in the procreation of children," Turing wrote. "Rather we are, in either case, instruments of his will providing mansions for the souls that he creates." Robert Wright (journalist at Time Magazine) ***** "My view is...that some machines are already potentially more conscious than are people, and that further enhancements would be relatively easy to make..." - Marvin Minsky (the father of Artificial Intelligence) ***** "I no longer worry about dying, but I do worry about dying before my computer is proud of me. In the future there will be man, woman, and machine. Three slightly or grossly - different ways of thinking. Carbon life with its emotion, uncertainty and analogue processes complemented by the far more deterministic and precise machine. The machine will be able to conceptualize the future by running incredibly complex models to predict the outcome of any action or decision. It’s the ultimate mix = analogue + digital, random + chaotic, intuition + modeling. Perhaps my computer will envy me my imagination and intuition." - Peter Cochrane (head of British Telecom’s Multimedia research division) ======================================================================== CHAPTER 20: 02.01. BEYOND DENOMINATION – THE NETWORKED CHURCH ======================================================================== By John Edmiston Why Are Denominations Being Ignored? Why do governments and industry prefer local area networks of churches to denominations? Why are missionary candidates often wary about joining denominational missions? Why are Christian schools and hospitals increasingly choosing to associate in interdenominational networks rather than along denominational lines? Here are a few of the more obvious reasons: The Bible clearly promotes unity over disunity and denominations are increasingly being seen as an inferior way of being Christian. This perception is held by Christians and non-Christians alike. Cooperation is the preferred metaphor and mode of being. Denominations in Australia mainly have their origins in ancient disputes in England, Europe, or America. Disputes that happened before Australia was founded and which we want no part of. The “walls” between denominations are artificial to most Australians. Unfortunately strong minded individuals and groups within the church perpetuate old disputes and kept sectarianism alive. Government and industry do not understand or appreciate theological differences and are puzzled by them and the obstacles to constructive action they represent. They want to deal with everyone at once and not to have to factor into the equation something they don’t understand. People outside of church circles, and even some in them, are bewildered by the denominational titles and have no idea who to go to and what to do. If they can bypass this confusing state of affairs they do. Clergy tend to have a wide range of administrative abilities from brilliant to woeful. This creates uncertain expectations in those dealing with them. Outside organisations tend to remember the bad experiences with the less administratively competent clergy and would prefer to deal with a theologically informed and administratively competent layperson. Related to this most people, even Christians, question “clergy interference” in the administration of schools, colleges, hospitals and universities and they are being dropped from the boards of such organisations in favour of theologically informed and administratively competent laypersons. Layers of administration and representation are being rapidly decreased in restructurings in both the public and private sectors. This has two effects (a) the desire to deal with as few layers as possible and to go straight to the local church or Christian school. (b) Denominations are made to look overly hierarchical by their structures and thus the idea that they are “outdated” and behind the times is confirmed in the minds of the observer. The evident gender bias of denominations makes them unacceptable to many in the community particularly women who would prefer to deal with other powerful and informed women. Women occupy many of the key positions in the public sector that churches deal with and so they endeavour to bypass the “unacceptable” denominational structures. Women probably give more financially to the church than men, given that they predominate in the church and are increasingly present in the workforce. Their giving is not going to go to structures that they perceive as robbing them of opportunities to express their faith and they will support local churches leaving male-stream denominational structures. Ordination is increasingly coming under fire as outdated, sexist, unscriptural or as the province more and more of the local church. Increasingly a Bachelor of Theology is being seen as just as good a passport to ministry as the laying on of hands of a bishop. Ordination is also being eroded by ministries outside of denominational structures such as Campus Crusade For Christ where non-ordained people are making a very significant impact for God through things such as the Jesus Film. Also functions such as conducting marriage ceremonies are no longer the province of ordained ministers of the gospel. Ordination is looking shaky although is the one of the main powers that denominations have. More on ordination later in the book. Christians find they like each other no matter what church the other person comes from. “Church Hopping” has had one good effect in removing many of the myths about other churches. It has thus eroded denominational identity. People feel they are Christians first and Baptists, Lutherans, or Pentecostals etc. second. Many local churches are in a significant amount of theological, financial or administrative tension with their denominational structures and feel they would be better off without them. For instance the homosexuality debate and the possible ordination of homosexuals has caused a number of Uniting Churches of an evangelical or charismatic flavour to become independent of their denomination here in Australia. While many others struggle with the compromise they perceive in their denomination. The churches that have departed and become independent have not notably suffered as a result. Their “liberation” has been evident to others still in the system particularly those that feel they are paying an overly large portion of the denominational dues and which have the strength to be independent themselves. How Long Has This Been Going On For? The movements for Christian unity began late last century were given impetus by John Mott and David Du Plessis and gathered momentum after World War 2 when the Billy Graham Crusades got churches working together for a common cause and Christians learned how much they had in common. In my home state of Queensland the Brethren, Churches of Christ and Baptist churches have been at the forefront of inter-denominational missions. Their denominational structures of networked autonomous local congregations have certainly contributed to the easy adoption of inter-denominational practices. Strict, creedal, formal denominationalism was eroded and this wave ended in mergers of similar but struggling denominations the largest of which was the formation of the Uniting Church from the combined Methodist, Presbyterian and Congregational churches. Still the denominational metaphor was intact, the denominations did not dissolve into networks they combined into new and “more sensible” denominations. This first wave was based on the interpretation of John 17:1-26 (Jesus prayer for unity) as being organic and structural unity. The second wave disputed this and saw unity as "koinonia" rowing a boat together, the common cause. The “second wave” that I observed was “cautious networking” and was three fold. Firstly came the formation of the inter-denominational Brisbane College of Theology where most denominations have their clergy trained through the same body albeit with denominational distinctives intact. Secondly churches in small country towns were combining for evening services and occasional mission projects. And thirdly the Churches Working Together initiative of the mainline denominations brought pulpit sharing and the occasional combined service to Catholic, Anglican, Uniting, and Lutheran churches. It also saw cooperation in local area networks to achieve goals in pastoral care, education and social services. The denominational metaphor was being replaced by the metaphor of local area network of believers in a very cautious fashion. This was helped along by a “theology of the city” which saw the city/local area as the organising unit. This theology can get quite complex and to explain it simply it is based partly on the fact that the epistles of Paul were written to local areas not individual churches or denominations. The “third wave” I observed came from two sources. Firstly the Vineyard movement with its network of independent churches seeking God in a particularly appealing way for many. It had a new and attractive flavour about it and while it did not catch on in a very big way in Australia it created a hunger for a similar way of being Christian here. The Crosslinks network of independent churches seems to have its genesis at least partly in the Vineyard movement and the gentle management philosophy of the late John Wimber. Secondly the task of churches reaching youth created a crisis that has had three remarkable expressions. Firstly Scripture Union came up with the idea of placing church funded chaplains in government high schools. To get this past the State Education Department which did not want denominationally biased chaplains Local Chaplaincy Committees had to be formed representing all the churches around a given high school. They then funded the worker in the school who was recruited by Scripture Union and approved by the LCC on negotiated guidelines that were also approved by the Education Department. So far in Queensland over 70 such chaplaincies have been formed and this is increasing at a fast rate. Churches are working together in local area networks and funding a common worker. While this is still quite peripheral to church life in Queensland it has required much negotiation and cooperation so that the process of chaplaincy formation has been a huge exercise in trust building between local churches. The second youth-related issue has been Religious Education in schools which used to be denominationally based with each denomination for instruction. Commonly smaller denominations banded together as "Other Protestant Denominations." With women RE teachers entering the workforce and increasingly busy local clergy it became impossible to find enough teachers so denominations did the sensible thing and started grouping together a bit. Eventually the idea of a common curriculum emerged negotiated between churches in the local areas such as Townsville West. Initially denominational distrust was at a high level and it took 6 months or more for these agreements to be put together. Last month a new Townsville West agreement was put together in a single meeting. The third youth related development was an outcome of the Youth For Christ combined youth rallies of the 70’s and 80’s and the Youth Alive rallies in Pentecostal circles. Youth who met at these rallies networked along the lines of affinity and friendship and not along the lines of doctrine. Youth began to move around each other’s churches at such a speed that all youth ministry has become essentially inter-denominational. Youth pastors are now getting together regularly and networking frequently partly to keep track of their charges and partly to organise combined events. Denominations have little meaning in the world of youth work. In fact they come close to being nonsensical. It’s one huge youth network – at least here in Townsville. Other factors have certainly contributed to the collapse of the Berlin Wall of denominationalism. These factors include ridicule and persecution where Christians have suffered together in the face of a hostile world. Even the mild anti-Christian stance of the media has been a force making Christians feel that they are more together than apart. Christian bookstores, common books, commentaries and lexicons and Bibles, Christian radio and common Christian music have all been factors. Few denominations realise how close they have become. I lecture at two bible colleges one very Baptist and non-charismatic and the other very Pentecostal. They are under the impression that they are “totally different”. Yet my lecture notes on Hebrews or Church History at the Pentecostal college would be perfectly acceptable at the Baptist college since both colleges use exactly the same references, notes and textbooks. If I changed the title page of the notes no-one would be the wiser. When Will The Battle For The Denominations Begin? In management literature they have gone from being future-ists to “present-ists’ and are asking “what unperceived change has already occurred that will define the future?” The collapse of denominations is such a change. It’s happened. The battle is over. This book is in the past tense. It examples are from yesterday. I am not predicting anything I am rather describing what is now and trying to find the way forward. There will be no “battle for the denominations”, no rearguard action to preserve the past; the troops have moved on – and in droves. So my question at the head of this section is (deliberately) misleading. The discourse of cooperation has been normalised and the discourse of denominationalism has been marginalised. In other words when people talk in denominational terms now they sound weird and behind the times. It is no longer normal to be denominational any more than it is normal to be racist. Increasingly denominationalism is being viewed as undesirable and even pathological within Christian circles. It is certainly no longer the favoured way of being Christian. What Has Replaced/Will Replace Denominations As The Means of Organising The Faith and Life Of The Churches? Local area networks of churches will help us find faith and fellowship and task focused associations will organise our schools, hospitals, missionary societies and theological colleges. Larger networks will exist in matters of doctrine and styles of worship and even higher level organisations will co-ordinate the efforts of the schools, missionary societies etc. This has largely happened but is still happening hence the time ambiguity in the header. But Surely Some Tasks Will Still Belong To Denominational Structures Like The Training, Ordaining & Appointment of Clergy. 1. The training of clergy is already being done inter-denominationally in all major denominations and a B.Th. from any one college will be accepted by the other denominations. Candidates moving between denominations generally only have to take a few subjects on denominational distinctives. 2. The appointment of clergy. Many Baptist churches and all independent churches simply advertise in the Christian newspapers and magazines when a pastor is needed or promote an elder in the church. Such appointments are just as functional as those made by denominational panels and in many cases even better as the participating church has more say and thus greater “ownership” of the decision. 3. Ordination is under fire and being seen as officious meddling in many cases. It is either never instituted (Churches of Christ) diminished in significance (many Third Wave churches) or relegated to the local church. Independent churches ordain simply by the laying on of hands of the elders in the congregation. Pastors so ordained seem to function just as well as those ordained by a bishop. 4. Discipline of errant churches is another supposedly denominational function. However it is simply not being done by the denominations and when it is done it is often done poorly. Even this can be done by networks. A successful restoration of a church in error was achieved when a network of pastors who prayed together helped one of their number back on track. No denominational “heavies” were involved and in fact they were remarkably absent from the process. Friends can help each other be accountable and to stay on track as “iron sharpens iron” and networked clergy are far less likely to fall than often isolated denominational clergy. Similarly correction of doctrine is being done more by Christian authors and Christian media than by pronouncements from denominational HQ. Creeds have become minimalist nine point affairs and something of the magnitude of the Westminster Confession would not be contemplated by any denomination today. Even in Catholic circles canon law is being increasingly resisted or ignored. 5. The sense of continuity, history and belonging that denominations provide is being replaced by allegiance to the Scriptures and to personal experiences of God. Allegiance can be to the local area network or the task focused organisation just as much as it can to a denomination. I find many people who describe themselves as YWAM-ers for instance and find their allegiance there rather than in events in Europe’s past. Many Australians find it awkward to have an allegiance to a denomination like the Lutherans where the history is that of Germany in the 1500’s. Perhaps that is why the Lutheran church in Australia has barely spread beyond the German sub-culture. 6. There is thus no function of denominational structures that I can think of that cannot be done as well or better by local area networks of churches or task focused associations. Hierarchical denominational structures are simply unnecessary. Ok John, Back Off, You Are Sounding A Bit Too Hostile Here… Denominations Have Performed A Very Important Role And Will Well Into The Forseeable Future and Besides Thousands of People Have Died Fighting For Those Denominational Distinctives and Ways of Being Christian… I thought you would say that! Let’s deal with the “martyrs” argument first. People have died fighting over all sorts of things. People have died fighting over their favourite football team. Probably someone has died fighting over a bus ticket. This just indicates the presence of a vicious tribalism that is prepared to kill those who believe and live differently. It says nothing about the rightness or wrongness of those so killed or the structures they used to organise themselves. That is not to say that such deaths were unworthy or in vain. However they should not dictate how Christians organise themselves today. The structures we use should be the best possible structures that help us with the following top priority tasks amongst others: Loving God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. Loving our neighbours as ourselves. Developing a vital Christian community that lives the abundant victorious Christian life together in peace. Fulfilling God’s calling to make disciples of all nations. Undertaking ministries of mercy and compassion to a hurting world. Local area networks of churches undertook the first three of those tasks very capably during the first century AD and roving task focused missionary bands such as the one Paul led were responsible for evangelism, mission and the collection for the starving saints in Jerusalem – the last two tasks on our list. Denominations were not needed then and these five tasks were done as well or better than they have been done since. Denominational structures were never put in place by the apostles who were ‘network hubs” rather than archbishops and popes. Denominational ways of being are a mixed blessing promoting stability on one hand and allowing tribalism in the body of Christ in the other. Their effect in stifling the more unusual but sometimes more vital aspects of the faith has been a high price to pay for order. When God orders nature it is with great variety and a harmony between the species. He did not plant all trees in rows or say “I like petunias therefore all flowers will be petunias”. The animals are not filed from A-Z or kept isolated from each other. God’s order is “beyond bureaucracy”. Therefore if the Church is to reflect God’s order it will be “beyond bureaucracy” and the traditional forms of denominational structures. Denominations are often half of the solution, an expedient structure created during a revival or reformation. There are better ways of organizing ourselves that we can move towards. We now need to take the next step into new ways of being Christian that go beyond denominations. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 21: 02.02. CHAPTER TWO – LOCAL AREA NETWORKS ======================================================================== Do Local Area Networks Of Churches Exist In Scripture? Most exponents of early church history such as Robert Banks argue that the early church met in houses and these houses were linked together in city-wide networks. I see it as a bit broader than that. I find (at least) four kinds of networks of local churches & Christians in the New Testament. Ethnic networks such as those that emerged in the Jerusalem church between the Hellenistic Jewish Christians and the Hebrew speaking Jewish Christians and between Jewish and Gentile networks in Rome. These strong family-based ethnic networks were a threat to the unity of the local church. These networks exist in two types, networks within the local church such as at Jerusalem and Rome, and networks larger than any local church such as the Jewish Christian diaspora addressed in Hebrews. A modern day example would be the network of overseas Chinese Christians that is international and influential today. They are a network with a distinct way of being Christian but are not formalised as a denomination. City-wide house church networks where believers “met from home to home, with breaking of bread and prayer...” There are references to “the church that meets in your house...” etc. With the persecution of churches believers mainly met in homes or catacombs or in the woods and such groups networked with each other passing along Scriptures “make sure this is read by the Laodecians, etc.” The city seems to be the defining unit here with epistles being addressed to the networks in Colossae, Phillipi, Rome and Ephesus. The church in country towns such as Charters Towers has largely taken this form with the churches seeing themselves as somewhat merged and often holding joint meetings or combined evening services. While they largely maintain their denominational distinctives their “way of being” is as a community not as separate churches. Regional and national networks such as Northern Galatia (Galatians), Crete (Titus) and in Asia Minor (Revelation) where city churches were networked together and addressed as a whole. Hebrews may sneak in here or as a sub-category of number 1 depending on your theory about its recipients. In Revelation each individual city network is addressed in the first three chapters and then the remainder is addressed to them as a regional network as a whole. “The house-churches in China” is probably the prime example today of networks operating across a region or nation. The entire network of believers which is referred to in Paul’s phrase “as in all the churches” and is possibly the real target of the epistle to Philemon. If you read the greetings at the end of Philemon it includes many of the heavyweights of the early church including some of the main authors of Scripture such as Mark, Luke, and Paul. It’s a letter signed by representative heavyweights right across the church and tactfully intended for a very wide audience using the literary ploy of addressing one man’s particular situation to reason towards general principles. The Internet acts as a tool for Christian discussion right across the entire world and creates international communities of believers around common networked themes. What are some of the advantages/disadvantages of local area and other networks of churches? Advantages Independent churches in a network are still in fellowship with other churches and can receive financial contributions (2Co 8:1-24 & 2Co 9:1-15) and theological instruction (the epistles) from them and share itinerant ministers (such as Paul and Luke). They are not lone, unresourced mavericks. It’s a natural way to organise things that can be grasped by the average Christian. Believers in local area networks share a common locality, go to the same schools, witness to the same community and feel many of the same local pressures thus it makes sense to work together. Networks tend to have more openings for lay ministry than denominational structures and more points of entry to the body of Christ. Basic common theology such as the Apostles Creed can be affirmed at meetings of the network and act as a basis for fellowship. The first Universal Creeds were formulated without the existence of denominations or much in the way of formal structure. They facilitate church planting and evangelism by giving an accurate picture of the state of the church in a given area. They are capable of surviving financial hardship and persecution and depending on your end-times theology we might just need them in the not-too-distant future. If run properly they act as a point for building trust and unity between churches in a given locality. Greater energy, creativity and adaptability to change. . Disadvantages Networks tend not to be very good at organising missions, hospitals and schools. Denominations or task focused organisations are needed here. The theological diversity within local area networks tends to mitigate against the process of complex theological formulations being achieved and agreed on. Networks if run badly or if dominated by a single local church can be quite dysfunctional. Though that probably applies to whatever organisational structure is chosen. Networks allow a diversity of doctrine and practice which can be difficult to bring into line without an authoritarian structure e.g. the problems at Corinth and some of the problems experienced within the Vineyard Fellowship. Lack of a career path for ministers. Networks are untidy and awkward. There tends to be a lack of things such as agendas and minutes. They require believers to trust each other and be vulnerable to each other. Christians will tend to move from church to church more often within a network. Churches that derive a great deal of their identity from being different from other churches will be unable to join in networks constructively but able to organise their own denominations well. They are much less competitive and remove one of the driving forces in church growth – inter-church rivalry. Why Not? Is there any good Scriptural reason why Spirit-filled, bible-believing churches in a local area should not cooperate together and network together for the common good? I cannot think of one. Even if we don’t abandon denominations we should at least form local area networks that go beyond an occasional ministers’ fraternal meeting. But aren’t hierarchical structures the Scriptural model? Many people see an episcopal structure in Scripture of deacons, elders, pastors and bishops governed by apostles in a strict hierarchy. There is a lot wrong with this view as I will show and I think that it may have arisen in part because up until now we have lacked the terminology to describe or model networks. To describe an apostle as a “hub” and a local church as a “node” would have made little sense until the Information technology revolution made networking terms common parlance. We simply haven’t has the mental models to fit these terms into a non-hierarchical structure. Our only main alternative has been “democracy” and congregational government which is still denominational and hierarchical and to my mind just as bad as an episcopal structure. Jesus forbade hierarchy in the Church (Mark 10:41-45 NASB) And hearing this, the ten began to feel indignant with James and John. And calling them to Himself, Jesus said to them, "You know that those who are recognized as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them; and their great men exercise authority over them. "But it is not so among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant; and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be slave of all. "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many." (Mat 23:5-12 NASB) "But they do all their deeds to be noticed by men; for they broaden their phylacteries, and lengthen the tassels of their garments. "And they love the place of honor at banquets, and the chief seats in the synagogues, and respectful greetings in the market places, and being called by men, Rabbi. "But do not be called Rabbi; for One is your Teacher, and you are all brothers. "And do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. "And do not be called leaders; for One is your Leader, that is, Christ. "But the greatest among you shall be your servant. "And whoever exalts himself shall be humbled; and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted. There Were Multiple Loci of Authority For Each Congregation Congregations were not ruled over by one man who was accountable to just one other etc. They seem to be ruled over by a plurality of elders, a number of visiting apostles and prophets and accepted directions in letters and via messengers. While Peter and James and John had pre-eminence it was not in a line management sense and they did not give direct orders on controversial issues without meeting with others in council such as in Acts 15. Paul, though not one of the Twelve could say that “I am not the least inferior to the most pre-eminent of the apostles.” (2Co 11:5, 2Co 12:11) which would be an impossible statement in a line management culture. The construction of a leadership network is similar to but not at all the same as construction of a hierarchy. When Titus is instructed to appoint leaders (plural) in all the churches in Crete he is actually setting up a leadership network then moving on. After he departs the elders are presumably to network together and govern the churches. The Cretans were a depressed community noted for a rather laid-back lifestyle to say the least. This seems to have meant that some outside intervention by Titus was needed if leadership was to be set in place. It was also common practice after evangelising a new region. (Acts 13:1-52). What are some of the differences between constructing a viable and workable leadership network and constructing a hierarchy? The apostle moves on after setting up the network and while he/she may visit it to encourage it and help its life and growth the apostle does not run its day to day operations in a line management style. There is no indication of a regular reporting relationship between the elders and Paul or Titus. Such relationships are essential to hierarchy. The role of elders is the edification and growth of the network not “lording it over them” which is expressly forbidden. (1Pe 4:10). Paul describes his authority as being given “for building up not tearing down” and it comes from the manifest calling and gifting of God not from ordination or a position appointed by another human being. In fact he makes it very clear that he did NOT derive his apostleship or his gospel from any other human being. (Gal 1:1-24). Thus I see the appointing of elders being a recognition of the Spirit’s work in placing calling, character and competence to lead into certain Christians lives. Such appointments are the construction of a dynamic, Spirit-filled network not a human and man-made bureaucracy. Would you please clarify the difference between a network and a hierarchy? It hasn’t quite clicked for me yet? A network is like the Internet which functions quite well despite having no owner and no organisation running it. A hierarchy is like the military which has a clear vertical chain of command. Networks have important points within them like the system engineers who helped design the structure of the Internet and who decide on its configuration such as the recent decision not to allow a capability to eavesdrop on Internet communications to be built in to the Internet. However you can hook up to the Internet without having to consult them at all and what you put on the Internet is your business. No-one owns the Internet and no-one runs it and no-one is Mr. Internet and says what will and won’t happen. However it functions very well indeed. People make their contributions to the network if and when they please and according to their varying degrees of expertise. In a hierarchy people make contributions as they are “allowed to”. Ok that helps but how can the Church be a network, it doesn’t fit with my idea of the Church at all. Let’s look at some of the metaphors that Scripture uses to describe the Church The Body – various parts linked through a central nervous system and where each has its part in the system as a whole. There is variety, freedom and co-ordination. The co-ordination is by the Spirit not a central HQ. The parts of the body are neither independent from each other nor inferior to each other. There is no rank order of body parts. Eyes are not higher than feet as a general is to a corporal for instance. There is equality between the parts. A Temple of Living Stones – each part of the holy structure is alive and living and contributes to the whole. The key phrase is “you are being built together”. The Bride of Christ – speaks of the Church’s relationship with Jesus as a beautiful, pure organic whole. The Pillar and Support of the Truth - (1Ti 3:15 NASB) but in case I am delayed, I write so that you may know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth. This metaphor certainly suggests an ordered rigid structure and even a bureaucracy but does not describe the internal operation of the Church. Rather it’s a description of its ontological relationship to other heavenly realities. The church as a whole is solid. It is its faithfulness to Scripture and the holy lives of the believers that give it this quality not a system of church government. The Olive Tree – Here branches are grafted in or out according to their faith. The Olive Tree is a living network of believers. The Kingdom – While this is undoubtedly a hierarchical metaphor its overtones of privilege and place were constantly played down by Jesus who emphasized servanthood in the Kingdom and rebuked James and John for wanting high places. Places in the Kingdom are not assigned by man or by committees but by God. The degree to which the Church and the Kingdom overlap is quite an area of debate among theologians. The Kingdom is not a bureaucracy. The Leaven – In this parable the Church is seen as infiltrating and transforming society from within the culture. The leaven makes its way right throughout the dough. It does not sit in a lump by itself it is a good picture of an incarnated network. While only a few of the metaphors of the Church directly suggest networks – the Body, The Leaven and the Olive Tree particularly, none of them are hierarchical or bureaucratic. The vision of the Church in the New Testament is a far cry from today’s formal denominational structures. Networks and The Church In Revival The church in revival in the New Testament was a highly networked gathering of called out believers living under the direct impetus of the Holy Spirit. Since then one of the precursors to revival most commented on in the literature is fervent united prayer by believers of differing denominations in a local area. In Ed Silvoso’s excellent book “That None Should Perish” he describes how such a strategy won the city of Resistencia for Christ. In other words revival seems to depend on believers in a local area forming a network that at least prays together. Further evidence for this can be found in studies on revival such as "Praying The Price" by Stuart Robinson and "Informed Intercession" by George Otis (Jr.). Those who kept revival going for a long time seem to have always used networked small groups as the basic structure. Paul Yonggi Cho has used this to build the largest church in the world with a dynamic prayer ministry at Yoido Gospel Church in Seoul Korea. Sometimes, such as in the Reformation and the Methodist revivals the revival continued up until the point that the network became a denomination. While the Methodists were primarily a well organised network of cell groups under John Wesley the revival was powerful. When it was systematised after his death it lost its way. When the Reformation spread across Europe from place to place and small group to small group and community to community it was dynamic. Once the organisations and denominations were created it moved out of revival power. This is such a phenomenon that many have described the “institutionalisation” of the revival movements with the comments such as “who wants to live in an institution”? Who indeed? Does Denominationalism Hinder Revival? When believers in a given local area are so disunited that they refuse to cooperate across denominational boundaries then revival is undoubtedly hindered. Denominational structures encourage disunity between believers in a local area and to the extent that they do so then revival is hindered. On the other hand the formation of a vital local area network of believers loving each other, praying together and cooperating in the spread of the gospel is a very good sign of an effective church. Are You Saying That Networks Are More In Tune With The Holy Spirit Than Denominations? If I wanted to start a fight among children I would have only one chocolate and wave it around enticingly. Hierarchical structures are restricted in their opportunities. They are like the “one chocolate” and by their nature combined with human nature, they start fights. What I am saying is that the hierarchical structure of denominations easily aligns with “the flesh” and its desire for power and promotes division and competition between local churches Networks don’t allow quite as much room for the flesh. They also tend to promote cooperation and some spiritual virtues a bit better. Networks can still go bad and have sinful people in them. They are not a panacea. But they don’t automatically cause division the way denominations do. For instance no-one is fighting for control of the Internet – though it seems Microsoft would like to. All that is well and good but how would such networks work in practice? What might they look like? There would be a wide diversity of local churches within the network catering for different kinds of Christians. Some churches would be traditional, some would be contemporary, some would be ethnic churches, others would be churches for drug addicts or gang members. There would be churches that believed in infant baptism and churches that believed in believer’s baptism. There would be small churches and large churches and cell churches and house churches and even Christian campsites and campus groups and varying ministries to people. Various events would bring the network together as one voice – a city-wide crusade, a local tragedy, a night of prayer and fasting or even a contentious political issue on which the church in the city needed to have a voice. In between all these churches would be people that everyone knew and who could pull the pastors together in unity. Christians would see each other as brothers and sisters, not as rivals. On the front of the church building would be Townsville District Baptist Church a member of the Townsville Christian Network - or words to that effect. The churches would share resources and itinerant ministries and when one was in need, say after a fire, the others would help out. They would be committed to one another. Their primary allegiance would be to the other churches of the community - not to a denominational office overseas or a thousand miles away. Has that ever happened? The church at Antioch seems to have consisted of two networks – a Jewish network and a Gentile network which overlapped and to some extent shared resources. It seems to have produced a major and remarkably healthy church. The early Quakers were a dynamic and persecuted network as were the early Methodists and the house churches in China today. Believers learn of each other’s needs along these grapevines and pray for each other and even supply financial and other help. The networks between missionaries are very close though informal and many missionaries feel more a part of “the missionary culture” than their own local church. Millions of dollars flow along the Overseas Chinese Christian network and speakers and even pastors are shared. In Charters Towers the churches meet together for a combined evening service once a month and two of the small churches share a pastor. There is such close fellowship between the Baptist, Churches of Christ, and Uniting Churches that they are for all intents and purposes the one fellowship. In Townsville the youth groups of the Uniting, Baptist, Churches of Christ and Presbyterian churches are very close and members seem to go from one church to the other almost interchangeably. The youth have said quite openly to me that “brands are irrelevant”. Where Ed Silvoso and the prayer house strategy has been implemented whole cities have changed their church signs to read like the example in the paragraph above or eliminated the denominational tag entirely. Local area networks are not just a pipe-dream they are here and they are helping people to find unity in the Spirit. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 22: 02.03. CHAPTER THREE – TASK FOCUSED CHRISTIAN ORGANISATIONS ======================================================================== Denominations have failed at many of the core tasks of the Church – at least compared to task focused Christian organisations. Bible Translation – the core task of making sure the Scriptures are translated into the heart language of the people. A task beyond most local churches and surely a denominational task? However most Bible translations into other languages have been done by either individuals such as Tyndale or Luther or by task focused Christian organisations such as the Bible Societies or Wycliffe Bible Translators or the various missionary society Bible translation efforts. I cannot think of an occasion when the Bible has been translated into a new language by a denomination though I think some denominations may have produced English versions of the Bible such as the Jerusalem Bible. Overseas Mission – was initiated by individuals such as Paul, Christian communities such as the Moravians or task focused Christian organisations such as WEC and OMF. Where denominational missionary societies have been involved at mission they have generally been set up quite independently from the denominational structure and are in effect task focused Christian organisations. The few times that denominations as such have attempted involvement in missions have been disastrous and caused many of the “colonial missionary” horror stories. Evangelism & Revival – The most effective evangelistic organisation today is probably Campus Crusade for Christ with the Jesus Film and the Four Spiritual Laws (now Knowing God Personally). The best known is probably the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. The vast bulk of good evangelism is done by gifted individuals or by task focused Christian organisations. Youth evangelism is being done by organisations such as Scripture Union, YWAM, and Students for Christ but hardly at all by denominational evangelistic efforts. Denominational structures talk about evangelism endlessly but rarely accomplish it on any significant scale. The most effective recent evangelistic effort in Townsville was when many of the churches got together in a mini-network to distribute the Jesus Film. Again denominational hierarchy was cut out of the actual process and it was a local church effort. Denominations should be actively involved in the renewal of their churches however seldom has a denominational official from headquarters started a revival as a deliberate denominational initiative. When revival comes it comes from the difficult people – the small task focused Christian organisations within the churches and from outsiders and from inter-denominational and inter-church efforts such as the revival in Resistencia. Church Planting – This surely is a denominational activity. Many denominations now have a “church planting strategy” and have officials that take seminars on “church planting” and some even train their theological students in “church planting”. What happens in reality though is that this has killed church planting! Joe Zealous the church planter now goes to his denomination to plant a church in the new housing estate down the road and is told a) It isn’t a priority on our strategy b) He will have to go to church planting school and c) it’s important to cool down and ‘wait for the Lord’s timing”. So the Mormons move into the estate instead! In reality church planting is being done by gifted individuals such as Joe Zealous, by individual local churches wishing to expand and by movements and networks such as AD 2000 and Beyond that co-ordinate the efforts of task focused Christian organisations (let’s call them TF’s from now on). Denominational based church planting has been made into such a bureaucratic and complicated exercise that it simply cannot get off the ground and achieve anything. Christian Education – here is a story of institutionalisation and eventual renewal. Protestant Christian education was born out of revival, was taken over by the denominations and then stultified to produce institutions with “a saint on the gate and sinners inside”. They became often marginally Christian at best. Then came the Christian schools movement –generally organised as a TF on an, inter-denominational basis or run by individual local churches and definitely not denominational structures. It has renewed the whole arena of Christian education with many more people now sending their children to Christian schools. Even the denominational schools are benefiting and some are revamping their curriculum to put more of an emphasis on the Bible. I think my point is now clear. Not only are denominations an inferior way of being Christian they are also a very inefficient way of doing Christian ministry. Why have we put up with them? Why Are Denominations Almost Completely Useless? Because they are too slow moving, too complex and too political by their very nature and design. No-one founding a denomination and very, very few in the denominations themselves want to create slow moving, complex and political structure. Except for a few diehards of the old school everyone in a bureaucracy is frustrated by it. However every time you create a bureaucracy you end up with a slow moving, complex and political structure. It comes with the turf. Why it comes with the turf is the province of areas such as organisational behaviour, systems theory and management. It’s a hot topic at the moment and has led to a lot of the “restructuring for synergies” that you have probably heard about and seen go nowhere. No matter how you try to configure or restructure a bureaucracy while it remains a bureaucracy it’s a hopeless mess. Managing The New Organisation by Limerick, Cunnington and Crowther is a reasonable primer on this topic. There may be a physiological reason contributing to why bureaucracies such as denominations stagnate. It has to do with the selective attention mechanism in the reticular formation (a part of the brain). It limits the amount of information we can process and selects what we will and won’t attend to on the basis of importance and urgency. It can be fairly easily overwhelmed when there are a) too many urgent things to pay attention to or b) what you have to pay attention to is very complex. That is why people suffering stress burn-out are asked “Are you doing too much?” and “Is what you are doing too complex?” If you have ever had a horribly overwhelming day and then walked into a crowded shopping centre to do late-night shopping and felt like leaving on the spot – that overwhelmed feeling is the reticular formation hitting the overload switch and pulling you out of there. We have a limit to the complexity that we can cope with. That is why people who reduce complexity by setting priorities tend to get a lot more done. Now denominations are so complex that by the time you have handled the internal complexity of the bureaucracy your reticular formation doesn’t have a whole lot of room for all the complexities of actually doing ministry and the complexities of implementation. It’s all “too much”. So the complex pressing demands of HQ get attended to and getting into the field gets more and more remote. Every new initiative which of course “adds complexity” is automatically resisted by people whose complexity plate is full. As field work and new initiatives fail to happen a creeping sense of failure begins to take hold. As people realise that they are not accomplishing what they should be accomplishing they add “self-justification” to the lists of tasks to be done and it becomes mission critical because their survival now depends on it. Soon everyone in the bureaucracy becomes an expert in self-justification and a failure at ministry. Yet they are right. It’s NOT their fault, they are trying hard and they are doing their best. It’s just that they are in a system of such inherent complexity that they physiologically cannot handle all that is asked of them or go anywhere near achieving their job description. When bureaucracies are demolished people say they feel “liberated” and “now I can get on with my job” – and they do. The transformation of MLC by the dynamic management team at Lend Lease who turned a stodgy 120 year old bureaucracy into a dynamic and fulfilled system of networked project teams is a recent Australian example of this at its very best. Has A Major Bureaucracy Ever Been Transformed Into A Network or Task Focused Organisation? The Australian Government used to have the Commonwealth Employment Service or CES which was supposed to match unemployed people with jobs. As a bureaucracy it was horribly unsuccessful in doing so. It was rather clumsily transformed into the Job Network where private providers formed a network and provided the job matching services. It was also backed up with a powerful website and database at www.jobsearch.gov.au . The results were spectacular. Costs dropped from $250 million to $150 million and people placed in jobs rose from 170,000 to between 300,000 to 400,000 (Bulletin Oct 12th 1999 p52). Twice the productivity for just over half the cost. Now the Job Network is by no means an ideal network as its components are in competition with each other and there are few synergies of cooperation and the network is still run by DEWRSB (Department of Employment, Workplace Relations and Small Business). As non-ideal as this network is it is still a HUGE improvement over its performance when it was a bureaucracy. I believe we will see improvements as big as this – or even greater – when denominations are transformed into cooperating local area networks and spin off their tasks into single task focused organisations especially if the TF’s can be networked and supplied with appropriate information technology. Denominations, Disintermediaration and the Demise of Vertical Integration Back in the Industrial era mammoth organizations that were vertically integrated and controlled everything from the coal to the iron ore to the steel production and the milling lathes were thought to be successful due to “economies of scale”. However as the world became more complex these huge vertically integrated behemoths became unmanageable by the board. Divisions were formed and then sub-divisions, then the least profitable areas were “spun-off” and other areas were “outsourced” and now executives speak of “fast companies” and “core values” and “sticking to our knitting”. As appealing as vertical integration is on paper and to the ego, it creates unmanageably large and complex organizations that are “unresponsive”. The reticular formation of their executives is on overload and they just cannot adapt the organisation to the rapid changes that are always taking place in our day. Layers of management are scrapped and intermediaries such as “middle men”, some suppliers and middle management are done away with. The chain of command is made as short as possible. This process is known as dis-intermediar- ation that is getting rid of intermediaries. Now a denomination is a religious version of the industrial behemoth. It is the vertical integration of the Church’s tasks and on the human level it is just as bedeviled (what a metaphor) by complexity as any corporation. And on the human level denominations need to take many of the same simplifying steps that many corporations have, not because the world is right or better but because simplicity is necessary and there are not too many easy ways to achieve it. That Might Be Good Management Theory – However Are TF’s Scriptural? The missiologist Ralph Winter wrote a paper about “sodalities and modalities” in Scripture and pointed out that much of the evangelism and mission in the New Testament was done by “roving missionary bands” while the local church looked after the worship, pastoral care and much of the teaching needs of the congregation. This concept of dual structures within the church is I think borne out by a look at the book of Acts. Mission there is done by people on the move – Peter at Joppa, Phillip out in the desert with the Ethiopian eunuch, Paul and Barnabas on their missionary journey etc. Mission in the NT is not by committees in the local church or by the denominational hierarchy at HQ. In fact after Peter’s visit to Joppa it was the Judaisers at HQ that wanted to put a stop to reaching the Gentiles (Acts 11:1-30) and after Paul and Barnabas’ missionary journey they again tried to bring some “order and control” into the new churches by requiring converts to be circumcised (Acts 15:1-41). Right from the beginning there was a tension between the Spirit-led mobile missionaries on the cutting edge of ministry and the traditionalists with a bureaucratic mindset. There always has been and always will be a need for Spirit-led people with a focus on a particular task which they believe God wants them to accomplish, and which local churches and denominational hierarchy are ill-equipped to do, or reluctant to do, or both. Call it what you want – a roving missionary band, a TF, or a project team, clear focus empowered by God’s Spirit brings real Kingdom results that cannot be achieved in any other way. These people are not generalists or pastors in the traditional sense. They are passionate, goal oriented achievers. They would probably be very annoying in a local church and “troublemakers” in a bureaucracy but in the field they do a great job. Evangelism, Mission and Bible Translation Are Complex Tasks Many of the tasks done by TF’s are complex tasks that required dedicated specialists and unique organisational structures to support them. Tasks such as bible translation, mission and evangelism are more complex than most people realise. They require deep study of people groups, languages and cultures and the best methods of communicating the gospel. To do them well requires total focus and concentration so they are generally best done by called, equipped and motivated specialists. Such specialists require special structures to facilitate their ministry. The structure of a crusade evangelism organization will be very different from that of a missionary society which will in turn be different from the structure needed to serve linguists. It would be surprising if one denominational structure can understand and facilitate such a diverse range of ministries. The Leaven Of The Scribes and The Pharisees (Mat 16:6-12 NASB) And Jesus said to them, "Watch out and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees." And they began to discuss among themselves, saying, "It is because we took no bread." But Jesus, aware of this, said, "You men of little faith, why do you discuss among yourselves that you have no bread? "Do you not yet understand or remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets you took up? "Or the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many large baskets you took up? "How is it that you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread? But beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees." Then they understood that He did not say to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees. The love of hierarchy, and of places of honour and control of others creeps into TFs and para-church ministries and can turn them into clones of the worst offending denominations if we are not careful. The task focus of such groups tends to keep this from happening as “its results that count”. However it is no guarantee of it and some missions are pompous, controlling and frankly evil in their structures. I have heard phrases such as “the decisions of the mission board are the will of God for your life.” when an obviously wrong decision has been questioned. However because missions have no guaranteed existence and rely heavily on supporters and the recruitment of new missionaries who have choices about where to put their money and their service such stodginess and control soon leads to the decline of the mission. The decline often sparks some soul-searching and the organisation renews itself. If it is ignored the mission slowly fades from the scene wondering what happened. While TF’s can go wrong – and go badly wrong the decline does not last as long, affect as many people or go as far as denominational decline does. Meanwhile while I advocate spinning off denominational functions to TF’s I add the rider that the organisation must be consciously anti-bureaucratic and task –focused. This is why I have largely avoided the term “para-church organisation” as some of those have as deep a sense of entitlement and as ghastly a bureaucratic mindset as the denominations do. Only organisations that keep their task clearly in focus under God can help renew His church. If we just change the mindset but do not change the structures we will just end up frustrated. Telstra tried that in the 80’s and failed. Structures support and reinforce mindsets. So we need an active mission-minded, anti-bureaucratic, empowering mindset and the structures that help us express it easily and freely and which empower us to achieve the results we want to achieve. How Can We Spin Off The Components of Denominational Ministry to Task Focused Christian Organisations? 1. Find a fairly large number (e.g. 20) of doctrinally and philosophically compatible high quality Christian TF’s with which a “common spirit” can be shared. Select these with great care. They have got to be able to catch the vision, value the vision and implement the vision you have. They must not take on the ministries you pass on to them for mercenary reasons and they must not be bureaucratic themselves. 2. Call a meeting at which ALL of these TF’s are present and share how you want to turn over the operations of the denomination to them. Let THEM decide on which agency will do which tasks. 3. Decide on a 3-6 month handover period and at least fortnightly meetings of all parties to thrash out common problems and “keep the fire burning”. 4. Keep handing more and more functions over. Even functions like the placement of clergy can be handed over to Christian employment agencies. Evangelism, mission, hospitals, aged care and schools are obvious candidates that can be done better by TF’s. 5. Do not hand over functions that affect the core philosophy of the denomination until the very end of the process and then only after much consultation with a carefully selected agency. The training and mentoring of clergy would be one such function. 6. Close the doors of denominational HQ and go home. It may well be a sad moment but it will not be a bad moment. Your sacrifice will have helped the renewal of God’s precious Church. What will the churches do then? Preach, teach, exhort, encourage, support and counsel believers, they will administer the sacraments, pray for the sick and be the light of the world. Life will go on without HQ. The above process should happen in parallel with exhortations to form local area networks of churches and to build unity with other churches around them. As the denomination fades out, local area networks and TF’s should fade in. Isn’t unity dangerous? I first had to wrestle with this as a University chaplain in PNG when I had to relate to 6 other chaplains – Roman Catholic, Anglican, Independent Baptist, Baptist, SDA and United if I remember rightly. I represented the 23 Evangelical Alliance denominations. I asked for guidance from God and he gave me the following passage from Hebrews which has stood by me since. (Heb 12:14 NASB) Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord. We are to actively pursue peace with “all men” – that is everyone. We are to be peacemakers and relationship builders. We are not to be Pharisees which means “separatists”. The spirit of separation and the spirit of incarnation are opposites and the spirit of incarnation is the one I’m following! However our peace-making is not to be compromising. We are to be holy and if there is a clash between the two then holiness must win because without it we cannot see the Lord. My solution at the time was to be friendly with everyone but be very cautious with the SDA chaplain as he thought that Sunday worship was the “mark of the beast”. If my memory is correct the Catholic chaplain was hardly ever around and so was not a problem for me at the time. Since then I have had good fellowship with Catholics from the renewal stream and Ray Benjamin the godly Catholic bishop of Townsville. I am still very cautious about Seventh Day Adventists though I am aware that large differences exist and that evangelical SDA’s who are brothers in Christ exist in reasonable numbers. I pursue peace with everyone that adheres to the “universal creeds of Christendom” – the Apostles Creed, the Nicene Creed, the formula of Chalcedon and the Athanasian creed. That is I actively fellowship with those who believe in the Trinity, virgin birth, historicity of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus and that He is God, and in the return of the Lord . The very basic Christian beliefs that all main denominations have held for all time and which everyone from Pentecostals such as me to Baptists and Catholics believe. I find this a useful basis for unity and for inter-denominational work. I do not build any ministry alliances with cults such as Mormons or Jehovah’s Witnesses. As we spin off ministries to theologically compatible TF’s and form local area networks of churches it must be within the bounds of Scripture and the faith that was once delivered to the saints. Never fellowship outside of the truth or in such a way as to compromise core beliefs or to fall into sin. Are you really saying that we can eventually get rid of denominations altogether and still maintain theological purity and get the job of world evangelisation done? Yes I am. Please explain a bit more. All the functions that we use a bureaucratic denominational structure for can be better achieved by unified local area networks of churches doing the teaching, preaching, caring and fellowship bit and task focused Christian organisations doing the missions, evangelism, recruitment, education, aged care, and medical ministries etc. bit. Theological purity will be maintained by good faithful pastors and elders, theological colleges, bible teachers, Christian authors and by reference to already existing materials and even by using the universal creeds mentioned earlier. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 23: 02.04. CHAPTER 4 – IMPLEMENTATION – GENERAL PRINCIPLES ======================================================================== Wanting a change is one thing, making it happen in a peaceful and wise and effective way is another. I have no intention of hitting denominations over the head and saying “go away” and leaving it at that. That’s not a revolution – that’s abuse or just silly irresponsible pot-stirring. We need some good methods and a lot of patience if we are to make the transition beyond bureaucracy and denominationalism into a better way of being Christian. Who Can We Get To Help Us With The Change – After All There Is Only One of You? That’s just not true. There are probably thousands of good Christian businessmen, managers and consultants who if shown this book would immediately know what should be done to help you and your organisation and most of them would do a better job than I would. You need people that have implemented change in an organisation and who are sensitive to the pain that organisational change can cause. HR managers are a good starting point. They need to be committed Christians who love the church and who want to see it grow. You don’t want anarchists or mavericks or people who have been badly burned by the church and now want their moment of revenge and you definitely don’t want people who aren’t Christians. You need people who love the mission of the church and believe in evangelism, missionary work, Christian education etc. but who hate, loath and detest church politics, bureaucracy and pointless memos from HQ. You need someone who loves you and who is theologically compatible with you and shares your vision but is prepared to be brutal with the accumulated rubbish of denominational life. You need your mother! (grin) A word of warning – be very careful about academics testing their theories on you! Academics live in bureaucracies and breathe its air and bring those germs with them. Few have implemented serious high level organisational change and most like creating complexity whereas the whole idea is to get rid of it. We don’t need academic level complexity clogging up our reticular formations. How can we make this a model change? No! No! No! No! No! No! Never make a major change a “model change”. Not only do you have the complexity of the actual change (which should be consuming all your brain space and energy) you also have the complexity of arguing about the model and the complexity of being a model and the terrible fear of failure if it isn’t quite right. Making a “model” out of a change especially if theological values get involved raises the complexity level through the roof and guarantees failure of the actual mission itself. That’s why intentionally created Christian Utopias often get horribly unstuck. Keep it slow and simple. But shouldn’t we always be an example? The best way to be an example is to do a good job. It’s one of those paradoxes that seem to abound in the Christian life. The more you think about “being an example” the more neurotic and anxious and prideful you end up because of the pressure and urgency it creates. It’s truly overwhelming – ask any young pastor or youth leader who is struggling to “be an example to the flock” in a very conscious sort of way. It nearly kills them. We “old fogies” learn to tuck the “being an example’ bit away on a bit of a back-burner. It’s there but it doesn’t dominate life. We get on with the job, still conscious of our lumps and bumps but in a spirit of self-acceptance and reality knowing our best is all we can offer and that perfection will have to wait until Glory. Trying to build “model organisations” or “model communities” is a recipe for disaster. It’s also unrealistic and a bit proud assuming that you can do it better than everyone else and be a light to the other poor suckers out there. Just do your very best and if that turns out to be an example to others then well and good. Just do a very professional, good, balanced and wise changeover and people will love it, God’s work will be done and good will come of it. Ninety percent of you will still try to make it a “model changeover” and you will have ten times the stress as a result. One last plea – God loves people not structures. This is not a big deal to Him and it will only be a very minor blip in church life. Sermons will be preached, people will be baptised, married, and buried, and the changeover will be a distant memory in five years time. It doesn’t deserve to become another crusade for idealists and I sure as anything don’t want it to. Sustainability You are probably familiar with this term in an environmental context such as making sure a tourist park isn’t ruined by too many visitors and can keep on being beautiful. Or “sustainable development” asking the question how can we develop areas without ruining their environmental values or running out of resources. If you are really up with things you may have heard about “the sustainable organisation” – an organisation that realises that it can’t go on ripping off people forever or it will lose goodwill and go out of business. Shell has made an amazing and deep turnaround on this matter after environmentalists attacked it in Europe over the way it was disposing of an oil platform. Other organizations are discovering they are part of a community and have both social and environmental responsibilities. The old term “social obligations” is not out of place in this debate. Change also has to be sustainable. If change is too chaotic, unfair or sudden it can be unbearable. Before we inflict organisational change on God’s people we should be cognizant that God’s people deserve to be treated the way Jesus would treat them. Now Jesus does not molly-coddle us and He does ask to change. Often He asks us to change a bit more than we want and on issues we resist change on. So change is not a bad thing. And even somewhat painful change is not necessarily a bad thing. However Jesus-style change is paced to our frame and He knows that we are but dust. He does not set up an unrealistic, idealistic model of change and then jam us all into it. A sustainable, godly, Jesus-style change will be well thought out in advance and well communicated to those it will most affect. It will not be rushed at a gallop. Denominational officials being made redundant will not be made to feel that they are unwanted and unloved. They will be given proper farewells with all dignity and their years of service will be properly appreciated and honoured. Where possible the Christian network will be called on to find jobs for them. They will be given career guidance and job search advice should they want it and even funded to retrain at University or TAFE if that is necessary. Their packages will be generous enough to ensure they do not have to face immediate hardship. They will be seen as the heroes of the change. The changeover will be brought in as local area networks are strengthened and reinforced so that people do not have a “crisis of belonging”. People need to know that while their denomination is going out of business they have, in their local area network of churches, something even better that they can belong to. People will not be left in a void. Go slowly, communicate often and about everything and don’t assume that people will know what is going on from the grapevine or by osmosis. You may even want to e-mail this small book around to those who want to understand the change or make it freely available on your website. That’s fine by me just drop me an e-mail asking permission before you do – I don’t want it on cult websites for instance. My e-mail is johned@aibi.ph. Whatever it takes to get people to understand and accept the change – just do it. Communicate in four layers – to denominational HQ and clergy, to the main lay leaders on denominational committees, to the denomination as a whole and to the society around you. It’s important to get people to realize that though the HQ structure has closed down the churches are still open, growing and flourishing. It’s not “the church” that’s going out of business, it’s just changing shape a bit that’s all. What Is Changing and What Is Not Changing? The same pastors will preach the same sermons in the same churches to the same people. The local church will hardly notice the transition except that a) there will be no more visits from the bishop for confirmation and ordination b) they will get to know other Christians from other local churches a lot more. At the start Baptists will still immerse their converts, Pentecostals will speak in tongues and Catholics will celebrate Mass. After a while it will be Christians in that church baptise their converts, and in that one they speak in tongues and in the other one over there they celebrate Mass. Over time the labels will drop off. It will be understood that all Christians share a common core theology but just choose to express it in varying ways and with different emphasis on certain doctrines. There will still be vigorous theological debate but it will be from a position of unity rather than from a position of disunity and that will make all the difference. Post-denominationalism is not a threat to what we really believe at all. It is a threat to institutions and hierarchy and bureaucracy. It is not a threat to the Bible or your local church pastor. The Bible will remain intact, the creeds won’t change and your pastor can stay on without being moved around by the bishop. You can even build a cathedral if you want to. What will change will be bishops, archbishops, cardinals, popes, canons, and inquisitors who will be out of jobs. Denominational boards and committees and endless synods will vanish. Resolutions, minutes, agendas and Robert’s Rules of Order will be silenced. Churches will just get on with the job of being Christian in a sensible fashion. In case you think all that order and control is necessary – the Internet – which you are using to read this small book– functions very well without all of the above. We will look at issues of network management and the keeping of high standards in another chapter. Helping Congregations and Clergy To Move Towards Local Area Networks Where this has worked there has first been a willingness to do two things a) to pray together and occasionally worship together and b) to be vulnerable to one another’s strengths. I’ll explain the last bit first as it is probably the less understood of the two. Unity doesn’t happen if you think that other churches have nothing to offer you. If you, like the church in Laodecia say “I am rich and I have need of nothing” then you are truly “poor and blind and wretched and naked…” (see Rev 3:14-22) because we all need our brothers and sisters in Christ and what they have to offer us. We need the social action of the Salvation Army, the moderation and theology of the Anglicans, the devotion of the Catholics, the bible knowledge of the Baptists and the fire and zeal and pragmatism of the Pentecostals. None of us have got it all right and our brothers and sisters in other denominations are not all wrong about everything either. They have strengths and we need to acknowledge that and be vulnerable to it. Christian businessman Max De Pree has written a wonderful little book called Leadership Is An Art and it expounds being vulnerable to the strengths of others at great length – get a copy! Basically if I am putting together a rescue ministry for alcoholics I should have the humility to go to my Salvationist friends and ask their advice and if I am running a city-wide crusade perhaps the Baptists and Pentecostals might know a thing or two about evangelism. Once we reach the position that our friends in other churches are smart people with good ideas who can help us then we are open to unity and to local area networks. This process can be greatly assisted by certain ministries that seem to have the gift of peace-making and building unity. There are three such outstanding ministries that I know of. Scripture Union, Ellel Ministries and Ed Silvoso’s Harvest Evangelism organisation. The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association gets an honourable mention as well. These first three ministries seem to have an “anointing” or special gift in the area of building unity between local churches and they get a lot of flak from Satan for it too! People discover the strengths of the church next door when they get involved in the ministries of these organisations. The other way of building unity within the local church network is through praying together and occasionally worshipping together and through “pulpit exchanges” among the clergy. Things like the Jesus marches, evangelistic rallies and local causes and crises that get believers praying together are a start at building unity and trust. The “neighbourhood prayer house” strategy is another method. Such trust building takes time, tact and tenacity. Things go wrong, misunderstandings arise and the Devil tells lies. Unity is seldom built in a day though it can be destroyed in one. When unity reaches a certain level confession takes place - confession of sin, of division and of criticism between the churches and the clergy and lay leaders takes place. This is an important milestone. Finally you know unity is on its way when people put their money into a common pool to employ a chaplain or fund a Crusade. In our materialistic culture commitment is financial as well as personal. In this process you need to act with above average honesty and integrity. For instance when you advertise an event as “interdenominational” it must not mean that it is an XYZ event with an XYZ committee and XYZ speakers who will preach XYZ doctrines and that others are merely welcome to attend (where XYZ is a single denomination). Interdenominational events must have an interdenominational board and be theologically sensitive to a diverse audience and where possible have the participants on stage from an obvious variety of churches. Trust comes from integrity observed over time and has two basic components – your character and your competence. People will not trust dishonest people or careless people. You must be honest, caring and competent if people are to trust you and bond with you. Rumours of War – How We Freak Each Other Out “The Pentecostals have just said that unless you speak in tongues you don’t have the Holy Spirit and the Catholics are going to make Mary a part of the Trinity and the Baptists says that unless you are baptised by immersion as an adult you aren’t saved and the Anglicans are about to vote on not having to believe in the resurrection.” Every one of those statements is a lie! And I have heard them all! Any Christian would be upset if they heard nonsense like that. They are the sort of statements that send Christians into battle with each other and they are based on distortions and half truths. Yes there are a few Anglican bishops who have expressed doubts about the resurrection but some of those have been severely reprimanded for it. Yes there is a Catholic movement called the Magnificat Meal Movement which wants to declare Mary the Mediator of all graces but it has been officially reprimanded by the Vatican and is considered as nutty as a fruitcake. Some misguided Pentecostals may say that unless you speak in tongues you do not have the Holy Spirit but this is certainly not the official position of the Assemblies of God or the AOG Bible college I lecture at. And while the Baptists do see a lot of significance in baptism they definitely maintain that it is not necessary for salvation (I was trained at a Baptist Theological College). Before we go to war with other believers on the basis of a rumour it pays to check it out very carefully first. The Devil is the accuser of the brethren and he knows full well how to use isolated incidents, half-truths, misunderstood terminology, and false reports to create enormous amounts of acrimony and division. Satan is the Enemy, not the church down the road. As a rule of thumb Satan accuses us in four ways: 1.Satan accuses us to God (Zec 3:1-10, Job 1:1-22 & Job 2:1-13) 2.Satan accuses God to us. 3.Satan accuses us to each other 4.Satan accuses us to ourselves The biblical injunction (1Ti 5:19 NASB) Do not receive an accusation against an elder except on the basis of two or three witnesses is a very sound one to operate by. We need to “remove the finger of pointing from your midst..” Isa 58:1-14. OK So We Stop The Bunfights and Rumours and Start Liking Each Other – How Does That Then Turn Into A Network? By a deliberate effort at building communication and defining the network identity. This can include some or all of the following: Monthly pulpit exchanges amongst the clergy. Weekly prayer meetings by clergy and lay people from different churches. A network website or newsletter. Church signs altered to have “a member of the Birdsville Christian Network” or whatever. Common celebrations such as sunrise services at Easter or midnight mass on New Year’s Eve. Inter-denominational worship events and even shared evening services. Teaching on cults so the average church member becomes aware of who is and who isn’t with us in the journey. Encouraging Christian meeting places, noticeboards, radio stations and bookstores so that people naturally hear about each other and what is going on in the various churches. Sharing facilities, camp-sites, barbeques and even things like tents and trailers among the churches. Helping each other out. A de-emphasising of denominational labels and a reinforcing of local labels such as Birdsville Christians etc. Publish a book of local Christian poetry and songs that people from the network have written. Teaching people that salvation is individual and quite different from membership in a denomination. Teaching that in any given church on any given Sunday there will be those who are participating in salvation in Jesus Christ and those who couldn’t care less and that it’s their heart not the label on the door that is making the difference. What Problems/Resistances Can Churches Expect To Encounter? That depends on whether the devolving of the denominational functions to local area networks and TF’s is voluntary or whether local churches decide to go it alone. If a local church suddenly decides to withdraw from the denomination it may find that the church property and all the insurance policies etc. are held in the denominations name and that considerable legal work is involved. Such churches tend to leave the building to the denomination and set up in a hall somewhere. It’s far from ideal. I want to avoid that option. That’s part of the reason I’m writing this book – to help denominational structures see that it’s time to hand over and to show them how to do it. If done from the top down and carefully there should be very little resistance. I sense that this is an idea whose time has come and that the demise of denominations will happen. It’s just a matter of how it will happen – in a controlled and orderly and planned fashion or in a messy and emotional revolution. Creating Pictures of Calm In a situation like this we can either create pictures of crisis or we can create pictures of calm. We can picture a bitter revolution opposed by diehard denominationalists or we can see a quiet sensible nodding of the head by the godly men and women of the denominational hierarchies who love the church more than they love their own prestige. This second picture is by far the picture I prefer. The picture of a calm decision by honourable men and women and a calm, well communicated and well planned transition into the post-denominational era. I would like the transition to the post-denominational era to be an un-revolution, a complete flop as a media event and dead boring. I would like us to picture it as a calm rational well thought out business decision to free up the processes of the in-the-field ministries. That is a big part of the reason why I am distributing this as an e-book. If I eventually found a print publisher they would want a sub-title like “the post-denominational revolution” have a cover of crumbling cathedrals and create a contentious media beat-up based on conflict to boost sales. My ideas would be dead in the water in the eyes of most denominational officials before they even picked up a copy. If you talk about this book with friends please honour my intent by creating pictures of calm, use words like sensible and liberating and well-thought out and practical to describe the book (if you think those terms fit). I want us to move toward the post-denominational world in a calm, godly, loving and terribly orderly fashion because our God is like that and because I believe it’s the Christian way to do things. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 24: 02.05. CHAPTER FIVE – IMPLEMENTATION – PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS ======================================================================== Are We Going To Go Broke As A Result? Local churches will set their own budgets and pay their own pastors without denominational levies. Pastors will probably be paid the same and as part of the transition a wages agreement could be drawn up to protect independent clergy. Revenues to local churches may even slightly increase as people will have a more personal sense of ownership of their local church and those burned by “denominationalism” return to the fold. Costs will drop dramatically as overheads due to duplication of ministries between churches in the same area are cut to the bone. The synergies of cooperation should be even greater than those generated by the Job Network example earlier. In that example we saw twice the output for just over half the cost. In the post-denominational era given good cooperation between churches I think we could easily double that in most areas and do twice the ministry for a quarter of the cost. Just take aged care as an example. If in one local area there are say ten aged care homes run by seven denominations with seven different administrative structures and they are all brought under one umbrella – then the savings should be immense. What About Rural Churches and Denominationally Subsidised Ministries? Living as I do in North Queensland I know to some extent how people in the bush feel about being abandoned by capital city based denominational HQ and how sensitive any withdrawal of service from rural areas is – particularly the withdrawal of clergy. I have also encouraged, trained and lectured to many of the rural clergy in NQ from a variety of denominations. Now the situation is not all of one piece. Some of the crisis in the bush is their own fault. Some rural communities are deeply divided along religious lines with say three churches in one very small town each of which will have nothing to do with the other and none of which can afford a minister on their own. The demise of denominationalism can only do a power of good in such communities. Mergers between small rural churches based on local area networks would be a good and godly move. The end of denominationalism may see a partial end to divisiveness and some more real ministry happening in rural areas. Then there is the more genuine side of things where people are truly isolated and really want a visit from the clergy who roam the outback in four wheel drives and in small planes. Many of these are already on “team support” and supported as missionaries by churches in the cities. Others are denominationally funded but largely through churches in Townsville or Cairns which would still continue the support even if the denomination ceased. Some are worker-pastors and self-funded. There is also a renewal of interest in outback ministry by groups such as YWAM, Scripture Union and Calvary AOG. Now I only have a partial knowledge of my patch and no knowledge of the rest of Australia but from what I can see most rural ministries would remain. And if funds are freed up by the end of duplication of ministries between the denominations then more Christian sponsorship may be able to be released into the bush. Also the generation of large powerful city-wide networks of churches that can care pastorally for the regions they belong to may actually be a boon for rural areas. Other denominationally subsidised ministries such as missionary societies may choose to go on the team support model or to merge with other groups. Some may choose to go out of existence but I think these will be few in a well-planned change. Worthy ones may be able to find a powerful urban network or coalition of local churches to help sustain them. If the “spinning off” (see chapter 3) is done well and theologically and philosophically compatible partners are chosen then this should not be too massive a problem. There will certainly be a coalescing of ministries and a certain amount of pain as say 15 denominational women’s ministries combine into a nation-wide force for Christian women but I think the outcome will be much better. What About Denominational Based Perks Such As Leasing Equipment And Vehicles? The leased vehicles that pastors drive are based on churches with educational or practical ministries not paying sales tax on the vehicle and being able to resell the vehicle for what they paid for it so it is essentially free. It needs the church to have a school or bible college or similar activity. So it’s not denominationally based at all – its ministry based and non-denominational ministries also enjoy this privilege. My understanding is that this will end with the introduction of the GST anyway as there will be no sales tax just a 10% GST on cars and ministries will not be GST exempt anyway. The loophole will be closed – now I’m no accountant and I get muddled on such things but that’s what I’ve been led to believe. So a) it’s coming to an end anyway b) it wasn’t denominationally based to begin with. Why Local Area Networks? Why Can’t We Just Turn Our Denomination Into A Network? This is a great temptation because it means we can keep a bit of control and a lot of our denominational identity. It’s the easy road. It’s the WRONG road. It is just division by another name. It’s repackaging instead of repenting. If you go down this road the Christian community in a given local area will still be divided and still the rivalries (this time between networks) will exist. The revival power that comes from love and unity in a local area will be lost. The church will be seriously weakened spiritually by such a move. Evangelism and church life would make a small gain but the true large gain would be lost. It would be half-right but all wrong. On the practical level the simplicity of local association and the economic synergies of cooperation would be lost. Jesus founded the church on geographical unity amidst theological and cultural diversity and that’s the way it’s meant to be. In nearly every local church that Paul wrote to there was considerable theological diversity and cultural diversity yet they remained united in local areas and this unity was a real witness to God. Local area networks are a much more powerful witness to the community as they demonstrate openly how we Christians love one another despite our differences. Multitudes of semi-denominational networks in the same local area would not be a witness at all. What About Networking In A Local Area With Denominations That Are Compatible And Ignoring The Others? Again it’s close to repackaging instead of repenting but it’s a lot better than creating denominational networks and it is as far as many churches will be able to go at first. In Townsville there are effectively three networks – Mainline, Evangelical, and Charismatic/Pentecostal and overcoming the rivalries within those networks will be the first huge step, bringing them together as one network will be an absolutely massive step in God. There have been a few steps in this direction including some public repentance of the bitter attitudes that have flowed between Mainline and Pentecostal churches. There is still a long way to go but God is at work. Will These Major Denominational Blocs Ever Merge? Even when one local area network is finally created some churches will naturally network more with others. I don’t ever envisage people of Pentecostal theology being terribly happy in a High Mass or vice-versa. That is fine. We can treasure that diversity. Churches of similar theology and mindset will “click” better than those that are very different. However if the Catholic church is burned down because of an electrical fault I hope that the Pentecostals as well as the Anglicans and Baptists would all see themselves as brothers and sisters and pitch in and help out. I think the denominational blocs can merge to a quite significant extent and we can love each other in the Lord and put the emphasis on our commonalities – "one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us all", to quote Paul. When the emphasis is put of being Christian first and being different second then we will begin to merge the major blocs within Christianity. But How Do We Deal With The Past? We forgive and we forgive in public. What About Our Old Folk Who Have Strong Denominational Loyalties? Your “old folk” are probably not as unspiritual or inflexible as you think. The biggest radical I know is over 80! They pray for the church and grieve for the church and on the whole are as fed up with division, bureaucracy and “brands” as many of the younger folk. In fact even more so. The only denominational zealots I have met lately have been young people who have had little exposure to other Christians and who have picked up a bundle of prejudices from their home church. A little bit of life and a lot of prayer generally knocks this out of people. Older folk are loyal to denominational events such as synods and conferences. They do enjoy them and will miss them. However if we have equivalent events where the local churches get together and our older folk feel important and valued many will soon make the change. There Seems To Be So Much To Undo And So Many Words To Be Unsaid I Just Feel The Situation Is Beyond Restoration. Hopelessness is of the Devil. Faith, love and hope are from Jesus who can do more than you can ask or think or expect. When towns have turned to God and churches have “buried the hatchet” it has often happened quickly. There is a surprise, a pleasant shock, that things can and do change overnight when God is at work. Old traditional enmities that seemed immovable can end in a day. This is not “sight,” it’s faith. You need to replace pictures of failure with pictures of faith. God is God and the status quo isn’t God. By the way I take a lot of encouragement from Zec 4:14 and the moving of mountains by the Spirit of God with shouts of “Grace, Grace to the topmost stone….” (Zec 4:6-7 NASB) Then he answered and said to me, "This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel saying, ’Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the LORD of hosts. ’What are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become a plain; and he will bring forth the top stone with shouts of "Grace, grace to it!" Do not be discouraged or be dismayed, be strong and courageous and do the work of God! Stop Preaching And Tell Us How To Do It! I’ve given you a few clues in the previous chapter with that list of points on building community. However every place is different and you will have to get together with the pastors and lay leaders in your city and fast and pray and seek God for the right steps to take. The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord and the order is important. The first step may be apologising to an ethnic church or to the Catholics. It may be as drastic as that. Or it may be having a combined church camp among all the churches and building community that way. I don’t know the exact spiritual dynamics of your community and I won’t even pretend to be the voice of the Lord to you or to give you sixteen steps that inevitably lead to revival. You wouldn’t believe me if I did. The first step is being willing to do it. If you have read this far it’s a good sign. But Won’t Our Young People Marry People From Other Churches Then And We Will Lose Them? There are three answers to this question: 1. Young people are not finding suitable people to marry in their own church so they are marrying unbelievers as the alternative and we are losing them not just to the church but sometimes from God as well. Marrying people from other churches has got to be better than that. 2.There is only one Church in reality, one Flock, you are just a holding pen. If they move to another holding pen but remain in the Flock that is no great catastrophe. 3.They might just come to your church as a result – you can gain as well as lose. Do We All Have To Become The Same? God is a God of great diversity in both the natural and the spiritual realms. He has called you to be a certain type of church. Keep being that. My favourite analogy is that all fish are not the same size. A shark the size of a sardine is a failure and a sardine the size of a shark is a monstrosity. Churches don’t have to all be big churches or all be small churches or all have stained glass windows etc. God loves and cherishes and has created your diversity (I hope you believe that). I am not asking you to lose that or leave that. I am asking you to respect the diversity of others and to love them in the Lord. But If We All Become One Big Local Area Network Won’t Everyone Go Church-Hopping And This Will Lead To An Unstable Church Where We Have No Idea Who Is Going To Turn Up Or Who We Can Reliably Call On? That may happen for the first two or three months as the network starts up but I do not see it as a long-term problem because: People still prefer their style of worship and won’t go too far from it. Most Christians are basically fairly responsible and know they need to settle somewhere. People are creatures of habit. There will still be some who wish to float from church to church, however pastors who network together can “gang up on them” and tell them to pick one and settle down. This even happens now. What If People Pick Up Wrong Teaching From The Other Churches? This has potential to become a real problem unless we emphasise bible study and sticking to the Scriptures diligently. As part of moving to a network we need to teach our people to be “Bereans” and to search the Scriptures diligently to see if these things are true. As creedal and denominational authority in matters of doctrine vanishes three other forms of authority may replace it: 1.The authority of a pastors personality or group of elders. 2.The authority of Scripture alone. 3.The authority of big name leaders in the Christian community and Christians with a high media profile. Now options 1 & 3 divorced from Scripture are increasingly popular because they do not involve much work for the believer. However they are disastrous for their growth in faith. Movement to a network will absolutely require a renewed emphasis on the Bible. What About Handling Church Splits and Doctrinally Errant Churches, Don’t We Need The Denominational Hierarchy For That? You need some means of authority and sanity that is external to that particular church and its pastor. This can be done through a prominent, well accepted Christian leader, or through a group of other churches in the network. The person does not have to be a bishop to do this. As a bible college lecturer and so-called cults expert I get to take this role occasionally, as do many others in the Christian community. You just need a good consultant from within the Christian community. Ok You Have Been Promising To Deal With The Question Of Ordination It’s About Time You Did! Denominational ordination and clergy placement has become a disaster with local churches fearful of having homosexual clergy imposed on them or someone of a totally different theology e.g. a liberal in an evangelical parish or vice versa. The imposition of clergy on parishes and the politics of selection committees are perhaps the very worst aspects of denominational life. On the other hand we don’t want an ordination "free for all" like there is in the USA. There are a number of ways to deal with this: 1. Form an inter-denominational Australia wide “Clergy Professional Association” similar to the AMA or CPA or similar professional bodies that admits clergy, checks their qualifications and helps negotiate with churches about salary and conditions and which helps them should they want to gain accreditation to minister overseas. It could also keep a database of churches and vacancies and what kind of person and theological orientation the local church wanted. 2. Membership of the clergy association would not just be on academic grounds alone but on calling from God and demonstrated ability in ministry say after a 1 or 2 year supervision period. 3. Have local church ordination for those unwilling to belong to the professional association perhaps because they see it as an unspiritual way to do things. Such clergy would only be ordained to minister in that particular church. 4. Perhaps have local area network wide ordination ceremonies where the network is strong enough and united enough to do this. 5. Clergy would not be appointed by any external body but called and appointed by the local church. Individual churches would be able to set requirements for clergy according to their understanding of Scripture and not have someone of a different theology or way of life imposed on them by a denomination. 6. Churches would seek out their minister or advertise for one in the Christian media as well as checking out the associations database which may be a web database and accessible from a PC in the church office. 7. Under this scheme female clergy would only go to churches that would accept them. The controversy about the ordination of women would thus lose much of its sting since they could not be imposed on churches that did not share that view. Ministers who have been divorced likewise would only want to go to a church where this was not an issue. 8. This scheme would also prevent the “black marking” of certain clergy by denominational "powers that be". These personal dislikes of powerful people have ruined the ministry of many good members of the clergy. Clergy can be trained, selected for ministry and properly accredited without any denominational hierarchy being involved in the process and the outcome would be better for all involved. You Haven’t Mentioned Confirmation By The Bishop For churches that have confirmation it could be done, like baptism and weddings and funerals, by the local clergy. In some smaller rural networks where all the churches are mainline churches (that have confirmation) it could be a network wide ceremony. I see no theological reason in Scripture why you need to have a bishop to hear a person’s confession that they believe the faith, or to impart the laying on of hands. Admittedly I am not of that stream of theology myself and perhaps I have missed something. The Presbyterians don’t have bishops and they manage to confirm people. A hierarchical denominational structure is not needed for individual Christians to publicly confirm their faith in Christ. What About A Career Path For Clergy? The ratio of bishops to clergy at any one time is about 50 + clergy to one bishop so at best you have a 2% chance of a career path anyway. This will be exchanged for a 0% chance of a career path though some may become “fellows” or senior ministers. Most professionals are in the same boat. I, as a careers consultant can get bigger and better contracts or build a bigger and better firm but no-one is going to promote me - or your GP or most other professionals. The idea of a career path where Joe Bloggs joins Big Company and remains there for 50 years, becomes senior and gets a gold watch, is almost obsolete. The average person now has 8-10 job changes and 3-4 entirely different careers in a lifetime. Career consultants now talk about a person’s “lifestream” and see career as something you largely assemble for yourself to suit your goals and objectives in life. You will have to be satisfied with your calling in God. But I Love The Politics and The Committees The Army is recruiting! To be serious – there will still be plenty of bureaucracy for you to join in local clubs, some areas of the public service, the Defense forces and in large traditional firms etc. If this is a major factor for you then you will need to find another job. Can I Still Wear My Robes? Yes, of course. They will still have theological significance though they will no longer have denominational “brand” significance. What About Prayer Books? The local church will be free to choose its own style of worship so there will still be a place for prayer books, hymn books and traditional forms of worship should that congregation so choose and I’m sure there will be sufficient demand to ensure that prayer books and hymn books are published and enough people with an interest in this area to compile them. Won’t This Lead To Chaos With All These Churches Worshipping However Suits Them? There is already a huge number of worship styles in the body of Christ and the full range of variety is already present. Christians aren’t anarchists and won’t tolerate disorder for too long – they know God better than that. It will actually allow some churches to specialise in being conservative instead of having to please everyone and mix in choruses with hymns. It will result in each local church serving a “niche” in the local Christian community. What Do You Mean By a Niche? To be slightly humorous you can arrange churches in order of how loud they like their worship with Quakers and Trappists liking silence and Catholics and High Anglicans liking muted reverent tones, Presbyterians like a firm strong voice but not too much amplification, Baptists have modest sound systems and loud preachers and Pentecostals have the sound system from a U2 concert in a tin shed with an extrovert for a preacher. Now you can’t have all of them at the same time in the same church. Each congregation has to worship in the way that God is leading it to. That style can be very particular and will end up suiting a particular kind of worshipper. That particular style that suits a particular kind of worshipper is what I am calling a “niche”. How Will That Improve Things? Well at the moment you have a lot of generic “Home Brand” style family services with every church trying to capture the middle of the “market” and not trying to alienate the young people or upset the old people at the same time. Worship becomes an exercise in conflict management in many churches today. It’s a bit like the joke about the animal that could fly, run, hop, swim, etc. all at once. I have noticed that it is the churches that have the courage to go in the opposite direction to this and to definitely define themselves as Traditional or Contemporary or “River Churches” or “University Churches” or whatever that are growing. People seem to prefer to go to a church that suits them as a worshipper to one that tries to suit everyone. By ending denominational duplication and allowing local churches to be whatever God has called them to be you will get a better variety of churches some of which will take on small niches that no-one else wants, but which are still very much needed, such as outreach to youth gangs. They would be acknowledged as the church that does this and supported in that role by the rest of the network. One the church was seen as the whole area network by Christians it would help stamp out the complaints that go “the church never does… social justice, evangelism, healing etc.” No one church would be burdened by having to do it all but the network as a whole would and it would become “the city set on a hill” that was seen by the world because at last it would effectively meet the needs of the community. Hey I Like That Idea! So do I let’s do it! ======================================================================== CHAPTER 25: 02.06. CHAPTER SIX – GETTING FROM HERE TO THERE ======================================================================== Ok I’m Convinced. Now How Do We Start The Revolution? There are two ways – the "English" way or the "French" way. The "French" way involves guillotines and attacks on the Bastille and is very messy and is to my mind ungodly. The "English" way is slow and reasonable and thoughtful and kind. It’s the way I prefer. Revolutions don’t have to be awful, the Information Revolution has been fairly peaceful, in fact. Now I don’t think you can just march up to denominational HQ and yell “down with the denomination” and expect much joy at all. That’s immature and silly. What you can do is to tell them about this book and give them the URL so if they are interested they can get a copy. Please don’t email it to them as an unsolicited attachment please. Christian leaders get all sorts of huge unsolicited attachments in their e-mail from all sorts of strange people with bizarre notions and it clogs up the downloads and just gets deleted. Besides they might end up with 200 e-mail copies of the book from various well-intentioned members of their denomination. A brief e-mail saying why you like the book with the URL is all that is needed. If they want it they can go get it. The six chapters of the book might make a good 6 week study for a home group or evening service and even if it doesn’t start a revolution it will at least get people talking and thinking about the nature and function of the local church and there is no harm in that. Talk to pastors, lay leaders and denominational officials about the concepts in the book. Start building unity yourself and start praying for and with other churches. Introduce people of different denominations to each other and do all you can to build a climate of acceptance. Pray, pray, and pray! I believe God is in this. Unless He is it will not work. Do You Honestly Think You Will Change Things? It’s absolutely impossible to say what will happen. At this stage I could end up with 5 downloads and a big waste of time or like the 95 theses on the door of the church in Wittenburg it could set the world on fire. Odds are it will be somewhere between the two! Other Than Pray And Pass The Book Around What Should We Do? Study the Scriptures until you get a burning vision for what God’s church should be like in love and unity and truth. Study it until you NEED to do something or you will explode. Study it until you are absolutely convinced that change is needed and needed “today”. God will have a special place for you in His plan to restore the Church to unity, purity and truth and to complete the Great Commission. Only you know the turf in your area. Only you can get His will as it applies to you in your situation. That might sound trite but it’s where we all have to start under God and His Word in the particulars of our own situation. Are There Some Things We Need To Stop Doing? I covered a bit of that in the “rumours of wars” section. We need to think about what we are doing that hurts unity and trust and eliminate it. Some of these things are subtle like denominational “tunnel vision” so that only our things matter to us. George Otis Jr. talks about Kingdom vision “seeing the spaces between the churches” the unministered to bits of our society. I like that. We have to have a bigger picture that’s beyond our own backyards. We need to stop having a vision of the Church and the Kingdom that is like a battle between fast food chains or supermarkets. We are not the world and we need not behave like the world and we are capable of much greater, better and more diverse things than a plastic, branded, consumerised Christianity. Fast food chains rely on creating exactly the same experience for each customer in each restaurant no matter where you go in the world. If that philosophy is applied to the church it becomes Satanic. It is boring, lifeless, plastic, and not like God at all. We don’t want cookie cutter copies of consumer churches. We don’t want to be fighting for “market share”. We don’t want to be clones of the Market. The “bottom line” for God’s Church is holiness not the budget. Paul says it well in Galatians (Gal 5:15 NASB) But if you bite and devour one another, take care lest you be consumed by one another. We need a Church community that is the exact opposite from the takeover, eat each other up, voracious consumer society and we will not achieve this while we live as competing denominations in the one local area. We need to stop having panic attacks over “not our business” stuff like disputes in other churches or what deacon X said to deaconess Y last Sunday at church Z. Gossip could be a huge problem in a network . Other people will make different mistakes from the mistakes we make. Let them grow up by making their mistakes and let them leave us alone when we make ours while we maintain our love and acceptance of each other. Give other people the dignity that you would want under the same circumstances and unless there is a lot of evidence to the contrary it pays to believe that they are sincerely seeking God’s will just as you are and that they will sort things out just as you would. We need to put the fences in the right place and pull them down if they are in the wrong place. If I wanted to kill a lot of people and get away with it I would build a fence at the top of a mountain ten metres from the edge of the highest cliff. People would want to get closer to the edge and hop the fence, walk right up to the real and now unguarded edge of the cliff and some would slip off and fall. But “it wouldn’t be my fault I put a fence up”. If I wanted to save lives I would put the fence right on the edge of the cliff and people would say ‘I’m glad that fence is there otherwise someone might fall off” and no-one would hop it and no-one would be killed because the danger is obvious and the fence is in the correct place. Eve had her fences in the wrong place when Satan tempted her she said “and if we eat it or even touch it we will die,” so when she touched it and nothing happened she was made bold to eat it, and you know the rest of the story. Young people are sometimes told that dancing is wicked. They soon find that it’s pleasurable and harmless. So they are emboldened to go further and further until they end up in real sin. So it is with the churches. We have fences keeping people away from other denominations when they should be keeping them away from worldliness and compromise. We need to decide where the real danger is and put the fences in the right place and tear down all the fences that are in the wrong place. The Importance Of Connections How could a matchstick pull over a ten tone truck? Well if you go to the edge of a precipice and connect the matchstick to a matchbox with a long thread and the matchbox to a biro and the biro to a small book on its edge by a string and connect the book to a larger volume and the big book to a baseball bat and the baseball bat to a bicycle balanced on its edge and the bicycle to a motorbike on its wheels and the motor bike to a small car connected to a larger car connected to a light truck, connected to the ten tonne truck…and you push the matchstick off the edge it will take the matchbox with it which will take the biro over the edge with it which will take the books which will take the baseball bat and as it whizzes to the end of its string it will pull down the bicycle which will upset the motorbike which will tug the small car over and as it flies down and jerks on its rope the big car will topple off the cliff, followed by the light truck followed eventually by the big ten tonne truck. Lesson: An unstable system on the brink of disaster can be brought down by a very small thing, if that small thing is connected to bigger things which are connected to even bigger things etc. (e.g. domino effects and the Asian economic crisis etc.) The denominational system is on the edge of falling over. You are like the matchstick in the story and you are connected to someone who is connected to someone else who may be influential in your denomination. Connect with someone one notch higher than you in the pecking order and then ask them to do likewise once they are convinced of the need for change - and so on. Build the connections then jump! You may start the dominos falling and soon a seemingly immense system may start the process of transformation. Please note that the analogy does not imply I want denominations to plummet to some terrible destructive doom. I will say it again - I want a slow sane, planned, deliberate and godly changeover. Now may the God of peace be with you as you build the Church of God. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 26: 02.07. THE NEW APOSTOLIC REFORMATION ======================================================================== C. Peter Wagner the church growth historian has identified a new movement in the church which he has called the "New Apostolic Reformation". He sees churches networked together and run by apostles in a new format that pursues holiness and mobilizes the church for mission. This has made many people nervous (including me) as the danger of false and presumptive apostles seems not to be adequately covered. At the same time I see a need for the charismatic and Pentecostal movements to mature under strong leadership. I find the basis for this is the epistle of 2 Corinthians. It is interesting to note the increasing maturity and accountability as one moves from 1 Corinthians to 2 Corinthians. I believe the church in the immoral and pagan West today is a "Corinthian" church and while we are Spirit-filled and gifted we have a lot of maturing to do. We need to "move from 1 Corinthians to 2 Corinthians" and to do that we need the raising up of leadership. Some of the issues are canvassed below. Body To Bride 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians are connected epistles. 1 Corinthians is the "primer" where Paul laid down his prescriptions for the church in pagan Corinth. Now in 2 Corinthians he is coming to enforce those prescriptions and set the church the right way up. In 1 Corinthians the church is the body that had to function in a coordinated manner, now the body is becoming a bride - purified for the return of Christ. I see this as occurring in the church today. Over the last twenty years we have seen enormous emphasis on "body life" and gifts and being the body of Christ. We have heard many sermons from 1 Corinthians and become and organised and coordinated church. Now God is moving the body to become a bride - He is calling for purity. He will soon raise up apostles who will press for holiness in the body. There will also be false apostles trying to ensnare us thus 2 Corinthians is very relevant for where the Church is at today. Internal Focus To External Focus In 1 Corinthians Paul deals with issues such as morality, marriage, spiritual gifts, divisions, pride, the Lord’s Supper, ethics, idols and love. All mainly internal church issues. In 2 Corinthians he moves on to consider the nature of true and false apostles, the basis for church discipline and the nature of relationships between the church and visiting apostles and the church and other churches - particularly those churches overseas (in Jerusalem) that were in financial need. The issues of 1 Corinthians are still there and immorality is still a concern but it is within the context of church discipline overall. Paul is trying to get the Corinthian church, now that much of the mess has been fixed up, to look outward to its responsibilities to other churches, to promises it has made and to discipline itself for holiness. He is striving to make it a grown up church - discerning, wise, and providing for the needs of others. He wants them to think of "regions beyond". Paul as a true apostle does not go into other people’s areas but is constantly trying to go into "regions beyond". He has an external focus - he does not go to the nice churches to collect big offerings (as the false apostles do) but to places where there are no churches and supports himself with his own hands. I see this as saying a few things to today’s church: We need to go beyond getting gifts to using gifts. That the focus of a mature church is beyond its four walls. That churches exist in relationship to other churches and in networks of believers That we need to consider the needs of poverty stricken Christians overseas (2Co 8:1-24 & 2Co 9:1-15). That leaders should focus on ministering to "regions beyond" rather than just ministering to rich, attractive Western churches. That churches need to be discerning in how they build external relationships but still do it. True and False Apostles 2 Corinthians deals a great deal with the distinction between true apostles such as Paul and the Satanic counterfeit "super-apostles" with their greedy deceptive boasting. The word apostle is Greek for "sent one/messenger" and means the same as the Latin "missionary" from "missio - I send". Apostles are ones sent by God to lay the foundations of the church. As noted below there are four main types of apostles. Jesus who is the Chief Apostle (Heb 3:1) and who was sent from the Father. The Twelve who were called and sent by Jesus Christ (Mat 3:2, Luk 6:13-16) and the Post-Ascension Apostles who were sent as Jesus’ gifts to the church until it was fully matured (which has not yet happened) and who are part of the five-fold ministry of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers - for the equipping of the saints. These post-ascension apostles were a result of Jesus ascending into heaven (Eph 4:1-11) and therefore are NOT the Twelve who were selected before this time. They include Paul, Barnabas, Silas, Timothy, Epaphroditus, Junia, James the Lord’s brother, Apollos, Andronicus, Matthias and two "unnamed apostles". Thus missionaries today who plant churches and establish new works of God and have authority over a number of churches may technically be considered "apostles". This however is such a confusing term to the majority of believers that it is probably best substituted with "church planter" "founder" or "overseer". Or similar appropriate term. Signs, wonders, and miracles are seen as the "signs" of an apostle (2Co 12:12). False "sent out ones" range from Mormons on bicycles to slick presenters of alternative gospels. True apostles are characterised by right doctrine, laying no other foundation other than Christ Jesus, the enduring of suffering, financial integrity, the testimony of Christ even in weakness - and signs, wonders and miracles done through their hands. Notes on Apostles Today - possibly 4 main types of apostles: 1.Jesus - the Apostle and High Priest of our confession. (Sent by the Father) 2.The Twelve (Sent by Jesus Christ) 3.Post-Ascension Apostles - Eph 4:11 (Sent by the Holy Spirit) (a)Founders: Paul, James the Lord’s brother. (b)Those that follow the founders: Titus, Barnabas (c)Church based apostles: Andronicus and Junia, Priscilla & Aquila 4.False apostles Names of apostles in Scripture (from "All The Apostles In The Bible" by Herbert Lockyer): Those designated as being an "apostolos" are: 1. The Lord Jesus Christ (Heb 3:1) 2. Andrew, Bartholomew, James the son of Alpheus, James the son of Zebedee, John, Judas Iscariot, Matthew, Peter, Phillip, Simon the Canaanite/Zealot, Thaddeus, Thomas (Mat 3:2, Luk 6:13-16) 3. Andronicus (Rom 16:7), Apollos (1Co 4:6-9), Barnabas (Acts 14:14), Epaphroditus (Php 2:25-30) James the Lord’s brother (Gal 1:19), Junias or Junia (Rom 16:7), Matthias (Acts 1:13-26), Paul (2Co 1:1), Silas & Timothy (1Th 1:1, 1Th 2:6, 2Th 1:1), Two Unnamed Apostles (2Co 8:18-23) Themes From 2 Corinthians The following are some themes from 2 Corinthians that I believe are tremendously relevant to the state of the church today as the New Apostolic Reformation unfolds. The paragraphs are brief to keep this chapter short so please look up the Scripture references as you do so for an even deeper understanding. 1.True apostles and suffering. Treasure in earthen vessels. Strength in weakness. (2Co 1:3-11, 2Co 4:7-11, 2Co 4:16-18; 2Co 4:16-33, 2Co 12:7-10) Power - (2Co 4:7, 2Co 6:7, 2Co 12:9, 2Co 13:4) True apostles do the "hard yards" for Jesus and are prepared to go to poor places and unknown regions to preach the gospel to regions beyond. They feel their frailty acutely are "exhibited last of all" (1Co 4:9) and have their treasures in earthen vessels so that the glory may be not from man but from God. Power is perfected not in riches, glamour or high status but "in weakness". In fact on all four of the occasions when the word power is used in 2 Corinthians it is used in association with the idea of power in weakness. The true apostle has no confidence in themselves or their human abilities but great confidence in God. 2.False apostles and greed. Deception. Boastfulness. Externals as credentials. Competent "in themselves". Appearances. "Performers". (2Co 2:17, 1Co 11:13-21, 2Co 10:7-18, 2Co 4:2, 2Co 12:11-13) The false apostles come along to existing works of God and preach new things - a different Christ, a different gospel and a different Holy Spirit (2Co 11:13-21). They distort the truth in cunning and deceptive ways and use secret and shameful strategies (2Co 4:2). They do so mainly for financial gain "peddling the word of God for profit" (2Co 2:17). The create churches that love the externals of good oratory and polished performance and which sneered on the "unimpressive" Paul as a result. (2Co 10:10-11). They are a financial burden on the church - which Paul was not. 3.The Corinthians past history as a church with a blotched copybook (2Co 12:21, 1Co 5:1-13, 1Co 6:1-20, 1Co 10:1-33, 1Co 11:1-34, 1Co 15:1-58) Corinth was a new church plant in a pagan and debauched city and the lifestyle of its members was only slowly changing into a Christlikeness that few understood. In 1 Corinthians Paul chastised the church for disunity, factions, spiritual pride, tolerating incest, having sex with prostitutes, getting drunk at communion, being disorderly during worship and major doctrinal errors such as believing that there was no resurrection from the dead. It was a church with a very blotched copybook that Paul was trying to turn into the very bride of Christ. (2Co 11:2) 4.A church rebuked. (2Co 1:23-24, 2Co 2:1-11, 2Co 10:1-6, 2Co 11:1-6, 2Co 12:20-21, 2Co 13:1-10) Paul gives them the understanding about what is wrong in 1 Corinthians and comes in 2 Corinthians to set things right once and for all. Here Paul is enforcing what he has told them. His words are strong and forceful "I will spare no-one" etc. 2 Corinthians is an ultimatum to consider holiness and get in line with God’s standards. I believe God is at the point of giving the church in the West just such an ultimatum - he is coming soon and will not spare those who have been immoral or divisive. 5.Paul’s love and confidence in the Corinthians despite their blotched copybook. (2Co 2:3-4, 2Co 7:4, 2Co 7:14-16, 2Co 8:22-24, 2Co 9:2-4, 2Co 11:11, 2Co 12:15) Paul does not just threaten however. He also repeats his great love and total confidence in them. He opens wide his heart to them that they may appropriate Christ and asks that they may also open wide their hearts to Paul. 6.Holiness and church discipline. The call to a fully Christ-like life. (2Co 2:14-16, 2Co 3:16-18, 2Co 5:9-10, 2Co 5:16-21, 2Co 6:1-2, 2Co 6:14-18, 2Co 7:1, 2Co 12:20-21, 2Co 13:1-21) Paul calls the church to be separate from the surrounding Corinthian culture which was so debauched that "to play the Corinthian" meant ’to commit sexual immorality". Up on the hill in Corinth was the temple of Aphrodite with is 1000 prostitutes for pagan sexual rites. Corinth was a port city where sailors took their recreation. Many of the congregation had lived this lifestyle before becoming Christians. Paul calls them to separate themselves to Christ and be holy and "counter-cultural’. To "come out from among them" and then God would bless and call the sons and daughters of the most high. Every call to separation from the world in the Bible is also a call to more intimate fellowship with the Father. 7.The place of spiritual authority – building up not tearing down. Apostolic validation. (2Co 1:23-24, 2Co 10:8, 2Co 12:12, 2Co 13:10) Paul said his authority was "for building you up, not tearing you down". In the past church discipline has often been severe and destructive and so it is seldom practised today. People were disfellowshipped for trivial reasons such as talking to the wrong person or cosmetics. It often became an exercise of power by a dominating and manipulative pastor or elder. However the proper use of church discipline is to get people to become like Jesus Christ. Just as a football team may discipline an errant athlete with the aim of bringing them on track so that they eventually become winners so the church should discipline people for holiness. Also if we are disciplined by others now it saves us from being disciplined by God later. (1Co 11:31-32 NASB) But if we judged ourselves rightly, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord in order that we may not be condemned along with the world. 8.The Church as the Betrothed. (2Co 11:1-3) Paul says that he has promised them to Christ as a "pure virgin" in other words as a perfected and undefiled church. The Church is the bride of Christ that Jesus died to redeem just as Hosea bought back Gomer from a life of degradation. The possibility of the Corinthians being pure seems remote by human calculation but the blood of Christ is powerful enough to accomplish even this and so Paul made it his aim in ministry. Apostles are interested in the ongoing quality of the church - not just its mere establishment or the numbers baptised. 9.Apostles moving into "Regions Beyond". (2Co 10:13-18) Paul says that his great desire is to preach the gospel in "regions beyond you" (2Co 10:16). The apostolic vision is for an international church that reaches Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the uttermost parts of the earth. As the church moves into maturity it will be concerned with much more than just the four walls of the local church or the surrounding parish boundaries. It will find ways of reaching out to "regions beyond". As noted before 2 Corinthians has an external focus. The apostolic move will see the church planted in difficult areas where it has never been planted before. As someone has said "There is no such thing as a closed country, you can go into any country as long as you are prepared to not come out". Paul was prepared to take the gospel anywhere – no matter what the cost. 10.Networked churches - churches together (2Co 1:12-17, 2Co 8:1-24 & 2Co 9:1-15) In 2 Corinthians Christian networks are very much in evidence. The Macedonians (just north on the Corinthians and the "hillbillies" compared to the sophisticated city dwellers of Corinth) are often extolled for their generosity and for the support of Paul’s ministry. To be sure there is a bit of playing on the rivalry between the regions in order to get them to follow Jesus more fully but it is hardly subtle and both the Corinthian and Macedonian Christians seem to buy into it with gusto. Then there is the collection for the poverty stricken church in Jerusalem. There is further evidence of networking in Paul’s search for Titus, the composition of the team that handled the collection and the planning behind Paul’s visit to Corinth. It is evident that the Corinthian church a) received ministry from other churches and visiting apostles b) gave financially to other churches and some of the visiting apostles c) was involved in famine relief. It was connected into a network which was vital for its church discipline, ministry and Christian activity. The insulated and self-contained modern local church is thus very possibly contrary to the pattern of the New Testament church. 11.Giving to Christian aid organizations which demonstrate financial integrity. (2Co 8:1-24 & 2Co 9:1-15) The church in Jerusalem was experiencing persecution from both the Jews and the Romans and also the famine predicted by Agabus. Their possessions has been seized and that had been imprisoned and exposed to public insult and persecution - and apparently endured it joyfully at least at first (Heb 10:32-34) "knowing that you yourselves has a better and more lasting possession". They were now in need of aid from other churches and Paul was collecting an offering from the Gentiles to relieve their poverty and also to help build unity between the Jewish and Gentile Christians. People of high and well known integrity were selected to handle the offering. (2Co 8:16-21) There was demonstrated accountability and integrity in this first Christian aid organisation. "(2Co 8:20 NASB) taking precaution that no one should discredit us in our administration of this generous gift." 2Co 8:1-24 and 2Co 9:1-15 are often used to preach weekly generous giving to the local church. In fact that are the opposite - they are exhorting weekly generous giving from the local church to Christians in distress overseas. The cash flow is outward not inward! The motive is not that the programs of the local church may run but that "there may be equality" between churches in the body of Christ. (2Co 8:13-15 NASB) For this is not for the ease of others and for your affliction, but by way of equality-- at this present time your abundance being a supply for their want, that their abundance also may become a supply for your want, that there may be equality; as it is written, "HE WHO gathered MUCH DID NOT HAVE TOO MUCH, AND HE WHO gathered LITTLE HAD NO LACK." As networks develop among churches blessing will flow to those churches that bless their poorer brethren financially. Support of new works in rural areas is one form that this is still practised today. However we still need to go one step further and provide financial relief, with integrity, to deserving churches in nations afflicted by drought, famine and poverty. God wants financial equality between brothers and sister churches in the body of Christ. 12.Spiritual warfare and Satan’s schemes to destroy the church through deception, false teaching, immorality, persecution, division and accusation. (2Co 1:8-11, 2Co 2:5-11, 2Co 4:4, 2Co 10:3-5, 2Co 11:3-6; 2Co 11:13-21) Satan is an ever-present foe in 2 Corinthians. From the opening chapters where Paul is fighting wild beasts at Ephesus and despairing of life itself through to 2Co 11:13-21 on false apostles, divisive emissaries of Satan masquerading as servants of righteousness. Satan is called the "prince of this world", shown as the one that blinds those that are perishing to the truths of the gospel and the originator of ideas and pretensions that are set up against the knowledge of God. Paul seems to have had some first-hand experience of Satan because he says that he "masquerades as an angel of light" - perhaps Paul or someone close to him found this out through an encounter with an "angel" that went horribly wrong. Satan’s plan for the average Christian is outlined in 2Co 2:5-11 - tempt them into sin, then expose them to judgment, have them overwhelmed by the outcome, ensure that they are not forgiven or restored but treated legalistically then drive them far from God. To ensure this plan fails Paul says for the church to restore the person subjected to church discipline as soon as they have repented "lest Satan outwit us -for we are not unaware of his schemes". (2Co 2:11) The apostolic is opposed at every turn by the Satanic. He will attempt to destroy those that emerge as apostles and to discredit the ministry by the scheme shown above - or as in Paul’s case by portraying the apostle as dowdy, unimpressive and not a top notch performer on stage so that people turn to the more glamorous false apostles. These false apostles will perform false miracles and nine clear warnings are given in Scripture about them and their attempt to deceive the elect. (e.g 2Th 2:5-11, Mat 24:24, Mark 13:22) 13.True and false revelation. The danger of pride. (2Co 11:1-6, 2Co 12:1-10, 2Co 10:1-2) Paul received such an abundance of revelations that God gave him an affliction a "thorn in the flesh" - possibly a persecutor such as Alexander the coppersmith, so that he had to be content with insults and persecutions and to find that "My grace is sufficient for you" (2Co 12:1-10). Thus, in the apostolic, even true revelation can be intoxicating and spiritually dangerous if not accompanied by humility. False revelation such as that outlined in 2Co 11:1-33 - where Paul speaks of another gospel, another Christ and another Holy Spirit is even worse. It leads people into captivity to false apostles who are servants of Satan. Thus a mature apostolic church needs first of all to be a discerning church believing only true revelation from God and able to tell true from false. In Hebrews maturity and deep revelation is imparted to those who have learned to tell good from evil. (Heb 5:14 NASB) But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil. Secondly the apostolic church needs to humble in the way it handles the truth and not puffed up with pride. Thus we need to have faith without gullibility and vision without deception. For this to happen we need to develop… a) a deep knowledge of the Word especially in the elders and leaders of the church. b) a solid character that is humble and practised in discerning good from evil. c) the ability to wait on a revelation to see whether it is from God and to test it – so that we are not blown about by every wind of doctrine and every new fad. d) an intimacy with God so that we know the Presence of the Truth and can thus be sensitive to the intrusion of evil. e) the development of the anointing of the Holy Spirit so that we may be led by Him into "all truth" (John 14:26, 1Jn 2:20, 1Jn 2:27, 1Co 2:9-16) 14.The desired future of the church –unity and purity - a discerning, disciplined and dynamic witness to the glory of the New Covenant in Christ Jesus. (2Co 2:12-17, 2Co 3:1-18, 2Co 4:1-18, 2Co 5:1-21) All this time, throughout the epistle, Paul is nudging the Corinthians towards Christ-likeness, towards being the pure Bride of Christ. In the early chapters of 2 Corinthians Paul frequently refers to the glory of the New Covenant and to the vast privilege of being ambassadors for Christ with a message of reconciliation. The church, when right with God, is a dynamic witness to the glory of God in the face of Christ and is being transformed from glory to glory by the Lord who is the Spirit. (2Co 3:1-18) Thus the church is to both reflect God’s glory and to be constantly transformed into it through the operation of the Holy Spirit. Glorification involves purification as one component and purification involves a separation from the world and from false doctrine and thus requires discernment and maturity. It is also impossible to have a glorious church if it is divided or disrupted so that unity and discipline under apostolic authority are key aspects of a church reflecting the glory of God. Thus as the church moves from body to bride and from immaturity to maturity it will become a united, pure, discerning and dynamic witness to the glory of the New Covenant under the discipline of true apostolic leadership. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 27: 02.08. APOSTLES AND CHURCH DISCIPLINE ======================================================================== The Management of Sin and Sinners In The First Century AD by John Edmiston [This connects with the rest of Beyond Denominations in showing how a local area network can manage church discipline, and in particular how such a local area network might function if the office of apostle was restored, as C. Peter Wagner predicts.] Over the past few years people I know have been involved in adultery, prostitution, credit-card fraud, and paedophilia with little or no church discipline. Two of these cases have been public in the courts. We seem unable to manage major sin in the church. Either we react swiftly in condemnation or we counsel the sinner with a minor slap over the wrist. Sin is no longer strongly rebuked, and sin, especially sexual immorality, is now rampant in even the most conservative and Spirit-filled churches. I feel that this is grieving our God - who is holy and has called us to be holy as He is holy. While reading and studying 2 Corinthians I noticed how stern Paul’s tone was and how he was obviously coming to set up some kind of court in the church (1Co 12:20-31, 1Co 13:1-10). This prompted a wider study on how the apostles regarded sin, and how the apostles managed the problem of sin and sinners in the New Testament church, and these are the startling conclusions. 1. Sin was not absent in the early church particularly among the pagan converts. The Corinthians were tolerating incest (1Co 5:1 ff), visiting prostitutes (1Co 6:15-17), being drunk at communion (1Co 11:21) , engaging in sexual immorality (1Co 6:1-20 & 1Co 7:1-40), visiting idols temples (1Co 8:1-13 & 1Co 10:1-33), compromising their faith (1Co 10:18-22) and following false apostles (2Co 11:1-15), and the recipients of James’ epistle were quarreling, fighting and committing murder (Jas 4:2). Many churches were divisive or legalistic (Galatia) and embroiled in what we would call "New Age" teachings (Colossae and perhaps Ephesus). John had to warn his readers to flee from idolatry (1Jn 5:21) 2. The sinners were called "saints" or holy ones even in Corinth. (1Co 1:1-3) 3. The sin was condemned and the sinners were sternly rebuked. (2Co 13:1-3) 4. The sinners were tried by the apostles in church courts. (Acts 5:11, 1Co 6:1-11, 2Co 12:20 ff). Having these trials adjudicated by itinerant apostles may have been a very wise move as they a) had the authority and b) were external to the fellowship and thus perceived as objective. 5. There were proper standards of evidence. Hearsay and gossip were not admissible. (2Co 13:1) 6. Punishable sins included: Strife, jealousy, angry tempers, disputes, slanders, gossip, arrogance, disturbances, impurity, immorality, and sensuality (1Co 12:20-21) as well as numerous others such as those listed under point 1 and spiritual sins such as "lying to the Holy Spirit" (Acts 5:11) and being a wayward prophetess (Rev 2:20-24). 7. The penalties included death (Annanias and Sapphira Acts 5:1-11, Jezebels children Rev 2:20-24, those who were disorderly during the Lord’s supper 1Co 11:30), illness (1Co 11:30, Rev 2:20-24)and the mysterious "being handed over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh" (1Co 5:5) as well as being banned from fellowship (1Co 5:11). 8. Christians were exhorted not to associate with immoral Christians. (1Co 5:1-11) 9. Heretics were not even to be given the time of day. (2Jn 1:10-11) 10. Churches were warned in advance of the arrival of an apostle and were given time to repent. Titus was thus "received with fear and trembling". (1Co 7:14-15) and Paul gave advance warning of his visit to Corinth to set things right in the church (2Co 12:20-21, 2Co 13:1-10). 11. If the person had not repented of their sin they were not spared. (2Co 13:1-4) 12. Once they had repented then loving restoration was in order. (2Co 2:5-11) Forbidden Approaches To Church Discipline Judging outsiders. Christians are only to judge Christians. (1Co 5:9-13) Failing to reconcile and forgive after repentance. (Mat 18:15-35, 1Co 2:5-11, Gal 6:1) Tolerating false teaching, idolatry or immorality. (2Jn 1:10-11, 2Co 11:4, 1Co 5:1-13, Rev 2:20) Taking matters to non-Christian courts. (1Co 6:1-11) Taking minor matters of personal defrauding and cheating to court. (1Co 6:7-8) Being hasty to judge others and not following a process likely to lead to reconciliation. (Mat 5:25-26; Mat 18:15-35) Pastoral Applications Of The Above 1. The Church is to be holy, the pure Bride of Christ. (2Co 11:2). 2. Sin is serious and sin is wrong and unrepentant sin should be punished. 3. It is appropriate for Christians to set up proper courts with proper standards of evidence and preferably the presiding judge should be someone of authority from outside the fellowship. If apostles are raised up soon as some predict then this could be one of their functions. 4. The evident purposes of church discipline are: 1) The purity of the Church which will be presented to Christ as His body and His bride. 2) To make people fear God and grow in Christian maturity 3) To keep Christians from being contaminated and defiled by sin. 4) To get the sinner to repent. 5) To prevent future judgment by God. (1Co 11:30-32) 5.There are right and wrong ways to go about church discipline as outlined above. Church discipline flows from integrity and is never manipulative. (2Co 4:2) It is not there to get people obedient to the pastor or to the church or to the organisation but only to be obedient to Christ Jesus. (2Co 10:1-6) 6.Forgiveness and restoration can only follow true repentance. Refusal to repent leads to judgment. 7.There needs to be an urgent restoration of church discipline obviously preceded by educating the congregation as to the correct approach and the proper standards of holiness for the Christian life. © Copyright, John Edmiston, 2000. May be freely distributed as long as this copyright notice is left intact. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 28: 03.00.1. BEYOND PERSONAL SALVATION ======================================================================== Beyond Personal Salvation An Exposition of Romans 9-16 by John Edmiston © Copyright AIBI 2007 may be freely used for non-profit Christian ministry but may not be sold in any way. If you have any questions about this please email the author at johned@aibi.ph ======================================================================== CHAPTER 29: 03.00.2. INTRODUCTION ======================================================================== Beyond Personal Salvation is a compilation of a series of 42 daily bible studies from Eternity Daily Bible Study and is an exposition of the second half of the book of Romans (Rom 9:1-33, Rom 10:1-21, Rom 11:1-36, Rom 12:1-21, Rom 13:1-14, Rom 14:1-23, Rom 15:1-33, Rom 16:1-27). It follows on from The Righteousness Which Is By Faith which was an exposition of Rom 1:1-32, Rom 2:1-29, Rom 3:1-31, Rom 4:1-25, Rom 5:1-21, Rom 6:1-23, Rom 7:1-25, Rom 8:1-39. The first half of Romans focuses on our personal, individual salvation and standing in Christ. The second half of Romans goes beyond this and looks at our concern for and relationship with other people in the mainly Gentile congregations that Paul ministered to. Rom 9:1-33, Rom 10:1-21, Rom 11:1-36, Rom 12:1-21, Rom 13:1-14, Rom 14:1-23, Rom 15:1-33, Rom 16:1-27 takes us into the realm of practical Christianity that agonizes over the lost and which seeks to help and not hinder one’s brother in the faith. It spends a lot of time dealing with issues that “stretch” people to go beyond their cultural comfort zones and includes issues about the salvation of Israel, relationships of Gentiles with Torah-observant Christian Jews (what we would call Messianic Jews today), handling governments and ruling authorities, and dealing with values conflicts. Paul also covers some of the basic lifestyle teachings of Christianity, personal sanctification and holiness, love, spiritual gifts, and an explanation of the rationale behind his apostolic ministry to the Gentiles. Many of the issues covered in Rom 9:1-33, Rom 10:1-21, Rom 11:1-36, Rom 12:1-21, Rom 13:1-14, Rom 14:1-23, Rom 15:1-33, Rom 16:1-27 are still controversial. Paul’s teaching here is as relevant today as it was then and forms a concise explanation of what the well-lived Christian life looks like. This 85 page book is suitable for use as a textbook in an undergraduate or diploma level bible course. It may also be used in churches, home groups and campus bible studies. Theologically the studies stick very close to the text and are from a mainstream charismatic renewal / Pentecostal perspective - though I think the majority of evangelicals should be quite comfortable with the theology. It is intended for intermediate level Christian discipleship and complex theological jargon is generally avoided. If this is being used as a textbook the suggested assessment would be a 2000 word assignment or term paper around the topic: “How does Romans chapters 9-16 equip Paul’s co-workers and disciples, in the network of Gentile churches, to deal with the urgent theological and practical issues of the day?” You may receive Eternity Daily Bible Study for free by going to: http://globalchristians.org/eternity/index.htm Blessings, John Edmiston 11th March 2007 John Edmiston is an Australian missionary who lives in Los Angeles and is the Chairman and CEO of the Asian Internet Bible Institute – International and who also teaches as adjunct faculty at Fuller Theological Seminary. He can be contacted by email at johned@aibi.ph or via his website at www.aibi.ph .To receive his weekly prayer points send a blank email to: Cybermissions-subscribe@yahoogroups.com ======================================================================== CHAPTER 30: 03.01. ROMANS 9:1-5 AGONIZING OVER THE LOST ======================================================================== Rom 9:1-5 MKJV I tell the truth in Christ, I do not lie, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, that I have great heaviness and continual pain in my heart. For I myself was wishing to be accursed from Christ for my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh, who are Israelites; to whom belong the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the Law, and the service of God, and the promises; whose are the fathers, and of whom is the Christ according to flesh, He being God over all, blessed forever. Amen. Paul is deeply pained by the Jews rejection of God. Now we must understand precisely what the Jews had rejected. The Jews had not rejected the idea of God, or the Scriptures. Nor had they abandoned morality and become wild and dissolute. Their culture was full of God-statements and religion and Torah and morals. What they had rejected was God Himself, the very person of God as revealed in Jesus Christ. The Jews had a wonderful, deep and lasting spiritual heritage: to whom belong the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the Law, and the service of God, and the promises; whose are the fathers, and of whom is the Christ according to flesh However they had taken this heritage and turned it into a system based on human pride and spiritual achievement. They set up their own standards of righteousness, based on rule-keeping and respectability – and they failed to accept the grace and faith based righteousness that was offered by Jesus Christ. Rom 10:1-4 MKJV Brothers, truly my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is for it to be saved. For I bear record to them that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they, being ignorant of God’s righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness for everyone who believes. Despite their zeal for God, Israel still needed salvation. Earnestness was not enough. Good intentions and sincerity was not enough. And fastidious law-keeping was not enough. The Jews needed – and still need the salvation that is found only in Christ Jesus. This has bearing on inter-faith dialogue today for if the Jews are not saved, then neither will the Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims, Sufis, Sikhs, Jainists, or Zoroastrians be saved! In fact no one can be saved apart from faith in Christ Jesus! The following verses back this up: Acts 4:12 MKJV And there is salvation in no other One; for there is no other name under Heaven given among men by which we must be saved. 1Jn 5:11-12 MKJV And this is the record, that God has given to us everlasting life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. 1Ti 2:3-6 MKJV For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who will have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For God is one, and there is one Mediator of God and of men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time. Out of the kindness of their hearts most Christians would like the Jews and the sincere Muslims and the nice peaceful Buddhists to be saved. It seems unfair that they are not saved. Indeed the lack of salvation of the Jews caused Paul deep pain, and unceasing agony in his heart! And who is kinder than God who desires that all people be saved and come to a knowledge of the Truth! So, if God is so kind why are not the good, respectable, nice, clean-living Jews saved? Firstly salvation is not so much about getting into Heaven as it is about getting to know God and becoming like Him. And so if we refuse relationship with God, then we can go no further, no matter how nice we are. In fact our niceness can even get in the way of our salvation. It may lead us to become smug and proud and to lack repentance and faith and thus ultimately to rely on our own good works instead of relying on what Christ has done for us. Paul was so desperate for the salvation of the Jews that he would have foregone his own salvation if that sacrifice would have brought the Jews to faith in Jesus Christ. But it could not and would not. The Jews would have to make their own decision for or against Jesus. We are to be intercessors for the unreached, unceasingly crying out to God that they may be saved: Brothers, truly my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is for it to be saved. We can put Muslims, Buddhists, Taoists or the people group that the Lord has placed in our heart into that verse e.g. Brothers, truly my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Kazakhs is for them to be saved. Intercession and salvation are closely linked in Scripture, whether it be physical salvation from an approaching enemy or from a storm or the spiritual salvation from sin that is in Christ Jesus - and history tells us every great outbreak of salvation has been preceded by prevailing prayer! We need to pray that proud hearts will be broken down and that people will put aside self-righteousness and accept the righteousness that is in Christ Jesus for self-righteousness stops salvation in its tracks: Rom 10:3-4 For they, being ignorant of God’s righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness for everyone who believes. Gal 5:2-6 MKJV Behold, I, Paul, say to you that if you are circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do all the Law, you who are justified by Law are deprived of all effect from Christ; you fell from grace. For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness out of faith. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any strength, but faith working through love. [The problem with Jewish circumcision being that it was an attempt to gain righteousness from ceremony and tradition rather than through faith.] This is why Islam is so resistant to Christ – for it is a system of self-righteous works without assured forgiveness or grace. We should agonize over the lost, and not “just vaguely hope” they will be saved, but rather we should pray for them and go to them, and ensure that they hear the gospel! Rom 10:12-15 MKJV For there is no difference both of Jew and of Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call on Him. For everyone, "whoever shall call on the name of the Lord will be saved." How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without preaching? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things!" ======================================================================== CHAPTER 31: 03.02. ROMANS 9:6-8 CHILDREN OF PROMISE ======================================================================== Rom 9:6-8 MKJV Not however that the Word of God has failed, for not all those of Israel are Israel; nor because they are the seed of Abraham are they all children. But, "In Isaac shall your Seed be called." That is, not the children of the flesh are children of God; but the children of the promise are counted for a seed. The problem for Paul was that the Jews had not believed in Jesus. Was this the same as saying that God had not saved His chosen people and that His promises through the prophets had come to nought? The Jews interpreted the Old Testament as meaning they were automatically right with God and entitled to salvation simply through being children of Abraham. They had the patriarchs and the Law and the right religious system so they were saved, or at least first in line for salvation and if God did not save them all, then He was at fault in some way. Paul’s answer is that God does not choose by the flesh, but by the promise. That is physical descent alone does not guarantee salvation. Salvation comes from entering into God’s kingdom through His precious and gracious promises received by faith. To illustrate this Paul looks at the children of Abraham. Now Abraham had eight sons, Isaac through his wife Sarah, Ishmael through her concubine Hagar and six through his second wife Keturah after Sarah died: “And she bore him Zimran, and Jokshan, and Medan, and Midian, and Ishbak, and Shuah” (Gen 25:2). Only one of these was the “son of promise” through Sarah, and that was Isaac and he became of the line of Christ and received the entire inheritance. The “seed” was Isaac, the rest were simply physical children who were blessed, given gifts and sent away. In fact the other children of Abraham became enemies of Israel and opposers of the work of God. They were not of the spiritual line, they did not belong to the “red thread of redemption”. Paul then goes on to use Jacob and Esau as an example of pure election, but we will tackle that thorny topic tomorrow. Today we want to establish the fact that God’s promises and God’s work are God’s choice and do not pass through any process of physical inheritance in an automatic fashion (though blessing can certainly flow down faithful believing families for many generations). No one can say “my father was a Christian therefore I am saved”. Each person must find God for themselves, or rather be found by Him. As someone has wisely said “God has no grand-children”. Also no one can say “because I come from a family of atheists I cannot be saved”. No physical family lineage stands between you and God. He can call someone out of the darkest of circumstances and has done so many, many times. The question then remains – why could not God “make it happen”? Why was not all Israel saved? Why did He allow some to fall away from grace? If God is both all good and all powerful then surely all Israel should have been saved? Did His promises fail? It will take the whole of Rom 9:1-33, Rom 10:1-21, Rom 11:1-36, to answer this question fully but we will start on it tonight. Paul’s first answer is that for not all those of Israel are Israel; (Rom 9:6). I other words there are two Israels, a physical Israel which is “according to the flesh” and a spiritual Israel which is according to faith, according to the promise and according to election. We see the above principle working in every single church and we can just as easily say “Not all who are Baptists are Baptists” (or substitute the denomination you belong to or know of). There are those who go to church and just warm the pews and never believe and yet call themselves Baptists (or whatever) and yet who do not believe, who are not born-again, and who are not truly saved and therefore not truly Baptists in the fullest and truest sense of being a Baptist. Now hopefully everyone getting this devotional is aware that you cannot simply be saved by belonging to a good Baptist family and going to a good Baptist church. You actually have to make a personal decision to receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior, then you are saved, then you are truly and really a Baptist (or whatever your chosen denomination is). Even if you have a thousand degrees in theology unless you believe the promises of God in Christ are true for you personally, then you are outside the Kingdom, no matter how far “in” or “up” you may be in an official ecclesiastical structure. We are never spiritually validated by the flesh, by descent, by degrees, or by the mere approval of men. Our entire spiritual validity comes from being born-again and entering the Kingdom of God. Nicodemus was at the top of the Jewish theological, social and ecclesiastical tree but he had to be born-again in order to enter the Kingdom of God (John 3:1-12) and in the very next chapter of John’s gospel we find someone who was as far in the other direction as possible, a Samaritan woman who had five marriages and now living in sin, also entering the Kingdom of God. The side by side comparison of Nicodemus and the Samaritan woman is a deliberate teaching tool by John the Apostle and shows us that social position, up or down, male or female, educated or uneducated, Jew or Samaritan, insider or outsider, is irrelevant, even utterly irrelevant. What matters is believing in Christ Jesus and entering into the Kingdom of God! So physical descent did not entitle the Jews to automatic salvation – they still had to believe. And having Moses and the prophets and the law and the Temple and the sacrifices did not entitle the Jews to automatic salvation – they still had to believe. God’s promises work for those who believe and they do not come about for those who refuse to believe. If Israel had all believed, then all Israel would have been saved, and indeed this will happen one day! (We will see that, and why it has been delayed as we go through Rom 9:1-33, Rom 10:1-21, Rom 11:1-36, ) Why then does God not compel all to believe? Because belief must be related in some way to character, and especially to repentance. If even the defiant rogue was compelled to believe, and did not abandon being a defiant rogue, but increased in treachery while still believing in God, then Heaven would quickly become Hell. Giving eternal life to wicked hearts is a recipe for disaster – which is why after the Fall, Adam was banished from the Garden of Eden and the tree of life was put out of reach, guarded by a flaming cherub. Gen 3:22-24 MKJV And Jehovah God said, Behold, the man has become as one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever, therefore Jehovah God sent him out from the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he had been taken. And He drove out the man. And He placed cherubs at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life. And so repentance and faith must go hand in hand. The wicked must not enter the Kingdom of God, but only the truly repentant must go in, who accept the cost of becoming like Christ. But cannot repentance be forced? Cannot change of character be compelled by the hand of God? It appears not, or surely Satan would have been forced into line long ago. Beings with free will can choose not to change. They can become hardened and stubborn, their consciences can become seared as with a hot iron and they can defy God forever. So in any group of people, whether Israel, or the Baptists or the Methodists or the Pentecostals there will be two groups, one will be outwardly religious, in form only, and the other will be inwardly spiritual, truly believing and of faith and of the promise. And the outwardly religious will persecute the inwardly spiritual for the flesh will always persecute those who are of the Spirit. Gal 4:28-31 MKJV But brothers, we, like Isaac, are children of promise. (29) But then even as he born according to flesh persecuted him born according to the Spirit, so it is also now. But what does the Scripture say? "Cast out the slave-woman and her son; for in no way shall the son of the slave-woman inherit with the son of the free woman." Then, brothers, we are not children of a slave-woman, but of the free woman. So God’s promises are for the children of promise, and not for those “born according to the flesh” - who do not inherit at all. The promises of God are for those born according to the Spirit, and who have Christ in them as their hope of glory. Rom 2:28-29 MKJV For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that outwardly in flesh; but he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart; in spirit and not in letter; whose praise is not from men, but from God. Not all who are of Israel are Israel. We cannot organize our way to Heaven. There must be an inward and spiritual work, we must be circumcised of heart, by the Spirit, through repentance and faith and thus receive our praise and spiritual validation from God and not from men. God’s promises have not failed, they simply only work for the children of promise, and that has been God’s way from all eternity. And how do we become a child of promise? By receiving Jesus as Lord and Savior! John 1:12-13 MKJV But as many as received Him, He gave to them authority to become the children of God, to those who believe on His name, who were born, not of bloods, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but were born of God. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 32: 03.03. ROMANS 9:9-18 ELECTION ======================================================================== Rom 9:9-18 MKJV For this is the word of promise: "At this time I will come and Sarah shall have a son." And not only this, but when Rebekah also had conceived by one, by our father Isaac (for the children had not yet been born, neither had done any good or evil; but that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of Him who called,) it was said to her, "The elder shall serve the younger." As it is written, "Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated." What shall we say then? Is there not unrighteousness with God? Let it not be! For He said to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion." So then it is not of the one willing, nor of the one running, but of God, the One showing mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, "Even for this same purpose I have raised you up, that I might show My power in you, and that My name might be declared throughout all the earth." Therefore He has mercy on whom He will have mercy, and whom He will, He hardens. This is one of the most difficult theological passages in the Bible and has a few varying interpretations. I will give the view that I think best fits the facts, the other views can be found in a good commentary or theological text such as the systematic theologies by Grudem or Erickson. I simply do not have the space to deal with them all. God has the right to set the destiny of any individual, for greatness or humility, but how we react to that destiny is up to us. God said the Esau would serve Jacob “the older shall serve the younger” and that was His choice. Esau had a very physical nature full of carnal appetites and sold his inheritance for a bowl of soup when he was hungry. His nature was that of a person enslaved, so of course he ended up serving Jacob who had a higher and more spiritual nature. The fate decreed by God and the nature of the people involved were closely intertwined. Gen 25:29-34 MKJV And Jacob boiled soup. And Esau came from the field, and he was faint. And Esau said to Jacob, I beg you, Let me eat of the red, this red soup, for I am faint. Therefore his name was called Edom. And Jacob said, Sell me your birthright today. And Esau said, Behold, I am at the point of dying, and what profit shall this birthright be to me? And Jacob said, Swear to me this day. And he swore to him, and he sold his birthright to Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau bread and soup of lentils. And he ate and drank, and rose up and went his way. And Esau despised his birthright. Similarly Pharaoh was an ego maniac, he would never truly listen or repent. Such a person when shown clear spiritual signs only hardens their heart. God knew this and put Pharaoh in a place so that through this powerful and most unreasonable man He could show His might. God’s hardening of Pharaoh consisted of showing him miracles that would have made any reasonable person believe. But because of Pharaoh’s inner nature, his pride, his arrogance, his need to be in control, it only hardened him! The compassion of God consists in His allowing our conscience to function, of enabling us to see and believe the truth so that we might be saved. Some people, like Esau, are spiritual blockheads and place no value on anything except their immediate sensory needs. We never see Esau building an altar or engaging in worship. Rather he is always out hunting or eating or marrying the wrong kind of women and making all the worst moves at the wrong times. He even sells his inheritance and is cheated out of his blessing - despite the wishes of Isaac in this regard. In fact Esau later becomes a symbol of the carnal man: Heb 12:14-17 MKJV Follow peace with all, and holiness, without which no one shall see the Lord; looking diligently lest any fail of the grace of God, or lest any root of bitterness springing up disturb you, and by it many are defiled, (lest there be any fornicator, or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright. For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected; for he did not find any place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears). Paul’s point is that we don’t make our own destiny. That is God’s to apportion. (for the children had not yet been born, neither had done any good or evil; but that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of Him who called,) .....So then it is not of the one willing, nor of the one running, but of God, the One showing mercy. .. Therefore He has mercy on whom He will have mercy, and whom He will, He hardens. The opposite to God’s mercy and election is given in active words such as ’works’, ’willing’, and ’running’. Human exertion cannot change divine destiny. Jacob did nothing but was made the heir. Esau worked hard, strove, clumsily tried to please his father and sought the blessing with tears - but was excluded. Election stands in the calling and appointing of God. I cannot make God choose me by being very, very good. And I cannot make God not choose me by being very, very bad (e.g. Saul, the thief on the cross, the Samaritan woman, Mary Magdalene etc.). Sometimes we can glimpse a reason for God’s choosing someone, at other times it is a complete mystery. To some extent this also applies to success in ministry. We can think “why does so and so have that big church and I only have this little church when my sermons are so much more biblical than his...” etc. It is not Billy Graham that I envy but the pastor down the road! I believe that I was called to be a missionary from birth or even before the womb, even though I only became a Christian at age 21. Now I can see God’s hand preparing me right from day one or earlier! I did not choose to be a missionary, in fact it was the furthest thing from my mind, in fact I wanted to be a scientist, but God’s calling was effectual for me. Why isn’t everyone called to serve as a missionary overseas? That is God’s doing, God’s decision, and He has the right to order the world, just the way He wants. Where then is human freedom and dignity? In how we respond to our calling. I can be a good missionary or a bad missionary, a faithful servant, or a lazy and wicked servant, that is my choice to make and if I am faithful I will be rewarded for making the right choices on those issues. A certain portion of our life is pre-set and determined, the rest is ours to choose. God has saved us by grace, through His calling and election, and given us good works to do, but how we do them is up to us: Eph 2:8-10 MKJV For by grace you are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. (10) For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them. We cannot ever get a handle on God so that we can manipulate Him so that He is good to us and always gives us what we want. If we could, then God would be our servant, and we would effectively be god. And that is simply not going to happen! That is why God says to Moses: "I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion." By way of analogy, if you go to the animal shelter to adopt a pet you can have mercy on only one or two animals out of hundreds. You “elect” one to live in your home and that is your choice and no matter how cute the other dogs or cats are, they are not chosen. You have mercy and compassion only on the one you have chosen. And no one can argue with your choice! God looks down from heaven on broken mankind and chooses some to be redeemed and to live in Heaven with Him. Now He wants all to hear the gospel, but He knows that only a fraction will respond to the gospel. Those that choose to believe are the ones He chooses to take into His heavenly home. Here the theological schools of thought differ widely. Some say that God even appoints who will believe and who will not believe and that God has selected each person who will be saved before they were born, and that He has also selected those who will not be saved before they were born. Others say that God wants all to be saved and chooses on the basis of their faith response. And there are in-between views as well. For me it is as if there were two trains, a gospel train with its destination pre-set to heaven and a worldly train with its destination pre-set to Hell. If we get on the gospel train, if we are in Christ, then we are pre-destined to go where the destination of the train is, that is to Heaven. And if we choose to stay on the world’s train then we are pre-destined to go to its terrible destination as well. Some people seem born on one train or the other (John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother’s womb and Judas was the “son of perdition”) but that does not preclude them being able to switch trains at some point. God send us missionaries into the world to persuade people to switch trains and to be saved. My view is that while some people are like John the Baptist or Judas and have iron-clad destinies most of us have a real choice, we are in the middle of the bell curve so to speak, not at the extremes. For us our spiritual destiny is not so firmly set and there is a need for someone to come with the gospel and to offer us the means of salvation. The Jews thought they had a hammer-lock on God, that He would have to save them, all of them, and that their sufferings, or their obedience of the Law, or their determination and effort would ensure this. But God replies – it is not the amount you have suffered, or your good works, or your strong will or your athletic (“running”) exertion that matters. You have no hammer-lock on Me. I am God and I will have mercy on whom I have mercy and compassion on whom I will have compassion – and yes even upon the Gentiles who have not sought My salvation! ======================================================================== CHAPTER 33: 03.04. ROMANS 9:19-26 THE POTTER'S HAND ======================================================================== Rom 9:19-26 MKJV You will then say to me, Why does He yet find fault? For who has resisted His will? No, but, O man, who are you who replies against God? Shall the thing formed say to Him who formed it, Why have you made me this way? Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel to honor and another to dishonor? What if God, willing to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction; and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy which He had before prepared to glory; whom He also called, not only us, of Jews, but also of the nations? As He also says in Hosea, "I will call those not My people, My people; and those not beloved, Beloved." And it shall be, in the place where it was said to them. "You are not My people; there they shall be called sons of the living God." This is a very controversial passage. Again I will give my understanding of it, aware that some may yet disagree (hopefully in love)! The basics are: God is depicted as a Potter fashioning vessels. They are fashioned “out of the same lump of clay”. Some become vessels of honor Others become vessels of dishonor Some are “fitted to destruction” Others are “vessels of mercy.... before prepared for glory” This will result in both Jews and Gentiles being saved The depiction of God as a Potter depicts Him as Creator and as Creator having an irresistible right to make us any way that He wants. Who we “turn out to be” is God’s decision! It is the same clay in both cases. The same human nature, the same “stuff”. Scripture constantly asserts that God can do anything with anyone, and even takes small insignificant people and uses them to overthrow the mighty and the powerful. God’s absolute sovereignty as Creator means that we are never “self-made men” nor are we “made by the system” and we certainly are not determined by our economic class, educational level or cultural attainments. God can choose someone out of a world gone insane (like Noah) or a city filled with idols (like Abraham) or even the most stubborn, narrow-minded, hateful and angry zealot (like Paul) and make a great man or woman of God out of them! Because God decided how people turn out we can never look at a person and say “they will never amount to anything!” For that is reckoning without God! Now this is precisely what the Jews had thought about the Gentiles. They saw themselves as God’s friends, and God’s chosen ones and the recipients of His revelation and intervention. The Gentiles were viewed as immoral, unenlightened demon-worshiping pagans who had no hope and no promise. Paul then upsets the apple-cart by asserting that: Jews and Gentiles were made from the same lump of clay (the clay that Adam was formed from). That God a perfect right to have mercy on the Gentiles if He wanted to make them into vessels of honor. God can make even the Gentiles turn out OK. That God was not obligated to save anyone, no matter how much the Jews thought of themselves, and could make them into vessels of dishonor if he so chose to. No one is so good that they have a hammer lock on salvation. We have no right to protest against what God does because He is the Creator and we are just His creation. What this does is to snap any connection between our works and our salvation. Paul says “No one is so bad that God cannot save them, nor is anyone so naturally virtuous that they have a “right to salvation” and so cannot end up in Hell.” The gangster can end up going to Heaven and the choir-boy can end up going to Hell. When God decides to have mercy on someone and to prepare them for glory (even if they are far from the Lord at the moment) – then they will turn out OK. People who are not God’s people, can become God’s people! (Rom 9:24-26 above). This leads naturally to the question. If our salvation has nothing to do with us, and everything to do with God, then how can God blame anyone for not being saved? You will then say to me, Why does He yet find fault? For who has resisted His will? No, but, O man, who are you who replies against God? Shall the thing formed say to Him who formed it, Why have you made me this way? We cannot “reply against God” and complain about the way we are made. It may not seem fair, but God has a perfect right to make any person any way that He so desires. This is very hard for us to take. I am very glad that God chose me to be a “vessel of mercy” and that His loving purposes have surrounded my life. Others, like Judas Iscariot, were not so fortunate. Why are some vessels “fitted for destruction”, those like Judas who was a “son of perdition” and not even three years with Jesus could save his soul? This is a great mystery! God has a “remnant” of humanity that are saved – and we will learn more about this remnant as we go further into this chapter. I believe that prayer has a lot to do with who is saved! Revivals – when many get saved and whole cities find Christ come in answer to prevailing prayer. And Paul prays for the lost (Rom 10:1), and tells Timothy to do the same (1Ti 2:1-6), so perhaps the issue of who gets saved is “God’s business” but God’s business can be influenced by prayer. I certainly believe that my own salvation was brought about by the prayers of a neighbor and of some Christian friends at university. The question of destiny is God’s business alone. Race, culture, ability and intelligence have nothing to do with it. We cannot batter our way into heaven by sheer willpower or even stay out of heaven by going wild (but that is no license to sin!). What matters is what the Potter chooses to make out of the clay. But the Potter is not some cold, distant Being, rather He is a God of love who can be appealed to by prayer. From Abraham to Jabez to Moses prevailing prayer has influenced human destiny! People that God wanted to destroy in His wrath were spared. And those born into pain (like Jabez) became mighty and strong. The only way to change your life is by asking the Potter to make you a better person. You cannot make yourself. You cannot construct yourself. In fact you don’t even know here to start! You need to ask God for mercy! When God changes your destiny, then your work will pay off. But unless God has mercy, you will simply get nowhere. Put away your pride and ask God for grace in every area of your life! The testimony of Scripture is that God hears every cry for mercy and that “all who call upon the name of the Lord will be saved” (Rom 10:13). But that salvation is not their doing or deserving, rather it is from the Potter’s merciful hand. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 34: 03.05. ROMANS 9:27-33 THE HOLY REMNANT ======================================================================== Rom 9:27-33 MKJV Isaiah also cries concerning Israel, "Though the number of the sons of Israel is as the sands of the sea, a remnant shall be saved. For He is bringing the matter to an end, and cutting short in righteousness, because the Lord will make a short work on the earth." And as Isaiah said before, "Unless the Lord of hosts had left us a seed, we would have been as Sodom, and would have been like Gomorrah." What shall we say then? That the nations, who did not follow after righteousness have taken on righteousness, but a righteousness of faith. But Israel, who followed after a law of righteousness did not arrive at a law of righteousness. Why? Because it was not of faith, but as it were by the works of the Law. For they stumbled at that Stumbling-stone; as it is written, "Behold, I lay in Zion a Stumbling-stone and a Rock-of-offense, and everyone believing on Him shall not be put to shame." Salvation is neither automatic nor universal. The first quote from Isaiah: "Though the number of the sons of Israel is as the sands of the sea, a remnant shall be saved.” indicates that salvation is not universal, in fact not even close to it. Though the number of Israelites be many millions, even as the sand of the sea (which someone has calculated to be about 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 ! or 10 to the power 22), only a remnant shall be saved. The second quote: "Unless the Lord of hosts had left us a seed, we would have been as Sodom, and would have been like Gomorrah." indicates that unless God is merciful, no one is able to be saved. In fact if God was not merciful we would all suffer the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah. Doom is automatic, but salvation is only by the grace of God! Now this mercy of God, which is God’s own personal initiative, can be offered to anyone. It is not earned in any way or deserved at all, in order that grace may be fully grace, and not a wage of some kind. In fact those who least “deserved it” (the Gentiles) ended up being saved: What shall we say then? That the nations, who did not follow after righteousness have taken on righteousness, but a righteousness of faith. By contrast the comparatively clean-living Jews did not find salvation. Why? Because they thought they could earn it. To try to earn salvation is tantamount to taking from the Lord the honor of deciding who is saved and who is not saved, and instead placing it within reach of one’s own human ability. Salvation is always God’s work, God’s initiative and God’s choice. No amount of human religious effort can earn God’s love. However God has appointed a way by which anyone can be saved – through faith in Christ Jesus as Lord and Savior. This is what Paul calls “a righteousness of faith”. This righteousness is internal and comes from a conscience that correctly perceives that Jesus is Lord and which then believes in and trusts this as a divine spiritual fact. God has chosen who will be saved – those who believe in His Son, for he who has the Son, has life and he who does not have the Son, does not have life. 1Jn 5:11-13 MKJV And this is the record, that God has given to us everlasting life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. I have written these things to you who believe on the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have everlasting life, and that you may believe on the name of the Son of God. The remnant are those who do not “stumble over the stumbling stone” - which is Christ, and the cross and its impact on or human pride and our attempts at self-justification. If we try to justify ourselves then we miss out on the justification that comes from God! If we stop trying to justify ourselves and cry out in repentance and faith “God have mercy on me, a sinner” then we are saved! This is aptly illustrated in Jesus’ story about the publican and the Pharisee. Luk 18:9-14 MKJV And He spoke this parable to certain ones who trusted in themselves, that they were righteous, and despised others: Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a tax-collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed within himself in this way: God, I thank You that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax-collector. I fast twice on the Sabbath, I give tithes of all that I possess. And standing afar off, the tax-collector would not even lift up his eyes to Heaven, but struck on his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner! I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself shall be abased, and he who humbles himself shall be exalted. The holy remnant = those who repent and believe. Since true repentance is rare and abiding faith is uncommon then the holy remnant, the humble faithful God-depending saints, will tend to be a minority (the exception being during times of great revival). Paul’s third quote is: "Behold, I lay in Zion a Stumbling-stone and a Rock-of-offense, and everyone believing on Him shall not be put to shame." So we see that all who believe in Christ are saved. Yet all who wish to hold onto their own self-esteem, and to who seek their own self-justification, these are the ones who stumble and are lost. Israel missed out on salvation because it wanted a salvation that could be earned by human effort through adherence to the Law. They got their spiritual “gold stars” for how well they obeyed this Law, and it formed a sort social and religious hierarchy that made them feel important. For them salvation was like climbing a ladder and they were very proud of how many rungs they had attained to. But Jesus said that there is no such spiritual ladder of attainment. Even lepers and prostitutes and tax-gatherers and the Samaritan woman at the well got into the Kingdom before the High Priests! The ladder has been replaced by the ’eye of the needle’ a narrow portal, a narrow way, that is only found by the meek, the humble, the penitent, the seeking and by those who believe. Many religious organizations, by their hierarchical nature, tend to give the impression of re-creating the now deposed “ladder of attainment”. This tends to kill the spiritual life within them by producing spiritual pride. It is frequently the fringe-dwellers and mavericks within them that do the most significant Christian ministry. God’s holy remnant sometimes equates to those who are on the fringes of the formal ecclesiastical system. Those who are still conscious of their sin, who are humble and meek, who are gentle and kind and gracious and who do not justify themselves or despise others. Salvation is God’s work, not man’s achievement. Unless God was merciful no one would be saved. Salvation is not universal, but is for a holy remnant who believe, but all who do believe are saved. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 35: 03.06. ROMANS 10:1-4 A ZEAL FOR GOD IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH ======================================================================== Rom 10:1-4 MKJV Brothers, truly my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is for it to be saved. For I bear record to them that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they, being ignorant of God’s righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness for everyone who believes. The Jews are zealous for God, but nevertheless are not saved, because they are trying to “establish their own righteousness”, rather than humbly submitting to the righteousness of God. As we saw earlier God is the one who decides salvation, and who decides who He will adopt into His family. We cannot force our entry into heaven through our own goodness, in fact we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Rom 3:23) and mankind has become so darkened in their mind (Eph 2:1-4, Eph 4:18) that unless God is merciful we are all “shut up in unbelief” (Rom 11:32). Thus salvation is impossible through human effort, apart from the mercy of God. As someone once said “The only thing of ourselves that we bring to our salvation is our sin, of which we are forgiven.” The religious system based on the premise that “if you are good enough you will go to Heaven” is called, by Paul, “the law of righteousness”. It says that justification, and relationship with God, is dependent on how god we are, on achieving some set level of personal righteousness in conformity to a certain set of rules given by God. Thus many Jews sought to obey the Ten Commandments plus the other 613 laws of Moses set out in the Torah (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy). This law of righteousness system only brought guilt and condemnation because no one was capable of living up to it, except Jesus, who eventually fulfilled it and brought it to an end on the Cross. Rom 10:4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness for everyone who believes. The entire Jewish legal system based on the rules set down by Moses was demolished by the death of Christ, not just the sacrificial system or cultural rules, the whole thing, the whole system of earning salvation through personal merit which no one could achieve: Rom 7:4-6 MKJV So, my brothers, you also have become dead to the law by the body of Christ so that you should be married to Another, even to Him raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit to God. For when we were in the flesh, the passions of sin worked in our members through the law to bring forth fruit to death. But now we having been set free from the Law, having died to that in which we were held, so that we serve in newness of spirit and not in oldness of the letter. We are now given our salvation as a free gift and do not have to earn it in any way, through obedience to any set of rules. The “oldness of the letter” - the old system of living by a book of rules, is over and has replaced by “the newness of the Spirit” living by the righteousness of faith, by the work of the Holy Spirit in the inner man. Rom 6:22-23 MKJV But now, being made free from sin, and having become slaves to God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. The fact that we no longer have to live by a legal code, does not mean that we can sin freely. The whole purpose of the Holy Spirit’s work in the inner man is to make us holy, grace is given not so we can have a free pass to sin more and more, but so we might be strengthened in our inner self so that we might become like Jesus Christ. We are freed from sin so that we might bear fruit to holiness (Rom 6:22 above). Zeal for religion does not equate to salvation unless you truly accept god’s way of righteousness through faith in Jesus Christ. Making up rules that will justify you before God and prove that you are good does not help your case at all - in fact such rules cut you off from grace! Some early Christians in Galatia thought that adding the Jewish ritual of circumcision would make them more like Abraham and more “Jewish” and thus closer to God and to salvation. Sadly it had precisely the opposite effect: Galatians 5:1-6 MKJV Stand fast therefore in the liberty with which Christ has made us free, and do not again be held with the yoke of bondage. Behold, I, Paul, say to you that if you are circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do all the Law, you who are justified by Law are deprived of all effect from Christ; you fell from grace. For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness out of faith. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any strength, but faith working through love. So we see that “rule-keeping religion” is a serious sin against God! The attempt to justify ourselves before God on the basis of our own good works and meritorious lifestyle is one way of saying “I don’t need help, don’t need grace, I will do it myself, I will set aside the grace of God” and thus is a repudiation of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross: Gal 2:21 MKJV I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness is through law, then Christ died without cause. The “law of righteousness”, the system that zealous, sincere good works would win us God’s favor and entrance to heaven has been utterly demolished by Christ’s work on the cross. Now salvation is a free gift, that is accepted by faith and given by a gracious God. Eph 2:8-9 MKJV For by grace you are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. The Jews thought they could boast before God, they had the law, the prophets, and the Temple, they lived good clean-living lives, and they were keen and zealous keepers of the rules. But this was precisely the wrong approach! God does not want heaven filled with boastful, strong-willed religious fanatics! He wants Heaven filled with people who are humble, penitent, broken, kind and loving and who receive His free gifts with gratitude and faith! The problem with rule-keeping is that it puts the self at the center of the process of salvation - “I did this” and “I did that”. The personal ego is still intact, and self-achievement and boastfulness is still alive and well. Zeal for God can thus quickly turn into self-preening religious smugness. Instead we have a new way of being, a ’new and living way’ where the rules are put aside in favor of developing a holy, gracious personal walk with God through the inner work of the Holy Spirit. It is no longer a matter of festivals and Sabbaths, temples and tithes, and of not touching this, or not drinking that. Col 2:20-23 MKJV If then you died with Christ from the elements of the world, why, as though living in the world, are you subject to its ordinances: touch not, taste not, handle not; which things are all for corruption in the using, according to the commands and doctrines of men? These things indeed have a reputation of wisdom in self-imposed worship and humility, and unsparing severity of the body, but are not of any value for the satisfying of the flesh. This is all replaced by righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit! Rom 14:17 MKJV for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 36: 03.07. ROMANS 10:5-8 ALL OUR SPIRITUAL HUFFING AND PUFFING ======================================================================== Rom 10:5-8 MKJV For Moses writes of the righteousness which is of the Law, "The man who does those things shall live by them." But the righteousness of faith says this: "Do not say in your heart, Who shall ascend into Heaven?" that is, to bring Christ down; or "Who shall descend into the deep?"; that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead. But what does it say? "The Word is near you, even in your mouth and in your heart"; that is, the Word of Faith which we proclaim; Christianity is not a matter of doing this or that, or of being very high-notioned and heavenly minded, or even being incredibly deep and meaningful - but rather is simply a matter of simply believing God, and especially believing what God has done in Christ. The Law given by Moses consisted of 613 commandments of various shapes and sizes, all of which had to be kept and if they were all kept then they brought life. It was working at it, day after day, year after year, keeping the holy, righteous and just standard of human behavior (Rom 7:12) that was found in the Law. The problem was that due to sin, and its indwelling in human flesh, no one could keep the law. It was an impossible yoke, that neither the Jews of old, or even of Jesus’ day were able to bear (Acts 15:10). Acts 15:10-11 MKJV Now therefore why do you tempt God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples, a yoke which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, according to which manner they also believed. This idea of righteousness through law-keeping is deeply ingrained in many cultures, and people saturated with the idea of earning their way in life, and familiar with law and merit and “brownie points” tend to become legalistic when they adopt a religion. Grace is a hard concept for many. Islam and Judaism with their law codes and holy books are more comfortable for many people than relying on the work of a crucified Savior. However the righteousness which is by faith is not performance based in any way at all. You do not have to live up to some high heavenly standard (Do not say in your heart, Who shall ascend into Heaven?) or go into the depths of complexity such as philosophy or psychoanalysis (or "Who shall descend into the deep?"). Christianity is simple enough that it can be apprehended by soldiers like the centurion, to fishermen like Peter, to tax-collectors like Matthew and to prostitutes, lepers, outcasts and shepherds and yet is profound enough offer an ocean of truth to the magi or to intellectuals like Paul or to noblemen like Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus. Being spiritual is not about strenuously obeying some list of ever more difficult religious rules, or attaining to some insight, or having some heavenly experience. It appears to me that roughly 90% of people who go on and on about “being spiritual” advocate one of those three dead-end pathways – law-keeping, personal insight or mystical experience. But Paul, and the whole of the New Testament, says that these lead nowhere and will only result in spiritual frustration. But they are much beloved because they are measurable. We can tick off the rules we have kept, we can say we have “had the experience” or gained the insight or passed the theological test – yet all the while the self is not surrendered and the soul is still lost! Christian faith does not depend on how many Greek verbs you know, or on how well you keep a church’s list of rules, or on whether you have had this or that spiritual experience (most of which also occur in non-Christian religions). Christian faith depends on faith, hope and love. If we are saved by works, by law, by effort, or by some insight or understanding then there must be a “pass mark”, some sort of a spiritual yardstick. Once we pass this point X then we can say for sure that we are saved. Now Paul says, imagine that the spiritual standard is “above” in some way. Perhaps a high moral or spiritual or ethical standard or perhaps some high knowledge or mystical experience. Now if we set this “pass mark” high enough for some human being to reach, we will in effect be “bringing Christ down”. We would have to lower the bar (from the high Christ-standard) if we were to pass the test. That is in effect we would be bringing the high Christ-standard down to within our reach so we can be saved. On the other hand if our spiritual task was “below” in some way. If it was to descend into the depths of God and of self-knowledge, and plumb the depths of sacrifice and service and of deepest humility and profoundest suffering. If we were to make our standard for salvation that we had to attain to the depths of Christ’s humility, suffering and death- then we will quickly find that we cannot go there. We simply cannot take what He took. We cannot suffer as He suffered. Our sin-weighted souls would break in the attempt. We can only go a small fraction of the way, we would have to “raise Christ up from the dead again”, to make it easy enough for even a few souls to pass the test. Wherever we set our spiritual standard it ends up being either in an impossible place (if it is set at the level of Jesus Christ) or it ends up being at a compromised and even blasphemous place (if it is some human-invented standard that is less than Christ-like). As I keep saying – there is NO SPIRITUAL LADDER that we must ascend. We do not rise up by religious effort. We go directly to God through faith. There is no ladder, there is only faith, hope and love. What then is the pathway to salvation? But what does it say? "The Word is near you, even in your mouth and in your heart"; that is, the Word of Faith which we proclaim; Salvation comes from receiving the Word of God in faith. You simply have to believe the gospel and you will be saved. It really is as simple as that. No list of rules, no heavenly experiences, and no deep mystical knowledge is required. The word of God can be in our mouth and in our heart. It is near us, as near as a preacher, the radio or the Bible. It is as near as our memory of a Sunday School lesson, and as near as the testimony of our own conscience. We simply have to believe when God speaks to us in our inner selves and tells us to trust in Christ for salvation. The righteousness that comes by faith is a personal impartation of Christ’s righteousness. It comes to us personally through the faith connection. It is as we believe that we receive. It is God’s love poured into us through the Holy Ghost (Rom 5:1-5). The whole system of spiritual ranking is demolished. Legalism is finished. Rule-keeping is dead (though we are put onto a path to holiness) and all straining and stressing after this or that is done away with. Just like Peter stepping out of the small boat on Lake Galilee, and onto the stormy sea, we believe, even shakily and are saved. Christianity is a faith and not a religion. We don’t need priests or sacrifices or altars or holy vestments or some great and wondrous ceremony in order to be saved. We simply need to believe. We need to believe that Jesus is Lord, and that He was raised from the dead for our salvation (Rom 10:9-13). God is all around us, and we just need to grasp onto His saving hand. And the act of doing that, of believing that His Hand is there, and can be safely held onto – that is what we call saving faith. All our spiritual huffing and puffing has been replaced by simple trust in the gospel. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 37: 03.08. ROMANS 10:9-13 THE REQUIREMENTS FOR SALVATION ======================================================================== Rom 10:9-13 MKJV Because if you confess the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth one confesses unto salvation. For the Scripture says, "Everyone believing on Him shall not be put to shame." For there is no difference both of Jew and of Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call on Him. For everyone, "whoever shall call on the name of the Lord will be saved." God will save “all who call on Him” indeed ’whoever shall call on the name of the Lord will be saved”. God is clearly willing to save anyone who calls on His name! God wants people to be saved and is “not willing that any should perish”. 1Ti 2:3-4 MKJV For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who will have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 2Pe 3:9 MKJV The Lord is not slow concerning His promise, as some count slowness, but is long-suffering toward us, not purposing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. There are also many verses that say ’whoever’ believes is saved, the best known of which is probably John 3:16 John 3:16 MKJV For God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. Salvation is thus like a narrow road or gateway that whoever enters in is saved. But many miss that gateway! Mat 7:13-14 MKJV Go in through the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many there are who go in through it. Because narrow is the gate and constricted is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. Rom 10:1-21 goes on later to talk about the need for a preacher so that people may hear, and know the way to salvation- that is be able to find the narrow way. The disease called sin has only one cure and that is the cross of Christ and all other remedies are worthless. But the divine remedy works in all cases, even the worst of cases such as Saul the persecutor who became Paul the apostle. 1Ti 1:15-16 MKJV Faithful is the Word and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. But for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all long-suffering, as a pattern to those being about to believe on Him to life everlasting. We see that God suffers long with sinners, with what Paul calls “vessels prepared for destruction” in Rom 9:1-33, in order that they might repent and become glorious saints of God. God is not willing that any should perish and consigns no one to Hell before the final judgment. The offer of salvation is open as long as anyone lives. What then does a person have to believe in order to be saved? Romans 10 gives two requirements, the first of which is that they must believe that Jesus Christ is Lord - and be able to “confess” this as the Truth: Rom 10:9-10 Because if you confess the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth one confesses unto salvation. 1Jn 4:15 MKJV Whoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwells in him and he in God. To confess the Lord Jesus means to own up to Him, to say that He is your Lord and Savior and that you identify with Him. You own Him as your Lord, your Boss and as the ruler of your life whom you absolutely follow. According to Thayer’s Greek Lexicon the Greek word homologeo means to confess, declare openly, to agree with completely, to profess that one is a worshiper of, to praise, to celebrate... Now to openly declare Christ as Lord in the Roman world meant not to accept Caesar as Lord and brought persecution. And to confess Christ as Lord and not Zeus or Artemis in the Greek world also brought wrath as one was seen and “not pious” as in fact an “atheist” for not honoring the traditional gods. And to confess Jesus Christ as Lord in Israel was to risk the wrath of the Sanhedrin. If we own Christ we must own Him publicly - at home, in the office, at school, even in the military. The second requirement in Rom 10:1-21 is to have a heart belief in Christ’s work on the cross, that is His atoning death and life-giving resurrection. and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved. .. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness By belief in the resurrection I do not think that Paul meant mere assent to a historical fact. For the guards and the Sanhedrin believed that Jesus actually rose from the dead – but concocted a scheme to say otherwise (Mat 28:11-15). No it’s not just belief in the head, mere historical knowledge so to speak, it is belief in the heart, a deep existential grasping of the cross and resurrection (for if Jesus is to rise, He first must have died for our sins). We have to treasure the cross, and celebrate the new life brought to us by Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. This heart belief in the atoning work of Christ is the first fruit of the renewed mind. Some of the brightest philosophers of Athens scoffed at the resurrection from the dead (Acts 17:32) because it offends the natural mind. To the unregenerate mind, the cross is a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Greeks (1Co 1:23). 1Co 1:21-25 MKJV For since, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom did not know God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save those who believe. For the Jews ask for a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block, and to the Greeks foolishness. But to them, the called-out ones, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolish thing of God is wiser than men, and the weak thing of God is stronger than men. So when someone comes to a heart belief in the cross and resurrection they have come to a knowledge that is not naturally possible, it is a knowledge that only the Holy Spirit can work in your heart. The moment you come to that belief is the moment you have passed through the narrow gate and entered into salvation. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 38: 03.09. ROMANS 10:14-17 FAITH COMES BY HEARING ======================================================================== Rom 10:14-17 MKJV How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without preaching? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things!" But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, "Lord, who has believed our report?" Then faith is of hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. The starting premise is that “all who call on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Rom 9:13). However in order to call on the name of the Lord they must first believe that calling on His name will be effective. And before they can believe in the effectiveness of His name, they must have heard of Him. And in order to hear of Jesus they must have it announced to them through some form of preaching. And in order to hear the preacher, then the preacher must first be sent out from those who possess the gospel. Thus everything follows from sending the preacher. If no preacher is sent, then no one is saved. So the feet of the gospel herald are “blessed feet” because they bring the message that gives eternal life to the world! Indeed there is always a greater need for gospel heralds than there is a supply! Mat 9:37-38 MKJV Then He said to His disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray to the Lord of the harvest that He will send out laborers into His harvest. But sometimes missionaries, prophets and scribes are sent to no effect. Jesus’ final withering blast at the Pharisees in the gospel of Matthew includes the following: Mat 23:34-35 MKJV Therefore, behold, I send prophets and wise men and scribes to you. And you will kill and crucify some of them. And some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city; so that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Berachiah, whom you killed between the temple and the altar. Isaiah, who ministering to Israel during a time of rapid spiritual decline cried out: "Lord, who has believed our report?" (Rom 10:16 above) In general the Bible attributes unbelief to the hearer, rather than to the messenger being inept. This is clearly evident when even such a brilliant communicator, poet and prophet as Isaiah could not break through the spiritual lethargy of his day. Unbelief is seen as the outcome of being hardened in sin and having a conscience that is defiled. Satan clearly has a hand in this process. Tit 1:15 MKJV To the pure all things are pure. But to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure, but even their mind and conscience is defiled. 2Co 4:2-4 MKJV But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness, nor adulterating the Word of God, but by the revelation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. But also if our gospel is hidden, it is hidden to those being lost, in whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving ones, so that the light of the glorious gospel of Christ (who is the image of God) should not dawn on them. But unbelief is not necessarily final and total, because unbelievers, even of the most difficult kind, can become believers: 1Ti 1:12-15 MKJV And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who strengthened me, because He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry-- the one who before was a blasphemer and a persecutor and insolent. But I obtained mercy, because being ignorant, I did it in unbelief. And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant, with faith and love in Christ Jesus. Faithful is the Word and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. I find it interesting the Bible never blames the preacher for the non-responsiveness of the audience! In fact I cannot find a single example anywhere that says anything like “because Jeremiah was so boring no one believed”. The Scriptures do not place any obligation on the evangelist to be interesting, eloquent, or entertaining. They are simply required to proclaim the cross of Christ and His Kingdom! The obligation is always on the hearer: Luk 8:18 MKJV Therefore be careful how you hear. For whoever has, to him shall be given; and whoever has not, from him shall be taken even that which he seems to have. Mat 7:24-29 MKJV Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on a rock. And the rain came down, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house. And it did not fall, for it was founded on a rock. And everyone who hears these sayings of Mine and does not do them shall be compared to a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain came down, and the floods came, and the wind blew and beat on that house. And it fell, and great was its fall. And it happened, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His doctrine. For He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. Paul then concludes with “so faith comes through hearing”. Now you might have expected him to say “faith comes through preaching”. However Paul does not say that! For to Paul the Word must be received, it must be implanted in the heart, it must be heard deeply in the soul. It must not just vibrate the tympani in the eardrum. It must go deep down into the soul if it is to result in spiritual life. This meaning to “to hear” is like the Old English expression “to harken” or the military term “listen up”. The Shema is a famous Jewish recitation of the words of Moses in the Deu 6:1-25 : Deu 6:4-7 JPS HEAR, O ISRAEL: THE LORD OUR GOD, THE LORD IS ONE. And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be upon thy heart; and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thy house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. So faith comes by hearing, by listening with the inner man, by harkening with the conscience (which is where we know truth), and by attending with one’s entire soul to who God is and to what God says – and especially to the gospel. Paul concludes with “and hearing by the Word of God”. The Greek for “word” here is rhema or utterance and means primarily the preached or spoken word of the prophets or the gospel messenger, the preached word. It is the immediate verbal uttered word of God encountering the person. Our souls are opened up to hear when the preacher’s word comes to us - we are awakened, we listen deeply and we grow in faith. It is the proclaimed word of God that opens the ear, and not the word sitting idle in a book on a shelf. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 39: 03.10. ROMANS 10:18-21 BUT...HAVE THEY NOT HEARD? ======================================================================== Rom 10:18-21 MKJV But I say, Have they not heard? Yes indeed, their voice went out into all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. But I say, Did not Israel know? First Moses says, "I will provoke you to jealousy by those who are no people, and by a foolish nation I will anger you." But Isaiah is very bold and says, "I was found by those who did not seek Me, I became known to those who did not ask after Me." But to Israel He says, "All day long I have stretched forth My hands to a disobeying and gainsaying people." The question that started off this whole section since the beginning of Rom 9:1-33 is the question of the lack of salvation of the Jews - which leads Paul to discuss the question of the efficacy of the gospel. It looks as if “the Word of God has failed” (Rom 9:6). So this is the burning question: Does the unbelief of the Jews indicate that the word of God has been ineffective in producing salvation? In other words has the word of God “returned void”? Isa 55:10-11 MKJV For as the rain comes down, and the snow from the heavens, and does not return there, but waters the earth, and makes it bring out and bud, and give seed to the sower and bread to the eater; so shall My Word be, which goes out of My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall certainly do what I sent it to do. So Paul goes through a long series of arguments to show that God’s Word has not been ineffective and useless. Not all who are of Israel are “the true Israel” but only a holy remnant called “the children of promise” (Rom 9:1-8) Salvation is not an automatic entitlement of the Jews but is God’s covenant initiative and choice and He has mercy on whom He has mercy and compassion of whom He has compassion. (Rom 9:9-18) God is the Potter and Israel has no right to question His working or impugn the effectiveness of His Word. (Rom 9:19-26) Those called of God are extracted as a remnant out of all nations, some are saved among the Jews and some are saved from among the Gentiles (Rom 9:24-29) Israel did not obtain God’s righteousness of faith because they sought their own righteousness by works (Rom 9:30-33, Rom 10:1-8) Israel was not saved because it did not believe, and it did not believe because it refused to “hear” the Word of God (Rom 10:9-17) Therefore the problem is not with the word of God but with those who refuse to listen to it and believe it! The only refuge left by which Israel can defend its unbelief is to say “but we never heard in the first place – so how can we blamed for not believing?” So Paul puts the question as a rhetorical device and then convincingly answers it: Rom 10:18 MKJV But I say, Have they not heard? Yes indeed, their voice went out into all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. The last part of this verse is a quote from Psa 19:1-14 and refers to the revelation of God that is contained in nature - and in particular in the Heavens: Psa 19:1-4 MKJV To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David. The heavens declare the glory of God; and the expanse proclaims His handiwork. Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech nor are there words; their voice is not heard. Their line has gone out through all the earth and their words to the end of the world. In them He has set a tabernacle for the sun, There is a natural feeling for God we get when we observe the night sky or ponder the works of God in nature. This natural sense of awe is God speaking to us in our inner self and in fact it is so loud and clear that sinful mankind has had to actively repress it: Rom 1:18-23 MKJV For the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because the thing which may be known of God is clearly revealed within them, for God revealed it to them. For the unseen things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being realized by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, for them to be without excuse. Because, knowing God, they did not glorify Him as God, neither were thankful. But they became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man, and birds, and four-footed animals, and creeping things. Note the emphasis Paul puts on this clarity of natural revelation: “clearly revealed with them”, “for God clearly revealed it to them”, “the unseen things...are clearly seen...even His eternal power and Godhead”, “for them to be without excuse”. There is no excuse for anyone because God testifies to use both in nature and within our souls, about His eternal power and Godhead. Revelation calls this the “eternal gospel” which will be preached in Tribulation times when all other access to the gospel seems to have been prevented: Rev 14:6-7 MKJV And I saw another angel flying in mid-heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those dwelling on the earth, even to every nation and kindred and tongue and people, saying with a great voice, Fear God and give glory to Him! For the hour of His judgment has come. And worship Him who made the heaven and the earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters. All people everywhere are called to respond to God’s self-revelation in nature and in their conscience and to: “Worship Him who made the heaven and the earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.” and to refrain from idolatrous worship of the works of their hands. There is enough light available for a spiritually sensitive person to have faith in God and forsake idols (as Abraham did without a Bible, a church or any other help). The answer to the question “But what about the people in the jungle who have never heard of Jesus” is that God has revealed Himself through nature and in their conscience. It seems that it is somehow possible that they can follow God in an Abrahamic fashion and worship the one true Creator God with reverence and awe and at least believe the ’eternal gospel’ proclaimed by the angel. I am not taking a ’universalist’ position here and saying that all are saved, nor am I saying that missionary work is not necessary. Jesus clearly tells us that the Harvest requires laborers (Mat 9:37-38). However I am saying that enough light is available in nature for an honest seeker to connect to God by faith as Abraham did. Paul makes that very clear in Romans 1 as we saw above. Mankind is “without excuse”, because they have all had the gospel proclaimed to them “by the things that are made” and it is “clearly revealed within them” by God’s inner work in each sensitized human conscience. No one will be able to stand before the throne and say “I had no idea that there was a Creator God that I was supposed to worship”. Back to the Jews... Paul is saying that the Jews had every chance to believe and simply chose not to do so! Paul then turns to the difference in response between the Jews (who did not believe) and the Gentiles (who believed in large numbers). He uses three different Old Testament quotes to show God’s purposes in this: God was using the Gentiles to make Israel spiritually jealous (Rom 10:19); and even in their unbelief God was still trying to reach them by using the faith of the Gentiles to make them jealous so they might repent. (Rom 11:11-14) God was able to save even those who did not seek Him and to make Himself known to those who did not ask after Him – such as the Gentiles. (Rom 10:20) God had given Israel plenty of chances and ’all day long’ had stretched out His hands to a stubborn and disobedient people (Rom 10:21) So the Israelites were without excuse. God had done everything to help them understand, and God was still trying to reach them (via the Gentiles) yet they were hardening their hearts and still not believing. The word of God had not failed. The failure was with the sinful human heart that ’suppressed the truth in unrighteousness’ (Rom 1:18). Questions about the efficacy of the gospel such as: “Why are not all the folk in so-called Christian nations saved?” Or “Why is the church growing so fast in the global South and dying out in Europe?” Or even “Why isn’t the whole world saved by now?” all boil down to the following basic answer: The gospel is still powerful to save all who call upon the name of the Lord (Rom 10:13) and the gospel has gone out to the ends of the world (Rom 10:18) but it has not often encountered faith, instead it has often encountered unbelief. The writer to the Hebrews puts it this way: Heb 4:1-2 MKJV Therefore, a promise being left to enter into His rest, let us fear lest any of you should seem to come short of it. For also we have had the gospel preached, as well as them. But the Word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 40: 03.11. ROMANS 11:1-5 ISRAEL HAS NOT BEEN REJECTED ======================================================================== Rom 11:1-5 MKJV I say then, Did not God put away His people? Let it not be said! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God did not thrust out His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture said in Elijah, how he pleaded with God against Israel, saying, "Lord, they killed Your prophets and dug down Your altars, and I am left alone, and they seek my life." But what does the Divine answer say to him? "I have reserved to Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal." Even so then, also in this present time a remnant according to the election of grace has come into being. Paul then asks “Are all the Jews rejected by God?” and firmly answers “No, and on two counts”. Firstly Paul himself is a Jew and is saved - and secondly, that God always preserves a saved and faithful remnant. The illustration of this is that even during the worst time of Jewish apostasy, during the reign of Ahab and Jezebel, when Elijah thought that he alone was left, god had in fact kept seven thousand who had not bowed their knees to Baal. That is, no apostasy is so bad, or so total, that God cannot preserve a faithful remnant for Himself (which is encouraging news given the falling away from the standards of godliness we see today!) Paul says emphatically: God did not thrust out His people whom He foreknew. Paul always sees God as coming into the world to save sinners. The gospel is more inclusive than it is exclusive. The New Testament is full of terms such as “everyone”, “whosoever”, and “all” making out that salvation, prayer and the Holy Spirit are widely available by faith to all genders, classes, ethnicities, and language groups. So we can see that God’s salvation is more inclusive (including of others into the family of God) that exclusive (shutting people out) and even the most unlikely people and worst sinners (such as Saul the persecutor) can be saved. I am certain that God will not shut the door on humblest person who truly believes: Mat 12:20 MKJV He will not break a bruised reed, and He will not quench a smoking wick, until He sends out judgment to victory. As the old hymn goes: There’s a wideness in God’s mercy like the wideness of the sea; there’s a kindness in his justice, which is more than liberty. There is welcome for the sinner, and more graces for the good; there is mercy with the Savior; there is healing in his blood..... For the love of God is broader than the measure of man’s mind; and the heart of the Eternal is most wonderfully kind. If our love were but more faithful, we should take him at his word; and our life would be thanksgiving for the goodness of the Lord. Words: Frederick William Faber, 1862; The wideness of God’s mercy and the “narrow gate” seem ever at odds with each other, but the condition of mercy is calling on God in repentance and faith. The wide mercy of “whosoever” is always coupled with a conditional verb such as: “calls on”, “believes” or “confesses”: John 3:15 MKJV so that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 12:46 MKJV I have come as a Light into the world, so that whoever believes on Me should not remain in darkness. 1Jn 4:15 MKJV Whoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwells in him and he in God. Rom 10:12-13 MKJV For there is no difference both of Jew and of Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call on Him. For everyone, "whoever shall call on the name of the Lord will be saved." Rom 1:16 MKJV For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. Therefore God did not reject the Israelites, in fact if any of them repent and believe they will most certainly be saved. They are His people, who He foreknew. God has attached himself to Israel but Israel through its unbelief has detached itself from God. Yet even this refractory stubbornness is not final - for God is able to rescue a remnant: Or do you not know what the Scripture said in Elijah, how he pleaded with God against Israel, saying, "Lord, they killed Your prophets and dug down Your altars, and I am left alone, and they seek my life." But what does the Divine answer say to him? "I have reserved to Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal." Even so then, also in this present time a remnant according to the election of grace has come into being. My great-grandmother was from an exceedingly wealthy Jewish family and became a Christian as a teenager, through the witness of her nanny. Later she married a Scottish doctor and went as a missionary to China alongside Hudson Taylor and his famous “70”. She was of course disinherited by her family for this! So my great-grandmother was part of God’s remnant among the Jews. There will always be some Jews who find faith in Jesus Christ for the sake of His promises with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. From the days of Paul until now only a relatively small fraction of the Jewish population has even been saved (despite some major efforts to convert them) - in this present time a remnant according to the election of grace has come into being. This remnant is God’s gracious act to choose some for salvation despite the deep resistance of so many Jewish families to the gospel (we will look further at why this remnant is ’of grace’ in the next study). So modern-day Israel has not been abandoned by God, nor is it a nation full of Christian believers. It is a largely unbelieving nation, that has some, a holy remnant, who have found faith in God. This will be so until the “time of the Gentiles” finishes and the gospel has been preached as a witness to all nations (Mat 24:14), then the Jews shall all be saved (Rom 11:25-28), and the end shall come (Mat 24:14). ======================================================================== CHAPTER 41: 03.12. ROMANS 11:5-10 GOD GAVE THEM..... ======================================================================== Rom 11:5-10 MKJV Even so then, also in this present time a remnant according to the election of grace has come into being. But if by grace, then it is no more of works; otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it is of works, then it is no more of grace; otherwise work is no more work. What then? Israel has not obtained that which it seeks, but the election obtained it, and the rest were hardened even as it is written, "God gave to them a spirit of slumber, eyes not seeing, and ears not hearing" until this day. And David said, "Let their table become for a snare and a trap and a stumbling block and a recompense to them. Let their eyes be darkened so that they may not see, and their back always bowing." At first glance the expression: "God gave to them a spirit of slumber, eyes not seeing, and ears not hearing" seems like God predestining a whole group of people to lostness and to eternal punishment. However on closer inspection we find out that the expression "God gave to them" or "God gave them over to..." is used elsewhere in Romans to refer to God’s reluctant reaction to persistent unrepentant human sin: Rom 1:21-32 MKJV Because, knowing God, they did not glorify Him as God, neither were thankful. But they became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man, and birds, and four-footed animals, and creeping things. Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves. For they changed the truth of God into a lie, and they worshiped and served the created thing more than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. For this cause, God gave them up to dishonorable affections. For even their women changed the natural use into that which is against nature. And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust toward one another; males with males working out shamefulness, and receiving in themselves the recompense which was fitting for their error. And even as they did not think fit to have God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do the things not right, being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; being full of envy, murder, quarrels, deceit, evil habits, becoming whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, insolent, proud, braggarts, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, perfidious, without natural affection, unforgiving, unmerciful; who, knowing the righteous order of God, that those practicing such things are worthy of death, not only do them, but have pleasure in those practicing them. In other words, in this context, the expression "God gave them" is His giving in to their wicked natures - and allowing them to follow the downward gravitational force of their own sin and depravity. So we see God’s sovereign action "giving them over to" is simply His just and righteous response to stubborn human sin. It is giving people what they want, even though it is evil, and damns them: In Acts it is used to refer to Israel’s sinful choice of a king: Acts 13:21 MKJV And afterward they asked for a king. And God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years. And in Revelation it is used to refer to the people choosing to be ruled by the Anti-Christ "beast" figure: Rev 17:17 MKJV For God gave into their hearts to do his mind, and to act with one mind, and to give their kingdom to the beast until the Words of God will be fulfilled. In all the above verses we see a picture of fallen humanity clamoring for its idols, its lusts and perversions and for a "strong man" to rule over them and refusing the glory of God that is revealed to them in Christ Jesus. So what happened to the Israelites? Why did God give to them "a spirit of slumber, eyes not seeing, and ears not hearing”? Because they refused to listen to Moses, the law and the prophets and to His revelation in Christ Jesus and instead chose their own laws and the rules of men, justifying themselves by their own works. Israel received so much revelation, and refused so much revelation, that it became deeply hardened to God! This is surely a lesson for the church in Western lands today! It is also a lesson to many Muslim lands which were "once Christian" (such as Egypt, Syria and Turkey) but which turned to the teachings of the Koran and which have remained in stubborn defiance of the witness of Christ to this very day! Spiritual darkness comes from persistently refusing the light! "Let their eyes be darkened so that they may not see" is a curse pronounced on those who simply will not see. It refers in particular to those Jews at the time of Jesus who gave assent to the crucifixion of Christ and the persecution of the Church and comes from Psa 69:1-36 : Psa 69:21-28 MKJV They also gave Me gall for my food; and in My thirst they gave Me vinegar to drink. Let their table become a snare before them; and to those at ease a trap. Let their eyes be darkened, so that they do not see; and make their loins shake without ceasing. Pour out Your wrath on them, and let the glow of Your anger take hold of them. Let their dwelling be wasted; let none dwell in their tents. For they persecute him whom You have stricken, and they talk to the grief of those You pierced. Add iniquity to their iniquity, and let them not come into Your righteousness. Let them be blotted out of the Book of Life, and not be written with the righteous. Psa 69:21 and Psa 69:26 refer specifically to the cross and Matthew quotes Psa 69:21 in his account of the cross (Mat 27:34). Psa 69:1-36 indicates a spiritual state of having no kindness, and in fact having deep contempt and hatred, for God’s Son. Soon after the cross, the Romans invaded, Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed, the dwelling of the Jews was wasted and the land became empty with "none dwelling in their tents" for thousands of years. Yet God spared some! The ’elect’ were saved by grace! Rom 11:5-7 MKJV Even so then, also in this present time a remnant according to the election of grace has come into being. But if by grace, then it is no more of works; otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it is of works, then it is no more of grace; otherwise work is no more work. What then? Israel has not obtained that which it seeks, but the election obtained it, and the rest were hardened Israel as a whole did not obtain what it sought (Rom 11:7) - salvation, because it sought it by works. Some were saved, a spiritually sensitive few, touched by the cross, believed and were saved. These Paul calls "the elect" in order to emphasize the Sovereign hand of God. Paul makes a complete distinction between grace and works. It is almost the same distinction as that between a wage and a gift. The works approach to salvation see Heaven as a "wage" that is owed to the righteous and which is earned by many, many good deeds. However the grace approach to salvation sees Heaven as a free gift that God can give to anyone He chooses and He chooses to give it to all who believe! Works follow later, out of gratitude and as a good and fitting expression of our new nature in Christ. Thus the two approaches are not even in the least bit compatible. If salvation is earned, then it is certainly not a free gift, and if salvation is a free gift then it is certainly not earned in any way. To keep refusing the free gift that God has provided and to say instead “No, I will earn my own salvation thank you very much" is to harden one’s heart. That is what the Israelites did - and the rest were hardened. However as we will see later, this hardening is not permanent and we may be close to the day soon when "all Israel will be saved" (Rom 11:26). Therefore do not be stubborn. Do not persist in sin. Do not resist the voice of God when He speaks, and do not resist, grieve or quench the Holy Spirit. Heb 3:7-13 MKJV Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, "Today if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness, when your fathers tempted Me, proved Me, and saw My works forty years. Therefore I was grieved with that generation and said, They always err in their heart, and they have not known My ways. So I swore in My wrath, They shall not enter into My rest." Take heed, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called today, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 42: 03.13. ROMANS 11:11-15 LIFE FROM THE DEAD ======================================================================== Rom 11:11-15 MKJV I say then, Did they not stumble that they fall? Let it not be! But by their slipping away came salvation to the nations, to provoke them to jealousy. But if their slipping away is the riches of the world, and their default is the riches of the nations, how much more their fullness? For I speak to you, the nations; since I am the apostle of the nations, I glorify my ministry; if by any means I may provoke those who are my flesh to jealousy, and might save some of them. For if their casting away is the reconciling of the world, what is the reception except life from the dead? Paul has a rather strange argument here that is common in Jewish rabbinical thought, called “from the lesser to the greater”. If the lesser event – the slipping away of the Jews from salvation, results in the salvation of the rest of the world, then the greater event, that is the Jews coming back to God, must result in something even greater than the salvation of the nations, indeed it will result in “life from the dead”. This makes the Jews a sort of prophetic litmus test or time clock as if what happens to them has cosmic implications. Now what does Paul mean by “life from the dead”? Does he mean a revival, a time of spiritual renewal for the entire world, once the Jews come to Christ? Does Paul imply the resurrection from the dead will take place shortly after the Jews are saved in the End Times? Does “life from the dead” mean the spiritual revival of Israel as in the Valley of Dry Bones in Eze 37:1-28? Eze 37:1-14 MKJV The hand of Jehovah was on me, and brought me by the Spirit of Jehovah, and made me rest in the midst of a valley, and it was full of bones. And He made me pass among them all around. And behold, very many were on the face of the valley. And lo, they were very dry. And he said to me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord Jehovah, You know. Again He said to me, Prophesy to these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the Word of Jehovah. So says the Lord Jehovah to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live. And I will lay sinews on you, and will bring up flesh on you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live. And you shall know that I am Jehovah. So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I prophesied, there was a noise. And behold, a shaking! And the bones came near, a bone to its bone. And I watched. And behold! The sinews and the flesh came up on them, and the skin covered them above. But there was no breath in them. And He said to me, Prophesy to the Spirit, prophesy, son of man, and say to the Spirit, So says the Lord Jehovah: Come from the four winds, O Spirit, and breathe on these dead ones so that they may live. So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the Spirit came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army. And He said to me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, Our bones are dried and our hope is lost; we are cut off by ourselves. Therefore prophesy and say to them, So says the Lord Jehovah: Behold, O My people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves, and will bring you into the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am Jehovah when I have opened your graves, O My people, and have brought you up out of your graves. And I shall put My Spirit in you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. And you shall know that I Jehovah have spoken and have done it, says Jehovah. Now many prophecies in Scripture have double, triple or even quadruple fulfillments – and this is one of them. It was partially fulfilled by the return of the exiles from Babylon, it is still being fulfilled as the Jews return to their own land today. In the end it will be fulfilled in the End Times when the Spirit finally comes upon Israel with power. Today the bones are “back together” but there is no spiritual life in them yet and we are waiting for that heavenly wind to blow! Just after Eze 37:1-28 are Eze 38:1-23 and Eze 39:1-29 – Gog and Magog! And after that the Temple is rebuilt. So if the Ezekiel order is the prophetic order then we can expect a return of the Jews to their land and to Christ and a might move of the Holy Spirit among them just before the Gog and Magog event and the New Temple. Now the signs are that a Gog and Magog style invasion of Israel by a combined Islamic jihad of Muslim nations is not too many years away. Some time before then the Holy Spirit will visit Israel with salvation! Paul is really struggling with the falling away of the Jews here: I say then, Did they not stumble that they fall? Let it not be! It cannot be permanent! It is not total, God will visit them again – and then the whole world will shake with Holy Spirit power! There is a common them that God allows even good people to fall – but only so far, and then raises them up again: Psa 37:23-24 MKJV The steps of a good man are ordered by Jehovah; and He delights in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be cast down; for Jehovah upholds his hand. Pro 24:16 MKJV for a just one falls seven times, and rises up again; but the wicked shall fall into evil. Dan 11:33-35 MKJV And those who understand among the people shall teach many; yet they shall fall by the sword, and by flame, by exile, and spoil, for days. And when they stumble, they shall be helped with a little help, but many will join them, with hypocrisy. And many of those who understand shall stumble, to refine and purge them, and to make white, to the time of the end. Because it is still for the appointed time. So the Jews have fallen – but only so far, and only for so long, and God will raise them up to salvation, as if He were bringing them up from the grave, and giving new life to dry bones! Paul then makes another strange statement – that he was preaching the gospel to the Gentiles, in order to save the Jews. Paul’s idea was that the Jews would be so bitterly provoked by seeing salvation come to the Gentiles that they would turn to Christ! It is a bit like saying “If that fool can do it, surely I can too!” Or when parents say to a child “even your little sister can do that!” in order to provoke them into doing it themselves! Paul thought that the Jews had such a low opinion of the Gentile nations that they would say “if they can receive the Holy Spirit, surely I can too!” They would be so incensed with spiritual jealousy that they would investigate the claims of Christ! For I speak to you, the nations; since I am the apostle of the nations, I glorify my ministry; if by any means I may provoke those who are my flesh to jealousy, and might save some of them. I think Paul knew that this tactic might not be terribly successful for his phrase “might save some of them” does not seem very hopeful. Paul still knows that only a remnant will be saved. This raises the question about ministry being ’not worth it’ if only a few are saved. Many ministries are not spectacularly successful and many a pastor tries this or that in his community so that he “might save some of them”. Paul never saw a great revival among the Jews – even though he was a great apostle. He saw revival for a couple of years in Ephesus, and perhaps in some other places as well, but it was rare - even for Paul. In each situation God has His timing when He will bring “life from the dead” and until then we are simply called to be faithful! ======================================================================== CHAPTER 43: 03.14. ROMANS 11:16-24 THE OLIVE TREE OF GOD ======================================================================== Rom 11:16-24 MKJV For if the firstfruit is holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root is holy, also the branches. And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and became a sharer of the root and the fatness of the olive tree with them, do not boast against the branches. But if you boast, it is not you that bears the root, but the root bears you. You will say then, The branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in. Well, because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be high-minded, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, fear lest He also may not spare you either! Behold then the kindness, and the severity of God; on those having fallen, severity; but on you, kindness, if you continue in the kindness. Otherwise you also will be cut off. And those also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in. For God is able to graft them in again. For if you were cut out of the natural wild olive tree, and were grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree; how much more these being according to nature will be grafted into their own olive-tree? In this theological illustration of Paul’s Israel is the natural olive tree and the “holy root”, and the Gentiles are the wild olive tree and the “branches”. The purpose is to warn the Gentile Roman Christians to a) fear God b) respect Israel and c) continue in faith. A secondary point is that God does not select people according to their ethnicity, but according to their faith. The olive tree is an ancient symbol of spirituality, with olive oil being a symbol of anointing (Exo 29:7), healing (Jas 5:14) and of the Holy Spirit (Zec 4:1-12, Mat 25:1-13) and the olive tree being a symbol of “spiritual Israel” (Jer 11:16, Hos 14:6, Rom 11:17, Rom 11:24). Paul sees Israel as the source of holiness in the Church. Holiness spreads outward from the first part of the lump to the whole, or upwards from the root to the branches. For if the firstfruit is holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root is holy, also the branches. Things that were “most holy” could transmit holiness to whatever they touched: Exo 29:37 MKJV You shall make an atonement for the altar seven days, and sanctify it. And it shall be a most holy altar. Whatever touches the altar shall be holy. By this principle holy Israel “sanctified” the Gentiles who were grafted into the Church. Paul’s illustration is agriculturally unusual. Generally the wild olive was the sturdy root and the fruitful cultivated olive was grafted on to it. To do it the other way around (a fruitful cultivated root with a wild olive grafted on top) would produce a scraggly and unfruitful plant. No one would do it! The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia says the following: As a rule the wild olive is but a shrub, with small leaves, a stem more or less prickly, and a small, hard drupe with but little or no oil. That a wild olive branch should be grafted into a fruitful tree would be a proceeding useless and contrary to Nature So Paul is using a startling (and almost insulting) illustration to make his point that the Gentile church was a mere scraggly offshoot grafted onto a magnificent Jewish root! When the true stock was grafted back on – that is when the fruit and oil would come forth! The point was that the Gentiles were not to despise the Jews -”do not boast against the branches. But if you boast, it is not you that bears the root, but the root bears you.” The root of Christianity is Jewish – the patriarchs, the prophets, the various authors of the books of the Bible, the twelve apostles, and the leaders of the early Church were all Jews - and of course Jesus Himself was Jewish. The rest of us are grafted into this Jewish root. However, as we have seen, most Jews did not believe the gospel. They thought their religion was “good enough” and needed no improvement. They did not believe in the revelation that came in Jesus Christ, and because of this unbelief they were “broken off”. Paul calls this “the kindness and severity of God” - Behold then the kindness, and the severity of God; on those having fallen, severity; but on you, kindness, if you continue in the kindness. Otherwise you also will be cut off. If the Gentiles refuse to believe they will meet the same fate as the Jews – falling from grace and being “cut off” from salvation. Therefore the Gentiles are not to take salvation for granted, as if it was some sort of expected right, but rather they were to walk in the fear of God: Do not be high-minded, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, fear lest He also may not spare you either! It is as if God is a gardener who prunes away all unfruitful branches. This aspect of God’s character is also reflected in the parable of the vine-dresser in John 15:1-8 John 15:1-8 MKJV I am the True Vine, and My Father is the Vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away. And every one that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bring forth more fruit. Now you are clean through the Word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it remains in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the Vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered. And they gather and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My Words abide in you, you shall ask what you will, and it shall be done to you. In this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, so you shall be My disciples. The common element in both parables is that God wants us to live fruitful lives, abiding in Him, being joined to both the Christ-Vine and the Church-Olive Tree by faith. However in both parables God is also severe on the useless, dry and unfruitful branches and they are “cut off” and burned. There is a lesson here – if we abide in Christ, then the kindness and grace of God flows into us and we bear much fruit, but if we refuse to believe then kindness and grace cannot flow to us, and if kindness cannot flow, then the only alternative is severity. The dry dead branches are cut off and thrown away! The proper response to this is holy fear, that is a diligent carefulness about one’s spiritual life to keep it within the bounds set by God and to obey His commandments. God is the source of 100% of our spiritual life and so we must stay close to Him! Finally Paul says that the Jews have not fallen completely, they can in fact be grafted back in again once they believe and it will be a natural fit: And those also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in. For God is able to graft them in again. For if you were cut out of the natural wild olive tree, and were grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree; how much more these being according to nature will be grafted into their own olive-tree? ======================================================================== CHAPTER 44: 03.15. ROMANS 11:25-28 THE FULLNESS OF THE NATIONS / GENTILES ======================================================================== Rom 11:25-28 MKJV For I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, lest you should be wise within yourselves; that blindness in part has happened to Israel, until the fullness of the nations has comes in. And so all Israel shall be saved; as it is written, "There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob. For this is My covenant with them, when I have taken away their sins." Indeed as regards the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes. But as regards the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sakes. Mat 24:14 ASV And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a testimony unto all the nations; and then shall the end come. Paul says that the salvation of Israel first requires the salvation of the nations (or Gentiles) and when that process, which we call the Great Commission is complete, then Israel will turn back to God “and then the end shall come”. So the salvation of the Jews, and the end of this age, depend on the progress of the gospel – or rather the progress of the proclamation of the gospel. “The fullness of the nations” does not mean that all gentiles will be saved, but it does mean they will all have a meaningful chance to be saved and some from each group will believe. This is made clear by several verses in the Book of Revelation indicating that people from every ethnic group will a) be in heaven and b) will have the gospel proclaimed to them: Rev 5:9-10 HCSB And they sang a new song: You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals; because You were slaughtered, and You redeemed people for God by Your blood from every tribe and language and people and nation. You made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they will reign on the earth. Rev 7:9-10 HCSB After this I looked, and there was a vast multitude from every nation, tribe, people, and language, which no one could number, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were robed in white with palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: Salvation belongs to our God, who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb! Rev 14:6-7 HCSB Then I saw another angel flying in mid-heaven, having the eternal gospel to announce to the inhabitants of the earth--to every nation, tribe, language, and people. He spoke with a loud voice: "Fear God and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come. Worship the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water." This naturally leads to the question of “how far along in the process are we”. It was in 1945 Archbishop William Temple announced that “finally the Church is in every nation on earth”. Later in the 1970’s it was realized that there were many “hidden people” inside each nation who had no church in their particular tribe and no gospel in their particular language. This has led to today’s emphasis on “unreached people groups”. Estimates vary on how many groups exist without a vital, evangelizing church in their midst (from around 4,000 to 10,000). The Joshua Project now uses the term Least-Reached People Groups and says there are currently 6,505 of them. For some excellent information and statistics you can go to: http://www.joshuaproject.net/globalstatistics.php It is interesting that it was right after Archbishop William Temple’s proclamation in 1945 that momentum gathered for the existence of the State of Israel which was founded in 1948. I believe we are now in the overlap between the two (Present Gentile and Coming Jewish) eras, as the gospel finally reaches the last groups who have not heard and as Israel gains tenure and land and plans to rebuild its Temple one day. The fullness of the Gentiles is about to come in, and once this has happened Israel will experience revival and salvation. But Israel will not gain its security without a colossal fight and the storm clouds are gathering as this week’s Holocaust-Denial conference in Iran and the statement of its controversial President that "Just as the Soviet Union was wiped out and today does not exist, so will the Zionist regime soon be wiped out," (see http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/12/12/iran.holocaust.conference.reut/index.html) I believe that we are about to see the end of the Gentile era of gospel expansion and the beginning of a rise in Jewish Christianity (which is sometimes referred to as Messianic Judaism). The revival in Eze 37:1-28 (Valley of Dry Bones) is followed by Eze 37:1-28 and Eze 38:1-23 - the Gog and Magog invasion from lands that are Islamic today! As a missionary I used to think it could take 20 to 120 years for the gospel to finally reach the least reached people groups, but with the Internet and amazing connectivity that is all beginning to change. Perhaps the rise of mass communication of the gospel since the end of WW2 – first with radio and then huge short-wave transmitters, and 8 Mm projectors - then with TV and video, Internet and DVD – is part of God’s plan to get the gospel out to all nations in this last hour! In the verses at the start of this study Paul describes the Jews as suffering a great spiritual blindness that made them “enemies of the gospel” and even to this day some Jews are vehemently anti-Christian and oppose even such innocent displays of the faith as Christmas trees and nativity scenes and some Jewish film directors have made some extremely anti-Christian references in their films. We are not yet at the point where everyone has heard, nor are we anywhere near a mass conversion of Jews to Christ - but the times are a’changing and we are much closer now than we ever were. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 45: 03.16. ROMANS 11:28-36 THE MERCY OF GOD ======================================================================== Rom 11:28-36 HCSB Regarding the gospel, they are enemies for your advantage, but regarding election, they are loved because of their forefathers, since God’s gracious gifts and calling are irrevocable. As you once disobeyed God, but now have received mercy through their disobedience, so they too have now disobeyed, resulting in mercy to you, so that they also now may receive mercy. For God has imprisoned all in disobedience, so that He may have mercy on all. Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable His judgments and untraceable His ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been His counselor? Or who has ever first given to Him, and has to be repaid? For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen. Mercy can only be shown to someone who needs mercy, that is to sinners, to the disobedient, to the ungrateful and to the rebellious. So for God to be seen as merciful then there must be a “supply of sinners”! Because if there were no sinners, then there could be no mercy! So the Gentiles “once disobeyed God” but now have found mercy, and then it is the turn of the Jews – to disobey God – so God could be merciful to them as well! For God has imprisoned all in disobedience, so that He may have mercy on all. Try and follow the twists and turns here. In an absolutely perfect world full of perfect people who always obeyed all the rules and were always financially prosperous and in good health and so on – in such a world, there would be no justice (because there would be no wrongs to correct), and no forgiveness (because there would be no sins to forgive) and no charity (because there would be no poor and needy to give to) and no sympathy or compassion (because everyone would be happy all the time and not ever need sympathy or compassion) and no uplifting or restoration(because no one would ever fall) and no homecoming for the Prodigal Son (because he would never stray to begin with) and no repentance (because there would be no sin) and no mercy (because there would be no sinners). Such a world would be extremely pleasant and well organized but it would be a moral and spiritual vacuum where no one would be challenged, doubt, struggle or grow. Taking another angle, if the world was simply what the evolutionists say it is – a jungle, where “survival of the fittest” and good genetics sort out the species - then how can we explain the long-term survival of the weak and of the vulnerable and of the less than optimal? Only the grace of God! For many years I suffered from quite severe epilepsy and in a world of “survival of the fittest” I logically should have been weeded out and cast aside. Only the fact that God has put compassion and love and kindness and mercy in people’s hearts – only these divine qualities, as part of the “image of God” in us, kept me from that fate. Everywhere we look we see weakness and sin and pain and suffering. It seems illogical – but these things are testimony to a world in which mercy is abundant. If we could all survive alone, as rugged tough individuals, without the need of anyone else, making our own way, under our own steam, then there would be no need for love or for nurture or for teamwork or for marriage or for most forms of love apart from some temporary erotic passion. Jesus said “the poor will always be with you” - the poor are always there to draw compassion, love and justice out of our hearts - just as Lazarus sat at the rich man’s gate to test his character each day – and to call him to repentance from selfish luxury. The imperfections in this world are put there for a reason – to draw out the perfections that are in our heart such as compassion, love, mercy, patience, forgiveness and kindness. Once we have learned these precious spiritual lessons - then we are ready to walk on the golden streets of Heaven – but not before. We will be ready for a world “in which righteousness dwells” once we have learned how to manage graciously in one where sin dwells. So God has allowed everyone to fall into sin and disobedience, so that He might have mercy on all, and so each of us may learn what it is to be loved unconditionally. That is He wants us to learn what it is to be loved even after we have made a complete mess of things and we cry out “Lord. Remember me when you have come into Your Kingdom” as did the dying thief. God wants us to believe in His total mercy and in His complete unconditional love. So He allows us to make a mess of things so we can be forgiven and restored. He wants to show us that His love does NOT depend on our performance. And that is a lesson He wants both Jew and Gentile to learn together. God remains true to us when we make a complete and utter and total botch of things: Regarding the gospel, they are enemies for your advantage, but regarding election, they are loved because of their forefathers, since God’s gracious gifts and calling are irrevocable. No matter how big a mess the Jews may make of things God still loves them because His gracious gifts and calling are irrevocable. God’s love and God’s calling on your life – whether it be your calling to salvation, to the ministry, and to the use of certain spiritual gifts are irrevocable (however your “office” and realm of responsibility may be greatly reduced if you fall into moral failure). God will persist in loving you even when you have given up on yourself! 2Ti 2:13 HCSB if we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself. Now the aim of God is to build a new world based on unconditional love which is poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit. Now if we are to learn how to love our love must be tested – and that means the world needs to be imperfect for now. The trials and tests of love, in patient endurance and suffering and faith and hope and believing and in personal sacrifice and generosity and hard labor – these trials need a world that is “bound up in disobedience”, for only a world that has fallen into sin can be redeemed! So God’s logic is not our logic and His ways are not our ways. God has so ordered things so that after we have sinned and suffered we will end up being far better people than if we had never sinned and suffered at all. At the end of our sin we will know redemption, grace and mercy and at the end of our suffering we will know faith, love, hope and have a loving and perfected character (Rom 5:1-5). Now this is not to say “so let us sin that grace may increase” (Rom 6:1-11) for God has never meant us to continue in sin, but to move beyond it to holy love. Paul is astonished at God’s method of binding all up in disobedience so that He might have mercy on all and writes: Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable His judgments and untraceable His ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been His counselor? Or who has ever first given to Him, and has to be repaid? This messed up, demon-indwelt, sin-wracked, suffering, fallen and battered world is part of God’s plan, part of His unsearchable judgments and untraceable ways. This “present evil age” will come to an end at some point once certain lessons have been learned and evil put away forever and then a new heaven and a new earth in which righteousness dwells will take its place. Age after age will go on as God perfects His people and the lesson of this age is holy and redeeming love. None of us knows the mind of the Lord, or can tell Him how to run the Universe better. It is His, and He will make something wonderful out of it – and out of us. Because after all it is “all His” - For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 46: 03.17. ROMANS 12:1,2 PERSONAL SANCTIFICATION ======================================================================== Rom 12:1-2 MKJV I beseech you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, in order to prove by you what is that good and pleasing and perfect will of God. Having journeyed through the long theological excursus of Rom 9:1-33, Rom 10:1-21, Rom 11:1-36, we now get back into practical Christian living and will stay there until the end of Romans. These two verses we will examine today are among the most preached on verses in Scripture and shine a clear and concise light on what is involved in personal sanctification (or holiness). Paul starts with our bodies, and according to him they are not evil, but are redeemable, even acceptable on God’s altar and can become “holy, pleasing to God” and part of our logical and reasonable service (Gk: logiken latreian) to our Creator. In 1Co 6:1-20 Paul says: 1Co 6:13 MKJV Meats for the belly and the belly for meats, but God shall destroy both it and them. But the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord is for the body. Notice that the body is “for the Lord” and the Lord is “for the body”. Our body is meant to be dedicated to God, and God means to indwell our bodies and sanctify them! How is God “for the body”? He loves it, indwells it, heals it, uses it for ministry and will raise it from the dead at the Last Trump! God has a big, huge plan for your body so you had better like it and had better dedicate it to Him in praise and worship and obedience. How then do we become a “living sacrifice”? Sacrifice has two meanings in English but only one in Greek and Hebrew – which confuses things a bit. In Greek and Hebrew it means something offered on an altar, an act of worship, it can be grain, corn, a dove, a sheep, a bullock, a goat – and was worked out so that even the poorest person could afford it. Sacrifice in this sense means sacred offering (sacra – sacred). Later on the meaning of painful renunciation was added with the association of the slain sheep and perhaps Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac. However in the Bible while sacrifices were supposed to cost something they were never supposed to be burdensome – so poor people were allowed to sacrifice a pigeon that cost less than a day’s wage (Lev 5:7, Lev 12:8, Lev 14:22, Mat 10:29). The phrase used means “within reach of their hand” or “what they can easily afford”. So the notion of “sacrificial giving” as only being good “when it hurts” is not a thoroughly biblical concept. So the basic idea of the sacrifice is that it is simply something completely given over to God. Your body should be completely given over to God but you may not have to live in a bark hut in the Amazon jungle to be truly consecrated! You simply have to be Christ’s completely, right where you are. Consecrating the body means consecrating what your hands do, where your feet take you, what your tongue says, what your eyes see and ears hear and how your body interacts with others - including of course your sexual and moral life. But the body tends to follow the mind and its aspirations so Paul asks us to have renewed minds which are not squeezed into the world’s mold. We are not be conformed to lust, materialism, envy and selfish ambition. We are not to let our minds and thoughts dwell on pornography or violence or on crude and vulgar things. The last week has seen a number of counseling incidents with “wrong financial thinking” as the main theme – gambling, risky stock market speculation, financial addictions, a woman leaving her godly husband over financial concerns and so on and so forth. The mind went after money, mind was conformed to this world – and the life catastrophically followed: 1Ti 6:9-10 MKJV But they who will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts which plunge men into destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all evils, of which some having lusted after, they were seduced from the faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. The mind was divided into multiple parts by the Greek philosophers but two parts concern us – the phronema or “framework” of the mind (the worldview) and the nous or thoughts of the mind that fill the mental framework. As Christians we have the “mind of Christ” that is the phronema or mental framework and worldview of Christ (1Co 2:16). However we have to plug the right thoughts (nous) into the Christian mental framework. If we put the right thoughts into our minds then the mental framework is made stronger and more useful, however if we insist on pushing ugly, ungodly, misshapen thoughts into our minds our mental framework is twisted, distorted and weakened. Our thoughts need to be renewed, made clean and redeemed and as we do this we will discover the “good, acceptable and perfect will of God”. So how do we renew our minds? Keep the garbage out, and put the good stuff in. Keeping trash out: Don’t view porn, don’t listen to violent rap music, don’t daydream about violent or sexual scenarios, don’t read rubbish or enjoy tabloid gossip, avoid materialistic people and consuming too much advertising, avoid accepting wrong lifestyles as normal, don’t indulge “Days Of Our Lives” fantasy existences, and don’t let superstition, paranoia, fear, skepticism, unbelief and irrationality fill your mind! Putting the good stuff in: Do study the Scriptures, get knowledge and wisdom wherever it can be found, read classic Christian authors and missionary biographies, listen to uplifting and Christian music, think logically and clearly, associate with people who are positively fully of faith and hope, go to lectures at a good bible college near you, listen to teaching on your CD player, think about world issues in a Christian context, cultivate boldness, and affirm your sexuality without caving in to it. AS you do this your mind will straighten up and you will begin to clearly understand spiritual things and to see God’s will for your life and His power to help you live it. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 47: 03.18. ROMANS 12:3 A HUMBLE MIND IS A SANE MIND ======================================================================== Rom 12:3 MKJV For I say, through the grace given to me, to every one who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think. But set your mind to be right-minded, even as God has dealt to every man the measure of faith. “Delusions of grandeur” are common among the insane, humility however seems reserved for those who have a solid grasp on life and on their place in the cosmos. Our natural human tendency is to imagine that we are much more important or more able than we really are. Some years ago at the age of 39 I decided that because I was OK at cycling when I was young I could get fit by training for a 55km road race. I did lose weight and I did get much fitter but I came dead last in the road race (I will spare you the details!). I was not what I thought I was – I did not have a “sober estimate of myself”. Lacking a sober estimate of one’s abilities and importance can have much worse consequences than losing a bicycle race. It can result in repeated failure in life, in humiliation and even in bankruptcy. Occasionally it can result in death – when an officer overestimates the strength of his troops or the wisdom of his strategy. In corporate life it results in stressed out staff ad people scramble to “pick up the pieces” after someone senior promised but could not deliver. Now that does not mean that very low self-esteem is a virtue. God does not ask us to think of ourselves as worms – but rather as children of God. Yet we are flawed and finite children of God. We have to face up to the fact that we are not all Billy Graham or Mother Teresa. We are a mixture of good and evil, and our abilities (even in the one person) range from brilliant to woeful. Someone may be a great evangelist and a hopeless administrator, or a wonderful bible teacher and hopeless pianist. And the sooner we come to terms with this – the better for all involved. Many people want to be missionaries who are simply not gifted for living under tough conditions in foreign countries. That is no shame on them, only about 2% of people do have such a calling. Such people should breathe easy and pursue a calling that God has called them to and which He will bless them in. Others want to be bible teachers, when in fact they are very good evangelists – great at explaining the basics, but definitely not theologians. That is fine – just stick to their true calling as an evangelist and they will be blessed. Others are terrific administrators (one of the most needed giftings in the body and in shortest supply) but feel they should be “more spiritual” and insist on preaching and get hurt by the feedback. We all need a solid sense of ourselves – and of what we are, and what we are not – and the grace to accept that “we are who we are”. The human potential movement has kept telling people that they can be “anything they like”. That is patent nonsense. I will never be a great cyclist no matter how hard I try. Lance Armstrong and a few thousand others will be way, way ahead of me! People want to be all sorts of things they are unsuited for - because of parental pressure or peer pressure or because it is cool or out of sheer vanity. Just look at some of the odd and peculiar folk that run as political candidates! A few years after the humiliating cycle race God gave me an illustration about the fish in the sea. Some fish are sardines and are meant be small, some are whales and are meant to be huge. A sardine the size of a whale would be out of place and a whale the size of a sardine would be similarly “wrong”. God made BOTH the whale and the sardine and loves both and intended both to simply be as they are. We do not require our cats to bark or fetch the newspaper – after all they are cats! But we are not so clever about ourselves. We feel guilty because we are not super-achievers in every field. We feel that we SHOULD be slim, trim, good looking, and able to run the four minute mile while doing Tensor Calculus. Spiritual objectives can clash with career ambitions so that some folk want be both Gandhi and Donald Trump at the same time. We have to make choices and choose to focus on this or that, as Jesus said “You cannot serve two masters, ...you cannot serve both God and Mammon.” And those important choices require a solid sense of personal reality. Paul tells us that the solid sense of personal reality comes from our faith and from understanding the “measure of faith” that God has given to each of us. The word for measure is “metron” - which we find in words such as meter, metronome, metric etc. It means a graduated, measured out portion, an allotted amount. God gives each person a certain amount of faith for functioning in the body of Christ. In fact the very next verse starts a whole section on this: Rom 12:4-8 MKJV For even as we have many members in one body, and all members do not have the same function, so we the many are one body in Christ, and each one members of one another. Then having gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, if prophecy, according to the proportion of faith; or ministry, in the ministry; or he who teaches, in the teaching; or he who exhorts, in the encouragement; or he who shares, in simplicity; or he who takes the lead, in diligence; or he who shows mercy, in cheerfulness. So the measure of faith primarily relates to our ministry gifting (and not to saving faith). As saved Christians we have a kind of working measure of faith to believe God for some things and not for others. Some have faith for healing, others for prophecy, others to be able to win people to Christ, others have great faith in prayer and become intercessors, yet others have great faith in God’s sovereign wisdom and become leaders and administrators. So our area of faith and our area of gifting go hand in hand. So Paul is saying – check what you really have faith in God for before you think you have a gift in that area. Where is your spiritual heart beating? That is probably where God wants you to be. Where are you doubtful, skeptical or cynical – that is definitely NOT your ministry! Most of us find our working faith confined to a few main areas – and it is those areas we should develop in all godliness, wisdom and humility. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 48: 03.19. ROMANS 12:4-8 SPIRITUAL GIFTS ======================================================================== Rom 12:4-8 MKJV For even as we have many members in one body, and all members do not have the same function, so we the many are one body in Christ, and each one members of one another. Then having gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, if prophecy, according to the proportion of faith; or ministry, in the ministry; or he who teaches, in the teaching; or he who exhorts, in the encouragement; or he who shares, in simplicity; or he who takes the lead, in diligence; or he who shows mercy, in cheerfulness. Here Paul gives the Romans a condensed version on 1Co 12:1-31 and portrays the Church as a complex organic body of highly differentiated believers who serve each other diligently and possess a humble attitude (having a sober estimate of themselves – see 1Co 12:3). We are members of the body of Christ – and also members of each other. I am a typical cerebral bible teacher, my wife Minda is a very organized “helper” with the gift of mercy. Minda would give away everything to the poor. I would make sure they had right doctrine! Yet I need her gifts to keep me in the real world and she needs my teaching so that she stays close to God and does not get totally wrapped up in “tasks” that always need to be done. I always feel guilty that I am not helpful enough, but Minda always feels guilty that she does not do enough bible study! We are not the same – and that is a good thing! What I have applied to Minda and I can be applied to Christians as a whole. We each have a different personality, gifts and area of responsibility. Some people are great at helping alcoholics, others server God in universities while yet others are missionaries, evangelists, or pastors. Each of us has strengths and weaknesses, things we do well and things we continually feel guilty about. Many bible teachers are a bit “aloof” personally, many pastors are poor at handling conflict, many prophets are a bit tactless, many apostles are too driven and demanding. None of us has our act totally together so we all need each other and when all the colors of the gift rainbow are blended together a beautiful church results. Paul tells us to stick to what we do best: or ministry, in the ministry; or he who teaches, in the teaching; or he who exhorts, in the encouragement; - in other words enter fully into your gift and serve in that capacity fully and totally. It is often better to develop one gift deeply that to try and have “all the gifts”. Billy Graham perfected being an evangelist, John Stott perfected being a bible teacher – and so on and so forth. Do not try and win every race – just run your own race! Now there are numerous (about 30 I think) different spiritual gifts listed in various places in Scripture – tongues, prophecy, pastoring, apostle, encouragement, healing, leadership, faith, miracles, teaching, sharing, showing mercy, discernment of spirits, interpretation of tongues, wisdom, knowledge, helps, administration, speaking, serving, hospitality, among others (Rom 12:1-21, 1Co 12:1-31, 1Co 13:1-13, 1Co 14:1-40, Eph 4:1-32, 1Pe 4:19 among other references). I sense that these are not in any way a complete list – the variegated grace of God as Peter calls it, can produce an infinite variety of spiritual callings – Sunday School teachers, workers with the disabled and so on. And some gifts seem to have numerous sub-categories ’apostle to the Gentiles’, ’apostle to the circumcision’ etc. Worship leaders are not even mentioned in the New Testament house church environment – but it is a gift that is well recognized today. The idea is that God makes us mutually interdependent and gives us each a spiritual ability or calling that is our place, our niche, in the body of Christ. Some of these gifts are clearly supernatural – such as tongues, miracles and healing, while others are just the practical outworking of God’s wisdom in our midst – wisdom, knowledge, teaching, administration, and leadership. Some churches emphasize the supernatural gifts and neglect the more “mundane” callings, while others do the reverse and are superbly administered but without the miraculous! However it is not a matter of either/or – but both/and. if prophecy, according to the proportion of faith; - Our faith perception of God determines how we can “prophesy” - how we can hear Him and bring His words to others. We are not to prophecy “cool stuff’ that we hear from others but according to our own faith, and our own individual understanding of God in the Spirit. We are simply to say what we ourselves see, and our spiritual “sight” depends on our faith. or he who shares, in simplicity; or he who takes the lead, in diligence; or he who shows mercy, in cheerfulness. Some gifts require special precautions – the donor must do so simply and transparently without ostentatious “trumpet-blowing”, the leader must knuckle down to the task diligently doing all that is required and not skipping out from under the unpleasant administrative tasks, and the person who shows mercy must not get all upset at things or moan about their lack of appreciation by those helped. Sometimes we want the whole world to be like us – missionaries want everyone to go to the mission field, evangelists want everyone to share their faith, bible teachers want everyone doing deep bible study for hours on end, intercessors insist we fast and pray and pastors want everyone in a dozen church activities. This can be innocent enthusiasm but it can also be dangerous if we get angry and frustrated that everyone is not lining up with how we see things. I knew a wonderful lady who had a gift of mercy and encouragement who felt bad because she was not an evangelist. That is not the way we should feel! We ALL work together to lead people to Christ and her winning ways led many to like the church – and the pastor who was a great evangelist reaped the harvest. Let’s just “be what God has made us to be” and not question His goodness and wisdom in the matter but set out to perfect those gifts that He has given to us and to use them for His glory and for the upbuilding of His Church. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 49: 03.20. ROMANS 12:9-13 CHRISTIAN ACTIONS IN COMMUNITY ======================================================================== Rom 12:9-13 HCSB Love must be without hypocrisy. Detest evil; cling to what is good. Show family affection to one another with brotherly love. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not lack diligence; be fervent in spirit; serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope; be patient in affliction; be persistent in prayer. Share with the saints in their needs; pursue hospitality. Rom 12:9-13 ISV Your love must be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to each other with mutual affection. Excel in showing respect for each other. Never be lazy in showing such devotion. Be on fire with the Spirit. Serve the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in trouble, and persistent in prayer. Supply the needs of the saints. Extend hospitality to strangers. (Paul’s cascade of Greek participles and adjectives is a bit difficult to translate so I have put two slightly different translations above.) The key concept here is community: “one another”, “each other”, “the saints” - all these commands are about how Christians are to treat each other with love, honor and hospitality. Let’s stand back and ask “what was Paul obviously assuming as he wrote this”? He is clearly assuming that the Romans will be like a loving family! He assumes that all Christians will love each other, share with each other, know each other, care for each other, and honor each other just as a loving family would. The Holy Spirit in their midst would distribute gifts (see Rom 12:3-8) that would produce a loving and caring community. Spiritual gifts are not just given so that individual Christians can “have a ministry” or “fulfill their destiny”, rather they are given so that Christ may dwell among His people in community (Eph 4:11-16). You CANNOT be an obedient holy biblical Christian on your own – living an isolated life, refusing Christian fellowship – because so MANY of the commands in the NT involve the word “one another”! The Great Command is “love your neighbor as yourself”, and the New Commandment is “love one another as I have loved you” and both commandments assume that we get involved with other people! There is an intense zeal in what Paul is asking here “be on fire with the Spirit” (literally be boiling over with Spirit) a literal translation of Rom 12:11 would be “in speed, not tardy, boiling over with the Spirit to serve the Lord as a slave”. Zoom, zoom, zoom into the things of God! Paul is asking for a high speed, high energy, high effort faith! This sounds exhausting but it is not so hard because in community “what goes around comes around” and you receive back three times as much! As you give love, you receive love. It is not one spiritual expert burning out trying to serve everyone but a whole community encouraging each other onward. But communities have their tough times and the Roman Christians were severely persecuted. In Rom 8:1-39 Paul even goes so far as to say “we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered all day long”. Rom 8:35-39 HCSB Who can separate us from the love of Christ? Can affliction or anguish or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: Because of You we are being put to death all day long; we are counted as sheep to be slaughtered. No, in all these things we are more than victorious through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will have the power to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord! So Paul issues the following commands for tough times: Rejoice in hope; be patient in affliction; be persistent in prayer. Share with the saints in their needs; pursue hospitality. We are to have an inner strength from the Holy Spirit that allows us to rejoice in hope knowing God will work things out – and to wait patiently and prayerfully for the outcome. Meanwhile we are to help our fellow sufferers by sharing our money and goods with those in need and by actively pursuing hospitality. Open wallets and open homes were to characterize the Roman Christians! But why should we bother? Because we are part of a spiritual family: Show family affection to one another with brotherly love. Outdo one another in showing honor. And we are not to “fake it” like the insincere Christians who wear masks: Love must be without hypocrisy. (v9) (Hypocrite literally means “actor” or “mask wearer”). Love is not an “act” - it is a lifestyle! Christians were to be “real”, true to each other, solid supports in tough times and not flaky folk who are “all personality but have no character”. The issue of character is reflected in Paul’s desire for believers to have a clear moral stance: Detest evil; cling to what is good. (Rom 12:9) Paul tells them to “detest evil” - to hate and repudiate it. The Greek word here “apostugountes” means “to hate violently, abhor, loathe”. The spiritual person has moral clarity and utterly detests wickedness in all its forms. The spiritual person also “clings to what is good” - there is a sticking with what is right and noble and good, even it hard or difficult. They take a high moral position and hold it. The Christian community is entirely dedicated to pursuing a high and holy Christian ideal! Christian community is to be an energetic spiritual obeying of Christ in love, with great mutual care and concern and with very clear moral boundaries. What if your church is not like this? What if it is cold, stingy and self-absorbed? What if it is utterly lonely or even worse has no clear moral boundaries? Then you need to pray for it, fervently pray for it to change! God loves those folk – but wants so much more for them! Christian obedience is much more than prayer, bible reading and tithing – it is Christian love lived out in real and practical ways in the power of the Holy Spirit! ======================================================================== CHAPTER 50: 03.21. ROMANS 12:14-21 THE CHRISTIAN RESPONSE TO EVIL ======================================================================== Rom 12:14-21 HCSB Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep. Be in agreement with one another. Do not be proud; instead, associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own estimation. Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Try to do what is honorable in everyone’s eyes. If possible, on your part, live at peace with everyone. Friends, do not avenge yourselves; instead, leave room for His wrath. For it is written: Vengeance belongs to Me; I will repay, says the Lord. But If your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him something to drink. For in so doing you will be heaping fiery coals on his head. Do not be conquered by evil, but conquer evil with good. In our incredibly militarized world of instant threats and massive retaliation the command “do not repay anyone evil for evil” seems quaint, out-of-touch and very unrealistic. Perhaps these commands were only meant for the Christian community, or for personal matters – not national self-defense. But if someone is about to kill your family what will you do? The Bible does not repudiate legitimate self-defense or even capital punishment, but it does create a spirit of grace that minimizes their use: Luk 22:35-38 HCSB He also said to them, "When I sent you out without money-bag, traveling bag, or sandals, did you lack anything?" "Not a thing," they said. Then He said to them, "But now, whoever has a money-bag should take it, and also a traveling bag. And whoever doesn’t have a sword should sell his robe and buy one. For I tell you, what is written must be fulfilled in Me: And He was counted among the outlaws. Yes, what is written about Me is coming to its fulfillment." Lord," they said, "look, here are two swords." "Enough of that!" He told them. Jesus a) clearly tells the disciples to defend themselves from danger as a real priority and even allows them to use lethal weapons (swords) but b) is clearly unenthusiastic about any use of violence and wants all talk of it to be minimized. Similarly in Rom 13:1-14 Paul allows the state to exercise capital punishment but is not an enthusiastic advocate of it. The main meaning of Rom 12:14-21 is personal conflict and personal evil. I see it applying generally to squabbles, arguments, envy, loss of prestige, neighborhood disputes, parking disputes, financial matters, broken courtships and the persecutions, betrayals and disappointments of life. When we deal with a big corporation and feel shoddily treated -how do we react? When someone puts us down publicly – what do we think of doing in return? If someone despises us for being a believer – how do we respond? The first principle is that of “reacting in the opposite spirit” this sees evil and spiritual, and trying to reproduce itself in people. So if someone is mean to you, and you become bitter and mean back then evil has conquered another human heart and multiplied itself. A second “mean spirit” has been generated. That is why Paul says: Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. By blessing instead of cursing we are reacting in the opposite spirit and not allowing evil to dominate us, live within us, and reproduce its evil ways in the world. Rather we are attempting to “overcome evil with good”. In the process we also become less reactive and more masterful and strong. Acting in the opposite spirit also has an impact in the spiritual realm: But if your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him something to drink. For in so doing you will be heaping fiery coals on his head. The “fiery coals” may be the feeling of shame that comes to the perpetrator, or the judgment that comes from God. Either way, the one who acts in the opposite spirit comes out the winner spiritually. The next principle is the “the emotional unity of the saints”. We can best withstand persecution and evil if we are one united body, held together with strong bonds of love. Just as one twig is easily broken but a bundle of sticks is hard to break, so Christian unity gives us the power to resist evil. This unity was to be built through deep emotional congruence – a truly empathetic and understanding Christian community: Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep. Christians were to enter into each other’s emotional worlds, in trust and empathy, rejoicing with those who rejoiced and weeping with those who wept. This sense of being heard, understood and loved kept everyone together. The third reaction to persecution was to avoid the natural tendency to division that comes when people of different classes and abilities mix together - disagreement, pride, social snobbishness, and intellectual elitism. Such common causes of division were not to be present among God’s people. Instead the rich were to hang out with the poor and all were to realize that God alone is the source of all wisdom. Be in agreement with one another. Do not be proud; instead, associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own estimation. Fourthly Christians were to be noble, honorable, large-hearted and above petty disputes: Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Try to do what is honorable in everyone’s eyes. The honorable person is not a mud-slinger. The recent rancorous dispute involving two media personalities with large egos is not a Christian way to behave! It has diminished everyone involved in it. She said X, so I’ll say Y... is immaturity in action. The noble, mature Christian shows restraint and does not retaliate when provoked. We all have a “hot button” that can flip, and a tendency to want to return evil for evil as a matter of “justice”. Spirit-filled Christians try to keep that “hot button” under control and to keep the feeling of power through anger to a minimum. Fifthly Christians are to be pre-disposed towards peace rather than conflict. If possible, on your part, live at peace with everyone. Sometimes peace is not possible because the other person is either irreconcilable, hostile and implacable, or in some cases is even dangerous to deal with (e.g. a violent abuser). But where peace is possible, we should seek it. Let me quickly add that seeking peace does not mean that you give up a valid right to protect yourself from harm, nor does it mean that you should stay in a violent and abusive situation. The most peaceful thing to do may be to move to a safe location while the problem is being resolved. Finally the Spirit-filled Christian is to show restraint so that God will have room to act: Friends, do not avenge yourselves; instead, leave room for His wrath. For it is written: Vengeance belongs to Me; I will repay, says the Lord. But If your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him something to drink. For in so doing you will be heaping fiery coals on his head. Do not be conquered by evil, but conquer evil with good. God will repay, in this way or that, and when the time is most fitting. Dictators eventually fall, the proud get humbled, the liar gets found out, and so on. It is not up to us to decide to take revenge. Christianity has stumbled most and done its worst when a group of Christians has decided to take revenge against another group of Christians. These public internal wars between preachers, denominations, theologies and so forth have done more to hurt the faith than almost anything else. Go to prayer before you go to war with a brother! Calm down, back off, and let God be the judge! Protect your heart from violent anger, hatred, bitterness and revenge. Do not be conquered by evil, keep a pure and good heart – and overcome evil with good! There are some times when evil cannot be ignored – for instance we cannot let a child molester work his way through a church youth group! There is indeed a time for strict church discipline and even a time to call the police. Some evils have to be restrained through appropriate legal means. However we should not rush into such things with an angry and violent spirit. We should do so calmly and wisely, seeing them as the best available option at the time. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 51: 03.22. ROMANS 13:1-7 SUBMITTING TO GOVERNMENTS ======================================================================== Rom 13:1-7 HCSB Everyone must submit to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those that exist are instituted by God. So then, the one who resists the authority is opposing God’s command, and those who oppose it will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do good and you will have its approval. For government is God’s servant to you for good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, because it does not carry the sword for no reason. For government is God’s servant, an avenger that brings wrath on the one who does wrong. Therefore, you must submit, not only because of wrath, but also because of your conscience. And for this reason you pay taxes, since the authorities are God’s public servants, continually attending to these tasks. Pay your obligations to everyone: taxes to those you owe taxes, tolls to those you owe tolls, respect to those you owe respect, and honor to those you owe honor. Submission to governing authorities is not as simple as Rom 13:1-14 makes it sound. For instance - should Christians have submitted to Stalin, Hitler, Idi Amin or Pol Pot? Should Moses have submitted to Pharaoh and should Elijah have submitted to Jezebel? Rom 13:1-14 is the “default” position for Christians in relationship to a normal functional secular government. But Scripture also paints a picture of other kinds of government and how the people of God responded to them! There are seven basic Church-State postures that we see in Scripture. To make it easy I have started them all with the letter R. 1. Rapport – when there is orderly and godly government - Nathan, Priests & David and Solomon 2. Respect - when there is orderly pagan government - Daniel & Nebacudnezzar, Darius 3. Rebuke - when there is significant systemic sin - the prophet’s relationship with most of the Kings of Judah 4. Rejection / Keeping One’s Distance - When there is despicable, dangerous, disorderly and profane government - Daniel & Belteshazzar, Jesus and Herod. 5. Resistance/Civil disobedience - When there is a clearly Anti-Christian authority - Peter and the Sanhedrin. 6. Reformation/Restoration - When there is an idolatrous government - Ahab, Jezebel vs Elijah, Elisha &Jehu. OT reform movements. 7. Revolution/War - When there is a very oppressive and evil government - Moses & Pharaoh, Maccabees & Antiochus Epiphanes. These responses were so common a part of the Jewish heritage that they were widely known as being rather difficult to govern! Paul is not repudiating the stances of Moses, Elijah or Nathan but is rather ensuring that Christians do not think that belonging to the kingdom of God gives them the right to be a poor citizen of the kingdoms of this world. Paul is advocating a kind of dual citizenship – a citizenship in Heaven and a citizenship on Earth, with the heavenly citizenship of course taking priority. Christian faith is no excuse for tax evasion! Thus Romans 13 must be taken in the light of the whole of Scripture and of common sense. If you decide that because you are a son of God and a “child of the King” that you need not pay taxes, obey the speed limit, or obey airport restrictions on carrying weapons on planes – you will get yourself in a lot of trouble and that trouble, in some way will be an expression of God’s judgment: So then, the one who resists the authority is opposing God’s command, and those who oppose it will bring judgment on themselves. Paul makes clear Who is boss – governments are “God’s servants to do good” and they must serve Christ or perish (Psa 2:1-12). Indeed eventually all non-submitting governments will be utterly abolished: Dan 2:44-45 MKJV And in the days of these kings, the God of Heaven shall set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed. And the kingdom shall not be left to other peoples, but it shall crush and destroy all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. Because you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it crushes the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold, the great God has made known to the king what shall occur after this. And the dream is certain, and its meaning is sure. Rev 11:15 MKJV And the seventh angel sounded. And there were great voices in Heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ. And He will reign forever and ever. It is interesting that on one hand Scripture says that authority is ordained by God (Rom 13:1) and on the other hand that it is ordained by Satan! Luk 4:5-8 MKJV And the Devil, leading Him up into a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the Devil said to Him, All this power I will give you, and the glory of them; for it has been delivered to me. And I give it to whomever I will. Therefore if you will worship me, all shall be yours. And Jesus answered and said to him, Get behind me, Satan! For it is written, "You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve." 1Jn 5:19 HCSB We know that we are of God, and the whole world is under the sway of the evil one. Which is correct? Paul’s version, Luke’s version or that of the apostle John? There are many accounts of people gaining political power through doing deals with the Devil. Most notably a revolutionary in Haiti who went to the forest and sacrificed a pig and promised the nation to the Devil for 100 years if he would be successful in his slave revolution – and indeed that happened! There indeed seems to be places (often with long occult histories) where the Devil seems to appoint the dictatorial and terrible leadership (which is part of the reason why we should pray for our leaders 1Ti 2:1-4). The theological doctrine of the “divine right of Kings” which lasted all through the Middle Ages and into the early modern period – though even Thomas Aquinas disagreed with it (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divine_right_of_kings) was largely based on Rom 13:1 – that all authority is of God’s creation. Many historians think that Paul was writing just before the outbreak of serious Roman persecution and was advising the Christians to “keep their nose clean” when living in the city that was the center of Imperial power. Nevertheless Christians should be “law-abiding” and not rebellious or fractious. At times a “higher law” must be obeyed – such as hiding Jews from the Nazis or keeping Islamic converts to Christianity safe in Saudi Arabia. Indeed in Saudi Arabia, no Christian worship, not even a home bible study, is allowed on pain of death. In such a case there is a clear choice between God and government to be made! North Korea has made the “Dear Leader” to be God and their secret agents will kill anyone trying to convert North Koreans to Christ. It is the only country in the world that goes that far. North Korea used to be the Vatican of the East it had so many churches, now Christianity has been all but wiped out! Again we see a clear tension between God and government and the list of such examples is very long indeed. So what is Paul trying to say here? Under “normal circumstances” government is instituted by God to bring civil order and to punish wrongdoing as a servant of God - so it deserves respect, honor and taxes. Government is powerful and “not to be trifled with” for “it does not bear the sword in vain”. The Roman Christians were to be good citizens and stay out of trouble and not attempt any religiously motivated revolutions against Caesar. That was good advice in the context of the day – and for many Christians today it still applies, but one day a wicked government will rule over the whole earth (Rom 13:1-14) and we are not to submit to its demands to renounce Christ or to take the “mark of the Beast”. Rev 14:9-11 HCSB And a third angel followed them and spoke with a loud voice: "If anyone worships the beast and his image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he will also drink the wine of God’s wrath, which is mixed full strength in the cup of His anger. He will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the sight of the holy angels and in the sight of the Lamb, and the smoke of their torment will go up forever and ever. There is no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and his image, or anyone who receives the mark of his name. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 52: 03.23. ROMANS 13:8-10 THE DEBT OF LOVE ======================================================================== Rom 13:8-10 HCSB Do not owe anyone anything, except to love one another, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. The commandments: You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not covet, and if there is any other commandment--all are summed up by this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Love does no wrong to a neighbor. Love, therefore, is the fulfillment of the law. Love is the only debt a Christian should have. All other debt is bondage: Pro 22:7 HCSB The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is a slave to the lender. But the “debt to love” brings inner freedom! It is easy to see that I owe a continuous ’debt of love’ to my excellent wife Minda, after all she loves me in return! Every day I am to “pay’ my debt by loving her – and there is nothing terribly hard or onerous about that. However it gets tougher when we have a ’debt of love’ to other Christians, or to difficult relatives or even to a neighbor who litters the footpath with trash. In fact we are to ’love one another’ - especially in the Christian community, as if we ’owed them’ love. Love is not an “extra” - it is an obligation. And our soul grows and is sanctified as we undertake this obligation. Now when we think of obligation we think of the Law, of commandments and of rules and ceremonies that we must keep. Paul tells us that all such legal and ceremonial obligations have, spiritually speaking, being replaced by this duty to love one another. All the commandments are summed up in one “You shall love your neighbor and yourself”, all the ritual requirements, all the things we “must do” under the Law – are fulfilled by Christian love. Love is the complete spiritual fulfillment of the Law. This is so, Paul tells us because “love does no wrong to a neighbor”. Love is harm-less, therefore love never breaks the Law. This enables Christian ethics to be boiled down to the single consideration “am I loving my neighbor or am I harming my neighbor?” Abortion (except when the mother’s life is in danger) is clearly “harming” the neighbor (the unborn child) and can harm the mother as well. Lying, theft, murder, rape, swindling, treachery – these all harm one’s neighbor and are violations of love. On a larger level destroying the environment so that one’s neighbor lives in a polluted and unsafe world is also an act against love. Pouring dioxane into a river so people get cancer may be legal in some very poor nations, but it is not Christian love. Is it Christian love to provide good medical attention to the rich while the uninsured poor often die from easily preventable causes? Is such a system “loving” or is it doing great harm to many people? Christians in such a system must work to find a way for the poor to be served with adequate and affordable medical help. The parable of the Good Samaritan, which is the way Jesus defined ’loving one’s neighbor as yourself’ – tells us that ignoring pain is not appropriate (that is what the priest and the Levite did). The loving person acts and acts in practical and compassionate ways: Luk 10:29-37 HCSB But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" Jesus took up the question and said: "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him, beat him up, and fled, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down that road. When he saw him, he passed by on the other side. In the same way, a Levite, when he arrived at the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan on his journey came up to him, and when he saw the man, he had compassion. He went over to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ’Take care of him. When I come back I’ll reimburse you for whatever extra you spend.’ "Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?" "The one who showed mercy to him," he said. Then Jesus told him, "Go and do the same." We can harm our neighbor by ’leaving him for dead’ – the simple act of walking by on the other side as he bleeds out is an act of harm in and of itself. Mercy, compassion, and practical help are part and parcel of the loving Christian life. Love is more than smiles and hugs – it is a muscular, active thing that sees needs and does good. For instance I have found that if my wife is busy doing housework and I give her a hug, then go and switch on the TV and ignore her need for help – then my wife perceives me as being “unhelpful” and selfish and sees the hug as just a “con”, a way of getting out of work. On the other hand if I hug her and then ask “how can I help” then the hug is seen as a genuine act of love because I am willing to meet her need for help instead of just thinking of myself. Similarly the smiles and hugs and Christian greetings at church need to be also backed up by the practical meeting of felt needs. Jas 2:15-16 HCSB If a brother or sister is without clothes and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well," but you don’t give them what the body needs, what good is it? 1Jn 3:16-17 HCSB This is how we have come to know love: He laid down His life for us. We should also lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has this world’s goods and sees his brother in need but shuts off his compassion from him--how can God’s love reside in him? Places like Africa are a vast challenge to our Christian love and compassion. But so is the lonely widow, the friendless school student, the old woman with dementia, and the newcomer at church. We need to see all the people that the Lord brings into our life as folk for whom Christ died and who He wants us to love. We “owe it” to the woman with dementia to be kind and patient with her and to genuinely ask how she is. We “owe it” to the lonely kid at school to help him to fit in. We “owe it” to the newcomer at church to greet them, and to ask them to lunch. One last thing – do not expect people to ask for help! The wounded man had an obvious need and did not need to ask for help, indeed he may even have been unconscious. But the Good Samaritan saw the need and took the initiative. Take the initiative to ask someone “would you like a drink”, “have you eaten”, “would you like lunch” and so on. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 53: 03.24. ROMANS 13:11-14 CHRISTIANS ARE NOT PARTY ANIMALS ======================================================================== Rom 13:11-14 MKJV This also, knowing the time, that it is already time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand; therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk becomingly, as in the day; not in carousings and drinking; not in co-habitation and lustful acts; not in strife and envy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not take thought beforehand for the lusts of the flesh. St. Augustine was converted to Christ through the above passage of Scripture the following account is from the website http://www.midwestaugustinians.org/saints/s_augconversion.html : Augustine’s life as a young man was characterized by loose living and a search for answers to life’s basic questions. He would follow various philosophers, only to become disillusioned with their teachings. For nine years he was associated with the Manichean sect. But he gradually became aware that Manicheism was unable to provide satisfactory answers to his probing questions. At this time, Augustine was teaching rhetoric in Milan. He went to hear the preaching of Saint Ambrose, the Bishop of Milan. At first he went only to hear Ambrose’s eloquent style of speaking. But the Bishop’s preaching led Augustine to a new understanding of the Bible and the Christian Faith. Some time in the year 386, Augustine, his mother Monica, his son Adeodatus, and several friends, were spending time in Cassiciacum, a small village near Milan. While outdoors, Augustine heard the voice of a child singing a song, the words of which were, "Pick it up and read it. Pick it up and read it." He thought at first that the song was related to some kind of children’s game, but could not remember ever having heard such a song before. Then, realizing that this song might be a command from God to open and read the Scriptures, he located a Bible, picked it up, opened it and read the first passage he saw. It was from the Letter of Paul to the Romans. Augustine read: Not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual excess and lust, not in quarreling and jealousy. Rather, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the desires of the flesh. -- Rom 13:13-14 Reading this scripture, Augustine felt as if his heart were flooded with light. He turned totally from his life of sin. He was Baptized by Ambrose during the Easter Vigil April 24, 387. His friend Alypius and his son Adeodatus were Baptized at the same time. Later, reflecting on this experience, Augustine wrote his famous prayer: You have made us for yourself, Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you. He went on to become a powerful influence on the spirituality and theology of the Christian Church. Christians are not to be “party animals” - the recent drunken carousing and self-exposure of certain Hollywood celebrities and the popularity of “Girls Gone Wild” is symptomatic of the rapid moral decline of some (rather large) sub-sections of Western culture. But Christians are not to be like that! Rather we are to “put on the armor of light” and to live decent, holy and becoming lives - lives suited to the folk in whom Christ dwells. The gaudy, lustful, indecent, squabbling, envious and foolish life of the flesh is on display all around us here in California. Slanging matches, hateful feuds, and atrocious and immoral behavior are the stuff of gossip, legend and press attention. People are being given the lowest possible moral examples by the media! The Holy Spirit does not call us to live in the gutter – but in the Kingdom of God! We are to live with decency and dignity, we are to be a noble, wise and spiritual people, and we are to be awake and alert to the voice of God. We are not to even think of such a lifestyle or to plan for it. “Make no provision for the lusts of the flesh”. Not planning on sinning means some quite obvious things - Don’t go to that wild convention in Los Vegas, don’t carry a condom “just in case” you meet someone attractive, don’t think of how to meet that person that God does not want you involved with, don’t think of joining the drunken crowd, don’t hang out near the home of the immoral woman etc. We are not to supply sin with a method of gratification! Paul uses many metaphors that describe a rapid growth in spiritual awareness: knowing the time, awake, cast off (darkness), put on (the armor of light, Jesus Christ). These are sudden things, that are done in a moment. For instance Augustine “woke up” and put off the darkness, and was flooded with light in the short time it takes to read a verse of Scripture. We are to stop mollycoddling our lusts and instead we should make a sudden and definite break with them. Paul gives a most unusual command – But put on the Lord Jesus Christ! What on earth does that mean? How do you put on a person? You act like that person, you walk and talk and think like that person, you become “in character” with that person even adopting their every thought, gesture and mood. We are to be “imitators of Christ” and to take His commandments (for example in the Sermon On The Mount) with absolute seriousness. As we put on Christ we will find that we live an enlightened life and a spiritually safe life for we will also have “put on the armor of light”. We are to step out of the darkness and move into a new zone of living that is righteous, pure and good. The light is positive, pure, holy and clean. And as we dwell in it we are cleansed, healed and purified. The light will at first make us very aware of our sins – but only so they can be forgiven and removed: 1Jn 1:5-10 HCSB Now this is the message we have heard from Him and declare to you: God is light, and there is absolutely no darkness in Him. If we say, "We have fellowship with Him," and walk in darkness, we are lying and are not practicing the truth. But if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say, "We have no sin," we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say, "We have not sinned," we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us. In Eph 5:1-33 Paul has an extensive passage on what it means to live in the light: Eph 5:8-20 HCSB For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light-- for the fruit of the light results in all goodness, righteousness, and truth-- discerning what is pleasing to the Lord. Don’t participate in the fruitless works of darkness, but instead, expose them. For it is shameful even to mention what is done by them in secret. Everything exposed by the light is made clear, for what makes everything clear is light. Therefore it is said: Get up, sleeper, and rise up from the dead, and the Messiah will shine on you. Pay careful attention, then, to how you walk--not as unwise people but as wise-- making the most of the time, because the days are evil. So don’t be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. And don’t get drunk with wine, which leads to reckless actions, but be filled with the Spirit: speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making music to the Lord in your heart, giving thanks always for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Living in the light is a joyous, Spirit-filled life of goodness, righteousness and truth. We live awake, sober and alert lives, discerning the will of the Lord and refusing the works of darkness, making the most of every day for God. The wild party lifestyle belongs to pre-conversion days, for Christians are not party animals, rather they are the children of God. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 54: 03.25. ROMANS 14:1-4 DOUBTFUL ISSUES ======================================================================== Rom 14:1-4 HCSB Accept anyone who is weak in faith, but don’t argue about doubtful issues. One person believes he may eat anything, but one who is weak eats only vegetables. One who eats must not look down on one who does not eat; and one who does not eat must not criticize one who does, because God has accepted him. Who are you to criticize another’s household slave? Before his own Lord he stands or falls. And stand he will! For the Lord is able to make him stand. The point of Rom 14:1-23 is “but don’t argue about doubtful issues” and we need to keep that in mind as we look at this chapter! It is fundamentally an appeal for unity between the “strong in faith” and the “weak in faith” which we shall define shortly. The strong in faith were not worried about “small stuff” and felt fine about eating meat and did not ask questions about where it came from or whether it had been sacrificed to heathen gods (idols). They just ate the food and gave glory to God. The weak in faith suffered from what the ancient divines termed the “sin of particularity” - that is they were preoccupied with minor ethical quibbles. These folk are still around today and get concerned about the color of lipstick, the names of certain bible versions and the root derivation of common words. They probably also would never decorate a Christmas tree because of its “pagan origins”. Paul calls these folk “weak in faith” because of their inordinate fear of moral impurity and spiritual contamination. The “strong in faith” however were given to scoffing at the fears of their brethren and hurt their feelings. They were unloving, cruel and disdainful of the sensitivities of their brothers and sisters in the faith! So on one hand we have quibbling and on the other hand we have insensitivity – and both are wrong! Now we need to remember that issues of food and drink were “hot potatoes” that arose time and time again. The strict Jewish Christians would not eat pork and tended to keep the Jewish food laws, the Gentiles however were concerned about the dedication of the animals to idols (much as Halal meat today is slaughtered facing Mecca). They saw this as making the food spiritually suspect and preferred to eat vegetables rather than eat meat slaughtered in such a pagan fashion. Later on Paul tells the Corinthians that meat that is actually within the bounds of an idols temple is taboo. You don’t go into the temple of Diana just to eat barbecue! However if you are outside of the temple precincts – just eat the meat without asking any questions (1Co 10:14-33). This is still an issue for Asian students with “family shrines” in the kitchen where food is often dedicated to the spirits of the ancestors or to Buddha. If one of the family members is a Christian how should he or she handle it? Generally they just ask for their food to be put aside and not dedicated – but it can be a very delicate issue. The thing is that the varying spiritual approaches can cause divisions between people. Paul simply says “you are BOTH right!” The people who do not eat the food are right for following their conscience and the people who go ahead are right because their faith tells them that “idols are nothing” and enables them to be bold! Both sides are serving God – just in slightly different ways: One who eats must not look down on one who does not eat; and one who does not eat must not criticize one who does, because God has accepted him. Who are you to criticize another’s household slave? Before his own Lord he stands or falls. And stand he will! For the Lord is able to make him stand. God has accepted BOTH sets of people. The weak in faith will be “made to stand” by God, and the strong in faith is still accepted by God even though he eats (Rom 14:3). If we are saved, then we are accepted by God because of the work of Christ on the cross. Every single born-again Christian is acceptable to God! For the blood of Jesus Christ has made us acceptable! Therefore we are never to see another believer as “unacceptable” or to reject them for having a different practice or opinion on a minor matter. Rom 15:7 ISV Therefore, accept one another, just as Christ accepted you, for the glory of God. To put it another way: The people who do not put up a Christmas tree because it was an ancient pagan practice are acceptable to God, and so are those who do put up a Christmas tree in faith as a commemoration of Christ are acceptable to God. Both serve God in their own way. Paul wants us to stop arguing about such things and to just love one another even though we have differences in the way that we interpret our faith. Unity is more important that uniformity. We are allowed diversity in personal faith practice on “minor matters”. As someone (I think Augustine) has said: “In the essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, and in all things charity.” I drive a rather large car, and some Christians accuse me of contributing to global warming. But I see it as being between me and God – and He is my Master and not them (Rom 14:4) Yet I should respect them and give them the liberty to have their views. And they should leave me alone for I am not to be “judged by another man’s conscience” (1Co 10:29). We have to learn to live with each other. Christians have very different political views, environmental views, approaches to Christian music and to festivals and church practices and to matters of food and drink. In all these matters Paul tells us that love is the number one priority and that both sides are fine with God and that arguing about who is “right” and who is “wrong” is divisive and does far more harm than good. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 55: 03.26. ROMANS 14:5-8 LIVING TO THE LORD ======================================================================== Rom 14:5-8 HCSB One person considers one day to be above another day. Someone else considers every day to be the same. Each one must be fully convinced in his own mind. Whoever observes the day, observes it to the Lord. Whoever eats, eats to the Lord, since he gives thanks to God; and whoever does not eat, it is to the Lord that he does not eat, yet he thanks God. For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself. If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. In Rom 14:5 Paul tackles the question of the Sabbath: One person considers one day to be above another day. Someone else considers every day to be the same. Each one must be fully convinced in his own mind. According to Paul the Sunday Sabbath, Saturday Sabbath and non-Sabbath folk are all equally correct – as long as they hold their view “as unto the Lord”. The fact that they are living for God is the main thing – and this makes each differing view correct! This is hard for us Westerners with our “if A is right then B must be wrong” view of reality, to grasp. That three different views of the same thing can be equally acceptable to God seems puzzling. Perhaps there is small truth, middle truth and big truth. Small truth is something like “it is better to open a boiled egg at the pointy end”. In Jonathan Swift’s work “Gulliver’s Travels” the inhabitants of Lilliput were always at war between the Big-Endians and the Little-Endians – those who opened their boiled eggs at the big end, and those who opened their boiled eggs at the little end! The furious debates between Mac users and PC users fit in this category for me – as do disputes over hymn books, where the organ should be placed in the church and the minor legalisms in church life. Middle truth would be what we learn at school - the facts of geometry and chemistry and history. Important and worth debating, but not worth physically fighting over. Debates over eschatology or exegetical interpretations of Scripture would fit here. Big truth is the “stuff worth dying for” - love, justice, mercy, compassion, conscience, human dignity, salvation, freedom, loyalty to Christ and the glory of God. Thus if someone is demonstrating their loyalty to Christ by worshiping on Saturday, Sunday or even Wednesday – then leave them alone! They are serving God with their conscience and that is a good and a very important thing. Do we see any examples of this in Scripture? I think we do in Mark 2:1-28 : Mark 2:23-28 HCSB On the Sabbath He was going through the grainfields, and His disciples began to make their way picking some heads of grain. The Pharisees said to Him, "Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?" He said to them, "Have you never read what David and those who were with him did when he was in need and hungry-- how he entered the house of God in the time of Abiathar the high priest and ate the sacred bread--which is not lawful for anyone to eat except the priests--and also gave some to his companions?" Then He told them, "The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath." Here Jesus says the “small truth” of who could eat the sacred bread, was less important than satisfying the desperate hunger of David’s men. Jesus then goes on to say “the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” and furthermore says that He, the Son of Man is “Lord of the Sabbath”. Jesus was very anti-nitpicking. He frequently upbraided the Pharisees for emphasizing the “small stuff” at the expense of the larger picture: Mat 12:7-8 If you had known what this means: I desire mercy and not sacrifice, you would not have condemned the innocent. For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath." Mat 9:11-13 HCSB When the Pharisees saw this, they asked His disciples, "Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?" But when He heard this, He said, "Those who are well don’t need a doctor, but the sick do. Go and learn what this means: I desire mercy and not sacrifice. For I didn’t come to call the righteous, but sinners." Mat 23:23-24 HCSB "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You pay a tenth of mint, dill, and cumin, yet you have neglected the more important matters of the law--justice, mercy, and faith. These things should have been done without neglecting the others. Blind guides! You strain out a gnat, yet gulp down a camel! Mark 7:6-13 HCSB He answered them, "Isaiah prophesied correctly about you hypocrites, as it is written: These people honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. They worship Me in vain, teaching as doctrines the commands of men. Disregarding the command of God, you keep the tradition of men." He also said to them, "You completely invalidate God’s command in order to maintain your tradition! For Moses said: Honor your father and your mother; and, Whoever speaks evil of father or mother must be put to death. But you say, ’If a man tells his father or mother: Whatever benefit you might have received from me is Corban’" (that is, a gift committed to the temple), "you no longer let him do anything for his father or mother. You revoke God’s word by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many other similar things." Thus “living unto the Lord” first of all involves practice of the ’weightier” matters of the Law” - justice, mercy and compassion, and minor matters of religious practice are not to take precedence over these things. We are to live tolerantly with people who worship on different days of the week, or who have different dietary customs, or who raise their hands in worship, or who do not do so, or who like contemporary Christian music, or who prefer hymns and so on and so forth. As long as they do so “unto the Lord’ with sincerity and gladness of heart, then we are to leave them well alone. The bitterness and acrimony over bible versions, Christian music and the like is a sign of spiritual immaturity. (Now that is not to say that we should use the Watchtower Bible or any other gross mistranslation by cult groups). Division is far more harmful than “transgression” in such minor matters. Christians no longer go to war over the correct mode of baptism (as they did on the 16th century) and that is a very good thing. So with the Sabbath – according to Paul everyone is right - as long as they are fully convinced in their own mind and observe their tradition “as unto the Lord”! We call this the freedom of the Christian conscience. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 56: 03.27. ROMANS 14:9 THE UNIVERSAL RULE OF CHRIST ======================================================================== Rom 14:9 HCSB Christ died and came to life for this: that He might rule over both the dead and the living. In the midst of Paul’s explanation on Christian tolerance he “throws in” this sentence about the universal rule of Christ over all believers for all time. The idea is that Christ rules over all Christians for all time, whether we live, or whether we die. Therefore the Kingdom is very large, and by nature must include a wide range of people from different places and times and customs and ways of worship, therefore we need to accept this massive diversity of the Kingdom of God. Yet there are other implications as well. For if Christ rules over the dead, then the dead are “conscious” in some way and continue to exist in such a state that it is meaningful to assert that Christ is their Lord. Indeed Paul says that: Christ died and came to life for this -in other words the cross and the resurrection were “in order that” He would achieve dominion over both the living and the dead and that His love and justice would have full sway in the entire Universe both physical and spiritual. Now if Christ is to have Lordship over the living, then all human institutions and governments and families and nations, all that we call “living” must finally submit to Him. It is not as if Christ rules over the dead in Heaven while the Devil rules over politics down here! No such bargain has been struck! Indeed Christ has come to “undo the works of the Devil”. 1Jn 3:8 MKJV He who practices sin is of the Devil, for the Devil sins from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was revealed, that He might undo the works of the Devil. The incarnation, cross and resurrection were not just to save us, but also to form us into a Christ-governed people. The rebellion and iniquity in our hearts were to be uprooted and the work of the Devil in our soul was to be undone – along with his wicked works in the wider world. In the Christ-governed world evil will be rolled back. Christ creates culture. He creates a new realm of mercy, grace, compassion and justice, a place of healing and sharing that we see during the high points in the gospels and in the Acts of the Apostles. This gracious rule of Christ over both the dead and the living is what we call the Kingdom of God. Now Christ does not rule over tombstones and corpses and moldy coffins. Rather He rules over the spirits and souls of the departed saints that continue in some form of conscious and blessed existence in Heaven. While the wicked dead existence in a place of torment, a holding / remand cell, prior to the final judgment: Luk 16:22-26 MKJV And it happened that the beggar died and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom. The rich one also died and was buried. And in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torments, and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame. But Abraham said, Son, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things. But now he is comforted and you are tormented. And besides all this, there is a great chasm fixed between you and us; so that they desiring to pass from here to you cannot, nor can they pass over to us from there. 2Pe 2:4 MKJV For if God did not spare sinning angels, but thrust them down into Tartarus, and delivered them into chains of darkness, being reserved to judgment. Rev 6:9-11 MKJV And when He had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the Word of God, and for the testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice, saying, Until when, Master, holy and true, do You not judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth? And white robes were given to each one of them. And it was said to them that they should rest yet for a little time, until both their fellow servants and their brothers (those about to be killed as they were ) should have their number made complete. Php 1:20-24 HCSB My eager expectation and hope is that I will not be ashamed about anything, but that now as always, with all boldness, Christ will be highly honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For me, living is Christ and dying is gain. Now if I live on in the flesh, this means fruitful work for me; and I don’t know which one I should choose. I am pressured by both. I have the desire to depart and be with Christ--which is far better-- but to remain in the flesh is more necessary for you. For Christians departing and being with Christ is “far better”, while for the unrepentant rich man and the fallen angels it was far worse! Lazarus and the souls under the altar received comfort from God, and were able to perceive others, see what was happening in the world and engage in conversations with those in Heaven. Since Christ rules over all dimensions of space, time, culture and human experience we cannot confine Him to this or that particular cultural form – to long hair or short hair, to this food or that drink, to hymns or choruses, to Republicans or Democrats, to this race or that nation or to church buildings of a certain size and shape or to worship on this day or that. But each of us lives in a particular time and place and we each serve God in our own way, and through our own cultural forms and understandings. Such forms are important expressions of faith for us, but they are not universals, they do not express the faith for all time. Gothic cathedrals expressed the faith of their builders then, and surely brought glory to God in that age, but they do not dictate how we must worship today. Because the Lordship of Christ’s is universal the Christian faith is never captive to any set of cultural particulars – though they may usefully express the faith of a certain group of people at a certain moment in time. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 57: 03.28. ROMANS 14:10-13 DO NOT JUDGE ONE ANOTHER ======================================================================== Rom 14:10-13 MKJV But why do you judge your brother? Or also why do you despise your brother? For all shall stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written, "As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall confess to God." So then each one of us will give account concerning himself to God. Then let us not judge one another any more, but rather judge this, not to put a stumbling-block or an offense toward his brother. We are not judges – Christ alone is the Judge and we will all stand before Him. And we will be judged with the same judgment with which we have judged others – so let us not judge anyone at all! Weighing up how “spiritual” another Christian is, or judging their walk with God, is very common in some evangelical circles – but is completely wrong! We are not the judges of another Christian! It is simply not our business to make evaluations of how they observe the Sabbath, or about the food they eat or the clothes they wear or the music that they listen to! There are three different Greek words that are often translated “judge” - the first is “krino” and is a judicial word meaning (according to Thayer’s Lexicon): to judge, to pronounce an opinion concerning right and wrong, to be judged, i.e. summoned to trial that one’s case may be examined and judgment passed upon it, to pronounce judgment, to subject to censure. Of those who act the part of judges or arbiters in matters of common life, or pass judgment on the deeds and words of others Thus “krino” means to judge absolutely, to criticize, to take the whole person and say they are good or bad because of some factor. Only God can do this, and Christians are totally forbidden from making “krino” style absolute judgments about each other. The second word is “diakrino” which means to “discern” and is used in a positive sense of self-judgment and personal inspection. Thayer’s defines it as “discrimination” (in the positive sense as in a discriminating purchaser of antiques): to separate, make a distinction, discriminate, to prefer, to learn by discrimination, to try, decide The other Greek word is “dokimazo” – which means to test or approve: to test, examine, prove, scrutinise (to see whether a thing is genuine or not), as metals, to recognise as genuine after examination, to approve, deem worthy. This is necessary part of spiritual wisdom ’testing the spirits” (1Jn 4:1) and deciding between true and false doctrine. Gullibility is not a fruit of the Spirit! Nevertheless this is testing with the expectation that good will be found in the end. It is hopeful testing rather than destructive testing. While Christians are to have active minds and alive critical faculties they are to be used constructively for rooting out sin and weakness within one’s own heart and to test doctrines and spirits in a constructive and kind (but wise) fashion. What Paul is against is the sort of pompous judging of other Christians that contains a large measure of contempt or disapproval: Or also why do you despise your brother? We commonly see this contempt with respect to “other denominations”: “those bible-bashing Baptists” “the chosen frozen”, “the crazy charismatics” and so on and so forth. Such talk violates the spirit of Christ and makes judgments that we should not be making! Paul asks us to have a bit more humility and to remember that each of us will stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For all shall stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written, "As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall confess to God." So then each one of us will give account concerning himself to God. Now this judgment by Christ is not a judgment as to our salvation (which was accomplished when we believed) but for our reward, and as an assessment of how we have lived our lives here on earth in obedience to Christ’s commandments (1Co 3:10-15). It is our “giving an account” of how we served the Lord (Rom 14:12). 2Co 5:10 MKJV For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive the things done through the body, according to that which he has done, whether good or bad. 1Co 3:12-15 MKJV And if anyone builds on this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble, each one’s work shall be revealed. For the Day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try each one’s work as to what kind it is. If anyone’s work which he built remains, he shall receive a reward. If anyone’s work shall be burned up, he shall suffer loss. But he shall be saved, yet so as by fire. Jesus tells us that when we give our account the measure used to judge us – will be the measure that we used to judge others! O pity the strict, harsh, impatient and unkind souls on that Day! Mat 7:1-5 MKJV Judge not, that you may not be judged. For with whatever judgment you judge, you shall be judged; and with whatever measure you measure out, it shall be measured to you again. And why do you look on the splinter that is in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the beam that is in your own eye? Or how will you say to your brother, Let me pull the splinter out of your eye; and, behold, a beam is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First cast the beam out of your own eye, and then you shall see clearly to cast the splinter out of your brother’s eye. Many who think they were “right” in judgment will be found wrong in love, mercy and compassion – which are the greatest of all! Judging people causes them to become discouraged. Disapproval is an obstacle to fellowship and to Christian growth. Rather God wants a community of encouragers! So Paul says: Then let us not judge one another any more, but rather judge this, not to put a stumbling-block or an offense toward his brother. Let’s get out of the way of the growth of the saints – and stop judging one another! ======================================================================== CHAPTER 58: 03.29. ROMANS 14:14-17 THE NATURE OF THE KINGDOM ======================================================================== Rom 14:14-17 HCSB (I know and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself. Still, to someone who considers a thing to be unclean, to that one it is unclean.) For if your brother is hurt by what you eat, you are no longer walking according to love. By what you eat, do not destroy that one for whom Christ died. Therefore, do not let your good be slandered, for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. What is the nature of the Kingdom of God? Is it all about externals (such as eating, drinking, and Sabbaths) or is the Kingdom all about internals (love, righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit)? Paul comes down clearly and firmly on one side of this dispute. The Kingdom of God is about attitudes, and the disposition of our soul and spirit and not about what we wear or eat or drink, or about when we go to church! Paul starts with an astonishing statement: I know and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself. Pork was not unclean “in itself” nor was wine, nor was beef or liver or snails or frog’s legs. The idea of “unclean things” was removed by the Lord Jesus. It seems to have taken some time for Paul the former Pharisee to arrive at this remarkable conclusion because he says I know and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus Jesus had to persuade Paul of this truth because it was not self-evident to Paul, in fact it went right against all of Paul’s upbringing! The Pharisees believed in ritual contamination. That is if a holy thing touched and unclean thing, then the holy thing became unclean also. But Jesus reversed this! When Jesus touched a dead body (like the girl on the bier) Jesus did not become unclean – rather the girl rose from the dead! And when Jesus touched a leper He did not become leprous or unclean – rather the leper became clean and whole and healed. And when Jesus was touched by a woman with the issue of blood or came across a demoniac, He was not defiled, rather the person was healed and the demon cast out! Jesus taught and demonstrated with great clarity and frequent repetition that the power of the Holy Spirit was not diminished in any way by the impure, the unclean, the diseased, the demonic or the insane! A preacher full of the Holy Spirit can go into a bar or a brothel and come out with converts and changed lives! A young preacher called David Wilkerson went to New York and even transformed a biker gang! Corrie Ten Boom was alight in the darkness of Nazi concentration camps that did not destroy her soul, and Jackie Pullinger went into the opium dens of the Walled City of Hong Kong to minister Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit brought great Spirit-filled revival! Nothing is unclean to the person of faith! The Paul adds a warning: Still, to someone who considers a thing to be unclean, to that one it is unclean. For instance to some people alcohol is unclean and they will never go to a bar, and it would hurt them spiritually to do so – and I respect that! For me playing tournament chess (which brought out a spirit of excessive competition) was unclean for a long while. It was something I simply could not do without sinning! There are limits to our faith! I know Christians who minister to the porn industry and who attend conventions and shows in Las Vegas – and can do so successfully and without compromise. But for 99% of men that would be an absolute disaster! Paul warns us so we don’t go too far in our freedom. We have to combine Jesus’ call to freedom with his call to holiness! (Scriptures always have to be interpreted in balance with each other). So when a person of strong faith for whom X is clean, meets a person of weak faith for whom X is unclean – who gives way? The person of strong faith should respect the feelings of the person with weaker faith in the matter: For if your brother is hurt by what you eat, you are no longer walking according to love. By what you eat, do not destroy that one for whom Christ died. In other words if I prefer a good California red wine, and my brother in Christ believes wine is sinful – then it is up to me to give way and I should not partake in his or her presence. I don’t want to stumble an alcoholic, I don’t want to hurt a single soul, so the communion will be with grape juice! Liberty has to be exercised with love and consideration for those around me do not destroy that one for whom Christ died is a powerful principle! If Christ died for them, then we should nurture them and love them and respect their spiritual sensitivities. This includes such things as not having vigorous theological debates in front of new believers. Exposing young Christians to some scholars’ doubts about the Canon of Scripture or the Trinity does far more harm than good! Paul then brings the debate around to the nature of the Kingdom of God: Therefore, do not let your good be slandered, for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. In other words do not let what is good to you, be spoken of as evil, because it destroyed someone of weaker faith. I like peanuts. But to some people with peanut allergies they are potentially fatal. The good thing – peanuts, would be spoken of as evil if I was so insensitive as to give peanuts to someone who had the allergy. Does that mean that everyone has to stop eating peanuts? No! They are good! But you must not give them to your brother who has a peanut allergy! (And that principle can be applied to many things). We must walk in love and consideration. The Kingdom of God is not about the externals of what you do or do not eat or drink. It is about how you act towards other people in love. It is the hidden internal stuff of the heart and the transformational work of God in us producing righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Let’s summarize this with a few principles: Nothing is unclean in and of itself. The power of the Holy Spirit is so great that it overcomes ritual uncleanness - and redemption is more powerful than sin. But we cannot go around playing with fire. If it is unclean to you, then it’s unclean. If in doubt – don’t! The stronger in faith gives way to the weaker – we may have to give up some freedoms to ensure others are not injured in their Christian life. The focus of the Christian life should not be on external conformity to rules about what we can eat or drink, or when we should go to church. The focus of the Christian life should be on internal conformity to Christ-likeness e.g. love, righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 59: 03.30. ROMANS 14:18-23 STUMBLING ONE'S BROTHER ======================================================================== Rom 14:18-23 MKJV For he who serves Christ in these things is well-pleasing to God, and approved by men. So then let us pursue the things of peace, and the things for building up one another. Do not undo the work of God for food. Truly, all things indeed are clean, but it is bad to the man eating because of a stumbling-block. It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor anything by which your brother stumbles, or is offended, or is made weak. Do you have faith? Have it to yourself before God. Blessed is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves. But, the one doubting, if he eats, he has been condemned, because it is not of faith; and all that is not of faith is sin. We are to serve Christ in “these things” that is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. (Rom 14:17-18) We are to pursue “the things of peace” - harmony in the Christian community We are to build each other up We are not to “undo the work of God for food” - that is use our freedom in Christ to upset another person’s weaker faith We are to restrain our liberty so as not to cause a brother to stumble, be spiritually offended, or made weak We can still exercise our freedom to ourselves, before God. If our faith and conscience is pure about what we approve then we are blessed But if we find something to be doubtful – then don’t do it. If it is not according to our faith and conscience then it is sin. Let’s take some controversial examples: tithing, drinking alcohol and attending church on Sunday. Each of these is a “strong matter of conscience” to some people and “not a problem” to others. Arguments rage about the rights and wrongs of these issues. As we have seen earlier on in this chapter “both sides are right” and should live in peace. If someone wants to attend church regularly each Sunday “unto the Lord” that is fine, if someone things Saturday is better or any day at all and does so “unto the Lord” that is fine too. Both sides should learn to get along! And if someone believes in being a teetotaler, that is good if they do so unto the Lord, and if someone drinks wine and praises God, that is also fine (as long as they do not get drunk), and if someone tithes exactly ten percent and gives diligently and faithfully unto the Lord they are blessed, and if another person gives 8% or 15% or whatever they feel moved to by the grace of God and do so unto the Lord, that is fine as well. Both sides are right – and the important thing is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, not the formula, not the exactly right religious practice! However – and it is a BIG however, we are automatically WRONG if we exercise our freedom in a way that stumbles our brother. If I were to drink around a teetotaler – then I could hurt that person and cause spiritual damage, around an alcoholic - I could even destroy them! This is wrong, plain wrong! I am never to exercise my freedom in a way that stumbles, offends or makes weak a brother! Yet that does not mean that I am at the mercy of every legalistic and hyper-sensitive individual. Just because someone is offended by the car I drive, or the clothes I wear, or by my Australian accent does not mean I have to change! We are free to be ourselves in the Lord. However when it really is a spiritual issue for that person we should compromise. Should Christian women wear mini-skirts? Is a brother stumbled by this? Surely he sees worse on TV or at the office? Yet it does not help! It adds to the burden of temptation, and is perhaps best avoided. Consideration means modesty – for both men and women. On issue after issue we have to balance our freedom with the spiritual effects of our actions. Mini-skirts, lottery tickets, Sabbaths, meat offered to idols, alcohol, tithing or grace giving, or even driving an SUV or Hybrid can be contentious issues. In the end we have to make up our own mind according to our own conscience. Do you have faith? Have it to yourself before God. Blessed is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves. And if we do decide that something is doubtful or off-limits then we should abide by that and not try to do things just for the sake of “personal liberation”: But, the one doubting, if he eats, he has been condemned, because it is not of faith; and all that is not of faith is sin. If you feel bad about not tithing – then you must tithe! If you feel guilty when you take a drink – then don’t drink. If you feel something is wrong if you are not at church on Sunday – then you must go to church! You cannot violate your conscience but you can slowly reeducate it. The apostle Peter was very strict about what he would and would not eat until Jesus showed him a vision and told him to eat that which Peter considered unclean. Then Peter had trouble visiting Gentiles – until God showed him that too was OK (see Acts 10:1-48 and Acts 11:1-30). As our faith grows, so does our freedom in Christ. The “rules” we were so worried about before, rules about eating and drinking and Sabbaths and clean and unclean and Christmas and Easter - all fade away (see Col 2:8-23). Yet there are some folk for whom those rules are still very important. To a new Christian in 45 AD eating a pork chop may have seemed like a terrible sin (if they were from a Jewish background) and serving them pork could have stumbled them in their obedience to God. In the end it is not pork that matters – but people. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 60: 03.31. ROMANS 15:1-3 BUILDING UP OUR NEIGHBOR ======================================================================== Rom 15:1-3 HCSB Now we who are strong have an obligation to bear the weaknesses of those without strength, and not to please ourselves. Each one of us must please his neighbor for his good, in order to build him up. For even the Messiah did not please Himself. On the contrary, as it is written, The insults of those who insult You have fallen on Me. There is a certain amount of proper inconvenience and self-restraint in being a Christian. The Christian life is not “all about me” or about “self-fulfillment”, rather it is about community, grace, edification and loving “one another”. The strong have an obligation toward the weak – to help them, to bless them, to strengthen them and to be considerate toward them. If someone is limping, we slow down, give them a hand and go together with them to their destination. This applies also to spiritual things. It is a team effort and we need to “slow down” and help the weaker brothers in our midst. The person we please is our neighbor – and not ourselves: Now we who are strong have an obligation to bear the weaknesses of those without strength, and not to please ourselves. Each one of us must please his neighbor for his good, in order to build him up. Jesus had every right to please Himself. He could have asked God for a gold chariot and a grand palace and been perfectly worthy of them! Instead of living the high life, He chose the life of incarnate humility – even to the point of accepting scorn and derision: For even the Messiah did not please Himself. On the contrary, as it is written, The insults of those who insult You have fallen on Me. Jesus accepted suffering, and insults and even died on a cross, so that others (you and I) might find salvation. So also you and I must be prepared to be “put out” a little for others. As a missionary that may involve living at the level of the community rather than the level I am used to “back home”. After all that is what Jesus did. For most people it may involve smaller sacrifices such as using non-theological language when conversing with new believers or not having materials around the house that would cause spiritual confusion for a visitor. Or it may be something as simple as not rushing home after church but instead stopping and greeting new people and asking them out for lunch. The old adage, God first, others second, self last - is a good one and fits with much NT teaching and with the example set by the courageous redemptive suffering of Christ and His apostles. There is much self-centered Christian teaching around today about how we can have “the life we want now”. Instead we should be teaching: “How you can help others to have salvation in Christ”! It is not about our personal comfort, rather it is about the other person’s eternal salvation. As a bible teacher one issue that bothers me is the price of Christian resources. Too often good resources are priced at commercial rates, and yet the costs of production are subsidized through faith giving to the ministry. This means the profit margins are huge. As well as that the ministry is tax exempt and probably pays lower than average wages. Such a ministry is not passing these lower costs on to the consumer, or to the staff, or to the government or to the community in general, rather it goes to enrich the leadership or to enlarge the premises. This may be good business but students at bible colleges, who can seldom afford it, are paying top dollar for materials that can and should be supplied at a much lower price. Such organizations are not acting to “edify their neighbor” but rather simply to increase their wealth. This was never the apostolic mindset. Every ministry worthy of the name should consider the needs of those they minister to be first and foremost – and profits should be way down the list of priorities. There is way to much “commercialized Christianity” and way too little apostolic and redemptive simplicity. Peter once said to Jesus ’we have given up all to follow You” (Mat 19:27). That is the true apostolic spirit! Peter and Paul did not please themselves but followed Christ and built up His Church! Self-denial is not good in and of itself. Paul knocks that squarely on the head in Col 2:18-23. We are not Christian masochists. Yet self-denial is needed because it is an essential part of building up our neighbor. Building others up takes consideration and care and time and thought and money and sacrifice. Jesus did not go to the cross as a form of self-flagellation, He went to the cross because it was necessary for our salvation and we are to do likewise: 1Jn 3:16-18 MKJV By this we have known the love of God, because He laid down His life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But whoever has this world’s goods and sees his brother having need, and shuts up his bowels from him, how does the love of God dwell in him? My children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. In fact our works and our reward are grounded in our self-denial for the cause of the Cross: Mat 16:24-27 MKJV Then Jesus said to His disciples, If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life shall lose it, and whoever desires to lose his life for My sake shall find it. For what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man shall come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He shall reward each one according to his works. Therefor let us not just please ourselves, but instead let us accept the inconvenience and restraints, and take up the cross that comes as we serve others in the Spirit. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 61: 03.32. ROMANS 15:4 HOPE FROM THE BIBLE ======================================================================== Rom 15:4 MKJV For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, so that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope. Some Christians dismiss the Old Testament, but Paul says that it was still of great value: “whatever things were written before were written for our learning” - and at this point in Christian history the “things written before” were the OT Scriptures. Paul also wrote to the Corinthians about the continuing relevance of OT examples (in this case of God’s discipline of Israel in the wilderness). 1Co 10:11 MKJV (11) And all these things happened to them as examples; and it is written for our warning on whom the ends of the world have come. And the Scriptures Timothy would have known as a child would have been the current books of the Old Testament: 2Ti 3:14-17 MKJV But continue in the things that you have learned and have been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from a babe you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfected, thoroughly furnished to every good work. Paul tells us that the Scriptures are a source of hope: so that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope. In the trials of life it is often a word from the Bible that brings light and hope into our life. But this often needs to be combined with patience as we wait for the word from God to become manifest in our lives. It is this waiting on the word of God that builds character into our lives. The impatient person ends up hope-less because they always give up or take a short-cut before God’s word has a chance to blossom into reality. This is especially true in situations of injustice and great suffering such as the persecutions that came upon the early Christians in Rome. It is not easy to suffer at any time, and undeserved suffering can be especially difficult to bear. To see relatives and fellow-believers dragged off and crucified, or used as human torches to light processions must have been truly dreadful (though the worst persecutions may have occurred after Romans was written). Even in such dreadful situations the Scriptures, patiently borne, would have been a great source of hope as they told of a just and loving God who would reward them with eternal life, and who would punish their enemies on the Day of Judgment. 2Th 1:5-10 MKJV For this is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God for which you also suffer, since it is a righteous thing with God to repay tribulation to those who trouble you, and to give rest with us to you who are troubled, at the revealing of the Lord Jesus from Heaven with the angels of His power, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God and who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, when He shall come to be glorified in His saints and to be admired in all those who believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that Day. Having solid hope in the Scriptures will see us though this life and lay a solid foundation for the life to come. By contrast, putting one’s hope in people, or money, or governments or political parties or even in success formulas – is a sure path to ultimate disappointment. The mature Christian is one who can patiently trust in the promises of God without doubting and without taking unethical short-cuts to the desired end. The apostle Peter, in his second epistle, gives a beautiful snapshot of what this process is like: 2Pe 1:2-8 MKJV Grace and peace be multiplied to you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, according as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who has called us to glory and virtue, through which He has given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, so that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. But also in this very thing, bringing in all diligence, filling out your faith with virtue, and with virtue, knowledge; and with knowledge self-control, and with self-control, patience, and with patience, godliness, and with godliness, brotherly kindness, and with brotherly kindness, love. For if these things are in you and abound, they make you to be neither idle nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. In the central place in Christian growth are phrases such as “through the knowledge of Him” and “through which He has given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, so that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature”. As we get to know God and as we rely on His wonderful promises the rest unfolds around us – and this knowledge of God and His promises almost entirely comes from the Bible. It is as we steadfastly believe what is written in the Bible, including the Old Testament, that we come to know God and grow in faith. Note that I say “believe” not just “know”. We have to trust the Scriptures, and hang on them as true words from God with real application to our lives. The key example here is Abraham trusting God for the birth of Isaac despite the discouraging external realities. Rom 4:18-22 MKJV For he who beyond hope believed on hope for him to become the father of many nations (according to that which was spoken, "So your seed shall be"). And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body already dead (being about a hundred years old) or the deadening of Sarah’s womb. He did not stagger at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully persuaded that what God had promised, He was also able to perform. And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. Let us therefore take solid refuge in the Scriptures knowing that in trusting God’s promises we shall find hope in the midst of life! ======================================================================== CHAPTER 62: 03.33. ROMANS 15:5-7 BEING LIKE-MINDED ======================================================================== Rom 15:5-7 HCSB Now may the God of endurance and encouragement grant you agreement with one another, according to Christ Jesus, so that you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ with a united mind and voice. Therefore accept one another, just as the Messiah also accepted you, to the glory of God. Rom 15:5-7 MKJV And may the God of patience and consolation grant you to be like minded toward one another according to Christ Jesus, so that with one mind and one mouth you may glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore receive one another as Christ also received us, to the glory of God. These verses tell us that Christian unity is first a gift of God “grant you to be like-minded” and secondly an act of obedience “therefore accept one another” that results in clearly manifest glory for God: “glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” ... “to the glory of God”. It is the character of God manifest in us and among us that allows us to put up with one another – which is why Paul calls on “the God of endurance and encouragement” also translated as “the God of patience and consolation”. God is not touchy, prickly or defensive. Rather He is patient, kind and encouraging! These are great “team player” qualities that help Christians to hang in there together among all the tests and challenges of Christian fellowship. The phrase “agreement with one another” or “like-minded toward one another” is “phronein en allelois” which can be translated “interested in one another” or “thoughtful toward one another”. Phronein is from the Greek word family that describes cognition (phroneo) and means to think about, or to pay attention to. Unity comes from caring about one another and being actually interested in each other. So far we have a community of people that is interested in one another and is patient and encouraging toward one another – that is a pretty good start! This community then proceeds to worship as one: so that you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ with a united mind and voice. The Greek for “united mind” is homothumadon which (according to Thayer’s Lexicon) means “with one mind, with one accord, with one passion”. It is almost like we are a large group climbing a mountain with God at the summit. As we get closer to God, we also automatically get closer to one another and to a community that is in spiritual and emotional harmony. The Spirit-led community has “one mouth” and in the early days of the Jerusalem Church it was the apostle Peter that was the spokesperson for the Church when it engaged the outside world. Christian unity means that we will not be contradicting each other publicly all the time. At times this will mean that we support our pastor or other spokesperson and that we as a group will stand together and speak as one for God. Freedom of speech is not the same as freedom to tear each other apart with squabbling. Sometimes we must bridle our tongue – out of love. The Christian mind and heart is not about self-expression, but about Christ-expression! Unity has a tremendous spiritual power both on earth and in the spiritual realms (Mat 18:19). So when we manifest this spiritual, intellectual, emotional and verbal unity we bring great glory to God. Our unity is to be based on mutual acceptance, which in turn is to be based on our acceptance in Christ. If Christ has accepted you, then I must not reject you, otherwise I am going against God. Who am I to condemn that which God has already accepted? And who is any man or woman who dares to condemn what Christ has justified through the Cross? To say that another Christian is “unacceptable” is to say that God is wrong, or at least that He is badly mistaken in dying for, saving, redeeming and loving such a person. Now which are we to abide by – human social convention or divine mercy? If we judge others without mercy – then God will also do the same to us! Jas 2:1-13 HCSB My brothers, hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ without showing favoritism. For suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring, dressed in fine clothes, and a poor man dressed in dirty clothes also comes in. If you look with favor on the man wearing the fine clothes so that you say, "Sit here in a good place," and yet you say to the poor man, "Stand over there," or, "Sit here on the floor by my footstool," haven’t you discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my dear brothers: Didn’t God choose the poor in this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom that He has promised to those who love Him? Yet you dishonored that poor man. Don’t the rich oppress you and drag you into the courts? Don’t they blaspheme the noble name that you bear? If you really carry out the royal law prescribed in Scripture, You shall love your neighbor as yourself, you are doing well. But if you show favoritism, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the entire law, yet fails in one point, is guilty of breaking it all. For He who said, Do not commit adultery, also said, Do not murder. So if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you are a lawbreaker. Speak and act as those who will be judged by the law of freedom. For judgment is without mercy to the one who hasn’t shown mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. Race, wealth, age, fashion, and other social factors should not determine whether or not someone is acceptable to us or not. If Christ has accepted them – then we must accept them also. People notice unity. It is one of the marks of true Christianity: John 13:34-35 HCSB "I give you a new commandment: love one another. Just as I have loved you, you must also love one another. By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." Unity is a God-given discipline that we practice in love and out of care and consideration for each other. We are to be interested in one another, patient, kind and encouraging, and accepting of each other - because Christ has also accepted us! One further thought – if Christ has accepted you, then you need to accept yourself! ======================================================================== CHAPTER 63: 03.34. ROMANS 15:8-12 THE SALVATION OF THE GENTILES ======================================================================== Rom 15:8-12 HCSB Now I say that Christ has become a servant of the circumcised on behalf of the truth of God, to confirm the promises to the fathers, and so that Gentiles may glorify God for His mercy. As it is written: Therefore I will praise You among the Gentiles, and I will sing psalms to Your name. Again it says: Rejoice, you Gentiles, with His people! And again: Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles; all the peoples should praise Him! And again, Isaiah says: The root of Jesse will appear, the One who rises to rule the Gentiles; in Him the Gentiles will hope. The “promise to the fathers” (Abraham, Isaac and Jacob) was that “in you all the nations of the earth will be blessed” (Gen 18:18) which of course includes the Gentiles. In fact the Holy Spirit coming upon the Gentiles was seen as an integral part of the Abrahamic blessing: Gal 3:13-14 HCSB Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, because it is written: Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree. The purpose was that the blessing of Abraham would come to the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, so that we could receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. What Paul is trying to say is that the Gentiles owe their salvation to promises that were originally made to Jews. Remember there were divisions in the mainly Gentile Roman church and a fracturing with Jewish Christians so that Paul spent Rom 9:1-33, Rom 10:1-21, Rom 11:1-36 explaining that the Jews were not cast off and rejected, and Rom 14:1-23 carving out some space for Jewish Sabbath observance and dietary customs, and now Paul gets back to his theme of unity between Jewish and Gentile Christians by pointing out that: The salvation of the Gentiles depended on promises originally made to Jews. That the Jews, on the other hand, were to view the salvation of the Gentiles, as the full flowering of the religion of YHWH and the promises made to the patriarchs. Therefore there was to be no separation between Jew and Gentile, because the Gentiles depended on the “root” that was God’s dealings with the Jews, and the Jews were to see the salvation of the Gentiles as the crowning achievement of their faith. Paul illustrates this with a clutch of OT quotes introduced by “it is written”: As it is written: Therefore I will praise You among the Gentiles, and I will sing psalms to Your name. Again it says: Rejoice, you Gentiles, with His people! And again: Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles; all the peoples should praise Him! And again, Isaiah says: The root of Jesse will appear, the One who rises to rule the Gentiles; in Him the Gentiles will hope. The formula “it is written” was used when quoting the Bible in a very formal and powerful way much as a lawyer quotes the Constitution during a legal battle in the Supreme Court. It was used by Jesus when disputing with the Devil in the wilderness and the form of the Greek verb (perfect) is that of a “completed past action with continuing force and consequences into the present” e.g. Mat 4:3-4 HCSB Then the tempter approached Him and said, "If You are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread." But He answered, "It is written: Man must not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God." So in the legal battle over Jewish – Gentile unity Paul brings four quotes that over the main sections of Jewish Scripture (the Law, the Writings, and the Prophets). Two quotes were from the Psalms (the Writings), one from Deuteronomy (the Torah / Law), and one from Isaiah (the prophets). (In order quoted they are: Psa 18:49, Deu 32:43, Psa 117:1, Isa 11:10) Thus the Abrahamic covenant, the Law, the Writings and the Prophets are all brought to bear on the conclusion that it was always God’s intention for the Gentiles to hope in Christ. This was a devastating argument for those who saw Christianity as being solely Jewish affair with Jesus as solely a Jewish Messiah. The verses Paul quotes show that the Messiah would be for the Gentiles also. On the other hand the Gentiles would have to acknowledge that their Messiah was a Jew and that their salvation came to them along Jewish railroad tracks. The root of the olive tree of faith was Israel. On a practical note we need to take heed of Paul’s high regard for Scripture and the formula “it is written”. The Bible was Paul’s constitution and every word had true and absolute legal force – including the Old Testament, thought it was interpreted through the later revelation that came in Christ. Even though Paul made it very clear that the OT law was no longer the covenant that bound Christian believers and that we were dead to the Law (Rom 6:1-23, Rom 7:1-25, Rom 8:1-39) he still respects the written word of God and does not jettison it. Rather Paul reinterprets it in the light of the cross, yet sees every single word as authoritative, inerrant and infallible. Paul saw Christ as the center of Scripture and since the Book was about Jesus and revealed Jesus then Jesus was the master key and master interpreter of the whole. By looking to Christ Paul could see what applied “after the cross” and what needed to be reinterpreted. We need to revere the Word of God and to take it with absolute seriousness, not as just a “guide to daily living” or an encouraging verse like a greeting card, or an intellectual plaything. It is a RULE for daily living (not just a guide that makes suggestions which we can take or leave) and it is the inspired spiritual word of God, and it is the complete Truth that our minds must shape themselves to instead! ======================================================================== CHAPTER 64: 03.35. ROMANS 15:13 THE GOD OF HOPE ======================================================================== Rom 15:13 HCSB Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. How can a God who knows everything have hope? Surely hope depends on incomplete knowledge? How can we anticipate a sure thing? I think back to my twelfth birthday when I was given a watch. I knew I would receive that watch, but it was really special and I looked forward to it with great intensity. It was hope in a reward that I had literally waited for years to receive (this gives away my age and my era...) and I never doubted it but I still hoped for it. Hope is in our hearts as the future unfolds towards a good and certain ending. God knows how we are going to turn out, He knows we will become immortal, imperishable, glorious, spiritual sons of God without spot or wrinkle and that Jesus will be the first among many brethren from every tribe and tongue and nation who will worship before the throne. God is delighting in this outcome and so is full of glorious hope. He is the God of hope because He knows the wonderful ending of the story of this Age. Because God’s purposes are always unfolding towards glorious and wonderful ends there will always be hope. 1Co 13:13 HCSB Now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love. This verse follows on after Paul’s discussion of the salvation of the Gentiles (Rom 15:8-12) and his assertion that this was part of God’s glorious plan from long ago. Just as God hoped and delighted in the salvation of the Greeks and Romans and Scythians and so forth so He has other great purposes that He is working out even today. When despair grips our heart we need to place ourselves in God’s great unfolding plan of redemption and realize that He will “work all things together for good” (Rom 8:28). Our hope is grounded in God’s own hope in the absolutely certain outworking of His plans towards the creation of a world “in which righteousness dwells”. 2Pe 3:13 MKJV But according to His promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Our hope is based on trust in God’s good processes; the slow, sure processes of justice, redemption and unfolding glorification: Rom 8:28-30 MKJV And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, for Him to be the First-born among many brothers. But whom He predestined, these He also called; and whom He called, those He also justified. And whom He justified, these He also glorified. God’s continuous hopeful intervention in human history is a far cry from evolution – where things improve themselves by random mutation and natural selection. The divine “working all things together for good” is a moral and spiritual action that involves the whole universe and is not in any way “accidental”. As we grasp the fact that the end of the Story is always good and always joyful then we can be “filled with joy and peace in believing”. The hope we have in who God is and in the way God works gives us a sure joy and a deep peace. Now faith in God’s processes is different from hope in a particular outcome – such as a large house or a red Mercedes-Benz. Sometimes God fills us with hope in a concrete and particular outcome such as Abraham’s faith in the birth of Isaac but at other times we are called to a faith like Job’s – that in the midst of pain God would turn up and work redemption “ I know that my redeemer liveth and will take His stand upon the earth.” We can make big mistakes when we decide to put our hope not in God’s character or ways of working - but in some cherished thing such as someone loving us, or a certain level of lifestyle or a certain problem being solved in a certain way. When this does not happen we feel disappointed in God. Yet God may be leading us through the trial to a deeper and less superficial form of faith. A faith in the invisible rather than in the visible. (Now I am not saying that we should not pray for tangible things such as healing, just that we should do so with faith in God and the way He works.) The God of hope wants His sons and daughters to be people of hope who are confident that the end of all things will be good and will be joyful. God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all – no despair, no pessimism, no unbelief, no cynicism, no negativity, no wet blanket theology, no small-minded fault-finding and no dream-stealing AT ALL! Now we are to be like Him (1Jn 3:1-3) and to walk in the light as He is in the light and to be positive and hopeful as He is positive and hopeful. 1Jn 1:5-7 MKJV And this is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. The old man is a grumpy, cynical worldly-wise pessimist – but the new man is hopeful with the power of God “so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” The Holy Spirit assures us that we are God’s and that we are loved by Him and reveals to us the wonderful things God has in store for those who love Him (1Co 2:9-16). When I feel that I am sinful and wretched and hope-less then the Holy Spirit tells me that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses me from all sin, that I am justified and acceptable to God, and that a wonderful eternity awaits me so I can have hope! ======================================================================== CHAPTER 65: 03.36. ROMANS 15:14 LAY LEADERSHIP ======================================================================== Rom 15:14 MKJV And I myself also am persuaded of you, my brothers, that you also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another. Paul writes to the Roman church and: addresses them as equals, even as brothers says they are full of goodness acknowledges they are knowledgeable and are “able to admonish one another” - that is to exercise spiritual discernment and appropriate personal and teaching ministry In other words Paul, while being an apostle with a deep revelation of God, does not see himself as “the expert”. Paul gives his readers due credit because he knew that the same Holy Spirit and Jesus Christ that was in him - was also in them. This raises the whole question of the appropriateness of lay ministry and the role of full-time minsters of the gospel. Paul is clear about two things here a) lay minsters can be able, trustworthy and knowledgeable b) that apostles (and other full-time workers) have a special authority that allows Paul to write the epistle in the first place. I have known many good solid deacons and elders who do a very faithful job of leading bible studies and discipling young Christians. Mature Christians should not be stifled but should be allowed to use their gifts in a worthy manner. On the other hand the lay minsters are not theologians or missionaries or evangelists – and most will readily and openly acknowledge that. There are still some high-level jobs that do require years of solid theological training whether we like it or not. However the most common failing is a failure to train, equip and send lay ministers into the Harvest. We “professionals” tend to keep things to ourselves. Or we demand too much training and then give too little responsibility to very capable people. Our egos can be easily threatened by highly capable lay leaders. Yet revival and the training of non-ordained ministers of the gospel go hand in hand throughout Church history. As the saints are “equipped for the work of the ministry” (Eph 4:11) much more ministry gets carried out. We also need to define “ministry” in much broader terms. It is not just what happens for ninety minutes on a Sunday morning in a church building. Writing a devotional on the Internet or having a Christian blog or handing out tracts is also ministry as is feeding the homeless, visiting the sick, meeting one on one with new believers, and a host of other things such as ministry to shut-ins, singles and the elderly. While only a few people can preach or lead worship on Sunday, every mature Christian can have one of these other kinds of ministries in the “outside world” and this expansion outside the church walls is what brings revival to the city. If the Roman believers were so capable – why then did Paul write his epistle to them? Because good, deep, solid training that is both theological (Rom 1:1-32, Rom 2:1-29, Rom 3:1-31, Rom 4:1-25, Rom 5:1-21, Rom 6:1-23, Rom 7:1-25, Rom 8:1-39), situational (Rom 9:1-33, Rom 10:1-21, Rom 11:1-36) and practical (Rom 12:1-21, Rom 13:1-14, Rom 14:1-23, Rom 15:1-33, Rom 16:1-27) is a key component for equipping the laity to minister skillfully and well. Campus Crusade came up with the idea of Transferable Concepts – ten booklets that simply explained key theological and practical concepts such as assurance of salvation, praying the Spirit, loving in the Spirit and so forth so that average folk who could be trained and then transfer this training on to others. 2Ti 2:2 MKJV And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit the same to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. Many others since then have come up with various training tools that help believers to mature in their faith and to go out and “do the stuff” of ministry. (Personal plug: you will find many such tools on the AIBI website at www.aibi.ph ) Can we then dispense with the M.Div. And higher level training? Not at all, it still has its place especially when major controversies arise and expert opinions are needed or when the faith needs defending from error. However “lay people” can be knowledgeable, discerning, and full of goodness (virtue is not exclusively limited to the clergy PTL!) and able to admonish and correct people (sometimes even including the pastor!). They should be trained up and unleashed to reach the lost, visit the sick, help the widows and so on and so forth. They do not need to be up front on Sunday morning, indeed that sort of attention can ruin a new Christian, but they do need to exercise their faith and use their spiritual gifts. If the silent majority can be carefully trained, step by step, and motivated, prayed for and sent out into the community then a might revival might just sweep across the land! Some things ALL Christians should be trained in are: Prayer and intercession - especially how to pray for the lost and for their nation Deliverance – casting out of demons and praying for the sick as the elders in James were required to do. As they pray for their friends and family many members will be added to the church! Witnessing – how to share their faith in the power of the Holy Spirit and how to teach new converts the basics of the Christian faith (Priscilla and Aquila) Acts of compassion – how to wisely and effectively help folk who need it most (as Dorcas did) Imagine the impact as hundreds of prayed up, Spirit-filled believers, full of goodness and wisdom go out into your community to minister in the name of Jesus! ======================================================================== CHAPTER 66: 03.37. ROMANS 15:15-19 A FULFILLED MINISTRY ======================================================================== Rom 15:15-19 MKJV But, brothers, I wrote to you boldly, as reminding you in part, because of the grace that is given to me by God, that I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the nations, ministering the gospel of God, so that the offering up of the nations might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Spirit. Therefore I have boasting in Christ Jesus as to the things pertaining to God. For I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ did not work out by me for the obedience of the nations in word and deed, in power of miracles and wonders, in power of the Spirit of God, so that from Jerusalem, and all around to Illyricum, I have fully preached the gospel of Christ. Some people tap into God very deeply and have His power flowing through them “in word and deed, in power of miracles and wonders, in power of the Spirit of God”. I have been thinking about this a lot lately after seeing programs on Adolf Hitler and on Alexander the Great both of whom achieved great (though temporary and evil) power through the use of the occult. It led me to think “if the Devil can give spectacular victories to people how much more can God do?” then I realized that the power of God operates entirely differently. The power of God does not produce dictators, it produces saints instead! The power of God aims at quality of character not quantity of conquest! The Devil produces Hitler, Stalin, Alexander the Great, Papa Doc and Idi Amin. God produces Paul, Augustine of Hippo, St. Francis of Assisi, Martin Luther, Mother Teresa and Billy Graham. Now Paul could have been a very successful member of the Jewish ruling elite. But he chose Christ instead and the power of the Holy Spirit, not the power of self, or the power of the Devil. When the broken Paul let God take him over there was a realigning of the source of personal power. God came in and became the locus for all Paul’s actions so that he could only describe himself as someone “crucified” and could say “it is no longer I who liveth but Christ who liveth in me.” As a result of this surrender to the Holy Spirit and to the dynamic working of Christ within him Paul’s ministry was characterized by signs and wonders and the Spirit of God! I think part of the reason we see so few miracles is because of prayer-less, un-surrendered lives particularly among some Christian leaders. We need to be immersed in God, and to let God flow through us! Paul’s consecration went all the way to his identity which was as a “minister of Jesus Christ to the nations”. The Greek word for minister here is not the usual “diakonos” (deacon) but the more specialized “leitourgos” - which means a priest, worshipper or functionary and in the NT is used of people performing priestly work such as sacrifices and offerings. It is mainly used for “full-time” ministers of the gospel. Here Paul is the “priest” who presents the Gentiles as a fully acceptable offering to God – without spot or blemish, sanctified and holy. Paul’s identity was of someone preparing people for God so that God might be pleased with them as an “acceptable offering”. (We are obviously not talking about literal human sacrifice but rather about a consecrated life.) The goal of Paul’s ministry was “obedience in both word and deed”. Too often we are satisfied with words, with students who can recite the correct answers, rather than living correct lives. These days many modern seminary students know a great deal of Greek and with the latest computer bible aids can do wonderful bible and archaeological study. On a cognitive level they would know far more than the simple preaching saints of old such as St. Francis of Assisi! But despite all this extra knowledge often their lives do not match up. There needs to be a profoundly changed lifestyle so that we are conformed in our behavior to biblical Christian teaching such as the Sermon On The Mount. As pastors, missionaries, bible teachers and Christian leaders we cannot be satisfied with disobedience. It is not “just sinful human nature” to be excused and even pandered to. Paul wrote that he wanted their “obedience to be complete” (2Co 10:6). We cannot let people off half way – even if they do not much like the process of being conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. We do them eternal damage and leave them as incomplete human beings when we indulge their sins. In order to have the strength and energy to shape people and nations and to do signs and wonders Paul had to rely totally on Jesus Christ. Without divine authority Paul had no authority. Without divine answers to prayer Paul had no miracles, signs or wonders. Success for Paul was not dependent on fundraising or politics but on the Holy Ghost. So dependent on Christ was he that Paul boasted of nothing except what Christ had done through him: Rom 15:17-19 HCSB Therefore I have reason to boast in Christ Jesus regarding what pertains to God. For I would not dare say anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to make the Gentiles obedient by word and deed, by the power of miraculous signs and wonders, and by the power of God’s Spirit. As a result, I have fully proclaimed the good news about the Messiah from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum. In other words “it wasn’t me, it was God”. Paul was very careful about pride creeping into his ministry and diminishing his effectiveness, sanctification and reward. For I would not dare say anything except what Christ has accomplished through me is powerful language! Paul was not going to boast of his heritage or his intellect or his business ability or his great tent-making skills – but only in Christ, and even then only about what God had done through him. Paul was humble so God could pour out His grace into Paul’s life and make it a mighty life. Back to our theme – the Devil produces proud dictators with temporary fiefdoms, but on the other hand Christ produces humble saints with holy lives that have an eternal impact. The power of God in us may not make us great and famous in a worldly sense but it will give us the means to fulfill our ministry and preach the gospel in our sphere of influence: As a result, I have fully proclaimed the good news about the Messiah from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 67: 03.38. ROMANS 15:20-24 WHEN IS THE JOB DONE? ======================================================================== Rom 15:20-24 HCSB So my aim is to evangelize where Christ has not been named, in order that I will not be building on someone else’s foundation, but, as it is written: “Those who had no report of Him will see, and those who have not heard will understand.” That is why I have been prevented many times from coming to you. But now I no longer have any work to do in these provinces, and I have strongly desired for many years to come to you whenever I travel to Spain. For I do hope to see you when I pass through, and to be sent on my way there by you, once I have first enjoyed your company for a while. For Paul the unreached took priority over the reached – even if the “reached” were high profile and important Romans. As politically central as Rome was it had been well evangelized (by the apostle Peter among others) and Paul preferred to go where the gospel had not yet been preached. So my aim is to evangelize where Christ has not been named, in order that I will not be building on someone else’s foundation, but, as it is written: “Those who had no report of Him will see, and those who have not heard will understand.” In order to do this Paul put these other less evangelized regions AHEAD of “important” Rome in his ministry priorities saying: That is why I have been prevented many times from coming to you. It was only when the less reached provinces such as Galatia had been adequately evangelized that Paul could feel free to visit Rome. But now I no longer have any work to do in these provinces, and I have strongly desired for many years to come to you whenever I travel to Spain. Now one of the thorniest problems in missionary work is the question of “When is the job done so the missionary can go home or move elsewhere?” Does it take five years, fifty years or five hundred years? In Rom 15:23 Paul writes the astonishing phrase: “But now I no longer have any work to do in these provinces...” In other words “the job was done” for Paul in the vast area (about one thousand miles) “from Jerusalem, and all around to Illyricum” (see Rom 15:19). Illyricum was a Roman province in the far north of Macedonia and corresponding to modern Albania, Croatia, Bosnia and Slovenia (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illyricum ). With the job done in these areas Paul could visit Rome on his way to Spain. Romans was written about 58 AD, Paul’s first missionary journey was 46-48 AD. So we are looking at a ten to twelve year period, and that without the aid of modern media. Were there no sinners left to convert, no pastors to train, no church problems to solve, no doctrinal controversies to sort out? For some reason Paul thought that the gospel had been “fully proclaimed” in these areas! By 58 AD the gospel had been proclaimed to many, leaders like Timothy and Titus had been trained up and the main problems of local contextualization such as circumcision, meat offered to idols, the role of the Jewish law, and speaking in tongues had been solved, resolved and pronounced on. Now the local churches could take over the job and evangelize their local communities by being obedient to the gospel. The local leadership understood the gospel and the Christian lifestyle and the power of the Holy Spirit and could be trusted to operate under God’s guidance. Therefore Paul could leave them alone to do the job even though “savage wolves” would come in and cause problems (see Acts 20:17-38). For Paul the missionary task was completed when the gospel had been clearly and unambiguously proclaimed in the area and trustworthy local leadership had been raised up who were capable of getting God’s guidance for themselves. Paul did not wait until the local churches were perfect, or were financially sound, or were wonderful bible scholars. Once “faithful men (and women) who could teach others also” were raised up Paul moved on! 2Ti 2:2 HCSB And what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, commit to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. Paul was not interested in maintaining his own position or importance, or being the great guru and solver of all problems, or in maintaining control. Control belonged to God alone! Paul allowed the local Christians to run their churches with a high degree of autonomy and local flavor. The gospel was the same but the food, dress and certain aspects of the leadership styles may be very, very different. The whole idea for Paul was to produce churches that were run by Jesus Christ and filled with love and the Holy Spirit. Jesus was to run the church, not man, and certainly not a corporation. Paul did not produce a denominational handbook, or a Paulistic logo, or a centralized government with a multi-story head office and fierce executive assistants that kept people away from their “very important” bosses. Paul produced living, holy disciples who in turn produced other living, holy disciples. So when should a missionary leave, and what does that say about what a missionary should be doing? A missionary should leave as soon as the gospel has been clearly proclaimed and the local leadership can stand on their own. This should not take “too long”. If Paul could do it in twelve years, perhaps we can say twenty to fifty years of missionary presence should be all that it takes. After that the missionary society should move to new areas where the gospel has not been as well proclaimed: So my aim is to evangelize where Christ has not been named, in order that I will not be building on someone else’s foundation, but, as it is written: “Those who had no report of Him will see, and those who have not heard will understand.” Missionaries are there to bring the gospel to those who have not heard and should prioritize the unreached over the reached. This priority should cause them to avoid places where the gospel has been well proclaimed (such as most of South America) and focus on areas where it has hardly been heard at all – such as the Muslim, Hindu and Buddhist blocs. And the goal of the missions agency should be to proclaim the gospel and to make faithful Spirit-filled disciples who can teach others also. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 68: 03.39. ROMANS 15:20-29 A HUGE MISTAKE ======================================================================== Rom 15:25-29 HCSB Now, however, I am traveling to Jerusalem to serve the saints; (26) for Macedonia and Achaia were pleased to make a contribution to the poor among the saints in Jerusalem. Yes, they were pleased, and they are indebted to them. For if the Gentiles have shared in their spiritual benefits, then they are obligated to minister to Jews in material needs. So when I have finished this and safely delivered the funds to them, I will go by way of you to Spain. But I know that when I come to you, I will come in the fullness of the blessing of Christ. The Hebrew Christians were experiencing a great famine, the one predicted by Agabus that came to pass during the reign of Claudius (Acts 11:28-29). So, out of brotherly love, the new Gentile Christians from Macedonia and Achaia were sending a large financial contribution (Acts 11:29). The gathering of this gift was expounded on at length in 1Co 16:1-4, 2Co 8:1-24, 2Co 9:1-15. This helps us with our New Testament chronology as in 1 Corinthians the giving is explained, in 2 Corinthians there is an exhortation to complete it and later in Romans it is actually on its way to be delivered. There is no explicit mention in Acts of the gift being gladly received and this has led some commentators maintain that it was refused by James and by the Jerusalem Church. But let us look at what Acts actually says: Acts 21:15-26 HCSB After these days we got ready and went up to Jerusalem. (16) Some of the disciples from Caesarea also went with us and brought us to Mnason, a Cypriot and an early disciple, with whom we were to stay. When we reached Jerusalem, the brothers welcomed us gladly. The following day Paul went in with us to James, and all the elders were present. After greeting them, he related one by one what God did among the Gentiles through his ministry. When they heard it, they glorified God and said, "You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are who have believed, and they are all zealous for the law. But they have been told about you that you teach all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to abandon Moses, by telling them not to circumcise their children or to walk in our customs. So what is to be done? They will certainly hear that you’ve come. Therefore do what we tell you: We have four men who have obligated themselves with a vow. Take these men, purify yourself along with them, and pay for them to get their heads shaved. Then everyone will know that what they were told about you amounts to nothing, but that you yourself are also careful about observing the law. With regard to the Gentiles who have believed, we have written a letter containing our decision that they should keep themselves from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from what is strangled, and from sexual immorality." Then the next day, Paul took the men, having purified himself along with them, and entered the temple, announcing the completion of the purification days when the offering for each of them would be made. Even at this relatively late date the Jewish Christians were “all zealous for the Law” and were all circumcised and following the Jewish customs and the leaders of the Jerusalem Church all wanted Paul to demonstrate that he was still “careful about observing the law”. This must have created a great tension for Paul as we can clearly see from Romans, Galatians and many other places that Paul said the gospel abrogated the Jewish Law! At this point Paul must have realized his great error in going to Jerusalem despite the clear danger warnings of so many (Acts 21:10-14). Soon the situation becomes out of control with Jews from Asia who had heard Paul’s teachings creating a riot and forcing his imprisonment (Acts 21:27-40). We can see that James and the other apostles of the Jerusalem Church were still “under the Law” and thought that was proper for Jews such as Paul. They were also very cautious about having Paul in their midst but were glad that the Gentiles were believing in Jesus. But even so for them Christianity worked one way for Jews and another way for Gentiles, and the Jewish way was by implication the better way. They asked that some of the money he brought be used to pay for four brothers who were taking a Jewish vow “under the Law” and by instructing Paul to join them, which he did. However what happened to the rest of the money? My interpretation is that the offering was not warmly accepted and may even have been rejected and that this rejection of the goodwill and fellowship of the Gentiles marked the end of the authority of the Jerusalem church over the Gentile church. Here is how I got to that conclusion: Acts never mentions the money being “gladly accepted” which, after the enormous effort put into gathering up this offering is quite unusual. The conversion of the Gentiles is accepted, but the gift itself is never mentioned. The Jerusalem apostles could not accept Paul’s gift without: a) angering the local Jewish population b) to some extent accepting Paul’s theology and c) being under some obligation to Gentiles for the gift (which was very hard for a traditional Jew). However if they refused the gift they insulted the entire Gentile church. Given the intense local pressures it was easier for them to insult the Gentiles who were far away and who were viewed by many as culturally and spiritually inferior. By this date Paul had written Galatians and Romans and clearly was no longer a Torah-observing Jewish Christian and had burned all his theological bridges with Torah-observant Jewish Christians. His constant refrain that we died to the Law through the work of Christ on the cross and that circumcision was of the heart not the body would have completely upset Torah-observant Jewish Christians who circumcised their children and kept Jewish customs (Acts 21:21). The Gentiles sent their gift through Paul and thus by implication they agreed with Paul’s theology. The gift was a koinoinian or “fellowship offering” and was meant to cement fellowship between Gentile Christians and their Jewish founding church. Refusal of a fellowship offering was effectively refusal of fellowship. The churches of Macedonia and Achaia had given very liberally and sacrificially to the Torah-observant Jewish Christians. To have this goodwill offering rejected would have naturally caused deep resentment. By disowning Paul and not intervening to help him once the other Jews started protesting the Jerusalem church also disowned the churches that Paul led – that is the Gentile churches. When at the end of the book of Acts Paul finally does arrive in Rome and speaks to the Jews there his words are bitter and angry. In fact the last words of Paul in Acts are a bitter denunciation of Jewish unbelief (Acts 28:25-29). The Gentile Christian literature after this point, with the possible exception of the Didache, is relatively free of Jewish legalism. Any desire to follow after the Jerusalem based apostles seems to have completely evaporated. Though Luke tactfully omits the refusal from the book of Acts others who were present such as Trophimus would have taken the word back to the Gentile church and Paul’s imprisonment in Caesarea would not have gone unnoticed. The word would have got back and the damage would have been done. By the time Paul left prison two years later the Gentile church would have moved away from any Jerusalem based control. After this the Jerusalem church becomes very Jewish and is led by relatives of Jesus until about 110 AD when all the Jews are expelled from Jerusalem. Towards the end it only accepted a Hebrew edition of the book of Matthew as the gospel. Its rejection of Paul’s gift and of the validity of the faith of the Gentiles sent it into rapid and permanent decline. What happened then? Paul’s gift had a huge unintended consequence in splitting the early church. His attempt at reconciliation totally backfired. God even warned him not to go! Financial aid can seem a great idea but have terrible long term consequences! No matter how good or honorable our intentions or how deep our need for reconciliation and validation, we must follow the Holy Spirit. Another spiritual lesson from this is seen today whenever denominational tradition or cultural pride causes group A to disdain group B. It is always those who reject fellowship, who are in turn rejected by God. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 69: 03.40. ROMANS 15:30-33 AN UNANSWERED PRAYER ======================================================================== Rom 15:30-33 MKJV But I exhort you, brothers, for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ and for the love of the Spirit, that you strive together with me in your prayers to God for me, that I may be delivered from those disbelieving in Judea, and that my service which I have for Jerusalem may be accepted by the saints; so that I may come to you with joy by the will of God, and may be refreshed with you. Now may the God of peace be with you all. Amen. If you go and do something, against the direction of the Holy Spirit, will prayer get you out of the mess that you create? Paul is heading to Jerusalem, everyone is telling him not to and God even send the prophet Agabus who tells him that the Holy Spirit is telling him not to go and what the consequences would be: Acts 21:9-14 MKJV And there were four virgin daughters to this one, who prophesied. And as we stayed more days, a certain prophet from Judea named Agabus came down. And coming to us, and taking Paul’s belt, and binding his hands and feet, he said, The Holy Spirit says these things: So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man whose belt this is, and will deliver him into the hands of the nations. And when we heard these things, both we and those of the place begged him not to go up to Jerusalem. Then Paul answered, What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus. And he not being persuaded, we ceased, saying, The will of the Lord be done. Paul was clearly aware of these dangers even when he wrote Romans because he asks the Romans: a) that I may be delivered from those disbelieving in Judea, b) and that my service which I have for Jerusalem may be accepted by the saints; Even at this point he was aware the unbelieving Jews might want to kill him and that the Jewish Christians might not accept his “service for the saints”. Paul is clearly aware of the tensions that surround this matter – yet he goes ahead and asks people to pray fervently. Paul was gambling on prayer! He knew the risks and the consequences and the warnings of the Holy Spirit but was hoping the fervent prayers of himself and others would work in his favor. But they did not work in his favor and he was lucky to survive, spent two years in jail and quite possibly (if my reasoning in yesterday’s devotional was correct) split Christendom down the middle! Now I still hold Paul in high regard as a mighty apostle of God, but this was not his smartest moment. It was a mistake and it was a huge mistake! Scripture is honest enough to record it - and we can still learn from it. Here are some lessons I see in this: God does not answers prayers, even from great saints, when they are being foolish and stubborn. Don’t pray to change human nature en masse. The answer to Paul’s prayer would have required the entire Jewish leadership and Torah-observant Jewish Christians to do a 180 degree cultural about face – and that was a very tall order! Most of the time wisdom is more important than courage and discretion is often the better part of valor. Paul’s reply For I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus was courageous but foolhardy. No one is infallible. Even if you are right 99.5% of the time as Paul may have been there is that 0.5% when you can be plain wrong and you need to be aware of that. Your “one mistake” can have huge consequences especially if you are a leader. It is more important to listen to the Holy Spirit that to our own desires, or our own logic or to the imperatives of even our most strategic plans. It is very common in missionary work to have a “Grand Plan” that is impractical but which we are “in love with” and desperately try to make work, and as we do so the mess just keeps getting worse and worse. Why did Paul press on? Perhaps there a few understandable reasons: Paul had accepted a large amount of money from people all over Asia Minor and would have lost a huge amount of “face” and credibility if he had not delivered it. Paul possibly had a huge personal need for acceptance by the Jewish Christians and the Jewish people whom he loved so much (see Rom 9:1-33, Rom 10:1-21, Rom 11:1-36). Paul had once been at the top of Jewish society and could not understand the rejection of him that was now complete. Paul had a type A “driven” personality and was highly committed to achieving his objectives and completing his projects. Failure was not an option. God is merciful and He did not strike Paul dead and in fact God saved him from the worst of the Jewish conspirators. God understood Paul’s mistake and forgave him – yet He did send many warnings beforehand. Prayer while it is a mighty force, is no substitute for listening to God and obeying Him in all wisdom and humility - even if it means abandoning or greatly altering a “pet project”. Failure in the pet project is better than stubborn disobedience. I, and many others in Christian service, can testify to the fact that we have foolishly gone ahead when God was saying “Whoa”! On such occasions the Grand Idea has become our “god” rather than the Lord. I take some comfort that even Paul made such a calamitous mistake. It is the mistake of one who strives and struggles and wrestles things to completion without giving in. Sometimes we should wake up, smell the coffee and acknowledge reality. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 70: 03.41. ROMANS 16:1-16 GREETINGS ======================================================================== Rom 16:1-16, Rom 16:21-23 HCSB I commend to you our sister Phoebe, who is a servant of the church in Cenchreae. So you should welcome her in the Lord in a manner worthy of the saints, and assist her in whatever matter she may require your help. For indeed she has been a benefactor of many--and of me also. Give my greetings to Prisca and Aquila, my co-workers in Christ Jesus, who risked their own necks for my life. Not only do I thank them, but so do all the Gentile churches. Greet also the church that meets in their home. Greet my dear friend Epaenetus, who is the first convert to Christ from Asia. Greet Mary, who has worked very hard for you. Greet Andronicus and Junia, my fellow countrymen and fellow prisoners. They are outstanding among the apostles, and they were also in Christ before me. Greet Ampliatus, my dear friend in the Lord. Greet Urbanus, our co-worker in Christ, and my dear friend Stachys. Greet Apelles, who is approved in Christ. Greet those who belong to the household of Aristobulus. Greet Herodion, my fellow countryman. Greet those who belong to the household of Narcissus who are in the Lord. Greet Tryphaena and Tryphosa, who have worked hard in the Lord. Greet my dear friend Persis, who has worked very hard in the Lord. Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord; also his mother--and mine. Greet Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas, and the brothers who are with them. Greet Philologus and Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas, and all the saints who are with them. Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ send you greetings....Timothy, my co-worker, and Lucius, Jason, and Sosipater, my fellow countrymen, greet you. I Tertius, who penned this epistle in the Lord, greet you. Gaius, who is host to me and to the whole church, greets you. Erastus, the city treasurer, and our brother Quartus greet you. These greetings may have been added later after the “Amen” that ends Rom 15:1-33 and include one from the amanuensis (scribe) Tertius (Rom 16:22). They seem to be written in a time when security of communication was not a concern. Such a list of names could have caused real trouble during the systematic persecutions of Nero or Domitian. The apostle John, who may have been the apostle to the underground church, is much more circumspect about what he put in writing (see 2Jn 1:1-13 & 3Jn 1:1-14). This list of greetings is full of information about life in the early church. We find that: This is almost a roll-call of Paul’s ministry associates among the Gentiles and includes apostles, co-workers and the first convert from Asia (Epaenetus) The term “apostle” is applied outside the Twelve and Paul and now includes itinerant missionary workers such as Andronicus and Junia. The large number of greetings, and the mention of people like Priscilla and Aquila who seem to be always on the move seems to indicate that Gentile Christianity was a huge, highly mobile network of believers spread right across the Roman world even at this early date. There seem to be three groups of greetings: a) People from Asia who traveled with the epistle to Rome such as Phoebe which the Romans were to greet (Rom 16:1-2 and possibly Rom 16:3-7) b) Personal friends of Paul who were in Rome, who he was passing his personal greetings to (Rom 16:8-15) and c) People living in Asia who were passing their greetings to the church in Rome such as Tertius and Gaius (Rom 16:21-23). It is sometimes difficult to figure out just who is in which group! The church met in homes (Rom 16:5 and possibly Rom 16:10-11) Women were in prominent roles, Phoebe was literally a “deacon” (Rom 16:1), Priscilla is mentioned before Aquila (Rom 16:3) the apostle Junia – is the feminine version of the name) so we may have a female apostle. Mary, Tryphen and Tryphosa are seen as “laborers” in the Lord. Hard work and sacrificial service is highly commended (Rom 16:22, Rom 16:4, Rom 16:6-7, Rom 16:12) The commended work is done “in Christ Jesus” and “in the Lord” indicating that it was done in obedience to Christ’s commands. (Rom 16:3, Rom 16:11-12) The phrase “in Christ” and “in the Lord” is also used to indicate people who were believers. Those “in the Lord” were part of the church, called out from the world and from the surrounding culture and religions to a new and exciting way of being. (Rom 16:7-8, Rom 16:10-11) The church is asked to support Phoebe. Helping traveling Christian workers who were “worthy” seems to have been a practice of the early church. 3Jn 1:5-8 HCSB Dear friend, you are showing your faith by whatever you do for the brothers, and this you are doing for strangers; they have testified to your love before the church. You will do well to send them on their journey in a manner worthy of God, since they set out for the sake of the name, accepting nothing from pagans. Therefore, we ought to support such men, so that we can be co-workers with the truth. The vast majority have Gentile names even though some are Paul’s relatives or from a Jewish background. They may have been Jews from the Diaspora. Paul’s mother may still have been alive! (Rom 16:13) This gives an upper limit on Paul’s age at this time. He is probably not much over 50. Paul places a high value on relationship publicly noting who were his close friends and relatives. The greetings seem to have been written from the area of Ephesus, as Timothy and local Ephesian officials such as Erastus and Gaius give greetings to the Roman church (Rom 16:21-23) From this we can deduce that Romans was written (or finally finished) in the vicinity of Ephesus just prior to Paul’s trip to Jerusalem and around the time of Acts 20:1-38 and his farewell to the Ephesian elders at Miletus. Since Paul did not actually go to Ephesus on this particular journey (Acts 20:16-17) we can conclude the epistle was concluded by the scribe Tertius at the sea port of Miletus and sent to the Roman church from there via the hand of Phoebe and her companions. The use of the scribe Tertius indicates that Paul’s eye problem may have been acute (Gal 4:15) as Paul could have easily written the letter himself. Some earlier epistles written Paul directly had very large handwriting (Gal 6:16), by now he may have been unable to see close up at all, though he does appear to have some long distance vision and to be able to travel safely. Some put his eye problems down to his conversion experience that left him blind for three days (Acts 9:8-18) Some seem to have suffered considerably for the gospel even at this stage with Andronicus and Junia having been imprisoned and Priscilla and Aquila having “risked their necks” for the church. Adronicus and Junia were “outstanding among the apostles”. This comment implies a much larger apostolic group that they could stand out from. This group is obviously separate from the Twelve. So “the apostles” being referred to here are probably a large group of apostles who worked alongside Paul in the ministry to the Gentiles. This considerably expands our idea of what an “apostle” was. This group was representative of the Gentile movement “all the Gentile church” (Rom 16:4) “all the churches of Christ” (Rom 16:16). Thus Romans may have been the theological manifesto for the Gentile church movement in early Christianity explaining salvation apart from the Law, salvation by faith alone, and life guided by the Spirit rather than the Torah (Rom 1:1-32, Rom 2:1-29, Rom 3:1-31, Rom 4:1-25, Rom 5:1-21, Rom 6:1-23, Rom 7:1-25, Rom 8:1-39) and how Gentile Christians should relate to both unsaved Jews (Rom 9:1-33, Rom 10:1-21, Rom 11:1-36) and the customs of Jewish Christians (Rom 14:1-23). Greetings were to be with a “holy kiss” - the kiss on both cheeks common in the Middle East today. Church was not remote, cold or sedate but full of love and fellowship. Thus we find a highly mobile, active, risk-taking, hard-working group of believers who really loved each other, cared for each other in practical ways, obeyed Christ and knew each other by name and were in and out of each other’s homes and lives. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 71: 03.42. ROMANS 16:17-27 FINAL NOTES ======================================================================== Rom 16:17-20, Rom 16:24-27 HCSB Now I implore you, brothers, watch out for those who cause dissensions and pitfalls contrary to the doctrine you have learned. Avoid them; for such people do not serve our Lord Christ but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattering words they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting. The report of your obedience has reached everyone. Therefore I rejoice over you. But I want you to be wise about what is good, yet innocent about what is evil. The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you. ... [The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.] Now to Him who has power to strengthen you according to my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the sacred secret kept silent for long ages, but now revealed and made known through the prophetic Scriptures, according to the command of the eternal God, to advance the obedience of faith among all nations-- to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ--to Him be the glory forever! Amen. In these final verses Paul seems to be equipping the Roman church to deal with evil by: a) Warning them against divisive people (Rom 16:17) b) Helping them to discern the nature and tactics of divisive people (Rom 16:18) c) Encouraging the development of spiritual and moral discernment. (Rom 16:19) d) Reminding them that God is on their side and will help them (Rom 16:20, Rom 16:25) e) Calling them to a deeper knowledge of the gospel (Rom 16:25-26) f) Commending all obedience. (Rom 16:19, Rom 16:26) Evil is the very last thing that Paul deals with in his great theological epistle. In fact it is almost an afterthought, an addendum! There is no paranoia here. Paul is so confident in Christ and in His salvation that only a few verses are needed on this issue. Firstly Paul deals with divisive people and tells the Romans to simply avoid them. The Greek means “to turn away from, to shun”. 2Jn 1:1-13 puts it quite plainly: 2Jn 1:9-11 MKJV Everyone transgressing and not abiding in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ, he has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house, nor speak a greeting to him. For he who speaks a greeting to him is partaker of his evil deeds. In other words do not greet the Jehovah’s Witnesses when they come to your door or imply in any way that they are believers with whom you can have real fellowship! There is a fairly clear line of demarcation between true Christians and impostors and we must have nothing to do with those who peddle another gospel. Paul tells us that the impostors: do not serve our Lord Christ but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattering words they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting. Some ministries clearly engage in flattery as a means of fund-raising and for the ensnarement of followers. They are living for themselves and not for Jesus Christ! When you see supposed “Christian leaders” living a lifestyle that indulges all the human appetites you need to be very careful. You are probably dealing with a fake. All true Christian ministries will have the “ring of truth and sincerity” about them and speak rather plainly. Paul says that the Romans should develop spiritual discernment and knowledge so that they can “be wise in what is good and innocent in what is evil”. In other words it is OK to know all about the Bible and nothing about pornography! There is a certain proper naivety among the saints. I do not watch programs like “Sex And The City” or horror movies or shows that have gross violence and cruelty and so on and so forth. The fact that I do not know how to lie in wait and strangle someone with by bare hands does not bother me! I have often been saved from sexual temptation by my naivety as I have not “got” what the person was referring to until days afterward - if ever at all! I think it is right to fill our minds with righteousness and to leave them empty of lewdness and other forms of garbage. Being wise in what is good is also a long process as God has made so much that is good and there is a great deal to learn! There is plenty to do in God’s work without having to learn what is evil as well. We can learn the Truth and also good methods of ministry and wise ways of dealing with people and situations. Paul then reminds them that God wins his victories through the Church. The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you. Satan is crushed “under your feet” - that is under the feet of those who received and believed what Paul had written. Satan is of course crushed by Christ, but His Church has a part in it. Here is an analogy from the book of Joshua: Jos 10:24-26 HCSB When they had brought the kings to him, Joshua summoned all the men of Israel and said to the military commanders who had accompanied him, "Come here and put your feet on the necks of these kings." So the commanders came forward and put their feet on their necks. Joshua said to them, "Do not be afraid or discouraged. Be strong and courageous, for the LORD will do this to all the enemies you fight." After this, Joshua struck them down and executed them. He hung their bodies on five trees and they were there until evening. Christ is analogous to Joshua and the church leaders to the commanders under Joshua. Joshua places the enemy kings (powers and principalities) under the dominion of church leaders who will defeat them and who are not to be afraid or discouraged. Paul then launches into a final doxology that reminds the Romans that God has the power to greatly strengthen them for the purpose of obeying the gospel: Now to Him who has power to strengthen you according to my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the sacred secret kept silent for long ages, but now revealed and made known through the prophetic Scriptures, according to the command of the eternal God, to advance the obedience of faith among all nations-- to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ--to Him be the glory forever! Amen. “To Him be the glory forever!” - this is Paul’s goal. To have an obedient and Spirit-filled Gentile church that understands the “sacred secret” of the gospel. While the sacred secret was hidden it was “always there” in the prophetic Scriptures that spoke of Christ and of the salvation of the Gentiles. Because of these prophecies the Gentile Christians could always be assured that their salvation was always in the plan of God. Contact Details John Edmiston can be contacted by email at johned@aibi.ph or via his website at www.aibi.ph ======================================================================== CHAPTER 72: 04.00.1. CHRISTIAN STARTER KIT ======================================================================== Christian Starter Kit Twelve basic studies for beginning Christians By John Edmiston © Copyright , AIBI-International 2006, This ebook may be freely used for non-profit Christian ministry but may not be sold in any way. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 73: 04.01. HOW TO BECOME A CHRISTIAN ======================================================================== Mat 7:7 NKJV)"Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you." This is the basic secret of becoming a Christian - you have to want to follow Jesus. I can’t make you follow Jesus, no-one can. It’s between you and God. In your seeking there are a few facts that make the journey a whole lot easier and quicker. We call this set of facts "the good news of Jesus Christ" or "the gospel" for short. This article is about the gospel and attempts to give you a few facts to help you believe. Fact 1. Everyone, absolutely everyone has fallen short of God’s glorious holy standards for their lives. You might not have murdered but you probably have lied. You may not have slept with someone else’s wife or husband - but you probably have hated someone or been unjust or cruel. Sin is not just sexual sin or murder, it includes being greedy, jealous, and envious. It includes our thought life too! All that we think in our imaginations is known to God. That is why Paul the apostle can write: (Rom 3:23 NKJV) "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God". All includes me - and it also includes you. Fact Two: God is holy and just therefore He punishes sin. The Bible says: (Rom 6:23 NKJV) "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Sin carries the death penalty. There are two kinds of death referred to in the Bible - physical death and eternal spiritual death. Eternal spiritual death means going into torment in Hell forever and ever, it means separation from God, from goodness, from truth, from sanity, from happiness and light. It is eternal torment and disintegration. When we refuse to follow God and obey Him we are rebelling against our Creator and the Source of Life. If we rebel against the Creator it is us who lose. It is God who sustains us, not the other way around! When we tell the Source of Life to stay away from our life and not to interfere we are actually saying "don’t supply me with life". To sin, to disobey God, is to attack ourselves in the long run. It’s like speeding - fun until you have to stand before the Judge. Unfortunately the sentence for a life of sin is not a speeding ticket - it is eternal death. Fact Three: Jesus took our punishment for sin when He died upon the Cross. God prepared a way for sin could be dealt with - through special sacrifices. In the Jewish sacrificial system this was a perfect animal without spot or blemish. Jesus was sinless and was the perfect sacrifice for all the sins of all people for all time. The Bible tells us that God saw that everyone had sinned and was in danger of Hell. He decided to rescue them by sending Jesus to die instead of them. Jesus died on the cross went down into the world of the dead, took our punishment fully and was raised from the dead three days later. Our sins were "nailed to the cross" and dealt with when Jesus died. (Rom 5:8 NKJV) But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Anyone who believes in Him can now have their sins forgiven because Jesus’ sacrifice has provided forgiveness for everyone who wants it. Some people are too proud to want God’s forgiveness. They think they can get to Heaven without the help of Jesus. But as we saw before they can’t- because they, like you and I, are guilty before God. And the thing about guilt is that it takes only one crime to make you guilty and deserving of punishment. A thief cannot say "but I did not kill" and a murderer cannot say "I did not steal" - their one crime makes them guilty. So it only takes one sin to make us guilty before God and no-one can say they are good enough for heaven. We all need to accept what Jesus did for us and say thank you to God for it if we are to become true Christians. Fact Four: The way to become a Christian is by living by two key truths. These key truths are that Jesus Christ is Lord and that He rose from the dead. The first says that He is boss of your life, of your family, and even of the government. Jesus Christ is the "ultimate authority;" He must be obeyed. So when you read the Bible and see a commandment of Jesus you must do it. Once you become a Christian you are like a soldier under the command of Jesus Christ. However His commands are not petty or small-minded. His commands are life-giving, true and the way to salvation and a fulfilling life. Jesus says "My yoke is easy and my burden is light." Being a Christian is not meant to be an impossible struggle but a joyful celebration of life. The second thing we have to live by is that Jesus Christ rose from the dead. This means that we accept that He lived (how else did He die?), that He died (how else did he rise from the dead?), and that God raised Him from the dead on the third day. This means that we too will be raised from the dead to have a life that both lasts for eternity and shares the joy of heaven. The Bible states why we have to believe these things as follows: (Rom 10:9-13 NKJV) that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says, "Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame." For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. For "whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved." A Prayer For Those Who Would Like To Become Christians If you would like to become a Christian then please pray the following prayer: Dear God, I would like to become a Christian. I know that I have not lived as you want me to. I know I need you to forgive me for all the sins I have done. I ask that you will please forgive me because of what Jesus did on the cross. I believe He died on that cross to take my sins and that You raised Him from the dead. I want to have eternal life from God so that I can follow Jesus and obey Him forever as my Lord. Please make me a Christian now. Amen. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 74: 04.02. HOW TO BE SURE THAT YOU REALLY ARE A CHRISTIAN ======================================================================== (Praise of the New Knighthood NKJV) But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: (Rom 10:9-13 NKJV) that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says, "Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame." For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. For "whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved." It is not uncommon for people who have just become Christians to doubt that they really are Christians. The emotions that felt so good on day one wear off and normal life seems to return. But something different has happened and your friends will notice it - often before you do. The two bible verses above give us reassurance when we start doubting that we really are Christians. The first bible verse tells us that everyone who receives Jesus Christ into their life is given the right to become a child of God. The chief characteristic of children of God is faith they "believe in His name". This means that they trust Jesus and know that He is the way to God. Therefore if you have prayed and received Jesus Christ into your life then God has given you the right to become a child of God. The second bible verse above tells us the two things that we need to believe if we are to truly be Christians. The first of these is that we must believe in our heart that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead. In order to believe this we need to believe that Jesus Christ actually lived, died on a cross and then was raised from the dead by God. This is critical to our proper understanding of Christianity. If Jesus did not really exist then our sins are not paid for by anyone and we are still in danger from God’s wrath. If Jesus lived but was just a good man and a teacher but did not die on the cross then we have the same problem plus another one. His teachings are so high that unless our sins are forgiven and we have confidence before God then it would be absolutely impossible to live the Christian life. If Jesus really did die on the cross but did not rise from the dead then we would have no way of knowing if He had truly conquered death. But when we believe the well attested historical fact that Jesus did rise from the dead then we affirm all the central truths of the Christian faith. The second thing we have to believe and live by is that Jesus Christ is Lord. This is to say that Jesus is the Supreme Commander of the universe and is above every individual, government or human structure. This means that we must obey His orders, called commandments. The sign that we believe that Jesus Christ is Lord is if we are prepared to speak it out of our mouths before other people. This is the minimum amount of Christian obedience. Do you believe in your heart that Jesus Christ has been raised from the dead? Are you prepared to confess with your mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord? If so, the bible promises you in the book of Romans that you will be saved and that this applies to everyone who does these things. I suggest you go over these verses until you are sure in your heart that you have become a Christian. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 75: 04.03. HOW TO READ THE BIBLE ======================================================================== One of the first questions we ask is "how can I understand the bible"? The bible is a book that comes alive to Christians - but lacks impact to those who don’t believe. The best place to start is with the gospels, that is the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. These books document the life of Jesus and help us to believe. They are at the beginning of the section called the New Testament. This is about three quarters of the way into your bible. Your bible should have a table of contents at the front so you can look up the various books of the bible. There are many translations of the bible available in English. In other languages there are often two or three translation available. If you look up the United Bible Societies home page on the Internet, they have many language translations available there. Try and get a bible that speaks to your heart in a language that you can understand and which is accurate to the original text. The bible was originally written in the Hebrew and Greek languages and has had to be translated to all the languages of the world since. However it has always been very carefully translated and you can trust all the major bible translations. When you read the bible take a pen and note book with you and write down the things you discover and the questions you have. Try and read about a chapter at a time and think it over carefully. Here are a few questions that will help you dig into the bible. What is this passage saying about God? What is this passage saying about Jesus? What is this passage saying about the Holy Spirit? Is there a command to obey? Is there a principal to learn? Is this saying something to my life right now? Is there a prayer I can pray? How can I apply it in my everyday life? Write the answers to these questions in your note book and you will soon build up a treasure house of scripture knowledge. It is important to pray as you read the bible. It doesn’t have to be a long prayer, just something like "Dear God show me what this means and help me to obey". It is good to read the bible in a quiet place relatively free from distraction. I read the bible in an armchair late at night when everyone else is asleep. Other people get up very early in the morning to read their bible and others find a quiet place at lunch time. There is no magic way to read the bible and it is not a magic book. You read it just like any other, using your mind and thinking hard and also allowing it to speak to your heart. As you keep reading you will find some things are said over and over again in the bible. These are the things that God wants us to pay most attention to. Commands like love one another, forgive those who have hurt you and do not judge people are in this category. These are the things you should major on. Do not get distracted into side issues or useless arguments. Read the bible to grow in Jesus Christ and to live better not to win arguments. (2Ti 2:14 NIV) Keep reminding them of these things. Warn them before God against quarreling about words; it is of no value, and only ruins those who listen. There are some books to help you read to bible. The most common helps are concordances, bible dictionaries and commentaries. Any good Christian book store will have these. There are also some very good computer programs such as Quick Verse, Logos and the On Line Bible to help you study scripture. Why not go now and start reading about the birth of Jesus in Mat 1:1-25. For a bible reading plan see the next chapter.... ======================================================================== CHAPTER 76: 04.04. DAILY BIBLE READING PROGRAM ======================================================================== The Bible is the main source of our knowledge about God. It is His inspired and authoritative Word that has the power to build faith, hope and truth into our lives. The following Daily Bible Reading Program will help you to work through the Bible systematically so that the Word of God dwells richly in your life and produces joy in your heart. About The Bible The Bible was written over 1500 years between about 1400 BC and 95AD. The Old Testament is God’s dealings with Israel and consists of 39 books written and collected together over 1000 years from 1400BC to 400BC. Then there was a big gap of 400 years until Jesus was born. The New Testament consists of 27 books written between about 50AD and 95AD and is the record of the life and gospel of Jesus Christ. The Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew and Aramaic while the New Testament was written in Greek. Thus the Bible you read is a translation of these original ancient manuscripts which were very carefully preserved and translated. The Index /Table Of Contents Because the Bible was written by many people over a long period of time, the books of the Bible are not arranged alphabetically but topically, chronologically and by the type of writing. It is a bit confusing at first. So most Bibles have an Index or Table of Contents in the front. This will give you the page numbers of the various books of the Bible. So if your pastor says to look up the book of Romans, you go to the Index and find it there, and then go to the page it indicates. The Structure Of The Bible: Testaments, Books, Chapters and Verses. When you open your Bible and look at it you will notice it is not structured like most other books, it is written more like a legal document in which everything is numbered. It is important to understand this structure. The Bible is divided into two Testaments, (a Testament is like a will or contract), the Old Testament which mainly details God’s dealings with the nation of Israel and the New Testament which contains material about Jesus and the Church. Each Testament contains many separate "books" which were originally bible scrolls written by various prophets and apostles. The Old Testament contains 39 books and the New Testament contains 27 books. Each book is divided into chapters - which generally are about one or two pages long. Each chapter is then divided into "verses" which are short sections of Scripture, generally about a sentence or a paragraph in length. The verse numbers were put in there to help people find their place in the Bible. Eventually people came up with a shorthand notation to refer to bible verses that describes the book, chapter and verse. The shorthand consists of the name of the book, followed by a space, then the number of the chapter, a colon, and then the number of the verse like this: John 3:16 or Rom 8:1 SoJohn 3:16 indicates the book of John, chapter 3, and verse 16 and Rom 8:1 indicates the book of Romans, chapter 8, and verse 1 So when someone says something like "please find Jas 3:16" this is what you do: 1. Go to the index and find the book of James (it is in the New Testament) 2. Go to the page number for the book of James indicated in the index. 3. Then turn the pages until you get to chapter 3 4. Then look down until you find verse 16 It is good to practice this for ten minutes or so until you get really used to it. A Bible Reading Method You Can Use The following is the bible reading method developed by the Scripture Union movement that promotes daily Bible reading in over 120 countries around the world. It is very simple: Pray, Read, Think, Pray Pray: Ask God to open up His Word to you. "Lord open my eyes that I may see wonders from your Word". Read: Read a short passage of Scripture about ten to fifteen verses or a chapter. Start with the New Testament first and read it in order from Matthew to Revelation. Think: Think about what you have just read and ask some of the following questions: What does the passage say about God? What does it say about the Father, about the Son and about the Holy Spirit? What does the passage say about life? Does it teach some important principles? Is there a command to obey, a warning to heed, some wise advice for living? What does the passage say about your daily situation? Is there something you should be doing? Does it shed light on your professional life, family life or church participation? Has Jesus spoken to you in a special way through the Bible today? If so what did He say to you? Pray: Write out a prayer to God based on what you have learned from your Bible reading. Something like "Lord help me to love my neighbor as myself." or whatever lesson you have learned that day. Where To Start Where should you start when reading the Scriptures? With the material about Jesus. That is the New Testament and especially the gospels. Here is my suggested order for reading the whole Bible. It will take about three years to finish if you read one chapter per day and one year to finish if you read 3 or 4 chapters a day. Read the New Testament in order, starting with Matthew and going book by book until you reach the last chapter of Revelation. This will give you a good idea about Jesus, the Church and Christian living. Then go back to the beginning of the Bible and read Genesis, Exodus and Deuteronomy which tells you how things began and God’s order for Creation, mankind and society. The read the Psalms in order from 1 to 50 then take a break (there are 150 of them). Read Isaiah 40-66, Daniel, Amos, Hosea, Jonah, Haggai, Zechariah, Lamentations and Malachi which should help you grasp the prophets. Then read Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Job, and Song of Solomon - known as the Wisdom Literature. Joshua , Judges, Ruth, 1 & 2 Samuel, 1& 2 Kings, 1& 2 Chronicles - this will give you a good grasp of the history of Israel. Then go back and read the New Testament from start to finish all over again. Then go back and read another 50 Psalms (51-100) Then tackle the Old Testament laws in Leviticus and Numbers. More prophets - Ezekiel, Isaiah 1-39, Jeremiah these are the "major prophets" Finish with some less known books Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Joel, Obadiah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, & Zephaniah Then finish the last 50 Psalms (101-150) ======================================================================== CHAPTER 77: 04.05. WHAT IS THE BEST BIBLE TO USE? ======================================================================== Many people are confused by the large number of different bible translations available. This has come about because the Bible was written in three original languages Hebrew (most of the Old Testament) Aramaic (some of the OT) and Greek trade language of the 1st century known as koine Greek (the New Testament). There are basically four types of bibles depending on how they choose to do the translation process: Literal translations: These translate the bible with word by word and are very accurate. While they are very faithful to the original text they can be somewhat clumsy when put into English. Literal translations include the King James version, The New King James Version, the Revised Standard Version, the New Revised Standard Version, and the New American Standard Bible. My favorites here are the New American Standard Bible and the New King James version. Dynamic translations: Are translated phrase by phrase or concept by concept. They are still quite accurate but not as literally accurate as those above. They are much easier to read and understand. They include the Good News Bible, the New International Version, The Contemporary English Version and many others. The NIV is the best dynamic translation. For people using English as a second language the Contemporary English version is excellent. Paraphrases: Very loose translations of the bible they rearrange the material within each paragraph so it flows smoothly and put the bible into very contemporary concepts. They should not be used for in-depth bible study but are very easy for daily bible reading. Many find them helpful but personally I do not use them. They include the Message, the Living Bible, the New Living Bible, and many others. Wrong or Misleading Translations: These include the New World Translation of the Jehovah’s Witnesses and other versions produced by cults. It also includes the Amplified Bible which includes words in brackets that can seriously mislead some readers. From all the above here are my recommendations: Translations: You should use the most accurate version available in your heart language. It should also be sufficiently modern for you to read it easily. The King James or Authorized Version is a very accurate Bible but was written four centuries ago in a different form of English known as Elizabethan English. Many of the words it uses are now obsolete or have changed meaning for instance the word "prevent" means "to go before" in the King James Version and the word "handsome" means sly and tricky - not attractive. So because it can confuse people I do not generally recommend the King James Version. The New King James Version is an equally accurate translation with more modern English and is the main one I use. Other good translations include: NASB (New American Standard Bible), NRSV (New Revised Standard Version), and the NIV (New International Version). Some easy to read but not so accurate translations include The Living Bible (LB) , The New Living Bible (NLB), The Message, The Good News Bible(GNB) and the Contemporary English Version (CEV). Avoid some poor translations such as the New World Translation by the Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Amplified Bible - both contain serious errors. I mainly use the New King James Version and the New American Standard Bible as they are very accurate translations. Study Bibles: A study bible is a bible translation plus footnotes that explain the text and help the reader to grasp its message. They are very useful and every Christian should own one. The NIV Study Bible is the bible I give to people when they are converted. The NIV translation is easy to read, quite accurate and the notes and helps in the NIV Study Bible are excellent. The Open Bible with a New King James Version translation would also be a very good choice. If you want just one Bible version the ones I recommend are The Open Bible, the Thompson Chain Reference Bible and the NIV Study Bible. The Open Bible and the Thompson Chain Reference have the advantage of having a variety of translations available in their formats. Finding The Time Fifteen minutes is about all you need to read a chapter of the Bible, think, take a few notes, then pray. I do my daily bible reading first thing in the morning as I wake up with my first cup of coffee for the day. Other people have their ’quiet time" on the train on the way to work or at lunch on a bench in the park. For many years I had my bible reading time at night just before I went to bed. Any time that you can carve out as a habit on every day of the week is the best time. Find a quiet place where you can pray and read and think in private and follow the Scripture Union method above. We "find time" for those things that are important to us and surely meeting God in His Word should be the most important thing in our lives. You do not have to use special words or kneel down or adopt a special bodily posture, it is the attitude of your heart that counts. I like praying as I walk. Books and Resources That Can Help You Understand The Bible How To Read The Bible For All Its Worth by Gordon Stuart and Douglas Fee is a truly excellent book that will help you understand how the Bible should be read. IVP press I think. Available in most good Christian bookstores. Other good books about the Bible include: Evidence That Demands A Verdict by Josh McDowell, The New Testament Documents Are They Reliable? by F.F. Bruce and The Canon of Scripture by F.F Bruce. Commentaries - these analyze passages of the bible in-depth. The Tyndale commentary series is good enough for most people while pastors and bible students might want to use the Word commentaries or the New International commentaries on the OT and NT. Some good one volume commentaries that treat the whole Bible in one volume are available - just ask your Christian bookstore. An excellent older devotional commentary is Matthew Henry’s commentary. Maps and Archaeology/Bible Lands - Knowing a bit about the life and times, history and culture of people in Bible lands can be fascinating and very helpful. The New Bible Dictionary is a modern up to date compilation that helps you find all you need to know about the life and culture. Good material is also available on the Internet and on CD-ROM. Concordances/Bible Programs - a concordance is like an extensive index to the Bible that lists the words in the Bible and where they can be found. They are very helpful in bible study so that you can easily find all the verses on "money" or some other topic and find out all the Bible has to say about it. Bible programs allow you to do this very quickly on a computer and have many other helps as well. Good concordances include Strong’s, Young’s and Crudens while good bible search programs include Quickverse, and Logos. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 78: 04.06. HOW TO PRAY ======================================================================== The Lord’s Prayer (Mat 6:5-18 NKJV) "And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. "But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. "And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words. "Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him. "In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. "For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. "But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. "Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance. For they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. "But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, "so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. Some basic truths about prayer.... The passage above tells us a few very basic truths about prayer. They are that we should pray: 1)Believing that God hears what we pray even in secret. 2)We are not to pray for public show but so as to be heard by God. 3) That we are to pray for God’s honour and glory and Christian work (His Kingdom). For things to be done right on earth as they are in heaven, for our basic needs, for forgiveness and deliverance from sin. This is a balanced prayer diet that proceeds from the most important items to the less important and which starts us praying in a positive and worshipful way. 4) The Lord’s prayer can be used as a "backbone” to hang other prayers off. When you pray "Thy kingdom come...” it can trigger you praying for something happening in your church, or on the mission field or the salvation of a friend. And so on with each of the sections of the Lord’s prayer triggering appropriate reflections and requests. Where, When and How To Pray (Luk 5:16 NKJV) So He Himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed. (Heb 5:7 NKJV) who (Jesus), in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear, When Jesus prayed it was often: a) alone b) in a quiet place c) with deep emotion and intimate language to God who He called "Abba Father" (literally "Daddy") d) with force and persistence e) with holiness and godly fear. This is a good pattern for you to follow. Find a quiet place, take your Bible and pour out your heart to God as fully as you can in a godly and reverent way. The words are not that important. God understands you. Just speak in a way that is respectful and truthful and yet bold and which really asks big things of God. He is our Father and He wants children that are willing to speak what is in their heart to Him. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 79: 04.07. WHAT IS GOD LIKE? ======================================================================== How The Bible Describes God (Psa 90:1-2 NKJV) LORD, You have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, Or ever You had formed the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God. (Exo 34:6-7 NKJV) And the LORD passed before him and proclaimed, "The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, "keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation." (Isa 6:1-4 NKJV) In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one cried to another and said: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory!" And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke. These are just some of the descriptions of God in the Bible. They tell us that God is everlasting and unchanging, that He is merciful, kind and gracious, that He is just and faithful, that He is holy and without sin. He is abounding in goodness and truth. He is a God we can trust utterly. God Is Like Jesus Above all God is like Jesus. Jesus is the "perfect image" of God. Jesus came to show us exactly what God is like. (John 14:9-10 NKJV)He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ’Show us the Father’? "Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? And (Heb 1:1-3 NKJV) God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son,... who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high." And... (John 1:18 NKJV) No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him. Jesus is kind because God is kind. Jesus healed people because God likes to heal people. Jesus liked the poor because God likes the poor. Jesus taught the truth because God is Truth. Jesus was sinless because God id sinless and Jesus taught with authority because God is God. Jesus tells us what God is like but as an "image" as a small scale representation that we can understand. Jesus, though He was God, did not hurl galaxies around while He was on earth. He became like God at a human level. Jesus is our clearest signpost to what God is like. Jesus was uncompromising yet merciful, kind yet full of truth, wise yet humble. He always acted in love because God always acts in love and freedom .He is utterly free and wishes us to be free also. Jesus used His great power to heal and help others. God also wants to use His great power to heal and help you. If you have prayed to receive Jesus Christ into your life and if you have submitted your life to Him the God’s power is in you. Jesus Christ and all His power, resources and love has come to dwell in you. You have a huge power source right in the middle of your life. Call out to God and ask Him now to help you, to heal you and to show you how much power and love He has put inside you so you can continue to walk with Him. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 80: 04.08. WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO ME? ======================================================================== From Darkness To Light (Eph 2:1-10 NKJV) And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. The Big Change There has been a huge change in your life. You have moved from being "dead in trespasses and sins" to being "alive together with Christ". God’s life, which is "eternal life" has been put into your heart. God has come to live in you and be at home in your life. You have started to "come alive" and "wake up" to all sorts on new things. Things that were nonsense before now start to make some sense and there is a deep desire for God and for holiness in your heart. You want to belong to Jesus and to obey Him. You want to be with other believers and read the Bible and go to church. You want to do good things and you want to get rid of the bad things in your life. A new life principle is operating within you. Wheras before the life principle of sin and death led you now the life principle of righteousness and peace leads you. You are a different person. Your life is so different and so new that you can say "I have been born again" (John 3:1-18). To fully understand this change you must realise that before you became a Christian you were a controlled person. You were controlled by "the prince of the power of the air" - the Devil. He might not have been around pestering you all the time but anytime he wanted he could "press your buttons’ and you would do what he commanded. You were being spiritually manipulated by an evil power. That is why even "good people" who are not Christians end up doing things they are ashamed of and regret. Now Satan’s ability to press your buttons are gone. They are no longer available to him. However you still have a storehouse of bad habits that you have made your own, a whole heap of wrong desires, angry thoughts and boastful intentions that are dear to your heart and for many people a whole bird’s nest of confusion and anxiety that still has to be dealt with. God will clear these things up for you if you ask Him. He is your Saviour - not you yourself. He will rescue you from both the penalty and power of sin and very graciously from some of its consequences as well. Why does He rescue you - is it that he likes being a sort of life-saver" Or is there more to it than that? God certainly delights in saving people but He does so for a purpose - that they may live holy and responsible lives and fulfill the plans and purposes that He has created for us. Note Eph 2:10 above "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." By being God’s workmanship it means He deliberately made you, and deliberately made you a certain way. By "good works which He prepared beforehand…" means that God has a plan for your life, a plan full of good works for you to do. These good works will flow from the kind of person that He has made you to be. Lastly there is the phrase "for us to do..." that means you and I have to be active "doing’ Christians putting our new lives into practice each day. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 81: 04.09. MEETING GOD'S PEOPLE ======================================================================== The First Church (when the apostles lived) (Acts 4:32-35 NKJV) Now the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul; neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common. And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all. Nor was there anyone among them who lacked; for all who were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold, and laid them at the apostles’ feet; and they distributed to each as anyone had need. A New People - A People of God Being a Christian means being part of a "new people" (Eph 2:15, 2Co 5:17) we are introduced to the "household of God" (Eph 2:19) and have brothers and sisters in the faith. This means that something wonderful and supernatural can happen when believers gather together. The Holy Spirit dwell in the midst of God’s people making it a ‘temple of the Holy Spirit". (1Co 3:16-17 NKJV) "Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are." These verses indicate that there are very severe consequences for people who disrupt or harm God’s people - the church. God uses different Christians in different ways. Some are powerful preachers, others can help the poor, yet others see are very good at praying while another person may possess gifts of leadership and administration. (1Co 12:1-11) We are like the parts of a body - some are "legs", others "ears", others "eyes" and so no. The Bible sometimes calls the church ‘the body of Christ" we are the visible, on-this-earth representation of Jesus Christ. If Jesus wants to care for someone He will us a part of "His body" to do it. You and I thus have important functions in this world. We are not to be jealous or envious of one another but to build one another up in love - just as in our human body the arms acre for the head etc. We are to be a team. Much hurt can come when Christians compete with one another. This is absolutely wrong, We are to "maintain the spirit of unity in the bond of peace". A Good Church When you look for a church check to see that it has the following four things: 1. Sound biblical preaching that lifts up Jesus Christ as Savior, Lord and God. 2. Humble , godly and wise leadership. ("Red flag" attitudes include: greed, pride, moral looseness, and disrespect.) 3. The people of the church clearly love one another. 4. There is holiness and clear standards of right and wrong. If you are unsure about a church then talk to some wise Christians that you know and ask their opinion of it. Or e-mail me at johnedmiston@yahoo.com . I will not favour one particular denomination over another but seek to give you sound principles and advice. A Bad Church There are some groups you need to watch out for: 1. Avoid groups that claim their particular group is the only group that will enter the Kingdom of God. They are often full of unsound teaching and manipulative practices. 2. Avoid groups that refuse to be upfront with you on the first meeting. 3. Avoid groups that are centered around a particular human leader who is often made out to be an infallible guide. Particularly if they ask for large sums of money. 4. Avoid groups that do not see Jesus as the only way to salvation or which mix together Christianity and other religions or which have "unique teachings" about Jesus. 5. Avoid groups that participate in the occult or which condone some forms of immorality. 6. Avoid groups that have "their own version" of the Scriptures or which add to the Bible. Loving the Church Once you have found a good church (there are no perfect churches) stick with it despite the ups and downs. Churches are full of people like you who make mistakes, aren’t quite perfect and say things they do not really mean. One day someone may say or do something that really hurts you. Stick with it then - don’t get bitter towards all Christians because of a foolish one or two. Remember some people who attend church are not really born again. Some are still searching, some are pretending, but the vast majority are really nice people. Here are three things you should take to church each Sunday. 1. Your heart to be filled with the Spirit. Go with an open and expectant attitude and you will receive. 2. Your eyes and your hands - to watch for the needs of the people of God and meet them in practical ways. 3. Your mind - to hear, understand and think about God’s word. Some Christians think that faith and their minds cannot mix. That is wrong. It is true that faith and a puffed up and arrogant mind cannot mix. But faith and an inquiring mind go hand in hand and create wisdom, knowledge grace and truth. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 82: 04.10. BREAKING FREE FROM SIN ======================================================================== We Have The Power To No Longer Live In Sin (Rom 6:5-23 NKJV) For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. {Rom 6:12-16} Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not! Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? {Rom 6:17-23} But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (1Jn 3:9 NKJV) Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God. The Struggle With Sin The Bible makes clear that Christians have victory over both the penalty and power of sin. We often find it difficult to believe this because of the intense struggle we have with "sin in our members". (Rom 7:1-25, Gal 5:16-18) 1 John gives us a clue on how to think about this when it says "he cannot sin because he has been born of God" - who cannot sin - that part of us that has been born of God and is a new creation in Christ! Christ in us is sin-free - as sinless as he was here on earth! When we die and God takes us to heaven then we will not sin any more. The part of us that lasts forever is free from sin. In fact it is so completely unresponsive to sin that it can be said to be "dead to sin". Our true eternal selves are sinless. This is a powerful truth that can help us live the Christian life. There are two parts of us in conflict "the flesh" which is temporary and which stops having any influence after we die or Christ returns, and the spirit which is eternal, spotless, undefiled and holy. Hence another name for all Christians is "saints" or "holy ones’ because our true, essentials elves are holy we can be called "holy ones". Now this battle between the flesh and the spirit can be very intense and very discouraging. In fact the apostle Paul cries out (Rom 7:21 NKJV) "I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good." This is the experience of all Christians and often makes us feel very condemned. However there is a solution to this problem! (Praise of the New Knighthood NKJV) I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. (Rom 8:1-6 NKJV) There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. The solution then is to fill your life with the things of the Spirit and to direct your mind into the things of God so that "the flesh" and its interests do not get a look in. Set your mind on the things of the Spirit and you will have life and peace. To do this you should regularly pray, read the Bible, live according to its teachings and meet with other Christians. The more time you make for God - the less there will be for sin and self-defeat. In particular pray for these things: Grace- God to be kind toward you and give you many undeserved favours and the power to resist sin. Mercy - for God to deliver you from the messes you get yourself into especially when we are ignorant/foolish. Peace - the integration of your life under the blessings of God so that sin has no foothold in you. Understanding - of what God has done for in Christ and the power over sin that is within you. Wisdom & Discernment - so you can apply your understanding to real life situations. To Be Filled With The Love of God - which takes over our hearts and makes thinking spiritual thoughts easy. To Be Filled With The Spirit - and able to see and perceive the things of God so that we are bold and joyful. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 83: 04.11. WHAT ABOUT HEAVEN AND HELL ======================================================================== The Bible Describes Judgment Day (Mat 13:47-50 NKJV) "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet that was cast into the sea and gathered some of every kind, "which, when it was full, they drew to shore; and they sat down and gathered the good into vessels, but threw the bad away. "So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come forth, separate the wicked from among the just, "and cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth." (Rev 20:10-15 NKJV) The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. (Rev 20:12-15 NKJV) And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire. The Fixed-Up & Made New World (Rev 21:1-4 NKJV) Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. "And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away." Heaven & Hell God is holy and must deal with sin. Sin can be dealt by us through repentance and faith and following Jesus in the pursuit of holiness. This way of dealing with sin leads to heaven. Or sin can accumulate and "store up the wrath of God for the Day of Judgment". People who have not dealt with their sin by repentance, faith and following Jesus will be destroyed - cast into the lake of fire. They are not deserving of, or fit for, heaven. They do not have a sinless "real self" (see the AIBI article on the Inner Man). Their real self is still sinful and wicked. Therefore it is destroyed and punished. Hell is not a sort of debauched party full of sinners having a good time, it is unrelenting anguish without any place for or possibility of rest and relief. Heaven is the absolute enjoyment of the presence and power of God. It is where God’s love is perfectly understood and where absolute total blissful happiness is normal. In heaven there will be no more crying or pain. It is ended. The days of suffering, meaninglessness, misfortune and calamity are over. It is a world ordered for good and for the very best. Should you go to heaven you will dwell in unimaginable wealth - yet without coveting, you will reign with Christ - in humility and meekness, you will have a life that goes on for all eternity full of purpose, love and meaning. It will be a place where every scar on your soul is healed, where every tear is forgotten and where the life of God flows through you like an ever flowing stream.(Rev 21:1-17 & Rev 22:1-20) ======================================================================== CHAPTER 84: 04.12. WHAT ABOUT MY NON-CHRISTIAN FRIENDS? ======================================================================== When Friends Lead You Astray From God Sometimes our non-Christian friends can be leading a lifestyle that is sinful, and they will want us to join in and pressure them to “go along” and compromise our values. We should still love our non-Christian friends and we definitely should share Christ with them, but we should not give in and conform to their lifestyle. This article deals with the problem of pressure from non-Christian friends who ask us to do something wrong. (1Co 15:33-34 NKJV) Do not be deceived: "Evil company corrupts good habits." Awake to righteousness, and do not sin; for some do not have the knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame. (Jas 4:4-5 NKJV) Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, "The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously"? (2Co 6:14-18 NKJV) Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will dwell in them And walk among them. I will be their God, And they shall be My people." Therefore "Come out from among them And be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, And I will receive you." "I will be a Father to you, And you shall be My sons and daughters, Says the LORD Almighty." These verse are amongst the hardest in the Bible and they are there for a purpose. It is very easy to end up in relationships or alliances that are really counterproductive to our Christian faith. We are heading one way and they are heading another. Lets review these verse carefully. Bad company corrupts good habits. This is an easily observed commonplace fact. Many new Christians try to keep company with people who are sexually immoral or drunken or greedy or ambitious and the pressure from these friendships soon draws them away from their relationship with Christ and back into the world. Recognise bad company - and avoid it. Friendship with the world is enmity with God. There are three main enemies of God - and of Christians. Those enemies are "the world, the flesh and the devil". By the world the Bible means "Vanity Fair" the place where people clamber to get up the ladder, gain honors and be thought of as special without any reference to God or to eternity.(1Jn 2:15-17 NKJV) Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world; the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life; is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever." Living for material gain, worldly status or sensual pleasure is what we call worldliness. It is incompatible with the Spirit of God. You cannot think and act "like everyone else" and be God’s friend. (Rom 12:1-2) You cannot live for this world and for heaven at the same time. Possessions are not the stuff of the Kingdom of God. Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. This passage is often quoted to say that Christians should not marry non-Christians. That is certainly true. We should only marry "in the Lord". However it is of broader application than that. This passage says that we are not to "yoke ourselves with" that is get into partnerships or close friendships with unbelievers where it is necessary that we "pull in the same direction". This may include boyfriend-girlfriend relationships, close friendships, some business arrangements and anything where we could be compromised by the friendship. The spiritual nature of unbelievers is that they are controlled people. (Eph 2:1-4) They are controlled by "Belial", the Devil, and he can "push their buttons" from time to time so that they do what he wants ‘despite themselves". This makes the partnership very unwise for Christians. Satan wants to "steal, kill and destroy" the people of God (John 10:10) and you have foolishly placed yourself right alongside someone who the Devil can control to do you maximum harm. That person may not will you any harm now but their weakness and vulnerabilities mean that they can "fall into sin" and take you with them. They do not have the strength to resist a strong temptation from the Evil One. This is a hard lesson to learn because many unbelievers are nice, attractive people. Older Christians have often learned this lesson the hard way and many will tell you of the pain they have suffered. You are not judging the person by denying the relationship. You are obeying God and He promises you and even better relationship if you follow Him. ( 2Co 6:16-18 NKJV)"For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will dwell in them And walk among them. I will be their God, And they shall be My people." Therefore "Come out from among them And be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, And I will receive you." "I will be a Father to you, And you shall be My sons and daughters, Says the LORD Almighty." The application of this requires courage and wisdom. Courage to make the break from damaging relationships and wisdom in how and when to do it and with what words. Putting distance between yourself and the person does not mean an entire rejection of their personality. You are not to hate anyone. You are to love them with a cautious and wise love that refuses to get involved beyond the boundaries set by God. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 85: 04.13. LOVING YOUR NEIGHBOR ======================================================================== The Story Of The Good Samaritan (Luk 10:25-37 NKJV) And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" He said to him, "What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?" So he answered and said, " ’You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’ and ’your neighbor as yourself.’" And He said to him, "You have answered rightly; do this and you will live." But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" Then Jesus answered and said: "A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. "Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. "Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side. "But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion. "So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. "On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, ’Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.’ "So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?" And he said, "He who showed mercy on him." Then Jesus said to him, "Go and do likewise." Love Of Neighbor Love of God and love of neighbor are the two great commandments. They are repeated dozens of times in the Scriptures e.g. (1Jn 3:16-18 NKJV) By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth." There is a compelling weight to these exhortations. We MUST do the good works that God has prepared beforehand for us to do (Eph 2:10). This page is devoted to showing you how to fulfill this commandment. From the above parable we can see that the Good Samaritan a) perceived the need b) bothered to get involved in the mess c) paid the price of following it through to completion d) did so in an open-hearted attitude full of mercy and generosity. The Good Samaritan also got on with his business and let the person recover in peace. He was not a busybody or a sanctimonious do-gooder. There is something brusquely practical about him, almost businesslike. Step One When we see a brother or sister in need we can give whatever immediate help we can from the resources we have available (and God always gives you enough to meet the need once you start using it "the loaves and fishes" principle - Mat 14:14-21). We must never ignore the need. To "close our hearts" is to squelch the love of God in us. (1Jn 3:17) Step Two We can then refer them to someone more able to help ("the innkeeper") but be prepared to still be involved and pick up the tab if necessary. This may mean taking them to AA or Social Security and standing with them until things are sorted out. Step Three Check our attitude. Are we being generous or are we resenting "having to get involved"? Are we merciful and gracious or do we view the person as foolish? Are we helping out in order to boost ourselves or because we had compassion on that person? We should still help even if though our motives are very mixed and pride creeps in. It is better to meet the need because that way we are keeping our hearts open to the love and mercy of God - these will, in time, correct our attitudes. May I suggest a set of priorities for Christian compassion - 1. Our spouse 2. Our children 3. Our aged parents 4. The church 5. The basic needs of the world. Here are some verses that underlie my order of priorities: (Eph 5:28 NKJV) So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. (1Ti 5:8 NKJV) But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. (Mark 7:9-13 NKJV) He said to them, "All too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition. "For Moses said, ’Honor your father and your mother’; and, ’He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.’ "But you say, ’If a man says to his father or mother, "Whatever profit you might have received from me is Corban"; ’ (that is, a gift to God), "then you no longer let him do anything for his father or his mother, "making the word of God of no effect through your tradition which you have handed down. And many such things you do." (Gal 6:9-10 NKJV) And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith. From Galatians we see that "doing good" is "especially" to Christians. From Mark we see that church comes behind parents, 1Timothy says that providing for one’s family is absolutely basic to being a Christian and Ephesians that spouses hold a very high place indeed - as high as our own bodies. This is a common sense order and may help you sort out your helping role. Do not use it as an excuse though! Remember we are exhorted in Galatians to "do good to all." (Gal 6:10) ======================================================================== CHAPTER 86: 04.14. HOW TO RELEASE THE HOLY SPIRIT INTO YOUR LIFE ======================================================================== Bible Verses (Eph 5:18-21 NKJV) And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another in the fear of God. (Luk 11:11-13 NKJV) "If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? "Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!" (Mat 3:11-12 NKJV) "I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. "His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." (Acts 2:33 NKJV) "Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear. Overview The aim of this article is to inform you of the transforming power of the Holy Spirit and to encourage you to live a life that either suddenly or gradually increases in victory and power. It is not the aim of this article to turn you into a charismatic or a Pentecostal. I want to show you some of what is available in the Kingdom of God and encourage to lay hold upon it. There is a lot more to church and the Christian life than hard work and duty. There is joy, there is peace of mind, there is a whole new fresh way of living in the gentle power of the Holy Spirit. Here is a quick tour: We can ask God to give us the Holy Spirit (Luk 11:13) and to fill us with the Holy Spirit (Eph 5:18). Scripture tells us that Jesus "baptizes" us with the Holy Spirit (Mat 3:11-12, Acts 2:33), that is He pours it out in power on believers so they can function in the body of Christ (1Co 12:13). The prime work of the Holy Spirit is making believers like Jesus (Rom 8:26-31) and enabling them to minister to one another in love and truth (Eph 4:11-16). This involves spiritual gifts (1Co 12:1-11) being used in love (1Co 13:1-7) for mutual edification. Being filled with the Spirit is God’s will (Eph 5:18) and is also a CHOICE we can make as an alternative to a lifestyle of dissipation (Eph 5:18). It produces true spiritual joy (Eph 5:18-21) and can be sought through prayer (Luk 11:9-13). Asking God For The Holy Spirit Sometimes very precious spiritual things can be lost or "unclaimed". At one time the book of Deuteronomy itself was lost! Until it was discovered in the Temple by Josiah. Life in the power of God with the infilling presence of the Holy Spirit was a New Testament reality that, like the book of Deuteronomy, got "lost in the attic" for a long while. It is now being rediscovered by countless Christians. So they go searching, and those who seek, find and those who ask, receive and to those who knock the door shall be opened. We need to press into God for more and more of His Kingdom realities and a deeper filling with the Holy Spirit. Believers receive the Holy Spirit at conversion and then ideally deepen their relationship with Him over the years. The "linkages" between the believer and the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit grow stronger and more effective. The believer grows in wisdom grace and power and from time to time experiences breakthroughs in their walk with God that I shall call "releases" of the Holy Spirit. We don’t get "more of" the Holy Spirit in a quantity (you cannot get more of a person and the Holy Spirit is personal) but we get "more" in the sense of relationship and power. Love relationships can, in a way, be measured. Have you ever heard a wife can say to her husband "I want all of you ..." Thus from our perspective we can get "more of the Holy Spirit" that is sense the reality of His Presence with us more deeply and with greater reality. We can move into a deeper, stronger and more committed relationship full of peace, joy and power. How Do We Do This? The release of the Holy Spirit into your life involves seeking, repenting and asking. There are many obstacles in our hearts that choke the Spirit’s work. These include bitterness, anger, wrath, clamor, unbelief, being too controlling, immorality and involvement in pornography or the occult. You cannot have the fullness of Holy Spirit and bitterness. You will have to choose between the two. (Eph 4:30-32 NKJV) And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ forgave you. As we seek the fullness of the Holy Spirit we will often become aware of areas that are contrary to His operation in us. As we repent of them then the Holy Spirit is no longer grieved and His joy fills us. In true revivals we see that there is always seeking God, there is always repenting and there is always asking for more and more of his Presence and power. I do not have a "formula" for seeking, repenting and asking. I cannot tell you how long it will take or exactly what you should do. Some people are greatly assisted by certain forms of worship, others by fasting and self-denial, others by a daily quite time with God. Whatever the method you use it must involve earnest and diligent seeking, repenting and asking of God. Obstacles If it’s just that simple why is not revival, at least on the personal level, far more common? Because we tenaciously hold on to certain sins and attitudes that block the operation of God. We distrust the surgeon who can save us. For instance if we: nationalize certain sins away particularly those involving money or sex. Refuse to forgive people under the banner of "justice" place limits on how God can work today. Think we are respectable and do not need renewal. Despise renewal and the miraculous. Play around with the Scriptures, believing some and discarding some. Keep idols and occult items in our house "for cultural value" (see Deu 7:25) play with astrology, Wicca, fortune-telling or contact the dead. Think that if we let God in He will "make us missionaries in Tibet" and ruin our happiness. Think we are unworthy of God’s love or of him doing anything wonderful in our lives. See renewal as being for "other people in other lands at other times", give up our pursuit of God far too easily. Invent theologies that have God as remote. Do not acknowledge Jesus as the only way to salvation. (Surprisingly common) To address all these blockages one by one would be a very long article indeed! What we do need to do however is to stop sinning against God and start loving Him enthusiastically with our whole hearts. As we do this and repent of the above list of sins then a renewed life will become a real and wonderful possibility. God may renew people before they have fully repented of their involvement with the above sins but I have never seen renewal without at least some serious dealing with sin on the part of the person involved. Seven Steps To do this is a seven step process: 1. Acknowledge your sin before God. Tell God that He is righteous and just and that you agree with His assessment of your sin. 2. Acknowledge the sin’s grip on you and your desire to be free of it forever. 3. Ask for God’s forgiveness of your sin. 4. Ask Jesus to fill you with His Holy Spirit. 5. Make restitution and reconcile with those you may have hurt. If the sin is only between you and God then leave it there. If it involves one other person go put it right with just that person. If it involves a group then acknowledge that to the group and seek their forgiveness. 6. Destroy any objects involved with your sin e.g. pornography or objects and books used in witchcraft, astrology, pagan religions, idolatry, masonry, etc. (See Deu 7:5, Deu 7:25 and Acts 19:19) 7. Press on to higher ground through obedience, prayer, fellowship and bible study. Get involved in the things of God. God only gives you power and strength so you can use it to bless others. Building On The Blessing Once you have received a releasing of the Holy Spirit into your life you need to build on it for ministry and service and growth in Christian character. The blessings of God are not sensual moments to be enjoyed like good music or a meal. They are stepping stones to holiness, Christian character and a blessed and productive life that is useful in building the Kingdom of God here on earth. When the Holy Spirit comes upon you in power there is a tendency to gain an extra level of functioning known as a "spiritual gift". In Samson’s case it was great strength, in Solomon’s it was wisdom, in Peter the ability to work miracles, in Paul the apostolic gift and calling. This extra level of functioning needs to be learned and practiced so that it integrates with the whole of life and with God’s purposes for His church. Spiritual gifts are not status symbols any more than the servant’s towel is a status symbol. The spiritual gifts are there for you to use the power of God in love for the edification and support of other believers and the conversion of those outside the Kingdom. Do not leave you blessing gift wrapped in a silver box. Take it out and use it. Admiring what God has just done for you is good, but it will soon be time to put your new level of functioning to use in the real world. If the renewal has left you more peaceful it will be time to show that at work when you are under pressure. If it has made you more loving then display that love at home and grow it and strengthen it. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 87: 05.00.1. CULTS ======================================================================== CULTS John Edmiston This book – Cults is © Copyright AIBI-International 2008 – 2010 This article may be freely reproduced for non-profit ministry purposes but may not be sold in any way and must be reproduced “as is” without alteration. Just e-mail us at johned@aibi.ph ======================================================================== CHAPTER 88: 05.00.2. TABLE OF CONTENTS ======================================================================== Marks of a CultHow Cults Convert PeopleCults and Crazy ThinkingUnderstanding Those Caught in CultsWhen a Church Goes WrongClassic CultsCommercial CultsMystical and New Age CultsSpiritual WarfareDiscerning Good from EvilEvaluating RevivalsFalse MiraclesThe Occult – What’s Wrong With Exploring the “Other Side”?AngelsUFOs and CultsIs Jesus God? ======================================================================== CHAPTER 89: 05.01. MARKS OF A CULT ======================================================================== Cults are, unfortunately, big news these days. People are desperately searching for God and there are some really dangerous frauds, con-men, and lunatics out there fleecing the flock. This article deals with how to spot cults and false teachers by referring to biblical warnings about their characteristic behaviors. Thieves and Wolves When Jesus talks about the Good Shepherd, He talks about "the thief", and "the wolf" that comes to destroy the flock and says John 10:10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. In Mat 7:15-16 He declares: "Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. And in Acts 20:28-32 Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come among you. The phrase "wolves in sheep’s clothing’ originated with the Greek storyteller - Aesop, and one of his fables where a cunning wolf used to dress up as a sheep in order to get close to the flock and kill them. It became a watchword, people who were outwardly nice but whose real inner intent was to devour those around them. In this article I shall tackle the question of what is a cult from two aspects - distortion of truths concerning God, and the characteristic behaviors of cults. Attacks on Jesus and On God All cults draw the person away from the truth concerning Jesus Christ; this is done in a number of ways: (1) By denying Jesus Christ is God. (2) By identifying Jesus with other bible characters or spiritual people e.g. by saying that instead He is the archangel Michael or Satan’s brother conceived when the Father had sex with Mary. (3) By saying that Jesus was god with a small “g” and that we all can become god, as the Mormons (Latter Day Saints) believe. (4) By saying God is "The Force" or some sort of creating/evolving energy, not personal, does not possess the ability to love, forgive, hold judgment etc. (5) By saying Jesus did not come in the flesh but is instead a divine principle a Cosmic Christ or other such being. (6) By seeing Christ as just human nature achieving at top potential - human potential. We all have "Christ in us" and our job is to "get in contact with it" and achieve our inner potential. However, this "Christ" is not a historical person but (7) Jesus not historical - "Christ consciousness" is substituted for faith in a historical Jesus. (8) Jesus not God, became the Christ when he attained Christ-consciousness at age 30. (9) Two Jesus theory - outer historical and inner mystical Jesus. (10) Jesus one of many ascended masters (11) Jesus just a good man, prophet or teacher. (12) Holy Spirit not God but a force emanating from God. If a group teaches any of these things it is NOT historical, biblical Christianity. Such a group is not teaching the truth about God as recorded in the Scriptures and should be avoided by Christians. The Characteristic Behaviors of Cults Cults are remarkably alike in that they exhibit certain "odd’ behaviors in order to appear more spiritual than the truth and freedom that is in Jesus Christ. In the end though these "super-spiritual behaviors" are profitless and often make a person eccentric, bizarre and spiritually proud. (1Ti 4:1-7 NASB) But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron, men who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods, which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth. For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected, if it is received with gratitude; for it is sanctified by means of the word of God and prayer. In pointing out these things to the brethren, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, constantly nourished on the words of the faith and of the sound doctrine which you have been following. But have nothing to do with worldly fables fit only for old women. On the other hand, discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness... Our first four behaviors from the above passage are: 1. Involvement with spirits - which deceive them. 2. Forbidding marriage. 3. Dietary restrictions on normal foods. 4. Ungodly Superstition. We see cults forbidding marriage, or arranging marriages or in the case of David Koresh claiming all women belonged to him. Most cults have some dietary restrictions and forbid certain kinds of foods, not out of common sense or health reasons but out of the desire to "be spiritual" or attain "energy" or to seem pure and exalted above the common lot of mankind. Thus people substitute food for character and handling for holiness. They think "I am good person because I do not eat pork" rather than "I am a good person because I love God and my neighbor." This leads to a false sense of spirituality that is so common in cults. In his letter to the Colossian church Paul writes: (Col 2:16-23 NASB) Therefore let no one act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day-- things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ. Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind, and not holding fast to the head, from whom the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is from God. If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as, "Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!" (which all refer to things destined to perish with the using) -- in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men? These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence. Here Paul lists a few more behaviors associated with the false spirituality of cults: 5. Legalism - do not handle, do not taste, do not touch. 6. False humility. 7. Harsh treatment of the body - especially for so called "purification". 8. Worship of angels (and other such beings). 9. People going into great detail about what they have seen in the spiritual realm. 10. Enormous spiritual pride. 11. Experience takes over, Christ is no longer central and no longer a source of life. 12. Emphasis on religious festivals, new moons and Sabbath days. 13. Their regulations appear to be wise but are in fact ineffective for restraining fleshly indulgence. 14. Self-made religion - worship made up by man rather than truly revealed from God and inspired by God The apostle Peter also had a few words to say about this self-deluded form of worship: (2Pe 2:18-19 NASB) For speaking out arrogant words of vanity they entice by fleshly desires, by sensuality, those who barely escape from the ones who live in error, promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved. Thus we see that cults are frequently: 15. Boastful 16. Promise false "freedom" - many cults do this. 17. Appeal to the lusts of the flesh - a wise sales tactic 18. Slaves to sin and corruption The final words must be with Jude the brother of Jesus who writes: (Jude 1:8-16 NASB) Yet in the same manner these men, also by dreaming, defile the flesh, and reject authority, and revile angelic majesties. But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said, "The Lord rebuke you." But these men revile the things which they do not understand; and the things which they know by instinct, like unreasoning animals, by these things they are destroyed. Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain, and for pay they have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam, and perished in the rebellion of Korah. These men are those who are hidden reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you without fear, caring for themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, doubly dead, uprooted; wild waves of the sea, casting up their own shame like foam; wandering stars, for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever. And about these also Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, "Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones, to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him." These are grumblers, finding fault, following after their own lusts; they speak arrogantly, flattering people for the sake of gaining an advantage. 19. Boastful to the point of rejecting all authority, even that of angels. 20. Pollute their own bodies 21. Without shame 22. React abusively against whatever they do not understand. 23. Live by instinct and run headfirst into evil. Some cults involve the promotion of the grossest immorality under the banner of "love-ins’ and David Koresh’s gross immorality was so he could "experience the depths of sin" for the world. These 23 points cover most of the behaviors commonly associated with cults in Scripture. Any one of them should be a "red flag" to a Christian. When three or more of them are present, the group is almost certainly wandering away from the will of God. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 90: 05.02. HOW CULTS CONVERT PEOPLE ======================================================================== Many people now agree that cults frequently psychologically manipulate their membership to ensure conformity and control. Steve Hassan’s excellent book "Combating Cult Mind-Control" is a great starting point. The following points come from numerous sources. Not all of these are found in every cult but enough of them are found in most cults to make them very frightening places that inflict deep psychological damage on their membership. 1. Submission to Leadership - Leaders tend to be absolute, prophets of God, God Himself, specially anointed apostle, or just a strong, controlling, manipulative person who demands submission even if changes or conflicts occur in ideology or behavior. 2. Polarized World View - The group is all that is good; everything outside is bad. 3. Feeling Over Thought - Emotions, intuitions, mystical insights are promoted as more important than rational conclusions. 4. Manipulation of Feelings - Techniques designed to stimulate emotions, usually employing group dynamics to influence responses. 5. Denigration of Critical Thinking - Can go so far as to characterize any independent thought as selfish, and rational use of intellect as evil. 6. Salvation or Fulfillment can only be realized in the group. 7. End Justifies the Means - Any action or behavior is justifiable as long as it furthers the group’s goals. The group (leader) becomes absolute truth and is above all man-made laws. 8. Group Over Individual - The group’s concerns supersede an individual’s goals, needs, aspirations, and concerns. Conformity is the key. 9. Warnings of severe or supernatural sanctions for defection or even criticism of the cult - This can go so far as to apply to negative or critical thought about the group or its leaders. 10. Severing of Ties with Past, Family, Friends, Goals, and Interests - Especially if they are negative towards or impede the goals of the group. 11. Barratrous Abuse - Some cults use "cult lawyers’ to sue ex-cult members and critics often using fabricated evidence and causing financial stress by repeated trivial law suits. The cult’s aim is not so much to win the lawsuit (though they often do) as to harass and intimidate their critics into silence. Cult Conversion Techniques Conversion into a cult is usually the result of two interacting dynamics. The first is the personal vulnerability of the potential recruit. This vulnerability may be enhanced by, but not limited to, transitional situations such as divorce, abuse, job or career change, moving away from home or leaving college, an illness, or death of a loved one. The second dynamic are the tactics used to convert, indoctrinate (brainwash) and hold the members. Some groups attempt a radical and rapid conversion over an intensive week-end or week, such as The Forum or Scientology. Others have a more subtle approach which may take weeks or months, such as the Jehovah’s Witnesses. The following are techniques of unethical thought reform and mind control: The importance of cognitive dissonance Any person will act so as to reduce conflict between their thoughts, their emotions and their behavior. When these things are at odds with each other a person experiences ’dissonance" (the opposite of harmony). Cognitive dissonance is when what a person knows is right is at odds with either what they feel is right or what they are doing. Cults quickly move to control four key areas of a person’s life during the conversion process - Behavior - by intense involvement in activity and isolation from others. Behaviour is closely prescribed and carefully supervised. Emotions - a new recruit is often "love bombed" and greeted enthusiastically and told they are very special. They are made to feel that everyone in the cult loves them and that "nothing could be wrong with such a loving group of people". However, this does not last. Emotions are sent on a rollercoaster and the only hope of emotional stability is total conformity and pleasing the cult leadership. Thought - indoctrination, extended "teaching sessions", memorisation of cult dogma, "auditing sessions" where inner secrets are revealed and thought processes exposed - all are a part of attempts at thought control so that the thought life of the convert is taken up entirely with the group. Information - isolation from peers, TV, radio, newspapers, (often labelled as "Satanic") and careful control of associations ensures that little or no material critical of the cult reaches the new recruit during the conversion process. The combination of all these factors make it very likely that if the new recruit stays in the cult for any length of time they will come to believe in it utterly. We are not as objective as we like to think and when all these powerful forces combine ven very intelligent people will be "converted" but not by God. A Quick List of Nasty Practices 1. A Focus on felt needs, defects, with exaggerated promises of fulfillment. 2. Rigid Control of Time and Activities - Often physically and emotionally draining activities leaving little time for reflection, questioning and privacy. 3. Information Control - Cutting off or denigrating outside sources of information especially if it is critical of the group. This can also include misrepresentation and information overload. 4. Language Manipulation - Ascribing new "inside" meanings in ordinary words or the use of an exclusive vocabulary subtly moving a person to want to become an insider. 5. Discouraging Critical, Rational Thought and Questions - For instance, comments like, "Satan is the cause of all doubt; he wants to keep you from the Truth", or, "one must move beyond the cognitive left-brain and get in touch with one’s higher self, his right-brain, intuitive self for true knowledge". 6. Instruction and Repetition in Trance Induction Techniques - These include progressive relaxation, chanting, hypnosis, meditation, trance states, guided imagery or visualization, deep breathing exercises, all of which make a person highly suggestible, often unable to distinguish between fantasy and reality, and can cause psychopathology such as relaxation induced anxiety. 7. Confession Sessions - Promoting full disclosure of all secret sins, thoughts, temptations which can become a powerful tool to manipulate, blackmail, and emotionally bond people to the leader or group. It is actually a depersonalization or stripping of the inner self, a forced submission to the group. 8. Guilt, Fear - Weapons used to maintain group loyalty, suppress questions and defections. 9. Control of Sexuality and Intimacy within the Cult - This may extend to marriage decisions (Moonies), sexual relations, promiscuity (Children of God), group sex (New Age Therapy groups), child sex, adultery, and polygamy (Branch-Davidians). 10. Excessive Financial Obligations - More and more money is needed to attain higher degrees of spirituality (Scientology), or complete submission to God requires one to give up everything to the group or leader (pp. 26-29). The more points of ideology and conversion methodology that are in place, and the degree of intensity of their application is proportionate to the effect and damage of mind control. These factors tend to make normal evangelism, or even dialogue, much more difficult. Therefore, some people have looked to deprogrammers or exit-counselors to help break the mental head-locks of their loved ones in an attempt to rescue them from the cult. Can an Orthodox Christian Group Get Like This? Yes they can!!! Just because the theology is straight down the line does not mean the behavior will be. I was in a mission society that in a particular place under the influence of a leader with a great deal of charisma and authority became "cultic" for a year or so. That has been corrected but much damage was done. Some Christian groups start off great -like the "children of God’ and end up utterly wrong and evil. The church needs strong leaders, but they must always be accountable to Scripture and to other wise Christians. We must allow people to be critical, to think for themselves and to understand scripture freely apart from the dictates of any leader. We must allow a great deal of emotional and intellectual freedom and renounce our desires to control others if we are to have healthy churches where people rejoice in the Truth. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 91: 05.03. CULTS AND CRAZY THINKING ======================================================================== This is a simplified and "Christianised" model of three dimensions to ethics and mental health. The Love-Hate dimension is probably better labeled Unconditional Love vs Paranoid Thinking. The key test is the question "How do they treat their enemies?’. A paranoid group goes from suspicion to suspicion, living in fear and employing "guilt by association" to mark people as those to beware of. A paranoid cult group is preoccupied with its fortress mentality, its thought life is disproportionately centered around warding off evil rather than pursuing good. While guarding against sin and compromise is an essential part of the Christian life being paranoid is not! Jesus was sinless - but He still loved His enemies and prayed for those who persecuted Him. The second dimension is that of Wisdom versus Foolishness. More technical names might be "embracing Truth wherever it can be found" versus "idiosyncratic reality". Cults tend to create "worlds of their own", bizarre conspiracy theories, quaint world-views, mystical and other-worldly perspectives. While the man or woman of faith will sometimes see life very differently they do not disregard the insights of others. The fool says "my system is all I need". There is no searching for objective Truth, rather there is a loud and clamant glorying in one’s own "wisdom". Such people are among those that bombard the Internet with posts all in caps and full of strange sounding jargon that sets you on edge when you read it. Their claims are often untestable as they may be set in the future or in dreams or visions that the reader has no way of verifying. When their claims can be checked out, they generally prove to be inaccurate. Cults limit the outside information available to recruits and enmesh them in this alternate reality. It is often the quest for objective truth that causes some recruits to question and finally to leave the cult. The third dimension is that of mercy versus cruelty. These terms are quite accurate in my view. All you need to do to be cruel is to think exclusively of yourself. People in cults don’t "hate" their families in general - they just do not see them, care for them, or meet their needs. Cults develop a very inward form of thinking where the recruit spends most of their time either working for the cult or pondering their own deficiencies. This phenomenal self-absorption can cause parents to neglect their children and several have died as a result of parents refusing basic medical treatment on religious grounds. Jesus never asked anyone to throw away their medicines! Cults neglect the needs of the outer world and their social action programs are practically non-existent. Where they do exist they tend to focus on cult members or be thinly disguised recruiting mechanisms. The "mainline churches" are extensively involved on caring for those outside of their membership and many of the best hospitals, schools, and rehabilitation programs are run by them. Though cults are large (about a quarter of the size of the mainline churches) their contribution in these areas is small indeed. Let’s consider someone like Jim Jones or David Koresh. Both had well-defined "enemies" which they guarded against and were pre-occupied with. Both had their own reality that they followed in total disregard of objective Truth and biblical wisdom. Both were cruel men who isolated others from their families and eventually caused the death of their followers. Hitler again had his own strange truth, a concoction of Neitzsche and Schopenhauer and others. Hitler was cruel and expected cruelty of others, and Hitler was pathologically paranoid and filled with hate. Whether it be Hitler, Stalin, or cult leaders, this model points out their pathology quite clearly. On the other hand we have Jesus - full of mercy, wisdom and love. He is at the exact opposite corner of the diagram from Hitler or David Koresh. A cult like the Branch Davidians may be Christian in name, but in nature it can be shown to be the polar opposite of Christianity when this model is used. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 92: 05.04. UNDERSTANDING THOSE CAUGHT IN CULTS ======================================================================== A good Christian couple find that their young and intelligent son or daughter no longer listens to them and is caught up in a group that raises deep concerns within them. They are "no longer themselves" and when the wrong theology or poor morals of the group are pointed out the parents are called "agents of Satan". Finally their son or daughter leaves them and joins the group full-time. Their child seems lost to them forever. This article will look at what happens to people who join cults and why they join. It will also help you develop some coping strategies. A cult is a mind-control trap. The person entering the cult did not want to enter a trap. They are deceived people. They thought they were entering something wonderful but they in fact have entered something very destructive. Their emotions, thoughts, access to information and behavior are often tightly controlled through isolation from others, a very prescriptive lifestyle, indoctrination, and emotional game-playing of a very sinister kind. A very full analysis of cult mind control techniques can be found in Steve Hassan’s invaluable book "Combating Cult Mind Control". If you have relative or friend in a destructive cult you may be wondering about how they have changed and how they are "no longer themselves". This is because the indoctrination process used by cults produces a second personality, one that Steve Hassan calls John-cult, the real personality "John-John" is still there but is suppressed. Accessing the real self is the key to helping your loved one leave a cult. Here are some pointers to help you understand what you are dealing with. 1. The person you know is "still there" but a second "cult personality" has been superimposed over the top of it. The "cult personality" has an enormous need to conform in order to receive approval from the group and/or its leader. 2. "Cult personalities" are cheap imitations and look plastic. For instance the whole group may use the same clichés, wear similar clothes, smile the same way, laugh the same way and have the same intensity about them. Normal churches are a mixture of sad and happy, grumpy and kind, extrovert and introvert and so on. Cults destroy this natural diversity. They replace it with an artificial and manageable persona. 3. The superimposed cult personality is not very robust outside the group. The "real personality" has enormous energy and wants to reassert itself. It’s like keeping a spring down - you need force. This is why cults manipulate people. If the person can be lovingly re-united with old friends and family, sometimes for as little as 3 days then the real self gets "fresh air" and will resurface. This however, may not be easy to manage. Also deep and fearful suggestions are planted so that the person may truly believe that their life is of little or no value outside of the group. 4. The super-imposed personality has its foundations in unmet emotional needs for affection and approval and frequently has a very limited critical or reflective ability outside of cult dogma. Direct confrontations based on reason, therefore, probably will not work if the "cult personality" is the one you are dealing with. 5. The ‘real self’ who is your best ally has been badly hurt by the coercive and freedom denying manipulations of the cult. The "real self" is thus almost hyper-sensitive to manipulation. But it will probably be deeply gratified by true and genuine love. 6. While the cult personality largely falls apart after they come out of the group it still will have extraordinary power in some areas. People frequently feel they are "outside God’s will" or "unsaved" or "no longer part of God’s plan for this generation". They often feel they have made a huge compromise by leaving the cult and that life from now on is essentially trivial and meaningless. This is because the cult has planted these suggestions deep in their subconscious as part of the indoctrination process (cult good-world evil) and these suggestions may take years to be erased. However, if the techniques of mind-control are carefully explained and good counseling offered then people will often see these thoughts and feelings for what they are. This will enable them to resist going back to the cult as a source of meaning. Now you understand this you may be asking "How can I get him/her out?" That question takes a lot longer to answer than I can ethically put in this article. The process has so many variables that you really need to sit down with someone specializing in cults, or a good minister and work things through. There are four absolutely fundamental things I ask people to do. A. Create a welcoming environment. Do not be angry or confrontational. People change in response to love, not anger. In the story about the wind and the sun trying to get a man’s coat off the harder the wind blew the tighter the man held his coat whereas the sun just smiled and shone and soon the coat was gone. The cult personality is like that coat. Your anger will cause it to be wrapped around the person even more tightly and you will probably just be labeled as "agents of the Devil". Your love will cause the cult personality to have little or no reason to be there. The emotional needs they long for will have been met and the coat will drop away. Step two is part of creating a welcoming atmosphere - get help with your family dynamics. B. I advise families with a member in a cult to try at least three sessions of family therapy with a good counselor if they can afford it. This accomplishes a few purposes. Firstly, it helps the family face any conflicts they may have with the member in the cult. Secondly it helps them understand how groups work and gives them a basic knowledge of group dynamics. Thirdly, if successful, it makes home a more comfortable place for the person to return to. It will generally do no harm and potentially can do much good. C. Get as much information about the group, how it operates, its indoctrination techniques, its leadership etc. that you can. Talk to former members. This is important as it will give you a good idea how cult members are programmed to react and which approaches will work best. Do some research in Scripture about the beliefs the cult holds so that you can show from the Word of God that their beliefs are erroneous and that the group takes verses out of context etc. To help someone leave a cult both the head and the heart need to be spoken to. D. Form a prayer group of say six people to specifically pray for your loved one. Try to meet each week and pray for the following: (a) That the deception may be broken and that the person may spot the inconsistencies, lies and selfishness that exist at the core of every cult. That the spiritual forces of darkness may be bound and broken. That the manipulations may lose their power over the person. (b) That the person may remember the good times and good conditions they had at home. (c) That there may arise a deep dissatisfaction with the cult and a great desire to leave the group. (d) That they may be given the courage to act and that God would sovereignly arrange some good opportunities for them to leave. (E) For physical, emotional and spiritual protection for you as you tackle this very real evil. God can reach people through their spirit and even through dreams when we cannot communicate with them. He can arrange circumstances when all we feel is frustration. He is LORD! The next thing you have to do is some very specific research. Here are 20 questions that will help you understand yourself, why your loved one entered the cult, the group itself and help anyone helping you to get them out. The answers to these questions can serve as a basis for further action and prayer. Emotions and Relationships 1. What stresses was he/she going through in the two years prior to joining the cult? Death of a loved one, divorce, relocations, work stresses, illness, legal involvements etc. 2. Was he /she generally a happy and successful person? Were loneliness or depression a problem? 3. Could the person often be easily duped in "tricks" at home? Were they very gullible and trusting? How strong are the critical faculties of the real self? Are the critical faculties unevenly distributed e.g. are they very logical and sharp intellectually but emotionally vulnerable and prone to forming unwise relationships? 4. Did they seek to escape reality through day-dreaming, drug-use, fantasies, alcohol, promiscuity or other behaviors? If so - why was reality so bad for them? Were they bullied or abused in any way? 5. Were they happy at home? Were they constantly feuding with siblings or parents? Did they express love for their family? Were they sure/unsure of the families love for them? The Cult Itself 6. Did they enter the cult suddenly or gradually over a period of time? How long did it take? 7. What were the first changes you noticed? 8. How did things develop from there? Write out a detailed sequence of events as you perceived them. Compare this with the sequence of events as seen by other friends and family. Collate as much information as you can. 9. Which of the following mind control techniques do you sense/know are being used? a. Control of access to information - restricted access to media such as TV, newspapers. b. Control over behavior - very prescriptive lifestyle. Happiness through performance. c. Emotional manipulation - approval followed by disapproval etc. Fear and guilt. d. Indoctrination with a rigid belief structure. False teaching. e. Painting life outside the group as evil, fearful or demonic. f. Abuse of authority. Person cannot do even small things without asking a superior. g. Chanting, hyper-ventilation, hypnosis, long work hours, starvation, sleep deprivation. h. Is the person being humiliated, used sexually, or abased in other ways? i. Are finances being tightly controlled? Is the person expected to "give all"? j Elitism - is the person being made to feel part of an elite group? k. Group will over individual will - who has the final say? l. Modeling the leader - do they all look the same? m. Strict control of marriage, sexual practices, diet & food. n. Experiences (rather than character qualities) made the basis of status in the group. Visions, dreams etc. the basis of spiritual authority and prestige. This makes it incumbent on the member to "have" these experiences. 10. Would the real person (John-John) object to how he is now being treated? If so, what would annoy him most? This may become an important part of your communication strategy. Getting Them Back Home 11. Are you looking after yourself properly and strengthening your resource base? Or are you "thrashing around" depleting yourself worrying about "the cult"? Are other family members being neglected? Don’t make this crisis your whole life. He/she is going to be attracted out of the cult by your happy, functional and welcoming lifestyle. Work hard on being happy, healthy and functional. Prepare yourself and your family for constructive action-taking. 12. Can the police, tax department or other authorities be called in to investigate this cult? Would the media be interested? Start with your LOCAL papers not "60 minutes’. A local paper will be more likely to pick it up and to devote real time and energy to the story. Local papers are read by bigger concerns and wire networks. It is surprising what can happen when you start small and let God take it from there. 13. How much can you afford, realistically, to spend on your campaign and how will it best be used? Draw up a "cult campaign budget" and ask God to provide the funds. Include counseling fees, travel, books, phone calls, accommodation in some cases - whatever you think will be needed. 14. Do you know any former members of the cult? Would they be willing to help you get your loved one out? What do they have to say about conditions inside the cult? 15. What sort of family occasion would be most likely to attract them to visit home again? Is there any honest way they could be away from the cult for three days while they were spoken to by counselors, family, friends and a good pastor? The Follow-Up Period (up to two years) 16. Have you developed basic skills in listening? Many places offer six week courses in listening skills or basic counseling. The ability to reflectively listen so that you can quickly build rapport and understanding is a critical skill. During the first few hours of contact they are frequently very nervous about what you might have to say about the cult. You need to be able to skillfully build communication bridges. 17. Do you notice the person in the cult reacting strangely when certain trigger words are used or music is played? For instance a former "Moonie" may think of the cults founder the Rev Moon every time the word "moon" is used in normal contexts, or modern pop songs or beach sound used during indoctrination may have powerful impulses and associations. The way out is to help the person build new associations that are more constructive or pleasant. Teach them to think of something pleasant when they hear the music or trigger word. Most good psychologists will be able to help them get over this cult flashback experience known as ‘floating". 18. Do they have nightmares? Guilt? Emotional problems? Counseling may be called for if this is the case. 19. Can they read as well as before? What is their concentration and memory like? This may take some time to be restored. 20. Is there a group that can help them make it back into the real world and a more normal life? A mainstream church? A support group for ex-cult members? Good friends? As you can see there is a fair bit of work involved. It’s now up to you. Seek out all the help you can. Read the other articles in Asian Internet Bible Institute on cults - you can find them indexed on the "Articles On Cults" index page. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 93: 05.05. WHEN A CHURCH GOES WRONG ======================================================================== My name is Brent. Last year my wife and I started attending a new church. It has been a difficult transition for us. The people in our new church are so different from the people we have come to know so well for the last six years in our old church. At times we have wondered if these people love God at all, or are they just acting. You see, we learned how a Christian should be from our old church. We learned how a Christian should be: Completely submitted to the authority appointed over them. Doing all things in agreement with the church, for unity’s sake. Attending church whenever the doors are open, unless given permission to be absent by the pastor. Having no fellowship with darkness. (Unsaved loved ones) Unless preaching the Word to them. Willing to forsake all for the vision of the ministry. (Jobs, family, personal choice, etc.) Willing to back up the leadership, especially the pastor. (Cover up faults and flaws) Faith in the leadership is a must. (they are Gods ministers, called to lead us) Ready to proclaim the gospel in and out of season. (The gospel is an offense, so it’s not our fault if people are offended!) Our new church has some different ideas. They talk to each other sometimes without even pointing out each other’s faults. I guess they don’t know that we are supposed to rebuke and exhort each other. Sometimes after service people even ask the pastor to clarify what he said during his message. Maybe they are rebellious or just lack the faith to trust in God’s messenger. One of the strangest things is that the pastor admits he makes mistakes sometimes. I’ve always been taught that God’s messenger is to be trusted in all things. My wife sometimes seems like she wants to go back to our old church. Whenever we talk with old friends they say we should too. It doesn’t seem like we see our old friends any more. Our old pastor told us if we left our old church we would be cursed. I think our old friends are afraid they might be cursed as well. Maybe they just think of us as backsliders. That’s how we always thought of others who left. Of course there are a few close friends who still say "hi" when we see them at the store. We call or exchange email with a couple sometimes. Of course they are just being rebellious, disobedient to their pastor. We always talk of doing "something" together. We never do. We try to keep our distance. We wouldn’t want them to get in trouble with their pastor. We can’t say much without seeming to be causing division or being troublemakers. We wouldn’t want to invite anyone to visit our new church. That would be stealing sheep. We have been spending more time with our families lately. My mom has even asked me to pray for her. No matter how much I preached to her before she never asked me to pray for her. She always told me to stop trying to push my religion on her. This is a strange change. My dad is a Christian. Even though I’ve been taught that He attends a "dry bones" denomination, I can tell he loves us. He always seems to be there for us to talk to lately. I don’t know why I never really took him too seriously before. I’m glad he’s there for us now. Our new pastor isn’t as forceful as our old pastor. But he seems to have a real concern for us. He seems to smile and nod a lot as he listens to what we have to say. I like that. We’re used to a stern gaze and a harsh rebuke. I always ridiculed those "lovey dovey churches". Isn’t the Word of God a double edged Sword? A consuming Fire? I think our new church will do just fine. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 94: 05.06. CLASSIC CULTS ======================================================================== Classic Cults are cults of long standing that deny the basics of the faith and which can be easily traced back to early heresies of the Church. Such cults include the Jehovah’s Witnesses, Unitarians, Mormons, etc. This article is in two parts firstly Rod Cook’s article "Who Said Jesus Is God" that looks at the deity of Jesus which is contested by many cults. Then an article from the Christian Research Institute on the Mormon "high Christology" and why it just doesn’t fit with Scripture. Between these two articles you should be able to refute most arguments by traditional cults. Past One: WHO SAID JESUS IS GOD? (Originally prepared by Rod Cook, Townsville) APOSTLE JOHN... In the beginning was the Word; the Word was with God; the Word was God" (John 1:1) APOSTLE THOMAS... "Thomas answered Him, (Jesus) ’My Lord and my God!’ Jesus said to him, ’Have you believed because you have seen Me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.’" (John 20:28) 1Jn 5:20 Rom 9:5 Heb 1:8-9 John 1:18 APOSTLE PETER... "Simeon Peter, servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have been given a faith like ours in the justifying power of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ:" (2Pe 1:1 The New American Bible) APOSTLE PAUL... "awaiting our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us to redeem us." (Tit 2:13) JEREMIAH... "See, the days are coming--it is Yahweh who speaks--when I will raise a virtuous Branch for David, who will reign as true King and be wise, practicing honesty and integrity in the land. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel dwell in confidence. And this is the name he will be called: Yahweh-our-integrity." (Jer 23:5 The Jerusalem Bible) ISAIAH... "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government will be upon his shoulder, and his name will be called "Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." (Isa 9:6) JUSTIN MARTYR (110-165AD)... "For Christ is King, and Priest, and God and Lord, and angel and man, and captain, and stone, and a son born and first made subject to suffering, then returning to heaven, and again coming with glory, and He is preached as having the everlasting kingdom; so I prove from all the Scriptures." (DIALOGUE WITH TRYPHO Chapter 34) IRENAEUS (120-202AD)... "In order that to Christ Jesus, our Lord, and God, and Savior, and King, according to the will of the invisible Father, ’every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess to Him,’" (IRENAEUS AGAINST HERESIES P. 330) IGNATIUS (30-107AD)... "For our God Jesus Christ, was, according to the appointment of God, conceived in the womb by Mary, of the seed of David, but by the Holy Ghost." (EPISTLE OF IGNATIUS TO THE EPHESIANS Chapter 18) "Our Lord and God, Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, first did and the taught, as Luke testifies, ’whose praise is in the Gospel through all the Churches.’" (Chapter 15) "ABSTAIN FROM THE POISON OF HERETICS...They are ashamed of His cross; they deny His passion; and they do not believe His resurrection. They introduce God as being unknown; they suppose Christ to be unbegotten, and as to the Spirit, they do not admit that He exists. Some of them say that the Son is a mere man, and that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are but the same person, and that the creation is the work of God, not by Christ, but by some other strange power. Be on your guard, therefore, against such persons, that ye admit not of a snare for your own souls. And act so that your life shall be without offense to all men, lest ye become as ’a snare upon a watch-tower, and as a net which is spread out.’" (EPISTLE OF IGNATIUS TO THE TRALLIANS Chapter 6&7) Part Two - The Mormon High Christology and a Christian Research paper by Gordon R Lewis. Copyright 1993 by the Christian Research Institute. "Are Mormons Christians?" by Stephen E. Robinson (Bookcraft, 1991) (a book review from the Christian Research Journal, Fall 1992, page 33, by Gordon R. Lewis). The Editor-in-Chief of the Christian Research Journal is Elliot Miller. *A Summary Critique* Although a god allegedly told Joseph Smith in his first vision that he should join none of the Christian denominations, Stephen Robinson now wants "to show that the arguments used to exclude Latter-day Saints from the ’Christian’ world are flawed" (p. vii). Robinson, chairman of the Department of Ancient Scripture at Brigham Young University, has taught religion at Presbyterian and Methodist-related schools. He may be the only Latter-day Saint (LDS) to earn tenure in a non-LDS college. Among a host of recent efforts by Mormons to gain acceptance for their church as Christian, Robinson’s book is surely the most important and sophisticated. WHAT IS A CHRISTIAN? Crucial to Robinson’s argument is his understanding of the nature of Christianity and what a Christian is. In chapter 1 he proposes a generic definition of Christianity that fits all who are usually classed as "Christian": Protestants -- from liberal to evangelical, Roman Catholics, and Eastern Orthodox. With such an inclusive definition, Robinson succeeds in showing that LDS may be regarded Christian. But this approach to legitimizing Mormonism can only succeed if a Christian does not need to believe in one personal, transcendent God, one incarnate Christ, the completed atonement, and one gospel of grace through faith alone. For mere descriptive purposes, historians may classify every group that calls itself Christian as Christian. Jesus Christ, however, did not do this. Jesus taught that "the way" was narrow and that we should not assume that all who call Jesus "Lord" are really Christians (Mat 5:20; Mat 7:13-23). In defining the one true church, would Robinson be satisfied with a generic definition that includes all churches calling themselves Christian? Not if the LDS is the one true church -- with baptism accompanied with the laying on of hands by those in authority in the "restored priesthood." Robinson’s generic pattern of defining terms like "church" or "Christian" is too broad to be useful for purposes of normative Christian doctrine. Robinson’s generic definition of a Christian from Webster’s Third New International Dictionary is: "One who believes or professes or is assumed to believe in Jesus Christ and the truth as taught by him; an adherent of Christianity; one who has accepted the Christian religious and moral principles of life; one who has faith in and has pledged allegiance to God thought of as revealed in Christ; one whose life is conformed to the doctrines of Christ" (1). The second most common meaning of "Christian" in Robinson’s book is: "A member of a church or group professing Christian doctrine or belief" (1). Having raised the issue of the nature of Christianity, Robinson fails to interact with the relevant literature. For example, he does not deal with evangelical literature such as J. Gresham Machen’s _What Is Christianity?_ (Eerdmans, 1950), _What Is Faith?_ (Eerdmans, 1948), and _Christianity and Liberalism_ (Eerdmans, 1946). Nor does he consider Samuel J. Craig’s _Christianity Rightly So Called_ (Presbyterian and Reformed, 1957). These writers show why liberalism -- as represented in Ludwig Feuerbach’s _The Essence of Christianity_ (Harper & Brothers, 1957), Adolph Harnack’s _What Is Christianity?_ (Harper & Brothers, 1957), and William Hamilton’s _The New Essence of Christianity_ (Association Press, 1961) -- cannot be regarded as genuine Christianity. Robinson’s chapter on "The Exclusion by Name-Calling" correctly shows the difficulty of defining a "cult" on psychological and sociological criteria, and points to the need for objective doctrinal criteria for determining what a cult is. He wrongly concludes, however, that "there are simply no objective criteria for distinguishing religions from ’cults"’ (29). Such a sweeping generalization is uncharacteristic of responsible scholarship and fails to take account of my proposal in a 1966 publication, Confronting the Cults: "The term cult here designates a religious group which claims authorization by Christ and the Bible but neglects or distorts the gospel, the central message of the Savior and the Scriptures."[1] In this same book, I list seven questions drawn from explicit New Testament statements -- all dealing with what one must believe to be saved -- that enable one to distinguish authentic Christian faith from inauthentic faiths. Several of these questions are concerned with the person of Christ. An Issue that “Really Matters” – One’s View of Christ After attempting to answer many charges and alleged misrepresentations, Robinson thinks he gets down to the core issue in his "Conclusions" (111-14): "Surely by now it will have dawned on the discerning reader that of all the various arguments against Latter-day Saints being considered Christians, not one -- not a single one -- claims that Latter-day Saints don’t acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord. Consider the enormous implications of this fact. The only issue that really matters is the only issue that is carefully avoided!" (111) The error in this sweeping statement becomes evident upon examining what Mormons mean when they say "Jesus is Lord." In 1966 my chapter on "The Bible, the Christian and Latter-day Saints" asked: "Do you believe that Jesus is the Christ (the anointed Messiah) who was God (John 1:1) and became flesh (John 1:14)?"[2] All of these beliefs are entailed in the biblical affirmation that Jesus is Lord. Mormons holding official church doctrine do not exclaim with Thomas, "My Lord and my God" (John 20:28). For Robinson, the fact that Mormons have an exalted view of Christ is sufficient for classifying them as Christians. In fact, to use the terminology of biblical scholars, the Latter-day Saints have a very high Christology. That is, for the Latter-day Saints Jesus is not merely a good man, a teacher, or even a prophet; he is not merely a human being; he is not the son of Joseph and Mary who later became God’s Son. In common with other Bible-oriented Christians, the Latter-day Saints believe that Jesus is the pre-existent Word of the Father who became the literal, physical, genetic Son of God. As the pre-existent Word he was the agent of the Father in the creation of all things. As the glorified Son he is the agent of the Father in the salvation of all humanity. We believe he was conceived of a virgin by the power of the Holy Ghost. We believe he led a sinless life, that he was morally and ethically perfect, that he healed the sick and raised the dead, that he walked on the water and multiplied the loaves and the fishes. We believe he set a perfect example for human beings to imitate and that humans have an obligation to follow his example in all things. Most important of all, we believe that he suffered and died on the cross as a volunteer sacrifice for humanity in order to bring about an atonement through the shedding of his blood. We believe that he was physically resurrected and that he ascended into the heavens, from which he will come at the end of this world to establish his kingdom upon the earth and eventually to judge both the living and the dead (113). This "high Christology" may be impressive, but it is more like that of the ancient Arians who believed there was a time when the Word was not (a view similar to that of contemporary Jehovah’s Witnesses), than the view espoused by historic Christianity. Robinson’s Jesus remains a creature with a beginning in time and not the Creator who is worthy of worship as God. Jesus’ oneness with God the Father and His distinctness from the Father are best accounted for by the Trinitarian teaching of oneness in essence and distinctness in persons. It is true, as Robinson points out, that affirmations of Jesus’ oneness in purpose with God (as opposed to oneness in nature with God) account for some passages on the functional unity of Father and Son (e.g., John 17:11). But this is not the case with other passages, such as John 1:1 : "The Word was with God and the Word was God." Only if Jesus was of the same nature and being as God could the same divine attributes apply. Jesus said, "No one can snatch them out of my hand" (John 10:27), and "No one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand" (John 10:30). When Jesus explains that "I and the Father are one" in this context, He teaches more than mere agreement of purpose; He makes clear their oneness in sovereign power. The later creeds did not "invent" the concepts of Christ’s divine and human natures, as Robinson argues (86); they found the Bible teaching His human and divine characteristics and integrated that teaching coherently. If the Christ of a Mormon is not the one true God (John 17:3) who is eternal (John 1:1; Heb 1:8-12; Heb 5:6; Heb 13:8), the object of worship is a creature and worship itself becomes idolatry. If the Christ of a Mormon is a spirit-child who has been procreated – like countless other spirit children by the flesh-and-bone Father and one of his wives – then he is not uniquely of the same nature as the Father, as the Bible and the historic church teach. If the LDS Christ is our finite brother, not different in kind from us, he is therefore not uniquely Immanuel – “God with us" (Mat 1:23). The Christ of the Bible is the unique God-man -- incarnate, crucified, and risen once-for-all. Only if He was infinite God in human flesh could His blood have infinite value for the justification of all the billions of people who have ever sinned. Is a “High” Christology Sufficient? The first Christians believed that Jesus was Lord and Christ (Acts 2:36). They also believed in one God, and Jesus was included in the Godhead. A "high Christology" is not necessarily enough to fit the evidence that He was far more than the first or highest being in creation; He is the God-man. Robinson claims that the Nicene Creed "not only differs from, but adds new concepts to, the biblical view" (73). He admits that the Bible teaches oneness and threeness, but maintains that "the scriptures themselves do not offer any explanation of how the threeness and the oneness are related" (72). Here Robinson fails to appreciate the careful reasoning behind the creed. Certainly the Scriptures do not explain how God can be three persons in one being, but they do lead us to the conclusion that He is. Both the Old and New Testaments deny polytheism (the belief in many gods) and teach that there is one God. Thus the Bible’s teaching forbids a view of the threeness that leads to more than one God. However, a word study of "one" in Scripture shows that in any one family, nation, or church, we may expect a plurality of persons. Husband and wife are "one" flesh; Israel is "one" nation with many people; the church is "one" body with many personal members. The Bible’s teaching on God’s oneness excludes polytheism but includes the possibility of diversity in unity. The Bible also makes clear that within the unity of the Godhead are the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It further teaches that each of the three is God and each thinks, feels, wills, and relates in personal ways.[3] Three types of passages need to be accounted for in one’s Christology. (1) Some passages speak of the limitations Christ assumed when He took on a human nature in order to purchase man’s redemption. From this human perspective Christ could say, "the Father is greater than I" (John 14:28). (2) Some passages refer to His eternal personal distinctness from the Father as Son (John 3:16), Word (John 1:1), radiance (Heb. 1:3), and so forth. (3) Some passages speak of His essential oneness with the Father in being and attributes (John 10:30). The conclusion that the three persons are one in both purpose and in essence best accounts for the Bible’s teaching that there is one divine Being and that the fellowshipping Father, Son, and Spirit subsist as distinguishable personal consciousnesses within that oneness. A Trinitarian statement such as we have in the Nicene Creed on oneness of being and threeness of co-equal persons is not something foreign to Scripture, but derived from it. The Trinitarian doctrine most coherently integrates the varied lines of teaching about God’s oneness and threeness in Scripture. We ask Mormons to believe the doctrine on _scriptural authority alone._ As B. B. Warfield said, "The formulation of the doctrine, although not made in Scripture, is not opposed to Scripture. When we assemble the...[separate parts of Scripture] into their organic unity, we are not passing from Scripture, but entering more thoroughly into the meaning of Scripture."[4] These "separate parts" of Scripture include the New Testament teaching that (1)there is but one God; (2) the personality of Jesus Christ is God manifested in the flesh at Bethlehem, and the personality of the Holy Spirit is God manifested at Pentecost. "What we mean by the doctrine of the Trinity is nothing but the formulation in exact language of the conception of God presupposed in the religion of the incarnate Son and outpoured Spirit." The doctrine that Jesus Christ is one person with two natures -- one truly divine and the other truly human -- is a more coherent account of the biblical data than a Mormon formulation in which he is not essentially God. Similarly, the doctrine that God is one in essence and subsists in three persons -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit -- is more coherent with the teaching on the oneness and threeness of God than a committee of two separate flesh-and-bone gods. (Although Mormons argue that to be persons the first two needed flesh-and-bone bodies, the third "personage" in this triumvirate, the Holy Ghost, is not flesh and bone.) New concepts are added to Scripture, not by the creeds of Nicea and Chalcedon, but by Joseph Smith’s doctrine of a flesh-and-bone God (see, for example, Doctrine and Covenants 130:22). Robinson’s uncritical acceptance of Joseph Smith’s interpretation of an alleged vision makes it impossible for him to accept the Trinitarian teaching of the Bible. Is one young man’s interpretation of a poorly substantiated vision a reliable base on which to challenge the Bible’s consistent refutation of polytheism and support of one God who is spirit? If God’s eternal being includes a flesh-and-bone body, Solomon could not have said, "The heaven, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built!" (1Ki 8:27). The eternal Word added a human nature (made up of a human body and spirit) for purposes of incarnation and redemption in space and time; but remained truly divine. The body is the material aspect of His human nature, the divine nature forever remains spirit. So long as Mormons contradict Scripture by affirming more than one God they are not worshiping the one God whom Christians worship and serve. It is not anti-Mormon argumentation that excludes the LDS from the Christian faith, but their own disbelief of the biblical teaching about Jesus. The Scriptures grant the right to be called "Christian" to all who receive Jesus (John 1:12) as the eternal (not just pre-existent) Word who was continuously and personally with the one true God (John 1:1) and was the one true God (John 1:1) who became flesh (John 1:14). Do Christians Affirm Deification? Generally speaking, Robinson accurately says, "No two denominations, and few individual Christians agree on every detail of Christian doctrine" (57). Given the freedom people have in Christ, diversity of beliefs often appears in details. Robinson correctly reports that Christians "do not agree among themselves upon exactly what the standard is" (58) -- that is, there is no single, complete standard of Christian doctrine for all Christian denominations. Admittedly, "the doctrine of Christians is not always true" (59). Christians affirm inerrancy only of Scripture. In chapters 6 and 8, Robinson would appear to be arguing that since Christians can believe in doctrines that are neither biblical nor true, Mormons can be Christians! But it is not believing false, unbiblical doctrines that gives a person the right to be called a redeemed child of God. Whether true or false, Robinson says, Christians have believed in self-deification. So Mormons should not be excluded from Christianity because of this doctrine. Robinson writes: Early Christian saints and theologians, later Greek Orthodoxy, modern Protestant evangelists, and even C. S. Lewis have all professed their belief in a doctrine of deification. The scriptures themselves talk of many "gods" and use the term god in a limited sense for beings other than the Father, the Son, or the Holy Ghost… If scripture can use the term gods for non-ultimate beings; if the early Church could, if Christ himself could, then Latter-day Saints cannot conceivably be accused of being outside the Christian tradition for using the same term in the same way (70). For Robinson’s argument to hold, Mormons must use the term "gods" in the same way as the Christians mentioned. But this is not the case. Robinson states the assumption behind the Mormon concept: "It is indisputable that Latter-day Saints believe... the famous couplet of Lorenzo Snow, fifth President of the LDS church, [which] states: ’As man now is, God once was; As God now is, man may be’" (60). Mormon apostle and theologian Bruce R. McConkie explains the frame of reference for this affirmation -- the Mormon doctrine of eternal progression: In the full sense, eternal progression is enjoyed only by those who receive exaltation. Exalted persons gain the fullness of the Father; they have all power, all knowledge, and all wisdom; they gain a fullness of truth, becoming one with the Father… Those who gain exaltation, having thus enjoyed the fullness of eternal progression, become like God. Both Mormon and Christian writers seem sometimes to confuse being like God in some respects with becoming god. Christians may compare a person with God in holiness, mercy, or love, but they should never affirm that a person is God, or even a god. If Mormons were using the word "gods" to mean beings with power over others in a non-ultimate sense, as of Satan, the god of this world (2Co 4:4), or of judges, as Jesus (John 10:34) and the Psalmist did (Psa 82:6), there would be little difficulty. But the couplet of President Snow and the LDS doctrine of eternal progression have God evolving in the past as we are now. This is different than the Bible’s references to non-ultimate gods. Nor is anything comparable to the Mormon doctrine of eternal progression found in the church fathers. A statement from Irenaeus is typical -- it may sound like it supports the Mormon view on the surface, but in reality it does not: "If the Word became a man, it was so men may become gods." In context, Irenaeus (like other church fathers) meant that regenerate sinners can become like God in some respects. We can become holy and loving as God is holy and loving. Irenaeus did not affirm that we can become gods through an eternal progression or evolution. He did not affirm that God was once as we are now. Athanasius wrote, "He, indeed, assumed humanity that we might become God." The Mormon view makes Christ a man who became divine; Athanasius teaches that Christ was God who became man once-for-all. "For this reason, therefore, He assumed a body capable of death, in order that it, though belonging to The Word Who is above all, might become in dying a sufficient exchange for all" (emphasis added).[6] For Athanasius all else is temporary, but "He Who remains is God and very Son of God, the sole-begotten Word."[7] We must conclude that the Western church fathers are misunderstood if they are alleged to teach an eternal progression to literal godhood. If Mormons want to teach early Christian doctrine they will follow Augustine in making a radical distinction between the Creator and the creation. They will affirm with Paul in Rom 1:25 that worship and service of the creature is sin. In the Eastern Orthodox Church a greater emphasis is placed on deification, but it remains distinct from the Mormon doctrine. The Eastern Orthodox emphasize renewal in the image and likeness of God in sharing His communicable attributes such as knowledge (Col 3:10), righteousness, and true holiness (Eph 4:24). But an Orthodox writer explains: "This does not mean that human beings are able to become God in his essence. But it does mean that they can become ’gods’ by grace even as they remain creatures of a human nature."[8] Thus, Eastern writers deny that humans can become equal with God as He is now. And there is no suggestion that God was ever as we are. There is a difference between being like God in some respects (communicable attributes) and being God by nature. The Westminster Dictionary of Christianity says that deification is an Eastern Orthodox doctrine that we become like God by participation in divine virtues such as mercy and love or by sharing in divine energies. But we do not participate in God’s very essence, which remains totally mysterious and inaccessible. Mormons who claim that we become gods in essence find no support for this in the Eastern Orthodox doctrine of deification. Robinson also claims that televangelists Paul Crouch, Robert Tilton, and Kenneth Copeland affirm deification. While it is true that these Word-Faith proponents speak of believers being "in the God class," they do not teach that "as man now is, God once was." In any case, Robinson does not strengthen his case by citing teachers who themselves are considered aberrant or heretical by many Christians. Did C. S. Lewis support an LDS concept of deification? In The Weight of Glory, the imaginative writer uses figurative language to express the radical change in believers from the dullest and most uninteresting persons in this life to "gods" and "goddesses" in glory. [9] He must be understood metaphorically in view of his general defense of theism. Similarly, when in Mere Christianity he says we turn permanently into new little Christ’s sharing God’s power, joy, knowledge, and eternity,[10] he is speaking in terms of our likeness to God being renewed. And in The Screwtape Letters his claim that God intends to fill heaven with "little replicas of himself"[11] refers to replicas in certain qualities, not to becoming literal gods. When writing with less literary license Lewis refers to "the immeasurable difference not only between what He [God] is and what all other things are but between the very mode of His existence and theirs."[12] The "eternal progression" doctrine of Snow and his fellow Mormon prophets is part and parcel of the evolutionary view of human stages and opportunities in eternal life -- from pre- existence through the spirit world, mortal life on earth, and into the heavenly telestial, terrestrial, and celestial kingdoms. At its highest level, the latter involves godhood for those loyal to the church in this life. None of the listed sources in their proper contexts support the doctrine as Mormons hold it. Hence, these sources are not examples of people called "Christian" who affirm self-deification in the Mormon sense. THE GOOD NEWS OF JUSTIFICATION BY GRACE THROUGH FAITH Robinson claims that Mormons teach salvation by grace and not works, and so are well within the spectrum of views that are generally accepted as Christian. How can Mormons claim to teach salvation by grace alone? Robinson answers: "It is impossible to earn or deserve any of the blessings of God in any sense that leaves the individual un-indebted to God’s grace" (105). "We participate in our salvation as we attempt to keep the commandments of God, but we can never earn it ourselves or bring it to pass on our own merits, no matter how well we may think we are doing" (106). Robinson also holds that redemption is not of individual effort; one must be born again and so grace is an essential condition for salvation (106-7). As good as these statements sound, they do not uphold salvation by grace alone. Bruce R. McConkie explains: "All men are saved by grace alone without any act on their part, meaning that they are resurrected and become immortal because of the atoning sacrifice of Christ."[13] In Mormon theology, all people are raised from the dead and become immortal through grace alone. But not many will be exalted. How can one achieve exaltation? "This is called salvation by grace coupled with obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel."[14] Then, after ridiculing the idea of Christ’s shed blood as the sole ground of forgiveness, McConkie adds: "Salvation in the kingdom of God is available because of the atoning blood of Christ. But it is received only on the condition of faith, repentance, baptism, and enduring to the end in keeping the commandments of God."[15] Differences may be acknowledged among Christians on the general issue of grace and works, but there is little excuse for confusion regarding one’s legal status before God’s law. Justification, an essential element of the Good News, is only mentioned twice by Robinson and is neither defined nor affirmed. Both grace and works are involved in the Christian experience, it is true, but they are exclusive of each other in relation to a sinner’s moral and spiritual standing before God’s law. Mormons tend to confuse the forensic (legal) and experiential categories. The divine Judge has found all people who depend on merit for their own acceptance with God falling short. In God’s sight, a score of ninety-nine is not a passing grade. Even the best Mormons are guilty before God, who knows their hearts. All Mormons trusting in their own works are now under the verdict of condemnation (Rom 3:10-23). The only basis on which God can be just and accept any Mormon as righteous is the perfect, once-for-all sacrifice of Christ (Rom 3:25-26). By adding works to faith, Mormons make justification a matter of merit, not grace. The principles of works and grace are mutually exclusive for acceptance before the moral Judge of the universe. "And if by grace, then it is no longer works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace" (Rom 11:6). The four laws of the Mormon gospel (faith, repentance, baptism, and commandment-keeping) involve works from beginning to end. Justification pardons from the guilt and penalty of one’s past and present sins, not just from Adamic guilt. "Whoever believes in him is not condemned" (John 3:18). "I tell you the truth," Jesus said, "whoever hears my word and believes him who has sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned" (John 5:24). "I want you to know," Paul wrote, "that through [Jesus] the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Through him everyone who believes is justified…" (Acts 13:38-39). "Since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God" (Rom 5:1). "There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" (Rom 8:1). So long as Latter-day Saints ignore or ridicule justification, it is impossible to assure them that they have the perfect righteousness of Christ that comes from God as a gift (Rom 10:3-4). Like Paul, Mormons need to consider their own law-keeping as rubbish in contrast to the perfect righteousness that comes from God through faith in Christ (Php 3:8-9). Being a Christian begins as sinners repent of their self-justification and trust the atonement of Christ alone for acquittal and a righteous moral status. Belief in Christ’s Incarnation, death on the cross for our sins, and resurrection from the dead directs repentant believers personally to trust the living and exalted Christ of whom the gospel speaks. Individual Mormons and Baptists are Christians if they believe Christianity’s central message, the gospel; neither Mormons nor Baptists are Christians if they do not trust the Christ of the biblical gospel. With all this, an LDS leader, recently addressing my class, brought everything down to the test of a religion’s fruit. The LDS faith has produced an impressive worldwide movement, but the question of the reliability of the one it trusts remains. In his classic book, Christianity and Liberalism, Machen summarizes the heart of the problem: If the object is not really trustworthy then the faith is a false faith. It is perfectly true that such a false faith will often help a man. Things that are false will accomplish a great many useful things in the world. If I take a counterfeit coin and buy a dinner with it, the dinner is every bit as good as if the coin were a product of the mint. And what a very useful thing a dinner is! But just as I am on my way downtown to buy a dinner for a poor man, an expert tells me that my coin is a counterfeit. The miserable, heartless theorizer! While he is going into his uninteresting, learned details about the primitive history of that coin, a poor man is dying for want of bread. So it is with faith. Faith is so very useful, they tell us, that we must not scrutinize its basis in truth. But the great trouble is, such an avoidance of scrutiny itself involves the destruction of faith. For faith is essentially dogmatic. Despite all you can do, you cannot remove the element of faith from it. Faith is the opinion that some person will do something for you. If that person really will do that thing for you, then the faith is true. If he will not do it, then the faith is false. In the latter case, not all the benefits in the world will make the faith true. Though it has transformed the world from darkness to light, though it has produced thousands of glorious healthy lives, it remains a pathological phenomenon. It is false, and sooner or later it is sure to be found out. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 95: 05.07. COMMERCIAL CULTS ======================================================================== (1Ti 6:8-10 NIV) But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. Cults aren’t always religious. Destructive cults fall into several different categories, including: 1. Religious 2. Therapy/Self-Awareness 3. Political 4. Commercial 5. New Age 6. Satanic/Ritual Abuse In this article we will deal with group 4 - Commercial cults. Because of Australian libel laws I am not able to identify and firms on line. I have replaced the names of firms in some extracts with the term "Business X". Here are some things to watch out for when a less than honest commercial cult approaches you: * They are less than direct in naming their organization or their product. * If meetings have a "religious fervor" and seem more like a church service than a business meeting. If hype heavily outweighs hard-headedness. * If a clearly defined and intrusive hierarchy is part of the deal. Particularly if they are to be unquestioningly obeyed. * They start encroaching on your time far more than was originally said. * If "little extras" that you need to "be a success" keep on being introduced - (and they often start adding up financially). * They tell you not to associate with certain people branding them as "negative", or as "losers". If they warn you about ex-members of the organization take special not and special care. * The advice they give over-steps the mark on normal business advice and deals with issues that would normally be regarded as personal. * The feeling that you are being surrounded by these people and that your normal friendships are diminishing as a result of involvement with this group. If the group tells you to lie to your friends in order to recruit them, or even to exaggerate your earnings, or if acceptance or rejection of friendship is dependent on purchasing the product or being involved in the business - then leave fast. * Stand back and ask "What are these people living for?". If the answer is money and the "business" then the business has them - they don’t have the business. You will probably end up in the same mess if you join them. Then ask the question about "intensity". Is this a normal intensity to live at or has this group made some sort of a time-consuming life-dominating fetish out of their company? The Cult Personality To put it briefly cults create a second-skin personality that slips on over the outside of a person’s true self. The cult personality is very conforming and unthinking and has its critical faculties reduced to a minimum. There is a lack of "genuiness" and "realness" in the cult personality which frequently appears "plastic" and "always positive". A normal group has its grumblers, its misfits, it’s not so attractive people and they are accepted as part of the group life. When a group is always attractive, positive, smiling etc. then something abnormal and unnatural is happening. If people all look, sound and dress the same then they are being conformed and have put their own personality to one side and slipped into the approved "cult personality". As one person has said: "When you meet the friendliest people you have ever known, who introduce you to the most loving group of people you’ve ever encountered, and you find the leader to be the most inspired, caring, compassionate and understanding person you’ve ever met, and then you learn that that cause of the group is something you never dared hope could be accomplished, and all of this sounds too good to be true, it probably is too good to be true! Don’t give up your education, your hopes and ambitions, to follow a rainbow." -- Jenne Mills, former member of the People’s Temple and subsequent victim of assassination a year following the November 18, 1978 Jonestown suicide/murders of 911 adults and children. The Internet has many sites where the perils of belonging to commercial cults are discussed, here is an extract from one of them: In his book "Fake It ’Til You Make It," Phil Kerns compares Business X to Jim Jones’ People’s Temple. Page 57 I remember the telephone call I received from a woman in Salem, Oregon. She was calling me about my book on the Jonestown tragedy. I was new in the [Business X] business, having been in only a week. "I hope that I am not disturbing you, Mr. Kerns. I got your telephone number from your publisher in Plainsfield, New Jersey. I read your book on the People’s Temple, and I just wanted to give you my condolences on the loss of your mother and sister in Jonestown." Towards the end of our telephone conversation, she asked, "Oh, buy the way, are you aware of the Business X business?" "Yes," I replied, but I did not tell her I was in the business. "You know, every time I go to one of their meetings, it reminds me so much of your book--all the chanting and the way they malign and twist the holy scriptures for gain. I feel that this business is a cult. I think you need to tell the world about this company." Inside I was chuckling to myself. "This is so far from the truth," I thought. "This is just a soap business--an opportunity." I dismissed her statements from my mind because I felt they were unfounded and drifting somewhere between "Star Wars" and the "Twilight Zone." However, today I know better; I wish I had not shunned this woman’s notion too abruptly. I hope that if she read this book, she will call back so I may apologize. Could this organization be classified as a cult? There are, without a doubt, many different characteristics utilized within this integration of salespersons which could lead many individuals to arrive at the same conclusions this lady did. Now I realized there was more to this business than just soap and spinoffs. There was POWER! And here are a few more extracts from real live folks on Internet land who think Business X isn’t as harmless as it makes out (they are as originally posted): My wife and I are attempting to cope with our close friends in Business X. Originally the idea was to become financially secure and in doing so provide free time to visit friends such as us. Now all they can talk about are *friends in the business*. Can’t knock them for their motive for providing for themselves but it becomes all consuming to the point that anything not associated with Business X is not worth investing time in! If they buy one more self-help/motivational book/tape I’m going to scream!! Any suggestions?? Maybe you should see about having them deprogrammed. I understand a lot of what they do to make a faithful sales force is like what the cults (David Koresh, i.e.) do to their initiates. Business X is like their new "religion". My husband and I tried Business X - it sounded sure fire. But it turned out to be too "cult-ish". The set up for ordering and seminars and training took incredibly too much time - busy normal people with other parts to their lives could not abide such day long affairs every month. Besides, the stuff that was pushed for training emphasized glorifying your up-line, who often was not smarter than you… We didn’t make money, despite spending a lot of time. And we did try hard!! The clincher was the pseudo-religious tone, and sometimes outright Christian preaching, of the seminars. We are not Christian, and there is no reason for us to be in such a business if it is not non-sectarian. But Business X folks don’t discuss things like that. My advice... try it – you won’t like it. A co-worker of mine has a gung-ho Business X rep for several years. One day we were talking about my collection of Grateful Dead tapes which numbers over 450 (go ahead, take your cheap shots) and she said, "well, I’m catching up to you--I’ve got 250 Business X tapes. The only difference is, you don’t make any money off yours." Well, there are lots of other differences, but I ignored them and asked her to add up how much she had spent on all those tapes, seminars, and various other Business X materials and compare it to her Business X income. The next day she came in rather sullen-looking. After some prying on my part she eventually admitted that she had taken my challenge and discovered that she had lost a great deal of money due to her involvement with Business X. Just how much she wouldn’t say, but she allowed as how it was a lot more than the cost of my tape collection. When Does a Multi-level Marketing Organization Become a Cult? The quick answer is when the profit motive is superseded by an ideological commitment. When people who are LOSING money don’t get out. When it’s not a business but an all-encompassing lifestyle. When the business runs you instead of you running it. When those over you in the business take over your personal life. Business is just business. Business is not everything. When a business becomes everything then it’s no longer a business but a mammonistic philosophy. Multi-level marketing does not always equal a cult. There are some firms that use multi-level marketing honestly and well. They are in the minority. There are also some businesses using conventional structures that are extremely exploitative and cult-like in their approach. Use the tests at the start of this article to gauge whether the group you know of is legitimate. Look at their actions, not at their words, their "invasiveness" not at their promises. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 96: 05.08. DEMONS DEFEATED ======================================================================== Demons are variously caricatured as "naughty spirits" and even portrayed as "sources of wisdom" in some New Age teachings. The Bible, however, sees demons as truly evil and deceptive beings arrayed in rebellion against God and whose fate will be eternal torment imprisoned in a lake of fire. This latter view is far closer to the reality experienced by demon-possessed people and those who have dealt with demons in others. A demon possessed person is often deeply deceived - thus showing the deceptive nature of demons, a demon-possessed person often engages in activities that display a lack of conscience toward others or a delight in the evil and the bizarre. This betrays the evil, amoral and actively wicked attitude of the demonic. A demon-possessed person is often angry at ministers, scornful of Scripture, fearful of communion, mocking at morality and may hold bizarre views of Christ. Christian praise and worship can cause strong negative reactions. This displays the demonic hatred of God and rebellion toward His legitimate authority over this Earth that He made. Those who deal with demons sometimes find that demons are both aware of and terrified of the eternal fate that awaits them. They believe in the lake of fire even if some theologians do not. This article will look at what the Bible says about demons, their fate, and how we can stop them hindering our Christian life. Let’s start with the positive... Jesus’ Triumph over the Demonic Realm He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. (1Jn 3:8 NKJV) You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. (1Jn 4:4 NKJV) We know that whoever is born of God does not sin; but he who has been born of God keeps himself, and the wicked one does not touch him. (1Jn 5:18 NKJV) The book of 1 John was probably written when the persecutions of the emperor Diocletian really began to bite. Satan and his instrument - the pagan Roman Empire seemed to be indefinite ascendancy over the church, God and all the forces of good. 1 John is thus a very radical and bold epistle in its claims to victory in Christ. There are three realities described here: 1. The reality of Christ’s mission in particular His incarnation. The reason Jesus Christ was manifested in human form was so that He could tackle Satan on his own turf and destroy all his works. Like a hand-grenade exploding in the Devil’s face the incarnation brought the awesome power of the Son of God into proximity with evil so that it might completely destroy it. 2. The reality of Christ in us the hope of glory. He who is in us is He who came to destroy the works of the Devil. Jesus overcame the world then, and now, He is in us, and continues to overcome the world. 3. The reality of the indestructibility of our real eternal selves which are based on Christ in us. A person who has been born again has a new self that is created on a new order and a higher plane. It is eternal, imperishable and indestructible, it cannot be defiled. It is sinless and cannot sin. It is born of God and partakes of the very principles of the nature of God (but on a much different scale). (1Jn 3:9 NKJV) Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God. This new self battles with the flesh in a life long struggle for dominance (Gal 5:16-18) so Christians still do sin but this sin is not a part of them that will still be with them in Heaven. There will be no need for Purgatory, the new self has been sinless from the "new birth". This new self cannot be "touched" by the evil one. The person we will be for the next ten million years cannot be affected by sin , defilement or temptation and it has already passed out of the judgment of God (John 5:24, Rom 8:1-2). While Satan can destroy your flesh (1Co 5:5) he cannot touch the real eternal you. (See article on the Inner Man for more detail) These three powerful realities mean that even though Satan and his demons are at times quite formidable foes they ultimately cannot harm us. They are defeated rebels whose rebellion will come to nothing in the end. Jesus Christ came to destroy ALL the works of the Devil and through His church that task is being completed and will be finally climaxed at the return of Christ. Let’s look at how the Devil lost the weapons from his armory. Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil. (Heb 2:14 NKJV) The incarnation gave Jesus the flesh and blood He needed so that through death He could defeat Satan’s ability to wield the power of death, keeping the world in fear and abject slavery. And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it. (Col 2:13-15 NKJV) (For further expansion on this verse see the article “The Cross In Colossians”). These verses in Colossians indicate that the weapon of accusation has been removed. Satan has been disarmed by the forgiveness we have received. He no longer has any basis for accusing us. The Charge sheets are all nailed to the Cross. Satan’s ultimate defeat will be an ignominious vanquishing (Rev 20:10 NKJV) The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. The Christian’s Power And Authority Over The Demonic Realm The Christian’s power and authority over the demonic realm is not based on having more "might" than the demonic realm (I do not know of any Christian with the spiritual might anywhere near that of Satan) but on authority. The distinction is important. Joash became king of Israel when he was 7 years old. Though physically puny and intellectually hardly a match for bad queen Athaliah he had more authority than her or nay of his rivals. He was king. Similarly even a "baby Christian" has more authority in the spiritual realm than the biggest baddest demon on the block. As a small child is more important than the largest fiercest lion so God has deemed that even the least Christian outranks the mightiest power and principality. The authority comes because of their position in the heavenly hierarchy. In God’s household we are the "sons" and angels, even the mightiest of them are just servants of God. And sons outrank servants. Are they (i.e. angels) not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation? (Heb 1:14 NKJV) Do you not know that we shall judge angels? How much more, things that pertain to this life? (1Co 6:3 NKJV) We have undergone a spiritual transformation as a result of the gospel. In the Old Testament we were "a little lower than the angels", we were like children who, in their minority, have less status than say the butler and are expected to treat the household servants with respect. But with the gospel we have come of age and are now full-fledged sons of God But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name. (John 1:12 NKJV) Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. (Gal 3:24-26 NKJV) This transformation means that a huge change in status has occurred so that inhabitants of the Kingdom of God are truly awesome spiritual beings. And raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. (Eph 2:6-7 NKJV) Which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. (Eph 1:20-21 NKJV) Assuredly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. (Mat 11:11-13 NKJV) We have been raised up with Christ and seated at His right hand in the heavenly realms far above all principalities and power and might and dominion so that Jesus could say of us that the least in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than the mightiest of the Old Testament saints. This is "amazing grace" and is God displaying His kindness for all the world to see. Wielding Our Weapons With this in mind let’s look the authority we have been given and how we are to wield it. Then He called His twelve disciples together and gave them power and authority over all demons, and to cure diseases. (Luk 9:1 NKJV) After these things the Lord appointed seventy others also, and sent them two by two before His face into every city and place where He Himself was about to....Then the seventy returned with joy, saying, "Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name." And He said to them, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. "Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. "Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven." In that hour Jesus rejoiced in the Spirit and said, "I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them to babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight. "All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him." Then He turned to His disciples and said privately, "Blessed are the eyes which see the things you see; "for I tell you that many prophets and kings have desired to see what you see, and have not seen it, and to hear what you hear, and have not heard it." (Luk 10:1, Luk 10:17-24 NKJV) Jesus commissions the twelve and then the seventy to have power of evil. In these verses we discover three things: 1. The power we have over the demonic realm is a gracious gift from Jesus "I give you..." to equip us for ministry (it is in the context of a ministry trip). 2. This power is both offensive I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy. and defensive and nothing shall by any means hurt you. 3. That our operating principle is not to be power consciousness but instead humble gratefulness for the grace of God." Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven." Binding and loosing... The Apostle Peter "And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. "And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." (Mat 16:18-19 NKJV) Christians in general "Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them." (Mat 18:18-20 NKJV) Binding Satan and his demons (Mat 12:27-29 NKJV) "And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges. "But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you. "Or how can one enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house. "And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. "But if I cast out demons with the finger of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you. "When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are in peace. "But when a stronger than he comes upon him and overcomes him, he takes from him all his armor in which he trusted, and divides his spoils. (Luk 11:19-22 NKJV) Thus we see that the power to bind and to loose has been delivered over to God’s church (Mat 16:18-19) and can be exercised by any two or three Christians coming together in agreement before God (Mat 18:18-20). Because of the authority we have been given on the basis of the completed work of Christ we can come against Satan as "someone stronger" and overpower him, binding his activities (Mat 12:29), neutralizing his weapons (Luk 11:22) and taking back the things he claims ownership of. (Luk 11:22). In The Name Of Jesus "And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. "If you ask anything in My name, I will do it. (John 14:13-14 NKJV) "You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. (John 15:16 NKJV) The seventy returned with joy, saying, "Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!" He said to them, "I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning. See, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing will hurt you. (Luk 10:17-19 NRSV) She kept doing this for many days. But Paul, very much annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, "I order you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her." And it came out that very hour. (Acts 16:18 NRSV) The name of Jesus is the delegated authority of the Son of God. In the Gilbert and Sullivan opera "The Pirates of Penzance" the pirates are arrested and the police say "We charge you yield in Queen Victoria’s name…." They confront the pirates in the delegated authority of Her Majesty Queen Victoria. When we come against Satan and his demons we can say "We charge you yield in the name of Jesus Christ the Son of the Living God, King of Kings and Lord of Lords". The "name that is above every other name" is the ultimate source of authority. Say the pirates in the opera had answered...we resist in the name of the Pirate King...then there would have been a clash of authority (in fact they said "we love our Queen... " it was very sarcastic...) In such a clash of authority it is the "highest name" that wins. A queen outranks a counts who outranks knights of the realm that outrank commoners etc. So it is in the heavenly realms. Such is the privilege of Christians that we are allowed to use "the name that is above every other name" when we challenge demonic authority. We come bearing the highest authority in the Universe. (Php 2:8-11 NKJV) And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. So to use the name of Jesus in prayer is a declaration of authority. Even Jewish exorcists found it had enormous authority until it was challenged (Acts 19:13-18). They were operating on "bluff" they were not converted and had no right to use the authority of Jesus name in exorcism. The basis of praying in Jesus name is, first of all, being converted. Jesus name can be used in two ways 1) In declarative mode "In the name of Jesus I command..." e.g. when Peter healed the lame man at the Gate Beautiful (Acts 3:6 NKJV) Then Peter said, "Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.". Secondly it may be used to request things from God e.g., in the verses from John’s gospel above "And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son." The difference between command mode and request mode is that we command lesser beings but command greater ones. So when addressing a demon, a disease or a mountain or a storm we operate in command mode as sons of God proudly bearing the authority of Jesus name. When addressing the Father or Jesus we do not presume on the authority we have been given but we come humbly as expectant children with every right to ask and to receive but always in wonder and awe for we have a majestic God. Go boldly into the battle armed with the name of Jesus Christ. Tearing Down Strongholds For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. (2Co 10:3-5 NKJV) Strongholds are built out of thoughts (Gk. noema). When Satan builds a stronghold in a human heart, a church, a nation or across a whole planet he uses thoughts. Thoughts of fear, hatred, envy, enmity and strife. Thoughts that create jealousy and distrust. Thoughts that turn people against God. Thoughts that entice to pride and rebellion. Greedy thoughts, lustful thoughts, evil and cruel thoughts. Brick by brick, thought by thought, constellating together into a demonic aggregate, a wall that blocks out the light and keeps a world in darkness. Note that they are described as "arguments and every high thing that exalts itself". A spiritual stronghold is often characterized by a form of pride known as hubris that exalts itself against God. Herod in the book of Acts is an example of this when he accepted worship from men and was struck dead by God. (Acts 12:21-23) The Gnostic heresies of Colossae (Col 2:8, Col 2:18-23) the bizarre "knowledge" of Corinth (1Co 8:1-3) and the "teaching of The Nicolaitans (Rev 2:6, Rev 2:15) seem also to fit this category. Those with religious delusions are nearly always full of pride and impossible to reason with. That is why Paul calls it a "stronghold." Bible-based apologetics has its place here on demolishing the "lofty arguments" and replacing them with truth. Jesus’ confrontations with the Pharisees and Sadducees and His teaching on the Sermon On The Mount were real "stronghold busters" (You have heard it said...but I say to you...) Thoughts control emotions and actions. If your doctrine tells you that you are no good then you will feel worthless. If your doctrine demands perfection you will feel constantly guilty. This will lead to actions based on your thoughts and feelings e.g. a life of constant striving. A stronghold can become so intense that the person loses touch with reality. To see this in action we need only look at the severely demon-possessed with their destroyed thought life, shattered emotions, lack of contact with reality and constant fear.(Mark 5:1-20) Satan controls us to the extent that he can control our thinking. Yet God has given us weapons against this that are "mighty in God for the pulling down of strongholds" so there is no problem with our weapons! Let’s learn to use them. The weapons are listed in Eph 6:10-18. Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints. The strongholds of Satan are pulled down by people whose lives show moral integrity and faith and who know the word of God and can pray in the Spirit at all times. It is a soldierly combat. For example say Satan has established a stronghold of lustful thoughts in your mind. You need to pull down those lustful concepts about the opposite sex through a thorough study of God’s word and knowing what the human body is, and is not, meant for. (see article “Your Body is a Temple of the Holy Spirit”). Then you need to fill your mind with things that are noble and lovely and true (Php 4:8) praying in Jesus name for God to demolish this stronghold in your life. If the stronghold is in your church - say a spirit of parsimony and greed then you may need to teach on generosity and giving prayerfully wielding the sword of the Spirit until the false concepts of stewardship have come tumbling down and the church is renewed in faith. If the stronghold is in your nation you may need to debate publicly, use the media and refute the lies that keep people bound while guarding yourself and your own life from the counter-attacks that will come. As I said earlier our weapons are "mighty in God" they are amazing weapons if wielded rightly. Do not be intimidated the authority of Jesus and the "big guns" of God’s weaponry are on our side. A Tactical Armory The following table summarizes the ways Satan attacks and the way we should respond to these attacks. I have called it a tactical armory since it tells us which weapon to select for the battle. You may notice that many of the Scriptures for Satan’s tactics also contain the remedy for it close by or in the same verse! God is wise. Scripture Ref Satan’s Trick Our Victory John 10:10 Steal, Kill, Destroy Take hold of the abundant life in Christ 1Ti 3:6-7 Pride leading to condemnation Wise appointing of those in spiritual authority Rev 12:10-11 Accusation The blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony...testifying to what the blood of the Lamb has done for you. Luk 4:1-13 Temptation through misapplied Scriptures that seem to validate fleshly desires for physical appetite, specialness to God and power. Knowing the Scriptures so well that you can spot the lie and counter it with a more appropriate Scripture. 1Ti 4:1-7 Deceptive false teachings Reject fanciful tales, teach the Scriptures, sound doctrine, thankfulness, prayer Jas 2:17-26 Mat 7:15-28 False assurance of salvation A godly life of good works based on Jesus teaching is evidence of having true faith. Deu 7:25, Deu 18:10-13, Deu 32:7, Lev 19:31 Isa 47:13, Acts 19:19 1Co 10:14 Ensnarement in the occult, divination astrology, and the worship of false gods. Destroy all objects associated with it. Complete disassociation from it. 2Co 10:3-5 Eph 6:10-21 Rom 8:4-6, Rom 12:1-2 Php 4:8 Col 3:1-4. Strongholds made of thoughts that oppose God -especially prideful thoughts and unbelief. These thoughts can control the life and emotions of a person, church or country. Biblical apologetics, renewing the mind. Setting the mind on the things of the Spirit Use of our spiritual armour combined with faith, the word of God, prayer in the Spirit and humble submission. Mat 23:17, Mat 23:19, Mat 23:24, Mat 23:26 Luk 4:18 John 9:39 Rom 10:7-10 Rom 1:25 2Co 3:14-17, 2Co 4:3-4 Eph 4:17-24, 1Jn 2:10-11 Blinding the minds of unbelievers. Especially those who stubbornly refuse Christ. Turning to Christ. Having a willingness to accept the light and seek it further. Renewal of the mind. Loving your brother in Christ Good teaching and intercession can "open the eyes of the blind". 1Co 10:14-22 Religious ceremonies that appear "cultural" but are in fact demonic. Awareness of the spiritual realities that under gird such things. Not participating in them. Mat 12:27-29, Mat 16:19, Mat 18:18-20, Luk 11:19-22 Unrestrained Satanic activity. Spiritual wickedness in the heavenly realms. Spiritual "strong men" occupying a person, place or nation. Binding and loosing in Jesus name which may often have a corporate dimension to it. Mat 9:32-34 Luk 13:11-16 Mat 8:16-17 Mark 9:14-29 Disease caused by demons (not all disease is meant) Healing. Prayer and fasting. Faith. Use of command prayers in the name of Jesus. Luk 10:17-19 Acts 16:16-18 Mark 5:1-20, Mark 9:14-29 Luk 11:20-26 Acts 5:16, Acts 8:7 Demon-possession Use of the name of Jesus with authority. Command the demons to leave. Sometimes it may help to identify the demons. Then the delivered person must live a Holy Spirit filled life. Faith and prayer are necessary and sometimes fasting. Conclusion I hope you are feeling a bit more confident in spiritual warfare by now. Please answer the following revision questions. They will help you learn the material. What was one of the purposes in Christ’s coming as a human being? (1Jn 3:8, Heb 2:14) What victories did He win? (Eph 4:8, Col 2:13-15, John 16:33, 1Jn 5:4) What change took place in the heavenly status of believers between the time of John the Baptist and the day of Pentecost? (Mat 11:11-13) Are Christians greater or lesser than angels in authority? (1Co 6:3, Heb 2:14, Eph 2:6-7) What is the importance of authority in spiritual warfare? (See section on the power and authority of the Christian) What are strongholds made of? How do we combat them? (2Co 10:3-5) What are the two ways of using the name of Jesus? (Acts 3:6, Acts 16:18, John 14:13-14, John 15:16) What is meant by binding and loosing? (Mat 12:27-29, Mat 16:19, Mat 18:18-20) Why can the demonic realm "not touch us"? (1Jn 4:4, 1Jn 5:18) What is the right tactic for combating involvement in the occult? (See diagram above) ======================================================================== CHAPTER 97: 05.08. MYSTICAL AND NEW AGE CULTS ======================================================================== (1Jn 4:1-3 NIV) Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world. Mystical and new Age cults are ancient and many of their teachings pre-date the Christian era. Christianity had three main competitors among the religions of its day. - Judaism, the Roman "State religion" based on a pantheon of Greco-Roman gods with /Emperor worship thrown in, and "mystery religions" such as the pantheistic Gnosticism that filled Ephesus and Colossae. The mystical and new age cults closely resemble these ancient and complex philosophical formulations which sought salvation through mystical knowledge and religious experiences. Today Eastern religious terminology e.g. avatar, guru etc. has been blended in with the primal and the philosophical to create an apparently benign and all-embracing system of worship that does not need a crucified Jesus. Jesus is, at best, an "ascended master". There is no need for an atonement just for a "purification", but the purification is not from sin but from ignorance or from "memory traces". Guilt is avoided at all costs. Our accountability to our Creator is never faced or dealt with. The Christian Research Institute produced the following list of New Age beliefs and they are a good starting point for us: The Bible verses next to each point are there to help you refute these teachings should you come across them. A. All is one (monism). Reality is a seamless garment (Gen 1:1 ff.). B. All is God (pantheism). God is an all-pervading impersonal Energy, Force or Consciousness (Rom 1:18-32). C. Self-deification/self-salvation. We look within for power, knowledge and healing (Eze 28:1-9; Eph 2:8-10). D. Paranormal potential. We can experience ESP, telepathy, spirit-contact (spiritism), etc. (Deu 18:9-14). E. Ethical relativism. Moral absolutes can be transcended (Mat 1:1-20; Rom 13:8-10). F. Cosmic evolutionism. The human race is progressing toward a "New Age" of planetary peace and prosperity. (1Th 5:3; Mat 1:1-31). G. Religious syncretism.* All religions are really one, and teach the above (A-F). Jesus was just one of many mystical masters. Reincarnation is stressed. (John 14:6; Acts 4:12; Heb 9:27) People involved in mystical/new age cults are often very gentle searching people who need to see Jesus as real and relevant to them and who are turned off by the harsh dogmatism of so many churches. People in the New Age want to experience love and peace and joy. Thus the key to bringing them out of the cult is to show them that in Christ there are real, lasting and truly satisfying and logical experiences of love, peace and joy. Most Westerners are still very rational in their approach to life. Even those deeply involved in cults may question the New Age doctrine that everything that happens to you, good or bad, happens because some part of you wants it to happen. The death of a child, senseless violence, world hunger and disease challenge this core notion and much mental energy must be expended to maintain it. Because New Age doctrines are difficult to maintain for many Westerners many cults use heavy indoctrination and "thought blocking" processes. Thought blocking is a way of re-routing the mind and deliberately distracting it from the troublesome thought. For instance if you try very hard not to think of white rabbits you cannot help but think of them. However, if you concentrate on saying Om very loudly it will work - you will not think of white rabbits. You will concentrate on your mantra and eventually forget the troubling thought. This can be quite innocent. As a young man attempting to keep his way pure I found that lustful thoughts could be put out of my head if switched thought tracks and concentrated intently on trying to solve a moderately difficult problem in integral calculus in my head. The required concentration on an "unsexy" thought worked. The problem with cults is they overdo it so that the rational thinking faculties are not sharpened but rather suppressed. Speech controls large portions of the brain so most effective thought blocking techniques seem to involve some repetitive and nonsensical speech pattern. Thought blocking processes are taught to new members so that when they experience doubt or negativity they can chant, speak in tongues, enter a trance, etc. Often these are associated with popular songs so that if they try to leave the cult they will constantly hear music that "triggers" them to think of it again and again. Mystical and new age cults are often very exacting and legalistic in their requirements. Strict diets may have to be followed, equinoxes, new moons and other astrological events remembered, and sexual abstinence for long periods (even for married couples) may be imposed. The Colossian church seems to have been troubled by something similar. (Col 2:16-23 NIV) Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ. Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you for the prize. Such a person goes into great detail about what he has seen, and his unspiritual mind puffs him up with idle notions. He has lost connection with the Head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow. Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules: "Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!"? These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings. Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence. These few verses are of great help to Christians confused and bombarded by mystical teachings. The things that the New Agers teach are a shadow - and Christ is the substance. When we have Christ we have the real thing. They have only a shadow. Something that resembles the truth but which is in fact dark and empty. Christians must move beyond "Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!" to a religion based on being "in Christ" who is in God (see article "The Inner Man" for details). New Agers tend to place Jesus "up there" as a "master" but not as a flesh and blood historical person who died on the cross and rose from the dead. When the Ephesians were struggling with Gnostic tendencies in the church the apostle John wrote... (1Jn 4:1-3 NIV) Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world. How can you help people in the New Age? Pray for them that they be brought to enquire about the historical Jesus and the meaning of His existence. Pray that the blindness may be lifted and the bondages of sin broken. Pray that they may have an experience of God in a dream, vision, etc. that points them to the cross and salvation. Many New Agers record their dreams and it is a way that God could speak to them and they would listen. And go in their midst gently. Do not judge them, it is very offensive to them. Give them the experience of love, joy and hope that they are seeking. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 98: 05.09. SPIRITUAL WARFARE ======================================================================== Demons are variously caricatured as "naughty spirits" and even portrayed as "sources of wisdom" in some New Age teachings. The Bible however, sees demons as truly evil and deceptive beings arrayed in rebellion against God and whose fate will be eternal torment imprisoned in a lake of fire. This latter view is far closer to the reality experienced by demon-possessed people and those who have dealt with demons in others. A demon possessed person is often deeply deceived - thus showing the deceptive nature of demons, a demon-possessed person often engages in activities that display a lack of conscience toward others or a delight in the evil and the bizarre. This betrays the evil, amoral and actively wicked attitude of the demonic. A demon-possessed person is often angry at ministers, scornful of Scripture, fearful of communion, mocking at morality and may hold bizarre views of Christ. Christian praise and worship can cause strong negative reactions. This displays the demonic hatred of God and rebellion toward His legitimate authority over this Earth that He made. Those who deal with demons sometimes find that demons are both aware of and terrified of the eternal fate that awaits them. They believe in the lake of fire even if some theologians do not. This article will look at what the Bible says about demons, their fate, and how we can stop them hindering our Christian life. Let’s start with the positive... Jesus’ Triumph over the Demonic Realm (1Jn 3:8 NKJV) He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. (1Jn 4:4 NKJV) You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. (1Jn 5:18 NKJV) We know that whoever is born of God does not sin; but he who has been born of God keeps himself, and the wicked one does not touch him. The book of 1 John was probably written when the persecutions of the emperor Diocletian really began to bite. Satan and his instrument - the pagan Roman Empire seemed to be indefinite ascendancy over the church, God and all the forces of good. 1 John is thus a very radical and bold epistle in its claims to victory in Christ. There are three realities described here: 1. The reality of Christ’s mission in particular His incarnation. The reason Jesus Christ was manifested in human form was so that He could tackle Satan on his own turf and destroy all his works. Like a hand-grenade exploding in the Devil’s face the incarnation brought the awesome power of the Son of God into proximity with evil so that it might completely destroy it. 2. The reality of Christ in us the hope of glory. He who is in us is He who came to destroy the works of the devil. Jesus overcame the world then, and now, He is in us, and continues to overcome the world. 3. The reality of the indestructibility of our real eternal selves which are based on Christ in us. A person who has been born again has a new self that is created on a new order and a higher plane. It is eternal, imperishable and indestructible, it cannot be defiled. It is sinless and cannot sin. It is born of God and partakes of the very principles of the nature of God (but on a much different scale). (1Jn 3:9 NKJV) Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God. This new self battles with the flesh in a life long struggle for dominance (Gal 5:16-18) so Christians still do sin but this sin is not a part of them that will still be with them in Heaven. There will be no need for Purgatory, the new self has been sinless from the "new birth". This new self cannot be "touched" by the evil one. The person we will be for the next ten million years cannot be affected by sin, defilement, or temptation and it has already passed out of the judgment of God (John 5:24, Rom 8:1-2). While Satan can destroy your flesh (1Co 5:5) he cannot touch the real eternal you. (See article on the Inner Man for more detail) These three powerful realities mean that even though Satan and his demons are at times quite formidable foes they ultimately cannot harm us. They are defeated rebels whose rebellion will come to nothing in the end. Jesus Christ came to destroy ALL the works of the devil and through His church that task is being completed and will be finally climaxed at the return of Christ. Let’s look at how the devil lost the weapons from his armory. (Heb 2:14 NKJV) Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil. The incarnation gave Jesus the flesh and blood He needed so that through death He could defeat Satan’s ability to wield the power of death, keeping the world in fear and abject slavery. (Col 2:13-15 NKJV) And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it. (For further expansion on this verse see the article The Cross In Colossians) These verses in Colossians indicate that the weapon of accusation has been removed. Satan has been disarmed by the forgiveness we have received. He no longer has any basis for accusing us. The Charge sheets are all nailed to the Cross. Satan’s ultimate defeat will be an ignominious vanquishing (Rev 20:10 NKJV) The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. The Christian’s Power and Authority over the Demonic Realm The Christian’s power and authority over the demonic realm is not based on having more "might" than the demonic realm (I do not know of any Christian with the spiritual might anywhere near that of Satan) but on authority. The distinction is important. Joash became king of Israel when he was 7 years old. Though physically puny and intellectually hardly a match for bad queen Athaliah he had more authority than her or any of his rivals. He was king. Similarly even a "baby Christian" has more authority in the spiritual realm than the biggest baddest demon on the block. As a small child is more important than the largest fiercest lion so God has deemed that even the least Christian outranks the mightiest power and principality. The authority comes because of their position in the heavenly hierarchy. In God’s household we are the "sons" and angels, even the mightiest of them are just servants of God. And sons outrank servants. (Heb 1:14 NKJV) Are they (i.e. angels) not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation? (1Co 6:3 NKJV) Do you not know that we shall judge angels? How much more, things that pertain to this life? We have undergone a spiritual transformation as a result of the gospel. In the Old Testament we were "a little lower than the angels", we were like children who, in their minority, have less status than say the butler and are expected to treat the household servants with respect. But with the gospel we have come of age and are now full-fledged sons of God (John 1:12 NKJV) But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: (Gal 3:24-26 NKJV) Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. This transformation means that a huge change in status has occurred so that inhabitants of the Kingdom of God are truly awesome spiritual beings. (Eph 2:6-7 NKJV) and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. (Eph 1:20-21 NKJV) which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. (Mat 11:11-13 NKJV) "Assuredly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. We have been raised up with Christ and seated at His right hand in the heavenly realms far above all principalities and power and might and dominion so that Jesus could say of us that the least in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than the mightiest of the Old Testament saints. This is "amazing grace" and is God displaying His kindness for all the world to see. Wielding Our Weapons With this in mind let’s look the authority we have been given and how we are to wield it. (Luk 9:1 NKJV) Then He called His twelve disciples together and gave them power and authority over all demons, and to cure diseases. (Luk 10:1, Luk 10:17-24 NKJV) After these things the Lord appointed seventy others also, and sent them two by two before His face into every city and place where He Himself was about to...Then the seventy returned with joy, saying, "Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name." And He said to them, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. "Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. "Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven." In that hour Jesus rejoiced in the Spirit and said, "I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them to babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight. "All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him." Then He turned to His disciples and said privately, "Blessed are the eyes which see the things you see; "for I tell you that many prophets and kings have desired to see what you see, and have not seen it, and to hear what you hear, and have not heard it." Jesus commissions the twelve and then the seventy to have power of evil. In these verses we discover three things: 1. The power we have over the demonic realm is a gracious gift from Jesus "I give you..." to equip us for ministry (it is in the context of a ministry trip). 2. This power is both offensive. I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy and defensive and nothing shall by any means hurt you. 3. That our operating principle is not to be power consciousness but instead humble gratefulness for the grace of God. "Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven." Binding and loosing... The Apostle Peter (Mat 16:18-19 NKJV) "And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. "And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." Christians in general (Mat 18:18-20 NKJV) "Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. "Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. "For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them." Binding Satan and his demons (Mat 12:27-29 NKJV) "And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges. "But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you. "Or how can one enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house. (Luk 11:19-22 NKJV) "And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. "But if I cast out demons with the finger of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you. "When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are in peace. "But when a stronger than he comes upon him and overcomes him, he takes from him all his armor in which he trusted, and divides his spoils. Thus we see that the power to bind and to loose has been delivered over to God’s church (Mat 16:18-19) and can be exercised by any two or three Christians coming together in agreement before God (Mat 18:18-20). Because of the authority we have been given on the basis of the completed work of Christ we can come against Satan as "someone stronger" and overpower him, binding his activities (Mat 12:29), neutralizing his weapons (Luk 11:22) and taking back the things he claims ownership of. (Luk 11:22). In The Name Of Jesus (John 14:13-14 NKJV) "And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. "If you ask anything in My name, I will do it. (John 15:16 NKJV) "You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. (Luk 10:17-19 NRSV) The seventy returned with joy, saying, "Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!" He said to them, "I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning. See, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing will hurt you. (Acts 16:18 NRSV) She kept doing this for many days. But Paul, very much annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, "I order you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her." And it came out that very hour. The name of Jesus is the delegated authority of the Son of God. In the Gilbert and Sullivan opera "The Pirates of Penzance" the pirates are arrested and the police say "We charge you yield in Queen Victoria’s name…." They confront the pirates in the delegated authority of Her Majesty Queen Victoria. When we come against Satan and his demons we can say "We charge you yield in the name of Jesus Christ the Son of the Living God, King of Kings and Lord of Lords". The "name that is above every other name" is the ultimate source of authority. Say the pirates in the opera had answered...we resist in the name of the Pirate King...then there would have been a clash of authority (in fact they said "we love our Queen...it was very sarcastic...) In such a clash of authority it is the "highest name" that wins. A queen outranks a counts who outranks knights of the realm that outrank commoners etc. So it is in the heavenly realms. Such is the privilege of Christians that we are allowed to use "the name that is above every other name" when we challenge demonic authority. We come bearing the highest authority in the Universe. (Php 2:8-11 NKJV) And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. So to use the name of Jesus in prayer is a declaration of authority. Even Jewish exorcists found it had enormous authority until it was challenged (Acts 19:13-18). They were operating on "bluff" they were not converted and had no right to use the authority of Jesus name in exorcism. The basis of praying in Jesus name is, first of all, being converted. Jesus name can be used in two ways 1) In declarative mode "In the name of Jesus I command..." e.g. when Peter healed the lame man at the Gate Beautiful (Acts 3:6 NKJV) Then Peter said, "Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.". Secondly it may be used to request things from God e.g., in the verses from John’s gospel above "And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son." The difference between command mode and request mode is that we command lesser beings but command greater ones. So when addressing a demon, a disease or a mountain or a storm we operate in command mode as sons of God proudly bearing the authority of Jesus name. When addressing the Father or Jesus we do not presume on the authority we have been given but we come humbly as expectant children with every right to ask and to receive but always in wonder and awe for we have a majestic God. Go boldly into the battle armed with the name of Jesus Christ. Tearing Down Strongholds (2Co 10:3-5 NKJV) For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, Strongholds are built out of thoughts (Gk. noema). When Satan builds a stronghold in a human heart, a church, a nation or across a whole planet he uses thoughts. Thoughts of fear, hatred, envy, enmity and strife. Thoughts that create jealousy and distrust. Thoughts that turn people against God. Thoughts that entice to pride and rebellion. Greedy thoughts, lustful thoughts, evil and cruel thoughts. Brick by brick, thought by thought, constellating together into a demonic aggregate, a wall that blocks out the light and keeps a world in darkness. Note that they are described as "arguments and every high thing that exalts itself". A spiritual stronghold is often characterized by a form of pride known as hubris that exalts itself against God. Herod in the book of Acts is an example of this when he accepted worship from men and was struck dead by God. (Acts 12:21-23) The Gnostic heresies of Colossae (Col 2:8, Col 2:18-23) the bizarre "knowledge" of Corinth (1Co 8:1-3) and the "teaching of The Nicolaitans (Rev 2:6, Rev 2:15) seem also to fit this category. Those with religious delusions are nearly always full of pride and impossible to reason with. That is why Paul calls it a "stronghold". Bible-based apologetics has its place here on demolishing the "lofty arguments" and replacing them with truth. Jesus’ confrontations with the Pharisees and Sadducees and His teaching on the Sermon On The Mount were real "stronghold busters" (You have heard it said...but I say to you...). Thoughts control emotions and actions. If your doctrine tells you that you are no good then you will feel worthless. If your doctrine demands perfection you will feel constantly guilty. This will lead to actions based on your thoughts and feelings e.g. a life of constant striving. A stronghold can become so intense that the person loses touch with reality. To see this in action we need only look at the severely demon-possessed with their destroyed thought life, shattered emotions, lack of contact with reality and constant fear (Mark 5:1-20). Satan controls us to the extent that he can control our thinking. Yet God has given us weapons against this that are "mighty in God for the pulling down of strongholds" so there is no problem with our weapons! Let’s learn to use them. The weapons are listed in Eph 6:10-18. (Eph 6:10-18 NKJV) Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints. The strongholds of Satan are pulled down by people whose lives show moral integrity and faith and who know the word of God and can pray in the Spirit at all times. It is a soldierly combat. For example say Satan has established a stronghold of lustful thoughts in your mind. You need to pull down those lustful concepts about the opposite sex through a thorough study of God’s word and knowing what the human body is, and is not, meant for, (see article Your Body Is A Temple Of The Holy Spirit) then you need to fill your mind with things that are noble and lovely and true (Php 4:8)) praying in Jesus name for God to demolish this stronghold in your life. If the stronghold is in your church - say a spirit of parsimony and greed then you may need to teach on generosity and giving prayerfully wielding the sword of the Spirit until the false concepts of stewardship have come tumbling down and the church is renewed in faith. If the stronghold is in your nation you may need to debate publicly, use the media and refute the lies that keep people bound while guarding yourself and your own life from the counter-attacks that will come. As I said earlier our weapons are "mighty in God" they are amazing weapons if wielded rightly. Do not be intimidated the authority of Jesus and the "big guns" of God’s weaponry are on our side. A Tactical Armory The following table summarizes the ways Satan attacks and the way we should respond to these attacks. I have called it a tactical armory since it tells us which weapon to select for the battle. You may notice that many of the Scriptures for Satan’s tactics also contain the remedy for it close by or in the same verse! God is wise. How Satan Attacks Scripture References How We Should Respond Steal, kill, and destroy. John 10:10 Take hold of the abundant life in Christ Pride leading to condemnation. 1Ti 3:6-7 Be wise. Appointing of those in spiritual authority Accusation. Rev 12:10-11 The blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony... testifying to what the blood of the Lamb has done for you. Temptation through misapplied Scriptures that seem to validate fleshly desires for physical appetite, specialness to God and power. Luk 4:1-13 Knowing the Scripture so well that you can spot the lie and counter it with a more appropriate Scripture. Deceptive false teachings. 1Ti 4:1-7 Reject fanciful tales, teach the Scripture, sound doctrine, thankfulness, prayer False assurance of salvation. Jas 2:17-26; Mat 7:15-28 A godly life of good works based on Jesus teaching is evidence of having true faith. Ensnarement in the occult, divination, astrology, and the worship of false gods. Deu 7:25; Deu 18:10-13; Deu 32:7; Lev 19:31; Isa 47:13; Acts 19:19; 1Co 10:14 Destroy all objects associated with it. Complete disassociation from it. Strongholds made of thoughts that oppose God – especially prideful thoughts and unbelief. These thoughts can control the life and emotions of a person, church or country. 2Co 10:3-5; Eph 6:10-21; Rom 8:4-6; Rom 12:1-2; Php 4:8; Col 3:1-4 Biblical apologetics, renewing the mind. Setting the mind on the things of the Spirit Use of our spiritual armor combined with faith, the word of God, prayer in the Spirit and humble submission. Blinding the minds of unbelievers. Especially those who stubbornly refuse Christ. Mat 23:17, Mat 23:19, Mat 23:24, Mat 23:26; Luk 4:18; John 9:39; Rom 10:7-25; 2Co 3:14-17, 2Co 4:3-4; Eph 4:17-24; 1Jn 2:10-11 Turning to Christ. Having a willingness to accept the light and seek it further. Renewal of the mind. Loving your brother in Christ. Good teaching and intercession can “open the eyes of the blind”. Religious ceremonies that appear “cultural” but are in fact demonic. 1Co 10:14-22 Awareness of the spiritual realities that under-gird such things. Not participating in them. Unrestrained Satanic activity. Spiritual wickedness in the heavenly realms. Spiritual “strong men” occupying a person, place or nation. Mat 12:27-29; Mat 16:19; Mat 18:18-20; Luk 11:19-22 Binding and loosing in Jesus name which may often have corporate dimension to it. Disease caused y demons (not all disease is meant). Mat 9:32-34; Luk 13:11-16; Mat 8:16-17; Mark 9:14-29 Healing. Prayer and fasting. Faith. Use of command prayers in the Name of Jesus. Demon-possession. Luk 10:17-19; Acts 16:16-18; Mark 5:1-20; Mark 9:14-20; Luk 11:20-26; Acts 5:16, Acts 8:7 Use of the name of Jesus with authority. Command the demons to leave. Sometimes it may help to identify the demons. Then the delivered person must live a Holy Spirit filled life. Faith and prayer are necessary and sometimes fasting. Conclusion I hope you are feeling a bit more confident in spiritual warfare by now. Please answer the following revision questions. They will help you learn the material. What was one of the purposes in Christ’s coming as a human being? (1Jn 3:8 , Heb 2:14) What victories did He win? (Eph 4:8; Col 2:13-15, John 16:33, 1Jn 5:4) What change took place in the heavenly status of believers between the time of John the Baptist and the day of Pentecost? (Mat 11:11-13) Are Christians greater or lesser than angels in authority? (1Co 6:3, Heb 2:14, Eph 2:6-7) What is the importance of authority in spiritual warfare? (See section on the power and authority of the Christian) What are strongholds made of? How do we combat them? (2Co 10:3-5) What are the two ways of using the name of Jesus? (Acts 3:6; Acts 16:18; John 14:13-14; John 15:16) What is meant by binding and loosing? (Mat 12:27-29; Mat 16:19; Mat 18:18-20) Why can the demonic realm "not touch us"? (1Jn 4:4, 1Jn 5:18) What is the right tactic for combating involvement in the occult? (See diagram above) ======================================================================== CHAPTER 99: 05.10. DISCERNING GOOD FROM EVIL ======================================================================== Spiritual manifestations tend to alarm and puzzle us unless we have some way from sorting out the good from the bad from the indifferent. This is actually a Christianize version of an in-service I took a few years ago when I spoke to the psychiatrist and staff at Townsville General Hospital about demons, exorcism and religious idealization. I’m afraid some medical terms have been left in and it may sound a touch clinical. I was very well received by them and enjoyed the hour or so we had together. Good Writers That may help with an understanding of spiritual perspectives - Rev. Dr. Martin Israel (Lecturer Pathology, Royal College of Surgeons) and author of Summons to Life, Precarious Living, The Pain That Heals, Smoldering Fire and The Spirit of Counsel. Dr. Paul Tournier Swiss -based physician and counselor author of The Meaning of Persons, The Strong and The Weak, Guilt and Grace, A Place for You, Marriage Difficulties, et. al. and a leading exponent of the "medicine of the person" movement. In North America Dr. John White -Christian Psychiatrist -author of The Fight, Eros Defiled, The Shattered Mirror et.al. On the Australian scene Dr. William Wilkie - Christian psychiatrist author of Understanding Psychiatry, Understanding Stress Breakdown and Dr. Kath Donovan Growing Through Stress present credible combinations of Christian insight and medical practice. Helpful Bible Passages The Temptation of Christ in the Wilderness - Mark 1:12-13, Mat 4:1 ff, Luk 4:1 ff Jesus and the Gadarene Demoniac - Mark 5:1-20 The 144,000 - Rev 7:1-8, Rev 14:1-5 The Two Witnesses (Prophets) of Revelation - Rev 11:1-14 The Psychic Servant Girl - Acts 16:16-21 The Unpardonable Sin - Mat 12:30-32, Mark 3:29-30, Luk 12:8-10 The Ill and the Demonized - Mat 4:24 Exorcism: Mat 8:16, Mat 12:22 ff., Acts 19:13 ff, Mark 9:17-27 Authority: Luk 9:16 ff, Mat 10:17 Not just mental illnesses: Luk 13:11 Results of demonic influence (Obsessiveness etc.): 1Ti 4:1 ff Tests for demonic influence: Mat 7:16-23, 1Co 12:3, 1Jn 4:1-6 Sorting out the possibilities (A) If the person has been involved: in the occult or an extreme sect, or in gross sexual promiscuity, in drugs or alcoholism. (B) And can speak in a voice other than their own or know a language they have not been exposed to. (C) And find great difficulty in prayer or Bible-reading and react strongly against Christianity. Then classical demonization is a possibility. Seldom are healthy, normal people obsessed or possessed by the demonic. As a rule of thumb there must be some preexisting instability. Bizarre conduct is insufficient evidence. Voices and visions are insufficient evidence. Violent fits are insufficient evidence. Intractable guilt is insufficient evidence but frequently accompanies it. Absence or presence of reaction to treatment/medication is inconclusive. Real guilt disguised as demonization The person comes from a religious background. They have not been involved in the occult, speak in voices other than their own, can still pray and read the Bible. However, they hear voices and claim demonization. Generally, it is sexual sin, either premarital sex, adultery or masturbation that haunts them and which they cannot resolve. Often they cannot admit to themselves their character flaw. Depression and religious ideas Those from a Christian background can, during bouts of depression, turn to Scriptural passages on judgment, Old Testament prophecies and the book of Revelation being favorites along with "the unpardonable sin". It generally will pass with the depression. It can be very acceptable to guide them to new beliefs consistent with their faith e.g. if a person with depression has the belief "I am utterly worthless....” the it is quite acceptable to guide them to "for you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God" (1Pe 2:9). Countless other examples are possible. Schizophrenia Wilkie (see references at start) sees schizophrenia as a form of minimal brain dysfunction and in the majority of cases I find this argument convincing. Most people with schizophrenia do not speak in other voices, neither are they hostile towards the things of God though they may be confused, sometimes terribly confused in this area. Some seem to be especially sensitive to demons and are preyed upon by them though not actually possessed. What the cure has to say about the disease If a patient hearing voices is cured by normal treatments then we can say that no occult subjection was involved. If however, a pastoral interview, with thorough confession, renunciation and a trusting appropriation of salvation, leads to a wonderful liberation then we can say occult subjection was involved (procedure from Dr. Lechler). When is it God? Jesus was often accused of being demon possessed (e.g. Mat 1:1, Mark 3:29) and many great men of God -the prophets and mystics have seen visions and had special revelations, hearing voices. The following are indicators of whether a person’s experiences are from God or from an inferior source. As a preliminary note it is best to make these observations over time. The following is a check list that can help determine whether a person is hearing from god or from "inferior source" such as a demon or a repressed and split-off part of their own personality. Area From God From Inferior Source Freedom Increases Decreases becomes obsessive Need for control Gradually lessens Increases dramatically Quality of work High – benefits society Indifferent, often socially deleterious Personality Integrates, Peaceful Course, Claimant Social Increasingly loving Increasingly divisive State between visions Healthy, disciplined Desperate, addicted to visions Grandiosity No Often Predictions Fulfilled Not fulfilled Selfishness Lessens Distressingly ego-centered “Correction” they give Specific-aims to bring healing Vague, mere condemnation Integration Increases Decreases Creativity Often very creative Exacts conformity Money Not important Frequently demanded Food To be enjoyed Lists of forbidden foods Marriage To be enjoyed Sex seen as sin, often forbidden or perverted Salvation Of all who believe Of the leader and his chosen Fear and dependency Decreases Increases Magic/superstition/idols Not allowed Sometimes used This is by no means a total treatment of the topic but I hope it has given you "a few things to think about" and a few tools for working out when a person is demoniacally subjected, when they are just having a bad time with their body chemistry and when they might be one of the Lord’s more unusual servants. ======================================================================== Source: https://sermonindex.net/books/writings-of-john-edmiston-volume-1/ ========================================================================