Pushing Through The Pins & Needles

This picture brings up a few good points. Though I don't agree with it completely, it opens my eyes to the fact that when it comes to apathy, it's not always the fault of the church leadership. It does matter where a person goes to worship, and you need to be careful as to where you go because you want good teaching and doctrine. But if the people are not moving, it's not always the leadership that is the cause. Yes, many times the leadership frustrates evangelism efforts. But so does stubborn church members.

This past Tuesday I sat down and had a great conversation with a pastor from a denomination I do not normally attend or fellowship with. He is young, vibrant, and has a heart to see God's Kingdom grow and flourish. His desire is to be the best shepherd to his flock he can possibly be, and it shows. But his congregation doesn't want to move. They are perfectly content just attending church as long as it is less than an hour each Sunday. They have been apathetic for generations and in many ways they reached atrophy. Some push back directly to the pastor, while others are fearful. But there are some of their body that are excited about moving forward, and ready to get to work.

When churches have been asleep for so long, some of the body of Christ are numb and have no feeling. In others, the blood is starting to flow and the intense pain of pins and needles has started, but the body parts are afraid to move. But those parts that are ready, the needles are gone, and it's time to get moving.

But, do you know what parts of the body never fall asleep? The core. The vital organs like the heart, liver, and brain. Everything from skin to organs in the torso never have pins and needles. Why? Because all the blood flows freely and never gets impeded. But if you cut off the circulation in the extremities like the arm or leg, the feeling is gone. Throughout the Old Testament it is written, "Life is in the blood."

Now that I have seen both sides of the coin, it is more evident than ever that I will have to write my book about conquering apathy in the church will need to be from different points of view. Encouraging church leadership to take the helm and sail the ship into the uncharted waters of evangelism, and also to encourage the flock when the shepherd and leadership is ready to get out there and save those that are lost. This was a valuable lesson to learn and to see apathy in both sides of the coin.

What In The Church Is Going On?

A friend and I got together for dinner tonight to fellowship and discus some things that have been on our hearts and minds since the last time we saw one another. I have been having alot of issues with the church lately, and the apathetic attitudes I see everywhere I turn. I have had conversations with fellow Evangelists and soul-winners over the past few months and one thing that keeps coming up is that it's crazy, and keeps getting crazier...in the church.

I can't say, "What in the world is going on" because I'm not really concerned with the world and what it does. The world is falling apart, getting increasingly corrupt.

But what I find is that the church is absolutely falling apart, and I haven't been able to put my finger on the reason. We put our heads together and came up with some solutions as to why we (my friend, other evangelists, and I) are so much different than others in the churches we worship at.

But one thing is certain, the church is strong, but those which we call the church, or those in our fellowships that are not believers are running the show. When the world influences the church, chaos happens, and one if the reasons I do not believe inviting unbelievers to church to hear the gospel. Church is for the believer to worship God and to strengthen His children.

Book Review: Gospel Reset by Ken Ham

Gospel Reset: Salvation Made Relevant by Ken Ham
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a must-read book dealing with which could possibly be the biggest problem plaguing the evangelical Christian church. This book is in the form of a wake-up-call to the church to start teaching the bible and evangelizing the American culture the way Paul did in Acts 17.

For many, many years we have been witnessing and sharing our faith to a Greek culture (who does not have the biblical foundations of God, and how He created the heavens and the earth) the same way we share our faith to the Jewish culture of Acts 2 (Who has the biblical foundations of God and creation). No wonder why when we are sharing our faith to the lost in America that they look at us as nuts. Even when using the Romans Road, or Ray Comfort's way of evangelizing and using the 10 Commandments to show a person they are a sinner, people still have no concept of what sin is, or that they violated any moral regulations to a deity who created them and everything in the universe. We have got to change how we evangelize to our Greek culture and first give them a foundation to set the whole house of the gospel on.

This book was revolutionary for me in that I need to change how I share my faith to people. I need to stop using the Romans Road, and start using a modified version of it, applying creation and our accountability to a just, holy, righteous creator. I need to be absolutely careful what tracts I use so as to not confuse people any further. I need to consider that people have no idea that there is one God, what sin is, or that they are accountable themselves. I have met multiple people right here in the bible belt of America that had no idea who Jesus was. Never heard of Him. Shocking. I need to be prepared to give an answer TO THOSE PEOPLE as well. To prepare yourself...first read this book. It is a quick read, and full of information. Straight to the point with no irritating filler.

Whether you are a Pastor, Youth Pastor, Evangelist, parent, or millennial, you need to read this book.

View all my reviews

...This I Know, For The Bible Tells Me So

If you have spent any time as a child in a Christian Sunday School, no doubt at one point or another, you have heard the song by William B. Bradbury (1816-1885) called, Jesus Loves Me. This tune originally appeared as a poem by Anna B. Warner (1827-1915) in a book called Say and Seal, written by Anna's sister, Susan Warner (1819-1885).  The poem was published in 1860 and the hymn with music was written 1862 by Mr. Bradbury. So very close together. No doubt since these both take place so close together that the book must have been a popular work to catch the attention of Bradbury.

If you look at these dates in history and the history preceding these dates of when the poem, book, and tune was written, this was a turbulent time in American Church history. Many different religions, sects, and cults rose up at this time, which is commonly called The Second Great Awakening between 1790 and lost steam early 1850's. But no doubt left a deep imprint of religion in America.

The Seventh-Day Adventist Church started by Ellen G. White, formerly established in 1863, came out of the Millerite Movement. The Millerite Movement, started by William Miller, who in 1833 publicly shared his belief that the second coming of Christ would happen between 1843 and 1844. This no doubt did not happen and should have been deemed a false prophet.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or Mormonism, which was started by a young Joseph Smith (1830-1844) in which after received gold plates from the Angel Moroni and decoded them to produce a written copy of the Book of Mormon in 1830. Mormonism continued to flourish after Smith's death and when Warner's book was written, the LDS church was moving to the mid-west under the leadership of the second Prophet and President Brigham Young.

Another cult that came about around this time was the Jehovah's Witnesses,which was started in 1870 by Charles Taze Russell which was a splinter group of the Bible Student Movement. Who have for almost 150 years have denied the biblical trinity, falsely predicting Christ's coming multiple times, and proclaiming false prophecies about the end of the world.

Through the Second Great Awakening memberships skyrocketed in the Wesleyan, Baptist, Shaker and other Protestant congregations. It was one of, if not the greatest religious revival in American history.

So when this poem, book, and hymn were written, was very interesting especially with the words, "for the bible tells me so".

Which brings me to the point of this article. For those who claim to be Christian, much of the, "this I know" does not come from the bible, but through their own personal feelings, experience, and logic. Why is that? Because people do not believe that the bible is authoritative, written by the creator of the universe. Each of these cults and false religions had their own bent towards the bible, or rejected the bible as flawed or outdated. That there needs to be some sort of extra-biblical revelation attached to it.

"Please excuse my dad. He's a bigoted, grumpy old man who is outdated, not in touch with today, and doesn't know what he's saying."

It is why in my previous post that professed Christians are apologizing for something they have no right to apologize for. It is as if they are holding up their bibles and saying, "Please excuse my dad. He's a bigoted, grumpy old man who is outdated, not in touch with today, and doesn't know what he's saying." To apologize would be admitting you're wrong. These same people do not regard the words as supernatural, holy, and powerful. We need to read the bible for what it is, the words of God. God breathed. It is perfect, and without error. We need to study the bible, interpret it according to proper hermaneutics, and then apply it accordingly. It doesn't matter what you say, or I say about a particular bible verse, but what it says according to the person from which God commanded to write it down. Our feelings or personal beliefs should not matter when it comes to our interpretation of the bible.

When Body Parts Fall Off

Something has been bugging me for months. Maybe years, actually. Yes years. This post may come off a little passive-aggressive, but I assure you it's not. But this last event hit our little fellowship pretty hard, and in reality, I am still in disbelief, mourning not only of a life lost, but those who left the fellowship because of it, [maybe].

An Elder in our fellowship, who has been on the board for even before I started attending 15 years ago, just retired recently and him and his wife had made lots of plans and were very much in love. But a few months into his retirement, she got physically sick, and were given a terrible diagnosis of stage 4 cancer. They elected to try and stop this disease by all-natural means. We prayed for them all, sent food, flowers, and helped financially. We were told not to come to the house and therefore were forced to respect their privacy. But within two weeks the cancer overtaken her body and she passed on to be with Jesus. An arm had fallen off this body and we suffered a loss.

Weeks went by and we hadn't seen the husband or the children and their families. We sent texts, made some calls, and continued to pray for their peace. They trickled in every so often, but then suddenly stopped coming all together. Of course it was a hard blow to them and the rest of the body, and we completely understood. We respected their privacy and gave up most contact. But then time passed, and were written in an email from our Pastor, that the Elder and two families will not be coming back. The husband drops off because of too much grief and disassociates from the church. The children of this couple begin to follow suit, and as time goes by, they all depart as if vanishing into the night. We not only lost an arm, but a leg, an eye, and the sense of smell.

Losing the individual families was a huge blow to the rest of the body. All of them will be missed. But what happens when you lose a heart, a lung, or a liver. Even a pancreas, though being the smallest organ in the human body, cannot sustain life without it. What happens when you lose a member of the body, that the body can't live without. What then? Not only was the widowed husband an Elder, but he was the Worship Team Leader, a board member, Website Guru, and the only one who is able and trained to clean up and add the sound files of the services and add them to the website so that people who missed the services or who live too far away, can hear them. This organ works behind the scenes and is shadowed by the flesh of the body, but without it, the body cannot survive.

You spend many years with the members of your congregation. Form bonds, friendships, and were there for many events. We've seen births, weddings, families formed, and deaths too. People come and go. But many times unfortunately people drift apart for many reasons I'm sure. The Elders may know these reasons, but the rest of the body does not. They just wake up one morning to realize that a body part has fallen off. They search under the bed, behind the headboard, under the pillow. But alas...it cannot be found, and don't know why. He or she wonders if other parts fall off and when? You miss them, and without word they are gone. No closure, no goodbyes, just disappeared.

But this is not like an organ transplant. You know when that happens, and it is a blessing. You lay down on the operating table yourself and sacrifice an important part of your body to help another body who is in dire need, so they can survive. Like us in the body of Christ, we may have parts that we love dearly, but are freely given in love to those who are weak to make them strong, and so they can be whole as we are. Some are in need of Worship Leaders, Missionaries, or Evangelists. These are important for a successful ministry to function. Giving organ transplants to help other bodies in Christ is a joyous thing. Not only for the giving body, but the receiving once especially. The whole body can rejoice. Both the giver AND receiver.

Lose Your Life and Save It.

As a Field Service Engineer working for a well known global company fixing cash registers, point-of-sale machines, self-checkouts, and Lexmark Office Printers, it was the best paying job I have ever held. Company van, independence, my own phone, tools, laptop and as much training as I could stand. I had a great boss who understood what it took in the field, and even greater co-workers, who have selflessly given me their last parts to finish a task, knowing they would need it later that day. I even had business cards made with my name on them, and told myself in college that if I ever held a career where I needed business cards, it was a sign that I had truly made it in my career. I achieved all my successes, and what I had set out to do. My goals were met.

And then on Friday, January 12th, I walked away from it all. 

Why you may ask? Many reasons. Yeah, the job itself was very stressful, changed my personality, and I wasn't prepared for the impossible daily workload that I needed to fulfill. Oh, when I gave my 3 weeks notice trust me, all my boss wanted to do was try to find a way to keep me. And it wasn't like I was a horrible service provider. If you looked at my stats, I was doing as good, if not better than the rest of the team. But it wasn't the reason I left. I had given up alot of who I was for the job. I used to teach Inductive Bible Study, go witnessing and share Christ with the lost, spend alot of time with my wife, and enjoyed the company of great friends who have become like family to me. Since I took the position 20 months ago, I hardly witnessed, I had to give up teaching, and my friends got lost in the shuffle, their kids growing and probably think I had abandoned them. 

When I got laid off from my previous position before I took this job, I took unemployment...because that's what the world does. But what I didn't know is that you give up more than what it's worth. I didn't have the freedom to choose the "right" job, or the job that I wanted. I had to send in two job contacts a week. Sounds like a piece of cake, right? No. At first it was fun because I had a list of about 10 places I wanted to work. But then after that, it wasn't fun anymore. I had to struggle and find places I really wanted to be. Because I couldn't turn down jobs and if I did, and I got caught, I would have to pay back ALL my unemployment plus interest. Knowing what I know now, I would have never taken unemployment, and be under government bondage again. I should have took the time and trusted the Lord for guidance, wisdom, and courage. That's what Christian's do.

But one verse kept ringing in my head the whole time I was laid off, and when I was hired this last time. "For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's will save it." - Mark 8:35. The whole time I was on unemployment, I was trying to save my life, Tying to find a way to keep my house, my car, my cats, my stuff, all the while giving up my life, my sanity, my relationship with the Lord and my wife, and stressing out about everything. For what? 

Within the company I had a rewards account where your boss can give you rewards points for like doing a good job, going the extra mile, that sort of thing. Well a week before I left I looked at my account and I had 750 rewards points accumulated over the short course of my time there. Well I went shopping, and found a Citizen watch that I really liked worth $200. But I got it to be a constant reminder to me that time is running short. That I have to redeem my time here while I have it. Knowing that I am a CITIZEN of heaven, and not of this earth. And finding out later that it is solar powered. Which reminds me that I have life in the SON (sun). 

So what have I been doing since I left? I am in the process of repairing old relationships, mending a marriage that is worth all my energy, and fulfilling the calling God has created for me from before the foundation of the world. I am in the process of writing 2 books, relearning Spanish, and preparing for a move in the right direction. It's better to be in God's will than out of it. Even when the situation looks bleak, God is right there with me.