Time For The State To Get Out Of The Church

If you have ever attended a seminar on church management and taxes you will find it very informative as well as disheartening.  There is a growing government intrusion into the affairs of the Church.  It is not only the IRS that has slithered its way into the affairs of the church but now we must contend with Homeland Security, FBI and the State.  These government entities are posing a serious threat to church autonomy and our most basic religious freedoms. Pastors are being censored, the proclamation of God’s Truth is being blocked, and churches are being discriminated against and threatened with punishment.

Where are those who are so adamant about the separation of church and state? They should be crying out about the intrusion of the government into the church.   Most people are surprised to learn that for a church to be compliant with IRS regulations and to be able to maintain your 501c(3) status an average of 119 forms must be completed each year.  Homeland Security is interested in the missionaries you support and how and where the money is going. The church is responsible to report money paid to evangelist, musician, special speakers, or missionaries.  It is important to understand the criminal liability one faces for not complying with all the regulations. The church is no longer a place where you can gather to worship and conduct the business of the church you must also conduct the business of the government.   To be a recognized church it must conform to the definition of the IRS.  These attributes of a church have been developed by the IRS and by court decisions.  They include:
Distinct legal existence
Recognized creed and form of worship
Definite and distinct ecclesiastical government
Formal code of doctrine and discipline
Distinct religious history
Membership not associated with any other church or denomination
Organization of ordained ministers
Ordained ministers selected after completing prescribed courses of study
Literature of its own
Established places of worship
Regular congregations
Regular religious services
Sunday schools for the religious instruction of the young
Schools for the preparation of its members
The IRS generally uses a combination of these characteristics, together with other facts and circumstances, to determine whether an organization is considered a church for federal tax purposes.  Source:  Publication 1828, Tax Guide for Churches and Religious Organizations.

There seems to be two types of ordination one by the church and one by the IRS.  The IRS has defined a minister as individuals who are duly ordained, commissioned, or licensed by a religious body constituting a church or church denomination. They are given the authority to conduct religious worship, perform, and administer ordinances or sacraments according to the prescribed tenets and practices of that church or denomination. 

 Ministers fall into two classifications the first is the licensed minister is one who has been granted a ministerial license by the state or district assembly. The licensed minister is to have completed at least one year of the course of study. The licensed minister who is preparing for ordination is vested with the authority of preaching the gospel, administering the sacraments in his or her own congregation, and officiating at marriages where state law allows. The licensed minister who is preparing for ordination is vested with the authority of using his or her gifts in various associate ministries, administering the sacraments and, on occasion, conducting worship and preaching.
The second is the ordained minister.  They are those who have been ordained to that order, have completed the course of study, and have completed a specified period of assigned ministry. The ordained minister acknowledges a specific call to lifetime ministry. The ordained minister has the authority to administer the sacraments and to conduct worship and to preach.

In the past the courts have rules in defining a minister by the five following factors:
1. Does the individual administer the sacraments?
2. Does the individual conduct worship services?
3. Does the individual perform services in the "control, conduct, or maintenance of a religious organization" under the authority of a church denomination or religious denomination?
4. Is the individual "ordained, commissioned, or licensed?"
5. Is the individual considered a spiritual leader by his or her religious body?
(By this definition that would exclude many of the activist “ministers” we see in the news media.  They fail the definition of who the government recognizes as a minister.  Maybe we should use the same rules to identify minister who are always seeking media attention.)

If you meet some but not all of these factors, the IRS may or may not consider you a minister.  Under the 1989 tax court case, not all factors had to be satisfied. It should be noted that only factor 4 that one be "licensed, ordained, or commissioned," needs to be present in every case. The more of the remaining criteria that one can meet, the more likely one is to fulfill the definition of "minister of the Gospel." However, some more recent court cases and an IRS Private Letter Ruling have required that all factors be satisfied. 

This was not the intention of our Founding Fathers, who established our country on religious freedom and who enshrined this precious God-given right in the U.S. Constitution. And throughout our nation’s history, churches have been recognized as the moral leaders of our society and Christians have enjoyed the freedom to express their religious beliefs.  But all of that is changing very quickly. At the urging of anti-Christian groups seeking to secularize America, courts and government are increasingly treating our churches more as nuisances than as pillars of the community. And some are treated not just as nuisances, but as criminals for exercising their Christian faith!  

During the seminar we were given examples where individuals are now spending time in federal prison for non-compliance of IRS regulations.  These individual were not intentional in their actions they just failed to do their due diligence in meeting government requirements.  Freedom of religion has become freedom from religion.

What really concerns me is not so much that the IRS, Homeland Security and the FBI are forcing their influence on the church but the number of “ministers” who claim to be followers of Jesus Christ that are reporting fellow Christians to the government for non-compliance.  Individuals who claim to be ministers but fail even the IRS’s definition of a minister are trying to destroy the church.  Charlatans like the Americans United for Separation of Church and State.  Supposedly, The Americans for Separation of Church and State is a religious liberty watchdog group based in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1947, the organization supposedly educates Americans about the importance of church-state separation in safeguarding religious freedom but their actions are more directed to establishing the goal of their executive director that of a "godless America."  

I guess it is for the purpose of seeking respectability in the media, that these false-ministers like to use the title "reverend," even though there is no record of the name and location of any church the present executive director of the Americans United for Separation of Church and State has ever been a pastor, or the location and time where he ever delivered an actual sermon.  I would recommend that AUS remove the beam from their own eye before they attempt to remove the splinter from others. They should also stop lying about protecting religious freedom they are the arm of evil against the Kingdom of God.  

When the government gets out of the business of the church and allows to the church to carry out its duty to be the watchdog on the moral and ethical actions of the government our country will again be blessed of God.  But when good people are judged to be criminal, in violation of our First Amendment rights, we are all in danger of being oppressed by those who are anti-church, secular humanist, progressive proponents and a  tyrannical government.  If you have bought into the myth of separation of church and state you are part of the problem.

“If we ever forget that we’re one nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under.”
– President Ronald Reagan

The Integrity of God's Word

This story takes place about one thousand four hundred and ninety years before Jesus Christ.  It could be based on a current events happening now.  It is all about the way we view the promise of God.

The setting takes place at Kadesh-barnea a holy place. A place God had prepared for them to cross over into the Land of Canaan.  God had made a promise to Abraham that he would be the father of a great nation and there would be a Land of Promise for them to dwell in. They arrived at Kadesh Barnea in the first of the month of the third year or exactly 24 months after leaving Egypt. (Numbers 20:1).

It might help if we had a little information on the place Kadesh-barnea.

• Kadesh-Barnea" as a compound word, is used 10 times. However the place is never referred to as "Barnea" exclusively without Kadesh. The bible refers to the place as "Kadesh" 18 times alone, without "Barnea."         
  
• Barnea" may mean "place of wandering in the desert". So Kadesh Barnea means: The Kadesh where they wandered in the wilderness. However, Smiths Dictionary in 1884 AD said: "Barnea means, desert of wandering". Eastons said this in 1897 AD: "Kadesh: holy, or Kadesh-Barnea, sacred desert of wandering" (Easton's Bible dictionary, 1897 AD.   No modern dictionaries suggest barnea = wilderness/desert wandering. 
•  Kadesh means "holy" and is one of many words that are derived from the parent word that is most commonly translated "holy":"qades: be hallowed, holy, sanctified; to consecrate, sanctify, prepare, dedicate." "Kadesh = "holy"." (Strongs enhanced) 
•  Why was the place called Kadesh and when. At the time of Abraham, Kadesh was known as "En-mishpat" Gen 14:7. Kadesh was known at the "Spring of Judgement" (En-mishpat).

So the place that God brought his people to enter into the Land of Canaan is a “holy place of wandering” and is also known as the “Spring of Judgment.”  Since our study is only on this one event we will not spend time on the full significance of this location.  Moses has brought the Children of Israel to edge of the Land of Canaan which the spies were to explore.

Here is where you must be on your toes with this study.  Going into the Land of Promise was first made to Abraham, then to Isaac and Jacob,  "God will surely come to your aid and take you up out of this land to the land He promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob" (Genesis 50:24).  Four hundred years later promise one is fulfilled. I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.  I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all people on earth will be blessed through you (Gen.12:1-3). 

When Israel left Egypt they had 603,550 armed men for war if all of those men were living at the time (Numbers 1:46). This number included all able bodied men from the age of twenty (Numbers 1:45) to the age of retirement at year fifty (Numbers 4:3;John 8:57) or sometimes sixty (Leviticus 27:7). But if all the women, children and older people over fifty (or sixty) are included, the number of Israelites who left Egypt must have numbered about two and a half million. This is a vast amount of people going into a desolate desert area east of Egypt—a Great Nation.  God has fulfilled his promise to make them a great nation.

Next, "And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your descendants after you in their generations to be a God to you and your seed after you. And I will give to you and to your seed after you the land in which you are a stranger-all the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession" (Genesis 17: 7, 8).  The integrity of God's word is at stake in this question of the future of the Promised Land. When ten of the twelve spies told lies about the land, they were slandering what God had promised them. They did not believe that God would help them, and the people as a whole were persuaded that it was not possible to take the land. As a result, the entire nation was made to wander in the desert for 40 years, until almost the entire generation of men had died.

When the Israelites accepted the false report, they wept over the false belief that God was setting them up for defeat. The night that the people cried was the ninth of Av which became a day of weeping and misfortune for all time-- Kadesh the "Spring of Judgment". 

Here is their report: "But the men who had gone up with him said, 'We can't attack those people; they are stronger than we are." And they spread a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, "The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there were of great size. We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.'"

Let me just wander in the wilderness for a moment.  They were afraid of the giants, who represent the carnal nature of man or the nature of sin.  Sin is the root; sins are the result of the root.  Look what the nature of sin will do- devours those living in it.  There are spied today who tell us you cannot have victory over sin.  They identify as being a sinner.  Nowhere in the Scripture is the redeemed identified with sin.  None of us who claim to be Christians with a saving faith should ever call ourselves a sinner. It is not appropriate to try to claim common ground with unbelievers or immature Christians by saying that you also are a sinner. Scripture says otherwise. Christians are not “sinners.” If you are a sinner –one who habitually sins, you are not a true believer. In that case you can properly call yourself a sinner. Please note the distinction: Christians do occasionally sin. A sinner habitually sins. The Christian (should) immediately repent and seek God’s forgiveness. The sinner does not.

The integrity of God's word is at stake in the promise of freedom from sin. “For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.” (Ezekiel 36:24-27 KJV)

“Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin.” (Romans 6:6-7 KJV)

“For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.

For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.” (Romans 6:1-14 KJV)

OK, back to the lesson.  The whole purpose of sending out the spies was to determine how to conquer Canaan and then settle 3 million men, women and children in the new land.  God shows them encouraging signs that the land is indeed plentiful and rich: They find a cluster of grapes so enormous that eight men are needed to carry it (Numbers 13:23). God also makes sure the spies encounter heavily fortified Canaanite cities ― which in fact is a sign of Canaanite weakness, since anyone who is truly powerful does not have to hide behind big walls. Everything was perfectly orchestrated; nothing could possibly go wrong.

Yet somehow, things do go wrong. After 40 days, the spies come back and 10 of them recommend against entering the land. They report: “We can’t succeed because everything is huge!” ― a reference to the gigantic fruits. “We can’t succeed because the land devours its inhabitants!” ― a reference to the funeral. “And we can’t succeed because it’s too strong!” ― a reference to the heavily fortified walls. (see Numbers 13:31-33)

The Israelite community accepts the report, and gives up their dream of going into Israel. The consequence of their unbelief? If you don’t want to enter the land, says God, then you won’t enter the land. All Israelites will die out over the next 40 years in the desert, and only their children will enter the land.

Numbers 14:1 tells us, “The people wept that night.” That night was Tisha B’Av, the ninth day of the Jewish month of Av. God declared: “They cried for no reason; in the future I’ll give them good reason to cry.”  I remember hearing that same expression while growing up- “If you don’t stop your crying, I will give you something to cry about.”  I didn’t know that was scriptural.

Here is how failing to deal with sin has serious consequences.  Several hundreds of years later, the destruction of the First Temple was to occur on Tisha B’Av and 500 years after that, the Second Temple was destroyed.

So what went wrong?  The spies lost the vision of the Promise. They got so wrapped up in self that they took God out of the equation ― and never put Him back in! The original question they’d been assigned to answer ― "How to conquer the land” ― suddenly became a question of "should we or shouldn't we." 

What caused this twist to occur?  God’s presence was self-evident in the desert: a rock provided a steady supply of water, Clouds of Glory kept enemies at bay, and a daily supply of manna fell from heaven. Yet these “open miracles” were to cease upon entry into Israel. Thus, the spies reasoned, God’s guidance and protection would cease as well.

From this skewed perspective, all the positive signs that God had shown them ― the fruits, the funeral and the city walls ― were turned into negatives. From a purely rational perspective, their conclusion was ― not surprisingly ― “This is not possible!”  The rational perspective is used by those who refuse to see the victory Jesus Christ has promised his people over the power and dominance of sin.  

But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. Rom.6:22

By the way, after the Israelites had wandered in the wilderness for 40 years, God brings them right back to the same spot and gives them the same opportunity, to enter the Promise Land—they took it and the conquest was on.

Diotrephes- The Destroyer of Ministers.

I entered the ministry at the age of nineteen.  I have continued in the ministry these past 49 years.  What I find disheartening is the number of those who started this journey the same time I did.  Many had high hopes of doing great things for the LORD.  The ministry, sad to say is not always under the control of the LORD.  This has been proven tragically over the years by the number of ministers who have left the ministry.  Young pastors and ministers have found themselves on the short end of church politics and then out on the street without an income or place to live. 

Many of my friends listened to our homiletic professor who said, “If God called you to be minister don’t stoop to do secular work.”  The advice given to me by my father-in-law was, “If you are going to marry my daughter you will need to learn a trade.”  By the way, my father-in-law was a minister, having served as a pastor most of his life.  I learned a trade, and it has provided my family with the security the church would never have given us.

What I have noticed over the years is that those who depend entirely upon the church for their financial support are at the mercy of those who have not been Spirit-led in years.  Church board members who are more concerned about ruling the church than allowing the Holy Spirit to direct their paths.  The “Diotrephes” have ruined the lives of many good men of God.  Furthermore, the damage done by controlling members within the church has destroyed the confidence of the pastor’s children and often the spouse as well.  The petty actions of the church “Diotrephes” is nothing short of devastating to the pastor’s family.   

 (OK, for those who have no idea who I am talking about 3 John 9-11 KJV -I wrote unto the church: but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not.  Wherefore, if I come, I will remember his deeds which he doeth, prating against us with malicious words: and not content therewith, neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and forbiddeth them that would and casteth them out of the church.  Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. He that doeth good is of God: but he that doeth evil hath not seen, God.) 

Many ministers are left to simply survive and make it through the next season of life financially, emotionally, psychologically and spiritually. They are no more than the foot mat to be trampled upon by the spiritual abusers within the church.  Some have been mistreated so severely they are left thinking that God has abandoned them.  The scars can run especially deep with the children of these pastors, and some of them fall away from the Church “if that’s the way the Church really is I want nothing to do with it.”  I have witnessed this first hand with friends and relatives.  The stress, both economically and emotionally, often precipitates the collapse of a marriage.  Several of my friends in Bible College have broken marriages and destroyed families.  Embarrassment and humiliation are, at times, mountains that are never overcome it is better to get out than to continue the suffering.  Many have walked away from the church for good; they have chosen a different vocation altogether.

An observation that I have made over the years is that it is not the majority of people who make the pastors life a living hell; it is only a small fraction and often only one “Diotrephes.” 

Over the years I have come to the end of my rope and would come home telling my wife our time was up.  I could no longer lead those who refused to listen.  Her reply was she did not feel it was time for her to go-- so we stayed.  Then, she would come home after a meeting and say she was ready to leave she was tired of being ignored, mistreated, and taken for granted.  My reply, I don’t feel it is time for me to leave—so we stayed.  I don’t know what would have happened had we both agreed at the same time to leave. (We have been at our present church 30 consecutive years.) 

The one sustaining factor in my ministry is that I did not depend upon the financial support of the church alone.  I have held a secular job my entire ministry and retired from public education after twenty-eight years of teaching.  It was my choice.  I have had several offers that could have been very enticing, but knowing the fickleness of churches there would be no long range future.  Then where would I be?  I have been determined to fulfill my call regardless of what others do.  I truly believe the call of the ministry is for life-- not just for a period of time in my life.  I am convinced God will provide as long as I do not give away the authority of the calling from God to anyone.  I believe the call is divinely ordained and just as valid whether you “have a church” or not.  

My advice to young preachers is become bi-vocational.  Learn a trade that you can use no matter where you live.  Having an outside income will remove some of the stress of, what do I do if I am asked to leave?  Or, if some member says, “We have hired you, and you will do as we say, or you will not be paid.”  You must look out for the care of your family.  There is no church worth the sacrifice of your marriage or children.  God did not call you to the ministry to destroy your family. 

Another observation has been when I tell people I am a pastor they look at me in disbelief.  Occasionally, some “Bible scholar” will say, O, you are a tent-maker like Paul!”  Yes, I am a “tent-maker.”  What makes my ministry different than most ministers I know is at the end of a long day of work I do not want to spend my time in a committee meeting or board meeting just talking.  Most members in the church feel the same way, they have worked all day, and they are tired and want to get home.  I know what they deal with and I know what they need to hear from the Bible for encouragement.  Being able to empathize with the members makes a connection that full time ministers never seem to understand. The ministry is not a profession that I choose to enter into it is a calling from God.  No doubt the many young minsters that have left the ministry never really had a calling.  They were seeking a profession and did not have the sustaining power of the Holy Spirit to direct their paths. 

So where have all the pastors gone?  Many have left not only the ministry but their faith as well.  They were left on the battlefield of life wounded and bleeding with no one to care for them.  If you have a pastor, treat him or her as the servant of the Most High God.  Your respect for God is mirrored in you treatment of his servant.  Don't become a Diotrephes- The Destroyer of Ministers.

Where Are The Men?

Preface- In the 47 years in the ministry I have no doubt directed many of my sermons towards women.  I have often preached on the need for men taking a leadership role in the church.  It could be that I have not been focused on meeting the needs of the men in the church and challenging them to step up to the responsibility of being the spiritual leaders we need in the church today. I am asking the LORD to help me to challenge the men in our congregation to be the leaders they are called to be.

I made a statement in my recent ranting that, I am tired of Christian men failing in their responsibility to be leaders in the cause of the LORD. It is time for the men of the Church to become the warriors that God has called them to be. It is time for men to get on the front line of the battle instead of sending their wives and daughters to fight the cause of Christ.

In our Wednesday prayer meeting, the question was asked what does it mean for a man to stand up and be a man? Here is my lengthy explanation.

First let me give some background as why there are less men in church, in leadership positions and involved in church activities.  In the first 1000 years, the church was evenly divided among men and women.  Men were in positions of leadership and had a major impact upon society.  Then the theology of the Church changed.  There were greater emphases placed on the Church as the bride of Christ which made the Christian narrative less compelling to men; it also pushed the faith’s overall philosophy in a more feminine direction. The values associated with brides, especially in centuries past — love, protection, comfort, passivity, obedience, dependence, receptivity – came to dominate the character of the Christian gospel, and was the focus of how Christians were to relate to Christ over its more masculine qualities of suffering, sacrifice, and conflict.

As religiousness began to be associated more and more exclusively with women’s sphere of life, the proportion of female to male churchgoers naturally became increasing lopsided. Religion came to be seen as more of a feminine thing, in contrast to masculine endeavors. The end results were men were spending more time on business, and recreation because they could outsource their family’s faith, leaving to their wives the responsibility of spiritual leadership in their home and in their children. Men could venture into worldly quests, and rely on women to meet the spiritual needs of the family.

In preparing for a message, one must remember that the core audience will be women.  Terms and illustrations will be geared towards the understanding of women and not men.  Many congregations have women making over three fourths of those in attendance; the message will be geared for them.

For many years women were denied power and influence in the public arena, women developed it within the church.  The more women showed up, the more pastors created programs and positions for them and praised and tailored their messages and services toward women.  Women became the preservers of faith and morality.

The more feminine services became, the more men stayed away; and the more women outnumbered men in the congregation, the more ministers catered to their needs. Today women are around 56% more likely than men to participate in Sunday school and to hold a leadership position in a church.

Does a lack of masculine role models at church negatively affect the recruitment and retention of masculine members?   Our young males are hero-worshippers, and his hero cannot be found in a Sunday school which is manned by women.  By the time a young boys are young men, they cannot see how the church relates to them.

Even in the worship service when songs are sung most men cannot sing because the songs are to high.  To transpose a song so the men can sing is almost the unpardonable sin.  Many men a left holding the song book for the wife and trying to hum the song. 

 The number one reason high-achieving men don’t go to church is they don’t respect the pastor.  I cannot tell you how many times I heard the joke about the three men who were telling what their sons did for a living.  The first man said my son is a lawyer. One man said I have a son that will not tell the truth. The second man said I have a son who is a banker.  One man said, I have a son that will rob you blind.  The third man said my son is a minister.  The other two men said, we have a son that will not work as well. 

Successful business men who do go to church often chose a megachurch because they saw the pastor as their leadership peer. ‘Respecting the pastor is vital to predicting whether a man is actively involved.  Men respect pastors who are properly masculine. They are drawn to men who, like Jesus, embody both lion and lamb.

Statistically speaking, those denominations which have opened doors to female clergy widest and earliest, are struggling more than those which have retained male-only clergy and leaderships boards.

In today’s church, the gospel is no longer about saving the souls of the lost. It’s about finding a happy relationship with a wonderful man.  Ask a woman to describe God, and they will use terms like love, forgiveness, comfort, security, kindness and reliable.  Ask a man to describe God, and he will use terms like powerful, just, in control, fearful, demanding and wrathful. 

When young boys hear the story of David and Goliath, they don’t want to hear David killed him with a stone.  They want to hear how he cut off his head and chased the Philistines.  They don’t want to hear about baby Moses in the bulrushes they want to hear how he fought the enemies of the Hebrew people.  They don’t want to color flowers and cut out pictures of Bible characters that want to make slingshots like David use against Goliath.  The want to make swords and shields.  They would rather act out the story than hear it.  But, when most Sunday curriculum is written and taught by women no wonder young boys are bored.  The same goes for most men.  They want the hard truth, tell it like it is, don’t sugar coat it.  The problem is we have been appealing to women for so long we no longer hear the raw truth of the Gospel.  We have sanitized the message of the Gospel.  With more women than men belonging to Christian churches, it’s not surprising that the religion’s theology, and the messages heard from the pulpit, have come to emphasize the feminine qualities.

We are no longer hearing messages on hell, sin, and justice. There is less emphasis on the need to suffer, struggle, and sacrifice for the gospel, and more emphasis on how the gospel can be a tool towards greater self-realization and personal fulfillment. The gospel is presented not as heroic challenge, but therapy – the way to “your best life now.” The focus is on rewards over obstacles. All gain, no pain.  Men want battles instead of feasts.

We have changed the message of the kingdom of God to the family of God.  The kingdom of God implies battles, conquests, victories, and defeats.  While the family of God is about relationships.  This change in the message of the Gospel has contributed to the lack of appeal to men. The influence of women on the theology of the church has been tremendous.

Now that I have most of my women readers upset let me answer what it is to be Christian man.

The men of the New Testament were not soft men.  They were fishermen, tentmakers, shepherds, and carpenters.  They were common everyday laboring men.   These men were hard working.  They had calluses on their hands, from lifting stones, hand cutting boards, lifting heavy nets filled with fish.  They were beaten and did not complain.  They were driven from town to town, but they kept coming back.  They were offensive in their message.  It was hard hitting, cutting deep into the soul, and was the raw truth.

Their language was to the point and as my father would say, “earthy.”  In the book of Acts 8:20-23J.B. Phillips New Testament (PHILLIPS)

20-23 But Peter said to him, “To hell with you and your money! How dare you think you could buy the gift of God! You can have no share or place in this ministry, for your heart is not honest before God. All you can do now is to repent of this wickedness of yours and pray earnestly to God that the evil intention of your heart may be forgiven. For I can see inside you, and I see a man bitter with jealousy and bound with his own sin!”

Here is another translations of the same verse.

 Peter said, “To hell with your money! And you along with it. Why, that’s unthinkable—trying to buy God’s gift! You’ll never be part of what God is doing by striking bargains and offering bribes. Change your ways—and now! Ask the Master to forgive you for trying to use God to make money. I can see this is an old habit with you; you reek with money-lust.”

That kind of language would not be accepted in the church today.  It is crude, rude, and uncivilized.  It is not politically correct.

Here is a translation of Roman 1 that would be considered hate language today.  It might even be labeled as a hate crimes for speaking this way.

So God said, in effect, “If that’s what you want, that’s what you get.” It wasn’t long before they were living in a pigpen, smeared with filth, filthy inside and out. And all this because they traded the true God for a fake god, and worshiped the god they made instead of the God who made them—the God we bless, the God who blesses us. Oh, yes!

Worse followed. Refusing to know God, they soon didn’t know how to be human either—women didn’t know how to be women, men didn’t know how to be men. Sexually confused, they abused and defiled one another, women with women, men with men—all lust, no love. And then they paid for it, oh, how they paid for it—emptied of God and love, godless and loveless wretches. Romans 1:26-27

I think you are starting to get the picture why for the first 1000 years of the church there were as many men as women in the church.  Christianity was a man’s religion. Men put on armor, took up sword and shield to fight for the cause of Jesus Christ.  They did this because that is what appealed to them. 

Men want their church to be a church of action, doing, not talking and giving opinions but getting involved in the fight. But what has happened is the message of the church today is confusing to most men.  They wonder how they can balance their life and be a faithful husband, a good father, a hard worker, and a dedicated leader in the church. The wife wants him to meet all her expectations and demands, the children want him to attend all their events, his boss wants him to work overtime, and the pastor expects him to be at every service and committee meeting.  He just wants to get away from it all.

The confusion is pushing him to isolate himself from his family and church.  He feels he must take care of his family, so he hides behind his work and feels that no one understands the confusion he is going through. He hates the fact that all these things have stressed him out.  He is running on empty and feels trapped.  He has been told to be a man and stand up and be counted but what does that even mean?

There is a lack of real men in the church today.  The true essence of manhood is in what he is becoming.  It is found in his moral character, values, and integrity.  A true man will do what is right because it is right.  He is “what you see, is what you get” type of guy. He is a man who will stand for justice regardless of who is against him.  He is faithful to the commitments he makes to God, wife, children, work, and church.  The lack of real men in the church is because they are not attending church, it does not appeal to them or meet their needs.

A real man develops a sense of brotherhood among his fellow Christians.  He feels free to share his frustrations about his family, his work, and his church.  He realizes the truth in the Scriptures:

“As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.” Proverbs 27:17

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 tells us, “Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor: if either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up!  Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.”

A real man would rather spend time with his own band of brothers than in a meeting discussing what color of carpet will we put in the fellowship hall.  Men want to belong to a group of likeminded men where they are accepted for who they are, where they can tell their “war” story and share their wounds, a place where their crazy dreams can be shared, their gifts used—without shame, guilt, or someone trying change them.

A real man is committed to Jesus Christ.  He is loyal to his brothers in Christ. He is faithful to his wife, the spiritual leader to his children, a hard worker for his employer and a leader in his church. He is a man that recognizes his weakness and is willing to be trained to become better.  When he comes to the end of his life a man wants to hear; He fought a good fight.”

White Lives Matter- But Who Really Cares?

A large portion of my life has been in rural Indiana.  I am a Mid-Westerner at heart.  My ancestors were from Virginia, Eastern Kentucky, and Southeastern Ohio.  I have a strong Appalachian heritage.  Most of my family still has a strong Appalachian accent and uses some of the same expression my grandparents used.  What I am thankful for is that my parents moved from Kentucky  to Indiana in the early 1950’s to raise (rear) us in a sitting that changed our outlook on life and gave us a set of moral values that would help us as we grew older.

Even though we left the Appalachian way of life, we have been surrounded by those individuals who have carried the values of the mountain with them to the Mid-West.  On occasions when I would go back and visit some of my family in Eastern Kentucky and Southeastern Ohio, I am reminded of the life my parents left.  I am thankful the Lord led them out of a life that would have been devastating to our spiritual and material life.  However, I find there are those that have been influenced by the Appalachian mentality.  Let me try to explain.

You will find in rural Indiana people who are friendly and helpful to a fault, yet, there is this lifestyle that is similar to those who are living in Appalachia.  Here is what you can find scattered throughout Indiana.

A world of truly irrational behavior that involves guns, drinking, drugs, and a promiscuous life-style .  Some would call them Rednecks or Hillbillies. Families who are spending their way into the poorhouse. They buy giant TVs and iPads; their children wear nice clothes thanks to high-interest credit cards and payday loans. They purchase homes they don’t need and cannot cover the maintenance or repairs of a home.  They refinance them for more spending money and declare bankruptcy, often leaving them full of garbage that the town has to clean up. Thrift is unwelcoming to them. They spend like they are in the upper class. And when the dust clears —  there is no wealth, no rainy-day fund if someone loses their job. They know they shouldn’t spend like this. I have tried to help some get out of the financial mess they are in, but it is almost hopeless. 

Their homes are a chaotic mess often it is not just clutter but trash that is piled up throughout the house. They scream and yell at each other, cuss at their kids and threaten them with bodily harm.  It is not uncommon that someone in the household will be a drug user or alcoholic. There are physical fights where the spouse or children are abused.  You can read the local police reports in the paper and almost every week it is the same address that the police are called to stop a domestic disturbance.  Kids are shuffled from one foster home to another.  Relationships are often on a monthly basis.  Single mothers have children from several different fathers.  Marriage is not an option since it might impact their “entitled” benefits.   The same is true with the fathers.  There are men who have fathered children with different women and have never taken the responsibility to support their children. (Keep in mind I am not talking about the Black community I am talking about the White community) As neighbor watch the drama unfolded in their neighborhood, you will hear the questions being asked when some tragedy occurs. Why didn’t our neighbor leave that abusive man? Why did she spend her money on drugs? Why couldn’t she see that her behavior was destroying her daughter? Why didn’t someone report what was happening? Why are these things happening in my neighborhood?

When you take time to examine the life-style of those with this type of mindset you will soon realize there is no personal development in their life.  This ongoing process of understanding and developing oneself to achieve one's fullest potential is not part of the mindset of those living this way.   While this doesn’t apply to everyone, a lot of people “suffering” from this life-style don’t spend time to work and better themselves. Instead of investing in themselves, they spend money on things that will only make them feel better in the present moment.

I know it is easy to blame someone for the problems we have in our life.  It is either my parents didn’t love me, my school kicked me out, the churches didn’t want to help me, the township trustee wouldn’t give me money to pay my bills.  I have heard all the excuses, and it boils down to this—the reason they are in the position they find themselves in is directly attributable to the choices they make, and their life will improve only through better decisions. But for these individuals to make better choices, they need to live in an environment that forces them to ask tough questions about who they are and what they have become. There is a cultural movement in the white working class to blame problems on society or the government, and that movement gains members every day. (Maybe if you would show up to work once in a while your company would not be moving to Mexico)

Some of the problems we have in our country among the whites are not from immigrants from Mexico, or from the corrupt politicians in Washington, or the factory jobs leaving America or even the economic changes we are going through as a Nation.  The problem is the dysfunctional culture they choose to remain in.  If they continue to make poor choices in life, they will find themselves going deep into a lifestyle that is filled with blame, chaos, misery, and hopelessness.

What I am thankful for is my parents not only left a culture that is often a dead end for a living, they found the transforming power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  That transformation gave them hope of a better life not in the future but now.  The full surrender to the LORD changed the culture of their lives. There was stability in their life.

I know there are people who talk about being a Christian and how important church WAS to them when they were young, and how they pray to Jesus.  Yet they have not accepted the transforming power of the Gospel in their life.  They talk about religion but have never found salvation.  The result is their lives will be filled with chaos, despair, and hopelessness.  They will continue to make the same poor choices in their life that have brought such misery to them.  They know they need to make a better choice, find better friends, stop buying things they can’t afford and mend relationships with their family.  Will they do it?  Probably not.   So the cycle will be repeated in the next generation and for generations to come.

What is sad is those who have changed their lifestyle will continue to pay for the poor choices of others.  This is not a matter of race.  The same problems are found in every race.  It is a matter of continuing to make the same bad choice every generation. What is disconcerting is that the number of these people is growing every day. What is needed is the message of the Gospel and how it transforms lives today.

So, White Lives Matter but then so do all lives.  If find that it is not a skin color but a heart problem.  The same things that both whites and blacks are driven by are the poor choices they continue to make.  Both groups are the same even if they cannot see how much alike they are.  Only the transformation of their hearts will solve their condition. God gave His Son for all lives.  No matter who you are, you matter to God.

Yes, there are some things that I appreciate about my Appalachian heritage.  The mountain music, the straightforwardness of speaking, the independent spirit, and that family is all you may have in life (even if you don’t like them).  Maybe the best is finding my lovely wife from the hills of Tennessee.

TEACH US TO PRAY

                 

How many times have you heard “Let us pray”?  Have you ever taken the time to define pray?  Prayer is defined as a solemn request for help or expression of thanks addressed to God or an object of worship.  Prayer is the language of want.

The disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray.  We find this in Matthew 6:5-15

And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They, have their reward.  But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.  But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye, therefore, like unto them: for your, Father knoweth what things ye have need of before ye ask him.

After this manner, therefore, pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.  Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.  Give us this day our daily bread.  And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.

If ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:  But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

In this model prayer taught by Jesus to His disciples, there are some noticeable things missing.  Here is a list of things that are missing from this prayer:

•          It never mentions Christ 

•          it never mentions church 

•          it never mentions “Lord.”

•          it never mentions the inspired inerrancy of the Bible, the virgin birth, the miracles, the atoning death, or bodily resurrection of Christ

•          it never mentions the gospel.

•          it never mentions the Holy Spirit.

•          it never mentions Christ, substitution, sacrifice, atonement, or sin.

•          it never mentions the next life, heaven, or hell.

•          it is prayed by Christians who emphasize what it never mentions and also by Christians who ignore what it does mention.

What is interesting when looking at this prayer it is an outline of the 19 prayers First Century Jews would pray.  The Jewish prayer could be broken into three major sections:

 The Blessings of Praise

1.         Blessing One – Avot (Fathers)

2.         Blessing Two- Gevurot (God’s Might)

3.         Blessing Three- Kedushat HaShem (Holiness of God’s Name)

The Blessing of Petition

4.         Blessing Four- Da’at (Knowledge)

5.         Blessing Five- Teshuvah (Repentance)

6.         Blessing Six- Selichah (Forgiveness)

7.         Blessing Seven- Geulah (Redemption)

8.         Blessing Eight- Refuah (Healing)

9.         Blessing Nine- Birkat Hashanim (Prosperity)

10.       Blessing Ten- Kibbutz Galuyot (Ingathering of Exiles)

11.       Blessing Eleven- Birkat  HaDin (Restoration of Justice)

12.       Blessing Twelve- Birkat  HaMinim (Against Heretics)

13.       Blessing Thirteen- Tzaddikim (Righteous Ones)

14.       Blessing Fourteen- Binyan Yerushalayim (Rebuilding Jerusalem)

15.       Blessing Fifteen- Malkhut beit David (Kingdom of David)

16.       Blessing Sixteen- Kabbalat Tefillah (Acceptance of Prayer)

The Blessing of Gratitude

17.       Blessing Seventeen- Avodah (Worship)

18.       Blessing Eighteen- Hoda’ah (Gratitude)

19.       Blessing Nineteen- Sim Shalom (Grant Peace)

20.       The Amidah Recited

The Lord’s Prayer

The Blessing of Praise

Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

The Blessing of Petition

Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.  And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

The Blessing of Gratitude

 For thine is the kingdom and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen

It is not the length of the pray that is important but the content of the pray. In Jewish life, prayers were offered at least twice a day, and often three times a day.  The Book of Acts records Peter and John going to the Temple “at the time of prayer — at three in the afternoon.” (Acts 3:1).

Devout Jewish men particularly were expected to pray at 9 am, at noon, and at 3 pm, also.  The Old Testament story of Daniel who defied the king’s law and continued to pray three times a day in “his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem.” (Daniel 6:10)

When Jesus taught His disciples to pray He followed the three Blessings of the Amidah.

The Lord’s Prayer starts out with the acknowledgment of the fatherhood of God and His place in heaven. While the Amidah talks of God as the God of our fathers in the opening verses.

"Hallowed be your name," or, "may your name be sanctified," relates directly to the third Amidah blessing: "Thou art holy and Thy Name is holy, and the holy praise Thee daily. Blessed art Thou 0 Lord, the holy God.”

"Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. "May you continue establishing your Kingdom; may your will be done in heaven and in earth." In the Amidah pray, "Reign Thou over us 0 Lord, Thou alone in loving kindness and tender mercy and clear us in judgment. Blessed are Thou 0 Lord the King who lovest righteousness and judgment."

"Give us this day our daily bread." "0 God, the needs of Thy people are many, their knowledge slender. Give every one of Thy creatures his daily bread and grant him his urgent needs." And the ninth Amidah blessing asks, "Bless this year unto us 0 Lord our God together with every kind of the produce thereof for our welfare."

"Forgive us our sins as we also have forgiven those who have sinned against us." An important Jewish concept, that man cannot ask for forgiveness from God until he first makes amends with his fellowman whom he may have wronged or been wronged by. Before going to sleep at night, the pious Jew prays, "Master of the universe, I hereby forgive anyone who angered or antagonized me or who sinned against me," while in the sixth Amidah blessing he asks, "Forgive us 0 our Father for we have sinned, pardon us 0 our King for we have transgressed, for Thou dost pardon and forgive. Blessed art Thou 0 Lord who art gracious and dost abundantly forgive."

Do not bring us into the grasp of temptation but deliver us from evil." The seventh blessing is a prayer for deliverance from afflictions of all kinds. Since other blessings specify the physical necessities, this prayer has come to have a spiritual connotation. "May it be Thy will 0 Lord our God to place us in light and not in darkness, and may not our heart grow faint nor our eyes dim. Lord of the Universe, it is revealed and known before Thee that it is our desire to perform Thy will but what stands in the way? The Evil Inclination and the Oppression of the kingdoms (secular world). May it be Thy will to deliver us from their hand, so that we may again perform Thy statutes with a perfect heart."

"For Thine is the kingdom and the power, and the glory, forever," shows similarity to David’s benediction in I Chronicles 29:10-13. This scriptural passage is part of the daily prayer service and is an essential component of the section called Pesukei D’zimrah, or "Verses of Praise," which immediately precedes the recitation of the Shema, (Sha-ma) the central affirmation of faith in Judaism.

Is the Lord’s Prayer an early version of the Amidah which Jesus taught his disciples so they could fulfill their minimum obligations of prayer to God? I strongly believe that enough exist between the two prayers for the theory to be a distinct possibility.

Prayer was a natural, regular, and necessary part of Jewish life.  But the problem with any spiritual practice is that what starts out with great feeling and intensity, with deep meaning and good intentions, can often become a perfunctory ritual.  That was what had happened with the practice of the Jews in the first century.

Meaningless ritual is an age-old problem.  On more than one occasion God reminds his people that he wants their hearts, not their empty sacrifices.  After asking the question “With what shall I come before the Lord?” Micah answers with this — “And what does the Lord require of you?  To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”  (Micah 6:8) God wanted their hearts, not their meaningless ritual.

Before Jesus tells the disciples how to pray, he cautions them on how not to pray.  This is another way of Jesus saying, “You have heard it has been said…but I say unto you….” —  only now, however, Jesus is using a different phrase to correct their practice.

Jesus must teach the disciples to pray because prayer has fallen into a meaningless ritual that has lost both its purpose and its power.

“When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites…”  The hypocrites were probably those who would have been considered “righteous men” in Jesus day.  They were men who prayed three times a day, and who did so wherever they were.  Apparently, to show off their own piety, many of these so-called righteous men would position themselves at street corners, or in the most visible parts of the Temple when the time for prayer came.  Jewish men of the first century prayed while standing, with their arms outstretched, palms up, and their faces either bowed or lifted to heaven.  We know the posture because Jesus tells the story of the Pharisee and the tax collector who go up to the Temple to pray.  They are both standing when they pray, but the tax collector — an outcast and sinner — would not lift up his head to heaven, according to Luke 18:9-14.

Jesus addresses the first problem of prayer, and that is praying for our own reward.  Now Jesus isn’t condemning the corporate prayer of God’s people gathered together.  Rather, Jesus said those that stand alone praying loudly on the street corners, or in prominent places in the synagogue or Temple, have their reward.  Everybody saw them praying, but their audience wasn’t God, it was those within viewing distance from them.

Jesus said we are to go into our room, shut the door, and pray.  They are two sides of the same coin.  Private prayer is part of the “when you pray” assumption that Jesus makes.  And, in some ways, we have accepted  that we shouldn’t pray conspicuously, but have neglected to pray privately.  It isn’t enough not to pray to be seen; private personal prayer is the disciple’s appropriate entry alone into the presence of God.

A problem with prayer, especially when you’re expected to pray a lot, is that it can quickly become meaningless.  Interestingly, The Lord’s Prayer in the early days of some denominations was considered “endless repetition” and meaningless babble and was not prayed in church.  They probably left it off also because both Catholics and Lutherans continued to say The Lord’s Prayer, and the Anabaptists drew sharp distinctions between themselves and others.

It is to be noted that the eighteen (18) prayers of the Jews was condensed into the Lord’s Prayer, meeting the need of formal praying.  However, this condensed prayer has resulted in the same meaningless babble of “endless repetition” that the Amidah (ah me da) was to the Jews.  However, I don’t think Jesus intends us to recite this prayer. I believe he gives it to us as a model to guide us, not a passage to memorize. The Lord’s Prayer is not a form to follow verbatim, but a guide or outline when I communicate with God.

Acknowledge God the Father

Make Our Petitions

Show Our Gratitude